The Wonders of GeologyGeorge C. Rand, Cornhill, Wm. J. Reynolds, 1852 - 291 pages |
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Expressions et termes fréquents
agency alluvium ammonite ancient animals appear augite basalt beds beneath bones bowlders calcareous called carboniferous cave clay climate coal color columns composed corals covered crater creature crust crustacea Cuvier deposits depth dicotyledonous dinotherium discovered drift earth earthquakes elephant elevated eruption existence extending extinct fact feet high feldspar fishes flustra forests formation formed fossil genera geologists geology globe gneiss granite heat hippopotamus hornblende hundred feet ichthyosaurus iguanodon immense inches infusoria island lakes land lava length limestone living Mantell mass mastodon matter megatherium mica miles mineral mountains numerous ocean oölite organic remains peat period plain plants pliocene polypi present produced Professor Hitchcock regions remarkable reptiles resembling rivers sand sandstone scoriæ shells silicious skeleton slate soil solid sometimes species stone strata stratified rocks structure substance supposed surface teeth tertiary thickness thousand feet thrown tion trees Trilobites twenty unstratified valleys vast vegetable Vesuvius volcanoes
Fréquemment cités
Page 275 - Created hugest that swim the ocean stream : Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests the sea, and wished morn delays...
Page 275 - Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed ; his other parts besides, Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood...
Page 241 - ... and flaming billows. Fifty-one conical islands, of varied form and size, containing so many craters, rose either round the edge or from the surface of the burning lake. Twentytwo constantly emitted columns of grey smoke, or pyramids of brilliant flame ; and several of these at the same time vomited from their ignited mouths streams of lava, which rolled in blazing torrents down their black indented sides into the boiling mass below.
Page 173 - ... that it swam upon or near the surface, arching back its long neck like the swan, and occasionally darting it down at the fish which happened to float within its reach...
Page 187 - No history has recorded their creation or destruction ; their very bones are found no more among the fossil relics of a former world. Centuries and thousands of years may have rolled away between the time in which these footsteps were impressed by tortoises upon the sands of their native Scotland, and the hour when they are again laid bare and exposed to our curious and admiring eyes. Yet we behold them stamped upon the rock, distinct as the track of the passing animal upon the recent snow ; as if...
Page 14 - To multiply and record observations, and patiently to await the result at some future period, was the object proposed by them ; and it was their favourite maxim that the time was not yet come for a general system of geology, but that all must be content for many years to be exclusively engaged in furnishing materials for future generalisations.
Page 244 - At the same time a whole lake of fire opened in a more distant part. This could not have been less than two miles in circumference ; and its action was more horribly sublime than anything I ever imagined to exist even in the ideal visions of unearthly things.
Page 16 - ... not been limited to the few thousand years of man's existence. The geologist tells us by the clearest interpretation of the phenomena which his labours have brought to light, that our globe has been subject to vast physical revolutions. He counts his time not by celestial cycles, but by an index he has found in the solid framework of the globe itself. He sees a long succession of monuments, each of which may have required a thousand ages for its elaboration.
Page 131 - ... and simplicity of style -which it possesses ; still, the prolonged length, the twilight gloom, half concealing the playful and varying effects of reflected light, the echo of the measured surge as it rises and falls, the transparent green of the water, and the profound and fairy solitude of the whole scene, could not fail strongly to impress a mind gifted with any sense of beauty in art or in nature.
Page 214 - Probably there is not an atom of the solid materials of the globe which has not passed through the complex and wonderful laboratory of life.