Chapter VII: Part 7

That part of the great group of mountains which we have before described, which lies in the new continent, contains many active volcanoes, and others but recently extinct. Terra del Fuego, as its very name imports, is the seat of many; Chili has several; in Peru are to be noted Arequipa, Pichinca, and Cotapaxi; while Chimborazo is obviously one that has become extinct at a period not remote. Passing the Isthmus of Panama, we find the volcanoes of Guatimala and Nicaragua almost infinite in number. In Mexico, are Orezaba, Popocatepetl, and Jorullo; the last of which first rose from beneath the surface in 1759. California has five active volcanoes; and we know, from the observations of La Perouse and Cook, that they also exist along the north-western coast of America. Mount St. Elias, in particular, was seen in a state of eruption. These mountains connect those of Mexico with the volcanoes of the Aleutian islands and of the peninsula of Alaska, which continue the system towards Kamtschatka, in which peninsula there are three of great violence. We have seen some proofs, that there are active volcanoes to the north-west of China, but none now exist in Thibet; and the action that once took place there has sought new vents, in regions more near to the present bed of the ocean. Thus, Japan has eight volcanoes, Formosa several, and, in proceeding to the south, the land of volcanic action widens, and becomes of immense extent. It embraces the Philippine, Marian, and Molucca islands, Java, Sumatra, Queen Charlotte's islands, and the New-Hebrides. The active volcanoes of Europe and western Asia are few in number; but those that are extinct form a great system, in which the active ones are included, and which seems to spread in the form of a belt, from the Caspian sea to the Atlantic. Volcanic action still occurs on the shores of the Caspian. In the chain of Elburg is a lofty mountain that still emits smoke, and around whose base are several distinct craters. Syria and Palestine abound in volcanic appearances, of which the great crater that has swallowed up the waters of the Jordan, and forms the Dead sea, is the most remarkable. Greece and the Grecian Archipelago have been, almost within historic times, the seat of a volcanic action, of great extent and violence, and which has not wholly exhausted itself. In Sicily, AEtna has burnt for 3300 years, and is yet surrounded by extinct craters of more ancient date. The Lipari islands are wholly volcanic. Vesuvius, that had long before intermitted its eruptions, and broke forth again in the great one that destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, is not the only volcanic mountain of Naples. An extinct one of much greater size is to be found near Roccafina. The catacombs of Rome are excavated in lava, and Tuscany contains strong evidences of volcanic action. Volcanic indications can be traced near Padua, Verona, and Vicenza, extending into Dalmatia. A district of Hungary was suspected of containing the seeds of subterranean fire, and the suspicion has been confirmed by an actual eruption. Germany and Bohemia contain a great number of extinct volcanoes, as does the south of France, and particularly Auvergne. In Spain, too, the proofs of a volcanic agency are clear and decisive.

Greenland and Iceland present a third group of volcanoes; in the latter island, a single volcano was in a state of continuous eruption for five or six years. The Azores, the Canaries and Madeiras, also contain numerous volcanoes, both active and extinct, as do the Caribbean islands.

In comparing together volcanoes that are in present activity, and others in which the crater and the streams of emitted lava are too distinct to permit a doubt of their having arisen from the same cause, differences are observed that only have arisen from great differences in the circumstances under which the eruption has taken place. In many of the ancient volcanoes, we find the emitted streams are arranged in prismatic forms, constituting basalt, and frequently passing into what under other circumstances would be styled _trap_ by the Wernerians. Now, we know that when streams of lava enter the sea, they spontaneously assume the prismatic structure. Hence we may infer, that these ancient volcanoes originally gave vent to their craters beneath the level of the sea, at a time when the rocks through which they penetrated, and over which their streams have passed, were beds of the primitive ocean. The trap rocks themselves may have been formed in a similar manner, by upward pressure of the igneous fluid beneath, through the veins and fissures formed on the breaking of the solid crust. Trap traverses, in dykes of unknown depth, many formations, and is occasionally seen forming beds between successive strata. It frequently occurs in faults, and sometimes in extensive overlying masses. Close observation, and a just course of analogy, lead to the irresistible conclusion, that all the trap rocks, however situated or arranged, grow out of the same great cause, the rising of the liquid interior of the earth to its surface. An action sometimes taking place through veins and fissures in the solid crust, and sometimes by the eruption of volcanoes, both occurring during the pressure of water upon the surface. One of the most extensive groups of trap-rocks is to be seen in the north-eastern part of the state of New-Jersey. The Hudson is bordered for nearly forty miles by a great ridge of columnar rock, lying upon sandstone. When this is surveyed with an eye to its analogy to volcanic action, it appears as if it were the outpourings of a crater, whose basin is now occupied by the lake in which the Hackensack river takes its rise, and whence a great stream of lava has run over the sandstone rock, as far as the strait that separates Staten Island from the main land. The two Newark mountains are ridges of the same description, of even greater extent; other smaller ridges of the same kind are also distinctly visible, and the whole of this last system appears to have proceeded from a crater now filled by the alluvion of the Passaic, but which is bordered by a ridge still occupying two-thirds of a circle, and showing conclusive marks of igneous action, that goes by the name of the Hook mountain. The phenomenon of a dyke of trap is well exhibited in the quarries near Hartford in Connecticut, where this rock has been laid bare for a considerable depth, as it rises through a sandstone rock, instead of overlying it, as it is seen to do on the Hudson.

