A %. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) k {/ A A Z.:^ L^ '^ z y. ^ 1.0 !?:■- ilM I.I 1.25 1.4 12.0 1.6 % v) ^;. o^/ "1 M <'V^ 7 %' rt? ; iV CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction fare checked below. n Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Colou''ed maps/ Carteu gdographiques en couleur L'institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Certains ddfauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. D D CoSourbd pages/ Pages de couleur Coloured plates/ Planches en couleur Th po of fill Th CO or ap Th fill in! D D Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d^color^es, tachetdes ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serr6 (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure) D D Show through/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes in up bo fol D Additional comments/ Commentaires suppidmentaires Original copy restored and laminated. Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques n Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents n Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manquent D D Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Plates missing/ Oes planches manquent D Maps missing/ Des cartes g^ographiques manquent r~T1 Additional comments/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming. 18 la The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in Iteeping with the filming contract specifications. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^-(meaning CONTINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de I'exemplaire filmd, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de fiimage. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ► signifie "A SU3VRE", le symbole V sigritic* "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: Library of the Public Archives of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clichd sont filmdes d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^chode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ! m^-G^=^' g> THE SOLUTION '■^ -OK THE- GREM'MYSTBfiY; OR, An Explanation of the Cause which Brought a Flood Over the Whole Face of the Terrestrial Globe in one Year. An Explanation of the way the Coal Fields became covered with various sorts of Deposits, including Material for Shale, Sand Rock, &c. PROF, J, WESLEY GEOUTEE. PRICE, 2,5 CENTS. T/iis new scientific dogma is not a hypothetical theory. The conclusions stated in the work are based on absolutely true principles. m IL'oubon, (0nt. : KrKE I'RKSS I'RINTINC, Co. , 1889. w-^ -•-G — ^ w ■ THE SOLUTION OK TIIR GREAT MYSTERY: OR, AN liXPLANATION OF THE CAUSE WHICH HROUCiHT A FLOOD OVER THK. WHOI.K FACE OF THE TERRESTRIAL GLOBE I\ ONE YEAR. ALSO, AN ENTI'RELY NEW EXPLANATION OF THE. FORMATION OF COAL FIELDS. This explanation is not only altogether different from the accepted theories of the present age, l)Ut the scientific gentlemen who have lieard my new theory have admitted that it was the most reasonable one they ever considered. Captain John Smith, H. H. H., ofiicer, a gentleman of superior attainments and abilities, who built the first steamer that sailed on the great McKenzie River, saifl he would not have missed hearing my lecture, which treated on the sub- ject, for $20. Many other gentlemen have expressed very favorable opinions of the lectures. The scientific truths and facts adduced in this work to substantiate the idea of a Deluge, and the Formation of Coal Fields, the principal portion f of which were deposited at the time of it, are honestly admissible by tvery scientist. It is the idea, that there was a general Deluge (instead of a partial Deluge, as taught by Modern Graduates of Colleges), which is new, and tiot the facts used to prove it. If this work had been set in the same size of type and page as Prof. Dawson's work on the " Origin of the World," it would have made 90 pages. Dawson's work comprises 434 pages ; hence, it does not contain five times as much matter as " The .Solution of the Great Mystery.'" The price of Dawson's work was $2 in Montreal. At the same rate, the price of " The Solution of the (ireat Mystery" ought to be 40 cents, but the price is only TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. This price has been fixed for this work in conformity with the custom of charging a higher price for scientific works than for novels of etjual size of book. This work, which gives a demonstrated explanation of a scientific cpiestion, is worth more than another work which gives merely a hypothetical explanation, the truth of which is not absolutely certain. Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty^ nine, by John Wesley Croi.ter, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. One of the objects I had in view in writing this work was to commemorate the memory- of my noble-hearted Father. Abraham Crouter, and my beautiful and affectionate Mother, Maria Crouter. whose spirits, I l>elieve, are now in heaven, and whose worthy example an.l tender care I did not fully appreciate when I was young. J. Wesley Croutrr. Winnipeg, Man., Feb., 1889. I'r/i"} ty- SOLUTION OF THE GREAT MYSTERY. lory tier, and The following (|iK)tations from the Kev. Dr. Talinage's sermon are made from memory. Those who read the sermon will rememlwr them. I have endeavored to re-state the sub- stance of his remarks. Kev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. I)., stated in a "Sermon on the Deluge," that " he believed " in the Biljle ac- count of a general flood, but he said " he could not explain the physical cause that produced it." He said "that the Deluge may have been caused by the tail of a comet, or by changing the atmosphere into water." It need not be surprising that this great theologian is not a great physicist. The usual college course of education, which is regarded as necessary to fit a student for the ministry, does not include a thorough scientific course of study ; nor should it be considered surprising to the scientist, that the Rev. Dr. Talmage could stand up before a Brooklyn audience and make the statement he did, as to the cause of the Noachcan flood, without lowering himself in the estimation of his vast congregation, for, perhaps, not over three in a hundred of his audience understand physi- cal science better than he does. Now any manager of a metropolitan news- pai)er, understands that it would not l)e business for him to allow an adverse criticism of anything that Dr. Talmage has said to appear in the colunms of his paper. Whereas, it would be safe for any editor to take up a cudgel, in the form of a penholder, and, with a pen thereunto attached, chastise the author of this essay in a vigorous manner for his presumptiousness in criticising Dr. Talmage, for he would be countenanced not only by the readers of the paper, but by college profes- sors also, '^ince the author has undertaken to demonsti ■ that some of the popular theories taught by them are founded on hyixjthesis only. Before criticising the opinions as to the cau.se of the Deluge referred to, it will be fair to the Rev. Dr. Talmage, for me to state that I regard hijn as the greatest religious and ethical teacher of the age. I have reatl quite a few of the .sermons delivered by Dr. Talmage. I always become deeply interested in them. His sermons are so full of ethics, pithily ex- pressed in his own original, unique and elo- quent manner, that I seldom t)ecome weary in reading them, which is more than 1 can .say of the sermons of some other noted divines. It I is no dislike to Dr. Talmage, or his method of sernumi/ing, that I have thought fit to criti- cise a couple of his remarks, and the Doctor is not specially to blame for giving them. He might have searched all the books, and he could not have found a better solution of the cause which produced a general deluge than those instancee seen through the tails of them, it is doubtful, even if comets are formed of a(|ueous vapor, if one of them .should leave the whole of its tail on the earth, whether such an adiiition to the water of the earth would make a general flood. One astronomer said, that the materials composing the tail of a comet are so thin that they could be conden.sed and drawn through a finger-ring. .Surely, such an amount of matter composing the tail of a comet coulil not make such an increase in the