{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_68690/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_68690","id":"gutenberg_68690","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68690","summary":null,"tags":["Bible and geology","Category: Environmental Issues","Category: Science - Earth/Agricultural/Farming","Earth (Planet) -- Crust"],"text":"THE VAILAN OR ANNULAR THEORY.\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n_A Synopsis of Prof. I. N. Vail\u2019s Argument in Support of the Claim that\n       this Earth once Possessed a Saturn-like System of Rings._\n\n                              PREPARED BY\n\n                     STEPHEN BOWERS, A. M., Ph. D.\n\n                    Editor of the Ventura Observer.\n\n  FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF\n         THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY\n                     OF SCIENCES, ETC., ETC., ETC.\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                          VENTURA, CALIFORNIA:\n                       THE OBSERVER PRESS PRINT.\n                                 1892.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThe theory advanced by Prof. I. N. Vail accounts for the formation\nof the earth\u2019s crust, with its associated minerals, in the fact that\nit was once surrounded by rings of aqueous vapor, containing much of\nits present solid matter, which fell as mighty deluges. The last of\nthese rings descended at the time of the Noachian deluge and caused\nthat catastrophe, which is so graphically described by Moses, and\nwhich tradition has sung in the ears of every tribe of Adam\u2019s race.\nThe formation of these rings was caused by the intense heat, which\ndrove to an immense distance every substance which could be reduced to\nvapor, and where they formed as annular bands or rings similar to those\nsurrounding the planet Saturn at the present time. After long ages the\nportion nearest the earth slowly overcanopied the heavens, and owing to\nthe lack of centrifugal force began its descent at the poles.\n\nThis theory explains certain phenomena better than any other yet\nadvanced by scientists. It accounts for the uplift of mountains; the\ndeposit of coal and other minerals; the glacial age; the retardation\nof the moon, and it alone explains much contained in the first eight\nchapters of Genesis.\n\nProf. Vail has published a volume of about 400 pages on this subject,\nwhich for clearness of statement and logical conclusions has seldom\nbeen equaled by previous writers on scientific subjects. He deals in\nconvincing facts which are destined to overturn many pre-conceived\ntheories in the science of geology.\n\nMy object in sending forth this pamphlet is to call the attention of\nintelligent readers to a theory which must engage the attention of\nscientists in the future, and which will enable the geologist to make\nclear many things which are now obscure. I respectfully ask for the\nfollowing pages a candid reading, and for further information on the\nsubject refer the reader to Prof. Vail\u2019s \u201cStory of the Rocks\u201d, and to\nother works of the gifted author, which are now passing through the\npress.\n\n  VENTURA, CALIFORNIA,                                             S. B.\n  September 1, 1892.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VAILAN OR ANNULAR SYSTEM.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION.\n\n\nJupiter\u2019s belts are doubtless aqueous vapor driven from that planet by\nheat; similar in every respect, probably, to the primitive condition\nof our globe. This vapor would not all fall at once on the cooling of\nthe earth, but the upper portion would continue to revolve for a long\nperiod.\n\nAll geologists agree that the earth was once in an igneous fluid state,\nand during that condition all of its waters and whatever else could\nbe vaporized and sublimed by heat, as the less refractory metals and\nminerals, were driven away from its surface. The foundation of the\nAnnular System was the molten or igneous world. The vaporized water,\nmineral and metallic elements repelled from it existed as a great\nvaporized atmosphere that rotated with the earth.\n\nIf the earth then rotated once in twenty-four hours, so did the\natmosphere. Proctor and some others claim that the earth then rotated\nin three hours; if so, the atmosphere did the same. No matter how\nlong or how short the period of the earth\u2019s rotation, the upper\nvapors rotated with it. Then, when and how did these vapors and other\nmaterials composing the atmosphere return to the earth? Geologists\ngenerally have claimed that they fell at the close of the igneous\nperiod; but the Annular Theory claims that they did not, and it\nundertakes to explain the phenomena of the geologic ages and epochs\nupon this claim.\n\nThe most eminent scientists agree that the vapors were driven off\nat least 200,000 miles from the earth, and many claim a distance of\n240,000 miles. All of the carbon in the grand casement of aqueous\nrocks, the vast oceans of oxygen now contained in the silicates,\nsulphates, carbonates and oxides of the crust, as well as the nitrogen\nand hydrogen in numerous compounds enormously swelled its volume. But\nthe Annular Theory will claim but 100,000 miles as the atmosphere\nand that the earth rotated as now, once in twenty-four hours. At the\nequator it revolves at the rate of 1,000 miles an hour, at which rate\nthe periphery of the earth\u2019s primitive atmosphere would revolve more\nthan 25,000 miles an hour.\n\nNow it is mathematically certain that a body in our atmosphere\nrevolving at the rate of 17,500 miles an hour could not fall to the\nearth\u2019s surface. By Kepler\u2019s \u201cThird Law\u201d we can readily demonstrate not\nonly that these vapors were thrown out into a ring system, but how far\nbeyond the earth they reached, namely: \u201cThe squares of the periodic\ntimes of revolving satellites are proportioned to the cubes of their\nmean distances from the primary around which they move.\u201d\n\nThe vapors nearest the earth did not possess the energy of satellites,\nconsequently they fell to the earth, as the latter\u2019s surface cooled,\nleaving the more distant matter moving independently above it.\n\n\nEVIDENCES OF THE GEOLOGIC RECORD.\n\nWhen the earth was in a state of fiery fluidity, all of the water it\nnow contains was suspended at a great distance above it. Beside the\noceans which now cover three-fourths of the surface of the globe, rocks\nand coals contain from ten per cent to one half water, all of which was\nprimarily held in suspension. The bosom of the earth is continually\nabsorbing water as is demonstrated by deep mines and other excavations.\nDana estimates that even if the crust of the earth is but five miles\nthick that the oceans would be 400 feet deeper if all of the earth\u2019s\nimbibed waters could be returned to them. But the earth\u2019s crust is more\nlikely to be 100 miles thick, and it has been imbibing these waters\nfor millions of years if not millions of ages. This would increase the\noceans to about 8000 feet deeper than now. Yet oceans are much deeper\ntoday than they were in geologic times.\n\nThis great mass of vapor would rotate by centrifugal force at the\nequator, but there being no such force at the poles it was there kept\nfrom falling by heat alone. If the earth had not rotated the vapors\nwould have occupied great heights; but centrifugal force being aided by\nactual rotation they were driven much farther. These forces necessarily\ndrove the vapors over the equator. If, however, any vapors were left at\nthe poles they must have fallen when the earth cooled down.\n\nAt that age rolled the first born ocean around the globe. Clouds\nformed, rain descended, and winds swept the earth. There was summer and\nwinter, and day and night.\n\nThe centripetal force of the rings was gradually retarded by the\ninfluence of the moon, and the gravital force was increased until the\nrings spread over the earth or approached it. When the innermost ring\ngradually descended toward the earth and came in contact with the air\nit was checked, and necessarily spread out toward the poles. Gravital\nforce is strongest in the polar regions. If the rings of Saturn and\nJupiter could increase their motion they would rise to greater heights.\nIf they could become slower they would sink toward the poles.\n\n\nEVIDENCE FROM OTHER PLANETS.\n\nWe have never seen the actual face of Saturn, and the sun is never\nvisible to its inhabitants. It is a planet upon which there is probably\nperpetual day. The belts are composed of the same kind of material as\nthe super-crust of the earth--silicious, calcareous and carbonaceous\nmatter. They will in time become a part of the planet\u2019s sedimentary\nformation.