{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_72100/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_72100","id":"gutenberg_72100","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72100","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Science - Earth/Agricultural/Farming","Geology"],"text":"[Illustration:\n\n BASALTIC COLUMNS AT REGIA, IN MEXICO\n]\n\n\n\n\n GEOLOGICAL FACTS;\n OR,\n THE CRUST OF THE EARTH,\n WHAT IT IS,\n AND WHAT ARE ITS USES.\n\n\n BY\n\n THE REV. W. G. BARRETT,\n\n ROYSTON.\n\n \u201cThere is in this universe a stair,\n or manifest scale of creatures,\n rising not disorderly nor in\n confusion, but with a comely method\n and proportion.\u201d\u2014SIR THOMAS BROWNE,\n _Religio Medici_, 1642.\n\n LONDON:\n ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE, & CO.\n 25, PATERNOSTER ROW.\n 1855.\n\n\n\n\n LONDON:\n R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE.\n\n\nLast written, and generally last read, a Preface has nevertheless become\nso integral a part of every book, that I may presume, I trust, upon the\nattention of my readers while I ask them to indulge me with a little\nprefatory egotism.\n\nThis book of mine goes forth into the world with many misgivings on the\npart of its author. How he came to write it was thus-wise. He was\nsettled in a quiet country town in Cambridgeshire, Royston to wit, as a\nDissenting Minister; around him he found a number of young persons, who\ndid not believe they had \u201cfinished their education\u201d because they had\nleft school, and who were anxious to avoid the usual littleness and\nsmall talk of such towns, by earnest attention to actual study. And so\nit came to pass that a Geological class was formed, which, meeting every\nweek, afforded real stimulus for private work, and led to the\nconsultation of the best standard works, happily available through the\nwell-conditioned library of the town.\n\nThe result of those classes is this little book. What is written here\nwas mostly, if not all, said there; and, urged to publish, the author\nfeels a pleasure in dedicating this book to the class, composed almost\nentirely of young ladies, who found in these studies one of their chief\ndelights, and whose private collections have been greatly assisted by\nthe hints thus obtained.\n\nI do not pretend to _teach the Science of Geology_; I aspire simply to\ngive a taste for this noble and elevating physical study; and, imperfect\nas this little manual, written in the few hours of capricious leisure\nsnatched from an incessant strain of engagements, must be, I shall only\nbe too happy, if one and another lay aside _my_ book, and go up higher\nto Lyell, Sedgwick, Buckland, Murchison, Ansted, Miller, and others.\n\nPossibly my stand-point as a minister of religion may have given\nunconsciously a too theological tone to some of the chapters, especially\nthe last; if such is the case, I beg leave to apologise for such an\nerror by the candid statement, that I have come into contact frequently\nwith minds who have not hesitated to express the doubts I have\nendeavoured to resolve.\n\nI am quite sure that if we, whose calling is with the greatest and the\ndeepest truths that can touch the heart of the real world in which we\nlive and move and have our being, encourage those whom we meet in the\nfree intercourse of social life, to express their doubts, however\npainful the form of that expression may sometimes be, we shall be far\nbetter prepared to meet the wants of our age than if we shut ourselves\nup in our studies, and exclude ourselves by conventional devices from\nGod\u2019s great world of thought and action that is vibrating so palpably\naround us, many of whose most painful throbs are occasioned by a\nsupposed contradiction between Science and Scripture.\n\nAt the feet of the Master I desire to serve, I lay this little book,\nbeseeching Him to regard it as a labour of love, and to use it as an aid\nto the faith of others in the inspired books of Nature and of\nRevelation.\n\nRemoved from the happy town where this book was written, it only remains\nto add, that for many of the fossils figured in the following pages I am\nindebted to the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Meeke, at that time the\nUnitarian Minister of Royston, whose cabinet was always open to my use,\nand whose courtesy and catholic kindness I thus desire to record; while\nto Miss Butler, one of my Geological class, I am indebted for all the\ndrawings and devices which will doubtless make this book more attractive\nthan it could otherwise have been.\n\nIn the words of Archdeacon Hare, I close this brief prelection: \u201cSo\nimperfectly do we yet understand the redemption wrought for us by\nChrist; and so obstinate are we in separating what God has united, as\nthough it were impossible for the Tree of Knowledge to stand beside the\nTree of Life. Yet in the redeemed world they do stand side by side, and\ntheir arms intermingle and intertwine, so that no one can walk under the\nshade of the one, but he will also be under the shade of the other.\u201d\n\n W. G. B.\n\n MANCHESTER,\n _July, 1855_.\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n PAGE\n INTRODUCTORY 1\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n PRELIMINARIES 15\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n THE ANCIENT EPOCH 33\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n THE PAL\u00c6OZOIC PERIOD 50\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n THE OLD RED SANDSTONE 67\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 83\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n SECONDARY FORMATIONS. 1. _The New Red Sandstone_ 106\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n SECONDARY ROCKS. 2. _The Oolitic System_ 123\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n SECONDARY ROCKS. 3. _The Oolite proper_ 145\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n SECONDARY ROCKS. 4. _The Wealden_ 175\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n SECONDARY ROCKS. 5. _The Chalk. The Cretaceous System_ 198\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n THE TERTIARY SYSTEM 224\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n SCRIPTURE AND GEOLOGY; OR, APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS RECONCILED 255\n\n\n\n\n LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n BY S. & G. NICHOLLS.\n\n PAGE\n BASALTIC COLUMNS, REGIA, MEXICO _Frontispiece._\n SECTION OF THE EARTH\u2019S CRUST 16\n DITTO 21\n LONDON BASIN 25\n SECTION OF DITTO 25\n ARTESIAN WELL 27\n MINING DISTRICT 41\n SECTION OF A MINE 43\n TRILOBITE 56\n DITTO 57\n EYES OF DITTO 58\n CRYSTALLIZATION ON CORNISH SLATE 60\n BELLEROPHON 61\n SILURIAN REMAINS 61\n DITTO 62\n CORALLINE 62\n LAND\u2019S END 66\n FISH SCALES 74\n FISH TAILS 75\n CEPHALASPIS 76\n COCCOSTEUS 77\n PTERICHTHYS 78\n OSTEOLEPIS 79\n EXTINCT AND EXISTING FERNS 87\n FLORA OF THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 95\n ASTEROPHYLLITE AND SPHENOPTERIS 97\n PECOPTERIS, ODONTOPTERIS, AND NEUROPTERIS 98\n CALAMITES 100\n STIGMARIA FICOIDES 101\n MINER AT WORK, AND LAMP 105\n CASTS OF RAIN DROPS 111\n FOOTPRINTS OF BIRD 113\n DITTO 114\n FOOTPRINTS OF LABYRINTHODON 116\n AMMONITES 130\n DITTO AND NAUTILUS 131\n DITTO 132\n ICHTHYOSAURUS 137\n PLESIOSAURUS 140\n DIRT-BED, PORTLAND 150\n OOLITE CORAL 151\n DITTO 152\n PEAR ENCRINITES 164\n DITTO 165\n DITTO, WITH CORAL 166\n AMMONITES JASON 166\n OOLITE SHELLS 169\n DISCOVERING THE PTERODACTYLE 170\n THE PHILOSOPHER AND DITTO 171\n PTERODACTYLE SKELETON 173\n DITTO, RESTORED 174\n FAUNA OF THE OOLITIC PERIOD 195\n ROYSTON HEATH 206\n FOSSIL TEETH (GREENSAND) 209\n FOSSILS FROM THE GAULT (FOLKSTONE) 210\n DITTO 211\n FOSSILS FROM THE CHALK 212\n FOSSIL FISH 214\n DITTO 215\n WALTONIAN AND MANTELLIAN FISHERMEN 223\n FOSSILS FROM THE LONDON CLAY 238\n WOOD PERFORATED BY THE TEREDINA 241\n SEPTARIA 242\n FOSSILS FROM RED CRAG 245\n MEGATHERIUM 248\n MASTODON 250\n FOSSIL MAN 251\n CLIFF, GUADALOUPE 252\n THE GEOLOGIST\u2019S DREAM 254\n THE RECONCILIATION 288\n\n\n\n\n GEOLOGY.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n INTRODUCTORY.\n\n \u201cIn the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.\u201d\n MOSES.\n\n\nGeology is the history of the _crust_ of this planet. This history we\ncompile, not from old records or moth-eaten state papers, not from\nantiquarian research or the study of ancient coins, but from actual and\npainstaking examination of the materials composing this crust. How\nsuitable is this word _crust_, will be seen at once, when it is\nconsidered that its thickness in all probability does not exceed eighty\nmiles, a mere fraction of the distance to the earth\u2019s centre. Of this\neighty miles we know pretty accurately the character and arrangement of\nsome seven or eight miles; not that we have ever penetrated so far\nbeneath the surface in a straight line, the deepest mines not exceeding\n1800 or 1900 feet; but, by putting together the thicknesses of the\nvarious strata, with which we are well acquainted, we reach this\nconclusion without much hesitation. Professor Whewell has well observed,\nthat \u201can earth greater or smaller, denser or rarer, than the one on\nwhich we live, would require a change in the structure and strength of\nall the little flowers that hang their heads under our hedges. There is\nsomething curious in thus considering the whole mass from pole to pole\nand from circumference to centre, as employed in keeping a snowdrop in\nthe position most suited to its vegetable health.\u201d[1] When we come to\nexamine this crust, several appearances of a striking character reward\nour toil. At first, and before we proceed in our investigations more\nminutely, we find that there are only two varieties of rocks in all the\nvast arrangements spread out before us. Some rocks we find to be\nunstratified, and others we find to be stratified: from the absence of\nall fossils in the former of these, and from their crystalline\ncharacter, we conclude that these were formed by the action of _fire_,\nand therefore we call them _Igneous_ or _Plutonic_ rocks. From the\nsedimentary character and from the numerous fossils of the stratified\nrocks, we conclude these to have been formed by the action of _water_,\nand we therefore call these _Aqueous_ or _Neptunian_ rocks. Following\nout these investigations, we meet with other facts equally interesting:\nwe find that the Plutonic or unstratified rocks lie generally at the\nbase of all the others, and that where they come up to the surface and\ncrop out from other rocks, or rise in towering mountain heights above\nthem, this has been the result of igneous action from beneath, and that\nthis elevation has disturbed the surrounding strata from the horizontal\nposition in which we imagine them to have been first arranged. The\nextent of the Plutonic rocks is immense; in _Europe_, the Scandinavian\nmountains, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Carpathians; in _Asia_, the\nHimalayan, the Caucasian, and the Altai mountains; in _Africa_, the\nAtlas mountains and the Cape of Good Hope; in _America_, nearly the\nwhole of the two continents, and in _Australia_, its southern part;\u2014all\nthese wide regions of the globe are composed of those igneous or\nPlutonic rocks to which we give the names of granite, basalt, porphyry,\ntrap, &c. &c. Finding the surrounding strata disturbed by depression, or\nupheaval in consequence of the giant claims of these older rocks that\nappear to have risen out of the centre of the earth in a red-hot or\nsemifluid condition, and then suddenly to have cooled down, we begin to\nexamine this upper and sedimentary strata, and here the most delightful\nand romantic results are obtained. We find no two courses or formations\nin these sedimentary rocks alike. Rising up from the granite, we meet in\nthe clay strata corals and trilobites, the first fossil forms of ancient\nlife with which we are acquainted: we rise higher still, for our\nimaginary start is from the bottom of the earth\u2019s crust, and we meet in\nother rocks fossil fishes of an extraordinary shape, and once,\ndoubtless, possessed of extraordinary functions; higher yet, and\ntouching the coal measures, we come to vast forests of palms and ferns,\nthat by chemical changes and mechanical pressure have been converted\ninto our mineral coal, the vast fields of which constitute the real\ndiamond mines of Great Britain; higher yet, exploring the Lias and\nOolitic groups, the huge remains of ancient saurians (animals of the\nlizard species) fill us with awe and wonder, and make us rejoice that\nthey had no successors in the next strata; higher yet, and we reach the\nlast period of the earth\u2019s history, previous to the introduction of man,\nand enormous \u201cfour-footed beasts,\u201d the mastodon, the megatherium and\nothers, astonish us by their gigantic proportions, and evidently\nherbivorous habits; and last of all we rise to the surface and breathe\nfreely in company with our fellow man, made in the image of God, to\ninhabit this world as his palace, and to interpret its mysteries as its\npriest.\n\nWe may probably put these general results into a more popular form,\u2014for\nwe reserve the details to a seriatim examination of each formation,\u2014by\nthe following quotation from a modern and extensively useful writer: \u201cWe\ndistinguish four ages of nature, corresponding to the great geological\ndivisions, namely\u2014\n\n\u201c1. The _primary_ or _pal\u00e6ozoic_[2] age, comprising the Lower Silurian,\nthe Upper Silurian, and the Devonian. During this age there were no\nair-breathing animals. The fishes were the masters of creation. We may\ntherefore call it the _Reign of Fishes_.\n\n\u201c2. The _secondary_ age, comprising the carboniferous formation, the\ntrias, the oolitic, and the cretaceous formations. This is the epoch in\nwhich air-breathing animals first appear. The reptiles predominate over\nthe other classes, and we may therefore call it the _Reign of Reptiles_.\n\n\u201c3. The _tertiary_ age, comprising the tertiary formations. During this\nage, terrestrial mammals of great size abound. This is the _Reign of\nMammals_.\n\n\u201c4. The _modern_ age, characterized by the appearance of the most\nperfect of created beings. This is the _Reign of Man_.\u201d[3]\n\nFrom this brief but necessary outline of \u201cthe treasures of the deep\u201d\nwhich lie before us we may proceed to make a few preliminary remarks on\nthe moral and theological aspects of this science. Many persons have\nsupposed that the statements of Scripture and the alleged facts of\nGeology are at variance, and, forgetful that some of the devoutest minds\nof this and other countries have been equal believers in both, have too\nsummarily dismissed geology from their notice as a study likely to lead\nto infidelity. To such we would briefly remark, that it is utterly\nimpossible there can be any contradiction between the written volume of\nInspiration and the outspread volume of Creation. Both are books written\nby the same hand, both are works proceeding from the same ever blessed\nand beneficent Creator. We believe in the plenary inspiration of the\nBible, and we believe equally in the plenary inspiration of Nature; both\nare full of God, for in them both He is all and in all; and he who is\nthe deepest and the most reverent student of both will not be long\nbefore he comes to the conclusion that not only is there no disharmony,\nno discrepancy and no contradiction between them, but that they are both\nharmonious utterances of the one infinite and ever blessed God.\n\n \u201cIn reason\u2019s ear they _both_ rejoice,\n And utter forth a glorious voice;\n For ever singing as they shine,\n \u2018The hand that made us is divine.\u2019\u201d\n\nLet us remember that Geology has nothing to do with the history of man,\nnor with God\u2019s government of man; to the Bible, and only there, do we go\nfor information on these points. Geology gives us the history and the\nsuccession of _the things and beings_ that were created and made, we\nbelieve, incalculable ages before man was placed on the face of the\nearth. Possibly at times some new discovery in geology may appear to\ncontradict our long received interpretations of isolated passages in\nScripture, in which case the modesty of science compels us to reexamine\nour data, while our reverence for the word of God teaches us to revise\nour interpretations. As Dr. Chalmers once remarked, \u201c_the writings of\nMoses do not fix the antiquity of the globe; if they fix anything at\nall, it is only the antiquity of the species_.\u201d We believe that the same\nGod who, in anticipation of the spiritual wants of the human race,\ngraciously promised from the beginning of man\u2019s transgression, that \u201cthe\nseed of the woman should bruise the serpent\u2019s head,\u201d laid up for him \u201cin\nthe bowels of the earth those vast stores of granite, marble, coal,\nsalt, and the various metals, the products of its several revolutions;\nand thus was an inexhaustible provision made for his necessities, and\nfor the developments of his genius, ages in anticipation of his\nappearance.\u201d[4]\n\nTruth is, and always must be, coincident. There can be no real\ncontradiction between the truth of Scripture and the truth of Science.\nWhatever is true in one department of God\u2019s agency, must be true when\ncompared with his works in any other department. As an illustration we\nmay notice one particular in which Geology and Scripture move towards\nthe same point in proving the recent introduction of man. We take up a\nchart of the earth\u2019s crust, and examine it so far as that crust is open\nto our investigation: eight miles depth or height we know pretty\naccurately, and in all these accumulations we find one concurrent\ntestimony. If we take the Azoic period of the earth\u2019s crust, and search\nthrough the granitic rocks of Scotland, Wales, or Cornwall; or if we\npass on to the Pal\u00e6ozoic period, and examine the Old Red Sandstone, the\nCarboniferous system, or other formations; or, extending our researches,\ninvestigate the secondary formations, the Lias, the Oolite, and the\nChalk, and so on until we arrive at the Tertiary period of the earth\u2019s\nhistory; _all the testimony is one_; there is no contradiction; there\nare no fossil boats or sofas; no fossil beds or books; no fossil boys\nand girls; no fossil knives and forks; so far as the teachings of\nGeology go throughout all these vast periods it says, \u201cthere was not a\nman to till the earth;\u201d they declare that man is not so old as the\nearth, and that all its fossil remains are pre-Adamite.\n\nNow why should this truth be supposed to lie against the teaching of\nScripture? The object of Moses in the first chapter of Genesis, is to\nteach us that all existing matter owes its origin to the God of the\nBible, and not to any of the idols of the heathen. \u201cIn the beginning,\u201d\nsays that oldest historical record with which we are acquainted, \u201cGod\ncreated the heaven and the earth;\u201d that is, we apprehend, at some period\nof the earth\u2019s history, in all probability an undefined and incalculable\ndistance from the present time, God created all matter out of nothing,\nthe universe, these heavens and this earth, began to be at the word of\nGod.\n\n\u201c_But afterwards_,\u201d says Dr. Pye Smith, in his translation of these\nwords, \u201cthe earth was without form and void;\u201d undergoing, we believe,\nthose vast geological changes, those deposits of metal, and those slow\naccumulations of mineral wealth, by which it was fitted to become the\ntemple, the palace, the workshop, and the home of man. \u201cThe first\nsentence in Genesis is a simple, independent, all-comprehending axiom to\nthis effect, that matter elementary or combined, aggregated only or\norganised, and dependent, sentient, and intellectual beings, have not\nexisted from eternity either in self-continuity or succession; but had a\nbeginning; that their beginning took place by the all-powerful will of\none Being, the Self-existent, Independent and Infinite in all\nperfection; and that the date of that beginning is not made known.\u201d[5]\n\nDr. Redford says, \u201cWe ought to understand Moses as saying, that\nindefinitely far back and concealed from us in the mystery of eternal\nages prior to the first moment of mundane time, God created the heavens\nand the earth;\u201d and Dr. Harris in the same strain writes thus, \u201cThe\nfirst verse in Genesis was designed by the Divine Spirit to announce the\nabsolute origination of the material universe by the Almighty Creator;\nand it is so understood in the other parts of holy writ; passing by an\nindefinite interval, the second verse describes the state of our planet\nimmediately prior to the Adamic creation, and the third verse begins the\naccount of the six days\u2019 work.\u201d\n\nOn this subject we will quote but one brief sentence more\u2014and we have\npreferred using these quotations to stating the question in our words,\nthoroughly accordant as they would have been. In Dr. Hitchcock\u2019s\nvaluable work, entitled \u201cThe Religion of Geology,\u201d he says, \u201cThe time is\nnot far distant when the high antiquity of the globe will be regarded as\nno more opposed to the Bible than the earth\u2019s revolution round the sun\nand on its axis. Soon shall the horizon where Geology and Revelation\nmeet be cleared of every cloud, and present only an unbroken and\nmagnificent circle of truth.\u201d\n\nLet these thoughts be borne in mind while we pursue our examination of\nthe solid crust of this globe. We do _not_\n\n \u201cdrill and bore\n The solid earth, and from its strata thence\n Extract a register, by which we learn\n That He who made it and revealed its date\n To Moses was mistaken in its age.\u201d\n\nNowhere do we find the age of the globe revealed either to Moses or any\nother inspired writer; we believe that as science has nothing to fear\nfrom the Bible, so the Bible has nothing to fear from the widest\nintellectual range of study. We ponder in devout amazement over these\nunwritten records of the earth\u2019s bygone history: we find \u2018sermons in\nstones\u2019 as we light on some delicate fern, or elegant vertebrate animal,\npreserved in the deposits of past ages, and the hieroglyphics of nature\nand the distincter utterances of the Bible prompt the same\nexclamation,\u2014\u201cHow marvellous are thy works, O God, in wisdom hast thou\nmade them all!\u201d \u201cWaste, and disorder, and confusion we nowhere find in\nour study of the crust of the earth; instead of this we find endless\nexamples of economy, order, and design; and the result of all our\nresearches carried back through the unwritten records of past time, has\nbeen to fix more steadily our assurance of the existence of one Supreme\nCreator of all things; to exalt more highly our conviction of the\nimmensity of His perfections, of His might and majesty, His wisdom and\nHis goodness, and all-sustaining providence; and to penetrate our\nunderstandings with a profound and sensible perception of the high\nveneration man\u2019s intellect owes to God. The earth from her deep\nfoundations unites with the celestial orbs that roll through boundless\nspace, to declare the glory and show forth the praise of their common\nAuthor and Preserver; and the voice of natural religion accords\nharmoniously with the testimonies of revelation, in ascribing the origin\nof the universe to the will of one Eternal and Dominant Intelligence,\nthe Almighty Lord and supreme First Cause of all things that subsist;\nthe same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; before the mountains were\nbrought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, God from\neverlasting and world without end.\u201d\u2014_Buckland\u2019s Bridgewater Treatise._\n\n \u201cCome, frankly read the rocks, and see\n In them the Earth\u2019s biography;\n Let mountain piled on mountain tell\n Its antique age; and every shell\n In fossil form its tale unfold,\n Of life\u2019s bright day through time untold;\n And gathering use from great and small,\n See good in each, but God in all.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n PRELIMINARIES.\n\n \u201cOf old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth.\u201d\n DAVID.\n\n\nAs yet we have only been _talking_ about the crust of the earth; we\nshall now return and enter upon its actual examination. It will not be\nnecessary for us personally to descend into the abysmous caverns that\nlie beneath our feet, nor, with hammer in hand, to go forth and explore\nthe district of country in which we may happen to dwell: we may do all\nthis by and by, when we know both _how_ and _what_ to observe.\nMeanwhile, with such teachers as Buckland, Sedgwick, Murchison, Pye\nSmith, Hugh Miller, De la Beche, Lyell, Owen and others, we may for some\nwhile to come be only tarry-at-home travellers; for in a true sense, in\nthis department of knowledge, \u201cother men have laboured, and we enter\ninto their labours.\u201d Let us now look at the crust of the earth, as it\nmay be represented in two imaginary sections. Suppose we could make a\nvertical section of the earth\u2019s crust, and cut straight down some eighty\nmiles till we reached the central mass of incandescence that we believe\nlies beneath this crust, or Erdrinde (_earth-rind_), as the Germans call\nit, and then bring out this section to daylight, it would present\nsomething very much like the following appearance.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n DIAGRAM I.\n]\n\nHere the granite A will be observed forming the supposed boundary\nbetween the superlying strata and the fire B below to which we have just\nreferred, and thus will be seen the origin of all plutonic rocks. Here\ntoo will be seen how the granite is not confined to the lower levels,\nbut rises, as mentioned in the first chapter, far above all the other\nstrata, and forms some of the highest peaks on the face of the globe.[6]\nHere, too, will be seen how the granite is frequently traversed by veins\nof trap-dykes, those black-looking branches, which rise often above the\nwhole mass of metamorphic and stratified rocks, often occasioning great\ndifficulties in mining operations. Here, too, the student will see how,\nsupposing the theory of a central globe of heat to be founded in fact,\nthe volcanoes that are now active, C, form, as the volcanoes that are\nextinct, D, once did, the safety valves of this mighty mass of\nincandescence, B; and in the same way may be seen how certain strata may\nbe above the granite, or above any other formation, though they do not\noverlie them, and how the lowest strata, being formed first, is said to\nbe older than any superlying strata, notwithstanding any accidental\narrangement produced by upheaval or depression. For, in \u201cconsequence of\nthe great commotions which the crust of the globe has undergone, many\npoints of its surface have been elevated to great heights in the form of\nmountains; and hence it is that fossils are sometimes found at the\nsummit of the highest mountains, though the rocks containing them were\noriginally formed at the bottom of the sea. But, even when folded or\npartly broken, their relative age may still be determined by an\nexamination of the ends of their upturned strata, where they appear or\ncrop out in succession, at the surface or on the slopes of\nmountains.\u201d[7]\n\nBut to make this view of the subject clearer, let us imagine that some\nTitanic power was granted us to push down these towering masses of\ngranite to their original situation, below the metamorphic and\nstratified rocks, by which means we should at the same time restore\nthese curved and broken strata to their originally horizontal position;\nand let us suppose that we were now again to descend to the foundations\nof the earth for the purpose of making another vertical section; then\nthe crust of the earth would present to us an arrangement something like\nthe leaves of a book, or the coats of an onion, arranged in successive\nand uninterrupted layers, or in concentric and unbroken circles. Such a\ndiagram must of course be imaginary, and unless it is taken into\nconnexion with the previous remarks, it is more likely to bewilder than\nto assist the beginner. Let it again be urged upon the reader, that such\na chart as we are about to lay before him is only intended to give him\nan idea of the succession of these formations and systems, and that the\ndetails found in it are anticipatory of many future references to it on\nthe student\u2019s part. Let it not be supposed that this is a mere barren\nresearch into dry facts that have no connexion with our truest welfare;\nfor if, as Lord Bacon somewhere finely observes, all study is to be\nvalued \u201cnot so mush as an exercise of the intellect, but as a true\ndiscipline of humanity,\u201d then what study is calculated to be more useful\nthan Geology, in enlarging and purifying the powers of the mind, by\nteaching us how harmonious, and orderly, and economic are the works of\nGod; in removing all narrow notions of the extent and age of this solid\nglobe, which from the beginning had its origin in the almighty will of\nGod; in checking the presumptuous or the chilling inferences of a\nsceptical philosophy, by everywhere pointing out the design, skill, and\nadaptations of an ever-present and most beneficent Creator; and in\nchastening those overweening ideas of ourselves which both ignorance and\nknowledge may create and foster, by saying to us, in the language of God\nhimself, as we stand amazed in the presence of huge pre-Adamite vestiges\nof creation, \u201cWhere wast thou,\u201d vain man, \u201cwhen I laid the foundations\nof the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding.\u201d (Job xxxviii. 4.)\n\n \u201cAmong these rocks and stones, methinks I see\n More than the heedless impress that belongs\n To lonely nature\u2019s _casual_ work; they bear\n A semblance strange to Power intelligent,\n And of Design not wholly worn away.\n And I own\n Some shadowy intimations haunt me here,\n That in these shows a chronicle survives\n Of purposes akin to those of man,\n Measuring through all degrees, until the scale\n Of time and conscious nature disappear,\n Lost in unsearchable eternity.\u201d\u2014WORDSWORTH.\n\nWe will now proceed to the diagram to which we have made allusion, and\nwhich represents an ideal section of the earth\u2019s crust as the various\nformations are there found arranged. (Diagram II.)\n\n[Illustration:\n\n DIAGRAM II.\n]\n\nHere, in the words of another writer, we would add for the reader\u2019s\nguidance, that \u201cthe unstratified or igneous rocks occur in no regular\nsuccession, but appear amidst the stratified without order or\narrangement; heaving them out of their original horizontal positions,\nbreaking up through them in volcanic masses, and sometimes overrunning\nthem after the manner of liquid lava. From these circumstances they are,\nin general, better known by their mineral composition than by their\norder of occurrence. Still it may be convenient to divide them into\nthree great classes; _granite_, _trappean_, and _volcanic_\u2014_granite_\nbeing the basis of all known rocks, and occurring along with the primary\nand transition strata; the _trappean_, of a darker and less crystalline\nstructure than the granite, and occurring along with the secondary and\ntertiary rocks; and the _volcanic_, still less crystalline and compact,\nand of comparatively recent origin, or still in process of formation.\u201d\nThis the student will observe by another reference to the previous\ndiagram; but, in looking at the one now before him, we must also add for\nhis further guidance,\u2014for we are presuming that we address those who\nneed initiation into the rudiments of this science, and the circumstance\nthat we never met with a preliminary treatise that quite satisfied us,\nor helped such intelligent youth as were prying into the apparently\ncabalistic mysteries of the earth\u2019s structural divisions, is one strong\ninducement to the present undertaking;\u2014we must add, that \u201cit must not be\nsupposed, however, that all the stratified rocks always occur in any one\nportion of the earth\u2019s crust in full and complete succession as\nrepresented\u201d in Diagram II. \u201cAll that is meant is, that such would be\ntheir order if every group and formation were present. But whatever\nnumber of groups may be present, they never happen out of their regular\norder of succession; that is, clay-slate never occurs above coal, nor\ncoal above chalk. Thus in London, tertiary strata occupy the surface; in\nDurham, magnesian limestone; in Fife, the coal measures; and in\nPerthshire, the old red sandstone and clay-slate; so that it would be\nfruitless to dig for chalk in Durham, for magnesian limestone in Fife,\nor for coal in Perthshire. It would not be absurd, however, to dig for\ncoal in Durham, because that mineral underlies the magnesian limestone;\nor for old red sandstone in Fife, because that formation might be\nnaturally expected to occur under the coal strata of that country, in\nthe regular order of succession.\u201d[8]\n\nStill, after reading all this, we can easily imagine, not so much an air\nof incredulity taking possession of the countenance of our courteous\nreader as a feeling somewhat like this, with which we have often come\ninto contact in those geological classes of young persons which it has\nbeen our pleasure to conduct: \u201cWell, all that\u2019s very plain in the book;\nI see granite lies at the bottom, and pushes itself up to the top very\noften; and I see in the diagrams that coal and chalk are not found in\nthe same place, and that different localities have their different\nformations, and the various formations have their different fossils, but\nI confess that I cannot realize it. I know the earth is round like an\norange, a little flattened at the poles\u2014what is called an oblate\nspheroid; but all this surpasses my power of comprehension; can\u2019t you\nmake it plainer?\u201d Well, let us try; on page 27 is a diagram,\nrepresenting no ideal, but an actual boring into the earth. London is\nsituated on the tertiary formation, in what is called geologically the\nbasin of the London clay, that is almost on the very top of the crust,\nor external covering that lies on the vast mass of molten and other\nmatter beneath. Here is first a drawing and then a section that may\nrepresent this basin:\u2014\n\n[Illustration:\n\n DIAGRAM III.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n DIAGRAM IV.\n]\n\nThe water which falls on the chalk hills flows into them, or into the\nporous beds adjoining, and would rise upwards to its level but for the\nsuperincumbent pressure of the bed of clay above it, _cccc_. Under these\ncircumstances, in order to procure water, Artesian[9] wells are sunk\nthrough the bed of clay, perhaps also through the chalk, but at any rate\ntill the depressed stratum of chalk is reached; and this gives exit to\nthe subterranean water, which at once rises through the iron tubes\ninserted in the boring to the surface. By these borings through the\nclay, water is obtained where it would be impossible to sink a well, or\nwhere the expense would prohibit the attempt. To explain this matter,\nhere is a diagram (No. V.) which represents the Artesian well at the\nModel Prison at Pentonville, London, the strata upon which London is\nbuilt, and which we can apply to the diagram on page 21, that the theory\nof the earth\u2019s crust may be the more thoroughly understood before we\nproceed.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n DIAGRAM V.\n]\n\nIn the same manner Artesian wells have been sunk in other places, as at\nHampstead Water Works, 450 feet deep; Combe & Delafield\u2019s, 500 feet\ndeep; and the Trafalgar-square Water Works, 510 feet deep.[10] Now, the\nreader has only to take this last diagram, and in imagination to apply\nit to the one on page 21, in order to see that so far as actual boring\nand investigation go, the geological theory of the earth\u2019s crust is\ncorrect; only again let it be observed that this order is never\ninverted, although it frequently happens that some one or more of the\nstrata may be absent.\n\nHitherto we have spoken of the earth\u2019s crust without reference to that\nwondrous succession and development of living beings which once had\ntheir joy of life, and whose fossil remains, found in the different\nstrata, waken such kindling emotions of the power of Deity, and enlarge\nindefinitely our conceptions of the boundless resources of His Mind.\nThis will open before us a new chapter in the history of our planet,\nalready the theatre of such vast revolutions, and which, under the\ninfluence of Divine truth, is yet to undergo one greater and nobler than\nany of these. We have as yet only glanced at the surface page of the\nwondrous book, now happily opened for us by geologists, to whose names\nwe have already made reference; and as the mind rests with intense\npleasure on the discoveries of Champollion, Belzoni, Lane, Layard,\nBotta, and others who have deciphered the hieroglyphics, in which were\nwritten the wars and the chronicles of ancient nations, whose names and\ndeeds are becoming, by books and lectures, and above all by our noble\nnational Museum, familiar even to our children, and a source of help and\nsolace to the hard-toiling artisan; so with profounder interest, as\ncarried back into remoter ages of antiquity, so remote that they seem to\nlie beyond the power of a human arithmetic to calculate, do we humbly\nendeavour to decipher the hieroglyphics,[11] not of Egypt or of Nineveh,\nbut of the vast creation of God, written in characters that require, not\nonly learning and science to understand, but modesty, patience, and\ntriumphant perseverance. He who with these pre-requisites combines\nreverence for God and His revelation, will always find in Geology\nmaterial both for manly exercise of thought, and also for reverent\nadoration of Him who is Himself unsearchable, and whose ways are past\nfinding out.\n\n \u201cWe not to explore the secrets, ask\n Of His eternal empire, but the more\n To magnify His works, the more we know.\u201d\u2014MILTON.\n\nMost happily for Christendom, our noblest men of science are not ashamed\nof the \u201creproach of Christ;\u201d and we know not how to conclude this\nchapter in a strain more accordant with our own thoughts than by quoting\nthe words of an eminent living naturalist:\u2014\u201cI can echo with fullest\ntruth the experience of Bishop Heber; \u2018In every ride I have taken, and\nin every wilderness in which my tent has been pitched, I have found\nenough to keep my mind from sinking into the languor and the apathy\nwhich have been regarded as natural to a tropical climate.\u2019 Nay, I may\ntruly say, I found _no tendency_ to apathy or ennui. Every excursion\npresented something to admire; every day had its novelty; the morning\nwas always pregnant with eager expectation; the evening invariably\nbrought subjects of interest fresh and new; and the days were only too\nshort for enjoyment. They were not days of stirring adventure, of\ndangerous conflicts with man or with beast, or of hair-breadth escapes\nin flood and field; their delights were calm and peaceful, I trust not\nunholy, nor unbecoming the character of a Christian, who has his heart\nin heaven, and who traces, even in earth\u2019s loveliest scenes, the mark of\nthe spoiler. The sentiments expressed by my friend[12] and\nfellow-labourer are those which I would ever associate with the study of\nscience. \u2018If the sight of nature,\u2019 observes Mr. Hill, \u2018were merely the\nlooking at a painted pageantry, or at a spectacle filling the carnal\nmind with wonder and delight, the spirit would be overpowered and worked\ninto weariness; but it is admiration at the wisdom, and reverence for\nthe beneficence of Almighty power. He who dwelleth in the light which no\nman can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see,\u2019 is yet\nvisible in His perfections through the works of His hand, and His\ndesigns are made manifest in the purpose of His creatures. Wherever our\nlot is cast, into whatever scenes our wayward impulses lead us, the\nmind-illumined eye gazes on divine things, and the spirit-stirred heart\nfeels its pulses bounding with emotions from the touch of an\never-present Deity. The habit that sees in every object the wisdom and\nthe goodness as well as the power of God, I may speak of, as Coleridge\nspeaks of the poetical spirit, \u2018it has been to me an exceeding great\nreward; it has soothed my afflictions; it has multiplied and refined my\nenjoyments; it has endeared my solitude; and it has given me the habit\nof wishing to discover the good and the beautiful in all that meets and\nsurrounds me.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite\n Thy power! what thought can measure thee, or tongue\n Relate thee?\u2019\u201d[13]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n THE ANCIENT EPOCH.\n\n \u201cWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?\u201d\u2014_Job_\n xxxviii. 4.\n\n\nAnd now in right earnest let us begin our examination of the earth\u2019s\ncrust. Some of the terms we may use will, perhaps, at first sight appear\nrepulsive from their novelty and difficulty; such words we will explain\nas we proceed, and will only stay the student\u2019s course to remark, that\nthere is a necessity for the use of the dead languages in the formation\nof compound terms that are to become descriptive names, and in their\napplication to newly discovered objects. This necessity arises from the\nfact that it is only in this way that scientific men of different\nnations can understand the character of each other\u2019s researches, and\ncompare notes with one another. A fossil is found, let us suppose, in\nthe lias formation; it proves to be the organic remains of some very\nstrange and anomalous creature. People go down to Lyme Regis to examine\nit, and, in doing so, discover others. Comparative anatomists arrange\nthe dislocated parts and give them a name; this must be intelligible to\ngeologists on the Continent as well as in England; and therefore some\nterm descriptive of the animal, once the living possessor of these \u201cdry\nbones,\u201d must be given, and finally it is called _ichthyosaurus_. Any one\nin Russia, or Austria, or Italy, who happened to be acquainted with the\nrudiments of Greek, would know at once the kind of animal referred to by\nits very name, derived from _ichthus_, a fish, and _sauros_, a lizard.\nThis would indicate to all scientific men the nature of this remarkable\nanimal, of which we shall have to tell some stories by and by as full of\nwonder as any modern or ancient book of marvels; while, if we had called\nit _fish-lizard_, only those who understood English would know what we\nmeant. Our object is to simplify as much as possible every difficult\nterm that may be used; but while we solicit our readers to master each\ndifficulty as it rises, we hope they will not think that, when they have\nread this little book, they are masters of Geology, our highest ambition\nbeing only to impart a _taste_ for the science.