The Story of the Universe. Volume 2 (of 4)

Volume I of This Set of Four Volumes Can Be Found in Project

THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE

Told by Great Scientists and Popular Authors

COLLECTED AND EDITED

By ESTHER SINGLETON

Author of “Turrets, Towers and Temples,” “Wonders of Nature,” “The World’s Great Events,” “Famous Paintings,” Translator of Lavignac’s “Music Dramas of Richard Wagner”

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

Volume Ii

THE EARTH: LAND AND SEA

P. F. COLLIER AND SON NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT 1905

BY P. F. COLLIER & SON

ILLUSTRATIONS

Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park Frontispiece

Fingal’s Cave, Staffa Opposite p. 475

A Forest of the Carboniferous Period ” 523

The Giant’s Causeway, Ireland ” 595

Stag-Horn Coral Reef, Australia ” 643

The Matterhorn ” 691

Forms of Snowflakes ” 739

Forms of Clouds ” 787

Chart of Winds and Tides ” 835

CONTENTS

FORMATION OF THE EARTH. Élisée Reclus 433

CLASSES OF ROCKS. Sir Charles Lyell 439

GEOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY. Sir J. William Dawson 450

THE SILURIAN BEACH. Louis Agassiz 456

CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. Louis Figuier 464

THE PALÆONTOLOGICAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS. Hugh Miller 480

EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC DELUGES. Louis Figuier 493

GLACIERS. Louis Agassiz 502

VOLCANIC ACTION. Sir Archibald Geikie 516

THOUGHTS ABOUT KRAKATOA. Sir Robert S. Ball 527

VOLCANOES. Sir Archibald Geikie 536

EARTHQUAKES. William Hughes 559

MOUNTAINS. A. Keith 566

LAKES--FRESH, SALT, AND BITTER. Sir Archibald Geikie 573

UNDERGROUND WATER: SPRINGS, CAVES, RIVERS, AND LAKES. Élisée Reclus 588

RIVERS. A. Keith Johnston 621

SWAMPS AND MARSHES. Élisée Reclus 628

LOWLAND PLAINS. William Hughes 634

THE SMELL OF EARTH. G. Clarke Nuttall 648

DESERTS. Élisée Reclus 654

THE PRIMITIVE OCEAN. G. Hartwig 666

THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN. John James Wild 676

CORAL FORMATIONS. Charles Darwin 689

MAGNITUDE AND COLOR OF THE SEA. G. Hartwig 707

TIDAL ACTION. Sir Robert S. Ball 713

THE GULF STREAM. Lord Kelvin 727

THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. G. Hartwig 750

THE SEASHORE. P. Martin Duncan 763

THE OCEAN OF AIR. Agnes Giberne 773

WEATHER. Sir Ralph Abercromby 784

THE ROMANCE OF A RAINDROP. Arthur H. Bell 792

THE RAINBOW. John Tyndall 799

SNOW, HAIL, AND DEW. Alexander Buchan 807

THE AURORA BOREALIS. Richard A. Proctor 813

CLOUDS. D. Wilson Barker 819

WINDS. William Hughes 828

SQUALLS, WHIRLWINDS, AND TORNADOES. Sir Ralph Abercromby 845

THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE

Volume Ii

THE EARTH: LAND, SEA, AND AIR

THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE

I.--THE EARTH’S CRUST

FORMATION OF THE EARTH --ÉLISÉE RECLUS

According to Laplace’s ideas, the whole planetary system formed, in long past ages, a portion of the sun. This luminary, composed solely of gaseous particles much lighter than hydrogen, pervaded with its enormous rotundity the whole of the space in which the planets, including Neptune, are now describing their immense orbits. The diameter of the solar spheroid must then have been 6,500 times greater than it now is, and its bulk must have surpassed its present volume by more than 860,000 millions of times. In the same way, the earth, before it began to get cool and solidify, would have embraced the moon within its limits, and its diameter would have been nearly six times greater than that of the planet Jupiter. But, unsubstantial and aerial as it was, our earth had then nothing but a cosmical life which could hardly be called material; it was not until it became more solid and its outer crust was hardened that it actually commenced its real existence.

