+ * 
tt #g "Bi of Johann Nepemtach von Fuchs. 
pin ochs, down to the ie recent times. er t 
Seapeuion of carbonate of lime, the vast quantities of carbonic 
acid which had served to hold it in solution, became the mate-, 
rial which should especially contribute to the sustenance of or- 
ganic nature. Says Fuchs “this acid had from the beginning of 
the creation a three-fold office; firstly to keep the carbonate of 
d from the silicates, and for a certain time to retain 
it in solution; secondly to furnish the atmosphere with oxygen, 
and thirdly t to. supply carbon for the precoeiaoe of fossil coal and 
minous, containing much hydrogen, and humus-like, containing 
both hydrogen and oxygen. 
Fuchs notices here the objection, that there is not now siounh 
free oxygen in the atmosphere to form carbonic acid with all “ 
¢arbon of the globe. Accordingly a part of the oxygeie * 
nally present must have been devoted to other purposes, aD 
assumes that it was mostly consumed at a later period in = 
formation of gypsum. He supposes that before gypsum was 
formed, there existed the easily soluble hyposulphite of lime, and 
that it passed into gypsum by oxydation. For such a phenome 
non Fuchs offers two FP ai pi both of which aecord with 
chemical principles, and on at the same time, accounts 
for the presence of free malehuad in the gypsum beds. os the 
hyposulphite of lime might be co to gypsum 
diate oxydation, and the free pits acid thereby — eles 
yield gypsum, by contact with neighboring carbonate of lime; oF 
the hy posulphite of lime might be resolved into sulphur and 
sulphite af lime, and the latter pass into gypsum by pee 
oxyge 
eed, ‘of the theory of upheaval, Fuchs proposes a theory 
of collapse, since by the crystallization of the amorphous masses 
they would assume a smaller space, and thereby cavities | and 
breaches must be femmes, which yond, result in dislocations; 
and the falling down of large bodies of rock. The pall solid 
mass which was not sdmalioad Sot then penetrate the 
of the ye rock, thus giving origin to veins and dykes. 
In these revolutions however Fuchs also admits certain up 
aR rea 
