THE GENESIS OP THE EARTH. 13 



Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky, 

 So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low 

 Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep, 

 Capacious bed of waters." 



The cloud was its garmen f , it was swathed in thick 

 darkness, and presented but a rugged pile of rocky 

 precipices ; yet well might the " morning stars sing 

 together, and all the sons of God shout with joy," 

 when its foundations were settled and its corner* 

 stone laid, for then were inaugurated the changes 

 which were to lead to the introduction of life on the 

 earth, and to all the future development of the con- 

 tinents. 



Physical geographers have taught us that the great 

 continents, whether we regard their coasts or their 

 mountain chains, are built up on lines which run 

 north-east and south-west, and north-west and south- 

 east ; and it is also observed that these lines are great 

 circles of the earth tangent to the polar circle. Fur- 

 ther, we find, as a result of geological investigation, 

 that these lines determined the deposition and the 

 elevation of the oldest rocks known to us. Hence 

 it is fair to infer that these were the original directions 

 of the first lines of fracture and upheaval. Whether 

 these lines were originally drawn by the influence of 

 of the seasons on the cooling globe, or by the cur- 

 rents of its molten interior, or of the superficial 

 ocean, they bespeak a most uniform and equable 

 texture for the crust, and a definite law of fracture 

 and upheaval ; and they have modified all the subse 



