120 Esmark on the Geological Historic qftJie Earth. 



On this rock there seemed to me proofs of the powerful 

 operation of ice. I found that the precipices on the side of 

 the mountain next the Sound were several feet in height, and 

 perfectly perpendicular ; and though they were composed, as I 

 have mentioned, of boulders cemented together, they were per- 

 fectly even and smooth. If these precipices had been the effect 

 of rents, attended with successive masses tumbling down, then the 

 boulders'adjoining the rent must have been found adhering some- 

 times to the one and sometimes to the other of the separated 

 masses, (those which have fallen into the sea are no more to be 

 seen) ; and, in that case, the boulders left in one mass must have 

 left a mark of itself in the corresponding one. This, however, 

 was by no means the case, as the rock which remained was per- 

 fectly smooth, and had the appearance as if these boulders had 

 been cut across by a sharp knife. I can explain this phenome- 

 non in no other way than by supposing, that large masses of ice 

 pressing through the Sound, have cut these precipices lying pa- 

 rallel to the direction of the Sound. 



I could give other proofs of the conclusion I have sought here 

 to establish, but, to persons capable of judging of the matter, I 

 consider these as sufficient. 



The result of what I have said I may state in the following 

 particulars. 



1. That, in the beginning, the earth existed in a fluid state. 



2. That, during the long period it required to assume its pro- 

 per composition and form, it has alternately been, at one time, 

 at such a distance from the sun, that all the water upon it must 

 have necessarily been converted into ice ; at another so near it, 

 that not only the solid earth and minerals underwent a change, 

 but also the fluid substance which held them in solution was de- 

 compounded and changed. How deep these changes went into 

 the body of the earth we have yet no means of ascertaining. By 

 comparing the phenomena of burning volcanoes with the combus- 

 tion of the metalloids, kalium, natrium, silicium, calcicum, we 

 may conclude, that, deep in the bowels of the earth, there is to 

 be found a multitude of specific metalloids, the combustion of 

 which is the cause of the eruptions of volcanoes. 



3. That organisation did not begin till this long period was 



