xt7sxk84nj8k_94 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/L2021ua019.dao.xml Kentucky University 18.26 Cubic Feet 32 document boxes, 5 flat boxes, 21 bound volumes archival material L2021ua019 English University of Kentucky Property rights reside with Transylvania University. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Transylvania University Library. Record Group 5: Collection on Kentucky University A plea for science: an address delivered in Morrison Chapel, Kentucky University, commencement day, by Alexander Winchell, A.M text A plea for science: an address delivered in Morrison Chapel, Kentucky University, commencement day, by Alexander Winchell, A.M 2024 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7sxk84nj8k/data/L2021ua019/Box_5_18/Folder_12/Multipage4513.pdf 1866 June 28 1866 1866 June 28 section false xt7sxk84nj8k_94 xt7sxk84nj8k

N.AN ADDRESS”

MORRISON CHAPEL, KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY,

COMMENCEMENT DAY, JUNE 28, 1866.

ALEXANDER \VINCHELL, A. M.

PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.

CINCINNATI:

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A PLEA FOR SCIENCE:

AN ADDRESS

DELIVERED IN

MORRISON CHAPEL, KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY,‘

COMMENCEMENT DAY, JUNE 28, 1866.

ALEXANDER VVINOHELL7 A. M.

PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANa

C I N C 1 N N A T I:
GAZETTE STEAM PRINTING HOUSE, NORTHEAST CORNER FOURTH AND VINE STREETS»

1866.

CORRESPONDENCE.

LEXINGTON, June 28, 1866.
PROF. A. WINCHELL:

Dear Siva—The Executive Committee of Kentucky University, respect-
fully solicit, for publication, 2. copy of the very able and appropriate ad-
dress, delivered by you this day in Morrison Chapel.

I JOHN G. ALLEN, Sec’ry.

LEXINGTON, K12, June 29, 1866.
JOHN G. ALLEN, ESQ, Sec. Ex. Com. Ky. Univ.:
Dear Sir~—In compliance with your ﬂattering request, received this date,
I place at your disposal a copy of the address to which you refer, regret—
ting only, that I had not the time to clothe in a more attractive and suit-
able style the thoughts which I have attemptedto enforce.
Very respectfully,
A. WIN CHELL.

A PLEA FOR SCIENCE.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :

Here in the midst of the classic associations, (I may add,
the venerable* associations,) of your chief University—gazing
into a circle of faces which, though strange, seem to be re-
sponsive to the spirit of the occasion-—with so many of the
honored representatives of higher learning around me, and
such an inspiring galaxy of well-intentioned eyes before me—
I stand up to utter my Plea for Science.

Not that I propose to forget the demands of the occasion,
by presenting you with an abstruse discussion. The results
of science are all that the many demand; the difﬁcult processes
are for the initiated to thread, Nor do I speak of science
shorn of her wings, and robbed of her soul—a plodding, cal-
culating, earthly science, which never lifts her eye above the
plane on which she stands, but works on from day to day, and
from year to year, absorbed in the abstractions of her own
thoughts. I speak of science with a soul ﬁred with the enthu-
siasm of truth—science with an eye of light that glances from
earth to heaven and from heaven to earth——seience winged
with the ardor of perpetual inspiration—that sends her glances
down all the ranks of society, and seeks out opportunities for
good—lays her hand upon the tide of nature and turns it into
channels of usefulness—makes the laws of matter her ser-
vants—bids the lightning carry her messages—~the wind to
row her vessels—the steam to run on errands and perform

> The Transylvania University, Which was recently merged into the
Kentucky University, was founded in 1788, and was for years one of the
ﬁrst literary institutions of the country. Among its professors were such
men as Raﬁnesque, Davis, Short, Yandell, Holley and Peter, whose names
would adorn any University.

