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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. errata i to e pelure, on d D 32X : ; f l t : : 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^■1* AND .1* ■ I A SYSTEM OF THE CREATION OF OUR aLOBE, OF TEfE PLANETS, AND THE SUN OF OUK SYSTEM, FOUNDED ON THE FIRST CHAPTEIl OF GENESIS, ON THE GEOLOGV of the EARTH, AND OF THE MODERN DISCOVERIES IN THAT SCIENCE, AND THE KNOWN OPERATIONS OF ^UE LAWS OF NATURE f ^ ' AS PROVED BY THE DISCOVERIES OF LAVOISIEE, AND OTHERS, IN PNEUMATIC CHEMISTRY ; AND Bf M. ARAGO'S •STRONOMICAL Dlt'JOVERIES LATELY MADE AT THE PAHIS OBSBaVATORT. SIXTH EDITIOIV, REVISED AlVD ENLARGED- BY HENRY TAYLOR* TORONTO :^ PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, At thn Office of " The Church." . , MDCCCXLVII. NOTICE TO THE READER. The Reader will find the Extra Matter for the Fourth^ Fifth, and present Editions in the Appendix No. 2, at the end of the Work. ^c.^. ^ the PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. In my endeavours to reconcile tlie present Geological ap- pearances of our Earth, with the Mosaic account of Orea- tion, the on!}- certain means that appeared to me, were, the adoption of that construction of the first verse of Gejiesis, which ] have stated in a part of this Work, and it will be seen by an extract from the Quarterly Review of April last, inserted below, that this construction has been confirmed and sanctioned by the writings of Professor Buckland, Doc- tors Pusey and Chalmers, Bi^jhop Gleig, and other emijieiit Divines. These autliorities have removed the dilfidence [ had long felt to publish a different construction from what has, hitherto, prevailed. The original manuscript of this work was composed be- tween the years 1819 and 18-25. The writings of the above reverend gentlemen were published, I believe, several years afterwards and none of them had been perused by me, until a few days, since, when I met with the Review of the JBridgewater Treatise of Doctor Buckland. In the summer of 1829, I presented a prospectus of the work to Archdeacon Mountain, and to the Bishop of Que- bec. The former kindly complimented me on it, and the latter recommended my publishing it in London, for which I was soon to embark. I arrived there in October of same year, and presented the provspectus to the Lord Bisho]) of London, from whom I received a note by which he was pleased to commend the design of the work. I subsequently presented the prospectus to several of the principal Book- sellers, who, on learning that the size of the work would be that of a pamphlet, informed me, that the cost of adver- tising was so great, that no pamphlet would pay it, and my circumstances preventing me from incurring that expense, I gave up the intention of publishing. In the mean time, a reverend gentleman of the name of Fairholme was publishing a theological work connected with geology, and I enclosed to him a copy of the prospec- tus, and in a letter I received from him, dated Oct. 14, 1833, he saysj " With regard to the Creation of our earth - IV or of the sun, and other memhors of the Solar System, 1 have neither found in the work of any witer, nor can I conceive the smallest grounds on which to irrm a consistent that it belongs the theory, nor indeed do I conceive that it belongs to science of geology at all.* Scripture has given us no in- sight into it. The existing laws of nature are equally silent, and yet, these laws must have existed from the I) eg inning. ^^ He then assumes, " that the granite mass has heen formed before the existence of organized heiniis, as their remains are never found in it," an opinion which, I think, the reader will iind answered in note 2d of this work ; and the assertion, that neither scripture nor the laws of nature give any insight into the Creation, appeared to me so futile, that I have inserted the above extract, solely to prove, that the system I had formed, had not, at the date of that letter, been yd made by any other writer. By the following extract from the Bridgewater Treatise of the Rev. Doctor Buckland, published long since the date of Mr. Fairholme's letter, it will be seen, that my construc- tion of the 1st verse of Genesis, has been sanctioned and confirmed by the authorities mentioned above. And having presented my prospectus to the persons above named, and also to the Royal Institution in Albemarle-street, London, in 1833, I consider it a duty to myself to claim the originating of that construction, by which the general ap- pearance of gradual deposition in tlie geology of the earth, (whose diameter must, according to the modern geologists, have existed millions of years) will, as well as this supposed age, be now reconciled, and satisfactorily explained by the Mosaic account. Extract from the Revieio of the Bridgewater Treatise. " If there are any lovers of science yet ignorant of the extent and fertility of the field which Geology has laid open — of the in- tensity and variety of interest by which those who exiMore it are repaid — here is a work to astonish and delight them. If there are any persons yet deterred from the study of this fascinating sci- encc, by the once prevalent notion, that the facts, or theories if you will, that it teaches, tend co weaken the belief in revealed religion, by their apparent inconsistency with the scriptural ac- count of the creation of the globe— Acre, in the work of a dignitary the church, writing ex ca-tJiedra, from the head quarters of orthc. doxy, they will find the amplest assurances that their impression is not merely erroneous, but the very reverse of the truth : for that, while its discoveries are not in any degree, at variance with * In this he was right, it belongs to the science of Cosmogony 1 bt is th th G St! dil of pi: Oil th ;ho correct interpretation of the Mosaic narrative, there ciihis no science whicli can produce more powerful evidence in support of natural religion — nonewhich will bo found a more potent anx- iliary to revelation, by exalting our conviction, of tlie powi r. wisdom and goodness of the Creator. Several hypotheses have been proposed, with a view of recon- ciling tlie phenomena of goology, with the brief account of cevn- tion which we find in the Book of Genesis and others. It has b(u;n plausibly stated, that the Six Days of Creation must, each of them, be understood to imply, not as now, a single revolution <>t the (Jlobe, but some other cyclic period of unknown extent. — i>r. Buckland, however, prefers that explanation which is sup- ported by the hiirh authority of Dr. Puscy, the Regius Professor of Hebrew in Oxford, and has the sanction of Dr. Chalmers, Bishop Gleig, and other eminent contemporary divines, — namely, that the phrase employed in the first verse of Genesis, ' In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth,' may refer to an epoch antecedent to the ' first day,' subsequently spoken of in the fifth vers'!, and that, durnig this indefinite interval, comprising perliaps, millions and millions of years, all the physical operations liiscljscd by geology were going on. Many of the Fathers quot- ed by Professor Pusey, a[)pear to have thus interpreted the com- mcncemcnt of the sacred history, understanding from it, tiiat a considerable interval took [)lace between the original creulion of the universe, related in the first verso, and that series of events of which an account is given in the third and following verses. ' Accordingly,' says Professor Pusey, ' in some old editions of the English Bible, where there arc no divisions into verses, you actually find a break at the end of what is now the secomi verse ; and in Luther's Bible (Wittenburg, 1557) you have in ad- dition, the figure 1 placed against the third verse, as being tlie beginning of tiie account of the creation on the first day. This is just the sort of confirmation which one wished for, because, though one would shrink from the impiety of bending the lan- guage of God's Book to any other than its obvious meaning, wt; cannot help fearing lest wo might be unconsciously influenced by the floating opinions of our own day, and therefore turn the more anxiously to those who explained Holy Scripture before these theories existed.' — Note, p. 25. Thus all difRculty, arismg from the immense antiquity of the s, the laws, and the principles <»n which the primary and secondary masses were <)rii!;inally formed," and that these j)rocesscs will be brought to Light by our Theory of the Earth. To our construction of Ihe true interpretation of the first verse of Genesis in pau:e 27, we have, in note 'U\ of this edition, jj^iven extracts from a recent pul)licatioii of the ce- lebrated Doctor Chahners, who has adopted our construc- tion of that verse. In note '1th, we also (juote from Doctor Clarke's Com- mentaries in further confirmation of our construction of said verse. In note 7t]i to tliis edition, we have the d destroyed. The recent discoveries of Sir Humphrey Davy, in nis Galvanic Experiments on the primary earths, appear too, to confirm the probability of our Theory. The Granite mass is mostly composed of these primary earths, which he has found to consist of metallic bases, united to oxygen in a solid state. Now Oxygen is one of the most abundant constituents of vegetable anO animal life. The basis of several metals also, we trust to have shewn in our work, are the produce of the vegetable process. Mr. Good, in his Book of Nature, page 239, says, " I have already had occasion to observe that Albumen and Fibrine are substances formed by the action of the living principle, out of the common materials of the food, and that it is probable the lime found in the bones and other parts, is produced in the same manner." Now, while it is allowed by all Geologists of modern date, that these /wnc^ions of life have had so great a share in the formation of those parts of the Geological bodies, which are accessible to our examination, we may, it appears to me, conclude by reasonable induction, that the sai.ue niighty engine of formation has been employed from the " begin- ning if to construct the entire diameter and circumference of the earth, more especially, as we know of no agencies equal :o the vital functions and their deposits, for producing formations, and I trust to have shewn also, in Note 5, to thiii Edition, that the idea of the incandescence of the Earth, will not render this Theory untenable. In note 6th of this edition, will be found an extract from Good's Book of Nature, in which the opinion of the im- mortal Newton is stated, on the subject of an etherial and elastic medium, pervading all space in the heavens ; which opinion, we consider as a strong confirmation of that part of our system relating to the mode by which the Sun's waste of li^ht and heat may be replenished. I have now solely to present this second edition to the public, relying with confidence on their candid perusal of it ; and hoping, that I shall have at least gained one end, that 1 traces ii heat hat had earlier s it IS ore fie- ancient 11 com- overies |ents on ility of f these netallic Vgen is >le aji(' rust to ge table i, says, en and living Ind that » is XI (-f exaltin^ the utility of the sciences on which I have (ornied this system of creation, towards enabling us to dis- cover more fully, the wisdom of the First Cause in his Creation. In that part of the work which treats of the dissolution of the earth, we have stated an idea, that «•' the indestruc- tibility of the laws of nature, and their eternal tendency to form new combmations of matter, offer a proof also, of the distinct destined existence, and of the immortality of the soul of man." (See pages 80 and 81.) If this induction be just, we may infer from our reason, that the soul is im- mortal, and it may perhaps offer a consolatory confirmation of the revealed religion, that its promises are found consistent with our reasoning powers ; and with the inductions of science. And I ardently hope, that this power of the sci- ences, may tend to lead many of the rising generation to acquire a kncr^riedge thereof, and a zeal for their future ad- vancement, m furtherance of greater and glorious discoveries of the benevolent wisdom of our Creator. HENRY TAYLOR. Quebec, March, 1840. '^ ■nHwMVnn INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD EDITION. Since the pub'iication of the second edition of this work, I '. ve found that the celebrated Hutton, as is stated by Ke ch, was of opinion, that all the geological bodies of the eor.h, had been formed by "marine exuviifc or remains." It is satisfactory to have this part of the theory of the earth , \vh-."h, previous to my seeing this opinion, I had formed and presented to the world, sanctioned by so great an authority. But Hutton's Theory cf the Earth, being adverse to the Mosaic account of the creation, he drew upon himself much obloquy from the supporters of it ; and it is t? be lamented that a due consideration of the first verse of Genesis had not occurred to him ; as, most probably,*his sagacious mind would hav3 discovered, how completely the explanation we have in our theory given of that verse, will give the length of time which, in the opinion of many geologists, the various formations of the globe require. Many of the modern geologists, however, who had pub- lished their works previous to the Rev. Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, in which the above construction of the first verse of Genesis is assumed, or who, having not yet sufficiently contemplated that construction, so as tc adopt it themselves, and, probably, not willing to come ii.to collision with the sacred writings ; these geologists, I say, have now abandoned the practice of forming any theory of the earth at all, and limit themselves to the col- lection of geological facts. Now, it appears to me, that if, on a due consideration of the facts which botany, chemistry, pneumatics and geolo-jry present us with, it be conceived, that by a just combination of these facts, we can by fair induction and analo/Vj gain an insight into the most mys- terious opc.'.tions of Nature, and of the laws which its omnipoter/t Creator may hii.e established for these opera- tions ; there is then no just cause why such a combination of these scientific facts should not be attempted ; there is no just reason why the huinnn mind should be fettered in the profoundly interesting science of Cosmogony more than in any o'.her. There is not, perhaps, in the vast range of Nature's works, one which excites in the minJ a greater an ea XUl i , ?> degree of mysterious wonder, than the inspection of the rocky formations of the earth. The perfect order in the movements of the heavenly bodies, their surprising distances and magnitudes, it is true, are of a more grand and sublime description ; but the rocky formations belong to our own domain, and however some may call in quesdon the vast distances and magnitudes of the heavenly bodies, yet, of the enormous depths, breadths and lengths of the formations of our earth, we have the direct evidences of sight and touch. What are the agencies by which the Creator has formed these mysterious productions , is therefore the silent ques- tion whicn every close observer of nature asks himself. And, acccrdindy, numerous theories, not only of the crust of the earth, but of the earth itself, have long since been offered to mankind. Many of these, however, being founded only on the imaginative conceptions of ingenious men, have not maintained their ground. None of them, I believe, but Hutton, as before mentioned, and a few of the German geologists have offered any tangible mode of formation which the Deity may have chosen, for the production of the entire body of the geological formations of the earth. In the first paragraph of the preface to the first edition of this work, I have stated that my object in forming my con- struction of the first verse of Genesis, was, to be enabled to reconcile the Mosaic account of creation with the time said by the modern geologists to be required for these formations — having done this, my next wish was to enquire what physical laws the Creator bad chosen to produce them. fey physical laws they are undoubtedly formed, as far as we have access to examine them ; and we have the power- ful sanction of every part of nature, to conclude by analogy that the entire diameter of the globe is equally so. By t e 6tn, 7th and 9th verses of the 1st of Genesis, we find thj earth was covered by the waters until the time of the separation. We have therefore just right to conclude it v/as formed in those waters of Genesis, and, accordingly, as stated by one of the best modern geologists — *' Every part of the earth, every continent and every island exhibits the phenomenon of marine productions." Our theory is founded on these scriptural and geological facts ; and ^^e havt a confirmation of the competent powers of the vegetable anO animal deposits and labors of the marine animals of the ocean to Pioduce these formations of the earth, in the known and established fact, of an extent of V XIV land more than equal to one eighth of the diameter of the earth, being: formed by a few species of marine insects, for the Coral Islands and reefs of the Indian Sea and Pacific Ocean are 1,500 miles long by 60 or 70 hrcad. In the course of my journies through this province, to offer my works for sale, I am happy to state, that a great majority of the people appear to be duly impressed with a belief in the sacred scriptures ; indeed I have met with home who seemed to think the Mosaic account of creation re(iuired no support. These were, however, generally poisons imacquainted with the authenticated geological facts, ft is unquestionable that many of the formations have been produced by gradual deposition from the waters ; and must liave required a period for that deposition immensely greater than that since the creation, being near 6,000 years. Some modern geoloi^ists claim indeed millions of years, for these formations of the crust of the earth ; and we trust, we can thoroughly satisfy these claims by the construction of the 1st verse of Genesis, now sanctioned by the eminent writers mentioned in the preface to the first edition. We trust also to have presented a palpable clue to the discovery of the mode in which it may have pleased the Deity to have constructed the solid machinery of our globe. Tlie vastnessofthis machinery is indeed calculated to strike the mind with awful wonder, but it is his work, and, as such, a fair subject for the study and discussion of his creatures, as the more it is examined the more profoundly will be ex- hibited his bounty and his wisdom. We trust to have shewn, in note 5th, that the theory of the existence of ani- mal life, previous to the secondary formations, is tenable, and, that the incandescence of the earin, as supposed by Dr. Ruckland, does not overthrow it ; and, th( efore, that we have a right to say with a great modern geologist — «' That the causes at present in operation must have been producing the same efl^ects in all preceding ages." We conclude, therefore, that attempts to (orm a system of the creation, when based upon authenticated scientific facts, are allowable, and the more so, that in the present enlightened state of the world, these systems can be duly examined and their merits determined. We have, in this edition, at the close of the theory of the sun's formation, given some account of Sir Richard Phillips' Theory of the Cause of the Motions of the Heaven- ly Bodies. This theory offers an additional sanction to those stated, in the 17th note, in favor of our theory of the exis- ss XV 1 y^ f tence of gaseous media in the regions of space. But we are by no means prepared to join Sir Richard in his opinions against the Newtonian theory of gravitation and attraction. We conceive that these great laws of Nature may still exist, and that they maybe reconcileable to, and be assisted by, the gaseous media ; and as we have shewn in note 6tli of second edition, Sir Isaac Newton himself suggests " the existence of an etherial and gaseous medium pervading all space ;" and, perhaps, the existence of this gassoous me- dium, would serve to shew the physical cause of these prin- ciples of attraction and gravitation, and, thereby account for their effects. We have also inserted an extract from Sir John Hcrschell's Astronomy of last year, also sanctioninf' CJ our idea of tlie. supply of the sun's waste by gaseous matter ; and it is witb the greater satisfaction we give this extract from Sir John's work, that the late Doctor Herschell was of opinion that the sun misrht be habitable. Sir John has now declared his opinion, that " the sun's zodiacal light is part of that medium which resists the motion of comets, and is loaded with the materials of the tails of millions of them which may be slowly subsiding into the sun." These materials must ot course be gaseous ; now the combustion of gaseous matter is nothing but the union of the base of the gas with that of oxygen gas, without which no combustion takes place, and the consequent extrication of the light and heat of this oxygen gas, by which we conclude, as per our theory, the waste of the sun's light and heat is replenished. Accordingly Sir John, in another part of his work states his opinion, that there is " an enormous heat in the sun." Dr. Herschell, his late father, says, that the sun's luminous atmosphere is only 2,500 miles from the sun's surface. — That these admitted facts can be reconciled with his opinion of the sun being opaque and habitable, when under the influence of such enormous quantities of light and heat, appears to me totally contrary to all possibility. In addition to these sanctions of the existence of an jeriform medium in the regions of infinite space, we have the great satisfaction to refer the reader to our extract from Dr. Graham's Elements of Chemistry of last year, where he will find, that, from recent experiments of one of the most celebrated opticians, and philosophers of the present day. Sir David Brewster, he concludes that the " sun's atmosphere must contain gaseous matter." Several explanatory additions are made in the body of this edition, to whir' we ask leave to refer the reader, particu- larly to the Elucidation of the theory of the Formation of the Earth. We now present the third edition of this work to the public of United Canada, trusting that the system of Creation we had attempted to form, will receive a considerable degree uf sanction from the scientiiic authorities, discoveries, and observations we have now enlarged it with j and that it may be found to meet the approbation of scientiiic men of the present, and also serve as an instructive book for the rising generation. ' THE AUTHOR. Montreal, 1845^. \l iU tli arl )f le in ;e id it of tie AN ATTEMPT TO FORM A SYSTEM Ol'" THE CREATION OF O U 11 GLOBE, &c. > The reader will have received some id ^c. of the pur- pose of the Science of Geology, from the prf^faces to the former editions of this work ; and in order to ex • hibit to the Canadian public the practical utility of this science, we extract from a late Geological work of some merit, namely Elements of Geology for Popular use, by Charles A. Lee, M. D. of New York his state- ment of this utility. In the first paragraph of his pre- face he says — *' No department of the natural sciences possesses greater interest or leads to more important practical results, than that of Geology. Of late years, it has attracted almost universal attention, not only from the fascinating wonders it discloses, but also from its obvious and extensive application to the economical purposes of life. Of such importance has it been re- garded, that many of our State Legislatures, as well as the General Government, have authorized geological surveys to be made, in order that the natural resources of the country may be brought to light and fully de- 'ypioned ^^^ ♦#♦# Id % ^ '!^ % -itc Already have these surveys contributed millions in value to the productive industry of the land, and every year their importance is more and more demonstrated and acknowledged." Bl 18 i Many of the influential men in the Hon. Legislature of this Province, have honored me with their subscript tions to my work, and I am happy to observe that a liberal sum has since been appropriated by it, for a geological survey of the Province, which, I have no doubt, if performed with diligence and zeal, may dis- cover great sources of industry and wealth for it. I now proceed to give an account of the theory which the late discoveries of this and other sciences have suggested to me of the geological formation of our globe, and of the system of creation I had gradually formed. In the year of our Lord 1819, 1 returned to the land of my birth, the Canadas, after an absence of nigh forty years in England and Nova Scotia, during which, I had undergone great misfortunes in an extensive line of mercantile business. The pleasing sensations I felt on this return to my native country, may have been experienced by many ; the intensity with which I felt them, may have been occasioned by so long an absence ; and having now, as it were, fallen into the calm and pure resort of nature, the woods of Lower Canada, I was never more happy than in the study of her works. From early youth I had been fond of the science of chemistry ; and now, some books of geology fell into my hands : with them I frequently compared the appearances I met with in my walks, which, being in unison with these books, gradu- ally confirmed me in the opinion, that our earth was originally formed in a fluid,*and was deposited from it. In the treatise on chemistry by Professor Chaptal, I found an account of the chaotic system of creation oi the ancients ; by which it is supposed, that the chaotic ^w 19 mixture, being formed, the various substances were attracted to each other, by the laws o'' mutual affinity, and precipitated. On frequent reflection, however, on this theory, and contrasting it with the general state of the depositions of the earth in strata and laminae, it appeared to me to be totally insufficient to account for these appearances : had a chaotic mixture been formed by the Creator, con- taining in solution all the various geological bodies, and had nothing more been required for their formation, than the operation of their affinities and attractions, these must have taken place immediately, and they would be found deposited in homogenous, and exclusive masses, according to their various affinities and gravities : but the formations are generally found in alternate layers and laminaB of frequently mixed substance, and this too without coincidence with the laws of gravity, and bear the certain marks, not only of being deposited from a fluid, but also, of a gradual and mixed deposition, at periods probably of immense distance from each other. This reflection led me to conceive that these depositions were gradually produced by some permanent and con- tinually operating cause. In the above mentioned work of Chaptal, I had found, and been much struck with, the beautiful and interesting theory he has given of the formation of the various primitive earths, and many salts, metals and mineral substances, by the processes of vegetation,which are found on the decomposition of those vegetables by analysis and combustion : I was also aware, that vast tracts of the earth are formed by vegetable, animal and marine depositions, and being one day occupied in reading attentively^ the account of the creation in the 20 first chapter of Genesis, the waters therein mentioned forced themselves strongly on my attention and repeat- ed consideration, until at last, the idea grew upon me, that the geological bodies of the earth were, somehow or other, produced in these waters. That the earth was formed in a fluid, I now felt thoroughly convinced of; that a great part of its crust, consisted of vegetable and animal depositions, even almost to the tops of the highest mountains, as stated by geologists, seemed to me a proof, that these marine vegetables and animals must have previously existed in waters which produced these depositary remains ; and, as no inundation or deluge is sufficient to account for these universal appearances of the formations in the earth ; therefore, the waters or oceans mentioned in the first of Genesis appeared to me the only, and the truest sources by which we can account for them. During my reading and reflections on this subject, and previously to my determining to form a Theory of the Creation, Archdeacon Paley's Evidences of Natu- ral Religion fell into my hands, in which the atheisti- cal doctrines of chance, and also, the notions of BufFon, of the earth's formation by a fragment knocked off^ by a Comet from the sun, is related, and commented on, by the Archdeacon. I shall therefore, previously to advancing any thing more on the system of Creation I had gradually formed in my own mind, beg leave to make some observations on those doctrines of chance formation, and thus endea- vour to clear the way for a system, I trust, more con- sistent with reason, and with our religion. " Amongst inanimate substances, says Paley m p. 63, of hi« Theology of Nature, or Evidences of Natural Religion, a clod, a pebble, a liquid drop, might be ; but never was a watch, a teles- r t- je, 21 cope, or organized body of any kind, answering a valuable pur- pose by a complicated mechanism, the effect of chance ; in no HSHignable instance hath such a thing existed without intention some where." Now, it appears to me very singular, that Paley, after having so clearly exposed the absurdity of this theory of chance, should have thus conceded the pos- sibility of a clodt a pebble, or a liquid drop, being the product of it ; a clod is a piece or part of the earth ; a pebble is a fragment of some rock rounded by the waters ; a liquid drop is a part of those waters. The same cause then, that produced the earth and seas, produced also the clod, pebble, and drop. But can there be any doubt that the earth itself contains marks of design and intelligence ? That all its vegetables and animals contain marks of design, he has proved ; now we cannot refuse the same evidence of design in the formation of the earth and seas, if it were solely as a matrix or habitation for those plants and animals; and, among the evidences of design which these last exhibit, I beg leave to mention one which, 1 believe, has escaped the observation of the Archdeacon —it is the amazing varieties exhibited in every species of these plants and animals. Had they been solely the offspring of a " blind conatus," there would, probably, have been but one species of each of them : but their vast varieties shew a master and designing hand to have directed their formation. The evidence of design which the earth exhibits, is not confined to its own formation ; this evidence is much more strong, when we find and consider it as a part of a system of planets revolving in known periods round a central sun, whose light and heat are evidently the intended sus< 22 tainers of the life and enjoyments of the plants and in- habitants existing on this family of planets. It is also stated in page 92 of the above work, that Ruiibn considers the Planets to have been " shivered off the sun by some stroke of a comet." Paley adds, " that he never could see the differv^nce between the antiquated * System of Atoms,' and Bufibn's ' Organic Molecules ;' " and that " this philosopher having made a planet, by knocking o^ from the sun a piece of melted glass, in consequence of the stroke of a comet, and having set it in motion by the same stroke, both round its own axis and the sun, finds his next difRculty to be how to bring plants and animals upon it," &c. Now, as to the solid parts of the earth ; allowing glass to be composed of a variety of materials, yet I believe no part of the interior of the earth is discovered to be vitreous, except in the vicinity of volcanic moun- tains, or where these have previously existed. How then has this glass, of which BufTon supposes the earth to have been formed ; how has it been metamorphosed into the vast variety of mineral products which geology discovers to us ? The internal substance of the earth down to its centre, is supposed to be granite, or bodies of greater density ; and neither granite, nor the more external formations bear any resemblance to vitreous or volcanic matter. But, if even the solid parts of our earth, will not support such a theory, how are we to account by it for its waters ? Is it in the midst of the molten glass of a burning sun, we are to look for them ? Water, how- ever, is said to constitute three-fourths of the Earth's surface, and the total inability of this theory or suppo- sition, to account for its production, appears to me de- .-M*. 23 cisive against its foundation in reality. ( Vide IstSf '2d paragraph of Note 4M.) Buflbn's theory has also been completely refuted by the undoubted astronomical fact, that if the planets were struck oft' from the Sun, they must, in every revolution have returned to the Sun again. I shall now notice the opinions on Chance or Atheism, as causes to account for the productions of nature, in our Globe. The Organic Molecules of Bnff'on are thus stated by Paley, in page 427 of the above Work, Evidences of Natural Religion, namely : " we are to suppose the Universe replenished with particles endowed with lifp, but without organization of their own, and endowed, also, with a tendency to marshal themselves into orga- nized forms." It appears to me almost impossible that the author of this doctrine, if it be Buifon, could rest satisfied with this cause of Creation ; because, although it should be allowed that these particles of life could infuse them- selves into organized bodies, we naturally enquire, how came these particles themselves into the universe ? This is the secret, undiscoverable without allowing an " unknown cause.'* If Buffbn would account for the existence of these particles by chance, I say, that from the time of their finding their way into these Molecules, or organized forms, there is so much, and so constantly exhibited in every one of these forms, what we call, in plain languge, intelligence, and design to produce good and wise ends ; that the term Chance, in the sense in which it would be employed by these Atheistical writ- ers, completely comprehends intelligence and design, for these are found inseparable from tnese organized »w^. 24 forms ; therefore, the Doctrine of Chance, instead of confuting, proves the existence of an Unknown Creat- ing Cause. Were the terra Chanre to be understood merely in the common acceptation of the term, as existing, for instance, in many of the events of life, it will still always be considered as too aburd and impotent to account for the productions of Naiure, because it is not in the nature of the human mind to rest satisfied with this Buffoonery idea of Creation. Now, therefore, to finish with thisi, and with the no- tion of the planets being knocked off from the Sun ; to account for their creation thereby, without an Intel- ligent Creator, I must say, I feel it to be a daring thing of this or any writer, to have attempted the overthrow of the established opinions of all Christian nations, as set forth in the Scriptures, handed down to us from the people whom it appears to me, were chosen by the de- sign of Heaven, to preserve mankind in the faith and worship of one Creutor ; and which are, I believe, sup- ported in their principal facts by the immortal Newton, in his system of the Universe, and were certainly be- lieved by him. Previous to thus presuming to overthrow this sacred religion, it appears to me, this author should have form- ed a system less replete with absurdity, but fortunately too much so, to produce extensively any evil effects. — Christians, in general, are fixed in their notions of the true Cau^e of all they see, taste, and feel around them, and of their own existence. The Jewish Nation was taught by a religion which, from the days of Adam, had been followed by mankind, — a belief in one Al- mighty Creator of all things. Tbis belief had nearly, 4 25 ttead of Great- erely in ng, for ill still tent to it is not ed with the no- Sun ; to 1 Intel- ig thing erthrow ions, as roni the the de- lith and ve, sup- ^ewton, inly be- i sacred e forra- unately fects, — I of the d them, ton was Adam, 3ne Al- nearly, however, disappeared from the earth in succeeding ages. Men, enenrated by the effects of those hot climates, and sunk in consequent sensuality, were tempted to throw off the wholesome restraints of a pure religion, and gradoally fell into an idolatry, whose ministers, probably, permitted these sensual habits, to confirm their own power over these people. The Jews, alone, had preserved the worship of one Almighty Creator, until their posterity, after the deliverance from Egyp- tian bondage, had sunk them into the same idolatrous practices as their forefathers. .if. .