825.] On the Climate of the Antediluvian World. 207 



Article VII. 



On the Climate of the Antediluvian World, and its Independence 

 of Solar Ivjiuence; and on the Formation of Granite. By Sir 

 Alexander Crichton, Knight, St. W. FRS. &c. 



{Coticludfd frum p. lOS.) 



Having endeavoured to prove, in the first part of this essay, 

 that the laws of vitality, especially those to which the life of 

 vegetables is subjected, afford an almost certain rule forjudging 

 of temperature ; and having shown by the character of the fossil 

 remains of the earliest plants of which we have any knowledge, 

 that an uniformly high temperature exerted its influence over 

 every part of the globe where they are found, I passed to the 

 consideration of other geological facts, all of which are connected 

 with the same subject, such as the similarity of the fossil 

 remains in the transition and mountain limestone, and the dif- 

 ferent temperature of hot springs according to their respective 

 depths, and the heat of waters which issue from rocks in deep 

 mines. From all these facts, the conclusion appears to be ine- 

 vitable, that in the very early periods of time, the heat of the 

 earth was greater and more uniformly diffused, than can be 

 accounted for by solar influence. 



The analogy between crystalline substances (which we know 

 to be of igneous origin) and granite, and the recent discoveries 

 of Mr. Mitcherlich, were added as strong arguments in support 

 of the doctrine. As chemical science has now opened a road 

 by which we may account in a natural manner for the formation 

 of granite, and also for the high temperature which resulted 

 from its immediate production, we need not have recourse to 

 any overstrained conjecture to account for the fact, such as the 

 notion of a great and unaccountable change in the direction of 

 the earth's axis, an idea which is totally unsupported by analogy 

 or reason. 



It is not possible for the imagination to conceive a state of 

 chaos and disorder and of intense heat, like that which must 

 have happened during the rapid ignition and oxidation of the 

 metallic nucleus. Whether granite be the stratum of oxidized 

 metals nearest the nucleus is very doubtful. From the exami- 

 nation of many collections of volcanic ejections, I am much 

 inclined to think that some micaceous beds lie under granite.* 



* The varieties of natural mineral compounds which assume the crystalline fonn of 

 mica are numerous. If we except tliose compound substances which assume the form 

 of garnets, there are none so diversified in their chemical constitution, and therefore 

 there may exist micaceous forms under granite whicli differ from those that belong to it, 

 or which lie over it, or are connected with other rocks. Masses of purely micaceous 

 rocks appear to have been ejected from Vesuvius on its first bursting forth at the same 

 time that ]>iecM of granite were also thrown out. 