The trap-rocks, which are, generally speaking, of the character called by mineralogists greenstone, vary in this district of New-Jersey, from a compact basalt of homogeneous structure, to one of regular and distinct crystallization, not distinguishable in hand specimens from primitive syenite. A rock of this last character is to be found in the mountain that extends from Morristown to Mount Kemble, which is columnar in its structure, but almost identical, in mere external characters, with stratified rocks of gneiss containing hornblende, that are found in the primitive ridges within a few miles.

Thus then the older volcanic rocks gradually pass in character into those which, under the general name of granitic, form the apparent nucleus of gneiss and mica slate mountains, and penetrate them, and the primitive limestones, in veins. One of the best instances of veins of granite with which we are acquainted, are those which occur in the quarries of white marble at Kingsbridge, which are traversed in every direction by thin veins of a rock, principally composed of a white fetid felspar, mixed with spangles of silvery mica, and small grains of quartz, interspersed with occasional masses of tourmaline. The famous locality of chrysoberyl, beryl, and other interesting minerals, at Haddam, in Connecticut, is said to occur in a granitic vein passing through strata of gneiss.

In all these cases we cannot fail to see evidence of igneous eruptions, taking place, however, under circumstances widely different from those of our present terrestrial volcanoes, or of the submarine craters of more remote dates, but which can be readily explained by supposing, either that the penetration took place when the surface of the earth was so intensely heated as to admit of the injected veins being slowly cooled, and therefore more perfectly crystallized; or that the issuing mass was so great as to retain its heat for a great length of time.

It might at first sight appear difficult to explain how volcanic energies should still continue in activity, now that the mean temperature of the earth has become constant, and the outer crust can be no longer subject to the shrinking, and consequent cracking which it must have undergone while cooling. The phenomena that attend volcanic eruptions furnish a full explanation of this, for they are attended in almost all cases with the evolution of great quantities of gaseous matters, and steam, which must therefore exist in a state of intense compression, and at elevated temperatures, in the mass whence the volcanic flood issues. Their elastic energies are sufficient to account for all the striking effects that attend the action of volcanoes.

The earthquake is a phenomenon connected with volcanic eruptions, and arising from the same great cause; but while the latter are confined to certain mountains, and restricted within narrow limits at the present day, an earthquake is sometimes found to prevail over a very large portion of the earth's surface. To omit the more usual phenomena of earthquakes, we shall speak of but one, which has in some cases been observed, that throws a great light upon the manner in which the stratified rocks have had their levels changed, and been dislocated and distorted in the manner we now find them. We allude to the sudden raising of countries of greater or less extent. Of this we shall quote three several instances from a paper of Arago's.

"During the night of the 28th September 1759, a district of
three or four square miles, situated in the Intendency of
Valladolid, in Mexico, was raised up, like an inflated bladder.
The limits where the elevation ceased may still be determined
at the present day, by the fracture of the strata. At these
limits the elevation of the ground above its primitive level,
or that of the surrounding plain, is no more than thirty-seven
feet; but towards the centre of the lifted district, the total
elevation is not less than five hundred feet.

"This phenomenon had been preceded by earthquakes that lasted
nearly two months; but when the catastrophe occurred, all
seemed tranquil; it was announced only by a horrible
subterranean noise, that took place at the moment when the
ground was lifted. Thousands of little cones, of from six to
ten feet in height, called by the natives ovens, arose in every
direction; finally six great projections were suddenly formed
along a great crevice lying in a north-east and south-west
direction, all of which were elevated from 1200 to 1600 feet
above the adjacent plains. The greatest of these small
mountains has become a true volcano, that of _Jorullo_, and
vomits forth lava.

"It will be seen that the most evident and well characterized
volcanic phenomena accompanied the catastrophe of Jorullo; that
they were perhaps its cause; but this did not prevent an
extensive plain, old and well consolidated, upon which the
sugar-cane and indigo were cultivated, from being, in our own
days, suddenly raised far above its primitive level. The escape
of inflamed matter, the formation of the ovens and of the
volcano of Jorullo, far from having contributed to produce this
effect, must on the contrary have lessened it; for all these
openings must have acted like safety valves, and permitted the
elevating cause to have dissipated itself, whether it were a
gas or a vapour. If the ground had opposed a greater
resistance; if it had not given way in so many points, the
plain of Jorullo, instead of becoming a simple hill five
hundred feet in height, might have acquired the relief of the
neighbouring summits of the Cordilleras.

"The circumstances that attended the formation of a new island
near Santorin, in the Greek Archipelago, seem to me also well
fitted to prove that subterranean fires not only contribute to
elevate mountains by the aid of ejections furnished by the
craters of volcanoes, but that they also sometimes lift the
already consolidated crust of the globe.

"On the 18th and 22d May 1707, there were slight shocks of an
earthquake at Santorin.

"On the 23d, at sun-rise, there was seen between the great and
little Rameni (two small islands) an object that was taken for
the hull of a shipwrecked vessel. Some sailors proceeded to the
spot, and on their return reported, to the great surprise of
the whole population, that it was a rock that had risen from
the waves. In this spot the sea had formerly a depth of from
400 to 500 feet.