<» ,. And here I beg leave to observe, that this repeated defection of the Jews, and of the rest of mankind, from the worship of one God, appears to me a strong proof that Deism alone, in its purest state, is not sufBcient to prevent mankind from falling into idolatrous worship. But, the Saviour promised in the Scriptures by ihe in- spired writers, arose at length to astonish mankind, and to bring them back for ever from that idolatry to a religion which alone is worthy of the highest degree of intelligence to which the mind of man can arrive ; a religion which, while it allows him the most extenfied use of that intelligence in the contemplation of the works of Creation, teaches him, also, lo be contented with the limits which appear to be fixed to it ; and being convinced of tl e e.dstence of an Almighty Protector, to feel the glowing pleasure of the adoration of Him, to Ikj among his purest and most comforting sensations. '- - v'^\ ^ - Theate cheering feelings of the heart and mind, cold and joyless Atheism is void of, and thereby its errors are proved; because the almost universal feeling ol' these emotiooisy and their cultivation by nations who e • 26 I have at all risen above idolatrous worship, is a proof that these emotions came from the hands of Nature and Reason, and they appear to form the links of a chain which connects this with a future state of existence. The supporters of the doctrine of Chance, however, disdaining to be contented with the Scriptural account of Creation, havp. formed various wild and futile notions to account for it, in order, no doubt, to seek for dis- tinction by opposing the generally received doctrines ; but finding, as I trust tajtave shewn, the total impotence of Chance, of appetencies, principles of order, POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS OF MATERIAL FORMS, and of LAWS OF NATURE, &c. &c., to Satisfy the inquisi- tive mind of man, they have been obliged to conclude with telling us, "that neither they nor we know any thing about the matter." ( Vide page 7, of Paleys Uieolory.) •• But, at that very point, where they have thus found themselves stopt in the extension of their enquiries, is seen " the God whom we worship." There, when this proud, but false philosophy finds its ignorance bogin to darken it, we have the clear and powerful light of this true religion to illuminate us, and to teach us to rest satisfied with the impenetrable veil which its author has Ijeen pleased to fix between Himself and His crea- tures in this stage of existence. On a par with these doctrines of chance-Creation is the idea of the Materiality of the Human Soul ; and previous to dismissing this part of the subject, I beg leave of the reader to offer some observations on this Doctrine of Materiality. The Materialist supposes, that all the powers of the •mind of man result from his Organization alone. It 27 i follows, then, as a natural consequence, that when this organization is destroyed, the mind is destroyed along with it. Materialism, then, necessarily leads us to a disbelief in a future state. Now, in no part of Nature do we find faculties be- stv V •■(! vliich are not generally, productive of certain j)v:)'p^ses to ihei-e parts ; therefore, if man were destined solely for exiijtence on this earth ; if his thoughts were solely the eftects of the organization of his frame ; is it not probable his thoughts would have been confined to the actual sphere of his destined existence ? Would he not have been unable to form those high imaginations and hopes of eternal lappiness in more perfect regions ? For, "f W3 may reason from the vast body of evidence of her works, Nature does nothing, and bestows nothing, in vain ; she never appears to act with deception ; there- fore she would not have given to men of all ages and na- ti ms those hopes of future happiness, merely to disap- po'nt them. " I am positive I have a soul," said Laurence Sterne, " nor shall all the bocks with which Materialists have pestered the world, ever convince me to the contrary." The vast powers of intellect and of science, by which m::n has been enabled to observe and to trace so ex- actly, the astonishing systems of the heavenly bodies ; those high passions and thoughts of future bliss which he is thereby led to hope for, in some such regions, partake too much of the nature of Spirit to suffer us to think they are solely produced by a more perfect orga- nization than is bestowed on the horse, the mule or the ass. . ... It moreover has been proved by the anatomy of the brain of the Ourang Outang, an animal approaching 28 a i nearer to the human species than any other, that its brain exactly resembles that of the human species ; and it is said; " it is surprising this resemblance is produc- tive of so few advantages ; the tongue and all the or- gans of the voice are similar, and yet the animal is dumb ; the brain is formed in the same manner, and yet the creature vi^ants reason ; an evident proof, [as BufFon finely observes,] that no arrangement of matter will give mind, and that the body, how nicely soever formed, is formed to very limited ends, when there is not infused a soul to direct its operations ;" — and I ani the more happy in giving this quotation, as it shews that Butfon has indeed the redeem njv qvulity of not acceding to, but of disproving, the degrading Doctrine of Materiality. We feel less surprised at the invention of such a doctrine, when we are informed who are its abettors or authors. Persons, who, in the practice of their art, having been long habituated to dissections of the human body, have thereby become more apt to form their notions from tueir eyes than from the reflec- tions of their minds, have sought to make the world beliew, that the superiority of the mind of man over other animals, arose meiely from a more perfect orga- nization of the brain ; and such an assertion ren inds us of the Alchemists, who sought for the Philosophers' Stone in Rome of the most loathsome objects of nature. Had the Materialists watched and t; ludied the operations of their own hoarts and minds, in the hours of calm contemplation ; har' they allowed these parts of their frames to exert a due influence over thrir opinions, th^y would, probably, have felt the force of the great poet's assertion, " 'Tis the Divinity which stirs within us." They may, indeed, have carried their anatomical science and skill to that exact point where body meets 29 that its BS ; and jroduC" the or- imal is er, and OF, [as matter ' soever there is kI I am it shews r of not )ocf;rine ivention I are its ictiee of !tions of e apt to e reflec- e world lan over ct orga- ren inds sophers* ' nature, (eralions of calm of their tns, th'.y at poet's thin us." atomical ly meets spirit ; they may have discovered the precious matrix in which this "immortal spirit" is destined at present to reside ; but, they would not thus have presumed to degrade its nature and its future destiny. In fine, this material doctrine of the mind may well be said to savor too much of the shop ; and no well cul- tivated mind can, I think, for a moment assent to so degrading a doctrine ; — and I shall conclude this sub- ject with an observation I have made on the separate existence of mind from body. When two persons con- verse together, the ideas of their minds pass from the organs of speech, through the air intervening between the two persons ; in this passage, therefore, an emana- tion of mind exists separate from the body from whence it came. It is conveyed, indeed, by the vibrations of the particles of air it passes through, but it certainly has, during that period, an existence separate from the body and organs it proceeded from. An emanation of mind, therefore, can exist separate from its matrix, and in a form of matter entirelv different from what it emanated from. Is it then not possible to conceive, that mind itself could be endowed with existence in the aeriform state, as well as in the solid ? I now resume the narration of the course of thought which has led me to form the present attempt at a the- ory of the Creation of our system, and, by analogy, of the other systems of the heavenly bodies. Being, as before stated, convinced that the earth had been originally formed in water, the enquiry, then, natu- rally suggested itself, what waters we had any historical account of which could produce this effect ? The chao- tic liquor of the ancients, I trust to have proved, is incompetent to account for the general geological ap- c 1 30 pearances, and therefore fails. The waters of the De- luge can only account for certain changes in the earth's surface, which they may have occasioned, and which, no doubt, give proofs of the reality of that Deluge. — But, the proofs of formation in a fluid, reach far below the possible effects of an inundation which lasted only one year. The vast masses of marine depositions must have required numerous ages to accumulate, and even the granite mass gives proofs of formation or of altera- tion in a fluid, by the chrystals and heterogeneous sub- stances it consists of; and this stupendous mass, which is supposed to form the whole interior of the globe, must have required a correspondent time for that for- mation. To shew that it is not without good cause, we, in this work, attempt to vindicate the Mosaic account of Crea- tion ; and, by our explanation of the first verse of Genesis to account for the immense period of time re- quired by the modern Geologists ; we extract the fol- lowing Note from a late work on Geology : " Although the world is not eternal, it is nevertheless very ancient, and, in calculating all the time that was required for the formation of the numerous beds which the globe presents to us, for the life and reproduction of all the animals and vegetables whose remains it contains, ac- cording to tha time employed for the actual fprmations whose duration we know, we are forced to admit that the world is at ler^st 300,000 years old." — Bovbies Geol. Populairey page 7, Paris 1833. The only waters, therefore, with which History fur- nishes us to account for these phenomena, are certainly the waters of Genesis, Genesis f chapter 1st, verse 9th. *^ And God said, let the waters under the firmament be 31 ac- gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so." I then proceeded to inquire it" the scriptural account of these waters would warrant the conclusion, that the earth was formed in them by the deposition of the strata and other rocks which ihe latest discoveries in the science of geology have pronounced it to consist of. After a long and mature consideration I conceived, that the first verse of Genesis, " In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth," will not only warrant the above conclusion ; but, perhaps, also a like formation of all the planets and suns of other systems ; by the highly natural causes and effects of those laws, which the latest discoveries of Geology and Pneumatic Chemistry have found to exist. I further considered, that if the scriptural account of Creation could thus be reconciled to those discoveries ; — if the Geology of the whole earth could thus be brought in proof of the reality and necessary existence of those waters ; the doubts of the Unbeliever might yield to it, and the authority of Scripture acquire new force. " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'" Now, the term "beginning" points to no specific point of time ; and I have therefore conceived it may have been ages previous to the time of the separation of the earth from the waters as mentioned in the ensu- ing verses ; and that during these agesy the earth was gradually formed in these waters. By this explanation we shall be able to account for any length of time which the formation of the Globe may have required. (/Se* Note Sd to 2d Edition at t/ie end of the Book.) By the famous discoveries of Black, Priestly, La- 32 I I .■t I I'M I- • voisier, and other chemists and philosophers, a new world has been disclosed to us. The constituent part of three-fourths of the surface of the globe, water, which was formerly considered as an element of Crea- tion, has by these discoveries been proved to consist of two separate bodies, Oxygen and Hydrogen. Our at- mosphere itself, the common air, is no longer to be con- sidered as one of these elements : it is composed of the oxygen and the azotic gases ; but neither oxygen nor hydrogen, nor azote, have ever been obtained separate, in a liquid state. They have yet been found only in the form of gases, that is, combined with light and caloric. By the combustion of hydrogen or inflamma- ble gas in oxygen gas, the caloric and light of the latter escapes, and water is formed, in a quantity exactly cor- responding with the weight of the gases employed in the combustion ; and the same water may again be de composed, and returned into the state of the gases it was composed of. This, therefore, being incontroverti- bly proved, for all philosophical chemists are now agreed upon the fact — it follows, that the Waters of the Uni- verse recorded in Genesis, must have been formed by the combustion of these gases ; it follows, that if any part of these waters are composed of them, every part must ; and, therefore, that the Deity, having first called these gases into existence, did^ either by the power of electricity, the blaze of comets, or some other means, ignite the hydrogen gas, which, by its combustion in the oxygen gas, of which the empyreal atmosphere may have been partly composed, produced the Universal waters of Genesis, That the Oceanic waters must have been formed by combustion is proved by the fact that these elementary gases, Oxygen and Hydrogen, may be kept togethp" for any length of time, and form no a new ent part water, f Crea- onsist of Our at- be con- d of the gen nor leparate, only in ght and ilamma- he latter 2tly cor- ioyed in n be de gases it troverti- i^ agreed he Uni- tned by t if any 3ry part ;t called ower of means, stion in 5re may liversal st have ict that n, may )rm no 33 water without combustion. (th to 2d FAi' tion at the end of this Work.) *'■ These waters must have been thus first produced in a state of vapour, which, condensing into a litiuid form would, by laws of attraction, form the Univerjiiil OcKin, the (matrix of our earth,) and planets of our sy8!eni> The vast body of heat and light disengaged iVom this immense combustion, may have formed the Sun of our S3'stem, which, by the laws of its gravity and attraction, assumed its place in the centre of it, as we shall atteinjit to show in the Tlieory of the Sun's formation. We have now to inquire in what way, and by wh; laws, the Creator produced, from these waters, all th solid parts of our earth ? To form the ground-work o our reasoning on this subject, we shall advert to, an< consider attentively, the accounts of the Geologists o. the marine strata and productions found in the bowels of the earth, aud the experiments and opinions of somi eminent Chemists upon the nature and products of th( processes of vegetation. " The Levels," tays Cuvier, one of the most emine Geologists of the present day, " on which marine pj ductions are now found, are far above the level of t ocean, and at heights to which the sea could not rea. by the action of any known cause. Every part of the earth, every continent, and every island, exhibits the same phenomenon. The traces of revolution become more apparent, when we ascend a little higher, and ap- proach nearer to the great chains of mountains. Beds of shells are ^till found here, but not of the same spe- cies as those in less elevated regions. When we ascend to greater elevations, and advance to the summits of * See Note 7th to 2d Edition, at end of this Work. 34 the highest mountains, remains of marine animals grow more rare, and at length, disappear entirely ; but the chrystallization, and many other characters of these rocks, shew them to have been formed in a Jiuid, &(;. It is impossible, therefore, to deny, that the waters of tlie sea have formerly, and for a great length of time, covered those masses of matter which now constitute our highest mountains ; and further, that for a long tinif , these waters did not support any living thing." This last sentence is the only one from which our Tlieory diners, and we refer the reader to Note 2d of I. .4 Edition, in support of that Theory, also, to Note 5th of 2d Edition. Thus we have the evidence of Geology, that every y-iwt of the earth contains marine remains ; and that ev(in the summits of the highest mountains, where these marine depositions cease to be found, give yet evidence i)i formatioti by fluidity. That these marine remains are not found in th* se summits may, I think, be satisfactorily accounted fn/. Many remains are found in the same forms as when they contained tl s living animals ; but, on taking them up, tiicy crumble into impalpable powder. TIu; Gummits, therefore, of these mountains, have ] i jbably contained these marine remains in previous ages ; but being contiguous to the earth's surface, have, by the joint action of the air and ra'i.s, lost their or- ganization, been converted into their component sub- stances, and been incorporated with other mineral, me- tallic, or earthly bodies. Thus, all marble, lime stone, and chalk are found to consist of precisely the same materials as every marine shell ; all are formed of lime and carbonic acid ; and, it is therefore evident, that m 35 ^vhen the masses of shells shall be so far acted upon by the moisture of the earth, rains, internal fires and mi- neral solvents, as to lose their forms, and be converted into powder ; that these agents, acting on and perco- lating through them in various degrees will reduce them into beds of chalk, or lime stone, or marble, and, 1 think it not improbable, the chalk and lime stone for- mations of the earth have been, in the course of ages, formed in this manner. This idea I have seen con- firmed by Mr. John Wesley, in his " Survey of the Wisdom of God in the Creation." He says, in vol. 2d, page 256, " Chalk is no more than the ruins of jioa shells, and lime stones consist of the same bodies ce- mented together by stony matter." Again, " v\ here the tree falls there it lays," says the Proverb. Any person who has seen and noticed the aboriginal forests of the earth, will have observed these trees in various stages of decay — many of them reduced to a state of dust or earth ; and these causes, in the course of time form hills and hillocks. In accounting for the origin of peat earth and morasses of black soil in Britain, a late writer has, therefore, very properly, I think, assigned their origin to arise from the gradual falling and decay of trees in ancient times, which, falling in marshy or swampy places, have decayed and acquired their black colour. In a great many parts of America, it is well known large tracts of land are found in this state, be- ing covered by masses of black earth of various de- grees of consistence, from two to eight feet deep. The subsoil frequently clay. In an article lately published in one of the English papers, there is an account, con- firming the opinion, that part of the coast of Australia, in the South Seas, has been entirely formed by the ma- nure of birds called the Petirel, found there in such II w 36 astonishing quantities, that flocks of them are seen to (!()ver a vast extent of the atmosphere for days together. These facts, therefore, offer corroborating testimony, that large tracts of the earth can, and have been form- ed by the depositions of vegetables and animals. — (See Note 1.) In a Geological work lately published in England, we have the following account of the order of succes- sion of the different layers of rocks which compose the crust of the earth : — Instances wliere found, A. Vegetable soil. \ I Mouth of ti Thames, B. Sand, Clay, Gravel, with 5> bones of same species I and other Rivers, as now exist. J C. Deep beds of Gravel, ^ large loose blocks of Sand, all containing bones of animals be- longing to species now extinct. Surface of many parts of England, and especi-. ' ally the east and south- western parts. 'H\ r i TERTIARY STRATA. D. Sand, Clay, Pebbles, beds'! Hampstead Heath, of sand, white Sand- | Bagshot Heath, coast of stone, many sea Shells, \- Suffolk and Norfolk, the . bones of extinct spe- cies of animals. E. Alternations of Lime Stone, containing fresh water Shells, Clays, of different qualities, and Lime Stone containing Marine Shells. stone of which Windsor Castle is built. il U^rii Isle of White in Ensrland- ■^ 37 seen to igether. tiinonj', n foriu- . — (See nglanil, succes- )08e the found. hames, ers. ny parts especi- ] south- . . ; ,' ■;[ Heath, coast of oik, the Vindsor »■' r*v\. 1 - ndand. F. Thick beds of Clay, maO ny Sea Shells, beds of Many places round Lime Stone, remains of 1 London, and a great part extinct species of plants T of Essex and north-east and fruits, land and | of Kent, Isle of Sheppy. amphibious animals. SECONDARY STRATA. G. Chalk with Flints. Do. without do. H. a. Chalk Marie. b. Green Saiid. J 1 Dover Cliffs, Brighton, I HertfordshirCj Flambo- r rough Head, in York- J shire, England. Many parts of S. coast. Many parts of Kent and Sussex. c. Thick beds of Clay. The Wolds of Kent, Surrey and Sussex. d. Yellow Sand with"] Neighbourhood of > Hastings, in the Isle of beds of Iron. J Purbeck. In an account of the Geological appearances from the Lands' End, in England, towards the vicinity of London, the following facts are stated : — The principal groups of secondary rocks, from the primary strata to the Chalk group, form the upper or more recent members of the division. . * The Chalk group, the Oolite group, the Red Marie group, the Coal group, the Mountain Lime Stone group, the old Red Sand Stone group, the Graiwacke group, are of the following thickness :— Mountain Lime Stone group, 900 feet thick. Old Red Sand Stone group, 1,500 feet thick. Coal group, 1,700 feet thick. Red Marie group contains mines of salt and mar- bles, alabaster and magnesia, with marine skeletons : its thickness is 2,100 feet. D 38 . .a:'^} The Oolite group contains about twelve alternations of subordinate beds or systems of beds, consisting of Lime Stones of different qualities, and of Clays : their united thickness being about 2,600 feet, of which 1,100 are formed of two beds of Clay of five and 600 feet each. The whole group contains a vast abundance of animal remainsy almost exclusively marine. The Chalk group is separated from the Oolite group by several beds of sands, Clays, and Sand Stones, and, including them, is 1,900 feet thick. It extends from Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, to Weymouth. The •whole group abounds in organic remains of the same classes as Winford in the Oolite group. The above groups make 10,700 feet. Thus it appears, that both the Tertiary and Secondary formations of the earth, contain vast masses of the re- mains of marine productions, many of them belonging to species now extinct. Many of these latter are said to have been of enormous sizes. The Coal formations must probably have been pro- duced by the decomposition of marine vegetables, as they reach far toe much below the surface of the earth io suppose them to be formed by those of a terrestrial species. The seams of Coal which lay below the Secondary formations at least, must, in my humble opinion, have been formed by depositions from the Marine Plants and Animals, before the separation of Genesis, as I can- not conceive that the vast masses which constitute the Secondary rocks can have been produced solely by any Deluge or Inundation. Phillips, in his Geology, p. 158, says," The Coal mea- sures contain neither Reptiles, Birds, nor Mammalia. 39 'nation.s 3ting of their h 1,100 )00 feet ance of e group es, and, ds from 1. The he same 3 above condary ' the re- 'longing are said Ben pro- ibles, as he earth trrestrial condarv 3n, have J Plants IS I can- tute the by any )al mea- immalia. Now, had the Coal been produced by Land floods or rivers, and deposited where the Measures are found, they must have contained Reptiles, Birds, and Mammalia. The ferns also found in these measures, are from 40 to 50 feet 'ong, and as Phillips says, are quite unlike ter- restrial ferns, which do not grow now more thaa four or five feet. No effect of climate could occasion so great a difference. Therefore, they probably were Marine Ferns grown in the depths of the Ocean of Genesis. Now then, to refer to the words of Cuvier, " the Levels on which marine productions are now found, are far above the level of the ocean, and at heights to which the sea could not reach by the action of any known cause." To what cause can we then ascribe this phenomenon, but to the substantial, plain, and simple one the original formation of the earth : all its geological appear- ances give evidence of formation in a fluid. Of no waters have we any record sufficient to account for these facts, save the waters recorded in Genesis. These, therefore, forcibly press themselves on our attention, and appear perfectly competent to clear up all these phenomena of Creation. But water alone, that is, holding no extraneous sub- stances io solution, either partial or complete, deposits nothing. All its depositions are found to proceed from extraneous bodies. The petrifying power of certain waters, of which such fabulous opinions have formerly existed, is solely owing to the deposition of earths or salts it had previously dissolved, completely or partially. We shall, therefore, proceed to state our humble concepUous of those laws of nature, which the Creator rii I- 40 may have chosen for the gradual formation of our earth in the waters of Genesis, on the ground work mentioned above, regarding the 1st verse of the 1st chapter of that book. GeneriSj 1st chap. 1st verse. — "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I wish first to premise, that as I consider this scrip- tural account of Creation, to be the only one by which we can, naturally and reasonably, account for the geo- logical phenomena of our earth ; so, the only thing in which I differ from the, hitherto, received opinions of that Creation is, in the construction which, (from a desire to account for these phenomena, and to reconcile them with the scriptural accounts,) I have put upon the meaning of this 1st verse of Genesis. As before observed, I had in the course of these studies of nature, been led by them, and by reading and reflection, gradually to come to such a construction of that verse as the following : that the term " The beginning," pointing to no spectre timet may refer to numerous ages previous to the separation of the waters from the waters mentioned in the 6th, 7th, and 9th verses ; and I moreover consider, that every man hath a perfect right to form such a construction of the Word of God as his understanding, after mature re- flection on His works, and a diligent study of them, may lead him to, and more especially when his design is good, when he conceives he is thereby not only ad- ding weight and authority to these scriptures, by bringing the evidence of the geology of every p^^rt of the globe to their confirmation, but, perhaps, silencing thereby the infidelity of the sceptic, and, as he may hope. i ,,i 41 of our work the 1st ginning IS scrip - y which the geo- tliing in nions of (from a econcile ut upon of these reading itruction n « The ay refer 1 of the 'th, and ery man n of the iture re- >f them, s design only ad- jres, by p»\rt of ilencing ay hope, exhibiting, in a stronger light, the Power, Wisdom, and Glory of his Creator. In the 2d verse of Genesis, it is said, " And the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters." , ., , - . , v, By this verse, it would appear, the Earth was com- pletely covered by the waters ; otherwise, the Spirit would have been recorded, as having also, moved upon the land ; and the 9tb verse is confirmatory of this cir- cumstance, for it says, — *' And God said let the Waters under the Heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the Dry Land appear ; and it was so." This event, then, I consider to have happened many ages after the time of the first verse ; which verse, I further consider, to point exacily to that period, to which the psalmist, David, in the 102 psalm, 25th verse, refers,-— " Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the Earth ;" and I consider this foundation to have been the formation of the aqueous globe of our theory, — the Universal Waters of Genesis. , .. We now proceed to our statement : .' .;i The sea, or globe of water, mentioned above to have been formed by those gases which the modern dis- coveries in pneumatic chemistry prove all water to be formed of, and being destined by the Creator to produce habitable Earth or Land, we shall conceive this aqueous globe to have been endowed by Him for that purpose, with amazing prolific powers of life, both of the vege- table and animal nature. . f ^ The remains of many of those marine animals, whose skeletons have been lately discovered in the earth, of a species never known to have inhabited our seas, are of Dl r! j a- ■ ii ij f! if •It 42 gigantic stature and dimensions, as compared to those of any existing species. • ? The marine Shells, the Chalks, and Lime Stone for- mations, which I consider to have been produced, as above observed, by the gradual disintegration of these shells in the course of sufficient ages ; the vast Coal formations, also, provie the amazing masses of animal and vegetable life, which we shall now suppose, accord- ing to our theory, to have existed in those waters of Genesis ; and for proofs of which, we accordingly refer our readers to the geological statements in the preced- ing pages. To account further for the primary earths. Lime, Silex or Sand, Sand-stones, Flints, Gravels, Clays or Aluminous earths, Terra Ponderosa, Magnesian earths, Salt formations, Metak, Mineral substances of all kindsy and the Rocks and other substances composed of them and of the Primary Earths ; we shall now proceed to a statement of those experiments, opinions and theories, which have been performed and maintained by several eminent chemical philosophers on this impor- tant head. In the treatise on Chemistry by professor Chaptal, mentioned in pages 18th and 19th, the following facts are stated to have resulted from the analysis made by him of certain vegetables : " The herb Patience affords sulphur ; vegetables in their analysis, likewise present us with certain metals, as Iron, Gold, and Manganese. The Iron forms nearly one-twelfth of the ashes of hard -wood. It may be ex- tracted by the magnet; but it is seldom in a naked state, but is combined with the acids of vegetation. The Iron is not imbibed from the Earth; but is 43 those FORMED BY THE VEGETATIVE PROCESS. Lime» Con- stantly enough) forms seven tenths of the fixed residue of vegetable incineration, usually combined with the carbonic acid. Next to Lime, Alumine is the most abundant earth in vegetables ; and next Magnesia. Siliceous earth likewise exists, but less abundantly; least common of all is Barytes or Terra Ponderosa." As an evident and sufficient proof that all the products of vegetables are produced by the water, and, perhaps, the air, necessary for their gi wth ; I extract also the following observation of Professor Chaptal : " It ap- pears proved by Van Helmont, that vegetables can live and grow with only air and water. He planted a wil- low weighing 59 lbs., and watered it with distilled wa- ter five years. It increased to 169 lbs., the earth it was grown in lost only two ounces" If one vegetable be thus proved to acquire its growth from water and air, the strong probability is, that, as Chaptal says, '< all others do," and by the uniformity of the laws of Na- ture, we may conclude this law applies generally to the vegetative process. {See Note 15.) , Thus, although Sir Humphrey Davy supposes, but does not assert, the fact, that these earths are taken up by the vegetation from the soils around them ; yet, as he does, in another part of his writings admit, that all substances, before entering the tubes of vegetables in nutrition, must be reduced to a state of complete solu- tion in a liquid before that absorption can take place ; and as it is well known that argillaceous earth, or alu- mine, silex or sand, and magnesia, are almost insoluble in water, and that lime is only soluble in very small quantities ; I have therefore concluded, that such a "Ill il 11 !' I i Li If ill .p. 44 perfect and sufficient solution, as Davy admits to be necessary, is impracticable ; and, therefore, that the as- sertion (grounded on the forementioned experiments, by Chaptal and Van Helmont, namely, that tiieae Earths, Metals and Minerals, are reallf/ and entirely the products of the vegetative process,) is much more probable; and I am the more confirmed in this proba- bility, by the following facts, and reasoi.ing upon them : 1st. As oxygen, we knovv, exists in a solid state, in all its oxids, so it is not impossible that the basis of these oxyds, the metals, and several of the primary earths, may be formed by the vegetative process, as the French Geologist, Chaptal, asserts, *' to replace the constant waste that takes place of the crust of the earth, by the rains, streams and rivers." One hundred pounds of lead, is, 1 believe, found, by calcination or oxydation, to augment in weight to one hundred and ten pounds, thus absorbing ten pounds of solid oxygen from the oxygenous gas of the atmosphere, which can be recovered by deoxydatlon. Pit Coal contains a great quantity of Hydrogen, most probably in a solid state ; Pot-ash has yielded to Sir Humphrey Davy a metallic button ; and is therefore an oxyd, and also contains oxygen in a solid state. ?d. The Schisti, or Slate Mountains, are said also to be formed by the decomposition of vegetables, and the Coal formations, also, to consist of the residue of vege- tables, probably charred by a close heat, and must, therefore, lo formed of the carbon and constituent gases of those vegetables. If such dense substancea can be thus, in part, compounded of a gaseous sub- stance, there is an equal probability, that the gases separated by the vegetative processes from the air and to l)e the as- iraeiJts, t these entirely/ h more proba • them : tate, in jasis of )rimary >cess, a8 lace the e earth, und, by t to one unds of sphere, it Coal robably tnphrey yd, and also to ind the P vege- niust, tituent taocea s sub- gases ir and 45 water necessary to their nutrition, may compose the Primary Earths, Salts, Minerals and Metallic substan- ces obtained from them by decomposition or incinera- tion ; and I think it not improbable that future experi- ments may prove, that all the primitive earths, metals and mineral substances, are composed of the primary elements, as we are now philosophically bound to con- sider them. Oxygen, Hydrogen, Azote, combined in proportions innumerable as those products themselve.'!, and from which variety of proportion they receive their distinctive characteristics. (^See Note 9. J This idea is sanctioned by Dr. Thomson in his Atomic Chemistry, entitled " An attempt to estabiiish the first principles of Chemistry." In page 35, vol. Ist, he says, " I am of opinion we are not at present ac- quainted with any truly simple bodies. All our simple bodies are most probably compounds, and many of them may be afterwards decomposed, and reduced to more simple principles, by the future labours of chem- ists." 3d. As an important and additional proof that the process of vegetation certainly generates and produces one of the most abundant and most dense primary earths in nature, namely. Silex, Siliceous Earth, or, as I shall call it, the sandy principle, I extract the follow- ing from the Elements of the Science of Botany, by the celebrated and indefatigable Linnaeus :— • " In many parts of the East Indies, there has long been a medicine in high repute, called ' Tabasheery obtained from a substance found in the hollow stem of the Bamboo. It has undergone a chemical examina- tion, and proved to be an earthy substance, principally of a flinty nature ; this substance is also found in the h! 46 i r ^i'^ ^ Bamboo in England. In the hot-house of Dr. Pitcairn, in Islington, subsequently to this time, there was found in one of the joints of a Bamboo which grew there, a solid pebble, about the size of a pea. The pebble was of an irregular form, of a dark brown or black inter- nally : it was reddish brown, of a close dull texture, much like some martial siliceous stones. In one corner were shining particles, which appeared to be chrystals, but too minute to be distinguished by the microscope. This substance was so hard as to cut glass. The cuti- cle or exterior covering of straw, has also a portion of matter in its composition, from which, when burnt, it makes an exquisitely fine powder forgiving the last polish to marble, a use to which it has been employed from time immemorial, without the principle being philoso- phically known. In the great heat in the East Indies, it is not uncommon for large tracts of reeds to be set on fire on their motion by the wind, which I conjecture must arise from the flinty substance of their leaves rub- bing against each other. These facts cannot avoid presenting to the mind at one view the boundless laws of nature. While a simple vegetable is secreting the most volatile and evanescent perfumes, it ali, d secretes a substance which is an ingredient in the primeval moun- tains of the globe" These facts, which have produced the assent of this Prince of Botanists, to the formation of a first rate primary earth, by the process of vegetation, are, I think, suflicient proofs, in conjunction with those above sta- ted, that all the primary earths, the metals, and mine- ral substances, and, of course, all the rocks compoun- ded of them have been originally formed by the pro- cesses of vegetation and animalization. fSee Note 1, itcairn, IS found there, a ble was k inter- exture, corner rystals, oscope. le cuti- tion of urnt, it t polish d from )hiIoso- Indies, be set jecture es rub- avoid ss laws ng the iretes a moun- of this 3t rate think, ^e sta- mine- ipoun- J pro- mote 1, 4f 2, 3 and 14-/ and Vide Note 1, 2dEiitiony at the end of this >^ork.J Vast tracts of the interior of the earth, have as al o, been shewn to consist of the shells and remains of ma- rine animals. ^ The Chalk and Lime Stone formations, I trust to have shewn, have also resulted from the same remains ; and also, that the Coal formations have been produced by the residue of marine vegetables and a charring heat, as well as the Schisti or Slate Mountains. As, therefore, the proofs narrated in the foregoing pages, and the notes referring to them are, I trust, sufficient to prove that every part of the earth has been formed in a fluid; that many parts are visibly the remains of vegetable and animal decomposition, and that most of the geolo- gical bodies are resolvable into the elements of vegeta- ble and animal life ; we now arrive at the conclusion, that the processes of Vegetation, arid of Animalization, were the machinery chosen by the first cAusE_/br gra' dually producing, in the course offufficient ages, in the waters of Genesis, the various generations of vegetable and animal life; which by their growth, decay, fheir death, decomposition, depositions, and the labours of some species of these animals, have produced all the geological bodies of which our earth is composed. These bodies, as they were depoLiting, have been at- tracted towards the centre of the aqueous globe by the great and universal law of attraction ; and before and since the separation, have, by the effects of internal fires, convulsions, or the electric power, acquired their present appearances. (^See Note 5th, to 2d Edition^ and Note llth 1st Edition J Thus, the law of Gravity or attraction would neces- 48 ■ '.y sarily occasion a vast pressure towards the centre of the aqueous globe, of all the particles of the geological bodies, as they formed. The vegetable and animal re- mains of which they were formed, as stated above, would pass through various stages of fermentation. Heat, inflammable and other gases, would be thereby generated ; and these internal fires must have been in operation, pending many of the ages required for the formation of the entire diameter of the Earth in the Waters of Genesis. Hence must have arisen, long be- fore the separation of these waters, not only internal changes in the forms and original composition of the congregated masses of the geological bodies, but also numerous commotions in the interior parts, which have produced probably many of the mountains, and must certainly have produced those depressions on the sur- face of the earth, which served to form the beds of the original oceans or seas, at the time of the separation of the waters. These internal fires of the earth, though at first sight they appear to us the effects of accidental causes, will probably be found to be an instance of ♦he designing Wisdom of the Author of Nature. The depositions from the ocean, which, by our theory, have formed the earth, must have been originally deposited in a .soft state. By the continued pressure of the subse- quent geological particles towards the centre, they would no doubt acquii'e a degree of solidity, but per- haps the operation of these fires was required, to give them sufficient hardness to resist the powerful action of the rapid motions of the earth. These fires are at the present day, considered by the first geologists to be occasioned by water coming into contact with the me- tallic basis of the primary earths, by which the water 49 sen Ire of eological limal re- above, entation. thereby been in for the I in the long be- internal 1 of the but also lich have md must the sur- ds of the ration of irst sight ises, will lesigniug positions formed ited in a e subse- ;re, they mt per- to give i action e at the s to be the me- e water is decomposed and combustion ensues ; and in this case an absorption of oxygen by these bases must take place and their bulk be greatly increased, and this may have been designed by the Creator for enlarging the bulk of the earth. The electric agency also, has probably had great in- fluence in these internal changes, both previous to and since j^he time of the separation : on the subject of the internal and external changes in and on the earth, I refer the reader to tiie attentive perusal of the Notes, but more especially Notes 7, 10, llj 13 and 14?. . And as it is very remarkable, that no mention is made in the first chapter of Genesis of the creation of any of the Marine Plants of the Ocean, I will conclude this part of the subject with an observation on that re- markable circumstance, namely, that it appears to me indicative of the possible truth of the theory I have presumed to offer, that the first verse of Genesis refers to a preparatory process of the Creation, ioidWy distinct in its time and nature from the separation of t; e waters and the primeval appearance of tho dry land as re- corded in the ensuing verses which took place in the six days, at the separation of the waters recorded in Genesis, 1st chapter. Because, the creation of the vast body of the marine plants required for the purpose of nutriment for the marine animals of those waters, who, by their deatti, decay, and depositions formed part of the machinery of the Creator for producing the earth, the creation of those plants having taken place at the beginning, as in the first verse, btlng the preparatory process of the creation, by which the Dry Land was, in subsequent ages, to be produced, there was no need that mention should E 50 III a^ n be made of their creation at the period of the separa- tion, when the land animals and vegetables were brought into being ; for, and because, these marine plants were included in the record of the 1st verse, " In the begin- ning," &c. (See Notes 7, 10 and 13.) I have, since the printing of the 2d edition of thid work, had opportunities of reading the most modern Geological publications, and finding therein no cause whatever, to vary from the theory of the earth I had formed,! now proceed in this third Edition to the ' ELUCIDATION OF THAT THEORY. The Mosaic account by the 1st, 2d, 6th, and 7th ver- ses of the 1st chapter of Genesis, shews us that our earth was first created in the waters or universal ocean ; and bv the 9th and 10th verses, we learn that "the waters under the Heavens were gathered together, and the land made to appear." We have shewn that this part of the scriptural ac- count of creation is confirmed by the concurrent ob- servations of the best and most modern Geologists. Indubitable proofs in every part of the crust of the earth, shew it to have been " formed in a fluid ;" and I trust the following elucidation of our theory will tend to show that such has been the case through its entire diameter. By this theory, we account for the formation of the entire diameter and circumference of the earth, by the continued depositions which have taken place in the Oceanic Waters of Genesis from the " beginning," as per 1st verse ; which depositions have been formed by the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and by the constant labours of various species of the animals of that uni- »i ii 51 versal ocean, as shewn at full length in the foregoing pages of this work. In Lee's Elements of Geology, (New York, ISl-O) page 171, it is said — '* The Pacific Ocean abounds in coral to the 30th degree of latitude on each side of the equator; so also do the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. On the east coast of New Holland is a reef, 350 miles ill length, and between that country and New Guinea, there is a chain of coral 700 miles long. The Maldi- vas in the Indian Ocean are coral reefs extending 480 geographical miles north and south. These are circu- lar islets, the largest being 50 miles in diameter, the centre of each being a lagune from fifteen to twenty fathoms deep ; and on the outside of each island at the distance of two or three miles, there is a coral reef, im- mediately outside of which the water is generally more than 150 fathoms deep." The following cut will serve to illustrate the general shape and formations of these islands : — These vegetable and animal depositions of the Ocean of Genesis, then, were first attracted to a centre by the universal law of gravitation, and there formed the nucleus or centre of the earth.* This nucleus being * It may be proper to explain how the primitive races of the vegetable tribes may have been supported before the nucleus WHS formed. There are many aquatic plants which take no root in the earth at all, but grow and float in the water. There is a species of the Fig-tree in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, which has grown for twelve years, suspended in the air and moistened with water ; we have therefore a right to conclude, that if some 'i ■ F li ! If' I'. Hi :i:V m { hi:il! . ! i iiS !;.! l!.