924 Tbaxsactions of the American Institute. 



The following thoughts I read last fall before the Association 

 of Xulural History iu Boston, and as they received the attention of 

 most of its scieutitic members, I will state them here in as few words 

 as possible. 



Reading ^the clear and beautiful explanation given by Prof. 

 Fremy, iu Paris, of the origin of the Gayser springs, and studying 

 over his experiments with bisulphide of carbon on silica, alumina, 

 etc., I could not help coming to the conclusion that nearly all 

 quartz in nature owes its existence to the decomposition of sulphide 

 of silicium by water. 



To make this idea clear, I must digress a little, and state my 

 own views on the condition of the interior of our globe. 



Firstly, I believe iu the existence of intense heat in the center of 

 our globe, — a heat of such intensity, that all the elements are there*by 

 kept in an incandescent gjiseous condition. 



Around the gaseous commingled matter I concieve, at first, a 

 very liquid, melted mass, attached to a half solid, somewhat plastic 

 crust, which, as it gets farther from the center, cools, and in its 

 effort of expanding, breaks into fragments. The crust of our 

 earth (probably forty miles in thickness), I conceive full of crevices 

 and immense caverns, some of which, by passages of various dimen- 

 sions, communicate with each other, and are ever changing, according 

 to outward radiation of heat, condensation, and cooling of matter. 



For the sake of illustration, I will call granite a primary rock, 

 though I think that many rocks of by far greater age than granite 

 exist below, which to our own surface rocks compare as our soil 

 does to our own rocks. 



"When granite, or any other compound or simple silicate, is, while 

 under presssure and a bright red heat, exposed to vapors of carbon 

 and sulphur (both of which exist in abundance in the interior of 

 our earth), the silica is decomposed: — the oxygen of the silica 

 combines with the carbon and forms carbonic oxide and carbonic 

 acid, while the sulphur seizes upon the silicium and forms sulphide 

 of silicium, a white earthy mass, withstanding a great degree of heat. 



As the interior crust of our earth is continualh' acted upon by 

 cosmic disturbances, either by the gravitation of our own terres- 

 trial substance, or by solar, lunar, or planetay influences, a gradual 

 or sudden condensation, cooling, and breaking of the harder portion 

 of the rocks takes place; water rushes into the crevices, and, reaching 

 the sulphide of silicium and other sulphides, is instantly decom- 

 posed in its turn by the sulphide of silicium into oxygen and 



