THE REIGN OF FIRE. 



49 



CHAPTER V. 



THE KEIGX OF FIKE. 



WHATEVER may be thought of the evidence bearing 

 upon the question of the former gaseous condition 

 of our world, or of the entire solar system, it is generally 

 admitted that the evidence of former igneous fluidity is 

 somewhat conclusive. This is a doctrine which we may 

 regard as resting on legitimate geological data. This is a 

 condition of the world we may proceed to contemplate 

 without serious misgiving's. Our earth was once a self- 

 luminous star. 



At the temperature which would fuse the mass of the 

 rocks, all the more volatile substances could only exist in 

 the form of an elastic vapor surrounding the earth. All 

 the carbon in the world must have existed in the form of 

 carbonic acid ; all the sulphur as sulphurous acid ; all the 

 chlorine as chlorhydric acid ; all the water as an invisible 

 elastic vapor, extending out beyond the limits of the pres- 

 ent atmosphere. There could hence be upon the earth no 

 vegetation, no animals, no limestone, no salt, no gypsum, 

 no water. All that we now behold must have been repre- 

 sented by a glowing, liquid nucleus, enveloped in a dense 

 atmosphere of burning acrid vapors. This orb, by the im- 

 mutable laws of physics, must have revolved upon its axis 

 and performed its revolutions around the sun. The sun 

 and moon (if the latter existed) must have raised the fiery 

 ocean to a tidal wave which rolled around the globe — the 

 type of an action which has continued to the present pe- 

 riod. There were also day and night. The sun rose in 



C 



