i 



RELATIVE GEOLOGICAL ANTIQUITY OF TREES. 141 



tion to their several locations was erroneously attributed to the 

 Noachian deluge, which name they nevertheless still retain, 

 although it is now certain that they have been conveyed 

 thither by icebergs, or glaciers, which have been borne by 

 the currents of the ocean southward from the poles, or have 

 descended from the summit of the mountains into the adjacent 

 valleys. These glaciers are always loaded with heaps of gravel 

 or blocks of stone, and as they come down from the regions 

 of perpetual frost and snow into warmer countries, the ice 

 necssarily melts, and the gravel and blocks are left lying on 

 the earth's surface. 



The commencement of the Diluvial epoch was probably 

 ushered in by the volcano and earthquake. The sea showed 

 its gigantic power, covering with its waves the land, which 

 was now torn and uplifted into mountain chains, whose lofty 

 summits were whitened with the snows of a perpetual winter. 

 The glaciers or deposits of snow on these mountains descended 

 much further into the valleys than at the present time, and 

 the polar glaciers probably advanced further South. The 

 temperature of the North pole was about the same as the 

 present temperature of the South pole, which is described by 

 all Arctic explorers to be the most inaccessible. 



The prodigious forces then called into exercise at this era 

 are seen in the unusual majesty of these mountain chains ; 

 forces, in comparison with which, the physical power put forth 

 by the mightiest nations of the earth is as the feebleness of 

 infancy. 



When volcanoes thunder and blaze when earthquakes 

 rend and pile up granite rocks above the region of the clouds, 

 in such a presence shall mortal man boast of his exertions of 

 physical power ? What mathematician can even begin to cal- 

 culate the vast forces of nature which have been called into 

 exercise in the formation of a mountainous landscape ? Stand 

 under the uplifted rocks, and contrast the mightiest displays 

 of human power with these exhibitions of the secret energies 

 of Nature! Amid such manifestations of Almighty power, 

 humility of mind and silent adoration is true philosophy. To 

 a mind capable of appreciating these forces in their grandeur, 



