224 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



The conv^ulsions of nature, however, have been directed for 

 our good, and they seem to have continued in a very long series 

 before this earth was deemed fit for the abode of man. 



Geological researches have shown us the existence of races 

 of animals, that lived and died, and succeeded each other in 

 countless myriads, through long and indefinite periods of time. 

 We find them all changed to stone, entombed in rocky sepul- 

 chres. Sometimes the appearance of the rock denotes that it 

 was deposited from a calm and quiet sea, where the animals 

 died naturally, and in consequence seldom remain whole or un- 

 harmed. In other cases, life and its functions seem to have been 

 suspended by some sudden change, so that we find large fish 

 with smaller ones in their mouth, but half swallowed, and oth- 

 ers with their thorny fins yet erect in the attitude of fear or 

 rage with which they received their death shock, when that 

 sudden mysterious destruction came upon them. In some of 

 these periods also, upon that part of the land elevated above the 

 water, there flourished a vegetation of exceeding luxuriance. 



Internal fires have borne a decided part in all these changes, 

 if they have not been the chief agents. It is well known that 

 even now, as we go towards the centre of the earth, for each 

 foot in depth the heat increases, indicating interior combustion 

 still active. In the earlier history of our globe, these fires must 

 have burst forth many times. The masses of melted matter 

 may be plainly seen, penetrating the stratified rocks, filling 

 cracks in their substance, flowing over their surfaces, or upheav- 

 ing and contorting them. 



But while some rocks were thrust upward, others sank into 

 corresponding depressions; and vast currents of water, pro- 

 duced by these convulsions, seas and lakes turned out of their 

 beds, seem to have swept over the world ; completing the scene 

 of confusion by tearing away and grinding down strata, bearing 

 the materials to other regions, there to form beds of sand, clay, 

 or gravel, according to the nature of the original rock. The 

 vegetation, at such periods, seems to have been carried into hol- 

 lows and buried deep by succeeding or continuing shocks, to 

 form under enormous pressure and a high temperature, beds of 

 coal for the advantage of beings yet to be created. 