"On the 24th, many persons visited the new island, and
collected upon its surface large oysters that had not ceased to
adhere to the rock. The island was seen sensibly to increase in
size.

"From the 23d May until the 13th or 14th June, the island
gradually increased in extent and elevation, without agitation
and without noise. On the 13th June it might be about half a
mile in circuit, and from 20 to 25 feet in height. Neither
flame nor smoke had issued from it.

"From the first appearance of the island, the water near its
shores had been troubled; on the 15th June it became almost
boiling.

"On the 16th, seventeen or eighteen black rocks rose from the
sea between the new island and the little Rameni.

"On the 17th they had considerably increased in height.

"On the 18th smoke arose from them, and great subterranean
noises were heard for the first time.

"On the 19th all the black rocks had united and formed a
continuous island, totally distinct from the first; flames,
columns of ashes, and red-hot stones arose from it.

"The volcanic phenomena still continued on the 23d May 1708.
The black island, a year after its appearance, was five miles
in circuit, a mile in breadth, and more than 200 feet in
height.

"On the 19th November 1822, at a quarter past ten in the
evening, the cities of Valparaiso, Melipilla, Quillota, and
Casa Blanca, in Chili, were destroyed by a terrible earthquake
that lasted three minutes. The following day several observers
discovered that the coast, for an extent of thirty leagues, had
been visibly elevated, for upon a coast where the tide never
rises higher than five or six feet, any rise in the land is
easily detected.

"At Valparaiso, near the mouth of the Coucon, and to the north
of Quintero, rocks were seen in the sea, near the bank, that no
person had before perceived. A vessel that had been stranded on
the coast, and whose wreck had been visited by the curious, in
boats, at low water, was left, after the earthquake, perfectly
dry. In traversing the shore of the sea, for a considerable
distance near Quintero, Lord Cochran, and Mrs. Maria Graham,
found that the water, even at high tide, did not reach rocks,
on which oysters, muscles, and shells still adhered, the
animals inhabiting which, recently dead, were in a state of
putrefaction. Finally the whole banks of the lake of Quintero,
which communicates with the sea, had evidently mounted
considerably above the level of the water, and in this locality
the fact could not escape the least attentive observers.

"At Valparaiso the country appeared to be raised about three
feet, near Quintero about four. It has been pretended, that at
a distance of a mile inland, the rise had been more than six
feet; but I do not know the particulars of the measures that
led to this last inference.

"In this case there was no volcanic eruption, no lava poured
forth, no stones or ashes projected, into the atmosphere, and
unless it be maintained that the level of the ocean have
fallen, it must be admitted that the earthquake of 19th.
November 1822, has raised the whole of Chili. Now the last
consequence is inevitable, for a change of level in the ocean
would have manifested itself equally along the whole extent of
the coast of America, while nothing of the kind was observed in
the ports of Peru, such as Paytu and Callao.

"If this discussion had not already carried us so far, the
preceding observations, from which it results, that in a few
hours, and by the effect of a few shocks of an earthquake, an
immense extent of country rose above its former level, might
have been compared with those which show, that there exists in
Europe, a great country (Sweden and Norway) whose level is also
rising, but in a gradual manner, and by a cause that acts
unceasingly, but which cause is unknown."

Thus, then, to whatever portion of the earth's surface we turn our eyes, we find the proofs of igneous action; our existing volcanoes, protruding themselves through the newer stratified formations, and even the diluvium, being in some cases more recent in their origin than the last great catastrophe to which the earth has been subjected; those of more ancient date forcing their way through the upper and lower secondary and transition formations, which are also cut and intersected by dykes of trap, while granite from the size of mountain masses down to their veins, has upheaved and penetrated the oldest stratified rocks. We also find great extents of country rising, sometimes gradually, sometimes suddenly, above their former level.

Mountains, then, are not the nucleus on which our continents and islands have been deposited, but are of subsequent origin, and have in their rise elevated the land to such a height as to be no longer accessible to the waters of the ocean. We may, even by examining through what strata the mountains have been raised, or those which compose their sides and crests when the elevating agent has not pierced through to the surface, infer the geological age which gave them birth. A research of this sort has been recently attempted and conducted with great ability by M. E. De Beaumont.

We shall quote an abstract of his reasoning from the "_Annuaire,"_ for 1830, in the words of Arago, which will also serve to illustrate various other points upon which we have touched.

"Among the formations of so many different kinds that form the
crust of our globe, there is a class which has been called
sedimentary (_terrains de sediment_). Those formations to which
this name is properly applied, are composed wholly, or in part,
of _detritus_, carried by water like the mud of our rivers, or
the sands of the beaches of the sea. These sands, in a state
of greater or less division, and agglutinated by siliceous or
calcareous cements, form the rocks called sandstones.

"Certain calcareous formations may also be reckoned in the same
class, even when they are wholly soluble, as is however rare,
in nitric acid; for the fragments of shells which they contain,
show, in another and perhaps better manner, that their
formation has also taken place in the bosom of the waters.

