like an honest Christian philosopher, he joined in the surprise and ridicule which a view of its feeble foundation excited. The many deep caves in Europe, containing the bones of quadrupeds, and in some instances those of men, seemed to afford the credulous inquirer proof of diluvial action, and hence they were seized upon as the substratum of a lofty argumentative structure.

Geological observation proves, by other means than those mentionedso fallacious yet so confidently presented that water has covered portions of the face of the earth, and that too not longer since than from four to six thousand years. It also proves several similar deluges to have occurred, and every where, from the surface downward, the long submarine residence of the present dry land.

The moral inferred from all extraordinary natural phenomena has ever been punitive justice,' and the renovation of the physical or mental condition of man. The determinate period at which the Great First Cause found it necessary to destroy most of earth's inhabitants, and to renovate the condition and morals of the few selected to remain, are various; and the two ever-active agents in the production of these events, have each its advocates. That at present existing in the minds of the men of christendom, is between the Noachin epoch and the ultimate destruction of our world by fire. This period is supposed to terminate with a thousand years of ineffable happiness, and that it is now waning in the cycle. For many years it has been conjectured that 'the latter period' fast approaches; and there are those among us who often attract the particular though temporary attention of their fellow men, by prophetically hastening the time of destruction. The only plausible inference from popular opinion is therefore that between the great aqueous and igneous mutations there will have been a period of about seven thousand years. The Egyptians were less parsimonious of time, in their computations of periodical revolutions. The cycle of Orpheus, gave 120,000, and that of Cassander, 300,000 years, for these catastrophes. The period of the Gerbonites assigned 36,000 for the circulation of the celestial bodies, when the inhabitants of this world were renewed by twenty-five pairs of the various species. However various or strange the theories of the ancient or modern times, none but that embodied in the accredited faith of the present day, assigns to any mutation the ultimate destruction of the world, but each successive calamity has been thought by all, the wise purpose of the gods to sweep away in their wrath the wicked of the earth, and in their mercy to preserve and happify' the virtuous.

Sudden and extraordinary calamities are not now thought less the result of divine wrath, or less an expression of particular mercy, than they have been at any previous time, or in any condition of our moral and intellectual faculties. While, therefore, we continue to present to our fellow men these facts, as historical truths, and as evidences of men's former ignorance, is it not strange that we, more than ever, ascribe such sudden interpositions of wrath to the unchangeable Being,' opposed as it is to acknowledged attributes?

We know full well-we even now hear reiterated-the direful sounds that were rung in our ears in consequence of the late destructive calamity in our city. It was deemed but the just vengeance of Heaven; and while our citizens were denounced, en masse, in other places, and by particular

classes here, by those authorized, through an unearthly commission, men, influenced by the same superstitious feelings which have ever prevailed, tamely cringed and bowed to the load of curses heaped upon

them.

The great and restless agent, internal heat, which has been instrumental in presenting, within the reach of man, the remains of primeval animals and vegetables, has been appreciated only since fossil geology came to be considered as a branch of science. The power of this agent being understood, and the rugged features of the earth observed, frequent and tremendous revolutions of its crust are seen to have followed its exercise-revolutions which water could never have effected. These have not been periodical in their occurrence, as formerly supposed, but have happened whenever the material causes have combined to which their origin is due; hence, they may take place at one time as well as another. The elements which have produced them are not less active now than formerly; though it is true, the limited perceptions of men with difficulty reconcile the mighty phenomena of indefinite time, with the brief moment of their existence. Human life is indeed barely sufficient to look abroad on what has been done, turn back the astonished eye, and close it in death.

Water having deposited the strata of earth horizontally, it remained for a more powerful and destructive agent to break through and throw up the stratified rocks in the wonderful manner we have observed. This has been accomplished in various ways, by ever-active heat. Many of its doings are within the memory and experience of living men. The volcano and the earthquake have rent asunder their habitations, submerged in fathomless seas the peopled plain, or raised in lofty piles the level beds of the 'deep profound.' The original order of superposition has thus been broken, and the layers, where ages before were quietly deposited by the ocean innumerable animals, have been forced upward in various angles of inclination. By these means the early inhabitants of our planet are submitted to our examination, and the geological epoch of each embodying strata definitively determined. Here fossil geology presents to the inquirer the torch-lights which steadily direct him through the dark periods of our earth's history. Like the blazing finger on the wall, it writes on every layer, in characters not to be mistaken, their nature, and the beginning and the end of their longlost inhabitants. Light spreads through geological researches, and clearly displays to men their enduring relations to other organized beings. Hence geologists fix periods to all stratified rocks, and characterize them under fossiliferous and unfossiliferous strata.