volume of water on the earth, so as to cover all the mountains, for there would have to be a vertical increase of water from the surface of the oceans upwards to the extent of five miles. Water seeks its level, and some of the moun- tains are five miles high. It was this difficulty, viz., the height of some of the mountains, which doubtless led some of the theologians to accept the hy|X)thesis of a partial deluge, and then to explain the words " flood on the earth," not to mean the whole face of the terrestrial globe, but a valley where the descendants of Adam and Eve lived, and that the mountains sjxiken of in the Bible, simply meant some hill-like elevations of land which the then existing people called mountains. The ministers of a hundred years ago were quite as well versed in Hebrew as those who ] preach at tlic i)rcsent tiint-. The ininistcrs of the eij^hieciith cciilury iindcrslood the rcadiiijj of the 7th chapter of (icncsis to ineati tlu' flooding of the whole earth. The idea, thai only a small area of the earth was populated before the Noachean delude, is not scientihc. From the creati(an race must have vastly multi- plied in numbers, they would migrate far beyond the vicinity of the Ark, the hunters would widen the bounds of their hunting groundsover every part <>f the earth itiey could reach by their means of traveling. According to this scientific fact, there was time eno\igh froni Adam to Noah to j)eople the whole earth with hinnan beings. Hut there must have been an increase of animals also, and it is known that these crea- tures multiply in a greater ratio than human beings ; anil the increase of the numl)er of animals is limited by the .supply of food. It is reasonable that before the flood, that each kind of animal would spread over every part |)osed to he without a tail — this comet in sid tones might havesaid, " () earth, you have a superfluity of water, and I have no tail. \'ou could spare a portion of your a(|ueous covering, and I again could he adorned with a tail, wiierehy I will cease to provoke the humorous remarks of other comets, which have such magnificent caudal appendages. You will become more useful l»y your loss, for Noah and his oflspring, and the living creauiros with him in the ark, will rejoice in the fact that they are again living on the dry earth. " This visionary hypothesis may interest those who have a penchant for imagining speculative explanations, hut it cannot he accepted by sound scientists. There is a f)hysical law which would render it impossible or the eaitii to pait willi a portion of its water by means of a passing comet cominp near enough to the earth to exert an attractivi force sufficient to draw aw: v any of the water of it. A body separated from the earth, and near enough to exert an attractive influence on the earth, would be mutually attracted by the earth ; so that the two bodies > ould be drawn together, and gravity would prevent their separation. This work contains an ex.ianation of a cause sufficient to produce a general flood. The explanation is founded on fact ; hence the fantastical idea that a general flood was caused by a comet may be discarded. Rev. T3r. Talmage, in the same sermon on the Deluge, said that the flood might have been caused by changing the atmosphere into water. Now, every chemist knows that water is a compound o( Hydrogen and Oxygen, and that air is a compound of Nitrogen and Oxygen ; and every chemist and every graduate doctor of medicine knowf that by no known chemi- cal lasv can nitrogen and oxygen, the ele- ments of which air is composed, '>e changed into water. But, even if it were possible to change air into water, there is not enough of it to make water sufficient to sub- merge the mountains. Water changed into hydrogen and oxygen increases in volume a l,ooo times ; hence, a column of this gas one mile square and fifty miles high, would make a volume of water one mile sc|uare and a twentieth of a mile deep. The air is supposcif to extend to the height of forty-five miles from the earth. Now, such an amount of gaseous substances, which .'nvelopes the earth, could not make water enough to cover the hills ris- ing seventeen rods above the level of the ocean. Notwithstanding this scientific principle. Dr. Talmage could risk his reputatie deluged ; but it cannot he tienionstrated that the rotary motion of the earth ever ceased, or even diminished in velocity ; hence it cannot be demonstrated that a general flood was caused by the stoppage of the earth's rotary motion. I^t a jxjint on the e(|uator in South Amer- ica be marked with the letter (', and another p)int marked A on the ecjuator at the antipo- des of it. Then, if the earth should make a quarter revolution from south to north an«en shown that when gravity acts indepen- dently of the centrikigal force, it pulls the heav- iest matter lowest, so that all the earth now covered with waier, after it wa.> matle to occui)y that part of the earth within twenty degrees of the poles, would l)e drawn under- neath the water. It is supposed that there is an open sea at the |H)les of the earth. This sujjposilion is founded on several observations. The natives of the arctic regie in harmony with the hy|iothesis. It may be that the wild fowls which nave been observed Hying northward simply take a short cut across the Arctic zone to the temperate regiims, in the eastern hemis- phere. It is hardly reasonable that wild fowls would remain in a latitude where, lor four months of the year during winter the sun does not shine. The l>est \noof of the hypothesis that the region near the north pole is covered with water, is the scientific principle that gravity prejKinderates over the centrifugal force there. Doubtless, the north jiole is t"ir- rounded with a vast sea, extending a(x>ut twenty degrees in every direction from the pr)le, so that were it not for the ice there, a vessel might sail from the Atlantic Ocean t.> the north pole, and then southward through the Pacific (3cean. The breadth of such a sea from west to east would be vast, for the spread of the body of water extends from east to west, over twenty-five degrees, making the exjianse of such a body 3474 miles from east to west. The expanse of the Ixidy of water at the south pole is fully as wide and long. The existence of .Arctic and Antarctic oceans sur- rounding the poles is evidence that gravity has drawn all the solid matter underneath the sur- face of the water there. At the ^loles there is no centrifugal power to lessen the force of gravity. At a distance of four miles from either pole the circle of the earth is twenty- four miles ; at a distance of four miles from the pole the surface motion of the earth is one mile an hour, for the earth rotates daily ; at a distance of forty miles from the poles the rotary motion is ten miles an hour. Such a slow motion produces only a slight centrifugal tendency, and hence would only interfere but slightly with the law of gravity existing within a few degrees of the poles of the earth. The centrifugal force gradually increases in power from the jxiles towards the equator, 8 where it is greatest, since at the ecjua- ;cr the rotary motion at the surface of the earth is 1041 miles an hour. A partial revo- lution of the earth, which would carry the centre of one of the antediluvian continents t imagine how the iletritus from mountains could foim the soil which covers the vast pampas of Buenos Ayres, when some of them have an altitude of the height of some mountains. It is known thjit there are striated rocks over a large portion of North America and Northern Kuro]ie. If these rocks were grooved by mountain glaciers, the whole vast extent of country where these grooved rocks are formed must have been covered with mountains, except the valleys between them. The leveling of these mountains by detrition would cover the valleys to the dejith of thou- sands of feet. Observation shows that most of the grooved rocks are near the surface of the earth. It is observable that glaciers do not form on mountains less than two or three miles above the level of the sea ; still, the rocks on the sides of many of these mountains are grooved. It was noticed that there was no known atmospheric condition which would cause the earth to cool off, so as to cau.se an ice period in one age, and a reversed condition which would warm up the country in the same