\n\nWhen the inveterate fires of the sun shall have died out, forms of\ncarbon and associated forms of aqueous and mineral matter will form an\nannular system around it.\n\nA burning world must be a smoking world, and from its furnaces must\narise vast volumes of unconsumed carbon to mingle with suspended vapors.\n\nWhen Saturn\u2019s rings fall to the body of the planet its moons will\nnecessarily retire a little farther from it. Astronomers say that our\nmoon is gradually retiring from the earth. Then it must have had an\nannular system which fell and caused the moon to recede.\n\n\nFURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE RECORD.\n\nThe vapors contained silex, quartz and whatever else was vaporized and\nsuspended therein. After the atmosphere had cooled it deposited on the\nearth what it contained when heated. Much of the sedimentary beds built\nupon the Laurentian and older rocks were simply precipitated from the\nannular system.\n\nIron and sulphur existed in the upper ocean as metallic and mineral\nsalts. In the cooling process the heavier minerals and metals would\nnecessarily locate nearest the earth and be the first to fall. True\nthey were disseminated to a certain extent throughout the system.\n\nIron and other heavy metals formed beds in the sea bottom. Iron from\nIron Mountain, Mo., and Pilot Knob, also lead and copper ores are\nin the Laurentian rocks. These rocks are aqueous or sedimentary.\nThe annular matter fell but in small part in equatorial regions, but\nlargely in temperate and frigid zones.\n\nIt is folly to suppose that all the matter of aqueous beds were\ndeposited from previous aqueous beds by denudation. How were subsequent\nlime deposits made from silicious Archaean beds? Denudation has\ntaken place in all ages, and a fall and precipitation of exotic\nmatter--tellurio-cosmic matter--aided in the work.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS REACHED.\n\n1. All terrestial waters were held in suspension.\n\n2. This rotated as a part and parcel of the earth--a primeval\natmosphere of great complexity of material.\n\n3. This suspended matter gathered in the earth\u2019s equatorial heavens,\nand on condensing contracted and segregated into rings which revolved\nindependently.\n\n4. The waters on high fell in a succession of stupendous cataclysms.\n\n5. The first ocean was impregnated with mineral and metallic salts.\n\n6. It required a vast lapse of time for rings to fall. Each ring\ncontinued to revolve as a belt about the earth with a decreasing\nvelocity as it spread toward the poles and overcanopied the earth.\n\n7. The smoke or unconsumed carbon that arose from the earth, darkened\nthe upper vapors and formed bands or belts.\n\n8. The moon retarded the rings, causing them to fall upon the earth,\nand it then receded from our planet.\n\n9. The Archaean metalliferous deposits are so located as to be\ninexplicable by the old theory of aqueous denudation.\n\n10. The Silurian beds, and particularly the order of their occurrence\nutterly refutes the idea that they were derived from pre-existing beds.\n\n\nDEMONSTRATED BY HISTORIC TESTIMONY.\n\nIn Gen. 1:7 God made the firmament and divided the waters which were\nunder the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.\nAccording to the Hebrew the atmosphere became an expanse between two\nbodies of waters, and of course the upper stratum had to move round the\nearth. In Gen. 1:3,4 light came in and garnished the heavens before\nthe sun was seen.\n\nIn the 10th. verse the waters on the earth were called seas, the water\nabove the earth was called the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon\nthem. \u201cAnd God said, Let there be light,\u201d and light came upon the deep.\n\nIn Gen 1:14-19 the sun which existed for ages did not appear in the\nheavens until after the sun brought forth grass, etc. Then it is plain\nthat some intercepting canopy cut off the direct rays of the sun.\n\nThe writer of Genesis did not say the sun and moon shone upon the\nearth, but he does say the stars did this. According to the Vailan\ntheory this is true, but they shone in from polar regions.\n\nThe earth\u2019s surface was not heated by the sun\u2019s direct rays, but under\nthe overcanopying vapors it must have been warmed, and its temperature\nequalized by transmitted and diffused solar heat.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS.\n\nThere was a green-house temperature all over the earth at this time.\nStorms and tempests were unknown, as such phenomena are caused by\nsun-power, sun-heat falling directly upon the earth. Rains were\ninfrequent, if at all.\n\nMan, in the day when solar actinism was shorn of its strength, must\nhave experienced remarkable longevity, for upon solar energy depends\nevery form and phaze of life on earth.\n\nThe day of rest referred to in Gen. 2:3 in which God ceased from\nhis labors was a windless, stormless, rainless, winterless age; for\nimmediately we are told that \u201cGod had not caused it to rain upon the\nearth.\u201d The climate was warm for man dwelt naked upon the earth. He was\nnurtured in a green-house world.\n\nThe rainbow comes into view after the deluge for the first time. There\ncould have been neither rain nor sunshine previously, just what the\nVailan theory claims. The wind came upon the earth after the waters of\nthe deluge had fallen, and not before.\n\nIt was after the deluge that God said, \u201cWhile the earth remaineth\nseed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter,\nand day and night shall not cease.\u201d The period before the flood was\nnightless, and evening and morning were day; that is, they coalesced\ninto one period called day.\n\nAfter the deluge the bow is given; man\u2019s longevity declines; the winds\ncome, and alternating seasons take place--all pointing to the fact that\nthe antedeluvian world was overcanopied by annular waters.\n\nEvery leaf of the geologic record declares that the world has been\ndeluged time and again, which this theory also claims to be true, and\nto have taken place at the declension of each ring or stratum.\n\n\nTHE NOACHIAN DELUGE.\n\nThere is enough water now on the earth and in its rocky frame to make\nan hundred terrific deluges, every one of which could drown the world\nof living beings.\n\nIn early days man believed there was a great deep on high. The sources\nof the deluge were \u201cbroken up,\u201d and never again can the world be\ndestroyed from that source. If the fountains of the deep were on the\nearth or in the seas then they are not \u201cbroken up.\u201d If they were in\nthe clouds, they were not, for that source still exists. Then we must\nbelieve that they came from beyond the clouds.\n\nWith the fountain of the great deep placed on high--the veritable\nwaters above the firmament--we can readily understand why the \u201cwindows\nof heaven were opened,\u201d and why \u201call the fountains of the great deep\nwere broken up.\u201d The rainbow proclaims these facts around the circuit\nof the earth.\n\nHow does it happen that the author of Genesis relates these facts\nwith such harmonious accord, with all the conditions which an Annular\narrangement of water necessitated, if the idea was not familiar to his\nmind?\n\nThe presence of upper vapors entering the atmosphere on their way to\nthe earth by the way of the polar regions necessitated an atmosphere of\ngreater buoyancy and power, and this necessitated greater bodily frame.\nHence it is said: \u201cThere were giants in those days.\u201d There were giants\namong animals as well as men.\n\n\nLEGENDS OF THE DELUGE.\n\nSuch wide-spread desolation as is accredited to the deluge of Noah\nmust have made an indelible impression upon the human mind. We would\nnaturally look for references to it in Aryan, Phoenecian, Greek and\nHebrew history. They were the guardians of civilization. It is not\ndifficult to co-link even the rudest form of the flood traditions with\nthe terrible visitation so graphically related by Moses. Its shadow\nwill never pass from the historic page.\n\nMen may criticise and ridicule the narrative given by Moses, yet the\nfact remains that a self-sustaining history is there; and the combined\nsophistry of all time cannot shake it.\n\nAn account of that great catastrophe is found in the mythological\nnarratives and traditional history of nearly or quite every people and\ntribe of Adam\u2019s race.\n\nIt is found among the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Greeks, Scythians and\nCeltic tribes. It has been discovered among the Peruvians and Mexicans;\nthe aborigines of Cuba, of North America and the South Sea Islands.