\n\nTo return: our examination commences with the Plutonic rocks, so called\nin memory of the well-known mythological god of the fiery or infernal\nregions; and we take _granite_[14] as a type of these rocks, because it\nis so familiar to all our readers. There are besides granite,\nsyenite,[15] greenstone, porphyry, basalt, and others, to dilate upon\nwhich would defeat our purpose. Our object is to lay but a little at a\ntime upon the memory, and to let that little be well digested before we\npass from the thoroughly known to the unknown. Nothing but actual\nexamination can make the student familiar with the varieties of the\nrocks of this very ancient epoch in the world\u2019s history. Well, everybody\nknows what granite is; they see it on the kerb-stones of the wayside, in\nthe hard paving of the London streets, in the massive slabs of London\nand Waterloo Bridges, and elsewhere. \u201cGranite!\u201d exclaims the reader,\n\u201ceverybody knows what granite is, and there is an end of it; you make as\nmuch fuss about granite as Wordsworth did about his well-known primrose,\nand the man who could see nothing but a primrose in a primrose.\u201d\n\nBut there is a poetry and a history about granite upon which we are\ngoing to dwell. This piece of granite which I hold in my hand is\ncomposed of quartz, mica, and feldspar.[16] The quartz is white and\nhard\u2014I can\u2019t scratch it with my knife; the mica is in glistening plates\nor scales; and the feldspar is soft and greyish, and can easily be\nscratched. Oh, if this granite could speak, what a story could it tell!\n\u201cTo give it, then, a tongue were wise in man.\u201d Let us try. \u201cOnce upon a\ntime, long, long ages ago, incalculable periods before Adam was placed\nin possession of Eden, I, the granite, and my contemporaries, came into\nbeing. Before us, this planet \u2018was without form and void.\u2019 A dark\nchaotic period, of which I know nothing, preceded me. When I first\nemerged into being, at the command of Him who laid the foundations of\nthe earth, this world was a barren, lifeless, uncultivated, uninhabited,\nuntrodden, seasonless waste. Here and there were undulations of land and\nwater, but all was bare, desolate, and silent: not a moss nor a lichen\ncovered the ancient skeleton of the globe; not a sea-weed floated in the\nbroad ocean; not a trace existed even of the least highly organized\nanimal or vegetable; everything was still, and with the stillness of\nuniversal death. The earth was prepared, and the fiat of creation had\ngone forth; but there was no inhabitant, and no beings endowed with life\nhad been introduced to perform their part in the great mystery of\ncreation.\u201d[17] And the granite might go on to say\u2014\u201cMan! of three-score\nyears and ten, where wast _thou_ when He, my Maker and yours, laid the\nfoundations of the earth? Let me tell you what an important part I have\nplayed in the history of your world\u2019s formation. I rise to the highest\nelevations, and form the sublimest pinnacles on the surface of the\nglobe, and without me your scenery would lose its grandeur and its\nglory. But for me Albert Smith had never climbed Mont Blanc, nor\nHumboldt Cotopaxi and Chimborazo; nor would the head of the famed\nEgyptian Memnon[18] have been sculptured. You may see me giving to\nCornwall, Wales, and Scotland their most valuable minerals and metals.\nIn Europe\n\n \u2018I am monarch of all I survey,\n My right there is none to dispute.\u2019\n\nThe Scandinavians, the Hartz mountains, the Alps, and the Pyrenees are\nmine; nor is my territory less in Asia, Africa, the great Americas, and\nin the becoming great Australia; and thus, by my deeply rooted\nfoundations and my vast extension, I constitute the framework, solid and\nimmoveable, of this \u2018great globe and all that it inherits.\u2019\u201d\n\nThus, at any rate, the granite might speak, nor would there be one word\nof vain boasting in it. Having beard it, or fancied we heard it, which\namounts to the same thing, let us soberize ourselves, and put granite\ninto the third person. There are no fossils in granite and the other\nPlutonic and volcanic rocks; even supposing any forms of life to have\nbeen in existence at the period to which we are referring, the action of\nfire has annihilated all their remains. We should not therefore expect\nin Cumberland and Cornwall, nor in those parts of Devonshire where\ngranite prevails, to find the fossils peculiar to other formations with\nwhich in time we hope to make familiar acquaintance. But though\ndestitute of interest in this respect, how great is its importance and\ninterest in those economic uses which have the geologist for their\nguide, and the whole family of man for their beneficent operations!\n\u201cMany varieties of granite are excellent as building stones, though\nexpensive in working to definite forms. Some of the most important\npublic works of Great Britain and Ireland, France and Russia, are of\nthis material. In selecting granite, those varieties in which the\nconstituent minerals and the scales of mica are superabundant, should be\navoided; and, as a practical test, it is wise to notice the country\nimmediately around the quarry, as the sandy varieties rapidly\ndisintegrate,[19] and form accumulations of micaceous sand. The Hayter\nor Dartmoor granite, the Aberdeen granite, the Kingstown (Dublin)\ngranite, some beds of the Mourne or county of Down granite, and the\nGuernsey or Channel Island granite, are well known for their excellence.\nIn some of the quarries the bedding of the granite is more defined than\nin others; and wherever this is the case, or where marked cleavages or\njoints prevail, the work is much facilitated. Many old Egyptian works\nand statues were formed of granite, and it is still used for colossal\nworks, as it takes a fine polish. For example, the great fountain shell,\nor vase, before the Museum at Berlin, and the pedestal of Peter the\nGreat at St. Petersburg, are of the northern granite, being sculptured\nfrom erratic blocks. The splendid Scotch granite columns, in the\nvestibule of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, are beautiful examples\nof a modern application of this rock to the arts.\u201d[20]\n\nIt is also in the Plutonic or igneous rocks that almost all the metals\nare found; and here we have our first illustration of that order to\nwhich we shall frequently call attention; an order as exquisite as can\nbe found in the drawers of a lady\u2019s cabinet, forbidding the thought that\nanything observable at the present time, in the bowels or on the surface\nof the crust of the earth, can be attributed to the violent diluvial\naction of the Noachian deluge. The diagram below represents an ideal\nsection of a mining district.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n SECTION OF A MINING DISTRICT.\n]\n\nHere the metalliferous vein, we may suppose, has cropped out on the\nsurface of the ground, or, as the miners say, has \u201ccome above grass.\u201d\nLet us now suppose that the position of this vein of ore, copper, lead,\nor tin, has been ascertained\u2014that is, how it runs, whether from north to\nsouth, or from east to west\u2014and also that the \u201ccaptains\u201d of the mining\ndistrict around have given their opinion as to the extent and thickness\nof this underground vein. The next thing is to obtain this mineral\nwealth. For this purpose shafts (_a a a a_) must be sunk, which must\nreach the vein at a certain depth; then will probably follow cross-cuts\n(_c c c_), called adit levels (technically an \u201cadditt\u201d), driven, as may\nbe seen, at the lowest convenient point above the level of the highest\nwater of the valley; and these, in connexion with the shaft, will serve\nthe purpose of draining the mine and carrying the ore above ground. It\nwill also be seen, by reference to the diagram, that the shafts of a\nmine do not always correspond; sometimes they are sunk vertically to\nmeet the vein, sometimes they are commenced in the very outcrop itself.\nOn this matter the best geological lesson is a visit to Cornwall, where\nthe student will see that everything depends on the locality of a mine,\nthe nature of the slope of the hill, or the character of the rock in\nwhich the vein appears, and so on. \u201cThe act of sinking a perpendicular\nshaft downwards to a depth where it is calculated the lode should be\ncut, may seem to require little further skill than is necessary to\ndetermine correctly the spot on the surface where the work is to\ncommence. But the process in this way is exceedingly tedious; and in a\nmine at work, where many galleries already existing are to be traversed,\nmuch greater rapidity is desirable. In such a case the shaft is sunk in\nseveral _pieces_ (see diagram below), or, in other words, the sinking is\ncommenced at the same time in different levels; and no small skill is\nrequired to lay out the work, so that the different portions of the\nshaft thus formed may exactly fit when they are joined together. An\nexceedingly small error of measurement, in any one of these various and\ndark subterranean passages, would, in fact, be sufficient to throw the\nwhole into confusion; but such an accident rarely happens, although\nworks of the kind are common in the Cornish mines.\u201d[21] As an\nillustration of the immense quantity of water in the mines, we may\nadd\u2014and this is almost as startling as any romantic fiction\u2014that the\nvarious branches of the principal level in Cornwall, called \u201cthe Great\nAdit, which receives the waters of the numerous mines in Gwennap, and\nnear Redruth, measure on the whole about 26,000 fathoms, or nearly\nthirty miles in length; one branch only, at Cardrew mine, extends for\nnearly five miles and a half, and penetrates ground seventy fathoms\nbeneath the surface. The water flows into a valley communicating with a\nsmall inlet of the sea, and is discharged about forty feet above\nhigh-water mark.\u201d[22] In this method about forty millions of tons of\nwater are raised by steam-power out of the mines in Cornwall.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n EAST WHEAL CROFLY COPPER MINE, CORNWALL.\n]\n\nHere, then, we have seen two of the economic uses of geology in\nconnexion with _granite_ alone; and as we think of these mineral\ntreasures, requiring only the labour and skill of man to bring them out\nfor his service and for the civilization of the world, our boast is in\nour native land, which, though insular and small, combines within itself\neverything needful to develop its three sources of national\nwealth\u2014mining, manufactures, and agriculture\u2014to their highest point. Our\nboast is not the warrior\u2019s boast, which Shakspeare puts into the mouth\nof one of his heroes\u2014that this our isle is\n\n \u201cThat pale, that white-faced shore,\n Whose foot spurns back the ocean\u2019s roaring tides,\n And coops from other lands her islanders\u201d\u2014\n\nbut rather that, without impropriety or irreverence, the words of Holy\nWrit may as legitimately be applied to Great Britain as to Palestine. It\nis a land wherein \u201cthou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt\nnot lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose\nhills thou mayest dig brass.[23] When thou hast eaten and art full, then\nthou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given\nthee.\u201d (Deut. viii. 9, 10.)\n\nBut before we bring this chapter on granite and its kindred rocks to a\nclose, we must glance at one more purpose served by this Plutonic rock.\nHere is a teacup, and here is a piece of granite: the one comes from\nCornwall, the other is made in Staffordshire or Worcestershire. What\nrelation have they to each other? If it were not thought _infra dig._,\nwe should say the granite is the parent of the teacup. In Cornwall,\nespecially in the neighbourhood of St. Austel, the writer has lately\nvisited what are called the China clay works. \u201cThe granite is here in a\nstate of partial decomposition. In some localities, this _growan_\u201d\n(Cornish for disintegrated granite) \u201cis tolerably firm, when it\nresembles the Chinese _Kaolin_, and, quarried under the name of China\nstone, is extensively employed in the potteries. This is ready for the\nmarket when cut into blocks of a size convenient for transport; but the\nsofter material, which is dug out of pits, and called _China clay_, or\n_porcelain earth_, requires a more elaborate preparation for the purpose\nof separating the quartz, schorl, or mica from the finer particles of\nthe decomposed feldspar. This clay is dug up in _stopes_ or layers,\nwhich resemble a flight of irregular stairs. A heap of it is then placed\nupon an inclined platform, under a small fall of water, and repeatedly\nstirred with a _piggle_ and shovel, by which means the whole is\ngradually carried down by the water in a state of suspension. The heavy\nand useless parts collect in a trench below the platform; while the\nChina clay, carried forward through a series of _catch-pits_ or tanks,\nin which the grosser particles are deposited, is ultimately accumulated\nin larger pits, called _ponds_, from which the clear supernatant water\nis from time to time withdrawn. As soon as these ponds are filled with\nclay, they are drained, and the porcelain earth is removed to _pans_, in\nwhich it remains undisturbed until sufficiently consolidated to be cut\ninto oblong masses. These are carried to a roofed building, through\nwhich the air can freely pass, and dried completely for the market. When\ndry they are scraped perfectly clean, packed in casks, and carried to\none of the adjacent ports, to be shipped for the potteries.\u201d[24] As\nfurnishing some idea of the extent to which this business is carried on,\nit may be added that 37,000 tons of this China clay are annually shipped\nfrom the south-west of England to the potteries, the value of which is\nupwards of \u00a350,000, while the number of working men and women thus\nemployed is beyond calculation. This is one of the practical results of\ngeology. This is one of the things which geology, once a neglected and\nunpopular science, has done for our comfort and welfare. \u201cA hundred\nyears ago, it does not seem that any part of this China clay was made\nuse of, or that this important produce was then of any value\nwhatever.\u201d[25]\n\nWe bring this chapter to a close. Granite and its kindred rocks should\nstand associated with an actual history and poetry, not inferior to the\nhistory and poetry of man\u2019s own handiwork; and we believe geology, so\noften regarded with dread by the uninitiated, will soon be considered\nworthy a patient and painstaking investigation. Remembering that geology\nis still an incomplete science, and that we have much yet to learn\nconcerning the laws of organic and inorganic matter, we should be modest\nin the maintenance of any theory, while thankful for the acquisition of\nany fact. \u201cWe have yet to learn whether man\u2019s past duration upon the\nearth\u2014whether even that which is still destined to him\u2014is such, as to\nallow him to philosophise with success on such matters; whether man,\nplaced for a few centuries on the earth as in a schoolroom, has time to\nstrip the wall of its coating and count its stones, before his PARENT\nremoves him to some other destination.\u201d[26]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n THE PAL\u00c6OZOIC PERIOD.\n\n \u201cIn His hand are the deep places of the earth.\u201d\u2014DAVID.\n\n\nTrench, in his charming little book on the \u201cStudy of Words,\u201d says of\nwords that they are \u201cfossil poetry.\u201d He adds, \u201cJust as in some fossil,\ncurious and beautiful shapes of vegetable or animal life, the graceful\nfern or finely vertebrated lizard, such as now it may be, have been\nextinct for many thousands of years, are permanently bound up in the\nstone, and rescued from that perishing which would otherwise have been\ntheirs; so in words are beautiful thoughts and images, the imagination\nand the feeling of past ages, of men long since in their graves, of men\nwhose very names have perished\u2014these, which would so easily have\nperished too, are preserved and made safe for ever.\u201d\n\nGeology is the fossil poetry of the earth; such a poetry as those can\nnever dream of who in a pebble see a pebble and nothing more. But to\nthose who walk through this great and beautiful world intent upon\nfinding material for thought and reflection, there is no \u201cpicking up a\npebble by the wayside without finding all nature in connexion with it;\u201d\nand the most retired student, in search not simply of the picturesque or\nof the beautiful, but of anything and everything that can minister to\nhis profounder worship of Him to whom belongeth both \u201cthe deep places of\nthe earth and the strength of the hills,\u201d may say of his solitary\nrambles:\u2014\n\n \u201cThere rolls the deep where grew the tree;\u2014\n O earth, what changes hast thou seen!\n There where the long street roars, hath been\n The stillness of the central sea.\u201d[27]\n\nWe now enter upon the ancient life, or Pal\u00e6ozoic period of the earth\u2019s\nhistory, and proceed to examine the oldest forms of life, or the most\nancient organic remains found in the crust of the earth. As we do not\naim to _teach_ geology in this small work, but simply to place the chief\ngeological facts in such a light as to impart a _taste_ for the science,\nthe reader will not expect any minute details, which are more likely to\nperplex than to assist the beginner. Let the reader dismiss from his\nmind all that he has tried to remember about Upper and Lower Silurian\nrocks, and the Upper and Lower Ludlow rocks, the Caradoc sandstone and\nthe Llandilo flags, and so on; let us simply say that one part of the\ncrust of the earth, supposed to be between 50,000 and 60,000 feet in\nthickness,[28] is called the Silurian system, and constitutes a large\nand interesting part of the Pal\u00e6ozoic period. The term Silurian was\ngiven to this part of the earth\u2019s crust in consequence of these rocks\nbeing found chiefly in Wales, Devon, and Cornwall\u2014parts of England once\ninhabited by the Silures, who under Caractacus made so noble a stand\nagainst the Romans.\n\nIn coming for the first time into contact with the organic remains of\npre-Adamite creations, it may be well to entreat the student to mark, as\nhe goes on, the very different and characteristic fossils of the several\nformations through which we propose to travel. There will be little or\nno difficulty in doing this, and its mastery will be of invaluable\nservice in our after researches. There is and there can be no royal road\nto any kind of learning; all, therefore, that we propose to do is to\ntake a few of the big stones, boulders, &c., that have needlessly been\nallowed to make the road rougher than necessary, out of the way, that\nthus our companion traveller on this geologic route may feel that every\nstep of ground walked over is a real and solid acquisition. In marking\nthe characteristic fossils of each formation, let us suggest, in\npassing, the vast amount of pleasure there is in going to a friend\u2019s\nhouse, and looking at the minerals or organic remains that may be in the\ncabinet or on the mantel-shelf, and being able to take them up one by\none, and to say this is from the Silurian; that is from the\nCarboniferous; this is from the Cretaceous, and that from the Wealden\nformations, and so on. Why, it gives a magical feeling of delightful\ninterest to every object we see, and will always make a person a welcome\nvisitor with friends with whom, instead of talking scandal, he can talk\ngeology. Not long since the writer had a very pleasing illustration of\nthis. He had been lecturing on geology in a small agricultural village;\nthere was a good sprinkling of smock-frocks among the hearers, and he\nsaid at the close of one of the lectures, \u201cNow, very likely most of you\nhave got some stones, as you call them, at home on the chimneypiece;\nperhaps you don\u2019t know their names, or what they were before they became\nstones; well, bring them next week, and we will do our best to name them\nfor you!\u201d Next week, after the lecture, up came one, and then another,\nand then a third, and so on; and diving their hands down into the old\northodox agricultural pocket, brought out a variety of specimens, some\nof them very good indeed, which had been \u201cpicked up\u201d by them in the\ncourse of their labour, and which, supposed to be \u201c_rather k\u016br\u016dss_,\u201d had\nbeen carefully conveyed home. When these matters were given a \u201clocal\nhabitation and a name,\u201d the delight of many was most gratifying.\n\nNow, all this is only just the application of M. Cousin\u2019s words in\nrelation to physical geography: \u201cGive me the map of a country, its\nconfiguration, its climate, its waters, its winds, and all its physical\ngeography; give me its natural productions, its flora and fauna, and I\npledge myself to tell you _\u00e0 priori_ what the inhabitants of that\ncountry will be, and what place that country will take in history, not\naccidentally, but necessarily; not at a particular epoch, but at all\nperiods of time; in a word, the thought that country is formed to\nrepresent.\u201d\n\nThese remarks furnish us with a clue. Each formation has its own\npeculiar and characteristic fossils, and these fossils are arranged with\nas much care, and preserved as uninjured, as if they had been arranged\nfor a first-class museum. But before proceeding on this fossiliferous\ntour, we may anticipate a question that may possibly be asked on the\nthreshold of our inquiries, and into which we propose going fully in the\nsequel of this volume. It may be asked, \u201cWere not these fossils placed\nin the rocks by the Deluge?\u201d To this, at present, we answer, that so\npartial and limited was the character of the Deluge, being confined to\njust so much of the earth as was inhabited by man, and so brief was its\nduration, compared with the vast geological epochs we shall have to\nconsider, that we do not believe we have one single fossil that can be\nreferred to the Noachian deluge; and before we close, we trust it will\nhave been made evident to every careful reader that fossils, as records\nof Noah\u2019s flood, are an impossibility; and that the vast antiquity of\nthe globe, taken into connexion with the prevalence of death on a most\nextensive scale, ages and ages previous to the creation of man, can\nalone account for our innumerable treasures of the \u201cdeep places of the\nearth.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1\n]\n\nThe characteristic fossils of the Silurian system are entirely unique.\nThe trilobite may fairly be regarded as the prominent one; besides which\nthere are orthoceratites, and graptolites, some members of the\ncrinoidean family, with different kinds of corallines, and some other\nnames to be rendered familiar only by future further study. We shall\nconfine ourselves to those that our own recent researches have made us\nfamiliar with. First, here is the trilobite. We need not perplex our\nreaders by any of the numerous subdivisions of this remarkable animal\u2019s\nnomenclature; that would defeat the purpose of this book. Any work on\ngeology will do this.[29] Here are three trilobites: one (1) by itself;\nanother, (2) imperfect in its bed or matrix, and a third (3) rolled up.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThis most remarkable crustacean possessed the power of rolling itself up\nlike the wood-louse or the hedgehog; and, reasoning by analogy, we\nsuppose this to have been its defence against its numerous enemies. It\nis a very abundant fossil, found all over Europe, in some parts of\nAmerica, at the Cape of Good Hope, but never in more _recent strata_\nthan the Silurian. The hinder part of the body is covered with a\ncrescent-like shield, composed of segments like the joints of a\nlobster\u2019s tail; and two furrows divide it into three lobes, whence its\nname.[30] Most remarkable are the eyes of this animal, and it is the\nonly specimen in the vestiges of ancient creations in which the eye,\nthat most delicate organization, is preserved; and if, as we believe,\nthis little creature was living and swimming about, now and then\nfighting with some greater Cephalopodous mollusk, millions and millions\nof years ago, then in this fact we have the real fossil poetry of\nscience, the romance of an ancient world which geology reveals to our\ndelighted and astonished minds. From Buckland\u2019s Bridgewater Treatise we\ngive a drawing of the eyes of the trilobite; and in Buckland\u2019s words we\nadd: \u201cThis point deserves peculiar consideration, as it affords the most\nancient, and almost the only example yet found in the fossil world, of\nthe preservation of parts so delicate as the visual organs of animals\nthat ceased to live many thousands, and perhaps millions of years ago.\nWe must regard these organs with feelings of no ordinary kind, when we\nrecollect we have before us the identical instruments of vision through\nwhich the light of heaven was admitted to the sensorium of some of the\nfirst created inhabitants of our planet.\u201d[31]\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nBut these are not the only fossils, or organic remains, to be found in\nthe clay, slates, &c., of the Silurian system. Passing by those we have\nbriefly indicated above, there are others of a highly interesting\ncharacter, concerning some of which we proceed to give a brief history.\nBeing in Cornwall a short time since, we made a visit to Polperro, a\nromantic but out-of-the-way town on the south-west coast, for the\npurpose of procuring some remains of fossil fish considered\ncharacteristic of the Silurian system of Murchison, and which have been\nrecently discovered by Mr. Couch, an eminent local naturalist, in the\ncliffs east and west of that town. We did not see Mr. Couch, but found\nour way to a coast-guardsman, also a naturalist, whom we found to be a\nmost skilful bird and fish stuffer, and a ranger for objects of natural\nhistory among the surrounding clay-slates and other rocks. William\nLoughrin\u2019s collection of Cornish curiosities will well repay any\ntraveller going out of the way twenty or thirty miles, and they will\nfind in him a fine specimen of an intelligent and noble class of men.\nBelow we give some specimens from the Polperro slate. No. 1 might be\ntaken for impressions of sea-weed, so remarkably does it resemble the\nsea-weed thrown up on our beaches; but it is generally conceded that\nthis is merely a crystallization of oxydized matter, such as may often\nbe found in connexion with manganese.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n No. 1.\n]\n\nNo. 2 is the Bellerophon,[32] a shell which we shall afterwards find in\nthe mountain limestone, but which is rare in connexion with the Silurian\nrocks.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n No. 2. BELLEROPHON, a shell which seems to have been abundant.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n No. 3. REMAINS OF VEGETABLE TEXTURE.\n]\n\nNo. 3 we know not how to describe. We are not certain what organic\nremains these are; so far as we have been able to examine them, they\nappear to us the remains of succulent vegetables, (?) probably the\nthick, soft stems of sea-weed, that may once have reposed in quiescence\non the mud of which these slates are composed, and afterwards have been\ncrushed by the superposition of mud and shale, until in the course of\nages, by upheaval and depression, they have become a second time\nvisitants of our atmosphere, and now expose themselves to our study and\nspeculations.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n No. 3. (Portion magnified two natural sizes.)\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n No. 4. CORALLINE. (Natural size.)\n]\n\nHere is one more form of life of this ancient period; it is evidently a\ncoralline, which we also procured at Polperro.\n\nLet us suppose our readers to have made themselves familiar with these\norganic remains, simply as characteristic and illustrative of this\nformation; they will easily find their way into other traces and\nremnants of ancient life in the Silurian epoch. How absurd must seem the\ndevelopment hypothesis to those who rightly ponder these old, old\nvestiges! It seems to us a very idle idea to suppose that a trilobite\ncould develop itself into a bird, or a monkey, or by any series of happy\naccidents, could become a man;[33] yet such has been the theory of those\nwho overlook what some writer on geology, whose name we forget, has\nexpressed strongly in these words: \u201cThere is no fact which has been\ndemonstrated more completely to the satisfaction of every man of real\nscience, than that there is no known power in nature capable of creating\na new species of animal, or of transmuting one species into another.\u201d\n\nWe close this chapter on the Silurian system in the eloquent words of\nProfessor Sedgwick: \u201cThe elevation of the faunas of successive periods\nwas not made by transmutation, but by creative additions, and it is by\nwatching these additions that we get some insight into nature\u2019s true\nhistorical progress. Judging by our evidence\u2014and what else have we to\njudge by?\u2014there was a time when Cephalopods were the highest type of\nanimal life. _They_ were then the Primates of this world, and,\ncorresponding to their office and position, some of them were of noble\nstructure and gigantic size. But these creatures were degraded from\ntheir rank at the head of Nature, and _Fishes_ next took the lead; and\nthey did not rise up in nature in some degenerate form, as if they were\nonly the transmuted progeny of the Cephalopods, but they started into\nlife in the very highest _ichthyic_ type ever reached.\n\n\u201cFollowing our history chronologically, _Reptiles_ next took the lead,\nand, with some evanescent exceptions, they flourished during the\ncountless ages of the secondary period as the lords and despots of the\nworld: and they had an organic perfection corresponding to their exalted\nrank in Nature\u2019s kingdom; for their highest orders were not merely great\nin strength and stature, but were anatomically raised far above any\nforms of the Reptile class now living in the earth. This class, however,\nwas in its turn to lose its rank. _Mammals_ were added next (near the\ncommencement of the tertiary period), and seem to have been added\nsuddenly. Some of the early extinct forms of this class, which we now\nknow only by ransacking the ancient catacombs of Nature, were powerful\nand gigantic, and we believe well fitted for the place they filled. But\nthey in turn were to be degraded from their place in Nature, and she\nbecame what she now is by the addition of man. By this last addition she\nbecame more exalted than before. Man stands by himself, the despotic\nlord of the living world; not so great in organic strength as many of\nthe despots that went before him in Nature\u2019s chronicle, but raised far\nabove them all by a higher development of brain, by a framework that\nfits him for the operations of mechanical skill, by superadded reason,\nby a social instinct of combinations, by a prescience that leads him to\nact prospectively, by a conscience that makes him amenable to law, by\nconceptions that transcend the narrow limits of his vision, by hopes\nthat have no full fruition here, by an inborn capacity of rising from\nindividual facts to the apprehension of general laws, by a conception of\na cause for all the phenomena of sense, and lastly, by a consequent\nbelief in the God of nature:\u2014such is the history of nature.\u201d[34]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n LANDS END, CORNWALL.\n]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n THE OLD RED SANDSTONE.\n\n \u201cThe fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.\u201d\u2014JOB.\n\n\nLord Bacon remarks, \u201cSome men think that the gratification of curiosity\nis the end of knowledge, some the love of fame, some the pleasure of\ndispute, and some the necessity of supporting themselves by knowledge;\nbut the real use of all knowledge is this, that we should dedicate that\nreason which was given us by God to the use and advantage of man.\u201d The\nhistorian of the old red sandstone, Hugh Miller, to whose researches not\nonly we, but such men as Murchison, Lyell, Ansted, Agassiz and others,\nare so exclusively indebted, is a philosopher in this last category. He\ndoes not hesitate to tell us, how, as a Cromarty quarryman \u201ctwenty years\nago,\u201d he commenced a \u201clife of labour and restraint,\u201d a \u201cslim,\nloose-jointed boy, fond of the pretty intangibilities of romance, and of\ndreaming when broad awake;\u201d[35] and how, as a quarryman, he ever kept\nhis eyes open, to observe the results of every blow of the hammer,\nstroke of the pick, or blast of the powder; and finding himself in the\nmidst of new and undreamt-of relics of an old creation, preserved in\n\u201ctables of stone,\u201d he adds _his_ testimony to that of the great father\nof inductive philosophy, \u201cthat it cannot be too extensively known, that\nnature is vast and knowledge limited, and that no individual, however\nhumble in place or acquirement, need despair of adding to the general\nfund.\u201d[36]\n\nWe here enter upon a marvellous field of discovery. Hitherto the forms\nof life we have met with have all been invertebrate. The trilobite,\nsomething between a crab and a beetle, once revelling, in untold\nmyriads, probably on the land as well as in the water, and of which two\nhundred and fifty species have been brought to light, is the highest\ntype of life with which our researches have made us familiar. We are now\nto begin the study of fossil fish, and to their discovery, strange\nforms, and characters, this chapter will be specially devoted. It was\nonce a generally received opinion among even the most learned\ngeologists, that the \u201cold red sandstone,\u201d or the \u201cDevonian system,\u201d was\nparticularly barren of fossils, but the labours (literally such, \u201cmente,\nmanu, malleoque\u201d[37]) of Hugh Miller have proved the contrary. \u201cThe\nfossils,\u201d he says, \u201care remarkably numerous, and in a state of high\npreservation. I have a hundred solid proofs by which to establish the\nproof of my assertion, within less than a yard of me. Half my closet\nwalls are covered with the peculiar fossils of the lower old red\nsandstone; and certainty a stranger assemblage of forms have rarely been\ngrouped together; creatures whose very type is lost, fantastic and\nuncouth, and which puzzle the naturalist to assign them even their\nclass; boat-like animals, furnished with oars and a rudder; fish plated\nover like the tortoise, above and below, with a strong armour of bone,\nand furnished with but one solitary rudder-like fin; other fish less\nequivocal in their form, but with the membranes of their fins thickly\ncovered with scales; creatures bristling over with thorns, others\nglistening in an enamelled coat, as if beautifully japanned, the tail in\nevery instance among the less equivocal shapes, formed not equally as in\nexisting fish, on each side the central vertebral column, but chiefly on\nthe lower side, the column sending out its diminished vertebr\u00e6 to the\nextreme termination of the fin. All the forms testify of a remote\nantiquity\u2014of a period whose fashions have passed away.\u201d[38]\n\nThe old red sandstone formation prevails in the north of Scotland,\nHerefordshire, north of Devonshire, part of Cornwall, and in\nWorcestershire and Shropshire. Our attention will be principally\nconfined to Cromarty, whose romantic bay and high hills have long\narrested the admiring gaze of the traveller. This was the scene of Hugh\nMiller\u2019s labours and discoveries; this the great library in which he\nread the history of pre-Adamite ichthyolites[39] exposed not only to the\nlight of day, but for the first time to the inspection of human eyes, by\nthe sweat-of-brow toil of one of Scotland\u2019s noble sons. Before we get\ninto the hard names that must be connected with this chapter, let us\nhear Mr. Miller describe this library of God\u2019s books that was so long\nhis wonder and his study in Cromartyshire. \u201cThe quarry in which I\nwrought lay on the southern shore of a noble inland bay, or frith\nrather, with a little clear stream on the one side, and a thick fir-wood\non the other. Not the united labours of a thousand men for a thousand\nyears could have furnished a better section of the geology of this\ndistrict than this range of cliffs; it may be regarded as a sort of\nchance dissection on the earth\u2019s crust. We see in one place the primary\nrock, with its veins of granite and quartz, its dizzy precipices of\ngneiss, its huge masses of horneblend; we find the secondary rock in\nanother, with its beds of sandstone and shale, its spars, its clays, and\nits nodular limestones. We discover the still little known, but very\ninteresting fossils of the old red sandstone in one deposition; we find\nthe beautifully preserved shell and lignites of the lias in another.\nThere are the remains of two several creations at once before us. The\nshore, too, is heaped with rolled fragments of almost every variety of\nrock,\u2014basalts, ironstones, hyperstenes, porphyries, bituminous shales,\nand micaceous schists. In short, the young geologist, had he all Europe\nbefore him, could hardly choose for himself a better field. I had,\nhowever, no one to tell me so at the time, for geology had not yet\ntravelled so far north; and so, without guide or vocabulary, I had to\ngrope my way as best I might, and find out all its wonders for myself.\nBut so slow was the process, and so much was I a seeker in the dark,\nthat the facts contained in these few sentiments were the patient\ngatherings of years.\u201d[40]\n\nNow with regard to the hard names to which we have just made\nallusion\u2014names that, apart from their etymology, which is nothing more\nthan \u201csending vagrant words back to their parish,\u201d are enough to startle\nany one; names such as heterocercal, homocercal, cephalaspis,\npterichthys, coccosteus, osteolepis, &c. &c.\u2014why, they will all\npresently become plain, and, we hope, familiar to our readers. \u201cThey\nare,\u201d says Hugh Miller, \u201clike all names in science, unfamiliar in their\naspect to mere English readers, just because they are names not for\nEngland alone, but for England and the world. I am assured, however,\nthat they are all composed of very good Greek, and picturesquely\ndescriptive of some peculiarity in the fossils they designate.\u201d[41]\n\nThe rest of this chapter will be occupied with an account of the four\nmost remarkable and characteristic fishes of this formation, to\nunderstand which a few preliminary remarks are necessary. Cuvier divided\nall fish into two groups, the _bony_ and the _cartilaginous_; and these\ntwo groups he subdivided into two divisions, characterised by\ndifferences in their _fins_, or organs of locomotion, one of which he\ncalled Acanthopterygian,[42] (thorny-finned,) and the other,\nMalacopterygian,[43] (or soft-finned.) This concise arrangement did not,\nhowever, meet all the wants of the fish-students, and it was often\npractically difficult to know under which class to arrange particular\nspecimens. More recently M. Agassiz has arranged fish, not according to\ntheir _fins_, but according to their _scales_; and simple as this\nclassification may seem, it is one of the greatest triumphs of genius in\nmodern times, inasmuch as all fishes extinct and existing, that have\ninhabited or are inhabiting the \u201cwaters under the earth,\u201d may be grouped\neasily under the following four divisions:\u2014\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1. GANOID SCALE; as bony pike.[44]\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 2. PLACOID SCALE.[45]\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 3. CTENOID SCALE; as sole or perch.[46]\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 4. CYCLOID SCALE; as herring.[47]\n]\n\nOne more preliminary remark, and we will proceed to look at the four\nfishes already alluded to. Neither the teacher nor the student of any\nscience can skip definitions, axioms, postulates, and so on; they must\njust be mastered, and their mastery is a real pleasure. In addition to a\nmarked difference in the _fins_, a difference was observed also in the\n_tails_ of fossil (extinct) and living pieces of fish. This difference\nbetween the tails of fish has been happily described in two words,\nheterocercal and homocercal, of which the figures below will give a\nbetter idea than a lengthened description.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1. HETEROCERCAL.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 2. HOMOCERCAL.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 3. HOMOCERCAL.\n]\n\nThe _heterocercal_ fish, it will be seen, are unequally lobed, that is,\nthe spinal vertebr\u00e6 are prolonged into the upper lobe of the tail, as\nseen in the shark, and of which our own dog-fish is an example; while\nthe homocercal fish are equally lobed, and the spine does not extend\ninto either.\n\nThe fossil fish of the old red sandstone belong almost, if not entirely,\nto the classes of fish that have ganoid or placoid scales, and\nheterocercal tails; and of these fish we will now say a few words of the\nfour most remarkable specimens of the one thousand and upwards fossil\nspecies that have been discovered, and which can only be known\nfamiliarly by accomplished geologists in the ichthyolite department.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\n1. Here is a drawing of the Cephalaspis,[48] or buckler-headed fish.\nWhat an extraordinary looking creature this is! Like the crescent shape\nof a saddler\u2019s knife without the handle\u2014broad and flat, with points on\neach side running down, ever fixed in warlike attitude against its\nenemies\u2014it reminds one of an extinct trilobite, and of a living sole or\nray, at the same time; and one can easily fancy how hard it must have\nbeen for its ancient foes to swallow down so singular and so knife-like\nlooking a creature. This is one of the curious organisms of old life\ndiscovered in Cromarty, Herefordshire, and in Russia, the original of\nwhich, restored in the drawing, seldom if ever exceeded seven inches.\n\nLet us look now at another curiosity from the same quarter.