The practical advantages resulting from a science which points out thus plainly the history of animated creation, where all else was midnight darkness, and the means which it places in our power to discover the invaluable productions of undefinable ages, can only be estimated in future time, when the inexhaustible resources of minerals, coals, and metals, shall have proved the hidden riches of our country. The chronological order of organic and inorganic bodies being defined by this subject, the relative position and geological epoch of superimposed rocks, from the primary to the alluvial, with their primeval tenants brought to view, there remains naught else but human genius to apply them to the wants or the ornaments of life.

The fact also that the climate of this planet has undergone an extraordinary change, since first our orb was struck into existence, is clearly established by fossil geology. The temperature of the torrid zone, at the present time, affords no adequate conception of the heat which prevailed during the early history of our world. The fossils of both animals and vegetables, even at a later date in that history, leave no doubt of this truth. Different animals and different vegetables have ever been the produce of different climates; and the proportions of all species in both these kingdoms have been likewise various, from the same causes. The sickly analogies now presented of primitive bulk and vigor, plainly indicate this change of climate, and as a consequence, perhaps, the general degeneration of organic bodies. The theory which supposes our planet to have been of igneous origin, and which was among the earliest of modern cosmogonists, finds science and observation steadily supporting it throughout succeeding inquiries. Whether with Whiston, Leibnitz, and Buffon, our planet is supposed to have been originally stricken from the sun, had all the eccentricity of a comet, was 'a luminous burning mass,' etc., it would not be in place now to advocate. Certain it is that, were it originally a globe of fire, now and ever since undergoing the process of cooling, we should be presented with all the phenomena now exhibited on the thin crust already consolidated.

As the remains of organic life render it necessary to admit the existence, at a previous time, of a high elevation of temperature within the temperate latitudes, it will be within the course of our remarks, and even essential to the elucidation of fossil phenomena, to suggest the facts of the case, and they will be seen also to have no small practical interest.

It is well known, perhaps, that some of the most remarkable of the fossil, animal, and vegetable genera, found in high latitudes, have congenerated species now existing in the torrid zone, where alone they can exist. The generic affinity which has also been discovered between numerous fossil shells and corals far down in the rocky strata, and those species now existing in warmer latitudes, has not failed to convince every inquirer of the change alluded to. Other animal remains much nearer the surface in the secondary series, particularly reptiles and saurian animals, also rendered this fact conclusive. But still stronger evidence, if other were necessary, is in the fossil flora of ancient days. This department of organic bodies is affected by delicate changes of temperature; and the character of those vegetable substances, which now constitute our coal measures, evinces the effect of a remarkable change since they were deposited. There are numerous other proofs of the diminution of temperature, and of the deterioration of organic life, among which is the existence of fossiliferous remains in the islands and on the borders of the Mediterranean sea, in Italy, in the south of Spain, etc., where many recent fossil testacea are members of species now existing in their neighborhood. The size of the former are readily perceived by the conchologist to surpass the latter. The ornithicnites of the Connecticut valley, lately brought to light by Prof. Hitchcock, strike us with astonishment at the comparative difference between birds of primitive and of later times. Thus the observations of the botanist, the geologist, the oryctologist, and the ornithologist, are united in establishing this interesting truth. Existing species, in different lati

tudes, at this day, prove the influence of temperature on mollusca, quadrupeds, and vegetables. The first may be noticed on the comparison of shells from the Indian Ocean with those of the Mediterranean. But we need not refer to more extraordinary effects than those apparent in the enormous cryptogamous fossil plants which prevailed in our own now temperate region, when our coal beds were forming. Tribes that have come down to us, though few, show this discrepance. One which now measures less than one fourth of an inch in diameter, and two feet in height, measured, in its original glory, twelve inches in diameter and twenty feet in height. The mosses and ferns which in former periods were from forty to seventy feet high, do not now attain ten. Most of the vegetable remains found in our coldest climates, if they have any diminished analogies existing, are only to be found in our hottest regions. Finally, the monstrous animals the description of which will be startling to those unacquainted with the subject-swallow up all doubts, if any there are, on this interesting subject. We are presented, in the existing animal creation, with no fit example for illustrating the strange but magnificent creations of an infant world. The Iguanadon of the lizard tribe, which has a solitary and dwarfish analogy in the West Indies, was near one hundred feet in length, and, as is supposed, was of greater average breadth than the elephant; nor was its size more astonishing than its anomalous character, for it was both amphibious and herbiferous. The Megalosaurus, also, of the saurian tribe and amphibious, was not of less gigantic dimensions; the elephant of the present time would not suffice this monster for a meal!