\nEven the inhabitants of Alaska preserve a tradition of the deluge; and\nall point unmistakably to the deluge of Noah.\n\nRecent investigations in the ruins of Nineveh, Babylon and in ancient\ncities of Egypt confirm it by tablets preserved as veritable books.\n\nTradition as she sits amidst the crumbling ages of the past sings it in\nour ears, while the sound of a universal deluge has gone out through\nall the earth. It would require volumes to present these traditions\nalone.\n\n\nAUGMENTATION OF OCEANIC WATERS.\n\nSome portions of the earth are sinking while others are rising. The\nmillions of cubic feet of matter deposited daily in the oceans by\nrivers would be sufficient to accomplish this. Every pound of matter\nthus transferred, _is an energy transferred_. In the course of 1,000\nyears, 1,000 square miles of oceanic bottom would be covered to the\ndepth of 240 feet.\n\nThis enormous pressure on the underlying rocks is so much transferred\nenergy converted into mechanical heat. This must expand the rocks thus\nunder increased pressure. If this sediment were not borne into the\nocean along the Atlantic coast and spread out over vast areas it would\nbe lined with mountains and volcanoes, as that of the Mediterranean\nsea; but being spread out over an extensive floor it prevents their\nformation by lateral pressure.\n\nVolcanoes are located where sediments can accumulate, and are doubtless\nthe result of this accumulation. Sixty-five thousand feet of steel\nblocks piled one upon another would cause sufficient heat to melt the\nlower ones or reduce them to a plastic state. The lava that issues from\na volcano is the deep bed-rock fused by pressure produced by lateral\nexpansion. Accumulating sediments cause rock expansion in some regions,\nand being removed from others, causes contraction. Expansion elevates\nthe earth\u2019s crust; contraction lowers it.\n\nA downfall of water that would raise the ocean fifty feet above its\npresent level would cause an expansion that no rocks could resist, and\nits lateral pressure must result in mountain making. The New England\ncoast has been elevated in comparatively recent times. The St. Lawrence\nis so new that it has not yet swept its channel clean.\n\nFrom Nova Scotia to Florida and around the whole boundary of the Gulf\nof Mexico are the submerged shore-lines of a former continent. Many\nmiles out the lead-line suddenly plunges from about 100 fathoms to from\n200 to 1,500 fathoms. So around the British Isles, the coast of Norway,\nand that of Northern Europe and Asia. South America, Africa and the\nPacific present the same characteristics. The course of a submerged\ncontinent has been traced in mid-ocean.\n\n\nSUMMARY.\n\nThe Vailan Theory is proved,\n\n1. By mathematical reasoning and philosophic necessity.\n\n2. By the mineral character and philosophical deposition of strata.\n\n3. By analagous facts relating to other worlds, belted and ringed under\nthe reign of law.\n\n4. By the action of the moon.\n\n5. By the records of man whose ancient writings declare, and\nre-declare, again and again, the truth of this claim. The first eight\nchapters of Genesis alone afford proof sufficient if all else failed.\n\n6. The waters on the earth themselves declare the fact.\n\n\nGEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.\n\nThe first and most important element of the earth\u2019s crust is carbon. Of\nthe more than 60,000 feet of aqueous beds there are probably none that\nit does not enter into as an important factor. It was first driven\nfrom the earth by intense heat. The burning world was a smoking world.\nThe unconsumed carbon commingled with the Annular vapors in the form\nof black, sooty, pitchy matter. This was deposited at the time of the\ndeluge, and the waters that stood in seas, lakes and ponds deposited\nit as a layer of black, carbonaceous mud upon their bottoms. It may\nbe found in ten thousand lakes planted in the Drift deposits in North\nAmerica and Northern Europe.\n\nA black carbonaceous soil covers many Western States which were once\ncovered by a vast inland sea. This sea was bounded on the west by the\nRocky Mountains; south by the Ozark Mountains and the mountains of\nTennessee and Kentucky, and emptied its waters into Lake Michigan.\n\nThis great inland sea finally became a fresh-water body. The remains\nof the mastodon, mammoth and other pachyderms of interdiluvian times,\nas well as fresh-water shells are found. It made for itself two great\noutlets, the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence rivers. This inland\nsea must have been elevated 700 or 800 feet above the ocean, and was\nsurrounded on all sides by walls, and covered an area of at least\n500,000 square miles. We must conclude that some great down-rush of\nwaters caused it to break its bounds in two directions at the same time.\n\nThe fall of waters supplied the black, sooty carbon that settled to\nthe bottom of the sea, remaining but a few inches thick on the hills,\nperhaps, but several feet in the valleys, and is the source of the peat\nbogs.\n\n\nGLACIAL EPOCHS.\n\nPrevious to the glacial record there had closed a long period of\nperpetual spring. The primitive elephant, and many of his congeners and\ncontemporaries, fed in luxurious forests and grassy plains toward the\nnorth pole, which are now covered with glaciers grinding their bones\nto dust. Northern regions which for untold ages had been covered with\ntropical vegetation, and animals of innumerable forms, began to be\ninvaded by glaciers which slowly made their way toward the equator.\n\nThe only way glaciers are now formed is by vapors wafted over them\nfrom adjacent lands warmed by solar heat; but they were not formed\nthat way during the glacial epochs, but by the declension of annular\nvapors. Glacial ice cannot accumulate extensively now. _It flows_, and\ncannot be heaped up largely, its rate of motion being proportionate to\nthe slope of its bed. The source of those snows which built a great\ncontinental ice cap over the northern hemisphere must be attributed to\nthe Annular System. They accumulated in the St. Lawrence valley several\nthousand feet thick and towered over the New England mountains.\n\nSnow seldom falls in arctic regions now. Dr. Kane saw sledge tracks\nthat were made several years previously. How then did those boundless\nreaches of snow and ice accumulate but by the descent of Annular vapors?\n\nAnimals are found entombed in the frozen soil and snows under the\narctic circle. For many years a large trade has been carried on in\nivory, by Siberian traders, dug from the frozen soil. Many of the\nanimals, as the mammoth, rhinoceros, etc., remain undecayed, and in\ntheir stomachs and between their teeth are found the vegetation upon\nwhich they fed. And even the capillary blood vessels still retaining\ntheir contents, showing that there was not the slightest decomposition,\nbut that the catastrophe which overwhelmed them was sudden. The climate\nwas changed as by a stroke, which congealed and sealed the land in ice,\nlocking the mammoth and other animals therein.\n\nHad those animals not been frozen soon as killed, putrification and\ndecomposition must have taken place. Nothing but the down-rush of snows\nfrom the earth\u2019s Annular System could have done this. These remains are\ndredged from the northern oceans, and they are also found fossilized\nover large portions of Siberia; in both cases being doubtless dropped\nfrom icebergs. The mammoth is found frozen in a glacier; the glacier\nwas originally snow; the destruction must necessarily have been sudden.\n\nIf not more than one tenth of the waters now upon the earth had fallen\nin the form of snow it would have covered the entire land surface\nof the globe more than 30,000 feet deep; and as one tenth must have\nfallen in polar regions it brings out the Annular Theory as a competent\nsource. The sudden fall of snow sufficient to overwhelm a semi-tropical\nworld could not accumulate in the atmosphere as it now does, and fall\ntherefrom. It must have come from a source beyond the atmosphere.\n\nThe overcanopying fund of vapors acted as a mighty robe to the earth,\nkeeping out the cold of space, and equally distributing solar heat\nover the globe and causing terrestial warmth. The animals were much\nlarger than their representatives are now, showing that the atmosphere\nwas heavier and possessed more buoyant power by the pressure of a vast\nocean of vapors in the higher regions.\n\nThe downfall of water caused continual upheavals, and mountain making,\nwhich is proved by finding marine fossils along the seashore, and\nelsewhere far above the ocean. Terraces of the Champlain epoch in New\nEngland that must have been formed in the sea, are now found elevated\nhundreds of feet.