9 and elevating them in a conical form. Against this doctrine, as exemplified in the most noted instances, strong arguments have been adduced by other geologists. Yet the protrusion of fused rock by subterraneous forces upon a large scale is not denied: and how far the examples of such operations may, in any cases, be termed craters of elevation, must be considered as a question not yet decided. On the supposition of the truth of Von Buch's doctrine, M. de Beaumont has calculated the relations of position, the fissures, &c., which would arise. And Mr. Hopkins, of Cambridge, has investigated in a much more general manner, upon mechanical principles, the laws of the elevations, fissures, faults, veins, and other phenomena which would result from an elevatory force, acting simultaneously at every point beneath extensive portions of the crust of the earth. An application of mathematical reasoning to the illustration of the phenomena of veins had before been made in Germany by Schmidt and Zimmerman.10 The conclusion which Mr. Hopkins has obtained, respecting the two sets of fissures, at right angles to each other, which would in general be produced by such forces as he supposes, may suggest interesting points of examination respecting the geological phenomena of fissured districts. [2nd Ed.] [The theory of craters of elevation probably errs rather by making the elevation of a point into a particular class of volcanic agency, than by giving volcanic agency too great a power of elevation. A mature consideration of the subject will make us hesitate to ascribe much value to the labors of those writers who have applied mathematical reasoning to geological questions. Such reasoning, when it is carried to the extent which requires symbolical processes, has always been, I conceive, a source, not of knowledge, but of error, and confusion; for in such applications the real questions are slurred over in the hypothetical assumptions of the mathematician, while the calculation misleads its followers by a false aspect of demonstration. All symbolical reasonings concerning the fissures of a semi-rigid mass produced by elevatory or other forces, appear to me to have turned out. valueless. At the same time it cannot be too strongly borne in mind, that mathematical and mechanical habits of thought are requisite to all clear thinking on such subjects.] Other forces, still more secure in their nature and laws, have played a very important part in the formation of the earth's crust. I speak of the forces by which the crystalline, slaty, and jointed structure of 9 • Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. vol. vi. 1836. 10 Phil. Mag. July, 1836, p. 2. mineral masses has been produced. These forces are probably identical, on the one hand, with the cohesive forces from which rocks derive their solidity and their physical properties; while, on the other hand, they are closely connected with the forces of chemical attraction. No attempts, of any lucid and hopeful kind, have yet been made to bring such forces under definite mechanical conceptions: and perhaps mineralogy, to which science, as the point of junction of chemistry and crystallography, such attempts would belong, is hardly yet ripe for such speculations. But when we look at the universal prevalence of crystalline forms and cleavages, at the extent of the phenomena of slaty cleavage, and at the segregation of special minerals into veins and nodules, which has taken place in some unknown manner, we cannot doubt that the forces of which we now speak have acted very widely and energetically. Any elucidation of their nature would be an important step in Geological Dynamics. [2nd Ed.] [A point of Geological Dynamics of great importance is, the change which rocks undergo in structure after they are deposited, either by the action of subterraneous heat, or by the influence of crystalline or other corpuscular forces. By such agencies, sedimentary rocks may be converted into crystalline, the traces of organic fossils may be obliterated, a slaty cleavage may be produced, and other like effects. The possibility of such changes was urged by Dr. Hutton in his Theory; and Sir James Hall's very instructive and striking experiments were made for the purpose of illustrating this theory. In these experiments, powdered chalk was, by the application of heat under pressure, converted into crystalline calespar. Afterwards Dr. McCulloch's labors had an important influence in satisfying geologists of the reality of corresponding changes in nature. Dr. McCulloch, by his very lively and copious descriptions of volcanic regions, by his representations of them, by his classification of igneous rocks, and his comprehensive views of the phenomena which they exhibit, probably was the means of converting many geologists from the Wernerian opinions. Rocks which have undergone changes since they were deposited are termed by Mr. Lyell metamorphic. The great extent of metamorphic rock changed by heat is now uncontested. The internal changes which are produced by the crystalline forces of mountain masses have been the subjects of important and comprehensive speculations by Professor Sedgwick.] Sect. 6.-Theories of Changes of Climate. As we have already stated, Geology offers to us strong evidence that the climate of the ancient periods of the earth's history was hotter than that which now exists in the same countries. This, and other circumstances, have led geologists to the investigation of the effects of any hypothetical causes of such changes of condition in respect of heat. The love of the contemplation of geometrical symmetry, as well as other reasons, suggested the hypothesis that the earth's axis had originally no obliquity, but was perpendicular to the equator. Such a construction of the world had been thought of before the time of Milton," as what might be supposed to have existed when man was expelled from Paradise; and Burnet, in his Sacred Theory of the Earth (1690), adopted this notion of the paradisiacal condition of the globe : The spring Perpetual smiled on earth with verdant flowers, Equal in days and nights. 