THE FIRST EAINS — HADDINO 287 



doubt also in ash dust. Volcanic cones and folding mountains of 

 greater height than the present ones, tablelands (future continental 

 platforms) and wide depressions (future oceans), equally void and 

 ash colored. Thus may the earth be pictured before the condensa- 

 tion of water. 



Then the first rains fall. 



Tin: EFFECT OF THE FIRST RAINS 



What a wonderful impression is made on us by that which now 

 takes place! Falling drops hit a ground never touched by water, 

 a ground so hot tliat it has not been able to hold any liquid water. 

 What salts were not to be leached out ! How rapidly could not the 

 rills cut deep grooves in the ash ! Never have the rivers been so 

 full of mud as during this first condensation. Never have depres- 

 sions been so quickly silted up, never have the oceanic basins had 

 such a supply of salts, and never has the circulation of water by 

 condensation and evaporation been greater than in this early period. 



However, if we do not allow ourselves to be wholly carried away 

 by our imagination of this deluge, consideration will teach us that 

 the progress was not as simple as related above. Certainly the 

 condensation did not set in in such haste as my words perhaps 

 implied. It is not even certain that the first condensation took 

 place around the ash particles in the atmosphere. Perhaps the 

 earth's crust did cool more rapidly than the atmosphere, so that 

 the water was deposited in the form of dew. Perhaps it accumu- 

 lated below the surface before it appeared on it. Even if the 

 progress was the last mentioned, the formation of dew and rain 

 may have occurred almost simultaneously, provided we measure the 

 time with geological measures. We may expect an answer also 

 to this question, whether the condensation was longest delayed owing 

 to the high temperature of the earth or to the strong radiations 

 of the sun. The problem is intimately connected with the cooling 

 and shrinkage of the sun on the one hand, and with the gi'owing 

 thickness and reduced emission of heat of the earth's crust on the 

 other hand. 



We leave the initial time of condensation and turn instead to the 

 epoch when the condensation is in progress an^ has already pro- 

 ceeded so far that its geological effects have become perfectly dis- 

 tinct. If it had been possible for us to see the changes effected, we 

 should probably, apart from the appearance of bodies of water, 

 have taken most notice of the redeposition of the loose material 

 which has taken place. Subaquatic sedimentation has begun and 

 has made a magnificent start. 



