Untitled article by J. L. Baker

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, February 4, 1868

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 8

ANTEDILUVIAN REMAINS.

By J. L. Baker

[Bro. Smith: The following I copy from Thomas Dick, LL. D. J. L. Baker.]

Thus, we have single mountains which, from their structure, can be considered only as remnants of great formations, or of great continents no longer in existence. Mount Meisner, in Hesse, six miles long and three broad, rises about 1800 feet above its base, and 2100 above the sea, overtopping all the neighboring hills from 40 to 50 miles around. The lowest part of the mountain consists of the same shell, limestone, and sandstone, which exist in the adjacent country. Above these are, first, a bed of sand, then, a bed of fossil wood, 100 feet thick at some points, and the whole is covered by a mass of basalt, 500 feet in hight. On considering these facts, it is impossible to avoid concluding that this mountain which now overtops the neighboring country, occupied at one time, the bottom of a cavity in the midst of higher lands. The vast mass of fossil wood could not all have grown there, but must have been transported by water from a more elevated surface, and lodged in what was then a hollow. The basalt, which covers the wood, must also have flowed in a current from a higher site; but the soil over which both the wood and basalt passed, has been swept away leaving this mountain as a solitary memorial, to attest its existence.

Thus, also, on the side of Mount Jura, next the Alps, where no other mountain interposes, there are found vast blocks of granite (some of 1000 cubic yards) at the hight of more than 2000 feet above the Lake of Geneva. These blocks are foreign to the rocks among which they lie, and have, evidently, come from the opposite chain of the Alps; but the land which constituted the inclined plane over which they were rolled or transported, has been worn away, and the valley of lower Switzerland, with its lakes, now occupies its place. Transported masses of primitive rocks, of the same description, are found scattered over the north of Germany, which Van Buch ascertained by their characters to belong to the mountains of Scandinavia; and which, therefore, carry us back to a period when an elevated continent occupying the basin of the Baltic, connected Saxony with Norway. —Sup. to Ency. Brit., Vol. 6.

More than thirty different species of animals have been found imbedded in the secondary strata, no living examples of which are now to be found in any quarter of the globe. Among the most remarkable of these are the following:

1. The Mammoth, which bears a certain resemblance to the elephant, but is much larger, and differs considerably in the size and form of the tusks, jaws, and grinders. The fossil remains of this animal are more abundant in Siberia than in other countries; there being scarcely a spot from the river Dan to Kamtschatka, in which they have not been found. Not only single bones and perfect skeletons of this animal are frequently to be met with; but, in a late instance, the whole animal was found preserved in ice. This animal was discovered on the banks of the frozen ocean, near the mouth of the river Jena, in 1799; and in 1805, Mr. Adams got it conveyed over a space of 7000 miles to Petersburgh, where it is deposited in the Museum. The flesh, skin, and hair were completely preserved, and even the eyes were entire. It was provided with a long mane, and the body was covered with hair. This hair was of different qualities. There were stiff, black bristles from 12 to 15 inches long, and these belonged to the tail, mane, and ears. Other bristles were from 9 to 10 inches long, and of a brown color; and besides these, there was a coarse wool, from 3 to 5 inches long, of a pale yellow color. This mammoth was a male; it measured 9 feet 4 inches in hight, and was 16 feet 4 inches long without including the tusks. The tusks measured along the curve, 9 feet 6 inches; and the two together weigh 360 lbs. avoirdupois. The head alone without the tusks, weighs 414 lbs. avoirdupois. The remains of this animal have been found, likewise, in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, England, and in many places through the continent onward to the Arctic Ocean.

2. The Megatherium. A complete skeleton of this colossal species was found in diluvial soil, near Buenos Ayres, and sent to Madrid. The specimen is 14 feet long and 7 Spanish feet in hight.

3. The great Mastodon of the Ohio. This species appears to have been as tall as the elephant, but with longer and thicker limbs. It had tusks like the elephant, and appears to have lived on roots. Its remains abound in America, particularly on the banks of the Ohio.

4. The Tapir, which also abounds in America. The one named Gigantic Tapir, is about 18 feet long, and 12 feet high.