The conclusions to be reached from the facts here presented are, first, that while elevations and subsidences of the earth's crust are usually accomplished by slow degrees and through long periods of time, it is also true that very extensive changes are effected by internal forces of the earth in a very short period of time; and second, that there is reason for the belief that the seismic disturbances described in the Book of Mormon as taking place at the crucifixion of Messiah, effected very great changes in the physical character of the land occupied by the Nephites. If it should be contended that while the cases of earthquake disturbances cited in this chapter tell of widespread areas of country being suddenly and greatly effected, yet nowhere (except in the case of Atlantis) do those changes approach the magnitude of the physical changes called for in the views here set forth, the answer would be that nowhere else in the records kept by men is there an account of such terrible, such long-continued, and such widespread cataclysms in the earth as those described in the Book of Mormon. The terrible seismic disturbances which at the time of Messiah's crucifixion took place in the western hemisphere continued through three hours of time (instead of a few minutes, as in the case of some of the most noted earthquake instances cited above); and affected the western continents from end to end, and were followed by three days of total darkness. [31] And as the forces then operative surpass in their magnitude and time of continuance all other known instances of the kind, so too, may it be reasonably argued that the changes would be correspondingly greater than those effected by similar instances of less magnitude and continued through briefer periods of time. In concluding this chapter--even though I have not yet arrived at the argumentative stage of my treatise--I would suggest that the cases of seismic disturbances here cited are sufficient both in their character and extent to warrant belief in the possibility of the terrible catacylsms described in the Book of Mormon, and that they effected great physical changes in the continents of America. Footnotes