54 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



cools into a cloud of visible mist. An intelligence located 

 upon our earth at this epoch would have seen the dusky 

 atmosphere begin to thicken. In the far-off regions, wisps 

 of vapor crept along the sky, as cirrhi in our day foretoken 

 the gathering storm. They grew, and thickened, and dark- 

 ened till a pall of impending clouds enwrapped the earth, 

 and the light of sun, and moon, and star was shut out for 

 a geological age. 



Particle drew particle to itself, and rain-drops began to 

 precipitate themselves through the lower strata of the fer- 

 vid atmosphere. In their descent they were scorched to 

 evaporation, as the meteor's light vanishes in mid-heaven. 

 The vapors, hurrying back to the bosom of the cloud, were 

 again sent forth, again to be consumed. At length they 

 reached the fervid crust, but only to be exploded into va- 

 por and driven back to the overburdened cloud, which had 

 an ocean to transfer to the earth. The clouds poured the 

 ocean continually forth, and the seething crust continually 

 rejected the offering. The field between the cloud and 

 the earth was one stupendous scene of ebullition.* 



But the descent of rains and the ascent of vapors dis- 

 turbed the electricities of the elements. In the midst of 

 this cosmical contest between fire and water, the voices of 

 heaven's artillery were heard. Lightnings darted through 

 the Cimmerian gloom, and world-convulsing thunders ech- 

 oed through the universe. 



" The sky is changed ! and such a change ! Oh, night, 

 And storm and darkness !" 



* Those who are acquainted with Figuier's interesting works will note 

 a remarkable correspondence between his treatment of this subject and 

 my own. It is but justice, therefore, to state that these chapters were 

 drawn up long before the work of Figuier appeared. This, indeed, has 

 been my conception of these primeval scenes since 1856; and it was in 

 print in 1857. 