latitude, so as to make the climate there a temperate one in a subseied '•y 35" <^f north latitude, and the upheaving of the solid jjortions of such a |)ortion of the arctic regions above the level of the sea. Now, let it be granted, that at some past period the earth made such a partial revolution from north to south, and a reasonable explana- tion of the cause of the grooving in the rocks, can be given. WHAl CAUSED IHE EARTH TO MAKE A PARTIAL REVOLUTION. It is not enough for rpiibblers to have proof enough given them to demonstrate that the earth maile a partial revolution horn south to north in one hemisphere, and from north to south in the opposite hemisphere, but they must know what caused the earth to make such a partial revolution. They are like the men who mifht not accept the state- ment that the Pacific is broader than the Atlantic, unless it also was shown them what made the Pacific ocean broader. I suppose that any scientist would be willing to admit that, if the ice in the antarctic regions should he .so increased in bulk and weight as to over-counterprjise the bulk and weight of that part of the torrid zone which is bulged out by the centrifugal force to the rational horizon from a certain point, and the weight of the ice in the arctic regions greatly lessened ; that the centrifugal force, caused by the orbital motion of the earth, would cause the antarctic regions to swing around, so as to face the sun similarly to what that part of the torrid zone previously did. On the hypothesis that before the deluge the great continents of the earth were located south of the equator, just as the larger portion of the continents are now located north of the equator, and the spread of the oceans north of the equator was co-ecjual to what they are 10 now south of the etjuator, it is inferential that the declination of the south pole would be 47° greater from the sun than it is now, and in that case the north pole would incline 47' nearer the sun than it does now. This will he evident by considering both the northern and southern hemispheres of equal weight. In such a case neither pole would incline from the sun. Now, the south pole inclii.es to the sun 23^", a ! the north pole declires 23/^". This declinaiion of the north pole from the sun is in consequence of the greater weight of the northern hemisjjhere. It has been shown that the centrifugal force acts in proportion to weight. A segment of the earth, delimited from the centre of the earth outward, and bounded by the margin of a continent having its upper limits at the tops of the mountains, is certainly heavier than an equal segment of the earth, delimited from the centre of the earth, of the same configuration, save that its upper limit is at the surface of the ocean. .Surely, rocks are heavier man water. The greater portion of the continents are in the northern hemisphere. The centri- fugal force, caused by the orbital motion of the earth, acts on the greater weight of matter in the northern hemisphere, and hence, throws it 23'/^' farther from the sun than a right angle ; hence, the declination of the north pole is due to the centrifugal force produced by the orbital motion of the earth. If the configuration of the antediluvian con- tinents, and the position of them was such that no currents from theeciuator flowed tothesouth pole or north pole, then the accumulations of ice in these regions would be more exten- sive in area and altitude than at the present frigid regions. It is well known that the rains which fall in certain seasons of the year are not followed by rainbows. The atmospheric conditions of the earth prior to the Noachean deluge may have been such that no rainbows were produced. Now, if in a particular year the thermal condition of the earth should be such that a portion o( the icebergs of the previous north pole shoultl move south to a point near the tropics, and the snow and ice in the south frigid zone should accumulate to a vast extent, the south pole would so verge from its former position as to swing around further towards the equator. This condition of the earth would cause the red-hot matter underneath the crust of the earth in the northern hemisphere to surge against it so as to force the crust upward, and thus upheave it above the surface of the ocean, >vhereby the weight of the northern hemisphere would be increased, and this condition would give the North Pole a continual declination of 23^° from the sun. Ice is lighter in proportion to bulk than water, yet the centrifugal force i)roduced by the ori)ital motion of the earth, as it moves in a great circle, at the rate of a thousand miles a minute, would act on this matter in projwrtion to weight all the same. .Such a vast accumulation of ice and snow in the antarctic regions, which would over-counter- poise that amount of matter at that portion of the ecpiator which makes it more than a sphere there, and which should be estimated from a point at the equator outward to the rational horizon, and then, in a particular nu>nth, the removal of a great jiortion of the ice fr(.)m the arctic regions, would be sufficient to make a condition which would cause a partial revolution of the earth from south to north, and from north to south. A cataclysm would follow such a partial revolution of the earth sufficient to cause the whole earth to be submerged. (Geologists say th?'. cracks occurring in the crust of the earth cause not only earth(juakes, but also tida! waves. The reflow of some of these waves have carried great ships inland to considerable distances, and left them stranded hundreds of feet above sea level. Scientists love to mention these instances. Now, I would like to ask them what would be the etTect on the oceanic waters, if the crust of the earth should be rent in a million places, so thai the fountains of the deep, which run in great rivers Ijetween the fissures of the rocks, should be broken up? Would not a succession of tiilal waves be caused thereby which would overflow the continents ? That there has been a sudden and vast bending of the crust of the earth is proven by the frac- tured rocks. The layers are split in a vertical direction. In some instances the rents are spread apart, and the rocks are rent below the the frost line. It is not easy to imagine how these layers of rocks could be rent in the manner in which they are found to be rent, except (m the hypothesis that the matter underneath the crust of the earth surged against the crust of the earth, and made it undulate like great rolling t^iilows. It has been shown that a partial revolution of the earth from north to south would change the line of action of the centrifugal force, and thereby cause such a surging of the internal matter against the crust of the earth. It wa;^ shown that an accumulation of ice in the antarctic regions would cause such a partial revolution of the earth. I have faith enough to believe that (Jod could cause such an accumulation of ice in the antarctic regions. I know an Atheist does not believe that there is a Ciod, who, in a special way, directs the forces of nature. But 11 every Atheist must \ye a TarUheist, although he may not worship Pan Theos, the deity of the Pantheists. Some of the Atheists believe that there is an inexplicable force which formed everything which exists. It ought to strike ti.ese Atheists thai that must l)e an intelligent force. This has not only made the lily of the valley, and the eye of man to behold it, and the mind to be delighted with its beauty, bui all the varie- ties of plants and animals — the latter class io exhale carlionic acid, after utilizing the elements of which it is composed, for the production of animal heat, and the former class to absorb it from the atmosphere for their nourishment and growth — a force that Christians call Almighty, who i)espangled the arch of heaven with myriads of stars, who set in motion the planet Jupiter, which is esti- mated to l)e 80,000 miles in diameter. Now, when it is considered that tliis planet moves at the rate of nearly a mile a minute as it revolves in a vast circle of 3,110,000,000 (three billions one huntlred and ten millions) of miles,- -when it is considered that such a rapid motion is nearly four times faster than a cannon ball can be maile to move i)y any agency employed by man, is it any wonder that the greatest minds are willing to acknowl- edge