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BV TirOMAS TROTTER, MlMSTER OF THE PhesbvtERIAN CmuRCH, Anti«0NISH, N0VA-8C0TIA. trinted by CJELDKRT & PATTERSON, Eastern Chronicle Office, PICTOU, N. S. MDCCCXLV. fv/S 00 T ^0 ^^^ JA^' 4r r ^ iHF «:.\toii iKttll i tin- ioJ Mros their plaeci that ii oceun desire cntiiic oC the 'lifricir timi. greatei posses; and its form. I jiavo Ion- tiiouglit thai tlv ieading e /ontrf recorded and foretold in the Sacred Scrip- i.iros by i..-,i.,o. all oxhibited aa parts of a whole, and havin- tiieir relation H, a common object pointed ou^ would be I'h.ced m a far more interesting and instructive li-ht, than that m ^^h.ch it is possible for then to appear as isolated occurrences; an.t for many years I have felt an increasing •le.ire to attempt it. A comprehensive, connected, and sei- out.ac view of these events, if properly executed, would render an important service to Ueligion, by silencing manv «'i the cavils of the Infidel, and solving some of the greatcs't 'I'nicuh.es which perplex the mind of the inquisitive Chris- tum. To execute such a work properly, would require a groaior command of tin.e than I have at my disposMl,and the possession of talents boyon.l what I can pretend to; and un- <<'r these circumstance.^ it maybe the wiser coin-c to call iho attention of others to it, who nre better quulilied to do It justice. At the same time, as the following Treatise ^'ontams my views in re,ranl to the phvsical Jiistory of the wirth, a highly important de|)artment ,d'the work-as manv ot th^se views nre new-as I b.-liove them to be just, and a^ tne 1 realise is a specimen of what the Work ^^■ould be nerc IV PREFACE. it ••ojiiplctcd, 1 have dctcnuiiieil to pulili.sh it, .suuh as it 13; in tl ]iH separate tonn. A .short a( count of the physical chaii'^cs which llio oarjh has undorijoiio, and by which it lia.s become a i)r()j)er theatn for thi- dcvflopeituMit of the <,rreat arraiigciueiits of Provi- dence, woidd form a suitalde introduction to a jreneral and connected vie.v of these arrangements; and in the latter part le of the foMowing Treatise, I have traced the hearini? of tl revolutions ol' the e irtli on tin end of its creation, I e accomplishriient of llic irreat mined by less ])artial jndije >nr, with what success, nmst be dot er A I'ull er account than is here given, of thedilferent r aces of plants and :inim:i]s wliMdi once existed on the face of the eart,'!, but have long been e.vtinct^ would have rendered the work more interesting to many; but my object was.not, to write the Natural History of a former world, but to select Mich facts as were calculated to throw light npoii its i)hysi- cal condition; and I have not omitted a single fact, known to myself, that would have given additional light to what 5s given. The philosophical historian, a desiiiiiati on her which I would be most hap])y to inent, whose object is to aiuUyse the dilferent elements of improvement—to ascertain the combinations of whirh they are susceptible, and to trace the progress of these combinations to their ultimate conse- (piences, selects such facts as are suited to his i)nrpose, and suUicient for its attainment, and passes over the rest as re- dundancies, and calculated only to encumber his niarch. My materials have been collected from didercut sourcesi iuid at ditler(>!it lini(\s; and it would now be imposoible for me to refer every statement I have made to its proper oritnu; but so far as I can now recollect, I have acknowledged the extent of my obligations to other writers, with the exception of Dr. Lyell, and the Kdinburgh Review. To the one I am largely indebted for facts, and I huvo adopted a nundjer of i:nportant views and suggestions from the other; and have preferred making a general acknowledgement to both, to having (juoted so ol'ten as would have been tiecessar} . I have understood that the friends of the former still call him I PREFACE. h I lie inxnh per theutrc of Pio\i- ciier;il and liiUcr |Kirt illi' nf the f the ^M'cat t bo (loter- breiit races tafM,' of t!ie udcreil the va.s.notj to Lit to select its l)liysi- , known to to Mluit 'S Icsigiiation jl)jc'ct is to ascertain ud to truce ate conse- rpo.se, and [•est jis ro- ll larch, nt source.*' ios3ihle lor jier origin; lodged tlie exception one I ani number of and lunc ) botli, to essar} . I II call hifii Mr. Lyoll, whic! > nin.st therefore be considered .-iffrecablc to himself; and as I \y\.<] «'i.s most highest respect, 1 should h; 1 to treat him with i\ ic I kiioM n it in time. ve cotiformed to the inactice had I KM aware that the ojiinion respecting the age of th -'-'' ' ■ ive adopted, does not stand high with geoh; earth which I h gists in general; and I add need scarcely expect the ^^lli(•h I am full in support ot it t(! be treated with tl arguments here ko my confidenc y satisfied they are entitled; but that ntnbuted more or less directly to the convenience of man, and to h.s advancement in intellectual and moral improve- n^Lr T,'"7''--^-- -^--^1 the increase an.l in. P ovemem ot the human race as the ultimate ol-iect of theve M.^os; but the adaptation to this end into wbilh the .u h . s evKlon ly been brought by its repeated revolutions, nuc. bum. Ml res^^^^^ oat muieral resources are so very lar fVom I.eing incx- -> .10, '-t they are comparatively lin.i.ed, and .how ', ' ^'"^ ^'7'' '-^ '"tended to continue in rhnr^rae, for.^h■•ch .liy bunted time. Xow it would be contnuy to all an- •'iotn , and a complete anomaly in th.- pb-M.omena of nature VI PREFACi:. i I' many million* of yoars were spent in prepaivitioti inr a state that was to rontinuc hut Torso many tlionsunds; atxJ this (!OMsi(Icratinn, independent (^f every thing el«r, shoulcj indueo us to i»ans!', and examine with the greatest viirilanco and deiiheration, the foundations of a theory which iis so iar from according with the Saered Scriptures, that lho.«i» of its supporters who n)aintain its reeoneileability with tlie Scrip- tures, differ so widely from one another in regard to the man- ner in which the reconciliation is to be effected, that otiiers of them, and thoese I»y no means of an inferir grailo, re-rard the point as nnattainalile, and ail..\v the Scrijnures to In- written not in eonf «Uy with tiie fact, hut \vith the tradi- tionary accounts and prcjinlices of the age to which they are to be rcfi.M'red. J am satisfied tliat whatever opj)osifion may appear !ie- twecn the Scriptures and any science in its infancy, ii will gradually |lisai)pear in projiortion as that scicnee advances; and when a reconciliation is cfleeti'd, fhey will he muiuallv scrviciiable to one another, and projuote the great object (if both. Geology and the Scriptures illustrate each other, and give a clear, consistent, and interesting view of the rarlv condition of tlie earth— of the revolutions it has underirone. and the great end for which they have been brought a'bont 'J\ T. Antigotiish, l^th August, 1815, I'rc Vitidti for a p1«(\ should St viirilanco irli i- so iar llio.si* of its li tlio Scrip- to tlio inan- , thiit otlirrs 'iulf!, rpjrard turprf to he t!j thf trtidi- ifli ih^v tu-c C N T E N T S '■^ ^ v^ »_^ > ov ^l!^: lomr of the k IJOOK 1. MITH, ITS CO.MrO?IT.'()\, STniJCTl'UE. Sn 'J'll \y. ('!•(■ ;!iv {liico grcrit da.sL^cs of rocks— th l!iO. tlic Coraiiiiic, and the Cryst tilled aie dividi-d liuo 8 alMiic. c StratiJlrd, 'i"h 'tra. \\ lii<'li lie ill ;i I'os.silifcrofis, cricscsand I'onnatioi IS, certain order, and are llfiierallv BOOK 11. OF THR PIIVSICAL nKVOLUTIOX.S > V, iiicii Tin; r-AKTU HAT, UNDERGONE. I'roofs iliat it has tind CllAI', 1. crj'jonc a r.iuMher, or ij, C'riAP. H. • prineipal agents in tlie fJcvolntiuns of the Karth-Wtiter, Wind, Lnnd.sJips, Heat, a:i^;, respecting/ the hist revolution of ih.« earth. It was aecompanied by a j^reat innndu- tion— tho w filers of the nea vtero thrown »«\er the dry land- -the teniiiei'uiuie of tli.< caiih \. n* Pag^. •1.1 '13 •i.J {'2 7fi coj;t£ats. i.V >.s OF THE UK Pag^. •13 'J3 ;i.* (.2 V) -i-eatly rodurod :,t tlio tiino— ti,o waters vast- hv UM intcnnittent /uoveinciit^tl](.y were tossc! In- a K'lnpcst towards the dose of the iiuindatioi.-l llicy Ml as they ro..(>, In jui iiito-nnittcnr iidvo- "i-m, and tomMitsol* ruin ill! uliijo liicy u,-;-,- aliatiiiir, CfiA..'. VU. Oftlic AgTcomcMt bcru.uMi Geojoiry find the fMcnd S'rripturcs, res|)<'i'iing some iiiiportaiit chaui-cs uhirh rullowod tho last revolution of the mrtli. 'ill" fertility of the ground was incruasr-d— ic- gidarity in tho .-onrse of thn season was Cvta- Misliod— the .size of animals was redu'ed, an I tlieir terijj of life abhreviated, CllAJ'. \ III. On.IKCTIONS CO.VSIUERED, I'n'iiniiiiary Ohsi-rvations, f>kJn'lion Ist.-'Vho Saorod Ciironolo^y do< ,. not al- low a ^utlieieney of time for tho groat ohaUMe, Nvhieh the oarth has uuderf'jertian .J./.-Though the great nu.joritv of evicting rucoH of plants and animals are genorienlly the Mimo with fossil rac.s, they are speeilicallv dif- it'^'oiit, and may thuroforo ho rogurdud as a dis- tinct and later croiition, 0/y,c//onl/;..^ThegcM,graphiculdistrihntioM of plant. m.d aninmls U In-enoneileahln ^^ i(h their .l.>p,r.. ision Irom a cointnou centre. I'ag. (>/, / / lOi i:\ I jt I It j.i r„^ CONTENTS. BOOK fV. "V TlIK KKNEPITS WHICU TITS PltK.ST.KT INHA niTAiVTS OF TUT. v\nru DRnivK from thk riiYsic.-.r, ciiaxoks it HAS fMJF.HGONi:. C'!T\r. r. Piijrn. I'ri'Iiiiiitiary 01wprvatii;:i;v, - - . _ (-'.'! *.r. U. <^r th(5 I'soful Miii„rah which th(> ivvoliitioii.s of tho C'lirth hcivo been the ino.iiif; of preparing or ren- •Icrin-,^ accessible. Liiufrftone—Coal— Iron— rhoir proximity— Suit— The Precious Mctnl.«, i^e \ Cn Ai'. in. Of the Hcnefits which result to the inhabitants of the <>arth fr(*m its external condition. The «livi- i-ion of itr^riurfaco into land and sea—into inoun- tninsand valleys,and districts adup' .'(l tonation- iii I'xi^teiuc, - - - . . Chap. IV. Of thr nenefits which result from the course of the seasons; and the diderenee of climate in ditler- ent Jntitudijs, - - - . Chap. V. Of the Benefits which result from tho si/e of animals; and the established term of human life, - - Concluding' Ob«servatiuiis, - - - . Iii7 171 186 loa 209 I ' « E L G V. INTRODUCTION. The "niform regularity of -ho course of i.ature, anj general My and tramuillity of the earth, warrant the .up„o«i- .on tlmt the latter l,a» continue,! in a state of reno.e s^rd .he date of ,,, creation, when nil tl.i,,,., rose into'e^L nco a. .he fiatof 0„,„ip„„,,„„,. ., , „, i, u,..ho^,„,,J^^^ a »er,es of v.olent and extensive tnnta.ions, before attaift^ to ,.s prosent state of rest, appears very plainly Zm hf ruptured and dislocated condition of the .rata n'd's "„t of these revolutions have evidently exereisei rbe'efci" 1 I" lu.„ e, and eoutrihu.ed .o the convenience of its presen ex.: ;■";;;:; ' '-' '"-"" '- "">"''- ■""- •'«■■■■ ""'"•- and cx '* «»ave occurred nt very disfint no.irwl • " ^'''^'^ ♦ »,„,. I I •'^ '"'^r'^"""'^ *»'"«« one uiiothor —till f they hav-o been respectively attended by ne^v T-a^.t «rgnn..e,l forn,.. both ..,i,nal and vc.etab -..; thr. giun.ng with the simplest, tho " ' "'' ^*" ha vc approached inon types >i ovcrv f?nw »■'i^ predcccfctor in tJio eci \ "early than thoso of ics, to tho racc'B which tV ert;;;tJon it.^ irnrncdiato sfil! continue I * GEOLOOT. in existence. Had not this tJieory been entitled eo the sup- port of very plausible arguments, it could never h^ve gained 8o many truly eminent friends in this enlightened and scien- tific age. Yet as great minds have often been inisled, and as arguments equally if not more conclusive, may be produced against it, both sides should be fairly examined before we come to a decision respecting it. But before the reasoning on either side can be properly understood, ond the force of the arguments duly appreciated, it is necessary that we pos- sess a general acquaintance with the form, coinposition, and structure of the earth, the revolutions it has undergone in the structure of its crust, and the kqown or probable causes of these revolutions. BOOK I. OF THE FORM, COMPOSITION, AND STRUC TUUE OF THE EARTH. § I. Or T,,.. Fo„M or T„c EARTH._Lit.le requires to be a.d on . „s pom,. Ti,e ear.h i, called an OUa.e Spl eroid another drawn ihruujh its centre in any other direc-ion L,1 more especially under the epuator. Whet r ,hU f? -.Ynunediately given t„ it at' the creation or'eUtd Z t irrnTZd' ■:;*:; ifiror*" "-'"'" "- ouiviii{.j, out It js ot no consenupiiffi Jm tu^ ::•::;;.,'.;::'"••"'•' '""""^ '•"'■'"'• •"-:;[; serf's : ■1.0 higher latitude, ,luri„., he ,u „ ,t^/ ^ ' . '"""""'' '" - -dor o:; L :,':; ?:;,;," ■"" ""--"' -"■ "».«■, and the '' ''''"""'^ '^ ^«'>J to 1.0 goncrully correct, GEOLOGY. wherever it can be tested by means of sounding, it seems to boonly fair to receive It, till its iacorre3tnesr,has been proved. I am not aware, that any estimate ha;; ever been made of the mean height of the dry land, above the level of the sea, but it will not bear a comparison with the mean depth of the latter. One mile is in all probability beyond the truthj and this for no more than one third of the surface of the Globe. If then there were no inequalities o;i the surface of the earth- were the waters spread over it r.tan equal depth, they would form u covering to it of six or seven miles of thickness. The greater part of the dry land is covered with soil, chiefly composed of siliceous, argillaceous, and calcareous earths; generally mixed, but differing in their proportions in different places; and possessing more or Iessadher3ivene3s, according as one or another predominates. These mixtures are in general loose and incompact near the sLrft\ce, but they have all been consolidated and hardened into rock, at n greater or less depth below it; and, in their friable state, their moan density, as compared with their volume, is con- siderably less than that of their indurated and petrified con- dition. They consist chiefly of metallic oxides, and have in general been reduced to metallic bases. Though Oxyf^en in a rarified or fluid state, as it exists in the atmosphere, U much expanded, and consequently very light, it may bo greatly condensed by means of combination with diflerent metals, and in this state of combination it forms a large proportion of the ponderable mate/ials of which tho crust of the earth is composed. Tho interior of tho earth is beyond our rest?arch, and wo cannot attain to certainty resi)ecting it; but there arc (lifl\)r- ent well established facts, which warrant the conclusion that it is a vawt mass of solid substances, specifically heavier in a high degree than tho materials of its crust.* Taking water, as usual, for tho standard of comparison, and count- ing it 1, the mean density of the great majority of the known rocks is about 2.\; but Dr. JMaskelyno and others hiivo shown, by theii observations on the attraction of mountains, that the lueun density of tho earth is 5, or twice that of tha BEOLOOr. » mtorial, of it., .rust, even in thcir n,o,t eompactorl form j he ,„ luonce of ,h. .art!, on the motions of tho moon hT, d.rected astronomer. ,„ ,ho .amo conclusion; andTnnv .herofore bo received a. nearly if not perfectly 'eonee; ' Cons.dorms tl,c„ that the volume of water contained in .1.0 ocean, ,vh,ch i., iacluded in the cstin,ate, is c,u,a! to s " or seven nnles at the circu.nferencoof the ci do, ind e oun'^ niorem tluckncss, counts but 2J, it is evident that the rc- matnder, after these deductions are made, „„,„ be o sUI r- »bly upwards of 5,-tha, it ntust approximate theden fv of a great proportion of the known n.etals; and co id h ,/ moreover, that the greater part of the known ea ■ » aro ...ctaike oxides, and also that ail n>e.allic veins, a wi , 7 shown hereafter have been filled from the interior, an! pears excechnjly probable that the interior of the ea-fh consists of a vast colleetion of tnetals, or of substan es 03 sessiug metallic |,roperties. "»ranti.s pos- § 3 Or T,,E ST.p.t-cn,.ai; OP THE EARTH.-This is n subject of stdl more ,n,port„neo in Geological enquiri.s than elen Comp„s,t.on, and throws mote light upon its past history Wo cannot penetrate into the interior of the earth, or obtain nfor,natu,n respecting the disposition of the ntaterial, con- .eseauhos, through the revolutions it has untlcrtron,- and ".any important part,c,dars I,ave been ascertained rcspeetin,. >t* sfucture. In the crust of .ho earth there are throe ,--", etrt:,!.™'"; ':''"" r" " ""'--""•■«"'. ..-i .. -^i^ em tcvture; an,l hentg .listinguishablo fro,„ one auothe- bv their respective peculiarities. ^ Geological Science is still in an infant and u„settled state ben,s constantly recoivint. ne.v accessions, „„d u, h ,1 ,: new ,nod,fieation» anti ehanses, both in re^ar.i t ;i; ' t.on and arrangement; and us no ,;nrticni,r ,„ ,J , . has been agreed upon, or generally' ;'d': ! ; i' ^'''^ have a,«eovcred orex-pouuded its fact,, 1 U exceel „ ..rf'- t. M '■ """"'"-'- "-■ '"•'»^"' " «'"'=f'" -.Mv !kZ, f.c.., Without appearing ,„ ^-ive . preiereuce ,„ r.n,P GEOLOGY. ticular theor}^ which is not intended in this dissertation. But some nomenclature must be used, und some arrann-e- ment must he adopted; and without intending to prefer ono theory to another, the course shaii be followed which in regard to these matters appears to be on the whole most generally approved. It is allowed on all hands that the crust of the earth is composed of three great classes of rocks; namely, the Stra- tified, the Coralline, and the Crystalline. Of the Stuatified Rocks.— This is the most numerous, and by ftir the most important class of rocks, and consists of a long succession of beds, difTeriiigfrom jne another in rcganl to composition, texture, thickness, and ])osition; but app"ear- ing everywhere to have been formed agreeably to a certain order, which is rarely departed from, though the series is in many situations incomplete. They are by some divided into three, and by others into four distinct serieses; and each se- ries is subdiv'ided into a number of groups, systems, or forma- tions; all occupying ditTerent positions, and distinguished from one aimther by different name.'?. Of the first, or lowest series ofStratifiul Rocks.— Oh^.orv^ ing the order of superposition, the lowest series is generally if not miiversally called the primary; and comprehends five or si.v different beds: Gneiss being the first or lowest in th« order, Mica Slate tlio second, Hornblende Slate the third, Clay Slate the fourth, to which Qu..rtz Rock and Primary Limestone are to !;c added, the last of which, instead of al- ways retaining the same position, sometimes alternates with other beds. Many of these beds are very thick, and the greater part of tliein have a slaty te.xture, and are partially crystalli/od, a.s if they had been isul>jccted to an intense and powerful pre.'^^iire, .subsequent to their formation. Of the Transition Scries.— T\\ohg who aflmit of a fourth JTive to the next the name of the Transition Series, from an idea that, during the time of its formation, the earth was p;,ing from an iminhnbiiable into a habitable state; and t)e- rause that the rncks belonging to it, partly partuko of the compMct and ::\:\\y texture of tho foregoing, and at the same I GEOLOGY. isertation. time contain fossil organic remains, like all those of a later date, or which lie between them and the surface The Grcy.vacke system, otherwise called the Silurian, is the first or lowest in this series, and it is immediately followed by the Old Red Sandstone, which is succeeded in its turn by the Car- boniferous system, containing the great Coal Formation, in many respects the most important of the three. Of the Secondary Series.— Th\^ is the third in the order of f'uccession, and begins with the New Red Sandstone, and ends *vith the Cretaceous, or Chalk Formation. Between these are the Lias, and Shelly Limestone, the lov^ r and upper Oolites, and difiercnt other limestones and sanu ones, which Geologists have little difficulty in distinguishing. Though the first in the series is generally cai.'ed the New^Red Sand- stone, it contains other bed« of rod , besides sandstone, and the sandstone is not always red, but often grey, and in many localities they alternate with Conglomerate, Rock Salt Gypsum, and some other useful minerals ' Of the Ternary Serics.-Thh consis'ts of Limestone, Sandstone, Gypsum, Marl Clay, Gravel, and in some locali- ties an mferior kind of coalj but asdiflerent beds may have been formed simultaneously, though in different places i^ would not be easy to arrange them according to a particular order, or to ascertain what arc their respective ajres, as compared with one another. General Observalions on the Slratijlcd Hocks. -Thoxwh they succeed one another in a certain order, they are neither all ot the same thickness nor superficial extent. Begimiing with the lower or Primary Series, and ascenrling to the up- per or rertiary, they gra.Iually .liniinish in boih respects "ml m any extensive valley, bounded by great mountain chain, the strata may not be unfitly compared to a series of ctips placed within one another, and all rc,rularly diminish- 'ng in size, so that the brim of the largest nses higher tlum nat of the next, and so on of all the rest to the last, which bus not only nJcss area, but also a less elevation than anv of tno oJiers. Thoucrh the strata of th« m-'uv-v -ryi- u -nuia ui u!,. piruiui V series are the lowest in po;ut of order, and actually underlie all the rest 8 GEOLOCr. their edges run up on the flanks of the mountains to a much greater height than those of any of the rest, and it is there chiefly that they are exposed to view. The Transition Serines rests on the Primary, and the edges of the Grey wacke, or Silurian System, are also seen most frequently in the higher grounds, though much below those of the Gneiss and Mica Slate. The c^lges of the Secondary Strata are still lower than those of the Transition, and the Tertiary are lower than any of the rest. The Primary Series commenc- ing on the should^^rs of the higher mountains, where the Crystalline masses, have broken through them, and sloping downwards till they meet with the first of the Transition Series, thsy enter the latter, and of course disappear, and running along at a great depth below the surface, they again emerge, and come into view on the shoulder of tiie next mountain ridge, which bounds the opposite side of the val- ley. The Transition, and all the rest in succession, follow in their turns,:so that near their edges, they rise to the sur- face, and arc exposed to view, while the intervening space is generally covered. The consequence is, that the^super- ficia! extent of every succeeding series is proportionally less than that of its more immediato prcoecesoor; and for the most part thoir thickness is reduced as much as their area.' It i^chiefly to this contraction of the area of the strata, that we owe our acquaintance with the structure of the Earth. Had it not been for this, the older beds would have been inaccessible to our researches, on account of their depth, and we must have either been wholly ignorant of, or but very imperfectly acquainted with them. It is not, how- ever, on the shoulders of the great mountains only, that the primary rocks come into view. Portions of them 'have been occasionally forced upwards iuto view, in the lowgrounds, and there arc ditTerent localities in which ancient mountains of the primary order have subsided to the level of the lower grounds^ and left nothing but their original summits and shoukiers uncovered, to tell where they have been; and there we may meet with the primar> strata resting against the crystallino masses, which have penetrated through thci )tn. GEOLOGY. 