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\n2. Here is a drawing of the Coccosteus,[49] or berry-boned fish. This\ncreature is equally singular with his long extinct neighbour. Hugh\nMiller\u2019s description is the best, and as he was its discoverer, let us\ngive it.\n\n\u201cThe figure of the Coccosteus I would compare to a boy\u2019s kite; there is\na rounded head, a triangular body, a long tail attached to the apex of\nthe triangle, and arms thin and rounded where they attach to the body,\nand spreading out towards their termination, like the ancient one-sided\nshovel which we see sculptured on old tombstones, or the rudder of an\nancient galley. A ring of plates, like the ring-stones of an arch, runs\nalong what we may call the hoop of the kite. The form of the key-stone\nplate is perfect; the shapes of the others are elegantly varied, as if\nfor ornament; and what would be otherwise the opening of the arch is\nfilled up with one large plate of an outline singularly elegant.\u201d[50]\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\n3. Above is the Pterichthys,[51] or winged fish. We have here a fish\nmore strikingly different to any existing species than either of the\nother two just passed under review. \u201cImagine,\u201d says Miller, \u201cthe figure\nof a man rudely drawn in black on a grey ground; the head cut off by the\nshoulders; the arms spread at full, as in the attitude of swimming; the\nbody rather long than otherwise, and narrowing from the chest downwards;\none of the legs cut away at the hip-joint; the other, as if to preserve\nthe balance, placed directly in the centre of the figure, which it seems\nto support. Such, at the first glance, is the appearance of the\nfossil.\u201d[52]\n\nWe will now turn to the fourth and last of the singular fishes of this\nformation.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\n4. The Osteolepis,[53] or bony scaled fish. Here we have in the old red\nsandstone the first perfect specimen of a fish with pectoral, abdominal,\nand caudal fins, ending as the others do in the heterocercal tail. The\nvertebral column seems to have run on to well-nigh the extremity of the\ncaudal fin, which we find developed chiefly on the under side. The tail\nwas a one-sided tail. Take into account with these peculiarities such as\nthe naked skull, jaws, and operculum,[54] the naked and thickly set\nrays, and the unequally lobed condition of tail, a body covered with\nscales that glitter like sheets of mica, and assume, according to their\nposition, the parallelogramical, rhomboidal, angular, or polygonal form,\na lateral line raised, not depressed, a raised bar on the inner or bony\nside of the scales, which, like the doubled up end of a tile, seems to\nhave served the purpose of fastening them in their places, a general\nclustering of alternate fins towards the tail\u2014and the _tout ensemble_\nmust surely impart to the reader the idea of a very singular little\nfish.[55]\n\nMost hasty and superficial is this glance through the wonders of the old\nred sandstone. On the economic uses of this formation, as _tile-stones_\nand _paving-stones_, we need not dwell; apart from this, these singular\ninhabitants of the seas of past ages, the mud of which, elevated and\nhardened, has become solid rock, tell us stories of that long since\nancient time to which no poetry could do justice. Carried away from the\npresent into those remote eras, our minds revel in the realization of\nscenery and inhabitants, of which now we possess only the fossil\npictures. At the British Museum, we gaze with feelings approaching to\nrepulsion on the stiff and unnatural forms of Egyptian mummies, but with\nwhat feelings of profound wonder do we look on these small fishes, so\nnumerous that the relics of them, found in the Orkneys, may be carried\naway by cartloads! No number of creations can exhaust God, for in Him\nall fulness dwelleth. The God in whom we now live, and move, and have\nour being, is the same God who gave to these pre-Adamite fish their\nmarvellous structures, minutely but fearfully and wonderfully made, and\nwho, when their joy of life and functions of life had ceased, consigned\nthem to a calm and peaceful grave. He is the same God who now upholds\nall things by the word of his power, and whom we desire to honour by the\nattentive and reverent perusal of his manifold works. _We_ are\ntautologists; we say and do the same thing over and over again. God\nnever repeats himself: each successive creation\u2014and how many, extending\nthrough countless ages, does geology disclose!\u2014only reveals some new\naspect of wisdom, love, and beneficence. To the mind that cannot repose\nin God, we say, Study God, in his works and in his word; yea, come back\nto this remote sandstone era and ask of the \u201cfishes, and they shall\ndeclare unto thee\u201d the might and majesty, the skill and contrivance of\nthe Almighty; and though you and I were not there, nor had Adam yet trod\nthis blessed earth,\u2014\n\n \u201cThink not, though men were none,\n That heaven could want spectators, God want praise;\n Millions of spiritual creatures walked the earth,\n And these with ceaseless praise His works beheld.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM.\n\n \u201cAs for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and under it is turned up as\n it were fire.\u201d\u2014JOB.\n\n\nSuppose this lump of coal could speak, what would it say? Would it not\nsay something like this: \u201cTo get me up out of the earth involves dirt,\ndanger, slush, and much tallow-candle; but now you have me, let me tell\nyou my story, for though black I am comely, and but for me\u2014but I\nanticipate. Now and then I make a dust in your libraries, and\ninadvertently shoot out sparks and firestones, but nevertheless I am of\nmore use to man than the old granite or the proudest Parian marble; you\nmay get a long way in philosophy, but you will never get beyond coal. I\nam the real Koh-i-noor of the British empire; and though I can\u2019t, like\nmy namesake, put on a white dress, I am nevertheless worth the soiling\nof your whitest gloves. _Chemistry_ makes no discoveries without me: I\nlight the fire of the laboratory, and furnish man with the means of\nevery crucial test. _Civilization_ wants me every day on land and sea,\nand though in one sense my labours end in smoke, in another they end in\ncommerce, progress, national brotherhood, and interchanging productions\nof every clime. The _poor student_ needs me, for I light his lamp, warm\nhis feet, and cook his food while he is doing sweat-of-brain work for\nothers. And best of all, the _poor man_ is a rich man when he has me; he\nknows that next of kin to good food is good fuel, and man by my help is\nmaking such progress, that the day will come when every man will sit by\nhis own blazing fire, instead of seeking joy elsewhere amidst false and\npernicious excitements.\u201d\n\nSomething like this our friend Coal would be sure to say; and that Coal\nmay not complain of any aloofness on our parts, let us proceed to an\nexamination of the carboniferous system.\n\n \u201c\u2019Tis very pregnant,\n The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it,\n Because we see it; but what we do not see,\n We tread upon, and never think of it.\u201d\n _Measure for Measure._\n\nThe carboniferous system is not all coal; underlying, and often\noverlying, the coal measures, for the most part, is the mountain\nlimestone, a formation pre-eminently rich in marine fossils. During the\ntremendous convulsions experienced by the earth immediately after the\ndeposition of the old red sandstone, a vast sea of lime, thick, muddy,\nand hot, seems to have been poured out over a large portion of the\nBritish islands and elsewhere. This flow of liquid lime covered and\nencased many then existing animals, and we now find it full of fossils\nof the crinoidean family, a few molluscs, and traces of fish. We shall\nnot, however, stay to examine these now, as we shall meet with them\nagain in the Oolite; our attention will be limited to that part of the\ncarboniferous system which includes only the coal measures, properly so\ncalled.\n\nCoal is a vegetable that, by _chemical change_ and by _mechanical\npressure_, has become a bituminous mineral; and this will render it\nneedful to say a word or two on the ancient vegetable kingdom. The vast\nquantities[56] of remains of leaves, ferns, and stems of trees, found in\nthe coal measures, are not in themselves evidence sufficient of the\nvegetable origin of coal; we arrive at that conclusion in consequence of\nthe researches of modern philosophers, who having applied the powers of\nthe microscope to the internal structure of coal, have discovered the\ncellular and reticular construction of vegetable life beautifully\npreserved, and thus previous convictions have become certainties. The\nexamination of the ancient vegetable kingdom is, however, attended with\nmuch difficulty, in consequence of the total destruction in most cases\nof the stems and trunks of the plants, and the entire absence, in\nconsequence of pressure, of all fructification on the fronds of the\nferns. If we take an existing species of fern, say the rare and delicate\n\u201cmaiden-hair fern,\u201d[57] one of the smallest and most elegant ferns of\nEngland, we find the fructification very distinct on the under side, and\nthe different methods in which this fructification is arranged is now\nthe principal guide in the classification of ferns. But if we take a\nfossil fern, say the pecopteris, found in the coal measures, we shall\nsee that there has been so much dislocation and crushing, that all\nappearance of seed-vessels has disappeared. The following sketch will\nexplain this.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n EXTINCT FERN, AND MAIDEN-HAIR FERN.\n]\n\n\u201cNothing,\u201d says Professor Ansted, \u201chowever, is more certain than that\nall coal was once vegetable; for in most cases the woody structure may\nbe detected under the microscope, and this, if not in the coal in its\nordinary state, at least in the burnt ashes which remain after it has\nbeen exposed to the action of heat, and has lost its bituminous and\nsemi-crystalline character. This has been too well and too frequently\nproved by actual experiment to require more than the mere statement of\nthe fact.\u201d And here let us say a few words, which to a few perhaps may\nhave the charm of novelty, about the economic history of coal; for as\nCowper says that the first curse, \u201clabour,\u201d has, by God\u2019s blessing on\nit, been \u201csoftened into mercy,\u201d so do we add also, in his words,\nheartily subscribing to their truth,\u2014\n\n \u201cThus studied, used, and consecrated thus,\n On earth what is, seems formed indeed for us;\n Not as the plaything of a froward child,\n Fretful unless diverted and beguiled;\n But as scale, by which the soul ascends\n From mighty means to more important ends;\n Securely, though by steps but rarely trod,\n Mounts from inferior beings up to God;\n And sees, by no fallacious light or dim,\n Earth made for man, and man himself for Him.\u201d\n\nHow long coal has been known and used, we cannot certainly tell, but a\nwriter in Lardner\u2019s Cabinet Cyclop\u00e6dia states that the first mention of\ncoal is in the pages of one Theophrastus, who was, it seems, a pupil of\nAristotle. He says, \u201cThose fossil substances that are called coals,\u201d\n(Greek, \u1f04\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03b1\u03be) \u201cand are broken for use, are earthy; they kindle,\nhowever, and burn like wood coals; they are found in Liguria and in the\nway to Olympias over the mountains, and are used by the smiths.\u201d C\u00e6sar,\nalthough he speaks of the metals of the British isles, does not once\nmention its coal; but it seems more than likely that it was both known\nand used by the Romans during their occupation of Britain. Horsley, in\nhis \u201cBritannia Romana,\u201d says of Benwell, a village near\nNewcastle-on-Tyne, \u201cThere was a coalry not far from this place, which is\njudged by those who are best skilled in such affairs to have been\nwrought by the Romans; and, in digging up the foundations of one of the\nRoman walled cities, coal cinders very large were dug up, which glowed\nin the fire like other coal cinders, and were not to be known from them\nwhen taken up.\u201d\n\nDuring the time of the Saxons, we find ourselves on less doubtful\nground. In a grant made to the monks of Peterborough Abbey for one\nnight\u2019s annual entertainment, those good old souls had, we find, \u201cten\nvessels of Welsh ale, two vessels of common ale, sixty cartloads of\nwood, and twelve cartloads of _fossil coal_,\u201d (_carbonum fossilium_.)\n\nThe Danes had so much fighting on hand, that they troubled themselves\nneither with coal nor civilization; and we know little of our English\ndiamond until we come to Henry the Third\u2019s reign, when, in 1239, a\ncharter was granted to the inhabitants of Newcastle-on-Tyne to dig\ncoals, and we find the coal called for the first time \u201c_carbo maris_,\u201d\nor sea-coal, a term retained through all the succeeding centuries. About\nthis time chimneys came into fashion. As long as people burnt wood they\nscarcely needed chimneys, but coal introduced chimneys, to say nothing\nof steamboats and railroads. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who at that\ntime used to reside alternately at Croydon and at Lambeth, had by royal\npermission thirty cartloads of \u201csea-borne coal\u201d annually delivered at\nhis archiepiscopal palace, because, says the historian, \u201cfor his own\nprivate use in his own chamber he now had the convenience of chimneys.\u201d\n\nThe smoke nuisance of that day deserves a passing notice. Smoke was then\nwith many a grand luxury. Old Hollingshed says, \u201cNow we have many\nchimneys, yet our tenderlings do complain of rheums, and catarrhs, and\nposes. Once we had nought but rere-doses,[58] and our heads did never\nake. For the smoke of those days was a good hardening for the house, and\na far better medicine to keep the good man and his family from the quack\nor the pose, with which then very few were acquainted. There are old men\nyet dwelling in the village where I remain, who have noted how the\nmultitude of chimneys do increase, whereas in their young days, there\nwas not above two or three, if so many, in some uplandish towns of the\nrealm, and peradventure in the manor places of some great lords; but\neach one made his fire against a rere-dose in the hall, where he dined\nand dressed his meat. But when our houses were built of willow, then we\nhad oaken men; but now that our houses are made of oak, our men are not\nonly become willow, but a great many altogether men of straw, which is a\nsore alteration.\u201d\n\nLeaving this digression, let us try and get a bird\u2019s-eye view of the\ncoal-fields of the British Isles. If we commence in Devonshire, we find\nthere the Devonian culms, or Bovey Tracey coal, lying near the surface\nof the ground, and of little except local use. Crossing over the Bristol\nChannel, we come into Pembrokeshire, to the Welsh basin, remarkable\nbecause thence we mostly get our anthracite coal. Thence we pass on to\nthe Derbyshire coal-fields, that go with little interruption into\nScotland, averaging 200 miles in length, and about 40 in width,\u2014once\nmighty tropical swamps, jungles, and forests, now become chief minerals\nof commerce. Included in this last immense field is the great Newcastle\ncoal district, the most celebrated of any, supplying almost all the\nsouth of England, and nearly all London, with their best coals; and the\nScotch carboniferous system, celebrated for its numerous fossils, and\nfor its general base of old red sandstone. In addition to which there is\nthe Irish carboniferous system, occupying as much as 1,000 square miles,\nbut of an inferior quality, and not likely to be of any great economical\nimportance.\n\nIn the words of Professor Ansted, we add: \u201cThis account of the coal-beds\ngives a very imperfect notion of the quantity of vegetable matter\nrequired to form them; and, on the other hand, the rate of increase of\nvegetables, and the quantity annually brought down by some great rivers\nboth of the eastern and western continents, is beyond all measure\ngreater than is the case in our drier and colder climates. Certain kinds\nof trees which contributed largely to the formation of the coal, seem to\nhave been almost entirely succulent,[59] and capable of being squeezed\ninto a small compass during partial decomposition. This squeezing\nprocess must have been conducted on a grand scale, and each bed in\nsuccession was probably soon covered up by muddy and sandy\naccumulations, now alternating with the coal in the form of shale and\ngritstone. Sometimes the trunks of trees caught in the mud would be\nretained in a slanting or nearly vertical position, while the sands were\naccumulating around them; sometimes the whole would be quietly buried,\nand soon cease to exhibit any external marks of vegetable origin.\u201d[60]\n\nThere are various kinds of coal on which we may bestow a few words.\nThere is _anthracite_, or non-bituminous coal, and which, therefore,\nburns without flame or smoke, and is extensively used in malting; and\n_sea-coal_, which is highly bituminous, and which gives forth so much\nflame and smoke, that in the good old times of 1306, Parliament forbad\nits use in London by fine and by demolition of all furnaces in which it\nwas burnt, because \u201cthis coal did corrupt the air with its great smoke\nand stink;\u201d and _cannel-coal_, the etymology of which, they say, is firm\nthe word candle, because in many parts of Lancashire the poor use it in\nplace of oil or tallow for lights; and _jet_, sometimes called black\namber, which in France employs about 1,200 men in one district, in\nmaking earrings, rosaries, and other ornaments; and last of all, there\nis wood passing into coal called _lignite_, found only in the Devonshire\nculms.\n\nHaving thus glanced at the natural history and varieties of coal, we may\nhere try and realize the flora of the carboniferous era. An examination\nof the fossils of this period enables us to come to undoubted\nconclusions concerning the trees and plants of that era, so that it is\nno mere dream to look upon a picture like the following, and see in it a\nlandscape of the coal-forming time of the British islands.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FLORA OF THE COAL MEASURES RESTORED.\n]\n\nThe sun then poured down his golden beams of heat and light, and a\ntropical climate prevailed in our now cold and humid England. The\nmountain tops were gilded with his rays; a vast ocean studded with\nislands, and these crowned with gigantic palms and ferns, then covered\nour northern hemisphere. In that ocean but few fish were to be found,\nthough many rare molluscous animals swam to and fro, enjoying their\nbrief term of life, and discharging all their appropriate functions.\nMountain streams discharged their muddy waters into this ocean, leaving\nalong their margin course broken trees, vegetables, grasses and ferns.\nThe giant Lepidodendron looked like a monarch of the ancient world,\nwhile around him smaller ferns, vying with each other in beauty and\ngrace, grew, \u201cfirst the blade\u201d and then the ripened frond, until, in\nobedience to the great law of organic life, they died and decayed, and\nbecame material for the coming man\u2019s future use. But amidst all this\nprodigal luxuriousness of the vegetable world, there appears to have\nbeen neither bird nor beast to break the monotony of the scene; all was\nsilent as the grave\u2014rank, moist verdure below; magnificent ferns and\npalms above, and the stillness of death on every side.[61]\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nLet us, however, glance at the principal ferns, whose fossil remains we\nhave often found at the mouth of many a coalpit thrown out among the\nwaste. The uncouth names given to them, uncouth only in appearance, must\nnot deter the reader from his acquaintance with their peculiarities; for\nare not the names of botanical science almost, if not quite, as\nrepellent at first? This star-shaped beauty, (1) the _asterophyllite_,\n(from _aster_, a star, and _phyllon_, a leaf,) was a common one; this\n(2) is the _sphenopteris_ (from _sph\u0113n_, a wedge, and _pteron_, a wing),\nso named from a fancied resemblance of the petals of the frond to a\nwedge; the next (3) is the _pecopteris_ (from _pekos_, a comb, and\n_pteron_, a wing), from a resemblance of the frond to the teeth of a\ncomb; the next (4) is the _odontopteris_ (from _odous_, a tooth, and\n_pteron_, a wing), and in this the frond is something like the jaws of a\nshark bound together by a central stem, from which they diverge; and the\nlast (5), our favourite, is the _neuropteris_ (from _neuros_, a nerve,\nand _pteron_, a wing), on account of the exquisite beauty with which the\nfibres, like nerves, distribute themselves.\n\n\u201cBesides the ferns, then growing to a great size, there were other\nplants whose modern representatives are uniformly small; but as the\nresemblance in this case is simply one of general form, and the great\nmajority of other trees seem to possess no living type to which they can\nbe referred, it is by no means impossible that these also may be\ncompletely lost. One example of them is seen in a plant, fragments of\nwhich are extremely common in the coal measures, and which has been\ncalled _calamite_.[62] The remains of calamites consist of jointed\nfragments, which were originally cylindrical, but are now almost always\ncrushed and flattened. They resemble very closely in general appearance\nthe common jointed reed, growing in marshes, and called _equisetum_, or\nmare\u2019s tail; but instead of being confined to a small size, they would\nseem to have formed trees, having a stem more than a foot in diameter,\nand jointed branches and leaves of similar gigantic proportions. They\nwere evidently soft and succulent, and very easily crushed. They seem to\nhave grown in great multitudes near the place where the coal is now\naccumulated; and though often broken, they seldom bear marks of having\nbeing transported from a distance.\u201d[63] The fossils of the carboniferous\nsystem here figured we found not long since in the neighbourhood of\nStockport.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n CALAMITES.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n CALAMITE.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n STIGMARIA FICOIDES.\n]\n\nThis chapter on the carboniferous system must not be further lengthened.\nWe do not aspire to teach the science of geology; we aim only to impart\nsuch a taste for it as shall lead the reader to consult our master works\non this subject, and if we succeed in this humble but useful aim, our\npurpose will be fully answered. Only in reference to the economic uses\nof coal, we will quote the following, copied, we believe, from the\n\u201cAthen\u00e6um\u201d some time since, but unfortunately copied without reference\nto its original; a lesson for common-place-book keepers. The writer in\nspeaking of coal-gas says: \u201cThe consumption of gas is enormous. The\nfollowing statistics give us an insight into the extent which this\nbranch of industry has attained. In England 6,000,000 tons of coals are\nannually employed for the manufacture of gas, and from 12,000,000 to\n15,000,000 pounds sterling expended in its production. In London alone\n500,000 tons of coals are annually used, producing 4,500,000,000 cubic\nfeet of gas, and 500,000 chaldrons of coke; of the latter, 125,000\nchaldrons are consumed in manufacturing the gas, and the remainder sold\nfor fuel. Upwards of half-a-million houses in London burn gas, and the\nlength of the main arteries for conveying it is 1,600 miles. The capital\nemployed in the metropolis is 4,000,000_l._ The manufacture of coal-gas\nfor the purpose of illumination affords one of the most striking\ninstances of the triumphs of science when enlisted in the divine cause\nof civilization. Looking at it as a whole, and regarding the ingenuity\nevinced in the construction of apparatus, the chemical skill and beauty\ndisplayed in the process, and the very valuable purposes to which it is\napplied, it forms one of the most beautiful, curious, and useful of our\nmanufactures; and probably there is no subject of a manufacturing\ncharacter in the present day which more engages public attention,\ncoal-gas having now become not a mere luxury, or even convenience, but\nan absolute necessary. In the words of my late colleague and friend, Dr.\nHofmann, \u2018The extent to which the use of gas has affected the arts and\nmanufactures in this country, can only be conceived by those who are\naware of its innumerable applications in the double capacity of giving\nlight and heat. To our experimental chemists the benefits afforded by\ngas cannot be overrated, more especially in England, where the price of\nspirits of wine is so exorbitant. But for the use of gas in the\nlaboratory, the progress of chemistry in this country must have been\ngreatly retarded.\u2019\n\n\u201cIn speaking of the general influence of the manufacture of coal-gas, it\nis impossible to leave unnoticed the number of hands daily engaged in\nraising whole strata of coal, in loading and navigating the fleets\nemployed in conveying it, not only to the different parts of this\nkingdom, but to foreign countries, which consume a larger quantity of\nEnglish coal for the production than is generally known. The extension\nof the gas enterprise produced a sensible effect on the ironworks, by\nthe vast number of retorts, the stupendous gas-holders, and endless\npipes required for generating, storing, and conveying it.\n\n\u201cSeveral other branches of trade were also forced into increased\nactivity, and even new trades sprung up in consequence of the extended\nuse of gas. The substances produced in the purification of gas naturally\nattracted the attention of the gas manufacturer; and chemistry soon\npointed out valuable purposes to which they might be applied. The oily\nmatter, which separates as a secondary product in the distillation of\ncoal, yielded, when purified in its more volatile portion, the most\nconvenient solvent for caoutchouc; another part of it was found to be an\nefficient preservative of timber, and the pitchy residue formed the\nchief ingredient of an excellent substitute for the flag stones of our\npavements; while the ammoniacal liquors were found useful in improving\nthe fertility of land. Thus, after the lapse of countless ages, was the\nnitrogen of petrified fern forests resuscitated in the ammoniacal\nliquors of the gas-works, to vegetate once more and increase the produce\nof our corn fields.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n SIR HUMPHREY DAVY\u2019S LAMP, AND MINER AT WORK.\n]\n\n \u201cAll nature feels the secret power,\n And through eternal change obeys\n Up from the deepest region creeps\n The trace of life of former days.\u201d\n _Faust._\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n SECONDARY FORMATIONS.\n _No. 1. The New Red Sandstone._\n\n \u201cThere is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture\u2019s eye hath\n not seen; the lions\u2019 whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion\n passed by it.\u201d\u2014JOB.\n\n\nWe now take our leave of the Pal\u00e6ozoic period, and enter upon the\ninvestigation of other and more recent geological epochs in the history\nof the crust of our planet. This division is known by the names\nSecondary or Mesozoic,[64] and is inclusive of the New Red Sandstone,\nOolitic, Wealden, and Cretaceous groups. If, in our previous survey, we\nhave had our minds filled with wonder as we looked at the disinterred\nrelics of past creations, and have gazed at these fossil forms of\nancient life with almost a loving interest in their still remaining\nbeauty; so, as we now study higher types of life, and behold how \u201cother\nwonders rise, and seize the soul the prisoner of amaze,\u201d we shall find\nreason upon reason for the penetration of our minds with the profoundest\nadoration of Deity. No man turning up a tumulus, and there finding\ncoins, weapons, beads, vases, or other such historical relics, would\nventure to say such things were created there; on the contrary, he would\nacknowledge that they were Roman, and that he had come to that\nconclusion by perceiving their resemblance to other and similar ancient\nRoman relics, discovered where there could be no doubt of their origin\nand history. Or if a traveller were to visit the cities of Herculaneum\nand Pompeii, and there find buried beneath the overwhelming torrent of\nonce burning lava, all possible kinds of human memorials, not only in\nhuman _works_, but also in the skeleton remains of human _beings_, would\nhe not come to the conclusion that these were indubitable evidences of\nthose cities having once been inhabited by man, and that these skeletons\nwere once covered with warm flesh, and that they had lived, and moved,\nand had their being, even as we do now, amidst the activities and\nenjoyments of actual life? We apply this to geology. There are persons\nwho never judge by _evidence_, (though what else have we to judge by?)\nbut rashly jump to conclusions about geological facts, that have not a\nparticle of common sense to sustain them. They never think that every\nrounded pebble they meet with has been so rounded by the action of\nwater; they imagine sand to have been created as sand, instead of taking\nthe geologist\u2019s proof, that all sand has been produced by the action of\nmoving water on solid rock. They believe that fossils were created, and\nthat God put encrinital remains, and dead ammonites, and bones of\nsaurians, and teeth and bones of great mammals, in the earth, just as we\nfind them in the cliffs and caves of this and every country; and they\nimagine that thus to account for the wonders of creation redounds to the\nglory of that God whom thus they ignorantly worship. Even our great\npublishing society in Paternoster Row,[65] that has published about\neverything in natural history but geology, has acknowledged to me that\nit declines to undertake a work on this science, because of the\n_theological difficulties_ connected with the subject. Why, what is this\nbut the very way to breed infidelity? The man who studies nature and who\nstudies his Bible, is not ashamed to say he believes them both; though\ntwo books, they are both given by inspiration of God. Man may be a liar,\nbut neither nature nor the Bible can lie; and while one tells us the\nhistory of man, the other reveals to us the history of the creation, and\nsuccession of those beings which preceded the advent of man.\n\nWe now come to the New Red Sandstone, which must occupy our attention\nboth on account of the unique fossil remains found in it, and also on\naccount of its economic use and value in commerce. Few formations, small\nas it is, possess so many points of interest to the beginner as the new\nred sandstone; for, lying just above the carboniferous, and between it\nand the oolitic group, we find in it certain curiosities of very olden\ntime, that are full of marvellous power to fill us with amaze. Every one\nremembers Robinson Crusoe\u2019s surprise at finding \u201cthe print of a man\u2019s\nnaked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen in the sand,\u201d\nand how he \u201cstood like one thunder-struck, or as if he had seen an\napparition;\u201d and then how he \u201cwent again to see if it might not be his\nfancy, but there was no room for that, for there was exactly the very\nprint of a foot, toes, heel, and every part of a foot;\u201d and then how,\nafter \u201cinnumerable fluttering thoughts, and out of himself,\u201d he went\nhome terrified to his fortification.\n\nEqually surprising are the discoveries made in the old red sandstone.\nLarge slabs of this rock have been discovered in England, in Scotland,\nand in the United States, on which are left, as Robinson left the\nimpression of his foot, the undisturbed footmarks of _pre-Adamite_\nanimals; the ebb and flow of the tide of those distant ages; the\nripple-mark showing the direction of the wind; and casts of the\nrainprints made by showers, long long ages ere man had taken possession\nof the \u201cdeep places of the earth.\u201d \u201cRomantic nonsense!\u201d says a grave\nfriend; \u201clet us go to something practical, instead of losing ourselves\nin such idle speculations.\u201d Now, you are just the person whose ear we\nwant to catch; and to you we say, just listen to the evidence of these\nassertions. \u201cThe casts of rainprints below project from the under side\nof two layers; the one a sandy shale, and the other a sandstone\npresenting a warty or a blistered surface, and affording evidence of\ncracks formed by the shrinkage of subjacent clay on which rain had\nfallen. The great humidity of the climate of the coal period had been\npreviously inferred from the nature of its vegetation, and the\ncontinuity of its forests for hundreds of miles; but it is satisfactory\nto have at length obtained such positive proofs of showers of rain, the\ndrops of which resembled in their average size those which now fall from\nthe clouds. From such data we may presume that the atmosphere of the\ncarboniferous period corresponded in density with that now investing the\nglobe and that different currents of air varied then as now in\ntemperature, so as to give rise, by their mixture, to the condensation\nof aqueous vapour.\u201d[66]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n CASTS OF RAIN-PRINTS.\n]\n\nAgain, let us hear the words of Professor Ansted. \u201cIt may appear at\nfirst sight that nothing can be more fleeting, or less likely to be\nhanded down to future ages, among the fossils of a bed of sandstone,\nthan the casts of the impressions of the footsteps of an animal, which\nby chance may have walked over that bed when it existed in the condition\nof loose sand forming a seashore. A little consideration, however, will\nshow that it is in fact a very possible occurrence, as, if the wet sand\nshould be immediately covered up with a thin coating of marl, and\nanother layer of sand be superimposed, such an impression will be\npermanently preserved. In after ages, also, when the soft sands have\nbecome sandstones, and are elevated above their former level, the stones\nsplit asunder wherever a layer of different material occurs; and thus it\nhappens that the casts of the footsteps may be preserved and exhibited,\nalthough all other traces of the former existence of the animal have\nbeen lost.\u201d[67]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOOTPRINTS OF A TRYDACTYLE BIRD, AND IMPRESSION OF RAIN.\n (_Nat. size._)\n]\n\nIf we go to the British Museum, on the north wall of room No. 1. we\nshall find slabs of sandstone containing footprints of animals,\napparently bipeds and quadrupeds, of which we find the following notice\nin the catalogue of the Museum; and when this description is compared\nwith the three drawings that follow, we make no doubt of carrying the\nconviction of the reader along with our own, as to the origin of these\nextraordinary _ichnites_,[68] as such petrified prints are termed:\u2014\u201cThe\nslabs of sandstone on the north wall of this room, with the supposed\ntracks of an animal called Cheirotherium, are that on the left from the\nquarries of Hildburghausen in Saxony, and that in the centre from those\nof Horton Hill, near Liverpool, (the latter presented by J. Tomkinson,\nEsq.) On the right hand are placed slabs from the same new red sandstone\nformation, with equally enigmatical imprests of various dimensions,\ncalled Ornithichnites,[69] being very like footmarks of birds; they\noccur in the sandstone beds near Greenfield, Massachusetts, at a\ncataract in the Connecticut River known by the name of Turner\u2019s Falls.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOOTPRINTS OF BIPEDS (BIRDS?) PROM TURNER\u2019S FALLS.\n (_Size of slab, 8 ft. by 6._)\n]\n\nThe lines in this drawing are merely to indicate the direction, the line\nof progress, of these bipeds, and the reader by following the lines will\nfind the illustration all the more interesting.\n\nBut the most remarkable footprints preserved on slabs of sandstone are\nthose of a quadruped, whose hinder feet were much larger than his fore\nfeet. Some of our marsupial[70] quadrupeds, such as the opossum and\nkangaroo, and many species of batrachian[71] reptiles, are distinguished\nby the same peculiarity. Below is a copy of this slab, which is in the\nwindow recess of the same room of the British Museum.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nThe animal that left these impressions on the soft sandy shore, that are\nnow converted into hard stone, was originally named the\nCheirotherium,[72] and, indeed, this name is still retained by many\nwriters, the hand-like footprints being quite a sufficient reason for so\nappropriate a name; but latterly the teeth of a fossil animal, supposed\nto be the same as the Cheirotherium, having been examined, and\ndisclosing a peculiarly labyrinthine character, the animal has been\ncalled Labyrinthodon.[73] Professor Owen, the great comparative\nanatomist of geology, has fairly established the real character of this\nanimal. He says it is a huge frog, a gigantic batrachian, with hinder\nfeet at least twelve inches in length, combining a crocodilian with a\nfrog-like structure; and although the actual shape and proportions of\nsuch an animal must remain greatly an enigma, it is one of the wondrous\nmarvels of geology to pause over these extinct huge creatures, and mark\nin them the exhaustless resources of creative power.\n\n \u201cSo reads he nature, whom the lamp of truth\n Illuminates,\u2014thy lamp, mysterious Word!\n Which whoso sees, no longer wanders lost,\n With intellects bemazed in endless doubt,\n But runs the road of wisdom. Thou hast built\n Worlds that never had been, hadst thou in strength\n Been less, or less benevolent than strong.\u201d\n\nIn Professor Ansted\u2019s remarkable prose poem on geology, called, \u201cThe\nAncient World,\u201d we have the following picture of the new red sandstone\nperiod, which we quote for its vivid but faithful colouring:\u2014\u201cWe may\nimagine a wide, low, sandy track by the sea-side; the hills and cliffs\nof limestone, which still rise boldly on the shores of the Avon, and in\nDerbyshire and Yorkshire, having then been recently elevated, and\nforming a fringe to the coast line. In some places, where footprints are\nfound in successive beds and at different levels, local elevation was\nprobably going on, and the line of coast was occasionally shifting. The\nsandy fiats thus laid bare, and not reached by the ordinary level of\nhigh water, were of course traversed by the ancient animals of that\nperiod; but only a few faint records of them have been handed down for\nour observation. Amongst these, however, we are able to enumerate\nturtles and tortoises, a little lizard having a bird-like beak, and\nprobably a bird\u2019s foot,\u2014birds themselves, some larger than an ostrich,\nothers as small as our smaller waders. In some parts of the world there\nwere also large reptiles with powerful tusks, not surpassed in the\namount of their departure from the ordinary structure of reptiles by any\nknown aberrant forms of that strange and varied tribe.\n\n\u201cAmongst the most striking of these objects, at least on our own shores,\nwould be the numerous and gigantic Labyrinthodons. We may imagine one of\nthese animals, as large as a rhinoceros, pacing leisurely over the\nsands, leaving deep imprints of its heavy, elephantine hind foot,\nstrangely contrasting with the diminutive step of its short fore\nextremities. Another, a small variety, provided like the kangaroo, not\nonly with powerful hind legs, but also with a strong tail,[74] also\nleaves its impress on the sand, although itself, perhaps, soon fell a\nvictim to the voracity of its larger congener. These and others of their\nkind, passing over the sands, and marking there the form of their\nexpanded feet, marched onwards in their course, fulfilled their part in\nnature, and then disappeared for ever from the earth, leaving, in some\ncases, no fragment of bone, and no other indication of their shape and\nsize than this obscure intimation of their existence.\n\n\u201cIt is strange that in a thin bed of fine clay, occurring between two\nmasses of sandstone, we should thus have convincing evidence preserved\nconcerning some of the earth\u2019s inhabitants at this early period. The\nripple mark, the worm track, the scratching of the small crab on the\nsand, and even the impression of rain drops, so _distinct as to indicate\nthe direction of the wind_ at the time of the shower,\u2014these and the\nfootprints of the bird and the reptile are all stereotyped, and offer an\nevidence which no argument can gainsay, no prejudice resist, concerning\nthe natural history of a very ancient period of the earth\u2019s history. But\nthe waves that made that ripple mark have long since ceased to wash\nthose shores; for ages has the surface then exposed been concealed under\ngreat thicknesses of strata; the worm and the crab have left no solid\nfragment to speak to their form or structure; the bird has left no bone\nthat has yet been discovered; and the fragments of the reptile are\nsmall, imperfect, and extremely rare. Still, enough is known to\ndetermine the fact, and that fact is the more interesting and valuable\nfrom the very circumstances under which it is presented.\u201d[75]\n\nBut reminding ourselves of one part of the title of our book, which\nprofesses not only to describe the crust of the earth, but also to point\nout its uses, we must add a few words on the economic value of this\nsmall but interesting formation. In this same new red sandstone are\nfound the salt mines of Cheshire, and the brine pits of Worcestershire,\nwhich supply all the rock and table salt consumed in England, besides\nvast quantities for exportation. The rock salt of Cheshire was first\ndiscovered near Northwich, while searching for coal; but the largest\nmine, called the Wilton Mine, is at Nantwich, and still yields about\n60,000 tons of salt annually. The salt is generally found from\ntwenty-eight to forty-eight yards beneath the surface, in thick strata\nvarying from fifteen to thirty-five yards in thickness. Besides these\nbeds of salt, there are brine springs from twenty to forty yards in\ndepth. Our common table salt is almost exclusively derived from these\nsprings, which is produced by evaporating the water, and allowing the\nsalt to settle at the bottom of the pans, where, after being washed, it\nis placed in moulds like the China clay, and comes to our grocers\u2019 shops\nin the blocks we frequently see. \u201cSo far as observation has yet gone,\nthe English supply is practically inexhaustible; no limit is known to\nthe extent of the beds or the springs; and it ought to be regarded as\none of the blessings which we owe to the mineral wealth of our country,\nthat the beautiful table salt of England may be obtained at such an\nextremely low price as that now charged for it.