this force as the Omniscient and Omnipotent Clod. It is not overstretching a scientific exegesis to state that Ciod so directed the elements that the evaporation of water at the torrid and temperate zones should be commensurate with the means necessary to effect the fulfilment of an ultimate purpose, and that He so directed the wind currents that the vajwrs from the temperate and torrid zones were carried to the antarctic regions and pre- cipitated there, so that in a particular month, and day of a month, there would be such an overpoise of this region, which, through the centrifugal force, would cause it to swing around so as to make it occupy a position at the equator, and by these means bring a flood over the earth. The present arctic circle is at 67° north lati- tude, but in the time previous to the general flood the limit of the ice regions iloubtiess ex- tended many degrees beyond that line. The diameter of the present arctic circle is 3191 miles. The circumference of the ice regions be- fore the flood must have been larger. The ice- grooved rocks extend from the central parts t)f America to the Ural mountains in Europe, so that even if the crust of the earth which forms the basin of the Atlantic Ocean, was split in different places and spread apart, yet the width of a circle embracing the ice regions must have exceeded the present limit of them. It is a well-known fact that a body set in motion acquires a certain momentum. A jjcndulum is made to swing, but at a certain point it stops, and the force of gravity brings It liack. If a continued force is not applied, it will oscillate till it stops. The centrifugal force which caused the prepondering mass at the antarctic regions to move northward wouUl continue to act im it until the force was lessened, which woulosterity could ; re-enter the garden to eat of the fruit thereof. I I need not tell the scientific reader that car- bonic acid nourishes jilants, and the inhalation of it by animals will kill them. The early inhabitants widened the limits of their habitations around Eden, and doubtless, ; to the east and west of it in the former Asia. i Now when this portion of the earth was moved, so as to become the arctic regions, the garden of Eden would be carried north- ward from its general and equatorial position and buried beneath the Arctic Sea, and all the inhabitants of the earth would be drowned and their remains destroyed. All the old continents were buried beneath the V)road expanse of oceanic waters. New continents were upheaved, so that no traces of the ante- diluvian inhabitants can be found in the rocks. The existence in the sides of mountains of fossilized mollusks of a kind which grow only in the sea, is evidence enough that the con- tinents were upheaved. In order that the centrifugal force could act on the depressed portions which for ages were covered with water, it was necessary that these depressed parts should be placed where the centrifugal force was greatest, viz., at or near the ecjuator. Then as new continents were upheaved, the old ones must have sunken. The u])heaving of new continents implies displacement of matter, and no void space could exist near the surface of the earth of the size of continents, as they exist at the present time above the sea level, hence the old continents must have sunk and new ones appeared. There was room for 13 such a sinkage of fhe old rontinents Ijelow the water in the immense spread of the oceans, for they cover three-fifths of the surface of the globe. The centrifugal forcj gives an impul- sion to matter, so as to make it follow a line partially in the direction of the rotary motion of the revolving body. In harmony with this law the impulsive force of the yieUling matter under the crust of the earth would cause it to .surge against the crust in an easterly direction ; then as a continent began to form, a partial obstruction would be formed at the western side of the continent, and there the greatest ranges of mountains would be upheaved. A few years ago an article was inserted in the general press referring to sulimerged conti- nents. In this article it was clainietl that the -signs of a submerged continent could be traced from the American coast to Asia, and from Europe to America. I ditl not borrow my original idea of the cause of a general deluge from this source, for I began to think on this subject and the idea of creation over twenty years ago. It is not an unusual thing for a portion of a community who migrate to a new country to name the new place after the one they had left. Doubtlcs; , the descendants of Noah did this. The old Asia, the principal portion of which was south of the equator, was sunk, and a new Asia, the principal portion of which is north of the equator, was upheaved. The old America was sunk underneath the sea level, and a new America upheaved to the eastward of it. Then the spaces between the continents was made, and the boundaries of the great oceans were tixed. It is easy to imagine that if that portion of the antediluvian Asia, the northern limit of which extended to theTro])ic of Cancer, should be moved 65' north, that it would be moved to a point near the north pole, and if moved further in the same direc- tion it would be moved past the pole; then, as a matter of course, the tropical animals which lived in such a section of country, would be carried along with it. The land would sink by the force of gravity, and the inimals would float or swim at a certain distance below the surface, where they would be frozen in great masses of ice and thus become incased, and hence would be preserved for thousands of years. It is well known that fish in a frozen state will not rot. On no other hypothesis can the existence of elephants preserved in ice in the Asiatic arctic regions be accounted for. Elephants have been found incased in great masses of ice, such as are formed there every winter, as fresh and well preserved as that of an animal which has been kept frozen for several months from the day it was slaughtered. Nov , if the earth gradually turned from south to north, elephants that died in a northern latitude would l)e either eaten by carnivorous animals, or they would be destroyed by the maggots or flies in the following summer ; but if these huge animals were suddenly car- ried by a partial revolution of the earth from south to north, and frozen in the intense cold of an arctic winter, and thus l)ecome incased in great masses of ice, they woulii remain pre- served as long as the ice masses remained intact. Further to the south, where ice melts every sunnner, the bones of tropical animals would be foumi, as they are found in great quantities ; for the flesh of their carcasses was destroyed by just the same means by which animals that die in those countries are des- troyed at the pre.sent period. TROI'H AI. ANIMALS OK PLANTS COlII.r) NOT GROW WHKRE TIIICKE IS THRKE MONTHS* ABSENCE OF SUNI.KiHT IN THE YEAR. The tropical jilants and trees found in the arctic regions in northern Siberia seemed to be fosilized by great age. Their existence there is evidence that they grew in a tropical climate. There are a number of imaginary theorists who have advanced the hypothesis that the surface of the earth during a past age, was incandescent, and that in process of time the arctic and antarctic regions cooled off, so that plants similar to those which grew in tropical countries grew there, but their theory has not the shadow of j.lausible foundation in it. It would seem inferential, if their theory was true, that the section of the earth at the equator not red hot now, was red hot then, like a vast mass of red hot iron. .Surely, that portion of the earth where the sun does not shine for three or four months in the year, and where the cold is greatest, should have cooled off first, and then after it had cooled off a soil would be formed and plants begin to grow. Then, as these theorists sup- pose, some of the plants became highly organ- ized, like sensitive plants. Then, by a gradual evolution, or rather a change in their organical structure, a change inexplicable io then, they l)elieve, or attect to believe, that some of the highly organized plants changed into animals. Of course these plants had to reverse their mode of getting nourishment, though it is ditlicult to imagine what special force caused such a change in their