9 The order of the strata is seldom inverted, hut sometimes a particular group, and at other times a Avhole system, may be wanting-, and it frequently happens that strata which are wanting in one place, are present in another, and vice versa; in consequence of which arrangement we may meet with beds of an older date, where we expected to find more re- cent formations, while in other situations the recent forma- tions are wanti-.g, and the intermediate or even the ancient rise to the surface. Though the different formations follow the order of super- position, they do not all lie in the same planes. They are not parallel to one another. The beds of one series, or group, have in many instances changed from a horizontal to an inclined, or even a vertical position, before the suc- ceeding group was deposited} and the consequence is, that the edges of th« one come in contact with the inclined face of the other, and form angles of greater or less acutenes. with them. Again, from the greywacke formation, which is the first of the transition, to the last of the tertiary, all the strata are fossdiferous, or contain fossil organic remains; and these remains, whether animal or vegetable, though they have a general resemblance, are not precisely alike, or the same in all, but appear to differ specifically in diflerent formations 1 ho organic remains which oc .'.r in the transition series, waich contains the oldest fossdiferous strata, are not the same with those of the secondary series; and those of the secondary difler as much, if not more, from those of tho tertiary; and even the remains of the earlier periods of the tertiary series, are not the same with those of the later periods, when they begin to ^appro.Jmate more nearly to cxistmg race3. and may in many instances be identified with them. 1 here thus appears to have been a constant chan-o in organic life, whether vegetable or animal, from the ea'r- hest times m which the earth was inhabited, till that in which OAisting races made their first appearance; and thouidi the nvo exiremes in the chain of being are specificallvdissimilar. they have not oidy a generic resemblance, but ai'e connectr ' 10 GEOLOCr. by a chain cf intermediate links, in which there h neither any want of continuity, nor any violent or abrupt transition from one to another; but an easy gradation tVom type to type, till we almost insensibly arrive at tiic termiimtion. These facts are of the ut-nost imi)ortan(;e in the study of Oeoiogy, from the light which they throw on rhc early con- dition and revolutions of the earth. Of the CoiiALLiNE RocKs.-ThiscIas.s of rocks has been formed b} the labours of murine injects, denominated Zoo- philes, because they unite some cf the peculiar properties of plants with those of ani^iaLs. Like plants thev are attached to the rock, but not I'or the same purpo^^c; for they do not extract Irom it the means of their subsistence, but'increase Its dnnensions; and like plants they may be propagated by a diyisiop. of their parts, as well as by rejjroduction. They belong to the order of radiated animals; and are divided into a number of genera, or races, which difier from one another in regard to their form, size, and habits. They consi-^f of a kind of gelatinous substance, which is construct- ed on the simplest form of organization, and possess the power of secreting the carbonate of lime, of which thev form habi- itations for themselves on the surface of the rock; leaving them as an addition to the mass, at their decease.' In thi<; way does every generation, after spending an ephemeral existence, contribute son.ething to the common property, whtcli accordingly continue;? to advance in its progress ui)- ^vards, til! it rises to the surface of tlie water, when it stops. A coral reef is - massy wall, raised from the bottom of the sea, or bt:ilt on the top of some submarine mountain, and generullv enclose, niore or less perfectly a certain area, whir-i L, greater or smaller, according to theuistc or abilities of the colony employed in its construction. Some are only a few miles m longtli, while others extend to as many hundrech Some are erected in the form of a circle, others in that of an oval, and others again in thatof a crescent, with itsconvexsido facing the current. But whether this diversity is the etfect of accident, or results from the sagacity of instinct, in providing njamst the influence of currents, has not bcci. ascertained" GEOLOGT, 11 The outer or exposed face of the xvall generally rises more abruptly, >vhile the other slopes toward the centre, which not only gives a stronger support to the mass, against the force of the current, but assists in filling up the interior, and bnngnig it sooner to the fonn of an island. As the polyp,- fer does not live out of water, the upward progress of the budding ceases uhen it reaches the surface; but is continued laterally towards the interior, till, with the addition of sand and other materials washed in hv the tides, the ppaceisfdled up, and th3 completion of the work ?s left to the elements Sand, n)ud, and other substances, arc doposifed on the reef till It rises above water, and becomes dry ^nmml Seeds are floated tc It by the waves, or dropt upon u by birds, and it becomes in time clothed v/ith vegetation. In this manner, have many islands been already formed, nnd others are Ao^v in the course of being formed, in the equ£ - t.orial seas; but it does not follow, as some Geologists allege, that these are additions to the solid globe. They are only a restoration of what ho, previously been taken fi'om it, and moved from one place to another. The carbonate of lime secreted by the polypifnr, is carried down trom the land, and i.eld m solution by the waters of the sea; and all that the coral insect accomplishes, is its separation from the waters, and restoration to solidity . a change that would have been accompl.shea by precipitation or otherwise, when the sea oecainc overcharged with it. If the statement of Mr. Darwin be correct, that the po^- TurrL Th"'' '* " '^''''''' ^'^''^ ^^'^"» 200 feet below the he Z;ieJ? "'"^\"''"- ""' '""'^^ ^"^-^--'^ "-""tains in he tropical seas, whose pointed summits serve as founda- o^ for coral reefs, or the bed of these sea. Must have re- peatedly subsided, as many of the reefs arc now known to be upwards of lOOO feet in height, belcw the waters; but h .s no improbable that the lovc of then. , .s of. n happe has had some influence in modifying the facts onwhich tha opmion IS founded. Thm-R ^an I- Mn'- Ho-F^ - - • nf thn • .1- "*"'• •''^^■'-f^uDi ui:u numbers of the anc.em li,„eseo„e rocks aro coralline sf.uclmea, bu- .t would be d,fficul, ,0 do.er.-„i„e what proportion of thcrn 12 GEOLOOr. are lo be referred to this origin. Many of them are strati- fied, and therefore sedimentary; but others of them are mas- sive, and may belong to this chuss, although they have been altered; and there are others again, about which there can- not be the slightest doubt. Of the Chystalllne RocKs.-Next to the Stratified, the l^rystallme Rocks are the most numerous and important; and their forumtion has exercised the greatest influence in moJifyn.g th'j condition of the crust of the earth. Thev are 'iistmgu,.hed by their compact and crystalline structure', and the total absence of organic remains. There can be little doubt that they have had an i,rneou. ongm; and that they have been thrown up from the interior of the earth m a molted state, which has occasionallv given to them an appearance of stratification. When a sti-eam of liquid mmerals issues from the same aperture ni different tmics, and ovqrflows a space around the aperture at every new eruption, a succession of beds will be formed, as if they had been deposited in water. The currents of lava, •which issue from tho craters of active volcanoes, are often laid in beds over one another. The crystalline rock, have been divided into two clashes by Geologists, apd distinnuishcd by the names of Plutonic and Volcanic. Tho^e which belong to tho first class are supposed to have been thrown up from a greater depth in the interior ot the earth, and this is intended to be express- ed by their name. ^ Granite is the principal of tho plutonic rocks, and there ore several varieties of it, which did'er chieflv in the size of heir crystals an.l ihe hue of their feld.,,ar. This rock has been supposed by some to form the nucleus of the earth because it appears to underlie uli other rocks, and evidently possesses extraordinary thickness; b..' the nucleus of the oar h, ,t It have a nucleus, must bo composed of mnteriala of iur greater density than those of granite. It is probable however, that It forms the hrner coat of the cnL of th«' oaru.. aini cmcloses within It the metallic bn«c« of ail the rock*. So lar a. is known, it underlies ail the strutified OROLOOr, It ■ rock,; but in most of tho grcnt mountain chains i, Im, riaen upwards, ruptured and dislocated all tl.o strata, forced iu way .hrou,h then,, and pushed it,.iag,o,l and pin.laeled um n.ts to a great hc.sh. above the highest elevation to which Iheir upl,/:ed and Ijrokea edges attain ''Jcnito is another of thDplutcnic rocks. It boars a s.ril, .ng resoutblancc to granite, for which it .nay ve "a it .n.ta e„ hut its mineral con,positi„n is co.Llera ly'S! «nt as ,t contains hornblende, which is wanting in granite and h-,3 no mica which granite has. * ' The principal of the volcanic rocks arc, Porphyry Tran Orcenstone, Basalt, A.nygdaloid &c., which arc'm.'I.e^ connected, au,l frenuently graduate into one ano.h They .fler from the plutonie rocks in being less perfect; vervstaT ■zed, and n,„rc porous in their tcxtu'e, whi h i fupn cd to huve been occasioned by the expansion of gases eonZd n then,, at the ti.ne „f their refrigc-ation. TiLv arc l.o .oved to have eoolcl more rapidly.'and under , / irfcrt' degree o con,|„.es,ion, which adn,it,e,l of a greater evlt B,o« of the gases; and fron, this, in connec.io,, v th oZ" c.rcun,stances, it h„., been inferrcl that they did", „rc™d fo.n the satne depth, and that the disturbing fo c 1 "vh h z^^: """"'•"•^ ''"■" "-" i-i-nioLiiy^,:.;";'.!' This reasoning is certainly ingenious, «„d it „„„ bo ju.f l"">lie,o are son.e facts which scon, at 1-ast t", , dl,,.^ «» ftmy t)o takoii lor {jranitu hMmtJ Ui, „ i • ■" contains ,„i„era,s tl.a, arc u:'^^;:^^ Zri,.'"" .hro„W, .1 :1.„ f.,"'° '"'"".'"""■ '""' I'ouelr.i.o upward, mils of tho Goatfoll T»,„- r ^/"^'^fe'^' '" "'o '''Hy sum- Mo p„.torior.:'^t.o?r ;=;:;•::--;-; u OEOLOGr.. »t least to hav3 come from below it. Were we nirowcd fj^ea: a:5t;e-. ui ini3 uusmption at ivi'^inng, near Dublin, whore also, the granite mass is cut througii by two H«ti of vcini dilForcai in huo and texture. There b GEOLOGT. 15 atioihtr ln«?tanco at Mount Battock, in the Eastern G rampians. That the matter of these veins was ejected from the interior in a melted state, appears from the compactness with which they are joined to the original mass, and the manner in which they have penetrated every fissure and interstice, along their course; and as they are sometimes of great thick- ness, their injection into the mass must have increased its volume, and the dimensions of the mountain of which it forms the major part. KOOK II. '■v^v»<»»'v^v^ OF THE PHYSICAL REVOLUTIONS WHICH THE EARTH HAS Ux\DERGONE. It would be iinpo.s.siblo to form ahytiiing like a probable theory of tho earth, or one that is cither consistent with well established facts, or calculated to account for the:n, without admitting that it has underg,)ne ". number of extensive revo- lutions; and a generrd acquaintaiice with these would bo useful to m, in giving a more full and detailed account of tho discoveriqs of Geology. CHAP. L PROOFS THAT THE EARTH HAS UNDEROONE A fftJMBEtt OT EXTENSIVE UEVOLUTIOhS BEFOKE COMING TO IT3 PUESLWT STATE OF IlEST. § 1. It isgcncrallyifnot universally admitted that the Stra- tifiod Rocks arc aqueous deposits, and must have been origi- nally f ,rmed in a ho. izontal position, or one that was very slightly inclinedj for it is in this form that all sediments arc dopositcMl in water. But instead of remaining in a horizon- tal position, a great proportion of the strata have been frac turcd, di:docated, and thrown intoconfu.sion, in almostevcry variety of way; which cannot be accounted for on any other supposition tliaii that of having been accomplished by wmo very poworfid and extensive disturbance. §2. ^'>"".e have indeed alleged, that, as the apparently dislo- cate«y have any particular function to pet form in the economy o« nature, we must Hther infer that she has formed tnem n he.e ih.y nre in some unaccountable f.-eak, as a sort of pa,-od,es on her living production., or that they were once actiml plants an.l aninials, and have been enton.bed in some .".ghty revolution of the ,-arth; and no n>an of intelligence v^ . II hesitate for a moment whi.di alternaf ive to a.lopt 1 hough entire specimen., both of plants an.l animals of «<;ront orders, aro occasionally discovered in a fossil state. '"»t'l'if'«l .'"d partially dccaye.l fragments arc much mor., common. I'hoy „ro sonietimps found f-Mnrnste.! with marine Incustnne, or fluviatile production., as if tlu-v had hern huZ in waie,- before being enclosed i.i the heart of the Mi-at.r ^^hilc mstancos occur in which animals appear to have been' IS CEOLOGT. entombed alive, as they are not only unchanged in appear- nnce, but oven retain the most vivid indications of timse muscular contortion, ^vhich usually uocoinpany a violent death. TrecH and plants of smaller dimensions occur in a hjgh state of preservation, havinjj their purest and most de- l.catc parts entire; while others have been fracturerl rnd torn :o pieces, and their dissevered parts huddled and inm^ med together into a mass, as if they had been subjecte.l to the action ot a powerful curront. Such fact, show clearlv that the crust of the eanh has undergone one or .nore rcvolu'tion.. W.thout some great change the lower strata could neither have been brought to the surface, nor could the plants that once grew, and the animals that move.l on the face of the earth, have found their way to a dopth of hundreds of feet below It, and into the heart of the most solid and compact rocky. * § ?5. The same kind of evidence that will prove the occur- rence of one /-evolution, will prove that of a number After the derangement of one series of strata, another series has in difterent instances been rioposited over it; and in all such cases the lower beds of the uiore recent series havo taker, their shape from the unequtd iloor formed by the dislocated fragments of the more aneient series. Every series can thcreloro b.> distinguidied, both from the one that precede^, * and the one that follows it, by this circumstance, and also by the state and direction of its beds. Had the stratii re- tnamcd in their original jx.sitions, this could not have been The case, for they would hu.c all r,m in parallel lines, being rogularly place.l over one another like the leaves of a book when hud on its side; and it would have been impossible to have y paroxysms. He believed that tho a.ents are still in one- ration which have in tho lapse of time produced these mighty changes, and consequently that the changes arc still in pro- grcss, and nmst continue so while the world remains in its present state He does not indeed avowedly assail the heory of violent and periodical revolutions, buf artfully n- deavoursto sap its foundation, by collecting a vast num- er of unportant facts, and exhibiting them in a light that ilTt'^ ^'. '" ^'^^^'•^' '^''^ ---^'^^nng that n^ilitates ngamst these views ,s passed in silence. He has shown a tll^2 Z'^'^^'l^ the question, than to encounter ns difficulties. His industry in collecting facts deserves the highest praise, and he lias certainly n.ade a xevy dexterous use .f them m support of the unceasing mutation of the earth! rh.,t a number at least of the elements of change have existed, and been in operation from the earlict times to he present day, is undeniable; b,it besides these tl.cre have ben other and still more powerful agents, acting intermit- i.'»itly. Ever since the beorthern ex- »o, this sobt o^iJi :f „;;■;■"%■'; '"; 'r"""-' """ "" no. appear ,„ he f,u;:.:;:iitd '" '"' """■""" ""^^ hero ,. another way of living the difficulty, which i, et^ : "tf T"" ""^"''"^ " '''' ""'-^ -"''Oo B' ■< o^;^o^::::t:;7:hrr.::T:r;:;"::rt hydrostatic ciuilihrinm. Were ,l,o Baltic, the'^efZefi GEOLOGY. ss dually, and consequently sinking in the same proportion?" (Edin. Rev. vol. xxiv., p. I7r ) The waters of the German Ocean contain about three per cent, of saline matter, while those of the Baltic contain little more than one, and are consequently of an inferior specific gra- vity ; and the waters of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland are still fresher than those of the Baltic, and may be consequently liable to greater fluctuations. The saltness of both depends partly on the direction of the wind, and must therefore be variable. With a high Westerly wind, it increases, and the level of the water is also raised, because the waters of the German Ocean are driven in; and the opposite exacts a*-" produced by a high Easterly wind, because it drives out the waters. Whether the general saltness of the Baltic be in- creasing or remaining stationary is not known, but there is reason tobelieve that it is increasing. Professor Wilke found that it varied from 1 .0047 to 1 .0060, with an Easterly wind, and rose to 1 .0189 when Westerly winds had for some time prevailed. And when M. Von Buch afterwards examined it, he found it to be 1 .OOD37. The former drew the water which he examined from the Sound, in the neiirhbourhood of Landscrona; and the other from the Baltic, oifthe island of Laaland. The latter should of course be the freshest of tho two, and as it happens to be a little Salter than the ibr- mcr, it favours the supposition that the general saltness of the Baltic may be increa.sing 1 its level falling a the same proportion. That the level of the Norwegian coast has been stationary for the last 800 years is evident from this, that Monkholm in the harbour of Drontheim, on which Canute the Great erected a monastery in 1028, has still the same area and the i^ame height above the level of the sea as at that time. If therefore the land \- ri.sing, a.s Dr. Lyell supposes along the Gulf of Bothnia, the declivity of that side of the peninsula mu.'^t be dimi'jshing, and that of the other side increasing. But the Dr. aljcgcs that the rising is continued alotig the whole length of the peninsula from its soucnern to its north- ern extremities. "The upheaving movement may be eon- u OEOIOOT. tinued." says he. "from Gotenburg to Torneo anH r ^ thence to North Cape, the ritn nf i , '"^"' *°^ ^'^^ way. as wo procee/ranh:: N^Z^Tl/-^^^^ ^^^ all at the rat. which he supposes in rGnl/nr P .'''"'^ "' rate of eh^vation m„.t .•..V ^"'^ of Bothnia, the the intervening suace whnr ! V '""'' ^^'"^ '° ""io hpate wlieroit comes to ts n\^*\iu^,„^ i begins to .ecrease; an.l in this place there nuTboT; of coiuinually incre-.-in. ,Iin,J • T '^ ''''''^'" inenf,rv .f / '"^'^-1"^^ «-U8 6Up- ,hf ^' .f,*"'" """■'' •"" '"="'y '■'"^'' "■''!'=>' '^-"I to prove .hat ho earth ha. undergone a .erics of great rcvoI„tio„r,eL7a .n ™mt°rt,°"°"'"'' \ '"''"""'"'' ■^--"•^ of eo;„;aS tr«nq„dlu.v, tliero ,. no decisive evidence to thoeontr'rv am! wc ntay therefore Relieve that such revolution., hav curr d manccMt tunes, till the contrary be proved ortilWh.^ff. attributed to these rcvo!„tio„./bc Jthe^te a co ," f^ ^tror'hii b* " ""'""" "' '"""■ "• '"" «-" o^"^- .,1 '" ""I'ce-vely accompanied bv extcn- ..vo .nund.tion, or submersions of the land in which "vl „l. races of annnab have perished. Beds of c.nglon, t" fy* quontly .n..rveno t.tweon one divUion of .'ho s.r^a Z GEOLOGY. ifj jnother, and from the linos by which they are separated; and Conglomerates are only masses of gravel, which, after beinj,' deposited in the localities they occupy, have been ce- mented and compacted into a species of rock. They have in all instances been deposited by currents of sufficient strength and rapidity to roll the pebbles till more or less polished, and to hold >ae finer particler- in suspensio till the rougher settled and became consolidated. Beds of Conglo- merate might have been formed without any inundation, had pebbles excited in sufficient numbers, and been so dis- posed as to admit of consolidation without the action of a powerful current. But the pebbles of all Conglomerates have been rounded and polished by rubbing upon one another, and we know of no other agents, but rapid currents, which could have accomplished this; and the great extent and thickness of such rocks, and their occurrence in every quarter of the earth, exclude the idea of their being formed by the action of (luviatile currents. And though w^c should impute them to the operation of oceanic currents, it would be impossible to account for their occurrence only at par- ticular times, and that in all parts of the world, without as- suming the existence of currents at these particular times, which did not exist at any other time. § 6. While the earth was undergoing a series of revoli?