CONSISTENCY OF GEOLOGY WITH SACRED HISTORY, 433 



is admitted by all whether they believe in the fusion of the central 

 nucleus or not. Internal fire still prevails to a great extent in the in- 

 terior of our planet, and its effects appear to have been the greatest, 

 and the most extensive in the earliest periods. Volcanic mountains 

 and islands are known to have risen, even in modern times, from the 

 bosom of the ocean and islands are still existing where in former 

 ages the sea raged uncontrolled. The sub-marine volcanos also oc- 

 casionally project flames, smoke, and red-hot stones through the ocean, 

 and thus inform us, that water cannot always subdue fire, that even 

 now, there are strata, at the bottom of the sea, where extreme igni- 

 tion and extreme hydrostatic pressure, operate conjointly, upon the 

 firm materials; and that both, aided by the principal chemical agents 

 which we know to exist in the constitution of our globe, may unite to 

 produce results of which our trifling experiments can give us but a 

 feeble conception. An attempt for instance, to dissolve granite by 

 boiling it in water is just as rational as an attempt to melt it in a com- 

 mon fire ; neither experiment can possibly succeed ; but the former 

 would not prove that, granite was never dissolved nor the latter, that 

 granite was never melted ; because, the circumstances which may have 

 operated in the interior of the earth are not under our control and our 

 experiments are therefore nugatory. 



In volcanic countries, silex is certainly dissolved by hot alkaline 

 water under great hydrostatic and steam pressure, and granite is as 

 certainly melted in the intense heat of deep seated fire.* 



We should accept with equal readiness the aid of fire or water, or 

 other agents, as they may appear best adapted to explain a given ef- 

 fect, and we should not hesitate to call in all the great natural powers 

 whether mechanical or chemical, as there may be occasion. 



There is no doubt that fire and water and other powerful chem- 

 ical agents have operated in all ages in producing mineral crystalliza- 

 tion. Of these however, fire appears to have been by far the most 

 active, and although it is not proved by actual experiment, or even 

 by rigorous observation, there is every reason to admit that even 

 granite has been melted in the bowels of the earth and therefore may 

 crystallize from a state of igneous fusion. If this be true of the prop- 

 er crystals of granite, it may be also true of the imbedded crystals 

 , which it contains, and therefore of all other crystals. Those which 



* It appears now to be generally conceded, agreeably to the conclusions of Cor- 

 dier, that the temperature of the earth increases as we descend. Sources of er- 

 ror have been indeed pointed out, but they appear to be local and accidental. 



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