The Megatherium, the Ichthyosaurus, the Plesiosaurus, the Mastadon, with many other huge and extraordinary fossil animals, which will be noticed hereafter, prove, at least from their size, the influence of climate, if their extinction determines nothing more than the opinion of Molina, that their universal destruction was, de facto, to prevent the extirpation of the human species.

If we reflect that man partakes of this general deterioration of physical powers, the fact will be little calculated to flatter our pride or ambition. Reasoning from analogy, or Eastern tales, this might be a natural inference. But, notwithstanding the marvellous accounts of our species, and the fact, if it needs be, that there were giants in those days,' still, time having been comparatively short with our race, the effects of climate can hardly be said to have characterized a discrepancy in our bulk or stature. Very unwillingly should we admit, at least, 'experto crede,' that the faculties of mind had correspondingly depreciated. Yet the dreamy things of the alchymists might find favor in the postulata that, as the materials diminish, refinement progresses, and that the essence becoming more strong from concentration, we are approximating the point in mind which they so long sought for in metals. Not all the animals, however, of antediluvial time, manifest the great disproportion in size to which we have referred. The numerous Siberian elephants, whose fossil tusks have been used by the people in that region, where the elephant cannot now live, as materials for enclosing their fields, and the bones of the hyena and other animals found in caves in northern latitudes, where similar carnivora do not exist, are examples of this and perhaps man would be flattered in claiming rank with these exceptions.

The cause of the original high atmospheric temperature, and the diminution thus observable in latter times are very naturally referable to the probable facts before alluded to, and hence the conclusion is obvious though the fact, from its gradual progression, is barely noticeable that our climate continues to become colder. That this is a truth clearly explainable by the positions of geologists, few will assume to deny; still we are inclined to think the phenomena is not attributable solely to changes on the surface, as geologists seem to infer, but to the gradual cooling of the earth's crust. Superficial changes, which have influenced climate, have been the increase of dry land; and this is now going on, without doubt, more rapidly than at any previous period; at least, this is a consistent deduction, both from observation and topographical history. The increase of islands in the southern and western oceans, the drying up of rivers, and the gradual enlargement of coasts, are facts in point. If the crust of the earth has been gradually cooling, as we verily believe, there must yet exist an internal mass of fire, or burning substance, which continues to impart heat to the exterior. Of this there can be little doubt. Volcanoes, of which there are more than two hundred, are the great outlets from this central fire. These indicate the force and character of the raging element within; and there is, as we well know, a connection between them and between volcanoes and earthquakes. New avenues continually open, belching forth, with early vigor, the destructive fluid, while old ones as frequently close and cease, at least for a time, 'to pour the liquid fire.' The surface of our earth, therefore, very naturally partakes of the heat embodied toward the centre.

By this view of terrestrial heat, and of the cause of former climate, many phenomena are rationally accounted for, which otherwise have no explanation. While it militates against none, it agrees with all. On penetrating the earth to some distance from its surface, we find, as we should expect to find, an increase of temperature, and this increase is proportionable to the depth at which the experiment is made. The theories accounting for volcanic eruptions by the oxydation of the metallic basis of the earths, the combustion of coal, or that which supposes both volcanoes and earthquakes to be superficial, and caused by the heat evolved from the chemical combination of metallic salts, etc., do not meet the phenomena before stated; much less could they explain the regular increase in the temperature of the earth, as we descend from the surface. The inference is therefore conclusive, that the nucleus of our earth is in a state of intense ignition, diffusing caloric uniformly, cæteris paribus, throughout its crust. The range of volcanic openings, so necessary to the quiet of the earth's surface, and the happiness of men, is immense. That of the Andes is over a space of 4,700 miles, not one degree of which does not exhibit volcanic action, and an apparent connection with others in various directions. Earthquakes manifest their connection, as cause and effect, with volcanic phenomena, though their range is perceived to be of still greater extent. That of Lisbon extended over 16,000 square miles; was felt in Pennsylvania, New-York, and from the bottom of the Atlantic. This internal heat, then, which exhibits itself so palpably, increases in the ratio of one degree for every fifty feet; for this is the average of innumerable experiments. Owing, without doubt, to the nature of substrata,