- tions, it was gradually approaching a more tranquil and set- tled condition; and its organised productions, both animal and vegetable, were making a similr-r progress, and becoming more and more adapted to the peaceful and improved con- dition to which it ultimately attained. At the commence- ment of animal and vegetable life, the simplest forms of or- ganization predominated; and they gradually receded before the approach of more complicated and finished type«. When the earlier rnces became extinct, and their remains cease to occur m the strata, later races come in the r place; and a continual and unbroken succession of races, gradually atv proaching to a nearer resemblance to those which stlil exist •n the earth, was coming in and going out, from the bcgin^ ning to the end of the revolutionary ages. se SEoroor. .nal». .hie to, . „ .eZ"""' "', '■'"™"" '™" "^ "-- J.ho in which i. clo,Ta, IT'''' ''''''^""'"'^"'''»•'•»- 'heir cxistcm-o subs,,,„o„, t„ '""""'>"■""' "hatovc-of .i.e.-erore c„„e,„c,ed .r^Ue ' ph:;i'rr;''''.V, "',''' " ^' "•opho w„s ucco,n,,a„iod by i„ rvr. ^ ' ''"""" ■»u,.,i».io„, „„,, ,L <■„« i, , Li™ ;r' '' "^" ;! ""''•■"■■^'>' '.truction of „„ ,„„„, .-aees^f I"* ' A 'r'""" " "'" ''"■ contrilmte,!, =,lo„K",vi,|, ie ,! ,' , °"""-'"'"'«'-""".vhavo .h:: .h'rl;™ ,zx,, r::ri": '"' ""■"'"' '"--^^ -••' "MAP. tr. ""'I i"i"n.ah or II J: r "'•«"'"-»" -•^'"""1, toiioi. Ih.M-f, iipppnr to Imvo hoon throo „r .L r ., iimiuiy . jit'dt 11. 1(1 Loiiiprt'ssioii rrom place to pluco, arraiiffnd th III VI 11 ill i'onf proport '■'i'ui. 'I'lioro aro t •Muinfulitiprnit ionH, and doposiKMl fh luu'.i when every rmi 0111 in a now nini,' stream cut* I G»oLnr,T. 2^ Have tiic" es of ani~ catastro- oocur in lateverof and it ia at catas- iinivors.il r the de- nay have it is not thor and lie .';anie ifc; nnd to (!sta- ner.sions organic » of ex- ("e from I a coni- ^F THE ac;nd in :toniaI, y, nml tlic in- ornier, ho Int- u' siir- matter nii.\<<(i n now II CUtif A\va> palls of itri br.jikr*, or deepens its chaniii'i,aiul removes the niatoriai.s detadiod from their bnd to a (liiferenl locality, and ihe more niaje.stic and rapid the current, all other ihing,^ i)einji- fjqii^l, the <,'reater is it^-! exravatin- and transporting ])o\ver. Dr. Lydl h:i.s shov. n, in his Principles of Geology, that the Ganges alone carries annnally to the sea an amount of sediment sullicientto cover GOO acres of land, to the depth of 500 feet. This may ho regarded as an extreme case, but it sliows what a current of water can do. That a great part of the dryland ha^i boon repeatedly sub- merged,. since it Hrst rose above the level of the sea, has been already staled; aiid il is clear from the composition of a vast proportion of the strata v/hich constitute the crust of tho earth. Marine productions, both animal and vegetable, are preserved in great numbers and variety in localities which are now thousands of feet above the level of the sea; and the sea must either have risen to them, or they must have descended to it; for it; could not have deposited its contents upon tliem uide.ss its waters had overflowed them at tho lime. In many places tho older strata are intersected ])y i,,. ,,""' "" "'"y ''avc cither i"«U„ces. v„„o; a„d u-o : 1 '^rCf " ,'" """" tmlly HII,;,I by n:ji-o rccon, ,l "^"'""'"1 have been par- -..a ana .be serle. or^-onp ::::;;; ,'~ "^^ •"" .oe':n:;:;z:it:r:„,'' '•'t'^" '""-' ~' — "-. 1.0 deposi.e,? a b :;: :r"r ' '■'•'"; ""^ '"""'• >»utatio„« consist ehieflv i , ,- '"""■• ^" ""'^l' Plaee to place a 1 ,1,^^ "'"'""» '"' """"•""'» 'Vom N...lunJi:k '.;,'■;'"'''"'■' "' "■^"' "' ■' "'""""t orde^ •ho l"».s a, ,e ,1 o , """'■'■■'' "' "'■ "-'■'"'' - >'. <•"'• than oon,pe„ tc ,v I ' ■"" """"""""""•. ""«' "" more r"" "^'•"'"-^i:^:":mr;;;':;:;r'-r''"""" "tnif-tion ill fho otho,. ^"*'' '*' "'o ''ccon- 3:r'::ri:7.r:rT--'"-^^ ""• Mrean,, ,b .' i , e ""'""""■""''"■ 'l'»' ».".« aM ■— ■• io»,or ,b. ri,r;;::.'""""""""^ ""'■^""^ fillorioB IbroM^h lb.. !. . , "'■'''" '■'"""••■'">•. In cullocteU into'"br«ok« 'li''i ."' """j"'""' '>>' «i"cb they ar, ""•" "'"' •""'• "-oy become in.pregnatcj CEOLbCT. ^^d -s '■'f loosen - iscd and ac- and render vise would 'Cn up and places in h their re- past exist- litics liavo ^t opened, itcrvening^ ivo oitljcr I)y the re- in sonio been par- tl'ey arc rs of tho in more >ne placo lie latter All such a Is iVonj lit order, o it, for no more iporlion D rccon- iis >vny, lie and S 8 ilex, itato nP irrjing ir. In loy nro xvith these sr:h>t;\nce.s; and when the sea. boco;hos ovcrcharj,'ed %vith them, the excess is necessarily deposited in its bed. It is from tho lime tlius carried down to the sea, and held in n state of solution by its waters, that the coral insects and all the diliercnt races of ^hell-fidh construct their habitations. 1 shall have occasion hereafter to ,show that uie early con- dition of tho earth was much more favourable, than its pre- sent state, to these interesting processes; and that they were conducted on a much larger scale, and with far more rapidity than at })resont. § 2. Considerable changes on tiie surface of the earth have Ijcen efl'ected by the agency of the wind. But this has been too much overlooked by Geologists. Tliere are at present, and there hav<< always been some where or other, extensive oceans of drifting sand, which arc continually in motion, and forever breaking up and reconstructing their strata. We liavc instances of these in the boundless deserts of Northern Africa, in the interior of Arabia, in Central Asia, and in the East Indies, in all these sterile regions, the sand is loc . and continually in niotl, ;i. Tho,-e of the Lybian s I 30 0E0L0G7. ""» "ide .1. .„o,, !:„""; "f, "" ™"""->- '"»"• 0„ position n- .1 e ^.' i," ; '"'"'■;'■*• ""'"' »i" "-er take i., -".I mcvci ,vo,„ ;„:,";;,"■,'""' "- 1"«-'« -f P.'.«ieuiarly „„,,„r ,.,'-," '•'"•'""""'•'"""<''' ""-i tl.c,, "-■^•" Ah..r .mvi„,„,„:' '';■„;';"■ "•!":>' "»= look of wa. ".ovi,„ co,u,„„'.:;'r-c,ot ::;::! : """■'>^™' '■•■"-" ■> lalcrcopt, ,|„, „ f ,1,„ „ , "''•'l"'l''ss pile, ivhiH, "■"Jo .,y ,l,c l,„,lv n „■>„",;."•■■' " ;"'"■— ■•o"-,,. i. 7 -y u..y oti,,.. soli. ,.;::: ;;;;';;;;;"" "-• -.e ^».n. |;.:<..y, «eoonn,.g ,„ oi,,.u,„»,.;,:,.,., ii, ■ :i'" 'r "■ tlia-khusa, mo <'oii,|,lctelv rraio.-,.,! k T ' "'^ '"''"" "";'-•;"- -• > ". <'im:-::;r,;.'i;;;;:::,:''™- "'>"-'■ '■"-"'- Ii> i"« 'l.i..!?, n„,l c„„vc,-„, I,' ,™ :"'•"■";■" '" " -y "•"1 ll'oio mo ovicilsivn I.., . i'^ '" """"' "'"' ''"»'! -'•■••-vMc,.co:;:n::.r;::v;::;;-^^^^^^^^^^^ GIOLOCr-. SI Vhcy wero omarkablc I tiiat of a ^onh, the >low. On tlic figure ■r take its liills c.\- all rested nticJe.s of iiff in tlje !>nd then, >k of wa- fifiert, Jio 'loiglit of y bare of ent from I'aised a tVo with 'j which i rollii)jr •f eon.si- 'lont is livelier, desert, ''fh, nnd le.s.s ra- J' ffi-cut litions, ippf>so "riods n Hiib- evory dust; ne Iq. othor Hgcnt than the wind. The remains nf ancient forests, for instance, are sometimes found standing in im.ncnsc beds of sandstone, in the very position in wliich they grew; and any current of water, suflicicntly decj) and powerful to have de- posited such nii'.sf^es of sand al)out thcin, would have leveled the forest itself, and swept it before it. The sand has evi- dently been dcpo-sited among the trees by such an agent as a moderate wind, which, after burying them to a certain depth, has ceased to operate. They have died in conse- quence of having had their roots too deeply covered; and in this situation their wood has wasted away and disappeared, leaving their bark, uhi(;h appears to have been more dura- ble, standing like so many hoIloM- cylinders, as high as their trunks happened to be covered; and these have been filled up in their turn, at some subsequent period, by the passing of a more recent wave of sand over the district. There are often extensive beds of sand on the sea shore, near to the mouths of considerable rivers, and from these the wind sometimes forms mounds at no great distance, which are covered with a thin and coarse vegetation, that merely serves to arrest the progress of the rolling sand, and promote its accumulation in such localities. An ancient fo- rest, standing in the line of a current of sand, must have had a similar ell'ect. The layers of sotne sandstone formations bear a striking resembhince to drifred c,,ow, and could hardly have been deposited by any other agent, known to us, than the wind. Some of them lie in one direction, and others in a different one, though no rupture or dislocation has occurred to pro- duce such a change, nor any thing else, to which it may bo attrd)nteting on a very small senio, these occurrences are ut the nie^r.it fi.n.j ..i.:«fiw confined to Alpine regions. They depend much on tho po' 52 GfeOLOQT% ^non of the strata, and arc in son.c instances lavnurori by thcr con.pos.t^on. When .trata rodine on ihc f!.n!c of a n KHumun at a very hi,h angle with the horizon, and ir.on.^ of thorn he con.po.cd of soft .natorinl., the ^vator enter, more easily t.on. above, penetrates between tlieni, destroys then- adhes.on, and by reduein,. a softer one to u .lippeJy "|u- ;»">atu,n J h.y appear to bo remnants of an extensive dq.os, which has been in a great .neasure swept awaj L tUc valley bf^tweon t'^^m ;- r •«• ■>• : ./ ^-u.e.n i«vm}3 pariiaiiy nlkd with u diluvinn .& GtOLOGT. 53 deposit. Two wells were formed in this valley about the Barnc time, and nt no p;reat distance from one another, the first was near the middle of it, and the second close to the ba^e of the lessor hill. Water was obtained a little below the .surface in the former, and before the diluvian deposit was perforated. The other was conmicnced on a jrentle rise that fringes the skirt of the hill on that side, and at a very small depth the workmen fell in with the j^ypseous clay, and continued to dig without finding water till they descend- ed lo the dej)th of thirty-two feet. Here they found a tree in good preservation, eml)ed(led on the surface of the diluvian deposit, on which the earlier formation was di.^covered to rest. It thus appears that the side of the hiP facing the valley las been precipitous, and that after the valley had begun to be fdled with the diluvian formation, a part of the brow of the hill had slipped down. This must have hap- pened before the final retreat of the ocean to its present bed, as the retjt of the valley has been subsequently filled by dilu- vian deposits, to the depih of nearly thirty feet. This is not likely to be a singular instance. It 1.-4 highly probable that the g(>ntle swell that fringes the skirts of so many of our lower hills had a similar origin. Though tlio mass of a large i)roportion of these hills had a volcanic origin, not a few of them arr remnants of sedimentary beds, which have escaped the catastrophe that swept the greater part away. When these hills rose as islands in the bottom of the water, and the valleys by which thev are separated from one another were channels in which 'impetuous cur- rents flovvc.l, their sides were precipitous, and sometimes overhanging,, and when the waters subsided and left them without support, the higher parts slipi from their positions, and now lie around their base. This has given to many of these hills a more rounded and graceful appearance; but when tli(! adhesion of the upper strata was -reater, they re- mained in the state in which the water left them, presenting uW a bold and rugged face, and frowning over the phim bcl in sullen grandeur.. § 4. IJcsidcs the agents ^^hoPc influence has been limited 34 GEOLOOr. to the surface of the cnrfh ti,«..« • i fi-ou. the vent through whici, thov J^ e .s ,ec . .r' Peuctrutcd into all the fk.uros alon; thl I "'f '• ''''''^' "invards, and iiUcl thorn r^odt '^^.V'"'"^^'^^"' P'-^'^'^^S^ Ti.e „KUter o.Voted n v! ''^1"'^'^ vvould have done. .ene.a.,,inaL;::d:;ar:^::u::i^^^^^^ "P ^^^ ^^ tinie, the shnvor is the n oce m' /•"'' ''"'°^" ol heat, combined with difibrent deffrrr. nf n "^V^"^ ;;H, r,..,„„oe „ „„,,„„ ,,.-';,«■- „--^;--;;. ^Vith a heat of 'J5°of Wcdr-ucul ,.n,l •^""^f''"> f- r,w,. I . " «-ii/^,,\^i<.)fi, under a cornnrpx^iin fo e,|„u ,„ ,hn «.ci,.„ of S. u.n.uspl,™, ho e onvc ,1 o mik ,„to lu„c.s,o„o. Will, ,1,0 »„,„. ,lcg,-oo .1- hon ,1 nylfm. ni '\-"^^- P^'^--^'. 't {'o.'utue niarbJc; and under GEOLOGY. S5 From this it appears that the influence of heat is increased or diminished by the amount of compression to which it is subjected; and consequently, that a less degree of heat, if placed under an increased pressure, will in some cases pro- duce the very same effect as a greater heat under an inferior pressure. Allowing the degree of heat to have been less, the resistance prp«ented to its expansive influence by the immense thickness and tension of the strata, combined with the confinement of the gases evolved, might have increased it to an amount suflicicnt to have rent the solid globe. Earthquakes are often felt at a very great distance from the axis of the movement, which shows that they begin at an Immense depth in the interior of the earth, and that the liojiving is resisted by a degree of jjressure, of the amount of w hich we ca" l>ardly form a distinct idea. The Earthquake which desttv; ;d the city of Caraccas m, 1812, was felt at Honda, on the banks of the Magdalena, a distance of GOO miles, and along the whole curse of the movement the agi- tation was i?:creased by the tension of the strata, and mode- rated whenever they are more elastic. In the Cordilleras, where the formations chiefly belong to the primary series, and are in general more compact, the agitation was jjropor- tionally more violent; and in the Savannahs, where they are more recent. f>,ul possess a greater degree of elasticity, it was more gentle. Another occurred on the coast of Chili, in No- vember 182'i, -which was felt simultaneously along a line of 1200 miles from North to South. The hardest and most compact rock, that we know, is inter- sected by joints, which are easily perceived when it is broken into fragments, as their sides have invariably a dilferent colour from the niore solid parts. This change has been produced by the passage of some gaseous substances through these joints, on their way to the surface; and nothing but an exceed- ingly i)owerful pressure could have forced them through them. Before the strata were relaxed to the degree to adnut m tnen- csernto, the oxi)ansive power must have acquired inconceivable intensity, and met with a i tiling but the crust of the earth could have an esistancc w hich no- presented to it. 96 GEOLOGT. These ternble convulsions are often productive of .rcat changes on the surture of the earth. In one whieh occurred 111 South America, in 1822, a tract on the coast of Chili, supposed to extend to 100,000 square miles, was pernm- nent ly raised to the hei^^ht of several feet above its former level as compared in both cases with that of the sea: and ^0 20th ot February, 18S5; and a third time, <„■ th-^ 7th NovcMubor, 1837. In cou.sc,ueuce of these upraisings, the depth of the sea alo.g the whole coast has been diminished, nad several rocks that were formerly covered with water have become exposed. A rema.Kable instance of the risin*. of the land m consequence of an Earthquake occurred in the liunn ot Cutch, on the Lov er Indus, in 1819, when a ridL^e smce called the " Ullah iiund," or Mound of God, Avhth IS JO miles in length. Hi in breadth, and from 10 to 12 feet m height suddenly rose across the country, and for some tmie blocked uj) one of the branches of the Indus When a district is elevated above the former level the earth must either become cavernous at a greater or less ♦lepth below It, or a correspondent depression must take place in the neighbourhood, in order that the space from which the uplifted materials have been removed may be re- fi led by others. Wlie. a great thickness of strata have been raised up, but more cs],ecially when tiiey have been fractured and displaced, their broken edges may be so jauuned against one another as to prevent their return to their former position; and they may form an arch, and leave a vacant sjjace below, which in course of time becomes filled with water. That there are many such subterraneous lakes m volcanic regions, appears irom this, that vast quamitiea ot n;uddy water have in various instances been forced to the «urlacc ,n the time of Earth-iuakes. VVhon the " Ullah IJund" ^va, thrown up in 1819, the ground in the neighbour- hood, to a greac extent, was rent in all directions, and an .minense quantity of black and muddy water rushnd .,., through the chasms to the surface, and overflowed the coun- try to the depth of three feet for a number of davs At the OEOLOGV. 37 .uption of Tmigtirajiua, in 1797, the ground at the base ol ' ho mountain was rent in uiflerent phices, and floods of nmddy .md fetid water hurst throu on.( hand, to Teraatc on the other, a distance of 1690 miles, li was not accompanied by u rising of the laud, but such iin menso quanties of scoriae, dust, and ashes, were emitted by it, as to occasion the most profound darkness in .lava, ai the distance of from two to three hundred miles; and the lace of the ocean was so thickly covered with them, at the distance of more than 1000 miles, that it was w ith ditiicully that vessels could force their way through them. At the same time, a great extent of country ^vas overrun b} a ^;tream of lava; and out of a po|)ulation of 1 ^2,000 inhal)itants, only 20 escaped with their lives; and the town ol" Tomboro, with the laud 1:; the neighbourhood, subsided, and btu-anie submerged to the depth of IS feet. These, it must be admitted, arj but local changes, or re volutions in ainiature; but the distmbing force that pro- duced them d d not differ in kind, from that which raised the ilinnnaleh iJountains; and it might have been increased to a degree sufficient to have reV(dutionized tht hole earth; to have raised the «)cean bed into Alpine chains; and to have sunk the Andes or the Indian Caucasus, far below the level ni' thn sea. If Etna u!id Ve >u\ iu5 have required age to rise to their ])resent height, a new Island rose from (In sea, in the neighbourh'Kul of Unulaschka, m ISM, lo tin u T^. 38 SEOLOGY, lo.nbe 7^!t. I„ the .no„tl« of June and July of tlie s-ii„e K.,-, .. ha.1 hoc, f„.. ,ho first thno di.„u.hc,l l,y o n ,n k ! an,l ,ubte„-a„eou. sou.kI., which ..lanno.l the i„ha a, t! hce however, had died away, and the tranquillity „,• ;„ ....--ct see,„ed .o be restored; but en the 28eh of SeL nber ^ .nbtcrranean .ound» were again heard, and be ^ n.ghtfu, a,to „,dueethe inhabitant., to fly f„r safety a, ,1 -ureely had they eseape.l to the .nountains, when t le' fa e of the plan, began to undulate, like the wave of .he, a a,^ » .pace n, the centre, about four n.il , square, to i „ ^.t "t the shape of ^ don.e, to the heisht of 500 fee . This a cl.v.ded l,y a Ir.ghtful ehasn,, out of which si. eones or peaks arose the largest of which attained to the height of IMO feet above the level of the plain. The whole ,nass «as thrown up ,n an incandeseem state, ami it was fiftv years before its teinperature fell to an equilibrium with the »urroundmg atmosphere. This shows that the ,dtenomena arc occasioned by heat. § 5. Here a question arises to which we cannot sive a pos,t,ve answer. How is such a heat produced.' In what docs ,t ongmater Probability in regard to this point is aU tfi.'it IS uttiuiiablc. The permat,er,t c.vistence of a great central heat in the .n.enor ol the earth, v,hich is a.,sumed by many distinguishe.l <.eo og.sts. wouM, d- fully ascertained, solve a considerable ..umber of the di.Hcnlties l,y which the subject is bes " b « hes.des ben.g pur.dy hypothetical, i, is liable ,o very fortni- dable objoctmn.. H.ad such a degree of heat been in e "i . tencc as would have been .M.fficent to produce such elfec ■t .....St, Iron, the dif.hsivc nature ■ f that cle.nent, h„« b e ,' temperature of the siifl" iUK; ?irarfi' io tiie »'•(■ IS cvidrritlv lo Miihic'c; Avhorens the HOC than it liu» GEO LORY. 39 rose from se of four it coveretl ttaincd un "till Sep- the same I'tliquakes iiiil)itants. ity of ihe ej)teinber •eeaiue so ^Giy; and I the face 5 sea, and ■ise up in fhis was cones or leight of ole mass vas fifty kvith the jnomena f»»rnierly bcseii. The plants and animals, who.^c remains have been preserved in the older strata, belong to orders which prefer a war.ner dimale, and cannot subsist in a temperate, and much less endure the rigours of a cold onej and accord- ing as we descend to more recent times, we lind them sup- planted by others that possess a greater power of accom- modating themselves to the present state of Jiings. It is alleged that rocks are bad conductors of heat; but un- less they can be shown to be non-conductors, this will not ace, unt for the progressive refrigeration of the crust of the earth, wi^L intense heat existing in its interior. AVher- cver the crystalline masses have intruded among the sedi- mentary strata, they have altered them to an extent corres- ponding uiui their own dimensions. A dyke of porphyry, trap, or greenstone, passing through coal, converts it into coke, on both sides of its course; through a bed of lime- stone, it changes it into marble; and through grcywacke, or clayston'^ it renders them schistose. Now, if the heat of an injected vein of incandescent minerals of moderate thick- n. .ss will penetrate the adjoining rocks along it's course, if it diffuse itself to a distaace on both sides among these rocks, and give them somewhat of a crystalline appearance, what could prevent it from passing from the nucleus of the earth into its crust? Some days before the great eruption of Co- topaxi, in 1803, the snow which had rested upon it forages, find accumulated to a great depth, disappeared from its sides in one night; which shows that before the heat got vent, or while it was under a high pressure, it difiused itself through the mass of the peak, and raised its temperature to a great degree. A vast amount of heat must have been absorbed in the melting of the snow, as there are few changes in which more is expended; yet the temperature of the mountain wa? kept up till tho snow disappeared, and nmch of the water was converted into steam. It would be difficult to reconcile this fact with the coniinement of a powerful heat in the in- terior of the earth. Allowing rocks to be bad cohduciors, no one can deny that they will transmit and retain heat; and d the ma.ss of a large volcanic mountain may be heated, a 40 GEOLOv'iV ;" "•"« ":;■-..