The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-21

- SloIHiS' We're buried under the sd
anu cay winch the winds and rams
spread over them: that new forests
sprang up above the buried ones. sn3
tnat this repetition continued in the
direction of the equator. But we r,nsr
suppose that the number Of such rem
et1tions gradually decreased from the
poles to the equator. And SO it did
all authors agree that the number of
coal strata in a bed, with rare exceu-
tons, decreases from the pole towards
the equator; and that after reaching
the latitude Of Wilmington, North
Carolina, we find no coal beds in the
section east of the Mississippi river.
except a small one Which was found
In the Black Warrior outcrops near
Tuscaloosa. Alabama.
Hence, we may conclude thai the
atmosphere was gradually cleared of
its excess Of carbonic acid as veeeta-
ton advanced towards the EQUATOR.
II hat when the latitude of Will
mingtOn was reached the atmosphere
was purified.
.. Confirming the supposition that
the north pole, at the time when the
north n of rivers and the south
faces of fountains We're eroded. was
somewhere near Bafin's Ray ar
Greenland, is the fact that the SYDNEY
coal fields (New South Wales) contain
fifty-nine forests in superposition,
proving that in those ancient DAYS
Australia was many DEGREES nearer to
the south pole than it is now; and that
such was the situation OF that island
We have the corroborating evidence
furnished by comparing it's animal re-
mains with those Of other parts Of the
earth. Geikie says: cat the present
day the higher fauna Of Australia is
more nearly akin to that which flour
ished in Europe far back in Mesozoic
times than to the living fauna Of any
other region Of the globe"
8. Selecting the States east of the
mississippi river as my field Of inVes-
tigation, I have found that all the coal
beds are near mountain ridges, and
that the bed of bituminous and an
thracite cOal were covered by the
eroded materials which the weather
spread over them. Hence l must con-
clude that during that nconveivable
lapse of time the entire surface Of the
earth, except mountain ridges, was
covered with the water which is now
in the seas and oceans.
g. While changes of sea level all
over the earth, some gradual and some
sudden, are accepted as evidence that
continents and Stands have been
raised or lowered by volcanic forces,
the increased rise Of terraces pole
wards in bot hemisphereS seems TO
point to another cause; and | suggest
an increase in the rap1dity Of the
earth's rotation and IN the centrifugal
force which pulled the waters toward
the equator. This explanation is de-
MED by all the authors OF the text
books which professors of geology
commend to students; but it is diff
cult to imagine any other explanation
Of the fact that the early Egyptians,
measuring the length Of a year from
one heliacaI rising Of the dog star to
the next, found that from one rising
a 49, go ;~x-- TIL rio
Of the mysterious temple Of PhilR
placed before the tomb Of Osiris every
morning $50 vases Of milk" says Dra-
per'S Intellectual Development OF Eu-
rope. leach one commemorating one
day"
, This was their method of honoring
this divinity for the overlooking of the
: Nile, because the overflow began when
Egypt's remarkably clear atmosphere
enabled the priests to see that the dog
star made his first appearance IN the
southeastern sky just as the sun be-
gan to rise. To this interesting DIT or
history it is worth while to ADD that
the effacement Of landmarks by the
overfiows Of the Nile caused the Egyp-
tians in those remote days when they
laid the foundations Of that geometry
!, for which the world has been honor
ing Euclid, to invent instruments for
!, measuring land and restoring eIaced
5 BOUNDARIES: anu, since dIleuldi q Wei
; as linear units We're necessary IN tnelr
: calculations, they adopted $50 degrees
| as many degrees as there were days
> in a vear-aS the distance around a
/ circle
10. Scientists hold that the Garth :
center Of gravity is nearer to its south
. ern than to its northern surface, pc
cause. as they believe, the southern
: hemisphere is heavier than the north
ern. that the superior attractive power
Of The former drew into the PACING
! ocean an excess OF water: and that
the surface OF the Pacific is perhaps
three and one-half feet higher than
c the surface of the water in the diam
IetricalIy opposite parts Of the earth
I If this is true, there must nave peef
counterbalancinS upheaNal OF the