\u201d[76]\n\nTo this formation, with its fossil footprints, we owe doubtless the fine\nfancy of Longfellow, in one of his sweet minor poems; and we shall bring\nthis chapter to a close by quoting the last three verses of this lyric.\nIf we can fulfil such a mission, we had better be frail and erring men\nthan huge Labyrinthodons:\u2014\n\n \u201cLives of great men all remind us,\n We can make our lives sublime,\n _And departing, leave behind us\n Footprints on the sands of time_.\n\n \u201cFootprints, that perhaps another,\n Sailing o\u2019er life\u2019s solemn main,\n A forlorn and shipwreck\u2019d brother,\n Seeing, shall take heart again.\n\n \u201cLet us, then, be up and doing,\n With a heart for any fate;\n Still achieving, still pursuing,\n Learn to labour and to wait.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n SECONDARY ROCKS.\n _No. 2. The Oolitic System._\n\n \u201cHast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest\n it all.\u201d\u2014JOB.\n\n\nThe next division of the secondary rocks is termed the Oolitic system or\ngroup. This is a term rather of convenience than of scientific accuracy.\nIn this title it is intended to include the Lias, the Oolite proper, and\nthe Wealden formations. This chapter will be limited to a consideration\nof the first two series of rocks just named, and in each we shall find\nabundant material for thoughtful contemplation and intelligent wonder.\nThe English student of geology possesses this great advantage over the\nstudent of geology in other lands: this little \u201ccorner of Europe,\u201d\ncalled England, contains types of almost all the European rocks, and not\na few of those that are found in Asia, Africa, and America. To this fact\nProfessor Whewell alluded when he said, \u201cAs if nature wished to imitate\nour geological maps, she has placed in the corner of Europe our island,\ncontaining an index series of European formations in full detail.\u201d Out\nof this circumstance, though little thought of by any except the\ngeologist, arise our threefold sources of wealth. But for the varied\ndistribution of rocks through our country, neither mining, nor\nmanufacturing, nor agricultural operations could be carried on to that\nextent, and with that success, which have made this country the envy and\nthe admiration of the civilized world. In the warlike age, when\nShakspeare wrote, we expect that his praise of England will be on\naccount of her internal security from foreign invasion, and in the hardy\nprowess of her sons; as when he says, and we are not insensible to the\npatriotic emotions wakened up by such noble words,\u2014\n\n \u201cThis royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,\n This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,\n This fortress built by nature for herself,\n Against infection and the hand of war;\n This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.\u201d\n _King Richard II._\n\nBut, we confess, we rather dwell on other features in our physical and\nsocial history, as affording the best proof of our real greatness, and\nthe best illustration of our untiring Anglo-Saxon energy. We would\nrather record such facts as the following, than announce any \u201cfamous\nvictory;\u201d we would rather turn fondly to considerations like these, than\ncontemplate\n\n \u201cOur sands that will not bear her enemy\u2019s boats,\n But suck them to the top-mast.\u201d\n\n\u201cThough animal organization is beyond the constructive skill of man, he\ntakes the elements existing in nature, and by new combinations gets new\npower. He keeps adding to the qualities of his noblest coursers, his\nfleetest dogs, and his goodliest beeves. He year by year develops the\nresources of the soil, reclaims the marsh from wild fowl, the heath from\nrabbits, and the flinty hillside from briars and thistles. He goes on\nmultiplying the blades of grass and grains of corn, and compels an equal\narea to yield a twofold substance. He discovers in his raw materials\nunsuspected properties, until soda and sand are converted into a Crystal\nPalace, and water, coal, and stony ore into a train, which rushes with\nthe might of an earthquake and the velocity of the wind. He devises\nfresh applications of machinery, and in the creations of his ingenuity\nfinds a servant and a master. The broad result to England is quickly\ntold: fifty years have doubled the population, and employment and\nsubsistence have been doubled likewise. An engine is contrived which\neconomises labour, and threatens starvation to the labourer; but the\nissue proves that the work it makes is more than it saves. Annihilate\nall the cranks and wheels constructed in the interval, and return our\ncounties with their present population to the condition in which they\nwere when the century began, and there would be nothing but famine in\nthe land. A government wiser than man\u2019s has provided, in the constant\nexertion of talent, for the increase of our race, and maintains a\nproportion between our wants and our progress. Every round we rise in\nthe ladder leads to a higher; but our step is limited, or we should\noutstrip our needs by too prodigious a stride, and encroach on the\nrights of a future age.\u201d[77]\n\nThere is no turning over a leaf in the many-paged book of geologic\ninvestigation, without finding the frequent application of thoughts like\nthese. Every part of the crust of the earth has its uses, and uses, too,\nthat are peculiar to _it_; and as we have endeavoured hitherto to point\nout the economic uses of each formation in the great onward progress of\nhumanity, we shall not find ourselves at a loss in this respect, now\nthat we enter the second division of the secondary rocks.\n\nWe commence with the Lias.[78] During the new red sandstone period, clay\nand marl were being deposited at the bottom of the seas and lakes then\nin existence. These were the natural degradations of existing rocks;\ninto these soft deposits sunk various pre-Adamite remains, finding in\nthe soft argillaceous beds ready to receive them the \u201cpossession of a\nburying-place\u201d provided for them by the infinite Creator. Here they\nremained until in process of time, at the close of the new red sandstone\nperiod, these beds and their contents were upheaved from beneath the\nocean, apparently without much violence; and becoming hardened by the\nchemical action of sun and wind, present us with the formation we are\nnow studying, rich in its peculiarly characteristic fossils. The name\nlias, or layers, indicates the finely stratified condition of the rocks,\nand affords proof of the tranquil method of their deposit and upheaval.\nThey stretch in a north-easterly direction from Lyme Regis, in\nDorsetshire, where it may be seen on the open coast cliffs for about\nfour miles, on to Whitby, in Yorkshire, where also it lies open to the\nsea, in cliffs of considerable elevation, and lying conformably with\nother strata, and is thus particularly favourable to geologistic\nexamination. It is in the shales of the lias at Whitby, and at Lyme\nRegis, that most of the extraordinary and remarkable fossils have been\nmet with that we are about to describe, and for which this formation is\nso justly renowned. Indeed, so far as pal\u00e6ontology, or the knowledge of\nancient beings, is concerned, there is no formation more full of\ninterest to the student.\n\nHere we meet for the first time with the ammonite. We will introduce him\nfirst in his fictitious, and then in his real character, and this we do\nto show how science dispels the follies of ignorance and superstition.\nThe ammonites were once supposed to be petrified snakes\u2014indeed they are\neven now called by the ignorant, \u201c_snake-stones_;\u201d and the pleasant\nlittle legend about these snake-stones was this, that St. Hilda, who\nonce resided near Whitby, was very much annoyed, as any matron would be,\nespecially if she kept an establishment for young ladies, as St. Hilda\nis alleged to have done, by the multitude of snakes that infested the\nplace, and disturbed her equanimity. Accordingly, she set to work, and\nhaving first prayed their heads off, then prayed the snakes into stone.\nIn Scott\u2019s \u201cMarmion\u201d the legend reads thus:\u2014\n\n \u201cAnd how the nuns of Whitby told\n How of countless snakes, each one\n Was changed into a coil of stone\n When holy Hilda prayed,\n Themselves within their sacred bound,\n Their stony folds had often found.\u201d\u2014CANTO 2.\n\nRichardson, in his Geology, relates the \u201cinstance of a dealer who having\nbeen requested by his customers to supply them with some of the\ncreatures which had escaped decapitation, contrived to manufacture some\nheads of plaster of Paris, and affixed them to the specimens; thus he\npursued a thriving trade, until some remorseless geologist visiting the\nplace, not only beheaded the reptiles, but showed that they were in\nreality fossil shells.\u201d With the figure of the ammonite every reader of\ngeological books is familiar; it is, perhaps, the best known and most\nbeautiful of all our fossils. We give below a representation of four\ndifferent kinds, found in the lias and oolite.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1. AH. BECHEI. LIAS\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 2. AM. BRODIEI. OOLITE.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 3. AM. HUMPHRIESIANUS. LIAS.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 4. AM. WALCOTTI. LIAS.\n]\n\nIn general outline it will be seen that the ammonite somewhat resembles\nthe nautilus, and yet there are characteristic differences that are so\nstriking as to mock the development hypothesis. In the first place, the\nshell of the ammonite, though of the same flat discoidal form as that of\nthe nautilus, appears to have been much thinner; secondly, it will be\nseen that the whorls of the ammonite are rounder and more in number than\nthose of the nautilus; and lastly, the siphuncle, of which more\npresently, runs _round_ the chambers of the ammonite, but _through_ the\nchambers of the nautilus. Let us look a little at each of these\npeculiarities; and to aid us, we give below two drawings of sections of\nammonites, and two drawings of a nautilus.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n AM. K\u0152NIGI LIAS.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n NAUTILUS. (FOSSIL.) HORIZONTAL.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n AM. HETEROPHYLLUS. LIAS.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n NAUTILUS (FOSSIL), SHOWING THE SIPHUNCLE.\n]\n\nThe shell of the ammonite is a continued arch, having transverse arches\nor ribs crossing the main arch, giving to _some_ particular forms of\nbeauty, and to _all_ the peculiar symmetry of a series of spiral curves.\nBut, to compensate for the thinness of the shell, a peculiar adaptation\nis provided; it consists in the flutings which are seen in the surface,\noccasioned by the transverse ribs. A pencil-case made of a thin plate of\nsilver is all the stronger for being fluted, and the zinc roof of a\nrailway station is fluted or corrugated, on the same principle. It is\nthus that strength is combined with economy of material and elegance of\nform. In the ammonite we see this recent invention anticipated by the\nCreator, long ages ere man had appeared. In addition to this, those\nround knobs or bosses studding some of the ammonites (_e.g._ 1 and 3),\nlike gems upon a diadem, add strength as well as beauty to their frail\nforms, and thus served the same purpose as the groin work in gothic\narchitecture, a beautiful illustration of which may be seen in the roof\nof Salisbury Cathedral. Then, looking at the chambers of the shell in\nthe sections, we find that some were for living in, while others were\nmere empty air-cells, used for purposes of elevation or depression,\naccording as the animal wished to rise to the top or sink to the bottom\nof the sea,\u2014these front chambers being the drawing-rooms in which the\naristocratic ammonite lived. Running _round_ them is an hydraulic\ninstrument, called the siphuncle, or air-tube, by means of which\nsingular mechanism this curious animal altered his specific gravity for\npurposes of sinking or swimming. \u201cThe universal prevalence of such\ndelicate contrivances in the siphuncle, and of such undeviating and\nsystematic union of buoyancy and strength in the air chambers throughout\nthis entire family, are amongst the most prominent instances of order\nand method that pervade these remains of former races that inhabited the\nancient seas; and strange indeed must be the construction of that mind,\nwhich can believe that all this order and method can have existed\nwithout the direction and agency of some commanding and controlling\nMind,\u201d[79] These are what Cowper finely calls \u201c_the unambiguous\nfootsteps of the God_;\u201d and in tracing them our minds are elevated into\nexalted ideas of Him, whose wisdom is unsearchable, and whose ways are\npast finding out. With regard to the sections of the ammonite, as seen\nin the two previous figures, dimly indeed compared with the beautiful\nspecimens from which they were copied, we can only add, in the words of\nthe treatise just quoted, \u201cNothing can be more beautiful than the\nsinuous windings of these sutures in many species, at their union with\nthe exterior shell, adorning it with a succession of most graceful\nforms, resembling festoons of foliage and elegant embroidery. When these\nthin septa are converted into iron pyrites, their edges appear like\ngolden filagree work, meandering amid the pellucid spar that fills the\nchambers of the shelf.\u201d\n\nWe pass by some other fossils found in the lias, such as the\npentacrinite, of which we shall speak when we come to other members of\nthe crinoideal family, gryphites,[80] of which the _gryphea incurva_ is\nthe most common type, broken portions of which, and sometimes good\nspecimens, may be found in most gravel heaps, their peculiar form having\nobtained for them the name among the rustics of \u201c_devil\u2019s toe-nails_;\u201d\nand belemnites,[81] often met with in vast numbers, and known under the\nname of _ladies\u2019 fingers_, and _thunderbolts_; and fossil fish, a few\nspecimens of which are found in the lias.\n\nPassing by these, we next notice the huge Saurians,[82] by far the most\nwondrous vertebrated animals with which either the ancient or modern\nvestiges of creation have made us acquainted. These saurians, sometimes\ncalled Enaliosaurians, (_enalios_, the sea, and _sauros_, a lizard,) on\naccount of their peculiar habitat, may all be included in Milton\u2019s\ndescription of the leviathan, though it is hard to tell what precise\ncreature our great poet had in his \u201cmind\u2019s eye\u201d at the time of writing\nthis description\u2014one line of which, from having a syllable too much,\nreads most unrhythmically\u2014for the crocodile does not go so far out to\nsea as he represents, and if he did, would be hardly likely to go on to\nthe \u201cNorway foam;\u201d nor can he mean the whale, for the whale has no\n\u201cscaly rind:\u201d\u2014\n\n \u201cThat sea beast,\n Leviathan, which God of all his works\n Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.\u201d\n _Par. Lost_, Book I.\n\nBut before we enter on a description of these extinct and anomalous\ncreatures, we shall give a sketch of both. No. 1 is the skeleton of the\nIchthyosaurus,[83] restored from the fragments found chiefly at Lyme\nRegis: it may be seen, with several of its congeners and contemporaries,\nin the British Museum. No. 2 is a restored outline of this saurian; from\nboth of which sketches it will be seen that the most justly dreaded\nmonsters of our tropical climates sink into insignificance beside the\nancient tenants of the mighty deep, in those remote periods of\ngeological antiquity we are now contemplating. The combination of the\nforms of the fish and the lizard seems more like a troubled dream of\nFuseli, than the calm and philosophic deductions of the most eminent\nanatomists and philosophers.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nThe fossil remains of this creature show that it was intended chiefly,\nif not entirely, for a marine life. Like the seal, it may occasionally\nhave come to bask on the shore, although, like the seal, it possessed no\ndeveloped legs or feet, but only paddles. The size of these animals was\nenormous; they sometimes attained a length of upwards of thirty feet;\nand to realize such a creature, we must imagine our meeting with a\nmonster thus long in some tropical swamp, having a smooth slimy skin\nlike a whale, a long heavy head like a porpoise, teeth like a crocodile,\nvertebr\u00e6 hollow, and therefore light, like the vertebr\u00e6 of a fish,\nenabling it to dive swiftly to the bottom, and equally as swift to rise\nagain; and paddles like a whale. Again, look at the head,\u2014that is, go\ninto room No. 4 of the British Museum, and look with wonder, as we often\nhave, on Wall-case A(1), and B(2), and C(3), and you will agree with us\nthat the half of the wonders of this heteroclite[84] creature have not\nbeen told. It had a gape, that is, it could open its jaws seven feet, so\nthat a grenadier guard might walk into his mouth without stooping; it\nhad teeth, not placed in sockets, but arranged in a long continuous\ntrough; it had an eye more marvellous than the eye of the Ancient\nMariner, that kept the wedding guest sitting on a stone, who could do\nnought but hear, for the eye of the Ichthyosaur was often eighteen\ninches in diameter, so that a man might put his head, hat and all, into\nits socket,\u2014and this eye was possessed of more wondrous properties than\neven the eye of the celebrated Irishman that could see round a corner,\nfor the eye of the Ichthyosaur enabled its owner to see all round the\ncountry at one time; and as it was a very predatory animal, having\ndoubtless as many enemies as victims, it required this eye both day and\nnight, and accordingly the eye was placed _close to the nose_, so that\nthe animal could not come to the surface of the water to breathe without\nbeing immediately forewarned of danger, or advised of a prize.[85]\n\nNext follows the _Plesiosaurus_,[86] which may be seen, in its skeleton\nparts, restored, and in casts, in room No. 3 of the British Museum, in\nWall-cases D(4), E(5), F(6). \u201cThe beautiful state of preservation of\nmany of the Plesiosauri, the entire skeleton, from the point of the\nmuzzle to the extremity of the tail, lying in relief, as if it had sunk\ndown quietly on the soft clay, and become petrified on the spot,\nmanifests how different were the conditions in which the strata of the\nlias and the wealden were deposited; while the exquisite manner in which\nthe investing stone has been removed, attests the consummate skill and\nindefatigable zeal of the gentleman (Mr. Hawkins) by whom these superb\nfossils were developed.\u201d[87]\n\nBelow, No. 1, is a skeleton of the Plesiosaurus, and No. 2 is the\nrestored outline of the animal, whose largest specimen never exceeded\nseventeen feet.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nCuvier thus describes the Plesiosaur (we borrow the quotation from\nBuckland):\u2014\n\n\u201cThe Plesiosaur is the most heteroclite, and in character the most\nmonstrous, of all the animals that have yet been found amid the ruins of\na former world. To the head of a lizard it united the teeth of a\ncrocodile, a neck of enormous length resembling the body of a serpent, a\ntrunk and tail like that of an ordinary quadruped, the ribs of a\nchameleon, and the paddles of a whale. Such are the strange combinations\nof form and structure of the Plesiosaurus, a genus the remains of which,\nafter interment for thousands of years amidst the wreck of millions of\nextinct inhabitants of the ancient earth, are at length recalled to\nlight by the researches of the geologist, and submitted to our\nexamination in nearly as perfect a state as the bones of species that\nare now existing on the earth.\u201d\n\nWe add a word upon the uses of this portion of the crust of the earth,\nand we do so in the striking words of Hugh Miller. \u201cWe have seen how\nthis central district of England has its storehouses of coal, iron,\nsalt, lime,\u2014liberal donations to the wants of the human animal, from the\ncarboniferous, saliferous, and silurian systems; and to this we must now\nadd its inexhaustible deposits of medicine, contributions to the general\nstock by the oolitic system. Along the course of the lias medicinal\nsprings abound: there is no other part of England where they rise so\nthickly, or of a quality that exerts a more powerful influence on the\nhuman frame. The mineral waters of Cheltenham, for instance, so\ncelebrated for their virtues, are of the number; and the way in which\nthey are elaborated in such vast quantities seems to be as follows:\u2014They\nall rise in the lias, a formation abounding in sulphate of iron, lime,\nmagnesia, lignite, and various bituminous matters; but they all have\ntheir origin in the saliferous marls of the upper new red sandstone\nwhich the lias overlies. In the inferior formation they are simply brine\nsprings, but brine is a powerful solvent. Passing through the lias, it\nacts upon the sulphur and the iron\u2014becomes, by means of the acid thus\nset free and incorporated with it, a more powerful solvent\nstill\u2014operates upon the lime, upon the magnesia, upon the various\nlignites and bitumens\u2014and at length rises to the surface, a\nbrine-digested extract of liassic minerals. The several springs yield\nvarious analyses, according to the various rocks of the upper formation\nthrough which they pass; some containing more, some less lime, sulphur,\niron, magnesia, but in all the dissolving menstruum is the same. And\nsuch, it would appear, is the mode in which Nature prepares her simples\nin this rich district, and keeps her medicine-chest ever full.\u201d\n\nThus wondrous is the machinery of God\u2019s universe; every day utters some\nfresh speech, and every night shows forth some new knowledge.\n\n \u201cThe Lord of all, himself through all diffused,\n Sustains and is the life of all that lives.\n Nature is but a name for an effect,\n Whose cause is God.\u201d\n\n\n NOTE.\u2014We do not like to close this chapter without mentioning the name\n of _Mary Anning_, of Lyme Regis. It is mainly to her practical talent\n and perseverance that we owe these relics of past ages found in the\n lias: the history of the British Museum will have to record this\n humble name, as well as that of Sir Hans Sloane, its founder. The\n following we borrow from Miss Zornlin\u2019s \u201cRecreations in Geology,\u201d p.\n 197\u2014\n\n \u201cMary Anning died in 1847. Her father, by trade a carpenter, was in\n his own neighbourhood one of the first collectors of _coorosities_, as\n they are locally termed, such as _petrified ladies\u2019 fingers_ and\n _turbots_ (as the fish were termed), _verterbarries_ (vertebr\u00e6),\n _cornemonius_ (ammonites), and _crocodiles\u2019 jaws_ (ichthyosauri), &c.\n He died when his daughter Mary was about ten or eleven years old; and\n the circumstances of the family being straitened, she went down one\n day to the beach to search for \u2018coorosities.\u2019 She found a fine\n specimen of an ammonite; and as she was coming home, a lady who met\n her in the street offered her half-a-crown for the fossil in her hand.\n Mary Anning\u2019s future destiny was sealed. She prosecuted her searches\n \u2018on beach,\u2019 and in the following year (1811) observed among the ledges\n of the rocks a projecting bone of some animal. This enterprising girl\n (then only eleven years old) traced the fossil in the cliff, and hired\n some men to dig it out. It proved to be the skeleton of an\n ichthyosaurus, and has for many years formed an object of interest in\n the British Museum. Mary Anning afterwards sold this specimen for\n about 23_l._\u201d\n\n To this we add, that in the \u201cMemoirs of Ichthyosauri,\u201d by Thomas\n Hawkins, Esq. reference is made to Miss Anning, as one \u201cwho devoted\n herself to science, and explored the frowning and precipitous cliffs,\n when the furious spring-tide conspired with the howling tempest to\n overthrow them, and rescued from the devouring ocean, sometimes at the\n peril of her life, the few specimens which originated all the facts\n and ingenious theories of those eminent persons, whose names must ever\n be remembered with sentiments of the liveliest gratitude.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n SECONDARY ROCKS.\n _3. The Oolite proper._\n\n \u201cO Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them\n all.\u201d\u2014DAVID.\n\n\nProceeding with our rapid sketch of the crust of the earth and its uses,\nwe now leave the Lias, to enter upon a survey of the Oolite proper.\nOverlying the Lias, and underlying the Wealden, we find this deposit,\nwhich, though it occupies a comparatively narrow track in our own\ncountry, is remarkable for the peculiarity and beauty of its fossils,\nand for the commercial importance of the rocks of which it is composed.\nIts name is derived from _\u014d\u014fn_, an egg, and _lithos_, a stone,[88] from\nthe remarkable resemblance many of the beds bear to the roe, or eggs of\na fish. A good specimen of oolite and the hard roe of a red herring are\nunlike one another, mostly in the circumstance that one can be cooked,\nand the other cannot. These egg-like grains are mere agglomerations of\ncalcareous matter, although sometimes a piece of coral, or a broken\nshell, or a grain of sand, is found to be the nucleus around which these\ndeposits have arranged themselves. It may be as well here to say a word\nupon the general character of _calcareous_ rocks, which are so largely\nto engage our attention in this and a subsequent chapter. \u201cThis division\ncomprehends those rocks which, like chalk, are composed chiefly of lime\nand carbonic acid. Shells and corals are also formed of the same\nelements, with the addition of animal matter. To obtain pure lime it is\nnecessary to calcine these calcareous substances,\u2014that is to say, to\nexpose them to heat of sufficient intensity to drive off the carbonic\nacid and other volatile matter, without vitrifying or melting the lime\nitself. White chalk is often pure carbonate of lime; and this rock,\nalthough usually in a soft and earthy state, is sometimes sufficiently\nsolid to be used for building, and even passes into a compact stone, or\na stone of which the separate parts are so minute as not to be\ndistinguishable from each other by the naked eye.\n\n\u201cMany limestones are made up entirely of minute fragments of shells and\ncorals, or of calcareous sand cemented together. These last might be\ncalled \u2018calcareous sandstones;\u2019 but that term is more properly applied\nto a rock in which the grains are partly calcareous and partly\nsiliceous, or to quartz-ore sandstones having a cement of carbonate of\nlime.\n\n\u201cThe variety of limestones called \u2018_oolite_\u2019 is composed of numerous\nsmall egg-like grains, resembling the roe of a fish, each of which has\nusually a small fragment of sand as a nucleus, around which concentric\nlayers of calcareous matter have accumulated.\n\n\u201cAny limestone which is sufficiently hard to take a fine polish is\ncalled _marble_. Many of these are fossiliferous; but statuary marble,\nwhich is also called saccharine limestone, as having a texture\nresembling that of loaf-sugar, is devoid of fossils, and is in many\ncases a member of the metamorphic series.\u201d[89] The geographical\ndistribution of this group of rocks may be traced thus:\u2014Commencing with\nthe _Bill_ of Portland, (for there is no _isle_ of Portland,) it runs up\nthrough part of Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire,\nOxfordshire, Northamptonshire, part of Lincolnshire, terminating in\nYorkshire, where the lias and oolite may be seen lying conformably or in\nsequence; the zone we have thus indicated being about thirty miles in\nwidth. The following tabular arrangement will supplement this by\npointing out the divisions and subdivisions of the oolite; on which,\nhowever, we do not intend to dwell, as our only object, in this most\npreliminary treatise,\u2014and we shall be pardoned again intruding this\nthought upon our readers,\u2014is to assist in the investigation of our\nstandard text-books on this science:\u2014\n\n OOLITE PROPER.\n\n 1. UPPER. \u25021. Portland stone, with underlying dirt-beds.\n \u25022. Kimmeridge clay.\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n 2. MIDDLE.\u25021. Coral rag.\n \u25022. Oxford clay.\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n 3. LOWER. \u25021. Cornbrash and Forest marble.\n \u25022. Great Oolite and Stonesfield slate.\n \u25023. Fuller\u2019s earth.\n \u25024. Inferior Oolite.\u2014_Lyell._\n\nIn the upper oolites, it will be seen, is found the famous Portland\nstone, in which are some of the most remarkable specimens of the extinct\nfauna of this remote period. \u201cThey are found most plentifully in what is\nlocally designated the \u2018dirt-bed\u2019 of Portland\u2014a stratum of dark\nargillaceous mud, which must at one time have been the soil in which\nthey and other vegetables flourished, but which, by a submergence of the\nland, was converted into the bottom of an estuary, over which other\nstrata of clay, limestone, and sand were deposited. \u2018At the distance of\ntwo feet,\u2019 says Bakewell, \u2018we find an entire change from marine strata\nto strata once supporting terrestrial plants; and should any doubt arise\nrespecting the original place and position of these plants, there is,\nover the lower dirt-bed, a stratum of fresh-water limestone; and upon\nthis a thicker dirt-bed, containing not only the cycade\u00e6, but stumps of\ntrees from three to seven feet in height, in an erect position, with\ntheir roots extending beneath them. Stems of trees are found prostrate\nupon the same stratum; some of them are from twenty to twenty-five feet\nin length, and from one to two feet in diameter. The following section\nof a cliff in Dorset exhibits very clearly proofs of the alternation\nfrom marine strata to dry land covered with a forest, and of a\nsubsequent submergence of the dry land under a river or lake which\ndeposited fresh-water limestone.\u2019\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n _a a a_, Portland stone (marine formation); _b_, Dirt-bed, consisting\n of black mould and pebbles (temporary dry land); _c_, Burrstone, and\n _d_, Calcareous slate (both of fresh-water formation).\u2014_Chambers\u2019\n Geology, p._ 128.\n]\n\nFrom the well-known quarries in Portland, a description of which would\ntempt us too far astray, have been procured the materials for St. Paul\u2019s\nCathedral, the Reform Club, and other public buildings. A visit to\nPortland, and examination of the quarries, such as we have twice paid,\nis well worth the attention of any summer tourist, and will richly\nrepay, in its romantic scenery, and in the unique simplicity of its\npeople\u2019s manners, a week\u2019s quiet stay at the King\u2019s Arms, the once\nfavoured and favourite inn of George the Third.\n\nThen, if we take the middle oolite, we shall find in it the well-known\n\u201ccoral rag,\u201d so called because of the continuous beds of petrified coral\nfound in great abundance, and in many places, apparently, in the same\nposition in which they once grew at the bottom of the sea. We give below\na few specimens recently obtained by us from the north of Wiltshire,\nfrom which it will be seen how closely they resemble those of existing\nspecies.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n OOLITE CORAL. (Nat. Size.)\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n CORALS AND SPONGE FROM THE OOLITE.\n]\n\nBut what period was that, and what sunny clime was this, when the ocean\npoured its waves over what are now our oolitic building-stones, and when\nthe coral insect built its continuous reefs in this our England, just as\nit is now distributing its labours over so vast an expanse of sea in the\ntropics and the southern hemisphere?[90] We cannot but recal the poetic\nand vivid language of Hugh Miller: \u201cOh, that hoarse voice of Ocean,\nnever silent since time first began!\u2014where has it not been uttered?\nThere is stillness amid the calm of the arid and rainless deserts, where\nno spring rises and no streamlet flows, and the long caravan plies its\nweary march amid the blinding glare of the sand; and the red unshaded\nrays of the fierce sun. But, once and again, and yet again, has the roar\nof Ocean been there. It is his sands that the winds heap up, and it is\nthe skeleton remains of his vassals,\u2014shells, and fish, and the stony\ncoral,\u2014that the rocks underneath enclose. There is silence on the tall\nmountain peak, with its glittering mantle of snow, where the panting\nlungs labour to inhale the thin bleak air, where no insect murmurs and\nno bird flies, and where the eye wanders over multitudinous hill-tops\nthat lie far beneath, and vast dark forests that sweep on to the distant\nhorizon, and along long hollow valleys, where the great rivers begin.\nAnd yet, once and again, and yet again, has the roar of Ocean been\nthere. The effigies of his more ancient denizens we find sculptured on\nthe crags, where they jut from beneath the ice into the mist wreath, and\nhis later beaches, stage beyond stage, terrace the descending slopes.\nWhere has the great destroyer not been,\u2014the devourer of continents\u2014the\nblue foaming dragon, whose vocation it is to eat up the whole land? His\nice-floes have alike furrowed the flat steppes of Siberia, and the rocky\nflanks of Schehallion; and his nummulites and fish lie embedded in the\ngreat stones of the Pyramids, hewn in the times of the old Pharaohs, and\nin the rocky folds of Lebanon still untouched by the tool. So long as\nOcean exists, there must be disintegration, dilapidation, change; and\nshould the time ever arrive when the elevatory agencies, motionless and\nchill, shall sleep within their profound depths, to awaken no more, and\nshould the sea still continue to impel its currents and to roll its\nwaves, every continent and island would at length disappear, and again,\nas of old, \u2018when the fountains of the great deep were broken up,\u2019\n\n \u2018A shoreless ocean tumble round the globe.\u2019\u201d[91]\n\nFrom this digression we return to our third division of the Oolite\nproper, the _Lower Oolite_, as developed in Somersetshire (around Bath),\nand in Wiltshire (Tisbury, Braford, &c.), which has its own points of\ninterest and of use. Here occurs the fuller\u2019s earth, mostly found at a\nvillage near Bath, called Old Down, which possesses the peculiar\nproperty of absorbing the grease or oil remaining in cloth, and thus\n_fulling_ or thickening it. Here also is found that peculiar rubbly\nlimestone, called \u201c_Cornbrash_,\u201d[92] in Wiltshire, which, on exposure to\natmospheric agencies, soon decomposes, and by mixture with he ordinary\nconstituents of the soil, makes an admirable material in agricultural\noperations. Here also we have the Bath Oolite, the quarries of which are\nvery extensive, abundant in fossils, and the character of whose stone\ngives to the city of Bath that clean and aristocratic appearance which\nis so striking to the stranger approaching Bath from the Great Western\nRailway.\n\n\u201cIn this lower division,\u201d says Lieutenant-Colonel Portlock, \u201calso occurs\nthe Bath oolite, which is an excellent stone for the delicate mouldings\nof gothic architecture, and is represented in France by the Caen stone,\nwhich was imported for the purpose by our early architects, as may be\nseen in the beautiful Temple Church.\u201d[93] Of two varieties of Oolite,\ncalled \u201cBarnack rag\u201d and \u201cKetton stone,\u201d obtained from the quarries in\nRutlandshire and Northamptonshire, almost all the churches in\nCambridgeshire, of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, are built. As\nan instance, and illustrative of previous remarks, we may specify King\u2019s\nCollege Chapel, Cambridge. Whoever has been to the top of that gem of\ngothic architecture, and walked outside where the stone is weathered,\nand has been supplemented in various indifferent ways, may there see the\nripple marks of the old tides and winds, marking the ebb and flow of\npre-Adamite phenomena; and little shells, some of them most tiny ones,\nbut in beautiful preservation, once left in the soft calcareous sand,\nnow embedded in the hard building stone. And here, before we speak of\nthe fossils of the Oolite, we should like to be thoroughly understood\nabout this same ripple-mark, of which we have more than once spoken, and\nwhich it seems desirable to explain. \u201cAnother structure, often\nconspicuous in fine-grained sandstones, is that commonly called\n\u201cripple-mark.\u201d Either in quarries or natural cliffs, wherever the upper\nsurface of a bed is exposed, it is often found to be not smooth or flat,\nbut waved in small undulations, exactly like those so often seen on a\nsandy shore. Now, a good deal of misconstruction has, I think, arisen as\nto the origin of these small undulations or ripples in the sand, leading\nsometimes to a possibility of grave error in geological reasoning.\nPeople standing on the beach, and observing the gentle rippling motion\nof the waves, and a very similar form in the sand beneath them, have not\nunnaturally jumped to the conclusion that the one was the cause of the\nother, that the ripple on the surface of the water had somehow imprinted\nits form on the sand at the bottom. Now, really, one is not the _cause_\nof the other, but they are both caused by the same action, and each is\nas much a ripple as the other. The wave-like form in the sand is not a\nripple _mark_, but a ripple; if it is the mark of anything, it is a\n\u2018current mark,\u2019 and as such I have always preferred to speak of it. Just\nas a current in the air produces a ripple in the surface of the water\nbelow it, so a current in the water produces a ripple in the sand below\nit. It makes no difference, indeed, whether the sand be acted upon by\nair or water. Wherever the circumstances are favourable, wind will cause\na ripple or current mark on the surface of blown sand, as I observed\nfrequently under very favourable circumstances at Sandy Cape, in\nAustralia, and as has been observed by Sir Charles Lyell, near Calais.\nIn each case the moving fluid propels the grains of sand forward, piling\nthem up into ridges, which are perpetually advancing by the rolling of\nparticles over the crest of each ridge into the hollow beyond, where\nthey are for a time sheltered from the current, but soon buried under\nthe advancing ridge, to be again turned up and rolled onward, perhaps,\nas their site becomes exposed to the force of the stream.\u201d[94]\n\nOther fossil remains found in the Oolite demand our notice before we\nleave this period of the earth\u2019s history, or this portion of the earth\u2019s\ncrust. In the autumn of last year we were _en route_ to Cornwall, but\nturned aside to visit, among other matters, the Oolite in the\nneighbourhood of Bath, Chippenham, Bradford, and Trowbridge. Leaving the\ntrunk line of the Great Western, we transferred ourselves at Chippenham\nto the branch that would take us to Trowbridge, that little Halifax or\nPreston of the West of England. Many a long day had passed since we made\nour first acquaintance with the poet Crabbe, and, though fossil hunting,\nwe felt we must pay a pilgrimage to his honoured shrine. We looked at\nthe old church in which for eighteen years he was the representative and\nexpounder of a large and human creed first uttered by the Great Teacher\nfrom Galilee; and standing by Chantrey\u2019s monument of Crabbe, we thought\nhow dear to God the man must be, who by dint of purpose, purity, and\nhope, had risen from an unknown boy to command the ear of the public in\na time of poetic dearth, and who, amidst a very chequered life, had\nrealized the fine idea of Goldsmith:\n\n \u201cAs some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,\n Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,\n Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,\n Eternal sunshine settles on its head.\u201d\n\nWe have heard it objected to Crabbe\u2019s poetry that it wants fire, that it\nhas no romance, that it moves among the homely scenes of rustic life,\nand seldom soars above parochial records and village history. But\nCrabbe\u2019s life was a singularly unromantic one; everything with him had\nbeen real, hard, up-hill work, in which he had broken down had he not\nbelieved in work rather than in genius. At Bungay School he was flogged\nunmercifully, according to the wise methods of teaching the classics\nthen in vogue, but now happily exploding, except in our antediluvian\npublic schools; at Bury St. Edmunds he was apprenticed to a surgeon, who\nquickly turned him into an errand boy and servant of all work; at twenty\nyears of age, conscious of innate power, and aspiring to literary\nhonour, he found himself in London in two equal conditions of misery,\nwithout a _friend_ and without a _pound_; and then, in this very\ncondition of impecuniosity, the tender place of his heart was touched by\nan unpropertied girl, Sarah Elwy, and he, the friendless young man,\nloves her with a pure, deep, passionate, and unchanging love. For eight\nlong years of struggle, her image gave buoyancy to his spirit, and\noneness to his purpose, amidst the ups and downs of no common\nhardships,\u2014now turned from the rich man\u2019s door by lacqueys in silver\nlace, and then politely bowed out by those who might have been his\npatrons in an hour of need, until, fortune favouring the bold, he became\nnot only the recognised poet of the poor, but better still, the husband\nof a woman of surpassing worth.\n\nNever aspiring to be a great poet, but only a true and real man, he\nlived, and laboured, and published much. As a parish clergyman, his\nmemory at Trowbridge is a familiar household word, and having honourably\nserved his generation according to the will of God, he placidly and\nChristianly fell asleep. As we stood by Chantey\u2019s monumental record of\nthis good man, we felt that it did us good to look on such a memorial of\na working man; a working man, in the truest sense of the word, for we\nmust take some care, or else this good name will become an empty\nconventional sham. We must not confine the term to any one class,\nwhether to men who work with sweat of _brow_, or to other men who work\nas hard, and harder too, with sweat of _brain_; we give the name of\nworking men to all who toil with head or hand, and all such may be\nbettered by the contemplation of a character like Crabbe\u2019s.