822 2'ka.\sactjoas of the American Institute. 



finally arrested the further advance of the superior invading volume, 

 and, as the two opposing forces became balanced, they obeyed the 

 well known laws of force, which prevail|on our own earth, by unit- 

 ing and taking a new course oblique to both the former directions. 

 The branch of this united flow, which takes a northeasterly direction, 

 encounters again the flow from Aristarchus, and the resulting forms 

 are singularly suggestive of the nature of the agent which was active 

 in the conflict, for it has left markings of too significant a character 

 to be mistaken for those of any fluid^less mobile than water. 



The united flow from Kepler and Copernicus has pushed back the 

 emanations from Aristarchus until its farther advance has been 

 arrested by the mass of solid matter accumulated in the immediate 

 neighborhood of the basin, forcing this flow to take a new direction, 

 which is, as before, a compromise of all the forces and obstructions 

 engaged, but the local obstructions here play quite an important 

 part, for the ring mountain Herodotus, which lies beside that of 

 Aristarchus, opposes its rampart^to the invading current, as if in aid 

 of its neighbor, the result of which is the formation of a plateau, 

 which connects those two basins, and present an eflTectual barrier to 

 the further advance of the flow in this direction; and now, as other 

 rays which project from Copernicus strike this point directly, the 

 united flow again takes the direction due to all the forces involved, and 

 is driven sharply around the battlements of Herodotus; while 

 another section has been driven around that of Aristarchus in a simi- 

 lar manner. Those two streams again unite in the rear of this 

 obstruction, forming a rugged triangular valley, and then flow on 

 toward the eastern limb for severalj, hundred miles," meeting with 

 similar adventures, in which, however, the conflict has not been so 

 stern nor the' results so characteristic. 



Speculations Upon the Mode in which the Force Acted, 

 Now, before submitting the facts to your criticism, I will take the 

 liberty of giving you my views as to the nature of the active agent 

 which produced the results referred to. I infer from the facts pre- 

 sented, that a fluid, such as water, was the real agent employed, and as 

 I find water so much more abundant on our own earth than any other 

 fluid — that it also bears a like relation to the'other planets, which is 

 proved by their cloud systems and snow zones, and that it has been 

 lately discovered to be a component part of the sun itself; T, there- 

 fore, assume that it was water. 