herculean labors. I speak of science which sends her vision
along the trackway of light, and pursues the fugitive ray into
the illimitable realms of space, waylays it, and extorts from it
the history of six thousand years—science that can decipher
the historic pages of the pre-Adamic earth, and, planting her
foot upon an eminence of thought, can look up the channel of
time to its very rise, and, turning, follow its winding course
down through the ages yet to come. It is truth in all its rela-
tions, and adaptations and utilities—truth full—orbed, complete,
swelling with exultation, bounding with emotion, of which I
speak—divine science, such as thrills the souls of archangels,
and admits us into communion with the thoughts of God.
Blessed is he who can patiently travel the rugged road which
leads to such ethereal visions and communings. Such science

\is worthy of our regard and culture. Such science is of heav-
enly birth, and lifts the soul of him who embraces it, to the
atmosphere of its kindred heaven. If it is but groveling,
earthly science of which you have learned, and of which you
form your judgments, I beseech you make the early acquaint-
ance of this daughter of heaven.

I said I had taken my stand to utter a plea for science. In
what language shall I plead for science? How shall I most
eﬁ'ectually commend her to your regards? I will show that
she is your friend and benefactor—that she has created for
you a thousand conveniences—that she has built up society—
that she gives dignity to the body politic—that she has en-
riched your souls with thoughts of the invisible and the re—
mote—that she has illuminated the dark chambers of. the past,
and reﬂects a light upon the future—that she interprets to
man the thoughts of Deity, and opens perpetual communion
with the world of superior spirits.

I. Science in the Material World.

If we take the lowest plane of relations between man and
science for our ﬁrst survey, where, in the material world, can
we look and fail to witness the achievements of science? When
we have enumerated all inventions—engines, machines, imple-

ments, tools and combinations of matter-«all scientiﬁc explo—
rations—as for undiscovered lands and seas, for coal, petrOa
leum, artesian waters, the precious and useful metals—~all
devices for multiplying force, or velocity, or both together—
all the contrivances for executing the most gigantic and the
most minute manipulations—the manifold methods of increas—
ing the convenience, health and physical comfort of individ-
uals and communities in the forms and arrangements of dwell—
ings, public houses, cars, carriages and other vehicles—the
multiform varieties of ﬂowers, fruits and ornamental shrubs
and trees which have been created by culture and the science
of hybridizationhthe subordination of the domestic animals~—
control of diseases, promotion of general health, and prolong—
ation of average life—when, in a hasty survey, we take this
ﬁrst glance at the numberless cases in which science has
adapted the laws of matter to the convenience and utilities of
human life, who can fail to be impressed with the conviction
that we owe much to science ?

But we must distinguish, you say, between practical science
and theoretical science—between book knowledge and experim
ence. With all deference to prevalent opinions on the subject,
I feel compelled to say that I am unable to make the distinc-
tion. I understand fully that by practical science you
mean scientiﬁc principles that have received direct applica-
tion to some economical purpose; and by theoretical science
such principles as exist only in the abstract, not having as yet
been actually utilized. Arithmetic you regard as practical,
because it enables you to ﬁgure up proﬁt and loss. Algebra
and geometry you regard as theoretical, since you do not wits
ness the application of these sciences in any of your occupa—
tions. Here is a man who has delved in a coal mine, and has
actually witnessed the relative positions of coal and its associ—
ated rocks and minerals, and has learned the general topog-
raphy of coal-producing regions. Such a man you style a
“practical geologist,” and you will defer to his opinions.
Here is another man who has studied the bonds of connexion
between diﬁ'erent coal regions, and has traced their connexion

with the general history of the world, so as to be able’to draw
from a single specimen the conclusion which the other man
only doubtfully reached after laborious experiments. Such a
man you style a theoretical geologist. Here is a man Who
learns by trial that his peaty lands produce feeble, yellowish
corn ; and, by trial, ascertains that the soil is improved by ex-
posure to atmospheric agencies, and application of lime or
ashes. Such a man you style a practicalfarmer. Here is an-
other man who studies the record of this experience in a book,
and learns that a peaty soil is damaged by the presence of
vegetable acids which atmospheric air and alkaline prepara-
tions will either destroy or neutralize; this man you style a
bookfarmer; and “ book-farming” is in bad repute.