\n\nBut we return; our digression makes geology lag behind. We were\nfortunate in procuring several fine specimens of the Crinoidean[95] or\nStone-lily family, about which the reader will pardon a few details. At\nthe stations of the Great Northern Railway, the marble mantelpieces and\nuprights are all made of the Derbyshire encrinital marble, and the mind\nis filled with singular surprise in the contemplation of these\ninteresting relics of past creations. How multitudinous must have been\nthis one form of life in those ancient days, and how quietly these\nencrinites, when their brief term of life was over, must have sunk down\ninto the soft calcareous and argillaceous beds lying at the bottom of\nthe old ocean waiting to receive them, only that, mummy like, it might\nembalm them safely, until in process of time, by upheaval, evaporation,\nand sun-hardening, their delicate forms should be brought out to our\ndaylight in all the symmetry and beauty of their pre-Adamite life! But\nthe family of Crinoideans or Stone-lilies, called the \u201c_Pear_\nencrinite,\u201d or \u201c_apiocrinites rotundus_,\u201d differs very remarkably from\nthe \u201c_Lily_ encrinite,\u201d or \u201c_encrinites molliformis_;\u201d and the following\ndescriptions grouped from Lyell and Buckland, aided by the accompanying\nfigures, will introduce these singular animals to our readers. \u201cThe\nCrinoideans or Stone-lilies are almost all confined to the limestone,\nbut an exception occurs at Bath, where they are enveloped in clay. In\nthis case, however, it appears that the solid upper surface of the\n\u2018Great Oolite\u2019 had supported for a time a thick submarine forest of\nthese beautiful zoophytes, (_plant-animals_,) until the clear and still\nwater was invaded by a current charged with mud,\u201d (see diagram below,\n_a_,) \u201cwhich threw down the stone-lilies, and broke most of their stems\noff near the point of attachment. The stumps still remain\u201d (_b_) \u201cin\ntheir original position, but the numerous articulations once composing\nthe stem, arms, and body of the zoophyte, were scattered at random\nthrough the argillaceous deposit in which some now lie prostrate. Vast\nstrata of entrochal[96] marble, extending over large tracts of country\nin Northern Europe and North America, are made up of the petrified bones\nof encrinites, just as a cornrick is composed of straws. Man applies it\nto construct his palace or to adorn his sepulchre, but there are few who\nknow, and fewer still who duly appreciate the surprising fact, that much\nof this marble is composed of the skeletons of millions of organized\nbeings, once endowed with life, and susceptible of enjoyment, which\nafter performing the part that was for a while assigned to them in\nliving nature, have contributed their remains towards the composition of\nthe mountain masses of the earth.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n _In situ._ _Restored._\n\n PEAR ENCRINITES, OR APIOCRINITES ROTUNDUS. BRADFORD, WILTS.\n]\n\nThat a better idea still may be formed of this zoophyte, let the\nfollowing diagrams be added: 1 is the body or bulbous head of the\npear-encrinite, curiously laminated, and geometrically divided; 2 is a\nstem the natural size, and 3 a section, or one of the articulations, in\nwhich its entrochal and radiated character will appear.\n\nBelow is a root of the pear-encrinite (1); this will give some idea how\nrudely the graceful stems were broken off by the mud sea that came upon\nthem, and how firm a hold the roots of these beautiful zoophytes took of\nthe ocean bottom; many of these roots are covered with serpul\u00e6 and\ncoral, that only reveal their beauty under the lens. In the root before\nus, a little coral insect has begun to reticulate his tiny links of\nnetwork; these may be seen in 3, magnified, and by comparison with 2,\nwhich is a piece of Jamaica coral, found plenteously on the seashore of\nthe north side of the island, the similarity in structure and symmetry\nwill be immediately detected.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nWe have already spoken of the Ammonite, but we give here a specimen of a\nrare kind, preserved in the fine clay near Chippenham. The form of this\nammonite is more remarkable than that of any other; its delicate\nnautilus shell has been sadly compressed, and some of its external\nprotuberances have been broken off, and are here restored by dotted\nlines; but, more striking still, the delicate horn-like structure that\nterminated its mouth or aperture has been perfectly embalmed by Nature\u2019s\nkindly hand.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n AM. JASON, OR AM. ELIZABETH\u00c6. _Oolite._\n]\n\n\nWe have no ammonites afloat now: its twin brother, the nautilus,\nsurvives still in sunny climes on the tropic seas; and, perhaps, when a\n\u201cnew heaven and a new earth\u201d shall usher in another act in the great\ndrama of creation, the nautilus may be superseded by other forms of\nmolluscous life, to show forth the exhaustless resources of His skill\nand wisdom, who is \u201cwonderful in counsel and excellent in working.\u201d Thus\nsings a poet and a geologist:\u2014\n\n \u201cThe nautilus and the ammonite\n Were launch\u2019d in storm and strife;\n Each sent to float, in its tiny boat,\n On the wide, wild sea of life.\n\n \u201cAnd each could swim on the ocean\u2019s brim,\n And anon, its sails could furl;\n And sink to sleep in the great sea deep,\n In a palace all of pearl.\n\n \u201cThus hand in hand, from strand to strand,\n They sail\u2019d in mirth and glee,\n Those fairy shells, with their crystal cells,\n Twin creatures of the sea.\n\n \u201cBut they came at last to a sea long past,\n And as they reach\u2019d its shore,\n The Almighty\u2019s breath spake out in death,\n And the ammonite lived no more.\n\n \u201cAnd the nautilus now, in its shelly prow,\n As o\u2019er the deep it strays,\n Still seems to seek, in bay and creek,\n Its companion of other days.\n\n \u201cAnd thus do we, on life\u2019s stormy sea,\n As we roam from shore to shore,\n While tempest-tost, seek the loved\u2014the lost,\n But find them on earth no more!\u201d\u2014RICHARDSON.\n\nBelow we add a small group of oolitic shells, not on account of any\nparticular beauty of form attaching to them, but as characteristic of\nthis formation, and as lying conveniently near us for being figured.\nTheir hard names\u2014hard to the mere English reader\u2014may possibly alarm the\nyoung, who may at present skip the names: let them get to love the\nscience\u2014let them get into the habit of making nature have a meaning in\nits realities, and into the settled purpose of determining to know what\nkind of a world this is in which God has cast their lot, and soon these\nhard names will be only as finger-posts, directing to certain roads on\nwhich they may journey to the end of a happy pilgrimage. Aye, better\nthan any old pilgrimage to a fabulous Holy Sepulchre, will be your\npilgrimage to sepulchres wrought by the hand of Infinite Benevolence,\nfor the creatures whom his infinite wisdom had formed, and sustained\nuntil he pronounced the decree, \u201cReturn!\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1. CUCULLEA CARINATA.\n 2. CUCULLEA UMBONATA.\n 3. MODIOLA BIPARTITA.\n 4. TEREBRATULA GLOBOSA.\n 5. TEREBRATULA DIGONA.\n 6. TEREBRATULA MAXILLATA.\n]\n\nBefore we quit the Oolite, we have one more stranger to introduce\u2014and in\nvery truth he is the strangest stranger with whom we have yet made\nacquaintance. We refer to the Pterodactyle.[97] The geologist, we may\nsuppose, has just lighted on one of these extraordinary remnants of\nantiquity, say in the Stonefield Quarry, Oxfordshire, and stands aghast\nas his pick lays open the fragments of this nondescript creature.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nBut when the researches of science had laid bare the whole of the fossil\nremains of this heterogeneous creature, when the head and gape of the\ncrocodile, the wing-hands of the bat, and the web-feet of the duck were\nall revealed; when it was ascertained to be one of those flying reptiles\nthat have no existing type, and that it was \u201cthe most extraordinary of\nall the beings of whose former existence the study of fossils has made\nus aware,\u201d and \u201cthe most unlike anything that exists in the known\nworld;\u201d the blank wonder of the geologist gave way to calm and admiring\nstudy, as these undreamt-of relics of the past were made subservient to\nthe wisdom and delight of the present.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nThe following is Cuvier\u2019s description of this strange creature, borrowed\nfrom Ansted, vol. i, p. 418:\u2014\n\n\u201cYou see before you,\u201d he says, \u201can animal which in all points of bony\nstructure, from the teeth to the extremity of the nails, presents the\nwell-known saurian characteristics, and of which one cannot doubt that\nits integuments and soft parts, its scaly armour, and its organs of\ncirculation and reproduction, were likewise analogous. But it was at the\nsame time an animal provided with the means of flying; and when\nstationary, its wings were probably folded back like those of a bird,\nalthough, perhaps, by the claws attached to its fingers, it might\nsuspend itself from the branches of trees. Its usual position, when not\nin motion, would be upon its hind feet, resting like a bird, and with\nits neck set up and curved backwards, to prevent the weight of the\nenormous head from destroying its equilibrium. Any attempt, however, to\npicture this strange animal in a living state, would appear to one who\nhas not followed the whole argument to be rather the production of a\ndiseased imagination, than the necessary completion of a sketch of which\nthe main outlines are known to be true. The animal was undoubtedly of\nthe most extraordinary kind, and would appear, if living, the strangest\nof all creatures. Something approaching to it in form we may perhaps\nrecognise in the fantastic pictures of the Chinese; but art has, in this\nrespect, not been able to rival nature; and the fabled centaur, or\ndragon, do not present anomalies more strange than those of the species\nwe have been considering.\u201d\n\nThis description of Cuvier will recal to the reader\u2019s mind the\nwell-known words of Milton (Par. Lost, Book II. line 247), in which, in\nhis description of an imaginary fiend, he almost realizes to the life\nthe animal whose extinct and fossil remains have been so recently\ndisinterred.\n\n \u201cThe fiend\n O\u2019er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,\n With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,\n And sinks or swims, or wades or walks, or creeps or flies.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1. PTERODACTYLE, FROM SOLENHOFEN, (one-third natural size.)\n]\n\nWe conclude this chapter by giving drawings of the Pterodactyle. The\n_first_ is the Pterodactyle as found at Solenhofen; the _second_ is the\nskeleton restored; and the _third_ the animal itself, according to the\nbest judges of what a portrait of the Pterodactyle would be.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 2. SKELETON RESTORED.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 3. THE PTERODACTYLE.\n]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n SECONDARY ROCKS.\n _No. 4. The Wealden._\n\n \u201cThe works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have\n pleasure therein.\u201d\u2014DAVID.\n\n\nLying immediately between the oolite and the chalk, is a small formation\nof fresh water, and not of marine deposit, to which the term Wealden has\nbeen given. This name has been given to it because it has been found\ndeveloped chiefly in the Wealds, or Wolds,[98] of Sussex, Surrey, and\nKent; and to Dr. Mantell belongs the honour of investigating this\nsingularly interesting formation, and of giving us its history, after\nmonths of patient research and laborious toil conducted on the spot,\njust as Hugh Miller has become the historian and explorer of the Old Red\nSandstone of Cromarty. But although the Wealden is small when compared\nwith the vast extent of some other formations, previously or\nsubsequently added to the material of this \u201cgreat globe\u2019s\u201d crust, it\npossesses unusual interest on account of the strange organic remains\nthat are found in it, and of the evidence which these remains supply of\nvast changes in the conditions and characters of the living beings,\nfound at that period roaming at large in the once tropical swamps of the\nWealden.\n\nThe Wealden is almost if not wholly of fresh water origin; and a word or\ntwo on the formation of the deltas of great rivers, now going on in\nvarious parts of the world, will help us rightly to appreciate the\ncharacter of this formation. It is seldom, some one remarks, that we\n\u201ccan catch a mountain in process of making,\u201d and hence we have much\ndifficulty in arriving at definite ideas concerning the times that the\nsedimentary rocks occupied in their deposit. But we _can catch_ deltas\nin the process of manufacture,\u2014the deltas of the Nile, the Mississippi,\nthe Amazon, and other huge rivers that pour down, not their \u201c_golden\nstreams_,\u201d but their muddy accumulations, gathered from the mountain\nsides whose slopes they wash into the great ocean basin waiting to\nreceive them. \u201cAll the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not\nfull.\u201d\n\nThese deltas,\u2014for we wish to explain as we go along, and would rather\nfall into the error of explaining where there is no necessity, than of\nleaving one word that might prove a stumbling-block unexplained,\u2014these\ndeltas are all the mouths, (_les embouch\u00e8res_,) of _oceanic_ rivers,\nthat is, of rivers that pursue their impetuous course towards their\nnative ocean bed; and the character of these deltas necessarily varies\nwith the character of the coast through which they pursue the _un_even\n\u201ctenor of their way.\u201d As the level of the sea is approached, the\nrapidity of the mountain stream is necessarily checked. No longer\ndashing down steep mountain precipices, as it did in the heyday of its\nyouth, it finds itself grown into a majestic breadth and depth; and as\nit nears its maternal home, leaving the high land of its origin far\nbehind, it traverses with slow and measured pace the slightly descending\nplanes by which it falls into the ocean. This gradual process enables it\nto deposit on each side the alluvial soil, and decayed vegetable matter,\nand so on, that have been held by it in suspension during its rapid\nprogress; and as the current slackens still more as it approaches its\nfinal destiny, portions of land gradually rise into view, the results of\nthese deposits, which from their triangular shape have received the name\nof deltas, from their likeness to the Greek letter \u0394.\n\nThus the mouths of the Ganges form a vast breadth of waters, with\nintervening islands and strips of land, 200 miles in width. Into this\ndelta the river Ganges runs laden with the rich spoils of clay, sand,\nvegetable matter, &c., gathered from the Himalaya Mountains, and thus\nthose dismal-looking islands have been formed in the mouth of this\nriver, that have become the home of tigers, crocodiles, &c.\n\nIn North America, that \u201cfather of waters,\u201d the Mississippi, sometimes\ncalled the Missouri, runs through a glorious valley of unexhausted and\ninexhaustible wealth of 3,000 miles, and runs out into the sea at least\nfifty miles, while its currenmiles further. \u201cLike all other great\nrivers, the Mississippi does not empty itself into the sea in one\ncontinuous channel, but in a great variety of arms or mouths, which\nintersect in sluggish streams the great alluvial delta, which is formed\nby the perpetual deposit of the immense volume of water which rolls into\nthe ocean. Between these mouths of the river a vast surface, half land,\nhalf water, from 50 to 100 miles in width, and 300 in length, fringes\nthe whole coast; and there the enormous mass of vegetable matter\nconstantly brought down by the Mississippi is periodically deposited. A\nfew feet are sufficient to bring it above the level of the water, except\nin great floods; and as soon as that is done, vegetation springs up with\nthe utmost rapidity in that prolific slime. No spectacle can be\nconceived so dreary and yet so interesting, as the prospect of these\nimmense alluvial swamps in the course of formation. As far as the eye\ncan reach, over hundreds of square leagues, nothing is to be seen but\nmarshes bristling with roots, trunks, and branches of trees. In winter\nand spring, when the floods come down, they bring with them an\nincalculable quantity of these broken fragments, technically called\nlogs, which not only cover the whole of this immense semi-marine\nterritory, but, floating over it, strew the sea for several miles off to\nsuch an extent, that ships have often no small difficulty in making\ntheir way through them. Thus the whole ground is formed of a vast\nnetwork of masses of wood, closely packed and rammed together to the\ndepth of several fathoms, which are gradually cemented by fresh\ndeposits, till the whole acquires by degrees a firm consistency. Aquatic\nbirds, innumerable cranes and storks, water serpents, and huge\nalligators, people this dreary solitude. In a short time a kind of rank\ncane or reed springs up, which, by retarding the flow of the river,\ncollects the mud of the next season, and so lends its share in the\nformation of the delta. Fresh logs, fresh mud, and new crops of cane or\nreed, go on for a series of years, in the course of which the\nalligators, in enormous multitudes, fix in their new domain, and\nextensive animal remains come to mingle with the vegetable deposits.\nGradually, as the soil accumulates and hardens, a dwarfish shrub begins\nto appear above the surface; larger and larger trees succeed with the\ndecay of their more stunted predecessors; and at length, on the scene of\nformer desolation, the magnificent riches of the Louisianian forest are\nreared.\u201d[99]\n\nTo this glowing description we might add what we ourselves have\nwitnessed on the coast of South America, where the great Amazon, the\nOrinoco, and the Essequibo, roll their mud-laden waters into the\nAtlantic, and form vast accumulations of alluvial deposit all along its\nnorthern coast; indeed, the coast line of all the Guianas of South\nAmerica, averaging some five to ten miles in width, and at least 1,000\nmiles in length,\u2014Venezuela, British Guiana, Surinam, and Cayenne,\u2014are\nnothing more than the deposit formed at the base of the mountains by\nthese and other rivers of smaller note. Buried in this mud are pebbles,\ntrunks of trees, animal remains, and so on; and if these in process of\ntime should be elevated and afterwards hardened, or submerged and\npressed into clayey slate or sandy stone, the fauna and the flora of\nthese deltas would then be brought to light, just as the leaves of\nplants are exhibited between the pages of a botanist\u2019s collecting book.\n\nIn some such method as this was once formed a delta, now constituting\nthe Wealden formation in our own country. What is now the south-east of\nEngland, including the Weald clay, the Hastings sand, and the Purbeck\nbeds of limestone and marls, in short, the greater part of the counties\nalready named, with part of Dorsetshire, was once the delta of a mighty\nriver, that so long and so uninterruptedly flowed through this then\nuninhabited part of the planet, that its accumulated deposits average\n1,000 feet in thickness. We have but to pause over those words\u2014_one\nthousand feet thick_;\u2014once mud, or rather fluviatile deposits of mud and\nsand, a thousand feet thick in order to receive fresh evidence of the\nhigh antiquity of the globe, and of the recent creation of man. We have\nbut for a moment to remember that these deposits consist of innumerable\nlayers of mollusks and crustaceans, a prodigious accumulation of the\nbones of reptiles and fishes, and of the trunks, branches, and foliage\nof a long extinct vegetable world, all quietly brought down by \u201cthe\nrivers of waters\u201d of that era, and carefully and without injury\ndeposited in what were then the bottoms of bays or the rising land of\ndeltas, in order to appreciate the evidence which this one deposit alone\naffords of the immense period of time occupied in its accumulation.\n\nOur next section, the cretaceous division of the secondary rocks,\npresents us with an exclusively marine deposit. The Wealden, as we have\nsaid, is a fresh-water deposit. \u201cMany a long and weary journey,\u201d says\nDr. Mantell, \u201chave I undertaken to examine the materials thrown up from\na newly-made well, or the section exposed by recent cuttings on the\nroadside, in the hope of obtaining the data by which this problem is now\ncompletely settled.\u201d The data referred to are such as these\u2014the absence\nof all ammonites, encrinites, corals, terebratul\u00e6, and other marine\norganisms, which form so large a portion of the cretaceous and other sea\ndeposits.\n\nHere, again, we may anticipate future remarks. It may be thought\u2014by some\nit has been roundly asserted\u2014that these _fossils were placed in their\npresent situations by the deluge_. Without entering into the theological\nquestion, as to the universality or partiality of the Noachian flood,\nalthough, as we shall hereafter see, there is but one opinion on that\nsubject held by our best geologists, namely, that the deluge recorded in\nthe Bible was simply the subsidence or submerging of so much of the\nearth, _and no more_, as was then inhabited by man, and that so partial\nand so limited was its character, and so brief its duration, compared\nwith those vast geological epochs we have been considering, that there\nare no traces in nature of that event at all, _i.e._ that we have no one\nsingle fossil that can be referred to that event,\u2014without, we repeat,\nentering upon the investigation of this subject, which will be done in a\nsubsequent part of this volume, we would merely remark, in reply to this\nabsurd notion, that the Wealden is evidently an _alluvial_, and not a\n_diluvial_ formation; and as these terms are so frequently used as if\nthey were synonymous, we shall venture upon our old habit of\nexplanation. An _alluvial_ deposit is formed by the _ordinary_, but a\n_diluvial_ deposit by the _extraordinary_ action of water. Thus all the\nstraths and carses of Scotland, and our English dales or dells, (may not\nthe remote etymology be _delta_?) are all of alluvial formation; while,\nas owing their origin to diluvial, or the violent action of water, we\nare to ascribe the heaps of rubbish, gravel, sand and boulders, that are\nfound in firm compact together.\n\nThus, if we take a basin of water holding a quantity of earthy matter in\nsolution, and place it on a quiet table, and allow the earthy matter\ngradually to subside, that which is found at the bottom of the basin is\nan _alluvial_ formation, deposited by the quiet and ordinary action of\nwater.\n\nBut when, as sometimes here in Royston, a sudden and heavy rain occurs,\nwhen for a while \u201cthe windows of heaven\u201d seem opened, and the\nsurrounding hills pour down their rushing streams through the town,\nfilling, as unfortunately they do on such occasions, the cellars of our\nneighbours in the bottom of the town, with sticks, stones, flint,\ngravel, bits of chalk, paper, bones, cloth, and a variety of\nintermingled sundries too numerous to mention, and all huddled together\nin wild confusion, then is formed in such ill-fated cellars a _diluvial_\ndeposit, occasioned by the extraordinary action of water.\n\nNow, the Scripture flood (and we may be allowed to say, we are not\ntrying to explain away the fact of the deluge,[100] nor to weaken the\nstrength of the Mosaic narrative, but the very contrary) was a most\nextraordinary event. Not only were the \u201cwindows of heaven opened,\u201d but\nthe \u201cfountains of the great deep\u201d were broken up, and if it had left any\ntraces of its action, they would have been of a heterogeneous and\ndiluvial character; whereas in the Wealden, as elsewhere, the fossils\noccur in the most orderly and quiet manner, preserving in many cases\nthose exquisite forms of beauty which distinguished them during life.\n\nWithout entering more fully into details of the fossil remains of this\nperiod, we shall conclude this chapter by a reference to one of the vast\nsaurians whose remains have been disinterred from the Wealden. Many\nyears ago Dr. Mantell discovered, in a quarry at Cuckfield in Sussex, a\ntooth, which he took up to the Geological Society of London; it was\naltogether unlike any tooth he had hitherto found, but yet it was so\ncommon, that the quarrymen had broken many of them up to mend the roads.\nThe most eminent geologists of the day were puzzled extremely with this\ntooth. One thought it belonged to a fish; another, that it belonged to\nan unknown herbivorous mammal; and a third, who was right, that it\nbelonged to a herbivorous reptile. Sir Charles Lyell was at that time\nabout to visit Paris, and the tooth, and that alone, was shown to\nCuvier, who at once pronounced it to be the tooth of a rhinoceros. In\nthe process of time other fossil remains were found, portions of jaws,\ncervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebr\u00e6; and on Cuvier seeing these, with\nthe magnanimity of a truly great mind, he frankly avowed his error, and\nsaid, \u201cI am entirely convinced of my error in pronouncing it to be the\ntooth of a rhinoceros.\u201d Shortly after, Dr. Mantell was fortunate enough\nto procure the skeleton of an iguana,[101] and he found that the fossil\nteeth found in Tilgate forest bore a close resemblance to the teeth of\nthe iguana. The teeth of the iguana were found to be small, closely set,\nand serrated like the edge of a saw, not so much for crushing victims,\nas for champing and grinding its vegetable food; this corresponded\nprecisely with the fossil teeth found, and after long and careful\ndeliberation, the name given to this crocodile lizard, and the name\nwhich it retains, was Iguanodon, or the reptile with teeth like the\niguana.\n\nThe probable size of the Iguanodon was thirty feet in length, though\nprobably some exceeded these enormous proportions. Seventy species have\nbeen discovered in the quarries opened at Tilgate forest; and this gives\nus some idea of the conspicuous part these mighty creatures once played\nin the eras happily before man was an inhabitant of this planet. Why\nthese remains should generally be found in the same locality we cannot\ncertainly tell, though the previous extract from Alison may shed some\nlight on this curious fact; but it appears beyond doubt that particular\nspots were selected by these beasts as hospitals and dying places,\nwhere, undisturbed by their enemies, they retired to die unseen.\n\nThe drawing on page 195, representing the restored fauna of this period,\nthat is, inclusive of the Lias, Oolite, and Wealden formations, will not\nonly illustrate our previous remarks, but enable our readers thoroughly\nto appreciate the following vivid description of the life of that remote\nera, which we do not like to abridge. Should any feel sceptical as to\nwhether there were ever such \u201cgoings on\u201d in this globe of ours,\nespecially in our eastern counties, now the resort of tourists and\ninvalids having no dread of such creatures before their eyes, we ask\nthem not to reject all this as fable until they have gone to the British\nMuseum, and in Room 3, and in Wall-case C, they will there see some of\nthe magnificent specimens, obtained by Dr. Mantell, of these extinct\ndeinosaurians.[102] On reading this description, it seems quite\njustifiable to congratulate ourselves upon the era in which we live.\nStrange forms and monsters vast have been in the old time before us, and\ntheir disinterred remains teach us again and again the good and\nwholesome lesson of the king of Israel, prefixed as a motto to this\nchapter.\n\n\u201cTwo of these saurians have more especially attracted attention, in\nconsequence of their great abundance in a fossil state in our own\ncountry, but they are by no means the only ones known. Of these two, one\nwas more exclusively a tenant of the deep, while the other was probably\nmore frequently met with on the mud banks or on the shore. Both were\ntruly marine in their habits, and both seem to have served as the\nrepresentatives of the great Cetacean tribe\u2014the whales, the porpoises,\nand other similar animals now existing.\n\n\u201cIt is not easy to imagine the conditions of existence of such animals.\nWe know their form, their proportions, their strange contrivances of\nstructure, their very skin, and the nature of the food which they\ndevoured; and yet, knowing with absolute certainty these points, we\nhardly dare draw the conclusions which are suggested. I will, however,\nventure to offer a sketch of the appearance of the sea and its\ninhabitants during this portion of the Reptilian epoch.\n\n\u201cThere were then, perhaps, existing on or near the land, some of those\nreptiles which I shall describe in the next chapter; and with them were\nassociated true crocodilians, not much unlike the fresh water gavial\ninhabiting the Ganges. These, also, might occasionally swim out to sea,\nand be found in the neighbouring shoals.\n\n\u201cBut these shoals were alive with myriads of invertebrated animals; and\ncrowds of sharks hovered about, feeding upon the larger tribes. There\nwere also numerous other animals, belonging to those remarkable groups\nwhich I have attempted to describe in some detail. Imagine one of these\nmonstrous animals, a plesiosaurus, some sixteen or twenty feet long,\nwith a small wedge-shaped crocodilian head, a long, arched, serpent-like\nneck, a short compact body, provided with four large and powerful\npaddles, almost developed into hands; an animal not covered with\nbrilliant scales, but with a black slimy skin. Imagine for a moment this\ncreature slowly emerging from the muddy banks, and, half walking, half\ncreeping along, making its way towards the nearest water. Arrived at the\nwater, we can understand from its structure that it was liable to\nexhibit greater energy. Unlike the crocodile tribe, however, in all its\nproportions, it must have been equally dissimilar in habit. Perhaps,\ninstead of concealing itself in mud or among rushes, it would swim at\nonce boldly and directly to the attack. Its enormous neck stretched out\nto its full length, and its tail acting as a rudder, the powerful and\nfrequent strokes of its four large paddles would at once give it an\nimpulse, sending it through the water at a very rapid rate. When within\nreach of its prey, we may almost fancy that we see it drawing back its\nlong neck as it depressed its body in the water, until the strength of\nthe muscular apparatus with which this neck was provided, and the great\nadditional impetus given by the rapid advance of the animal, would\ncombine to produce a stroke from the pointed head which few living\nanimals could resist. The fishes, including perhaps even the sharks, the\nlarger cuttle-fish, and innumerable inhabitants of the sea, would fall\nan easy prey to this monster.\n\n\u201cBut now let us see what goes on in the deeper abysses of the ocean,\nwhere a free space is given for the operations of that fiercely\ncarnivorous marine reptile, the ichthyosaurus. Prowling about at a great\ndepth, where the reptilian structure of its lungs, and the bony\napparatus of the ribs would allow it to remain for a long time without\ncoming to the air to breathe, we may fancy we see this strange animal,\nwith its enormous eyes directed upwards, and glaring like globes of\nfire. Its length is some thirty or forty feet, its head being six or\neight feet long; and it has paddles and a tail like a shark; its whole\nenergies are fixed on what is going on above, where the plesiosaurus or\nsome giant shark is seen devouring its prey. Suddenly striking with its\nshort but compact paddles, and obtaining a powerful impetus by flapping\nits large tail, the monster darts through the water at a rate which the\neye can scarcely follow towards the surface. The vast jaws, lined with\nformidable rows of teeth, soon open wide to their full extent; the\nobject of attack is approached\u2014is overtaken. With a motion quicker than\nthought the jaws are snapped together, and the work is done. The\nmonster, becoming gorged, floats languidly near the surface, with a\nportion of the top of its head and its nostrils visible, like an island\ncovered with black mud, above the water.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FAUNA OF THE OOLITIC PERIOD, RESTORED.\n]\n\n\u201cBut a description of such scenes of carnage, enacted at former periods\nof the earth\u2019s history, may perhaps induce some of my readers to\nquestion the wisdom that permitted them, and conclude rashly that they\nare opposed to the ideas which we are encouraged to form of the goodness\nof that Being, the necessary action of whose laws, enforced on all\nliving beings, gives rise to them. By no means, however, is this the\ncase. These very results are perfectly compatible with the greatest\nwisdom and goodness and even according to our limited views of the\ncourse of nature, they may be shown not to involve any needless\nsuffering. To us men, constituted as we are, and looking upon death as a\npunishment which must be endured, premature and violent destruction\nseems to involve unnecessary pain. But such is not the law of nature as\nit relates to animal life in general. The very exuberance and abundance\nof life is at once obtained and kept within proper bounds by this\nrapacity of some great tribes. A lingering death\u2014a natural decay of\nthose powers which alone enable the animal to enjoy life\u2014would, on the\ncontrary, be a most miserable arrangement for beings not endowed with\nreason, and not assisting each other. It would be cruelty, because it\nwould involve great and hopeless suffering. Death by violence is to all\nunreasoning animals the easiest death, for it is the most instantaneous;\nand therefore, no doubt, it has been ordained that throughout large\nclasses there should be an almost indefinite rate of increase,\naccompanied by destruction rapid and complete in a corresponding degree,\nsince in this way the greatest amount of happiness is ensured, and the\npain of misery and slow decay of the vital powers prevented. All nature,\nboth living and extinct, abounds with facts proving the truth of this\nview; and it would be as unreasonable to doubt the wisdom and goodness\nof this arrangement, as it would be to call in question the mutual\nadaptation of each part in the great scheme of creation. No one who\nexamines nature for himself, however superficially, can doubt the\nlatter; and no one certainly, who duly considers the laws ordained for\nthe general government of the world, can believe it possible for these\nlaws to have acted without a system of compensation, according to which\nthe vital energies of one tribe serve to prepare food for the\ndevelopment of higher powers in another.\u201d[103]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n SECONDARY ROCKS.\n _No. 5. The Chalk._\n THE CRETACEOUS SYSTEM.\n\n \u201cHis hands formed the dry land.\u201d\u2014DAVID.\n\n\nAt the conclusion of the Wealden period, the crust of our globe\nunderwent another great change. The fresh-water rocks we have just been\nstudying were probably submerged by some violent subterranean or\nsubaquean agency, and upon a great part of them a new deposit was\ngradually formed. Foot by foot, and inch by inch, slowly accumulated\nthose cretaceous particles (Lat. _creta_, chalk) which now constitute\nthe chalk hills and cliffs of our own country, to say nothing of the\nextent of territory in Europe occupied by this well-known mineral. To\nthose who like ourselves live in a chalk district, this formation\npossesses special interest, simply because the \u201cbounds of our\nhabitation\u201d are fixed there; and though we miss here all traces of the\nIchthyosaurus and Iguanodon, although no Deinotherium nor Mastodon as\nyet make their appearance on the stage of being, yet with a very little\nknowledge of geology, coupled with a desire not to walk through the\nworld with \u201ceyes and no eyes,\u201d it is in our power to invest many an\notherwise motiveless walk with pleasurable interest. A cutting in the\nhills may reveal some unthought-of geological curiosity; a heap of\nflints may disclose some \u201crich and rare\u201d fossils; and even a walk over\nthe Downs, those breezy \u201cdowns\u201d or \u201cheaths\u201d of southern England, covered\nwith their short herbage, and dotted with their browsing sheep\u2014those\ndowns that undulate in such well-known forms of beauty, may be fruitful\nof suggestions concerning their origin, character and antiquity, that\nmay be of healthful power in the development of an intellectual life.\n\nWe live\u2014that is, _we_ aforesaid\u2014not on a fresh-water deposit, like the\npeople of Purbeck, Hastings, and so on, but upon an _old marine\ndeposit_. The huge cliffs of chalk that gave the name of _Albion_, the\n\u201cwhite isle,\u201d to our country, with all these downs, which rest upon\nchalk, having a depth or thickness of often more than two thousand feet,\nwere once formed at the bottom of pre-Adamite oceans; and in process of\ntime, as the secondary period drew near to its destined close, and other\nand higher types of life were to make their appearance, were upheaved by\nHim, \u201cwhose hands thus formed the dry land,\u201d to serve the future\npurposes and contribute to the comforts of the coming lord of all.\n\nOf this Albion we may well be proud, as the home of religion, the\nbirth-place of true freedom, and the sanctuary of the oppressed. With\nColeridge we exclaim:\u2014\n\n \u201cNot yet enslaved, nor wholly vile,\n O Albion, O my mother isle!\n Thy valleys fair, as Eden\u2019s bowers,\n Glitter green with sunny showers;\n Thy grassy upland\u2019s gentle swells\n Echo to the bleat of flocks;\n Those grassy hills, those glittering dells,\n Proudly ramparted with rocks;\n And Ocean, \u2019mid his uproar wild,\n Speaks safety to his island-child.\n Hence for many a fearless age\n Has social quiet loved thy shore;\n Nor ever proud invader\u2019s rage\n Or sack\u2019d thy towers or stain\u2019d thy fields with gore.\u201d\n\nIf we were to tell the story of the Chalk formation, it would run\nsomething after this fashion:\u2014Once upon a time\u2014but what time we don\u2019t\nknow, for man\u2019s records only go back a few thousand years; but long,\nlong ages before there was a man to till the earth\u2014all this chalk lay\nout of sight at the deep bottom of the old, old sea. The tall cliffs at\nDover, which Shakspeare would hardly recognise now with their tunnels\nand railroads, the wavy downs of Sussex and Surrey, the chalk hills of\nHampshire, all that piece of Wiltshire called Salisbury Plain, and this\nline of country stretching away north to bluff Flamborough Head, and\nrunning down south to Weymouth and the isle of Purbeck, taking up in its\ncourse a good part of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and\nNorfolk,\u2014all this immense district, averaging probably a thousand feet\nin thickness, lay quietly at the bottom of the sea. Yes! it wasn\u2019t\ncreated just pat in a moment, and set up in these hills and valleys, any\nmore than sand was created sand, but gradually, grain by grain, it\naccumulated, ages rolling by while thus the earth was a-preparing. These\nundulating downs knew then no boys pursuing on them their healthful and\ngymnastic games; no fair riders then crossed these pleasant turfy\nswards, inhaling life and vigour from the air of heaven; no evening\npromenades for men of business, recreating the overworked physical\nnature,\u2014then diversified the scene: but instead thereof crumbling\nparticles of older rocks covered the floor of the ocean with their dust,\nso making green sand, while the waste and d\u00e9bris of coral reefs, ground\nup and pulverized, poured in their lavish contributions, so making\nchalk; (?) while above this deposit thus forming, the ocean waves rolled\nto and fro, and in their rise and fall, their daily ebb and flow,\nsounded their eternal bass in the ear of old father Time, who certainly\nthen had no human children. Had we been there we should have seen as\ntenants of the \u201cvasty deep,\u201d pectens, plagiostamas, hamites, belemnites,\nand other odd-looking crustaceans, roaming about at their own sweet\nwill; some ganoid fishes that have now such hard names, that to write\nthem would interfere with the strain of this description; while here and\nthere we might have spied a veteran remnant of the oolite come down by\nstrange chance into the chalk, a solitary pterodactyle, snapped at and\npounced upon by an ugly mososaurus, a sea crocodile standing four feet\nhigh. These, and such as these, were the tenants of that ocean, which\nthen rolled over our heaths and downs; and when at length their period\nof life and purpose of creation were answered, these too all perished,\nand the secondary formation ended its wondrous career. The old ocean\nstill rolls on, unchanged, unaltered still; but what changes has it seen\nin these long distant epochs of which geology tries to tell the story!\n\n \u201cTime writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow;\n Such as creation\u2019s dawn beheld, thou rollest now!\u201d\n\nNo one can write the history of the Chalk formation, without remembering\nhis indebtedness to the patient and laborious toil of Dr. Mantell in\nthis department, from whose \u201cGeological Excursions round the Isle of\nWight,\u201d[104] we give the following extract. \u201cThe features of a chalk\ndistrict are so well known, that a brief notice will render local\ndetails unnecessary. The rounded summits of the hills, covered with\nshort verdant turf\u2014the smooth undulated outline of the downs unbroken,\nsave by the sepulchral mounds of the early inhabitants of the\ncountry\u2014the coombes and furrows ramifying and extending into the deep\nvalleys, which abruptly terminate at the base of the hills, and appear\nlike dried-up channels of rivulets and streams, though free from all\ntraces of alluvial d\u00e9bris, thus bearing the impress of physical\noperations, of which the agents that produced them have long since\npassed away\u2014are phenomena familiar to every one who has travelled over\nthe downs of the south-east of England, and are displayed in the chalk\ndistricts of the \u2018beautiful isle.