"May God comfort you," I said, going up to Mrs. Mory to bid her good-night. She did not turn her eyes away from the dead face on the pillows. "Yes," she answered dreamily, "she said results of any discoveries respecting the nature God loved us."

land, "geology and religion are found potent and consistent auxiliaries, exalting our conviction of the power, and wisdom, and goodness of the Creator."

The last and the finest work which Hugh Miller produced is the "Testimony of the Rocks." Hardly had his pen traced the concluding lines of that noble effort of genius-the much-loved and crowning labor of his life, upon which he had "put out all his strength," and worked with the "topmost pitch of intensity"-when the overwrought brain gave out.

varied forms nature must have exhibited itself. At last the work was finished. The lofty mountains and the low savannas assumed the relative positions marked out for them, and the rivers returned to the seas whence they came. The internal fires were restrained, and only by volcanic eruptions at intervals gave notice of their existence.

Such was the mode in which the earth was formed and adapted for the abode of man. No material changes have taken place in its form or surface since he appeared upon the scene. That the centre is still in a state of ignition is proven by the experiments made in the Artesian wells near Paris and elsewhere. It has been ascertained that at about sixty feet beneath the surface the temperature is unvaried by the changes of the seasons, and that beyond that

Years have passed away since the event to which we have alluded cast a gloom over the scientific world. The memory, however, of Hugh Miller's death is still fresh, and there is no need that we should enlarge upon so sad a theme. Our purpose is, aided by the "Testimony of the Rocks" and other sources of in-point the heat increases at an average of one formation, to give our readers a sketch of the degree for fifty-four feet; so that at a depth of science to which Miller devoted his best ener- twenty-one miles the hardest rocks would be in gies, and which he so nobly adorned. a state of fusion. The surface, however, is unGeology is divided into two departments-influenced by the action of the internal fires, Systematic and Descriptive. The former treats except in cases of earthquake or volcanic erupupon the structure of the earth-how it

"rose out of chaos:"

tion. The heat which the earth now receives, and which renders it habitable, proceeds from the sun and the stars-the latter contributing no small amount.

The details of the general creation thus concisely described, form the second department, or Descriptive Geology.

of water.

The first of these formations is composed of those portions of the molten mass which were upheaved by the convulsions of nature, and remained in that state unchanged by the influence of water. They are known as massive rocks, and are always unstratified, destitute of fossils, and more uniform in their character than the rocks of the aqueous formation.

the latter, of the details of that structure, manifested in the kind, character, and position of the constituent matter; also of organic remains. At the beginning the earth was composed of a burning, molten nucleus, surrounded by a dense atmosphere of great extent, saturated This branch of the science is arranged in two with vapor and gas. As the heat from the nu- divisions, viz., the Plutonic or Igneous formation, cleus was radiated into space, and the surface which is abnormal, and had its origin through cooled, the minerals which are fused with most fire; and the Aqueous formation, which is nòrdifficulty-such as alumina, silica, and mica-mal or stratified, and resulted from the action formed a crust, which gradually increased in thickness, and separated the atmosphere from the burning mass. The vapor contained in the latter became condensed, and the globe was encircled by a hot sea of moderate depth, holding in solution immense quantities of minerals and chemical elements. These were slowly deposited as the heat diminished. From time to time the crust would give away in places, when whole oceans of water would be precipitated into the molten nucleus, and an enormous amount of steam generated, the expansive force of which would burst through the encircling barrier, carrying up floods of liquid rock to overflow the surface of the globe, and when dissolved by the water to be deposited again in various strata. By these operations, in process of time the surface of the earth became greatly altered. Continents were upheaved by internal convulsions, and the waters collected into the valleys formed lakes and seas. It was a long time, however, before the earth attained a definite arrangement. Ages passed away ere it was fit for plants and animals, and ages still before it was suited for the habitation of man. Repeated deluges, violent earthquakes, varied its aspect and sometimes almost reduced it to chaos. The birth of a world is not in a day. What scenes the earth must have passed through can with difficulty be imagined, or in what grand and

Sometimes veins of metal are found to have been protruded through them when the mass was in a partially fused state, and drusic cavities, or geodes-cavities in the rock lined with crystals-exhibit themselves. The massive rocks are distinct in their entire formation; no other rocks are ever found under them, except in a few cases, where the Plutonic rock evidently overflowed the aqueous strata. Great boulders are now and then discovered in parts of the world where geologists affirm there is nothing that resembles them in character. Deluges, which frequently passed over the earth, undoubtedly brought these fragments of massive rock from their distant homes. Evidences now exist of boulders having been transported from the northern regions by the icebergs which annually leave the shores of Greenland.

