MR DENTON’S LECTURE.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2789, 2 March 1882, Page 2

MR DENTON’S LECTURE.

The Timaru public are not accustomed to scientific lectures, but the “first taste ”of science to which they were treated last night ought to give an impetus to enquiry and investigation Mr Denton has a patient, studious look, and is evidently both an authority and an enthusiast in bis pet science, geology. From the moment he opens his mouth until he abruptly and unexpectedly closes his discourse, he holds full possession of bis audience. His manner and style are somewhat weird, his language graphic, and wellchosen, his delivery good. A crowded audience gathered to bear him in the Oddfellows’ Hall last evening, and their perfect stillness, broken only by hearty applause at times, gave evidence of their full appreciation of his instructive and fascinating discourse. Beginning with a picturesque description of the surface of the earth and the various organisms upon it, the lecturer proceeded to show that the history of the planet is indeed written in the rocks. Briefly glancing at the practical value of geology, especially to the farmer in choosing land, he passed to the moral and religious value of the science and dwelt upon the elevation and purity of mind which are induced by a contemplation of the working of the stately forces of nature as revealed by geological research. He then passed to a consideration of the two forces by which the fabric has been reared, water and fire, giving a very clear and quite untechnical explanation of sedimentary deposition, and the disturbance of aqueous deposits by the fiercer and more capricious force, fire, resulting in the frequent displacement of strata. Fire rocks were then referred to, and Timaru was cited as one of the exceptional localities in which fire and water rocks respectively are found in juxta-position. Granite was shown to be the oldest of rocks, the very backbone of the world, the constituent of all the great ridges of mountain systems—being in many cases pushed up through the earths crust by the tremendous fiery force beneath. The existence of a fiery fluid in the interior of the earth was then demonstrated, by reference to the increasing heat experienced in descending shafts, to hot springs, &c. The difference between the equatorial and polar diameters of the earth, centrifugal force, and volcanic action were next touched upon—and the conclusion arrived at was that the earth is now undergoing a gradual process of cooling, this being evidenced by the fact that volcanic action is becoming rarer and feebler of late. The destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii by an eruption of Vesuvius was then described in thrilling style, Mr Denton’s mode of telling the story being highly dramatic. Earthquakes were then touched upon. The earth’s internal fire was described, and the volcanoes spoken of as so many chimneys of escape. The tracks of volcanic action were described. The metallic vapour rising from the fire presses against the crust, to get out, and traverses the space between its birthplace and the nearest volcano-chimney with incredible speed and destructive force, causing the earth in its track to tremble and quake. After sustaining the delighted attention of the audience for nearly an hour and a half, Mr Denton came to a sudden halt, and announced the end of bis first lecture. Immediately after, however, he spoke in deprecation of the unjust criticism to which he had been subjected, and placed it in the hands of his audience to say whether he had that night uttered a word that could offend anyone. His remarks were greeted with continued applause. For our own part, we were hardly prepared for such a discourse as this. We had been led to expect a mixture of slang and science, humor and infidelity, instead of which, welislened to a most masterly, yet simple, lecture, sparkling occasionally with humor the most innocent. Before closing, Mr Denton exhibited a series of photographic views, by the aid of the oxy-hydrogen lamp, and the universally expressed opinion was that to see these alone was worth the money. A more beautiful series we never saw. They comprised, infer alia, views of Colorado, of the beautiful Yosemite Valley in California, Giant’s Causeway, Fingall’s Cave, geysers, Naples, and a suite of views of Pompeii, including houses, theatres, plaster casts of figures, lamps, &c.. followed by two or three exquisite views of the moon, one of which Mr Denton believes to be the best photograph of the moon that has yet been taken. With these the lecturer concluded, promising to take up the history of the earth this evening where he then left off. We counsel every man and woman and every child not actually in arms to go and hear Mr Denton. He is clever, entertaining, and thoroughly well np in his subject, and his calm earnestness and wealth of descriptive, illustrative, and humorous power lends new charms to the grand subject of geology. If ever the want of a good public hall was felt In Timaru it was felt last night in the Barnard street hall.