"Sedimentary formations are always composed of successive
layers, that are very distinctly marked. The more recent of
them may be arranged into four great divisions, which, in the
order of their antiquity, are

"The oolitic series or limestone of Jura;

"The system of greensand and chalk;

"The tertiary series; and finally

"The diluvian deposits.

"Although all these formations have been deposited by water,
and although they may all be found in the same locality lying
upon each other, the passage from the one to the other is never
made by insensible gradations. A sudden and marked change is
always to be perceived in the physical nature of the deposit,
and in that of the organized beings whose remains are found in
it. Thus it is evident, that between the epoch at which the
limestone of Jura was deposited, and that of the precipitation
of the system of greensand and chalk which covers it, there has
been upon the surface of the globe a complete change in the
state of things. The same may be said of the epoch that
separates the precipitation of the chalk from that of the
tertiary formations; as it is also evident that in every place
the state or nature of the liquid, whence the earths were
precipitated, must have changed completely between the time of
the formation of the tertiary strata, and that of the diluvium.

"These considerable variations, sudden, and not gradual, in the
nature of the successive deposits formed by the waters, are
considered by geologists as the effects of what they call '_The
Revolutions of the Globe_.' And even although it is very
difficult to say exactly in what these revolutions consisted,
their occurrence is not the less certain on that account.

"I have spoken of the chronological order in which these
different sedimentary strata have been deposited: I must
therefore state that this order has been determined by
following, without interruption, each different formation, to
those regions in which it could be ascertained beyond question,
and over a great horizontal space, that some particular layer
was above some other. Natural excavations, such as the cliffs
that border the sea, common wells, and Artesian fountains, with
the excavation of canals, have furnished powerful aid in this
inquiry.

"I have already remarked, that all these sedimentary formations
are stratified. In level countries, as might be expected, the
disposition of the layers is nearly horizontal. In approaching
mountainous countries, this horizontality, generally speaking,
ceases; finally, on the sides of mountains, some of these
layers are very much inclined; they even sometimes attain a
vertical direction.

"May not the inclined deposits that we see upon the slopes of
mountains, have been deposited in inclined or vertical
positions? Or is it not more natural to suppose, that they
originally formed horizontal beds, like the contemporaneous
beds of the same nature with which the plains are covered, and
that they have been lifted up and assumed new directions at the
moment of the elevation of the mountains on whose sides they
rest?

"As a general principle, it does not appear impossible that the
crests of mountains may have been incrusted _in place_, and in
their actual position, by sedimentary deposits, since we daily
see the vertical sides of vessels, in which waters charged with
sulphate of lime evaporate, covered with a saline crust, whose
thickness is continually augmented; but the question before us
does not present this general aspect, for it is merely required
to determine whether the _known_ sedimentary formations can
have been thus deposited. To this question we must reply in the
negative, as can be shown by two species of considerations,
wholly different from each other.

"Incontestable geological observations have shown, that the
calcareous layers which constitute the summits of Buet in
Savoy, and Mount Perden in the Pyrenees, elevated 11,000 or
12,000 feet above the level of the sea, have been formed at the
same time with the chalk of the cliffs that border the British
channel. If the mass of water whence these strata were
precipitated had risen 11,000 or 12,000 feet, the whole of
France would have been covered, and analogous deposits must
have existed upon all heights not exceeding 9,000 or 10,000
feet; now, it is found, on the contrary, that in the north of
France, where these deposits appear to have undergone little
change, the chalk never reaches a height of more than 600 feet
above the level of the present sea. They present precisely the
disposition of a deposit formed in a basin filled with a liquid
whose level has never reached any points that are at the
present day elevated more than 600 feet.

"I pass to the second proof, borrowed from Saussure, and which
appears even more convincing.

"Sedimentary formations often contain pebbles rounded by
attrition, and of a figure more or less elliptical. In the
places where the stratification is horizontal, the longer axes
of these pebbles are all horizontal, for the same reason that
an egg cannot stand upon its point. But where the strata are
inclined at an angle of 45 deg., the greater axes of many of these
pebbles form this same angle with the horizon; and when the
layers become vertical, the greater axes of many of the pebbles
become vertical also.

"This observation, in respect to the position of the axes of
the pebbles, _demonstrates,_ that the sedimentary formations
have not been deposited in the position they now occupy; they
have been raised in a greater or less degree, when the
mountains, whose sides they cover, have arisen from the bosom
of the earth.

"This being proved, it is evident that these sedimentary
formations, whose strata present themselves upon the slopes of
mountains, in inclined or vertical directions, existed before
these mountains arose. The formations of the same class that
are prolonged horizontally, until they meet the same slopes,
must be on the contrary of a date posterior to the formation of
the mountain; for it cannot be conceived, that, in rising from
the mass of the earth, it should not have elevated at the same
time all previously existing strata.

"Let us introduce proper names into the general and simple
theory which we have developed, and the discovery of M. de
Beaumont will be announced.

"Of the four species of sedimentary formations that we have
distinguished, three, and these are the uppermost, the nearest
to the surface of the globe, or the most modern, extend in
horizontal layers, from the Cote d'Or and from Forez, to the
mountains of Saxony; and only one, which is the oolite or
limestone of Jura, shows itself elevated within this district.