organical nature. It is known that animals exhale carbonic acid after it has been utilized in them for the production of animal heat. No animal can live in car- bonic acid. Animals cannot utilize this sub- stance either for nourishinent or for resjiira- lion ; but plants have an opj-K«ite nature. The leaves of plants are. organized .so as to fit theni 14 for absorhinj; carbonic acid, and ihrouKli the action of the siinli^jht, of separating the car- l)on (which is one of the comjmnent parts of the acid) from the oxygen (which is the other part) the plant retaining tlie carlion for its nourisliment, and eliminating the oxygen, which is again utilized by the animals ; so that i)lants may be known from animals by this dirt'erence in their way of getting nourish- ment. For all that, these imaginary theorists believe that in process of many millions of years, plants were changed into animals, and that the larger animals were evolved from these. They teach the idea that the arctic and antarctic regions l)ecame colder, and the zone further south cooled off, so as to become only of tropical heat. Inferentially, the beasts adapted to live only in a tropical climate, must have migrated southward, just as wild geese do every winter to the more genial southern climate ; and some of the elephants, l)eing heedless of the approaching winter, might have remained, according to their fantastical hypothesis, and become frozen. I can imagine that these visionary theorists could account for the existence of elephants in the arctic regions on this sort of a guess, hut a novice in scien- tific criticism, with a little reflection, could easily see the absurdity of such a theory. Surely, if the cooling of the earth was so gradual that it re(|uired the lapse >'f centuries to make a perceptible change in the tempera- ture of the arctic region, no animal would remain intact after it was dead until it became frozen. Now, elephants are found where the temperature of the climate varies but little all the year round. It is r'ifficult to imagine how such huge beasts could get the food they require in a section of the world where in winter the sun does not shine for three months in the year, as is the case in the interior of the arctic regions, and this was the case from the time animals first existed on the earth. REKERENCn TO NKW THEORY OF CREATION. In my essay on Creation I have shown that the earth was formed so as to be red hot from the center to the crust, and that the crust was added, so that no cooling off process was neces- sary for the growth and existence of animals or flants, or the existence of men on the earth, have shown that the cooling off process of the earth and sun is nothing but a pet hobby of those who reasoned from analogy, and that it has no other foundation to rest on than the fancy of those who promulgated or endorsed it. Would t not seem unreasonable for a man to state in one breath, that there was a gradual cooling of the earth, so that it required hun- dreds of millions of years to reduce the tem- perature of the earth so *hat animals could hve on it ; and then in the next breath, state that there was a sudden cooling of the country having a tropical climate, whereby such huge beasts as elephants became frozen in great masses of ic«. Learned men get into the learning groove. Learning does not seem to re(|uire the use of the inventive faculties. Through desue- tude these faculties become too weak to originate new ideas. It is no greater wonder to me that professors of colleges have been unable to explain a cause sufficient to produce even a partial deluge, than that men who have not learned a trade invent things that they cannot make themselves, but which require the skill of a master mechanic to construct. It no more a wonder to me that learned men have failed to fmd an explanation of the original cause of the light of the stars and the sun, than that thousands of skilled electricians failed to invent a practical electric light until Edison invented it. My essay on the cause of the light of the sun, showing that it is repro- ductive, is a sufficient explanation of the way that the stars are rendered luminous. WHY PHtl-OSOPHERS AND INVENTORS ARE APT TO HE r{X)R. Nearly all the greatest inventions of the nineteenth century were made by men who for the greater part of thnr lives, lived in poverty and obscurity. The reason why men possessing the greatest power to invent or to originate new philosophical ideas are apt to be poor, is that the quality of mind which fits one to invent, unfits him to devote that amount of attentionto wealth-making or the attainment of popularity necessary to secure either. In- ferentially, the philosopher who fails to gain wealth is not so happy as most other healthy men. His organization is fine ; he is sensi- tive; he must deny himself the comforts of life, while he thinks that the new ideas he promul- gates ought to secure him a comfortable living; and because he fails in this he is apt to rail at the selfishness of mankind, whereas man- kind has a large element of generosity ; but men of lesser intellectual abilities fail to see any reason why they should help those who have the greater intellectual powers, except in the usual business way. Unfortunately for the original philosopher, there are too few who care for philosophical works. Ninety-nine per cent, of the readers of modern books are readers of fiction, and the reading taste of the people in previous centuries was no better. This ought to be regretted by a generous people, for biographical history records many instances of men who lived and died i.i poverty, yet whose works made the world wiser. The children of the men who lived contemporane- ously with those philosophers were benefited. 16 Init they could not re|)ay the l>cnelit, for the philosophers were dearl. The |H.'ople arc gener- ous ii) the patronage they bestow on the man who writes fictitious stories, in which the stronger passions of man arc vividly portrayed ; and they would be co-ewing streams to their conflu- ences with other streams, or to lakes where they emjity. Net how could coal fields Ik." formed ol the thickness in which they are known to e.xist, with such a little pro|Kirtion of sand and clay, as is found in co.d ? And then it is difficult to imagine how a dejiosil of leaves sufficient to make a seam of coal, five or six feet thick, and a score of miles in length, and miles in breadth, could lie formed at the mouths of rivers having a width of less than a quarter of a mile, and then covered with hun- dreds of feet of different kinils of rocks ; and then after another lapse of time there could lie another deposit of leaves, and another deposit of rock. Is it not strange that men who have made great books on geology, did not lake into considerati(m the fact that but few great rivers enter the sea having rapids or waterfalls at their mout , iind still fewer streams having falls at thtii confluences? Vet a little reflec- tion would convince an ordinary thinker that a deposit of leaves sufficient when pressed into coal to make a seam six or ten feet thick, and then afterwards covered up with a deposit of sand several hundreds of feet thick, would make a dam which would deflect any river from its course, so that no second dejxisit could be formed on the top of a first one. But in the coal measures as many as twenty- three different layers of coal are found situated al)ove each other, though separated by strata of difTerent kinds of rock. Then, again, it is difficult to imagine how the detritus, which is carried by drainage in the streams, and which forms the alluvial dei.X)sits, should be very different from time to time, so as to furnish materials for the formation of shale at one time, ani- increaiicil in caHc of n (NmhI, liut the detritus ihat would Ik; washed into a certain stream at one lime woulrj Ik." similar to the detritus thai would l>e washed into it un a previous time ; hence it is impossible, according tu any known o* tervaliuns, lo conceive how any deposit of leaves that mi({ht |X)ssilily accumu- late at the mouths of streams could be covered, as coal tields are "iiiown to l)e covered, with diflcrent layers of rocks. Hut there is still another fact in opiHisition to the theory, that ci)al lields were formed by the accumula- tion ot leaves in the streams or at the mouths of them ; and this fact is, that heat is necessary to transform vegetable fibre into coal. I'he tenjperaturi- at the mouths of the streams which would permit trees to i;row, would not Ije sufiicient to transform trees and leaves into solid blocks of coal. According to some other geologists, who have a great deal more of fanciful imagination than ability for ])hilosojihical thought, have advanced the idea that peat, through the lapse of many ages, has been changed into coal beds. These geol sts reason from analogy, and not from deductions Com- parisons may l)e used for illustration, but the conclusions drawn from tliem are fre- <|uently incorrect. For centuries the peat from the bogs in Ireland and other countries has l)een u> 'd for fuel. A great observer and analogical reasoner is asked to explain the origin of coal fields. He begins to reason from his observations analogically in this way : — Peat burns with a slow, steady flame. Soft coal and charcoal burn in a similar way. Charcoal is made of wood. All these suli- stances contain nearly the same elements. Peat bogs have the constituent elements of vegetables. They arc scattered here and there over the earth. The coal measures are similarly distributed, liiferevce .