NOW it is quite obvious that some scientiﬁc principles lie re-
markably near to ther utilitarian applications, and that others
are more or less removed; yea, in many cases, to the casual
observer, are not seen to be related at all to any useful result.
But more careful observation, and a deeper insight into the
relations of nature suffices, often, even in such cases, to'dis-
close a chain of relationship, binding the remote principle to
present economy. What investigation more evidently fruitless
of practical results than those of Oersted and Faraday, wast-
ing days and nights in experiments to establish and elucidate
the co-relationship of electricity and magnetism. Curious, it
might have been said, but purely of a scientiﬁc and theoreti—
cal nature. And yet, but for the demonstration of this rela-
tionship, the electric telegraph and all the revolutions it has
wrought would have been impossible. One man engages in
the study of the physical properties of the various useful ores,
and subsequently in traveling over an unexplored region, rec-
ognizes, as he thinks, the existence of valuable deposites of
some metal. You at once perceive the utility of such studies,
and encourage them. Another man occupies himself in the
investigation of the organic remains of diﬁ'erent geological
epochs, and learns to decide the geological age of any forma-
tion, and its place in order of superposition, by an inspection
of a few specimens of fossils. This, you think, the occupation

of the mere scientistmperhaps of the innocent but useless en-
thusiast. Presently, however, this useless enthusiast detects
conclusive paleontological evidences that the formation in
which the deposites of useful ore were supposed to be discov—
ered, are quite too modern to justify the expectations raised.
Indeed, the samples picked up are mere drifted fragments, im-=
bedded in thevother material of which the rock is composed.
These are not imaginary cases. You hare all heard of the
gold brought up from some of the oil wells on Dunkard’s
Creek, in Pennsylvania. I have even seen reports of assays
by eminent chemists, and one, at least, sustained by the signa-
tures of the cﬁicers of the United States Mint at Philadelphia.
Indeed, the visible evidences seem conclusive; and one san-
guine company are engaged .in sinking several thousand dol-
lars in an exploratory shaft. More profound scientiﬁc attain~
ments demonstrate the utter hopelessness of such an enter:
prise, and prove, by a logical inference, the forgeries that have
been perpetrated upon credulous'capitalists who are putting in
the hole the only gold it will ever be found to contain."<

In the extreme Northern part of the lower peninsula of
Michigan,“’are found numerous fragments of a black substance
in every respect resembling coal. It is so pronounced by
chemists and minerologists. Many hundred acres of land
have been taken up in the belief that inexhaustible mines of
coal were destined to be discovered. But alas I the man who
studies the curious organic remains, found imbedded in the
rocks of that region, declares that they belong to corals and
shell-ﬁsh which lived and died many ages before any accumu-
lations of coal took place upon the earth. The coal, however
genuine, is only inspissated petroleum accumulated in the crev-

ices of the limestone]L ' . '
I cannot discern that one portion of selence 1s essentlally

more practical than another. That which seems to be most
purely theoretical, may be on the eve of blossoming and bear-

*- Compare J. P. Lesley: Proc. Amer. Phil. 800. Apr., 1866.
T Winchell: Geolog. Rep. Mich. 1860; also, “The Grand Traverse Re—
gion?”

ing fruit. This has happened in hundreds of cases. When
we look at the matter abstractly, and inquire what is a useful
invention or device, we are met by the response that it is
simply the work of some one who has found out how to turn
the laws of nature to useful account. Of course, the inventor
must ﬁrst have understood the laws of nature so converted.
The laws themselves Were of the same nature before as after
conversion. A knowledge of them was just as essentially
practical before the invention as after it. Chemists have long
known how to operate on dolomite to extract from it magne»
sium; but this knowledge has been regarded as purely scieno
tiﬁc, like the process for solidifying carbonic acid. Now, how-
ever, we ﬁnd that the combustion of magnesium affords a most
intense illumination, with an actinic or chemical force many
times superior to sun-light of the same intensity; and magne-
sium is likely to come into great request for illuminating
and photographic purposes. It has already been employed
in taking photographs of the interior of the pyramids. A
knowledge of the method of extracting it from dolomite has
become eminently practical. Was it less so last year?