\n\nAll geologists agree that there have been many floods upon the earth.\nThe great telluric glaciers of recent geologic times were melted under\nthe tropic influence of the Annular vapors resulting in deluges.\n\nUnder the vast pressure of the accumulated waters the plastic ocean\nbed goes down and forces its foundation under the continent by lateral\npressure, and causes upturned and crumpled strata in many places, and\nalso volcanic phenomena.\n\n\nREVIEW OF THE GEOLOGIC RECORD.\n\nThe geologist has never yet found the base of the aqueous rocks, nor\ncan he know how deep their foundations extend. When the Laurentian\nstratified beds were formed there was an ocean on the earth. A portion\nof the tellurio-cosmic waters had fallen.\n\nIn the bowlder and conglomerate rocks found in every age of geology\nthere is proof that glaciers invaded the earth after the declension of\neach Annular stratum. The Annular matter extended in comparatively\nnarrow belts over the equator. As the lower stratum was attracted\ntoward the earth it gradually spread out toward the polar regions,\ncausing a warm climate all over the earth, and melting the snows and\nglaciers at the poles. This lasted untold ages until a tropic and\nsemi-tropical vegetation spread over the earth. After its fall arctic\ncold invaded the north and south poles, pushing a vast ice cap toward\nthe equator, which remained until another stratum of annular vapors\nspread over the globe. These ages of warmth and ages of cold continued\nto alternate until the fall of the last ring of vapors, which took\nplace at the time of the Noachian deluge, causing that catastrophe.\n\nThe sudden destruction of life, at the end of each age in geology, must\nhave been caused by sudden cold. The waters reaching the earth at the\npoles must cause refrigeration; must cause excessive floods; must cause\nextermination of specific forms of life; must cause new distribution\nand condition of oceanic waters, and caused great folding and crumpling\nof strata.\n\nIn the dissolving of glaciers a vast pressure was lifted from the\ncontinents and transferred to the ocean beds, causing them to go down\nand the land to be elevated.\n\n\nSEED BED OF ORGANISMS.\n\nFrom the days of Homer until the present time we read of dust-storms of\nliving organisms falling upon the earth, and colored snow, the coloring\nmatter being microscopic forms of life. The dust is doubtless of cosmic\norigin. There must be micro-cosmic clouds moving in interplanetary\nspace, which meeting the earth in its path, are precipitated upon its\nsurface.\n\nWe can scarcely conceive of matter anywhere without associating it with\nliving forms. The outermost vapors of the annular system, which fell\nin the time of Noah, remained on high for unknown millions of years,\nreceiving constant additions of meteoric and cosmic dust from without.\nAs the gaseous envelope that now surrounds our earth contains living\norganisms, we must believe the annular matter did also, and to a much\ngreater degree.\n\nIf Jupiter\u2019s belted system had long ago descended to the body of that\nplanet, so that we could gaze upon the continents and seas as we do\nthose of Mars, we would conclude that they swarmed with life. An\nincomplete world must contain incomplete or primordial life-forms;\nforms that in time must develop. In yellow snow, dust showers,\n\u201cblood rains,\u201d etc. we have evidence that organic forms are natural\naccompaniments of the nebulous and elementary forms of matter.\n\nSpider showers are well authenticated. Sometimes the air is filled\nwith their gossamer threads upon which they mount to unknown depths of\nspace, where they live. If spiders can live in the air, descend to the\nearth and live there for a time, and toads can live for untold ages\nimmured in solid rock, they could live in belts of aqueous and mineral\nmatter. The manner in which organisms have succeeded each other on the\nearth as revealed by the geologic records demands that the annular\nsystem was the cradle of infant life, the propagating beds in which\nthe life-germs were placed by the great Gardener of Nature.\n\nIt is as reasonable to suppose that germs took form in water under the\ncreative hand before they fell to the earth as afterward, and when we\nsee that each downfall brought new life-forms which exhibit no specific\nor generic relation to previous forms, we are forced to admit that\neither the seed beds of the Annular system provided the undeveloped\norganisms, or there was a special creation at each period.\n\nIn the Silurian age there was an ocean containing heavy calcarious\nmatter; in the Devonian silicious and silicio-calcarious matter;\nin the Carboniferous carbonaceous matter, and each ocean had its\ncharacteristic life-forms. But if all the waters fell at one time,\nhow is it possible for each age to have had an ocean containing\ncharacteristic minerals? These characteristic minerals fell with each\nring, which marked the ages of geology, destroying previous life-forms\nand introducing new ones. Eozoic rocks were laid down 40,000 feet\nthick. Upon these were piled Silurian 65,000 feet thick; on these\nDevonian rocks 15,000 feet, and then comes 17,000 feet of Carboniferous\nrocks, each age having characteristic fossils and mineral deposits. As\nthese deposits were laid down by the sea, why do they so widely differ\nin their composition if they all fell at the same time from above! The\nPotsdam sandstone underlies the Silurian rocks. It spread from the\nCanadas to Texas, from the Alleghanies to the Rocky mountains, and\nprobably forms a casement around the globe. It is 8,000 feet thick, and\nshows a mechanical and rapid accumulation, pointing unmistakably to\nthe downfall of a silicious ring.\n\nThe Annular theory admits of the universal eroding power of rivers and\nwaves; the transporting power of currents and strata building from\ndetrital matter. But waves can do nothing unless supplied with matter.\nWhere did they get the crystalline, granulated and infusorial matter to\nspread over the floor of the Silurian ocean? Great beds of metals have\nbeen laid down as regularity stratified deposits which could not have\nbeen borne from Archaean terranes.\n\n\nCARBON STRATA DEPOSITED AS AN AQUEOUS SEDIMENT.\n\nCarbon composing a peat bed is simply unconsumed carbon. The carbon\nor smoke that arises from every chimney and furnace when measurably\nshut up from immediate union with oxygen, remains an unburnt fuel\nprecisely the same in kind as the unburnt carbon fuel of the peat bogs.\nWere we to collect the unburnt carbon from our chimneys in piles,\nwhere moisture and air could have free access, it would take fire\nspontaneously and burn, just as peat dug from the bog sometimes takes\nfire and burns.\n\nThe millions of fires from foundries, volcanoes, etc., are forming fuel\nwherever soot is formed, and were it not for the ever active oxygen\nof the air, it would all descend upon the earth as fuel and become\nincorporated in forming sedimentary beds. This is our claim for the\ncoal, which as unconsumed carbon arose beyond the reach of destroying\noxygen, from the heated, glowing furnace of our globe, and in time\nreturned to the earth.\n\nWhen the plant dies and begins to decay one of its constituent\nelements, carbon, oxydizes by slow combustion and returns to the air as\nan invisible gas. It is but accidental when a particle fails to become\noxydized and remains as unconsumed carbon. An exceedingly small part of\nvegetation remains unburnt.\n\nCoal veins, which are from one foot to three hundred feet thick, would\nmake a stratum around the earth ten feet thick. Fifty pounds of coal\nwill yield 10,000 gallons of carbonic acid. Then calling eight gallons\nequal to one cubic foot the astonishing fact comes out that the coal\nbeds actually draw from the atmosphere an ocean of carbonic acid\nwhich would have covered the globe to the depth of 12,500 feet, which\nwould have destroyed all animal life. Even three or four per cent. of\ncarbonic acid in our present atmosphere would be fatal to animal life.\nHence it is clear that coal cannot be attributed to vegetable origin.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS REACHED.\n\nThe following conclusions are clearly deducible:\n\n1. The Annular system was a region of microscopic life and infusorial\nforms. Coal being deposited by sea-water carried down with it marine\nforms, and others settled upon its surface.\n\n2. The carbon deposits must have borne down a vast amount of marine\nvegetation and buried it upon the sea bottom. In swamp marshes the\nvegetation would have been entirely different.