THE PRIMEVAL STORM. 221 



crystallize on solidifying, undergo a slight enlargement in the 

 act of becoming solid. A crust, therefore, began to form over 

 the liquid planet. Like ice on the lake, it floated. If you 

 go to the crater of Kil-au-e'-a, in Hawaii, you will find a vast 

 lake of molten rock, the surface of which has frozen into a 

 crust like that which formed over the earth's surface. There 

 is no mistake in the opinion that the cooling crust would 

 float. 



The tidal protuberance caused by the moon never ceased. 

 The side toward the moon was always uplifted. As the earth 

 turned on its axis, a different part of the terrestrial surface 

 was raised at each moment. The great tidal swell swept past 

 every point of the surface at every revolution of the planet. 

 Thus the forming crust was alternately uplifted and depressed. 

 Much fracturing of the crust must have resulted. The crush- 

 ing and grinding of the fragments displaced them; great 

 lateral pressures tilted them on edge and piled them up in 

 enormous hummocks. The scene must have been analogous 

 to those in Baffin's Bay and the Arctic Ocean, of which ex- 

 plorers bring us exciting accounts. The surface of the earth 

 assumed the rugged character of a vast " floe." 



I imagine this floe was still luminous, except in the pro- 

 jecting crags. Over this still glowing terrestrial surface, sun- 

 light was still shed. Who can calculate the length of the 

 aeons which passed while such a scene of desolation reigned? 

 It was, indeed, destined to reach its end; but only through 

 the transformation of an age of terrific violence. All the 

 time, the process of cooling went forward. While the white- 

 hot crust subsided to a red-hot temperature, the atmosphere 

 became less parched. While the shadows of a darkening crust 

 tipped the most salient crags, the upper air grew continually 

 freer from the terrific heat which had swept outward from the 

 terrestrial surface. As the temperature of the air subsided, 

 there were precipitations of various substances which could 

 maintain their gaseous condition no longer. At length it 

 came the turn of water to begin to condense. It had long, 

 already existed as an invisible gas. Now, with an upper air 