Indeed, the more we consider the matter, the more obvious
it becomes that we are indebted to a knowledge of scientiﬁc
principles for all of those inventions and devices which char
acterize our modern civilization ; and the more obvious it like~
wise becomes, that there is no place to draw a line of demarca-
tion between science which is to be valued for its practical re-
lations, and science which ought to be regarded as purely
theoretical. The only philosophical view is that which traces
the capability of usefulness in all science ; and discovers that
while all inventions are but economical applications of the laws
of nature, the probabilities of a discovery of such applications
will increase as our knowledge of these laws becomes more
profound. In this view, the most practical science is really
that which is most profound.

Our apprehension of the utility of higher investigations is
liable to be obscured by the fact that the man who investi-
gates, and he who applies the principles are seldom united in

Swazi-aw

.uwwr-s.

one person. An eminent scientist may invent nothing. An
eminent inventor may be a novice in science. The history of
the ideas, and the chain of connexion which binds the latest
results to the earliest, know nothing of the two individualities;
and, for our reasoning, they are essentially one.

I forbear to enter into details under this head. They would
swell into immeasurable proportions. Witness at large, the
transformations which science, and art enlightened by science,
have wrought upon the face of the earth. One hundred years
ago what scene extended itself across the valleys and plains
of this beautiful State ‘3 The primeval forest held undisputed
possession of the soil. Its ample branches a-‘ﬂ'orded a'secure
retreat for the lurking panther and the wild-cat, while its
grateful umbrage sheltered the prowling bear and the wolf.
The timid fawn stole cautiously to the licks which its ances-
tors had frequented for unknown ages, while the untutored
savage lay in wait with his nimble bow to secure the unsus—
pecting visitant for his meal. The rivers rolled as now,
and the summer-cloud, in passing, shook from its misty folds
the invigorating drops in the smiling faces of the forest leaves.
The mountains anon reverberated with the voice of thuné
ders, and the electric bolt rent many a sturdy tree. When the
storm retreated, the seven-lined bow smiled its promises to
Wild woods which responded only with the voices of myriad
birds. Civilized man there was none. Mountain crag, and
smiling valley, and fertile plain, and shady gorge, and deep
and awful eavern spoke equally of the solitude of the unbroken
wilderness. No sound of human industry rose through all the
goodly land.

Turn now to the scene which presents itself to-day. Did
magic ever work more wonderfully? The primitive forest has
vanished like a morning fog. » The panther and the wolf have
retreated like the savage from the presence of educated man.
The palatial steamboat has supplanted the rude canoe in the
navigable streams. The ﬁnished turnpike takes the place of
the Indian trail; and the Wigwam has yielded to a hundred
thousand mansions, wrought, either from the century old oak,

or the clay or stone which, since before the creation of Adam,
had been waiting for this age. The fruitful soil is teeming
with its abundant crops. The wild haw has given place to the
purple damson—the austere persimmon to the melting peach,
and the bitter crab to the luscious and juicy greening. The
landscape spreads out like a vast plaid, checkered with alter-
nating ﬁelds of corn and grass, and embroidered with innuu
merable gardens. Passing the northern conﬁnes of the State,
the locomotive with its fearful energy and power threads its
iron way through valley and hill, and across the wide extended
plains to its exit over the southern boundary. Everywhere is
the hum of industry—the trace of enterprise—the footprint of
civilization—the metamorphosis wrought by science.

