Water is
composed of eight parts of oxygen and one part of hydrogen. "The
intensest heat by far ever yet produced by the blow-pipe is by the
combustion of these two gases." And Dr. Robert Hare, of Philadelphia,
found that the combination which produced the intensest heat was that
in which the two gases were in the _precise proportions found in
water_.[2]
We may suppose that this vast heat, whether it came from the comet,
or the increased action of the sun, preceded the fall of the _d?bris_
of the comet by a few minutes or a few hours. We have seen the
surface-rocks
[1. "Science and Genesis," p. 125.
2. Ibid., p. 127.]
{p. 103}
described as lustrous. The heat may not have been great enough to
melt them--it may merely have softened them; but when the mixture of
clay, gravel, striated rocks, and earth-sweepings fell and rested on
them, they were at once hardened and almost baked; and thus we can
account for the fact that the "till," which lies next to the rocks,
is so hard and tough, compared with the rest of the Drift, that it is
impossible to blast it, and exceedingly difficult even to pick it to
pieces; it is more feared by workmen and contractors than any of the
true rocks.
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