IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V ^ // / Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqu^es Tight binding (may cause shadows or distoition along interior margin)/ Reliure serr6 (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure) D D Show through/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes P ii u b f D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques D D Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents D D Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manquent D D Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Plates missing/ Des planches manquent D Maps missing/ Des cartes gdographiques manquent D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppi^mentaires The images appearing here are the bfcw* quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping witS the filming contract specifications. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —►{meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: National Library of Canada Maps or plates too largo to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper l»ft hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de I'exemplaire filmd, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Uii des symboles suivants apparattra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". L'exemplaire film* fut reproduit grSce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : Bibliothdque nationale du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour §tre reproduites en un seul clich* sont fiimdes d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d drolte et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 >*u AGE OF CREATION BY WILLIAM J. CASSIDY. product ofpkyncal agm^ll^^''' " '''' ^^^^'^^ ^^ « '^^^*^ •««» »ot th. TORONTO: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST. 1887. 6S 657 c-i at tbe Department of Agriculturer f M COXTEJVTTS. INTRODCCTIOX PAflE 5 PART I. Th« XT- • * XT CHAPTER I. The Voice of Nature . . 9 Tho Earth CHAPTER II. :.. 12 The Glacial Drift «"APTER„L 20 A • ,.. CHAPTER IV i\ncien) Water Marks .... 41 AHuvialDcposits ^"^^™« ^- 53 V , CHAPTER VI Former Volcanic Effects 61 VnHi, A . CHAPTER VII, ^orth American Prairies 89 The Coral Reefs ^"APTEU VIII. 73 CHAPTER IX. riie Fauna of the Tertiary Period 80 Cave Deposits CHAPTER X. 95 „. , . CHAPTER XI. Historical Records of the Drift 108 CHAPTER Xil. I ho Recency of the Glacial Events - 129 T»,« «. 1. CHAPTER XIII. ihe Standing Still of the Sun •••- 134 Tbe Inter-glacial Period '^"^"''"^ ^^^^ 13» iv Contents. CHAPTER XV. The Post-glacial Period U7 CHAPTER XVI. Manner and Time of the Standing Still of the Sun 154 CHAPTER XVII. The Mound-Builders 1(5*' CHAPTER XVIIl. The Sun 180"* CHAPTEH, XIX. The Moon 204 CHAPTER XX. The Planets 220 CHAPTER XXI. Comets, Meteors, etc 246 CHAPTER XXII. Nebuloe and Star Clusters 201 PART I I. CHAPTER I. Physical Evidence of a Universal Deluge 269 CHAPTER II. The Deluge of Noah 283 CHAPTER III. The Antediluvian World , 299 PART III. CHAPTER I. Tho Carboniferous Period 303 CHAPTER II. The Primary Rocks 320 ^ART IV. CHAPTER I. The Mosaic Cosmogony 327 CHAPTER II. The Origin of Life • 342 CHAPTER III. The Final Catastrophe 363 be Wo i ^^'^ >M hui ■ ^^'^ m ^^^^ 1 ^^^^ 1 ^0 m ^'^® m ^»' m ^^^ IexI IthJ U7 154 1**' . ia>* . 204 .. 22() ' .. 246 ...261 . 269 .. 283 .. 299 ... 303 .... 320 .... 327 342 36» INTRODUCTTOX ,-» ;T,N tlje stuily of Geoloi^y in times pist two rival •I :^^ schools, known as tl\o C;itastrt>])liists and IJnifor- mitarians, (listinu^nislied tlieniselvos, 1'lie former in- cluded Cinier and a nuniher of others, who maintained that many (jf tlie physical features of the earth had been caused by sudden Hoods and catastrophes. The Uniformitarians, led by Ly ^eld that the .same had been cause in a more txtended compass, 'ong, very long, before it is perfect, will be the surest, stoutest, most irresistible, apology for the Bible in the whole history of facts and arguments since controversy began. It will prove the Mosaic Creation, the authenticity of the Pentateuch ; it Will establish the Deluge and Noah's ark, and it will render all Joshua credible ; the miracles of Moses and the Red Sea. It will tnake every syllable of the Old and New Testaments as clear and cer- tain to our minds and souls as hunger and thirst, food and raiment, pam and pleasure, are to our bodies."— Lord Shaptesbury, <( ! 1 AGE OF CREATION. s> m a more will be the n the whole n. It will itateuch; it 1 render all 3ea. It will lear and cer- md raiment, URY, PART I. CHAPTER I. THE VOICE OF NATURE. "|N the beginning G0..I created the heaven and ^ the earth." Such i., the brief, expressive and most authentic account known of the Ln,atio„ "f the u .er.se. It was created. It was the production of a thought emanating f,.o„, the mind of a G «," Unseen. Ill„„„able Being. Science has .searched S va,n for a more comprehensible cause ; but the deep r he thought, l,e more profound the research intofl e vorkmgs and teachings of nature, the more does il become ev.dent that the whole system is the desl„ and handiwork of an o.nnipotent G-reator ^ Let us take a brief glance at this mighty universe of which he earth forms such a ponderous.!.„d '1 !^' >P»ard^s. Far as the eye can reach appear,, a vast 10 AGE OF CREATION. expanse of ethereal space, in vdiich the sun shines by day and the moon and stars by night. The sun equals in volume l,27o,000 bodies the size of the earth, and is distant from it about 92,000,000 miles. It is a mas- sive luminous globe 880,000 miles in diameter, and its influence is known to, extend for a distance of 3,000,- 000,000 miles, yet the space it occupies in the heavens appears to us but a few inches ! What, then, must be the size of the remaining space, to which there is no conceivable limit ? The stars that shine by night are worlds of enor- mous magnitude, millions of miles apart, the nearest of them being twenty millions of millions of miles dis- tant from the earth. Beyond the powder of sight, be- yond the range of the most powerful telescope, there lies a dim and impenetrable abyss, the depth of which cannot be fathomed by the mind's imagination ! The moon is 240,000 miles distant from the earth. " This distance, great as it is, is little more than one- fourth of the diameter of the sun's body, so that the glr'' of the sun would nearly twice include the whole orbit of the moon ; a consideration wonderfully calcu- lated to raise our ideas of that stupendous luminary."* Let us examine a drop of infused water. By the aid of a microscope it is seen to be a living world, teeming with animal life of the most varied and gro- tesque forms, the infinitude of which cannot be com- prehended no more than the magnitude of the heavens. Yet this diminutive world and the stupendo'^s globes * Herschel's " Outlines of Asti'onoiuy," p. 2(W. THE VOICE OF NATURE. 11 isby I, and nias- nd its l,000r lavens ust be i is no ' enor- learest les dis- rht, be- e, there i which earth, an one- hat the e whole V' calcu- nary. By the a world, md gro- be com- leavens. s globes of space are the handiwork of that one Invisible and Incomprehensible Being. Everywhere may be seen evidence of God's working in nature. In the growth and development of organ- ized beings ; in their geographical distribution through space ; and in the progressive succession of created animal life from the lowest form to the crowning work of creation. The mysterious and awe-inspiring presence of nature may be felt in the pervading sense of majestic grandeur on the lofty and rugged moun- tain ; in the feeling of repose and serenity occasioned in the quiet and peaceful valley below ; in the moan- ing and soughing of the tree-tops in the depths of the forest ; or in the motionless calm or terrific sublimity of the mighty ocean. The strange, unmistakable voice of nature permeates the whole univ^erse, exciting admiration for the wondrous works of a Supreme Being, and constantly reminding us that " The hand that made them is Divine." "Alone with the waves, on a starry night, My thoughts far away on the infinite ; On the sea not a sail, not a cloud in the sky, And the wind and the waves with sweet lullaby Seem to question in murmurs of mystery, The fire of heaven, the waves of the sea. " And the golden stars of the heaven rose higher, Harmoniously blending their crowns of fire, And the waves which no ruling hand may know, 'Midst a thousand murmurs, now high, now low, Sing, w.iile curving their foaming crests to the sea, It is the Lord (iod '. ii is Re." ■~^ Victor Huyot ^ 12 \0E OF CREATION. CHAPTER II. THE EARTH. tHE relation of the heavenly bodies to each other _^^ in the solar system, the causes which produce day and night, the regularity of the seasons, anm its perpendicular. This obliquity pro- duces the seasons, owins: to the heat of the sun acting in a direct line. The earth revolves around the sun in 365J days, and as the rays of the latter in a direct line strike the oblique re^^fions the different variations in light and heat are the result. The moon vlso re- volves on its axis, and has a motion around the earth, and is carried with it in its circuitous course around the sun. The planets of the solar system are held in their place by the attractive power of the sun. The strength of this attraction varies accordinfj to the distance be- tween the bodies, and in agreement with the following laws : " Suppose that one ball is drawing another to- wards it with a certain force, and that the distance between their centres is one foot ; if the distance is increased to two feet the force of the attraction is re- duced to a fourth of what it was ; if the distance is made three feet the attraction becomes a ninth ; if four feet, a sixteenth ; and so on — the diminution be- ing always as the squares of the distance ; that is, the distances multiplied by themselves. The distance from the centre of any round mass of matter to its surface is called its semi-diameter ; that is, the half of its diam- eter or thickness. If, then, there are two such masses, a large and a small, and if we ascertain how many semi-diameters of the larger the smaller is distant from it, and multiply that number by itself, the result shows how many times the attraction at this distance is less th( po THE EARTH. 16 i posi- a-balf y ?!•«- acfcing he sun , direct iations 'Iso re- B earth, und the in their trength mce be- )llowing ther to- distance tance is on is re- itance is linth ; if tion be- lt is, tl»e tice from 3 surface its diam- A masses, w many aut from dt shows ice is less than if the two were close together. The moon, for instance, is distant 240,000 miles from the earth, or as inucli as sixty semi-diameters of the earth ; 60 multi- plied by 60 gives 3,600 ; consequently the attraction exercised by the earth upon the moon is a 3,600th part of what it would exercise upon the same mass at its own surface."* So that, according to the law of gravitation, if the distance between the earth and the sun were increased to a certain extent, and the earth removed farther away from the sun, the attraction would be lessened to such a degree that the earth would lose its present obliquity and remain in a perpendicular or upright position. The nicety and harmony of arrangement in the whole planetary system is in entire accordance with fixed laws in nature; by the.se law^s they are sus- tained in their respective positions, and in the least deviation or departure from them disastrous results would follow. Floating through illimitable space, and suspended upon nothing, the earth performs its annual revolution around the sun in the manner following : — " Let us suppose the earth at its creation to have been projected forwards. We know, from the laws of motion, that if no obstacle impeded its course it would proceed interminably in the same direction and with a uniform velocity. Let A represent the earth and S the sun. We shall suppose the earth arrived at the point in which it is represented in the figure, having ^Chumbera' "Introduction to the Sciences," p. 15. ;:1I ill! 16 AGE OF CREATION. ! I I ! ! i I ! a velocity which wouhl carry it on to B in the .space of one month, \vhil«t the sun's attraction would bring it to C in the .same .space of time. Rea.soning up- on the laws of uniform motion we might has- tily conclude that the earth would move in the diagonal AL oi the parallelogram A BCD, as a ball struck by two forces will do. But the force of attraction is continually acting upon our ter- restrial ball, and producing an incessant deviation fi'om a course in a straight line, and thus converts it into a course in a curve line. " Let us detain the earth a moment at the point D, and con.sider how it will be affected by the combined action of the two forces in its new situation. It still retains its tendency to fly off in a straight line ; but a straight line would now carry it away to F, whilst the sun would attract it in the direction DS. In order to know exactly what course the earth will follow, an- other parallelogram must be drawn in the same man- ner as the first — the line DF describing the force of projection, and the line DE that of attraction — and it will be found that the earth will proceed in the curve line DG drawn in the parallelogram DFGE; and if we go on throughout the whole of the circle, drawing a line from the earth to the sun to represent the force of attraction, and another at a right angle to it to de- A THE EARTH. 17 e .space 1 bring our ter- ion Lorn it into a point D, :ombined It still e ; but a hilst the order to low, an- |nie man- force of . — and it he curve ,nd if we rawing a the force it to de- scribe that of projection, we shall find that tlui earth will proceed in a curve line passing through similar parallelograms till it has completed the whole of the circle. The attraction of the sun is the centripetal force, which confines the earth to a centre; and the impulse of projection, or the force which impels the -earth to quit th(^ .sun and fiy ofi' is the centrifugal ■force. " We have described the earth as tnoving in a circle merely to render the explanation more siniple ; for in reality the centripetal and centrifugal forces are not so proportioned as to produce circular motion, and the earth's orbit or path aiound the sun is not circular, but elliptical or oval. " Let us suppose that when the earth is at A its pro- ectile force does not give it a velocity sufficient to counterbalance that of grav- ity, so as to enable these ^ '^powers conjointly to carry it around the sun in a circle; the earth, instead of describing g the line AC, as in the former figure, will approach nearer the sun in the line AB. Un- der these circumstances, it ^ will be asked, what is to pre- vent our approaching nearer and nearer the sun till we fall into it ?- -for its attraction increases as we advance tov.ards it. There also seems to be another danger. As the earth approaches the sun the direction of its motion is no longer perpendicular to that of attraction, 18 AGK OF CREATION. I' I \ but inclines more nearly to it. When the earth reaches that part of its orbit at B the force of projection would carry it to D, which brings it nearer the sun, instead of bearing it away from it ; so that, being driven by one power, and drawn by the other, towards this cen- tre of destruction, it would seem impossible for us to escape. But with God nothing is impossible. The earth continues approaching the sun with an acceler- ated motion till it reaches the point E, when the pro- jectile force impels it in the direction EF. Here, then, the two forces act perpendicularly to e.ach other, and the earth is situated as in the preceding figure ; yet it will not revolve around the sun in a circle for the fol- lowing reasons : The centrifujjal force increases with the velocity of the body; or, in other words, the quicker it moves the stronger is its tendency to fiy off in a right line. When the earth arrives at E its accelerated mo- tion will have so far increased its velocity, and conse- quently its centrifugal force, that the latter will pre- vail over the force of attraction, and drag the earth away from the sun till it reaches G. It is thus that we escape from the dangerous vicinity of the sun ; and as we recede from it both the force of its attraction and the velocity of the earth's motion diminish. From G the direction of projection is towards //, that of at- traction towards S, and the earth proceeds between , them with a retarded motion till it ha^ completed its revolution. Thus the earth travels arouiid the sun, not in a circle, but an ellipsis, of which the sun occupies \ one of the foci ; and in its course the earth alternately approaches and recedes from it,, so that what at first ^i THE EARTH. 19 \i reaches ion would 11, instead driven by J this cen- j for us to ible. The m aceeler- in the pro- Here, then, other, and ure ; yet it for the fol- reases with ihe ([uicker ff in a right lerated mo- and conse- r will pre- the earth s thus that le sun ; and attraction lish. From that of at- Is between ►mpleted its the sun, not un occupies alternately ^hat at first appears a dangerous irregularity is the uieans by which the most perfect order and liannony are produced. The earth, then, travels on at a very unequal rate, its ve- locity being accelerated as it approaches the sun, and retarded as it recedes from it."* The centripetal force, therefore, is the attraction of the sun whicli confines the earth to a centre; and the Centrifugal force is the impulse of projection, or the force which impels the earth to fly off in a straight line instead of going on in a circle. Thus, " thrown out- wards by one power, and drawn inwards by another, they have settled into paths where the two forces bal- ance each other, so that they can neither go further from the sun, nor come nearer to him, than they do."*f' ^And in this manner the planets have revolved since their creation. Referring to these luminaries, it is Recorded in the Psalm of Solomon, iSth chap. v. ilt., as quoted by Whiston in his '"Life of Josephus," *.' They have not wandered from the day that He cre- ated them ; they have not forsaken their way from the ancient generations, unless it were when God enjoined them (so to do) by the command of His servants." Here exceptions are pointed out, from which it may bo inferred that in some remote period of the past tliey have wandered from their courses and forsaken their way, but at what time and under what circum- stances will be referred to further on. In the mean- time a brief glance may be taken at some of the peculiarities connected with the crust of the earth. * I.ibrary of Useful Knowledge, t " Introduction to the Seienccs," p. 19. 20 \(iK OF CREATION. cl. CHAPTER III. ■I, THE GLACIAL DRIFT. |i I c>^ iJLN the hurry and bustle of every-day life how few (^ stop to contemplate, even for a moment, the wondrous phases of animate and inanimate nature ! The mind has become so engrossed with other thoughts, and the eye so accustomed to the surrounding scene, that for them the rocks and stones, animals and birds, trees and flowers, have no charm, and the grandeur and magnificence of the starry heavens have long since lost their attractiveness. But there are others who have devoted their lives to an enthusiastic study of nature, overcoming obstacles in the face of almost in- surmountable difficulties, and from the combined result of their labors we are enabled to penetrate the dim vistas of the past, and read the life-history of succes- sive generations of animals and plants that " lived, and moved, and had their beinjj " in the dim and twilio-ht days of the earth's infancy, even ere the sun and moon had been created. The broken and upturned rocks, boulders and gravel, speak in silent voices, and tell of bygone days when tremendous floods and mighty cataclysms swept the face of the earth with cyclonic fury, and suddenly obliterated nearly all animal and vegetable life, and consigned their remains to a sepul- m^ THE GLACIAL DRIFT. 21 !l ) how few )ment, the be nature ! [• thoughts, ling scene, and birds, } errand eur lonjx since pthers who study of almost in- ined result e the dim of succes- lived, and 1 twilight and moon ned rocks, s, and tell id mighty h cyclonic nimal and io a sepul- 10 chrc of unhewn rock to point oiit and tell to future g( Derations the history of their past existence. The story of their birth dates back to the time of creation, an«l includes the great geological breaks in the earth's crust that confront the observer at every step, the origin of which has heretofore remained an unsolved problem, and constituted a great gap in the scientific knowledge of the world. If the crust of the earth be perpendicularly pene- trated it will be found composed of layers or beds of rocks, piled one on another, like the leaves of a book. I'hese are called stratified rocks, and they rest upon others of a hard, crystalline and sparkling appearance^ known as unstratified or igneous rocks, as having been produced by the agency of fire. Like the leaves of a tnttered book, some of the layers are broken, crumpled and torn, while others are partly, and in some places altogether, missing, but still bound together and follow- ing each other in continuous regularity. Each of the layers represents a period of time in the history of the earth's formation, and by way of illustrations the stratified rocks contain remains of petrified plants and enimals, known as fossils, which once lived and existed m the earth when these rocks were forming. The following table will explain the system of ar- rangement adopted by geologists respecting the for- [nation of the earth's crust. Though most of the groups subjoined are sub-divided in geology, the sub- livisions are omitted for the sake of simplicity. The tabulation varies slightly in different countries, but 22 AGE OF CREATION. the .system peculiar to British and American geologists is the one herewith annexed : Systems. QUATKICNARY . Tertiaky Secondary. Primary. Groups. ( I'resent. \ Recent. Boulder Formation. Pliocene. Miocene. Eocene. { Cretaceous. -J Jurassic. ( Triassic. (Permian. Carboniferous. Old Red Sandstone. Silurian. Cambrian. Laiirentian. Periods. ■Cenozoic. Mesozoic. Palffiozoic. Cycles. Neozoic. •Palaiozoi 0. in i is a i Eozoi Resting on the top of the sedimentary rocks in many countries, and immediately below the surface of the earth, there lies the first great geological obstruction — a vast, unstratified, heterogeneous deposit of sand clay and gravel, from one to several hundred feet in depth, known to geologists as the Glacial drift. Where it came from and the manner in which it was depositeo is now generally agreed upon ; but the causes which produced it have hitherto remained an unsolved mys- 1 tery. Enclosed in this deposit are found fragments of rock which have been transported for a long distance, andj bear on their surfaces certain peculiar marks known to have been caused by some powerful grinding, abra-- sive action. They are of all dimensions and forms, ^ some being partially rounded and others broken into! angular shapes, and water-worn. Broken trunks of I! i !1 THE OLACIAI, DIIIFT. 