"Therefore the Hartz, the Cote d'Or, and Mount Pilus of Forez,
have risen from the globe since the formation of the Jura
oolite, and before the deposit of the three other formations.

"On the slopes of the Pyrenees and Appennines, two of the
formations are raised up, namely, the oolite and the greensand
and chalk; the tertiary formations, and the diluvium that
covers them, have preserved their primitive horizontality. The
Pyrenees and Appennines are, therefore, more modern than the
limestone of Jura, and the greensand which they have raised,
and more ancient than the tertiary strata and the diluvium.

"The western Alps, and among them Mount Blanc, have, like the
Pyrenees, raised the limestone of Jura, and the greensand, but,
in addition, they have also raised the tertiary formations; the
diluvium is alone horizontal in the vicinity of these
mountains.

"The date of the elevation of Mount Blanc must, therefore,
inevitably be placed between the epoch of the formation of the
tertiary strata and the diluvium.

"Finally, upon the sides of the central Alps, (Mount St.
Gothard,) and of the mountains of Ventorix and Liberon, near
Avignon, no one of the sedimentary formations is horizontal;
all the four have been raised up. When these mountains arose,
the diluvium itself must have already been deposited."

"The sedimentary formations appear, from their nature, and the
regular disposition of their layers, to have been deposited in
times of tranquillity. Each of these formations being
characterized by a particular system of organized beings, both
vegetable and animal, it is indispensable to suppose, that
between the epochs of tranquillity, corresponding to the
precipitation of two of these overlying formations, there must
have been a great physical revolution upon the globe. We now
know that these revolutions have consisted in, or at least been
characterized by, the raising of a system of mountains. The two
first liftings-up pointed out by M. de Beaumont, not being by
any means the greatest of the four he has succeeded in
classing, it will be seen that we cannot infer that the globe,
in growing older, becomes less fit to experience this species
of catastrophe, and that the present period of tranquillity may
not be terminated like those that have preceded it, by the
elevation of some immense mountain chain."

M. de Beaumont next attempted, by a fancied arrangement of zones and parallels to great circles, to classify the mountains he had not an opportunity of examining, with those in respect to which he had obtained the above satisfactory conclusions. We fear, however, that he has proceeded to theorize too speedily, and before he had obtained a sufficient number of facts. We are certain, that in respect to the great Alleghany group of the United States, which he classes with the Pyrenees and Appennines, he must be mistaken, for no formations later than the transition limestone are to be found in their vicinity. In respect to the highlands of the state of New-York, and their branch of primitive rocks, which extends along the Hudson to the island of New-York, the sandstone of New-Jersey appears to continue horizontally until it reaches their bases, and no rocks appear to have been raised on the south-eastern side of the highlands, which are the easternmost of the five parallel ridges of the Alleghanies, older than the slate; but on their north-western side the transition limestone appears to have been raised. They therefore are older than any mountains examined by M. de Beaumont, and were we to hazard a conjecture, we should class them with the Grampians of Scotland, and the mountains of Wales, in both of which slate is the only rock of the transition series that appears to have been elevated.

To complete our subject, it would be necessary that we should enter into a discussion of the manner in which the ocean is now acting, by its currents and tides, to distribute and deposit in its bed the sediment which rivers and streams are constantly hurrying into it; and that we should form some estimate, from what occurs within our reach, of the effects produced in these deposits by the vast number of organized beings that must people them, the deposits of vegetable matter, and the exuviae, of animals. Such discussion would, however, be in a considerable degree purely conjectural, and we therefore shall not enter into it. It is sufficient to say, that formations analogous to those which the elevation of the continents has exposed to our view, must be now taking place in the bed of the ocean, whence they may be in their turn raised, to task the ingenuity of future races of reasoning beings.

* * * * *

Inquiries into the history of the changes which our earth has undergone, as they lead with infallible evidence to the proof of an existence of this globe at a period almost infinitely more remote than that at which man became its inhabitant, have been stigmatized as impious. The intolerant theologian, adhering with pertinacity to his own system of interpretation, fulminates anathemas against all who find in natural appearances convincing evidence, that the earth was not suddenly and by a single fiat called into existence in the exact, state in which we now find it. Timid geologists have bent to the storm, and have endeavoured to reconcile natural appearances with the arbitrary interpretations that have been deduced from scripture. But neither is the inquiry itself less holy than any of those which consider natural phenomena, exhibiting in their progress convincing proofs of infinite wisdom and power in the Creator, justifying the ways of God to man; nor is any one of the results of the inquiry in the slightest degree opposed to the texts of the sacred volume. The impiety rests with the interpreter, and not with the physical inquirer. The former unwisely links to his spiritual belief an interpretation at variance with natural appearances; and the latter, if he do not inquire for himself, and believe on the evidence of the former, that the truth or falsehood of the two distinct propositions are inseparably connected, must, as he sees the one to be inconsistent, hesitate with respect to the other. Some geologists, then, may have been sceptics; but could the secrets of the heart be laid open, we cannot help believing, that those who have most earnestly endeavoured to reconcile the phenomena we know to exist, with the interpretation of scripture, from which they appear to vary, have been at bottom the least sincere in their religious faith.