•< way ,„ U,o «,rn>c,, „,„1 ,.,.,U.,..,. „ X, licsule. admitting tho oxi.sto„co of a ronlral boat, it vvo„KI '•^' Hnposs^hlc to account for its intense activitv at o.u, tinu iuul total or ahnost total ina. ivity at anotinn-. ' In ul.atovor the d..sLnrI|ing forces origin: o, they arc sul,ject to cfferves- cencc. liiey slumber at . ;,c time, and act with intense energy at another. Nothing can bo more certain than this,' that volcanic agency is intern.ittent; that it has its times of activity, and it. times of repose. If plutonic and volcanic agency be not essentially the same, they are evi.lently attend- ed with similar phenomena; and wc believe that thev are subject to the name laws. The dislocated strata have not nscn m mi easy and imperceptible manner to their present positions. One .series has been tilted u,., an.l placed on their edges, or at a gl-eater or less angle with tho horizon, before another was .leposited over it. A more recent series have been subseciuentiy formed, in a state of p..ace; and after ha- ving attained to a certain thickn-ss, they have been rupture may succeed in overfuming one system niihoiif being able to rej)lace it by a betti'r; yet even this negative achievement k an important service to tho cause |io!!iical changes, going on at various d^p earth, may be tii» 42 GEOLOGV. cause of volcanic action; and that tliu contact of water with the iinoxidated metals of the earths and alkalies may give rise to the heat required. The hydrogen evolved during the proeens of saturation may, on coming afterwards in con- tact with the heated metallic oxides, reduce them again to tn(!tals; and this circle of action may be one of the princijial means j»y which internal heat and the stability of volcanic action rire preserved." s in con- BOOK III, ».»->.#-%^-*^%^»-»'»-»»''^ * (3K Tin: IDENTITY (3F THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIODS OF THE EARTH WITH THE ANTE- DILUVIAN AGE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE. CHAP. I. rUELlMINAIlY OBSERVATIONS. § 1, It has hcoii already stated, that many distin;Tuished L'oologists bolievi! that the revolutions of the earth have in general orcnrred at very distant periods respectively from one another, that eaeh has been followed by a new creation of organized forms, and that the types of every succeeding creation bear a nearer roscmltlanco to cxiHting forms than those of any of its predecessors. Among those who enter- tain thest; opinions, there are some who discard or overlook the Sa(Med Narrative altogether, as being ("ither irreconcila- ble with geological facts, or unworthy of attention in any at- tempt to classify and accmmt for them; and others who al- lege that it admits an interpretation by which the jjrincipal dilliculties may be obviated. § 2. Those who pursue the latter course diUcr among themselves with regard to the explanation by which this re- conciliation is to be eU'ectcd. Some maintain that the si.\ da\s of the Mosaic- creation ar(> to be understood as so many periods of indefinite length; and others that Moses, after :^iving a concise and very gi'neral account of the primary crculioii of ail things, in the initial sentence of the Hook of (iieiictfiri, " In the begiiming God created the heavens and the earth," pussos over nil the intermo- sitioii of facts, ha.- en his verdict in favour of their identity; iind from his deci.-^.o.i there is no appeal. But I Khali have occasion to return to this feubject hereafter. The Sacred Narrative not only opens with a view of tho c«»ndition of the earth, tlnit would have boon quite incom- patible with the existence at the tijiio of any of those races y}f terrestrial animals by which it is now itdiabited, but it expressly represents tln! creation ol' these animals as a p«)s- torior event. As j'xisting races were then in being, anterior to fh(! hiKt (leiilructiiin and r(.y any means have correspond(;d with the Mosaic creation. 46 GEOLOGV. § o. Every person who regards the Scriptures as r reve- lation from heaven, and rests his faith and hopes on their truth, must devoutly wish to see them reconciled with the real and iucontestible discoveries of Science; for it is not every one who can adopt or be satisfied with the loose opinion of Professor Sedgewick, a« announced in his answer . to the Dean of York, namely: that the Scriptures were written rather in accordance with the state to which human . Knowledge had attained, and the sentiments that were pre- valent m the world at the time, than agreeably to the real facts of the case. It is undeniable that they are written in i)opular language, and that they speak in a popular way of itiany of the common phenomena of nature; and the philoso- I)her speaks in the same way, but not when scientific preci- sion ,s require.l. Th. account of the creation is not to bo understood in the same light as when the rising and settin- of the sun arc sj^kon of, but as a literal and veritable re- lation of fiicts; and if wo regard it in the light of a popular tradition, we surrender its inspiration, and abandon its au- thority, as a highly interesting and important part of a Di- vine Revelation. But f„r this very reason, the endeavours of those who l)olieve m the Scriptures and venerate their authority, to reconcile them with science, are necessarily exj)osed to the suspicion of being less or more directed by feeli.,"-, and should therefore be conducted in the most dispnssronate vigilant, and impartial manner; carefully sifting every argu- ment for an,l against the point at issue, and allowing to each its due weight. The inspiration of the Scriptures has too rdi .n been advocated with a fm-egniiig (pmtntions. !'r(ifcs?:or Chillips inen- GEOtOaT. 43 lions another fact of great importance respecting the primary strata, namely: that they are " the most extensive, and moit nearly universal" of all the sedimentary deposits of which the crust of the earth is chiefly composed. They cover a far greater extent of the nucleus of ihn globe than h covered by any posterior formation. In most of the great mountain chains, the cry.stallinu masses have broken through them, but in such a manner a> to show that they were originally continuous, and extended round the whole globe. Nov/ if they v/erc deposited in this state, the water must have over- flowed and encompassed the whole globe at the time, other- wise their deposition to such an extent must have been im- possible. § 3. Again, if the primary strata were deposited by water, as geologists maintain, the different earths of which they are composed muit have been suspended in the water at tho time of their deposition, in the state of mud, or fine sand. They are composed of tho same substances with the plutouio masses on which they chiefly rest, and differ from them only in being less crystallized; and in being mechanically rather than chemically constructed. Tho materials of some of them, such as the clay slate for instance, having been reduced to finer particles, and possessing less specific gravity, hnvo floated longer tlian tiioso of otherr;, and consequently been deposited over them. Wa may therefore conclude that they were all originally derived from l!je nucleus of the earth, to wh'u:h they bear such a strong ufFmity, and that they had been converted into mud and sand by the action of ciir- rent.'i. Unless tho watcn- had been violently ngitatofi, to keep tho lighter particles Ijiiger afloat, they coulr' hardly have been (hjposltod in tho regular order which they every where exhibit. § 4. Moreover, if they wove all su ipendcd in tho water, it^ must have been in a very turbid condition at the time. They must have nearly corresponded with the view [jreaeu:- ed to us in the traditionary acaount transmitted by Ovid: •' (iuaquo fiiit t('lius, iUic: ot ponius, cl ;icr ^ic eral i.i .lahjha tdhis, innal.iiis uiula, Luris tgcns sipr, nulli.-j sun f'ormn moncbat. ' «*M 50 OEOLOGT. "The land, the sea, and the air, were blended in erne confused mass; so that the land. had no solidity, and tho waters were unnavigable; the air was in a state'of perfect darkne?rf, and nothing possessed its projier fo/:n." AIlow- injj the mean depth of the sea to be nine niib.^, or evesi less, and a large proportion of tho primeval waters to have been decomposed, in the o.xydi^ing of those metnls which are now tho bases of the earths and alkalies, and conscq-jently that they were njore abundant than at present, the vast n^asses of materials that were suspended in them must have ren- dered then, turbid in a very high degree; for tlie primary strata, besides extendii^g over the whole of the dry land, have a mean thickness of many thousands of feet; and, in con- Bequence of having been repealcily heated and compressed, they have been rendered more coinpact than the strata of any later series, § 5. We have no means whatever of forming any thin- i.ko a probalde estimate of the length of this period; for nothmg could be more preposterous than to reason from the ordmary phenomena of natnro, to a state of things so com- pletely .soIatcnary strata, whatever time may have been necessary for it. § 8. Mosea gives us only a very concise and general ac- count of the manner in which this primeval condition of the earth terminated; but he states a Aict which makes it clear that an extensive revolution took place: " The waters were gathered together into one place, and tho dry land appear- ed." Without a chinge in the crust of the earth thia could not liave happened. Unless it had been raised above iti I 52 CEOLOOr. former level in soino places, and depressed below it in others, tha waters must have continued still to overflov,- it. In Pr. 104, Bcvernl important particulars arc supt)liod, which Moses has omitted. The P.salmist refers to the primeval condition of the earth, and the chan^je hy which it liccame habitahlo, and rei)resents it as being divided into sea and land— into mountain and valley, I)y a convulsion which affected its whole surface. He writes as one who had been present at tho time, to have hoard the rolling of the subtcrraneoug thun- ders, which gave tho first intimation of the impendingshock — to have felt the mighty convulsion that followed — to havo seen the waters rushing away in all directions from particu- lar centres, and to have beheld in each of rlieso centres vast masses of incandescent nnncrals, in a liquid state, bursting from tho deep, and rising up into continents and is!ant of the earth as floating on an internal nucleus of molten elements. They have seen ihcse elements bur.^tinQ- forth in liquid streams of liiva, they have felt the earth beiica'h tliciu ciuiveritig and rolling as if upon tlio billow.s of a sulnerraneons sea, they have seen mountains raised and vi^Ucys deprcfsed almost in an instant of time, and they can duly rtn)reciate, from sensible oxpori- ence, the force of the terms in w'.dch geologi.-.ts describe tho tremulous throes and convulsive agitations of the earth, du- ring the passage of its strata from the boMom of the seas, in wh'oh they received their origin, to the plains and ir.oun- Xuins.^ in wliicii tiiey find their present piaci ' est." Chap. 5. Supi'yosing, then, the Sacred Narrative to begin wiili tho original formation of ilic earth, and to give us an account of its primeval conditioiis, it agrees with Geology in every point. They both rcjiresent the surface of the ground as being universally overliowcd — the waters as being in a very turbid stale, and violently agitated-, and the period as closing with a trenuMidous revolution, v/hich gave a aevv appear- aucG to the face of tho earth. CHAP. HI. OF TIIK ST \Tf; OF THE EARTH DURING THE F.V.K OV THE TRAW- felTION RKRIKS, AND OF TUP. MAKNHU IN WHICH THAT RRi TKRMMSATED. § 1. The waters having h on drained from the dry Lin ' into tho bed of the ocean, both received such organized aiu) 54 GECLOur. living farms os were respectively ndaptcci to tlicrn. Thai tlio waters h:n\ doposited their sediment am! become clear, is evident tVom tins, that some ainmnl^j, whose remains have been preserved in the trnnsition rocks, and in the:n only, hrivo their eyes constructed on the same prij'.ciples with those of other animal?, of the fame familv, which arc still an- ni existence. As they seem not to have survived the tr sition period, we may sujipo^j them to have been peculiarly intended for and ada; t?d to it, for it is an csrahlishcd law of nature, that the organs of every ar.imal are Kuitcd to i!s pe- culiar functioj ictions and ,s;)li'^re ol activity; ami we r.uiy tlinrc- fore bcHeve that those races, whose existence was limited to that ajie, would ha\ c l)C('n prepared i'or any peculiarity in the stale of irs elements, had there been any; and as wo meet witii no indication of ih(^ kiiid, we may conclude that the waters had hocomo tran.:|;arcnt. It v/as fcrmeriy stated that there <'oidd have hccii no terrestrial animals in exis- tence during t!ie • ra of the primary fornu;tii/ns, because tho ca»'ih was not then in u .state lo rc('<;ive liu't'i, being univer- BuUy subuu-rgcd: and what has just been .stated will provo that the waters nu^^i also have been ue/ndiabited duricn tho same period, because while so overl(»aded with Beiliment they were uninhabitable — there having been no races of ani- mals adapted to su(di a condition. § 2. In ihe grey waclce ftrmation, or Silurian sy.slcm, v.hich is the first of the transition series, and connnciiccs the o'-doi* of fossitiferous strata, the organic r( maiiis are few in i.uin- her, nnd r-onsist chicl^y of inarine pl,u..-i, — a clear proof that orgnni/cd existence was yet in its infancy, nud that nnimal I'fe had eiiher not coimncnced at all, or had made very littlo progress. Ilefoie the vhxr of t!ic series, however, animals had begun to multiply, and vegetation had attained a degree of exuberance which luui not been e;i,p;iMhcr uncxau'plcd in any subseriuent ago of tho earth. Such of the fossil jilaiits as can be disengaged from the mafss, or as i!'.:vy be fonn*! Kcpa- rnle, far erccecd, in respect o*' dimcn.-jions, those of their re- presentative/^ ill the presi-n iiu'c?'. Arborescent ferns do not at present, in the most lavonrabic situatlonp, exceed 25 feet in height, while ihuse of tho carboniferous nystem ct- tained to 50. Lycopoiles, or cliib-moiischi, grew to tvvico their present s;z'^ and many others in the same proportion. Such was the KUjierior fertility of the earth dining the pe- riod inquc.-it on, that M. Ad. Drongiiiart has invented a theory on purpose to account for it, with which geolo;jtists nre ge- nerally pleased. He supposes tl .> ntmospherc to have been unusually loaded wiih carbonic ucid g.c-, whic h form?* nn importrnt clement of verrtatiou. A(*.eore(l tv) rhe notion that the quantity of carbonic ncid ijas contained in the atmosph(;ro may not bo extremely v.iriable; it would not indeed be favoura!)!e to the life of ani- mals, but what proof have we of the [rlohe bein^f then in- habited by terrestrial animals? Moreover, speculation apart, let any 0:10 calculate t!ie quantity of carbon contained in a single Ent^linh coal-field, once u part of the other livinf^ struc- ture of planl'^, nnd the; equivalent of carbonic ncid pas to that small ciuaniily wh:<-h it holds, the consequence will bo nn atmo.^phore rhanicd with the pabulum < vegetable life, to a degree perhaps very favourable to vegetable life, but certainly dtence of (piadrupeds at the time in question, con- fii-sts in the footmarks of an individual, and not in a part of the animal itself. § F). Speakiuif of the animals of tlie transition period, Dr. Eucklan^'t^»«i»« 51 GsoLoar. suppose it pnsoiblc, wulcr tiv.y circumstances, for cnch vast masses of vcjrtablo nnttor, ari liavo I)gc:i Jiccmtuiliited in Fomc coal formixtions, to fnvc h-on i)i-o:!ucod v/ithin a schorl time, wo would li;ivo reason t > bnliovo thiU it was not of very lonrr duration. Tho r.nimrJ,^ wha:se rein.iinr, iiave been prc- Kerved ii, the strata of that age, do not iippcar to have made inuch progress durin- any of its stages, end v.-cre nearly as numerous at the beginning; as at tlie end; and they couhi not have been botlj few and stationary without a cause. But they had not yet attained to tlieir maximum numbers, wiien the waste or destruction mu..t have corresponded with the supply, f.)r such of tlicm ar, were continued to the next era bt-une CdT mora i:un!crou3 than th'-y were in this. Neither could it Ir;va lieeii from any dei'r.nency of the irieuns of suh- Ristencc, which nhvays chcclts the multipdication of animals and limits their nuinber:^, for the means of subsistence for the herI)ivorous raced were then more abundant than they have ever been «iiicc. A,s liitio could it be imjjutcd to any cxce,5.> of t!ie predaceous raec;^, for their nund)er.s were pro- portionally limited. -In the water.^ of t!:e transition pe- rio.l," says Dr. Uuckland, «' the sauroids nod tdiarks consti- lutcd the chief V(U'aciou5 forms destined to fulfil the impor- tant onice of c!u;cl;h),!^ the excessive increase of tlio inferior r.iniilie.*.'' A;;ain, those races whicjj were common to that and the later period.^ thaus^h fewer in their nundurs, were as fully developed in their forms arid diuicnsions in the ono period as in any of the olhor.s; and their Incronpo therefore could not havo been restrained by any inada)',tation of their natures to tlic one period more than to the rest. If these bo facLs, to what otlier can^.o can wo attribute their want of prn- Gro.na durinij the trau-^iilon period bm to their want of limc, or the «hurtne.?a of that jicriod? § 7. Hut, whether it wan lon,:j or phorr, it appears to Ijavo terminated in n second . volution. Thero aro piiiticuhir countries in which th^j ago of thn porphyries m ly he regard, cd a*; doiduful, but they can aencrally bo traced to the cln^a of thiM period. I'hey wore postei-iJr to the depo.dtion of the carbonifurou,^ H^stom, because it h often di^jturbed by GSOLOGY. 59 them, and anterior to the new red sandstone '.vhich imjnedi- aiely foUous, and which they h:ivc not disturbed. A!)ont the same time, also, inimy dyk^fj of trap were thrown u\), and by the protrusion of these and other crj'str.Iline inasi^es the carhoniterou:! system is everywhere ruptured, and Iss.s or more displace:!, Wh.itcver riaej to the snrlacc tnust come from the interior, and in every [jreat enhirgcment of the mountains, there must have been a correspondin-f de- pression in the lower re^^ions; and this double movement has increa.-3cd tho aj^itation, and made its effects more striking. '• After the deposition of the carboniferous .system," sixyn Professor Phillip.?, " and before at least any considerable proportion of the superjacent roclu was formed, very exten- BJvo displacements happened, in most quarters of the globe,^ where carboniferous rocks hai^.i nt' HiiSin.tiu «»«»£, ^.»-^ i, and if tho animub which aro now in existenco wero then creitod, the earth inu,^t havo bocu adapted lo existing raodc« •»*, eo GE0L0G7. Of life. If it differed from the present state of things, if must have diftered rather in degree thar< in kind. § 9. It appears ac^ain from the Sacred Narrative, that tho atrnosphore must have been exceedingly humid and snltry nnd otherwise favourable to such plants as abound in the carboniferous system. Gen. ii. 5, 6, -The Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, but there went up a mis! from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground " This notice is short, but important. It sliows that th^i c was an active and most abimdant evaporation in process during the peno.l referred to, and if the tcn.perature of the atmos- phere was such as to raise fn,m the earth such clouds of vapour, ,t must have b.en exceedingly close, humid, nnd dusky, or such as the carboniferous vegetation required. Ihc mhabitants of the tomperate regions have no experience o any thing like an approach to such a climate, but those of the equatfM-ial districts can comprehend it. The folIowinL' account of a morning at San Bias, on the coast of Mexico; after a h.avy fall of rain, is given by Captain Hall. - There was a dead cahn, with the air so .ultry that it was impo.si- bio to breath in .t. Though the sky remained overcast, the sun hud power to raise np from tiie drencln.d ground clouds oU3„se steam, which eovere.l the whole plain as f . as the base ot the mountams.*' Such is the view which Moses g.vcs us m the above quotation, of the primeval atmospher and It IS precisely such as may be inferred from the plants oi tiecarbamierous system. I .hall hereafter havo occa s.on to show that there were in all probability heaw per - odical rams m that age; but as some time may'have ela^s d before the commencement of the first raining season, thero wdl be no d.acrecinen: between the supposition and t'e th! It-*?"' '^'' ^'"''"''' "^ '^'' ''''^' ^^«« ^••-"tor durin.. woi d.may be mfcrred from the dcnuncia ion primounce on tno ground on account of the flr.t oflnnc -.r ,,..„ VT' in. 17 ly, -Curs.disthe ground for thy sake; in sorrow ibHli I'nu cat of it all the day. of thy liic. In the aweat of GEOLOGY. 