23 I geologists Cycles. V Neozoic. ) ;^ Paleozoic ry rocks in le surface of I obstructioi sit of sand Ired feet in rift. Where as deposited luses which solved mys ents of rock istance, and arks known nding, abra- and forms, broken into trunks of tiees and branches are often inchided, and all are mixed together in the utmost confusion. jThis accumulation has been thoroughly sorted, and may be classified under the heads of the Glacial, Tnter- glacial, and Post-glacial deposits, according to the man- ner in which they have been laid down, either at the beginning, during, or at the end of the period known as the Glacial epoch. ■ The nature of the whole deposit varies considerably in the different districts in which it is found, but there is an almost universal similarity throughout. The lowest deposit consists of unstratified clay or loam, containing numerous rounded or broken blocks of stone, and is known as till, or boulder clay. The surfaces of these stones are often polished, striated and grooved, and they are altogether foreign to the immediate localit}'' in which they are found, having been transported from similar rocks at a greater or l|ss distance from their present positions. The surfaces of many of the stones found in the boulder clay present a remarkable appearance. Those <»nsisting of fine, hard rock, are generally striated and sera ched along the whole length of their flat sides, and these are occasionally crossed by similar markings ill opposite and various directions. All appear to have |een scratched or scored by the friction of sand and [ravel, and ground smooth by a mighty and tremen- fous force, which propelled and pushed the entire mass 'ith a steady and continuous movement in an on- 'aid c'(;ur. f ■ i IGH up on many a mountain side, far above the 0^-*- level of the surroundin^r ooantry, may be seen lon«^ parallel rows or terraces, composed of pebbles, stones, sea shells and gravel. Seen at a distance they appear like chalk lines drawn across the face of the hills ; but a closer examination proves their true character. They are ancient sea beaches ! Here the waters once found their level, and after their re- treat left their imprint as clear and distinct as if the recession had just recently taken place. There is no mistaking their nature. Long lines of undisturbed stones and boulders, covered with adherent barnacles and other littoral organic remains, bear undoubted testimony of a former high-water mark. Not only on the beaches, but below them, in what was formerly the water-bed, are found the remains of organisms attached in positions where they had formerly grown. In addition to these, rocky cliffs bearing marks of lit- toral and sub-littoral life, many hundred feet above the existing sea, furnish direct proof of a change of level in the surrounding land. Many centuries have passed since the waves of these vast inland seas beat against the mountain side, and ilfi I I II I :i 42 AGE OF CREATION. washed up the littoral that now marks its former level. Bleached in the summer's sun and winter's snow of ages past/ they still remain to corroborate the solution of that^reat geological mystery — the Glacial epoch. These raised beaches are generally known as terraces, and are to be met with in various parts of the globe on many maritime coasts, as well as in inland countries where no sea at present exists. One great peculiarity common to them all is the fact that they are of recent origin, and of a comparatively modern geological date. Not until the later Tertiary period, after all the pre- viously existing rocks had been formed, did these great changes in level take place ; and it is a well- known and established geological fact that their for- mation was contemporaneous with the Drift. The terraces of Great Salt Lake, in Utah, south of Salt Lake City, along the flanks of the Wasatch Moun- tains, present a fine illustration of terraces in general. A group of level lines, parallel to each other, encircle the base of the mountains for miles, crossing obstruc- tions and following the declivities in the mountain side with remarkable and unvarying regularity. Great Salt Lake lies 4,218 feet above the sea level, covering an area of 2,360 square miles, and has an average depoh of twenty feet, its deepest part being about eight fathoms. The highest terrace is 940 feet above the present surface of the lake, consequently when the water stood at that shore line its surface was 5,158 feet above the sea level. The water then had an outlet northward through Snake River into ■ ; t 1 ANCIENT WATER MARKS. 43 the Pacific Ocean, for a gap in the basin rim north of the present shore of the lake has been found to corres- pond in height with that of the terrace line. This fact, together with the presence of fresh-water shells on the terrace, proves conclusively the absence of salt water, and that the lake was then a vast inland sea, like one of the present inter-oceans of Canada. Here the lake stood at the time of the first disturbance, as indicated by the presence of moraines and Glacial dehds at the edge of the terrace. The Wasatch Moun- tains rise to a height of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and are covered with snow throughout the greater part of the ^ear. The polished, grooved and scored rocks of the valleys prove conclusively that the snow and ice formerly descended from the mountains ; and the great accumulations of moraine detritus on the highest shore line show that the glaciers descended to the edge of the water. No otiier known cause but a sudden upward movement of the North Pole could have instantaneously precipitated the snow-caps of these mountains into the lake below, and at the same time chanjxed the level of the water to a lower terrace. Great Salt Lake is at present about eighty miles long by thirty-two wide. It has no visible outlet, and receives the melted snows of the Wasatch and other ranges through the rivers on the north and so^^th, Bear River on the north being 300 miles in length. The lake lies in a slight depression of the vast desert plain which stretches to the west from the base of the mountain range. The shore is on a level with the sur- I i; i' I' 111 ^' 44 AGE OF CREATION. rounding plain, which graduates slowly out under the lake with remarkable uniformity. Its waters contain twenty-two per cent, of salt, and are entirely destitute of ichthyic life, though fish are found in its inlets, but none in the lake itself. The entire margin of the lake is completely encrusted witli salt, and the water has a heavy, placid and lifeless appearance. As the waters of the lake were proved to have been formerly fresh when they stood at the highest terrace, it is evident that they now owe their present salinity to the Drift. This evidently has been caused by the deposition of salt from an overflow of the waters of the ocean, which became land-locked in the valleys after a change of level occurred. The lake then sank to the level of the lowest terrace, and below the outlet by which it had been formerly drained into the Pacific Ocean. With the occurrence of the second vertical disturbance the waters again rose to the second terrace, and have gradually fallen to their present position, from which they are slowly diminishing, notwithstanding the manv contributions received from the surrounding streams, so great and rapid is the extent of its evaporation. The well-known terraces of Glen Roy, in Scotland, a result of the Glacial epoch, bear similar testimony to a former change of level in Great Britain at the same geological period. The upper terrace is 1,139 feet above tide level, the second 1,059 feet, and the third 847 feet. The terraces bordering on the great lakes of Canada ANCIENT WATKR MARKS. 45 indicate that in former times the waters stood much higher than they do now. There is substantial and undoubted proof that Lake Superior stood at least 180 feet higher than at present. Lakes Michigan and Huron were then flooded to a height of 200 feet above their present level. The whole of Western Ontario was submerged, and the waters stretched westward for twenty-seven miles into the State of Michigan, where an ancient beach indicates their termination in that direction. A large part of Illinois was also inundated. At Mackinac Island a perpendicular limestone wall, 150 feet high, by which it is surrounded, is eroded and worn by exposure to the action of the waves from bottom to top. On the main plateau of the island stands the well-known " Sugar Loaf," all that is left of a similar formation by which it was formerly sur- rounded. Up to the very pinnacle this old monument bears the well-known smooth characteristics peculiar to the erosive action of water. North and west of Toronto the presence of a former high-water level is marked by ridges or sand bars, running parallel with Lake Ontario at different alti- tudes, ranging from 100 to 600 feet above its present water level. These ridges have been formed according as the water retreated, and are not confined to Toronto, but similar ones are found in the neighborhood of all the great lakes. If the water again attained its former level, all the cities bordering on the lakes would be entirely submerged, and Toronto would be buried at the bottom of a sea, the waters of which would roll '.e 46 AGE OF CREATION. over two hundred feet above the top of the spire of St. James' Cathedral, on King Street, its present height being 316 feet. Another ridge lies along the south side of Lake On- tario, and has been found to exactly coincide with the summit of the' country between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, both oing of an equal height — 392 feet. From observations made on the great lakes of North America, and the formation of their ancient beaches, Dr. Andrews, of Chicago, has demonstrated the man- ner in which the Drift occurred. He points out the changes of level which formerly took place, and the rapidity with which the lakes fell and rose, and estab- lishes an identification of the alluvium, known as loess, with the period of the formation of the middle beach. " The loess," he observes, " is not a continua- tion of the boulder clay, as is often supposed ; on the contrary, it is separated from the true drift by a stratum of vegetable mould, marked with subserial denudations, showing that a period of dry land and vegetation intervened between the close of the Drift and the submergence called the loess.'" He also shows that the Drift period closed abruptly by the sudden retirement of the waters. " it should be observed," h says, " that our lakes have existed ever since the close of the Drift period, a time which is rather sharply defined, because the close of the Drift in this region occurred with a suddenness unusual in geological phenomena." Of the formation of the three concentric beach lines ANCIENT WATER MARKS. 47 of Lake Michigan, Dr. Andrews shows that the "upper beach, which appears all around the lakes where not worn away by subsequent erosion, and which originally must have been level, has now been thrown into a sinuous form, showing that the country has undergone changes of level since that time." As this shore line must have been originally level it is held that its present distorted grade can only be due to flexures of the strata of the continent occurring since the beach was laid down. The fall of waters from the line of the upper beach appears to have been very sudden. This he explains by a peculiarity in the contour of the deposit, which is of a uniform nature in all the sand shores of this part of the coast. Going out into the lake the bottom gradually descends from the water line to a depth of about five feet, when it rises again on a recession from the shore, and then descends towards deep water, forming a subaqueous ridge or " bar " parallel to the beach, and some ten or twenty rods from the shore. The upper beach pre- serves its old bar perfectly, as if the lake had left it but yesterday. This is an indication that the waters receded rapidly, for had it occupied even two months in receding from the bar the waves would have torn it to pieces ; and furthermore, there are no sand ridges between the upper and middle beaches. The waves of Lake Michigan act upon their shores with tremen- dous force, and they could not possibly effect a slow retreat without leaving marks which no time could erase. When a subsidence took place the waters fell, ■HI M 48 AGE 0¥ CHKATION. not to the midrlle beach, but to the lower one. They " fell to about the preseTit level so suddenly that they not only left the subaqueous 'bar' almost undisturbed, but they did not throw up a single intermediate beach line, whicii, at the rate of sand deposit prevailing in this region, would have been visible if there had been a pause even of six months. The waters remained here long enough for a thin stratum of peat to form, and then rose again over the soil bed and deposited the middle beach upon it." The deluge of the middle beach, he has discovered, went temporarily much higher, and deposited a stratum of muddy gravel over the black soil which had accumulated on the upper beach. The water remained at this upper limit for a very brief period — not long enough to lay down a definite shore line. The higher part of this inunda- tion he identifies as the true analogue of the loess deluge. " From the upper edge of the middle beach, the wav::;r receded very slowly .... throwing up, where the sand supply was most abundant, numerous parallel ridges. It then fell, perhaps, ten feet more pretty rapidly, to the upper part of the present beach leaving a continuous valley between the middle and the modern sands. This last recession, however, was not so sudden as that from the upper line, as shown by the fact that the subaqueous bar was demolished by the retiring wave action, and a considerable amount of sand was left between the middle and lower beaches." When in America Sir Charles Lyeli visited Toronto, and afterwards, in referring to the ridges and other AXCIENT WATEK >fAHKS. 49 marks of ancient levels between it and Lake Siincoe, said : " With the exception of the parallel roads or shelves in Glen Roy, and some neighboring glens of the Western Highlands, in Scotland, I never saw so remarkable examples of banks, terraces and accumu- lations of stratified gravel, sand and clay maintaining over wide areas so perfect a horizontality as in this district north of Toronto."* As a definite result of general geological research it has been ascertained that a perfectly equable shift of level to a height of at least 2,000 feet has been effected in times past on the surface of the globe. This con- formity in the change of level is not confined to any particular locality, but extends all over the world — in America, Britain, France, Switzerland and Scandinavia. Its universal equality of range shows that the dis- turbing movement was not of a local nature. This has been proved in comparing the lands of one coun- try with those of another, by which some of them have been found exactly to coincide with each other. Respecting this wonderful coincidence of parity and uniformity of level, Robert Chambers long ago re- marked : " There is, nevertheless, enough to justify a question regarding imiformity of level, not only throughout North America, but also — bold as the idea may, in the present state of knowledge and of hy- pothesis, appear — the old and the new continents. It has certainly appeared to myself, to say the least, a promising prognostic of some important new views • ** Travel* in North America," Vol. U., p. 106. m ,} m Ml 50 AGE OF CREATrON. i i 'i 1 ') rep;artling a chapter in the past history of the globe, when, it being granted that terraces and benches of land are marks of ancient levels of the sea, I find that a tendency to a bench form or plateau, at sixty, or from sixty to seventy, feet above present high water, exists on the coasts of the "' '^.ed States and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as it t. js in Britain ; that con- spicuous terraces in Britain and in France, at 188 and 392 feet, are repeated in America ; that there, also, at about o4!i) feet, are several repetitions of a decided and most notable Scottish terrace, and that Scott built his house of Abbotsford on an ancient soa beach beside the Tweed, which finds an analogue in the first of the grand ridges sweeping from east to west behind Toronto."* The peninsula of Scandinp * i presents some striking proofs of a former change c tcI. At a distance of at least fifty miles inland from the ^", coast the rocky sides of the Norwegian fjords bear the usual terrace lines to a height of over 600 feet above the level of the sea. The Siberian coast east of the River Lena, for a distance of 600 miles, is characterized by similar markings. So, also, are the islands of Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen. In South America, along the west- ern coast, terraces have been traced on the frontier of Bolivia at various heights above the sea. In the mountain regions of Chili they exist at 1,000 feet, and as high as 1,300 feet near Valparaiso. The whole South American continent shows con- •>♦ «« Ancient Sea Margins," p. 316. ANCIENT WATEK MARKS. 51 vincinc: evidence of a former elevation and subsidence. For a distance of 1,200 miles, from the Kio Plata to Terra del Fuego, the land has been formerly raised, and in Patagonia to a height of between 800 and 400 feet. Speaking of the western coast Darwin says that "marine remains occur at intervals, and in some parts almost continuously, from lat. 45" .'}')' to 12" S. alono- the shores of the Pacific. This is a distance, in a north and south line, of 2,07o geographical miles. Along this great line of coast, besides the organic re- mains, there are in very many parts marks of erosion, caves, ancient beaches, sand-(lunes and successive ter- races of gra'^el, all above the present level of the sea. Judging from the upraised shells alone the elevation in Chili has been 350 feet ; at Conception certainly 025 feet, and by estimation 1,000 feet; at Valparaiso, 1,300 feet ; at Coquimbo, 252 feet ; northward of this place shells have not, I believe, been found above 300 feet ; and at Lima they were falling into decay at 85 feet. Not only has this amount of elevation taken place within the period of existing moUusca and cirripedes, but their proportional numbers in the exist- ing sea have in most cases remained the same." In Ej 3tern Terra del Fuego the occurrences of similar I. races led Darwin to believe "that the entire breadth of cbe continent of Central Patagonia has been uplifted in mass." In North America river terraces rancjinfy in altitude from 100 to 250 feet in height above the present level of the water exist along the Missouri, Connecticut, 'J M o2 AGE OF CREATION. Hudson, Mohawk, Genesee and other rivers. These show that the producing cause was not confined solely to the coast, but was peculiar to the entire continent. Raised beaches also occur in New Zealand. In the more northern and southern countries some of the beaches are not quite horizontal, but are found to rise in height in the direction of the poles. These facts con- clusively prove that an upward and downward polar shift of the globe has occurred and at a period of com- paratively recent date. If the terraces had been caused by a slow and gradual change of level, the uniform space between them could not have been maintained. This .shows that the movements must have been in^itantaneous, and that the waters by wdiich they were formed sud- denly fell or were raised from one terrace to another. Many similar instances might be cited in proof of former changes of level having taken place simultane- ously throughout the entire globe, but the facts are so well known to geologists that no further confirmation is necessary. It is ccU old story now, worn threadbare by constant repetition in the endeavor to find its solu- tion. But when the vast and mighty changes that have occurred in times past are seriously considered, it would be idle to account for their origin by the gradual action of the known physical agencies now in operation. A LLU VI AL DEPOSITS, 53 CHAPTER V. ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. ■vv ;HE great rivers all over the globe bear unn:istak- able evidence of once havinjj been Qorjjed with a much greater volume of water than they now con- tain. The ba* ks of the principal American rivers for liundreds of miies are lined with a thick coating of alluvial deposit, forming extensive lines of cliffs which rise far above the present bottoms of the valleys. It consists of a pure sediment of unstratified mud, as tine in texture as though it had been ground in a mor- tar, and contains the remains of land and fresh-water shells, toijether with traces of former veijetation. This deposit is known as loess, and is similar in charac- ter and in the nature of its vegetable and concholog- ical genera to the loamy deposits of the basins of the Rhine and Danube, in Europe, and the Nile, in Egypt. A vast quantity of floating sediment is still being washed down by these and other large rivers, into the trunks of which it is deposited by the tributaries and streams which drain the slopes of the surrounding countries. Year after year the sediment is being car- ried far out into the sea, or dumped on obstructions in the course of the rivers, where the accumulations have increased to an enormous extent, contributing to 1 1 ■ ^11 54 AGE OF CREATION. the formation of broad deltas, such as exist at the mouths of the Nile and the Mississippi. The immense deposits of alluvial and sedimentary matter forming the delta of the latter river, in North America, are supposed by (geologists to have been the accumulation of the debris of that river for a very ex- tended period of time. They are many hundred feet deep, and cover an area of 25,000 or 30,000 square miles. Assuming a continual uniformitj'^ in the rate of deposition, estimates have been formed as to the length of time required for the Mississippi to discharge such a vast amount of sedimentary mrterial, by tak- ing into consideration the quantity of fluviatile matter carried annually in the flow of the river, which is sup- posed to have entirely formed the great alluvial plain or delta at its mouth. A conclusion has been arrived at that an immense lapse of ages has been necessary to allow of the formation of the delta at present existing at the entrance to the Mississippi River. If the delta of the Mississippi had been of the same gradual formation in all time past as at present, and the quantity of sediment deposited at the present rate of accumulation, it could easily be understood why such periods of time would have been necessary for the process of formation. But there is every indica- tion that the forces at work acted with far greate" in- tensity in former timts, for the Mississippi would re- quire a much greater velocity than it now possesses to deposit, within a reasonable period, such an immense quantity of diluvium. A geological examination of tb( !:i! ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. 56 the country in the neijrhborhood of the river, near its entrance, according to Lyell, shows that the surface material rests upon an immense Drift deposit of sand and gravel, containing fragments of palsBOZoic rock and silicified coral, and the latter upon a lower Tertiary. In^several secrjons of the bluff near the mouth of the river vegetable remains and stumps of erect cj^press trees have been observed in the strata one 'above the other, corresponding exactly wich the formation of the alluvial plain or delta at its mouth. The latter bears the same geological structure as the neishborinfj land throuo-h which the river flows, show- ing that it was once a continuous portion of the main- land, and that during a change of level it has been sub- merged by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Had it not been for this obstruction the sediment now floated down would in all probability have been carried farther out into the Gulf of Mexico. At the mouth of the river there are deposits of several acres in extent, known as " mud-lumps," in which salt springs exist. An inflam- mable gas also rises to the surface upon them. It is highly probable that the bases of these were formed by the debris of the Glacial floods being deposited in submerged forests which are known to exist in the neighborhood, and the whole covered with a discharge of sediment from the mouth of the Mississippi. These saline springs, no doubt, owe their origin to beds of oceanic salt which would likely be deposited there at the time of the vertical movement which caused the change of level. The decay of submerged vegetable ■1.1 56 AGE OF CRKATIOX. matter would also form the gas which forces its way through the soft alluvium and rises to the surface. The southern shore of the United States bears every evidence of a former submergence and elevation, and of having been eroded originally by the Gulf of Mexico. There are many peculiarities connected with the Mississippi explainable by the former changes of level, and which will be found applicable to all the large rivers in the world. Whether a river Hows east, or west, or north, or south, a similar increase or decrease in its volume of water would result if a change of level took place. The Amazon, the Nile, the Ganges, the Hoang Ho, and all other great mud-carriers, have in a former time had their ups and downs in like manner, and at the same geological period as the Mississippi ; and the originating causes of the one will be found to explain the geological peculiarities of all the others. In estimating the age of rivers by the deltas at their mouths a uniformity in the rate of sedimentary deposition has been generally assumed, under the impression that the physical operations now in force have been the same in all time past. But such has not been the case. " If we could take for granted," says Lyell, " that the relative level of land and sea had remained stationary ever since all the existing deltas began to be formed — could we assume that their growth commenced at one and the same instant when the present contine -^ acquired their actual shape — we might understand the language of geologists who speak of 'the epoch of land trial havin of lev of N( equal] tuatio Water Th( basin ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS. 57 existing continents.' They endeavor to calculate the age of deltas from this imaginary fixed period ; and they calculate the gain of new land upon the sea, at the mouths of rivers, as having begun everywhere simultaneously. But the more we study the history of deltas the more we become convinced that upward and doiumvard movements of the land and contiguous bed of the sea have exerted, and continue to exert, an influence on the physical geography of niany hydro- graphical basins, on a scale comparable in magnitude or importance to the amount of fluxatile deposition effected in an equal lapse of time. In the basin of the Mississippi, for example, proofs both of descend- ing and ascending movements to a vertical amount of several hundred feet can be shown to have taken place since the existing species of land and fresh water shells lived in that region. The deltas also of the Po and Ganges have each, when probed by the artesian auger, borne testimony to a gradual subsidence of land to the extent of several hundred feet — old terres- trial surfaces, turf, peat, forest, land and 'dirt beds' having been pierced at various depths. The changes of level at the mouth of the Indus, in Cutch, and those of New Madrid, in the valley of the Mississippi, are equally instructive, as demonstrati' g unceasing fluc- tuations in the levels of those areas into which running water is transporting sediment."* The change of level so distinctly marked in the basin of the Mississippi may be explained by a sud- • *' Principles of Geology," p. 1G5. flK 58 AGE OF CREATION. I den upward shift of the North Pole. After an in- terval of time to allow of the accu,mulation of the loess, a downward polar movement would result in producing the physical peculiarities of the Mississippi, as well as the formation of the delta at its mouth, by means of the accompanying elevation and its detach- ment from the mainland by the force of the waters. Admittinof a chanfje in the axis of the earth's rotation as the cause of the former changes of level, and con- siderincj the enormous majinitude of the disturbins: force, it will be seen that a much shorter period of time would meet the requirements of sedimentary de- position than that based on the present rate of forma- tion. The age of the delta of the Mississippi has been estimated at from 5,000 to 70,000 years, and that of the Nile, in Egypt, at from 0,350 years upwards. But the unreliability of these figures will be seen at a glance when the former agencies which were at work are taken into account. Along the southern coasts of Asia, and especially in India, there is distinct evidence of a great change of level having occurred during the Glacial period. In India a vast area of country is inundated with what is known as the Himalayan mud, which has been compared to the loess of Europe and America. Ac- cording to Lyell, " the vast plains of Bengal are over- spread with Himalayan mud, which, as we ascend the Ganges, extends inland for 1,200 miles from the sea, continuing very homogeneous on the whole, though becoming more sandy as it nears the hills. ... To AM.UVIAL DEPOSITS. 59 what depth the mud extends is not known, but it resembles the loess in beinj^ generally devoid of strati- fication and of shells, though containing occasionally land shells in abundance, as well as calcareous concre- tions called kunkur, which may be compared to the nodules of carbonate of lime sometimes observed to form layers in the Rhenish loess. . . . Borings have been made at Calcutta, beginning not many feet above the sea level, to a depth of 300 and 400 feet. . At the bottom of the borings, after passing through much fine loam, beds of pebbles and boulders were reached, such as might belong to an ancient river channel ; and the bones of a crocodile and the shell of a fresh-water tortoise imbedded in it were met with at the depth of 400 feet from the surface. No pebbles are now brou^jht down within a jjreat distance of this point, so that the country must once have had a to- tally different character, and may have had its valleys, hills and rivers before all was reduced to one common level by the accumulation upon it of fine Himalayan mud. If the latter were removed during a gradual re-elevation of the country many old hydrographical basins might reappear, and portions of the loam might alone remain in terraces, on the flanks of hills, or on platforms attesting the vast extent, in ancient times, of the muddy envelope."* Here is distinct evidence of a former change of level on this part of the globe, accompanied by a vast inundation, in which beds of gravel, sand and boul- * *' Antiquity of Man." p. 336. 60 AGE OF CREATION. ders were deposited over the then existing surface, at a great distance from their present accumulation. An elevation of the North Pole would produce this result, for the change of level would cause a submergence of the lands on°that side of the globe. Allowing an in- terval of time for the accumulation of the alluvium, a subsequent lowering of the North Pole would pro- duce the existing effects, and result in the present dis- tribution of the land and water in the East. ii I iii'! JFORMER VOLCANIC EFFECTS. 61 CHAPTER VI. FORMEn VOLCANIC EFFECTS. HILE the raging waters of the Glacial floods have left behind an indelible imprint of havoc and destruction, vast eruptions of volcanic mat- ter in many parts of the globe bear testimony to the intensity of the igneous forces which accompanied them. The terrific eruptions of Vesuvius, ^Etna and other volcanoes in modern times are feeble emissions in comparison with the immense and violent out- bursts of lava, scoriae and ashes that resulted from the upward and downward movements of the earth in the later Tertiary periods. Modern volcanic dis- turbance is characterized by rumbling subterraneous noises, accompanied with convulsive earthquakes and a discharge of vapor and molten lava, which is ejected with stupendous force many thousand feet into the air. Here the vapors spread like a broad canopy, occasionally becoming condensed and descending in a deluge of rain, ashes and mud, in such quantities as to completely inundate the surrounding country. Dark clouds of cinders and fine dust hover over the moun- tain top and the adjoining neighborhood for many miles, while streams of liquid lava pour down in torrents from its summit. Over this a crust is rapidly II 62 AGK OP CREATION. lilt* formed by exposure, enveloping the country for miles in a shroud of complete desolation. In Iceland, in 1788, the volcano of Skaptur Jokul alone poured out a volume of lava of not less than 655,000,000,000 cubic yards. In some places the mol- ten material attained a thickness of over 490 feet. Ac- cording to Prof, Buschoff the mass of lava poured out from the subterranean regions by this eruption sur- passed in magnitude the bulk of Mount Blanc, in Switzerland. The volcano was cleft open and two great streams of fire escaped, flowing in opposite directions. One attained a length of fifty miles, with an estimated breadth of from twelve to fifteen miles ; the other being about forty-five miles long and about seven miles wide. The streams attained an average height of 100 feet, but sometimes rose as hifjh as 600 c5 ' c5 feet in the narrow defiles. A torrent of lava, in many places from 400 to 600 feet in depth and nearly 200 feet in breadth, was poured forth inco the channel of the Skapta, entirely filling up the rocky gorge and overflowing the neighborhood for a considerable dis- tance. After flowing for several days the molten lava plunged over the tremendous cataract of Stapafoss, filling up the deep gorge which had formerly been hollowed out by the fall of the water. Previous to the eruption of Skaptur Jokul a sub- marine volcano burst out of the sea at a distance of 200 miles from the mainland, and ejected pumice to such an extent that the ocean was covered with that substance for a distance of 150 miles. A new island hav( dur: beei ated of even ous FORMER VOLCANIC EFFECTS. 63 was formed called Nyoe, from which eruptions also took place, but it disappeared again during the follow- i^ig year.- The eruptive nature of Vesuvius, and its destructive effects in times past, when Heiculaneum, Pompeii and Stabile were overwhelmed, is well known. In 1872 Vesuvius poured out a molten stream of lava 3,000 feet wide and 20 feet deep, and shot forth volumes of scoriae, fire and smoke to a height of 4,000 feet amid a roar like that of distant artillery. In Cen- tral America an eruption of Coseguina covered the neighboring country with a layer of ashes IG feet thick for a distance of 25 miles. Ashes fell in Jamaica, 800 miles away, and the noise of the explosion was distinctly heard at Bogota, a distance of 1,025 miles. The quantity of lava emitted was not less than 6o,- 500,000,000 cubic yards. The Gulf of Santorin, in the Grecian Archipelago, is known to have been the scene of volcanic eruptions for at least 2,000 years ; and there is geological evi- dence to prove that the whole mass of Santorin for- merly stood at a higher level by 1,200 feet. Similar volcanic disturbances of equal intensity have taken place all over the globe in modern times, during which hundreds of, thousands of lives have been lost, and many cities and towns entirely obliter- ated. If, then, such destructive results are the effect of volcanic action in the earth's natural course of events, what must have been the intensity of the igne- ous force and disturbance during the Drift epoch, 64 AGE OF CREATFON. when the globe itself had been tilted out of position, if the shocks were the result of a sudden displacement of its axis of rotation ? But there is no need to draw on the imagination for the result : the . cient lava sheets of the later Tertiary speak for themselves. This period bears the marks of two great volcanic disturb- ances of stupendous magnitude, in the building up of great mountain cones and the extraordinary outflow of molten lava. Along the west coast of Africa and in California the ancient lavas are spread over the country in most striking forms. In North America, during the eruptions, the neighboring river channels were filled with outflowing lava; nnd, as an accom- panying change of level took place, the river drainage consequently became altered. The modern streams, in some instances, have cut a passage across the more ancient lava-filled river beds ; and where the erosion has taken place along parallel lines, the interlying lava- topped formations are known os table mountains. In other places the rivers have excavated new chan- nels alongside the hard lava, leaving the ancient sheets, which cover the former river bottoms, resting on elongated ridges. With a repetition of the continental upheaval, and during the process of re-elevation, gigantic crevices and fissures were rent in the solid rock, extending perpendicularly to a great depth. Into these deep fissures rushed voluminous torrents of water, which swept through the mountains with teriffic velocity, excavating and eroding the softer portions of the she at coa,^ is pro Mid Lace flow ineq FORMEll VOLCANIC EFFECTS. 65 surroundinfv rocks, and leaving those of harder com- position standing in numerous peaks and isolated domes. The Grand Canon of Colorado is a mighty gorge through a bed of solid rock 300 miles long and from 3,000 to 6,000 feet deep. The gorges of the north and south forks of the American River are rent through solid slate to a depth of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and others through hard granite at various depths ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. The Columbia River has found a passage through the entire Cascade range of mountains, leaving its gigantic peaks standing as the result of the erosion. The walls of the great canons, extending for miles, are formed entirely of lava, rising to a height of from 2,500 to 3,500 feet above the surface of the river. Through fissures in the mountain range the lava poured in torrents, extending in one continuous sheet across the eastern part of Oregon to the Blue Moun- tains. In Sierra Nevada the flow also overspread the country to an enormous extent, building up large iso- lated volcanic accumulations, and forming vast lava sheets through which river channels at present exist at a depth of from 500 to 800 feet. The western coast of America, from California to British Columbia, is completely inundated with ancient lava, forming probably the largest area known. " Commencing in Middle California in separate stroams," according to Laconte, " in Northern California it becomes a flood, flowing over and completely mantling the smaller inequalities, and flowing around the greater irregu- m^ ^M 66 AGE OF CREATION. larities of surface ; while in North orn Oregon and Wasliington it becomes an absolutely univ^ersal flood, beneath which the whole original face of the country, with its hills and dales, mountains and valleys, lies buried several thousand feet. It covers the greater portion of Northern California and North-western Ne- vada, nearly the whole of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and runs far into Montana and British Colum- bia on the north. Its eastern and southern limits are not well known, but its extent cannot be less tha.ii 1.' 0,000 to 200,000 square miles, with a thickness of 3,000 to 4,000 feet in its thickest part, where cut through by the Columbia river." The magnitude of the former eruptions may be in- ferred from the fact that the molten lava flowed for hundreds of miles in a liquid condition, while in modern eruptions the flow generally accumulates near the vent, and seldom extends over more than a com- pars^tively small area. Many lava eruptions take place through fissures in the mountain side ; and so copious has been the flow in times \. \st that great volcanic cones, thousands of feet in ^ight, have been entirely built up, and owe their origin to this source alone. The great basin ranges through Utah, California and Arizona, east of the Sierra Nevada, are mainly the re- sult of former volcanic disturbance. The great basin of the West, stretching from the Sierra Nevada to the Wasatch Mountains, at this period was a scene of tre- mendous volcanic action. The surface of the land and the waters of the lakes were deluged with ashes, FORMER VOLCANIC EFFECTS. 67 which, accordinj^ to Newberry, were "in some in- stances ten or twenty feet in thickness. At other times the volcanic action was still more intense, and floods of lava were poured out which formed continu- ous sheets hundreds of miles in extent, penetrating far into the lake basins, and giving to their floors bottoms of solid basalt."* In Europe many mountains and gigantic lava cones were formed, and vast basaltic eruptions took place, during the two great continental upheavals of the Tertiary period. In France the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne consist of three separate groups, and ex- tend for a distance of 100 miles in a north and south direction, and range from 20 to 80 miles in width. The trachytic outflows are spread over an extensive area. The ancient lava streams may be traced for a distance of many miles, and in some places have filled valleys half a mile in width to a depth of 150 feet. The district surrounding the extinct volcanoes of Mont Dore, the Cantal and Mont Mezin are covered with im- mense beds of scoriae and pumice, and floods of basalt. At the foot of the Pyrenees, in the north-east of Spain, in the Appeiiines, in Central Italy, and in Sar- dinia, there are extensive groups of extinct volcanic cones of the Tertiary period. According to Judd, all through Northern and part of Western Bavaria, as well as in Central Germany, isolated hills of basalt occur by hundreds ; and the volcanic district of Schem- nitz, in Hungary, is a vast extinct volcanic centre, * Hayden and Selwyn's " North America." p. 131. 68 AGE OF CREATION. covering an area of 50 miles, in whinh lava cones were formed in abundance. The Madeira Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, the islpnds of Ascension, St. Helena, the Azores, Cape Verde and Canary Islands, were in a state of intense volcanic activity during Tertiary times. In Asia Minor, Central Asia and the Caucasus there are many remarkable groups of extinct volcanoes. In Great Britain the islands of Mull and Skye were originally parts of a vast plateau of ba- saltic lava nearly 2,000 feet deep, a great portion of which has been washed away by denudation. Its cir- cumference is estimated by Judd to have been 40 miles, and its height not less than 14,500 feet. Volcanic eruptions of a similar nature took place in India during the same geological period. Commenc- ing on the southern line c f the Vindhya and Aravulli ranges, the outflow of trap in some places attained (j thickness of about 4,000 feet, covering an estimated area in Central India of 200,000 square miles. All over the globe there is ample evidence of two eruptive outbursts of enormous magnitude, accom- panied by continental changes of level, having oc- curred during the geological period which marks that greatest of modern terrestrial disturbances — the Gla- cial epoch. One of these lava sheets being more ancient than the other it is evident that an interval of time existed between each disturbance, and these were undoubtedly the result of the same cause which produced the accompanying changes of level, viz., an upward and down^' ird shift of the North Pole. NORTH AMERICAN PRAIRIES. 69 CHAPTER VII. NORTH AMERICAN PRAIRIES. " Lo! they stretch In airy undulations, far away, As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell, Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed And motionless forever. Motionless ! They are all unchanged again. The clouds Sweep over with their shadows, and, beneath. The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye ; Dark hollows seem to glide along, and chase The sunny ridges, " — W. C. Bryant, [HE vast and extensive prairies of North America, and the broad and waving pampas and savan- nahs of the South, are remarkable features of striking admiration peculiar to the New World. Millions of acres of treeless land, covered with a rich, arable diluvial deposit, are characteristic of the whole North American continent. Far as the eye can reach appears one vast expanse of boundless meadow, to which there appears to be no terminable limit. Gently undulat- ing, the land is sometimes rolling, and again reaches an almost unbroken level ; not a tree to be seen for miles, and then only in isolated places. These plains are covered with rank and succulent grasses and plants, which attest the rich, produtive nature of the soil. 70 AGE OF CREATION. The absence of trees long ago attracted attention, and many theories have been advanced as to the cause. Some have supposed the plains to have been cleared of forests by prehistoric races, while others attribute their removal to devastating fires occurring in primi- tive times. But with the particulars of the Drift explained there is no difficulty in understanding the origin of the treeless nature of the prairies. Over these plains the Glacial floods made a clean sweep, with a force that could not be dammed back by a wall of rock itself, rooting up trees bodily and carrying them oft' with the ease of a Western cyclone. The soil itself bears satisfactory evidence of having been accu- mulated under water. The rich, black, arable mould, several feet thick, is plainly a sediment deposited by water. In this soil fresh-water shells and other re- mains have been found, indicating that the land had been completely submerged. Over this inundated land vegetation soon found a foothold after the waters retreated. Grasses and flowers sprang up ; the sum- mer's heat and winter's snow of centuries contributed, with the annual decay of vegetation, to what is now a sward of rich and fertile land spread over a country abounding with animal life, and unequalled for agri- cultural purposes by any in the world. Previous to the Drift the vegetation of North America was very similar to that now existing. Ac- cording to Lesquereux and Newberry, oak, hickory, poplar, maple, mulberry, hornbeam, box-elder, laurel, bay, dogwood, sumac, olive, buckthorn, magnolia, smi- lax, white cedar, sequoiaj, cypress and sabal flourished. NORTH AMERICAN PRAIRIES. 71 m and show the greatest affinity with species of our own time. This fact is another indication of the modern age of the Drift, and that the event occurred at a time so recent that the flora of the American continent was exactly identical with that of the present day. The great alkali plains of the Canadian North- West and the United States deserts owe their origin to the Drift. The soil is thoroughly saturated with alkali, barren, and the water unfit for use. Here the salt water of the ocean evaporated, after strewing the contents of its basin over the surface. This formed great lakes in some places to which there was no out- let, and the water gradually evaporated, forming a crystallized deposit of salt on the bottom of the now extinct lakes. In some parts of the prairies the land is a solid bed of §tiff clay, on which is deposited a layer of alkali srlt three or four inches thick, with a top covering of vegetable mould. Millions of acres of land of this description are to be found in Canada alone, and the whole topography of the country may be traced to Glacial action. The great chain of North American lakes found an outlet in the St. Lawrence River, thus drawing off the salt water with which they were flooded, and contributions from the clouds pro- moted the maintenance of a supply of fresh water. Otherwise these lakes must have remained as inland oceans of salt water. In some portions of the country every valley, every hollow, and every depression on the surface, was filled with brine, and innumerable shallow ponds were formed from which the imprisoned waters found no escape except by evaporation. Into these ' t 72 AGE OF CREATION. II lakes the oozinof mud and drainage from the hills and ridges were washed down by rains until gradually the salt disappeared beneath the mud and marl, and vege- tation soon found a foothold. When the continent regained its former level the lakes gradually dis- appeared, leaving behind a surface of argillaceous matter and alkali, to be scorched and dried up by the heat of the sun, forming the great barren alkali plains which abound over the North American continent. There can be no doubt that the courses of the large rivers in America, and the great chain ot* Canadian lakes, stretching in one long curve from the north to the south-east, owe their present peculiarities and their origin to the Drift epoch. The indented land across the north of the whole of British America bears every appearance of having been violently torn open by the mighty icebergs of the North sweeping down the face of the continent. The broken and shattered rocky northern shores of the vast lakes, the deserts of alkali, the transported rocks and drirt, show plainly the traces of violent action ; while the rich valleys of the southern shores are covered by unmistakable traces of alluvial de- posits, showing how destructive and widespread was the havoc caused by the flood. Here, at an elevation of from 300 to 600 feet above the sea level, nearly one-half of all the fresh water in the world is now accumulated. The pampas of South America bear a similar geo- logical formation as the prairies of the North, and their origin may be also traced to the same source. ten( the they si f 111 like belo^ a ste( iagoo An land THE CORAL REEFS. 73 CHAPTER VIII. THE CORAL REEFS. '"vjK^HE dread of mariners and the wonder and aston- (^ ishment of travellers, the coral islands emerge from the waves or rise to a small depth below the sur- face, forming one of the most conspicuous features of the ocean. Spreading in clusters over the Pacific and Indian Oceans, they at once attract attention by the variety and beaiity of their scenery and the curious nature of their structure. Rising abruptly from the bottom of the sea, some of the reefs circle round an enormous area for miles, enclosing a vast lagoon of smooth, bright green water, protected on all sides from the fury of the surging breakers by which they are surrounded. These are known as atolls. Others ex- tend in straight lines a short distance off the shores of the mainland, or encircle smaller islands from which they are separated by a broad, smooth area of water, similar to that lying within the atolls. Externally, like the latter, they rise abruptly from the depth below, while internally they occasionally terminate in a steep perpendicular wall, or gradually slope into the lagoon. Another class known as fringing reefs border the land shores, extending but a short distance out into the 6 ;ii 74 AGE OF CREATION. water where the coast terminates abruptly, or spread still further as the inclination of the land extends, but only till a certain and requisite depth is attained. These three classes — the atolls, barrier reefs and fring- ing reefs — represent the form of the coral islands in general. On these a luxuriant tropical vegetation has obtained a foothold, and some of the choicest pro- ductions of the tropics flourish. Tall, waving cocoa- nut trees relieve the monotony of the surroundinij ocean, and add materially to the habitation of the islands. Numerous birds of oceanic species, such as terns, gannets and frigate birds, find a place of abode in the islands ; while turtles and other marine animals abound in the lagoons and waters of the surround- intr sea, all contributing to form what are now the most conspicuous wonders of the ocean. The great Polynesian archipelago is composed almost entirely of coral islets, reef-chains and groups of atolls, forming one of the great geographical divisions of the globe. Many of these islands are of vast extent, and some of the groups spread over an enormous area. The Radick group of atolls, as described by Darwin, "is an irregu- lar square 520 miles long and 240 broad ; the Low archipelago is elliptic-formed, 840 miles in its longer, and 420 in its shorter, axis. There are other small groups and single low islands between these two archi- pelagos, making a linear space of ocean actually more than 4,000 miles in length, in which not one single island rises above the specified height. Again, in the Indian Ocean there is a space of ocean 1,500 miles in in I that I THE CORAL REEFS. 75 iM u lenj^th, includinpf three archipelagos, in which everj^ island is low and of coral formation."* Between New Guinea and Australia a coral forma- tion extends for 700 miles, and on the east side of the latter are 350 miles of unbroken reefs, and a chain of reefs and islets runs on the south-west of Mala- bar alone 480 miles in length. The island of New Caledonia is encircled at both ends bv a barrier reef 400 miles long, which extends in a continuous line beyond its northern limit for a distance of 150 miles. The reef is broken in many parts, and includes several separate and distinct rocky islands of various heights, The depth within the lagoon channel varies from GO to 336 feet, while externally the reef rises abruptly out of the ocean. In some places the lagoon channels are very deep, ranging from 100 to 200 fathoms in depth, dividing separately what appears to have been formerly one distinct atoll. In each of the different classes of reefs similar passages form an entrance from the dashing breakers of the foaming sea without to the smooth and serene waters of the lagoons within. The coral of which the rockv domes of the reefs are composed was formerly supposed to be a marine plant, owing to its shrub-like form, and the soft, glutinous nature of the coating with which branches are covered while in the w^ater, but which immediately dries up and decays on exposure to the atmosphere. In 1727 Peyssonel, a French physician, discovered that the supposed plants were minute animals, and *" History and Geology," p. 467. 76 AGE OF CREATION. they were afterwards designated zoophytes by Lin- naeus, as indicating the twofold nature of an animal and a plant. Their general character is that of a polyp — by which they are also known — a small animal con- sisting of a stomach surrounded with radiating ten- tacles. An indefinite number of polyps may be at- tached together on a general frame or branch-like stalk. One of the most remarkable peculiarities con- nected with this class of animals is their extraordinary tenacity of life. " If a polj^-p be cut in two," remarks M. Trembloy, "the fore part, which contains the head and mouth and arms, lengthens itself, creeps and eats on the same day. The tail forms a new head and mouth ; at the wounded end shoot forth arms ; if turned inside out, the parts at once accommodate themselves to these new conditions. If the body were cut in ten pieces, every portion would become a new, perfect, living animal. A polyp has been cut length- wise at seven in the morning, and in eight hours afterwards each part has devoured a worm as long as itself! How astonishing it is to see a creature, so ap- parently frail in structure, possessing the actions, sen- sations and powers of higher organized beings ! The stomach is without membrane or cell ; the outside sur- face cells form a kind of double skin, and the inside consists of a wall of cells running crosswise, with a velvet-like surface, being red or brown grains held together by a gluey substance." To this class belong the coral lif era, a minute tribe of wonderful character, to which tlie rockv domes of the coral islands owe incr m -afcLi' --- THE CORAL REEFS. 77 their formation. Living mounds of coral-builders, hundreds (K miles in extent, work unceasingly in the formation of the wonderful groves and submarine forests of delicate branching corals so extensively spread over the tropical seas. Seen at work in their native element the forms and tints of the teeming millions of zoophytes shine and gleam through the clear crystal water, and present a radiant and brilliant appearance. They are described as of every shape — "some delicate and leaf -like ; others with large branch- ing; stems ; and others aofain exhibiting an assemblasfe of interlacing twigs of the most delicate and exquisite workmanship." Only in the water, however, do they present such an appearance, for immediately on ex- traction they shrivel and dry up rapidly. The soft, gelatinous body of the polyps unite the atoms of car- bonate of lime from the ocean into a hard, twisted substance of symmetrical structure. By this process large masses of solid rock are formed capable of resist- ing the violent action of the foaming waves more firmly than if formed of granite or the hardest rock. It has been formerly suj^posed that coral reefs were built from the bottom of the ocean, and that in the early stages of their operations the coral-builders worked perpendicularly, throwing up a breastwork to afford protection on the inward side from the violent action of the waters of the deep. But the latter has been found to be incorrect, for it is known that the corals growing on the exposed shore cannot live within the lagoon where the more delicate kinds exist. The : «: / 1.0 I.I 11.25 itt IIM 1^ Iff K^ us u 2.2 2.0 1.8 iA mil 1.6 Vi vQ ^;. VI hT c^J /y^ 4 -^ 4\^ % w.. vV m 92 AGE OF CREATION. by M. Albert Gaudry, at Pikermi, in Greece, resembled a dog-faced baboon, while remains of other species have been discovered, but only in an imperfect condi- tion. A great number of reptiles existed during the Ter- tiary period. In America the remains of the zeuglo- don, a great alligator-like animal allied to the whale, are found over the cotton lands of the Southern States. This animal had a head six feet long, its immense jaws being armed with a row of formidable teeth. Its length was about seventy feet. The gigantic amphibious batrachian, known as the salamander, lived during this period. It attained the dimensions of a crocodile. All the foregoing animals are now extinct, and various reasons have been assigned for their extinc- tion ; but the floods of the Drift epoch will be found correctly to explain the cause. In America the remains of the mastodon and ele- phant are mostly found in superficial deposits, in the bogs, swamps and shell -marl of lakelets and ponds, and in the river-gravel deposits. Some have been found in an erect position near the surface, as though they had but sunk in the bog. As these ancient lakelets, bogs and sedimentary accumulations owe their origin to the Drift, it is not difficult to see why these gigan- tic animals are now extinct. In these cases it would be an utter impossibility to assign to these bones a remote antiquity such as that variously ascribed to them. It would be hardly credible to suppose for a THE FAUNA OF THE TERTIARY PERIOD. 93 moment that these remains could have resisted disin- tegration, under unfavorable circumstances, for 5,000 years, much less a period of 100,000 or 200,000 years. In the case of the mammoth, where the animal was completely encased in frozen ice, the remains would undoubtedly be preserved for ages ; but the mammoth and the mastodon were contemporary, and both became extinct simultaneously. There is the clearest proof that these animals perished suddenly. In Siberia the remains are found in a vast assemblage, showing that the animals sought a place of safety ; while the trees of that geological period have been uprooted and blown down, presenting every trace of disorder and violence. Lyell quotes a letter to Baron Humboldt from Prof. Brandt, of St. Petersburg, giving particulars of the carcass of a rhinoceros obtained from Wiljuiskoi, in latitude 64°, from the banks of the Wiljui, a tributary of the Lena, by Pallas, in 1772 : " I have been so for- tunate as to extract from cavities in the molar ^eeth of the Wiljui rhinoceros a small quantity of its half- chewed food, among which fragments of pine leaves, one-half of the seed of a polygonaceous plant, and very minute portions of wood with porous cells (or small fragments of coniferous wood), were still recog- nizable. It was also remarkable, on a close investiga- tion of the head, that the blood vessels discovered in the interior of the mass appeared filled, even to the capillary vessels, with a brown mass (coagulated blood), r M f i-H 11 II 94 AGE OP CREATION. which in many places still showed the red color of blood."* The foregoing is a sure indication that the animal had been feeding just previous to its death when over- taken by the Post-glacial flood that rooted and tore up the trees, and swept the vast mammulian herds out of existence before they had any time to prepare for escape. In this manner perished all the gigantic mammals and nearly all the other strange animals of the Tertiary period which are now totally extinct. The deluge by which they were suddenly overtaken can be accounted for by a sudden downward shift of the North Pole from a vertical position. Dvring the Inter-glacial period, subsequent to an upward move- ment, the axis of the earth would occupy a position perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, resulting in a perpetual equinox. The Arctic region would then become open and habitable. In these high latitudes many of the great mammals of the Tertiary period roamed in thousands until a sudden downward move- ment of the North Pole brought upon them the waters of the Arctic Ocean, by which they were forever blot- ted out of existence. * " Principles of Geology," Vol. 1., p. 183. ■^r >dtlv wmm CAVE DEPOSITS. 95 CHAPTER X. CAVE DEPOSITS. tHE bone caves of Europe and America, which have been found to contain human and animal remains, are supposed by many to have formed the habitations of men or animals in primitive times, and are referred to as evidence of the great antiquity of man. They are mainly extensive, natural rocky cavi- ties of various size and irregular form, generally situated at some height above the level of the present watercourses, and communicating with the open air by fissures in the roof or ancient channels in the mountain side, through which a stream of water originally flowed. When first discovered these open- ings have been found choked up with detritus, and the caverns and their contents hermetically sealed. These were found to contain bones of extinct species of the bear, lion, rhinoceros, elephant, tiger, hyena, and other species still existent, together with human re- mains and implements of flint and stone, buried pell- mell in a mass of dark sandy sediment at the bottom of the caves. The remains are generally co^'ered with a thick layer of stalagmite, on the top of which rests a thin layer of surface soil, of which the floors of the caves are formed. Very rarely has the complete re- ;1 11 1 96 AGE OF CREATION. mains of any animal been disinterred, all found being fragments, detached and scattered over the floors of the caves. The bones of some of these animals have been found broken and cracked, rounded and polished, while others are in perfect condition, bearing no marks of violence whatever. Dispersed through the cave-mud have been found many species of land shells, mingled with bones of birds, and occasionally fish, etc. Comparatively few of thesi caves have been discovered containinof human bones. Out of eiorht hundred Brazilian caves examined bv Lund, only six contained human remains. Of forty- eight Belgian caves explored by Schmerling, in two or three only were human bones found. Still there are several instances where they have been discovered, and sufficient evidence has been obtained to prove beyond all doubt that man existed contemporaneously with the animals whose remains are found in the caves. The most remarkable of these bone-caverns are those of Gailenreuth. near Liecje, in Germany ; those of Britain — in Devonshire, Somersetshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire ; others in France ; anvi! those of Ken- tucky and Virginia, in America. Bone caves have been discovered in Australia of a similar nature to those of Europe and America, containing cemented fragments of bones of animals common to the same geological period. Many of these caves, containing the remains of man and his industry, together with the bones of extinct CAVE DEPOSITS. 97 species of animals, have been discovered throughout Europe. Among them is the celebrated cave known as Kent's Hole, in Devonshire, England. The principal cavern is about 600 feet long, into which emerge many fissures or crevices in tie surrounding rock from all directions. The floor of the cave, which was formed of a red sandy clay, was found strewn with a vast assem- blage of bones of extinct and existing animals, such as the mammoth, bear, lion, rhinoceros, hyena, reindeer, Irish elk, beaver, etc., together with numerous flint and bone implements. The whole mass was covered by a thick bed of ancient stalagnute, on which rested a thin layer of surface soil This cavern presented undoubted evidence of having been at a former period submerged under water, from which it afterwards emerged, and remained entirely closed till the day of its discovery. The celebrated cave at Brixham, opposite to the Bay of Torquay, was composed of several passages, with four entrances which were blocked up with breccia and other material. The main opening of the cave was found to be 78 feet above the vallev and 95 feet above ft/ the sea level, the opening being eight feet wide. The contents were found to consist of the bones of ele- phants, rhinoceros, bears, hyenas, lions, reindeer, horses, oxen, and rats and other rodents. No human remains were found, but many flint knives and other imple- ments. These lay on a bed of gravel and pebbles in which no remains were found, while a layer of reddish loam from two to thirteen feet thick, containing peb- bles and angular stones, overlaid the remains, the whole 98 AGE Of CREATION. brin^ covered with a layer of stalagmite from one to iifteen inches thick. The entire hind leg of a bear was found among the remains, which could only have been introduced when clothed in its flesh. The cave presented no appearance of ever having been inhabited by man or any other animal. The erosive action of the water on its walls could be distinctly traced, and at the time of its formation, as shown by a report made by Mr. Bristow to the Royal Society, the land was at a lower level to the extent of 95 feet, and that its mouth must have been then situated at or near the level of the sea. From the south of France many discoveries of these ossiferous caves have been reported, containing a simi- lar association of remains; and buried in the alluvium and gravel beds in the valley of the Somme human remains were found in company with the bones of extinct animals. Further discoveries in other places have resulted in the finding of arrow heads, flints, hatchets and other implements of stone, together with the crania of man and the bones of other animals. Many conjectures have been advanced as to the cause of such an assemblage. By some the caves are supposed to have been the habitations of man, owing to the presence of rude implements, flint arrow and spear heads, mingled with human bones, found in the caves. Others are of opinion that these caverns were sought f^ 'merly as places of refuge by animals broken down with old age, and compelled by instinct to seek a place of safety ; that they were afterwards inhabited CAVE DEPOSITS. 99 by a succession of human beings and animals, and that floods of running water may have displaced the re- mains and mingled them in the confused mass in which they have been found. Cuvier and the earlier geologists were of opinion that these ancient animals were destroyed in some terrible catastrophe, and that they had been engulfed during a great inundation ; but this idea is now generally abandoned by modern scientists, who assign their ex- tinction to local causes of a slow, successive nature, and principally to a gradual lowering of the tempera- ture, and for other natural reasons generally. Nearly all these bone caves have been found imbedded in the old channels of former rivers which have long since disappeared, and generally covered by a deposit of broken ; el and sand of the Boulder formation of the Drift 'ch. They are not artificial caves hewn out of the rojk, and bear no traces of mechanical excava- tion whatever, but are simply hollow cavities, consist- ing of numerous chambers, connecting with each other by long and narrow passages. Occasionally some are found several miles in length. The interior walls generally present traces of the erosive action of water, and the floors are covered with a thick coating of the calcareous deposit called stalagmite. This is a deposi- tion of carbonate of lime, formed by infiltrating water through the overlying limestone dripping into the in- terior of the cavern. As recorded in Lyell's "An- tiquity of Man," Liebig gives an instance, and thus describes its formation: "On the surface of Franconia, 100 AGE OP CREATION. where the limestone abounds in caverns, is a fertile soil in which ve^etible matter is continually decaying. This humus being acted on by moisture and air evolves carbonic acid, which is dissolved by rain. The rain- water thus impregnated permeates the porous lime- stone, dissolves a portion of it, and afterwards, when the excess of carbonic acid evaporates in the caverns, parts with the calcareous matter and forms stalactite. So long as water flows, even occasionally, through a suite of caverns, no layer of pure stalagmite can be produced ; hence the formation of such a layer is gen- erally an event posterior in date to the cessation of all system of drainage, an event which might be brought about by an earthquake causing new fissures, ur by the river wearing its way down to a lower level, and thenceforth running in a new channel. All of the caves are connected with the surface of the earth by narrow, oblique, or almost upright crevices choked up with soil and gravel; and in some placea the rents communicating with the surface are filled to the brim with rounded or half-rounded stones, angular pieces of limestone and shale, besides sand and mud, together with bones, chiefly of the cave-bear."'" It is a very prevalent and universal belief that these and other caves formed the habitations of primitive man ; but with the exception of a few isolated cases there is no ground whatever for such a supposition. Man and the animals could not inhabit the caves simultaneously. The presence of flint arrow heads •LyeU'a "Antiquity of Man." CAVE DEPOSITS. 101 and implements show clearly that man in those days knew how to protect and defend himself against wild beasts. But the bones of both are found in the caves in a broken and confused heap, showin<^ that none escaped, but all shared the same fate alike. If man inhabited the caves previously to the animals, traces of habitation around tho walls or on the Hoor should be found ; but the caves are natural cavities in the rock, and show no signs of artifice whatever. These scattered and confused bones, their rounded and pol- ished condition, the grooved and scratched appear- ance of the walls, the broken gravel and drift, and the dripping stalactite, all point to the one and only conclusion — they were caught suddenly in the first dreadful cataclysm of the Drift epoch, caused by a sudden elevation of the North Pole, and escapeJ trituration through being sucked into the caverns by the vortex of waters above. Here they were whirled round and round against the walls of the caves until the waters subsided, when they were torn to pieces and fell to the floor in the confused position in which they are now found. After the waters flowed out of the cave the dripping from the stalactite roof formed the thick bed of stalagmite which covered the remains for centuries and preserved them in the confused con- dition in which they now lie. Such a conglomerated mixture of gravel, mud, peb- bles, shells, flint arrow heads, with an immense quan- tity of bones of animals of diflerent species, could have only been borne thither by the waters of a flood. KW 102 AGE OF CREATION. II I I il:i This has been objected to on the ground that often the most fragile and delicate bones present no trace of hav- ing been carried in a current, and their acute edges and perfect condition show no trace of violence whatever. But this objection is easily explained by supposing the animab to have been carried thither bodily in the flesh, or torn to pieces, as undoubtedly they must have been, when the tremendous nature of the Glacial floods is taken into consideration. There is absolute proof that such was the case. In the sediment of Dream Cave, in Derbyshire, England, an almost entire skeleton of a rhinoceros was found, which is sufficient evidence to show that the animal must have been clothed with flesh when introduced into the cavern. There are a great many technical objections raised, also, againsj the fllling of these caves in this manner ; but this will be found to be the only solution, not only of the pres- ence of the bones, but of the formation of the caves in which they have been found. Louis Figuier held this opinion: "The bones most frequently found in caves," he says, " are those of the carnivora of the Quaternary epoch, the bear, the hyena, the lion and tiger. The animals of the plain, and notably the great pachyderms — the mammoth and rhinoceros — are only very rarely met with, and always in small numbers. From the cavern of Gailenreuth (Franconia) more than a thousand skeletons have been taken, of which eight hundred belonged to the large ursus speloeus, and sixty to the smaller species, with two hundred hyenas, wolves, lions and gluttons. In the Kirkdale m CAVE DEPOSITS. 103 cave the remains . . . included about 300 hyenas of all ages. Dr Buckland concludes from these circumstances that the h , enas alone made this their den, and that the bones of other animals accumulated there had been carried thither by them as their prey. It is, however, now admitted that this part of the English geologist's conclusions do not apply generally. In the greater num- ber of caves the bones of the mammals are broken and rubbed as with a long transport — rolled, according to the geological expression — and finally cemented by the same mud, and surrounded by the rocks of the neigh- borhood. Besides bones of hyenas are found, not only the bones of inofFen.sive herbivora, but the remains of lions and bears. All these circumstances unite in establishing that the bones which fill the caverns have been floated at random into these cavities by the rapid current of the diluvial waves. The bone-caves are generally found near the entrance of the valley, in the plain, or at a height which exceeds the limits of the diluvial phenomena. We may then suppose that, in the greater number of caves, the animals, surprised and killed by the sudden and impetuous torrents, have been drawn into the caves by the cur- rents, where they have been engulfed, and cave and bones buried in the diluvial mud."* As an argument in favor of a great antiquity for these ossiferous caves it is held that the formation of stalagmite is a process so slow that thousands of centuries must have elapsed in order to allov/ of the • " The World before the Deluge," p. 376. m\ 104 AGE OF CREATION. accumulation of a bed of tlipf^ deposit one foot in thickness. If it could be shown that the operations now in force have been the same in all time past, this objection mif^ht be considered sound. But the great chanofes of level which occurred durinjj the Glacial period must be taken into account, and allowance made for the stupendous effects of these terrestrial dis- turbances. In the " Epoch of the Mammoth " Southall cites several authentic instances in which stalasrmitic matter has accumulated with considerable rapidity. In one of the Gibraltar caves two swords and a copper plate were found. The latter, on which the figure of a dragon was enamelled, lay beneath eighteen inches of hard stalagmite, and this covered by six feet of earth. The date at which they w^ere used is known to have been about the end of the twelfth centur3^ " Recent facts show," says Sir William Dawson, " that under favorable circumstances stalagmite may be deposited in a much shorter time than hitherto supposed ... In Kent's cavern the thin film of car- bonate of lime which has formed over dates scratched on the rock more than two centuries ago, would lead to the belief that the thick beds of stalagmite in that cave, would require even half a million years for their formation ; but observations in other caverns show that under favorable circumstances beds of this thickness might be formed in a thousand years."* At all events, the condition under which the stalag- mite was formed were altogether different from those * " Fo88il Men," pp. 222, 244. f SI CA.VE DEPOSITS. 105 now existing, and the formative process must have acted with greater intensity than at the present time. The caves are now elevated far bevond their former level, and depend mainly on rainwater and such minor percolations for the accunmlation of stalag^mite where its formation has not already ceased. Previously they were constantly exposed to the dripping action of the surrounding river-beds to which many of the caves were then contiguous, as well as aided by the dissolv- ing power of acidulated water, generated during an accompanying movement of elevation. In the Brix- ham cave, for instance, it has been shown that at the time of its formation the land stood at a lower level to the extent of ninety-tive feet, its mouth being then situated near the level of the sea. Under such condi- tions the formation of stalagmite must have un- doubtedly proceeded with far greater rapidity than at the present time under less favorable circumstances ; and there is no just grounds whatever for assuming the process to have occupied a period extending over hundreds of thousands of yeai's. " In any case," says Sir William Dawson, " to apply to the explanation of such cases the continued operations of merely modern causes, without taking into account floods and other cataclyasmic agents, is a stretch of uniformitarianism which the deposits in the caves themselves plainly contradict."* Isolated cases are known where men have discovered caves of a habitable nature, and temporarily made "•Fossil Men," p. 224. 8 i 106 AGE OF CREATION. Ill !l them a place of abode. Such, apparently, was the cave of Chalenx, in Belgium, where 30,000 flints were found, together with numerous carvings and engrav- ings on bone, ivory, stone, etc. The remains of a hearth formed of flat stones, and containing a quantity of coals and ashes, lay in the centre of the cave, in- dicating temporary habitation. But that man gener- ally inhabited those caves as a semi-savage, ).undreds of thousands of years ago, and afterwards gradually emerged in civilization, there is no substantial evidence whatever. The skilful enfjrav'nsf and other artistic work found in the caves testify to the contrary, both in manner of delin^^ation and their remarkable state of preservation. Southall cites as an example an engrav- ing on bone of a browsing reindeer, found in the grotto of Thayngen, in Switzerland, of which he says : " The drawing, so elegant and accurate in its execution, speaks louder than all the facts presented to prove the antiquity of man. No imbecile hand guided that pencil, and the blood which coursed in its veins is not separated by any extravagant period from the blood which produces the same artistic representations to- day."* In addition to the remains of man and animals found in the caves, primitive works of art and industry are found in abundance throughout the continent of Europe, nearly all of which appear to have had an abrupt termination. These include the megalithic monuments and tumuli, which are found in abun- *" Epoch of the Mammoth," p, 70. CAVE DEPOSITS. 107 in ic dance throughout the western hemisphere, and also the ancient lake dwellings of Switzerland. Not only do the ossiferous caverns owe their contents to the Drift, but nearly all the fossil beds of the same geo- logical period, such as the Danish peat mosses, with their ancient submerged forests, and others which have borne investigation and were found to contain similar remains, can be ascribed to the same cause. The great geological peculiarity connected with the peat bogs of Denmark is the fact that the forests con- sist mainly of species of trees which formerly grew in abundance, but have long since disappeared, and still refuse to thrive when afterwards re-introduced. This will be found explainable by the change of climate by which the Drift epoch was accompanied. 108 AGE Or' CREATION. CHAPTER XL HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE DRIFT. I HAT such disastrous events as the Glacial floods could have occurred since the existence of man upon the globe, and at times when civilization was comparatively far advanced, would seem an almost unaccountable fact if no authentic records of the same had not been preserved. But it is well known that many nations have traditionary evidence of a deluge, or even more than one, in which, with a few exceptions, their ancestors were swept away and the world de- stroyed. As most of these nations w^re idolaters it is but natural that they should ascribe the origin of the floods to their gods. In this form the various accounts have been preserved and handed down in a combina- tion known as mythology. By sifting the real from the imaginary, in many instances the authentic facts may be obtained. These traditionary evidences of great floods have been almost universally supposed to refer to the occasion and principal events connected with the Noachian Deluge, as described by Moses in the Book of Genesis. But such is not generally the case, and a careful investigation will show that the majority of these traditions are direct and reliable accounts of the floods of the Glacial epochs. HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE DRIFT. 109 i lo In The Chinese historical records contain accounts of a great flood which occurred in the reign of the Emperor Yau, or Yeo, to wlioni is credited the merit of having successfully combatted the ravages of the flood, and of repairing the damage occasioned by the inundation. According to Sir William Jones, it is recorded by the Chinese that " the pillars of heaven were broken ; the heavens sunk lower towards the north ; the sun, the moon and the stars changed their motions ; the earth fell to pieces, and the waters enclosed within its bosom burst forth with violence and overflowed it. Man having rebelled against heaven, the system of the universe was totally disordered. The sun was eclipsed, the planets altered their courses, and the grand harmony of nature was disturbed."* The event is thus recorded in the Shd King, one of the Sacred Books of the East : — "Yeo, in what year of his reign we are not told, appears suddenly startled by the ravages of a terrible inundation. The waters were overtopping the hills and threatening the heavens in their surging fury. The people everywhere were groaning and murmur- ing. Was there a man capable to whom he could assign the correction of the calamit}^ ? All the no- bles recommended one KhwS,n, to whom Yeo, against his own better judgment, delegates the difficult task, on which KhwS-n labors without success for nine years. His son, Yu, then entered on the work. From beyond the western bounds of the present China •Discourse on the Chinese, "Asiatic Resources," Vol. II., p. 376. V' ■^f no AGE OF CJREATION. proper he is represented as tracking the great rivers, here burning the woods, hewing the rocks and cut- ting through the mountains that obstructed their progress, and there deepening their channels until the waters flow peacefully into the Eastern sea. He forms lakes and raises mighty embankments, till at length the grounds along the rivers were everywhere made habitable, the hills cleared of the superfluous wood, and access to the capital was secured for all within the four seas. A great order was affected in the six mag- azines (of material wealth) ; the different parts of the country were subjected to an exact comparison, so that contribution of revenue could be carefully adjusted according to their resources. The fields were all classi- fied according to the three characters of the soil, and the revenues of the Middle Kingdom were established. Of the devotion with which Yu pursued his work he says himself, in the *Yi and Ki': 'I deepened the channels and canals, and conducted them to the streams, at the same time, along with Ki, sowing grain, and showing the people how to procure the food of toil in addition to flesh meat.'"* The account of a great catastrophe given in Ovid's description of the world on fire, and which is attrib- uted to an astronomical event, undoubtedly refers to the Post-glacial disturbances. It is recorded in the myth of Phaeton, son of Phoebus — Apollo (the sun) — guiding the chariot of his father, who loses control of the horses of the sun while driving through the ♦ " The Shu King," p. 16, edit. Max Miiller, Sacred Books of the East. HISTOHICAL RECORDS OF THE DRIFT. Ill heavens, thereby causing an astronomical revolution, and coming so near to the earth as to set it on fire. Phaeton is finally killed by Jove in order to save the universe from complete destruction. Phaeton demands of his father the right to drive his chariot for one day, in order to prove his paternity. The latter reluctantly yields, after much persuasion, and in endeavoring to convince him of the enormity of the undertaking thus advises Phaeton : — " Besides, the heavens are carried round with a con- stant rotation, and carrying with them the lofty stars whirl them with rapid revolution. Against this I have to contend ; and that force which overcomes all things does not overcome me, and I am carried away in a contrary direction to the world." But the plead- ings of the son overcame his father, and the latter consented. The disastrous results arising from his incompetency to guide the chariot are recorded by Ovid. In the second book of his " Metamorphoses" he tells how the rivers and springs were dried up, while others boiled ; how the volcanoes were set in action, and emitted ashes, embers and smoke; that great chasms were formed, and the mountains despoiled of their snow-caps ; how the delta of the Nile sank, and the mouths of the river became empty, and subsided into mere channels ; and of the encroachment of the sea on the land ; and how the moon was affected, and that one day passed without the sun. " The moon, too, wonders that her brother's horses run lower than her own, and the scorched clouds send \\ i 112 AGE OF CREATION. forth smoke. As each region is most elevated it is caught by the flames and cleft : it makes vast chasms, its moisture being carried away. The grass grows pale," he says, " the trees with their foliage are burnt, and the dry standing corn affords fuel for its own de- struction. But I am complaining of trifling ills. Great cities perish, together with their fortifications, and the flames turn whole nations with their populations into ashes : woods, together with mountains, are on fire. Athos burned, and the Cilician Taurus, and Tmolus, and CEto, and Ida, now dry, but once most famed for its springs, and Helicon, the resort of the virgin muses, and Hsemus, not yet called (Eagrian. ^lEtna burns in- tensely with redoubled flames, and Parnassus, with its two summits, and Eryx, and Cynthus, and Ortheys, and Rhodope, at length to be despoiled of its snows, and Mimas, and Dindyma, and Mycale, and Cithseron, created for the sacred rites. Nor does its cold avail even Scythia ; Caucasus is on fire, and Ossa with Pin- dus, and Olympus, greater than them both, and the lofty Alps, and tho cloud-bearing Apennines. Then was Lybia made dry by the heat, the moisture being carried off"; then with disheveled hair the nymphs lamented the springs and the lakes. Boeotia bewails Dirce, Argos, Amymone, and Ephyre the waters of Pirene, Nor do rivers that have banks distant re- main secure. Tanais smokes ii ' e midst of its waters, and the aged Peneus and Teuthrantian Caicus, and rapid Ismenus The Babylonian Euphrates, too, was on fire, Orontes was in flames, and the swift .111 ' HIST01J':!AL RECORDS OF THE DRIFT. 113 Thermodon, and Ganges, and Phasis, and Ister. Alphe- sus boils ; the banks of Spercheus burn ; and the gold which Taorus carries with its stream melts in the flames. The river-birds, too, which made famous the Maeonian banks with song, grew hot in the middle of Cayster, The Nile, affrighted, fled to the remotest parts of the earth and concealed his head ; his seven last mouths are empty, seven channels without any streams. The same fate dries up the Ismarian rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po, and the Tiber, to which was promised the sovereignty of the world. All the ground burst asunder, and through the chinks the light penetrates into Tartarus, and startles the infernal king with his spouse. " The ocean, too, is contracted, and that which lately was sea is a surface of parched sand ; and the moun- tains which the deep sea had covered start up and increase the number of the scattered Cyclades.* The fishes sink to the bottom, and the crooked dolphins do not care to raise themselves on the surface into the air as usual. The bodies of sea-calves float helpless on their backs on the top of the water. The story, too, is, that even Nereus himself, and Doris, and their daughters, lay hid in the heated caverns." After referring to the destruction of Phaeton in the attempt to guide the chariot through the heavens, and the committal of his body to the tomb, Ovid continues : " But his wretched father (the sun) had hidden his face, overcast with bitter sorrow ; and, if only we can * A cluster of islands in the A^.gean Sea. i-W 114 AGE OF CREATION. believe it, they say that one day passed without the sun. The flames afforded light, and there was some advantage in that disaster." After the entreaties of the deities to the sun not to determine to bring darkness over the world, the sun examines the earth and the works of man. " He re- stores, too, the springs and the rivers that had not yet dared to flow, green leaves to the trees, and orders the injured forests again to be green." The foregoing is undoubtedly a graphic account of the result of the later Glacial event, the origin of which has been ascribed to heathen deities. It would require a great stretch of the imagination to conceive that such local events, so minutely described, are but pure fiction ; for the details of the change of level and the numerous volcanic eruptions are too faithfully por- trayed to have had but an imaginative origination. Another authentic reference to the Glacial period is preserved in the Dialogues of Plato. The author tells how Solon, the great Athenian lawgiver, who flour- ished about 600 years before Christ, visited Egypt, and of his cordial welcome by the priests of that country, from whom he received much information about the antiquity of his own country as well as Egypt. His visit is thus described : " At the head of the Egyptian delta, where the river Nile divides, there is a certain district which is called the District of Sais, and the great city of the district is also called Sais, and is the city from which Amasis, the king, was sprung. And the citizens have a deity who is their HisrourcA. K.eoKns or rn. br.k.. ,,, foundress : she is callorl • ..^ Neith, which is asserti k" 1^' ^^^P"-^" '"ng-e of this city are groat lo et j 2%.^"' "^^ •='"-"« 'hat they are income wlyre Ited ^ :k""''' """ ""^y earne Solon, who was reL^ a h V"""' '^'''"'^^ '">nor; and he asked thr I ^ "''''" *'"> g^eat f i'f"' in such matter, ! out'^r: " •"''° "''- ">-' discovery that neither he n! '^""^' ^""^ '"''de the -.thin, worth r^ZZZ' :ZT\: T'"' ''-^ On one occasion, when h. „ ? " *""'^" °f "W- «Peak of antiqui y, he betn f .T'"^ '^"" O" *» ancient thingiin^^rJtTf,^ ''" "^""^ '''^ «"«* ";-. who i^ called the tttr'^-"'^-' fhoro- after the Delude to te nf V r'' ^''°"' ^iobe ; and Pyrrha; and hftraced L' T "' ^«"<=^'-» -"d -H and atte„,pt:rto teToT"'"^ °' '''^'' '^^--^i- were the events of which hi ""'"J' ^^^rs old 'he dates. Thereupono' e'^rtLT'^^" '"'' '" ^■- --y great age, said, 'O So Ln s , "' '"' ""' °' »>■« but children, and there kn ' ^°" ^^''^n-^^ ' - an Hellene.' Solon W„;?; "" °!^ '"''" -ho you n,ean ?' -j „,,„ ^;7""g 'h.s .sa,d, ' What do yo" are all young; there ^1 "■'':^''- '*''*' i° mind do^n among you l- ancTen tradr "P'"'"" ''^"'^^d which is hoary with a^e Tn'l 7 ,'°"' "'"' ''"^ «<=ience of this : there"^ have been and "!. ' ^"^ "^"^ ^--" J-tio„s of n,a„ki„rar.- 1"' 1^-="-. "-y de- ri>ere ,s a story, which even y^ou h! "^ "™''^- once upon a time Phaeton th ! P''^-^«"«d. that '""• ''•^ «on of Helios, havin»« >'- have to "•'"^t happenedln .1 ' r;;"!;,'^-- -thin, of among yourselves. A, for thn "' ""'""^ us or y ich you have recount: to T/s'oT'tr " >•""- '•etter than the tales of children ^ ' "^'^ *"•« "« you remember one delu! nt' '^i '" "'^ '''' P'-'^ei '"any of them; and, in the neu '"'"'' ''"' "^^-^ . know that there dwelt in ! , ^ ""• y°" ^fo not noblest race of men we "ov^eHLr',"': '''"''' -" your whole city are but a ,se d 0!^ "" ^'"' ™^ WM unknown to you ber.n. 7 """'• ^"'^ ^hk the survivors of that dX f' -^'"'"'^ ^--'^t'ons «ign. For there Wa7a t I *?" "^'f '""^ ">«''« "o I'e'uge of all, when he vi?'- '"''''" '''»' »--' hr.st in war, and was pre- min^ , "" ?"' ^"'^n^ ^-« her laws, and is said (!, , ^ ""^ ^^''^''^n^e of bleeds, and to have had h f P'^"""'^'' "'« "oblest of Which t.aditio?:eiiruSrtrf '■'""? "^' -^ Solon marvelled at this and ! , "' °* ''^'^^^n-' priest to inform him e^ltlv , ."""''"^ '"^l"^^''^^ the former citizens " ^ ^"^ '" order about these - 'X^ !f£ SLfr " '° ^^'^*« *« «°'- «acred registers of E.ypt 'a L, T "'"""^"^ '" *he -tiquity far greaterl^ "thlt'": Z T^' '''' 01 tue kingdom of i 118 AGE OF CREATION. lis it '•im • Egypt, and of the sudden destructio);i by a deluge of Atlantis, an island in the Atlantic Ocean opposite the Mediterranean Sea, that was formerly the abode of a populous nation, and the home of an advanced civiliza- tion. " Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your State in our histories," said the Egyptian ; " but one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valor; for these histories tell of a mighty power which was aggressing wantonly against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable ; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which you call the columns of Heracles. The island was larger than Lybia and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from the islands you might pass through the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbor, having a narrow entrance ; but that other is a real sea, and the surround- ing land may be most truly called a continent. Now, in the island of Atlantis there was a great and wonder- ful empire, which had rule over the whole island and several others, as well as over parts of the continent ; and besides these, they subjected the parts of Lybia within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypj, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. The vast power thus gathered into one endeavored to subdue at one blow our country and yours, and the whole of the land '^1 ■n HISTORICAL RKCORDS OF THE DRIFT. 119 which was within the straits ; and then, Solon, your country shone forth in the excellence of her virtue and strength among all mankind ; for she was the iirst in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjected, and freely liberated all the others who dwelt within the limits of Heracles. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of rain all your warlike men in a body sunk into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared, and was sunk beneath the sea. And that is the reason why the sea in those parts is impassable and unpenetrable, because there is such a quantity of shallow mud in the way ; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island."* The sudden disappearance of Atlantis in a single day and night was undoubtedly the result of the change of level which accompanied the Glacial period. Many reliable accounts of destructive floods, which will be found to correspond in detail with the events of that epoch, have been preserved by the various Indian nations which inhabited Central America at the time of the Spanish conquest. The Toltec legends tell of a time when "there was a tremendous hurricane that carried away trees, mounds, * "Plato's Dialogues," IJ., 617, Timeeus. I 120 AGE OF CREATION. houses and the largest edifices, notwithstanding which many men and women escaped, principally in caves and places where the hurricane could not reach them. A few days having passed they set out to see what had become of the earth, when they found it all popu- lated with monkeys. All this time thty were in dark- ness, withont seeing the light of the sun nor the moon that the wind had brougfht them."* The apparently incredible portion of this account is that referring to the vast assemblage of monkeys. But it is not difficult to understand how the superior agility of these animals would enable many of them to escape the coming calamity, and effect a passage through the trees to a place of safety, while ether quadrupeds were caught in the approaching waters and swept away. Father Bernardino de Sahagan, a Spanish Francis- can, and one of the first Mexican missionaries who labored in that country during the sixteenth century, carefully transcribed the following pitiful and pathetic prayer of the Aztecs to the great god Tezcatlipoca, the most important of the Mexican deities, and used by the priest during a time of pestilence. It appears to be offered on behalf of a surviving remnant of people who had escaped a disastrous calamity, and were sur- rounded by total darkness, waiting for the ligut of the sun, which had failed to rise, and which they never again expected to behold : — " Oh mighty Lord, under whose wing- we find de- fence and shelter, thou art invisible and impalpable, * "North Americans of Antiquity, " p. 239. HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE DRIFT. 121 even as nijyht and the air. How can I, that am so mean and worthless, dare to appear before thy Ma- jesty ? Stuttering, and with rude lips, I speak ; un- gainly is the manner of my speech, as one leaping among furrows, as one advancing unevenly ; for all this I fear to raise thine anger, and to provoke instead of appeasing thee. O Lord, thou hast held it good to forsake us in these days, according to the counsel that thou hast as well in heaven as in hades ; alas for us, in that thine anger and indignation has desjended upon us in these days ; alas, in that the many and grievous afflictions of thy wrath have overgone and swallowed us up, coming down even as stones, spears and arrows upon the wretches that inhabit the earth ; this is the sore pestilence with which we are afflicted and almost destroyed. valiant and all-powerful Lord, the com- mon people are almost made an end of and destroyed ; a great destruction the ruin and pestilence already make in this nation ; and, what is most pitiful of all, the little children, that are innocent and understand nothing only to play with pebbles and to heap up little mounds of earth, they, too, die, broken and dashed to pieces as against stones and a wall — a thing very pitiful and grievous to be seen, for there remain of them not even those in the cradles, nor those that could walk or speak. Ah, Lord, how all things become confounded ! of young and old and of men and women there remains neither branch nor root ; thy nation and thy people, and thy wealth, are levelled down and de- stroyed. ■: 3 i 122 AGE OF CREATION. " O our Lord, protector of all, most valiant and most kind, what is this ? " Thine an^er and thine indignation, does it glory or delight in hurling the stone, and arrow, and spear ? The fire of the pestilence, made exceeding hot, is upon thy nation, as a fire in a hut, burning and smoking, leaving nothing upright or sound. The grinders of thy teeth are employed, and thy bitter whips, upon the miserable of thy people, who have become lean and of little substance, even as a hollow green cane. " Yea, what doest thou now, Lord, most strong, compassionate, invisible and impalpable, whose will all things obey, upon whose disposal depends the rule of the world, to whom all are subject, what in thy divine breast h !,st thou decreed ? Perad venture hast thou altogether forsaken thy nation and thy people ? Hast thou verily determined that it utterly perish, and that there be no memory of it in the world ; that the peopled place become a wooded hill and a wilder- ness of stones ? Peradventure wilt thou permit that the temples, and the place of prayer, and the altars, built for thy service, be razed and destroyed, and no memory of them left ? " Is it, indeed, possible that thy wrath and punish- ment and vexed in«^ ^hose mouth and telth T '"r"/™™ sWe to side. --^^ I-t a sore S to 1 '^'^ "'*'> -^'^ and -tch for or ai/onrit e" T " "" ^«"«^ '<> and without under.,ta„di„t wiS^' Tl "" "^ '^'•""'^'^" aH-eady the little children "perlht."'"' "' ^"^ '"^J- >s none to give them food nor , , ="■■ ^"^ *«'« nor caress ; none to .ive the h ?> ""■■ «°"^«'ation, for their fathers and not I I '° "^'^'" "^''^ ^^^k orphans, sufferingfor 2 " 'j:? "^.'^^ "^"^ '^^^ 'hem ^^ "O our Lord, aH-powerfu In """ ''''"'''■ though indeed thiLa'^t 1 -T^' «- refuge, arrow, and stones, have sorely htttJr'"°"' *'''"'' let It be as a father or a mofh^ ,v\ , ' P"""" P<^0P'e, pulling their ears, pinchinT! \' '"^''"'^''^ ''''ildren nettle-s, pouring chfl Iw J'^ ''' '"'''PP'"^ «'«« with ">at the? .nayli: Ih -pTrihf ■"• f ^'"^ <^o- Thy chastisement and ind l„r .^ ""'' "^ild-shness. vaiiod over these th/sew ^ '"'"'^'^'^ ''"^ pre- even as rain falling upon "he t ' ""' f' P°°^ P«ople. being touched of the wind d ''' T^ '^' ^'''"' «anes are below. ^"'''' '^'"P' also upon those that 124 AGE OF CREATION. " O most compassionate Lord, thou knowest that the common folk are as children, that being whipped they cry and sob and repent of what they have done. Perad venture already these poor people, by reason of their chastisement, weep, siojh, blame and murmur against themselves ; in thy presence they blame and bear witness against their bad deeds, and punish them- selves therefor. Our Lord, most compassionate, piti- ful, noble and precious, let a time be given the people to repent ; let the past chastisement suffice ; let it end here, to begin again if the reform endure not. Pardon and overlook the sins of the people ; cause thine anger and thy resentment to cease ; repress it again within thy breast that it destroy no further ; let it rest there ; let it cease, for of a surety none can avoid death, nor escape to any place. " We owe tribute to death, and all that live in the world are vassals thereof ; this tribute shall every man pay with his life. None shall avoid from following death, for it is thy messenger, in what manner how- soever it may be sent, hungering and thirsting always to devour all that are in the world, and so powerful that none shall escape ; then, indeed, shall every man be judged according to his deeds. O most pitiful Lord, at least take pity and have mercy upon the children that are in the cradles, upon those that cannot walk. Have mercy also, O Lord, upon the poor and very miserable, who have nothing to eat, nor to cover them- selves withal, nor a place to sleep ; who do not know what thing a happy day is ; whose days pass altogether "Pon the soldiers, and UDonTh ='' '" '"'^^ "^ey wiit have need of rl-L^t ^^d 7-^^"* "^°" d'e in war, and go to serve f. i ', " ''^"'^'' '» house of the sun. Than to d el t " ..'""'^ '" '^e «<=end to hades. O most .7r , *"?««'''«"<=« and de- iord of the earth, governo tf ^'"■■^' ,?-'-'- of all, •«-»ter. let the sport aTd aj f\ "'. '"' ""'^«^«'" '''ken in this past pun.shme': rffl°" "'''='' ""'" ^'''t this smoke and ilT^T '"' "*''«*» end of '■^e burning and dlstro^n^g fi^ "Iv ^ ''"^"•='' ^'- seren,tycome.and clearness ,;,K T ^"^''- '«' people begin to sins ZlZ ' . " '"'"" '''^ds of thy quiet weather so "hat th^ *'^ ^"" ' ^'^« '^en! r^ y f ^^'-dtLr;::^^^^^^^^ '» O our Lord, ,nost strono- mS ^^'"• Most noble, this littlehave fJ'^ kTP'^''''"^'^' «nd nothing more to say onTv to T ^^°''' '^''- ^ ^''ve -'f at thy feet, seeking t'l^f'^'? »,'' ^l^^ow my. 7 prayer; certainly frjiro"" *''«/»">'« of this pleasure, and I have no Th ' fl '!■"*'" '" '^y dis- The forecroino- ;. °, """^ 'o say"* ^iderable extent throul the """ "^^^'^'"^" '" "^ <=°n- circumstanees, the Tt t'dn uT "^ "™^' '>' «ther the events of that period ^°"'''*^'^'^ corresponds with The temporary absence of the snn • , crofts Native Races." Vol. III., p. 200. 126 AGE OF CREATION. that " there had been no sun in existence for many years ; so the gods, being assembled in a place called Teotihuacan, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at the time round a great fire, told their devotees that he of them who should first cast himself into that fire should have the honor of bein^ transformed into a sun. So one of them, called Nanahuatzim — either, as most say, out of pure bravery, or as Sahagun relates, because his life had become a burden to him through" a malignant disease — flung himself into the fire. Then the gods began to peer through the gloom in all direc- tions for the expected light, and to make bets as to what part of the heavens he should first appear in. And some said here, and some said there ; but when the sun rose they were all proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed upon the East."* The sacred books of the Hindoos contain the records of two devastating floods — one occurring in the south of the Himalayas, and the other in the north. The Greeks have also preserved traditions of a similar deluge. The Persians also have recorded accounts of a great flood, which corresponds with the Drift, and the remarkable change of climate which followed is also pointed out. The mythology of the Celts and Scandinavians contain many references to devastating floods. The North American Indian tribes possess similar traditions also. The Polynesian legends tell how those islands were once inundated and flooded by a great rain. With the * Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. III., p. 60. f HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE DRIFT. 127 exception of a small number who were saved on the island of Mbenga, all the people were swept away. The traditions of one group say that " in ancient time Taarva, the principal god according to their myth- ology, the creator of the world, being angry with men on account of their disobedience to his will, overturned the world into the sea, when the earth sank into the water, excepting a few aurus, or projecting points, which, remaining above the surface, constituted the present cluster of islands."* Almost every nation in the world possess traditions or recorded accounts of a deluge ; and on the supposi- tion that they referred to the Noachian flood the great dissimilarity in the dates recorded gave them a vague and undefined authenticity. But while some of the more ancient nations undoubtedly have pre- served a record of that event, many of the others are faithful and reliable descriptions of the Glacial periods, both in point of detail and chronological occurrence. It would be unwise to cast aside the enormous mass of traditionary and mythological evidence — referring, as much of it does, to personages and places — as an agglomeration of pure fiction, and entirely without a shred of foundation. "We may be sure," says Bancroft, "that there never was a myth without a meaning ; that myth- ology is not a bundle of ridiculous fancies invented for vulgar amusement ; that there is not one of the stories, * Ellis' '• Polynesian Researches," Vol. II., p. 57. T 128 AGE OF CREATION. no matter how silly or absurd, which was not founded on fact, which did not once hold a significance,"* The events of the Glacial periods, therefore, show a reliable basis for such accounts, and throw a new light over the hitherto uninterpretable mystery of mythology. ^Bancroft's "Native Races," Vol. III., p. 17. THE RECENCY OF THE GLACIAL EVENTS. 129 CHAPTER XII. THE RECENCY OF THE GLACIAL EVENTS. Tf?>TNDOUBTED proofs of changes of level having Tgr occurred throughout the globe during the Glacial period, the date at which these events took place remains to be shown. Although the drift is known and admitted by all to be of recent origin, yet by calculation based on a slow and gradual process of formation, its occurrence is estimated at hundreds of thousands of years ago. To this there is one conclu- sive and undeniably fatal objection. Human bones and animal remains have been fpund embedded in the drift. The question then arises, How long will bone, as a perishable substance, resist disintegration ? In- stances dve known of Egyptian mummies, preserved by the best process of embalming ever known, having crumbled to dust on exposure to the atmosphere after a lapse of but 8,000 years. If some of the remains found imbedded in the drift were of greater antiquity the same should be expected of them. But many of them are in a tolerably fair state of preservation, which is undoubted proof that the Post-glacial event took place at a comparatively recent period. The traditions of all nations point to the occurrence of great catastrophes within the period of their own i 130 AGE OF CREATION. existence, and therefore after many of the great king- doms of antiquity had been founded. There is no historical account of any nation living upon the earth at a period of 100,000 or 200,000 years ago. The events consequently must have occurred long after the introduction of man upon the oarth, as further in- dicated by the abundance of flint and stone imple- ments, and other works of art, found in the drift. In reply to the question, " What geological evidence have we that the residence of man in Europe has been longer than 6,000 years ? " Sir William Dawson says : " The answer must be, Absolutely none, as far as the association of man with extinct animals is concerned. Further, when we consider the mode of occurrence and state of preservation of the remains, and their identity with the remains of modern American races, the very long periods assigned, by some authors to the resi- dence of man in Europe become ridiculous in their absurdity."* The antiquity of man has been divided into three epochs by archaeologists, known respectively as the ages of Stone, Bronze and Iron. In Europe thf^ Lronze age has been dated back previous to the ti.ne of the Romans; and as the implements found in the drift belong to the age of Stone, which is sub divided into two divisions, the Palaeolithic and Neolithic — ancient and new — the latter period is held to have been long anterior to Roman history. But this means of estimating the antiquity of man cannot be received * " Fossil Men," p. 228. 1 THE RECENCY OF THE GLACIAL EVENTS. 131 as absolutely reliable, for flint and stone implements are found in abundance in America that have been in use by Indians during the present century. Therefore the presence of stone impleiiients in the Drift deposits cannot be definitely regarded as indicatinn; an ex- tremely remote period of time at which the Glacial events occurred. Respecting the later Stone age, or the period when implements of polished stone were in use, Sir William Dawson concludes " that there is no adequate geological reason for attributing the so-called 'Neolithic' men to any time older than that of the early Eastern empires, or say 2,000 or 3,000 years before Christ; and that the time required for the Palaeolithic men need not be more than twenty or thirty centuries additional."* As attested by animal remains found imbedded in the drift, the Post-glacial event occurred within a period at which they would resist decay. It occurred when civilization was far advanced, and after many of the great nations of antiquity had been founded, as indicated by the tradi- tions of these nations of great catastrophes having taken place during the early period of their existence as such. The two events were caused by an upward and downward shift of the North Pole, as explained by the great changes of level, and other evidence of upheaval and subsidence, by which the Glacial period was ac- companied. They were sudden and instantaneous in action, as shown by the remarkable uniformity of the » " Fossil Men," p. 246. I iilll I 132 AGE OF CREATION. terrace lines and the wide interval by which they are separated from each other. If the action had been slow and gradual the waters could not have dropped or risen from one terrace to another, and the latter could not have maintained a perfectly horizontal level. The traditions of all nations point to an astronomical revolution as the cause, and in which the sun and the moon played an important part. This is also attested by the presence of meteorites in the drift. The disturbances were therefore universal and cata- strophic. The first came suddenly from the north, like a fearful cyclone, with a force so mighty that it decomposed the underlying rocks, smashed, pounded and tore down the gigantic mountain tops, and rooted up enormous trees growing on the surface, and scat- tered them for hundreds of miles, extending over the western hemisphere from the North Pole to the temperate regions ; and if it had been gradual in its action the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis would have carried it around the globe in twenty-four hours. It i.s evident, then, that the earth had ceased to revolve on its axis, the blow came instantaneously, and the Drift was the result of a gigantic catastrophe, a mighty and violent cataclysm, that nearly blotted the earth out of existence. It came instantaneously, suddenly arresting the rotary motion of the earth, and with a tremendous force hurled it bodily from its course, like a stone shot from a slinjj. This was asrain followed in course of time by a second event of a similar nature, and almost as destructive in its effects. • THE RECENCY OF TRF /^r *^ THE CLACIAL EVENTS. I33 the history of our Ibf *'' V'^'**f°"«- «Pi-de in no explanation presents itself ^17.!'' ^' '"f'^^' conclusive; and in ..eien ^ ^tir '"^ T'"'^^' to say, I do not Icnow." "'""'"■ ^e afraid I Mi "ia- 134 AGE OF CREATION. CHAPTER XIII. THE STANDING STILL OF THE SUN. ^n^yTHEN the Israelites were in bondajije in Ef^ypt so complete was their slavery they might have continued in captivity while Egypt remained a nation had it not been for Divine intervention. Mose^ was chosen to deliver them from their affliction, and after the performance of many signs and wonders in the land of Egypt led the Israelites from bondage, and accompanied and guided them during their wander- ings in the desert to which they had been condemned. After the borders of Canaan had been reached Moses died, and Joshua was appointed to succeed him in the command. He engaged and defeated his enemies in many a desperate conflict, for God had said to him : " There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life : as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."* Jericho and Ai had fallen into hi:, hands. Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and the five kings of the Amorites combined together to make war upon Gibeon. In their distress the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, saying : " Slack not thy hand from thy servants ; come up to us quickly, and save * Joshua i. 5. THE STANDmo STILL O.^ „»: STO. -• So Joshua .ZlerifTc-f /T "^^' ''S--' people of war w,th hh„, araHtt ' ' w' ^" *'^« valor. And the Lord said 1/ *^'\""?''ty men of »°t: for I have delivered i. l^""' ^"''^ '»>«» «halt not a man of 11™' a- ^'"p° ^"'""^ '"'"'' ' '^^e -oshualeff P!i , .'"."'^''d before thee."* ■'- -cidittS* r:;'f,^* -<1 -e upon the Amor- The Israelite^ chased 15 ? T\' ^'"''' '''^^hter. Theevenin^shadoj';:' el'''" "" «""^«-- - was disappearing in « e wSr;„"f i° ^""^^"■ "•<> the e,.eray would escape hiJ^'T ""''"'' "^^ 'h^t " Then spake Joshua to thTr . ?'"'"^ '^'"•''"«^^«' Lord delivered up the A morf^ k"", *'"' '''^ "'>«" "'« Israel, and h^ saL in If ""^"'^ ">« «f>iWren of thou still upo: oTbe .':;;?' 1^--'' «-. .stani of Ajalon."t ' "' ^'^"' '° "'e valley o4ttv::r;i:;?t:f ir ''- ----^ - the universe were shaken Th' ''•'' ''"'"'''^*'''- "^ axial motion and power of .Z T '"'''*^""y 'ost its flew in all directicfn.s. 1 kc spa k's f'"' "V' P'-«'« anvil. Slanting obi uuelvT . °'" " *'''«=ksmith's t-enty-three and a Llftr T '' '" »="'« "* eentripetal influence of hf''"'^ '"^''""^ f™'» «>« bounded upright to gain itsealu" "'"'^ '"■'^^""^ tangential to the course of tr^K.?'"' ""'^ '" <" '"'e teor into the realms orspfe' ^e t', "'' '"' ^ ™- ' pace. The whole of the polar Joshua X. M. , ft., ^, ,2, 136 AGE OF CREATION. regions, consisting of incalculable tons of mountainous ice and snow, were instantly precipitated down that mighty incline, and over the face of the north-western hemisphere. The molten, seething mass of incandes- cent matter in the centre of the earth boiled and bubbled. Great cracks or fissures were reft through the crust of the earth in many places, and released the imprisoned cauldron of molten matter, and this poured over the surface in devastating torrents for many miles. Shooting through illimitable space the earth flew as a meteor. "Darkness was upon the face of the deep." No sun, no moon, and the stars shooting by in all directions, their flashing faintly discernable amid the glare of volcanic flame and clouds of smoke and steam. Great whirlwinds, hurricanes and cyclones were cre- ated, and struggled with the raging fire and water for the mastery. Trees, rocks, boulders, animals and every conceivable thing were carried into the air, whirled round and round, and violentlv hurled into the raging, tempestuous jam of icebergs in the waters below. Every hill became a Niagara, every valley a whirlpool, and every fissure in the rocks a raging maelstrom, into which the marine and land animals were drawn and torn to pieces. The mountains leaned at an incline, deposited their snow-caps in the valleys below, and over their tops the raging torrents poured in mighty cascades. Along the surface of the earth that terrible ice-jam tore, scratched, and plowed those striated groves and furrows which centuries of time have failed to efl'ace. The birds of the air were en- THE STANDING STILL OF THE SUN. 137 veloped in storms of ice, gravel and frozen spray ; and on the land bordei ing the drift the broken ice and hail were showered for miles. Every living thing caught in that raging flood of crunching ice was torn to pieces and instantly destroyed. In its onward course the mightest cataract in the world would be as a rivu- let compared with that tremendous and dreadful catas- trophe. On the other side of the globe a different scene was taking place. Many of the rivers and streams were dried up, while others changed their courses, and the sun, just above the horizon in the western heavens, looked down with a pale, feeble glare on the swiftly receding earth. The battle between Joshua and the Amorites had been decided when the sun ceased to go down, but the work of slaughter had only com- menced. Separated from the flood on the other side of the globe by the time of distance the sun was above the horizon, Joshua and his warriors w^ere beyond the reach of danger, and pursued their enemies into the borders of that awful cataclysm, and " they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword." On and on the earth flew and trembled in its mad career, dragging the helpless moon behind, while the battle with the elements raged. Nearly a whole day had passed. The earth had tra\elled far beyond the line of its former orbit. Joshua's enemies had perished, and the victory was complete. The sun had done its duty, as com- manded, and God once more set it in motion. Instantly 10 138 AGE OF CREATION. the sun revolved on its axif , and the planets strove to regain their former positions, but at their increased distance from the sun the power of attraction was diminished, according to the inverse squares of the distance, and the earth failed to reach its former in- cline and remained upright. Then whirling once more on its axis it flew oti' in a path lying far beyond that of its former orbit. The work of slaughter and destruction was over. The waters became peaceful, and the floating rocks, boulders, stones, gravel, and everything that escaped trituration, were suddenly precipitated to the bottom in a conglomerated hetero- genous mass. The trituration of the ice upon the rocks formed that tough, unstratified, unfossiliferous bed of deposit known to geologists as " till," or " hard pan," the true origin of which is a puzzle and a mys- tery to the scientiflc world. Thus was fulflUed the promise God gave to Joshua on appointing him to the command of the Israelites -, " Be strong and of a good courage ; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."* This wonderful event took place Anno Mundi, 2553, or 1451 years before the birth of Christ, and "there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man : for the Lord fought for Israel.""!* * Joshua i. 9. t lb., x. 11. THE INTER-GLACIAL PERIOD. 139 CHAPTER XIV. THE INTER-GLACIAL PERIOD. , ^\5^^yHEN that loni^ night of terror rnd darkness in the western hemisphere had passed, in which death and destruction stalked hand in hand over the country and blotted out of existence all animal and vegetable life in their path, and the rays of the rising sun had struggled through the accumulated clouds and mists, a scene of utter devastation and desolate grandeur must have presented itself. After the icebergs had melted, great walls of loose detrital accumulations remained in the valleys con- nected with high mountain chains. These were com- posed of masses of stones, gravel and broken rocky material, which had been carried down by the ice, and are known as moraines. Where this debris has been pushed forward and deposited at the lower extremity of the glaciers it is found to have always terminated in a semi-circular form. These terminal moraines mark the lower limit of stranded ice, and in the wide marginal depressions formed by the glaciers masses of loose material, composed of fragmentary rock, etc., have been accumulated, known as lateral moraines. These ancient deposits are now covered with soil on which vegetation has long since grown, and some of 140 AGE OF CREATION. the largest trees flourish. In Europe cities and vil- lages have been built upon ancient moraines. Upon these the foundations of Berne and Zurich, and other cities, are laid. Some extend completely across en- tire valleys, through which overflowing rivers have since cut their way. The whole surface of the West- ern world had undergone a complete metamorphosis. The land in many places had become completely in- undated, and vast inland seas had taken the place of the previous fertile valleys and plains. The old river channels were obliterated and new ones formed, and an entirely diff'erent geographical aspect was the re- sult. The entire world felt the eftect of the shock, in the east as well as in the west, and the climate of the globe underwent a complete and sudden change, in which the fauna and flora of temperate and trop- ical regions invaded that of the Arctic, and those of the latter inhabited the lower latitudes. Remains of plants and animals have been found in Northern Siberia, Europe and America that could only exist in temperate and tropical climates, and they are too numerous and perfect to lead to the supposition that they have been carried from a distance and deposited there. Oaks, beech and other similar remains have been found in great quantities in the Arctic regions ; and the remains of huge animals, such as the elephant and mastodon, have been found imbedded in the frozen ice and gravel of the north. From this it is clearly evident that for a period of time the polar regions were once clear of ice, and enjoyed a climate similar liMl THK INTEII-GLACIAL PERIOD. 141 to that in which such fauna and flora could exist at the present day. But while the ice and snow dis- appeared from the north, and the temperature of those regions became much higher than formerly, the climate of the present tropical regions became much colder. "More extended observations," says Lyell, "have shown that in times past the climate of the extra tropical regions has by no means been liotter than now ; on the contrary, there has been at least one period, and one of very modern date, geologicall}'' speaking, when the temperature of those regions was much lower than at present."* " In the so-called drift," Agassiz remarks, " there are found far to the south of their present abode the remains of animals whose home now is in the Arctics or the coldest parts of the temperate zones. Among them are the musk-ox, the reindeer, the walrus, the seal, and many kinds of shells characteristic of the Arctic regions. The northernmost part of Norway and Sweden is at ihis day the southern limit of the reindeer in Europe ; but their fossil remains are found in large quantities in the drift about the neighborhood of Paris, and quite recently they have been traced even to the foot of the Pyrenees, where their presence would, of course, indicate a climate similar to the one now prevailing in Northern Scandinavia. Side by side with the remains of the reindeer are found those of the European marmot, whose present home is in the mountains, about 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. * "Textbook of Geology," Vol. I., p. 175. * :■! 142 AGE OF CREATION. •I The occurrence of these animals in the superficial deposits of the plains of central Europe, one of which is now confined to the high north, and the other to mountain heights, certainly indicate an entire change of climatic conditions since the time of their existence. European shells, now confined to the Northern Ocean, are found as fossils in Italy, showing that while the present Arctic climate prevailed in the temperate zone, that of the temperate zone extended much further south to the regions we now call sub-tropical. In America there is abundant evidence of the same kind ; throughout the recent marine deposits of the temper- ate zone, covering the lowlands above tide water on this continent, are found fossil shells whose present home is on the shores of Greenland. It is not only in the northern hemisphere that these remains occur, but in Africa and in South America, wherever there has been an opportunity for investigation, the drift is found to contain the traces of animals whose presence indicates a climate many degrees colder than that now prevailing there."* The Himalaya Mountains, in India, bear unmistak- able evidence of having deposited their snow-caps down their southern slopes at this time. Moraines abound, and erratics of great size have been seen far above the level of the sea, thouorh no marks of glaciation have been observed in Southern India ; but there is a distinct evidence in the fauna and flora on the south of the mountains of a temporary change of climate having occurred. * "Geological Sketches." THE INTER-GLACIAL PERIOD. 