Science, presiding in the workshop and in the ﬁeld has
transformed the face of nature~has changed the river’s bed,
and created rivers wlTere none existed beforem-has hung sus-
pension. bridges over gorges hundreds of feet deep and a ﬁfth of
a mile broad—~has reared castles and cathedrals which defy
the wasting energies of time as if they were the very mountain
cliffs—has walled cities and even empires~~called into exist-
ence pyramids which vie with the Alps in solidity and dura~
bility—harnessed the winds and the very lightnings~chained
the sea—subdued encroaching sands———tunneled the mount-
ains—plunged into the rocky recesses of the earth and stolen
its iron and lead and coal and precious metals—swept whole
faunas and ﬂoras from existence-erased forests—dried up
rivers—~parched the soil, and changed the climate of whole
countries. All this man has done—-—not savage, uneducated
man—but man enlightened by science. All honor, all praise,
all blessing to science that so magically changes the Wilden»
ness to the home of civilized industry and happiness.

II. Science in the Intellectual World.

Such are the works of science in the material world. What
must they be in the world of mind—the domain in which her
supremacy is conceded? The realm of science is the home of
thought. The truths of science are the nourishment of the

""3

soul. Shut out from communion with the ideas that ﬂoat in-
the atmosphere of thought, the mind dwarfs—its perceptions
become dull—its actions cold—it ceases to soar—it grovcls
awhile then plunges into the abyss of bestiality and savageism,
When science ceases to present her truths, the mind ceases to
think—then loses its inclination to think—then its ability to
think. When man ceases to think he becomes a savage.
When science holds up her truths for the soul’s contemplation,
they inspire the soul—~they enlarge and ennoble the soul—
they turn its attention from the forms of material things to the
thoughts which they clothe. To the instructed soul all. nature
is vocal with suggestions-every phase of nature becomes a
book, all luminous with teachings. If the mind of man is,
next to his moral nature, the endowment which distinguishes-
him from the brute, and makes him a higher, more susceptible
and happier being, then how desirable that this part of his na—
ture receive the utmost possible development, that he may be--
come as exalted and as noble and God-like as his Creator has
ﬁtted him to be. .

Is there a person within the sound of my voice that can fail-
to appreciate the dignity which knowledge confers upon the
soul? How exalted, and free, and intelligent the outlook of'
our own minds upon the universe, when contrasted with the-
ancient idea that the world was a vast plain, and that the sun,
and moon and stars made daily journeys over it I. Now, how
vast the scope which science has given to‘ the imagination. !.
Our world a globe of land and water hanging suspended in the
balance of two forces—revolving, with the other planets, in a.
mighty circuit about the sun; our sun itself a star—one only
of the brotherhood of suns which shine in the vault of heaven
and constitute our ﬁrmament—revolving all in. unison about a
common center of gravity; our ﬁrmament itself but one of the
many which hang in inﬁnite space—each cloud-like nebula
which the telescope reveals when we look out through the loop—
holes of our ﬁrmament into the dark and vacant space beyond,
being another ﬁrmament like our own—each with its thousands
of burning suns, and each sun with its attendant primaries and

1'
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1
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secondaries—each of this immensity of ﬁrmaments revolving on

its own axis, and the whole family, undoubtedly, revolving in an ‘
inconceivably majestic sweep about some general center. And
who shall say there exists no other center about which sweeps
an equal retinue of ﬁrmaments, and systems, and primary and
secondary planets? And whose thought can climb high
enough—whose imagination stretch far enough to reach that
ﬁnal center of the material universe around which all created
things are moving, and on which fancy would fain erect the
luminous throne of Omnipotence? Science, it is true, is
scarcely able to lead us so far; but she points out the way,
and the soul delights to stretch her wings in a ﬂight so vast.>2<

Who would exchange such sublime conceptions of the struc—
ture of the universe for the insufﬁcient and puerile imaginings
of the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Indians and Chinese?

