154 THE ORIGIN OP CREATION. 



or the Andes, have not fallen through, and added fuel to the 

 flame. 



The theory as expounded by Dr. Mayer in his Celestial 

 Dynamics, is as follows : " Several facts indicate that our 

 earth was once a fiery liquid mass, which has since cooled 

 gradually, down to a comparatively inconsiderable depth from 

 the surface, to its present temperature. The first proof of this 

 is the form of the earth. According to the most careful 

 measurements, the flattening at the poles is exactly such as a 

 liquid mass rotating on its axis with the velocity the earth 

 would possess ; from this we may conclude that the earth at 

 the time it received its rotary motion was in a liquid state." 



Scientific men will however differ, and we find that Dr. 

 Tyndall does not coincide with this theory. In a note to his 

 book on Heat we find the following : -" Prof. Wm. Thomson 

 has recently raised a point which deserves the grave considera- 

 ation of theoretic geologists. Supposing the constituents of the 

 earth's crust to contract on solidifying, as the experiments 

 thus far made indicate, a breaking in, and a sinking of the 

 crust would assuredly follow its formation. Under these 

 circumstances, it is extremely difficult to conceive that a solid 

 shell should be formed as is generally assumed round a liquid 

 nucleus." Dr. Mayer's theory is however strongly supported by 

 Sir John Herschell, Dr. Lardner, and others. 



Dr. Mayer proceeding with his theory, says : " The cooling 

 of the earth must have shortened the length of the day " as 

 the earth would contract as it solidified, and the contraction 

 would make it revolve quicker on its axis. But Laplace has 

 shown that in twenty-five centuries the time in which our earth 

 revolves on its axis it has not altered one five hundreth 