^ :4 > 1 52 continually augmented in bulk by the unceasing depo- sitions of the ocean, until a great depth of the vegeta- ble and animal remains were accumulated, internal heats and fires would be thereby generated, which would last until the coinbustible matter deposited was consumed. The fires would then cease, until another suflicient depth of fresh depositions took place. The fermentation of these would again produce heat, fire and incandescence, until again the combustible matter last deposited was consumed. The remains after these combustions, would of course be incombustible, and would consist of all the primary earths, sands, clay, lime, magnesia, &c., and of th'; calces or oxyds of the various metallic and mineral substances contained in the original depositions of matter above stated. These alternate depositions from the ocean, must have contmued to generate these periodic fires, pending the whole time required for the formation of the di- ameter of the earth, that is until the separation of the " dry land" from the " waters" took place as mentioned Genesis 1st chap, and 9th verse. The depth or thick- ness of the depositions required to produce each of these periodic fires, it is impossible to form any certain idea of. It may have required mai^y miles of depth of deposits, as they would contain carbonic, sulphureous, oily, gaseous, earthy, saline and metallic matter mixed ; species of land plants have this power, many of the first created marine plants of the Ocean of Genesis would have it also. In fact, many marine plants of the present seas grow on the rocks, and mast consequently derive their nourishment from the water. But it is possible that matil the nucleus was formed, the primitive marine animals may have found their nourishment in the waters, for the microscope shews us that every drop of water contains myriads of the insect tribes. We know also tliat tlie gills of fish decompose water, by which they would obtain two of the ele. raents of all vegetables — Oxygen and Hydrogen. 53 ng depo- 3 vegeta- internal d, which ited was another e. The heat, fire e raattc'V 'ter these ible, and ds, clay, Is of the ained in • an, must , pending f the di- an of the lentioned )r thick- each of y certain depth of hureous, r mixed ; ■st created ; also. lu the rocks, the water. ! primitive ic waters, • contains [ills of fish f the ele. but it is veU known that it requires but a small depth of vegetable matter alone, being moist, and heated by fermentation, to produce ignition. A common hay> stack is ohen fired by the spontaneous ignition of its hydrogen*^ Thus, according to this theory, we see that the in- ternal fires of oar earth at the present day, at least as >'ar as they have been occasioned by the above original causes, cannot extend to near the centre of the earth ; because the periodic fires above stated, would consume all the inflammable matter, at certain periods after it was deposited : each periodic fire would consume the combustible matter deposited from the ocean since the previous fire ; and after each conflagration, the parts of the earth then formed must have remained in the state of incombustible calces. This theory will perhaps also account for that singu* lar phenomenon in Geology, of entire genera of marine animals disappearing at different depths in the earth. The incandescence had destroyed these genera, and it was not until the (then) surface of the earth was cool- ed sufficiently by the waters of the ocean of Genesis, between the times of the periodic fires, that fresh genera of animals could approach it. They then approached it, and, as they terminated the time of their existence, their remains went, with the other depositions, to aug- ment the growth of the earth's bulk, and so on con- tinually, until the separation of the land from the waters. The reader will here observe, that although by the above causes of the primitive fires having ceased to exist, and the residue of them being matter in a calcified or ozydized form, except indeed, the matter of the last depositions of the oceao of Genesis, (which may be one El M m. ^ IS I 4 ^"■^ t it of the causes of tlie present volcanic fires) that there- fore, no central fire arising from these primary causes can exist ; yet, we do not mean to deny, that subsequent causes of fire may have, and are perhaps even now taking place. The electric fluid, as is proved by late discoveries of Sir H. Davy, on the primary earths, of which the oxy- dated matter of the above conflagrations would mainly consist, is capable of decomposing these primary earths, and water also. It is possible, therefore, combustion might be generated, even in the oxyds to which the original deposits were reduced. Thus, in the opinion of many Geologists, there is a central fire in the earth. Mr. Lee, in his Elements of Geology, page 53, says, " From the result of all the observations hitherto made, we may safely conclude that the temperature of the earth increases as we descend, at the rate of one^ de- gree for every eight fathoms, consequently at a depth short of a hundred miles, the materials: of the globe are in a state of incandescence." * Now, though I agree that from the cause above as- signed, the (electric fluid) internal fires might possibly be regenerated from the oxydated remains of the primor- dial fires, yetl should conce ve these subsequent fires are more likely to be partial than general. I conceive that the intentio^i of the Deity was, by the means of the primordial fires, to prepare and harden the geological bodies, to produce chemical decompositions and re- combinations, of numerous useful substances, to in- crease the cohesion of these geological bodies, to ena- ble them to sustain their rapid and powerful motions in the heavens, to elevate the mountains, to diversify the earth's surface, and give mankind the use of their mi- m 56 ; there- causes sequent ?n now series of he oxy- m&mly Y earths, abustion hich the opinion le earth. 53, says, to made, e of the one^ de- t a depth globe are ibove as- jssibly be 5 primor- lent fires conceive ms of the eological and re- !s, to in- s, to ana- lotions in srsify the their mi- neral products; and I do not conceive these ends would be obtained, were the whole interior of the earth in a state of fusion from a hundred miles below the surface. The increasing heat of the earth as we proceed down- wards, can be equally well accounted for by supposing the present fires to be occasioned by the more recent depositions of combustible matter from the oceanic waters of Genesis, which are still in a state of combus- tion. . , , And there is one corroborative circumstance of this stated by Archdeacon Paley, in page 388 of his Theo- logy of Nature, namely, that " by a comparative calcu- lation with the force of attraction of a rock of Granite, the earth was said to have twice the density of that rock, or about five times that of water," which could not be the case if the earth were nearly all liquid fire ; for, deducting the 100 miles of crust from the diameter of the earth, near 8000, wouldleave an ocean of fire 7900 miles deep ; an idea so contrary to the ordinary course and wisdom of nature, appears to me preposterous. I shall now make a few observations on the time that may have been required, according to our theory of deposition from the oceanic waters, to form the whole diameter of the earth. ^ We have shewn in note 1st, the power of Geometri- cal progression in two generations of Herrings, and that in twenty years of generation, a mass of matter could be produced, equal to ten ofourglobesy that is, allowing these generations to be undisturbed. Now that must have been the case in the oceanic waters of Genesis. In our seas, immense numbers are annually abstracted from the ocean by the fisheries. Not so in the primeval ocean : there was no abstraction of matter 56 4 1 there whatever. The labours of the Zoophytes and other marine animals we infer, according to the opinion of the modern geologists, have been also " going on in all former ages as at present," and would be another immense source of geological formation. It has been stated by some geologists, that the sedi- mentary rocks have laken a million of years in their formation. That ia no doubt grounded on the suppo- sition that past volcanic action and convulsion have baen the same as at present. I trust however, to have shewn in our theory, that volcanic and convulsive for- ces must have been immensely greater and more fre- quent in the primeval ages; and I believe that a million of years ago, if the globe were then in being, there was detritus enough, arising from that volcanic action, to produce a million times the masses of rock, that any " causes now in operation" could do, and am more con- firmed in this opinion from the vast difference that must have then existed in the tenacitv of the forma- tions, compared with their present state. Whatever length of period however might have been actually employed, we trust we can give it by our ex- planation of the 1st verse of Genesis; but we are not of opinion that the laws for the formations of the globe, have required any such immense periods of time as is supposed by some geologists. Their comparative scale of formation, drawn from the present actual for- mations, is totally inadequate. How, for instance, could the power of deposition of lakes or rivers of the present state of the world, be compared with the mighty force of the oceans of the globe at the time of the separation of the waters of Genesis, rushing over the newly formed earth, with inconceivable impetuosity ? tea and opinion ig on in another he sedi- in their suppo- )n have to have live for- ore fre- million g, there ! action, :hat any ore con- ice that forma- ve been our ex- ire not B globe, ne as is >arative iial for< istance, of the mighty of the ^er the isity ? 57 I trust that by the above elucidation, the reader will completely comprehend our theory of the formation of the solid parts of our earth, by the powerful and vital agencies, which we humbly conceive the Deity may have employed to effect this wonderful purpose. We wish now to make some observations on a most singular production, wliich we have fallen in with since the publication of the second edition of this work : this is Mr. Mantell's " Wonders of Geolojiy." In page 400, vol. 1st, under t!ie head of Geological Mutational, he says, " I will embody these inductions in a njore impressive form, by employing the metaphor of an Arabic writer, and imagining some higher intelligence from another sphere, to describe the physical mutations of which he may be supposed to have taken cognizance from the period when the forests of Portland were flourishing, to the present time. ' Countless age? 'ere man was created' he might say, * I visited these regions of the earth, and beheld a beautiful country of vast ex- tent, diversified by hill and dale with its rivulets, streams and mighty rivers, flowing through fertile plains ; and palms, ferns and forests of coniferous trees clothed its surface ; and I saw monsters of the reptile tribes, so huge, that nothing among existing races can compare with them, basking on the banks of the rivers and roaming through its forests, while in its fens were sporting thousands of crocodiles and turtles, wing(^d reptiles of strange forms shared with birds the dominion of the air, and the waters teemed with fishes, shells and Crustacea ; and after a lapse of many ages, I again re- visited the earth, and the country, with its innumerable dragon forms, and its tropical fruits, all had disappeared, and the ocean had usurped their place, and the waters teemed with nautili, ammonites,. and the cephalopeda 68 It «|ij- of races now extinct, and innumerable fishes and marine reptiles; and thousands of centuries rolled by, and I returned, and lo ! the ocean was gone, and the dry land had again appeared, and it was covered with groves and forests, but they were wholly different in character from those of the vanished country of the Iguanodon.' " This very poetical effusion appears indeed every way worthy to be associated with the Arabian Tales. Countless ages, thousands of centuries, and other epochs stated in these " wonders,*' are tolerably latit'idinary periods, even for fairy tales. It is remarkable too, that although the author writes so highly of Dr. Buckland, as a great geologist, lie has never mentioned the expla- nation of the 1st verse of Genesis, which the Doctor has adopted in his Bridgewater Treatise, purposely to account for these great periods of geological mutation. At the same time, Mr. Mantell affects to say, that geology rightly understood, does not confute the scrip- tures, or at least the purest piety. He at the same time would entirely set aside, as by the above extract, the account given by Moses, that the earth, since the se- paration of the waters in Genesis, has existed only 5,800 years. Now, if this important part of the Bible is not founded on fact, what arguments would mankind have for believing the remainder ? But, fortunately, even these "wonders of geology," cannot effect this. For first, I verilv believe that the carboniferous formations offer auiiicient evidence that they were produced be- fore the separation in the universal ocean of Genesis ; I believe that these immense club mosses, these arbo- rescent ferns* so immensely larger than any of the • Lee, in his Elementary Geology, page 67, says, " in treating on the coal formations, vegetables also which are now mere herhg, then atti».ined the size of large trees, as for example, ferns, which though they now attain the height of a few feet at iJie most, then grew as large as our tallest trees." 59 marine 7, and I ry land groves laracter odon.'" ery way Tales, p epochs udinary too, that Ackland, e expla- I Doctor osely to lutation. ay, that lie scrip- ,me time ract, the i the se- ly 5,800 le is not mankind ^unately, this. For rmations iced be- Senesis ; se arbo- of the D treating ere herbs, ns, which nost, then present day, were marine ; for I can never believe that any difference of climate could make such immense difference in the size of the plants. In examining coal, that is, not including Lignites or brown coal, In any part of the eartii, we find no traces of woody fibre, which, had it been formed of terrestrial trees, would probably have been apparent. Coal appears more likely to have been formed of some soft pulpy matter, such as sea-weed, and to have acquired its present ap' pearance by great heat and pressure, and decomposi- tion. This opinion of the marine formation of coal is supported by Mr. Maletrenck. In Sullivan's View of Nature, letter 38, page 109, Mr. Maletrenck, in treating on the origin of coal, says — " But this is a subject which we must examine more closely. Vegetables, as I have said, have been considered as the cause of the formation of pit coal. A few forests, however, buried in the earth, are not sufficient to form the masses of coals which exist in its bowels. A greater causey more proportioned to the magnitude of the effect is required, and we find it only in that prodigious quantity of vegetable matter which grows in the seaSf and is increased by the immense masses which are car- ried down by the rivers ; these masses are agitated and broken down by the waves, and afterwards covered by argillaceous or calcareous earth, and arc decomposed. Nor is it more difficult to conceii'e how these masses of marine and other vegetables may form the greater part of the coal, than that shells should form the greater part of the globe. The direct proofs in support of this theory are the presence of aquatic and marine substan- ces. The soils which contain coal are generally of scbistus and grit ; and as the formation of pyrites, as 60 well as that of coal, comes from the decomposition of vegetable and animal substances, (for sulphur has been proved to exist naturally in vegetables and animals) all pit coal is more or less pyritous, so that we may con- sider pit coal as a mixture of pyrites, schistus, and bitumen." • Mr. Maletrenck thris supports our idea of the origin of coal in the secondary formations. I have to add as a further support of this theory, that all coal contains ammonia or its elements. Now terrestrial trees or vege- tables will not account. for this ingredient of coal. We know, moreover, that the remains of immense masses of animals must have been deposited in the* oceans. The* remains of whales, sharks, salmon, and all other fish, many species of which I believe are^eldom found in the earth fossilized, must have been deposited some- where in the ccean, and it appears probable that coal has derived its ammonia from these sources. At all events terrestrial vegetables alone will not account for it, for they do not afford one of its element*, azote. But whether i^ibe and further observation will prove these opinions correct or not, still the story of the "beau- tiful country of the Iguanodon" can be accounted for, without overthrowing the narration of Moses. Vol- canic action as I have sliewn above, must have been immensely more active before the separation, and pending the subaqueous formation of* the earth in the ojean ot Genesis, than at present. It is possible there- fore, that some mountainous countries may have been elevated above the surface of the waters long previous to the separation of the entire " dry land of Genesis," and that these mountainous countries may have been t«nanted by these reptile tribes, and covered by these I ! ^ition of las been lals) all lay coti- ^us, and e origin ;o add as contains or vege- oal. Wo e masses r oceans, ill other m found ed sonue- that coal At all ount for zote. ill prove e"beau- nted for, s. Vol- ve been 3n, and h in the le there- ive been previous renesis," ive been ►y these 61 immense palms, coniferous ferns, club mosies, fine rivers, lakes, &c. for many ages previous to the separa- tion, when the great bulk of the land was made to " appear," and thus the Mosaic account will be yet main- tained in its integrity, notwithstanding the existence of the beautiful country of the " Iguanodon." In the preceding system of the Creation which I have ventured to form, and to which I was determined, as observed above, on reading the ideas stated by Archdeacon Paley to have been promulgated to the world by Buffon and other philosophers, I have made some remarks on the assertion, or supposition of Buffon, that the globe we inhabit was formed by the stroke of a comet knocking off from the Sun, (as stated by Pa- ley) a piece of molten glass, and I trust to have shewn the great improbability and absurdity of this. Such a supposition would lead us to believe, that the creation of our planetary system was not the gift of an all boun- tiful Creator, but merely the effect of chance; and if I have proceeded to any severe reflections on its irreli- gious tendency, I trust I am warranted therein, by the opinions given by Paley, of this doctrine being founded on Atheistical principles ; that is, if I understand it, denying the agency of a Supreme Ruler of the Uni- verse in the Works of nature. An opinion so contrary to all our natural feelings of religion, it appeared to me, the duty of every man to refute, whose understanding should dictate to him the errors of such a system — and I hope to have shewn, that, as it is completely unsatisfactory to the mind of man, in the highest state of its acquirements — so it never can be productive of general assent ; and in the following compendium of my Theory of the Sun's For- 1 Hm- ■■ V^ G2 I' m i ma* ion, I shall re-advert to the abov '^ supposition of Buffon. THEORY OF THE SUN'S FORMATION. As the great discoveries in Pneumatic Chemistry, made during the last 50 or '^O years, may not be known to many of my readers, 1 here subjoin a short account of them. About the beginning of that period, Mr. Black, of Edinburgh, first discovered that the change of lime-stone into lime, by burning, was nothing more than Uie extrication of its carbonic acid gas from the lime-stone by the heat employed. This discovery ex- cited the attention of chemical philosophers to aeriform bodies ; and Mr. Black's name will be venerable as long as the science is cultivated. A few years afterwards, Mr. Cavendish discovered the highly i nportant fact, that water was composed of the bases ol' the two gases oxygen and hydrogen, which was furtl er proved by the experiments of Dr. Priestly, and the exact compo- sition of water was finally confirmed by the accurate analysis of Lavoisier and other French Chemists, who having decomposed the water into its elementary gases, reproduced it by the ignition of the same gases ; and finding by repeated experiments, the weight of the water always equal to the gases produced, and vice versa that the gases employed to form the water, al- ways produced an equal weight of it. Subsequent chemists have verified these results, and it is now uni- versally allowed, that all water consists of one part of hydrogen, and eight parts of oxygen by weight. Our atmosphere has been found to be composed of eighty parts of mephitic or azctic gas, and of twenty parts of oxy,njen gas. These three gases, oxygen, hy- drogen and azote, which may be called primary, have r< o t( t 63 |tiOD of ►N. mistry, known ccount Jod, Mr. change g more om the 'ery ex- sriforni as long rwards, bt fact, o gases ved by compo- ccurate ts, who r gases, s; and of the id vice ter, al- jquent V uni- art of sed of iventy I, hy- have since been discovered by chemists in almost every part of the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms, in which also a great variety of compound gases are dis- covered every year. I now proceed, with due humility, to present to the reader, a compendium of the ideas stated in page 38 on the Sun's Formation at the time the primordial wa- ters of Genesis were created, according to the construc- tion I have put on the 1st verse of 1st chapter of Gene- sis, by the combustion of hydrogen or oxygen, or other combustible gases, created by the first cause, as stated in page 33 of this work. I have presumed that those gases were ignited by the electric fluid, by the blaze of comets, or othef igneous bodies, and that the extrica- tion of the light and heat, formed by the combustion of these gases, in order to produce the formation of the aqueous globe, destined thereafter to originate the earth and the other planets of our system, that the light and heat so extricated, has formed the body of our sun which forms the centre of the system, by the laws of His gravity and attraction. If I recollect right, heat and light have not as yet been discovered to have weight ; * but pur means of ascertaining this by experiment in the usual way, is very dubious. The bulk of a grain of heat or light may^ perhaps, be sufficient to fill a house: therefore, we could, perhaps, not ascertain the fact; but heat and light are certainly sensible bodies, and therefore must have weight. Heat expands and increases the dimen- sions of the hardest bodies in an astonishing manner. Light is said to travel from the sun at the rate of twelve millions of miles a minute, and also penetrates the most * See Note 2d to 2d Edition at the end of thia work. <, ., I ;. 64 '•■iMI'f i hi \{ P Mk dense substances. Although, therefore, the weight of these subtle agents be infinitely less than any other bo- dies we know of, they are, probably, subjtct to the same laws of attraction and gravity. We may, therefore, conceive that the heat and light extricated from the combustion of these aeriform sub- stances, in the formation of the primordial waters, would unite and ascend, by the laws of their gravity and at- traction, or by an original impulse of the Creator,* to their position in the regions of infinite space, and form there the body of our sun, and that the planets, as they were formed, and were projected by the projectile force, became subject to its attractive influences. Whether this attraction be effected by an inherent power of the sun, or, that it may be owing in part to the influence of the vast stream of aeriform substance, passing towards him, to supply him with fuel, I shall presently consider. I shall however, previously, make some remarks in addition to those offered above, on the idea of Buffon, of molten glass having formed our earth and the planets of our system. It is, I consider, impossible to conceive that glass could exist in the stupendous heat of the &un's fire. *As Light is known to exist in two separate states, namely, latent and active ; and as we are told in the 3d verse of Genesis, " Darkness was on the face of the deep," it is probable the light evolved in the combustion of the gases was diffused through the regions of space in its latent form, and was not eUcited into its active and visible state until the time of the 3d verse ; and it is remarkable that the first operation of Deity at the time of the separation was the evolution of light in its active and visible state, and the collection of it into one vast focus, the sun of our system, as by the 4th verse. And 1 am happy to think that our theory of the formation of light by the combustion of the gases, will serve to remove a frequent objection to the Mosaic account, namely, the existence of Ught before the sun is said to be formed in 1st chap. Genesis. light of ler bo- Ito the 65 Glass is formed in our planet of siliceous earth and pot-ash. The former we have before proved, on the authority of Linnoeus, to be composed by the vegetable process ; its parts are, therefore, formed of the gases which the vegetable extracts from the water and air it imbibes for its nutrition. The latter (pot-ash) h.'is also yielded to Sir H. Davy a metallic button. It is therefore an oxyd, and must contain much oxygen. Siliceous earth and pot-ash, the component parts of glass, are then mostly composed of aeriform substance. We know that the diamond, which is probably much more dense than siliceous earth, has been volatilized in part by burninglenses, or by streams of oxygen gas in a state of ignition. What can these heats be in com- parison to the sun's iiie ? perhaps as an atom to a world. . t I trust, therefore, it is more consistent with the sa- cred documents we have had handed down to us by our religion ; with the operations of nature, we are ena- bled to examine ; with the admirable simplicity and order of the laws by which the First Cause has directed the operations of that nature, to believe, that having Jirst formed the principles which, in the present state of our knowledge, we must call elementary, He proceeded by the combination of these principles, by combustion, to form the waters which were destined thereafter to produce our earth and planets. v It is indeed possible, that these elements- -Oxygen, Hydrogen and Azote, may be compounded of other final elements of much greater energy than themselves, but the rules of scienca forbid us to consider that as the fact, until we have found it by experiment. We have, therefore, only to carry our knowledge of these Fl IIP 66 principles into our reflections on the construction of our system, and with humility, praise and adoration, to conceive, that as most, or all, t\m geological bodies we have analyzed, ars found to consist of these principles, they may ^ave,- been those with which the First Cause, with amazing skill and effect, has operated the wonder- ful system of Creation He hath bestowed on us. In the contemplation of this Creation, and of the re- cent discoveries in pneumatic chemistry, I trust to have shown the possibility that our sun may have been formed, at the time of the formation of the primordial waters of Genesis ; and as before stated, I have consi- dered the other planets of our system, and their moons, to have been formed in the same manner, at the time when, by the creative mandate, the combuiition of the gases took place, and which I consider to be meant and recorded by the 1st verse of 1st chap, of Genesis. So I likewise conceive that our sun was formed at the same time, by the vast body of heat and light disenga- ged by the stupendous combustion, and that having found his position in the regions of infinite space, ac- cording to the laws of his nature, he exerted his attrac- tive influences on the planets of our system, of which he became the centre. We have now to consider by what laws the vast waste of the heat and light of the Sun is replenished ; and, as our conceptions thereon will be fotxnd in some degree at variance with the hitherto received ideas of the nature of the spaces between the sun and planets, and the regions of infinite space, and bear also consi- derablv on the nature of the sun's influence on those planets, we shall first make some observations on the 67 lion of [ion, to lies we iciples, Cause, ^onder- the re- to have e been mordial e consi- moons, he time 1 of the meant jrenesis. 1 at the lisenga- having ace, ac- > attrac- ■ which he vast Dished ; n some deas of planets, consi- n those on the ATTRACTION OF MATTER. It is said bj philosopheis, that all bodies are attrac- ted to the earth s cenlre : all bodies thrown into the air from the earth, descend to the earth's surface when the propelliog force is spent, and when the body is ar- rested by the atmosphere through which it passes. It is said by Paley, page 44<9 of his Natural Theology, that ** One principle of gravitation causes a stone to drop towards the earth, and the moon to whirl round it ; one law of attraction carries all the different planets round the soo." This, he says, philosophers demon- strate ; and at p^e 388, be adds — " Calculations were made some years ago, of the mean density of the earth, by comparing the force of its attraction with the force of the attraction of a rock of granite, the bulk of which could be asoertaioed, and ihe upshot of the calculation was, that the earth, upon an average through its whole sphere, was twice the density of granite, or about five times that of water." Now, respecting the principle of attraction, I have to remark, that in chemistry we know with certainty, that partides of matter have a mutual and elective at- traction called affinity. When an acid is united with a ^netal into a neutral salt by this attraction, it may be separated from it by any substance with which the acid or its particles have a greater affinity. Thus, if iron, or its oxyds, be dissolved in sulphuric acid, it forms green vitriol, commonly called copperas ; but by adding an alkali to the solution, the iron precipitates, and a nentral salt is formed of the sulphuric acid and the alkalL In m lake or pond in the isle of Anglesea, in Wales, the water holds blue vitriol or copperas in solution, • ( ^ if 68 which is a salt composed of copper and tlie sulphuric acid. When iron hoops are thrown into the pond or lake, they become covered with copper scales, which is scraped off, and found to be the purest copper in na- ture. This decomposition of the blue vitriol takes place because the particles of iron have a greater affi- nity or elective attraction for the sulphuric acid than the copper has. The load stone is well known to attract iron, even in a cold state. Pieces of iron rubbed with the load stone, become also magnetic ; two pieces of wood, or cordage and wood, and probably many other substan- ces, by friction to a great degree, take fire ; that is to say, they become raised to that degree of temperature by that friction, that their particles attract the oxygen from the azotic gas, and from the light and heat with which they are combined in our atmosphere. Certain stones also, as flints, being struck against iron or steel, heat the particles of the steel so as to calcine them ; that is, they bring these particles to the temperature at which they also decompose the oxygen gas of the at- mosphere, and disengage its latent light and heat. Thus the attraction of matter is certainly proved by Chemistry. But how is the attraction of large and solid bodies proved in the usual temperature of the atmosphere, as in the case of the block of granite mentioned by Paley ? One rock of granite placed alongside another, will evince no attraction. It is said, indeed that some islands, having much iron ore, have attracted a vessel from her course, which, if it be the fact, may perhaps also prove the attraction of matter of a certain descrip- ii ^ 69 tion ; but I know no other way by which the attraction or density of the rock of granite could be proved, but by breaking it by some other body, and ascertaining the weight of the stroke, thus : if a hundred weight of granite required a stroke of a certain number of pounds to break it, and a rock of some other species required only a force of half that number, its attraction or den- sity might be said to be half that of the granite. Thus far, then, attraction would be proved by Chemistry and Geology also. But, that the Creator originally fixed some such law as attraction, for the cohesion of the particles of mat- ter, appears highly reasonable ; else, how should the earth and planets, travelling at such an immense rate in their orbits, be retained in their present forms, not- withstanding the power of such velocity of motion ? A ball of snow, when impelled by the force of the arm, if it be not rendered sufficiently dense by coni- pressure, separates into innumerable parts, and it must have been the same with the earth and the planets but for some law of attraction or cohesion, to resist the at- trition of their rapid motion through the heavens. This attraction then of the particles of matter, seems to be indispensible to their existence as spheres ; but the attraction of these for aach other, though generally agreed to by the philosophers, appears more dubious and uncertain. This doubt is supported by their immense distances, which may, indeed, be founded on a crude idea, and the doubt may perhaps be dissipated on further consi- deration. The moon is observed in its approacby to occasion Uf-, . hi k i , ■■' f ..J » 70 high risings or tides of the waters of the earth, which recede on its retiring. This, it seems to me, is an al- most incontrovertible proof, that the atmosphere (for storms are often generated at the same approach of the moon) and waters of the earth and seas, are attracted by the moon. If the moon has this power, we may reasonably conclude that other planets have this power also, governed by certain laws of distance and dimen- sion. Now, as to the manner in which the sun exerts his attractive influence on the earth and the other planets. His attraction is said, by philosophers, to be the cause why the earth and planets, having been ori^iwally pro- jected in a right line, do not move in that right line, but in their respective orbits round the sun. As to the opinions of these philosophers, of the na- ture of the sun*s substance, I am not aware, except as above iitated by Paley, that Buifon supposes it to con- sist of molten glass. I trust to have shewn in the fore- going pages the improbability of this, and that it is more probable to be a body of light and heat. H's density, in that case, cannot be equal, bulk for bulk, to the density of the planets, which are with reason considered to be inhabited, and must probably be formed of solid matter. But as to the nature of the sun's substance, I confess 1 cannot conceive it possible that a body of such inconceivable heat, should consist of any thing else than gaseous substance. We kno w of nothing here below that can produce light and heat with more intensity, than the decomposition of oxygen gas. Why should we not reason by analogy, that the light and heat of the sun are produced by the same means? All the other means we have of producing 71 K which is an al- lere (for h of the attracted we may is power d dimen-' xerts his ' planets, he cause ally pro- ight line, if the na- except as t to ccn- thc fore • hat it is lat. K;s for hulk, li reason lably be •e of the possibles i consist ^e knciv ind heat • oxygen that the he same oducing heat by burning glasses, or by friction, are derived from the sun ; and nothing is more remarkable in na- ture, in her general principles, than uniformity of means. The principle of gravity is said to be the s»nme in an apple falling to the ground, as in the motions of the heavenly bodies. Is it not then impossible to conceive that in the sun's heat, solid or liquid substances could exist I The dia- mond is volatilized into vapours, and if I recollect right, the perfect metals also, by the galvanic power. It has indeed been supposed by some, that the sun may be habitable — that the heat of the particles of light is owing to their friction or attrition, in their passage to the planets. This idea of no heat in the sun, arose in part from the existence of ice and snow on high moun- tains in the torrid zone, which is now thoroughly ex- plained from terrestrial causes, by Lambin, De Lui, Bougan and De Saussure. By such a supposition, we should be forced to con- clude that the planets farthest off from the sun, were the most warm, which I imagine is totally contrary to probability, to the opinions of the greatest philosophers, and to the evidence of our own senses in the planet which we inhabit. " A fact well known," says De Saussure, " and which proves strongly to my mind that the action of the so- lar rays, (considered in themselves, and independent of all exterior causes of cold,) is as great on the tops of mountains as in the level country, is, that the force of a lens is the same at all heights. I am therefore con- vinced with Bougan," continues he, '* that the principal reason of the cold which reigns on the tops of moun- tains is, that they are always surrounded and covered 72 \¥m i \ by an air that is invariably cold, and that that air is cold because it cannot be greatly heated, neither by the rays of the sun, in consequence of the transparency of this air, nor by the surface of the earth, on account of its distance from that surface." Now, but for the idea which has hitherto been adop- ted, that the regions of infinite space, or at least the spaces in which our sun and planets move, are in a state of vacuum ; but for this idea, I should say that the sun is a mass of burning aeriform substance, such as hydrogen gas, or some mixture thereof, which has the power of decomposing oxgen gas, and of throwing off its light and heat. The union of the bases of these gases, oxygen and hydrogen, would form water in the state of vapour, which would either be driven off into the heavens, and be in future decomposed, as happens in our atmosphere, by the electric fluid, or be otherwise condensed into aqueous globes, for the future forma- tion of other heavenly bodies. (^See Note 12.) I shall now offer some observations on the above idea of the philosophers, on the existence of a vacuum in the spaces through which the planets move. If we consider the projectile force to have been ab origine given to the planets by the Creator, we may suppose that this force was greater than what would have been required to produce their motions round the sun, if a vacuum had existed, as thus : allowing the spaces between the planets and the sun to be filled with an aeriform substance of vast tenuity, (and indeed that such immense spaces should consist of vacuum is nearly incredible) yet it would still be possible that this aeri- form substance should not impede the motions of the planets ; because, on the above supposition, the projec- it air is fr by the pency of ;ount of en adop- east the re in a say that )ce, such ^hich has ihrowing > of these er in the n off into I happens otherwise e forma- 18 above I vacuum been ab we may it would ound the nng the lied with leed that is nearly this aeri- I of the J projec- tile force would have been made so much greater than would have been required for moving these planets through a vacuum only^ as the resistance of this aeri- form substance should render necessary to overcome that resistance by the projectile force. Again, the force of the attraction of the sun, allow- ing its substance to be aeriform, and that such immense streams of gases were continually pouring into it, as would be required to support its combustion, we shall find the force of this attraction (hitherto so called) must be greatly increased ; for, in addition to its own proper attraction, as a bod^ of heat, light and aeriform vapour, we shall perhaps find reason to conclude that this attraction must be greatly augmented by the vast streams of aeriform substance, continually passing tow- ards the centre of the sun, for supplying its combustion and repairing the vast waste of its light and heat. A small fire in a stove is sufficient to dra^v to it a strong current of air to support its combustion. The power of currents of air on the earth and seas is well known to upset ships, trees and houses. The power of steam, also, will come under the same comparison ; and according to its quantity, will raise almost any weight. What then must be the effect and power of such inconceivable streams of gaseous substance, rushing through the heavens, as must be required to supply fuel for the sun ? And it appears to me the power of the sun, to attract the planets at such immense distan- ces, is hereby the more satisfactorily accounted for. as they are to be supposed solid spheres ; while, as I have presumed by my theory of the stin, his substance must be aeriform, and of course, of much less density, bulk G 11 w H 'M^ i' ■::f ' 1 ■'" ■' .. .1!.. "i 1 . :■ ii t, i f: ■» 1 1 ; i 1 ■' U'i Ui u '^\ for bulk, than the pi -juns. 7f, then, we should adopt the idea that the hea\: .iy b?Hes do not float in a vacuum, but should accede to tlK probability that the intervening spaces are filled up with an aeriform fluid, for the purpose of supplying fuel to the sun's fire, I humbly conceive we shall have found a satisfactory way of accounting for the influence of the moon on our seas and atmosphere. If the fact be certain, that the waters rise as the moon approaches the earth, and recede as she retires from it, may not this phenome- non arise from the pressure exerted on the aeriform matter above