| Show I Some ome furious Curious Blunders d dOr I Or Of Early Geologists fists HE last Ift annual report nf of the tho TilE THE United States State National Museum contains contain a K contribution to tu the th history of American geology II IOV more than 1118 n pace paes rafN F In la I 1 an g Ih It Jt I s written by 1 t its r George 1 I Merrill and tells tell the story lItot of oC the tile rite and progress rues ress of our nur geological CA studies Mullin from frond 17 I 1 iii j 5 to the present Pew Fe person Know how tow little prelim prelimInary lIm leery Inary training our nur r In geology had tad bow how few fn WM were l accessible a to them and how complete oo l w was their lack inch of Information with which the th geologist of f today twi begins lass r rl I l lr r Merrill calls calli attention to many of their errors and ami not net to 10 be bf b blittle little ilU them but hUI to tn show how In th tb those e days K science groi rolled almost blindly toward th the uth uthA A few f examples may toe IU b IM bf here hereof hereof of the till frequent bewilderment of th there w observers observer a u as they thy studied the complex 1 phenomena of the th rocks They were wen much muth perplexed tor for example by b the Ih glacial drift scattered over oyer the n north rth rn m third of this Ihl country countr It II wa wu two to generations later that Unit thus Ibis drift was proved m to have hat been n t carried southward by b glaciers njamin W Ie Ik VM Witt In I 1711 j jI I wrote I rott to In the Philadelphia academy that he hI had found milt many varieties of ot stone Kone on nn the sho shone hore of lAke Uhe Ontario lie 11 said Mid Id It I via waa impossible to le believe II that fit so 10 many mn kinds kind of III stone hould have l born een firmed farmed by If nature In ors one on place and out nut of ot the same Mme me lit of f earth They The rhe must mut mu have he be been conveyed there ther thereby by It some sense rne means meana en Hr H thought me tn m mighty mi convulsion n fit of r nature neat MI i M as f fth an sit n e or perhaps the th Ih bursting of If a vast nun lake pouring Its II te i III over nver tow 1 J w f altitudes had lr I hr I I I dill this confusion and dl disorder In tn inthe the th Prof Amos Amr Baton tried to 10 f fur fr r the masses mae of granite and v ti thing from fr one to t M sA 11 tons Inn which hleb hf lit had hall found fund scattered along the Ih l oil n 11 I d river r He Ile I could find And d no nn n w unless at al cue ne n time Um the I h vall uIlA taller v wa was wast 1 f t M d 11 up rep sn o a to make a descent derett f m In the Ih range ranie t to In granite 1 I syenite d down wn which tlene frog frag ft r rote gradually advanced d dIn In lUG ISM II JI II H explained th thon iI nf of I glacial drift nn on In the theIN III IN ry that at 1 on one OM time U the lite earth e rth hanged the Ihl IMM position M of nf Its Ira It II axis axle f a fat at ill the th sun un rapidly melted the ke k ij 1 of th h polar Jl tar regions drowning n lower with a nf of the polar waters water IN up 11 j I kb floating ke Ice Ie brought the Ih boulder I It t rit are ar Mattered r tt r d orr 0 o or oar r northern When ur ben began their fud study of n kid M 1010 some of f th lb It Kur genie PI l aching that thai a granite nl roe character characterized 1111 all mountain ranges and nd that Ih tin dc II remains remain f the Ih mammoth and lir larl large e animals found In Siberia WT w 1 rr transported there by b floods flood from rom ih th h hIon r region Ion of the It independently evolved evoked 1 the theory that hal the Interior riM at of the I e earth rth of nf nit llen matter on en which ti tithe the outer portion m nr 0 clot floated floate l i He lie Mid he had haet feet oyster shells I mixed In the dome alone I INn Hn Nn km of the la sad Id d ahoy altot Ma sea i level Inet eL and this thU he M con I not nHI j I take pla al e If the Ut earth arth w was as lId Whoever thinks think nf of Thomas Thorn Jeffer Jefferson on ona a III a t lilt nul no heat nf of II no nn lit fr fresh ruh h oa i a of f him hinl hi ef self f line and nd his hla r polk Hf him from fl carrying on en 1 hi his hili al ludl tI s even event 1 t the Ifs hi Hr l e 1 H lie sent nt foi fot nor or than I O specimens of fossil lames hone from the famous Hie Ble Ron Hone lick of Kentucky and nd spread them Ih In to I nor i or orthe f the tilt roots rooms of ot the presidential mansion The exploration of or this tick lick wa was made at his hla bt own expense fX and he Rte found foul 1 tin tim tinto to 10 write and read parsers paper on oil fossils Meteorites Meteorite were ere another perplexing J 1 topic It was wa not till that Prof Kingsley Kin after his hi studs of a meteor He III U that fell In n Conner Connerth l ut It a v r earner earlier evolved nol a the Ih bodies bod are strangers which onie ome to t I th the earth from spare ItIce It II may mil tint not h true but Jefferson Is ls said laid to have ha re rr remarked remarked marked this deduction It Jt I is III easier Ir tn to believe flat ilIA I two tats t Yankee professors will li Ii Ito limn It to in nr art 11 mil that stone I con CliO fall from heaven The TIll famous lr lit n Mather th aw saw lAWIn awIn In the I discovery discover of the I b bones bone of ot a mastodon near eu r Albany a n mutton nf of the account when riven In of ofa a race of antediluvian giants They must have p bee slants giants Indeed for the th thigh bone bont which Dr Mather mistook for tor or that of ot a man was waa w 17 feet In length mother Another mastodon exhumed near New Newburgh NI Newburgh burgh In 1501 I OI was waa U retarded regarded rf III as unquestionably carnivorous H II blunder that frightened Dr lt Into Inlo writing We Nye cannot cann t but thank heaven hea n that thai the tilt whole holt generation I is probably bh ex extinct extinct M |