Behold another striking development of science. Observa-
tions made with an accuracy, which is itself almost a miracle,
have furnished the data for computations correspondingly vast
“and wonderful, demonstrating that a ray of light travels through,
space at the rate of 192,000 miles in a second. And yet the
nearest ﬁxed stars of our ﬁrmament—“ the next door neigh-
bors” to our own sun—are so remote, that three years are
occupied in the passage of light from them to us; and if one,
of them were annihilated to-day, it would continue to shine in
its place till the year 1869. Other stars, situated in the
remoter regions of our ﬁrmament——.always remembering that a
vast void intervenes between the exterior limits of our ﬁrma-
ment and the nearest nebula—are removed to such an incon-
ceivable distance, that from ten to three hundred years are
required for their light to reach us. We have recently wit-
nessed in the constellation of corona borealis the conﬁagration
of one of these suns. A star which, from time immemorial,
had been invisible to the naked eye, began to blaze with

*9 Compare Nichol on “The Architecture of the Heavens, Alexander
“ 0n the Vastness of the Visible Creation,” Smithsonian Report, 1857, p.
169; Madler “On the General Movement of the Stars around a Central
Point,” in Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve, 1859.

are
wit-
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rial,
with

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unwonted splendor; increased in brilliancy till it became dis-
tinctly visible to the unassisted eye, and then, like the star
which burned to cinders before the eyes of Tycho, it gradually
faded, and is apparently destined to disappear from the map of
the heavens. We look upon the marvel and think we are wit-
nessing a conﬁagration in the moment of its occurrence. How
amazing the thought that these events occurred more than
ﬁfty years ago—perhaps even before the American Revolution
—and the announcement of them has been on the wing through
mid-space for half a century before it reaches us I

What shall we say further? Some of the nebulae are believed
to be so amazingly remote, that their light could not have
reached us since the creation of manﬂproving, it may be
remarked, that they have been in existence more than six thou-

‘ sand years.

Whither has ﬂed the light which emanated from our planet
in the morning when it was ﬁnished, and our ﬁrst parents
were placed in possession of it? Some of the rays met the
vision of intelligences living upon other planets. Some tra-
veled on and carried the announcement of the world’s comple-
tion to the dwellers upon the stars. Others have passed on
through the immeasurable intervals, unintercepted by any
astronomical body, and are still shooting onward, proclaiming
to-day, in some remote province of the universe, the intelligence
of a world’s ﬁrst creation. In like manner, the tidings of the
second day’s history of our earth are borne on the wings of
light just one day’s travel behind the ﬁrst. And if we could
travel all that shining path along which the luminous beam is
making its ﬂight, we should detect the image of each day’s his-
tory in the Whole life of our planet—«a gallery of photographs
hung upon the ceilings of immensity, preserving, perpetuating,
forever reproducing the successive events along the whole cycle
of human existence. The picture of Gain in the act of murder-
ing his brother, is still in existence, and disembodied spirits
may visit the apartment in which the picture hangs side by side
with photographs of the other events of that day. Every
secret act which the light of day has shone upon, has been

commemorated in the galleries of heaven. If you have perpe-
trated an act of shame, your conscious spirit will one day stand
face to face with the full and public delineation of it upon the
imperishable canvas of the universe.*

Science reveals to us an immensity of time-worlds, as well as
of space-worlds. There are wonders in the phenomena of
duration, no less than in those of extension.

In 1842, a careful trigonometrical survey was executed of
the shore—lines and land-marks of Niagara Fallsxft In 1855,
twenty-three years later, M. Marcou made careful re-examina-
tions, which he has reported to the Geological Society of
France.1‘ From these data it appears that the Canadian Fall,
over which the largest body of water is discharged, has receded,
by the wearing of the rocks, to the extent of twelve ‘feet, or a
little more than six inches a year. This observation furnishes
us with a clew to the determination of the whole time required
by the river to excavate the whole length of this stupendous
gorge, from Lewiston to its present position, a distance of seven
miles. The result is over 70,000 years. If we make every
possible allowance for diﬂ'erence in the rate of retrocession at
some former period, it is obvious this enormous piece of engin-
eering has consumed not less than 500 centuries. The breadth
of this gorge does not average 1,000 feet, and its depth does
not exceed 250 feet.