mentioned by the moon, on its approach to the earth, which pressure, at length reaching our atmosphere, presses on it also, and thereby on the wa- ters of the ocean, causing them to rise and fall propor- tionably, and to occasion the Spring, Neap and daily Tides? Should we not also have, by the same theory, a plain and simple way of accounting foi the great principle of attraction in the heavenly bodies ? That, by a power similar to that which propels bodies forward on the earth, seas and atmosphere, namely, the wind ; so the heavenly bodies are propelled from their right line, and driven round their central sun by this mighty cur- rent of aeriform gases in their courses towards the sun. (See Note 6th to the 2d Edition at the end of the Book.) - . ' Allowing the projectile force, (by which I under- stand Sir Tsaac Newton to have meant the primary projectile force directly given to the heavenly bodies by their Creator) and the attractive force of the sun, to be the causes of the, nearly, circular motions of the planets, still it appears to me clear, that this projectile Iisl lid adopt joat in a that the |rm fluid, 's fire, I factory |nioon on ain, that irth, and henome- aeriform ipproach ling our the wa- I propor- nd daily Ji a plain principle it, by a •ward on vind ; so gilt line, hty cur- the sun. I of the under- primary ' bodies he sun, 3 of the ojectile 75 force must be something very different from the spe- cies of impelling force which Paley, in his " Natural Theology," speaks of in page 390 of that work. " If it were possible," he says, " to fire off a cannon-ball with the velocity of five miles a second, and the resis- tance of the air could be taken away, the cannon-ball would for ever wheel round the earth, instead of falling down to it." Now, if the ball were fired off in a direc- tion due north, it is evident that in the course of the circle it would form, it roust return by the south pole to the place it was fired from, to north ; and therefore, in every revolution, it would return in an exactly oppo- site direction to where it was fired ofi* from ; the force therefore by which it returns, could not be the force of firing off, because it returns in a line directly opposite to that force. (See Note 8.) I therefore conceive the projectile force, impressed by the first cause on the heavenly bodies, is of an en • tirely different nature from the projectile force of a cannon-ball. May it not rather be something in the nature of the force of the current of gases I have mentioned, as forcing the planets into their rotatory motion round the sun ? May not the projectile force partake of the nature of electricity ? Referring to what 'v\e have said above, as to the means by which the waste of the sun's light and heat is replenished, we shall now make some observations on a very important sentence as to this subject, con- tained in " Paley's Evidences of Natural Religion," page 392. On the subject of th< use of the attraction of the 76 ■fi k . I^^l planets by the bud, he there says — " Nor shall we find less difficulty in concpiving a conflux of particles in- cessantly flowing to a centre, and carrying down all bodies along with it — that centre being itself in rapid motion through absolute space ; for, by what source is the stream fed, or what becomes of the accumulation ?" The principal objection of Paley then, to the idea of a fluid or seriform substance existing in the spaces be- tween the sun and the planets, and between each of themselves, is contained in his question — ** By what source is the stream fed, or what becomes of the ac- cumulation f* If we allow, however, that the sun is a body in a state of constant combustion, and that its ignition is supported in the same manner as terrestrial flres, (and without allowing this we cannot, according to our knowledge of combustion, conceive how the fire of the sun is continued,) we shail meet with no diinculty in finding " by what source the stream is fed." The spaces between the sun and planets, and also the regions of infinite space, if they be allowed to contain aeriform fluids, whether these be oxygen and hydrogen gases, or a mixture of these or of other inflammable gases, these inconceivable extents of space would cer- tainly contain suflicient fuel to supply not only our sun, but probably all the suns of the other systems that may exist. It is, I think, proved above, that resisting media may be contained in the planetary spaces, without destroying the planetary motions. Hydrogen gas being fourteen times lighter than atmospheric air, and being very combustible, that is, easily uniting with oxygen, and thus setting free its latent heat and light, may therefore 77 I we find ticlea in- down all in rapid [source is ilation ?" ie idea of >aee8 be« each of By what f the ac- )ody in a ^nition is res, (and J to our ire of the nculty in i also the > contain lydrogen ammable >uld cer- Jnly our ems that ^dia may stroying Fourteen ig very ^en, and tierefore be supposed to form a great proportion of these oeri- form media. (See Note 12. J In fact, as we know of no such thing as a vacuum in any part of nature around us, it seems difficult to conceive that the vast spaces between the heavenly bodies are in that state, and this has no doubt sugges- ted to the ancients the idea of the abhorrence of nutur« of a vacuum. ( See Note 6th to 2d Edition at the end of this Work.) •'■ > , By what means then, a sufficient quantity of this aeriform fluid can be found is, I trust, evident ; and the question of the Archdeacon, " By wliat source is the stream fed," is answered. And the end to which the stream is applied, namely, the support of the sun's waste by combustion, will also answer the other ques- tion, " What becomes of the accumulation ?" I answer, II is consumed by the suns Jive, - If the media then, of the planetary and infinite s])a- ces may be supposed to consist of hydrogen, oxygen, or other inflammable gases, or a mixture of these, the hydrogen and the oxj'gen gases being drawn into the sun, would be immediately decomposed, giving out their latent light and heat for the supply and restora- tion of the immense waste of these elements which must take place by the emission of their rays from the sun. Water would thus be formed in the state of vapour, which would probably be driven off" into the heavens by its own elasticity, or carried off by the attraction of comets, and there condensed into globes of water, des- tined thereafter to form new planets or worlds, like those of our own system, and evincing the unceasing tendency of nature, in obedience to laws by which it is endowed by the Creator, to give life and enjoyment to cl 78 -1 . 1 5' f*. 'l counties myriadi of beings, on which novel subject 1 shall treat iu the sequel. ( SeeNotell.) If the fact be founded, that the attraction of a planet is formed by the attraction of its parts, and that there- fore the power of its attraction is in proportion to the density of the planet ; then, if we allow the sun to be a body of aeriform matter in combustion, its» attraction must be much less in proportion to its bulk, than the attraction of each of the solid planets — although its greater bulk may compensate for its inferior density ; but the current of aeriform fluids which, to use Paley's words, " would be powerful enough to carry bodies down with great force towards a centre," will it not al- so account in whole or in part, for the attraction the sun exerts on the planets ? As to these fluids oeing, as he says in another place, " powerless with respect to the motions which result from the projectile impulse," I trust I have explained before, that the resisting force of these aeriform fluids may have been counteracted by an additional power having been given to the projectile force to overcome that resistance ; whereby it has hap- pened, as he says again in page 393, " that resist- ance has had no sensible effect on the moon's motion for two thousand five hundred years," and, I may add further, that these fluids never can have any such effect ; and I trust to explain this more fully hereafter. We now recur to Paley's observation in page 388 of his "Theology of Nature," that "by a comparative calculation with the force of attraction of a rock of granite, the earth was said to have twice the density of that rock, or about five times that of water." Has the mode of ascertaining the force of this attrac- tion of the earth been grounded on the supposed force 79 of the attraction of the sun on the earth and planets ? li&i the earth's attraction in the above experiment been come at by calculating its proportionate bulk to that of the sun, and assigning it therefrom its proportionate attraction ? If so, and it should be conceded that the theory I have ventured to propose, of the sun's power of attraction being created or increased by the streams of aeriform fluid passing towards his centre, to supply him with fuel — if this theory be correctly founded in nature, it is evident the above experiment in the at- traction of the earth cannot be correct in its results. The force of attraction of a body is composed of the united attraction of its parts; but if the sun's density has hitherto been considered by philosophers to be ac- cording to his powers of attraction, and it should be agreed to that the streams of oeriform fluid have a great influence in producing that attraction, the density of the sun must, in this case, be much less than it has hi- therto been estimate ' at, and of course the density of the earth also, if it hain been grounded on this supposed density of the sun. I now conclude the theory of the sun's formation by some observations on the following extract from Pa- ley's Work, page 380. Speaking of the intervening spaces between the planets, he says that " the intervals between them are made devoid of any inert matter, either fluid or solid, because such an intervening sub- stance would, by its resistance, destroy those very mo- tions which attraction is employed to preserve." I have before endeavoured to shew that there may be such aeriform substances existing in these space?, which would indeed resist these motions of the planets, but that this resistance is sufficient only to diminish 80 p p. the velocity of these motior.s. To explain this more fully : — May not the moon have been originally pro- jected by the Creating cause to move in its orbit or course at the rate of three thousand tv/o hundred and seventy miles per hour ? and, supposing the resistance of the media or aeriform fluids of my theory to be equal to one thousand miles per hour, this resistance would onlj diminish the rate of the moon's motion to two thousand two hundred and seventy miles per hour, which is the actual rate she is said to travel in her course round the earth. (See "Sote 5. J In fine, the theory of the sun's being replenished with fuel by means of aeriform fluids, is supported by another observation of Paley's. In page 350 of the above work, he says — " The light and heat of the sun follow the same laws, and, to us, appear nowise difl*er- ent from the light of a candle and the heat of a coal fire." Why, then, may not this heat and light of the sun be supplied in the same manner as that of the can- dle and coal fire ? In our planet, this heat is now known to be pro- duced by the decomposition of oxygen gas by those combustible bodies, and the consequent extrication of its latent light and heat ; but if the light and heat of the sun be general.! by the same laws, and, as there is probably some physical cause for the attraction of the planets by the sun — as it is possible his great magni- tude would not require less than the spaces between him and t' ^ planets, and betv.een each of them, to sup- ply the aeriform fluid for his combustion — and as this amazing current must have a great physical influence on the motion of those planets round their central Sun, ;rnd may therefore throw additioual light on the great 81 principle of his attraction — I therefore humbly submit the foregoicg Theory of the Sun'a Formation, and the means of Mipplying the waste of his combustion, to the scmtinj of a candid and enlightened world : and being sensible of my incompetence in respect of that profoond d^ree of scientific knowledge required in the attempt I have made to reconcile and explain the account of the Creation, handed down to us by our re- ligion, with the great discoveries in the sciences of Ge- olc^'. Chemistry and Pneumatics, I have only to hope I maj, at all events, have exalted the utility of these sciences bj shewing their tendency and power to di- minidi or qniet the doubts of scepticism, and to open greater sources of our admiration of the goodness, power, wisdom and glory of the Great First Cause.— (See eondudinff Note.) Haring now presented to the public the theory ci^^c 407, rhap. 12. " We shall conclude this chapter by the mention of a phenomenon which seems to indicate the existence of some slight degree of nebulosity about the Sun itself, * It beinj; thought by some that Sir Richard Phillips' Theory wa:^ ot AtlieiBtical tendency, I have extracted the foregoing paragraph to show the reverse. 87 pnn- e and even to place it in the list of nebulous Stars. It is called the Zodiacal light ; and may be seen any very clear evening soon after sunset, about the month of April or May, or, at the opposite season of the year, before sunrise, as a cone or lenticular shaped iJight, ex- tending from ihe horizon, obliquely upwards, and fol- lowing generally the course of the ecliptic, or rather that of the Sun's equator. The apparent angular dis- tance of its orbit from the sun varies according to cir- cumstances from 40^ to 90"^, and the breadth of its base perpendicular to its axis from S*' to 30**. It is extremely faint and ill defined, at least, in this climate, though better seen in tropical regions. It cannot be mistaken for any atmospherical meteor or Aurora Borealis. It is manifesllv in the nature of a thin lenticularly formed atmosphere, surrounding the Sun, and extending at least beyond the orbit of Mer- cury and even of Venus, and may be conjectured to be no other than the denser part of that medium, which, as we have reason to believe, resists the motion of comets, loaded perhaps with the actual materials of the tails of millions of them, of which they have been stripped in their successive perehelion passages, and which may be slowly subsiding into the Sun." It appears hereby that Sir John completely sanctions tiie existence of gaseous matter in the Sun's atmosphere. And for what other purpose could it be there, but for the supply of the waste of its light and heat by the combustion of this gaseous matter ? And Sir John may well say a^ he does in the above most admirable treatise on Astronomy, " that there is an enormous de- gree of heat in the Sun." . The last extract we shall here make, as sanctioning '^, r^> p 1 M' t.i •St i ' }\ P [T 51 ^i; •> '1 ■ i % ^j fe- »^ p \, ' II I fti^'.; ii: [Iv M! III '.• 'pii 88 Ocf theory of supply of the waste of the Sun's heat and light, is from a work published in 1841) called "Gra- ham's Elements of Chemistry." " It has always been observed that there is a black line or lines among the rays received from the Sun through the prism on a spectrum. These black lines Philosophers had not been able to account for. But the atmosphere of the Sun has now received an entirely chemical cha- racter from late experiments of the celebrated Sir David Brewster, who found that on passing a ray of light from a common lamp through a medium of nitroW' oxt/d gas, it formed a thousand black lines on the spoofrum. He, Sir David, thence infers (in accounting for the black lines when rays are received from the Sun) thist gaseous matter exists in the sun's atmosphere, by which medium tJje black lines are pro- duced on the spectrum." Doctor Graham adds, " that we may thus be able hereafter to explain how the light of the Suns of other systems is formed and maintained." He thus evidently considers that the mode ot" sup- plying the waste of our own Sun's light and heat is ex- plained by means of this gaseous atmosphere, and there- by supports our theory of the combustion of that mat- ter for producing that supply.* On a review of these concurrent testimonies, we, with humility, conceive therefore that our theory of the original formation of our Sun, by the liglit and heat evolved by the combustion f the gases for the forma- tion of the universal ocean of Genesis ; and of the mode of supplying the waste of the Sun's ligiit and heat may be considered as nearly established. Having thus concluded my attempt on the system of * The above extract is taken from memory, but the Bubstance will be found in Grab m's Elements. ^atand " Gra- '8 been Jg the on a id not lere of il cha- ed Sir a ray lediuni k lines ers (in iceived e sun's re pro- " that e light lined." t' sup- . is ex- there- t mat- s, we, of the heat jrma- f the t and !ra of itance §9 the creation of our earth and planets, and of the for- mation of their central Sun, with the means which I conceive may have been adopted by the Creator to sup- ply the vast waste of his combustion, we now proceed to the last part of our prospectus, namely, the dissolu- tion of our globe, with the possible changes which the j)resent state *>f our knowledge would lead us to pre- sume would be the result of it. DISSOLUTION OF OUR GLOBE. By the authority of Scripture, we are informed, that the globe we inhabit is doomed to dissolution by the element of fire. We cannot, indeed, presume to say that the nature of this conflagration shall be the same, and be governed by the same laws as those which take place at present, but judging from the hitherto immu- table nature of those laws, we shall proceed to consider the principal changes which, according to them^would take place at this general conflagration. There are, indeed, many parts in the external and internal pheno- mena of the earth, which subject it continually to change and decomposition. The probable effects also, of its continual motion in the heavens, and the possible contact of other heavenly bodies, perhaps igneous, ap- pear to confirm the destiny recorded in the Scriptures. The late discoveries however, in pneumatic chemis- try, have proved to us, that what had hitherto been considered as destruction by fire, is only a change, or decomposition of the various combustible bodies, in- to the elements of which they are composed. A great proportion of the vegetable world is found to be reduc- ed by combustion, into elastic vapour called gases ; and it is not improbable, (at least if we assent to the facts stated by, and the opinion of, professor Chaptal, which I have before meutiooed, on the productions of the Hi 1 i "■ i-'l •S; i * 1 i ', i*' . ■ (' 1 ' :'• ' t • t * / SLi i* »'!■ 'J (51 I i 90 vegetative piocesn ; and also, the still higher authority of professor LinnaBus", quoted above, whereby many of the primary earths and metals are proved to be the pro- ducts of vegetation,) that the various earths and metals, and their combinations, may hereafter be found to con^ sist of compounds of the bases of the gases of oxygen, hydrogen and azote. In the foregoing system of creation, I have stated that lead is found to gain an accession of weight by oxydation of nearly ten pounds in one hundred pounds, by the absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere. This oxygen must therefore exist in the oxyd, in a solid state. Pit-coal and pot-ash are found also to contain oxygen and hydrogen in the same state^ and the Schisti or slate mountains are also said to have been composed by the decomposition of vegetables, which are prima- rily composed of these gases ; and these schisti, there- fore, in part, consist of solid oxygen, &c. In fine, from these facts, and many others stated in the forego- ing pages, we have, in the theory of creation, come to the conclusion that the processes of vegetation and of aniraalization were the machinery chosen by the First Cause for the gradual production of all the geological bodies of which our earth is composed. Now, the marine vegetables of the waters or ocean of Genesis, can have imbibed their nourishment only from these waters and the air imbibed by them, and must have had the power conferred on their natures to de- coropode these waters, and to re-compose by the pro- cess of vegetation (as we find to be the case in terres- trial vegetables) a vast variety of new productions, all of which, however dense, roust have possessed the con- stituent elements of water and air, oxygen, hydrogen and azote, for their final elements. 91 The depositions then of the marine vegetable world, having formed a certain and a very great proportion of the geological bodies of the earth, the remainder of them we have conceived to have been formed by the depositions and labours of the marine animals. The habitations or shells of these, we have shewn in various parts of the foregoing theory, to compose a considera- ble portion of the earth ; and the vast generations of tliese animals, after their decay and decomposition, have, no doubt, according to their affinities and gravities by their deposition, formed or entered into tiie structure^ of the remaining geolugieal products. In the course of our theory, we have endeavoured to shew, that the vast chalk and lime stone formations of the earth, may also have been the result of the de- composition or disintegration of these marine shells. — On this subject, we have to add one observation ; bear- ing considerably on our present object, namely, the final elements of tlie geological bodies. It is, that chalk and lime stone, being carbonates of lime, must also, therefore, consist of a great proportion of oxygen in a solid state, their carbonic acid being compounded of oxygen and carbon. Lime itself, also has afforded Sir H. Davy a metallic button ; it is therefore an oxyd, and contains oxygen in the same solid state. Dr. Bucklan j, in his late Bridgewater Treatise, states, that lime stone and some other rocks are, in great part, composed of the remains of certain fossile animalculae. (See Note 5th to 2d Edition.) The marine animals, again, of the waters of Genesis, whether they derived their nutrition directly from those waters, or from the plants contained in them, or both, must finally have beea composed of the constituent IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V. ^ // f/. 1.0 I.I 11.25 y7 12.2 14 ■ 40 2.0 U ill 1.6 III PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation ^^ ^' 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 '9,'- ^^> z ^ 9 \ ^ 'f ^ w %(«*■ ' I'M ■* h;: Si: *:•■ * . ^ -,' ! ■ i ■ « *' 92 .H-l ■ |«fl ill 1 if' :J^^ elements of water, the onl?/ mode of nutrition of these plants. But it is possible, and even probable, that the marine animals had the power of decomposing the im- bibed air of the atmosphere, by which they would ob- tain another elementary principle, Azote.* This is an aeriform substance, which is always found to be pro- duced by the remains of terrestrial, and, no doubt, mai ne animals also. Thus we are led to conclude the final elements of all geological bodies, and of the marine plants atid ani- mals of the ocean, and of the vegetable and animal productions of the earth to have been uboriffine. Oxy- gen, Hydrogen, Azote, Heat, and, perhaps. Light and Electricity ; and that the immense variety of proportions of these, blended together by the vital principle, con- stitutes the distinctive characters of those bodies. Now, in the event of the dissolution of the Globe by fire, the consequence would be, (as combustion is known to be nothing but the extrication of light and caloric, by the decomposition of the oxyg'-n gas of the atmos- phere, and the subsequent absorption of its oxygen by the combustible body,) that the elements of all com- bustible bodies would enter into new combinations. — The waters of the oceans, if not directly decomposed by this vast combustion, but, merely evaporated, would probably collect together, be finally con- densed into water, be attracted together into vast bodies, and form a part of an oceanic globe, which must obey the laws of gravitation and motion, and might thus form a part of the matrix of a future planet. On the contrary, should the watery vapours of our • Atmospheric air is always decomposed in the lungs of terres- trial animals. 93 r these at the he im- Id ob- s is an )e pro- do II bt, earth and ocean be drawn into the conflagration at this dissolution, and be decomposed by the intensity of its heat and the contact of the combustible bodies, which is indeed probable ; these vapours would thereby be re- solved into their primary elements, oxygen and hydro- gen, in the state of gases ; and the vegetable and animal creation would, also, be decomposed into tliese gases and the azotic and carbonic gas. The earthy, mineral, and metallic substances of the globe, many of which we have shewn in the foregoing pages of our theory, to contain an abundant quantity of these gases in a solid state, would be partly decom- posed into these primary elements, and the remaining more indestructible parts, if not decomposed by the heat of the conflagration, would be resolved by it into vapours ; for we have found, as before stated, that even by the comparatively small degrees of heat which the art of man has discovered, the diamond, and some of the perfect metals, have been resolved into such va- pours ; and, allowing even that these metallic, earthy, or mineral vapours, should not be decomposed into their final elements, even by the heat of the conflagration, they must, after the combustion, be collected into vast bodies, mix with the other gases resulting from the decompositions above stated, and, probably, by the agency of chemical affinity, find their decomposition effected by these gases ; or, otherwise, their decompo- sition into the primary elements of oxygen, hydrogen, and azote, may be finally effected by the electric fluid' Thus, although it may be the design of Providence to put a final period to the present state of existence of our globe ; yet, as the primary elements of which we have conceived it to be composed, are indestructible at ' ■•, I'M I! W^:'\ 1-1 -..-I il!i i 94 leaat in the present state of our knowledge, these ele- ments must unite to form the materials of a new mode of existence ; unless, indeed, counteracted by the divine ordinances, by which these very elements themselves should be annihilated. Now that this globe is destined to dissolution as I have already mentioned, is probable, from many facts in its internal and external phenomena. But its pit coal, sulphureous and nitrous combinations, the inflammable and other gases it produces, and the tendency of these to produce earthquakes and vol- canoes, may not operate sufliciently deep in the earth to produce its total dissolution. This is, indeed, more likely to arise, from its various motions in the heavens, and the possible contact of igneous bodies, as comets, &c. We do not mean to imply by this that the earth is in danger from comets in its annual course round its orbit, the chances of such dangers being very small. All we imply is, that the dissolution foretold in scrip- ture will be more probably brought aboutby meansof a comet than any internal cause in the earth, and it may form a part of the design of the Creator, that the heavenly bodies should thus be subject to continued changes ; yet, does it not appear consistent with the unceasing evidences we have of His benevolence, to suppose, these changes are not to destroy the flnal ele- ments of His creation ; but to produce higher and bet- ter states of existence by their instrumentality ? Assuming, therefore, that the conflagration we are consideiing, shall have Anally decomposed and resolved by combustion, and the power of mutual affinity, or by the electric fluid, all parts of the earth and oceans, into the primary elements oxygen, hydrogen and azote, or \ geth( 95 lese ele- w mode e divine iinselves on as I ny facts inations, es, and ind vol- eartii to ], more leavens, comets, earth is 3und its y small, n scrip- iansofa it may lat the ntinued fc^ith the nee, to nal ele- nd bet- we are esolved or by IS, into :ote, or I other elements, we have now to consider how these elements would re-combine to form other heavenly bo- dies. These primary elements, having been drawn to- gether by the laws of affinity or attraction, would pro- bably be soon ignited and brought into combustion by the electric fluid, or the light and heat of the general conflagration. The hydrogen gas would then unite with the oxygen of the oxygen gas, whose light and heat, or caloric, would be set free, and the formation of watery vapours would ensue. These condensing in the course of time, (for it is probable the light and heat of the conflagration would, by laws of its gravity, find its way to the higher regions of infinite space) would form an oceanic globe, which, also, in obedience to the same laws of gravity and attraction, would be attracted or driven, according to our theory, round its central Sun ; and being endowed by the pow- erful and benevolent ordination of the Frst Cause, with the most abundant prolific and plastic powers for the generation of plants and animals ; these would, exactly in the same way (in which, as we have stated in our theory of creation) the waters of Genesis produced our earth, be continually tending, in the course of sufficient ages, by their vast accumulation, their death, decomposition and depositions, according to their affini- ties and gravities, to form the solid parts of their globe ; which, by the laws of gravity, would be attracted more or less near the centre, and these decompositions would thus accumulate, until the land should finally appear on the surface of these waters. We must then suppose the same benevolence and power of the Creator would be exerted to bring plants and animals on this part of its creation, endowing them with life and enjoyments of such degrees of eminence V*: '( 96 i/'j" i-i-l :'n mi--: Urn ^,5 1 in the scale of being, as His Providence might be pleased to direct- fSee Note 7, to 2d Edition at the end of the Book, in conjirmation of the above.) Thus, we have cause to believe from our evidences of the benevolence of the Deit}^ that the globe we in- habit, if destined to combustion, may be thereby chan- ged into another and more perfect state of existence, and its inhabitants be gifted with greater blessings ; and we shall now venture to draw^ a conclusion from the foregoing observations on the dissolution and re-produc- tion of the globe, namely, that although we are told in Scripture that this dissolution will take place> and the inhabitants then on the earth will perish, yet as we have stated, that " it would be more consistent with the unceasing evidences we iiave of the benevolence of the Creator, to suppose these changes are not to destroy the fi- nal elements o^\i{'\iCxeaX\\in" and, as we have accordingly supposed these elements will only assume a new state of being, we therefore now draw our conclusion, that, as the final elements of the corporeal substance of man could onlv then, in common with those of other ele- ments, assume a new state of combination, so we con- ceive that the benevolent creator (having in the present life given to him these high powders -of intellect, and those hopes of a better state of existence) has also ar- ranged some plan by which the elements of these bodies, and by a parity of reasoning, the elements of those who shall have died previous to the conflagration ; shall be re-united to the souls of which they formed the ma- trices on earth, and that with them they shall be en- dowed with a better and more perfect state of existence, as foretold and promised in the Scriptures. The elements of those human bodies must otherwise cor gej pnj frc foi 97 night be It the end svidences ae we in- by chan- existence, ngs ; and from the e-produc- ire told in y, and the fet as "vve it with the nee of the troy theji- ccordingly i new state jsion, that, ice of man other ele- so we con- the present ellect, and las also av- hese bodies, f those who ation ; shall ned the ma- ihall be en- of existence, ist otherwise be left to the disposal of a chance combination, and might thereby enter into the re-production of inanimate substance. We cannot conceive this to be part of the design of the source of truth and benevolence ; and we therefore believe, that this very indestructibility of the laws of nature^ and her eternal tendency to form (as we have attempted to shew above) new combinations of matter, offer a proof also of the distinct destined ex- istence, and of the immortality of the soul of man. — (See Note 6.) Having now finished these considerations on the creation, dissolution and reproduction of our globe in a new state, I shall only mention that, reasoning from analogy, we may conceive the other systems of the heavenly bodies, to have been formed by the same laws of nature, instituted by the Omnipotent for that purpose. But we are told by a great poet, " Presume not God to scan," and as I agree with that idea, inasmuch as that we ought not to venture so to do, beyond the data and facts which he has placed in our view, so I have limited these observations to our system, humbly conceiving I have in some measure shewn, that the geology of our globe, and our latest discoveries in pneumatics, will warrant the conclusion I have drawn from the foregoing facts and experiments. In the theory of the sun, I observed that the water formed by the combustion of the hydrogen gas, in sup- plying him with fuel, might, perhaps, be condensed into globes of water, destined hereafter to form new worlds or planets, like those of our own system, by the means we have detailed in the theory of creation. I have now only to add, that we may well conceive this possible, from the incessant proofs of power, wis- r 1; 98 irt- : I • f- |. '5*' tkk-. { doni, and benevolence, we are permitted to discover in the operations of the Creator ; that, in fact the recent discoveries of our astronomers, of planets, never obser- ved before by the vigilance of those of former ages*, may be a proof that new formations of heavenly bodies are always taking place ; and, that as we cannot pre- sume to limit the attributes and power of a First Cause, £0 the reproductive and plastic powers with which He has endowed the laws of nature, may be found in con- tinual operation, for the production of other systems of heavenly bodies, and that the Almighty attributes, and energies may be thus continually giving life and enjoy- ment, in a scale probably infinite, and advancing, per- haps, incessantly, in displays of His Goodness, Power, Wisdom, and Glory. — (See the latter part of Note 17.) * It is stated by astronomers that the tails of comets are stretched towards the sun, when they are approaching him ; but when they return, they are stretched in the opposite direction. May not this singular fact be caused by the comet depositing its gaseous tail into the sun's atmosphere as a supply of fuel, a,nd taking up by its attraction, the denser aqueous vapors, formed by the combustion of the gases, thus carrying them off into tae regions of space to be condensed into planetary bodies ? For it is observed the tails in the returning course of the comet are much longer than when it goes towards the sun. May not these facts indicate a change in the nature of the tails. cover in e recent iT obser- ir ages*, y bodies inot pre- it Cause, hich He 1 in con- stems of utes, and id enjoy- ing, per- , Power, Note 17.) ;omets are r him ; but J direction, positing its »f fuel, p,nd >r8, formed m off into dies ? For ! comet are y not these APPENDIX. The following Notes and Illustrations are recommended to the readers attention as illustrative of the Theory OF Creation, and particularly as containing ob- servations on the lute discoveries in Geology, Note 1. It may, perhaps, be thought by some, that allowing the processes of vegetation and animalizatiou * in the waters of Genesis, to have produced, by their decomposition, all the materials of the geological pro- ductions, yet, that the quantity of deposition required to form the earth, would be more, than (they conceive,) could be produced by the vegetables and animals of these seas or waters. But, one single fact, which I shall mention from an ingenious publication, " On the animals and monsters of our oceans," will, perhaps, satisfy their doubts on this head. It is stated in that publication " the offspring of one single herring^ being suffered to remain unmolested in the sea, for twenty years alone, would produce more than sufficient to form in bulk, ten such globes as we inhabit;" and if, accor- ding to the system I have offered, it be conceded that the design of the waters of Genesis, was to form and produce the earth by these depositions, we may reason- ably presume, that vegetable and animal life, were abundantly prolific to produce that end. Reckoning a herring to produce 30,000 eggs, the pioduce of the fc- I* *^-l *J 1 ' •4 {^' [ ( '1 1 :' i ■ • II f ^ I .'-3 r- »?* !V* J • 100 males, in two generations only, would be 6,ToO,450,- 000,000 of herrings.* Note 2. I here insert some observations on the com- position of the granite mass, wiiich is supposed by some geologists, to form the internal parts of the earth, or frame work of the globe. This mass is composed of the assemblage, sometimes in thick, sometimes in very thin laminae of various kinds of mineral substance, such as quartz, mica, feld- spar, &c., all of which substances, again, are composed of ihe various primary earths, lime, magnesia, silex, alumine, bary tes or terra ponderosa. Tlie granite mass, then, is ultimatel} compounded ot these primary earths, most of which, we have shewn to be produced by the decomposition of vegetables and animals; and that this mass has been, originally formed in, and deposited from, a fluid, appears to me proved by the chrystals of quartz, minute scales of mica, and its appearance of so line a granular structure, and more especially by the visible layers and laminae dispersed throughout that texture. I have counted about twenty layers of a white substance, in a fragment of granite or gneiss, a foot square. Gnesis is a stratified granite. Now, had the granite mass not been formed by the gradual decay, decomposition, and depositions of ma- rine vegetables and animals, as we have stated in the theory of Creation ; had its materials been formed at once in the waters of Genesis, the various substances composing it, (the mass) would have united according to their mutual affinities, and been precipitated accord- * The Greometrical Progression of each subsequent generation will be found, by dividing the previous one in two multiplying the half by 30,000 and then always adding the other half to the amount fouDd, and so on to tlie twentieth generation. 101 30,450,- lie com- by some irth, or netinies various ca, feld- •niposed a, silex, te mass, ' earths, 1 by the nd that eposited rstals of 2e of so ' by the 3ut that a white i, a foot by the of ma- 1 in the rmed at ►stances wording accord- me ration ihiplying ilf to the ing to the laws of their gravity, in vast homogcnenu'" rnassca ; but the visible depositions of part of it, in layers and laminae, seems to confirm the opinion of their hiiving been deposited in the course, perhaps, of numer- ous ages, from the decomposition and depositions of vegetable and animal life. And though we should al- low witlj the Huttonians tnat the chrystalline appear- ance of this and other primordial rocks may be produ- ced by the internal fires, yet this will not inform us nor account at all, for the original production of their ele- mentary particles. , , Now, although from the more ancient formation of the granite mass, few instances of visible vegetable oi animal remains are fotnid in its interior ; yet, as we know that water of itself deposits nothing, but what it has held in previous solution, either partial or complete, and, as we know of no oilier source, from which the substance of this solution could be derived in the waters of Genesis, but from vegetable and animal decomposi- tion, and as we have seen, by the foregoing theory and data, that vegetable and animal decomposition affordi) the materials of which the granite mass is composed, I trust, we are warranted in the conclusion, that having been deposited, and lain many ages previous to the de- position of the secondary and tertiary strata, and that, in a state of moisture, all its vegetable and animal or- ganization has been destroyed from that cause, and from compression, internal heats, and the volcanic fires of the earth ; and that this granite mass, has been produced by the same means, which appear to have been chosen by the Creator, for the construction of the more external parts of the globe^ namely, the genera- tion, decay, death, decomposition,, and depo«iition^ of ll If I 'i r li' 1 ■{»• 1 *^ ' f > .»■ t I : 1 ' k jf^ ' ! |k' 1 ^jj 1 I if ■i^ '.1*1 1 1 . / 102 the vegetables and animals of the M^alers of Genesis.