For ourselves, we see no difficulties, no discrepancies between the record of direct revelation, and the sublime passages of the book of nature. We believe that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;" that he called at once into existence the whole material world; but we also believe that he then impressed matter with laws, under the action of which that material world must maintain its existence, and secure its permanence, until the same almighty power shall annihilate it. We are not of those who judge of the works of the Deity from the conditions of the works which can alone be effected by the power of man. However perfect or complete be human mechanism, it can only move by the application of some power inherent in matter; did not an elastic spring expand itself after being coiled, the chronometer would be a dead and lifeless mass; did not fluids obey the force of gravitation, and currents in the atmosphere the expansive power of heat, the water-wheel and wind-mill would be useless; did not water form vapour at elevated temperatures, and condense when cooled, the still more powerful agency of steam would be wanting. Not only are machines of no value unless impelled by natural agents, but they themselves are subject to rapid decay, and require perpetual attention. Such is not the case with the machinery of the universe; its motions are perpetually varying, but yet in their variations invariable; continually oscillating on each side of mean rates, yet never losing or gaining in intensity. Such too is the case on the surface of our globe; the seasons alternately clothe the forests with verdure, and strip them of their leaves; seed time and harvest recur with invariable precision; the whole of existing vegetables perish, and animals die and decay, yet the race is perpetuated. Shall we set bounds to the exertion of almighty power, and say, that races, that families, that species and genera, nay that whole natural kingdoms may not in their turn decay and die, after providing for the repeopling of the earth by new inhabitants? The catastrophes of our planet are not yet at an end; the time will and must come, as we may guess from natural appearances, and as we find predicted in scripture, when the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and the earth shall melt with fervent heat; and in the new system of appearances, the new heaven and earth shall succeed--the corruptible bodies that are now sown in dishonour, shall be raised in honour and incorruptible.

The present surface of our globe is to our limited views slowly changing; to him who compares time with the immeasurable duration that has preceded and must succeed our existence, it is rapidly hastening to apparent ruin. The waters raised from the ocean, falling in greatest abundance on the land, tear and wear away the surface, and deposit it in the bed of the sea. Deltas form at the mouths of rivers by this action; the basin of the ocean is gradually elevated, and, in addition, islands and archipelagos are raised from its bed. The surface of the sea is for the present lessening under the influence of these causes, but the time must come, unless it be prevented by some catastrophe, when the ocean must in its turn encroach upon the land, when the plains and valleys shall become bays and gulfs, or even unite in continuous expanses of water, and the greater mountains alone, diminished in bulk by continued abrasion, shall stand as islands in the vast abyss. The earth would then again be without form and void of inhabitants, as it was before the creation of man. Such, however, will not be the termination of the present order of things; we are taught to look for this in an igneous eruption, the source of which now slumbers almost quiescent beneath our feet.

Not only does revelation, but science, teach us that the earth must have been covered with water, and void of animate life, previous to its becoming the habitation of man. But they read their scriptures differently from us who think that this state of things was the actual beginning. There is no necessary connexion between the first verse of Genesis and the succeeding. The beginning of the existence of matter, and the state of vacuity and darkness whence the present order of things emerged, may have been, so far as the text is concerned, and were, as we know from appearances, separated from each other by unnumbered ages.

Neither is it necessary that we accept the literal meaning of the passage, and conceive the Deity speaking with human voice, and calling creation forth by audible fiat. The voice of the Deity is that unheard and silent command which nature hears and obeys throughout all his works. The pious and sincere believer sees an overruling providence preserving him in kindness when it saves him from shipwreck, or chastening him in mercy when it deprives him of friends or relations, as distinctly as if he beheld the prince of the air stayed in his furious course, or the angel of destruction taking his visible stand beside the pillow of departing life. No miracles are necessary to him who sees in the rising and setting of the sun, in the order and beauty of the universe, in the absolute perfection of its mechanical laws, in his own fearful and wonderful structure, the evidence of infinite wisdom in design, and infinite power in execution; and the examination of the structure and character of our globe, is as well calculated as any other physical study to exhibit in full and brilliant light these attributes of the Deity.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] See American Quarterly, Vol. V.

[9] See American Quarterly, Vol. III.

[10] Our author has "alluvion."

[11] Alluvial in our author.

ART. V.--AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF THIEVES.

1.--_The American Trenck; or the Memoirs of Thomas Ward, now in confinement in the Baltimore Jail, under a sentence of ten years' imprisonment for robbing the United States Mail._ Baltimore. 18mo: 1829.

2.--_Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a Swindler and Thief, now transported to New South Wales, for the second time, and for life. Written by himself._ London. 18mo: 1829.

3.--_Memoirs of Vidocq, principal Agent of the French Police, until_ 1827, _and since, Proprietor of the Paper Manufactory at St. Maude. Written by himself. Translated from the French._ London. 4 vols. 18mo: 1829.