-The coal measures were originally i)eat bogs. This inference seems plausible enough. But the theory of the formation of coal measures, through the conversion of peat into anthracite and bituminous coal, has no grounds except pure imagination. True, it is an explana- tion, though it is just such an explanation that a boy who has a knowledge of sc'jnce might fancy. Hugh Miller, who it seems was more of an observer than a deduc- tive philosopher, gives descriptions of the flora which formed the coal measures. I mention the name of Hugh Miller with pleasure, for he was one of the self-made men who, enriched the world with the books he made. This remarkable man gave the most minute descriptions of various sorts of leaves and trees found in blocks of coal. .Surely the outlines of iIm* leaves of plai.ts found in the (lakes of coal he examined must have lieen somewhat distinct, or he could not have descriU'd them. Now, as but few or no traces of the outline of distinct and intact leaves can l>e fou^d in peat, and .as the accumulations could not, from natural causes, Iwcome covered with v,\rious formations of stratiticil rocks, even if it could not In- shown that on no other hypothesis coal fields coidd be formed, it is not evident that coal fiehls were formed by the c«)nversion of peal into coal. Peat bogs are formed at the surface of the earth, while coal beds are buried underneath thick layers of rocks. The (I'lestion is perti nent to the consideration of the theory of coal formations : How did the great layers of sand rock, in some places a thousand feet thick, become deposited on |)eat bogs? Peat bogs do not an|>ear lo have been formed by rivers running into them. There are ten of these peat bogs, or muskegs, as they are termed in the North-West , to a single streamlet in this country, and then muskegs are found near the heights of land. It is as difficult to imagine how sand cotdd be carried up grade by streams to cover said l)ogs, as to imagine how in the northern part of the north temperate zone there would be heat enough to change such l)eat into coal, after the country had become cool enough for plants to grow. Hut the geologists say that the earth was once red hot throughout, and it had to cool off; and after it cooled ofT, then the plants grew. Surely these geologists ought to know that plants grow above ground, their roots, not their leaves, ])enetrating beneath it. Now, if as they might suppose the trees and plants grew most luxuriantly, it is inferential that the leaves of deciduous trees, n;id the trunks of dead trees, would fiill to the ground ; but it is known that insects bore holes in dead trees, by means of which their destruction is hast- ened. Kre an amount of vegetable matter could form, through the falling of leaves and trees, to form a layer of coal an inch thick, all the trees and leaves would rot and be con- verted into vegetable mould. It is certainly very evident that coal tields could not l)e formed in this way, besides it would puzzle the ablest geologist in the world to show how this vegetable matter could be covered up in such a country as England to the depth the coal tields there are known to be covered. THE WAY THE COAl, MEASURES WERE FORMED. It has 1)een shown in this work that a general flood was caused through the sinkage of the continents and islands which composed „ 19 the earth prcviouH to it, niul thai new cun- tineiUs were uphfaved, and thnt thJH cataclysm was caiisfd liy a change in the position of the |V)ints ol (he tarth which wt-rr the previous poles, so that they ln-canie (le|iresse(l points at the e(|ualor, and that llii- cer\trifugal force then acted on the depressed parts, which were covered with water, and upheaved them. .Such a cataclysm would result from this wjpression and upheaval of continents, and would cause the uprooting of nearly all the trees which, at that time, Ciivcreresent n^e in some of the tropical parts of the earth. The coal fields contain the fossils of many other kinds of leaves. Heavy kinds of wood, such as lifjnum-vitiv, mahogany, &c., would sink to a jjreat depth. Other kinds of hardwood, .such as oak, maple, i^vc, would swim at a less distance below the surface ; and the lighter kind.s of wood, such as pine, cedar, &c., would swim for a time at the surface of the water. Ohservalion proves that even these kinds of wotxl will sink after they become water-soaked. It is thought that the pressure of the water obove a certain point on the water l)elow it, will render tlie latter so dense, that certain substances a little heavier t in water, at the surface, will not sink to the Imttom where the water is over eight miles deep ; hence, it is in- ferable that the heavier kinds of trees which were at the time of the flood swimming in the ocean, did not .sink to the bottom where the water was over ten miles deep. Then, again, the heaviest trees would have to become water- soakeil before they sank to the lowest point possible for them tosink. It has been stated that these trees would accumulate in great jams, through the action of the counter currents, and it is reasonable to conclude that some of these jams would Ix; many miles long, and broad, and of great thickness. The leaves swimming in the flood would be drawn through interstices in the jams, and fill them. These leaves would be arranged in every possible angle, just as they are found in coal. A little sand and day would be intermixed with the leaves, and the whole would become an im- pactetl mass which would move to and fro according to the flowage of the undercurrents. The number and magnitude of these accum- ulations of leaves and trees must have l>een in proportion to the forest growth of the ante- diluvian era and the sparseness of the popula- tion. The observations of geologists show that the growth of the flora in primitive agei was on a .scale immensely greater than the growth of the lh)ra of the tem|K'rate regions of the present era, and nearly all of this luxuriant vegetation was gathcre portions of the gunwale front their ti.rtmg fastenings. The force of the currents would drive the swinnning trees so as to bring the trunks of trees close together, making tiers of frees, so that thousands would be piled on each other. The tops of trees would interlace, their limlis bent and twisted into inextricable masses like tangled nets, and the leaves ci trees would fdl all the spaces. The flood lasted nearly a year, so there was time enough for all the trees and a vast proportion of the leaves to l>e gathered in immense masses. It is the ten- dency if water to flow to the lower levels, and as water would carry with it the huge masses of impacted trees, they would sink into various dej)ressi(ms ; but most of these de- pressions ultimately became elevated al)ove the level of the sea. It may not seem i)r4)per to speak of all the water which formed the general flood as a number of waters, but the jilural form of the word is in harmony with my idea. A lake or certain current of water contains the idea of a single body of water. At the time of the flood, the various bodies of water were merged into one vast lK)dy which surrounded the whole earth, yet it