12 In modern times, too, some persons have been disposed to adopt this hypothesis, because they have conceived that the present polar distribution of light is inconsistent with the production of the fossil plants which are found in those regions, even if we could, in some other way, account for the change of temperature. But this alteration in the axes of a revolution could not take place without a subversion of the equilibrium of the surface, such as does not appear to have occurred; and the change has of late been generally declared impossible by physical astronomers. The effects of other astronomical changes have been calculated by Sir John Herschel. He has examined, for instance, the thermotical consequences of the diminution of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, which has been going on for ages beyond the records of history. He finds13 that, on this account, the annual effect of solar radiation would increase as we go back to remoter periods of the past; but (probably at least) not in a degree sufficient to account for the apparent past 13 11 Some said he bade his angels turn askance 12 Lyell, i. 155. Lindley, Fossil Flora. 13 Geol. Trans. vol. iii. p. 295. changes of climate. He finds, however, that though the effect of this change on the mean temperature of the year may be small, the effect on the extreme temperature of the seasons will be much more considerable; "so as to produce alternately, in the same latitude of either hemisphere, a perpetual spring, or the extreme vicissitudes of a burning summer and a rigorous winter.' Mr. Lyell has traced the consequences of another hypothesis on this subject, which appears at first sight to promise no very striking results, but which yet is found, upon examination, to involve adequate causes of very great changes: I refer to the supposed various distribution of land and water at different periods of the earth's history. If the land were all gathered into the neighborhood of the poles, it would become the seat of constant ice and snow, and would thus very greatly reduce the temperature of the whole surface of the globe. If, on the other hand, the polar regions were principally water, while the tropics were occupied with a belt of land, there would be no part of the earth's surface on which the frost could fasten a firm hold, while the torrid zone would act like a furnace to heat the whole. And, supposing a cycle of terrestrial changes in which these conditions should succeed each other, the winter and summer of this "great year" might differ much more than the elevated temperature which we are led to ascribe to former periods of the globe, can be judged to have differed from the present state of things. The ingenuity and plausibility of this theory cannot be doubted: and perhaps its results may hereafter be found not quite out of the reach of calculation. Some progress has already been made in calculating the movement of heat into, through, and out of the earth; but when we add to this the effects of the currents of the ocean and the atmosphere, the problem, thus involving so many thermotical and atmological laws, operating under complex conditions, is undoubtedly one of extreme difficulty. Still, it is something, in this as in all cases, to have the problem even stated; and none of the elements of the solution appears to be of such a nature that we need allow ourselves to yield to despair, respecting the possibility of dealing with it in a useful manner, as our knowledge becomes more complete and definite. 14 Geol. Trans. vol. iii. p. 298. CHAPTER VI. PROGRESS OF THE GEOLOGICAL DYNAMICS OF ORGANIZED Sect. 1.-Objects of this Science. PERHAPS in extending the term Geological Dynamics to the causes of changes in organized beings, I shall be thought to be employing a forced and inconvenient phraseology. But it will be found that, in order to treat geology in a truly scientific manner, we must bring together all the classes of speculations concerning known causes of change; and the Organic Dynamics of Geology, or of Geography, if the reader prefers the word, appears not an inappropriate phrase for one part of this body of researches. As has already been said, the species of plants and animals which are found embedded in the strata of the earth, are not only different from those which now live in the same regions, but, for the most part, different from any now existing on the face of the earth. The remains which we discover imply a past state of things different from that which now prevails; they imply also that the whole organic creation has been renewed, and that this renewal has taken place several times. Such extraordinary general facts have naturally put in activity very bold speculations. But it has already been said, we cannot speculate upon such facts in the past history of the globe, without taking a large survey of its present condition. Does the present animal and vegetable population differ from the past, in the same way in which the products of one region of the existing earth differ from those of another? Can the creation and diffusion of the fossil species be explained in the same manner as the creation and diffusion of the creatures among which we live? And these questions lead us onwards another step, to ask,What are the laws by which the plants and animals of different parts of the earth differ? What was the manner in which they were originally diffused?--Thus we have to include, as portions of our subject, VOL. II.-36. |