FORMATION OF LAND AND WATER. 



mountains with a gentle declivity on one side, and abrupt precipices 

 on the other, such as the Pyrenees and the Andes. In other places 

 the two parts fractured would form gentle declivities on both sides, 



as at h. The matter in fusion within the crust forcing its passage 

 upwards in the opening between them would be solidified by the 

 process of cooling on arriving above them. Thus chains of moun- 

 tains would be formed of moderate declivities on both sides, having 

 igneous rocks at their summits. 



In fine, some fragments, such as e, would remain nearly level, and 

 would be pushed above the surface, in which case they would form 

 extensive plains of dry land, or might remain below it, in which 

 case they would form the bottom of a shallow sea. 



Thus we may understand in its most literal sense the brief 

 description of the formation of the earth in the sacred records : 

 "God divided the land from the water, and saw that it was 

 good." 



Such dislocations of the terrestrial crust would not be confined 

 to a single catastrophe, but would from time to time be reproduced. 

 According as, by the continued process of cooling, the solid crust 

 of the earth became thicker and thicker, a vacant space would 

 still be produced between its inner surface and the central fluid 

 matter, and like consequences would from time to time ensue, so 

 ,that the history of the earth would consist of a series of convul- 

 sions by which its crust would from age to age be disrupted, new 

 chains of mountains being formed, and new continents being raised 

 above the waters of the ocean and former ones submerged. Move- 

 ments of the waters would necessarily attend each such convul- 

 sion, compared with which the most violent oceanic commotion 

 with which we are familiar is tranquillity itself. 



101. It is related that the earthquake of 1838, which took place 

 at Chili, in South America, although it did not change the level 

 of the continent by more than a few feet, produced effects at the 

 enormous distance of 4000 miles, extending even to the islands of 

 Oceania. The earthquake on the coast of Peru laid in ruins all 

 the towns along the shore. At the moment of the shock, the 

 waters of the ocean, raised with violence, were poured upon the 

 coast, carrying with them an immense mass of sand and shingles, 

 o2 83 