consisted of vast numbers of distinct currents. It has been .shown that when the previous poles and surrounding parts were swung around, so as to occupy positions at what became a new ecpiator, that two points on said e(|uator would l>e each of them depressed thirteen miles, and that the depressions would \k' gradually less from each of the .said i)oints outward to the rational horizon from them. Then, as watei seeks the lower level, it would rush to these depressed points from the north, south, east and west. The flowage to thes» parts would continue until the equatorial di- ameter of the earth again became equal, or nearly so, all around it. Water is a liquid, and it readily and easily yields to the force exerted on it. The centrifugal force would give the waters a great imjndsion to the de- pressed parts. The flowage would l)e very rapid, and it would carry the debris and detritus along with it. But new continents 20 must l)e upheaved extending from ihe ertions of the depressed parts thai were upheaved. It has been slated that the tendency of water is to flow toward the lower level ; then the water from the surrounding parts would flow towards the (lepressoove the surface of the ocean, there was a time at the flood when the water was from fifteen ti; eighteen miles deep over them. This is not difficult to understand. When the poles were shifted they were depressed thirteen miles, more than I two other i)oints midway Ixttween them. Water cjuickly rushed to the dej>res.sed parts and filled them up so that the water there would be eighteen miles deep in places. Doubtless some of the heaviest kinds of weeds would sink nearly to the boftom of these great depths. Water in the ocean like air above it l)ecomes almost quiet; then, anon, when acted on by certain causes, it moves with violence. Precipitation in water takes place when the water is in a con.jiarative state of rest, then fine sand and clay will sink to the Ijotlom. If the water contains infusoria, these would descend along with the sand uP i clay. The force necessary to upheave the continents would produce a great heat, sufficient to transform the vegetable materials into coal, but this heat would be developed i^radually as the upheaving was gradui:l. The infusoria entrapped with the precipitation of argillaceous materials would work their way upwards and form films before the argillaceous materials hardened. The rapidity with which the materials for the formation of shale accumu- lated, might be inferred from the precipi- tation of snow on a calm day, when a foot in dejnh is precipitated, and twice that cpiantity is precipitated in some instances. In the case of the deposit of clay and sand, the precipitation would be several times greater than the precipitation of snow, for the swift flowing currents, betbre they came to a state of rest, would uplift from what was the previous earth, all the clay and sand which covered the rocks, so that the waters of the ocean would be turbid with these substances, (ieological wi iters have staled that clay and sand has been carriey another mass of trees swimming over it woidd be drawn to the place and lodged there, to be covered in the same way, and with the same kind of materials which covered the first deposit, though a change of currents might make the arrangement of detritus dilVerent. .Again, the accumulation of trees wouhi be greater in one part of the flood than in another, but they would be found in both hemispheres, because the waters flowed to both of the ilepressed parts which were upheaved. During the dei)osit of the drifts and coal formati(ms the continents would be slowly rising at the rate of fronj one to two miles a month, for some portions of the continent would have to be upheaved twenty-three miles, and other parts to a less itistance. It was shown that the most depressed portion was about eighteen miles deep, and some of the mountains are five miles high ; and eighteen plus five are twenty-three ; but the upheavir.g would be at a certain ratio, according to depression and the weight of the matter to be upneaved. It has been shown that the centrifugal force upheaves matter according to density, there- fore it tloes not follow that the highest part of a continent should be in the centre of it. It is necessary also to consider, not only, that the nmtinents were upheaved, hut also the lx)ttom of the ocean in each hemisphere, and the water in the ne of the depressed parts upheaved lieing in the eastern hemisphere, and the other in the western hemisphere ; but both parts were upheaved into continents. On the hypothesis that there is a difference in the density of water at various depths, it is reasonable that the lighter kinds of wood, such as pine and cedar, would not sink so «leep as oak or maple. The heaviest kinds of wood, such as mahogunyor lignum-vitne, would sink to the greatest (lejiths, and these sorts of wood would form the deep layers of anthracite coal, the combustion of which is so pleasing to- aristocratic persons while it is Wing con- sumed in the artistic base-burning stoves. As the pressure on these lower formations would l)e greatest, the heat formed by the grad- ual concU'isation of the mass an(l its closer proximity to the heated matter under the crust would convert the mass of trees and leaves into pul|i. The enormous pressure that would >c exerted on flie mass to upheave it would convert it into a compact solid. The lighter kinds of wood which swam at a less depth than the harder kinds of wood would not lind lodgment until the continent was upheaved, so that the waters above it would not be over four or five miles deeji. Clay sinks last in agitated waters. Some of the higher di |iosits of coal would be covered only with argillace- ous substances, but these coals would be quite soft, and the shale which might cover them would be filled with the remains of infusoria, and very minute mollusks, so that after the hardened shale was ex|)oscil to the action of air it would crumble to dust ; just as the bones of animals are known to da after they have been buried for many years. Doubtless, there were pitch-pine trees in the antediluvean ages, just as there are pine trees in the postdiluvean time. The leaves of these trees are not deciduous P'ish love to gather around islands where the water is not deep ; but at the time of the flood there were no islands, so, inferentially, various sorts of fish gathered into the recesses of the masses of jiitch-pine trees, which swam to a slight dis- tance below the surface, l)eft)re the interstices of thein became filled with other leaves. Last summer, at a place called Kurnt River, Ont., I was watching lumbermen driving pine logs in the stream, or rather an artificial chan- nel, from the lake to the saw-mill. Every now and then some one of the men would s|iear a c?og fish with his pike. It seemed that these fish in large numlx-rs had taken a liking to the cover which these logs had made. I was doubly pleased to see the men kill these lish, for two reasons. First, it pleased me to see the men pleased. I had found that the men who worked at this mill wore not only the most intelligent mill-men I hail met with, but they were a jolly set of good-natured fel- lows as well ; and then the fish they killed were not only regarded a.s unfit for food, but they preyed on edible sorts of fish. Doubtless, eels in vastnumliers found resting- place in the pitch-pine recesses of trees, which they would do for this reason, viz., to eat the little fish that would seek the protection that the linibs of the trees afforded them. Now, it is not difficult to imagine, that a mass of 28 pitch-pine trees, the interslir«'s of which were to a great extent filletl with oily fish, would l)e the very thinjj \Nhen incased l)etwcen two layers of rocks and lieated so as to reduce the whole mass to a pulp, anorli(jn which now com- lM)ses the northern hemis|)hcre, and would up- heave it, so that the larger continents arc now- found in it. Now, as a secpience, the northern hemisphere became the heivier ; then the centrifugal force, caused by the orbital motion of the earth, would force the new north pole further away from the sun, so as to make it stand at an angle of 23^° from the sun. It was shown that as the striated or groovetl rocks are found in the eastern and northern part of North America, and in Europe from 43' north latitude, northward, that the ante- diluvean point of the earth, which was then the north pd' moved south and settled at a ]xiint in tlic North Atlantic ocean. And it was also shown that the upheaval of the continents must have caused the crust of the earth to sjilit and spread in places from east to west, because the surging of the internal mat- ter against the crust of the earth, would give the matter an imindsion in that direction. It was shown that it was reasonable to conclude that the basin which now forms the l)ottoni of the .