ARRANGEMENT OF TELLURIC PHENOMENA. 13 



B. 



RESULTS OF OBSERVATION IN THE TELLURIC PORTION 

 OF THE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE. 



IN endeavouring to bring an immeasurable mass of mate- 

 rials, consisting of the most multifarious objects, into the 

 desired subjection, i. e. to arrange the phsenomena in such 

 a connection and sequence as shall facilitate the insight into 

 their causal connection, it is necessary, in order to make the 

 representation at once clear and comprehensive, not to allow 

 particular details, especially in long-explored and mastered 

 fields of observation, to escape from the higher point of view 

 of cosmical unity. The telluric, as opposed to the uranologic 

 portion of the Physical Description of the Universe, naturally 

 divides itself into two parts : the Inorganic and the Organic 

 domain. '\\Q Jirst comprises the magnitude, figure, and 

 density of the terrestrial globe ; its internal heat, and electro- 

 magnetic activity; the mineralogical constitution of the 

 earth's crust ; the reaction of the interior of the planet on 

 its surface, acting dynamically as in earthquake movements, 

 and chemically as in the processes of the formation and 

 alteration of rocks ; the partial covering of the solid surface 

 by the liquid expanse of seas ; the outline and configuration 

 of the more elevated portions of the solid surface, forming 

 continents and islands; and the general, outermost, gaseous 

 envelope of the earth, the atmosphere. The second, or the 



