AMERICAN GEOLOGY DECADE OF 1830- L839. 



389 



almost inexplicable, have been produced at that momentous period when the "win- 

 dows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep broken up. " * * * 



In no way can these phenomena be so satisfactorily accounted for and explained as 

 by admitting the brief account of the creation of the world in the first chapter of 

 Genesis; and that there is no necessity for making the world appear older than its 

 date given by Moses. 



A.gain: 



The volcanic fires of the earth are gradually becoming extinct. Thev were evi- 

 dently far more vehement in former ages than in the present day. Therefore, we 

 have sufficient reasons to believe that from the creation of the world to the deluge 

 great changes must have taken place upon the earth's surface. Who can clearly 

 decide that the flaming sword which forever shut out our first parents from Eden's 

 delightful garden was not a livid torrent of flame issuing from the ground polluted 

 by sin? 



Concerning the limestones of the coal formation along the Nepan 

 River, he wrote: 



On the surface of the limestone the detritus of the deluge forms a distinct cover- 

 ing; and, according to the opinion of some geologists, should not be considered in 

 any way connected with the changes which have taken place in the strata beneath. 

 But we would remark that although the beds of rounded pebbles and sand clearly 

 demonstrate the effects of a flood, they can have no reference to the great geological 

 catastrophe which ushered in that awful event. The depression of whole continents, 

 the raising of the ocean's level bed, the distortion of strata previously horizontal, 

 the elevation of mountains, and all those violent operations whereby the whole 

 surface of this planet has been rent asunder, might have been the prelude to that 

 overwhelming deluge, while the diluvial debris resulted from the action of torrents 

 after the crust of the globe had been thus broken up. 



Gesner was born of German-French ancestry in Cornwall is, Nova 

 Scotia, and was by profession a physician and surgeon. For a long time 

 after obtaining his degree he practiced his profession in the country 



bordering the shores of 

 sketch of Gesner. Minas Basin, making his 

 visits on horseback, and 

 often returning with saddlebags filled with 

 specimens collected on the way. In 1838, 

 two years after the publication just referred 

 to, he was appointed provincial geologist of 

 New Brunswick, and removed to St. John, 

 where he established the Gesner Museum, 

 afterwards purchased by the Natural History 

 Society of New Brunswick. This was an 

 all-round natural history collection, many 

 of the zoological specimens having been 

 collected by Gesner himself, who was an 

 ardent sportsman. 



After the somewhat premature closing of the survey in L846(?), 

 Gesner left St. John and returned to Cornwallis. During his residence 

 here he wrote his works on New Brunswick, with notes for emigrants, 



Pig. 28. — Abraham Gesner. 



