Geology for General Readers: a Series of Popular Sketches in Geology and Palaeontology |
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Geology for General Readers - A Series of Popular Sketches in Geology and ... David Page No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
accumulations America ancient antiquity arctic areas arrangement ascent Asia bituminous boulders calcareous Cambrian Carboniferous Chalk changes chemical chiefly civilisation clays climate coal coal-fields continue course Cretaceous crustacea crystalline current epoch debris deposits distribution of sea drifted earth's crust eocene estuaries Europe existing extinct feet fishes flora and fauna formations forms fossils genera geological geologists glacial epoch glacier globe gradually gravels heat higher hyænas igneous imbedded ironstones islands lakes latitudes Laurentian less lignites limestones lower mammals marine masses metamorphism mineral miocene nature névé newer northern numerous occur ocean Old Red Sandstone older Oolite operations organic PALEOZOIC partly peat-mosses period physical plants and animals pliocene portion present recent regions reptiles rivers rocks sand schists sea and land secondary ages sediments shales shell-fish shells shores silts Silurian Sketch species stage stone strata stratified surface terrestrial tertiary thickness tion Triassic variety veins vital volcanic woolly rhinoceros
Popular passages
Page 49 - This earth, like the body of an animal, is wasted at the same time that it is repaired. It has a state of growth and augmentation; it has another state, which is that of diminution and decay. This world is thus destroyed in one part, but it is renewed in another; and the operations by which this world is thus constantly renewed, are as evident to the scientific eye, as are those in which it is necessarily destroyed.
Page 280 - Drift ; when man shared the possession of Europe with the mammoth, the cave-bear, the woollyhaired rhinoceros, and other extinct animals. This we may call the Palaeolithic period. ' Secondly, the later or Polished Stone Age ; a period characterised by beautiful weapons and instruments made of flint and other kinds of stone, in which, however, we find no trace of the knowledge of any metal...
Page 157 - fossil substances that are called coals, and are broken for use, are earthy ; they kindle, " however, and burn like wood coals. These are found in Liguria, where there also is amber, " and in Elis, on the way to Olympia over the mountains. These are used by smiths.
Page 57 - A volcano is not made on purpose to frighten superstitious people into fits of piety and devotion, nor to overwhelm devoted cities with destruction; a volcano should be considered as a spiracle to the subterranean furnace, in order to prevent the unnecessary elevation of land, and fatal effects of earthquakes...
Page 115 - Every organized being forms a whole, a single circumscribed system, the parts of which mutually correspond and concur to the same definitive action by a reciprocal re-action. None of these parts can change without the others also changing, and consequently each part, taken separately, indicates and gives all the others.
Page 259 - Between the 15th and 45th degrees of west longitude lies the deepest part of the ocean, the bottom of which is almost wholly composed of the same kind of soft, mealy substance, which, for want of a better name, I have called ooze. This substance is remarkably sticky, having been found to adhere to the sounding rod and line (as has been stated above) through its passage from the bottom to the surface — in some instances from a depth of more than 2000 fathoms.
Page 87 - SYSTEM. The rocks of this system are, almost without exception, ancient sedimentary strata, which have become highly crystalline. They have been very much disturbed and form ranges of hills, having a direction nearly Northeast and South-west, rising to the height of 2,000 or 3,000 feet, and even higher. The rocks of this formation...
Page 35 - ... the coast, where it forms most fertile countries. But the billows of the ocean agitate the loose materials upon the shore, and wear away the coast, with the endless repetitions of this act of power, or this imparted force. Thus the continent of our earth, sapped in its foundation, is carried away into the deep, and sunk again at the bottom of the sea, from whence it had originated. We are thus led to see a circulation in the matter of this globe, and a system of beautiful economy in the works...
Page 287 - Europe that the earliest relics of the human race upon the globe are to be sought. Like the Esquimaux...
Page 224 - ... all the glacieres I have visited, excepting that of S. Georges ; and there art has replaced the protection formerly afforded by the thick trees which grew over the hole of entrance. The effect of the second hole in the roof of this glaciere is to destroy all the ice which is within range of the sun. A third and very necessary condition is, that the wind should not be allowed access to the cave ; for if it were, it would infallibly bring in heated air, in spite of the specific weight of the cold...