CHAPTER II.

ON THE PRIMARY FORMATION OF THE EARTH.

WE may assume that the earth in its primeval form consisted of a cluster of matter or nebulæ, driven out of universal fluidity by the ordinary laws of gravitation, and finally concentrated in an embodied mass, that repulsed the forces of fluidity, and afforded a place of rest to some of the denser and unshapen atoms that had previously floated about in the regions of endless space. Motion and rest are therefore antagonist powers on which organic being greatly depends. An accumulated mass having been driven from the neighbouring parts of the Planetary System, by more active forces, which occupied the free and open regions of infinite space, gravitation fixed and steadied the earth in its orbit on ordinary laws. For as bodies in motion acquire additional force and power of pressure corresponding to their velocity; and as bodies in a state of rest possess no force and pressure except their intrinsic density, so light and active atoms have a necessary tendency to drive inactive atoms into dense and motionless masses. Why a stone falls to the earth, and sparks are

prone to fly upwards, is an exhibition of those opposing forces, according to which solids and fluids may be equally qualified to resist and drive off each other. The former by their density; the latter by the additional force they gain from activity, and the influence which atoms in motion exercise upon each other. Hence unshapen and sluggish atoms are necessarily driven into nuclei or clusters, and acquire a power of resistance according to the aggregate force by which they rest upon and cling to a common state of being; and those powers which are adequate to drive them into dense masses, are equally qualified to fix and steady them in their position eternally, until being is prone to take and preserve order and form.

Thus the solidity of the earth commenced, by its becoming a place of rest to which masses of sluggish atoms were thus driven, fabricated on systematic principles,and cemented together on cohesive laws. Solidity was separated from fluidity, and organic harmony had a beginning. A system so perfect and orderly within itself, though non-sentient, could not spring from chance. Organic form, indeed, implies mental agency and design. Every fact we are acquainted with verifies the inference to which this truth leads. But as we are totally unable to comprehend how mind operates on matter, and to what extent it either is or has been applied to the organisation and preservation of the

universe, so are we bound to accept an obvious conclusion, though unable to penetrate the mysteries by which volition is able to interfere with and regulate physical forces. We observe the planetary system working in perfect order and harmony, and witness the effects produced. Yet first causes are hidden from our view. If we are unable to master the working of lower systems, which we can investigate intimately, how shall we comprehend those which may be equally intricate, and also lay at an immeasurable distance? We may,

therefore, assume that bodies in motion have an inalienable tendency to fall into disorderly courses, and to establish an unmitigated chaos, unless rectified and steadied by overruling omnipotence and intelligence.

As regulated action originated with, and sprang from eternal volition; as physical laws were preserved and combined with that state of rest which the system of the universe discloses in detail, it becomes the province of science to pencil out the progressive changes to which the earth has been subjected in past periods of time. Here we reap the proper elements of Geology, frame a plain alphabet for science to work with, and gain a more intimate acquaintance with dormant truths.

Reconstruction in the configuration of the earth is a leading feature which Geology proposes to describe. The alphabet of science must, therefore, be sought in a sequence of changes. From the

beginning of the earth, and up to the present time, the mobility of matter and a chemical assortment of atoms, have been the ceaseless agents of reconstruction on our globe, in addition to animal industry, decay, and resuscitation. Violence and

say,

chaos have been subdued, and order and harmony have arisen in obedience to Divine commands. Even adverse elements have been converted into economical uses. Unless an admission so requisite be made, philosophy is but an idle dream. When we accept the interposition of the Divine will, however, which we have no evidence to gainand a multiplicity of proofs in verification of,we by no means deny, but confirm the limitation of our researches to strictly physical laws. Though the interference of human intelligence, in directing his busy toils, has changed the very features of our globe, and progressively converted an original wilderness into a smiling land teeming with the nutritive products of the earth, yet the fact by no means withdraws the influence of physical agency, when placed under the direction of the human will. Such distinctions certainly define their due limits. Every act of mind,—and we may well ask how can mind act at all, whilst we know only that it does so,—may be placed in the category of supernatural agency, inasmuch as it controls and imparts a new direction to physical forces. Though working by the help of physics, yet exercising a controlling agency at the same time, an instrument

of power is evinced which interferes with natural laws, and modifies the very face of the land in an industrial country like England. When we detect organic evidences belonging to an inert body such as the earth, which contains no mental system of self-regulation within, and therefore no means of self-organisation, the interference of omnipotent volition is proved so distinctly, that organic being in general is traced to a common origin and cause, which is ever active in the preservation of order and harmony throughout the whole universe. If a non-sentient body exhibits proofs of an organising influence, it would be irrational to deny a similar interference having originally moulded the clay of animated nature, and breathed the breath of life into its nostrils. Neither neglecting these considerations, nor straining them to a mere verbal purpose, in place of distinct ideas, we shall learn how obvious and simple in the economy of the universe true physics are. Geology must be accordingly limited to purely physical results, constantly worked out on omniscient principles.

The earth is composed of two distinct classes of materials. Solid bodies in a state of rest, or having a tendency to such a state; and fluids in the most extended sense, possessing an opposite tendency, or mobility and action. Rest itself, however, is but an exhibition of a universal law, according to which bodies possessing kindred affinities, form, and density, are naturally driven together, and amalgamate