OF CREATION. 15 



THE FIRST OR ANCIENT EPOCH. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE PERIOD ANTECEDENT TO THE INTRODUCTION OF LIFE. 

 THE DEPOSIT OF NON-FOSSIL1FBROUS ROCKS. 



JUDGING from the general appearance of the solar 

 system, and combining the result of astronomical ob- 

 servations on distant bodies in the universe with the 

 appearance presented by various rocks on the earth's 

 surface, it seems not unlikely that, at a very early 

 period of its history, our globe existed as an intensely 

 heated body in a fluid state, (the fluidity being the 

 result of igneous fusion,) and that it gradually cooled 

 at the surface, perhaps by exposure in space, con- 

 tracting in dimensions as it cooled and hardened. 

 In this manner, it may be, a succession of thin solid 

 crusts were formed, each in succession shrinking and 

 cracking, until at length, when a certain balance 

 was arrived at between the thickness of the crust, 

 the rate of cooling, and the amount of internal 

 heat, there would be left a rough uneven surface, 

 having many elevations and depressions, its tem- 

 perature being sufficiently reduced to allow of the ex- 

 istence of some such atmosphere as now surrounds 

 it, and also permit the permanent presence of water 