61 thy face thou shah cat bread, &tc." This certainly means tliat the earth should become less productive than formerly, and that a much i,n-eater amount uf labour would be thence- forth necessary, in order to extract from it the means of sub- sistence. The same thing is clear from chap. v. 29, of which ilie meaning may be thus expressed: "This same shall ♦'omfort us, in regard to the work and toil of otn- hands, to which wehave!)een subjected by the cursing of the ground." While it expresses a hope that the ground was about to be ameliorated, it refers to the drudgery which had been ren- dered indispensable by the cursing of the ground. § 1 1. The deterioration of the ground, on the occasion of the fall, must have been jjroduced by a revolution in the crust of the earth. The Parents of our race were expelled from Paradise by a volcanic eruption. '< So he drove out the man; and placed at the east end of the Garden of Kden n cherubim (that is, lightnings, compare Ps. xviii. 10, 13,) and a devouiing flatne, rolling about, to bar the way of the tree of life," Gen. iii. 21. Consistency requires that the change in the ground be attributed to causes of this kind. Had the .soil been altered by some chemical agent, so as to be injurious to one kind of vegetation, we may believe that it would have been injurious to all, which was not the case. "Thorns also and thistles shall it l)ring forth unto thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field." " Thorns and thistles" is a common Hebraism for plants that are noxious, or com- paratively useless; and the " herb of the field" means vege- tables of an inferior value. (Is. v. 6, &. vii. 23 25, Hos. X. 8, Matt. vii. 16, Hob. vi. 8.) The curse appears to have operated by rendering the ground luifit for cultivation. While extensive regions were overwhelmed with oceans of drift sand, others were converted int()swam])s and morasses- and in not a few the angular viVia^ of ruptnrfd .nid dislo- cated rocks were laid completely bare. § 12. It may be supposed that the time which appears to have elapsed between the creation of n.-'n and his expulsion from Paradise was evidently too short for the transition fruj h\x\, in the first place, as has been already shown, the t ♦I 6*! GF.OLOOr. mil transition em may have been much shorter than many be- lieve; aiui iivthe scoiui )>lnce, tlie expulsion of man from Paratli.sc may ha\ e been later than what is cjiDnionly ap- prehended. There are two noints on whic.'i the seltlenienf of the latter depend,;, and they are both to a certain extent donhtfid. Tlie finst is the starting point of the Sacred Chro- nology. Wiiether is time reckoned from the creation of man, or his expulsion from Paradise? The J^acred History i» properly the history of our fallen stat(^, i\mi of the de- velopement of the great plan of redemption; and as it merely glances at our primary condition, by v/ay of introduction tu the main desij^n, it may be suj)posed to reckotr from the epoch of the lall, v.ithout includinjf the antecedent period; and ^vere this admittci, the diiiiculty would bo ren)oved. The second p!)iiit is, allowing the Sacred Chronology to reckon from the creation, at what time? did the curse take crtecti \V 1-; It unmet liatel V executed m i(S extent, or did it h-^ppen by tiegrees.'' Or was there some time allowed, a.^ in the cnseof the debiije tintl olhrr threatened visitations.' Or again, hv.v h>M:^(iidtl!e Parents of our race preserve their Innocence? It wouUl nor be easy to .settle all these points; but till that bo done th(Mlifliculty is more apparent than real. The S. riptures and Geology, then, appear to coincide as fully and iuiniit< iy in regard to the second period of th'j-. earth'i eivisttnce as i;i re :1 to the fu-!jt. # ' CIL\P. IV. 01-' xiir, roMoiTiON oi-' vhf. kvuth nrniNo Tin; c.kv or Tnr. Rr.C0N!)\RV STi;»TA, AKD OV 'I UK MWNKIl T.VWJiiCH lilAT )",!? A 'J F.'l M! S \T :■:!). § 1. Tiio deposition of iIk.' secd'.u! \ry strata appcar.^ ti> hivo commenced either immediately, or very soon after the great rc\o!ution witlj wfuc!) the transition period'closed; J'or if th-i organic remains dej)o>itcil noa.' the surface of the ear- bonill;rou:< I'ystcni hud conlimuu! to b." exposed for ai)y length d'limc to the action of the elements, with the high t'nnpera- Mm) which 'Still prcvaihui, ihay wmiUl hwo cei".uinU !;co:i Cr.OLOGV. C3 d'ctomposed; whereas tlicy arc in many instances iu a verv high state ol' preservation. Tlicy must have been very soon •"overed and protected from the elements of decay, after being dejio.-iiteJ in tiie places where they .still respectively continue, § '2. The Kaliforoiis, or new red sandstone formation, ia the first of the secondary series; and it is chiefly remarkable, for the varit quantities of rock salt and gypsum which it contains. There arc at least two ways in which common •salt may he formed. It is formed by sublimation, in the <'rater.s of volcanoes, and also by evajioration from the heat of the aun; and its presence in such quantities among the secondary strata, is aproof of the great heat which prevailed .over the earth at the time; and also that it was a time of vcvy intense volcanic action. Gypsum is a sulphate of lime, or lime in combination with sulphuric acid; and as the latter h; a volcanic produr-fion, with whiehthe atmosphere becomes inore or less ch:u\i';ed in the time of an eruption, and of which it is again deprived by its combination with lime, when they become gypsum, the thick and exttMisive beds of that rock wliich occur in the new red sandstone is another evi- dence of the groat volcanic activity of that time. Many of the sandstone beds of that period boar such a resemblanco to drifted snow, as to make it appear that tliey were depo- sited by means of the wind; and they give us 'reason to be- lieve that the atmosphere was as un-jottlcd as the carMi. § 3. Alltlie strata of the secondary .series arc fossiliferoua; and sonio of them, but espeeinlly \he ..hcU limestone, arc almost wholly composed of fossils, belonging to diHerent UiboH of mollusca, with which the waters of the period abounded. The scries contains a very great projiortion of lm.eston(>, though variously formed,— .i clear proof that tho condition of the v/ators was pceuHarly favourable to iti form,'iti')n. As the remains of terrestrial quadrupeds occur but rarely in the secondary strata, tiieir nunibers must havo cither been linuted ui the time, or they must have kept at a .distance C.'c:n the disturbed district-^ where their rcmuiii j were more 61 nEOLOr.y. ■ «•'*; iff wf likely to have been preserved; but any deficiency in tliii* torm of animal lite was more than compensated by the num- ber, variety and dimensions, of the reptiles. They appear to have been adapted to every element and mode of life, and every department of nature was overrun by them. Some had paddles instead of feet, and were inhabitants of the sea; others had feet, and oi.'cupiedthe marshes, ponds, and lakes, occasionally repairing to the land for a change; and others again were provided with wings, and could take the air, the land, and the water, by turns. Many of these reptiles were not larger than numbers of the same order at present, but others were of a gigantic size, extending to 40, 50, or even GO feet in length, and being otherwise proportioned. Such were the dimensions of the Megalosaurus and the Fguanodon, reptiles of the lizard and crocodile tribes. The hinder foot of the Cheirotherium, a species of frog, measured from 10 to 12 inches in length, and from 5 io 6 in breadth. Dr. LycU has given it the name of the Labyrinthodon,from the extremely complicated struc- ture of its teeth; but others call it the Cheirotherium, from the resemblance of its foot to the human hand. The footmarks of different species of birds, but all belong- ing to the wader tribe, have been discovered in some secondary strata; and the feet of some of them were so formed as to enable then to walk on the softest mud without sinking, although they were birds of a gigantic size. As they measured five or !«:ix feet at every step, we may form an idea of the length l;oth of their logs and necks, for the necks of w aders are always ))ro])ortioned to the length of their legs, that they may ue able to fish wherever they can wade; and from this data, we may reasonably suppose that, when standing erect, they could not have been much less than twenty feet in height. All these tribes, whether larger or smaller, derived their subsistence from the marshes and ponds, and j>robably fed \i\nm the reptiles by which they were so ])lenti fully stocked. When these djtVtMent facts are compared, they throw nmch light on the j)hysicul condition of the greater part of the Gy.01,0, " C5 *-lirracc of tlio earth in that oari V a 20 Vol had cither \ cry rc^'v-tiily hcen, or still ^vcrc 1 ranii.'! ^rllptio!:;'. viok'nt. Extoiiiivo rcivi quent and ons were buried un;,er deep beds of .^aiid, interspersed v.ith salt lakes and pond^; and other.s had been converted into noi.^ome mar.she.s and v.liosc putrid waters worn never ue oj)eraled so as to };roduce its i)hy.sical etfects. § 4. Thau-h the earth v/as ill adapted, at this time, for the support of a den.- o and llouiishing- i)Oj)ulation, the ele- ments ol future comfort and ]iarin.c^ on a lar^re Kcale. The soil i: (jindity, wherever the jiriinary or ti prosperity were actively- prc- ;'ener;Uiy of an inferior ^iiion .strata ri.se to th« .•^nrfa-^e-, and it is only l)y the infhienee of adventitiou.s eir- cnm.stanees that any hirge assenibl gated near iheni. It i.s otl iges Oi nien are conrimary and transition periods; and geologists, reasoning from the time requirer' for the accun.ulation of vast masses of sediment near the mouths of rivers at the present time, have concluded tha. ?he time must have been protracted to many thousands of > cars; but there are facts connected with some of the formations of the series which seem to warrant a difFerent conclusioi . It has been already stated, thai th(! footmarks of di{icrcnt races of animals have been discovered in some of the strata of this scries, and these must h; e been im])rinted when the strata were in a condition to receive and retain tlic;!:; and their transition from a soft to a solid (condition must have been very rapid, for they do not only appear on tlie surface, but on a considerable nui)d)rr of ])Q([> below it. The track of an nninial passing through snow will continue to be more or less distinct, through a consi.Icrable nund)er of superja- cent layers, ])rovidcd the latter haw. been deposited in a time when the air was still; but they gradually become less and less distinct, till they are no more discernible. Thi.s is often witnessed in rlie dense forests oi this Pro\ince, where the wind lias noinnuence near the ground; and fhefof)tmaiks in question may be supposed t!) have been continued in the .■«ame way, through a series of layers of sand and nuul, suc- cessively deposited in still water; but how could the water, il' p(<:fc.ily still, have received the necessary sup}»lics of these inati'iials, u liich it must have .aiiud? They have been GEOLOGV. C7 M'liiinatio,'. deposited, not in still water, but by a poweifiil current, loaded with the materials, and this mus«t have in.^tantly obliterated the footmarks in the superjacent layers, as footmarks very soon disappear in drifting snow. Besides, footmarks made in snow become less and less distinct in every succeeding layer, however much sheltered the locality may be, till they cotnpletely disappear. But the footmarks in question, in- stead of being continued upwards, are continued downwards through the inferior layers, becoming less and less distinct, till they arc no longer discernible. From this it is clear that they were made on the upper jjart of the formation, and that the layers beneath were affected iVom above; and if so, the whole mass nnist have been deposited and consolidated in a vcvy short time. Unless the whole mass had been soft and yielding, from top to bottom, the impressions could not have been made to such a depth; and unless it had been very speedily consolidated it would not have retained them. Had the series of layers been slowly deposited, the lower ones would have been rendered so compact by the superincum- bent pressure as not to have been susceptible of imj)ression9 from the ^eet of tortoises and cranes, waiking on beds at some distances above them. Neither can the Oolites have been slowly formed. They are limestones, and consist of a congeries of balls, some- times larger, and at other times smjiller, but strongly cc- )npnted; and they derive their name from this circumstance. They bear a striking resemblance, in point of structure, to the roes of some fishes. In some instances the balls are as large as buck-shot, and in others as small as the eggs con- tained in the roe of the herring. They have been concreted in water, aro-nul some very minute objects, also present in it, which served as nucleuses, till they became too heavy to float, and then sunk to the bottom. The increase of the larger balls must have been very rapid, as they must have began to sink long before they attained to their full size, and as their dimensions increased their descent towards the bottom must have been accelerated. If the smaller ones M ere precipitated by their weight, the larger ones must have ^.8 fir.oi.or. i'. hcc.n ••^Inkiii.'; Vvii.:ii al llic samn ', riiifi so rapid was tliuir' incrcuso, thiit boioro j'oacli'r.iL^ tl.c hwtto ii iliey became many tiiiK'iJ bi^'xucr rhnn when thry ])V'^nn lo dpsfcin!. « Tlic only difticiiify lu-ro is, to puch an ubmulauco of lime in lli<; walcr: y'i'oiint l")i* the presence^ ot' , as siK.'ii a process ii,s, certaiiHv is unav- cvideiUly rrrinired. With regard to l] tniMahle; bur th^re have b,oen diPV-rent ot n hieli the v. alers ii' piini.-id'.r loc'ilitie.'^ have been raj)idly and idnnidantly suj)|)li(;l\vith lime in ;: state of sobit lun* oeeasiour*, m ion. rrvni Th( ant may have come iVoni nonie fid.'.orranean re pa:^sed tljronrrh a ir.a;xa/iMe of raleiuni, and become hiadod I an atniosp/Iiere <\ vvith ir. with linie, v\ hieli, eominc into contact witl char^a'd witli carbonic acid ^ras, rapidly conibine nnd formed tho Oolites: or tl iny may hnvo dissolved, and lOll. carried off a bed of duiik on their way to their destinat 'J'he ' .'ondary series consists rhiefly of different kinds of r-andsto;io and li^nentone; and if sonio of caoli have been forme] in a .short space of time, positive ovidenco that iho forniatioti of tho rojJt occni/;c(! manv thousand:; of vcars may 1)0 reasonably demanded. § 7. The Scriptures contain no direct evidence of any chungo in tho physical stuto of the earth from tiie cursing of the ground till tho era of the dclugo, which could not hav«.' been loss than IsiOO yoitr.'«, nndmo.>t proluiMy mere; but they ; ve nearly yik^nt njjon the events of that period, and wlieii idl are ])a-sed over no conclusion can bo (Irawn re-?pectln«* any particidar, because it hafjbecn omilted alon;'; with others. Had a inll account of the events of that jieriod been ^ivcn, und no reference made to any chan-e in the condition of iho earth, tht; iM'c.snm])tion woidd haveboen thf\t no hiu-Ii chango had happonod; hut, na matters stand, we are not warranted lo draw thi-i conclusion. Uesides, there «re certi\in fucta stated, from whit ii some indirect information may bo f^lennod, nnd, HO far u?< it goes, it coincides ^\ iiJi n hut has been already mk\ respecting tho condition of the earth durin;.' the f-econd- nry ciM. The cursing of the ground impaired in fertility, and mudo it more difllcnlt to procuro the mea.n of fiub,^iL the Septiiagint, the human race ajtpear to hav(! been rather improving in maimers, Gen. iv. 2G; but from the time that the> began to multiply they began to degenerate in this respect, and as the degeneracy had made some progress in the days of Enoch, .)ud«> 14, 1.^, who was born, according to the first computa- tion, in A. M. (i87, and in 1387. according to the second, we nuiy place the change in mamu^rs somewhere between the times (»f these two Patriarchs. Now the fad that they continued \\\f a period of five- or six hundred years, before they began to imdiiply, and that without suM'ering ns at the present time by the law of mortality, shows that the iiumujh of subsistence were scanty, and that tho earth must have been in n state somewhat similar to that of the secondary era, as already described. IJesides, the 8cri|)tures give us reason to believe that it wasoverrun by reptiles of various forms, among which tin re were fSaurians of a gigantic si/e. (Jen. i. 20 — 22: "And (jod said, f.et the waters bring forth akin d ant I y, the creep- ing things that hath life.—And Cod cnated great Sau- rians, and ail the living creatures that crrej), uhich the wa- ters brought forth ahunilnnlly after their kind; atut Cod blessed them, sjiying, Re fruitful and multiply, and fill ih« 70 cr.OI.OGT waters in the scrL^."' Tlicro c.tn Ik-^ nn liDul-t that this pan- siign rcl'ci-s to rc])tilo,s, and tiie terms used in it roprcseut tliLMu as innltij)1yinir with u rapidity which was altogether iinc.\aMip!v>d iinioiig other I'lvo'.!,-;, and conr^oqupntly in cosninj? to their niaxinmiM minihcrs in i;iu
  • -:IItion or tiif, v.autu m;i.[',(. viir, ;•.".'. or rirc •r K a T I A u V ro it m a t ions, § 1. The te-tiary strata are neither equal in thickness nor extent to iheir [.redccessors. The hardness of all the older rocks appears to luive been increased, and the procoi«s of de- nudation had become proportionally ditHcult, and the ma- terials for U(!',v formation.-i in the suuie decree less easily (d)- tallied. Desidci t!ii :, tho pr.Kif-i . ;' m:.- cs.-won in (he or.ier of the strata nro ntili lainter than in earlier tinsen, and v.e cannot roCor their dcpo.-iitlon, at h-ast with tlie ?-ame certainty, to ditVerciit dat<>s. The actual superposition of dilVercnt strata within tho fume area is an iniullible oviduuco of udil * 'riioni.ti til" Mobrt'W nhn omolinics used for thn fmaller tiqiiMfii! iiiiitmils ill g.;iier,il> jl i., il;iJ atipi'^Pi""'" ''"■''> fy icplilrts, II!. ili>'li!v/i;".|eM! rijiii! iM. '■;. t-^ iiivn i' 23, iiiid l.v.v v: "l-^^t; »»'! "■' , 113 our Ti!i . p'lAod, Jue, :,i.iii:al:; i/i,.i iiuu i.;,,t, ..;i„U. xx.'^ii. 2, niul whi.'h (.ot;u- Nioaidly ficipu'iiicl oh! itiiiiH, niu! hiundtil jidio.i iiiid amrUiert, ..Ic, Ih. xiil. 22, .l»?r. li. 87. 'lUny u\ml bnvo liolon-^nd to lh*!nini^. niid Ij;iii»ii!i- doii. Tliij l!c!rr\v le.d i.u ka( w!-;!,;' .-f !!.■ v.l -i! ■ ' >... t..,f, GEOLO(;V. 71 in their ngcs, and of the a«,'es of the loissils foiiiKi in thorn rr.-^pectively, (or wlion one )>o(l rests upon another, the lower one inu.^t have been lirst (K , \tod; but in the tertiary forma- tions \vc meet with one (!c))oyit in one pjaec, and with a dii- iVrcnt one in another; and as diiiercnt I'aces ol* aninial?< had in ail probuhility tlieir diD'erent hannt.s and re.^pectivo ranges, we have no elear proof that tliey were (h-po-^itcd nt diflcrent tinie?, and not sininltaneously, thonuh particular eireutn- stances niay U;in\ us to !oso this to have been the ea.se. § 3. But, like the i)recedin^' eras, the tertiary has been di- vided into dilieront periods, ealled the Eoeenc,'Mio!M i' 'mysuppo-' lunbi . njfjisfed ehiedy on roots, wlii(di ih.- ,,,, vtraetcd from tho pround, and other..i un \h Miialier i;^;ueou8 ])lants, to tho maKfientlon of whieh fbrir t*' *!i were adapted. For in- rtuuee, tho tr • th of tlie Mp' l"-!nn», and Mtustoelon, appear ro hftvo been fonn.;d evpi ; n* this purpose; and tho sup- I'Ortitioti JH strohgthenc'd by i\w fact that n Hknletoti of tho lattef hii« \mn found oit tho banks of Hudson'.^ River, iu ''''' ^*'*^' ' iUisttmo R'mainsofitiiiallbraueht'a and leaves oi i.ac-i, ihiA<.U with roed^, enclosed tmiouji tho ^K n GEOLOGy. houe.s, and in the place of the stomach. The niustodon w a.-i larger than the coniiuou elei)hant, to \vhich it appears to have heeii related, and its bone.s are found along with those of the elephant, both in South and North America, hut at eleva- tions which must have been .subject to the same temperature. The megatherium was a s])ecies of the sloth, but of gigan- tic, dim»;nsions. He measured 12 feet in length, 8 in height, and 5 across the hams; he was clothed in a coat of mail, about an inch in thickness, and formed of horn, and his toes were pointed Avith tremendous claws, which he ])robably used in grubbing up roots, or as Mr. Owen sujjposes, in re- moving the earth froni the roots of trees, w!iisist- encc, or ol' evcavating a habitation uiuler its surface, with its |)roper compliment of covered ways and subterraneous galleries, may be regarded us uncertain. He was assisted in his labours, w hatever were thtfir object, by a pair of tre- mendous grubbing hooks, which sprung dowiiwarbably also on the higher fadi!-', near t!ic base of the lofty mountain chain of Central Asia. Tlie plants however oi" the brown coal arc more al- lied to existing races than to those of the coal of the car- boniferous period, Popbtrs, willows, and majtles, are com- mon; and the linden, the elm, and walnut uro found, but tliey all bear a nearer resen)hlnncc to American trees of the rame kind than to those of Km'oju*. The grasses, liow- o\or, with other vegetables more necessary to nuiii, though not unknown, appear to have b('en few and in)perfectly lU;- V eloped. c, ;>. ^Ve have no certain information respecting the length of tln> tertiary eii, fur tlumgh a tree has been discovered in • '- li GTIOLOGT. 75 the "browij coal of Bonn, with nearly SOO roiiccntrie rings, r^ach of which is probably the growth of one year, it cannot be ascertained to what time of the era it belouijeil. M. Jkonj^niart refers it to the first, or eocene; Dr. Lyell to the middle, or pliocene; and Dr, Ruckland either to the middle or last; and with such a diversity of opinion upon the subject, nothiMjT conclusive can be inferred from it. The tree how- ever itself belonging as it does to the tertiary era, wiH prove that era to have lusted upwards of 800 years. It was nearly that time in growing; and, from its position in the formation where it has been preserved, it appears certain that it must have been deposited there a considerable lime before the close of the era. The whole of the tertiary era could not therefore have been less than 1000 years, and was proi)a!)ly more. The Pachydermata, or the thick-skinned quTidrupcds, having incisive teeth both in the upper and lower jaw, which u frequently met in the gypsum quar- ries in the neighbourhood of Paris, are supposed to have lived in a. different age from that of the bears, whose re- mains are so connnon in some of the caves of Germany; but that point requires prool*, and cannot l>e alio- cd to docido any other doubtl'ul matter. § 6. But whatever uncertainty may rest upon other points, thei*e is none ui)on this, that tlie -era terminated in the last great revolution of the earth. The Boulder formation, which Dr. LyeH calls the Drift, is very extensive, and covers many regions of the earth which had been dry land iunnedi- ntely before; and it could not have been deposited in places where it rests, uidess they had been submerged into deep water, after having given supi)ort both to vcgctablo and ani- mal life for many centuries. This formation contains the remains of many extinct races, mixed with tho.