Five groups compose the Plutonic rocks: viz., the granite and its varieties; the greenstone, sometimes called the trap formation, including

serpentine; the porphyry, the basalt, and the ated. Of this stone were made the Apollo and

volcanic rock, or lava and scoria. An examination of the character of these rocks would involve the science of mineralogy. Most of them are compound-quartz, mica, and feldspar being the principal constituents. Other elements, however, enter into some of them, and they all differ in various respects. No rocks equal them for hardness and durability; and the soil derived from their disintegration is generally excellent for agricultural purposes. The neighborhood of volcanoes, where the lava has combined with the soil, often exhibits a most lux-called from its prevalence in Wales-Siluria beuriant vegetation. At the foot of Mount Vesuvius the land is remarkably fertile, and produces the vine from which is made the Lachrymæ Christi, the celebrated Italian wine, which some suppose to be similar to the old Falernian so much lauded by Horace.

it was continuous in its action, so vegetation | evening and the morning were the third day.” was continuous in its growth.

Among the coal, especially the brown variety, vestiges of plants and leaves are discovered. Whole trees even may be seen in various states of carbonization, and in many different shapes, evincing the numerous and singular actions they must have undergone.

Destitute of animal life in all the higher forms, it was "emphatically the period of plants as described in the Mosaic record, peculiarly a period of herbs and trees, yielding seed after their kind."

The first, second, and third days referred to in Genesis, as we understand them, have now The beds of coal, which sometimes lie quite been traversed. As the first two, however, do deep, and in some places crop out, vary in thick- not belong to geology, only the last has been ness from one to forty feet, and are mingled specially treated. We have reached the fourth with mountain limestone, coal-sandstone, and day. That is not a geologic day; but the grand clay. The coal measures, as they are called, event of that day, bearing as it does so directly exist in many parts of the world. Russia has and importantly upon all that follows, must not very little coal, and that is of an inferior quality; be passed over in silence. Upon the fourth day England possesses a great quantity, mostly bitu- the dense atmosphere became rarefied, and the minous, however; while in North America the heavenly bodies appeared; the sun shone in coal measures extend from Nova Scotia to Van- upon the dank earth with its benign and genial couver's Island, comprehending all descriptions, influences, causing all creation to smile. Prefrom the inflammable cannel to the hardest Le-viously its operation could hardly have been high. The mountain limestone which accom-appreciable. With the sun, too, was intropanies the coal often contains iron ore of great duced a new principle-actinism—the life-givvalue. In smelting the latter this stone is used ing influence which belongs to the sun's ray, to form a flux, and also to crust the surface of and acts so powerfully in the generation of both the liquid metal with schlag to preserve it from plants and animals. Upon the sun also dethe oxydizing effect of the atmosphere. Organic pends the beauty of the world in all that relates remains are numerous in this stratum, especially to color. In the Palæozoic age, the various fish. Some of these appear to have been of a hues and tints which result from the action of very high organization, and were perhaps allied light and heat emanating from the sun could to amphibia; they have no representatives in have had no existence; all must have been dun the present age. Fossil trees and plants are and dreary. Light "was," it is true-perhaps likewise found in a great variety, and to a great it was electric-but not the glorious light of extent, and afford the ancient botanist no small heaven. The operations, therefore, of the fourth pleasure. The latter know nearly as much day-the rolling away of the dense mist, the about extinct plants and trees as their brethren lifting up of the thick curtain which obscured do of those now existent. By the aid of the the face of the earth, and the revelation of the microscope they are enabled to divide them up "two great lights," with the consequences that according to their respective groups, classes, or- ensued, are among the grandest themes that ders, genera, and species, following the artificial can be suggested for contemplation. Indeed, system of Linnæus, and finding it as applicable the fourth day of the Mosaic record in sublimto fossil as to living flora. Coal, when carefully ity yields to none save the first. heated to redness and then allowed to cool, will exhibit, under the glass, the character of the wood from which it was formed. Leaves, too, have been brought to light, and their nervation and indentation as certainly proven as if they had left the tree but yesterday instead of myriads of years before Noah was a sailor."

Much interest attaches to ancient botany, and not a little curious are the facts which its study reveals; but we have not space to dwell upon it.

We have alluded to the gorgeous flora which characterized the period of which we are now writing. Its exuberance may be explained upon the following hypothesis, which is doubtless a correct one. The moist atmosphere which then surrounded the earth was probably surcharged with carbonic acid gas. This deleterious element necessarily promoted an enormous vegetable growth, and was thus eliminated from the atmosphere, which gradually purified in process of time we know not how soon, became respirable for superior orders of animals. all things "worked together for good."

So

The Paleozoic age here terminates-"the

We return to our subject. Now commences the fifth day-the Mesozoic, or middle fossiliferous division-comprehending the secondary rocks. This class is divided into four formations and as many groups.

The first Sir Roderick Murchison designates as the Permian, from the name of that part of Russia where this formation is most extensively developed. It contains magnesian limestone, or zechstein, and is less distributed than any other of the stratified rocks. Germany, after Russia, exhibits it the most; and France and England are not without it. Its especial feature is the marl-slate, celebrated for the richness of the copper ore which it yields; also the beds of rock salt and gypsum which accompany it. Poland possesses extensive mines of salt, which seem to have resulted from the evaporation of great seas, as sea-shells, the claws of crabs, and vegetable impressions have been found in them. In England, near Liverpool, similar mines also exist. Secondary limestone underlies both salt and gypsum. This is quite apparent in the salt formation of the State of New York, where the Niagara limestone ex

same may be said likewise of the salines in the State of Michigan. The latter have hardly been worked, but are presumed to be of great value. Should the prognostications in regard to the latter prove correct, they will rival the salines of New York, and be a source of great wealth to Michigan. Virginia has salt-mines, but the salt which they furnish is of an impure character, and can not compete with that of New York except for the commonest uses, in regions where the latter may not readily be obtained.

The fossils of the Permian are more abundant in quantity than variety, and do not differ much from those of the carboniferous group.

tends through a large section of the State. The The last group of the secondary is the cretaceous. Chalk being the prominent member, it gives its name to the group, but other strata are found in it, as clay, marl, and green sand. Fossil shells, the remains of deep-sea animals, with a few fish and a small number of plants, have been discovered in this formation. With chalk flints are always associated, and are resolved by the microscope into "agglomerates of the silicious shells of infusoria." Among the rocks of this class the most celebrated are those which have given the name of Albion to England. The white cliffs of Dover are seen afar and hailed with cries of exultation by the returning mariner as an earnest of his home. The chalk is the last of the middle series. Thus The second group, known as the Trias, or new ends the Mesozoic period-the day in which God red sandstone, derives its name from the three "created the fowl that flieth over the earth," members of which it is composed-the keuper the creeping thing and the tauninim of the deep. sandstone, the muschalkalk, or shell lime- The Kainozoic, or latest fossiliferous division stone, and variegated sandstone. This forma--the Tertiary-follows. It contains but one tion appears in Europe and England; and in the United States extends from Vermont to the Carolinas. It is characterized in the former countries by gypsum and rock salt. The Trias is extremely poor in organic remains of all kinds. The fact most interesting and worthy of record is the evidence preserved in the variegated sandstone of the footprints of beasts and birds. In the valley of the Connecticut especially, the magnitude and separation of the tracks determine the birds to have been nearly, if not quite as large as camels. In Saxony footprints remain of the labyrinthodon, formerly called the hand-beast, from the character of his marks. The remains of one beautiful plant are also found in this stone well worthy of note-"the lily encrimite; remarkable for the elegance and symmetry of its form and for its complicated skeleton, which consisted of not less than twenty-six thousand pieces."

The third group is the Jura, embracing the oölitic formation and the lias, and obtains its appellation from the mountains of that name. The former is subdivided into the upper, middle, and lower oölite-a limestone so termed from the egg-like shape of the grains which compose it. Clay, sandstone, and dolomite or magnesian limestone, are found mingled with the oölitic; fossils are abundant; and it is rendered quite interesting by the caverns which have been discovered in it, containing quantities of petrified bones. None of them, however, belong to man. The lowest member, the lias (layers), is distinguished by the remains of enormous amphibia. It was the period when the Saurians lived, animals of the lizard and crocodile species, no less remarkable for their size and length than for their voracity. The chief were the icthyosaur, the plesiosaur, and the pterodactylus.

"It was the age," says Miller, "of eggbearing animals, both winged and wingless the age when reptiles of the sea tempested the deep; the age of enormous creeping reptiles of the land, and of gigantic birds; the age when the waters brought forth abundantly."

group, the Molasse-a coarse, loose sandstone, forming the base of the Alps-and is divided into the Eocene, the Meiocene, and the Pleiocene, or early, middle, and later formations. Fragments of other rocks are found cemented together among it, and it often alternates with brown coal and limestone. Clay, green earth, gypsum, and, near Paris, millstone are abundant. A peculiarity of this formation is, that it appears to have proceeded in many places from the filling up of great basins. The principal capitals of Europe are situated in such basins. They are of marked interest, particularly the extensive Molasse basin of Paris. In the United States this formation extends along the Atlantic coast from Long Island to Louisiana, sometimes reaching inland, as in the valley of the Mississippi, which is one great Molasse basin, and evinces no sign of having ever been disturbed by inferior strata.

The organic remains exhibited in the Tertiary distinguish it as the period of the Mammalia. Its flora is not remarkable, its reptiles occupy no important place, but its animals almost exceed credibility. For this reason it is called the elephantoid epoch-the epoch of the pachyderms, elephanti, rhinoceri, and hippopotami, animals of the hog genus, which surpassed the largest animal of the present day, as the tiger surpasses the cat, and whose number was so vast that "ivory quarries" of their bones are found in Siberia, and even the local museums in England are stored with specimens. The latter, however, probably came from a little later formation-the diluvium. Herbaceous and carnivorous animals of the types now existent, as the deer, horse, wild cattle, lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, etc., existed in immense numbers, and attained a prodigious size. It was the age of beasts: of the dinotherium of Mayence, the greatest of all beasts, a behemoth among clephants; the age of the Megatherium of Cuvier; the ponderous sloth, the laziest of all beaststhe age of animal life.

The Quarternary rocks-the Alluvium and