\u2019 These features are restricted to the\nhilly districts of the _white chalk_, and have resulted from the\npeculiar nature of the sedimentary detritus,[105] of which the strata\ncomprised in the upper division of the Cretaceous system are composed:\nfor in the lower groups, clays, marls, sands, and sandstones prevail;\nand where these deposits approach the surface, and form the subsoil, the\ncountry is broken and diversified, and the landscape presents a striking\ncontrast with the down scenery, as may be observed in the picturesque\ndistrict which flanks the escarpment of the chalk hills. It may,\nperhaps, be necessary to remind the unscientific reader, that these\nstrata are but an insulated portion of an ancient sea-bottom, or in\nother words, a mass of consolidated sediments formed in the profound\ndepths of the ocean, in a very remote period of the earth\u2019s physical\nhistory. This detritus is made up of inorganic and organic materials.\nThe former consist of the d\u00e9bris of the cliffs and shores which\nencompassed the ancient sea, of the spoils of islands and continents\nbrought down into the ocean by fresh-water currents, and of chemical\ndeposits thrown down from mineral solutions. The organic substances are\nthe durable remains of animals and plants which lived and died in the\nocean, and of fluviatile and terrestrial species that were transported\nfrom the land by rivers and their tributaries; the whole forming such an\nassemblage of sedimentary deposits as would probably be presented to\nobservation, if a _mass of the bed of the Atlantic ocean_, 2,000 feet in\nthickness, were elevated above the waters, and became dry land.\u201d\n\nWe have alluded to the undulating character of the downs, so \u201cwell\nknown,\u201d as Mantell says, that \u201clocal details are unnecessary.\u201d How\ncorrect this is may be seen in the following drawing, which represents a\nportion of Royston Heath.\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nAll over this heath is found the \u201cRoyston crow,\u201d during the winter\nmonths. This fine bird migrates hither from Norway, to avoid its severe\nwinters, and is scientifically known as the \u201cHooded-crow, _corvus\ncornix_.\u201d On its first arrival, when it is in its best plumage, it is\ncomparatively tame, allowing the sportsman to approach very near; but as\nthe season advances, acquaintance with the gun makes it very knowing and\nshy. It associates freely with the other crows, but its nest has never\nyet been found in England. About March the hooded-crow wholly\ndisappears. The head, throat, and wings are black; the back and breast a\n\u201cclear smoke-grey.\u201d Norman, the bird-stuffer of this town, has always\nseveral fine specimens on hand.\n\nAs, in the case of the Carboniferous system, we ventured to say to the\nreader that it was not all _coal_, so in the Cretaceous system, we would\nremind him that it is not all _chalk_; but without going minutely into\nthe subdivisions which the chalk formation has received, because this\nunpretending elementary treatise does not profess to _teach_ geology,\nbut simply aims, as we have ventured again and again to repeat, to\ninfuse into the mind a desire of acquaintance with the marvels and\ntruths of this science, we will just indicate the leading divisions and\nnomenclature of this deposit. First, there is the green sand; that is,\n_first_, beginning at the bottom or lower part of the formation: this\nmay be well seen and studied in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, where we\nhave procured many of its characteristic fossils, including several\nvertebr\u00e6 and teeth of the otodus, a fish allied to the shark family,\nsuch as are figured in the opposite diagram.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSIL TEETH OF FISHES:\n FROM UPPER GREEN SAND, CAMBRIDGE.\n\n 1. OTODUS.\n 2. CARCHARIAS.\n 3. CORAX.\n 4. OXYRHINA.\n 5. NOTIDANUS.\n 6. LAMNA.\n 7. PTYCHODUS.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSILS FROM THE GAULT, FOLKSTONE.\n\n 1. AMMONITE DENTATUS.\n 2. AM. LAUTUS.\n 3. AM. SPLENDENS.\n 4. AM. CRISTATUS.\n 5. AM. DENARIUS.\n 6. CATILLUS SULCATUS.\n]\n\nAt Potton and Gamlingay in Bedfordshire, and in the neighbourhood, this\ngreen sand is highly ferruginous, and the roads and fields present that\npeculiarly dark-red colour which is first singular and then wearisome to\nthe eye. In the case of the Potton beds, the red colour is caused by\noxidization or rust of iron; in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, &c.,\nwhere there is the _green_ sand, this is owing to the influence of\n\u201cchloritous silicate of iron.\u201d Then we have the galt or gault, a local\nterm of which we cannot trace the etymology. The gault, however, is not\nof great thickness, but is likely to be the most interesting department\nof the Chalk to the beginner, on account of the abundance and peculiar\nappearance of its fossils. A ramble under the cliffs at Folkstone,[106]\nwhere the gault may be seen in perfection, will amply repay any one for\ntoil, dirt, and a few slips and bruises. He will there find evidences of\na prolific and prodigal bestowment of life in the innumerable fragments\nof organic remains every where observable; and if he be patient,\u2014if he\nwon\u2019t go running on from spot to spot, saying, as some do, \u201cOh, there\u2019s\nnothing here;\u201d if he will just persevere in a minute examination of\nevery spot where organic remains may be detected, he will not come away\nwithout his reward in ammonites, hamites, and other cephalopodous\nmollusks, and most of them with that peculiar nacreous or\nmother-of-pearl lustre upon them which renders the fossils of this\nperiod so beautiful and attractive. Only we caution the explorer not to\nbuy of the so-called guides. At Dover and Folkstone the rogues have a\nknack of getting a lump of gault, and sticking into it one or two common\npyrites, which are very abundant in the cliff, bits of shell, ammonites,\n&c.; they then offer this conglomerate for sale, all rounded and smooth,\nassuring you upon their \u201csacred honour,\u201d the honour of men who always\ndraw upon their imagination for their facts, that they would not ask so\nmuch for it, only on account of its excessive rarity. As good economists\nalways avoid cheap houses, and go to the best shops, so let the young\ngeologist always go to the best shop: let him go to the cliff with his\nhammer, and work for himself. We picture a few fossils from the gault,\nonly regretting that it is out of the power of our artist to convey\ntheir lustrous colours, as well as their curious forms.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n 1. NATICA CANICULATA.\n\n 2.} VENTICRULITES.\n 3.}\n\n 4.} ROSTELLARIA MARGINATA.\n 5.}\n\n 6.}\n 7.} CATILLUS CRISPI.\n 8.}\n]\n\n[Illustration: Fossil]\n\nThen comes, lastly, the _Chalk_: that is, the _white_ chalk, divided\ninto lower and upper; the _lower_ being harder and mostly without\nflints, and the upper characterised by layers and bands of flint,\nsometimes nodular, as in Cambridgeshire, and sometimes flat almost as a\npancake, as in the neighbourhood of Woolwich.\n\nAbove are some of the most characteristic fossils of the Chalk. No. 1 is\na _pecten_, or oyster, called the \u201cfive-ribbed,\u201d or _quinque costatus_;\nNo. 2 is the _plagiostoma spinosa_, so called on account of its spines,\na shell found frequently in our chalk or lime-pits; No. 3 is the\nintermediate hamite (Lat. _hamus_, a hook), \u201c_hamites intermedius_;\u201d No.\n4 is the _spatangus cor-anguinum_, a very common fossil _echinus_ in the\nchalk; No. 5 is the _ananchytes ovata_, found frequently in the Brighton\nand Ramsgate cliffs; No. 6 is a scaphite (Gr. _skaph\u0113_, a skiff or\nboat); and the last is our old friend the belemnite, who has survived so\nmany of this earth\u2019s changes, and now finds himself a contemporary of\nthe cretaceous inhabitants of the globe.\n\nIn many respects, the Chalk presents us with remarkable anomalies: we\nhave _sand_, the green sand, but unlike in colour and in texture the\nsand of the old and new red sandstone, where we find it compressed and\nhardened into solid and compact masses of stone; we have _clay_,\nargillaceous beds such as the gault, but it is not clay hard and pressed\ninto slaty rocks, but soft and compressible; and we have _carbonate of\nlime_, the chalk constituting the calcareous beds of this formation; but\nwhere we have met with it before it has been hard and solid limestone,\nand marble, not pliable and soft as in the Cretaceous system; and yet\napparently it is all the same material as we have found in the earlier\nstages of the earth\u2019s crust\u2014the washings, degradations, and deludations\nof older and harder rocks, along with the secretions and remains of\norganized animals that once peopled this ancient earth; thus affording\nus, on a large scale, another illustration of the economy observable in\nall the works of God.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSIL FISH FROM LEWES.\n]\n\nHaving spoken of the fossil fishes of the Chalk, we here give drawings\nof two procured from the neighbourhood of Lewes, the famous fossil\nfishing-ground of the late Dr. Mantell; and it is due to the name and\nmemory of the Chalk historian and geologist, to inform the reader that\nDr. M. was the first who succeeded, by skilful removal of the\nsurrounding chalk, in procuring a perfect ichthyolite from the\ncretaceous formation of England. The British Museum is now enriched by\nDr. Mantell\u2019s collection of fossil fishes, that once so much excited the\nadmiration of Agassiz, when he saw them at Brighton.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSIL FISH (ICHTHYOLITE) FROM LEWES.\n]\n\nHere let us again advert to the Deluge theory, not because our own minds\nare not satisfied on the point, but because theology and science alike\ndemand a true statement of the facts of the case. We believe, as we said\nin a previous chapter, in the plenary inspiration of nature, just as we\nbelieve that the Scriptures were given by inspiration of God; and we are\nquite sure that both books, if they are not misinterpreted, will declare\nthe glory of God in one common speech, and elevate the mind of man, to\nwhom they speak, up to a more adoring trust and a profounder reverence.\nWith Dr. Hitchcock we say, \u201cIt seems to me that the child can easily\nunderstand the geological interpretation of the Bible and its reasons.\nWhy, then, should it not be taught to children, that they may not be\nliable to distrust the whole Bible, when they come to the study of\ngeology? I rejoice, however, that the fears and prejudices of the pious\nand the learned are so fast yielding to evidence; and I anticipate the\nperiod, when on this subject the child will learn _the same thing in the\nSabbath school and in the literary institution_. Nay, I anticipate the\ntime as not distant when the high antiquity of the globe will be\nregarded as no more opposed to the Bible, than the earth\u2019s revolution\nround the sun, and on its axis. Soon shall the horizon, where geology\nand revelation meet, be cleared of every cloud, and present only an\nunbroken and magnificent circle of truth.\u201d[107] But to return; this\nDeluge theory refers all existing fossils to \u201cNoah\u2019s flood,\u201d\u2014to that\nviolent diluvial action, the graphic account of which is in the book of\nGenesis. Now, it is impossible to believe this if we look at a fossil:\nlook, for instance, at this terebratula, and observe how perfectly\nuninjured it is, frail as is its shelly covering; or at this plagiostoma\nspinosa, and mark how susceptible it is of injury, and yet that its\nbrittle spines are all unbroken; or at this inoceramus or catillus, and\nobserve its delicate flutings, still in exquisite preservation, without\nfracture or distortion; or these specimens of echinites, the ananchytes\novata, or the spatanguscor-anguinum, and see the markings on the shell,\nthe apertures of the mouth and stomach still perfect; who can see all\nthis and not come to the conclusion, that these creatures, and thousands\nsuch as these, endured not only no violence in death, such as a deluge\nwould suppose, but that at death they subsided quietly to the bottom of\nthe sea, there to find a fitting sepulchre of soft cretaceous matter\nprepared for them, which in process of time was lifted up, to exhibit in\na hard chalky bed their forms of pristine beauty?\n\nIn the upper chalk every one has seen the layers of flint, and marked\ntheir singular distribution, in layers; and here we would add, that the\nexistence of flint in chalk is one of those hard nuts which geology has\nnot yet cracked. The geologist, the chemist, and the zoologist have all\npuzzled themselves in vain to find a truly satisfactory origin for these\nnodules of siliceous matter. We have heard it suggested that they may be\n_coprolites_; but no one who examines the texture of a flint, can hold\nthat theory, to say nothing of the idea that the coprolites have been\npreserved, while the animal remains have perished. We may sum up all we\nhave to say about flints in the following words, from that useful little\nbook, Chambers\u2019s \u201cRudiments of Geology:\u201d\n\n\u201c_The formation of flint_, within a mass so different in composition as\nchalk, is still in some respects an unsolved problem in geology. It\noccurs in nodular masses of very irregular forms and variable magnitude;\nsome of these not exceeding an inch, others more than a yard in\ncircumference. Although thickly distributed in horizontal layers, they\nare never in contact with each other, each nodule being completely\nenveloped by the chalk. Externally, they are composed of a white cherty\ncrust; internally, they are of a grey or black silex, and often contain\ncavities lined with chalcedony and crystallized quartz. When taken from\nthe quarry they are brittle and full of moisture, but soon dry, and\nassume their well-known hard and refractory qualities. Flints, almost\nwithout exception, enclose remains of sponges, alcyonia, echinida, and\nother marine organisms, the structures of which are often preserved in\nthe most delicate and beautiful manner. In some specimens the organism\nhas undergone decomposition, and the space it occupied either left\nhollow, or partially filled with some sparry incrustation. From these\nfacts, it would seem that flints are as much an aggregation of silex\naround some organized nucleus, as septaria are aggregations of clay and\ncarbonate of iron. This is now the generally received opinion; and when\nit is remembered that the organisms must have been deposited when the\nchalk was in a pulpy state, there can be little difficulty in conceiving\nhow the silex dissolved through the mass would, by chemical affinity,\nattach itself to the decaying organism. Chalk is composed of carbonate\nof lime, with traces of clay, silex, and oxide of iron; flint, on the\nother hand, consists of 98 per cent. of pure silex, with a trace of\nalumine, oxide of iron, and lime. Silex is quite capable of solution: it\noccurs in the hot-springs of Iceland and most thermal waters; has been\nfound in a pulpy state within basalt; forms the _tabasheer_ found in the\ncavities of the bamboo, and the thin pellicle or outer covering of\ncanes, reeds, grasses, &c.; and siliceous concretions are common in the\nfruits and trees of the tropics. All these facts point to a very general\ndiffusion of silex in a state of solution; and whatever may have caused\nits abundance in the waters during the deposition of the upper chalk,\nthere can be little doubt respecting the mode in which it has been\ncollected around the organic remains of these early seas.\u201d\n\nAt Scratchell\u2019s Bay in the Isle of Wight, it will be seen that the\nflints are in a vertical position; and to the most casual observer the\nperpendicular arrangement of these flints will supply the strongest\nevidence of disturbance by upheaval from below. The bay in front, called\nScratchell\u2019s Bay, is a small but romantic indentation in the coast of\nthe south side of the island, in which are the famous Needles. In the\nface of the cliff is a noble archway between 200 and 300 feet high,\nwhich has been created by the constant action of water eating and\nwearing away the lower beds; while the Needles themselves are only\nisolated masses of chalk, separated or eroded from the main land by the\nsame erosive action. \u201cTo the late Sir Henry Inglefield belongs the merit\nof having first observed and directed attention to the highly\ninteresting phenomena of vertical chalk strata, occasioned by the\ndisruption and elevation of the eocene and cretaceous formations, which\nare so remarkably displayed in the Isle of Wight, where the vertical\nposition of the strata, and the shattered condition of the flint\nnodules, thought still embedded in the solid chalk, may be conveniently\nstudied in the cliffs in the neighbourhood of Scratchell\u2019s Bay.\u201d[108]\n\nWith the study of the Chalk formation, we close what has been\nappropriately termed the \u201csecondary period, or middle epoch of the\nancient world;\u201d of which it has been well said, \u201cIn reviewing the\ncharacters of the Cretaceous group, we have evidence that these varied\nstrata are the mineralized bed of an extensive ocean, which abounded in\nthe usual forms of marine organic life, as alg\u00e6, sponges, corals,\nshells, crustacea, fishes, and reptiles. These forms are specifically\ndistinct from those which are discovered in the tertiary strata; in many\ninstances, the genus, in all the species, became extinct with the close\nof the Cretaceous period. It affords a striking illustration of creative\npower, that of the hundreds of species which composed the Fauna and the\nFlora of the Cretaceous group, not one species passed into the\nsucceeding epoch.\u201d[109]\n\nOf that old ocean with its countless tenants we have already spoken, and\nconclude by applying to it the well-known lines of Montgomery, in his\ncelebration of the coral insect in his \u201cPelican Island:\u201d\u2014\n\n Millions of millions here, from age to age,\n With simplest skill, and toil unweariable,\n No moment and no movement unimproved,\n Laid line on line, on terrace, terrace spread,\n To swell the heightening, brightening gradual mound,\n By marvellous structure climbing towards the day.\n Omnipotence wrought in them, with them, by them;\n Hence what Omnipotence alone could do,\n Worms did.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n WALTONIAN AND MANTELLIAN FISHERMEN.\n]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n THE TERTIARY SYSTEM.\n\n \u201cAnd God made the beast of the earth after his kind.\u201d\n MOSES.\n\n\nIn our rapid sketch of the materials constituting the crust of the\nearth, we first of all, in that imaginary section which we supposed to\nhave been laid bare to us, studied the characters of the hypogene\nrocks,[110] that make up the Azoic period, in which, with the exception\nof a few zoophytes, all nature was void of animal, life and possessed\nonly by the genius of dread silence. Rising higher, we surveyed the\nPal\u00e6ozoic or primary rocks, where the fishes of the Old Red Sandstone\nconvinced us of progress in the forms of life, and taught us our first\nlesson in the ascending scale of those types of life with which\nPal\u00e6ontology has now made us familiar. Leaving this period at the\nCarboniferous era, we entered upon the Mesozoic,[111] or Secondary\nperiod, ushered in amidst strange convulsions that must again and again\nhave rendered the earth \u201cwithout form and void;\u201d and here we found\nourselves in company with the strange and gigantic remains of a higher\norder of vertebrated animals, the saurians, the crocodile-kings of a\nbygone period; and as we pondered these hieroglyphics of past\ngenerations, our souls \u201cwere seized the prisoners of amaze;\u201d and now, in\nour upward ascent, leaving behind us the scenes\n\n \u201cWhere eldest Night\n And Chaos, ancestors of nature, held\n Eternal anarchy,\u201d\n\nwe come to the Cainozoic,[112] or Tertiary Rocks, where other and higher\ntypes of life are found. Huge mammals, beasts of prodigious size, are\nnow found inhabitants of the earth, the precursors of man\u2014reasoning,\nintelligent, responsible man, who is presently to make his appearance on\nthis great theatre of life, \u201cmade a little lower than the angels,\u201d to\nhave dominion over the works of Jehovah\u2019s power.\n\nSir H. de la Beche proposes, for tertiary, the term \u201c_supercretaceous_;\u201d\nit is, however, of little consequence which term is adopted, the meaning\nin each case being the same, that all the rocks or strata lying above\nthe chalk are to be considered as belonging to the tertiary system or\nseries. Confessedly, it is a dark period in the history of those\nsuccessive creations which have been engaging our attention, for we can\ntrace no near connexion between the secondary or older, and tertiary or\nnewer formations. That is to say\u2014and the bare statement appears so\nsufficient and final a refutation of what has been termed the\n\u201cdevelopment hypothesis,\u201d now recognised as contradictory to fact and to\nScripture\u2014that there are not known to exist in any of these newer strata\nthe same beings, or the descendants of the same beings, that were found\nupon the earth at the termination of the chalk deposit.\n\nNor is this all; not only are none of the old fossils found in any one\nof the three divisions of this system, but we are introduced at once to\nso many new ones, that their species and genera are almost endless; and\nhe is not only a geologist of mark, but a most singularly accomplished\ngeologist, who thoroughly understands their minute subdivisions, and can\nappropriately classify the fossils of this most fossiliferous era. To\nmake the matter as simple as possible, let us add that \u201cthe broad\ndistinction between tertiary and secondary rocks is a _pal\u00e6ontological_\none. None of the secondary rocks contain any fossil animals or plants of\nthe _same species_ as any of those living at the present day. Every one\nof the tertiary groups _do_ contain some fossil animals or plants of the\n_same species_ as those now living.\u201d[113]\n\nHaving alluded to the threefold division of this series of rocks, we\nshall proceed to notice them, dwelling a while upon each, and showing\nthe principle on which each is based, as originated and enunciated by\nLyell. Of the three divisions, the first is called _Eocene_ (_\u0113\u014ds_, the\ndawn, and _kain\u014fs_, recent), by which term is represented the oldest or\nlowest of this tripartite series. Then we have the _Miocene_ (_mei\u014dn_,\nless, and _kain\u014fs_, recent)\u2014a name, we think, not the most appropriate,\nand likely to mislead the beginner, because really it represents a\nseries of beds, _more_ and not _less_ recent than the _Eocene_; but the\nidea of the name is this (and it must be carefully borne in mind), that\nalthough it is _more_ recent than the series of beds _below_, it is\n_less_ recent than those _above_; it is nearer the \u201cdawn\u201d of our present\nera than the _Eocene_, but not so near the dawn as the _Pliocene_. This\nlast term, the _Pliocene_ (from _plei\u014dn_, more, and _kain\u014fs_, recent),\nis applied to the newest of the beds of the tertiary series in which\nthere are found many _more recent_ than extinct shells. The Tertiary\nsystem or series, then, is divided into these three sections: viz. 1.\nThe older Tertiary or Eocene; 2. The middle Tertiary or Miocene; and 3.\nThe newer Tertiary or Pliocene.\n\nWe used a term just now, in quoting from Mr. Juke\u2019s most useful manual,\nwhich we will explain; we said, the \u201cdistinction between the secondary\nand tertiary rocks is wholly a _pal\u00e6ontological_ one;\u201d that is, it is a\ndistinction founded not on the character of the rocks, but on the\ncharacter of the _organic remains_ found in the rocks. \u201cThis character,\u201d\nsays Sir Charles Lyell, \u201cmust be used as a criterion of the age of a\nformation, or of the contemporaneous origin of two deposits in different\nplaces, under very much the same restrictions as the test of mineral\ncomposition.\n\n\u201cFirst, the same fossils may be traced over wide regions, if we examine\nstrata in the direction of their planes, although by no means for\nindefinite distances.\n\n\u201cSecondly, while the same fossils prevail in a particular set of strata\nfor hundreds of miles in a horizontal direction, we seldom meet with the\nsame remains for many fathoms, and very rarely for several hundred\nyards, in a vertical line, or a line transverse to the strata. This fact\nhas now been verified in almost all parts of the globe, and has led to a\nconviction, that at successive periods of the past, the same area of\nland and water has been inhabited by species of animals and plants even\nmore distinct than those which now people the antipodes, or which now\ncoexist in the Arctic, temperate, and tropical zones. It appears that,\nfrom the remotest periods, there has been ever a _coming in of new\norganic forms_, and an _extinction of those which pre-existed on the\nearth_, some species having endured for a longer, others for a shorter\ntime; while none have ever reappeared after once dying out. The law\nwhich has governed the creation and extinction of species seems to be\nexpressed in the verse of the poet\u2014\n\n \u2018Nature made him, and then broke the die;\u2019\n\nand this circumstance it is which confers on fossils their highest value\nas chronological tests, giving to each of them, in the eyes of the\ngeologist, that authority which belongs to contemporary medals in\nhistory. The same cannot be said of each peculiar variety of rock; for\nsome of these, as red-marl and red sandstone for example, may occur at\nonce upon the top, bottom, and middle of the entire sedimentary series;\nexhibiting in each position so perfect an identity of mineral aspect, as\nto be undistinguishable. Such exact repetitions, however, of the same\nmixtures of sediment, have not often been produced, at distant periods,\nin precisely the same parts of the globe; and even where this has\nhappened, we are seldom in any danger of confounding together the\nmonuments of remote eras, when we have studied their imbedded fossils\nand relative position.\u201d[114]\n\nLet us now briefly explain the very simple but satisfactory basis on\nwhich this threefold division of the Tertiary rocks rests, and then\nproceed to a brief explanation of each. The reader will already have\nnoted a statement on a preceding page, to which we shall be pardoned,\nif, a second time, we ask attention to it. In imparting elementary\ninstruction on geology we have always found our classes more or less\npuzzled by the tertiary system, on account of its nomenclature and\nminute subdivisions, and we have learnt from experience the importance\nof presenting this statement over and over again. We have remarked that\nin the _secondary rocks_\u2014that is, up to the end of the chalk\nsystem\u2014there are _no_ organic remains found precisely similar to any\nspecies existing at the present day; but when we come to the tertiary\nrocks, although we find many strangers, we find also a good many organic\nremains of the same kind and character as the shells, that are now found\non our shores. In one part of the Tertiary the number of fossils that\nbelongs to existing genera is many, in another more, in another more\nstill; and upon this simple idea of positive, comparative, and\nsuperlative, the present division is based. Taking the _percentage_\nprinciple as a guide, Sir Charles Lyell and a distinguished French\ngeologist, M. Deshayes, have ascertained that in the lowest beds of this\nsystem there were only 3\u00bd per cent. of fossil shells similar to\nexisting species, and this, for \u201cthe sake of clearness and brevity,\u201d\nsays Sir Charles, \u201cwas called the _Eocene_ period, or the period of the\ndawn, the dawn of our modern era so far as its testaceous fauna are\nconcerned.\u201d Rising higher in the examination of these rocks, certain\nstrata were found containing 18 per cent. of fossil shells, similar to\nshells found now; and to this was given the name of _Miocene_, the\npuzzling name already spoken of, because it means _less_ recent, whereas\nit is in reality _more_ recent, and is to be understood in relation to\nthe series _below_, and not to the series _above_. A step higher up in\nthis system revealed deposits of a coralline and craggy character, in\nwhich 41 per cent. of fossil shells like those of the present era were\nfound; and to this the name of _Pliocene_, or more recent still, was\ngiven; and latterly, in Sicily chiefly, a series of strata has been\ndiscovered, referable to the Tertiary, in which 95 per cent. of recent\nspecies of shells have been found, and to this series the name of\nPost-Pliocene, or _Pleistocene_, has been given. Before our description\nof each of these divisions, let us add, that \u201cthe organic _remains of\nthe system_ constitute its most important and interesting feature. The\nfossils of earlier periods presented little analogy, often no\nresemblance, to existing plants and animals; here, however, the\nsimilitude is frequently so complete, that the naturalist can scarcely\npoint out a distinction between them and living races. Geology thus\nunfolds a beautiful gradation of being, from the corals, molluscs, and\nsimple crustacea of the grauwacke\u2014the enamelled fishes, crinoidea, and\ncryptogamic plants of the lower secondary\u2014the chambered shells, sauroid\nreptiles, and marsupial mammalia of the upper secondary\u2014up to the true\ndicotyledonous trees, birds, and gigantic quadrupeds of the tertiary\nepoch. The student must not, however, suppose that the fossils of this\nera bring him up to the present point of organic nature, for thousands\nof species which then lived and flourished became in their turn extinct,\nand were succeeded by others long before man was placed on the earth as\nthe head of animated existence. Of _Plants_, few marine species have\nbeen detected; but the fresh-water beds have yielded cycade\u00e6, coniferae,\npalms, willows, elms, and other species, exhibiting the true\ndicotyledonous structure. Nuts allied to those of the cocoa and other\npalms have been discovered in the London clay; and seeds of the\nfresh-water _charace\u00e6_, or stoneworts, known by the name of _gyrgonites_\n(Gr., _gyros_, curved, and _gonos_, seed), are common in the same\ndeposit. Of the _Radiata_, _Articulata_, and _Mollusca_, so many belong\nto existing genera, that this circumstance has suggested the\nclassification of tertiary rocks according to the number of recent\nspecies which they contain.\u201d\u2014_Chambers\u2019 Outlines_, p. 147.\n\nLet us now begin _the Eocene period_. The most remarkable formations of\nthis period are the London and Hampshire basins. Of the London basin we\nhave already spoken in a previous chapter; a few additional remarks will\nbe sufficient. The diagrams 4 and 5, p. 25, will explain these tertiary\ndeposits better than any verbal explanation; and when it is remembered\nthat this bed of clay is probably a thousand feet in thickness, we get a\npassing illustration of the folly of those puerile reports which a few\nyears since were industriously circulated about a coming earthquake in\nLondon. Poor, uneducated people took up the alarm rather anxiously,\nnever dreaming of what any tyro in science would have told them\u2014that\nsupposing there was a subterranean chimney on fire down below, there was\na wet blanket under their feet composed of a thousand feet of sodden and\nsolid clay, a blanket of the material they may see in the deep cuttings\nof the Great Northern Railway in and about London, that would most\neffectually have put out any fire, or checked the progress of any\nearthquake, just as a cannon-ball is stopped dead by a woolsack.\n\nA run down the river Thames will take any one who has a day to spare to\nthe isle of Sheppey, where he will be amply rewarded by seeing, on the\nnorth side of the island, an exposure of this formation in the cliff\nlaid bare to the height of 200 feet, and which pleasure trip will be\namply rewarded by the discovery _in situ_ of the fossil tropical plants,\n&c., that once flourished in the neighbourhood of our cold and foggy\nLondon. \u201cAt the entrance of the Thames, the London clay extends on both\nsides of the river, and is admirably exhibited in the isle of Sheppey,\nwhich consists entirely of this stratum. The cliffs on the north side of\nthe island are upwards of 200 feet high, and are cut down vertically by\nthe action of the sea; they have long been celebrated for the remarkable\nabundance and variety of the organic remains obtained from them, amongst\nwhich, perhaps, the most interesting are the fruits, berries, and woody\nseed-vessels of several hundred species of plants. From the same\nlocality there have also been obtained the remains of upwards of fifty\nspecies of fish, and a considerable number of crustaceans, and many\nother invertebrata; besides some remarkable bones which have been\ndescribed by Professor Owen, and which indicate the former existence in\nthis island of large serpents, and of such birds as prey upon small\nreptiles and mammalia. Many of these fossils, especially those of\nplants, are very difficult to preserve, owing to the great tendency of\nthe iron pyrites, which enter largely into their composition, to\neffloresce and be destroyed by exposure to the atmosphere.\u201d[115]\n\nPassing from the London basin to the Hampshire basin or Barton beds, we\nshall first give a group of the shells found here; and we wish our\nreaders could look at them as they lie before us in their condition of\nmost exquisite preservation, so exquisite, that those who have seen them\nhave involuntarily and frequently exclaimed, \u201c_But these can\u2019t be\nfossils!_\u201d I know of no picture-painting of past history so touching,\nand yet so true, as these lovely specimens of the shells of the\npre-Adamite condition of England in all their native simplicity. To\nthose who see in them shells, and only shells, why, in the name of the\nprophet, give them _figs_, while we again remember Wordsworth\u2019s hero,\u2014\n\n \u201cA primrose on the river brim,\n A yellow primrose was to him,\n And it was nothing more.\u201d\n\nTo us they speak a wondrous story, replete with the knowledge that\nmaketh glad the heart of man, because it is purifying, elevating\nknowledge; and though it does not teach the peculiar truths of theology,\nand we heartily wish that geology had been allowed to tell only its own\ntale of Creation\u2014for here, as elsewhere,\n\n \u201cNature, when unadorned,\n Is then adorned the most\u201d\u2014\n\ninstead of being put to the rack, and made to suggest the special truths\nof Revelation,[116] with which it has nothing to do;\u2014although, we say,\nit does not teach the peculiar and special truths for which a Revelation\nwas needed, it everywhere throws light on the boundless treasures of\nwisdom and care and beneficent Providence of the God of revelation. But\nagain we catch ourselves sermonizing: to the diagram.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSILS FROM THE LONDON CLAY.\n\n 1. TELLINA CRASSA.\n 2. CHAMA SQUAMOSA.\n 3. TURRITELLA IMBRICATARIA.\n 4. FUSUS ASPER.\n 5. PLEUROTOMA COLON.\n 6. MUREX TUBIFER.\n 7. APORHAIS PES-PELICANI.\n 8. VOLUTA LUCTATOR (or luctatrix).\n 9. TROCHUS MONOLIFER: the necklace trochus.\n 10. VENERICARDIA COR-AVIUM.\n 11. FUSUS BULBIFORMIS: the bulb fusus.\n]\n\nThese fossils we obtained from the neighbourhood of Christchurch; and as\nthese sheets were being written, we received from Dr. Mantell\u2019s\n\u201cGeological Excursions in the Isle of Wight,\u201d the following appropriate\ndescription of them: \u201cThe numerous marine fossil shells which are\nobtained from this part of the coast of Hampshire, are generally known\nas Hordwell fossils; but it is scarcely necessary to remark, that they\nalmost entirely belong to the London clay strata, and are procured from\nBarton cliffs. These fossils are most conveniently obtained from the low\ncliff near Beacon Bunny, and occur in greatest abundance in the upper\npart of the dark green sandy clay. There are generally blocks of the\nindurated portions of the strata on the beach, from which fossils may be\nextracted. A collection of Hordwell fossils, consisting of the teeth of\nseveral species of sharks and rays, bones of turtles, and a great\nvariety of shells, may be purchased at a reasonable price of Jane\nWebber, dealer in fossils, Barton cliff, near Christchurch.\u201d\u2014(P. 124.)\n\nBefore leaving the Eocene, or rather the London clay of the Eocene, we\nwill give a drawing of a fossil in our possession. The drawing opposite\nrepresents a piece of fossil wood, pierced through and through by\nTeredin\u00e6, a boring mollusk allied to the Teredo, which still proves so\ndestructive to our vessels. Although the wood is converted into a stony\nmass, and in some parts covered by calcareous matter, the same as is\nfound in the septaria, so common in these beds, to which we shall\npresently direct attention, still the grain and woody texture are most\ndistinct. This wood was once probably floating down what we now call the\nThames, when these piercing, boring mollusks seized hold upon it,\npenetrated its soft texture, and lived, moved, and had their being down\nat the bottom of the river in their self-constructed chambers. Time\nrolled on, and the log of wood is floated upon the shore, and there it\nlies to harden and to dry; again the log is drifted away, and, buried in\nsome soft bed of clay, is preserved from rotting. In process of time it\nagain sees the light; but now saturated by argillaceous material, and\nwhen hardened by the sun, becomes the petrifaction such as we see it.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n WOOD PERFORATED RY TEREDINA PERSONATA, LONDON CLAY.\n]\n\nHere let us refer to the septaria, of which we have just spoken; two\nspecimens lie before us, which we will briefly describe. In one (1) the\nclay is in distinct lozenge-shaped masses of a blue colour, while veins\nof calcareous spar or crystallized carbonate of lime surround these,\nwhich are capable of a beautiful marble-like polish; in the other (2)\nthe clay is of the same colour, only in larger proportions, and the spar\nis of a deep brown colour, while here and there portions of iron pyrites\nmay be seen; they become beautiful ornaments in a room when cut and\npolished. It should be added, that the septaria are not without their\neconomic uses, being extensively used as cement after being stamped and\nburnt.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n SEPTARIA\n]\n\nHere we may leave this brief sketch of the Eocene, or lowest beds of the\nTertiary. A new creation has been introduced to our view; and although\nwe still wait for the coming of man\u2014the lord and interpreter of all\u2014the\ncontemplation of these successive acts and centres of creation fills our\nminds with renewed admiration and reverence of Him for whom, and by\nwhom, and to whom are all things. Thus \u201ceven Geology, while it has\nexhumed and revivified long buried worlds, peopled with strange forms in\nwhich we can feel little more than a speculative interest, and compared\nwith which the most savage dweller in the wilderness of the modern\nperiod\u2014jackal, hy\u00e6na, or obscene vulture\u2014is as a cherished pet and bosom\nfriend, has made for us new bonds of connexion between remote regions of\nthe earth as it is, on account of which we owe it a proportionate share\nof gratitude.\u201d[117]\n\n\n No. II.\u2014_The Miocene._\n\nWe shall briefly pass over this period. At Bordeaux, Piedmont, and in\nLisbon, this formation is seen; as well as in various other parts of the\nContinent of Europe. The supposition of Geology is, that during this\nperiod \u201cwhole regions of volcanoes burst forth, whose lofty but now\ntranquil cones can be seen in Catalonia, in Spain, in France,\nSwitzerland, Asia, and in America. The Alps, the Carpathian Mountains,\nand other lofty ranges were at this period partially upheaved. The\nresearches of Sir Robert Murchison have established this fact, by his\nfinding deep beds of limestone, characteristic of the Tertiary period,\non the summit of one of the loftiest of the Alps, fully ten thousand\nfeet above the level of the sea.\u201d\n\n\n No. III.\u2014_The Pliocene Period._\n\nThis term has already been explained. We shall only detain the reader by\na few words respecting the organic remains that characterize this\nformation. In England it is confined to the eastern part of the county\nof Suffolk, where it is called \u201cCrag.\u201d This is a mere provincial name,\ngiven particularly to those masses of shelly sand which are used to\nfertilize lands deficient in calcareous matter. The geological name\ngiven to this strata is the \u201cRed or Coralline Crag;\u201d and it is so called\non account of the deep ferruginous colour its fossils have through\nextensive oxidization of iron. We give drawings of the fossils of the\nRed Crag, obtained from the neighbourhood of Ipswich.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSILS FROM THE RED CRAG, NEAR IPSWICH.\n\n 1. VENERICARDIA SENILIS.\n 2. TURRITELLA.\n 3. PATELLA \u00c6QUALIS.\n 4. CYPREA.\n 5. PALUDINA LENTA.\n 6. PECTUNCULUS VARIABILIS.\n 7. MUREX.\n 8. FUSUS CONTRARIUS.\n 9. BUCCINUM ELONGATA.\n 10. VENERICARDIA SCALARIS.\n 11. VOLUTA LAMBERTI.\n 12. FUSUS ASPER.\n 13. PECTUNCULUS PILOSUS.\n]\n\nBut these are not the only fossils of this period; it is here we meet,\nand that for the first time, with the highest form of animal life with\nwhich the researches of geology have made us acquainted. We have traced\nlife in various forms in the different rocks that have passed under our\nrapid survey, and in all we have seen a wondrous and most orderly\ngradation. We began with the coral zoophytes, and from them proceeded to\nthe mollusks and crustacea of the hypogene rocks; ascending, we\ndiscovered \u201cfish with glittering scales,\u201d associated with the crinoids\nand cryptogamous plants of the secondary series of rocks; and then we\narrive where we are now, among the true dicotyledonous and exogenous\nplants and trees, with the strange birds and gigantic quadrupeds of the\ntertiary period. But the student must not imagine that even the fossils\nof this epoch bring him up to the modern era, or the _reign of man_; for\neven in the tertiary system numberless species lived and flourished,\nwhich in their turn became extinct, to be succeeded by others long\nbefore man, the chief of animals and something more, made his\nappearance, to hold dominion over these manifold productions of creative\nskill and power. But amidst these creations,\n\n \u201cGod was everywhere, the God who framed\n Mankind to be one mighty human family,\n Himself their Father, and the world their home.