— (See Note 5th to 2d Edition.) Accordingly we find in the review of the third Edi- tion of Lyell's Principles of Geology, it is stated, that ** the experiments of Watt prove that a rock need not be perfectly melted, in order that a re-arrangement of its component particles should take place, and a more chrystalline structure ensue." We may easily suppose, therefore, [says Mr. Lyell,] " that all traces of shells and other organic remains may be destroyed, and that new chemical combinations may arise, and according to these views, gneiss and mica schist i, may be nothing more than micaceous and argillaceous stones altered by heat, and certainly, in their mode of stratification and lamination they correspond most exactly. Granular quartz^ may have been derived from siliceous sand stone, compact quartz from the same. Clay slate may be altered shale ; and shale appears to he clay, sub- jected to great pressure. Granular marble has probably originated in the form of ordinary limestone, having, in many instances, been rqplete with shells and corals now obliteratedy while calcareous sands and marles have been changed into impure chrystalline lime stones." I have chiefly made the above extract from Mr. Lyell's work, in answer to the objection stated in the preface of my theory, made by Mr. Fairholme, regard- ing the granite mass ; and I trust it will prove, that al- though this granite mass contains at present no organic remains, yet it may have contained them originally, and they may have been destroyed by the heats, fires . and consequent change or fusion the mass has under- gone from those fires, or perhaps from electricity. In ^hq, I- must here repeat, that I fiod do cause, after the 103 lesis. — rd Edi- ed, that eed not ment of a more uppose, /* shells ind that cording nothing :ered by ion and iranular us sand ate may ay, sub- )le has nestone, ells and i marles stones." ►m Mr. in the regard- that al- organic iginally, ts, fires under- ity. In fter the perusal of the latest works on geology, to vary from the theory of Creation, I now venture to present. On the contrary, I Hnd several of tlie German Geologists have adopted the same opinion, namely, '' that vegetable and animal life have been the cause of the production of the solid portion of the Earth." The eminent Geo- logist Hutton was of the same opinion. I therefore, must adhere to the opinion I have stated, in the 11th Note, that the discoveries of the marine or- ganic remains, w ill be satisfactorily explained by this theory, and the necessity precluded of supposing the earth more ancient, since the separation of the water:*, than by the Mosaic account ; and I now conclude this note, with an observation from Sharon Turner's " Sa- cred History of the World." Therefore, (he says,) "it appears to me most probable, that whenever the right theory of the fabrication of the earth, and the era and succession of its organized beings, shall be discovered, it will be found to be compatible with the Mosaic cos- mogony, in its most natural signification." ,.,.^^ Happy should 1 be, if the theory I am now present- ing to the wci'ld, should, in its estimation, be found to approximate to this description. x.-, .. , . ,• . The late discoveries in geology of Baron Cuvier, Lyell, and Buckland and others, as they comprise not more than a few miles of the depth of the earth, (being a mere fractional part of its diameter) do not in the least invalidate the theory I have formed, which com- prises the entire of that diameter. I, howe* ;, repeat and extend here, the observations I have made already in these notes. », -i. .,..-»._ ,,,.,.♦ .u ^.i . ^ First, that Baron Cuvier, in his computation of the distance of Ume, namely, $ or 6,000 years, (at whieb ht 104 HI » iC H^ ■Hi-' ^ ii'« !*i places tlie date of his revolutioii as the result,) does not state by what comparison or scale he arrived at his de- cision ; and it is difficult to conceive any scale he could have had, except a known quantity or depth of deposi- tion from rivers or lakes, in a given time. If thix, however, be the source on which he has founded his computation, I cannot but consider it a very insufficient one. The power of deposition of lakes or rivers could no more be compared to the quantum of that |.ower^ possessed by the waters of a deluge, or by the primeval oceans, than the currents of those rivers or lakes could be, to the almost, inconceivable force of the waters of a deluge overwhelming a great part of the earth, which must have been tlie case when the waters of Genesis 9th verse were gathering together. ' I should therefore humbly suggest the query whether the period, at which these fossil remains of the bones of terrestrial animals were deposited, may ascend no high- er thanjthe time of the Deluge of Noah ; and whether the circumstance of no human concb being found in the par- ticular place L i tiiese discoveries, has been owing to those parts not being then inhabited by our species. Or; secondlyy allowing him to Is correct as to the period of 5 or 6000 years, at which he dates his revo- lution, and which, as he says, ^' has buried and caused to disappear the countries formerly inhabited by man, and the species of animals now most known, thai;, con- trariwise, it has left the bottom of the former sea dry, and has formed on it the countries now inhabited." I would ask, is not this period, which agrees very nearly with thu time of the separation of the waters by the Mosaic account, equally well accounted for by tktU separation, and, therefore, instead of the countries for- 10 does not t his de- tie could deponi- If this, ded his ufficient rs couid '. r.ower Drimeval ;3 could aters of 1, which Genesis whether )ones of lo high- ther the the par- ving to cies. to the J revo- caused f man, i, COD- Ba drv, d." I nearly by the y thtu ei for- merly inhabited by man " having been tiien buried and caused to disappear," shall we not rather say, that the Earth was then separated from the seas in which it had according to our Theory of Creation, been formed, and that soon after this period of the separation, 3Ju/i was created. This Theory will al>iO account equally for the pre- sent appearance of those marine deposits and oruaiiie remains now found at tiie greatest depthi of the Earth to which mankind have yet penetrated. All ilie>e i:ia- rine exuviee and ori'-iiuic remains, and the strata midt r which they are deposited, are satisfactorily accoiiiitt il tor by the construction of the 1st verse of (i'.'ne.>is we have formed, as the basis of the Theory of the forego! tig Treatise; and which construction has since been sanc- tioned by the eminent Geologists and writers ahvady specified. I have only to add some observations on the Review of Lyeii's Principles of Geology, of April lli"5, on the subject of the antiquity of Mount .-Etna. " It is thus," it is said, " that volcanic formations confirm the evidence afforded by the sedi nentary strata of the im- mense antiquity and lengthened duration of even the most recent geological aeras." But is it not probable that the eruptions of ^tna were much more frequent for ages after the time of its first eruption than what they have been since ? Is it not probable the causes which produced that first eruption have since been greatly diminished by the numerous flowings of lava J according to the force of the cause, so must have been the number and frequency of those eruptions, and their frequency at first cannot be estimated by the eruptions which have happened in our times. The age cf this ^ If 8 ( n ■m: m. ^ m-^ ii"> Mml m 106 mountain may, therefore, be very far less than a com- pve parts arated, J been )duced unt to ^ntion- i been ble for more origin narine have 107 contained this salt in abundance, as do the marine plants of our seas ; and the other products of their decomposition have united, according to their affinities, to form other Geological bodies. These marine plants must have contained Sodium ; and the Marine Acid, to form the sea salt, has probably been produced by the decomposition of sea water, as hydrogen is said to be the basis of that acid. Sodium has the property of decomposing water, and according to Good, in his Book of Nature, " the gills of fish have it also." Or, if we adopt the analysis of sea salt by Sir H- Davy, the chlorine, (being entirely r. produce of the ocean,) has entered into combination with the So- dium to form the chloride of it. Note 4?. — It seems, indeed, almost impossible (sup- posing for a moment the idea of BufFon as to the origin of our earth,) was correct to conjecture by what means its waters could have been subsequently obtained. A body of molten glass would, necessarily, assume a spherical form in the heavens ; and it seems not proba- ble or possible that such vast cavities' as the beds of the seas or oceans could have been formed on it by its motions. Again, vitreous substances dc not contain the ele- ments that produce earthquakes and volcanoes. Hydro- gen or inflammable gas is probably required for that eflect, which is not contained in glass ; therefore, the vast cavities of the ocean could not arise from internal commotions; but, even allowing them to have been produced by some unknown cause, how is the origin of the waters to be come at ? Water is, I believe, some- times geiicrated in our atmosphere by the combustion of hydrogen ; but this is a mere drop in the ocean com- f 108 pared to the general cause that produces our rain-j. n *.v In fact, lid I:, consistently with the safety of the productions of the Earth, or even of their embryos at the time of their formation, have been made a gene- ral law for the purpose of producing the waters of the oceans. On the othei hand, the system of the formation of the Earlh, from waters generated by combustion, ap- pears to be a more natural and satisfactory solution of the phenomena of creation. These waters formed and endowed, as we must con ceive, according to the design of the Creator, with the most prolific powers of generating plants and animals, produced gradually sufficient deposits to form the earth. I have stated in Note 1, that a single herring, unmo- lested for twenty years, would, as it has been computed, produce ten of our globes ; and, allowing it to produce only one globe, what must the depositions of all the vegetables and animals of the waters of Genesis amount to ? In fact, on a consideration of the probable pow- ers of deposition of these waters, and of the small proportion the known parts of the land bears to our oceans, we might be inclinod to conjecture that there may be vast tracts of land on the Globe yet undiscover- ed, and it is remarkable that this idea is now verified by the discovery of an antarctic continent.* » Our readers are aware, that Captain Ross, of the British Navy is on a voyage of discovery to the South Sea. From extracts, from his journals, published in some English papers, it seems that he has reached lat. 78*. 8'. South ; and that he has discovered what he has called, South Victoria Land, extending from latitude 70i*. to 79. and how much further is unknown. Its Eastern coast lies between the 163d. and 171st. degrees of long. It was girt with a barrier of ice many miles in breadth, which rendered it in- accessible, the ice being in some parts 150 feet high. He repre. 109 rain-j. — , y of the embryos a gene- 's of the lation of ion, ap- Lition of lUst con with the animals, le earth. , unmo- mputed, produce ' all the amount lie pow- e small to our .t there iscover- verified ish Navy extracts, sms that scovered I latitude em coast was girt red it in. [e repre. KoU 5. It may be observed further respecting thit resistance of the seriform media of our theory, that, as our sy«(tem itself, and I believe also the fixed stars, are allowed by Astronomers to have some progressive mo- tion, and which must be owing to the principle of at- traction towards some centre ; therefore, the resisting seriform media must move the same way also in their courses towards the Sun, having thus two motions ; they must be thus attracted towards the same centre as our system is said to be ; the resistance they give to the Earth and Planets in their rectilinear motion, though it may thereby diminish the velocity of that mo- tion, yet it cannot '^ destroy it,'* these aeriform media being themselves under the influence of the same attrac- tion towards an unknown centre. — (^See Note 8 in confirmation of this.) This idea of a general motion of our system, and of the fixed Stars, will be found in the work I have so often quoted, " Paley's Natural Theology." He states, if I rightly remember, " that the fixed Stars have cer- tainly small motions," and considers them to be attract- ed to a centre ; and if this be really founded in fact, it certainly ofiers one of the grandest ideas of the Deity the mind of man can conceive, namely, that if all the Systems of the Heavenly Bodies thus move round one common unknown centre, may we not conceive that centre to be. the Empyreal Throne of God men- tioned in the 4th chapter of Revelations, from whence He beholds continually, the immense opera- tions of His hands, performing their revolutions ronnd Him? sents the land as rising in peaks from 9,000 to 12,000 feet high perfectly covered with snow. He saw various volcanoes. — Trait- $eript, Tiarch 19, 1843. no IM ■ ■ \ U ••. !'■!#' ^ :fil|i : '.i jljl , 1' Mi i9n ^' II Ji iJLi ti. The above idea of universal attraction also offers ano- ther very important one, of the cause of the Projectile Force or rectilinear motion of the Planets of our svs- tern, namely, that this universal attraction to a coniiuou centre IS that cause. Since writing this Note I have seen the substance of the second paragraph confirmed by the eloquent dis- courses of Dr. Chalmers, lately published, on the Christ- ian Revelation, in connection with the Modern As- tronom}'. Note 6. The reasoning in this work, in pages 96 and 97, is grounded on the idea, that the entire substance of man, including the soul, is not destined to perish with the material substances of the globe. On that idea I have supposed, that the corporeal parts of his frame, may be, by some arrangement of the Deity, reunited with the soul or intelligent part ; but should the future state of existence be one altogether spiritual, the con- stituent elements of the body, may then, perhaps, enter into indiscriminate combinations with other matter ; all I wish to infer from the reasoning offered on this subject is, that the intelligent spirit or soul of man is indestructible. Note 7. I wish, now, to call the reader's attention to the ingenious and profound researches of Mr. Cuvier in Geology. It appears that as the result of these re- searches, he comes to the conclusion, "that if anything be proved by the geology of the Earth, it is, that a great revolution took place on it from 5 to 6,000 years ago," antecedent too, to the existence of man on those parts at least, of the Earth, for he is said to have proved, that no vestige or organic remains of the human spe- cies have ever been discovered, among the remains of ii's ano- 'ojectile >ur svs- omuion ance of ent dis- Christ- rn As- 96 and tance of .vith the I have 10, niav ed with future !ie con- s, enter natter ; oil this man is tention Cuvier ese re- lything a great s ago," J parts )roved, n spB' lins of 111 the other animals found among the strata or deposits he treats of. The period at which he states, this revolution to have taken place, agrees very nearly with the Scriptu- ral account of the separation of the waters of Genesis. We know, therefore, that man did not then exist. We have, in concurrence of the opinion of this great revolu- tion, Plato's account of his Atalanta, supposed to he the extent now covered by the Atlantic oceaii, which, according to Plato's opinion, was formerly dry land. That it is possible such revolutions may have taken place since the Creation, is not to be doubted. The oceans may, irt the course of time, have worn away those boundaries that have prevented their over- flowing extensive tracts of the Earth, or the power of earthquakes, or volcanic fire may have produced a disruption and carried away the barriers of the ocean. It is, however, to be observed, that it is singular this opinion of Cuvler's is not supported by any ac- count in the Scriptures. Had such a great convulsion taken place soon after the Creation, is it not probable some oral tradition would have reached the time of Moses, or other Scriptural writers, just as we have handed down to us the account of the deluge of Noah ? It were to be wished, therefore, that this eminent Geo- logist had turned his attention to the waters of Genesis ; as, I cannot but think, he would have therein found a more plain and easy solution of the phenomena he has so ably developed. The few miles of strata containing the remains on which he treats would, probably, have been deposited by these waters in a very limited period, i I a '•# I ..Hi, ,■ tl it' •■ 1. ,■ i 112 previous to the separation of those waters of Genesis ; which would satibfactorily account for the non-appear- ance of any organic remains of the human species in these strata, because, it had not at that period been yet created; Bind it would equally well account for those fossil and organic remains of the marine animals he had found in those strata ; and the vast period of time, namely^ millions of years, he and the other late geolo- gists conceive these strata have required for formation, would be also accounted for. In fine, there is good and powerful reason to believe that the account of the Creation must have been deliver- ed to Moses by Divine Inspiration. It is not likely that he of his own ideas, or even from any traditionary account could, in those times, have possessed that extension of thought, that would have enabled him to frame such a system, or to form the conception that the Earth was produced in a globe of water. That it has been so formed, has not been discovered by science until the present day, nigh 6,000 years after its separation from these waters ; and as I have said in the body of this work, we have no historical account of anif but the waters of Genesis, to which we can re- fer the phenomena of the earth, so I trust to have prov- ed, that the best discoveries in geology and pneumatics are calculated to shew the real and necessary existence of those waters, and to add new force to the authenti- city and authority of the holy Scriptures. It is, moreover, to be observed, that Cuvier gives us no ccale, by which he has decided on the time of this revolution to have been 5 or 6,000 years ; and it is very difficult to conceive what data he could have. The time taken by rivers or lakes to form deposits of a renesig ; appear- ecies in )een yet >r those s he had >f time, J geolo- rmation, believe deliver- ! that he account ision of ne such rth was covered irs after ) said in account can re> e prov- iimatics cistence ithenti- pves us of this is very . The its of a 113 known thickness woi^M avail him nothing, as their power of deposition could not be compared to that of such a deluge. May it not, therefore, be possible that the revolution he refers to, may have been that of the deluge of Noah in parts of the earth not inhabited by the human species ? Note 8. It is said, indeed, by philosophers, that a body once put in motion, if all the resistance to it were taken away, would continue to move in its course for ever ; that is a case, however, which never can be proved by actual experiment; and it must rest solely on the opinion or arguments of those philosophers. If, however, the above supposition of perpetual mo- tion of bodies moving in a vacuum be founded in nature, and that the heavenly bodies are made to move in a vacuum, to obtain the object of perpetual motion, we may, in addition to what we have observed in Note 5, on the subject of universal attraction to an unknown centre, remark, that this universal attraction, (suppos- ing our theory of the regions of space being filled with aeriform media to be correct) may be the cause which prevents the diminution of the projectile force in the courses of those heavenly bodies through those aeriform media. Note 9. It is true, that only some of the earths and none of the metals have yet been decomposed, and are therefore considered as simple substances. Carbon, however, which would appear to be the chief solidify- ing principle of the vegetative process, is well known to be susceptible of receiving the gaseous state by com- bination with oxygen into carbonic acid gas. If any method should ever be discovered of separating the oxygen from this carbonic acid gas, the carbon would be - Kl I n lA ^^j SSjt \t ■ ., , 1 • ■ m 'I'i J y-'\ • ■U i . It ' i ' . ■!! 11 I :'fh^ i-l I? !•■• m V " il 114 found again in its solid state.* Chlorine gas also, wlien united with hydrogen by congelation, is found by a late discovery to assume the solid state, in the shape of chrystals more than one inch long. This modern ex- periment is of great importance, as it proves that two gaseous bodies can, by their combination, form a solid one.f As I have often repeated, also, in the body of this work, and in these Notes, all the metallic oxyds and several of the earths and alkalies must contain a great quantity of oxygen in a solid state. The most dense nature of bodies, therefore, is no proof that they may not be composed of aeriform sub- stance; and a vast and most important field of discovery is, probably, yet reserved for pneumatic chemistry, namely, the separation of the gases from the caloric, and the light which retains them in that form, and the obtaining their bases in the solid state. As a proof of the vast importance of such a discovery ^ we now suggest, that the nutritive parts of the vegetable and animal kingdom must be composed (if our theory in the fore- going work be well founded,) of the solid bases of those gases; the discovery, therefore, of obtaining these bases separate from their heat and light, may possibly offer a mode of forming nutritive matter not yet known to mankind. Note 10. — Thus, by our construction of the 1st verse of Genesis, it would appear that the present actual state of the geological bodies, their frequent chrystallization * This has been done by the action of potassium on carbonic acid gas. t Carbonic acid gas has lately been condensed by the pressure of a certain number of atmospheres into a solid body. / 115 o, when 3}' a late hape of ern ex- that two a solid y of this cyds and a great re, is no )rin sub- iscovery leiuistry, 2 caloric, , and the proof of ' suggest, i animal the fore- i of those Jg these possibly 2t known ♦ 1st verse kual state illization I carbonic e pressure / ^ and their gradual depositions in strata and lamiiite, can be reconciled to the Scriptural account. Tiiat chrystallization and these strata and latniiiaB must ac- cording to the evidence of our senses, have required - numerous ages for their formation and deposition. By the supposition that the time of the 1st verse was ante- cedent to the six days of the separation, the lime re- quired for these depositions is obtained, and they are satisfactorily accounted for ; and also their having the appearance of gradual deposition which they pro- sent to us. As it would appear, therefore, that the Creator has forme 1 the Earth by these natural laws we find every where established, we shall now with humility suggest, that the true meaning of the 4th commandment is, that in six days the hovil prepared the Earth, for the use of its inhabitants. Note 11 — Having just now obtained a sight of the late publication of Lord Brougham of last year, 183.5, I here subjoin an extract from it, describing the late discoveries of Fossil remains by Cuvier, Buckland and other Geologists, to which I add some observations bearing on the relation of these facts to our theory of Creation. In page 33, of his work, Lord Brougham observes, " the discoveries already made in this branch of science, (Geology) are truly wonderful, and they proceed on the strictest rules of induction. It is shewn , that animals formerly existed on the globe, being un- known varieties of species still known ; but it also appears that species existed, and even genera wholly unknown, for the last five thousand years. These peopled the Earth as it was, not only before the gene- ral Deluge, but before some convulsion, long prior to that event, had overwhelmed the countriea then dry, #', t I m ,,\ •■.( 116 &Dd raised otherv from the bottom of the «ea. In these curious enquiries, we arc conversant, not merely with the world before the Flood, but with a world which, before the Flood, was covered with water ; and which in far earlier ages, had been the habitation of birds and beasts and reptiles. We are carried as it were, several worlds back, and we reach a period, when all was water and slime and mud, and the waste without el ther man or pic ts, gave resting place to enormous beasts like lions and elephants and river horses ; while the water was tenanted by lizard-*, the size of a whale, sixty or seventy feet long ; and by others, with huge eyes, hav- ing shields of solid bone to protect them, and glaring from a neck ten feet in len<{th; and the air was darken- ed by flying reptiles, covered with scales, opening like the jaws of the crocodile, and expanding wings, armed at the tips with the claws of t he leopard. No less strange, and yet not less proceeding from induction, are the dis- coveries made respecting the former state of the earth ; the manner in which these animals, whether of known or unknown tribes, occupied it ; and the period when, or at least the way in which they ceased to Qxist. — Professor Buckland has demonstrated the identity with the Hyenas, of theanimal's habits that cracked the bones which fill some of the caves, in order to come at the marrow ; and he has also sati>factorily shewn, that it inhabited the neighbourhood, and must have been sud- denly exterminated by drowning. His researches have been conducted by experiments with living animals, as well as by observations on the fossil remains." I have now to observe ; that it is to be regretted the geographical position of these ditscoveries is not men- tioned by his Lordship. If they had been found in the 117 In these ely with d which, d which irda and several 18 water er man asts like le water sixty or es, hav- glaring darken- ing like , armed strange, the dis- 2 earth ; known I when, ;xist. — ty with i bones at the that it in sud- s have als, ai edthe men- io the vicinity of the countries inhabited before the Flood, by Noah or his ancestors, it is singular that no oral or written tradition is given (at least that I am aware of) by Noah or his descendants, of this convulsion before the Flood. '* We reach a period," says his Lordship, " when all was water and slime and mud, and the waste, without either man or plants gave resting place to enor- mous beasts, &c.'' If this period of time, therefore, is to be supposed as having been between the Creation and the Flood, it must probably have taken place in a part of the world very remote from the country inhabi- ted by Adam or his descendants, before the Flood ; and if there were, as is stated, " no plants*" growing in these resting places fur these '< enormous beasts like lions and elephants and river horses," whence did they get their subsistence ? If no subsistence were prepared for them in these resting places in the land, is it not probable these ''enormous beasts" may have been macine or amphibious ? I must, therefore, say, that the cir- cumstance of there being no tradition handed down to us by Noah or his descendants, of so great an event as this convulsion, coupled with the fact, admitted by the Geologists who have narrated these discoveries, that '* no plants" are found to have existed in these ** resting places/' for the nutriment of these enormous beasts ; (for allowing them to be animals of prey, the animals they devoured must have had means of sustenance from the productions of the earth,) therefore these two cir- cumstances, would seem to warrant the opinion that these skeletons or organic remains, are those of marine animals, which had been deposited at their death more or less below the present surface of the earth from the waters of Genesis, (according to oar theory of Creation) ? I - { I ' y :j)H. '*, '' \ tt ';,' ! 1 i 11 1 ■ ffi' ii tI: ' :| m li 1 Jt ■ fii i'l' ^ 1:!^. i |:i>] 7l 118 ' . betore the time oi the separation of the waters, as re- corded in the first chapter and ninth verse of Genesis, when God said, " let the waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appeal ; and it was so." As to the flying serpents, by the account itself, they appear to have been marine inhabitants of the waters ; and for the same reason that applies to the " enormous beasts," that *' no plants" have been found in those rest- ing places; so the " birds"" mentioned in the above account must, probably, have been marine or aquatic also, and have existed as above stated befoie the sepa- ration of the waters at the six days of the creation. There are, therefore, three facts taken from the state- ments and discoveries of Dr. Buckland and the other modern Geologists, which come in support of the idea, mentioned above, that the " organic remains were those ofmarineaniraals which had been deposited at their death more or less below the present surface of tlie Earth, froni the waters of Genesis, before the time of the se- paration of the wateas, as there recorded. The first fact is, that we have no tradition from Noah or his descendants of this great convulsion of Nature, which is said by these Geologists to have taken place before the Flood. The second fact is, that by the accounts of these Geologists, no organic remains of the body of man have been found with those of other animals. The third fact is, that no remains of any plantt; have been found among those Sther remains. On the first fact we shall observe, that it is remarka- ble the time stated by Ciivier when this " convulsion" II ;. 119 ■Ys, as re- Genesis, eavens be dry land self, they e waters ; enormous hose rest- lie above or aquatic the sepa- ration. the state- the other ' the idea, vere those heir death he Earth, )f the se- ion from ulsion of to have of these man have antii have remarka- nvulsion" toolc place, agrees very nearly with the time of the sepa- ration of the land from the waters recorded in (jrenesis, namely, between 5 and 6,000 year's ago. The effects of this convulsion of the Geologists we may suppose to have been general over the greatest part of the Earth ; there- fore, had it taken place since the Cieation, is it not equally probable so great an event would have been handed down to us by tradition, as that of the universal Deluge has been ? On this ffict I have further to observe, that if we consider this convulsion to have taken place previous to, or rather at the time of the separation of the waters, we shall probably find it much riiore easily accounted for, because the 9th verse of 1st chap, of Genesis says, " And God said, Li t the ,waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. Now, the effects of the Deluge in the time of Noah are, I believe, generally allowed to have made great changes on the face of the Earth. The effects even of common inundations which have takcu place and been recorded in history, have also had the same visible effects. Is it not therefore probable that the effects of the mighty rush of waters from, over, and all round the Earth at the time of the separation, must have had a corresponding greater effect, and produced the convulsjo 1 dei-cribed by the Geologists as having taken place 5 or 6,000 years ago ; and is not this effect the more hkoly, from the circumstance that the land, must at that period, have been in a soft and humid state, pio- bably for a considerable depth below its surface ? On the second fact I observe, that the circumstance of no organic remains of the human species being dis- '11; ilHM r <»'.'•, M 120 eovered among the other fossil remains, will be com- pletely accounted for by supposing, as above stated, that the " convulsion took place at the time of the separation of the waters of Genesis," since man was not as yet created. The third fact, " that no remains of plants have been found," appears to me almost confirmative of the above suppositions, that these organic remains were produc- ed before the separation, and deposited from the waters of Genesis ; since, had this convulsion happened since that separation, and these organic remains been in existence on the land, there must have been plants growing for tlieir nourishment; and moreover, it is stated by Dr. Buckland, in his account of these remains (as may be seen in the Quarterly Review of April, 1836,) that the far greater part of the organic fossil remains of the secondary formations are marine. The remains of terrestrial quadrupeds or other terrestrial species have of course been formed since the separation. I cannot, therefore, but be of opinion, that the geologi- cal facts described by the modern Geologists, at least &8 respects marine remains, will be more satisfactorily ex- plained by the theory we have endeavoured to establish in the foregoing Treatise. That the necessity of sup- posing that the Earth, since the separation, is more ancient than is stated bv the Mosaic account, will be thus avoided, and that this Mosaic account can be thus maintained in its integrity ; and I am glad to observe that Dr. Buckland has acce(^d to our construction of the Ist verse of Genesis, adopted by Dr. Pusey and others, as will be seen by the extract in the preface to this work. . . To conclude^ whether this other great convulsion of rill be corn- stated, that le separation not as yet ts have been of the above ere produc- tn the waters n happened 'emains been been plants )reover, it is these remains jvv of April, organic fossil narine. The ler terrestrial lie separation, r the geologi- sts, at least paS sfactorily ex- d to establish ssity of sup- ion, is more oiint, will be t can be thus I to observe nstruction of . Pusey and le preface to onvulsion of 121 nature were really one that took place since the Crea- tion, and produced the overflow of an extent of country, formerly inhabited by the animals above described, and which has, since then, become dry land again ; whether, I say, such a convulsion has taken place since the Crea- tion or before it, does not affect the validity of the Theory of Creation which is now offered to the world ; for this theory embraces the primeval formation of the entire circumference and diameter of the Earthy and is, therefore, antecedent to any partial convulsion that may have, since that formation, taken place. I now conclude this Note with a few observations in support of the formation of the Geological bod'^s in the primeval oceans, drawn from the depositions of matter and consequent formations of land which must be continually taking place in our present seas. In the space of two or three miles ii: the harbor of Halifax, N.S., I have seen thousands of cart loads of kelp, or sea weed, collected from the shore in a season, and it is probably thrown up in the same quantities all along the coast of America. In Scotland, great quantities are burned, to ex ract its saline matter; as also in Spain and Portugal. What must be the quantity therefore, that annually decays and is deposited at the bottom of the Oceans ! In addi- tion to this are the immense formations of Coral beds. In the Pacific Ocean the Coral Islands arc 1500 miles long by 60 or 70 broad, formed by various species of insects called Coral Insects or madrepores, f See end of Note ^thy pages 108, 109.) ( To these Coral formations may be added the still more immense depositions of shells, and different ani- L • i . , 122 y.\- m :\: ilt I I -i.n- • ■ iy. mals of tliL seas. These depositions are probably con- glomerated by the sand and earthy particles brought down by the rivers, and abraded from coasts by the tides and storms. — These masses must be continually augmenting, and in due course of time will greatly en- large the proportion of land. The waters of our oceans and seas (for a vast quantity is constantly consumed in the nourishment of the marine plants) must, on the other hand, be continually diminishing ; and although, if I recollect aright, Dr. Paley states, in his "Evidences of Natural Religion," that all the evaporations return by the rains ; I think it is easy to prove that not to be the case ; for an iraw ense proportion of the rains is con- sumed in the nobdshment of terrestrial vegetables, and by animal life ; a large proportion of vapour is also dissolved by the air, and probably decomposed by the electric fluid into its gases. Must not this continual in- crease of land and diminution of the waters of the Earth, in the course of sufficient ages, greatly alter its specific gravity ? What effect this may have on the earth's relative attraction with the other hea- venly bodies, I leave to astronomers to determine. But it is, I conceive, possible, that a change in the degree of its attraction may be the means by which the dissolution foretold in the Scriptures may be ultimately brought to pass ; and it may be also pos- sible that the design of a Benevolent Creator, in mak- ing the proportion of water so much greater than the land, has been, to retard this dissolution for numerous ages. '■* ---^ -^' ■■■-'^'^ If, therefore, our present seas do continually tend to the formation of land by the decay and deposition of their productions ; if the natural effects of the laws of 123 biy con- brought by the ntinually eatly en- ur oceans !onsumed it, on the although, evidences ns return not to be ns is con- Jgetables, iur is also Bd by the itinual iu- rs of the ?atly alter may have )ther hea- letermine. ^e in the neans by ures may also pos- in mak- tban the fiumeroua y tend to osition of 3 laws of nature have led ine to form a.just conception, that the Creator may have chosen the means stated in the fore- going theory by which to form oar Earth, we may be certain those means were made competent to that end, and it is therefore probable, vegetable and animal life wera diffused in far greater abundance in theie primeval waters than in our present Oceans. The processes of vegetation and of animalization, therefore, we have assumed from the facts and geologi- cal appearances stated in the foregoing work to have been the means or machinery employed by the Creator from the " beginning" to produce the land of our Earth, and by analogy the land in the other planets of our system. They have probably been thus produced and continued for a long period, in a soft and humid state, and numerous changes and decompositions have since taken place in them by the effects of the internal heats and fires they have generated. To these causes, per- haps, may be imputed the earthquakes, volcanoes, and disruptions which have produced such inequalities in the surface, and to these internal fires I conceive it may also be ascribed, that the oldest of these rocks have no appearance of stratification nor organic remains, they have probably lost the stratified state by the effects of those fires, or by the power of the electric fluid. Note 12. It may, perhaps, be objected to the idea of hydrogen, or other inflammable gases, existing in the regions between the planets, to serve as fuel for the Sun's waste of light and heat, that such inflammable gases, would, by taking fire, from the electric fluid, endanger the safety of these planets. It is, however, I believe, allowed, that electricity per- vades all nature, and a vast quantity of hydro- «t';!if'i 124 1-* ' ■ I m gen gas must be constaDtly exhaling in the decomposi- tion of vegetables and animals ; yet, no such effect is produced. In fact, lightning is never produced, that I am aware of, in our atmosphere, but from clouds. — Moisture seems, therefore, indispensable for that end, and the hydrogen gas, being thirteen times lighter than common air, must ascend far above the atmosphere. (See p. 83, Sd edition, Tlieory oftlie Sun's Formation.) Note IS. By the experiments of celebrated chemists, and more particularly by the authority of Linnaeus, we trust to have proved a considerable number of the pri- mary earths and metals to have been formed by the vegetative process of terrestrial vegetables. But, con- ceiving, according to the theory in the foregoing trea- tise, that it was the design of the Creator to produce the geological bodies by the instrumentality of the pro- cesses of vegetable and animal life, decay, death, and deposition, we may conceive also, that the marine ve- getables of the universal ivaters of Genesis were endow- ed with much more various and abundant powers for the production of the geological bodies than we have even found in the terrestrial vegetables. This superior power of production would be necessary to produce the design intended, and the same remark will apply to the marine animals of those waters.* — (See the last para- graph of Note 4.) Note 14. The substances Iodine, Brome, and above all, Silicon, lately discovered, will probably ere long throw much light on the productive powers of marine substances by combustion. Iodine, at the heat of 212 * It is also to be observed, that the animals of the Primeval Ocean were never taken out of it by tho hands of men as is done by our fisheries ; which must have greatly increased their accumu- lation. • . composi- efFect U ed, that I clouds. — that end, hter than nosphere. wmation.) chemists, inaeus, we >f the phri- ed by the But, con- oing trea- produce )f the pro- leath, and iiarine ve- re endow- )owers for we have 8 superior oduce the ply to the ^ast para- ind above ere long )f marine at of 212 le Primeval I as is done oir accumu- 125 becomes a violet-coloured gas. It forms an active aciu by uniting to hydrogen. Brome is a dense liquid, and forms an orange-coloured gas by a gentle heat. Silicon is procured from Silica, or the earth of flints, by the action cf potassium : it appears as a dark fawn- coloured powder, which is inflaimnabU^ and which pro- duces Silica, or the " sandy principle," by combustion. This Silicon has been, in a part of this work, proved to be the offspring of the vegetative process. It decomposes water and acids. And here, therefore, we have some insight into the means by which Nature has produced all the sands of the earth and the rocks composed of siliceous matter, namely, by the union of the Silicon with the oxygen of the decomposed water, probably after the decomposition of the vegetable matter con- taining that Silicon. Sodium, also, a metal lately discovered by Sir H. Davy, is obtained from Soda, the basis of common sea salt. This it-, therefore, entirely a marine production. The Sodium is stated by Sir Humphrey to be so very combustible, that when thrown upon water it swims on its surface, hisses violently, and dissolves; and that Silica, or earth of flints, probably contains two propor- tions of oxygen and one of Silicon. As a further proof of the production of siliceous earth, by the process of vegetation, we insert the fol- lowing extract from Sir Humphrey Davy's admirable lectures on agricultural chemistry ; in page 54, he says on the epidermis of plants, " in the reeds, grasses, canes, and the plants having hollow stalks, it is of great use and is exceedingly strong, and in the microscope seems composed of a kind of gla^^ net work, which is prin- i e 1 ! i i ^ V 126 !»;j.. : i ii; I'^'i ■ 'i ir * , ni i i -jf 5 L Li t cipally siliceous earthy and in the rattan, the epidermis contains a sufficient quantity of flint to give light when struck by steel, or two pieces rubbed together produce sparks." It is known, also, that the silicified seeds of the chara, a plant which grows at the bottom of lakes, abound in the flints of Auriliac in France. In Evans's Agriculture, printed at Montreal, it is said, page 51, " The ashes of stalks of wheat gathered a month before the flowering, and having some of the radical leaves withered, contained 12 parts of Silica and 65 of Alkaline salts in 100 parts. At the period of the wheat flowering, and when most of the leaves were withered, the ashes contained 32 parts of Silica and only 54i of Alkaline salts." Thus, at one period the straw contains 12 parts, and at another 32 parts Silica, and this, just at the time the plant is coming to its full growth. Now, if this Silica had been taken up from the soil by the roots of the plant, it would be ab- sorbed by them in the same quantity at all times, and equally diff'nsed through the straw ; but if, as by our theory the vital functions of the vegetable form the Earths just as they require them, the above most sin- gular fact will be thereby accounted for.* Thus it appears that the latest discoveries of the ce- lebrated chemist Sir' Humphrey Davy, confirm the ex- istence of the siliceous earth in vegetables. In fine, having bad an opportunity of perusing the best and most modern works on the geology of our Earth, I * It is alao tc ba observed, in confirmation of our theory, that, as it generally happens the rains are more abundant in the early parts of the seasons, more Silica would be dissolved by them, than at the time of flowering, whereas the above experi. ment proves that nigh three times more Silica is formed in the plants at this period. .,> 127 pidermis ve light together silicified e bottom ranee. eal, it is gathered le of the of Silica he period he leaves of Silica le period 32 parts !oniing to taken up lid be ab- mes, and as by our form the most sin- Df the ce- m the ex- In fine, i best and Earth, I our theory, ibundant in e dissolved tove experi. ned in the must here state that tliey serve to confirm my opinion stated in the theory of this work, that the processes of vegetation and animalization in the waters of Genesis, or universal Ocean, are the most highly natural, and reasonable means, by which we can account for the ori- ginal formation of the geological bodies ; and that these having at that origin been deposited in horizontal strata, have since been subjected to innumerable convulsions, elevations, and disruptions by internal fires, or the electric power; and consequently to great chemi- cal changes in their component parts is beyond a doubt, and which the present appearance of almost every part of the crust of the earth confirms. It is, therefore, probable, that the metallic and mineral geo- logical bodies may be combinations of the principles of vegetable and animal life deposited, as stated in our theory ; which combinations have been effected by the fires, or heats of the internal parts of the Earth, and the joint action of chemical affinities. In fine, the vegetable and animal kingdoms are already discovered, by analysis, to be reducible to the elementary principles oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, azote, and perhaps heat, light and electricity; and I think it probable, the mi- neral kingdom will, ere long, exhibit the same result. For who would have believed fifty years since, that from Silica or the earth of flints, a combustible sub- stance would be procured, reproducing Silica or the sandy principle by its combustion, and consequent union with oxygen ? and in fact, all the primary earths are now found to be oxyds containing oxygen as a com- ponent principle in a solid state. Note 15. It is true that Sir H. Davy states, in page 12, of his lecture on " Agricultural Chemistry," that ■;i^ i 1^8 14 ■ ■' 4\: i: Mt! the result of Von Helmont's experiment was shewn to be fallacious ; but that the true use of water was un- known till 1785, when Mr. Cavendish made the discovery, that it was a compound of two elastic gases, inflammable gas or hydrogen, and vital gas or oxygen. Now, although Von Helmont was ignorant of this discovery, the fact he proved is still maintained, that water is the great source of nourishment of plants. In vain would any of the modern discoveries be brought forth to invalidate this great fact, since the vegetation of every part of the earth demonstrates it. In the thickest and largest forests, in the aboriginal woods of the Earth, no sensible diminution of the soil is observ- able, though under the operation of so vast a vegetation — whence then can the products of it be obtained but from the surrounding elements of water and air ? In fact, Sir Humphrey allows in page 211 of same work, that " when pure water only is absorbed by the roots of plants, the fluid, in passing into the leaves, will probably have greater power to absorb carbonic acid jras from the atmosphere ; when the water is saturated with carbonic acid gas, some of this substance may be given off by the leaves, but a part of it likewise is al- ways decomposed, which has been proved by the expe- riments of M. Sennebier." Now, Carbon, appears to be the great solidifying principle of vegetables. The other principles are found to be oxygen, hydrorjen, and azote, all of which are obtainable by the vegetative process from water and the atmosphere. Accordingly, in page 259 of the same work. Sir Humphrey states, " It is evident, from the analysis of woody fibre, by M. M. Guay Lussac and Thenard, (which shows that it consists principally of 129 lewn to was un- ide the c gases, oxygen. of this led, that nts. In brought getation In the ^voods of J observ- jgetation ined but r? of same d by the Lves. will lie acid atu rated may be e is al- le expe- lidifying I'e found hich are iter and he same Tom the sac and ipally of the elements of water and carbon^ the carbon in larger quantities than in the other vegetable Compounds) that any process, &c." Again he says, in page 211, " Many plants that grow upon rocks or soils, containing no car • bonic matter, can only be supposed to acquire their charcoal from the carbonic acid gas of the atmosphere ; and the leaf may be considered at the same time, as an organ of absorption, and an organ in wiiich the sap may undergo different chemical changes."* I shall here extract from tlie same work part oi^ page 281, relating to the formations of the principles of vegetables by the vegetative process. M. Schrader and Mr. Braconnot, from a scries of distinct investigations, have arrived at the same conclusions. Tiiey state, that *' different seed sown in fine sand, sulphur, and metallic oxyds, and supplied only with atmospheric air and watery produced healthy plants, which, by analysis, yielded various earthy and saline matters, which either were not contained in the seeds, or the material in which they grew, or which were contained in much smaller quantities in the seed ; and hence they conclude, they must have been formed from air or water, in conse- quence of the agencies of the living organs^ of the plant" These experiments are therefore confirmative of that stated in the work, performed by Von Helmont on the willow. In p. 282, Sir Humphrey gives an experiment he made with oats to ascertain whether any siliceous earth * Now the carbonic acid gas tliat is fonned in our atmosphere does not exceed two per cent, and I tliink it highly probable there- fore, that carbon itself is formed in the vegetable by the vegetative process, from tlie surrounding elements oxygen, azote, hydrogen, light, heat and electricity ; which idea is supported by Sharon Turner. (See Note Ut to our 2d. Edition.) 1 ■ : il t' '■ J 1 1 (• ; ' III -i ' . V J 130 would be formed in the process of vegetation, but he adds, " the oats grew very feebly, and began to be yel- low before any flowers formed ; that the entire plants were burned and their ashes compared with those from an equal weight of grains of oats ; less siliceous earth was given by the plants than by the grains, but their ashes yielded much more carbonate of lime. That there was less s'lWceous earth, I attribute to the circum- stance of the husk of the oats being thrown off in ger- mination, and this is the part which most abounds in silicon." Thus it appears by his own experiment, some silicon was actually obtained '^^y the vegetative process from the air and the water; at.^i had the growth of the oats in his experiment come to perfection, the quantity would probably have been much greater. Moreover, in page 162. he allows that plants consume very small portions of earth ; whence then can the trees of woods atid forests derive their growth but from water and air ? — (See Note I si, to 2d. Edition.) Note 17. I have here to observe, the opinion I had formed and stated, in the Theory of the Sun's Forma- tion, of an aeriform fluid or medium existing in the regions of space, has now been confirmed by the dis- covery of Encke's Comet. It appears the Newtonians had asserted that, " either there was no such fluid, or that it was so thin and rare- fied, that no phenomenon yet examined by philosophers was capable of betraying its effects.'* Vide page 151, WheweUs Bridgewaler Treatise^ 1833, and same page it is said, " But the facts which have led astronomers to the conviction that such a resisting medium really exists are certain circumstances occurrin«: in the motion 131 n, but ho o be yel- ire plants lose from ous earth but their He. That e circum- )fF in ger- )Ounds in me silicon >cess from f the oats ; quantity Moreover, very small I of woods !r and air ? lion I had i*s Forma- ng in the y the dis- at, " either 1 and rare- lilosophers paffe 151, same page stronomers iium really the motioii of a body revolving round the Sun, which is now usually called Encke's Comet." It appears this body was first seen in 1786, and that the effect of the resistance of the ethereal medium, from its first discovery, (in tiiat year to the present time, say 1833,) has been to diminish the time of revolution by about two days; and tiie comet is ton days in advance of the place which it would have reached, if there had been no resistance. ( See page 15^ of WheweWs Bridge' water Treatise.^ It will be seen in my Theory of the Sun, that it was on the idea I had formed of the existence cf the eeri- form fiuids, oxygen and hydrogen, in the regions of space, I had founded the mode by which I conceived the Sun's waste was replenished ; and I have certainly reason to congratulate myself on the idea of the resist- ing medium being now confirmed by this singular discovery of Encke's Comet. The Nebular hypothesis also appears to me to con- firm or support both the theory of the combustion of the gases which I have ventured to produce as the origin of the Earth and Planets, and also the cause and formation of new heavenly bodies by the products of the combustion of the gases for the replenishment of the Sun's waste of light and heat, as stated in page 97 of this work. - This Nebular hypothesis is thus introduced by Mr. Whewell in his Bridgewater Treatise of 1833, page 143. " La Place conjectures, that in the original condi- tion of the solar system, the Sun revolved upon his axis, surrounded by an atmosphere, which, in virtue of an excessive heat, extended far beyond the orbits of all I , •■■' s^:i f i\\-.-: » fj I I k> |.r^ • a m M 132 the Planets, the Planets as yet having no existence. — The heat gradually diminished, and as the solar atmos- phere contracted by cooling, the rapidity of its rotation increased by the laws of rotary motion, and an exte • rior zone of vapour was detached from the rest, the central attraction being no longer able to overcome the increased centrifugal force. This zone of vapour migh^ in some cases retain its form as we see it in Saturn's ring, but more usually the ring of vapour would break into several masses, and then would generally coalesce into one mass, which would revolve about the sun. — Such portions of the solar atmosphere abandoned suc- cessively at different periods would form * planets in the state of vapour.' " Now, it does not appear that La Place has given any clue to find how or of what this solar atmosphere and vapours werd formed. He does, indeed, support the idea, that planets may be formed by vapours and sub- sequent condensation, which is precisely the way the Oceanic globe of our theory is conceived to have been produced ; and without infringing on the humility we wish to preserve, we may say we have presented to his consideration a real and competent cause for the pro- duction of the atmosphere and vapours of his ingenious hypothesis. Will not the combustion of the gases, of which we all now know water to be formed, as stated in p. 32 of this work, and the extrication of their heat and light, account not only for this solar atmosphere, but also means by which the great First Cause produced the sun itself? ,, , ,f 133 existence. — solar atmos- :)f its rotation ind an exte- the rest, the overcome the /^apour migh^ t in Saturn's would break 'ally coalesce it the sun. — andoned suc- i * planets in las given any nosphere and , support the Durs and sub- the way the to have been humility we sented to his for the pro- his ingenious of which we d in p. 32 of eat and light, ere, but also )roduced the CONCLUDING NOTE. In the contemplation of the wonderful discoveries in pneumatic chemistry, of the gaseous bodies, and pecu- liarly so of the component principles of water, I have conceived the formation of the waters of Genesis to have been produced from these elementary principles, by the creating Cause at " the beginning ;" but have, in the foregoing treatise abstained, for reasons stated in page 97> from carrying my speculations onwards to the other systems of the heavenly bodies, fur- ther than reasoning from analogy, that they mai/ have been formed by the same laws. In this Note, however, in conclusion of this work, I propose to offer some ob- servations on this subject, as a comment on the 6th and 7th verses of the 1st of Genesis. " And* God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters ; and God made the firmament and divided the waterr ^vhich were iinder the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so." Sharon Turner, page 30, " Sacred History of the World," and other writers, consider the firmament to refer, and to mean solely, the atmosphere. Now this extends only forty five miles above ohe earth. But, a column of vapour of a given breadth of 45 miles high, does not probably, exceed a column of equal breadth of water the 4;0th part of a mile deep, in respect to the relative quantities of water each column would contain.* Our oceans are generally said to be 4< miles deep, and the 6th verse says, " Let there be a firmament ic the midst of the waters," which even in our oceans would be * Water turned to vapour by boiling exceeds the bulk of the water 1696 times. M ^ ■U -ijl fflii jlp *t! 134 two miles deep. But the 9th verse will make it clear that the word " firmament" cannot refer to our atmosphere. " And God made the firmament, and divided the waters 'which were under the firmament from t^e waters which were above the firmament^ and it was so." Thus, it is evident, that, in either sense of the word, an ocean of waters is here stated to exist above the atmosphere. And as it is very remarkable that no part of the Ist chapter of Genesis gives any direct account of the formation of our atmosphere, we may, perhaps, conclude, that it was formed in the "beginning" when "God created the heavens and the Earth" as per 1st verse; and this is the more jrobable, that we know one ingredient of our atmosphere then existed, namely, oxygen, used in the combustion, for the formation of the oceanic wa- ters of Genesis, and that air would, probably, be re- quired for the animals thereof, during the formation of our earth in those waters. These verses, therefore, lead us to believe that a universal ocean of waters exists over and under the heavens. If, therefore, our theory of the primary for- mation of our earth and planets in this globe c" water, be fobnded in the laws of nature, may we not conceive, that the planets of the other systems of the universe have also beeia, or will be, formed in this universal ocean by the same laws ? If the appearance of the geology of the earth have led us to believe that at the time of the separation, when the solid parts of it had been duly formed, they were, in obedience to the divine command, (probably by the instrumentality of the law of their superior gravity,) then separated from this universal ocean, attracting such parts of it as were within the sphere of attraction of these solid parts, for the forma^ 135 t clear that tmospherc. tlie waters iters which Thus, it is n ocean of here. And Ist chapter e formation jde, that it od created ;e; and this igredient of en, used in oceanic wa- ibly, be re- ormation of lieve that a under the >rimary for- >e cT water, ot conceive, ;he universe k^ersal ocean the geology the time of d been duly e command, iw of their tis universal i within the r the forin(i- tion of its seas and oceans ; that the other planets of our system have been formed and evolved in the same manner; and, that these planets, then receiving from the Creator their projectile force, became immediately sub- ject to their motions round their central sun, may we not, by a. alogy, also, conceive, that the planets of the other systems have been, or will be formed by the same laws? The suns of these systems or stars, as they are commonly called, must indeed, have existed from the "beginning," of the 1st verse at the time of the crea- tion of the universal ocean, by the combustion of the elementary gases of their composition. Very few of the planets of these systems have, I believe, been yet discovered. This may be owing to their immense dis- tances ; but may it not also arise from their not being yet duly formed, and evolved from '^.he waters of this universal ocean ? and does not the almost annual dis- covery of new heavenly bodies warrant the supposition ? With due humility, therefore, I venture to call the attention of philosophical divines and men of science to the more extensive and profound contemplation of the universal ocean recorded in the 6th and 7th verses of the 1st chapter of Genesis. The late discoveries in geology and pneumatics, in application to this subject, appeal strongly to this contemplation. The unity of the laws of Providence would almost compel us to be- lieve, that all the planetary systems have, or will be, formed in the same manner ; and carrying with us the highest degrees of our knowledge of these laws into the contemplation of the works of the Creator, we may, perhaps, find that it will afford us an insight into His power, wisdom, and glory, far more stupendous th?.n mankind have yet conceived. \ u i i\ \ 136 !!> and 15, on the power of the vegetative functions to produce the primary earths, we have now to add a statement from Sharon Turner. In his ** Sa* cred History of the World," vol. 1st, page 93, he says, " Vegetables have even some relation with the Mineral Kingdom ; for they not only form the carbon they con- tain, but some have been found to have copper parti- cles," (and in a note it is said) " That copper exists in a great number of vegetables, was announced in 1817. Mr. Targeau found five mlUogrames of copper in a killograme of grey quinquina, eight in Martinico coffee, and nearly eight in wheat." (Bull. Univ. p. 139.) He continues, " And several vegetables secrete flint and likewise sulphur, as in our common corn," (and in a note it is said) <* Sulphur exists in combination with diflerent bases in wheat, barley, rye, oats, maize, millet and rice." (Lindsay's Nat. Bot. p. 393.) Mr. Turner continues " We may add iron and gold also, for both of these have been found in vegetables." And in page 393, in a note it i^^ said, " The energy and even creative agency of the living principle of plants appears in its power of converting material par- ticles into other substances. Experiments on vegeta- bles seem to prove that the solid matter which entered into their composition in the more advanced period of their growth, must, in part at least, have been produced by some action of the vital powers and could not have been obtained ab. extra." — Bui. Physic, p. 307> and Dr. Thompson's Ch. . . . Note 2. Since publishing the first edition of this work, I have found that Doctor Thompson, in his Che- 137 st edition^ iregetative have novr his « Sa- I, he says, Mineral they con- per pafti- r exists in i in 1817. tpper in a ico coffee, 139.) He flint and [and in a lion with ize, millet [r. Turner t for both he energy inciple of terial par- Dn vegeta- sh entered i period of produced I not have 7, and Dr. m of this n his Che- snistry, says *' We are certain that no particle of light weighs more than the million millionth part of a grain." — Chemistry, vol. Ist, p. 300. Xote 3. Doctor Chalmers, m his Natural Theology published in 1836, page 250, says, << We shall advert once more to the Mosaic account of the creation, more especially as the reconciliation of this history with the indefinite antiquity of the globe, seems not impossible^ and that, without the infliction of any violence on the literalities of the record." He then narrates the two first verses of 1st of Genesis, and adds, " Now, let it be supposed that the work of the first day, in the Mosaic account, bi-^ins with the " Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters." The detailed history of creation, in the 1st chapter of Genesis, begins with the middle of the second verse, and what precedes might be under- stood as an introductory sentence, by which we are most appositely told that God created all things at first, and that afterwards, at what interval of time is not spe- cified, the earth lapsed into a chaos, from the darkness and disorder of which the present system of economy was made to arise. By this hypothesis, neither the 1st verse nor the first half of the second, forms any part of the narration of the first day's operation, the whole forming a preparatory sentence disclosing to as the initial act of creation, at some remote and undefined period ; and the chaotic state of the world at the com- mencement of those successive acts of creative power, by which out of rude and undigested materials the pre- sent harmony of nature was ushered into being. Be- tween the initial act and the details of Genesis, the , world, for aught we know, might have been the theatre ' of many revolutions^ the traces of which Geology may Ml ^ 13§ '::^' irtf, ) r I i !4^ yet investigate, and to which, in fact, she has constantly appealed, as the vestiges of* so many successive con- tinents which have now passed away. The whole spe- culation has offered a vain triumph to infidelity, seeing first, that the historical evidence of scripture is quite untouched by this pretended discovery of science, and that even should it turn out to be a substantial disco- very, they do not come into collision with the narrative of Moses. Should, in particular, the explanation we now offer be sustained, this would permit an indefinite scope to the conjectures of Geology, and without un- due liberty to the Ist chapter of Genesis." • » % -.- Thus, Doctor Chalmers has confirmed, in the year 1836, the explanation of the 1st verse of Genesis, we had, as stated above, formed in 1825. But, with his idea of the earth lapsing into a chaos we do not at all agree ; on the contrary, there is strong reason to be- lieve, that from " the beginning" the undeviating de- sign was carrying on, of the formation of the solid parts of the earth in the waters of Genesis, as stated in our theory ; and this, the 9th verse shews j for the earth, having been duly formed by the continued depositions of the waters, was separated from them as appears by that verse. - Note 4. In further confirmation of the construction we have put Mpon the 1st verse of Genesis, it will be found, that the Rev. Dr. Adam Clarke, in his com> mentaries on the scriptures, says, in commenting on this verse, " that the true translation of it from the Hebrew is ' In the beginning God created the elements or substance* to form the Heavens and the Earth." Yet it is to be observed, that a great part of mankind hsive, perhaps, received the erroneous idea from their 139 nstantly ive con- ole spe- r, seeing i3 quite ice, and al disco- larrative cition we idefinite lOut un- • the year esis, we with his lot at all m to be- ting de- ;he solid stated in he earth, positions )pears by struetion it will be his com- inting on From the elements rth." mankind om their infancy, ** that the world was made out of nothing." — Now, Doctor Chalmers, in a late publication of his, on Astronomy, says, " that no part of the scriptures as- serts that the world was made out of nothing." Mo- dern science has proved that most of the liquids and solids of the vegetable and animal kingdom are formed, in great part, of gaseous bodies ; and the very clays and sands we walk on, which were formerly considered mere earths, have been proved by Sir Humphrey Davy's experiments in Galvanism, to consist, in great part, of oxygen, which must be combined with the bases of these earths in a solid state. But for the origin of the elementary gases, of whose composition or origin we are yet ignorant, we must re- fer to a creating cause. Note 5. In the Edinburgh Review of Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, the following extract appears from that work. " It is marvellous that mankind have gone on for so many centuries in ignorance of the fact, which is now fully proved, that no small part of the present surface of the earth is derived from the remains, of animals th<^t constituted the population of anc'ent seas. Many extensive plains and massive mountains form as it were the great charnel house of preceding generations, in which the petrified exuviae of extinct races of vegetables and animals are piled up, into stu- pendous monuments of life and death, during almost immeasurable periods of past time." Mr. Ehrenberg, an eminent Natumlist has since Dr. Buckland's Treatise, discovered by the microscope, the existence of fossil animalculae, or infusorial organic re- mains, which form extensive strata of tripoly or poles- chiefer (polishing slate) at Franzenbad in Eohemia.— \i.4 I: rl I I V »*f 11 'ii* f. i 1' !'J •t 11 •i « ' R ^:8 A' y i ,-,,: ;,^^ '; 140 The animals belong to the genus Bacularia and inhabit siliceous shells, the accumulation of which form the strata of polishing slate. The size of one of these animalcuIaB is the 3000th part of an inch. Yet not- withstanding the conviction which Dr. Buckland so forcibly expresses, of the vast profusion of vegetable and animal life which must have existed in the ancient seas, and which could be no other than the waters or Ocean of Genesis, to whicli the Doctor agrees, by the extract from the Bridgewater Treatise, (See page 5 of our preface to first edition) yet, notwithstanding this, he gives an opinion, in another part of that treatise, that animal life did not exist, previous to the formation of those strata of the earth where their remains are first found ; namely, the transition or secondary forma- tions. In note 2d, to our firiit edition, p. 102, we have given Mr. Lyall's opinion " that all traces of shells and other organic remains, may be destroyed in rocks, by a heat not amounting to fusion." If our system of the formation ot the solid pa^ts of our globe, by the pri- meval deposition of vegetable and animal remains, be approved ; it will perhaps, shew, that internal heats and fires generated by the gases and metals of these re- mains, were much more frequent in those early periods of the world, than at pto' em. It is, therefore, no proof that vegetable and animal life did not exist prior to the transition formations ard during the primary, to say, that their organic remains are not found there : an im- mensely less heat than that which must have be m oc- casioned by the subterranean fires of the earth, previous to, the separation of Genesis, would be sufiiicient to destroy all traces of organic remains, and to produce a chrystalline structure, and new chemical eombinations, 141 d inhabit form the of these Yet not- dand so r^egetable e ancient waters or by the )age 5 of ling this, treatise, brmation aains are ry forma- , we have shells and ocks, by !m of the the pri- nains, be heatd and these re- y periods no proof ior to the , to say, I : an im- be Ml oc- previoufl icient to troduce a KDationi, as we find them at the present day. This objection, then, to the pre-exislence of animal and vegetable life because no present remains are found in the primary strata, is not, in my opinion, tenable. A great argu- ment of the modern geologist ^ " that the causes at present in operation, must have been producinf; the same effects in preceding ages." Therefore, by a \)arity of reasoning, conceiving the design of the Creator to have been, to produce the whole circumference and di- ameter of our globe, by the instrumentality of those na- tural causes and laws which we now see, every where in operation ; we infer that the races of vegetable and ani- mal life were continually employed for that end, since the formation of the primeval Ocean of Genesis as sta- ted in our system ; and, that these races were compe- tent thereto, the present formation of a large tract of the earth by even a few species of marine insects, evi- dently proves ; and it also proves, that the Deity could not have chosen, from among the laws of nature he had created, so energetic an agent of production, since even electiicity, though much more sudden and vio- lent in its effects, has not the continuity of the agen- cies of life. The coral insect alone, has produced, as shewn in this work, an extent of land equal in length to one eighth of the diameter oi our globe, and still con- tinues' its operations ; and it is even the opinion of some geologists, that another continent will, in time, be formed, in these seas bv means of these insects. Doctor Buckland allows that some Geologists are of opinion that fossil remains may have existed in the , primary formations, and all traces of them may have been obliterated by the internal fires ; but he appears himself to think, (and gives a quotation, I believe, from ; r : m in- •it, 1 . 3| r .J r I I it 142 another writer,) that the incandescence of the eartli lyas, (luring the primary formations so great, that no Animals could have existed in the ocean. Now, if our theory be well founded, that the same mighty energy of formation which has produced so large a part of the ciustof the earth, (namely, the labours of the marine animals daring life, and their depositions and those of the marine vegetables after death ;) if we allow that these same most powerful causes may have produced all the formations of the earth through its entire diameter, the incandescence during the primary formations, will not render this theory untenable. By this theory, we account for the production of the inter- nal fires, by the ignition of the inflammable gases, and the metallic bases resulting from the decomposition of the vegetable and animal remains that had been depo- sited in the oceanic waters, and attracted to a centre by the laws of gravity and pressure. When a sufficient thickness of mass of these remains was thus accumulated, these internal fires would then be generated by the ignition of the inflammable matter of their remains, and during the existence of these vol- canic fires an incandescence might have been produced over a great part of the ea''th, which, for a time, would destroy the animals of the ocean near it ; but, as these fires could last onli/, until the inflammable matter that generated them was consumed ; when that took place, the (then) crust of the earth would be cooled down by the waters of the ocean, and future depositions of re- mains would take place, until again collected in suffi- cient thickness to reproduce internal fires and incan- descence ; when the same refrigeration must, in time, have taken place, all the fuel of these fires being again consumed. /^v '^;: rJTr' 143 eartli tiat no In fact, thia incandescence may, perhaps, account for a geological plienomenon stated by Geologists, that entire genera of in irine atiiin.ils appear to have existed at certain depths and have disappt'ared in subsequent strata, when other genera and species have succeeded them. May this not have happened by the sudden de- struction of tliese genera by tlie incandescence, and the reproduction or reappearance of other genera when the refrigeration as above described, had taken place? But furtlier, if Doctor Bucklutid assents to the entire account of creation, contained in tjje 1st chapter of Genesis, which he may well do after agreeing that its first verse will account for all the wonders lately disco- vered by Geology ; in this case it will be seen that in our concluding note, page 121 and 122, we have shewn that by the 7th verse, the waters of Genesis existed above the firmament, even allowing this word to mean the atmosphere, as thought by some writers. In this universal ocean, by our theory, we conceive the earth and planets to have been formed ; and we know from the 9tli verse, the earth and its oceans were separated from these wat ^rs at the six days of the Mo- saic account. Tliis universal ocean must, therefore, be of, perhaps, illimitable extent, and it is not possible that the incandescence of one, or even all the planets could have more than casually, and for a time, (as we have attempted to explain) prevented the depositions and construction of the primiry formations by the vegetable and animal kingdoms of this universal ocean. Heat always tends to an equilibrium, water is a great con- ductor or at least an absorber of heat, and the waters of this universal ocean would be continually flowing over the earth, then forming in it, until the equilibriuDi and consequent refrigeration was 2ffected. r 1 '¥ i' ; 144 Note 6. In Good's Book of Nature, page 61, it is said, " To shew," says Sir Isaac Newton, on gravity, " that I do not take gravity to be an essential property of matter, I have added one question concerning its cause, choosing to propose it by way of question, be- cause I am not yet satisfied about it, for want of expe- riments." In this question he suggests " the existence of an etherial and elastic medium pervading all space, - and supports his supposition by strong argument, and consequently, much apparent confidence, deduced Jroni the mediums or gases as they are now called, of light and heat and magnetism, respecting all which, from their extreme subtility, we can only reason concerning their properties. This elastic medium he conceives to be much rarer within the dense bodies of the Bun, the stars, the planets and comets, than in the more empty celestial spaces between them ; and to grow more and more dense as it recedes from the celestial bodies to still greater distance, by which means all of them, in his opinion, are forced towards each other by the excess of an elastic pressure. It is possible, undoubtedly to ac- count for the effects of gravitation by an etherial me- dium thus constituted, provided, (as it is also necessary to suppose,) that the corpuscles of such a medium, are repelled by bodies of common matter, with a force de- creasing like other repulsive forces, simply as the dis- tances increase. Its density, under these circumstances, ■would be every where such as to produce the semblance of attraction. The hypothesis, in connection with the existence of a repulsive force in common matter, has a great advantage in point of simplicity, and may perhaps hereafter be capable of proof. But at present it can 147 1, it is gravity, roperty ling its on, be- f expe- xistence 1 space, nt, and ed Srom )f light from cerning fcives to bun, the e empty ore and odies to n, in his xcess of y to ae- rial me- Jcessary ium, are orce de- the dis- stances, nblance vith the )T, has a perhaps it it can NOTE TO THIRD EDITION. Note. — I have perceived in Doctor Thomson'^ " Or- ganic Chemistry," some account of the experiment of Von Hehnont,(*ec/>.43) wherein it is said, that a certain Author has stated an opinion that the distilled water used in it contained sufficient earthy matter to account for the increase of the willow. This, I venture to say is incorrect, for in the first place there is no earthy matter that is volatile at the heat of the boiling point of water; neither if the earth were reduced to a saline form by acids, would they be volatile or evaporable at that heat; moreover, the quantity of water used in the five years could not have been more than 456 gallons, that is one quart per day. Now, it is not conceivable that distilled water could contain more than ^ of an ounce of earth per gallon, which makes 7 lbs. The willow, however, gained 1 10 lbs. in the five years, mak- ing 103 lbs. produced from the water and atmosphere by the process of vegetation in the five years. ! 148 TABLE of Geological formation* in the order of their Super, position. By M. Al De Humboi«dt. — This Table is stated by Baron Cimer to have been formed by his friend Humboldt, for his {the Baron^s) late Geological works; and he adds that the Table may be considered as containing a summary of the tables of the most modern Geologists, Alluvial deposits. Limestone formation, with millstone (menlieres.) Sandstone and sand of Fontainbleau. Gypsum with bones. Siliceous Limestone. Coarse Limestone. (Clay of London. > Tertiary sandstone, with lignites (brown coal.) Plastic clay. Molasse. Naglefluhe. .o Chalk, f White, 600 } Soft, (tuffeau) Feet. ( f hloritic. Ananchites. 400 Feet. Wead clay. Secondary lime stone with lignites- Ferruginous sand. i Green Sand, Amtnonites. Limestone of Jura iPlanulites, Quadersandstein,or white sand stone sometimes above the lias. Muschelkalk. Ammonites nodosus. Marls with fibrous gypsum Arenacious layers Slaty beds with fish and Crustacea Coral rag. Dive clay. Oolites and Caen lime. stone. Marly or calcareous lias with gryphcea arcuata. SaUferous variegated sand stone. a a a o V Froducv. aculeat. (Alpine limestone.) rroducv. aculeat. (A Magnesian limestone. Zechstein. Copp ery slate, Quartziferous porphyry. Co-ordinate formations of porphyry, red sand stone and coal. Transition Formations. Slates with Lydian etone, greywacke, diorites, eupho. tides, Limestone yfUhorthoceratites, trilobites, and evom. phalites.* •S g 'a o Primitive Formations- Clayey slates (Thonschiefer.) Mica slates. Gneiss. Granites. 6*>" Is 1 1 .8 leir Super, t 8tated by mboldt, fol- ds that the f the tables J8.) al.) I S lies- h fish and sea ag. Jaen ume.l«« • IS areous liasl-o arcuata.\ § rated sandl^ jtone.) phyry, .2 S tJ .2 6 eupho-l I! A GLOSSARY OF TERMS IN THIS WORK. MS i Alumine, pure earth of clay. Axote and Azotic Gaa^ a constituent principle of our atmoephere, destructive to combustion and to animal life. {Vide page 32.) Appetencies^ a supposed aptness of matter to assume certain forms. Affinity, that particular attraction which Chemists observe dif- ferent bodies have for each other. triform Fluids, gases or fluids resembling common air. Caloric, matter of heat pervading all bodies. Carbonic Acid, the acid of charcoal formed by burning it in th« open air. It escapes in an eeriform state. Chaotic Mixture, a solution of all the solid substances of the Globe, supposed by the ancients to have existed. Fossil Remains, of animals or vegetables, found in the earth. Galvanic Power, a species of electricity. Geology, the science of the various substances forming the interior and the crust of the earth. Gravity or Attraction, that power in matter by which it conti- nually tends to gravitate towards other bodies, according to the laws of its density and distance. Hydrogen, a constituent element of aU water, it is called also inflammable air or gas, and is the same that is now used for lighting cities and inflating balloons. Lamina, the appearance of many rocks in the earth resemblmg the leaves of a book. Matrix, the womb of material or spiritual substance. Orbits, the paths of t!:s moons round their planets and vf tlif planets round their Sun. Kl 150 ' , r. n.'ii' ' I ~ *•>!; Oxjigtn Gas, a constituent element of our atmosphere, support. ing combustion and life in the highest degree. It is, also, |i constituent element of water. (Vide page 32.) Planets^ the heavenly bodies composing our system and revolving round the Sun. Pneumatic Chemistry, the science of ariform bodies. ) / Silex, siliceous or sandy principle. Silicon, the metallic basis of siliceous earth or stuiJ. Sodium, a metal lately discovered by Sir tl- Davy, to be the basis of soda, produced by marine plants. Sulphuric Acid, common oil of vitriol. Tertiary Strata, in Geology the strata or rocky formations of the earth as far as man has penetrated, are divided into three, the primary being the lowest — secondary being next — tertiary being the uppermost. Vacuum, a space void of matter of any kind, now known not to exist. {Vid* Note 17, page 130.) "■ /'■■ l\.-i ! t^^-^..a i ' ' ■'* '.'.■< -*fcrt«l. » • ' -1 ■ *■• >.; , ■ ) , X -. ,t ". . '_ 1 '■ , ' • ■ . »J »' 1» ; •'! . 'Jr^. nt^ , V . V ' * - ■ •. SiJS'* . }, 1- i- a> I Xf' •,•♦ : ■ •.»«* (C AVi -.f^J (VN -: •^ ^ui *t%^ tl I: ;•< itt^ik tkwfa l4i|i-» si'v^'q a r- ■ 'I' ,c. * INDEX, V REVISED FOR THIRD EDITION. if- '■ft . . ■ ■■ J;J ,^^._ , ,,,.•. ^ . . ■ ''- •'•■ ' ■ '■ '" •'" ' ■ •■^J-' ' . , FA»I!. PftBFACB to first Edition 3 Ditto to second edition 7 Introduction to third Edition IS Purposes of Geology 17 Some account of the Author 18 Insufficiency of the Chaotic system of the ancients to ac count for the Geological appearances of the Earth 19 Formation of the Primitive Earths, Salts, and Metals, by the Vegetative Process ib. • Our Earth formed in a Fluid 20 The Doctrine of Chance Formation Refuted , ib. Observations on the Doctrine of the Materiality of the Soul 26 The Ourang Outang, — Brain similar to man's 27 Age of the World by Boubee's, Geol. Popul. Paris, 1833... 80 This supposed Age explauied and reconciled to the Mosaic Acct., by our construction of first verse of Genesis, Dis- coveries of Black, Priestly, and Lavoisier 31 The Combustion of the Gases " at the Beginning," produced the Universal Waters of Genesis 3i Tlie Universal Ocean formed by laws of attraction 33 Order and succession of Rocks and Organic Remains com- posing crustof the Earth 36 Cause of Marine Productions being found above the level of the sea, to be sought in the original formation of the 152 I'j 5" !fi ■'-' 1. lAOK. Cixygen exists in a solid state in all the Oxyds 44 The Earths, Metals, and Minerals, found in Vegetables, are produced by the vegetable process ib. Siliceous Earth proved by Professor Linneeus to be the re. suit of the vegetative process ^.. 45 The Wisdom of the Creator shown in the Internal Fires of the Earth 48 Cause of the Creation of Marine Planets not being mention. ed in Genesis, Ist chapter 49 Elucidation of the Theory of the Earth 50 Observations on Mr. Mantell's Wonders of CJeology 57 Theory of the Sun's formation 63 Ashort account of Pneumatic Chemistry ib. Heat and Light 63 Remarks on Buffon's Theory of the Earth and Planets... . 64 An idea of the cause ol the projectile force 78 Cause of the Tides explained by our Theory of the Gases in infinite space 74 Formation of watery vapours by the Sun 77 Attraction of the Heavenly Bodies, by the Sun, explained by our Theory of the Gases in infinite space 78 Observations on Sir John Herschell's idea of the opaque. ness of the Sun 81 The safety of the planets from ignition by the Gases 83 Extract from Sir Richard Phillips' Theory 84 Do. from Sir John Herschell's Astronomy of last year.. 86 Do. from Graham's Elements of Chemistry 88 Marine Vegetables and Animals of the Waters of Genesis. . 90 Final Elements of Geological Bodies 92 The Dissolution of the Globe considered from its existing Phenomena , ib. Recombination of the separated Elements to form New Heavenly Bodies 95 The Immortality of the Soul of Man drawn as a concluBion from the Indestructibility of the Laws of Nature 96 The other systems supposed, by analogy, to have been form. ed by the same Laws as our system 97 An idea of the Gase^, serving as Fuel tp the Sun &t. 153 ...f INDEX TO THE NOTES. PAOE. Note 1.— The offspring of a single Herring, undisturbed, competent to produce ten of our Globes 99 Note 2. — On the Granite Mass — Formed like the secondary and Tertiary Strata, by the deposition of Vagetable and Animal Matter 100 Rev. Mr. Fairholme'a opinion on the Granite Maso, an- swered 102 On the supposed Antiquity of Moimt iGtna 105 Note 3.— Salt Formations 106 Observations in support of the Theory of Creation of this work 108 An idea of the cause of the Projectile Force 110 Note 6. — ^The Indestructibility of the Soul explained ib. The late discoveries in Geology ascribing millions of years, as the age of the World, accounted for by the Theory of this work 115 Note 10. — ^The present state of Greology reconciled to the Scriptural account of Creation ib. Note 11. — Extract from the late work of Lord Brougham fi on the new discoveries in Geology ib. Some observations in support of the formation of the Geolo. gical Bodies in the primeval Oceans drawn from the de- positions and formations now taking place in our Seas 121 Note 14. — Means by which the Sands of the Sea, and Rocks ' c-omposed of them have been formed 125 Extract from Evan's Agriculture, proving the formation of Silica by the Process of Vegetation 126 Experiment of Sir H. Davy, proving the formation of Sili- con in vegetables 129 Note 17. — Enke's Comet from Whewell's Bridgewatttr Treatise in support of the aariform media of this work.. . . 130 Supports the formation of Planets in a state of vapour, on ' which our Theory of their formation in this work is j;^ founded 131 Concluding Note 133 Notes to Second Edition from page 117 to 128. 154 ^;-) : I NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS WORK, QUEBEC. Hon. Judge Cochrane, Messrs. J. Hale, M. J. Wilson, J. Dain- try, D. Wilkie, M. Bell, J. S. Campbell, E. S. King, J. Grieves, Clapham, F. B. Lindsay, D. M*Carthy, J. G. Irvine, T. Cary, Edw. Borroughs, Louis Panel, T. A. Stayner, George Augustus Bedford, H. Goweu, J. Musson, A. Macnider, Geo. Hall, James Bouchettc, Rev. R. R. Burrage, M. White, L. A. Cannon, T. G. Cathro, G. Femberton, John Isieilson, Alex. Haddan, William M'Master,Thos. Bickell,George Mountain, A. M'Gill, A. Wilson, W. B. Jefferys, D. Lo^ie, C. T. Brown, W. Le Chemlnant, L. Ballingall, J. Hobrough, John C. Nixon, Wm. M'Grath, John Codville, John Bowles, jr„ John Childs, jr., G. Fassio, H. Carwcll, J. Bolton, A. Laurie, David D. Young, H. Temple, P. Fellctier, W. Marsden, Mr. Parent, Quebec Sy., Henry S. Scott, G. W. Wickstead, Edw. Ginfirras, W. Power, James Seaton, Ebenezer Baird, Thos. Ruston, H. Murray, James Smillie, G. Turner, Ed- ward Wade, Jno. Campbell, Richard May, A. H. Poole, William Paterson, W. Bowles, W. Norman, John Cameron, E. Hartigan, Jno. Racey, Jno. Lambly, Duncan M'Callum, Dr. Jos. Painchaud, P. Holt, M. Grigory, George Hall, Alex. Begg, Achd. Campbell, V. Doucet, Geo. Futoover, A. Parrott, Ed. Phillips, W. Morris, D. M'Quilken, Robt. Barclay, C. Leek, W. BigncU, P. P. D. La- chance, Dr. Morrin, Mr. Baillargeon, ptre., E. Vivian, William Walker, P. Holland, Mr. C. F. Cazeau, Dr. F. Martin, Stewart Scott, Rev. J. Brown, Alex. Henderson, Jos Petitclerc, Chas. Kemp, Jas. Burnett, E. G. Cannon, John Kane, John Thomson, A. Stuart, jun., Daniel M'Callum, Chas. Gortley, Thomas Jack- son, C. Gethings, E. Antrobus, J. Lane, jun., Asst. Com. Gen., Dep. do., C. Morgan, P. H. Mildmay, A. J. Russell, Arthur W. Bell, Rev. H. D. Sewell, Dr. Fargues, L. G. Baillarge, Advocate, W. B. Lindsay, H. M. Blacklock, Rev. F. J. Lundy, E. Chap, man, R. Stewart, Jas. Hossack, P. Patterson, Wm. Baxter, Rice Mereditli, David Morgan, Rev. Geo. Mackie, J. O. Brunei, J. Munn, Philip Piton, T. H. Oliver, J. E. Oliver, Edw. Oliver, F. J. Young, F. Young, F. Rourke, James Clearihue, R. C. Todd, Doctor Racey, A. W. Morin, John Childs, Jno. JefFery, James Armstrong, Chas. F. Pratt, J. Bacquet, Mrs. Glass, E. Taylor, P. Le Sueur, W. Drum, AJidrew King, Sam. Wright, W. M'- Alister, J. Le Lacheur, Geo. Fawcett, Hy. D. Thielcke, Wm. S. Henderson, John Bracken, sen., Thos. Braunlie, J. W. Pezet, Regis Roy, R. Macfarlane, Paul Lepper, Artimas Jackson, J. D. Lefurgy, W. D. Dupont, Mrs. Hendry, Robt. H. Scot, Wm. An- drews, William Lane, Rev. W. Torrance, Ralph Hunter, J. J. Lowndes, P. Lenfestey, Dunbar Ross, C. Stuart, G. D. Balzaretti, A. M. Vidal, H. Black, Jos. Laurin, J. H. Kerr, C. S. Bourne, Mr. Benjamin, J. M. Eraser, John Lill, Mrs. Young, Chas. Smith, Anthy. Anderson, Doctor Kelly, A. M'Donald, Geo. Black, Wm. Thompson, Henry Jessup, H. Dyde, Jos. Ijogare, fils., W. K. Rayside, Rev. Dr. Wilkie, Rev. Mr. Wood, Rev. Mr. Burroz. ,1 155 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THIRD EDITION, MONTREAL. Hon. Judge Pyke, Hon. Peter M'Gill, Messrs. M. J. Haye«, Jno. Boston, — Gettes, James Knapp, N. B. Doucet, Alex. Dyer, Wm. Murray, J. Thornton, John George, D. Smillie, R. D. Bod- ley, T. Nye, H. Hor.'ow, M. Solomon. M. M'Grath, James Hujrhes, Jno. P. Grant, S. H. Anderson, R. T. Howden, J. Bell, A. F. Holmes, John Ross, J. Jeffery,J. Hutchison, C. GJdworlh, H. J. J., J. J. Phelan, J. M. Tobin, J. Gilmour, W. Francis, jun , J. Bowman, J. Rattray, J. J. Day, R. Huchins, A. Fumis, C. RoUitt, H.Stuart, M. Sommerville, — Mac Kay, — Hughes, K. Gerard, W. F. Grasett, L. A. Ohvier, — Dytlj, W. Gunn, T. Os- good, H. P. Thompson, C. D. Proctor, — Breckenridge, — Scott. F. Fraser, H. K. Beth'une, C. Dorwin, J. Playfair, — Joseph, — Oldham, — Whipple, J. White, J, MQls, Col. M'Leod, J. M'Do- nald, A. Benning, jun., Hon. C. S. De Bleury, Mr. Mackay, W. Sinclair, Robt. M'Indoo, Allison M'Donald, Alex. M'Donald, T. Hounslow, R. E. Dep., Mr. Mack, E. M'Guire, A. Gundlack, Geo. C. Reiffeinstein, R. H. Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Torrens, Mr. Wells, Mr. Orr, The Right Rev. Bishop of Montreal. ^W ;.t a:,- 1i i'^ ^ k I ?■!!■'' Km r ERRATA. Pajfc 4, line 5, from foot after " dignitary," read of. 19, " 16, for " substance," read aubatances. 51, " 13, for "ligune," read lagoon. 55, " 18, for " 7,900," read 7,800. 58, " 24, for '» what arguments," read what an argument. " " 25, for ♦' behoving," read disbelieving. " 120, last hne, omit *' other." " 132, !ast hne but one, for " means," read /or the meaas. .^ --..-Wiit. ry," read of. mbatancea. on. read what an argument, abelieving. " read for the meaas. APTPENDIX, No. ir. EXTRA MATTER FOR THE FOURTH EDITION. 1 am happy to be able to present the reader of the Fourth Edition of this work with two important extracts from late scientific publications. The one is from the celebrated Arago, the French Astronomer, and the other from Lardner's Popular Lectures in the American States. I now present the following extract from Arago's Scientific Notices on Comets, in support of our theory of the sun, and of the spots on his surface: — "If the comet of Buffon, in striking the sun, had detached from it solid fragments, if the planets of our system had originally been such fragments, they would in a similar man- ner have grazed the surface of the sun at each revolution.— All the world knows how far that it is from the truth. Did not our naturalist also believe the matter which composes the planets sprung from the solar globe, already formed into dis- tinct masses? He imagined, as I have said, that the comet had spouted forth a real torrent of fluid matter, in which thQ impulsions which the various parts received from each other, and their mutual attractions, rendered every assimilation with the movements of solid bodies impossible. The system of BufTon affords cxplicUly as a result, that the solar matter — at least, the exterior of it — is in a state of liquefaction ; then, I should hasten to declare that the most scrupulous modern observations have not confirmed that idea, "The rapid changes of form which the obscure and lumi- nous solar spots incessantly experience, the immense spacea that those changes spread over in very short times, have A il ■-1(1 1 I: V U > already led to the very probable supposition^ for some years, that similar phenomena would occur in a gaseous medium. At present experiments quite of another nature, experiments on luminous pohirization made at Paris observatory, incon- testibly csta'olisli this result; and if the exterior and incan- descent part of the sun is a gas, the system of BufTon is erro- neous in its most essential outset, and is no longer tenable." OBSERVATIONS ON THE ABOVE EXTRACT. I have shewn, in the body of the work, that the theory of Buffon *s not tenable. Mr. Arago now confirms the fact. — In another part of this edition, I have proposed a query on the subject of the spots on tlio san, namel}', whether they might not be accounted for by tlie combustion of the oxygen and hydrogen gases serving (accovding to our theory) as fuel for the sun's fire; and it is with great satisfaction I am now enabled to add to this fourth edition of niy worli, the sanc- tion given to this idea and to our theory of the sun, by the above extract from the work above named of the celebrated Astronomer, Arago. lie states that phenomena, similar to the spots on the sun, might arise in a gaseous medium, and allows the possibility that the exterior and incandescent parts of the sun n a;' be a ga«j, whicli is precisely consistent vvith our theory of the sun's formation, and the means employed by nature to supply the waste of his heaf and light. In fine, it would appear, by tlie experiment on the polarization of light stated above, that the original idea of the great Newton, that the sun is a body of fire or flame, will still hold good ; and that, although he had not the advantage of the modern discoveries in pneumatic science to direct him, it shews that on this occasion, as on that of the combustibility of the dia- mond, the genius of the immortal philosopher had formed a just idea of the nature of the sun. I am happy to be able to add a further explanation of this discovery of Arago' s, from Dr. Lardner's very popular lectures in New York. In page 17, he says, on the subject of Light of the Sun: — I I • •• lU sithti, for some j'cars. in a gaseous medium. ?r nature, experiments is observatory, incon- le exterior and incan- item of BufFon is erro- is no longer tenable." )VE EX'J'RACT. )rk, that the theory of V confirms the fact. — 'oposed a query on the I', whether they might on of the oxygen and )ur theory) as fuel for itisfaction I am now f my work, the sanc- ry of the sun, by the ned of the celebrated •henomena, similar to gaseous medium, and nd incandescent parts wisely consistent with the means employed if and light. In fine, n the polarization of I of the great Newton, will still hold good ; mtage of the modern ;ct him, it shews that )ustibility of the dia- osopher had formed a am happy to be able Jiscovery of Arago's, 2s in New York. In It of the Sun : — " In optics, a beam of light is proved to be susceptible of a peculiar modification, called Polarization. Light may un- dergo certain clmnges, which shall polarize it, imparting to two of the sides of the ray opposite to each other a certain property wliich the otiier two do not possess. The question arises what are these properties ? "They are various; one, however, is so simple and so nearly connected with the demonstia'.ion to which I call your attention, that I shall mention it. If a ray of light fall upon a reflecting surface with either of these two sides which are represented by the two red sides of this wand, it will be re- flected at an angle equal to that by which it approached the surface ; but if it strike the surface upon the other opposite side — the blue — it will not be reflftcted at all : so that two of its faces are capable of reflection, while the other two are not. This is one of the qualities by which polarized light is characterized. In a ray which is not polarized, reflection takes place under all circumstances, but with polarized light only under certain conditions. Thus, we see that light may exist in two distinct states. Now this is the truth which has been contributed to this demonstration by the discoveries of modern optics. Let us turn to another branch of physics. " The science of heat has received more attention within a few years past than any other branch of physics. Fourier, a French philosopher, has done much in this department of knowledge. One of the conclusions he establishes is this: ' There are three states in which material bodies exist ; the solid, liquid, and gaseous.' Fourier proved that when a solid body became incandescent, the light wliich it emits \s polari- zed; that the light emitted by an incandescent liquid (as molten iron) is likewise polarized; and that the light of incandescent gases is unpolarized. These facts are true, whatever may be the nature of the materials. Here is a dis- tinction established by this great natural philosopher between the light emitted by incandescent solids and liquids, and that emitted by gases. This is the contribution from the science of heat. %*v ■ i !. ;•'' " Now, Ml. Arago has, with most beautiful sagacity, availed himself of these two facts constituted by the sciences of light and heat, to determine the nature of the sun's atmosphere. This may easily be done; for cince it is estab- lished that tb ; light from incandescent solids and liquids itt polarized, all I'lat need be done, to determine this point, is to try the experiment, whether the sun's light be polarized or not. Arago, by applying the usu'l tests, found that it is not polarized. •' The conclusion, as inevitable as it is important, is, that the surface of the sun is covered, not by a solid or liquid, but by an atmosphere of Jianic. Here is one of the most beauti- ful inferences ever drawn from llie whole range of physics, and it is established by the aid of science, with all the Cer- titude OF A Mathematical Demonstration. "Arago has proved, therefore, that the pun's atmosphere is an Ocean of Flame." Thus, by the above extract from Arago' s Treatise on Comets, and from Dr. Lardncr's Lectures, it appears that our theory of the sun's formation is powerfully sanctioned and confirmed; and, I conceive, I have great cause to con- gratulate myself on this circumstance. This theory of the sun is based on the undoubted fact that the gases of oxygen and hycirogen, of whicii the Ocean of Genesis was formed, must have been brought into a state of combustion before they could produce tlie Ocean of Genesis, and on the no less indubitable fi /I ^ VI but now that the gaseous nature of the sun's incandescence h verified, as shewn above, and as Sir John Herschell has shewn in his late admired work on Astronomy, »hat the gaseous tails of numerous comets are deposited in the sun's vicinity, there can hardly be a doubt that the gaseous fuel for the sun's fre must either be produced thereby, or, as by the theory ci my work, from currents of the p-iscs rushing through the regions of space for that purpose. It is, indeed, probable that both these sources of gaseous supply may be employed by nature ; but the latter theory will also account for the tides by physical pressure, and f9r the great principle of attraction of the heavenly bodies, namely, the impetus of motion generated by a gaseous medium rushing through the regions of space; and I have accordingly adopted that theory in my System of the Creation.* NOTE TO FOURTH EDITION. In further 'jorroboration of the formation of coal from marine plants and trees grown in the ocean, we observe that, in contemplating these immense masses of marine vegetable matter, we have a right to ask of those who argue terrestrial formation, what has become of those masses of marine vege- tation after the termination of their vegetable life? Un- doubtedly th^re can be no other satisfactory account given of this than that they have, like all other dead vegetable mat- ter, suffered decomposition, and, by means of the superin- cumbent pressure of other deposits of the o'jeans and volcanic heats, have been changed and converted into seams of coal, as we now find them. * Having, in this sixth edition of this work, formed our theory of sopplying the waste of the sun'a light and beat by means of the comets, in place of our former theory' of currents of gases, the reader will ob- serve, that we nov refer the attra>'tion of the earth and planets round the sun to the gaseous medium novr proved to exist in infinite space^— Vide Note 6.h to Second Edition. vn the sun* 8 incandescence Sir John Herachell has 1 Astronomy, 'hat the deposited in the sun's ; that the gaseous fuel uced thereby, or, as by 8 of the pases rushing )urpose. It is, indeed, aseous supply may be heory will also account f3r the great principle namely, the impetus of m rushing through the ly adopted that theory OITION. rmation of coal from :ean, we observe that, 8 of marine vegetable who argue terrestrial asses of marine vege- ^egetable life? Un- aclory account given r dead vegetable mat- leans of the superin- c oceans and volcanic 1 into seams of coal, t, formed our theory of by means of the comets, i8C8, the reader will ob- arth and planets round xist Jo infinite space,-— There they lay, containing a considerable quantity of am- monia, received from their contact with the animal deposits of the oceans, and which ammonia cannot be accounted for by the theory of formation from terrestrial vegetables, for these yield very little or no ammonia. In proof of the diversity of marine production, I extract the following account of that immense sea plant, the "Fucus Giganticus," from the celebrated Professor Lie big's familiar Letters on Chemistry. — Letter II, page 34: — " We well know that marine plants cannot derive a supply of humus for their nourishment through their roots. Look at the great sea-tang, the Fucus Giganticus : this plant, ac- cording to Cook, reaches a height of 360 feet, and a single specimen, with its immense ramifications, nourishes thousands of njarine animals; yet its root is a small body, no larger than the fist. VVliat nourishment can this draw from a naked rock, upon the surface of which there is no perceptible change? — It is quite obvious that these plants require only a hold, — a fastening, to prevent a change of place, — as a counterpoise to their specific gravity, which is less than that of the medium in which they float. That medium provides the necessary nourishment, and presents it to the surface of every part of the plant. Sea-water contains not only carbonic acid and ammonia, but the alkaline and earthy phosphates and carbo- nates required by these plants for their growth, and which we always find as constant constituents of their ashes.'* As some supposed astronomical causes are being produced in support of an idea that the dry land has existed several hundred thousand years, which is contrary to the interpreta- tion of the Mosaic account, as explained in our system, and founded on the idea that the coal seams have each taken thousands of years for formation from terrestrial vegetables, which idea is pure!/ gratuitous, and incapable of any proof; we have to call the attention of the reader to this note con- firming our arguments for the marine formation of coal, and also to the same in a former page of this edition. m f^ < Si V I 1^ ;h EXTRA MATTER FOR THE FIFTH EDITION. In this Fifth Edition of our work we are happy to be able to give two very important scientific extracts, the one from Mr. Lyal's sixth edition of his " Principles of Geology," vol. 2, page 431, whereby he confirms our theory of the earth's formation, as relates to there being no cential fire therein. — The other important extract is from a work lately published in Philadelphia, called " Sketches of Conspicuous Living Characters in France," translated from the French. Extract from "Lyal's Principles of Geology," vol. 2, sixth edition: — "It may assist us, in forming a clearer view of the doctrine now controverted, of Central Heat, if we consider what would happen were a globe of homogenous composition placed under circumstances analagous, in regard to the distribution of heat, to tiiose above stated. If the whole planet, for in- stance, wera composed of water, covered with a spheroidal crust of ice, fifty miles tl)ick, and with an interior ocean having a central heat about 200 times that of the melting point of ice, or 6,400 of Fahrenlieit, ant ^', between the sur- face and the centre there were e.on evcr^ intermediate degree of temperature between that of njelling ice and that of the central neucleus, would such a state of things last for a mo- ment ? If it must be conceded, in this case, that the whole spheroid would instantly be in a state of the most violent ebullition; that the ice, instead of being strengthened annu- ally by new internal layers, would soon melt, and form parts of an atmosphere of steam, on what principle can it be main- tained that nnalagous effects wotdd not follow in regard to the earthy under the conditions assumed in the theory of Central Heatf^ — Vide LyaVs Principles of Geology ^ vol. 2. OBSERVATIONS ON THE ABOVE EXTRACl'. It is with great satisfaction I find, by the above extract, that Mr. Lyal agrees in the results of our theory of the FIFTH EDITION. we are happy (o be able • extracts, the one from iciples of Geology," vol. ur theory of the earth's (> central fire therein. n work lately published of Conspicuous Living •in the French. ■ Geology," vol. 2, sixth irer view of the doctrine we consider what would •8 oonjposition placed ?ard to the distribution le whole planet, for in- ercd with a spheroidal "'ith an interior ocean les that of the melting 'H '<; between the sur- 'ry intermediate degree "g ice and that of the f' things last for a mo- is t:ase, that the whole e of the most violent ^g strengthened annu- 1 melt, and form parts nciple can it be main- follow in regard to the the theory of Central ■ology, vol 2. •VE EXTRACT. y the above extract, >f our theory of the Earth's formation, namely, that no central fire exists; which is stated at full in our elucidation of that theory in this Edition. It is perfectly evident, that if the heat of the earth did increase down to its centre, in the same ratio as it is stated to do in the Artesian wells, and in other experiments on the subject, that an ocean of liquid fire must be produced, of near 8,000 miles in depth ; it is equally evident that heat or caloric incessantly tends to diffuse itself into all surrounding bodies ; therefore, the enormous heat of this internal ocean of fire would be sufficient to melt down the hardest rocks composing the crust of the earth, with nearly equal ease and certainty as the ice would be melted, in the above statement of Mr. Lyal's. The idea, then, of this central ocean of fire is preposterous, as, in that case, the crust of the earth would long ago have ceased to exist. As to the cause of the existing internal heats and fires of the crust of the Earth, we have explained our ideas thereon in this edition, conceiving these causes to be the last depositions of combustible matter from the oceanic waters of Genesis, and that this combustible matter being still in ignition, thereby produces the earthquakes and vol- canic action of the present times. In our fourth edition, I gave extracts from M. Arago, on Comets, and from Lardner's Lectures, showing that experi- ments on Light, made at the Paris Observatory, had proved that the atmosphere of the sun was an "ocean of flame." I have, since that edition was published, met with a "Life of Arago," and find that this great astronomer, after making subsequent experiments on light, has been led to announce his entire concurrence in our theory of the gaseous nature of the sun through its entire diavieter; aud this opinion is of the more importance from the consideration, that he probably would not venture to propound it, had he not full and suf- ficient scientific grounds for so doing. I now beg leave to congratulate many of my readers who have, aincQ the publication of the first edition, in 1836, given fimx^mmmmm 1^ .... ^ , I |ti«i i: '^1: tf I me their approbation of the same : I congratulate them, that their judgment has been sanctioned by the high authorities stated in the third and fourth editions, and in the present, as will appear by the following extract from a work called "A Sketch of Conspicuous Characters living in France," published in Philadelphia, and translated from the French : " Life of M. Arago. — Subjecting thus to the action of " the Tourmaline (a precious stone) the rays from the " Heavenly bodies, M. Arago was led, by induction, to con- " elude, ' That the sun is nothing but a ghand mass "of gas aggi.omeuated in space.'" I now humbly beg leave to make a few concluding obser- vations on the very important confirmation which our theory of the Sun's formation, as first stated in the first edition of tu's work, printed at Toronto in 1836, has received from the late discoveriea on light. I founded that theory on the indisputable chemical fact of the elementary composition of water by the combustion of its constituent gases; and I was led to apply the evolu- tion of the stupendous quantity of Light and Heat which must have ensued from the combustion of the oxygen and hydrogen gases (required for the formation of the ocean of Genesis) to the formation of our Sun ; and the supply of the waste of its light and heat by currents of these gases drawn into the Sun from the regions of infinite space. Nine years have n^m f^'apsed since the first publication of this theory. The s^le of near 2,000 copies of the work proves that it has been approved of in Canada ; but it was, during a great part of that time, uncertain whether it would receive the concurrence of nien of acknowledged science in Europe ; and I am, therefore, the more satisfied now, that it has done so. When we reflect on the immense distance from the Sun of some of the Planets of our system, (Herschell being 1,800 millions of miles off) we (.annot suppose that a body in a state of combustion of less dimensioDs than our Sun, nearly <»i Zl congratulate them, that by the high authorities tis, and in the present, act from a work called ters living in France," lated from the French : ig thus to the action of e) the rays from the i, by induction, to con- G BUT A GRAND MASS » t» I few concluding obser- ation which our theory 1 in the first edition of 36, has received from sputable chemical fact ter by the combustion 2d to apply the evolu- Light and Heat which m of the oxygen and ation of the ocean of m ; and the supply of rrents of fhese gases ' infinite space. the first publication )0 copies of the work Canada ; but it was, ain whether it would nowledged science in re satisfied now, that ance from the Sun of erschell being 1,800 )8e that a body in a than our Sun, nearly 800,000 miles in diameter, would be sufficient to light and heat them. With respect to the mode by which the light and heat of the Sun is conveyed to the Planets, there appears to be two theories ; the one is that of Sir Isaac Newton, that they come in right lines from the Sun ; the other, that they act, by means of undulations, on an ethereal fluid. I embrace the Newtonian theory decidedly, and for this plain and sim- ple reason, that we have the direct evidence of our sight that it is the true one. A person observing the rays when the Sun is setting behind trees, will see those rays reaching from the Sun all the way to the Earth in direct right lines. When we consider the vast distance of the Sun from our Earth — 95,000,000 of miles, and the incessant tendency of all caloric to find an equilibrium, by diffusing itself into surrounding space, we may conceive that a certain portion of the caloric of the Sun's rays may be thus lost in its pas- sage to the Planets; 1 therefore have, on reflection, been led to conceive that the particles of heat and light in the rays are, somehow, chcvilcaUy combined, in tiieir passage from the Sun to our atmosphere, to prevent this dispersion of their heat, and that, particularly in the lower parts thereof, where aqueous vapour most prevails, a decomposition of the light and heat takes place, and they are then set free to act, by which ihe cause of great degrees of cold in the higher re- gions will be accounted for, the decomposition and action of the rays not fully taking place until they have passed through those regions, and reached the more dense and aqueous parts below them. I now conclude with one observation on that part of our theory of the Sun relating to the supply of the waste of his heat and light. As the entire body of the Sun is, by the above authorities, considered gaseous, it follows indispensa- bly, that some mode of supplyinfr its waste of combustion must be resorted to by nature ; and we therefore conceive our theory of the mode of supply receives greater confirmation."* * For this mode of supply, vide " Theory of the Sun's Formation." ■1 '•■■ ri ,^ !' f^ ii II EXTRA MATTER FOR THE SIXTH EDITION. Since the publication of the fifth edition of this work, it appears that Lord Rossc, by the high magnifying power of his six foot in diameter telescope, (being the largest ever constructed), has made a most important discovery concern* ing the nebular hypothesis of the Astronomer, Laplace.-— Before stating this discovery, I here give an account of these nebula: from Arago and Lardner's Astronomy, in 1845, page 24, under the head of " Fixed Stars" : — "One of these nebular beds is so rich, that in passing through a section of it, only in the time of thirty-six minutes, I detected no less than thirty-one nebulae, all distinctly visi- ble upon a fine blue sky. Their situation and shape, as well as condition, seems to denote the greatest variety imaginable. In another stratum, or perhaps a different branch of the former, I have seen double and treble nebulae, variously arranged; large ones with small, seeming attendants; narrow, but much extended ; lucid nebulae, or bright dashes ; some of the shape of a fan, resembling an electric brush, issuing from a lucid point ; others of the cometic shape, with a seem- ing nucleus in the centre; or like cloudy stars surrounded with an atmosphere; a different sort agnin contain a nebulo^ sity of the milky kind, like that wonderful inexplicable phe- nomenon about 6 Orionis; while others shine with a fainter mottled kind of light, which denotes their being resolvable into stars." Mr. MuUinger Iliggins also gives an account of the nebulae, in his treatise on the " Physical Condition, &c. of the Earth," 1840: — "Nebulae exhibit a variety of appearances, sometimes pre- senting themselves as globular clusters of stars, and some- times as diffused nebulosity. Many are, no doubt, stars at so enormous a distance from us that they can only be dis- tinguished by the doubtful light they throw around them. — Others have been supposed to consist of phosphorescent rSER xiU SIXTH EDITION. edition of this work, it gh magnifying power of (being the largest ever rtant discovery concern" Astronomer, Laplace. — give an account of these slronomy, in 1845, page 30 rich, that in passing ne of thirty-six minutes, hulae, all distinctly visi- lation and shape/as well atest variety imaginable. lifFerent branch of the ebie nebulae, variously ing attendants; narrow, )r bright dashes; some electric brush, issuing etic shape, with a seem- oudy stars surrounded igniu contain a nebulo- erful inexplicable phe- rs shine with a fainter their being resolvable account of the nebulae, tion,&c. of the Earth," pances, sometimes pre- 's of stars, and some- ire, no doubt, stars at they can only be dis- hrow around them. — St of phosphorescent matter, which either extends itself over the heavens, or is condensed arouud some star or dense matter. Sir William Herschel has delineated a very beautiful nebulous appearance in Orion, which he observed with his large telescope. — Huygens, speaking of the same nebulosity, says, 'that its appearance had the same effect upon an observer as that which might be supposed to proceed from raising a curtain that hid from the observer an ocean of light, the waves of which were irregularly illuminated.* "To the question, what is the ultimate designation of these nebulae, we can only answer by conjectures. Sir William Harschel thought he could trace a regular series of changes from a simple distribution of nebulous matter to that of a nebulous star, and some astronomers believe that a conden- sation of this matter is constantly going on, and that new worlds are daily in the process of formation. This is a splen- did idea, and if the mind could at all adequately grasp it, would give an overwhelming conception of omnipotent skill ; but there are some who have no higher ambition than to ex- clude God from His works, and to invest with His dignity and sovereignty that indefinable thing they are pleaded to designate chance. It is not to be doubted that the great mind of La- place was tainted with this unaccountable and unphilosophi- cal desire; but, however this might be, he has availed himself of the discoveries that were made by Sir William Herschel for the invention of an hypothesis by which to account for the formation of the planet8, and the sun itself, from a nebu- lous luminosity, which be is pleased to designate the primitive cause." In the London Globe the following article appeared: — "Dr. Nichol, who has been lecturing in Edinburgh, under the auspices of the Philosophical Association of that city, stated to the audience the result of Ilosse's recent observa- tions on the nebula of Orion. ' He had,* he said, ' received a letter from Lord Rosse, dated so lately as the 19th of March, 1846, in which be said he had obtained so favourable a view as to be enabled to rr.solve the whole of one part of B sscra rr i lit i'. i I '-nil Jll xir O'ion into separate stars ; and that he had no doubt, from there being only one-third of the magnifying power of the telescope employed, that in favourable states of the atmos- p'; "e the whole would be resolvable. This, then, completely cuts away the ground from under the nebular hypothesis, and leaves Laplace's very ingenious deductions among the many cosmogonies with which the world has been amused. There was a new subject of wonder, however, opened on the human mind, overwhelming it with the boundless riches of the bene- ficent Creator. Orion, from its immense bulk and the im- measurable distance it is thrown bacic into the regions of space, must be composed of a greater number of stars than those of our visible firmament, so that here was another uni- verse, as it were, discovered to the human race. What had formerly the appearance of gold dust sprinkled in the sky was now distinctly seen to be separate stars, but firmly com- pressed together, giving out a great effulgence of light, and not in the spare manner they appear in our system.' " Dr. Nichol is Professor of Astronomy in Glasgow, of high character, and though he had published a work on the nebulse, it appears he has now abandoned the nebular hypothesis. The next extract is from another paper :— "We gather a few interesting particulars, concerning the power of this great telescope, from a lecture recently delivered in Dublin, by Dr. Scoresby. By means of this instrument. Lord Rosse has discovered that the four stars, called the trapezium in Orion, are six stars. But the extraordinary powers of the instrument were best exhibited when turned upon the nebulae, of which Sir John Herschel and his father examined and catalogued about two thousand. Of these a great many have been found resolvable into stars ; but there were still a great many of these nebula; that no telescope could resolve into any thing except misty specks ; whence astronomers, anxious to find support for the nebular hypo- thesis, had hastily concluded that they were absolute nebulae as yet uncondensed into stars. About the close of last year, the £«rl of B.osse succeeded in getting his great telescope ..mi 't# he had no doubt, from agnifying power of the e states of the atmos- This, then, completely lebular hypothesis, and :tion8 among the many been amused. There , opened on the human less riches of the hene- lense bulk and the im- ck into the regions of r number of stars than here was another uni- man race. What had t sprinkled in the sky ( stars, but firmly com- ;ffulgence of light, and n our system.' " ny in Glasgow, of high 1 a work on the nebulae, nebular hypothesis, iper :^ culars, concerning the ;ture recently delivered ins of this instrument, four stars, called the But the extraordinary exhibited when turned lerschel and his father lousand. Of these a i into stars ; but there ulac that no telescope misty specks; whence for the nebular hypo- f were absolute nebulae I the close of last year, 3g his great telescope into complete operation, and, during the first month of his observations, on fj^y of these unresolvable nebula; he suc- ceeded in ascertaining that forty-three of them were already resolvable into masses of itars. Thu- is confirmed the opinion, that we have only to increase i .- p /er of the in- strument, to resolve all the nebula; int-^ ^tar nd the grand nebulae hypothesis of Laplace into a .^s. ndid astronomical dream. The telescope of the Earl o. xi-t^ has also enabled him to make some discoveries in th^j moon, which we may notice hereafter." Thus it appears that this nebulaae nypothesis, by which it has been attempted to shew the world how the earth and planets had been formed, is now disproved ; and I cannot but consider that a great obstacle to the more general recep- tion of my system of the Creation is removed. Its theory is founded on the Scriptural history of the formation of our earth in the waters of Genesis, and on the idea that the Deity has established laws in our system, which, when investigated by due scientific research, are competent to account for all the phenomena of our earth's formation; and as our attempt to give the time required by Geology for the formation of the crust of our earth and our theory of the sun, have been sanctioned by the high authorities stated in the work, we consider it will not be presumptuous to carry out the system to a greater extent, more especially as we trust, by natural results from this system, to be enabled to shew, (that as what has been called nebulous matter yet exists in very distant regions of infinite space) : we trust to be able to shew what the design of thosii nebulae is, and also what are the real purposes of the comets in the vast scale of Creation.— And I consider it will be fortunate if, starting frcm known and established facts in Scripture and in the sciences, and advancing into the yet unknown and profound regions of the formation of the systems, we may, by a just combination of these facts and data, be enabled to establish a theory which will receive the assent cf science, in opposition to the absurd doctrines of chance formation. We now proceed to shew m^'^ ZVl ^.' , '14.1 , why we consider that nebulae may yet exist in distant regions of space, and what the purposes of these nebulae are, as indicated by natural results of our theory of supplying the sun's waste in combustion. If the sanction given to our theory of the sun by the great Astronomer, Arago, be sustained, it will of necessity result, that immense quantities of the combustible gases must be supplied to restore his waste. And here may, perhaps, be the proper place to notice a few theories of the sun which have been presented to the world. The great Newton always maintained that the sun was a body oi fire; but the science of gaseous bodies being then unknown, he did not, nor could not, explain of what that fire consisted ; but it is very remarkable, that this opinion of the immortal philosopher now bids fair to be confirmed by the recent discoveries of the French Astronomers on the polarization of light. The next noticeable theory of the sun is that of the late Sir Wm. Hcrschel, who conceived that " the appearance of the spots in ihe sun was explained by ruptures occurring in the sun*s atmosphere, and exposing the solid globe of the sun to view." Now the reader, on referring to what Mr. Arago says, in page 1 of the Appendix, No. II, to this work, will find that of these spots on the sun it has been proved that they might occur in a gaseous medium; this result, he says, has been established incontestibly ; and this agrees exactly with our theory, that the spots are occasioned by the dense volumes of aqueous vapour which must be produced by the vast combustion of the oxygen and hydrogen gases for the supply of the sun's waste. Sir John Ilerschel states, in his late treatise on Astronomy, that, by the law by which heat is governed, namely, that it diminishes according to the square of the distance, "that there must be an enormous degree of heat in the sun." Sir Isaac Newton states, that this heat must be " many thousand times greater than red hot iron." How, then, is it possible to suppose that any solid or liquid body could exist with this enormous degree of heat on its surface F Dense clouds and winds, in our own ' UUdL exist in distant regions these nebulae are, as iieory of supplying the of the sun by the great rill of necessity result, ustible gases must be here may, perhaps, be m'es of the sun which e great Newton always ^ Jirc; but the science I, he did not, nor could isted ; but it is very immortal philosopher (Cent discoveries of the 3n of light. sun is that of the late it " the appearance of ' ruptures occurring in ! solid globe of the sun ng to what Mr. Arago . II, to this work, will has been proved that i; this result, he says, nd this agrees exactly .'asioncd by the dense t be produced by the ^drogen gases for the Llerschel states, in his he law by which heat les according to the nust be an enormous J Newton states, that mes greater than red to suppose that any is enormous degree of id winds, in our own xvii atmosphere, do certainly intercept some degree of heat froM the sun, it being ninety five millions of miles away; but what would be the effect if the sun were close upon us? I do not believe that any power of either reflection or refraction could then save the earth from instant combustion ; and the Bai»« must be the case with any solid matter in the sun. Again, I have lately learnt that a theory of the sun Hm been proposed, on the idea that his heat and light are pro- duced by electricity. It is thus supposed that all difficultly as to the great cause of the light and heat of the sun will b« at once removed by the single term "electricity," and that the inquiring mind of man may now rest quiet on the subject; much in the same way that Atheistical writers fornierly sup- posed they had cleared away all their (iifficulties, by referring them to chance fornjation. Electricity has, till very lately, been looked upon as so mysterious and occult a science, that the cause of it had almost been thought unfathomable, and those who have now sported the idea, that the sun is merely a great galvanic machine, probably believe they have found the "ne plus ultra'' of causation. That profoundly ingenioni Chemist, Liebeg, has now, however, pretty clearly shewn that electricity is equally subject to, if not produced by, chemical action, as any other body. Without the previous action of aqueous, acid, or saline substance, on the metals employed, no electricity is evolved by galvanism. IJefore, therefore, we can refer to electricity as the cause of the light and heat of the sun, we have first to find whence is produced the indii- pensible "m«iteriel" of this electricity. By the idea of the above writers, of the Sun's being a galvanic machine, we should have to imagine that plates of solid zinc and copper exist in it. Now as we have shewn in the fourth and fifth editions of our System of Creation, that first-rate Astronomer, Arago, has proved to "mathemati- cal demonstration," that the Sun's atmosphere is an "ocean of flame"; and by subsequent induction from later experi- ments on light, he has concluded that the entire mass of th« Sun is a body of gas in a state of combustion. In this stv- B2 5: 1 'V. 'i ■■ i\ m I I V XVIU pendoLis heat, then, no solid body could exist. But what appears to tnc almost an unanswerable refutation of the above idea is, that the light and heat ns it comes to us from the Sun, is of a totally different nature from the electric fluid. The rays of light and heat from the Sun produce the most genial and vivifying effects on all nature. It has been proved by cxpcrin)cnt that a ray of light has no im- pulsive power whatever. " It has been asked, whether the rays of light — whose velocity is enormous, since, as we shall show, it exceeds 70,000 leagues in a second — have any appreciable impulsive force : but the most delicate experiments have detected nothing of the kind." — Arago and Larilncrs Astronomy. On the contrary, electric shocks, even from our atmos- phere, generally prove destructive where the fluid strikes. — Would not therefore electric shocks from so vast a galvanic machine as must be supposed by the above idea to exist in the Sun, possibly have the effect of rending the Earth and Planets in sunder? Our distance from the Sun can be no argument against this, for difitaiicc appears to have no c£fect whatever on electricity. In short, the actual effects of the light and heat of the Sun, on coming to our earth, are so opposite to those of the electric fluid, that I cannot but con- sider the above idea as totally untenable. Now our theory of the mode by which the waste of the Sun's light and heat is restored, gives the source from which the "materiel" of the Sun's combustion is supplied, namely, (according to the theory we have preferred in the present edi- tion), by means of the comets.* * I have to state, that Laving rccnneidcred that part of our theory relating to the means of supplying the waste of the sun's fire, (as in the former editions), by currents of the comhustible gnses rushing through the regions of space, I have come to the conclusion, that as these gases must then probably pass through the atmospheies of the planets by which they might chance to l>e inflamed, I have, therefore, in the pre- sent edition, corrected that part of our theory, and adopted, instead, that of the gases being supplied by means of the comets, whereby, as XIX ould exist. Dut what l>le refutation of the as it comes to us from ure from the electric "rom the Sun produce n all nature. It has r of light has no im- The idea I have formed of electricity is, that it consiBls of heat and light combined together in some unknown and unique manner, and that the energy and violence of its effects is occasioned by the mutual expansive efforts of the light and heat to disengnge thcnisclves, and I am therefore inclined to believe that in the portion of electric fluid exist- ing in the combustible body, these efforts urc assisted by the decomposition of the oxygen gas; that the fluid is decom- posed, and the light and heat of this electric matter ii evolved, and then forms a part of tiie combustion. So far only, 1 believe that electricity may be concerned in the Sun's combustion.* The other theory I notice is one called "Vestiges of the Creation," very lately published in England. The original source of the production of the heavenly bodies, of this work, appears to be much of the same description as that of the Primitive World, by the Abbe de Sales, except that the author of the "Vestiges of Creation" calls his origin "a fire misty* instead of central fire. But from what cause or source he gets this ^re-mist from which the Sun and Planets, as he says, originated, he does not inform us. Neither docs he nor the former v.riter explain how the solid bodies of the earth and plasiets could be produced from fire tf/one, although this would be a very puzzling discovery for liis readers to make. Having now finished our observations on these various comets Lave never been known to come near those Mmrdptietcs, no danger is to be apprehended, and I have the more wii!'fi»1y adopted tui'> alteration, that I am therein sanctioned by the authurity of the great Sir Isaac Newton. * 1 have to add, that by the present theory of camhustion, e'en iii the ana were a solid body, producing heat and light by volcanic actiont itiil that beat and light must be ultimately derived from gaseous matter. The wood and coal of our terrestrial fires produce the heat and light by absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere, and thus setting free the heat and light that retained that oxygen in the gaseous state, and thereby we learn that gaseous matter it actually the great aoarce of eombastion even io our planet. \' i ' « if; .i f 1) ivl I 1 I I ! XX theories, we return to our previous proposal of shewing what we conceive the purposes of the nebulae may be, as indicated by the natural results of our theory, for supplying the waste of the sun's fire. In the thiid edition of this work, on the subject of Sir David Brewster's discovery of the existence of gaseous matter in the sun's atmosphere, as related by Dr. Graham's Elements of Chemistry, the Doctor adds, "We may thus, hereafter, be enabled to cx[>lain how the light and heat of t!ic suns of other systems have been formed and maintained." Sir Isaac; Newton considered tliat there must be an enormous waste in the sun, from his une«?asing emana- tions of light and heat, and he conjectured that this waste was restored by the means of the comets. "By far the greater number of comets," says Dr. Lardncr, "appear to be mere masses of vapjur, totally divested of all concrete or solid matter." About seven millions of comets are computed by Lardncr and Arago to be contained in our eolar system.* What, then, can be the purpose of such a vast number of cometary bodies? ^Viri/, at least, cannot be habitable; they are aeriform, — stars have been seen through their central neuclei, — and we can conceive no idea more probable than that they are designed to distribute their aeriform matter into the atmospheres of the suns, t'l'r tlic purpose of restoring the waste of their combustion; and on this we shall shortly state our theory. But having had the question put to me, h. ■'v the attraction of the planets by the sun could be accounted for, if he were only .4 body of gas in combustion; I here reply to this im- portant question as follows : — In note G, fecond edition, I have shewn, from Good's Book of Nature, that Sir Isaac Newton himself did not consider gravity to be an essential property of matter; but that he considered it might be ex- plained by means of "an elastic gaseous medium, by which * Sir John Ilerschcl, in treating on the Zodiacal Light, (See Index for Sixth Edition of System of Crcntion), tays, the actual materials of the tails of niilliona of comets, of which they hare tiecn stripped in their auccesaive pcriheiion passages, may bo slowljr subsiding into the sun. iMmi xxi '»al of shewing what may be, as indicated supplying the waste of this work, on the \y of the existence of '» as related by Dr. Doctor adds, "We |in how the light and e been formed and red that there must is unc«?asing emana- >iod that this waste nets. "Ry far the •finer, "appear to be I of all concrete or -omots are computed II our solar system.* -I> a vast number of t be liabifablc; they •rough tlicir central more probable than t'ir acrifonu n)atter purpose of restoring tin's we shall shortly ', hc^v the attraction itcd for, if he were re reply to this im- , fecond edition, I >rj, that Sir Isaac y to be an essential ed it might be ex- medium, by which cal Light, (See Index lie act jal materials of ^en stripped in their liiling into the gun. means the celestial bodies are forced towards each other bj the excess of an elastic pressure." Mr Good also agrees that it is possible to account for the effects of gravitation by an ethereal medium thus constituted. So does &Ur Richard Philips in his theory of the Heavenly Bodies. That there is such a gaseous medium existing in space, is proved to the satisfaction of most Astronomers. In note 17, first edition, from Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise, it is said, "But the facts that have led Astronomers to the con- viction that such a resisting medium leally exists, are certain circumstances occurring in the motion of a body revolving round the sun, which is now usually called iMicke's Comet." All the operations of nature we know of are produced by physical laws. Gravitation is the most energetic and uni- versal of all the operations of nature, therefore there is the more reason for believing that it is brought about by the same mode which we find employed by the Creator in all the operations that are going on under our eyes, namely, by those physical laws. And in addition to the strong arguments employed by Newton himself, (which will be seen in note C, second edition, containing his explanation of gravitation by means of the clastic gaseous medium), I have to state, that it is known that electricity pervades almost all nature. Our atmosphere, our earth, and all water, especially when in a vaporized state, are charged with the electric fluid. Our earth is pervaded by magnetic and electric currents; and what I wish now to state, therefore, in addition to Sir Isaac Newton's arguments on the ethereal gaseous medium, is, that I conceive that medium is also pervaded and excited to mo- tion by the electric fluid. I believe that this electric fluid is a most potent agent of nature, by which she keeps the ethereal gaseous medium in a constant state of motion and activity, for producing the force which carries the planetary bodies in their courses round the sun ; and I believe this is the very purpose for which this ethereal electric medium exists in space. As above shewn, it appears that the great Sir Isaac himself thought this ethereal gaseous medium waa I 11 I 1 .B la 1? f ' f, % ♦ i Zlli sufficient to Recount for gravitation, and I now humbly beg leave to add my belief, that, with the aid of the vast poweri known to be possessed by the electric fluid, theie can be no doubt of these united forces being competent to produce the effect of the gravitation of the heavenly bodies round the sun. In corroboration of this physical cause of gravitation, I am happy to be enabled to give the following short extract from the celebrated nuthor of "Cosmos," Baron Von Humboldt. In Vol. 1, pnge 137, he says, on the subject of the revolu- tions of the U able stars, '• But whether the attracting forces depend sulelt/ on the (juantifi/ of matter in these systems as in ours, or whether there may not co-exist with gravitation ot?ier specific forces, which do not act according to mass, is, as Bessel has been the first to shew, a question of which the fsolution is reserved for later ages." Now I have sliewn above, that Sir Isaac Newton did not leave the world without giving it his opinion how the great principle of gravity, discovered by him, was produced and carried en, and as the electric fluid is found to pervade all nature, we cannot suppose that the ethereal gaseous medium is void of it; repulsion and attrnction are the great attributes of electricity. I, therefore, humbly offer these considerations to men of science, on t!ie forces by whose influence the planets are carried round the sun, considering it, as Arago says, to be a vast mass of gaseous matter in a state of com- bustion. If, therefore, our theory of the sun be substantiated, (a» indeed it has already in part, by the induction formed by Mr. Arago, that the sun is notliing hut a grand mass of gas agglo- merated in space), it necessarily follows that the waste of this combustion must be supplied by currents of gaseoui matter, and the peculiar attraction of the sun will have to be reduced to the degree of that power which his weight, as a body of gas, will give him. The remaining quantity of attraction or pressure required to carry the earth and planets round the sun, will arise from the elastic gaseous medium easting in space and acted upon b^' electric forces. Proceed xxiii nd I now humbly beg »d of the vast powers fluid, there can be no petent to produce the bodies round the sun. ' of gravitation, I am ng short extract fiom Jaron Von Humboldt, subject of the revolu- ■r the attracting forces n these systems as in xist with gravitation according to mass, is, luestion of which the saac Newton did not pinion how the great J» was produced and "ound to pervade all real gaseous medium ? the great attributes ' these considerations whose influence the "'deringir, as Arago -r in a state of com- >e substantiated, (as ction formed by Mr. d massof gasagglo- 8 that the waste of .'urrents of gaseoui sun will have to be ch his weight, as a aining quantity of e earth and planets J gaseous medium c forces. Proceed we now in support of our theory. By it we conceive that the waste of the sun's fire must be replaced by gaseous com* bustible matter. The vast quantity of this matter for the continual supply of our sun, whose diameter is nigh 600,000 miles, may indeed be conceived, and perhaps calculated ; but though, as Dr. Graham says above, ** we may henceforth be enabled to explain how the light and heat of the suns or stars of the other systems is formed and maintained,*' and which, reasoning by analogy with our own sun, w^ certainly may do, yet how arc we to contemplate the stupendous and incalcu- lable quantity of gaseous matter which would be required for the due supply of the millions of suns which the astrono- mers state to exist in the universe ? I have therefore conceived and adopted the idea that there may be elahoraiurieit of these gasses appointed by the Creator in the distant regions of space; for, believing that nothing short of a direct act of creation would be a 'equate for restorin;^ the stupendous quantities of gaseous matter wanted in the supply of all the suns of the universe, I have therefore conceived that, although Lord llosse has resolved the nebulae in the constellation Orion into stars, still some or many of the nebulae discovered in other regions of space may actually be elahoratories established by the Deity for the forma- tion of this gaseous matter. The positive fact of the tails of comets being gaseous, their uniform courses round the sun, the changes which take place when they leave him, all appear to me a great confir- mation of the sun*s gaseous nature, and if this be ultimately conceded, we have every right to conclude that the other stars or suns of the universe are gaseous also, and though it might be conceived that a sufficient quantity of gaseous mat- ter might be found in a space that is infinite, still the safety of the earth and planets precludes that idea. I have there- fore come to the conclusion, as is stated above, that there must be elahoratories for the formation of the gases required, in which elaboratory a constant act of creation of the ele- mentary matter of those gases would be indispensable, to ymm jCt I I I' 1. 3»»"'^. zxiv lupply the unceasing and stupendous vrastr. If, therefore, our theory of the sun continues to be substantiated, (and, as will be shortly shewn, the planet lately discovered offers a strong confirmation of it), and as nothing short of & direct act of creation could produce a supply of gaseous matter for all the suns of the universe, we must refer to such an act of creation for that supply, and we trust we shah indeed thereby lead our readers '* through Nature's works up to Nature's God." We believe we shall have found a more clear nnd po8i> tive proof of the reality of an existing and actually prevent creation of matter, than has yet been oti^ . .' to mankind. • Another reason why I am i^^d to leliov that there are various elaboratories established by tiie C'ja'or for the for- mation of the gases is, that it is indi&i;>e!ii'-.ble to suppose, that as there may be various gasea required, ./oth for replenishing the waste of the atn)ospher s of the plu/ ,,\ and also oxygen and hydrogen for the waste of th, r .ns oi' 'h-. vai;ous systems, these ga.se3 must therefore be foriued and collected in sepa- rate reposii vi< s, to be afterwards taken up by various comets, and carried by uioro to their intended destination, by laws established b\ <':iif Crt lor fo. their direction in their courses, consistent with uic salety of the planetary bodies, as we shall shew shortly. Having now stated our conee|.tion how alone an inexhaustible source of supply of the combustible gases can be obtaioed, we shall extract from Arago and Lardner's Astronomy, and from Lliggins on the Earth, some account of the Comets, as far as they relate to their physical constitu- tion and laws of their motion. MuUinger lliggins says, in page 54 of his Physical Con- dition of the Earth, that " Newton discovered that comets are bodies moving in fixed orbits round the sun. As soon as this philosopher had discovered the laws of universal gra- vitation, he applied them to the determination of the motion of comets ; for having proved ihat, according to the coodir tions of that force, a bouy might describe any conic section about the sun, he conceived that comets, in their apparently irreguUr inotions, mij^ht be governed, b;^. that ptioclple, , Tjl^ tjawawMajBiwMMtwyy ■»'«»odic8, .18 we shall ception Jiow alone ombustible gases go and Lardner's , some account of hysical constitu- lis Physical Con- ered that conjets e sun. As soon of universal gra- on of the motion ng to the condi- ny conic icction their apparently principle. The comet of 1680, which approached the sun to within one-aixth Of its diameter, enabled him to teat the truth of his coniec- tore ; and he proved that it moved in an elliptical orbit of 80 great eccentricity that it could not be distinguished from m parabola, having the sun at one of its foci ; and that, as in the case of the planets, the areas described about the sun were proportional to the times; a law discovered by tl»e illustrious Kepler. From this calculation it became evident that the comets were governed by the same la^^i as the pla- netary bodies, and that the orbits of the former differed from those of the latter in the great elongation of their elliptical paths.^^ And in page 56, he says, *' The calculationg that have been made to determine the dimensions of comets prove that they are by far the largest bodies in our Fystem. Tiic greatest length of that which appeared in 1759 was siiteen million leagues; that of 181 1, thirty-six million; while that of 1680 was not less than forty-one million leagues.^'* In Arago and Lardner^s Astronomy, it is said, "These bodies usually are observed to rush into ovr systems suddenly and unexpectedly from some particular quarter of the uni* verse. They first follow in a straight line, or nearly so, the course by which they entered, ami this course is commonly directed to some point not far removed from th* jn.** In the same work it is also said, " The planets mo round the sun all in one direction. Cometf, on the othi r iiand, rebel against this law, and move, some in one direct >n and some in another.^ Again, it is said, in page 66, same work, "One of Newton*s conjectures respecting comets v a, that they are 'the aliment by which suns are sustained;* und he therefore concluded, ihM these bodies were in a state of progressive decline upon the suns, round which they respectively swept; and that into these suns they from time to time fell. This opinion appears to have been cherished by Newton to the latest hours of his life.** And in page 67 it if said, *'By far the greater number of comets appear to be mere mosses of vapour, totally divested of all concrete or solid matter. So prevalent is this character, that tome observers hold it to bt ■4' s nmwm ts- 1 •I'" i'l ' 'J 1 ' ?■• 1. ■ ■ ' 1 1^ T'*" ' i 1 t l'l» i ,•!'♦ 1 " ♦•i^ 8''- I » xx\i universal. Seneca mentions the fact of stars having been distinctly seen through comets. A star of the sixth magni- tude was seen through the centre of the head of the comet of 1795, by Sir William Herschel." . : It is seen, then, by these extracts, that comets move under fixed laws ; that their course is vards and round the sun ; that in general they consist merely of gaseous matter ; that the opinion of that first of Astronomers, Sir Isaac Newton, was, that "they are the aliment by which suns are sustained." Comets have been a fertile source of amazement and terror to mankind for numerous ages previous to our times. No longer ago, indetd, than the year 1832, an Astronomer having cal- culated that the comet of that year would strike the earth somewhere, many of the people of Paris became so alarmed, that the French Govermnent directed Mr. Arago to investi- gate the circumstance. It is remarkable that, except Sir Isaac Newton's opinion, that the comets were employed in supporting the waste of the sun's fire, Astronoiners have not, that I have learnt, made any furthei researches on this point. Now, as we consider by u'..r theory, that the sun is a body of gaseous matter in com- bustion, fo'- the purpose of heating and lighting the earth and planets, and as it is indispensable that the waste of this com- bustion must be restored, we therefore conceive this to be the very purpose of the numerous comets of our system, atjd of those of others. Wc conceive that the various combustible and other gases required to restore the waste of the atmos- pheres of the planets, and also the waste of the suns of the universe, — we conceive, I say, that thes2 various gases are taken up by the power of attraction by the comets, from the elaboratories of these gas.l> ars having been the sixth inagni- atl of ihe comet raets move under 1 round the sun ; us matter ; that ir Isaac Newton, 8 are sustained." ent and terror to nes. No longer mer having cai- strike the earth aine so alarmed, ^rago to investi- ewtoij's opinion, the waste of the earnt, made any we consider by matter in com- Jg the earth and ate of this com- ve this to be the f system, arjd of •us combustible e of the atmos- the suns of the rious gases are 3mets, from the ■1 (as we have and that these f tl'.'ir courses, various suus of iheir heat and L'heinisiry,that bustibic,^tfr*e, 1 xxvu that is, by themselves alone : before combustion can ensue, these gases must be mixed in certain proportions. In order, therefore, to ensure the snfety of the planetary bodies, we must conceive these two combustible gases to be taken up from separate nebulae, some comets being charged with oxygen and others with hydrogen gas, the only two primary combus- tible gases. By this separation neither of them can be ig- nited, as they may pass the orbits of the planets at the nearest approach comctn have been known to make to those orbits. The comets having then arrived near enough to our sun and to the suns of other systems, their gaseous tails are then attracted by the draft, of the (ire of the suns and deposited in them, thereby restoring U\e waste of their cmbustion. We consider the extractit above givei to be a powerful support of this theory of the comets, in which we trust to have shewn how they perform the vast purpose of restoring the waste of the suns; and when we reflect on the stupendous quantities of the combustible gases required for it, we need no longer be surprised at the millions of comets said by the Astronomers to be contained in the universe; neither, for the same reason, need we doubt that the Creator may have established elaboratories in some part of the regions of space, for the replacing the enormous waste of the suns, either by certain laws, or by His own immediate agency. The above important purpose is not, however, the only one which we humbly conceive the comets are intended to perform. By the combustion of the oxygen and hydrogen gases for the supply of the suns of the univcise, stupendous quantities of aqueous vapor must be generated. Without the removal of these masses of vapor, the light and heat of the sun might be in part obstructed. We have therefore conceived that another great purpose of the comets is, to take up (by their power of attraction) and to transport these vast masses of vapor into various regions of infinite space, tor their future condensation into oceanic waters, and in which, by the same processes by which our earth was formed, in the ocean of Genesis, as shewn in this woik, so in future XXTUl .1 !' ' i e, f ages new syttenis of planets inaj be generated. And to place the probability of these operations in a more prominent point of view, I here subjoin a recapitulation of our theory of the probable design of some of the nebulK, and of the real purpose of that vast number of comets said by the astrono- mers to occupy the regions of space. In this theory it is conceived that, by the supply of the gases tu tiie suns uf the systems, nature effects a twofold ob- ject, namely, the supply of the waste of the sun's tire and the reproduction uf other planetary bodies by means of the masses of aqueous vapour produced by that combustion. ** Nature," says the immortal Newton, *' could not exist without motion," (action). And the eminent Goethe has in his works the same idea. We may therefore conclude that the reproductive powers of nature are ever in action. We have also reason to believe that the heavenly bodies now existing are not to last for ever. **Tbe great globe itself," says our immortal Bard, "shall dissolve, and, like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a wreck behind." And, in fact, stars that have been formerly well known in the heavens have now dieap* peered. V he heavenly spaces, we are told by all astrono- mers, arc infinite, therefore we have a right to suppose that the laws first established by the Deity are in continual ope- ration, both for replacing exha'n^ted systems and augmenting His bounty and His glory. Thus we have conceived, as stated in our theory, that the stupendous masses of aqueous vapours, formed by the combustion uf the gases for the supply of the waste uf the suns, are carried off by the comets from those suns into the regiuns of space, for the purpose of being condensed into oceanic waters^ which, by the deposits of their vegetable and animal kingdom?, will form the solid parts of new planetary globes. Hence would arise the conversion of these gasses into the liquid and solid matter of those globes enduring many ages, and hence the necessary conclusion we have drawn in the theory, that a present and constant act of creation i required to supply the unceasing and enormous waste of liiose gases, and hence we have conceived the exis^ t( XXIX rated. And to more prominent >n of our theory e, and of the real hy the astrono- e supply of the :tt» H twofold ob- uii'a fire and the iii« of the masses ion. "Nature," without motion," I works the same he reproductive mve also reason sting are not to ys our immortal »bric of a vision, stars that have lave now dieap- by all astrono- o suppose that continual ope- md augmenting ( conceived, as tses of aqueous 8 for the supply tie cornets frona appose of being eposiis o^ their solid parts of ? conversion of f those globes conclusion we :on8tant act of sind enormous ?ived the exis. tence of elaboratories for this purpose in some of the nebulee of the distant regions of space. Now, as all gaseous matter is indispensably associated with caloric and light, which pro- bably form part of their constitution, so it is highly probable these elaboratories would have the exact appearance in the regions of space which the nebulae are said to present to the telescope. As to the other purpose of the comets, namely, the sup- plying the waste of the sun's combustion, I have explained that at large in the theory thereof^ and, as a confirmation of its necessity, I conclude with an extract from the celebrated Baron Von Humboldt's work, called " Cosmos," confirming Arago's discovery of the constitution of the sun, and to which discovery, as a Canadian born, and zealous for the honour of Canada, I now lay claim. It was published in the first edi- tion of my System of the Creation, in 1836, Toronto, C. VV*. In vol. 1, p. 37, above work, it is said — " When Iluyghens first applied himself, in 1C78, to the enigma of the pheno- mena of the polarization of light, exhibited in doubly re- fracting spar, and observed the difference brtwcen the two portions into which a beam of light divides itself in passing through such a crystal, it was not foreseen that titrough the admirable sagacity- of a physical philosopher of the present day, the phenomena of chromatic polarization would lead us to discern, by means of a minute fragment of Iceland spar, whether the light of the sun proceeds from a solid ueucleuSf or from a gaseous covering. The new planet just discovered affords a strong corrobora- tion also of our theory of the sun. This planet is found to be 3i,000 millions of miles from the sun."* Its diameter is nigh\ix times greater than our earth; and on reflection on the highest degree of heat we receive from the sun, it seems impossible that a planet at such an enormous distance could be warmed and lighted unless the eun were in a state of combustion through its entire diameter. * ProfeMor Olmitead layi this pit net i* 3,600 millions of milfi from oar sartb, which would gtre 8,695,000,000 of inilet from the tun. C8 XXX Itfi? li v In corroboration of our theory, of the purposes of the comets, I here extract some account from Arago and Lard> ner*s Astronomy, of changes in the appearance and bulk of the tails of certain comets on their receding from our sun. It is said, in the above work, "The comet of 1759 was now observed in various places. It continued to be seen at Dresden, also at Leipzic, Boulogne, Brussels, Lisbon, Cadiz, &c. Its course being observed, it was found that it arrived at its perihelion, or at its nearest point to the sun, on the 13th of March, between three and four o'clock in the morn- ing; exactly thirty-seven days before the epoch first assigned by Clairaut, but only twenty-three days previo is to his cor- rected prediction. The comet on this occasion appeared very round, with a brilliant nucleus, well distinguished from the surrounding nebulosity. It had, however, no appearance of a tail. About the middle of the latter month, it became lost in the rays of the sun while approaching its perihelion ; it afterwards emerged from them on its departure from the sun, and was visible before sunrise in the morning on t'.ie Ist of April. On this day it was observed by Messier, who states that he was able to distinguish the tail by his telescope. It was again observed by him on the 3rd, 15th, and 17th of May. Lalande, however, who observed it on the same occa- sions, was not able to discover anv trace of the tail." I have here to observe, that in the first account of this comet given in the above work, before it had arrived at its perihelion, or nearest distance from the »un, it is not said it had no tail, therefore we conclude it had one; but, as appears by the above extract, when it had arrived, on the 13th March, at its nearest distance, it had no tail. Now, it appears to me, our theory of the intended offices of comets will account for these facts. The comet, on arriving at the sun, deposited its gaseous matter or tail, therefore, as Lalande says, "he could not discover any trace of a tail." In page 64, of Arago and Lardner's Astronomy, it is said, " It had been observed, however, in the soutliern hemi- sphere at Pondicherry by Pere Coeur-Doux, and at the isle ) XXlt •urposes of the Ago and Lard, ice and bulk of om our sun. tof 1759 was |d to be seen at I^isbon, Cadiz, that it arrived 'he sun, on the k in the morn- h first assigned tJ Js to his cor- sioii appeared nguished from no appearance nth, it became its perihelion ; •ture from the ijngon t!ie Ist lier, who states telescope. It and 17th of ^e san)e occa- tail." count of this arrived at its is not said it ut, as appears 13th March, it appears to will account in, deposited le says, "ho I . »• iy, it is said, hern hemi- d at the isle of Dourbon by La Caille, under more favourable circumstaii" ces ; and both of these astronomers agree in stating that the tail was distinctly visible by the naked eye, and varied in length at different periods from ten degrees to forty^seven degrees. These circumstances are obviously in perfect accordance with the former appearances of the same body." ThuA, at this time, it had again acquired a long tail, which, I conceive, can be well accounted for, by its having, between the two observations, attracted the mass of aqueous vapour ill the vicinity of the sun, which then formed its uew appen- dage. Now it is plainly visible that our theory of this part of the purposes of comets will account naturally and with perfect ease for the increase of their tails, by the absorption by attraction of the aqueous vapours it finds near the sun's atmosphere, after having deposited therein the combustible gases they were previously charged with. We now conclude our extracts with one from Mr. IIiggins*s work, to shew the vast length of the tails of comets: — "The nature of comets, and the purposes they serve in the system to which they belong, are almost entirely unknown. No probable explanation has yet been given of the character of that tiiin of luminous matter frequently appended to them, and very inappropriately termed the tail, since it frequently precedes the body itself. The tail is sometimes of very con- sidi ruble length. Aristotle states that the tail of the comet that appeared in 371 A. C, occupied a third of the hemi- sphere, or 60^; that of 1580 is said to have covered an ex- tent of more than 70"^ ; and that of 1 6 1 8, 1 04°. But a tail is not a necessary appendage to a comet, for some have been quite destitute, as were those of 1585 and 1763 ; but there arc also some that have several tails; that of 1744 had no less than six, which, spreading out in the form of a fan, ex- tended over a space of nearly 30*^. A very small condensed spot has been observed in the heads of some comets, but the fixed stars may be seen through the densest parts of many; 8nd from the circumstance that none of them have exhibited MMi IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I no ■2.5 Sf B4 * us 140 2.2 1.8 = llllim |l.25 1 1.4 1 1.6 P> v5 7 1^ ^> V 7 -^4 HiotDgraphic Sdences Corporation m* \ iV 'i? ^\ ^-V 6^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 '^'^ '<■■ f<- i I li xxxu phases, though they undoubtedly shine by reflected light, vrn may gather that they have no claim to be considered as solid bodies, but have in all probability the condition of the lightest vapour." Now I am in great hopes that should my theory of the purposes of the comets reach Mr. Arago's eye, he will agree, that as vast niasses of vapour must be formed by the com- bustion of the gases, that these masses must be attracted by the comets, and the formation of their tails be the natural consequence. The great author of the "Cosmos'^ says, in page 106, 1st vol., " The little knowledge which we yet possess of the physical qualities of the comets, renders il difficult to separate the essential from the accidental in phenomena recurring at intervals, and which Ivave been observed witli more or less accuracy." And happy I should be, if our present theory of these bodies should, in the opinion of that profound phi- losopher, throw a new light on this important subject. We have now to conclude this Sixth, and probably the last, Edition of our work We humbly conceive we have, from natural results of our System of the Creation, shewn a high degree ef probability of what it may be the purpose of the nebulae and cometary bodies to produce in the stupendous scale of the universe of the Almighty, either by laws estab- lished by Ilim, or by Ilis'immediate and unceasing agency ; jind we \\ave now only to present these efforts to the calm consideration of a candid and intelligent public, and more especially to the enlightened minds of scientific men, being well convinced that the greater their zeal for the advance- ment of science, and the greater their powers therein, the more favourably they will receive our humble attempts to advance the study and the knowledge of it. .• -■ .r,,.. i-T'W ' I T 'f , i'^«- i ..X i';,r >l -l • - I ■ - ' ► 1 . . T * 5S"P" Pted Jighf, ^^ Nred as solid iftheJightest fieory of the l»e wiJI agree, jby the corn- [be atfractej the natural 'ge 106, 1st ssess of the f to separate recurring at nore or iesa ?sent theory fofound phi- PJect. '% the last, ^'ave, from 'ewn a iiigh pose of the stupendous '«^8 eKiab- ^S agency ; » the calm and more •en, being advance- erein, the empts to •i SUBSCRIBERS TO THE SIXTH EDITION. The Lord Bishop of Toronto; Hon. Chief Justice Robinson, (2) Dr. Williamson; Win. Ketchum; Russelluglis; Wm. Atkinson A. V. Brown; J. McDonald; Edward Uipkins, Richmond Hill F. W. Barron, U, C.Coll.; Wra. Wilson, Mont. Bank; R. Stanton A. Murray; G. Michio; Dr. Boysj A.Mercer; E. W.Thompson D.CG. Clarke; T. H. Thoms*)n, A.C. G; T. Baines; Rev. E Ryersou; Rev. R. Murray ; H. J. Boulton; J. B. Berry ; D.lJethunt G. M. Hawke; Dr. ('rewe, Toronto Tp.; J. S. Howard; S. B Harrison ; H. N. Gwynne ; John McQueen ; John Foreman ; Wm Scholfield ; John Roy ; Rev. W. M. Harvard ; Wm. 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