^e of races that are utill in existence. Tho former continued up to the GEOLOGY. and tli(> present began. Since thai time tliere have been local (listurl)ance.s, but theirefTectslmvebeenastemporary as their extent was limited, and no general change has happened. 6 7. The lew particulars which may be cleaned bv wav of inference from the ScriptnreH, res})ecting the physical con- dition of the earth during the ])Pri()d that iirun(!diately pre- ceded the i)clngfENT UnXWEKN THE SCRU'TUTIKS MiT> GEOLO- GY, IN riKGARn TO THE CIRCUMSTA K CnS CONWECTKO WITH THL TAiiT REVOLUTIOW OF TIIK r.ARTU. The laist great revolution of tlio earth merits particular at- tention from the geol(»gi.st,^— inasnuich as many ol' the (Mnmm- Btanccs by which it was accouipanied can be more fully as- certained than those which attended any of the in-evioi:.! catastroi)hcs of the kind. Many of the veiuiges of fonnrj revolutions* have been cither ellucod or so w.urh alt^rci] h\ 7^ GEonocr. .sllbf^cqu(•llt cliangos that wo can only draw vciv ^joik ml con- rliision.s iVoiu them, and even these but very limited in nnin- her; whereas many of tlie efteets of this remain niialtered (t> the present day, and many important eirenmstaneeHeoimected with it niiiy In; eolleetcd tVom them. For these reasons, I hav(.> made it llie subject of a separat«> discussion; ami, inst^;ad of givin^jj Tnvt the whole of the information which we may derive from (u:'oh.!:,'y respeetins^ it, and ;iftcrwards Avhat may be obtained Irom the Scriptures, I shall, as I pnicecd, com- pare the particulars collected from the one source with those collected from tin; other. § I. It is very fl;eiu'rally if not universally admitted by ji;eolo!j:ist<, that the last i»rear. rtnolution of th(> earth was uttemled by a ijreat and extensive I)elur(Mit physii.'ai eveiUs which have; all'ected the surface of our i^lobe was a vast inundation, which over- MheluKMl a «:^reat part of the Ntu'thern Henfisphercand thai this event was I'oHowimI by the suilden disappearance of a larifi" mnnber ol'the sp(^ciesof terr(>stri;d animals, \\ hich had inhabited these regions in the period iuunediately j)rec(!d- in^/' TIki (puUified matmer in w hich In; sjteaks of tlu" ex- tent of (he immdation shows that his ojiinions on tliar par- ticular hav(> imderjrone a ehainye, for in the work j-elerred to he cdui-eives bim>elf t(» hav(> proxcd the oceiu'rcMiee of '•a tran,sient deluiie, !diecting tniinci'sa/hj, fiiinuUancotishf \\ at no distant period, l/if entire surface ol' our planet." :m a:j:e ■U> The extent of tin' iinindatioii, and the Ix'iulil to which it rose, niay be interred — 1st. I''r«>m the fact that b(ea, but as far as mi«n has yet iiseended abo\ <• II. 2il. I, arjje blocks of stone have be(>n transported by its airency fi'iun one j^reat eminence to another, us from tin Central Alps to botii .sides of the Jura chain. 3d, There 11 .1 ■ i Is r.Eoi-or.v. arc luiiny ])laccs in nUich lln^ niiToiii imi.-t li;no niii so rn- j)i new and idd w»)rlds. Again, diluvinn do|)osit.s were fomid by Hund)oldtat a great height in tlu; Cordilleras of the And(!s, and they are found at 11 similar height on the lofty ni(»untains of Central Asia. That the inundation ])revuiled to the .same degree in the Southern ]I(Muispliere may however be fpn'stioned. Thei-e are dill'erent races of animals in Australia that ai'e now pe- culiar t.o it, and which are very indikiily to have been carried to it by luunan agency; and tUeir presence there can be ac- «'t)imted ior only on (he supposition ol" their having been ial; and lher(! is nothing analogous to ihem iimong the existing fauna of other regions, excejiling the Opossum of South America. This has not been alwjiys the case, for tin; Marsupial order existed in F'lirope, dniing file era of the secondary strata, and their fossil remains have been preserved in these strata. 'J'hey were not therefore limited to Australia at first; and we cannot assign any other rcni^on for their disaj)pearance in other countries, and their h * ^ v. ■^^ f - ^ ^ '" y IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 Ui 1^ 1 2.2 I.I ■^ 140 lu Ian 20 1.8 1.25 1.4 lli!.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation S S iV q"^ 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTCR N Y I4SI0 (716) •/2-4503 80 GfiOLOOY P^ continuance tl^crc, than that the catastrophes in which they were involved in other countries did not reach them there. This is corroborated by the fact that the gigantic races of bn-ds, that were conteini)orary with the reptiles in other coun- tries, have been continued in Australia to a very recent pe- riod, and are probably not yet wholly extinct. Though they have not been seen alive, their bones have been found in very recent fluviatile deposits, and even an empty nest has been seen. Add to all this that tlio remains of the reptiles which predominated so generally during the secondary era, appear to iiavc been preserved in i)laces adapted to them near the Equator. Mr. Darwin gives the following account of the dalhipagos:— " It seldom rains, and though the climate is mild the soil is generally dry and harsh, and the vec^eta- tion scanty and of little value. The animals and plants arc for the most part peculiar to the Archipelago, although they all partake in their general form of an American character. They abound in reptile.?, among which the saurians ai)pearto predominate,— many of them being three and some of them extending to four feet in length. Some of them live chiefly in the seu, and others on the land, which is everywhere over- run with them,— so that !lic Archipelago may be called the Land of Ueptiles. It is a volcanic country, and the coast is formed by rough and broken masses of lava." This ac- cords, in every particular, with the state of the earth during the ago of the secondary rocks. The soil was equally dry nnd harsh, and the vegetation equally coarse and scanty. There is the same pievalonce of disgusting reptiles, and tho eamosymptoms of volcanic action. The flying reptiles alono arc wanting to make the picture perfect ir. every respect. There is, moreover, i\ much closer connection between tho existing vegetation of tho Southern and that of tho Northern Hemisphere in ancient times, than between tho latter and what now exists in the mmo regions. " Professor Lindley justly remarks," says Dr. Pjckland, ' that it is nn important fact, that at tho perio«! of the deposit of tho Lias, tho vegetation was similar to that of the Southern Hcmii- phere, not alono in the single fact of tho presence of Cyca- GEOLOGY. 81 deae, but the pinea were also of the nature of species now found only to the south of the Equator. Of the four recent species of Araucnr-i at present known, one is found on tiic east coast of New Holland, another in Norfolk Island, a third in Brazil, and the fourth in Chili." Vol, i., j,. 488. ' These facts seem to show that there are at least parts of the Southern Hemisphere to which the Deluge either did not extend at all, or which were not completely overwhelmed by its waters. Th(> probability is that some of these places were at the time higher than the waters rose in that quarter. Humboldt met with vestiges of that catastrojihe near tin? sources of the Orinoco, and Captain Hall discovered them in the valley of Coquimbo, nearly 30 degrees to the south of the Gallapagos, but little above the level of the sea. This may be thought irreconcilable with the Sacred Nar- rative, w here the Deluge is represented as universal. Gen. vii., 19, 20: " And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. B^ifteen cubits upwards did the wa- ters prevail, and the mountains wero covered " There is no douDL that this may be understood in an uidimitetl sense; ami it ought to be so understood, provided it could be shown' to be so used in the passage; but it is equally certain that the ex])rcssions will admit of a restricte"' '^^^^'^^ »-<'tain their hair, is a j.roof that tlH)y becan.o uiunediately enclosed i.i ice after being drown- <•'!. It IS probable that the elephant may have floauM in an murTllH ^ V^'"?""''' ^"'^ ^^"'^'^ ''' =^ '-'^ «*' ^--- ' :: ' "'" '''" '"•'*''^'' '^'•^l ''•«'"Ml> iVozen bodies H'll lem-un unthawed in cold water at a low icmpcM-uture, M' »6 GEOLOGY. IT' fii no body will over freeze in thar. situation. The rltinocerosf must therefore have been deposited in the mud, and the mass must have been congealed at the coinmencement of the inundation, or before the waters had risen above the level of the bed. The formation of vast masses of ice at such an early stage of the catastrophe, solves a difficulty which has occasioned much perplexity to geologists. As far south as the forty- second parallBl, there are blocks of stone of different dimen- sions, which in numbcrlesfi instances have been transported to a great distance from ihcir original beds, by an agent which has left their sharpest angles as perfect and entire as when they were split and detached from their parent masses. Ice will do this, and it is ths only agent that is known to do it. Blocks of immense size and weight, being loosened by the frost, and falling from their native cliffs, are fretiuently carried to a great distance on rafts of ice, without being subjected to any rounding or polishing process. Every in- habitant of this Province has had re])eated opportunities of seeing this exemplified either on a smaller or larger scale. The blocks sometimejfall from the banks of our rivv^rs when the ground begins to thaw in the spring, and at other times they'' are lifted up from their beds by becoming firmly at- tAches sometimes adhering to them. An iceberg, resting Ibr some time on Salisbury Crags, or on the coast of Kincardineshire, might raise up blocks to Arthur's Seat, or the Cloach Hill, and drop them in passing over these eminences; but the mighty inundation wiiich offijctcd this, must have attained its height by an intermittent movement. Such is the view presented to us, in the Sacred Hisiorv, of fiO OEOLOnV tiie i»ro:(ie.-!i3 of the Deluge. Geii. vii. l7 — 20i '^Aiul The >vutcrri increased and bare up the ark, and it was lifted uj^ above the earth. And the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and tho ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the rarth; and all the high hills that were under the whole hea- vens were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters j)revail, and the mountains were covered." 1 he ex[)ressions lierc arc repeatedly varied; and they are varied for the pur- pose of marking more distinctly the diflerent stages of the ri6C of the waters, before they attained to Lheir greatest licight; and when wo consider the genius of the y 'rcw language, we may inter from the account that there were j'.auses in the movement, — that having suddenly risen to one licigh*^^, the} remained there either for a longer or shorter imie, and again suddenly rose to another. The catastrophe was effected by a scries of paroxysm?, which gave deceitful hopes to those who occupied the higher ground, till the last faint expectation Avas destroyed. § 5. Towards the close of the inundation, the waters ap- pear to have been tossed by a tempest. In numy places the isurface of the rocks has been marked by the passing over them, in a forcible manner, of some rough and ponderous body. They are not only polished by the rolling of gravel, but grooves have been cut ii them, -ixpparently by the rub- bing of some rough and immensely heavy body over them. Similar effects are produced by the extension of the glaciers in Switzerland; and M. AgassiZjwho is familiar with these, has ; apposed that in some former age the greater part of the Northern Hemisphere has been under ice, which, commen- cing like Alpine glaciers at certain points, gradually extend- ed on the side that was open, and in the course of its i)ro- grcss produced these impressions. This is ingenious, and to a certain extent plausible; but the scratches in question are found in situations where they must have had a different origin, and it is probable that their origin has been every- where the same. Iceberg.-, driven by a mighty wind, and having a mass of Ifl . ^ OilOLOGl*. ?I tfnvcl firmly adhering to their lower sides, nre much hotter adiiptud to the purpose. They sometime., ri.se to the h'^'^ht of 200 or 300 feet nl)ove the water, and must descend i . ^^ many thousands below it, and be otherwise proportioned, in order to keep the same position. On floating masses of such magnitude the wind must act ^. ithan inconceival)lepower;ana when once put in u'otion, and brouglit to their speed, they ticquire nn impetus that nould carry them into shallow wa- ter, where the ground was favoural)le, and where tiiey would consequently press with incohcsivabiy greater effect u-;- n it. Scarcely a winter passes in which this is not excmp], ' in the bay already mentioned, icebergs arc often throv,.: mto situations where more than one half of them are above the waters. This must have liappened to the groovin - agent, when it pas.sed over the HiM o^ Corstorphine, in the neigh- bourhood of Edinburgh, for the grooves commence on its western declivity, and, running up over the top of the hill, appear again on Ravoistone Hill, on the opposite I'de, but 200 feet lower. By whatever agcui the effect was p'-oduced, it must have struck with such force against the western slope of Corstorphine Hill as to carry it up over its summit, and launch it again into deepc.- water on the opposite side, where it came in contact with the Hill of Ravclstone. Icebergs, ballasted with stones and gravel, and driven befo/c a furious tempest, would act in this way, and produce such effects as those we are considering; and with the undoubted evidence wc have of the existence of such agents at the time, we arc justified in imputing these evelits to them. Wo have hero another remarkable coincidence with the Sacred Narrative: Gen. viii. 1, "And God mad*^ a wind to pass over tho earth, and the waters asswaged." Had the grooves been cut at an early stage of the inundation, they could not have been so very distinct and entire us they gene- rally are; and wc may therefor'^ suppose them to have been made near its close. § 6. The waters of the inundation fell as they rose — by an intermittent movement. This is clear from the beaches which still remain in different parts of the world, and which 92 GEOLOOy. r: H were evidently formed at the different levels at which the waters stood, before retirin- within their permanent boun- daries. In the valley of the Orinoco, near its confluence with the Meta, Humboldt discovered what he considered us undoubted proofs of the vast magnitude of that mighty river in ancient times, as compared with its modern state. He first found black bands and erosions, at a level of 45 feet above its greatest rise at the present time, again at thut of lOG, and lastly at that of 138; and he says, " Is the present Orinoco then, which appears so imi)osing and majestic, no more than the scanty remains of those mighty currents of fresh water which, swelled by the melting of Alpine snows or more abundant rains, deeply shaded along its course by «lenso forests, and without those beaches which promote evaporation, formerly traversed the extensive regions to the East of the Andes, like arms of an inland sea? If so, what must have been the state of the low countries of Guiana, which are now sultject to annual inundations? What a pro- digious number ofcrocodilesjlanumtines, and boas, must have infested those vast regions, alternately in the condition of extensive lakes and plains ? The peaceful world in which we live has succeeded to one of tumultuous agitation. The re- mains of the mastodon and American elephant are found embedded in the i)latfonns of the Andes, and the megathe- rium inhabited the plains of Uri.„uay. Benooth the surface of the elevated valleys, which at the present day are not adapted to the \ni\m andarborescentfern, we discover seams of coal, containing the remains of gigantic monocotyledons. There was therefore a remote period, when the vegetable tribes were distributed otherwise than they are at present; when the animals were large, and the rivers proportionally more broad and doo[)." Hud that distinguished traveller been then acquainted with the more recent discoveries and advanced state of geological science, ho would in all proba- bility have referred the change which the Orinoco has un- dergone to n different origin. It has evidently fallen, not by a gradual and continued decrease, but by fits, roncvvrd after intermittent pauses. It appears to have stood for some lime GfeOLOGt. 9S r,t the height of 138 feet above the level of its greatest rise in modern times, then to have fallen 32 feet at once, and af- ter another panse Gl feet, and ultimately' to its present stan- dard. Were this the only instance of the kind, it would be rash and unphilosophical to draw any general conclusion from it, for a single fact should be very decisive l)eforc being made the bas^is of a general principle, but there are similar in- •stances in every pait of the world, and some of them far more decisive than this. Humboldt believes that the Lake Valentia, in the same region, must have once been largo, and that the level of its waters was proportionally higher tlian either the one or the other is now. It is surrounded by beaches at diffeivnt distances from its present shores, which appear to have been deserted one after another, as the area of it;* surface became less and less; yet there are no re- mains of any an(Ment barrier that has been broken down, or partially swept away, and the contraction of its area, r.nd reduction of its level, can only be accounted for on the sup- position that it once fovmed an estuary, when the waters it discharged were dammed uj) by ihc height of tho ocean. ' But the parallel road^ of Glen Roy in Scotland, atiord an instance still more clear than either of these. The Glen is 10 miles long, and bounded on the opposite sides by lofty and precipitous mountains, which meet and close it in at the ni)i)er end, leaving the lower end oj)cn for tho escape of the river, Avhich tumbles over the rocky bed that stretches along tho boltoui. On tho oj)i)(Hite sides of tho valley, and facing am another, there are dillerent sets of terraces, which, commencing at the lower end of the Glen, run hori- zontally, at corresponding levels, till each pair meets at tho tipper end, and thus preserves its continuity, excepting at I lie lowe. end wIum-o they begin. Each set or pair is thus shown tc be but one lino, continued round tho greater part of the Glen at tho same Ic.el. The upper one is found to he I'i.'in I'ynt iiKi»«.'f. tjw. l-r---! -f t\-~ -1 • • 11.. L r iHtr IcVj-I uT tjji: sr;r, THO sriCOiiti is 2(H> feet lower; an.l tho third is 50 below the necond, and 1000 •bovo tho level of the sea. The u^>por and second tor- «'i ■ .'*w;,^. eing horizontal they both form inclined pianos, and the upper one dips at a higher angle than that of the other. I shall return again to South America, and give another instance from that quarter. The account of it is taken from Captain Hall's " Journal on the Coast of Chili, &c." Vol. 1, page 308: " On the 18th Sept'r," says he, "our friendly host accompanied one of the olViccrs of the Conway and mo in a ride of about 25 miles, up the valley of the Coquimbo; during which the most rcnmrkablo thing we saw was a dis- tinct scries of what are usually called parallel roads, or shelves, lying in horizontal jdanes along the sides of the VttUey. They are so disjioscd as to present exact counter- parts of one another, at the same level on the opposite sides of tho valley, being fornied entirely of loose materials, prin- cipally water-worn roinided stones, from the size of a lUit to that of a man's head. Each oi' these roads or shelves rc- »uini»ir'.s u siiingiti brerirh, aiiutlicrc Ir; every Uniiration of the stones having been deposited at the margin of a lake, which lias filled tho valley up to these levels. These gigantic GEOLOGY. 95 3n, at the ce of the vith Glen I terraces ut not so ravel and , estuary, 1 from the licy stood loy Icrmi- in sweep- 1 as fast as rest along niter. 5 length of Scandina- on Roy in both form jhcr angle ro another akcn from tc." Vol. iir friendly ay and me [yoquimho; was a dis- roads, or des e)f thd :t countcr- loslte sides rials, priu- of a lint to bIk'Ivcs re- „»: — J „r .1... akc, uhifh se gigftMic roads are at some places half a mile wide, but their general breadth is from twenty to fifty yards. There arc three dis- tinctly characterised sets, and a lower one which is indistinct when approached, but when viewed from a distance it is c '- dently of the same character with the others." " In the centre of the valley, which is seven nnles wide, there stood an extensive plain, narrow at the upper end and widening out towards the sea, thus dividing the valley into two parts. The surface of this insulated place was to all appearance quite flat and horizontal, and as far us the eye j'ould determine, exactly on a level with the above mentioned roads; so that, if a lake ever stood in the valley at the level of the uj)perroad, the present surface must have been barely <'<)vered, or as seamen tenn it, just lipping with the water's edge. It is several miles wide, and shaped like a delta; its slides are in many places deejily indented with ravines, which cnaole us to sec that it is composed exclusively of the samu waterworn materials as the roads, which, on both sides, are exactly traced at the same levels, and in perfect conformity with those on the opposite banks of the valley." " Since the above description of the Coquimbo roads was written, I have had an opporlunilv A' examining the analo- gous phenomena in (ilen Roy, !