143 In Asia the whole of the northern part of that con- tinent became the home of numerous and gigantic mammals that existed during this period. Many theories have been advanced as to the cause of the sudden change of temperature in the climate of the earth, though no satisfactory solution of the diffi- culty has yet been found. It seems to be generally believed, however, that it resulted from " the combined influence of precession of the equinoxes and secular changes in the eccentricity of the earth's orbit." Ac- cording to this idea it is held that the North Pole is constantly but gradually changing its position, and that every 10,500 years it becomes reversed, the incline being in the opposite direction. The effect thus pro- duced is held to be longer and colder winters and shorter and hotter summers in the northern hemi- sphere. By the increasing eccentricity the effects would be greatly augmented. When the eccentricity was greatest the earth would be 14,000,000 miles fur- ther from the sun durinor winter than in the summer. In combination with different geographical causes, such as the varied distribution of land and water, etc., the climate is supposed to have become gradually colder, and a Glacial period the result. But to this there are one or two fatal objections. If the earth has had an existence of many millions of years, as the advocates of this theory maintain, a repetition of Glacial periods must have occurred in the past. There is no geolog- ical evidence of more than one having taken place, and that is of the most recent occurrence. Again, this I I 144 AGE OF CREATION. I Arctic climate is supposed to have existed for over 100,000 years, and its intensity so severe as to freeze water into solid ice 6,000 feet thick. Under such con- ditions animal life could not exist, or find means of subsistence ; and if it did, the fauna must have been specially adapted for its surroundino[s. No evi- nce of such has ever been found. The animals of the Glacial period were similar in their habits to those at present existing in temperate and warm climates, and they could not possibly have lived under such conditions for an extended length of time. If the remains of the woolly rhinoceros, mammoth and rein- deer, found in the driffc, are to be held indicative of a prolonged and gradual refrigeration, the contempora- neous existence of the hippopotamus and hyena — ' imals suited to a warm climate — is an implication to contrary. These facts alone are certainly conclu- sive ev ^'nce against the theory of gradual refrigera- tion, which also fails to explain any of the peculiarities connected with the drift. Almost every available and conceivable cause known has been advanced in the endeavor to solve the mys- tery. " At first it was imagined," says Lyell, " that the earth's axis had been perpendicular t the plane of the ecliptic, so that tliere was a perpei al equinox and uniformity of seasons; that the planet enjoyed this paradisaical state until the era of the flood, but in that catastrophe lost its equipoise, whether by the .shock of a comet or other convulsion, and hence the obliquity p THE INTER-GLACIAL PERIOD. 145 of its axis, and with it the varied seasons of the long nights and days of the polar circles." Having ascertained the cause of the shock it can be easily understood how the change in temperature occurred. The perpendicular position of the earth during the Inter-glacial period would result in a per- petual equinox and uniformity of seasons. The climate would be slightly varied as the earth approached to or receded from the sun. The heat of the sun's rays which are now concentrated on the tropics would be spread over the whole globe, hence a lower tempera- ture would result in the tropical regions. Thus it can be seen how an excliange of the fauna and flora of these regions could have taken place, whicii they did during this period. For more than seven centuries the earth maintained an upright position, and while on its new orbit deposits of a different nature were accumulated over that por- tion of the drift known as the till. These formed the intercalary layers, occasionally met with in some parts of the drift ; and this was covered with a final overlay of gravel and boulders by another sudden and violent cataclysm, though not so destructive as the first, but occurring in almost a similar manner. " During the Inter-glacial period a tropical climate had prevailed over a great part of the earth, and ani- mals, whose home is now beneath the equator, roamed over the world from the far south to the very borders of the Arctic. The gigantic quadrupeds — the masto- dons, elephants, tigers, lions, hyenas and bears — whose !l 146 AGE OF CREATION. remains are found in Europe, from its southern prom- ontories to the northernmost limits of Siberia and Scandinavia, and in America, from the Southern States to Greenland and the Melville Islands, may, indeed, be said to have possessed the earth in those days. But their reign was over. A sudden, intense winter, that was also to last for ages, fell upon our globe. It spread over the very countries where these tropical animals had their homes ; and so suddenly did it come upon them that they were embalmed beneath masses of snow and ice, without time even for the decay which follows death."* What was it ? Agassiz's "Geological Sketches.'' 1:1 It ll^l THE POST-GLACIAL PERIOD. 147 CHAPTER XV. THE POST-GLACIAL PERIOD. XyoT'HEN Hozekiah was king of Judah he made y^y great etibrts to reform his kingdom from idolatry, and to lead the people to the worship of the true God. Scripture tells us that " In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech Thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying. Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of My people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears : behold, I will heal thee : on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years ; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for Mine own sake, and for My servant David's sake. And Isaiah I U8 AGE OF CREATION. said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. " And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day ? And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees : nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord : and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz."* " So the sun returned ten degrees, by ivhich degrees it was gone downy'-\' Note. —Sundials used in ancient times were of various forms. That of King Ahaz consisted of a flight of stairs, on which was cast the shadow of an obelisk, or column, at the top, which fell on a number of them according to the position occupied by the sun. Though there is no record of the means employed to cause the shadow to go back on the dial, it can be seen that instead of the sun standing still, as in the; days of Joshua, by which the whole solar system was affected, the rotary mot'ons of the latter were arrested, while the sun remained undisturbed. As a conse- quence the revolutionar}'- motion of the earth was overcome by the centripetal influence of the sun, and it was gradually drawn back in an elliptical course • 2 Kings XX. l-U. t Isaiah xxxviii. 8. THE POST-GLACIAL PERIOD. 149 t to its former orbit. Deprived of all power of re- sistance, and overcome by the magnetic attraction of the sun, the earth was drawn down at le North Pole from the upright position it then occupied to its for- mer and present obliquity of twenty-three and one- half degrees. In the western hemisphere the southern part of the globe became elevated, and the waters of the Antartic region swept into the south temperate latitude. The whole world suffered from the effect of the sudden shock, which w^as accompanied by all the phenomena attending the previous one, and was almost equally as destructive and devastating in its effects. In some places the underlying rocks were actually boiled and decomposed, owing to the intense heat of the earth, caused by the sudden shaking of the molten material in its centre. The volcanoes in all parts of the globe were set in motion. Immense fissures or cracks were opened in the crust of the earth down through the solid rocks ; and wh»re these were not deep enough to release the internal glowing mass, they formed what is known as fjords and friths, which exist in Scandinavia, Britain and other countries. Total darkness, boiling and raging floods, flying debris, inconceivable whirlwinds of gravel and hail, and an utter obliteration of all animal life that existed in its path, were the accompaniments of this terrible cataclysm in the southern hemisphere. While the deluge lasted the waters of the Arctic regions poured over the North Pole into the Northern Ocean and down into Siberia, overflowing the rivers and suddenly 150 AGE OF CREATION. blotting out of existence the huge mammals and other animals that roamed that country during this period. After the earth had travelled back to the line of its former orbit, and the shadow gone backward on the dial ten degrees, it was again set in rotating motion. Instantly whirling on its axis its velocity increased, and the earth shot oft' in a circle around the sun in its present orbit, and the one it had previously occupied before the time of Joshua. In this manner were formed what is known as osars, eskers, or kames — long ridges of drift material whirled round into cir- cular and semi-circular forms by the centrifugal action of the water, caused by the revolution of the earth upon its axis. In the tropical seas the bases of the coral reefs were thus formed. A sudden change in temperature instantly occurred, owing to the earth's obliquity, and in twenty-four hours the polar regions were again refrigerated. And this is why the remains of the elephant and mastodon, and other large animals, have been found in Siberia, and elsewhere in the north, imbedded in frozen gravel and ice ; some of the carcasses so complete that dogs chewed and devoured the flesh when thawed, showing that they had been unexpectedly caught in the flood and drowned, and their remains preserved entire for centuries in the perpetual ice and frost the Arctic regions. Referring to this Cuvier says : " If they had not been frozen as soon as killed, putrefaction would have decomposed them ; and, on the other hand, the eternal frost could not have previously existed in the place THE POST-GLACIAL PERIOD. 151 whore they died, for they could not have lived in such a temperature. It was, therefore, at the same instant when these animals perished that the country they inhabited was rendered <^lacial. These events mfiust have been sudden, instantaneous, aiul without any gradation.'^* In " The World before the Deluge " Figuier says : *' The animals seem to have perished suddenly ; en- veloped in ice at the moment of their death, their bodies have been preserved from decomposition by the continual action of the cold. As Agassiz says, in his first work on Ghiciers : 'A vast mantle ot snow and ice covered the plains, the valleys and the sea. All the springs were dried up ; the rivers ceased to flow. To the movements of a numerous and animated crea- tion succeeded the .silence of death.' Great numbers of animals perished from cold ; the elephant and rhi- noceros perished by thousands in the midst of their grazing grounds, which were suddenly transformed into fields of ice and snow. It was then that these two species disappeared, and seem to have been eflaced from creation. Other animals were overwhelmed without their race having been, always, entirely anni- Mlated. The sun, which lately lighted up the verdant plains as it dawned upon these frozen steppes, was only saluted by the whistling of the north winds and the horrible rending of the crevasses, which opened up on all sides under the heat of its rays acting upon the immense glacier which formed the sepulchre of many animated beings." * " Ossenients fossiles, Uiscours sur les Revolutions du Globe.' 152 AGE OF CREATION. ii Of the destructive results another authority says : " In America, in Britain and in Europe the Glacial deposits made clean work of nearly all animal life. The great mammalia, too large to find shelter in caverns, were utterly swept away, while others never afterwards returned to those regions. In like manner palaeolithic man — man of the rude and unpolished flint implements, the contemporary of the great mammalia, the mammoth, the hippopotamus and the rhinoceros — was also stamped out ; and the cave deposits of Europe show that there was a long interval before he ap- peared in those regions. The same forces, whatever they were, which smashed, and pounded, and contorted the surface of the earth, crushed man and his gigantic associates out of existence." A downward shift of the North Pole having oc- curred it can thus be seen how tlie animals in Siberia escaped destruction, only to be entombed completely in the frozen ice. Had they been caught in the seeth- ing torrent, like those in the southern hemisphere, they would have been torn to pieces in that mighty jam of rocks, boulders, gravel and raging water. And though the Drift deposits are not found in Siberia, the country became inundated with water from the overflow of the Northern Ocean, and with it occurred the sudden ex- tinction of the tropical and temperate fauna and flora that then existed in the Arctic regions. In those vast mountains of snow and ice in the North; in that desolate and dimly-lighted wilderness, where animal life can scarcely exist; in the deep, ^ r THE POST-GLACIAL PERIOD. 153 he X- Ira silent and dreary solitudes of death, unbroken only by the moaninor and roaringr of the blindin sud- e sun ice as oUhe al, and jection nually planet 56 from rrested )re, and one of Manner and time of sun's standing still. 159 into its present and original course, by reason of the increase in its initial velocity. As the earth flew away from the sun at a point tangential to its orbit when the sun stood still, the same point could not be reached again by the earth except in a straight line. The homeward path being elliptical the course back would be by a considerably nearer route. The distance from the outer to the inner orbit would be therefore trav- ersed by the earth in about one-half the time required by the globe to have gone forward, at the same time bringing back the shadow on the dial ten degrees, by which it was gone down. Geologists refuse to entertain for a moment the occurrence of miracles in connection v/ith the forma- tion of the whole or any portion of the globe, and allow of no other aid but the known forces now in operation. These have been found altogether inade- quate to account for its existence in its entirety within a reasonable and known period, and Geology has been compelled to look elsewhere for further assistance. Discardinij the idea of a First Cause working- in na- ture it calls to its aid instead a period of time so re- mote as to be beyond the comprehension of human intelligence ; and during a long series of ages, which the imagination reels in the endeavor to contemplate, the heaven and the earth are supposed to have been slowly and gradually formed. Surely the aid of mir- acles, by which Intlnite Power only is employed, and by which natural results have followed, is equally as intelligible and far more suitable to the purpose than i » }!' i HI ■ \i 160 AGE OF CREATION. the assumption of indefinite aj^es of time, of which his- tory gives no record, and which has existed only on supposition. If supposition in the matter of time is admitted in Geology, it is but fair that the aid of Infi- nite Power, by which miracles could be performed, and of which history and chronology attest to have been actual facts, should be also allowed. By the aid of Infinite Power in place of indefinite time the same re- sults may be obtaineti within a period known and cor- roborated by historical facts to have actually existed. Most of the earlier geologists were of the opinion that the Drift dep'^sits were the result of a great cata- lysm, but failed to identify it with the Noachian deluge, as the eflfects had not been univ^ersal. " If anything ai Geology be established," said Cuvier, " it is that the surface of our globe has undergone a great and sudden revolution, the date of which cannot be referred to a much earlier period than 5,000 or 6,000 years ago." He pcjinted out chat as the Ethiopian, Mongolian and Caucasian races existed upon the earth at the time, and escaped its effects from all directions, it could not have been universal. What at first sight might seem an almost insuper- able objection to the occurrence of a deluge of any great magnitude at such a modern period as the days of Hezekiah is the fact that about that time many of the great nations of antiquity began to rise. The kingdoms of Media and Macedonia had already been founded, and ^.he rise of the Babylonian empire, or the era of Nabonassar, was in the year 747 B.C. In 743 MANI^ER AJfD TIME OF SUN*S STANDIN'G STILL. 161 B.C. the Spartans were engaged in the first Messenian war, when Hezekiah was but a child, and the city of Rome was founded in the year 758 B.C. Even pre- vious to these periods many of the kingdoms of an- tiquity were well advanced in civilization and arts. The Greeks computed their history from the first Olympiad, which dates as far back as 776 B.C., and earlier still, in 797 B.C., the kingdom of Lydia was founded. The eighth century B.C. marks the starting point from which the great nations of antiquity sprang into existence ; and if such a world-convulsing event as the last great continental upheaval of the Glacial epoch occurred during that period the history of these kingdoms should contain some reliable reference thereto. This they certainly do, as shown in their traditions. That these nations were not swept out of existence altogether may be explained by the fact that they were located near the equatorial regions, and thus escaped the more destructive results of the floods. The Glacial disturbances were polar phenom- ena, gradually extending into the temperate latitudes ; while in the equatorial region the results were more of a local nature, and consequently not so destructive as in the northern and southern portions of the globe. But that they were of a violent nature, and that the latter of the events occurred in comparatively modern times, is vouched for by historians of that period. In the fifteenth book of "The Metamorphoses" Ovid tells that Pythagoris came to the city of Crotona, and in expounding the principles of his philosophy said : " I 16^ AGE OF CREATION. have beheld that as sea which once had been the most solid earth. I have seen land made from the sea ; and far away from the ocean the sea shells lay, and old anchors were found there on the tops of the mountains. That which was a plain a current of water has made into a valley, and by a flood the mountain has been levelled into a plain ; the ground that was swampy is parched with dry sand, and places which have endured drought are wet with stand- ing pools. Here Nature has opened fresh springs, but there she has shut them up ; and rivers have burst forth, aroused by ancient earthquakes ; or, vanishing, they have subsided." And then he tells how rivers were swallowed by chasm: in the earth, and flowing with their streams concealed sprang up afresh at other places ; that others were altered in their courses, and flowed in another direction ; and how water, formerly used for drinking, became impregnated with bitter salts ; that islands, once surrounded by waves, became peninsulas, and peninsulas became islands, and the island of Sicily, which had been united to Italy, was cut off* from the neighboring region by waves flowing between. " Should you seek Helice and Buris, cities of Achaia," he says, " you will find them beneath the waves; and the sailors are still wont to point out these levelled towns, with their walls buried under the water. ... So Troy was great, both in her riches and in her men, and for ten years could afford so much blood ; whereas, now laid low, she only shows her ancient ruins ; and instead of her wealth she points at MANNER AND TIME OF SUN'S STANDING STILL. 163 the tomb of her ancestors. Sparta was famed ; wreat Mycenae flourished ; so, too, the citadel of Cecrops, and that of Amphion. Now Sparta is a contemptible spot; lofty Mycenae is laid low. What now is Thebes, the city of (Edipus, but a mere story ? What remains of Athens, the city of Pandion, but its name?" The foregoing is historically certain proof that the cities mentioned encountered a ijreat disaster durinjj their early existence. In the Mediterranean Sea the ancient beaches and terraces of many islands testify to a former period of upheaval. Along the coasts of Syria and Palestine similar evidence exists, as well as that of the Egyptian coast, though at present the land is known to be gradu- ally subsiding. Sea shells, identical with those at present existing in the Mediterranean Sea, have been found inland in the deserts of Northern Africa, as well as water-worn rocks and beds of salt, indicating the presence of a former inland sea. In the Algerian Desert species of existincj shells have been found at a height oi" 900 feet upon the hills, showing that the land had been up- heaved during a recent period. The change of level which occurred with the last Glacial event resulted in the present distribution of land and water on the globe ; and many of the ancient cities which yet remain escaped destruction by an ele- vation of the lan