If we turn now to similar work which has been carried on
along the rivers of the western part of the continent, we witness
results still more amazing. The Rio Colorado, for two or three
hundred miles of the upper portion of its course, ﬂows over a
vast sterile plain, composed of horizontal beds of rocks.
Through these the river, in the course of ages, has dug a chan-
nel with nearly perpendicular walls, in some places of more
than a mile in depth !§ The traveler across the plain ﬁnds him-

Compare an anonymous little work entitled “The Stars and the Earth.”
1' Hall: Geological Report, 4th Dist, New York.

iBulletin de la Societe Geologique de France. 2d Series, t. xxii, p. 190.
éNewberry: Colorado Exploring Expedition, Part III., p. 42, et. seq.

nd
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p. 190.

‘ seq.

self suddenly standing upon the brink of a fearful chasm six
thousand feet deep, at the bottom of which a silvery stream
winds its quiet way—the gentle but patient laborer that has
scooped out a gorge of such dark and fearful dimensions. If
Niagara, with his ocean tide of waters, has consumed 50,000
years in wearing a gerge but 250 feet deep, what ages have
passed away while the Colorado has been at work upon a gorge
300 miles long and from 3,000 to 6,000 feet deep? And yet
when we have computed the myriad ages which have elapsed
while these changes have been in progress, we must remember
that these arelonly some events which have transpired subse-
quently to the last of the great revolutions of the earth.
Before the work was begun upon the grand gorge of the
Niagara, and, perhaps, even of the Colorado, the earth was
witness to a reign of ice, when, as we haVe reason to believe,
enormous glaciers, thousands of feet in thickness, rested over
the land.* These, by their annual expansions, moved forward,
mowing down the forests, planing off the mountain crags, plow-
ing up the underlying rocks, and grinding them to a powder,
from which our soils have been formed. How many ages were
occupied in the growth, the labors, and the dissolution of these
continental glaciers, science can only conjecture.

But even previous to the reign of ice, the earth, in the
progress of its preparation, had reached comparatively so near
completion, that the vegetation and most of the animals in
existence belonged to the same species as now occupy the
earth. The very concluding passages of the world’s history
contain revelations of a lapse of time which staggers our
imaginations. What can we say, then, of the body of that
history, recorded upon a thousand strata, piled ﬁfteen miles in
height, and formed of sediments which slowly accumulated
along sea-shores, or in the clear and quiet depths of the
ocean? What shall we say of the incalculable interval of time

'“' Agassiz: “Geological Sketches,” and elsewhere; Winchell: “Voices
from Nature,” 1864.

preceding the commencement of the accumulation of sedi—
mcnts, while the earth was cooling from a molten condition—
aye, from the condition of an igneous vapor, spreading itself
out to a diameter of millions of miles? To such conceptions
does the study of a pebble elevate the mind.

I must forbear to cite further illustrations. It would be
delightful to review the past history of our world—to ﬁnd it
mingled, at ﬁrst, with the common mass of igneous vapor—to
note how the mass cooled, and shrank, and began a rotation*———
to mark how planet after planet leaped out from the ﬁery abyss——
how our mother earth endured the early ordeal of ﬁre—how, in
the progress of cooling, a crust formed over the surface of the
molten globe—how, at a later period, the vapors gathered in
the murky and poisonous air, shutting out the light of the sun,
and moon and stars—how the rains descended and the thunders
raged during a geological aeonT—how the crust was a hundred
times erupted-how the continents were born—how the domain
of the sea was wrested from his grasp—-—how every element and
every place found, at all times, its. ﬁtting inhabitants-how the
evidences of a single plan run through the entire history of
this creation—how man comes on the earth, and ﬁnds himself
one of the actors in a vast drama which is still in progress.
These are wonderful topics, and ﬁll our souls with inspiration,
and make us live above the visible and the present, and become
spiritual dwellers in eternity.

One thought, despite my resolution, I venture to present.
We have evidences in the records of science, that the machin—
ery of the universe is running down. This intimation comes
to us from different directions.

I have just alluded to the fact that we come upon the ear