•• the Highlands of Scotland. The resemblance between the two cases is not so great aw I had been led to suppose from description. In principle, however, there is not the slightest ditTerence; anier position, U- I .1 96 GEOLOGf. IliilT : lliU' If ; 'J ■ would appear greater than its fall in the Southern Hemis- phere. The terraces just described must have been all formed during the retreat of th3 waters, for, consisting as they do of loose and light materials, they could not have resisted the action of the current and survived the catastrophe, had they been deposited at any earlier period. They are sup- posed by many to haVe been beaches of ancient lakes which have burst their barriers and discharged their water, but they arc much ?nore likely to have been beaches of the sea when its waters stood at their respective levels. Most of the great mountain chains ai)pear to have been enlarged when the waters were retreating. Their higher regions arc generally intersected by deep rents, and fright- ful chasms, which have neither been filled up by dilnvian deposits nor polished and enlarged by diluvian currents, as those that have been opened in the lower grounds. Were any considerable mass of new matter to be injected into the interior of a mountain, so as to increase its dimension, its exterior parts must either expand, or be ruptured; and in the latter case, deep and rugged chasms would be opened across it; and when we see that deep ravinca have been opened, we may refer them at once to such an origin. In many instances chasms opened in this way have been filled up by the rushing in of melted minerals thrown up from the interior, and which have become veins in the masses in Avhich tl'oy are enclosed, but in many instances they remain open. Cliasm.s of u date anterior to the last revolution of the earth, have in general been more or less widened by tin- action of powerful currents, of which they have been tlio channels in tho time of some more recent catastrophcH, but those that were opened at the do-o of the last great eatas- troplio Inivo either boon little nfl'ccled by such currents, or not artectcd by them at all. Their opposite sides are rou;,di and precipitous, and correspond so exactly with onoaii«)tlier as to show that they have undergone little alteration since tiic time they wore rui»tured and forced apart. Wherever there U n projection on the oncwdr. , there is a corresponding GEOLOGY. ftt recess on the opposite, and were it possible to bring them again together they would completely fit. There arc many (.•hasms of this kind in the Cordilleras of the Andes, in tlui Indian Caucasus, in the Alps, and in the Pyrenees. In all these countri'^s they have been occasionally converted into lines of communication between on*.' district and another; unil though in some places they are quite practicable, there arc others in which they are passed with great difficuliy. The pass of Quindiu, between Santa Fe and Popayan, is bounded by lofty walls of porphyry on either hand, and in some places so near to one another, that a single o.\, the only beast of burden used in it, can squeeze him.self tnrough with some ditliculty. According to Sir Alexander Burnes, the main road from India to Bokhara, or from the valley of the Indus to that of the Oxus, which was at one, time the great route of conunercc Lot ween India and Europe, runs along a number of deep and narrow defiles, generally the beds of mountain torrent.^, one of which he believes to be 3000 feet in (lej)th, and so dark and dismal as never to be visite Ai II V ' ' there was hut hrradth loi fii*uf )' unt/^ frt%.. -J -^''j- i.ti'-- --- a dozen of horsemen between the rocks, which roso lik. walb» on either sido to a great height. Aftcrwiirds the roid i m S8 O CO LOGY. rH^' ■f ■1' IN lay broadly between the mountains, occasionally opening out. It was like the beach of the sea, formed of loo.se pebbly stones and sand, and turning at sharp anj^les, from one to a hundred yards apart from one another. This was the stylo of the pass for ten miles .a Ser-e-Kiiiijour. At Ser-e-Khu- jour, the hill broke off from the road, but they still com- manded it for other nitin miles, and the same beach-like road lay between steep banks, as if it were the bed of a deep but dried river." Journey to India, vol. ii., p, 21P. Charms, which like the Bolaun Puss lie at such a height a- bove the level of the sea, and were at some time the beds of an- ci«3nt currents, but for too limited a period to have the j)rojoct- ing angles of their banks rounded, must have been opene cither open subterraneous cuvernj into which the waters ot' CCOLOGT. 99 the sea have access, or ihey may deprive some part of th© bed of the ocean of its wonted support, anri permit it to fall in. In either case the surface of the waters would subside to the same extent, to which new accommodation for them had been provided. The parallel roads already mentioned, show that the waters stood for a longer or shorter time at their respective levels; and consequently that they retreated step by step, till they fell to their prescril>ed and permanent level. In some instances, the relative position of the land and sea ap- pears to have been altered by a depression of the latter; and in others, by an uprising of the former; and in others again, l»y both combined. As the terraces of Glen Roy have com- j>letely preserved their parallelism and horizontality, they must have been left one after another by the sea, while the land remained in the same position; but the fact that they are neither horizontal nor parallel, at Altonfiord, shows that the sea was left by them — that they rose above it, and that, at the rising of both, the upheaval was greater at the one eud than at the other. But, whether it was by a depression of the one or an up- lifting of the other, it must have happened occasionally, and not by one continued movement. The waters must have stood at the level of one of the terraces, for a time, to allow the materials of which it is composed to be collected; and then have fallen suddenly to the level of the next. Those of Altonfiord, after being discontinued for some distance, again become visible, and very distinct, in Vacrdel, and HeU frodal, in the vicinity of Drontheim. " It is impossible," Nays Mr. L»ing, " to see these valleys, without being struck with the conviction, that they have beeti chains of fresh-wo- ter lakes which, have burst their barriers and been suddenly laid dry. On ascending the steeps which bound the flat al- luvial bottoms or the valleys on each side, and which con-. sist generally of banks of gravelly soil, one is surprised to find an upper terrace of excellent land, cultivated and inha- bited like the hottom, and consisting of the same soil of frU ftblo loam, Th© terrace rosits against the primary rocks of ty. 100 GEOLOGY. ■H ti the Fjeldc, and has evidently been the bottom of an ancient lake, which wns bounded by these Fjelde ridges. The lake has probably boon drained by some sudden convulsion, for the s'opes to the level below are steep and sharp, which they would not have been if exposed to the long-continued action of waves and currents." Journal of a residence iq, Norway, p. S07. Mr. Laing's opinion, that these terraces are the remains of ancient fresh-water lakes, would have been more proba- ble, had the barriers remained, excepting where they have been broken down and swept away; but while they are bounded in the rear by the base of tho Fjelde, they are open iii front towards the sea, and appear rather to have been ancient fiords, or firths, such as those by which the coast is .still indented, when the waters of tho sea rose to their level. But terraces) are not the only phenomena which indicate the sudden upheaval of the land in various places. It may be in- ferred also fror the forcible dispersion of erratic blocks, in op- |)os!te directions, from a common centre, and at the same time. Wherever a submarine volcanoe breaks out for the first time, or a new and violent eruption takes place, it will produce a simultaneous rush of waters in all directions from the centre of movement; and whenever we see that impetuous currents have rushed away ip diflerent directions, from a common centre, about tho same time, we may conclude that it origi- nated in a sudden convulsion, or rising of the land, at or near that centre. Now, if this be correct, there must have been violent agitations and risings of the land in dififerent quarters, towards the close of the last inundation. There can be no doubt that in the Northern Hemisphere the gene- ral course of the current was southerly, but there are many localities in which it has for a time taken other direction;^. It has been already stated that large blocks from the central Alps have been carried westward across the valley of Neuf- chatel, and even over the Jura chain into the plains of France; others have been rolled down in a northerly direc- tion, from the mountains of Cumberland and Westmorland, into the valley of the Solway; and though fragments of all GtOLOGY. 101 tlie rocks lying between Antigonish and the gulf of St. Law* i"ence, inelufling a mass of amygdaloidal trap which just ap- pears at Arisaig Point, are scattered about the fields in this neighbourhood, immense boulders of granite have come fioni the mouth of St. Mary's River, a distance of forty or fifty miles in the opposite direction. In their passage north- ward, they have followed the long chain of lakes, which connect St. Blary's with Antigonish, and are more numerous and less v.ater-worn as we approacli their original locality, behind the villngo of Sherbrook, where the ground is almost wholly covered with them. On tho subject of such dispersions. Professor Phillips makes the following observations: — " If following the indi- ■cations of the ]>henomcna, we refer, in every case, the dis- persion of the blocks to the uplifting of particular mountain groups, and this is abiiost a certain inference, we may per- haps admit, in the neighbourhood of siich groups, ten>porary variations, or undulations of the land, like those which ac- company earthquakes, sufiiciently extensive when combined with tlie agitation of the sea, to permit the water to take, for a short period, directions previously and subsequently im- possible. That the whole was the efl'ect of a very short pe- riod, is the universal impression of all observers." Page 210. If the land thus rose in different phices, and at different times; and if, in addition to this, the bed of the ocean became deeper and larger, by a series of convulsions, the waters must have retired by an intermittent tall within their esta- blished and permanent limits. Such is the conclusion to which Geology conducts us, and it may be also inferred from the peculiar phraseology in which the close of the Deluge is recorded in the Scriptures. Gen. vlii. 3, 5: "Tho waters re- turned from off the earth, going and returning i^"^ and again, *'The waters decreased, going and decreasin;;.." This form of expression is used 'in regard to motion that is renewed after repeated intcri-uptioPo, and it shows that the Deluge lerminatcd thus.* It is perhaps in reference to this fact, * When it is an'uj. Gen. xii. 0. tlmt A'.ir;!!'.:!!!'. : nir ^ '• ^ and journeying, towards the Soulh," it moans th.u ■>d, going lonewe^ 103 GEOLOGT' IrS'-;i M n that the Apostle represents the earth as alternately rising above the water, and being again submerged, at the time of the Deluge, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6. § 7. It appears, both from Geology and the Scriptures, that torrents of rain fell from the heavens while the waters were abating. Though some of the terraces already de- scribed may have been formed by the impetuous rushing of the waters from a higher to a lower level, in consequence of a change in the relative position between the dry land and the ocean bed, some of them have been for.ned by other means. The parallel roads of Glen Roy are stratified. They consist of a regular series of beds, distinctly marked, and deposited over one another; and Dr. Lyell supposes the materials to have been rolled down by mountain streams, occasioned by the melting of snow above them, and distri- buted by the tides along the shore. This might have been th'! origin of the roads which run along the sides of the mountains which bound the Glen, but there are isolated hills that rise between them, and there are roads round them at the same levels with those on the mountains. This is al- so the case in the valley of Coquimbo. Now the materials of the roads on these ancient islands, could not have becK washed down by mountain streams, because no mountain Htreams had access to them, but they might have been rolled down as far as the waters fell by heavy rains. In heavy rains, though the water ultimately collects into channels, it flows at first over the whole ground, and will continue to do HO on an even surface. Had the terraces in Glen Roy been formed by the agency of mountain torrents, the materials brought down by ihcm would have accumulated about the his journey from time to time, aTter repfinted pnusea. Chap. xxvi. 13: " Aiifl the man waxed great, going and waxing, till he be- came very great." He rose step l)y nlep, to wealth and influence. Eaiher Jx. 4: ♦' For thia man Mordecai went a7id increased,^' — he obtained promotion after promotion, till lie attained the highest rank to whicli a snltject could aspire. In Gen. viii. 7. a similar construction intimates that the raven hovered ahout the ark, ta- king longer and longer excnrsiona from it, till the e.irth becamo dry, ConiDare also Exods xix-. 19, I'lov. iVi 18. Jonah i. 11. IS. GEOLOGT. 109 entrance of these torrents into the lake; and if distributee! along the shores at all, they would have been deposited far more sparingly in the intervening spaces, which does not ap- pear to have been the case; but heavy rains forming a broad sheet of water over the whole surface of the earth, when it had been loosened by the waters and more easily denuded, would wash down materials for the construction of these terraces, both on the mountains and isolated hills, just ap- pearing above water; and would deposit these i!iaterials in regular beds, where their farther descent was stopped by the sea. It appears from the Scriptures that the rains were conti- nued till very near the termination of the Deluge. Gen. viii. 1 : " And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged." This was anterior to the stopping of the rain, which is mentioned as coming next in order, along with the shutting of the windows of heaven, and closing of the fountains of the great deep. " The fountains also of the great deep, and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven v/as restrained." It failed, or fell off till it entirely ceased. Tiis Scriptures and Geology agree then in regard to the leading particulars of the Deluge:— that it was general — that it originated eitlier in the depression of the land or the rising of the ocean bed, or both combined— that the tempe- rature of the earth was so much reduced at the time as to occasion the freezing of the ocean — that the waters rose by an intermittent motion— that they were driven by a tempest^ towards the close— that they fell as they had risen, by an in- termittent motion, and that the catastrophe was accompanied by heavy rains; and while Geology and the Scriptures agree in respect to these points, there is no point on which they differ. if -^^ .-w^-a^,^ 104 ^EoLoar^ CHAP. VII. *>, M' OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN GEOLOGY AND THE SACREB SCRIPTUltES, RESPECTING SOME IMPORTANT EFFECTS WHICH HAVE FOLLOWED THE LivST REVOLUTION OF THE £ARTH. Every revolution which the earth has undergone has l)roved beneficial, either in its itnmediate or remote conse- quences; but some of them have been rather injurjoas at first, and have ultimately produced good, by immediately do- ing harm. Tiiere are i)articuhir arrangementy in the econo- my of nature, as well as in the morjd government of the world, in which transient evil lead.= to the introduction of permanent good; and on some occasions good and evil are so equally balance ' thut it would be hard to determine which of them predominates. During the formation of the cor- boniferous strata, the means of supportin;^ animal life were most abundant; but the peculiar slate of the atmosphere, on which this depei; led, was unfavourable to the existence of tevrestrial anhrah, and they could not havo prospered while it continued. Phe vast masses of vcrjrtable matter that were then produced, v/ore however not u:;olcs3. The pe- culiar stati> of the earth that produced them- also brought agents into operation ]yy which they were collected in par- ticular localities, and thero converteil into an invaluable mi- neral, which is now contributing in various v^-ays to he in- dividual and social benefit of man. Durinjif the time \>hich immediateiy succeeded the carbonifcous period, animal life was in less danger from azotic frnses, but ke^ in check from want of sustenance; but this state ot ibhigs had also its use, and we are now deriving imp. ' ;; .^ br ifitj from it. In the tertiary era, a number of important changes were introduced, and the earth was approaching its present state, but had not attained to it; and the revolution in which that era termina- ted was still necessary to complete its transition, and it ap- pears to have contributea ;;o it in difTorent ways. § 1. The last great revolution of the earth appears, both irutit vtcOiu;;!' uuu iiO;xi luu kj^i iplUics, lu liutc liiuxcascu xlo (3^ uuu lit;;xi iiiu kj^iipt GCOLOOT. 105 FHE SACR£B fT EFFECTS ION or THE lergone has mote conae- injurjous at led lately do- ll the econo- ment of the roduction of itid evii are rmine which of the cor- lal life were losphcre, on existence of ?pered while matter that '. The pe- ildo brought :tcd in par- .aluable mi- 's to he in- time uliich 5 animal life I check from also its use, II It. In the introduced, but had not ;ra termina- j and it ap- )pear8, both nCfcasOu its fertility. The crust of the globe is chiefly composed of si- liceous, argillaceous, and calcareous earths,— sometimes in a potrified, and sometimes in a friable state; and none of these earths, n taken by themselves, are well adapted to the support of vegetation. They require to be blended with one another in certain proportions; and, when so blended, they form tho most valuable and improvable soils, or soils that are susceptible of the highest improvement, and at the least expense. Now the fact is certain, in whatever way we may attempt to account for it, that, in the great majority of tiie older formations, these different earths have been kept in a great measure by themselves; and though beds of limestone, shale, and sandstone, often alternate, they are seldom compounded in a way to be useful for agricultural purposes. The agencv of a vast and active inundation was necessary to tl?=s. The previous revolutions yv\i,± the earth had underj-ne, by rupturing the ptrata, and disposing them in an inclined or vertical position, had exposed them all, more or less, to the action of such an agent; and the great inundation, in which the revolutionary times oi' the earth terminated, acting upon their fractured, dislocated, and exposed edges, with the greatest intensity, has reduced vast masses to a friable state, blended these masses iu all proportions, and deposited them in places where they are the most available for the use of man. Lofty mountain chains serve many important purposes in the economy of nature, but above a certain height, which depends upon their latitude, they are unfit for cultivation. Their climate is too low io bring the more useful plants to maturity. They are too much exposed to the influence of the weather to be chosen by agriculturists, and too remote and difiicult of access for the manufacturer or the merchant. Had they, therefore, been covered with a rich soil, it would have been in a great measure useless; but they have in ge- neral been swept by the Deluge; and while ♦.heir bare sum- mits pierce the clouds, and attract their watery treasures to the earih, j)erhaps with an influence beyond what they would otherwise have possessed, their soil has been removed to I ss^ I i 1 *H 11. I II ' 106 ttEOLOOr. places where it forma an important element of improvement in the worUl. These ob-icrvations are equally applicable to the Polar regions. They are cither within or bordering on the lino of perpetual congellation; and their vegetation bears an Alpine character, and graduates into the mosses whith fringe the glaciers of the lofty mountains. They have also in general been stripped of their soil. The Arctic regions of North America, according to Dr. Richardson, present a bare and rugged surface, from which every particle of soil has been removed, and where only a few scattered patches of moss form the whole vegetation of the country. The correspond- ing parallels of Europe and Asia are in a similar condition. The occurrence of coal in Melville Island, and the masse.^ of bones accumulated on the Northern coast of Siberia, hIiow that these break and sterile regions were formerly un- der a milder climate, and that when the climate was conge- nial they had also a soil adapted to the support of a ]>lentiful vegetation-, but when the climate became unfavourable the soil was transported to more genial climes. It was formerly otated, that, towards the close of the in- undation, the waters must have rushed from North to South, with an irresistible inipetuosity, as appears from the im- mense masses of rock which they rolled before them, acros.