"One half of the world does not know how the other half lives:"--so says the adage, and says truly. Men of reading, however, who direct their attention to biography, and especially to auto-biography, and who combine with their reading attention to the varied pursuits of mankind, may attain tolerably correct notions of the habits, modes of reasoning, and peculiarities of others, though living in evidently different stations, and engaged in occupations the most various. In this view, the volumes above announced are valuable. They furnish a remarkably clear insight of the ways and actings of professional thieves, and of the men with whom they often become connected,--police officers and jailers. But what assurance have we, it may be inquired, that they speak the truth? How can the evidence of such characters be received? These queries must be answered by considering several particulars. In the first place, then, the verity of a narrative may be partly established by its coherence and probability. When the events related have a manifest correspondence with each other, and are such as may be credited, we necessarily attach to them a degree of belief, which we cannot extend to those of an opposite character. The evidence from this source is, however, exceedingly imperfect, since many narratives, almost entirely fictitious, appear so natural, as to impose upon the reader with all the strength of unvarnished truth. Robinson Crusoe has deceived thousands, and Damberger's Travels in Africa were not suspected to be otherwise than true, for a considerable time after their publication; but they were at length proved to be a complete fabrication. Accordingly, in judging of doubtful works, we must resort to additional means; one of which is a comparison of works of a similar description with each other.

When an account appears to be too wonderful for credence, we are, of course, disposed to rank the author with romance-writers; but when we find that divers accounts, equally extraordinary, are related by others as happening under similar circumstances, we then begin to suppose that we may have judged erroneously. Captain Riley's Narrative of his Captivity in Africa was rejected by many as half-fictitious: his sufferings were greater than human nature could bear, and the Arabs of the desert could never lead the life described. But since it has been found that the sufferings undergone by the crew of the French frigate, the Medusa, were no less horrible, and of the same kind, and that Clapperton and others who have subsequently crossed the Sahara, confirmed his statements respecting the Arabs,--he has been regarded very differently. And it may be supposed, that if Sir Walter Scott had known of the remarkable confirmation given by Benyouski, to Drury's account of Madagascar, he would not have expressed his doubts of the latter's veracity.[12] When writers, unacquainted with each other's productions, are found, by incidental allusions, to agree in minute particulars, the evidence is almost irrefutable. Paley has made an admirable use of this species of proof in his _Horae Paulinae_.

Another mode of judging of an author's credibility is sometimes furnished, by learning whether any of his alleged facts have been contradicted by persons acquainted with them, especially if they are such as these persons would be glad to contradict. If a person is charged with being an accomplice in a crime, and he fails to rebut the accusation, we may infer that he is unable to do so. Or, if the narrator give place and date to certain memorable transactions, which, if false, might easily be shown to be so, a similar inference may be deduced, when it can be shown that others are interested in such exposure.

Now, on bringing the works under notice to these different tests, we shall have tolerably strong presumptive evidence of their being, in the main, worthy of credence. Vaux's Memoirs contain nothing that may not be credited on the score of probability, while the circumstances detailed are remarkably coherent; they seem to arise naturally from each other. Vidocq's, on the contrary, contain so many marvellous escapes from prisons, so many perils from contests with ruffians and bravoes, and such varied turns of fortune, that the reader is necessitated to ask,--can this be true? Here, however, both Vaux and Ward offer him some assistance; the similarity of their accounts, though destitute of so many wonders, corroborating the probability of his. The three narratives are quite in keeping. We find in each the same restlessness, the same blind passion impelling to deeds of vice and desperation, and the same proofs of treachery amongst their companions. Each, too, has furnished so many means of detection, by names of persons, dates, and places, that,--no attempt at refutation having been made by persons implicated,--we are to believe that they must, at any rate, contain much that is true. Neither Ward's nor Vidocq's Memoirs are so connected as Vaux's; but in Ward's case, this may be attributed to a want of scholarship, as he is evidently an ignorant man; and in Vidocq's, to a fondness for the marvellous, in consequence of which he has introduced many episodes. These episodes, accordingly, detract from the merit of the work, considered as a veritable narrative, they being garnished with more of the romantic than the regular account of his own performances.

After all, a degree of suspicion will attach to each of them, from the consideration that they are all avowed liars. If, indeed, there was proof, either external or internal, that they had become reformed characters, and, of course, abhorrers of deceit, we might value their self-condemnation as evidence of truth; for what man of moral feeling would proclaim that he had been an habitual liar, except conscious that the avowal was incumbent on him to substantiate the truth? This was done by Bunyan, the author of the Pilgrim's Progress, and by Cowper, the truly Christian poet:--they are respected accordingly. But in these narratives, except a little cant in Ward's, we find nothing approaching to a sense of shame or remorse. Vidocq, like Homer's Ulysses, has a lie ready for every occasion, and appears, like that hero, to regard himself as "the man for wisdom's various arts renowned." Vaux is almost equal to him in this respect, and exults in the success of his deceptions. If cunning were wisdom, Ulysses, Vidocq, and Vaux, would form a trio of eminently wise men. But this sort of wisdom, how much soever valued by pagans, must be regarded by Christians, enlightened by the Gospel, as utterly unjustifiable, even when employed as a means for the attainment of some good; since they are never to do evil that good may come. Accordingly, those persons who make lies their refuge, must be liable to be doubted, even when they speak the truth. Still, it is possible, that a man's conscience may be so obdurate, as not to perceive the pravity of mendacity, when exercised for his supposed benefit, while he yet retains a regard for truth when engaged in relating his exploits to others. This, we think, is partly the case with our heroes. Their acknowledgment of their disregard of truth, while prosecuting illegal measures, is, indeed,--so inconsistent is human nature,--some guarantee for the fidelity of their narratives. A solitary vice is a thing unknown; as Lillo expresses it, in his tragedy of George Barnwell,--"One vice as naturally begets another, as a father begets a son." Who, then, could believe a practised villain, if he professed himself untainted by mendacity? But if, after a plain avowal of his constant resort to it, we find nothing contradictory in his relation, we may reasonably yield a qualified assent to it; since, as Lord Bacon remarks in his Essays, which "come home to men's business and bosoms," a liar had need possess a good memory to prevent his contradicting himself. Where he is consistent throughout a long narrative, the natural deduction is, that he has mainly depended on his memory, rejecting, for the occasion, his temptation to beguile.[13]