This brilliant hypothesis accounts better than any other for the uniform translatory motion of the planets in the direction of west to east; it also apparently agrees in a remarkable way with certain facts in the subsequent history of the earth, as disclosed to us by geology; finally, the marvelous rings which surround the planet Saturn seem to proclaim the truth of the theory devised by Laplace. There have been some experiments on a small scale which appeared to reproduce in miniature the magnificent spectacle presented in the primitive ages by the origin of the planets. M. Plateau, a Belgian savant, managed to make a globe of oil revolve in a mixture of water and spirits of wine which was of exactly the same specific gravity as the oil. When the revolution of the little globe was sufficiently rapid, it was noticed to flatten at the poles and to swell at the equator; after a time it threw off rings which suddenly assumed the shape of globules actuated by a rotatory motion of their own, and turning round the central globe.

Another hypothesis connected with Laplace’s brilliant astronomical theory must be added, in order to describe the formation of the planetary crust. When the gaseous ring became condensed into a globe, it would not cease to contract, owing to the continued radiation of its caloric. The whole mass, having become liquid through the gradual cooling of its molecules, would be changed into a sea of lava whirling round in space; but this state was only one of transition. After an indefinite term of centuries, the loss of heat was sufficient to cause the formation of a light scoria, like a thin sheet of ice over the surface of the fiery sea, perhaps just at one of the poles where nowadays the extreme cold produces icebergs and a frost-bound sea. This first scoria was succeeded by a second, and then by others; next they would unite into continents floating on the surface of the lava, and, finally, would cover the whole circumference of the planet with a continuous layer. A thin but solid crust would then have imprisoned within it an immense burning sea.

This crust was frequently broken through by the lava boiling beneath it, and then, by means of the solidification of the scoriæ, was again united; the cooling process would tend also to slowly thicken it. After a lapse of time, which must have been immensely protracted--since the interval during which the temperature of the terrestrial crust would be lowered from 2,000° to 200° has been estimated, at the very least, at three and a half millions of centuries--the pellicle at last became firm, and the eruptions of the liquid mass within ceased to be a general phenomenon, localizing themselves at those points where the firm crust was the thinnest. The surrounding atmosphere, replete with vapors and various substances maintained by the extreme heat in a gaseous state, would gradually get rid of its burden; all kinds of matter, one after the other, would become disengaged from the luminous and burning aerial mass, and precipitate themselves on the solid crust of the planet. When the temperature was lowered sufficiently to enable them to pass from a gaseous to a liquid state, metals and other substances would fall down in a fiery rain on the terrestrial lava. Next, the steam, confined entirely to higher regions of the gaseous mass, would be condensed into an immense layer of clouds, incessantly furrowed by lightning. Drops of water, the commencement of the atmospheric ocean, would begin to fall down toward the ground, but only to volatilize on their way and again ascend. Finally these little drops reached the surface of the terrestrial scoria, the temperature of the water much exceeding 100°, owing to the enormous pressure exercised by the heavy air of these ages; and the first pool, the rudiment of a great sea, was collected in some fissure of the lava. This pool was constantly increased by fresh falls of water, and ultimately surrounded nearly the whole of the terrestrial crust with a liquid covering; but, at the same time, it brought with it fresh elements for the constitution of future continents. The numerous substances which the water held in solution formed various combinations with the metals and soils of its bed; the currents and tempests which agitated it destroyed its shores only to form new ones; the sediment deposited at the bottom of the water commenced the series of rocks and strata which follow one another above the primitive crust.

Henceforward the igneous planet was externally clothed with a triple covering, solid, liquid, and gaseous; it might therefore become the theatre of life. Vegetables and lowly forms of animals were called into existence in the water, and on the land which had emerged from it; and, finally, when the temperature of the surface of the globe had become less than 50°, allowing albumen to liquefy and blood to flow in the veins, the fauna and the flora would be developed, the remains of which are found in the earliest fossil strata. The era of chaos was succeeded by that of vital harmony; but in the immense series of ages we are dealing with, the life which appeared on the refrigerated planet was little else than the “mouldiness formed in a day.”

According to the theory generally propounded, the solid crust was not very completely formed; it is, indeed, much thinner than the layer of air surrounding the globe; for, following the common estimate, which, however, is purely hypothetical, at 22 to 25, or, at most, 50 miles below the surface of the earth, the terrestrial heat would be sufficient to melt granite. Compared to the diameter of the earth, which is about 250 times greater, this crust is nothing more than a thin skin, a just idea of which may be given by a sheet of thin cardboard surrounding a liquid sphere a yard in diameter. In the case of the earth, this liquid is a sea of lava and molten rocks, having, like the ocean above it, its currents, its tides, and perhaps its storms.

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