THE SKELETON OF THE EARTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 53

THE SKELETON OF THE EARTH.

By A BANKER.

Deep down in the lower recesses of the solid crust of the earth rest vast ma?se3 of a composite rock, formed of three separate minerals in minutely divided fragments and crystals, mixed together in as regular and methodical an order hb if the proportion of c-hch mineral had been previously weighed out in balances, aud they had been then mingled in conformity with a fixed plan ; sometimes a wide district having a predominance of large piece?, with an ad.Kiixture of differently tinted rock, while in another district Ihe grain will be almost microscopic, the "whole being compressed into a homogeneous vock of adamantine consistency, bard, solid, and compacb. Of course the reck alluded to is granite, which hag b<*en well named '• the skeletou of tho crust of the earth," for it «ppareutly beara upon its s >lid arches a considerable portion of the superincumbent mass of the entire crtsi of the earth, 30,000 ft or more iv thickness, with all that is thereon.

Had ifc not been for the great natural convulsion, whether the shrinkage of the earth by cooling or by terrible volcanic cataclysms, by which the strata from the lower depths were Torced through the succeeding upper strata, by means of which the rooufctaina and hills had been formed, we should perhaps have never seen any granite rock?, and the natural beauty of rocky disbric's would not have existed for us ; the mountain chains would never have been formed, a«id the grandest and suMinaest scenery of all the inajeslio and stately glories of terreetr'ml nature would have been lost to us. A striking cxioiple of the awful grandeur of a great mass of granite may be observed in the Aiguille de Dai, 'near Mont Blanc, a great natural upedle of solid rock rising shci-r 4000 ft from it b elevated plateau, its sharp and tapering point often penetrating the cloudp, while from its ponder .us base, rug^d and jagged, its cragi and clefts accessible only to the eagle, the giant needle towers higher and higher and higher, and defies the attempt of the mountaineer to scale itj dizzy height. The spectacle t resented to the traveller by this solitary shaft of granite as he approaches it from the lower end of the Glacier dft Bjis is amazing and a&lonissLiug. Immidia'oJy in front of him flows, at an imperceptible pace, tbe wonderful ice river, -toe ever advancing masses ot ice formed into all manner of 'fantastic shapes, some sppeaiiDg like the grent buttresses of .a solid fo't, remcmori) like rolarb-pr* s^e-iliLiil---advancing upon their prey, olhern like Lot's wife ttuu'd to a pillar of sail, while y/'fc-olh«»rH in the di* tsnee can by p. stretch oi th« itanginat:on represent a squ&droa of cavalry blanched and froz nto the ground. Above the glad-r, aud somewhat in the re>ir of a serried line of gtaijitic c'>flw which frown upon tho frozen ecaue, and form the boundaries of tin fie'id, congealed cunvnt, rifies the gem.*, isolated pinnacle* perpendicularly towards fhe skies, while the mighty monarch of th<i Alj.s, with its never-varying mat tie of virgiu snow, i!s domfisbaped surcmifc rising still higher than the lofty needle point of ihe towering shafr, fills in the background of a picture of astonishing and sublime grandeur and overwhelming aud imposing magnificence. *-

If Wti cxrefuliy examine a piece of grauifc we field that at some time it niu-jfc have been subjected to some process which mu^t have been very an*lft&ou:i to boiliug, for the small particles of mien, quartz, and f«.l»pir are mingled together with f-ven regularly. But how did this take plp.c?? How came the crystals and particles (f each mineral tobp alt funned of the pfuresiz^? How did h h*pp?n tli-tt the three minerals w t .ro all mixed tig 'hay,h a y, roa'iv thousand millions of touK ot each being nil brcugiit logtthor and commingled iutJ ouc homogeneous mass ? What a mighty cauldron was rtqwired in which tj c mpound the tremendous adrnix'.urp, anci what a weird spcciacle must this immature world have presznttd as the seething mass was beii-g incorporated together — a molten granite world !

But all these problems which now appear so difficult will one day be solved, and those of us wLochooHe to acceptthe prodigi jus and startling honour of a position in the Great Eealm whence the creative edicts are issued will doubtless have the added pleasure of being able to wicnen.l the actual formation of many another world, which science assures us is continuously taking phce ; for as the vatious elements appear to be the same throughout the universe, wp may as'ume (hat the process of the fornia.tion of worlds is also more or less uniform. And the only guide vouchsafed to mankind by the Creator of the worlds informs u-3 that whosoever will may attain to tliat eternal inheritance

if he will bnfc acknowledge and appropriate t«' biusseir 1 the Atonement of His Son, and wUI live up to the inles of that Holy Bouk,