JOHN P NORTON'S ADDRESS. 225 



Thus all of these tremendous revulsions and changes of sur- 

 face seem to have been made with the great end of preparing 

 the earth for the habitation of man, making its resources more 

 available to him. 



In such a view, the globe appears to have been a vast manu- 

 factory for our benefit. Its beds of limestone, of marl, of gyp- 

 sum, are dispersed in every direction, that they may be acces- 

 sible to all ; the various composition of its rocks produces soils 

 capable of growing every necessary plant ; its ores are abun- 

 dant in proportion as they are the more indispensable for the 

 formation of necessary implements ; while, on the walls of our 

 coal mines, we may still trace the forms of a gigantic vegeta- 

 tion which flourished long ages ago. and was then stored for 

 our use. 



It is not to be supposed that the present surface assumed its 

 present shape, in every place at the same time. Some regions, 

 without doubt, became tranquil long before others, but all must 

 at first have presented a strange naked aspect. There was, of 

 course, no soil, except in the track of some former current 

 where matter in suspension had been deposited. This appear- 

 ance of absolute ruggedness and sterility could not have con- 

 tinued long unaltered. Atmospheric influences, heat and cold, 

 moisture and dryness, worked surely then as now, and, after a 

 time, the most enduring rocks began to crumble. As the decom- 

 posing fragments became minute, little patches of soil were 

 formed here and there. If it were on the side of a hill, fine 

 particles had a tendency to descend into the hollows, being 

 washed down by the rain. In ordinary circumstances, there- 

 fore, soil must have first appeared in the valleys, and in every 

 little hollow of the hill sides. The durability of each particular 

 species of rock had, of course, much influence upon the readi- 

 ness with which the soil formed. Thus most of the slates, many 

 limestones and sandstones, soften and decay readily when ex- 

 posed to the air ; on these were to be seen soils at a compara- 

 tively early period, and such soils soon became deep. But the 

 granites, and some of the harder limestones, remain almost 

 unchanged for a long period of years, and we see, even at this 

 day, that the soils upon those formations are thin, while at fre- 

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