\u201d\n\nIt would be altogether beside the purpose of this preliminary treatise\nto enter into any details respecting the animals that have been found in\nsuch abundance in the Norwich Crag, that it has been called the\n\u201cMammaliferous Crag.\u201d Those who desire full and deeply interesting\ninformation on this question should consult Owen\u2019s noble work, entitled\n\u201cBritish Fossil Mammals and Birds,\u201d where, under the respective\ndivisions of Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, he will see a complete chart\nof our riches in the possessions of a past creation. For the discovery\nof the Siberian Mammoth so often quoted, we shall refer to the same\nwork, page 217, &c.; from which we shall only quote one brief extract,\nillustrative of the abundance of these remains in our own coasts in the\nages past.\n\n\u201cMr. Woodward, in his \u2018Geology of Norfolk,\u2019 supposes that upwards of two\nthousand grinders of the mammoth have been dredged up by the fishermen\nof the little village of Happisburgh in the space of thirteen years. The\noyster-bed was discovered here in 1820; and during the first twelve\nmonths hundreds of the molar teeth of mammoths were landed in strange\nassociation with the edible mollusca. Great quantities of the bones and\ntusks of the mammoth are, doubtless, annually destroyed by the action of\nthe waves of the sea. Remains of the mammoth are hardly less numerous in\nSuffolk, especially in the pleistocene beds along the coast, and at\nStutton;\u2014they become more rare in the fluvio-marine crag at Southwold\nand Thorp. The village of Walton, near Harwich, is famous for the\nabundance of these fossils, which lie along the base of the sea-cliffs,\nmixed with bones of species of horse, ox, and deer.\u201d[118]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n SKELETON OF THE MEGATHERIUM CUVIERI (AMERICANUM).\n]\n\nAll the animals of this period are called theroid animals: from\n_therion_, a wild beast; and looking at the skeletons as they have been\narranged from the few existing fossils, or from nearly complete\nmaterials\u2014a matter not of guess-work, but of the most rigid application\nof the principles of comparative anatomy\u2014we stand astounded at the\nprodigious sizes of these mammoths of the tertiary era. There is the\n_deinotherium_, or fierce wild beast; the _pal\u00e6otherium_, or ancient\nwild beast; the _anoplotherium_, or unarmed wild beast, and others. We\ngive above a drawing of the well-known _megatherium_, or great wild\nbeast, to be seen in the British Museum, and add the following from\nMantell\u2019s Guide to the Fossils of the British Museum:\u2014\u201cThis stupendous\nextinct animal of the sloth tribe was first made known to European\nnaturalists by a skeleton, almost entire, dug up in 1789, on the banks\nof a river in South America, named the Luxon, about three miles\nsouth-east of Buenos Ayres. The specimen was sent to Madrid, and fixed\nup in the Museum, in the form represented in numerous works on natural\nhistory. A second skeleton was exhumed at Lima, in 1795; and of late\nyears Sir Woodbine Parish, Mr. Darwin, and other naturalists have sent\nbones of the megatherium, and other allied genera, to England. The model\nof the megatherium has been constructed with great care from the\noriginal bones, in the Wall-cases 9, 10, and in the Hunterian Museum.\nThe attitude given to the skeleton, with the right arm clasping a tree,\nis, of course, hypothetical; and the position of the hinder toes and\nfeet does not appear to be natural. Altogether, however, the\nconstruction is highly satisfactory; and a better idea of the colossal\nproportions of the original is conveyed by this model, than could\notherwise be obtained.\u201d[119]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n SKELETON OF THE MASTODON OHIOTICUS, FROM NORTH AMERICA.\n (Height, 9\u00bd feet; length, 20 feet.)\n]\n\nWe give below a drawing of the \u201c_Mastodon Ohioticus_;\u201d for the following\naccount of which we are indebted to the same source. It will be found in\nRoom 6, figure 1.\u2014\u201cThis fine skeleton was purchased by the trustees of\nthe British Museum of Albert Koch, a well-known collector of fossil\nremains; who had exhibited, in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, under the\nname of the Missourium, or Leviathan of the Missouri, an enormous\nosteological monster, constructed of the bones of this skeleton,\ntogether with many belonging to other individuals\u2014the tusks being fixed\nin their sockets so as to curve outwards on each side of the head. From\nthis heterogeneous assemblage of bones, those belonging to the same\nanimal were selected, and are articulated in their natural\njuxtaposition.\u201d[120]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON, FROM GUADALOUPE. (The original 4 feet 2 inches\n long, by 2 feet wide.)\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n PLAN OF THE CLIFF AT GAUDALOUPE.\n]\n\nIn Wall-case D of the British Museum, may be seen a fossil skeleton of a\nhuman being, brought from the island of Guadaloupe, the consideration of\nwhich must for ever remove any idea that may exist about man being\ncontemporaneous with the theroidal mammals of which we have been\nspeaking.[121] Professor Whewell has remarked that the \u201cgradation in\nform between man and other animals is but a slight and unimportant\nfeature in contemplating the great subject of the origin of the human\nrace. Even if we had not revelation to guide us, it would be most\nunphilosophical to attempt to trace back the history of man, without\ntaking into account the most remarkable facts in his nature: the facts\nof civilization, arts, government, speech\u2014his traditions\u2014his internal\nwants\u2014his intellectual, moral, and religious constitution. If we will\nattempt a retrospect, we must look at all these things as evidence of\nthe origin and end of man\u2019s being; and we do thus comprehend, in one\nview, the whole of the argument\u2014it is impossible for us to arrive at an\norigin homogeneous with the present order of things. On this subject,\nthe geologist may, therefore, be well content to close the volume of the\nearth\u2019s physical history, and open that divine record which has for its\nsubject the moral and religious nature of man.\u201d\n\n\u201cMysterious framework of bone, locked up in the solid marble,\u2014unwonted\nprisoner of the rock! an irresistible voice shall yet call thee out of\nthy stony matrix. The other organisms, thy partners in the show, are\nincarcerated in the lime for ever,\u2014thou but for a term. How strangely\nhas the destiny of the race to which thou belongest re-stamped with new\nmeanings the old phenomena of creation!... When thou wert living,\nprisoner of the marble, haply as an Indian wife and mother, ages ere the\nkeel of Columbus had disturbed the waves of the Atlantic, the high\nstanding of thy species had imparted new meanings to death and the\nrainbow. The prismatic arch had become the bow of the covenant, and\ndeath a great sign of the unbending justice and purity of the Creator,\nand of the aberration and fall of the living soul, formed in the\nCreator\u2019s own image,\u2014reasoning, responsible man.\u201d[122]\n\n\n FINIS:\u2014THE GEOLOGIST\u2019S DREAM.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n ALARM, BUT NO DANGER.\n]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n SCRIPTURE AND GEOLOGY; OR, APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS RECONCILED.\n\n \u201cBy Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in\n earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,\n or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for\n Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things\n consist.\u201d\u2014PAUL.\n\n\nWe have in the course of the previous volume alluded to certain\ndiscrepancies, supposed to exist between the statements of Scripture,\nand the teachings of Geology. We have more than once intimated our\nintention of discussing at some length these questions, that have so\nlong been tabooed by truly religious people, and often needlessly\nexaggerated by those who have possessed a \u201cmicroscopic eye,\u201d in the\ndiscovery of the weak points of Christian faith or opinion. Dropping the\nconvenient and euphonious form of egotism, which allows sovereigns and\nauthors to adopt the plural, we shall crave to stand before our readers\nin our personal and singular, rather than in our impersonal and plural,\nform of speech.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTo the reader let me first say, that while I do not wish to appear\nbefore him as an advocate, as if I held a brief or had a retaining fee\non behalf of Moses, I nevertheless feel rather keenly that the\n\u201creverend\u201d put before my name may give something like this aspect to all\nmy remarks. It may be thought, and that honestly enough, that because\nmine is the clerical profession, I am bound, _per fas aut nefas_, to\ncontend for the authority of Scripture. It may be thought\u2014in fact, it is\ndaily alleged against us\u2014that the particular \u201cstand-point\u201d we occupy is\nan unfair one, inasmuch as a preacher is bound to \u201c_stick to the\nBible_;\u201d and indeed that he always comes to it with certain _\u00e0 priori_\nconclusions, that to a great extent invalidate his reasonings, and\ndestroy the morality of his arguments.\n\nPossibly there may be more truth in this than any of us dream of: _fas\nest ab hoste doceri_. I therefore make no professions of honesty, and\nappeal to no one\u2019s feelings; let us go and look at the Bible, and at the\nearth\u2019s crust, and be guided by our independent researches. Should this\nhappen to be read by any one whose mind is out of joint with Scripture;\nwho no longer reposes with satisfaction on the old book of his childhood\nand his youth; who has begun to fear,\u2014perhaps to think that it is only a\ncollection of \u201ccunningly devised\u201d fables; and who is on the verge of\ngiving up Christianity and all \u201cthat sort of thing;\u201d to such an one I\nshall speak, supposing him to be as honest in his doubts as I am in my\nconvictions. I cannot deal with man as if he had no right to doubt; I\nhave never yet \u201cpooh-poohed\u201d any one\u2019s unbelief; but I have always\nstriven to regard all doubts expressed in courteous phrase, as the\nresult of investigation, even though it may be partial, as the fruit of\nstudy, although it may have been misguided, and as the painful\nconclusions of a thinking mind, and not cherished for the sake of\n\u201chaving a fling\u201d at moral truth or a righteous life, or at the mothers\nand sisters whose life \u201cremote from public haunt\u201d has saved them from\never doubting the truth of revelation.\n\nDoubting and scorning are very opposite phases of mind: we here address\nthe _doubter_; with the _scorner_ we have nothing to do; if _ridicule_\nis his substitute for argument, by all means let him enjoy it; and if\n_calling names_ is his substitute for patient investigation, let him\nenjoy that pastime also\u2014hard words break no bones; but for the\n_doubter_, for the man who has his honest difficulties, and finds large\nstumbling-blocks in the path of unresisting acquiescence in household\nfaiths, for such an one I have much to say in this chapter, if he will\nread it,\u2014to him I stretch forth my hand in cordial greeting, and invite\nhim to examine evidence, and consider facts; and then, whatever may be\nthe result, whether I shake _his doubts_ or he shake _my faith_, we\nshall at least have acted a manly and a straightforward part. At any\nrate, we ought ever to meet as friends, and to be candid and forbearing,\nas men liable to err through manifold besetments and biasses.\n\nHaving thus thrown myself upon my reader\u2019s candour, by a clear avowal of\nthe spirit in which such controversies ought to be conducted, let us\ntogether proceed to the purpose of this chapter. Between Geology and\nScripture interpretation there _are_ apparent and great\ncontradictions\u2014that all admit: on the very threshold of our future\nremarks, let us allow most readily that between the usually recognised\ninterpretations of Scripture and the well-ascertained facts of\nGeological science, there are most appalling contradictions; and the\nquestions arising thence are very important, both in a scientific and in\na theological point of view. Is there any method of reconciliation, by\nwhich the harmony of the facts of science with the statements of the\nBible can be shown? Where is the real solution to be found? Are we\nmistaken in our interpretations, or are we mistaken in our discoveries?\nHave we to begin religion again _de novo_, or may the Bible and the Book\nof Nature remain just as we have been accustomed to regard them; both as\nequally inspired books of God, waiting only the service and worship of\nman, their priest and interpreter?\n\nThese are questions surely of no common importance. Neither the\nChristian nor the doubter act a consistent part in ignoring them. Should\nthe Christian say, \u201cI want no teachings of science: I want no learned\nphrases and learned researches to assist me in understanding my Bible:\nfor aught I care, all the \u2018ologies\u2019 in the world may perish as carnal\nliterature: I know the Book is true, and decline any controversy with\nthe mere intellectual disputant;\u201d and if the Christian should go on to\nadd, as probably he would in such a state of mind, and as, alas! too\nmany have done to the lasting disgust and alienation of the thoughtful\nand intelligent: \u201cThese are the doubts of a \u2018philosophy falsely so\ncalled:\u2019 science has nothing to do with Revelation: they have separate\npaths to pursue; let them each go their own way: and should there come a\ncollision between the two, we are prepared to give up all science once\nand for ever, whatever it may teach, rather than have our views upon\nRevelation disturbed:\u201d\u2014now, if the Christian talks like that, he is\nacting a most unwise part. He is doing in his limited sphere of\ninfluence what the Prussian Government intended to have done when\nStrauss\u2019 \u201cLife of Christ\u201d appeared. It was the heaviest blow that\nunbelief had ever struck against Christianity, and the Government of\nPrussia with several theological professors were disposed to prosecute\nits author, and forbid the sale of the book. But the great Neander\ndeprecated this course, as calculated to give the work a spurious\ncelebrity, and as wearing the aspect of a confession that the book was\nunanswerable. He advised that it should be met, not by _authority_, but\nby _argument_, believing that the truth had nothing to fear in such a\nconflict. His counsel prevailed, and the event has shown that he was\nright.\n\nIf, on the other hand, the doubter should say, \u201cThe intelligence of the\nday has outgrown our household faiths; men are no longer to be held in\ntrammels of weakness and superstition, or to be dragooned into\nReligion;\u2014the old story about the Bible, why, you know we can\u2019t receive\nthat, and look upon those compilations that pass by that name as\ndivinely inspired Books; we have long since been compelled to abandon\nthe thought that Christianity has any historic basis, or that its Books\nhave any claim upon the reverence or faith of the nineteenth century, as\nof supernatural origin.\u201d\n\nTo such an one I should say, that this begging of the question, this\n_petitio principii_, is no argument; these are statements that require\nevery one of them a thorough demonstration before they are admitted; you\ndeny the Christian one single postulate: you deny him the liberty of\ntaking _anything_ for granted; and then begin yourself with demanding\nhis assent unquestioned to so large a postulate as your very first\nutterance involves, \u201cthat the intelligence of the age has outgrown our\nhousehold faiths.\u201d Before you proceed you must prove that; and we must\nknow what is meant by those terms, before we can stand upon common\nground, and hold anything like argument upon these debated points.\n\nFrom such general observations let us come to the precise objects before\nus: Geology and Scripture are supposed to be at variance specially on\nthree points. _The age of the earth_: _the introduction of death_: and\n_the Noachian Deluge_. These apparent contradictions are the most\nprominent difficulties, and cause the most startling doubts among those\nwho imagine Science to be antagonistic to Christian revelation. I\npropose to devote a little attention to each of these questions, while I\nendeavour honestly to show how, in my opinion, apparent contradictions\nmay be reconciled. The questions are these, to state them in a popular\nform: 1. _Is the world more than 6,000 years old?_ and if it is, how are\nthe statements of Scripture and Geology to be reconciled? 2. _Was death\nintroduced into the world before the fall of man?_ and if it was, how\nare the truths of Scripture on this question to be explained? and, 3.\nWhat was the character of the _Noachian Deluge_? was it partial or\nuniversal? and what are the apparent discrepancies in this case, between\nscience and the Bible?\n\nPerhaps before I proceed a step further I ought to add that, in my\nbelief, the age of the earth, so far as its material fabric, _i.e._ its\ncrust, is concerned, dates back to a period so remote, and so\nincalculable, that the epoch of the earth\u2019s creation is wholly\nunascertained and unascertainable by our human arithmetic; whether this\nis contradicted in the Scripture, is another question.\n\nWith regard to the introduction of death, I believe that death upon a\nmost extensive scale prevailed upon the earth, and in the waters that\nare under the earth, ages, yea countless ages, before the creation of\nman\u2014before the sin of any human being had been witnessed; that is what\nGeology teaches most indisputably: whether the Scriptures contradict\nthis statement, is another question.\n\nWith regard to the Noachian Deluge, I believe that it was quite partial\nin its character, and very temporary in its duration; that it destroyed\nonly those animals that were found in those parts of the earth then\ninhabited by man; and that it has not left one single shell, or fossil,\nor any drift or other remains that can be traced to its action. Whether\nthe Scriptures teach any other doctrine, is another question.\n\nBy this time the ground between us is narrowed, and I may probably\nanticipate that I shall have objections to answer, or misapprehensions\nto remove, quite as much on the part of those who _devoutly believe_, as\non the part of those who _honestly doubt_ the Christian Scriptures.\n\nFirst then,\n\nI. _How old is the world?_ How many years is it since it was called into\nbeing, as one of the planets? How many centuries have elapsed since its\nfirst particle of matter was created?\n\nThe answer comes from a thousand voices, \u201cHow old? why, 6,000 years, and\nno more, or closely thereabouts! Every child knows that;\u2014talk about the\nage of the world at this time of day, when the Bible clearly reveals\nit!\u201d\n\nNow I ask, Where does the Bible reveal it? Where is the chapter and the\nverse in which its age is recorded? I have read my Bible somewhat, and\nfeel a deepening reverence for it, but as yet I have never read that. I\nsee the age of man recorded there; I see the revelation that says the\n_human_ species is not much more than 6,000 years old; and geology says\nthis testimony is true, for no remains of man have been found even in\nthe tertiary system, the latest of all the geological formations. \u201c_The\nBible, the writings of Moses_,\u201d says Dr. Chalmers, \u201c_do not fix the\nantiquity of the globe; if they fix any thing at all, it is only the\nantiquity of the species._\u201d\n\nIt may be said that the Bible does not dogmatically teach this doctrine\nof the antiquity of the globe; and we reply, Very true; but how have we\ngot the idea that the Bible was to teach us all physical science, as\nwell as theology. Turretin went to the Bible for _Astronomy_: Turretin\nwas a distinguished professor of theology in his day, and has left\nbehind him large proofs of scholarship and piety. Well, Turretin went to\nthe Bible, determined to find _his system_ of astronomy in it; and of\ncourse he found it. \u201cThe sun,\u201d he says, \u201cis not fixed in the heavens,\nbut moves through the heavens, and is said in Scripture to rise and to\nset, and by a miracle to have stood still in the time of Joshua; if _the\nsun did not move, how could birds, which often fly off through an hour\u2019s\ncircuit, be able to return to their nests, for in the mean time the\nearth would move 450 miles_?\u201d And if it be said in reply, that Scripture\nspeaks according to common opinion, then says Turretin, \u201cWe answer, that\nthe Spirit of God best understands natural things, and is not the author\nof any error.\u201d\n\nWe smile at such \u201cecclesiastical drum\u201d noise now, and we can well afford\nto do so: but when people go to the Bible, determined to find there, not\na _central truth_, but the truths of physics, in every department of\nnatural science, are we to be surprised that they come away disappointed\nand angry? As Michaelis says, (quoted by Dr. Harris, in his \u201cMan\nPrimeval,\u201d p. 12,) \u201cShould a stickler for Copernicus and the true system\nof the world carry his zeal so far as to say, that _the city of Berlin\nsets at such an hour_, instead of making use of the common expression,\nthat the sun sets at Berlin at such an hour, he speaks the truth, to be\nsure, but his manner of speaking it is pedantry.\u201d\n\nNow, this is just the way to make thoughtful men unbelievers: and we\nwill not adopt that plan, because it is not honest, neither is it\nclever; the Gordian knot of every question might easily be solved in\nthis way.\n\nBearing in mind that the question we are now trying to solve is this,\n\u201cWhat is the evidence afforded by Geology, as to the history of\ncreation, and in what way does the geological age of the world affect\nthe supposed statement of Scripture, that the world is only 6,000 years\nold?\u201d I reply thus, and I prefer to use the words of others rather than\nmy own, lest it should be supposed that I am introducing mere novelties\nof opinion on this subject:\u2014\u201cThat the first sentence in Genesis is a\nsimple, independent, all-comprehending axiom to this effect; that\nmatter, elementary or combined, aggregated only or organized, and\ndependent, sentient and intellectual beings have not existed from\neternity, either in self-continuity or in succession: but had a\nbeginning; that their beginning took place by the all-powerful will of\nOne Being, the self-existent, independent and infinite in all\nperfection, and that the date of that beginning is not made known.\u201d\n\nThese are the words of Dr. Pye Smith,[123] of whose name as an\nauthority, both in matters of science and philology, no one need be\nashamed.\n\nDr. Redford says, \u201cWe ought to understand Moses as saying, indefinitely,\nfar back, and concealed from us in the mystery of eternal ages, prior to\nthe first moment of mundane time, \u2018God created the heavens and the\nearth.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cMy firm persuasion is,\u201d says Dr. Harris, \u201cthat the first verse of\nGenesis was designed by the Divine Spirit to announce the absolute\norigination of the material universe by the Almighty Creator, and that\nit is so understood in the other parts of Holy Writ; that, passing by an\nindefinite interval, the second verse describes the state of our planet\nimmediately prior to the Adamic creation; and that the third verse\nbegins the account of the six days\u2019 work.\u201d\n\nDr. Davidson, in his \u201cSacred Hermeneutics,\u201d says,\u2014\u201cIf I am reminded, in\na tone of animadversion, that I am making science, in this instance, the\ninterpreter of Scripture, my reply is, that I am simply making the works\nof God illustrate His word in a department in which they speak with a\ndistinct and authoritative voice; that it is all the same whether our\ngeological or theological investigations have been prior, if we have not\nforced the one into accordance with the other. And it may be deserving\nconsideration whether or not the conduct of those is not open to just\nanimadversion who first undertake to pronounce on the meaning of a\npassage of Scripture, irrespective of all appropriate evidence, and who\nthen, when that evidence is explored and produced, insist on their _\u00e0\npriori_ interpretation as the only true one.\u201d\n\nBut I quote no more: such are some of the eminent theological\ncontributions to this department of science:\u2014satisfactory in this\nrespect, that a fair interpretation of Scripture does not require us to\nfix any precise date, much less the inconsiderable one of six thousand\nyears, as the period of the earth\u2019s formation.\n\nGeology teaches the same thing.\u2014Of the various formations that compose\nthe earth\u2019s trust, to the ascertained extent of ten miles, suppose we\nselect two,\u2014the Old Red Sandstone and the Chalk formations. Laborious\nand scientific men have been at the pains to calculate the gradual\nincrease of some of these _now proceeding deposits_,\u2014such as the Deltas,\nin course of formation at the mouth of the Nile, and at the gorges of\nthe Ganges; and they find that the progress of the depth of increase is\nexceedingly small,\u2014probably not more than a foot in many years. Mr.\nMaculloch, a name standing very high for accurate investigation, states,\nfrom his own observation, that a particular Scottish lake does not form\nits deposit at the bottom, and hence raise its level, at the rate of\nmore than half-a-foot in a century; and he observes, that the country\nsurrounding that lake presents a vertical depth of far more than 3,000\nfeet, in the single series of the Old Red Sandstone formation; and no\nsound geologist, he hence concludes, will, therefore, accuse the\ncomputer of exceeding, if, upon the same ratio as the contiguous lake,\nhe allows 600,000 years for the production of this series of rock alone.\n\nA last instance which may here be adduced, of the apparent length of\ntime required for the construction of a particular rock, offers itself\nin the Chalk formation. The enormous masses of this rock, presenting\ntheir tall white precipices in such simple grandeur to our view, might\nwell excite our astonishment at the periods which would seem needful for\ntheir collection and deposition, even if they were mere _inorganic_\nconcretions of calcareous matter. But what shall we say when the\ninvestigations of the microscope have lately revealed to us that these\nmountains of chalk, instead of being formed of mere inert matter, are,\non the contrary, mighty congeries of decayed animal life,\u2014the white\napparent particles, of which the chalk masses are composed, being each\ngrain a well-defined organized being, in form still so perfect, their\nshells so entire, and all their characteristics so discoverable, as to\ncause no doubt to naturalists as to the species in the animal economy to\nwhich they belonged. How justly does Sir Charles Lyell, who in his\n\u201cElements\u201d records at length this surprising discovery, exclaim,\u2014\n\n \u201cThe dust we tread upon was once alive!\u201d\n\n\u201cLook at the lofty precipices which lay naked a slight section of the\nChalk at the Culvers, or the Needles in the Isle of Wight, or the still\nloftier Shakspeare Cliff at Dover, and let the mind form a conception,\nif it can, of the countless generations of these minutest of living\ncreatures it must have required to build up, from their decayed bodies\nand their shelly exuvi\u00e6, layer on layer, those towering masses thus\nbrought to our view. Who shall dare to compute the time for this entire\nelaboration? The contemplation almost advances us a step towards forming\na conception of infinitude.\u201d[124]\n\nI need not dwell longer on the antiquity of the globe:\u2014Geology and\nScripture present no conflicting testimonies on this subject. Our\n_interpretation_ of Scripture has, undoubtedly, been modified; but the\nliving Word itself abideth, in all its grandeur and purity, for ever.\nAnd \u201cthe time is not far distant when the high antiquity of the globe\nwill be regarded as no more opposed to the Bible than the earth\u2019s\nrevolution round the sun and on its axis. Soon shall the horizon, where\ngeology and revelation meet, be cleared of every cloud, and present only\nan unbroken and magnificent circle of truth.\u201d[125]\n\nThe reader shall not be detained so long on the second point of inquiry,\nwhich is\n\nII. \u201cWas death introduced into the world before the fall of man? and if\nit was, how are the statements of Scripture, on this question, to be\nexplained?\u201d To this I have replied by anticipation, that, in my opinion,\ndeath, upon a most extensive scale, prevailed upon the earth, and in the\nwaters that are under the earth, countless ages before the creation of\nman. Into the proof of this position allow me to go very briefly,\nalthough I am well aware that I run the risk of incurring the charge of\nheterodoxy, when I state my full conviction, that _death_, as well as\nthe _world_, was _pre-Adamite_. The general impression is the contrary;\nbut general impressions are not always right:\u2014\u201cgeneral impression\u201d is a\nvery unsubstantial ghost to deal with, very like that cant phrase we\nspoke of at the beginning of this lecture,\u2014\u201cthe intelligence of the\nage.\u201d \u201cGeneral impression\u201d has it, that death was _not_ pre-Adamite;\nthat there was _no_ death before the fall; and that, to _say_ the\ncontrary, is, at least, to tread on very dangerous ground. In vain does\nGeology\u2014\u201cnow happily a true science, founded on facts, and reduced to\nthe dominion of definite laws\u201d\u2014lay bare the Silurian rocks, and discover\neven _there_ extinct forms of life in exquisitely beautiful\npreservation. In vain does Geology, after showing us the fossil\ntrilobite and coral, unfold the volume of the Old Red Sandstone, and\nshow us _there_ the fossil remains of fish\u2014so perfect that we might\nimagine them casts rather than fossils. In vain does Geology open its\nvast Oolitic system, and show us _there_ other forms of extinct life in\nfossil insects, tortoises, mighty saurians, and huge iguanodons. In vain\ndoes Geology lay bare the Chalk, with its marine deposits; and the\nTertiary formation, with its enormous theroid mammalia, far surpassing\nin size the largest animals we are acquainted with. In vain are all\nthese fossil remains exhibited imbedded in the earth; and in vain do we\nsearch, amidst all these, for one fossil remain of man, or one fossil\nvestige of man\u2019s works. The easy, the cheap, the unreflective answer is,\n\u201cOh! these things were created there, or else Noah\u2019s flood left them\nthere.\u201d\n\nOf course, we can fall back upon a miracle as having done all this; but\nto have recourse to miracles when no miracle is recorded, is just to\nshake our faith in that all-inspired testimony, that supernatural Book,\nthe existence of which is the great miracle of time. But there are the\nfossils! How did they come there if the forms of animal life, once\ninhabiting those remains, had not previously lived and died? Created!\nWhat? Created fossils? Then why not, when the Almighty created man, did\nhe not create, at the same time, some skeletons of _man_, and place them\nin the earth, as he put skeletons of trilobites, fishes, reptiles, and\nmammals there? Our common sense and reverence both reject the idea. As\nto the puerile notion that Noah\u2019s flood put them there, did not Noah\u2019s\nflood overwhelm man as well as animals? and as the bones of man are as\ndurable as the bones of animals, how is it that we never meet with a\nfossil human skull or thigh bone, or house?\n\nWe believe that death was a part of the divine plan of God\u2019s creation;\nthat death is a law of all organic life\u2014a necessary law and a most\nbenevolent provision; that the living structure of all animals derives\nits substance from dead organic matter. We believe that, altogether\napart from human sin, preceding and successive generations must be the\norder of being; for if there were no death, animals would soon pass\nbeyond the limit of provision sufficient for nutritive support, or of\nlocalities for suitable habitations. We believe that if there had been\nno death prior to man\u2019s sin, it would involve the supposition that all\nanimals were herbivorous; whereas, even the little _ladybird_ cannot\nlive without its meal of _aphides_; and, so believing, we find our faith\nin Scripture deepened when, seeing on every hand the extensive proofs of\ndeath, we find man, the moment he lost his lordship and proud eminence,\nand reduced himself voluntarily to the condition of animalism,\nimmediately brought _penally_ within the influence of that law of death,\nwhose existence he must have recognised in the death of animals from the\nfirst day of his creation.\n\nDoes any one reply, \u201cThis is contrary to Scripture?\u201d I ask them what\nScripture teaches that the death of _animals_ is the result of man\u2019s\nsin?\u2014rather would not Scripture sanction the thought that death was a\npart of the divine plan of God\u2019s creation, and that the certainty of\nman\u2019s transgression was the reason for giving this constitution to\nnature? True, Milton sings, in his noble poem, that will live as long as\nthe English language lives\u2014\n\n \u201cOf man\u2019s first disobedience, and the fruit\n Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste\n Brought death into the world, and all our woe:\u201d\n\nbut we are not obliged to call the Paradise Lost our Bible; or to quote\nMilton as a physiological authority, although the prevalence of the\nopinion that death was not pre-Adamite, and a good deal of theology\nbesides, is more of Miltonic than of Scripture teaching.\n\nI leave this branch of my subject far before it is exhausted: so far\nfrom that, each of the three points enumerated might easily be expanded\ninto a lecture; and I can only hope that my brevity in treating these\ntopics will not be misconstrued into a desire to shirk any of the\ndifficulties with which their investigation is surrounded.\n\nIII. I come, lastly, to the question of the _Noachian Deluge_, and shall\nagain repeat my own words: \u201cWhat was the character of the Noachian\nDeluge?\u2014was it partial or universal? and what are the apparent\ndiscrepancies, in this case, between science and the Bible?\u201d And I have\nadded to this my belief that the Noachian Deluge was quite partial in\nits character, and very temporary in its duration: that it destroyed\nonly those animals that were found in those parts of the earth habitable\nby man, and that it has not left a single shell or fossil, or any drift\nboulders or pebbles, or any other remains that may be traced to its\naction.\n\nVery briefly we shall try and prove this; and perhaps the most popular\nway will be the best remembered,\u2014only that the reader will bear in mind\nthat this little book does not pretend to exhaust the subject, but only\nto realize the idea expressed at the beginning of this chapter.\nPresuming, that all have in their recollection the Scriptural account of\nthe Noachian Deluge, instead of quoting words with which all are\nfamiliar, I will only remark, as the basis of my illustrations, that\nrain descended, and probably the ocean overflowed, for forty days; that\nthe waters lay upon the land, and covered them one hundred and fifty\ndays; that at the end of that time they began to subside, and that in\ntwelve months and twenty-seven days they were gone from the face of the\nearth, and the Noachian family liberated from the ark.\n\nThe question is, was this flood universal, and were all kinds of animals\npreserved in the ark? To which my answer, as involving my belief, is\nthis, that the flood was _local_, and that only the animals peculiar to\nArmenia were provided for in Noah\u2019s ark.\n\n\u201c_Oh! but the Bible says it was universal_,\u201d says everybody. Yes; but\nthat, you know, is just the question between us. The terms \u201call the\nearth\u201d _seem_ to imply universality, but they do not necessarily involve\nthis. \u201c_All_ countries came to Egypt to buy corn;\u201d certainly not all the\nworld literally, but all the surrounding countries. So there were once\ndwelling at Jerusalem devout Jews \u201cfrom out of _every nation_ under\nheaven;\u201d but not _literally_ out of every nation, for the names of the\nnations are immediately given, and we find the nations to have been a\nfew between Egypt and the Black Sea, and between Italy and Palestine.\nThere are many other illustrations of a similar character: these will\nsuffice: I only adduce these to show that at the beginning Scripture\ndoes not oblige us to consider \u201call\u201d as meaning \u201cevery one;\u201d or to\nunderstand literally \u201call the inhabitants of the earth\u201d as meaning every\ncreature.\n\nNow, looking at the structure and composition of the earth\u2019s crust,\nespecially its fossiliferous rocks, I am driven to one of three\nconclusions, each of them involving difficulty, I acknowledge, but the\none that involves the least is, of course, the most preferable. Either I\nmust admit\u2014\n\n1. That the fossils in these rocks were all deposited in order and in\nsuccession, without injury, through a crust of rocks ten miles in\nthickness, during twelve months\u2019 violent diluvial action:\n\n2. Or that they were all deposited there during the 15,000 or 16,000\nyears that had elapsed since the creation of man prior to the Deluge;\nthat is, supposing the creation of man and the creation of the earth to\nhave been synchronous. Or, lastly, which theory I accept\u2014\n\n3. That the date of the earth\u2019s physical being is unknown to us, and\nthat the fossiliferous rocks were deposited in decades of ages before\nthe creation of man.\n\nFor, on the other hand, let us suppose the flood to have been universal,\nin the strict and literal sense of the term; then let me suggest some of\nthe consequences and difficulties of such a theory.\n\n1. One consequence would be that some remains of man or of his works\nwould have been found; but nothing of this kind has occurred. Even\nArmenia has been geologically examined, and no human remains have been\nfound; and surely man\u2019s bones would last as long as the shells of a\ntrilobite or terebratula?\n\n2. And, secondly, the organic remains, the fossils themselves, would\nhave been found confusedly heaped together; whereas, the remains in the\ncrust of the earth are as carefully arranged as the contents of a\nwell-ordered cabinet. We know always to a certainty what fossils will be\nfound in any rock before we examine that rock.\n\n3. Besides which, some, at least, of the organic remains found ought to\ncorrespond with existing beings and species: yet the contrary is the\ncase, except only a few fossils found near the surface of the earth, in\nthat portion of the earth\u2019s crust occupied by the tertiary system.\n\nNor is this all. Consider the _vast difficulties_ the universal flood\ntheory has to contend with, all of which are removed by the theory we\nhave adopted.\n\n1. _There is the quantity of water required._ If all over the earth the\nwater rose twenty-two feet six inches above the tops of the highest\nmountains, the quantity of water required would be eight times the whole\nquantity of water now existing. Where all this could have come from\nfirst and gone to afterwards, are prodigious stumbling-blocks. Of course\nwe can resort to miracle; but this is not the way to get rid of\ndifficulty in a manly and honest spirit.\n\n2. _Then consider the number of animals the ark must have contained._\nThere are 1,000 species of mammalia, 5,000 species of birds, 2,000\nspecies of reptiles, and 120,000 well-ascertained and distinct species\nof insects. Do we pretend that all these were housed and fed for nearly\nthirteen months in a vessel that was only 450 feet long, 75 feet broad,\nand 45 feet high; and that such a vessel contained room for them, and\ntheir food, besides that of man, for such a long period. The little toys\nof Noah\u2019s ark are certainly pretty, but very mischievous, and most of\nthe popular notions of the flood have grown up from our nurseries as\nmuch from the use of this toy in this case, as from the reading of\nParadise Lost in the other: and the result is, the Bible is made\nresponsible for it all.\n\n3. Then consider the subsequent distribution of animals: the polar bear\nand the tropical elephant, the ferocious tiger and a young fawn, going\nout together in order, and without violence: of course we can suppose\nanother miracle to repress passions and violence. Besides which, in\naddition to the fauna, the animal kingdom, we must ask what became of\nthe flora or vegetable kingdom during this period, if the flood were\nuniversal? We have at least twenty-five botanical provinces, with their\npeculiar and numberless farms of vegetable life; what became of them?\nWere they preserved in the ark, or under the water?\u2014for such questions\nmust be answered by those who charge us with inconsistency in attempting\nto reconcile the facts of science with the words of Scripture. And as a\nlast difficulty, (suggested first, I believe, by Dr. Pye Smith, and\nwhich I shall therefore state in _his_ words, lest it should seem that I\nuse \u201cplainness of speech,\u201d) let us look at the descent from Ararat out\nof the ark, into Armenia, with all these animals, birds, insects, plants\nand trees. \u201cThat mountain is 17,000 feet high, and perpetual snow covers\nabout 5,000 feet from its summit. If the water rose, at its liquid\ntemperature, so as to overflow that summit, the snows and icy masses\nwould be melted; and on the retiring of the flood, the exposed mountain\nwould present its pinnacles and ridges, dreadful precipices of naked\nrock, adown which the four men and the four women, and with hardly any\nexception the quadrupeds, would have found it utterly impossible to\ndescend. To provide against this difficulty, to prevent them from being\ndashed to pieces, must we again suppose a miracle? Must we conceive of\nthe human beings and the animals as transported through the air to the\nmore level regions below; or that, by a miracle equally grand, they were\nenabled to glide unhurt adown the wet and slippery faces of the rock?\u201d\n\nSuch are some of the difficulties and some of the consequences that must\nflow from an acceptance of any other theory than the one I have\nproposed: that the flood was partial in its character, extending only\nover the habitable parts of the earth; and that it was so temporary in\nits character as not to have left a single trace of its influence\nvisible on rock or fossil.