<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h1>Nature's Miracles</h1>
<h2><i>Familiar Talks on Science</i></h2>
<h3>BY</h3>
<h2>ELISHA GRAY, <span class="smcap">Ph.</span> D., LL. D.</h2>
<h3><span class="smcap">Vol. I</span></h3>
<h4>World-Building and Life</h4>
<h4><span class="smcap">Earth, Air, and Water</span></h4>
<h4>NEW YORK</h4>
<h4>FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT</h4>
<p class="center">
<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1899</span>,<br/>
<br/>
BY<br/>
<br/>
FORDS, HOWARD & HULBERT.<br/>
<br/>
THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS,<br/>
RAHWAY, N. J.<br/></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
<p>CHAPTER <span class="tocnum">PAGE</span><br/>
<br/>
<span class="smcap">Introduction</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href="#Page_v">v</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<span class="smcap">Earth.</span><br/>
<br/>
I. <span class="smcap">World-Building and Life</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_1'>1</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
II. <span class="smcap">Limestone</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_12'>12</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
III. <span class="smcap">Coal</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_22'>22</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
IV. <span class="smcap">Slate and Shale</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_31'>31</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
V. <span class="smcap">Salt</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_36'>36</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<span class="smcap">Air.</span><br/>
<br/>
VI. <span class="smcap">The Atmosphere</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_42'>42</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
VII. <span class="smcap">Air Temperature</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_51'>51</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
VIII. <span class="smcap">Cloud Formation</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_60'>60</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
IX. <span class="smcap">Cloud Formation</span> (<i>Continued</i>), <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_69'>69</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
X. <span class="smcap">Wind—Why It Blows</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_79'>79</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XI. <span class="smcap">Wind</span> (<i>Continued</i>), <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_88'>88</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XII. <span class="smcap">Local Winds</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_100'>100</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XIII. <span class="smcap">Weather Predictions</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_110'>110</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XIV. <span class="smcap">How Dew Is Formed</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_115'>115</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XV. <span class="smcap">Hailstones and Snow</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_124'>124</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XVI. <span class="smcap">Meteors</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_129'>129</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XVII. <span class="smcap">The Sky and Its Color</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_134'>134</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv"></SPAN></span>XVIII. <span class="smcap">Liquid Air</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_146'>146</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<span class="smcap">Water.</span><br/>
<br/>
XIX. <span class="smcap">Rivers and Floods</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_152'>152</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XX. <span class="smcap">Tides</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_161'>161</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXI. <span class="smcap">What Is a Sponge?</span> <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_167'>167</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXII. <span class="smcap">Water and Ice</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_177'>177</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXIII. <span class="smcap">Stored Energy in Water</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_182'>182</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXIV. <span class="smcap">Why Does Ice Float?</span> <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_192'>192</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXV. <span class="smcap">Glaciers</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_198'>198</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXVI. <span class="smcap">Evidences and Theories of an Ice Age</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_207'>207</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXVII. <span class="smcap">Glacial and Preglacial Lakes and Rivers</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_217'>217</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Some Effects of the Glacial Period</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_230'>230</SPAN></span><br/>
<br/>
XXIX. <span class="smcap">Drainage before the Ice Age</span>, <span class="tocnum"><SPAN href='#Page_239'>239</SPAN></span><br/></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
<p>Dear Reader: Please look through this "Introduction" before beginning
with the regular chapters. It is always well to know the object, aim,
and mode of treatment of a book before reading it, so as to be able to
look at it from the author's view-point.</p>
<p>First: A word about the title—"Nature's Miracles." Some may claim that
it is unscientific to speak of the operations of nature as "miracles."
But the point of the title lies in the paradox of finding so many
wonderful things—as wonderful as any miracle that was ever
recorded—subservient to the rule of law.</p>
<p>"But," you say, "a miracle does not come under any rule of law."</p>
<p>Ah! are you sure of that? It is true that we may not understand the law
that the so-called miracle comes under, but the Author of all natural
law does. We do not pretend to dispute but that the Power that made
nature's laws can change them if He sees fit; but we cannot believe that
He will ever see fit. It would destroy all order and harmony, all
advancement<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></SPAN></span> in science and knowledge of God's works, not to be able to
rely implicitly upon the laws of nature as consistent and continuous.</p>
<p>In putting out these little volumes, it is not to be understood that the
subjects treated will be more than touched upon, at the most salient
points. To do much more would require volumes of immense size, and life
would be too short for me to write or for you to read them.</p>
<p>Again: these volumes are "familiar talks." The Author wishes to sit down
with you—so to speak—and not hold you at arm's length.</p>
<p>It will be his aim to use the language of common life and to avoid all
technical names so far as possible, or, when they are necessary, to
explain their meaning. The object is to reach the thousands of readers
who have not and cannot have the advantages of a scientific education,
but who can by this means get at least a rudimentary idea of some of the
natural laws with which they are coming in contact every hour, and
through which the inner man has constant communication with the outer
world. It may be, too, that many young students will be helped by these
plain general views of topics which their text-books will give them in
detail.</p>
<p>A knowledge of the real things in the objective world about us and the
laws that govern them in their inter-relations is of practical<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii"></SPAN></span> value to
every man, whatever his calling may be. Not only will it be of value
practically, but it will also be a constant source of interest and
pleasure. Man is so constituted that he must have something to be
interested in, and if he has no resources within himself he looks
elsewhere, and often to his hurt, mentally, morally, or otherwise. If he
could have an interest awakened in him for the study and contemplation
of the natural world he would then have a book to read that is always
open, always fresh, always new. He is dealing with facts and not theory,
except as he uses theory for getting at facts.</p>
<p>A man who is all theory is like "a rudderless ship on a shoreless sea."
All he really knows is that he is afloat, and if he lands at all it is
likely to be in an insane asylum. The mind, in order to keep its
balance, must have the solid foundation of real things. Theories and
speculations may be indulged in with safety only so long as they are
based on facts that we can go back to at all times and know that we are
on solid ground.</p>
<p>It is the desire and aim of all good men to make their nation a truly
great people, with a civilization the highest possible. The character of
all kinds of growth is largely determined by the character of the
material upon which it feeds. The study of natural law can never be
harmful, but is always beneficial, for<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii"></SPAN></span> the student is then working in
harmony with law. It is the violation of law that makes all the trouble
in the world—whether physical, moral, or social. When we speak of
natural law we do not confine ourselves to what is commonly known as
chemistry and physics, and the laws that govern the material world, but
include as well the laws of our own being, as intellectual and spiritual
units. For all law, physical, intellectual, and spiritual, is in a sense
natural.</p>
<p>All departments of science are simply branches of one great science, and
all phases of human activity are touched by it. The preacher is a better
preacher, the doctor a better doctor, the lawyer a better lawyer, the
editor a better editor, the business man a better merchant, and the
mechanic a better workman, if they follow scientific methods. Indeed,
any man will be a better husband, father, and citizen, if he has some
trustworthy knowledge of the laws under which this great universe, down
to his own little part of it, lives, moves, and has its being.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>NATURE'S MIRACLES.</h2>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>EARTH.</h2>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />