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James Dwight Dana

James Dwight Dana Biography

Geologist

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“In using the present in order to reveal the past, we assume that the forces in the world are essentially the same through all time; for these forces are based on the very nature of matter, and could not have changed. The ocean has always had its waves, and those waves have always acted in the same manner. Running water on the land has ever had the same power of wear and transportation and mathematical value to its force. The laws of chemistry, heat, electricity, and mechanics have been the same through time. The plan of living structures has been fundamentally one, for the whole series belongs to one system, as much almost as the parts of an animal to the one body; and the relations of life to light and heat, and to the atmosphere, have ever been the same as now.”

ScienceNatureChemistryGeologyNatural ForcesUniformitarianism
Book:Manual Of Geology
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“Are coral reefs growing from the depths of the oceans? ... [The] reply is a simple negative; and a single fact establishes its truth. The reef-forming coral zoophytes, as has been shown, cannot grow at greater depths than 100 or 120 feet; and therefore in seas deeper than this, the formation or growth of reefs over the bottom is impossible.”

Has BeensFactsGrowsGrowthSimpleGreaterGrowingImpossibleSeaFeetOceanNegativeDepthBottomDeeperFormationReefsCoral Reefs
Author:James Dwight Dana
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“Geology is rapidly taking its place as an introduction to the higher history of man. If the author has sought to exalt a favorite science, it has been with the desire that man-in whom geological history had its consummation, the prophecies of the successive ages their fulfilment-might better comprehend his own nobility and the true purpose of his existence.”

IfsMenHas BeensMightAgeScienceDesirePurposeExistenceHistoryHigherProphecyNobilityIntroductionGeologyFulfilmentTrue Purpose
Book:Manual of Geology: Treating of the Principles of the Science, with Special Reference to American Geological History, for the Use of Colleges, Academies, and Schools of Science
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“There can be no real conflict between the two Books of the Great Author. Both are revelations made by Him to man,-the earlier telling of God-made harmonies coming up from the deep past, and rising to their height when man appeared, the later teaching man's relations to his Maker, and speaking of loftier harmonies in the eternal future.”

MenMadeTwoBookRealPastScienceTeachingFutureConflictEternalRelationHarmonyHeightRisingRevelationsMakersGreat Author
Book:Manual of Geology: Treating of the Principles of the Science with Special Reference to American Geological History
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“For nine miles along a submerged ridge, the corals rise in lumpy hillocks that spread out 100 yards or more, resembling heaped scoops of rainbow sherbet and Neapolitan ice cream. The mounds, some 100 feet tall, sprout delicate treelike gorgonians that sift currents for a plankton meal. Fish, worms and other creatures dart or crawl in every crevice. This description could apply to thousands of coral reefs in shallow, sun-streaked tropical waters from Australia to the Bahamas. But this is the Sula Ridge, 1,000 feet down in frigid darkness on the continental shelf 100 miles off Norway's coast.”

WaterNatureDarknessSunFeetCreaturesFishesCurrentsSpreadMilesNineIceMealsDescriptionAustraliaTallDelicateRainbowCreamYardsShallowShelvesCoastWormsIce CreamTropicalSproutsReefsNorwayRidgesSubmergedContinentalFrigidCreviceBahamasCoral ReefsPlanktonSherbet
Author:James Dwight Dana
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“Most agreeable are the memories of events and labours, connected with the cruise:- of companions in travel, ... of coral islands with their groves, and beautiful life, above and below the waters, ... of lofty precipices, richly draped, even the sternest fronts made to smile and be glad, as delights the gay tropics, and alive with waterfalls, gliding, leaping, or plunging, on their way down from the giddy heights, and, as they go, playing out and in amid the foliage...”

WayMadeBeautifulWaterNatureMemoriesAliveFrontsEventsGayDelightConnectedGladHeightIslandsLabourCompanionLoftyBeautiful LifeCruiseWaterfallsPrecipiceGroveGiddyFoliageTropicsGlidingAbove And Below
Author:James Dwight Dana
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