Nature's Miracles, Volume 1

e heaven and the earth. And the

and plants upon its surface, the earth itself grew; that for countless ages, measured by years that no man can number, the eart

the satisfaction he gets out of it is in the thought that he has saved some unlucky wagon wheel from being wrenched or broken. The scientist looking at the same stone perhaps will stop, and with a hammer break it open, when the newly exposed faces of the rock will have written upon them a history that is as real to him as the printed page. He is carried back to a far-off time, where he sees the processes and forces at work that have formed this stone and made it what it is, not only in its outward form, but in its constitution, down to its molecules and atoms. (The word "atom"

trict sense of the word, but it is possible for everyone of ordinary intelligence to become familiar with the salient facts of science, if only a small port

of himself; because he would carry about with him inexhaustible sources of instruction and pleasure that would furnish him continual and helpful diversion and save him from a thousand morbid tendencies that are alwa

They are written in the rocks and on the flo

well known before through the upheavals that are plentiful in all parts of the world. There is abundant evidence that all of the rocks and all of the strata of every name and nature (except perhaps igneous rocks) were originally laid down in water. This is evidenced not only by the stratifications themselves, but by the evidences of sea-life everywhere present in the earth's crust. Before the upheavals in the earth's crust began, the whole surface of the globe was a great ocean of hot water. The substances of which the rocks were formed were undoubtedly held in suspension in the air and in the water, and by a gradual process were deposited in the bottom of the ocean in layers, forming rocks of various kinds,

land surface uncovered. It must not be supposed, however, that the appearance of the land was caused by one grand movement or upheaval, but that it has been going on in successive stages through long ages of time. This is clearly evidenced by the rock formations. The deposition of rock strata is still

ratifications would tend to be parallel to the surface of the water, that is horizontal, until disturbed. Then they would be tilted in many directions. Hence it will be easily seen wh

t, and these mountains are not all on the land, but extend under the seas so deeply that they are unable to lift their heads above the surface of the water. The earth

tended for thousands of miles. We still have occasional earthquakes, but undoubtedly t

"Paleozoic" period, which means the period of "ancient life." From here let us first go downward. Immediately under this lies a stratum of "Metamorphic" rocks. To metamorphose is to change; and metamorphic rocks are those which have been changed by heat or pressure from their original forma

one and marble is in its molecular structure-the way in which its smallest particles are put together. They are both carbonates of lime. But the marble is made up of little crystals and will take a polish, while ordinary uncrystallized limestone will not. The igneous rocks are chiefly granite; and granite is formed of

life) or Primary period is made up of a number of subdivisions. The first and oldest division is called the "Silurian" age, which is underlaid by the metamorphic rocks and overlaid by the rocks of the Devo

e begin to be found the fossils of land-plants. On top of the Devonian lies the "Carboniferous" series, which complete the series of the primary period. In the lower part of this stratum is found carbonifero

age occur the first traces of mammals, and birds, and fishes with bony skeletons. Among plants we find here the first evidence of palms. The formation is chiefly chalk, sandstones, clays, limestone

ore its precipitation? Matter, including water, can exist in the gaseous form, and we only need to assume that there was a core of intense heat, to understand how all the material that we find on the earth and in the earth could have been held in suspension in the gaseous state until the cooling process had reached a stage where the various combinations and recombinations could take place in the great laboratory of nature. If we study the constitution of th

lled an outline sketch of t