\n\n3. When a carbon fall was borne to the seas and settled where limestone\nstrata prevailed it would indicate great distance from the shore, and\nhere the roof shales of the coal must be necessarily free from land\nfossils. Coal beds amongst sandstone strata indicate depositions near\nshore, and may contain land fossils.\n\n4. The coal beds must be more heavily developed toward polar regions,\nand most free from impurities.\n\n5. All carbon downfalls must have been attended by great cataclysms of\nsnow, or water, or both.\n\n6. A coal vein deposited near a volcano, or mechanical heat arising\ntherefrom would be metamorphosed into heavier and harder forms of\ncarbon. But as all grades must have existed in the Annular system as\nprimitive distillates, all of these forms may be found in lands where\nno strata disturbance has taken place.\n\n7. The heavy carbon, as the anthracite and semi-bituminous particles\nwould be borne to the deep seas, while the lighter would float into\nshallow water. Hence a submarine valley might have a deposit of\nanthracite while a neighboring bed on an elevation might be bituminous.\n\n8. In both northern and southern hemispheres the coal must be more\nvaluable as we proceed from the equator.\n\n9. There must have been carbon falls in all ages, and the first were\nthe purest and the best, while the last to descend must have been the\nlightest and poorest, and must be found near the surface, or are the\nfoundations of recent peat bogs.\n\nPeat vegetation, or moss known by the generic name of _Sphagnous_, has\nled many to believe it to be the origin of that product. But these\n_sphagnous_ mosses could never have planted themselves over the medial\nand colder latitudes if the carbon beds necessary to sustain them had\nnot previously been planted there. If coal and peat are vegetable\nproducts they should exist in greater abundance in tropical regions;\nbut they are found in limited quantity there.\n\n\nIS COAL A VEGETABLE PRODUCT?\n\nThe usually accepted theory concerning the origin of coal is that it\nwas formed from an ancient vegetation that grew largely in peat and\nswamp marshes. This theory the Vailan system overthrows.\n\nEvery atom of the great mass of carbon now forming the coal deposits\nmust have been a distilled product of a primitive igneous process\nbefore the plant could possibly appropriate it. Every intelligent\nchemist knows that the great telluric gas furnace of primitive times\nwas competent to produce all the carbon now found in the crust of the\nearth. Soot, that sometimes takes fire in our chimneys, is deposited\nin infinitesimal smoke particles. Hence, smoke from burning carbon is\nsimply a fuel which makes it evident that the smoke which arose from\nthe igneous earth was a fuel hydro-carbon. The dark belts of Saturn and\nJupiter are doubtless strata of carbon revolving about those planets.\n\nIf the Vailan theory is true the graphites and heavier forms of carbon\nwere the first to fall upon the earth after the igneous period was\npassed, and will be found in its first aqueous beds, and generally\nunassociated with fossil vegetation. This is precisely what we do\nfind. Both Dana and Dawson bear testimony to the fact that graphite is\na very common mineral in the older beds, and that the primitive carbon\nbeds are equal in gravity to that of similar areas in the carboniferous\nsystem.\n\nWhy no fossil plants in the earlier coal deposits? Because no plants\ngrew at that time. Then we must look for its origin elsewhere than in\nplants. If coal be a vegetable product, so is graphite. To say that\nanimal organism aided in the process simply adds to the difficulty,\nsince it is carbon that makes the organism and not the organism the\ncarbon. But suppose fossil plants were found in graphite, would it be\nany more evidence that they formed it than that they formed clay or\nsandrock in which they are found? The simple fact that organic fossils\nare found in carbon beds changed to carbon affords no evidence that\nthese organisms made the beds.\n\nWe find vegetable remains in coal seams just as we find them in any\nother rock. A coal plant as a lepidodendron, may begin in the lower\nclay, and pierce through a coal seam into the overhanging shale\nand sandstone. In the first it is a clay fossil, in the second a\ncarbonaceous fossil, and in the third a silicious fossil. The fact is\nthe trunk of a tree in an upright position in a coal bed, which is\nquite common, proves that the coal formed around it rapidly. It would\nrequire forty feet of vegetable debris to make five feet of carbon.\nSome coal seams are 300 feet thick, which would require at least 2,400\nfeet of vegetable growth in its formation, which is an impossibility.\nAs a vegetable product coal would form very slowly, but from the\nVailan system would require but a few hours, or days at most, to lay it\ndown.\n\nPlants found in coal burn with difficulty, which ought not to be\ntrue if they contained a resinous sap, or bituminous matter. In many\ninstances you can find a dozen fossil plants in the overlying clay to\nwhere you can find one in coal. They are clay fossils because they are\nimbedded in clay, same as fossils in coal are carbon because imbedded\nin carbon.\n\nIf coal is compressed peat, as some would have us believe, why do we\nnot find fibres running vertically through it? You may examine peat\nafter a pressure of twenty tons to the square inch has been exerted,\nand yet the vertical structure of the mass will be apparent. Since we\nfind abundance of rootlets running in all directions, vertically as\nwell as horizontally in the under clays of coal beds it is evident that\ncoal is not a metamorphosed peat.\n\nImagine an expanse of marshes 100,000 square miles in extent, covered\nwith calamites, ferns, sigillaria, lepidodendra remaining motionless\nfor countless centuries, and then suddenly sinking beneath the waves\nof the sea in order to receive a sea-formed bed for a covering; and\nin the universal burial to preserve but a few fossils, and they in a\nhorizontal position, while in the clays immediately above and below the\ncoal beds they are found in profusion; that in due time the vast area\narose from its baptism, and on the thin layer of clay millions of the\nsame plants grew until they formed another bed of coal, when it sinks\nagain beneath the waves, and this oscillation continued until it had\nbeen buried twenty, forty or one hundred times, and you have the old\ntheory of how coal was formed.\n\nBut if the old theory concerning the formation of coal is correct, how\ndid it occur that the earth in rising out of the ocean stopped each\ntime in the right place for swamp vegetation to accumulate? According\nto the highest authority coal is not formed from sea-plants, for they\ncannot emit any considerable amount of caloric, but it is the product\nof land plants. Then why do we find coal scattered over a vast area of\nsea bottom?\n\nThe structure of continents show that they have remained such from\ntheir first formation. Some of the geologic formations, as the\nCarboniferous-conglomerates, took place all over the earth at the same\ntime. How could this be except it came from the Annular system?\n\nWere we to have a shower of carbon dust it would settle to the bottom\nof the sea all over the irregularities of the same. Then sand beds\naccumulating for ages would settle over it. These would form a greater\nthickness in some places than in others; hence a succeeding fall of\ncarbon settling upon the ocean floor would not form a bed exactly\nparallel with the first. This is precisely what we find to be true\nin the carbon deposits. The distance in coal seams may vary from\ntwenty feet in one place to forty feet in another place in the same\nneighborhood, which is the result of irregularity in the ocean floor.\n\nBowlders are found in coal seams which means that coal beds have been\nformed under water; and if a foreign bowlder that the coal seam was\nformed at the bottom of the ocean. Bowlders have been found in the\nmiddle of coal seams with glacial marks upon them, showing that they\nhave been dropped from icebergs into the forming coal beds at the\nbottom of the sea. Foreign water-worn bowlders are frequently found in\ncoal beds.\n\nStratas of coal may be separated by layers of clay not more than half\nan inch in thickness; how could vegetation take root in so thin a layer\nof clay sufficient to form the overlying coal seam of probably several\nfeet? Suppose a great carbon fund should float from the Arctic ocean\ninto Hudson Bay. It would settle upon an undulating bottom, and if a\nflood of muddy water from the surrounding rivers should empty into the\nbay while the carbon bed was forming, a thin clay bed would be the\nresult. This might continue as long as the carbon was brought from the\nArctic regions.