It was some time afterwards discovered that at that time the mountain Skaptar Jocul was in a violent state of eruption, and producing the most fearful desolations in the island where the volcano is situated.

The Rev. Mr. Parker, in his exploring tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, page 317, says, "that there was an uncommonly dark day at Fort Vancouver, and in its vicinity, in August, 1831, which was thought to have been caused by smoke from an eruption of a volcano. The whole day was nearly as dark as night, except a slight red, lurid appearance, which was perceptible until night. Lighted candles were necessary through the day." The darkness he ascribed to an eruption of Mount St. Helena in the range of the Rocky Mountains.

In 1815 there was a volcanic eruption in the Island of Sumbawa, at the eastern end of the Island of Java. The smoke and ashes ejected reached more than three hundred miles around, making the day darker than the thickest night. The American Indian summer is produced by the burning of the prairies, more than a thousand miles distant, and at times the smoke is so great as to obscure the sun. In 1825, in

ness.

the county of Ulster, a smoke was observed so dense as to make it difficult to see fifteen rods, while a candle was necessary at times in the house. Those who resided near the Shewangunk Mountains, observing the smell of the smoke, supposed the mountains to be on fire; a common occurrence. It was observed in Virginia, at Montreal, and Quebec. In a day or two this was found to be a mistake. There had been no fire in the mountains. All were at a loss to understand the cause of the great smoke producing such unusual darkNot long afterwards it appeared in the Eastern newspapers, that there were plunderers of timber in the public lands in the State of Maine, who cut wild grass and stacked it in such places as were favorable to their operations, and erected temporary buildings for their accommodation. The government ordered the sheriffs to burn the hay and buildings, and to drive the plunderers from the neighborhood. In the town of Sydney such an establishment had been formed. The season had been uncommonly dry, and there was a neighboring swamp filled with peat. The fire set to the hay and buildings communicated to the combustible matter, and produced the

smoke. The Shewangunk Mountains are, by the best calculation, about five hundred miles distant from Sydney. In this state of things, fog and mist must have increased the darkness. Fog will frequently so obscure the vision that it is difficult to see two rods distinctly. In London it is no uncommon thing to light lamps in consequence of the dense fogs, making it dark in the stores, shops, and dwellings. Thus might there be darkness on the face of the deep from these causes, although the sun and moon shone as they do now.

There is a striking fact to prove that light existed on the earth from some of the early, inhabitants being furnished with organs of vision. We may select two. The organs of

vision of the Trilobite, an animal which ceased to live thousands, and perhaps millions or billions of years before the creation of man, as we judge from the places and state in which they are now found. The eye of the Trilobite is formed on the same principle as the eye of the Dragon-fly and many other insects, which are adapted to produce vision through the medium of facets or lenses. It appears that in eyes constructed on this principle, the image will be more distinct, in proportion as

the cones are more numerous and long, and as compound eyes see only those objects which present themselves in the axis of the cones, the extent of vision will be according as the exterior is more or less hemispherical. On examining the eye of the Trilobite, we find the animal furnished with such an eye. The animal lived at the bottom of the water, and although he could not look downwards unless floating on his back, he could look all around and about him; and his eye was evidently calculated to operate with light.

The Ichthyosaurus is furnished with an eye uncommonly large, and it appears constructed both for microscopic and telescopic purposes. The eyes of this family were formed of compound circles of bony plates, as found in many birds, as well as turtles, tortoises, and lizards. In living animals, these bony plates are fixed in the interior of the eye, and vary its Scope of action, by altering the convexity of the cornea. By their retraction they press forward the front of the eye, and convert it into a microscope; in resuming its position, when the eye is at rest, they convert it into a telescope.

Here, then, we have an eye most curiously constructed, to employ a very little or a great

and clear light. No geologist for a moment can believe this animal in existence at the time of the creation of man; his position and state preclude any such idea.

Vegetable life is a proof of the same truth. They do not grow, thrive, and attain their bulk without light; yet there are vegetable remains of great magnitude found in a fossil state. The sun may have shone for millions of years, and doubtless did; but with this Moses had nothing to do, further than the fact that God created it, and the use of it. The earth, then, just before the creation of man, was a great waste, volcanoes bursting out, water raging, winds blowing, and smoke and fog causing darkness to lie on the deep. This ruin had undergone several changes. Geological facts seem to prove this clearly.

State of the Earth before the Appearance of Life.

The earth, previous to the appearance of life, may be called a waste, a ruin, without form, and void; and yet the most important work was probably going on. The crust of the earth had hardened, the old granite had been formed.

It had been melted, and strati