After these preliminary considerations, the relevancy of which is obvious, we proceed to furnish our readers with a few extracts; not doubting, that to such of them as lead domestic, retired lives, it will afford gratification to learn something of the ways of others, who are entirely opposite in their habits,--as opposite as the two electric poles, and, like them, "repelling and repelled." One of the most observable points in these volumes, is the contamination of jails. When men are thrown together in a place where reputation is valueless, they have no inducement to conceal their vices. What is the consequence? They delight in recounting to each other their nefarious exploits: thus conscience is more and more corrupted, and the young and inexperienced are initiated into the skilful manoeuvres of adepts. Whoever has read the _first_ edition of Ellwood's Life, (for the subsequent editions do not contain the passage,) may remember the amusing account he has given of the state of the common side of Newgate in the reign of Charles II. Ellwood was imprisoned in that persecuting reign, for adherence to his religious convictions as a Quaker, and had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the ordinary behaviour and conversation of thieves in jail. He saw and lamented the evils incident to a promiscuous assemblage of old and young, of hardened villains and juvenile delinquents; but the remedy was reserved for the present age. That the remedy ought not to have been so long deferred, will be evident to every one who attends to Vaux's account of his first incarceration.

"On entering the gates of the gloomy receptacle to which I was
now consigned, and which, on many accounts, has not been
unaptly named the Bastile, the sensations I felt may be more
easily felt than described. Besides that this was the first
prison I had ever entered, every thing around me had an air of
unspeakable horror. After being viewed and reviewed by the
surly Cerberuses of this earthly Hell, I was conducted up some
stairs to a long gallery, or passage, six feet wide, having on
either side a number of dismal cells, each about six feet by
nine, formed entirely of stone, but having a small grated
window near the roof, at the further end, which admitted a
gloomy light, and overlooked a yard, in which other prisoners
were confined; there was also a similar grate over the door;
but, owing to their height, both these apertures were very
difficult of access. The cells on the other side the passage
were exactly similar, but overlooking another yard, and the
doors were immediately opposite to each other. The only
furniture of these dreary apartments was an iron bedstead, on
which were a bed, blanket, and rug, but all of the coarsest
kind. My conductor having given me a pitcher of water, without
vouchsafing a word, locked the door, and left me in utter
darkness.

"In order to amuse my mind during this solitary week, I climbed
up to the grated aperture over the door of my cell, and
listened to the conversation of the neighbouring prisoners;
and, from their discourse, I acquired a more extensive
knowledge of the various modes of fraud and robbery, which, I
now found, were reduced to a regular system, _than I should
have done in seven years, had I continued at large_. I was
indeed astonished at what I heard; and I clearly perceived
that, instead of expressing contrition for their offences,
their only consideration was, how to proceed with more safety,
but increased vigour, in their future depredations. And here I
was struck with the fallacious notions entertained by the
projectors of this prison, which was reputed to be upon the
plan of the benevolent and immortal Howard, who had recommended
the confinement of offenders in separate cells, in order to
prevent the effects of evil communication among persons who had
not all attained an equal degree of depravity. This object,
however, was not effected here; for, being within hearing of
each other, they could, by sitting up over the door as I have
described, converse each with his opposite neighbour, and even
form a line of communication, where the discourse became
general, from one end of the gallery to the other. As a proof
of what I have advanced, I knew several of the prisoners, then
confined with me in this passage, who were at that time but
striplings, and novices in villainy, and who, after several
years continuance in their evil courses, at length became
notorious offenders, and, having narrowly escaped a shameful
death, are now prisoners for life in this colony."

As this subject is of great importance, we shall give a few more extracts connected with it. Crime, as Mr. Buxton has shown in his valuable Inquiry, is promoted, instead of being repressed, by such indiscriminate association. Corruption spreads by it, as surely as decomposition is assisted by heat and moisture. Ward thus describes the Baltimore jail:--

"About this time, I was ordered by the sheriff to be put into
the criminal apartment, along with untried prisoners, hardened
offenders, debtors, and among characters of the most abandoned
and vicious stamp;--men of all nations and all colours. Among
this mass of vile and depraved men, I had to take up my abode.
There was no example of moral rectitude here exhibited _but
that of my own_! No restraint was put by our keepers, on their
profane and vile language and conduct. Every one indulged to an
excess in every species of the most disgusting practices,
profaning and scandalizing every thing holy."

Vidocq's description of the Bagne at Brest, corresponds with the above:--