The Young Scientist - A Story of Elementary Geology (1898) (Hardcover)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: formed. The name of this formation i s petrifi ed moss or travertin e. 'Tisa valuable building stone. The Colos- s e n m of Rome was built of travertine." " Is the Colosseum travertine the same as this?" asked Karl Busch. " It is harder, but was formed in the same way," answered Mr. Pebbleworth. " Weren't stalactites formed in caves similarly, by carbonate of lime being deposited from water? " asked Karl. " ires," answered Mr. Pebbleworth; " but water was also a destroyer of rocks. It first destroyed the rocks, and then built them up again. I see that your basket is pretty well filled with specimens, and I shall be glad to give you a little talk on Water, the Great Destroyer, if yon care to listen." Of course the boys were glad to listen, and Mr. Pebbleworth gave them a talk, my dear readers, that was so interesting that I must really put it into another chapter. CHAPTER II. WATER, THE GREAT DESTKOYER. Ik my early boyhood, I lived near the ocean. 1 was not a wild boy, but was always thoughtful and quiet. I loved to be alone. Much of my time was spent on the beach, watching the blue waves as they rolled along and broke against the rocks into foam. One day, a man with a hammer and basket came to where I sat, and began to talk about the waves. He told me that every wave in the ocean has a work to do; that the waves are constantly wearing away the rocks against which they break; and that the land once extended far out to where you now see nothing but the waters of the ocean. " Think of it, my boy," he said. " How many years it must have taken to wear away miles and miles of solid rock " He told me of a wave-worn arch of solid stone so large that ships could pass through it, off the coast at Cape Parry; of deep and spacious sea-caves that the waves had...