\n\nThe floating mass of primitive carbon clouds after they entered the\natmosphere and floated away for centuries, perhaps, toward the polar\nregions in their efforts to reach the earth, became a tissue of\nevolving vegetable organisms and vegetable forms. Take fresh soot from\na furnace soon as it is formed, subject it to hot vapors from boiling\nwaters and store it away in an open vessel of water, and you will soon\nsee vegetable and animal organisms start into being. Then why not find\norganisms in revolving soot clouds in the Annular system?\n\nMarine vegetation exists on the sea bottom, and a carbon sediment\nrapidly accumulating would certainly involve it.\n\nUnder almost all the carbon veins lies a deposit of fire clay. Strange\nthat adjoining a highly combustible bed, a substance should be\ninvariably planted that is so refractory as to be used for crucibles\nin fusing almost every known metal! In this bed lies involved a\nprofuse marine vegetation, and the preservation of its delicate\nlineaments proves that it was suddenly involved. It is more generally\npresent under coal veins that are more distant from the tropics, and\n_invariably_ in the most distant ones. The fire clay-dust sublimed in\nthe great telluric crucible arose to commingle with primitive vapors\nand returned with them. When a carbon fall occurred the clay matter\nbeing of greater specific gravity was the first to find its way to the\nocean floor.\n\nThis fire clay is found under beds of primitive graphite where\nno vegetation is involved, and therefore cannot be a vegetable\ndistillation. It is found where glacial action is unknown, and cannot\nbe mud pulverized by moving ice. Every one of the more than seventy\ncoal seams of the Nova Scotia regions has its characteristic clay-bed.\nWhen we see trees standing in and surrounded by this clay we are forced\nto admit a rapid accumulation.\n\nLimestone is a deep sea formation and the Vailan system demands that\nstanding trees should not be found in it. Only such limestone formation\nor strata as were deposited as mechanical precipitation could be\nformed in shallow waters, especially in regions beyond the tropics.\nA limestone stratum deposited among shore deposits or continental\ndetritus points directly to Annular origin and vegetable fossils will\noccur in the upper clays. Here geologists have an opportunity to prove\nor disprove the Annular problem.\n\nCoal and peat are not found in the tropics where they ought to be found\nif vegetation produced them. And if they could be found there it would\nsweep the Vailan system from its foundations. They are found, however,\njust where this system says they must be found. Why is peat found\nin the ocean, and in the thousands of lakes and ponds where no peat\nvegetation is now growing? Suppose we find a peat bed forty feet thick,\nit must have been at one time a lake with forty feet of water, and how\ndid the peat begin to grow? Peat forms slowly and the rains and storms\nwould have worked mud, etc., more rapidly into it than the peat would\nhave filled it. It would neither have grown from the top nor from the\nbottom. The foundation carbon fell from the Annular fund.\n\n\nMETAMORPHISM OF CARBON BEDS.\n\nWhen bituminous or lignitic coal, or even peat is subjected to a\nsufficient degree of heat it is converted into hard coal and sometimes\ninto graphite. From this source some conclude that anthracite and\nall hard coals are metamorphosed beds of soft carbon. But how about\nthe vast beds in aqueous crusts hundreds of miles from any igneous\nagencies? All anthracite coal changed from bituminous coal will contain\na greater per cent. of ash than the coal from which it is derived. If\nit does not it is evidence that it never was bituminous coal.\n\nLet us suppose a heavy fall of Annular carbon in the north Atlantic\nocean, and that the Appalachian mountains were again under the\nsea. The carbon carried by the ocean currents southward would fall\nto the sea bottom in the more quiet waters. The heavy or anthracite\ndust would reach the bottom in deep waters where the lighter forms\nwould not. Before the Appalachian upheaval, the eastern base of the\nsystem was farther out in the sea, and was in deeper waters than the\nwestern. The constitution of the coal itself, the condition of the sea\nbottom (sloping from the coast to the deep sea) point harmoniously\nto the annular origin of the carbon beds. The bituminous dust not\nbeing able to directly settle with the anthracite remained longer in\nsuspension which accounts for its greater amount of ash. The farther\nsouth it floated, the more impure it became. The heaviest beds of\nanthracite will be found in the northern part of the great plateau, and\nprincipally in British America if the Vailan theory is true.\n\nFossil plants in coal are generally mineralized charcoal, and are\ndifficult of combination. If the bed was composed of vegetable\nproduction the same difficulty would certainly characterize the mass.\nHence the plant is simply a foreign body in a bed of mineral carbon.\nCoal seams have become so hard as to be planed off by eroding forces\ndirectly after being laid down, or before heavy beds had accumulated\nover them. Thus they could not have been formed by vegetable peat.\n\n\nTERTIARY COALS.\n\nExtensive coal beds in Asia are probably Tertiary, while the vast\ncarbon beds among the Rocky Mountains, and underlying the vast plain\nto the west of these mountains, were formed in the Tertiary period. The\nRocky Mountain plateau on which the coal beds are planted existed as a\nsea bottom over which the waters from the Arctic world rolled during\nthe Tertiary period. The Rocky Mountain region was then sleeping in the\nsea.\n\nThe Tertiary beds reach from Mexico to the Arctic ocean, proving that\ncurrents ran toward the equator along the valley of the McKenzie,\nbearing into southern waters whatever fell from the upper world. It is\nthus easy to see how the vast expanse of this western world became the\nreceptacle of Tertiary carbon. Finding no Tertiary coals on the Eastern\nborder of our continent we are led to believe that a narrow continent\nstretched from America to Europe across the present bed of the Atlantic\nand hindered the flow of carbon along the Atlantic seaboard. It is\nnow conceded by geologists that such an isthmus of land reached from\nNewfoundland to the shores of Europe during the Tertiary period. This\nbeing true a vast fund of carbon must lie at the bottom of the North\nAtlantic.\n\nIf these later coals had been formed out of vegetation growing in great\ncontinental swamps, the same opportunity was afforded by the southern\nsea borders for this swamp vegetation. And so from Long Island to the\nRio Grande. Why then do we not find it if coal is of vegetable origin?\nIf the vast fund of the lignitic coals is a vegetable production it\nwas present in the Tertiary atmosphere as a deadly poison. But at that\ntime both land and sea were full of air-breathing mammals and monsters\nshowing conclusively that it was not there in such a condition.\n\n\nDEDUCTIONS.\n\n1. The plant when subjected to a proper mode of distillation is made to\nyield carbon in various allotropic forms. So of any mineral that has\ncarbon in its constitution. These forms of carbon were placed in the\ncrust of the earth after the primitive fires had died out.\n\n2. All such primitive distillations existed in the atmosphere of the\nincandescent earth.\n\n3. This matter as it declined and mingled with the atmosphere in after\nages, changed from the ring to the belt form, and overcanopied the\nearth and fell largely in regions outside the tropics.\n\n4. The heavier forms of carbon fell largely in the earlier ages; though\nall sections of the system must have had some of each form.\n\n5. All ages were more or less characterized by carbon falls, and no age\ncould be exclusively carboniferous.\n\n6. Carbon falling directly into the ocean would separate into heavier\nand lighter forms and settle accordingly in higher or lower elevations\nof sea bottom, thus explaining why different forms of coal are found in\nthe same proximate horizon.\n\n7. The earliest or heavier forms are free from organic remains, and\nmust therefore be a primitive distillation. The other carbon beds\nby their associated strata; by their involved vegetation and other\norganisms; by accompanying clay-partings; by involved glacial drift;\nby latitudinal gradation in quantity of ash and specific gravity; by\ncharacteristic absence from the tropics and the heavy deposits in\nhigher latitudes; by synchronous formation in all continents; by their\nevident formation in the very lap and bosom of the glacier and in ice\nand flood; by the fact that they are bituminous, oily hydro-carbons,\nand by a multitude of inconsistencies and impossibilities involved\nin the vegetation theory, have been shown to be actual sedimentary\ndeposits, and therefore a primitive product.\n\nSince then there is not a feature connected with the formation of coal\nthat is not readily explained by the primitive carbon theory; not\none that philosophic law does not resolve into harmony with Annular\ndeclension without even the show of conflict; and since vegetarians\nare forever stumbling upon inexplicable difficulties--bowlders,\npebbles, undulations, slopes, ripple-marks, clay-partings, cannel-coal\ninseparably joined with bituminous coal, anthracites with less\namount of ash, marine impurities, carbon planted in Archaean beds,\nair-breathing animals among Tertiary coals, carbon dredged from the\nocean, dug from the frozen world, and innumerable other objections over\nwhich they can not climb, the vegetation theory can not be true.\n\n\nANNULAR DOWNFALL IN THE TERTIARY OCEAN OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE.\n\nIf the Vailian theory claims are valid the beds in the Rocky Mountain\nTertiary must present the following features: The Cretaceous period\nhaving been brought to a close by a down-rush of waters and snows in\nthe northern hemisphere, a stream of water pouring southward must to a\ngreat extent have been a fresh-water current, and those deposits in\nthe extreme northern beds of the Rocky Mountain region must be largely\nfresh-water accumulations. Those in the middle of this region must\nbe to a less extent fresh-water; perhaps sometimes fresh and again\nmarine, owing to changes in currents, etc., and the two be commingled,\nwhile in the southern part the beds must be almost exclusively marine.\nFortunately for the Vailian theory these demands are fully met. The\nwaters of this vast region communicated with the Arctic ocean, probably\nby way of the present depression in British America, along the valley\nof the McKenzie river, while south it communicated with the Gulf of\nMexico.\n\nHere was a sea forty times larger than Lake Erie. Where did the water\ncome from that made the northern part fresh, the middle part brackish\nand the southern portion marine? The Tertiary of the Pacific Coast is\nmarine; so is a larger portion of the Atlantic border. Doubtless Davis\nStrait poured a volume of fresh-water from the polar world into the\nAtlantic, for there is the same commingling of marine and fresh-water\nshells on the northeast coast, while in the northern part they are\nexclusively fresh-water species. Rivers could not have done this, for\nall the rivers from Delaware Bay around the coast of the Gulf of Mexico\nwere not sufficient to lay down fresh-water Tertiary. Admit that the\nvast polar ocean of the Tertiary period was a body of fresh-water, and\nall difficulties disappear.\n\nGeologists admit that in the Tertiary period mountains were made\non every continent, that there was a world-wide disturbance of\nstrata, and the most complete extermination of species on record.\nThe Cretaceous world was swept by a mighty cataclysmic wave, and its\nanimals were buried in the detrital mass swept from the land into\nthe seas and formed the lower Eocene beds. Nothing of which we can\nconceive could do this but a downpour of Annular waters. One-third of\nNorth America, a great part of Northern Europe, nearly all of Siberia,\nmuch of China, and other parts of Asia were apparently synchronously\nsubmerged beneath _fresh-water_.\n\nThe ocean of fresh-water proves the augmentation of snows from the\ngreat super-aerial fund. The Cretaceous age closed by excessive and\nunusual refrigeration. The transported blocks of stone found in the\nUpper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary point to a northern origin. The\nevidence is overwhelmingly in favor of an Annular fall of waters in the\nnorth polar world at that time.\n\nExisting continents were submerged under Cretaceous waters. The Rocky\nMountains, Andes, Alps and Himalayas were either unborn or in their\ninfant stage. But some mighty barrier was raised that rolled the\nCretaceous waters southward, and made an isolated fresh-water ocean on\nthe north. It was the great Atlantic plateau reaching from Newfoundland\nto Ireland, which is known by actual soundings and other evidence to be\na submerged table land. It was raised from the deep at this very time\nand stood for uncounted milleniums as dry land.\n\nSuppose an ice cap 5000 feet thick should suddenly cover the Arctic\nworld. It would press that part of the globe inward and downward upon\nitself even if the planet were solid to the centre. It would render the\nrocks plastic and they would be pushed under the continents causing the\ncrust of the earth to rise into mountains in many places. Just what\noccurred in Cretaceous and Tertiary times.\n\nWe can trace the shore-line of an almost limitless fresh-water sea\naround the whole hemisphere in Tertiary times, showing that the Arctic\nocean was a wide expanse of fresh-waters. This leads to the positive\nand permanent establishment of the Vailian or Annular theory.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nTHE LAST ADVANCE OF GLACIERS.\n\nThe last downfall of exterior vapors was at the time of Noah, and\nproduced the deluge. These vapors naturally gravitated toward the polar\nregions and falling there as snows would accumulate as glaciers, their\nmagnitude and extent corresponding with the amount of falling snows.\nIt is evident if there ever was an Eden climate upon the earth its\ndestruction was brought about by a change of climate. If the Deluge was\na collapse of the last remnant of upper waters the latter must have\nbegun to fall in polar regions many centuries previous.\n\nThe Eden world suffered a change of climate during the Adamic age,\nfor the race that dwelt naked in Eden became clothed in the skins of\nanimals. If this infant race dwelt naked the climate was warm. If\nafterward it became necessary to be clothed with the skins of animals\nit certainly had become cold. If the cold increased it was probably\ncaused by the fall of snow in polar regions. The physical condition\nof the antedeluvians and their environment depended on the conditions\nof the upper vapors. Hence, polar glaciers began to advance in Edenic\ntimes.\n\nGlaciers advanced slowly, and are still advancing. Eight hundred years\nago Greenland was not the frigid land it now is. The Icelanders and\nthe Northmen sailed through northern seas in the interest of commerce\nwhere now our hardiest seamen with iron-clad vessels scarcely dare to\nventure. They pushed forward commercial enterprises into lands that are\nnow inhospitable and uninhabited.\n\nThe present glaciation of polar worlds is but the result of the last\ndeclension of outward vapors. The great ice caps of polar regions\nare moving toward the equator and are constantly diminishing. It is\npossible that we are approaching a day when the last ice berg will be\nborne toward the tropics, and the last glacier will melt, and a more\ngenial climate pervade the greater portion of the earth.\n\n\nLONGEVITY OF THE ANCIENTS.\n\nAccording to the biblical account people lived to be 800 and 900 years\nold. This was principally because of the modification of solar energy.\nMan\u2019s physical environments impelled long life; and his longevity\ndiminished immediately after the upper deep fell and the sun began to\npour his beams upon the race; his environment evidently changed with\nthat event. In a few generations after the flood man died at the age of\n120 or 100 years, and finally at three score and ten.\n\n\n\n\nLETTER FROM PROF. I. N. VAIL.\n\n\nMY DEAR DR. BOWERS: I have read with much interest thy compendium of\n\u201cThe Earth\u2019s Annular System,\u201d as published by me in 1886. A synopsis\nof that work can give but a meager idea of the grand conception of the\nannular evolution of the earth. \u201cThe Annular Theory\u201d stands on the\nimmutable truth that worlds evolve according to invariable law.\n\nThis compels us to admit that all worlds are made alike, in the general\nchanges they undergo. Just as a bud evolves into a flower of the most\ndelicate construction and architectural order, so a world launched\nfrom the same designing Hand must move in the same line of eternal\norder, and under the law of natural uniformity develop and grow into a\ncompleted world.