\tlanfic ocean was spread, since the dis- tance frciii the eastern limit of the striated rocks in Kurope to the western limit of them in .America, was further than the limit of the antediluvean frigid zone. It was shown that the continent up to the tops of the mountains contains the fossil remains of sea moUusks and fish, and that the drift of the continents con- tains in it at various depths ; le bones of huge and smrdler land animals, timber and sand, and giAvel beaches ; and these facts were evidences that these continents were covered with water for long ages. And it was also shown that the upheaval of these continents must have been contemporaneous with the sinkage of land of co-e(jual elevation. It was shown that the coal fields must have been formed during a flood, and that this florxl was caused by the partial revolution of the earth from south to north on one side, and from north to south on the other side. It was shown that this partial revolution was not g.adual, since the remains f)f tropical animals are found intact in immense icebergs north of .Siberia Nor woulil a gradual turning of the earth from south to north account for the im- mense Ixmlders that seem to have been car- ried by ice to high elevations and de sited there, for if the turning of the nortli pole southwards had been gradual, the icebergs (which are known to carry immense boulders) would have struck against the coasts, and would have melted there. Then, again, that neither the eocene, miocene, or plio- cene strata of rocks contain the fossil re- mains of human beings, for the sufficient reason that these beings mainly subsist on land, as doubtless the great majority of them did in the antediluvean eras ; but fish and shells lived in 24 ihc M-a aiul Ijicixiiu' ciilrappcil in iho inaiorial.s /or iheformalioixil llic ilineront siiala of rocks, ami ihesc rorks were upheaved, arnl the old or aniedihivcan rorks and continenis were sunk under certain jMirlions of the spread of water which even now covers thiee-tiflhs of the surface of the enrtli. This chain of evirien'X's of a general flood i:; unbroken, hence the conclusion is inevitable, that a Hood, oorrespondinjj with the account given in the 7th chapter of Cienesis, covered the whole earth. Herbert S|>encor says, "that it is ini- possilile for man to think of the whole earth at the same tim*." Let the reader try to think of several places at once, and he will have some idea of the difticult task the author of this essay has hatl. if some critical grani- mariaii finds a misplaced word, let him reflect how dithcult the task of writing the explana- tions given in this work are, and grammatical ai uracy in com|K)sition at the same time. Didy a moiety of the work was copied ; ai)il even in that portion I have haefore the floixl might not have been as numerous as they are in the present era ? It may not Ix? pi>ssible for a s|H?cies to pro- er of varieties. The varieties of dogs are almost indescriljable ; yet it is probable that the canine varieties had '.heir origin in the genus ( (.v/A, or wild wolf. Ilic l)o\ infs)K'cie» has numy varieties, but all oi llicni may have had their origin in the bovine genus Hos I'hIhiIus. 'I'he genus C'gfTits has many varieties, such as the fallow-deer, whapite moose ; but they may have had their origin in one or two species. The same law may hold true with the different varieties of the feline siH-'cies. A species may, through clintalic changes and other causes, become several varieties ; but birds cannot 'hange into monkeys, anarks, and electric sparks will ignite hydrogen, and hydrogen when supjioried by oxygen will burn with a flame, and steam will l)e the result from the union. ('arUm and lime was present in the gases, for they are in the earth. Carlxjn and lime in a flame produced by burning hy.lrogen produces the most brilliant light. But the flame produced by burning hydrogen is intensely hot ; all the metallic particles of the unformed earth existing in such flame would be rendered reil hot or incandescent, and then if conglomerated in this condition would make a red hot earth of nearly eight thousand miles in diameter. Much of the non-gaseous substances would combine with the steam and lx)th would have to cool off before they condensed to vapor, so that drops of water could be formed. These drops would unite geometrically, anil then drawn by gravity to the earth would cover up the red hot earth with non-healed materials, so that men and beasts could walk on it un- harmed as soon as the dry land was made to appear. In my essay on Creation, I have shown that the whole earth was covered with water before it began to rotate. I have also explained the cause of its rotary motion, but I trace all causes back to the first great cause of all things, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them. A collection of facts relating to earthquake& and volcanoes would form a branch of science. At present more is known of the phenomena of earthquakes and volcanoes than the cause 29 of them. DouhtlcHs, volcanoes have iheir incipient cauKe in inlcrnnl fires. Ashes are emitted from the craters of volcanoes. Ashes are formed hy the burning of graphite and coal, and other substances. It seems un- reasonable that the internal matter under the crust of the earth could be concentrated in a particular locality, so as to cause a volcano in that locality ; but the combustion of graphite, or very solid coal, existing at a depth of a mile below the surface of the earth, would in time form a superheated cavern There are fissures which convey water from the deep l)elow the surface of the earth to elevatetl points. Some of the fissures convey boiling water high up in the mountain losses. It is reasonable that through certain causes, and in certain instances, the water has ceased to How through some of the fissures ; then, being open alwive, atmospheric pressure would force air down through them. Now, all that would be necessary to cause a com- bustion of a deep formation of carbon or sulphur, would be a current of electricity, which would be intercejifefl by the graphite or sulphur, and, thus, igniting the coal or sul- phur. The supply of air, in conjunction with the current of electricity, would cause the com- bustion of the graphite or sulphur. Then a superheated cavern would be formed. In process of time a fissure with water would be broachertunity to read it again, etc. S. L. TILLEY. To J, fV. Crouter, Esq. .Surely, a letter worthy of re-perusal, i» worthy of attention. The letter of which the following is a copy ought to be con.sidered as more than an expression of an act of courtesy : [Copy.] Ottawa, 26th March, 1888. Dkar Sir:— I am directed by Sir John Macdonald to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 22nd March, 1888, on the subject of the Inland Fisheries of the Dominion, and to say that he has transferred the same to the Minister oi Marine and Fisheries, with the recjuest that he will give your remarks his best consideration. I cm, dear sir, yours truly. JOSKl'll I'Ol'E. To J. IV, Crouler, Esq. Surely, remarks which the most capable statesman in Canada deemet" worthy of the consideration of another cabinet minister, should be considered worthy of the attention of a college professor. It is not fnmi a spirit of ostentation that I have had the letters from statesmen inserted in this pami)hlet, but for the following reason: During the last five years I have claimed that I had new theories on Crc.ition and the Deluge, which are in harmony with the literal reading of the Bible account. I have stated to many persons that I had these new scientific theories. I havi fre- ixmcd to dwell, and did not cover the whole ace of the terrestrial earth or giotw, they ought to lose the high esteem in which they are helil. No, no ; I cannot think that any theological professronounce