58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



continues in the most perfectly equipped laboratories that man can devise 

 and the Avorld is confidently expecting the report of other great discoveries 

 in electricity. 



Many physicists have been studying acoustics and the laws of harmony 

 have been reA'ealed. The photographing of sound waves has been accom- 

 plished by Prof. P'oley and others. The invention of the phonograph by 

 Edison was the result of the study of the principles of acoustics. 



Other physicists have been interested in finding the nature of matter 

 itself. 



IV. Geology. 



Geology is a young science. Many facts have been described since the 

 dawn of history. Many volumes had been written on the subject, but it 

 was not a science as that term is understood today. It is really a present 

 century science. Not until the last century had nearly closefl had any one 

 thought of tlie earth as having been evolved through the ages. The most 

 learned thought the earth had been formed instantly about (),000 years ago. 

 It, however, dawned u]Km James Hut ton near the close of the last century 

 that the earth really had had a history. How t(j read and interpret this 

 history was the ne.xt question to settle. Some indu(ftive mt^tliod needed to 

 be found. The basis was laid by Hutton as early as 1795 but Charles Lyell 

 in 1880 clearly set forth the method. He showed that the earth structures 

 had been formed by the processes now in operation. With this method it 

 was easy to explain most of the varied formations. 



About the beginning of the century, two fundamental geological t rut lis 

 were outlined. Otu>, that of stratigraphy, by William Stnitii in 1815, and the 

 other ])alaeon1ology by Cuvier in 1808. With such foundations, they were 

 now ready lo make some progress in interpreting the history of the earth. 



The a(l\ances made in the geological interpretation of the history of the 

 earth during the present century may be conveniently considered under 

 three divisions, viz, catastrophism, uniformitarianism and evolutionism. 



In the early part of the ce-ntury, the dominant thought was that the greut 

 changes in the earth as an inorganic body and in the organic ])art were due 

 to great catastrophes in which the ocean ])ottom would rise and cause the 

 waters to fiood the lands thus destroying all life. Things would then quiet 

 down, new organisms would be created by special act of God and a new geolog- 

 ical regime would be started. The catastrophe was supposed to be super- 

 natural and the quiet period natural. Species of animals and plants were 

 regarded as immutable. When these ran their courses they were destroyed 

 and new ones formed. 



Lyell opposed this view and insisted that tlie processes now in operation 

 nuist be considered in action in the same way in the past and that there was 

 thus a uniform and gradual advance froin the earliest times lo (he j)resenl 

 geological (■(indil ions. This was tlic doctrine of unirorniitari;iiiism. 



