42 SOLAR DAYS AND SOLAR NIGHTS. 



the duration of a Solar Night? In fine, was a 

 geological period just the duration of a Solar Day, 

 and was the interval that occurred between two 

 consecutive geological periods the duration of a 

 Solar Night f 



61. If a period has intervened between the de- 

 position of one geological system and the commence- 

 ment of the deposition of another, the next in 

 succession what has been the cause of this remark- 

 able break that has thus occurred in the building up 

 of those stratified masses which mainly constitute 

 the crust of the globe? How came it, that after 

 the series of strata which constitutes a geological 

 system had been deposited, the precipitation of sedi- 

 mentary matter upon the bed of the ocean was 

 suspended ? What was it that bound up the soil, 

 or locked up the rivers, by which earthy matters 

 ceased to be conveyed to the channels of the deep 

 and what stayed the waves of the ocean by 

 which the rocks upon the sea-shore ceased to undergo 

 further abrasion ? And how .came it that at this 

 period Death had asserted his dominion over all that 

 is sentient in Nature ? Was it because of this the 

 sun was darkened, and the earth became frigid, and 

 the rivers were frozen, and the ocean transformed 

 into a mass of ice and thus a breach was made in 