\n\nThis also leads us to the conclusion that if one world possess at\nany time an annular system, then all worlds must possess a similar\nappendage during some period of their existence. Consequently that\nsimple fact that the planet Saturn possesses at this time an annular or\nring system is proof that the earth once had a similar appendage. For\nwe must either admit this truth or we must admit that the planet Saturn\nhas not evolved thus far along a line of nature\u2019s uniformity, but is\ntoday a victim of accidental conditions. This law refuses to admit.\n\nBut \u201cThe Annular Theory\u201d does not rest on these grounds alone. A\nuniverse of _invariable order_ pronounces it an immutable truth. The\njudgment of the chemist and philosopher is positive that a rotating\nworld cannot pass from the molten state to the present condition of the\nearth without undergoing annular changes.\n\nSince the publication of \u201cThe Earth\u2019s Annular System\u201d I have had\nopportunities of examining more minutely the subjects treated of\ntherein and have secured the most overwhelming evidence that the theory\nthere proposed is in the main correct and will stand the test of all\ntime. I have found, outside the realm of physical science, the most\npositive evidence that primitive man actually saw at least two rings\nrevolving about the earth, named them and worshiped them as gods. These\nrelics I have rescued from the wreck of ages, and _with_ these I will\nprove the fact that this earth once had a complex system of Saturn-like\nrings.\n\nThus in the end the geologist and astronomer will be compelled to admit\nits truthfulness whether they desire to or not. I have found among the\nruins of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, India and China annular fossils, the\nidentification of which settles at once and forever this great question.\n\nAgain, I need not point the geologist to the mysteries of the glacial\nepochs, which grow darker and darker as he looks for a competent cause\nfor their production. He must know that the great ocean of vapors that\nhovered for unknown time over the earth in the loftiest heights of\nthe atmosphere, such as now are seen on two of our neighbor planets,\ncould not have fallen to the earth without covering it in the higher\nlatitudes with measureless masses of snow, resulting in excessive\nrefrigeration. I need but point him to the fact, proven by the coast\nsurveys of the world, that the oceans have encroached upon the land\nto such an extent since the last glacial epoch that they stand now\nfully thirty fathoms deeper than they did in pre-glacial times. I need\nonly point him to that grand clock-work of worlds shining from the\nfirmament--every scintillating point, every rolling sun, is a witness\nof nature\u2019s eternal order, and proclaims that uniformitarian principle\nof world evolution, by which the philosophic investigator must stand.\nThe geologist must build on this rock of _uniformity_ in the evolution\nof worlds. The earth has evolved along _this_ line, and the wreck of\nannular conditions is seen on every page of its rocky volume.\n\nIn the year 1875 I published a little volume entitled \u201cThe Earth\u2019s\nAqueous Ring.\u201d In it I stated my convictions, and gave reasons\ntherefor, that all the glacial periods the world ever saw were produced\nby supra-aerial vapors descending from an annular system that revolved\nabout the earth from the remotest geologic ages to the flood of Noah,\nwhich was itself produced by the fall of the last remnants of those\nupper waters. These claims I am fully prepared to substantiate,\nwhatever opposition may be brought against them.\n\n  ISAAC N. VAIL,\n  ELSINORE, Cal., July 6, 1892.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note\n\n\nIn this file, text in _italics_ is indicated by underscores. Text in\nSMALL CAPS is all uppercase.\n\nThe following changes were made to the text as printed:\n\nPage 3: \u201crings of agueous vapor\u201d changed to \u201crings of aqueous vapor\u201d\n\n\u201cdecent at the poles\u201d changed to \u201cdescent at the poles\u201d\n\n5: \u201cthe same No matter\u201d changed to \u201cthe same. No matter\u201d\n\n6: \u201cKelper\u2019s \u201cThird Law\u201d\u201d changed to \u201cKepler\u2019s \u201cThird Law\u201d\u201d\n\n7: \u201cFURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE RECORD\u201d changed to \u201cFURTHER EXAMINATION\nOF THE RECORD.\u201d\n\n\u201csilicious Arch\u00e6an beds\u201d changed to \u201csilicious Archaean beds\u201d\n\n\u201cArch\u00e6an metaliferous deposits\u201d changed to \u201cArchaean metalliferous\ndeposits\u201d\n\n8: \u201cGod made the firmmanent\u201d changed to \u201cGod made the firmament\u201d\n\n\u201cunder the firmmament\u201d changed to \u201cunder the firmament\u201d\n\n\u201cabove the firmmament\u201d changed to \u201cabove the firmament\u201d\n\n\u201cThe earths surface\u201d changed to \u201cThe earth\u2019s surface\u201d\n\n\u201cthe suns direct rays\u201d changed to \u201cthe sun\u2019s direct rays\u201d\n\n\u201covercanopyed by annular waters\u201d changed to \u201covercanopied by annular\nwaters\u201d\n\n9: \u201cTHE NOCHIAN DELUGE\u201d changed to \u201cTHE NOACHIAN DELUGE\u201d\n\n\u201cAryan, Phonecian, Greek\u201d changed to \u201cAryan, Phoenecian, Greek\u201d\n\n\u201cGreeks, Cythians and Celtic tribes\u201d changed to \u201cGreeks, Scythians and\nCeltic tribes\u201d\n\n\u201camong the Peruvians\u2019 and Mexicans\u201d changed to \u201camong the Peruvians and\nMexicans\u201d\n\n\u201cthe ruins of Ninevah\u201d changed to \u201cthe ruins of Nineveh\u201d\n\n11: \u201cfresh water shells are found\u201d changed to \u201cfresh-water shells are\nfound\u201d\n\n\u201cdecent of Annular vapors\u201d changed to \u201cdescent of Annular vapors\u201d\n\n12: \u201csoon as killed purification\u201d changed to \u201csoon as killed,\nputrification\u201d\n\n\u201cthe downrush of snows from the earths\u201d changed to \u201cthe down-rush of\nsnows from the earth\u2019s\u201d\n\n\u201ca semitropical world\u201d changed to \u201ca semi-tropical world\u201d\n\n\u201cover-canopying fund of vapors\u201d changed to \u201covercanopying fund of\nvapors\u201d\n\n\u201cposessed more bouyant power\u201d changed to \u201cpossessed more buoyant power\u201d\n\n\u201cdoubtless, dropped from icebergs\u201d changed to \u201cdoubtless dropped from\nicebergs\u201d\n\n\u201cupon the earth The great\u201d changed to \u201cupon the earth. The great\u201d\n\n\u201cboulder and conglomerate rocks\u201d changed to \u201cbowlder and conglomerate\nrocks\u201d\n\n13: \u201cthe disolving of glaciers\u201d changed to \u201cthe dissolving of glaciers\u201d\n\n\u201cdecended to the body\u201d changed to \u201cdescended to the body\u201d\n\n\u201cprimordal life-forms\u201d changed to \u201cprimordial life-forms\u201d\n\n\u201cunknow depths of space\u201d changed to \u201cunknown depths of space\u201d\n\n14: \u201cGardner of Nature\u201d changed to \u201cGardener of Nature\u201d\n\n\u201cCarboniferous carbonacious matter\u201d changed to \u201cCarboniferous\ncarbonaceous matter\u201d\n\n\u201cdown fall of a silicious ring\u201d changed to \u201cdownfall of a silicious\nring.\u201d\n\n17: \u201cfibres runnning vertically\u201d changed to \u201cfibres running vertically\u201d\n\n\u201cferns, sigillaria lepidodendra\u201d changed to \u201cferns, sigillaria,\nlepidodendra\u201d\n\n18: \u201cseperated by layers of clay\u201d changed to \u201cseparated by layers of\nclay\u201d\n\n21: \u201ccannel-coal inseperably joined\u201d changed to \u201ccannel-coal\ninseparably joined\u201d\n\n22: \u201csubmerged beneath _fresh water_\u201d changed to \u201csubmerged beneath\n_fresh-water_\u201d\n\n\u201cgreat super-ariel fund\u201d changed to \u201cgreat super-aerial fund\u201d\n\n\u201cwide expanse of fresh waters\u201d changed to \u201cwide expanse of\nfresh-waters\u201d\n\n\u201cNew Foundland to Ireland\u201d changed to \u201cNewfoundland to Ireland\u201d\n\n\u201cisolated fresh water ocean\u201d changed to \u201cisolated fresh-water ocean\u201d\n\n23: \u201cantideluvians and their environment\u201d changed to \u201cantedeluvians\nand their environment\u201d\n\n\u201cinhospital and uninhabited\u201d changed to \u201cinhospitable and\nuninhabited\u201d\n\n\u201cglacitation of polar worlds\u201d changed to \u201cglaciation of polar worlds\u201d\n\n\u201cconstantly dimishing\u201d changed to \u201cconstantly diminishing\u201d\n\n\u201cupon the race his environment\u201d changed to \u201cupon the race; his\nenvironment\u201d\n\n24: \u201cnatures eternal order\u201d changed to \u201cnature\u2019s eternal order\u201d","title":"The Vailan or annular theory: A synopsis of Prof. I. N. Vail's argument in support of the claim that this Earth once possessed a Saturn-like system of rings","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11110}