Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY, WITH A SERIES OF ESSAYS TO SHOW THAT THE MONUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT STATE OF THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS, WHICH THIS SCIENCE INTERP...

Supposed alternate periods of repose and disorder--Opposite doctrine, which refers geological phenomena to an uninterrupted series of changes in the organic and inorganic world,...

OBSERVED CHANGES IN THE INORGANIC WORLD NOW IN PROGRESS: FIRST, THE EFFECTS OF AQUEOUS CAUSES, SUCH AS RIVERS, SPRINGS, GLACIERS, WAVES, TIDES, AND CURRENTS; SECONDLY, OF IGNEOU...

CHAPTERS XIX. XX. XXI. Denuding, transporting, and depositing agency of the waves, tides, and currents--Waste of sea-cliffs on the coast of England--Delta of the Rhine--Depositi...

OBSERVED CHANGES OF THE ORGANIC WORLD NOW IN PROGRESS; FIRST, NATURE AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES, AND THEORIES RESPECTING THEIR CREATION AND EXTINCTION; SECONDLY, T...

Geology is the science which investigates the successive changes that have taken place in the organic and inorganic kingdoms of nature; it inquires into the causes of these chan...

Oriental Cosmogony--Hymns of the Vedas--Institutes of Menu--Doctrine of the successive destruction and renovation of the world--Origin of this doctrine--Common to the Egyptians-...

years before the reign of the Incas, in which only six persons were saved on a float, relates to a region which has more than once been overwhelmed by inroads of the ocean since...

Arabian writers of the tenth century--Avicenna--Omar--Cosmogony of the Koran--Kazwini--Early Italian writers--Leonardo da Vinci--Fracastoro--Controversy as to the real nature of...

Werner's application of geology to the art of mining--Excursive character of his lectures--Enthusiasm of his pupils--His authority--His theoretical errors--Desmarest's Map and D...

Prepossessions in regard to the duration of past time--Prejudices arising from our peculiar position as inhabitants of the land--Of those occasioned by our not seeing subterrane...

Climate of the Northern Hemisphere formerly different--Direct proofs from the organic remains of the Italian strata--Proofs from analogy derived from extinct quadrupeds--Imbeddi...

On the causes of vicissitudes in climate--Remarks on the present diffusion of heat over the globe--On the dependence of the mean temperature on the relative position of land and...

Geographical features of the northern hemisphere, at the period of the oldest fossiliferous strata--State of the surface when the mountain limestone and coal were deposited--Cha...

Theory of the progressive development of organic life--Evidence in its support inconclusive--Vertebrated animals, and plants of the most perfect organization, in strata of very...

Intensity of aqueous causes--Slow accumulation of strata proved by fossils--Rate of denudation can only keep pace with deposition--Erratics, and effects of ice--Deluges, and the...

Volcanic action at successive geological periods--Plutonic rocks of different ages--Gradual development of subterranean movements--Faults--Doctrine of the sudden upheaval of par...

Consolidation of fossiliferous strata--Some deposits originally solid--Transition and slaty texture--Crystalline character of Plutonic and Metamorphic rocks--Theory of their ori...

Supposed alternate periods of repose and disorder--Observed facts in which this doctrine has originated--These may be explained by supposing a uniform and uninterrupted series o...

Division of the subject into changes of the organic and inorganic world--Inorganic causes of change divided into aqueous and igneous--Aqueous causes first considered--Fall of ra...

Carrying power of river-ice--Rocks annually conveyed into the St. Lawrence by its tributaries--Ground-ice; its origin and transporting power--Glaciers--Theory of their downward...

Origin of Springs--Artesian wells--Borings at Paris--Distinct causes by which mineral and thermal waters may be raised to the surface--Their connection with volcanic agency--Cal...

Lake deltas--Growth of the delta of the Upper Rhine in the Lake of Geneva--Computation of the age of deltas--Recent deposits in Lake Superior--Deltas of inland seas--Course of t...

Deltas formed under the influence of tides--Basin and delta of the Mississippi--Alluvial plain--River-banks and bluffs--Curves of the river--Natural rafts and snags--New lakes,...

Difference in the rise of tides--Lagullas and Gulf currents--Velocity of currents--Causes of currents--Action of the sea on the British coast--Shetland Islands--Large blocks rem...

Inroads of the sea at the mouths of the Rhine in Holland--Changes in the arms of the Rhine--Proofs of subsidence of land--Estuary of the Bies Bosoh, formed in 1421--Zuyder Zee,...

Estuaries, how formed--Silting up of estuaries does not compensate the loss of land on the borders of the ocean--Bed of the German Ocean--Composition and extent of its sand-bank...

Changes of the inorganic world, _continued_--Igneous causes--Division of the subject--Distinct volcanic regions--Region of the Andes--System of volcanoes extending from the Aleu...