\n\nI have thus endeavoured to suggest points of reconciliation between the\naccepted facts of Geology and the recorded statements of Scripture; and\nif this slight contribution be accepted as an aid to faith, and a proof\nof candour on my part to meet those who linger on the border land of\ndoubt, my purpose will be fully answered.\n\nLet me add, in the words of Chenevix Trench\u2014words uttered in the\nUniversity of Cambridge not long since: \u201cMay we in a troubled time be\nhelped to feel something of the grandeur of the Scriptures, and so of\nthe manifold wisdom of that Eternal Spirit by whom it came; and then\npetty objections and isolated difficulties, though they were multiplied\nas the sands of the sea, will not harass us. For what are they all to\nthe fact, that for more than 1,000 years the Bible collectively taken,\nhas gone hand in hand with civilization, science, law\u2014in short, with the\nmoral and intellectual cultivation of the species, always supporting and\noften leading the way? Its very presence as a believed book, has\nrendered the nations emphatically a chosen race; and this, too, in exact\nproportion as it is more or less generally studied. Of those nations\nwhich in the highest degree enjoy its influences, it is not too much to\naffirm that the differences, public and private, physical, moral, and\nintellectual, are only less than what might be expected from a diversity\nin species. Good and holy men, and the best and wisest of mankind, the\nkingly spirits of history enthroned in the hearts of mighty nations,\nhave borne witness to its influence, and have declared it to be beyond\ncompare the most perfect instrument and the only adequate organ of\nhumanity: the organ and instrument of all the gifts, powers, and\ntendencies, by which the individual is privileged to rise beyond\nhimself, to leave behind and lose his dividual phantom self, in order to\nfind his true self in that distinctness where no division can be,\u2014in the\nEternal I AM, the ever-living WORD, of whom all the elect, from the\narchangel before the throne to the poor wrestler with the Spirit until\nthe breaking of day, are but the fainter and still fainter echoes.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Logo]\n\n\n M. CLAY, PRINTER HEAD STREET HILL.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n Whewell\u2019s Astronomy and Physics, p. 48.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n From \u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03b9\u03cc\u03c2, _ancient_, and \u03b6\u03c9\u03cc\u03bd, _life_; ancient-life period.\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n Hughes, Physical Geography. 3d ed. p. 21.\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n Hughes, Physical Geog. p. 22.\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n Dr. Pye Smith.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n As Chimborazo in South America, 21,414; Ararat, 16,000; Dhawalagiri,\n in the Himalayas, 28,000 feet above the level of the sea; compared\n with which what a mole-hill is Vesuvius, only 8,947 feet; or Blue\n Mountain Peak, 8,600, or even Mont Blanc, that monarch of mountains,\n which is 15,816 feet above the sea!\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n Hughes, p. 16.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n Chambers\u2019 Rudiments of Geology, p. 71.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n These wells are so frequently spoken of as to need no explanation,\n further than to remind the reader that they are so called from having\n been first introduced in the province of Artois, the ancient Artesium\n in France.\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n The deepest Artesian well is the famous one in the Plaine de Grenelle,\n Paris. This well yields 516 gallons a minute; its temperature is 81\u00b0\n Fahr.; and its depth is nearly 1,800 feet.\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n How truly hieroglyphics\u2014sacred carvings; (_ieros_, sacred, _glupho_, I\n carve;) and in this sense there is a holier meaning than Shakspeare\n could have dreamt of in his well-known lines, when applied by the\n geologist to his researches:\u2014\n\n \u201cAnd this our life, exempt from public haunt,\n Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,\n _Sermons in stones_, and good in everything.\u201d\n\nFootnote 12:\n\n And I may say, _my friend_ also, to whom, during my residence in\n Jamaica, I was frequently indebted for contributions on natural\n history to the _Jamaica Friendly Instructor_, of which I was Editor.\n\nFootnote 13:\n\n A Naturalist\u2019s Sojourn in Jamaica, by P. H. Gosse, Esq. pp. 496\u20137.\n\nFootnote 14:\n\n So called because of its _grained_ or _granular_ appearance.\n\nFootnote 15:\n\n First brought from Syene, in Egypt.\n\nFootnote 16:\n\n Feld-spar, written also felspar, a compound of _feld_, field, and\n spar.\n\nFootnote 17:\n\n See Ansted\u2019s Ancient World, p. 21.\n\nFootnote 18:\n\n Memnon, or Ramesis. This famous head is in the British Museum; the\n body is of greenstone, the head of syenite, and the bust one\n continuous mass.\n\nFootnote 19:\n\n From _dis_ and _integer_. The separation of the whole parts of a rock,\n without chemical action, by means of the light, the air, or the rain,\n is called disintegration.\n\nFootnote 20:\n\n Lieut. Portlock on Geology, p. 93.\n\nFootnote 21:\n\n Ansted\u2019s Geology, Descriptive and Practical, vol. ii. pp. 290, 291.\n\nFootnote 22:\n\n Ansted\u2019s Geology, p. 291.\n\nFootnote 23:\n\n As the ancients did not know or use the compound metal brass, though\n bronze was common amongst them, we must in this verse, and all others\n in which the word \u201cbrass\u201d is used, understand it to mean\n copper.\u2014Hughes\u2019 Scripture Geography, Art. Geology of Palestine, p.\n 133.\n\nFootnote 24:\n\n Murray\u2019s Hand-book for Cornwall, p. 199.\n\nFootnote 25:\n\n Ansted, vol. ii. p. 418.\n\nFootnote 26:\n\n Whewell, Anniversary Address to Geol. Society, 1839.\n\nFootnote 27:\n\n In Memoriam.\n\nFootnote 28:\n\n Dr. Pye Smith says 140,000 feet.\n\nFootnote 29:\n\n See a valuable map of fossils published by the Christian Knowledge\n Society.\n\nFootnote 30:\n\n Trilobite: _treis_, three, and _lobos_, a lobe; having three lobes.\n\nFootnote 31:\n\n Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i. p. 396.\n\nFootnote 32:\n\n A fossil shell allied to the Argonauta and Carinaria.\n\nFootnote 33:\n\n \u201cMan has no tail, _quantum mutatus_; but the notion of a\n much-ridiculed philosopher of the last century is not altogether\n without foundation; for the bones of a caudal extremity exist in an\n undeveloped state in the os coccygis of the human subject.\u201d Poor\n _man_!\u2014Vestiges of Creation, p. 71.\n\nFootnote 34:\n\n Sedgwick, p. 216, \u201cOn the Studies of the University of Cambridge.\u201d\n\nFootnote 35:\n\n \u201cMy School and Schoolmasters,\u201d by Hugh Miller.\n\nFootnote 36:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone; or, New Walks in an Old Field;\u201d by Hugh Miller, p.\n 48.\n\nFootnote 37:\n\n \u201cBy mind, by hand, and by hammer.\u201d\n\nFootnote 38:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone,\u201d p. 66.\n\nFootnote 39:\n\n Ichthyolite: _ichthus_, a fish, _lithos_, a stone: fossil fish, or the\n figure or impression of a fish in the rock.\n\nFootnote 40:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone,\u201d pp. 41, 42.\n\nFootnote 41:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone,\u201d p. 69.\n\nFootnote 42:\n\n From _akanthos_, a thorn, and _pterugion_, the fin.\n\nFootnote 43:\n\n From _malakos_, soft, and _pterugion_, the fin.\n\nFootnote 44:\n\n 1. Ganoid, from _ganos_, splendour, because the scales are coated with\n a bright enamel.\n\nFootnote 45:\n\n 2. Placoid, from _plax_, a plate; sometimes large, sometimes reduced\n to a point; _e.g._ shark.\n\nFootnote 46:\n\n 3. Ctenoid, from _kteis_ (gen. _ktenos_, a comb); scales jagged like a\n comb.\n\nFootnote 47:\n\n 4. Cycloid, from _kuklos_, a circle; scales smooth and simple: _e.g._\n salmon, &c.\n\nFootnote 48:\n\n From _kephal\u0113_, the head; _aspis_, a buckler.\n\nFootnote 49:\n\n Coccosteus, from _kokkos_, a berry, and _osteon_, a bone.\n\nFootnote 50:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone,\u201d p. 86.\n\nFootnote 51:\n\n Pterichthys: _pteron_, a wing, and _ichthus_, a fish.\n\nFootnote 52:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone,\u201d pp. 80, 81.\n\nFootnote 53:\n\n Osteolepis: _osteon_, a bone, and _lepis_, a scale.\n\nFootnote 54:\n\n Operculum, the flap which covers the gill.\n\nFootnote 55:\n\n \u201cOld Red Sandstone,\u201d p. 111.\n\nFootnote 56:\n\n \u201cVast quantities:\u201d let any reader go and turn over the non-bituminous\n shale lying on the waste heaps of every coalpit, and he will see that\n this is no exaggeration.\n\nFootnote 57:\n\n Capillus Veneris.\n\nFootnote 58:\n\n Corruption of _arri\u00e8re-dos_, a fire-place. See a view and description\n of one in \u201cA Visit to Penshurst,\u201d in Howitt\u2019s \u201cVisits to Remarkable\n Places,\u201d Second Series.\n\nFootnote 59:\n\n Juicy and soft, as peas, beans, plantains, bananas, &c.\n\nFootnote 60:\n\n \u201cAncient World,\u201d pp. 76, 77.\n\nFootnote 61:\n\n This may seem strange at first; but I have journeyed through tropical\n forests that realized completely this sketch, so far as stillness and\n silence are concerned. A modern and most accomplished naturalist says\n of a Jamaica virgin forest, \u201cAnimal life is almost unseen; the\n solitude is scarcely broken by the voices of birds, except that now\n and then the rain-bird or the hunter (large cat-tailed cuckoos that\n love the shade) sound their startling rattle, or the mountain\n partridge utters those mournful cooings which are like the moans of a\n dying man.\u201d\u2014Gosse\u2019s Jamaica, p. 198.\n\nFootnote 62:\n\n From \u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 (_calamus_), a reed.\n\nFootnote 63:\n\n Ansted\u2019s \u201cAncient World,\u201d p. 82.\n\nFootnote 64:\n\n Mesozoic: _i.e._ middle life period; _mesos_, middle, _zoos_, life.\n\nFootnote 65:\n\n The Religious Tract Society.\n\nFootnote 66:\n\n Lyell\u2019s \u201cManual of Elementary Geology.\u201d Postscript, p. 13.\n\nFootnote 67:\n\n Ansted\u2019s Geology, vol i. p. 306.\n\nFootnote 68:\n\n Ichnites; from _ichnon_, a footstep, and _eidos_, like.\n\nFootnote 69:\n\n _Ornithos_, a bird, and _ichnon_.\n\nFootnote 70:\n\n Marsupial, from _marsupium_, a pouch; animals of the fourth order of\n Cuvier, that have a pouch in which the young are carried.\n\nFootnote 71:\n\n Batrachian, from _batrachos_, a frog; animals in Cuvier\u2019s fourth class\n of reptiles.\n\nFootnote 72:\n\n _Cheir_, the hand, _therion_, a wild beast; a wild beast with a foot\n like a hand.\n\nFootnote 73:\n\n From _labyrinthus_, a labyrinth, and _odous_, a tooth; so called from\n the labyrinthine structure of the tooth.\n\nFootnote 74:\n\n In some cases we find, corresponding to a set of footmarks, a\n continuous furrow, presumed to be the impression of a tail dragged\n along the sand by the animal while walking.\n\nFootnote 75:\n\n Ansted\u2019s Ancient World, pp. 125\u2013127.\n\nFootnote 76:\n\n Knight\u2019s Cyclop\u00e6dia of Arts, &c.\n\nFootnote 77:\n\n Quarterly Review, May, 1852. Article on Roger de Coverley.\n\nFootnote 78:\n\n This is a corruption, we are inclined to think, of the word \u201clayers;\u201d\n one of those provincial corruptions of the Queen\u2019s English that get\n stereotyped.\n\nFootnote 79:\n\n Buckland\u2019s Bridgewater Treatise. pp. 351, 352.\n\nFootnote 80:\n\n A fossil bivalve, allied to the oyster, and very abundant in the\n secondary strata.\n\nFootnote 81:\n\n Belemnite, from _belemnos_, a dart, and so called from its\n arrow-headed shape.\n\nFootnote 82:\n\n Saurian, from _sauros_, a lizard, the name by which the great family\n of lizards is designated.\n\nFootnote 83:\n\n From _ichthus_, a fish, and _sauros_, a lizard; so called from its\n resemblance to both.\n\nFootnote 84:\n\n Heteroclite; _heteros_, another, and _klitos_, inclining; a word\n applied to any thing or person deviating from common forms.\n\nFootnote 85:\n\n Very unlike the alligator, whose eyes are placed at a considerable\n distance behind the nose.\n\nFootnote 86:\n\n From _plei\u014dn_, more, and _sauros_, a lizard; because it is more like a\n lizard than the Ichthyosaurus.\n\nFootnote 87:\n\n Mantel\u2019s Fossils of the British Museum, p. 341.\n\nFootnote 88:\n\n This formation is sometimes called the Jurassic system.\n\nFootnote 89:\n\n Lyell\u2019s Manual of Elementary Geology, p. 12, ed. 1852.\n\nFootnote 90:\n\n \u201cSo vast an expanse!\u201d Mr. Darwin traced coral reefs in the Pacific,\n 4,000 miles long and 600 broad. Between the coasts of Malabar and\n Madagascar there is a chain of coral reefs, called the Maldives and\n Laccadives, 480 miles long and 50 miles wide. On the east coast of\n Australia there is an unbroken reef of 350 miles long; and between\n Australia and Guinea, coral reefs extend 700 miles in length. Truly\n the coral animals, like the \u201cconies,\u201d are a \u201cfeeble folk,\u201d but their\n habitations survive our proudest monuments.\n\nFootnote 91:\n\n Hugh Miller\u2019s First Impressions, pp. 203, 204.\n\nFootnote 92:\n\n Brash is s Wiltshire word for short or brittle; and thus a\n quick-tempered, irritable person, is said to have a _brashy_ temper.\n\nFootnote 93:\n\n Geology for Beginners (Weale\u2019s Series), p. 147.\n\nFootnote 94:\n\n Juke\u2019s Popular Geology, pp. 42\u201344.\n\nFootnote 95:\n\n From _krinos_, a lily, and _eidos_, like; lily-shaped animals of the\n Radiated division, forming a link between the animal and vegetable\n world.\n\nFootnote 96:\n\n From _trochos_, a wheel; wheel-shaped crinoideans.\n\nFootnote 97:\n\n From _pteron_, a wing, and _dactulos_, a finger; the wing-fingered\n animal.\n\nFootnote 98:\n\n The term _Weald_ or _Wold_ is the old Saxon for our present _Wood_;\n and now, altered by pronunciation, is found in connexion with many\n words and names of places: _e.g. Waltham_ (Weald-ham), the wood house\n or home; Walthamstow, the wood house store, and so on. Thus it is that\n words are \u201cfossil poetry.\u201d\n\nFootnote 99:\n\n Alison\u2019s description of South America, in History of Europe (Article,\n South American Revolution); vol. viii.\n\nFootnote 100:\n\n \u201cOur disposition is, and has been, not to multiply miracles after the\n sort in which this has been done by many more _zealous_ than _wise_\n friends of revelation. In all cases we allow the miracle without\n question, which is distinctly claimed to be such in the Scriptures,\n and where the circumstances clearly indicate that a miracle was\n necessary,\u2014we say \u2018necessary,\u2019 because we are persuaded that the\n Almighty has almost invariably chosen to act through natural agencies,\n and under the laws which he has imposed on nature, whenever they are\n adequate to produce the required result. We believe it is one of the\n beautiful peculiarities of the Bible, that it has none of those\n gratuitous and barren wonders, which form the mass of the pretended\n miracles which the various systems of false religion produce.... For\n our own part, we do not wish to hear of small miracles, which leave us\n doubtful whether there be any miracle at all. If we are to have\n miracles, let them be decidedly miraculous, and let not our veneration\n for the Divine character be offended by exhibitions of the Almighty,\n as laying bare his holy arm to remove the small remaining difficulty\n which theorists leave him to execute.\u201d\u2014_Dr. Kitto\u2019s Biblical History\n of Palestine._\n\nFootnote 101:\n\n We have a fine specimen before us which we brought from Demerara,\n answering well to Gosse\u2019s description of the iguana found in Jamaica.\n \u201cIn the eastern parts of the island the great iguana (_Cyclura\n lophoma_), with its _dorsal crest, like the teeth of a saw, running\n all down its back_, may be seen lying out on the branches of the\n trees, or playing bo-peep from a hole in the trunk.\u201d It is considered\n a great delicacy by many, but it never seemed Christian food to us,\n and we never ventured to provoke our palate with a taste.\n\nFootnote 102:\n\n _Enaliosaurians_ are _sea_ lizards, such as those found in the Lias;\n and _deinosaurians_ are _terrible_ lizards, such as those found in the\n Wealden.\n\nFootnote 103:\n\n Ansted\u2019s Ancient World, pp. 164\u2013168.\n\nFootnote 104:\n\n Just published by Bohn, in his valuable \u201cScientific Library;\u201d a marvel\n of cheapness and value.\n\nFootnote 105:\n\n Since writing the above we have met with the following, which proves\n that this origin of chalk is not so fabulous as some think it:\u2014\u201cLieut.\n Nelson, Mr. Dance, and others have shown, that the waste and d\u00e9bris\n derived from coral reefs produces a substance exactly resembling\n chalk. I can corroborate this assertion from my own observations, both\n on some very white chalky limestones in Java and the neighbouring\n islands, which I believe to be nothing else than raised fringing coral\n reefs, and on the substance brought up by the lead over some hundreds\n of miles in the Indian Archipelago, and along the north-east coast of\n Australia, and the coral sea of Flinders,\u201d\u2014_Juke\u2019s Physical Geology_,\n p. 263.\n\nFootnote 106:\n\n We take the origin of the word Folkstone to mean, that that old town\n was once built of the brick that may be made of the galt: it was the\n folk\u2019s-stone.\n\nFootnote 107:\n\n \u201cThe Religion of Geology,\u201d &c., by E. Hitchcock, LL.D. &c. p. 70.\n\nFootnote 108:\n\n Mantell\u2019s \u201cGeological Excursions,\u201d p. 145.\n\nFootnote 109:\n\n Richardson, p. 391.\n\nFootnote 110:\n\n _Under-borne_ rocks; _upo_, below, and _ginomai_, to be formed.\n\nFootnote 111:\n\n _Middle life_ period: _mesos_, middle, and _zoos_, life.\n\nFootnote 112:\n\n Recent-life period: _kain\u014fs_, recent, and _zoos_, life.\n\nFootnote 113:\n\n Juke\u2019s Practical Geology, p. 265.\n\nFootnote 114:\n\n Lyell\u2019s Manual of Geology, pp. 97, 98.\n\nFootnote 115:\n\n Ansted\u2019s Geology, vol. ii. p. 14.\n\nFootnote 116:\n\n Even Hitchcock\u2019s good book is sadly disfigured and damaged, by trying\n to make geology prove too much. How can geology teach or suggest sin\n and the resurrection?\n\nFootnote 117:\n\n British Quarterly, Feb. 1852.\n\nFootnote 118:\n\n Owen\u2019s British Fossil Mammals and Birds, p. 255.\n\nFootnote 119:\n\n Mantell, pp. 477\u2013479.\n\nFootnote 120:\n\n Mantell, p. 471.\n\nFootnote 121:\n\n The skeleton is not more than 150 years old, and is probably one of an\n Indian who fell in war; and has been covered with carbonate of lime,\n held in solution in some spring.\n\nFootnote 122:\n\n Hugh Miller\u2019s \u201cFirst Impressions of England and its People,\u201d p. 362.\n\nFootnote 123:\n\n No sooner did geology give signs of being able to speak from her\n subterranean abode, and say something new about the history of this\n old world, than Dr. Smith was among the foremost of the geologists,\n intent upon the interpretation of these mysterious, and at first\n incoherent sounds. At times the sounds seemed unscriptural, but his\n faith never failed; at other times it seemed in confirmation of\n Scripture, and he was filled with delight. There were sepulchres older\n than what he had accounted the era of death, and he must solve the\n mystery. Mineralogy, to which from his youth he had given considerable\n attention, became to him history more ancient than that of Moses, and\n poetry more fascinating than that of Homer. His minerals became books\n of wonderful tales; his fossils, before riddles of nature, the\n pictures of things in ancient worlds. The earth was a land of\n monuments, and the rock which before seemed nothing more than the\n solid masonry of the foundation on which men might build their\n dwellings, became the enduring chronicle of the millions of years in\n which extinct ages had risen, flourished and decayed. From that time\n he suffered no discovery of the geologists to escape his attention;\n and every valuable book upon the subject in English, German, or\n French, contributed its supplies to mitigate his insatiate craving\n after further information.\n\n Dr. Smith had another reason for devoting a large proportion of his\n time to geological studies. The new science had something to say about\n Holy Scripture. It threatened, as many understood its first ambiguous\n words, to contradict the book of Genesis.\n\n Whatever affected theology was of supreme importance in the estimation\n of the Homerton professor. Having full confidence in the truth of\n God\u2019s word, he was sure that nature and revelation, however they\n appeared to superficial observers, could not be really at variance. In\n that confidence he patiently listened to every word the new science\n had to say about the creation of the world. To him belongs the honour,\n in the opinion of the most eminent geologists, of having relieved\n their science of every appearance of hostility to Scripture. Of his\n book on this subject, Dr. Mantell said, \u201cIt is, indeed, the dove sent\n out from the ark of modern geology; and it has returned with the olive\n branch in its mouth.\u201d\u2014_British Quarterly, Jan. 1854. Art._ DR. PYE\n SMITH.\n\nFootnote 124:\n\n Gray\u2019s Antiquity of the Globe, pp. 57\u201359.\n\nFootnote 125:\n\n Hitchcock, p. 70.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n _August, 1854._\n\n A\n\n GENERAL CATALOGUE\n\n OF WORKS PUBLISHED BY\n\n ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE & CO.\n\n 25, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.\n\n ACKWORTH VOCABULARY, or English Spelling Book; with the Meaning\n attached to each Word. Compiled for the use of Ackworth School.\n New Edition. 18mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n AKERMAN (J. Y.),\u2014LEGENDS OF OLD LONDON. 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Cheap Edition.\n Tenth Thousand, post 8vo. cloth, 6_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 INFANT SALVATION; or, ALL SAVED WHO DIE IN INFANCY. Specially\n addressed to Mothers mourning the Loss of Infants and Children.\n Fourth Edition. Fcap. cloth, gilt edges, 2_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 IS CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD? A Manual of Christian Evidences for\n Scripture Readers, Sunday School Teachers, City Missionaries, and\n Young Persons. Tenth Edition. Fcap. 3_s._ cloth.\n\n \u2014\u2014 LECTURES AT EXETER HALL; or, A Challenge to Cardinal Wiseman. Fcap.\n cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 LECTURES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. [Apocalyptic\n Sketches. Third Series.] Illustrated by Wood Engravings\n representing the present state of the Apostolic Churches. Eleventh\n Thousand. Fcap. cloth, full gilt, 9_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 LECTURES FOR THE TIMES; or, Illustrations and Refutations of the\n Errors of Romanism and Tractarianism. New Edition, Fcap. cloth,\n 6_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN. 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By MARIA HACK. A New Edition. With\n Vignettes by HARVEY.\n\n [_In preparation._\n\n EUPHONIA: Portions of Holy Scripture marked for Chanting, with Forty\n Chants arranged for the Voice and Organ, or Pianoforte. Third\n Edition, post 8vo. cloth, gilt edges, 2_s._\n\n EVENINGS AT HOME; or, the Juvenile Budget opened. By Dr. AIKEN and\n Mrs. BARBAULD. Sixteenth Edition, revised and newly arranged by\n ARTHUR AIKEN, Esq. and MISS AIKEN. With Engravings by HARVEY.\n Fcap, cloth. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n EVENINGS IN MY TENT; or, Wanderings in the African Sahara. By Rev. N.\n DAVIS, F.R.S., S.A. With Illustrations, Two Vols. post 8vo. cloth,\n 24_s._\n\n EXPOSITORY READINGS ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION, forming a short and\n continuous Commentary on the Apocalypse. By REV. JOHN CUMMING,\n D.D. Second Edition. Fcap. cloth. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\n FARR\u2019S (EDWARD) MANUAL OF GEOGRAPHY, Physical and Political. For the\n use of Schools and Families, with Questions for Examination. With\n Illustrations. 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Fortieth Thousand, revised, 4to. cloth, gilt\n edges, 1_l._ 6_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 SABBATH SCHOOL PREACHER AND JUVENILE MISCELLANY. With Numerous\n Illustrations. Complete in Three Vols. fcap. cloth, 1_s._ each.\n\n \u2014\u2014 ASSEMBLY\u2019S CATECHISM. Divided into Fifty-two Lessons. Sewed, 8_d._\n\n FOOTSTEPS OF OUR LORD AND HIS APOSTLES, IN SYRIA, GREECE, AND ITALY. A\n succession of Visits to the Scenes of New Testament Narrative. By\n W. H. BARTLETT. With Twenty-three Steel Engravings, and several\n Woodcuts. Third Edition, super-royal 8vo. cloth, gilt edges,\n 14_s._; morocco elegant, 26_s._\n\n FOOTSTEPS TO NATURAL HISTORY. With Cuts. 16mo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n FORESHADOWS; or, LECTURES on our LORD\u2019S MIRACLES and PARABLES, as\n Earnests of the Age to come. By Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D. Fifth\n Thousand. With Designs by FRANKLIN. Two Vols. 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Fcap. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._; gilt edges,\n 3_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 STORIES OF SCOTLAND. Fcap. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._; gilt edges, 3_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 THOUGHTS OF HOME. Fcap. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 TRUTH IS EVERYTHING. 2d Edit. Fcap. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._; gilt edges,\n 3_s._\n\n GEMS OF EUROPEAN ART. The best Pictures of the best Schools,\n containing Ninety highly-finished Engravings. Edited by S. C.\n HALL, ESQ. F.S.A. Two Vols. folio cloth, gilt edges, 5_l._\n\n GIBBON\u2019S DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Illustrated Edition,\n with Memoir of the Author, and additional Notes, principally\n referring to Christianity. From the French of M. GUIZOT. Two Vols.\n super-royal 8vo. cloth gilt, 1_l._ 16_s._\n\n GILES\u2019S (JAS.) ENGLISH PARSING LESSONS. Seventeenth Edition. 12mo.\n cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n GLEANINGS, ANTIQUARIAN AND PICTORIAL, ON THE OVERLAND ROUTE, By W. H.\n BARTLETT. With Twenty-eight Plates and Maps, and numerous\n Woodcuts. Second Edition, super-royal 8vo. cloth gilt, 16_s._;\n morocco elegant, 28_s._\n\n GODWIN (REV. B., D.D.),\u2014THE PHILOSOPHY OF ATHEISM EXAMINED, AND\n COMPARED WITH CHRISTIANITY. A Course of Popular Lectures,\n delivered at Bradford, Yorkshire, in January and February, 1853.\n Third Edition, Fcap. cloth, 3_s._\n\n GRIEVE (JOHN),\u2014THE FARMER\u2019S ASSISTANT, AND AGRICULTURIST\u2019S CALENDAR.\n New and Enlarged Edition. Fcap. cloth, 4_s._\n\n GRIFFITH\u2019S (RALPH T. H, M.A. M.R.A.S.) SPECIMENS OF OLD INDIAN POETRY.\n Translated from the Original Sanskrit into English Verse. Post\n 8vo. cloth, 5_s._\n\n HACK\u2019S (MARIA) ENGLISH STORIES OF THE OLDEN TIME. Vignettes by HARVEY.\n New Edition. Two Vols.\n\n [_In preparation._\n\n \u2014\u2014 GRECIAN STORIES. With Illustrations. New Edition.\n\n [_In preparation._\n\n \u2014\u2014 HARRY BEAUFOY; or, the Pupil of Nature. New Edition, with Cuts by\n LANDSEER. 18mo. cloth, 2_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 STORIES OF ANIMALS. Adapted for Children from Three to Ten Years of\n Age. With Illustrations. Two Vols, 16mo. cloth, 2_s._ each.\n\n \u2014\u2014 WINTER EVENINGS; or, Tales of Travellers. New Edition.\n Illustrations by GILBERT. Fcap. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n HAIGH\u2019S (J., A.M.) LATIN POCKET DICTIONARY; designed for the Junior\n Forms in Schools. New Edition, 18mo. bound, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n HAIRBY\u2019S RAMBLES IN NORMANDY, with Eight Engravings after TURNER and\n STANFIELD, and numerous Woodcuts. 4to. cloth, gilt edges, 5_s._\n\n HALL (MRS. S. C.),\u2014PILGRIMAGES TO ENGLISH SHRINES. With Notes and\n Illustrations by F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. New and cheaper Edition.\n In One Vol. 8vo. cloth, gilt edges. 21_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 TALES OF WOMAN\u2019S TRIALS. With Illustrations. 8vo. cloth, gilt\n edges, 8_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 (MR. AND MRS. S. C.) IRELAND, ITS SCENERY AND CHARACTER. New\n Edition, with numerous Engravings on Steel, Maps, and Five Hundred\n Woodcuts. Three Vols. royal 8vo. Cloth, 3_l._ 3_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 HANDBOOKS FOR IRELAND, with numerous Illustrations.\n\n No. 1.\u2014DUBLIN AND WICKLOW.\n No. 2.\u2014THE SOUTH AND KILLARNEY.\n No. 3.\u2014NORTH AND THE GIANT\u2019S CAUSEWAY.\n No. 4.\u2014THE WEST AND CONNEMARA.\n\n 16mo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n HALL (MR. AND MRS. S. C.),\u2014A WEEK AT KILLARNEY, being a Guide to\n Tourists to the Lakes of Killarney. Illustrated by Twenty\n Engravings on Steel, and One Hundred and Ten Woodcuts. New\n Edition, 4to. cloth, 8_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 (BISHOP),\u2014TREATISES, with Essay by Rev. R. CATTERMOLE, B.D.\n Fcap. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n HAMMERSMITH PROTESTANT DISCUSSION (THE), between DR. CUMMING and\n MR. FRENCH. Cheap Edition, Tenth Thousand, crown 8vo. cloth, 6_s._\n\n HAPPY TRANSFORMATION; or, the History of a London Apprentice. With\n Preface, by Rev. J. A. JAMES. 18mo. cloth, 1_s._\n\n HEART; a Tale of False-witness. By MARTIN F. TUPPER, D.C.L. With\n Frontispiece by LEECH. Post 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n HENDRY\u2019S HISTORY OF GREECE. In Easy Lessons. Adapted to Children\n of from Six to Ten Years of Age. With illustrations. 18mo. cloth,\n 2_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 HISTORY OF ROME. In Easy Lessons. Adapted for Children of from\n Six to Ten Years of Age. With illustrations. 18mo. cloth, 2_s._\n\n HEROINES OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE; or, Sketches of Prominent\n Female Missionaries. By DANIEL C. EDDY. With Preface by the Rev.\n JOHN CUMMING, D.D. Second Edition, fcap. cloth, gilt edges, 2_s._\n 6_d._\n\n HERVEY (MRS. T. K.),\u2014THE DOUBLE CLAIM, a Tale of Real Life. With\n frontispiece by WEIR. Post 8vo. 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 JUVENILE CALENDAR (THE) AND ZODIAC OF FLOWERS. With Twelve\n Illustrations of the Months, by RICHARD DOYLE. Post 8vo, cloth,\n gilt edges, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n HIGGINS\u2019 (WM.) RESEARCHES IN THE SOLAR REALM. Fcap. cloth, 2_s._\n 6_d._\n\n HISTORICAL PRINTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. By EMILY TAYLOR. Fourth\n Edition, revised and enlarged, with numerous Illustrations. Fcap.\n cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 Representing the principal events in the HISTORY OF GREECE.\n With many Cuts. Fcap. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n HOFLAND LIBRARY; for the Instruction and Amusement of Youth.\n Illustrated with Plates, and handsomely hound in embossed Scarlet\n Cloth, with Gilt Edges, &c.\n\n FIRST CLASS, in 12mo.\u2014_Price 2s. 6d._\n\n 1. MEMOIR of the LIFE and LITERARY REMAINS of MRS. HOFLAND.\n By T. RAMSAY, Esq. With Portrait.\n\n 2. ALFRED CAMPBELL.\n 3. DECISION; a Tale.\n 4. ENERGY.\n 5. FORTITUDE.\n 6. HUMILITY.\n 7. INTEGRITY.\n 8. MODERATION.\n 9. PATIENCE.\n 10. REFLECTION.\n 11. SELF-DENIAL.\n 12. YOUNG CADET.\n 13. YOUNG PILGRIM.\n\n HOFLAND LIBRARY:\u2014\n\n SECOND CLASS, in 18mo.\u2014_Price 1s. 6d._\n\n 1. ADELAIDE.\n 2. AFFECTIONATE BROTHERS.\n 3. ALICIA AND HER AUNT.\n 4. BARBADOS GIRL.\n 5. BLIND FARMER AND HIS CHILDREN.\n 6. CLERGYMAN\u2019S WIDOW.\n 7. DAUGHTER-IN-LAW.\n 8. ELIZABETH.\n 9. GODMOTHER\u2019S TALES.\n 10. GOOD GRANDMOTHER.\n 11. MERCHANT\u2019S WIDOW.\n 12. RICH BOYS AND POOR BOYS.\n 13. THE SISTERS.\n 14. STOLEN BOY.\n 15. WILLIAM AND HIS UNCLE BEN.\n 16. YOUNG CRUSOE.\n\n HOMES OF THE NEW WORLD. Impressions of America. By FREDRIKA\n BREMER. With Illustrations. Three Vols. 8vo. cloth, 1_l._ 11_s._\n 6_d._\n\n HOUSEHOLD OF SIR THOS. MORE, (YE.) Libellus a Margareta More,\n quindecim annos nata, Chelsei\u00e6 inceptus. Second Edition, with\n Portrait. Cloth, red edges, 7_s._ 6_d._; morocco antique, 14_s._\n\n HOW TO WIN LOVE; or, Rhoda\u2019s Lesson. A Story Book for the Young.\n By the Author of \u201cMichael the Miner,\u201d \u201cCola Monti,\u201d &c. With\n Illustrations on Steel. New Edition, 16mo. cloth, gilt edges,\n 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n HUMBOLDT\u2019S (BARON WILLIAM VON) LETTERS TO A LADY. From the German.\n With introduction by Dr. STEBBING. Post 8vo. 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n HUME AND SMOLLETT\u2019S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, with continuation to 1846,\n by FARR. With Portraits, &c. Three Vols. imperial 8vo. cloth,\n 1_l._ 11_s._ 6_d._\n\n HYMNS AND SKETCHES IN VERSE. With Cuts. 16mo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION OF 1851,\n published in connexion with the Art Journal, containing upwards of\n Fourteen Hundred Engravings on Wood, and a Frontispiece on Steel.\n 4to. cloth, gilt edges, One Guinea.\n\n ILLUSTRATED FRENCH AND ENGLISH PRIMER. With One Hundred Engravings\n on Wood. Sewed, 6_d._\n\n ILLUSTRATED YEAR-BOOK of Wonders, Events, and Discoveries. Edited\n by JOHN TIMBS. With numerous Engravings on Wood. Two vols. fcap.\n cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN. By\n J. L. STEPHENS. New Edition, by F. CATHERWOOD. With numerous\n Illustrations, 8vo. cloth, 12_s._\n\n INFANT SALVATION; or, All Saved who Die in Infancy. Specially\n addressed to Mothers mourning the Loss of Infants and Children. By\n Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D. Fourth Edition, fcap. cloth, gilt edges,\n 2_s._\n\n IRELAND, ITS SCENERY, AND CHARACTER. By MR. and MRS. S. C. HALL.\n With numerous Engravings on Steel, and Five Hundred Woodcuts. New\n Edition, Three Vols. royal 8vo. cloth, 3_l._ 3_s._\n\n IS CHRISTIANITY FROM GOD? A Manual of Christian Evidences for\n Scripture Readers, Sunday School Teachers, City Missionaries, and\n Young Persons. By Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D. Tenth Edition, fcap.\n cloth, 3_s._\n\n JACK AND THE TANNER OF WYMONDHAM; a Tale of the Time of Edward VI.\n By the Author of \u201cMary Powell.\u201d Post 8vo. 1_s._ 6_d._ (RAILWAY\n READING.)\n\n JAY (REV. W.),\u2014FINAL DISCOURSES AT ARGYLE CHAPEL, BATH. Post 8vo.\n cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 PORTRAITURE OF. Fcap. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n JERDAN\u2019S (WILLIAM) AUTOBIOGRAPHY; With his Literary, Political,\n and Social Reminiscences and Correspondence, during the last Forty\n Years, as Editor of the \u201cSun\u201d Newspaper, 1812\u201317, and of the\n \u201cLiterary Gazette,\u201d 1817\u201350, in connexion with most of the Eminent\n Persons who have been distinguished in the past half-century as\n Statesmen, Poets, Authors, Men of Science, Artists, &c. Post 8vo.\n with Portraits, &c. Complete in 4 Vols. cloth, 21_s._\n\n JULIAN; or, the Close of an Era. By L. F. BUNGENER, Author of\n \u201cHistory of the Council of Trent.\u201d Two Vols. cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n JUVENILE ANECDOTES; or, Stories of Children. By P. WAKEFIELD. New\n Edition. 18mo. cloth, 2_s._\n\n JUVENILE CALENDAR (THE) AND ZODIAC OF FLOWERS. By Mrs. T. K.\n HERVEY. With Twelve Illustrations of the Months, by RICHARD DOYLE.\n Post 8vo. cloth, gilt edges, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n KEATING (ELIZABETH),\u2014RAYMOND BURY, a Tale. Illustrated by MRS.\n INGRAM. Fcap. cloth, 6_s._\n\n KING ALFRED\u2019S POEMS. Now first turned into English Metre, by Mr.\n TUPPER. Cloth, 3_s._\n\n LAURIE (JAMES),\u2014TABLES OF SIMPLE INTEREST FOR EVERY DAY IN THE\n YEAR, at 5, 4\u00bd, 4, 3\u00bd, 3, and 2\u00bd per cent. per annum, from 1_l._\n to 100_l._, &c. Nineteenth Edition, 800 pp. 8vo. cloth, 1_l._\n 1_s._\n\n \u201cIn the great requisites of simplicity of arrangement and\n comprehensiveness we have seen none better adapted for\n general use.\u201d\u2014_McCulloch\u2019s Commercial Dictionary._\n\n \u2014\u2014 TABLES OF SIMPLE INTEREST at 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 9\u00bd per cent.\n per annum, from 1 day to 100 days. Third Edition, 8vo. cloth,\n 7_s._\n\n LAWRENCE\u2019S (MISS) STORIES FROM THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. New\n Edition, with Engravings.\n\n [_In preparation._\n\n LE\u00c7ONS POUR DES ENFANS, depuis l\u2019\u00e2ge de Deux Ans jusqu\u2019\u00e0 Cinq.\n Avec une Interpr\u00e9tation Anglais. By Mrs. BARBAULD. New Edition.\n 18mo. cloth, 2_s._\n\n LECTURES FOR THE TIMES; or, Illustrations and Refutations of the\n Errors of Romanism and Tractarianism. By Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D.\n New Edition, Revised and Corrected, with Additions. Fcap. cloth,\n 6_s._\n\n LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN. By Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D. A collected\n edition, with additions.\n\n [_In preparation._\n\n LETTERS AND POEMS, selected from the Writings of BERNARD BARTON.\n With MEMOIR. Edited by his DAUGHTER. New Edition, with Portrait.\n Fcap. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._; large paper, 10_s._\n\n LETTERS TO A LADY. By BARON WILLIAM VON HUMBOLDT. From the German.\n With Introduction by DR. STEBBING. Post 8vo. 1_s._ 6_d._\n\n LEWIS ARUNDEL; or, the Railroad of Life. By F. E. SMEDLEY, ESQ.\n Author of \u201cFrank Fairlegh.\u201d With Illustrations by H. K. BROWNE,\n (PHIZ.) 8vo. cloth, 22_s._\n\n LIMED TWIGS TO CATCH YOUNG BIRDS. By the Authors of \u201cOriginal\n Poems.\u201d 18mo. cloth, 2_s._\n\n LITTLE BOOK OF OBJECTS. 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Foolscap, cloth, gilt edges, 7_s._ 6_d._\n\n M\u2019HENRY\u2019S SPANISH COURSE.\u2014\n\n A NEW AND IMPROVED GRAMMAR, designed for every Class of Learners,\n and especially for Self-instruction. Containing the Elements of\n the Language and the Rules of Etymology and Syntax Exemplified;\n with NOTES and APPENDIX, consisting of Dialogues, Select Poetry,\n Commercial Correspondence, &c. New Edition, Revised. 12mo, bound,\n 8_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 EXERCISES ON THE ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, IDIOMS, &c. of the SPANISH\n LANGUAGE. Fifth Edition, 12mo. bound, 4_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 KEY TO THE EXERCISES. 12mo. bound, 4_s._\n\n \u2014\u2014 SYNONYMES OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE EXPLAINED. 12mo. and 8vo.\n 5_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n MIALL (EDWARD, M.P.),\u2014BASES OF BELIEF, an Examination of\n Christianity as a Divine Revelation by the light of recognised\n Facts and Principles. In Four Parts. Second Edition, 8vo. cloth,\n 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 BRITISH CHURCHES IN RELATION TO THE BRITISH PEOPLE. 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ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF NEW TESTAMENT\n HISTORY, including, 1. The Four Gospels harmonized into one\n continuous Narrative. 2. The Acts of the Apostles, and continuous\n History of St. Paul. 3. An Analysis of the Epistles and Book of\n Revelation. 4. An Introductory Outline of the Geography, Critical\n History, Authenticity, Credibility, and Inspiration of the New\n Testament. The whole Illustrated by copious Historical,\n Geographical, and Antiquarian Notes, Chronological Tables, &c.\n Second Edition, revised. Post 8vo. cloth, 5_s._ 6_d._\n\n \u2014\u2014 A POPULAR ABRIDGMENT OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY, for\n Schools, Families, and General Reading. Explained by Historical\n and Geographical Illustrations, and numerous Map Diagrams. Two\n Vols. 18mo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n WHITTOCK\u2019S (N.) MANUAL OF PERSPECTIVE. Illustrated by numerous\n Engravings. Fcap. cloth, 3_s._\n\n WILKIE GALLERY (The); a Series of Sixty-six Line Engravings from\n the best paintings of the late SIR DAVID WILKIE, R.A., with\n Biographical and Critical Notices, a Biography, and Portrait of\n the Painter. 4to. cloth, gilt edges, 3_l._ 10_s._\n\n WILLEMENT (E. E.),\u2014A CATECHISM OF FAMILIAR THINGS. New Edition,\n 12mo. cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n WILLIE FRASER; or, the Little Scotch Boy; and other Tales. By Mrs.\n R. LEE. With Four Illustrations, 18mo. cloth, 2_s._\n\n WINNARD\u2019S (JANE) (MRS. HOOPER) RECOLLECTIONS OF MRS. ANDERSON\u2019S\n SCHOOL. A Book for Girls. Illustrated by FRANKLIN. Fcap. cloth,\n gilt edges, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n WINTER EVENINGS; or, Tales of Travellers. By MARIA HACK. New\n Edition, with Illustrations. Fcap. cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n WOMAN; HER MISSION, AND HER LIFE. From the French of MONOD. By\n Rev. W. G. BARRETT. Second Edition, 18mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; gilt\n edges, 2_s._\n\n WOODWARD\u2019S (B. B., B.A.) HISTORY OF WALES. From the Earliest Times\n to its Final Incorporation with England; with Notices of its\n Physical Geography, and the Poetry, Traditions, Religion, Arts,\n Manners, and Laws of the Welsh, with Fifteen Steel Plates.\n Super-royal 8vo. cloth, 1_l._ 5_s._\n\n WOODWARD (B. B., B.A.),\u2014MODERN ROMANISM. A popularly written\n account of the convocation and the proceedings of the Council of\n Trent, with a readable version of its authorised Formularies,\n showing _what_ Romanism then became, and _by what means_ it was\n changed.\n\n [_In preparation._\n\n WRIGHT\u2019S (THOMAS, ESQ. M.A. F.S.A.) THE CELT, THE ROMAN, AND THE\n SAXON. A History of the Early Inhabitants of Britain, down to the\n Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Illustrated by the\n Ancient Remains brought to light by recent research. With numerous\n Engravings. Post 8vo. cloth, 8_s._\n\n YOUNG NATURALIST\u2019S BOOK OF BIRDS. By PERCY B. ST. JOHN. A New\n Edition, with Sixteen Woodcuts. 16mo. cloth 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n\n _R. Clay, Printer, Bread Street Hill._\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in\n spelling.\n 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.\n 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n 4. Denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript\n character, e.g. M^r.","title":"Geological facts; or, the crust of the earth, what it is, and what are its uses","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":61267}