History of the volcanic eruptions in the district round Naples--Early convulsions in the island of Ischia--Numerous cones thrown up there--Lake Avernus--The Solfatara--Renewal o...

Dimensions and structure of the cone of Vesuvius--Fluidity and motion of lava--Dikes--Alluviums called "aqueous lavas"--Origin and composition of the matter enveloping Herculane...

External physiognomy of Etna--Lateral cones--Their successive obliteration--Early eruptions--Monti Rossi in 1669--Towns overflowed by lava--Part of Catania overflowed--Mode of a...

Volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783--New island thrown up--Lava currents of Skaptar Jokul, in same year--their immense volume--Eruption of Jorullo in Mexico--Humboldt's theory...

Earthquakes and their effects--Deficiency of ancient accounts--Ordinary atmospheric phenomena--Changes produced by earthquakes in modern times considered in chronological order-...

Earthquake in Calabria, February 5, 1783--Shocks continued to the end of the year 1786--Authorities--Area convulsed--Geological structure of the district--Difficulty of ascertai...

Earthquake of Java, 1772--Truncation of a lofty cone--St. Domingo, 1770--Lisbon, 1755--Great area over which the shocks extended--Retreat of the sea--Proposed explanations--Conc...

Changes in the relative level of land and sea in regions not volcanic--Opinion of Celsius that the waters of the Baltic Sea and Northern Ocean were sinking--Objections raised to...

Intimate connection between the causes of volcanoes and earthquakes--Supposed original state of fusion of the planet--Universal fluidity not proved by spheroidal figure of the e...

Review of the proofs of internal heat--Theory of an unoxidated metallic nucleus--Whether the decomposition of water may be a source of volcanic heat--Geysers of Iceland--Causes...

Division of the subject--Examination of the question, Whether species have a real existence in nature?--Importance of this question in geology--Sketch of Lamarck's arguments in...

Recapitulation of the arguments in favor of the theory of transmutation of species--Their insufficiency--Causes of difficulty in discriminating species--Some varieties possibly...

Limits of the variability of species--Species susceptible of modification may be altered greatly in a short time, and in a few generations; after which they remain stationary--T...

Phenomena of hybrids--Hunter's opinions--Mules not strictly intermediate between parent species--Hybrid plants--Experiments of Kolreuter and Wiegmann--Vegetable hybrids prolific...

Analogy of climate not attended with identity of species--Botanical geography--Stations--Habitations--Distinct provinces of indigenous plants--Vegetation of islands--Marine vege...

Geographical distribution of animals--Buffon on specific distinctness of quadrupeds of Old and New World--Doctrine of "natural barriers"--Different regions of indigenous mammali...

Geographical distribution and migration of Fish--of Testaoea--of Zoophytes--Distribution of Insects--Migratory instincts of some species--Certain types characterize particular c...

Proposal of an hypothesis on this subject--Supposed centres or foci of creation--Why distinct provinces of animals and plants have not become more blended together--Brocchi's sp...

Extension of the range of one species alters the condition of many others--The first appearance of a new species causes the chief disturbance--Changes known to have resulted fro...

Powers of diffusion indispensable, that each species may maintain its ground--How changes in physical geography affect the distribution of species--Rate of the change of species...

Theory of the successive extinction of species consistent with a limited geographical distribution--Opinions of botanists respecting the centres from which plants have been diff...

Modifications in physical geography caused by organic beings--Why the vegetable soil does not augment in thickness--The theory, that vegetation is an antagonist power counterbal...

Division of the subject--Imbedding of organic remains in deposits on emerged land--Growth of peat--Site of ancient forests in Europe now occupied by peat--Bog iron-ore--Preserva...

Fossils in alluvium--Effects of sudden inundations--terrestrial animals most abundantly preserved in alluvium where earthquakes prevail--Marine alluvium--Buried town--Effects of...

Division of the subject--Imbedding of terrestrial animals and plants--Increased specific gravity of wood sunk to great depths in the sea--Drift-timber of the Mackenzie in Slave...

Drifting of human bodies to the sea by river inundations--Destruction of bridges and houses--Loss of lives by shipwreck--How human corpses may be preserved in recent deposits--N...

Inhumation of fresh water plants and animals--Shell marl--Fossilized seed-vessels and stems of chara--Recent deposits in American lakes--Freshwater species drifted into seas and...

Growth of coral chiefly confined to tropical regions--Principal genera of coral-building zoophytes--Their rate of growth--Seldom flourish at greater depths than twenty fathoms--...

[14] Eluvie mons est deductus in aequor, v. 267. The meaning of this last verse is somewhat obscure; but, taken with the context, may be supposed to allude to the abrading power...

[117] In a most able article, by Mr. Drinkwater, on the "Life of Galileo," published in the "Library of Useful Knowledge," it is stated that both Galileo's work, and the book of...