^ deep und extensive valleys, and over hi'ls and mountains beyond them; and that this was probably occasioned by the circumstance, that the dry land having been more depressed in the Northern Hemisphere, had been suddenly raised to its former level, and had, in the course of this jnovemenf, thrown the waters violently off towards the South; or tlir ru:*h might have originated in some other change, which ''ad suddenly disiurbctl the equdibrium of the wafers, and left fhem io find a new lovcl. That they were loaded with sedi- mcnt of diflerent kinds, when they fell to the level of the alluvial lands, on the banks of our rivers, appears from th«' order in which these depo.^ifs arc frequently found. In ma- ny places, what we call intervale lands, are regularly strati- fied. They consist of a distinct series of beds, in which nprovement 9 the Polar 1 the lino of 18 an Alpine 1 fringe the in general \s of North a bare and •11 has been hea of mo33 correspond- r condition, the masses of Siberia, brmerly un- was conge- fa plentiful •ourublc the !C of the in- th to South, om the im- hem, acros.^ 1 mountains oned by the e depressed ily raised to movement, r»uth; or the (, which ''ad or.1, and left id with Hcdi- level of the \rs from th<» nd. In mn- ilarly strati- I, in which dHoLoor. 107 gravel, mud, and sand, alternate; but there are many situa- tions in which we meet with one thick bed of gravel, in which the size of the pebbles increases downward, till they become boulders, or waterworn stones of considerable di- mensions; while the superjacent mass is one bed of pure mud, which has evidently i^een deposited at one time, and not by a series of river floods, in which the alternating bedi have originatetl. When tht gravel was deposited in one hcd, and the mud in another, the materials of both must have been in motion at the same time; and they have been |)ut in motion by the sudden and impetuous full of the wa- ters from a higher to a lower level; but when the latter was attained, the heavier materials would come first to rest, and the gravel and mud would be separately dcpo«iited. In the lower [/ rt of (he bed of gravel, there are many trees, chiefly maple, but not exactly the mnple of our present forests, which shows that the current must have brought the gravel and mud along with it at the same time, for the trees must have been deposited before, as they never move in running water ,vith the same rapidity as the other materials. Whether the extent of the dry land has been increased or otherwise, by such change.-, there can be no doubt that it has been renderetl tnore productive. A deeper and better compounded soil has been deposited over those parts of its surface, which are in other respects better adapted to the support of the more valuable kindo of plants, and the means of subsistence for man and beast can be obtnined from it in greater abundance, and at lesf expense. In this we have another point of agreement between (Geo- logy and the Scriptures. The latter show us, that the curs- ing of the ground had din)inished its fertility, and that at the birth of Noah, hi.s father, moved by the spirit of pro- phecy, foretold un amelioration in his dnys. The human race was again reduced to a single family, that the whole might bo comprehended under a t'.ew arrangement, by which tbcv Wore to !»o reinstated in tho cn'iivmnnt of u !!U!!ibor of their forfeited privileges, anil, among others, in the pod- •ession of greater plenty; and it was intimated in the pro- % I' w i09 GEOLv>ar. t ■! I |r;« If -• inulgation of th&t arrangement, that they would soon be en- abled to recruit their iiuuibci>, uiid repair all the losses they had sustained. Accordingly, we find that before a single century had elapsed, they were in a condition to embark in a great cntcrprisie, apparently with little other view than that of h-iving an obj^jct in which they had a cotnn^on interest, which might serve as a centre point of attraction, and counteract the tendency to branch off into .sei)arate divisions; and such an idea could only have originatetl in the necessity they were already beginning to feel of dispersing themselves over the face of the earth, Gen. xi. 4.* Be this as it may, they had evidently increased with great rapidity; and in the cocTzr. of a century or two more, they had spread over a great part o{ Asia — made settlements both in Europe and Africa, and laid the foundations of many great and populous king«loms. No more decisive evidence can be required, of the .';.st im- provement which the earth had undergone. The term of hu- man life was reduced to one-fourth of what it had been an- terior to the Deluge, aiul, with tlic drain occasioned by the (juadru])led acclivity of the law of mortality, the 'nnnan race increased with a rapidity apparently unexampled before the Flood. § 2. Again, the last revolution of the earth appeors, both from Gco';)gy and the Scriptures, to have been immediately followed by great* •; regularity in the course of the sousonH than had been previouMly introduced. Gen. viii. iil, 'i:ices, intcrruj^ted the regular course of the seasons, or counteracted their ir.ilu- euec, destroyed the disf-nctiou between duy and night, and prevent) (1 the benefits ^vhich the-o natural vi( issitudes are iiUendMl to secure to u.>. Had .-ummer and vinter, socd- finie uiid harvest, and uay and ni rlit, foll'jwed each other in ihcir |>roper order, th. re would !;ave be -n no occn don for such a promise; and Noah n.nd his fandy C( uld not havo been sensible of any privileg-j-s it co!:ferrcd upon them. The promises given to them inifl their desctuidaiits to th(5 latest generations, huve respect to b!es?:ngs v. hich had been forfeited by their ancestors, ar.d ci'her whoMy or partially withheld; and iu ih'iA vien' the promise v.udc consideration intimates, that the existing owhv of tlie tiit es and sensoris waa either then introduced anew, or restored after a lonir y be reg;\rde(l as a sure, thcugh f^enrrid iiidic.-.tion, of what its instincts and h;d)its have been, and for v, hi.t pe- cidiar circumstances it was forme:!. Nature endows her diirerent productions Avith all that is necessary, nnd w ith no- thing more; and an animal or plant with a iiseles;- org'ui, or useless property, would lo nn nnnmuly ninong her u (uk-. The cat is forn:ed upon the Vvvy best construction to enable it to steal silently on its prey, to make a sudden -prln;^, w jth- 'nit risk or Incoi.vrnienro to itself, nnd to luke an ir..ntain the remains of the Ovibos Pal- lantls, a species or var. 'y of the Mu.?k-()\, a purely Arctic animal; and which is n> ; known to be able to submit even to a tcmporato climate; and Arctic shells have been found in <1if- fcrent parts of the more recent strata. To this we may add that the Siberian elephant and Siberian rhinoceros, uer, arc some vast masse;* ay certainly been nbun- n them as 't .'iilest tyjies, ice. racfer, from lesc regions would lead Ovihoi Pal- urcly Arctic bmit even to found in <1if- we may add ceros, wen; lie cas' with )rme(l for a is that the> any tuiiinah his respect, te, and vice covering of oiniiries the iho tiog very tant titid rlii- d in Silieria, I'.iwcT tha'.i suppose. tho tcmpo- rature of the higher latitudes in early times, and as neither of tho proofs can b- set aside, there must bo a way of re- conciling thein/ V'ea e probably not acquainted with all tho conditions to ^ iiicu ^ is possible either for plants or ani- mals to submit, and how much they may be aflccted by what may seem to us a most unimportant difference. We have r'^ason to believe that different races of plants and animals, which rather prefer a warm climate, can accommodate them- selves to a cold one, provided they were exempted from ail sudden and great variations. Sudden transitions from heat to cold, and from cold to heat, arc more inimical both to animal and vegetable life, than a regular continuance of cither^ extreme. In the Tierra del Fucgo, Captains King and Fitzroy observed a variety of tender plants, such as Veronicas and Fuchsias, blooming in a climate where the Thermometer »«ad>ini rises much aliove 36°, or experiences any great fall below it; and in that region- of unceasing f-torms, the woods are inhabited by parrots and parroquets; and the iiu-.nming bird, which seldom appears in Nova Sco- tia till the warm weather sets in, Hutters there among the shrubs anil flowers during the transient fits of sunshine which interpose between the squalls of sleet and snow. This has been attributed, and apparently with reason, to the equability of the climate of that dreary region. In no other way can we account for the presence of such opposite racers as the clepliant ami musk-ox in the same vi- cinity, than by 8upj)o8inf: tliem t<. have been capable of ac- commodating themselves to different temperatures from those whi<;h they prefer, provided they ucre free from all sudden and groat variations; and that such was iho climate of Siberia at the time. Its equability fitted it for different liires of plants and animals, which couhl not have endured II had ii be.Mi chainreable. Tlio musk-oK did not alt.)gcther consort with the elephant and rhinoceros. While thoTivers tU)\v through mountainous districts, no remains of tho latter itre liiund along their h^nk- but they sddoin or never laii to bo met with, when their course is throufrli |ovv and level grounds. While the elephant rose to the height oi' 10,000 feet M "*"**SPi 112 GEOLOGY. ..^ "■1 jihove the level of the sea in South America, it ajjpcars to have been oonfined to the lowest grounds in the Arctic re- gions. Yet their presence within the same area, along with purely Arctic races, shows that nature had adopted some ar- rangement by which all the insurmountable oI)stacles to tb.eir connnunion had been removed; and a uniform, or nearly imiform temperature, was the most likely for this purpose. It may have been variable, l)ut its range must hive been li- mited, for had it risen much alwvo the medium, it would have been insupportable to one race, or had it fallen much beiow it, it would have proved equally insjipportable to another. We may therefore conclude, that there was some- thing in the stj'te of the earth at the time, which counteract- ed the regular course of the seasons, and prevented the vi- cissitudes of cold and heat by which thev are distinguished. Again, if the larger animals frequented the higher lati- tudes in numbers, they must have found there the means of isubsistence; J'.nd as all animals require a more liberal sup- ply of food in a cold, than they require in a warm country, the vegetation of these latitudes must have been far more abundant than it is now, and must also have comprehended a nmoh greater variety of plants. This snggesis another very serious difficulty; for a due proportion of light is just as indispensable to the plants Avhich the elephant and rhi- noceros required, as a suitable climate; and though the Po- lar regions have more thiin the necessary compliment of light at t)ne time, they have just as nuicn less at another; and there must have been some means by which this deficiency was supi)lied. In times more remote than those which inu)iedi- al«dy i)reccded the last great revolution of the earth, vege- tation was so abundant in still higher latitudes than Siberia, ns to furnish materials for the formation of coal, which is known to exist in Melville Island, and the requisite degree of light must have been supplied by some other means than the luminaries of heaven. The laws to which they arc sub- ject have been the saine. fmw, tho earliest time to the present dny. There are many plants which can accommodate them- selves to an urlificial oxiatonco, and return again to a natural appears to Arctic re- along with ed some ar- clcs to tlicir , or nearly is jiurpose. ivc been li- I, it would alien much portable to 3 was sorne- countoract- ited the vi- 5tinguishcd. higher lati- le means of liberal sup- in country, in far more nprohcnded !Sis another light is just nt and rhi- ugh the Po- iient of light r; and there ficioncy was ich immcdi- Darth, vojro- lu\n Siberia, II, which u isite degree means than hey are sub- lodatr them- to ti natural GEOLOGT. 113 Male, uitli little inconvenience. They can dispense with the natural light of the an — with his history as an intelligent, immortal and accountable being; and when his physical con- dition is adverted to at all, it is only when it happens to be connected directly or indirectly with his higher interests. It is, however, very concisel\ stated, in Gcu. vi. 4, that the antediluvians were of a [^igantic stature. Our Connnon Version represents the ))iissage us stating that there were then giants in the world; but the passage may as well be un- derstood to mean, that the nam of those times were giants, or that they were in general men of great stature. The sa- cred historian could not have intruded to have represented Ihc existence of giiiuts in tlje former world either as a sin- GEOLOGT. lib tlio living ro found in very ranic prodigious 1110 habits. )f animals, Kssil elk of crn elk, or bfria, have , chieil}- on The same ' other fos- t is, he was ler the Af- i with their lose of any , accommo- aciiit}', to a er race can lucncc. If ic influence re has been lore readily , The Su- ral charac- intelligcnt, lysical con- )pcn3 to 1)0 T interests. 4, that the r Connnon thorn wore well be un- I'cre tfiants. i\ The ea- represented 3r as a sin- I gr.lar or unv'^ommon fact; for he expressly tells us that there were nations of giants in his own time, Dent. ii. 10, I], 'iO, 21, and their existence had a very unhappy cfK)ct on the fortunes of the Israelites. Although Eg} pt was one of the first of the nations, and had assumed a settled form of so- vernment in the days of Abraham, the father of the Ana- kims had foundcil Kiijath-arba, or Hebron in Palestine, be- fore Zoan, the anciont capital oftlmt country. Josh. xxi. 11, Num. xiii. 22; so that the race can be traced back till witliin a century or two afi;cr the Flood, nn-l they continued in ex- istence till the times of David; and it is not unworthy of no- tice, that the Hebrew tertn licphaim, by whicli they arc for the most part designated, rc])rcscnts iheni as a Avasling or dwindling relic of former times. The statemtMits of Pliny among the ancients, of St. Au- f^ustine in the middle ages, and of Kircher, &.C., among the moderns, of the discovery of human bones, which must have belonged to men of 20, 40, and even 400 feet high, are to be regarded ordy as amusing instanc(>s of human credulity; yet still they are not lo be altogcthoi despised, and may point to the recovery of nn ancient and long-forgotten fact. Poets may be regarded as the h Dorians of ojjinion, in as much as they record the opinions of their resjiective ages; and Vir- gil, in predicting the astonishn.ent which the future plough- man should experience at tlie si/e of the hum.an bones wiiich he might turn out of their graves, shows a belief that the race was gradually diminishing in stature, nnd conse- quently that those who flourished in still more ancient times had surpassed his cotcmporaries, as much ns he expected rlie latter to surpass those who might succeed them in a remote period of futurity. Aut grnvilius r;iK?ris ^'alens pnlsnhit inanos, Grandiaquo eilossis juiiabitur ossa sopulchris. (J. i. v. 436. '• Then after lonpth of time, the lahr -ing Kwains, *• Who turn the tiiiT^ of those unhappy plains, " Shid! rusty pilcg from the pIowM furrows take, '• And over cmpi- holnicta 'lasa tl;o ralcc, " Amazed tit nntifjUi: tith-s un the stoaes ** And irnghty relics of gigantic bones." Drvdkn. m 116 CSOLOGT. :. I I' I •'1 |r;i Every country in which ancient traditions have been pre- served, has a legencar's den; and supposing the residual earth of a full grown bear to be equal tc 2 solid feet, and that the cavo must have been occupied for 1000 years, he reckons tlin A\ hole number of bears that died in it to have been 2500, or one for two vcars and a half. This reasoning is ingenious but h3"potheticai, and could not suppoi ;, a solid conclusion. In the first place, it is by no means certain that the black mould »s either wholly or even chiefly composed of animal earth. Its colour is at least no proof of it. The cave appears to be singular in this respect, that the teeth contained in it are as black as the mould, and as they have retained their natural colour in other ossiferous caves, the change here must be owing to something that is j)eculiar to it, and which would of course tinge the raould as well as the teeth. Neither can the other properties of the mould decidedly prove it to be wholly com])osed of ani- mal dust, especially as the decomposition of a considerable proportion of animal matter in a mass of fine friable earth will altar the appearance of the latter greatly, and give it a siriking resemblance to aninial dust. Gypseous and limestone districts arc very often cavernous, and contain basons of greater or less dimensions, in which Mater is seldom retained for any considerable length of time, oven while bounded on all sides, so as to prevent its escape iibove ground. Water, however, will flow into them in rainy :-cp.sons, and when it has no visible outlet, it nuist have some s^^ubter-aneous passage near the bottom, the entrance to 'vjiich is so superficially closed as to allow the passage of fine .sedi- ment into the interior. Some of these passages have onco been open, and formed the entrances to caves and grottoes of diOerent descriptions, and many of them ajjpear to havo hcon anciently the retreats of such predacious animals as the ^ m<- .■rt m iff ,ffl r- 1 118 GEOLOGY. li i ' hrnr, in the dry scasoin. In other instances dead nnhnals hav(! been' drawn into theiri, by the force of the currents which escaped in that direction in the rainy "Reasons. There are many such caverns still in Greece, and the basons in w hioh they occur are occasionally filled with water, and bc- coiTie lakes in rainy seasons, but are quite t"ry at other times, when the caverns arc inhal)itcd by foxes and jackalls, and other wild beasts of the couiitr- . When the water flow.i into them, it necessarily carries in a quantity of sediment, and sometime'! the carcases of dead animab, and other pu- tri'sccnt niatter; and in this way may the contents of the cave of Knloch have been accumulated. As some sets of teeth have been preserved in it, we cannot assign any good reason ior the disappearance of others placed exactly in the same circumstances; but a very great number must have disap- peared, if 2&00 sets have been left in it, as Dr. Buckland supposes. Besides, for any tiling that appears to the con- trary, tlic cave may have been o(!cupied bv a number of bears at one time, and a considerable proportion of the black mould may consist of the residue Oi v^ccrementitious matter. The cave of Kirkvhich have been preserved in the cave, are fractured and partially devoured, in the same manner as these of other animals, if i' reasonaidc to su})pose that they belonged to individuals which had become a prey to the inhabitants, am] that having been dragged into the cave by the latter, their teeth are also to he deducted from the .SOO sets. After these reductions; the number of sets belonging to the regular inhabitants of the cave cannot be reckoned above (200, and if we divide 1000 or li200 by this nund)er, it will allow at an average six years to every individual, sui)posing the cave to !iave been in the exclusive possession of one at a time. But hyenas, though savage, are not solitary animals. Like the wolf, they often hunt in packs — live in snclety where their domicile cflords sufficient accommodation, and make conmion cause whci u camel or other large animal is to bu I'- ;• Ai m L < *r Si f ji^feaavip ap9^!j»^fg^ 120 GiEOLOGi^. W. f attacked. In the cave of Kirkdale, the boiler of the ele- piiaut, rhinoceros, and hi'ipopotamus,. occur in such nurnbeni ns to show that the- gif^aitic animals have either become the prey of its tenants, or that their dead carcases '.vcro dr;iggcd into it, to be th( i-c devoured. Nuvv this must ha''.'c K quired the united clfortrf of a considerable number, c:.e. But besides the bones of the larger animals already men- tioned, there are also bor.cs of the partridge, the lark, the rat, and the mouse; and some have alleged that the hyena is not likely to have preyed up-jn such diminutive animals, and that thrrcfore ue may sui)p'v-ie the whole of the bones to have Ijcen depositcil there b\ some other means. Ibit ♦his sup- p(>:;ition Lelvays either ignorance of, or inattention to, the habits of predacious animul.-. They ha\ e been sometitncs 'liought to be tiobic, generous, anil high-minded; !ut they are strangers to every feeling of this kind: the gratiiication of their a]ipet"tcs is ilieir nuiin object, and their only consi- deration is to do it most eflcctually, and at the least troidde and the least danger. Our bear does not hesitate, uhon cii'- fumstances are favourable, to attack the ox, at ' ho rejoices in the capture of a sheej) or ii hog; but in vi fault of such game, does not disdain to iiunt for mice, and rather than be reduced ultogethir to a vegetable diet, will put up for n time with locusts and grass-hoppers. The smaller animals, whose bones have been i)reservcd in the cave of Kirkdale, were not meant for its adult inhr.bi- tants, but for the use of the junior members of ihe connnu- nity. Had the case been otherwise, few of them would have rem">inod to nflbrd pcope for the speculations ol' the geolo- gist. The animal that devours the bones of the ox, will not wnsto much of his time in picking tliose of the lark and the mouse, although they may be very well for the fust experi- ments of those who wero but just entering on the stage. iJeasts of I*rey arc not less attentivo than others to their young, un«l not less considerate in providing sustemince adapted to their years; und when it happens to be abundant, dlEOLOGT. J-2i' they provide more plentifully than their necessities reqnirr, and the surplus is allowed to rot in thoir den. A neighbour of ujino lately discovered the den of a fox, by the offensive etlluvia emitted by the putrid carcases of mice, which sh.^ had collected for her cubs, beyond what they were able to consume. The fact that some of the bones in the cave arc embedded in the under layer of stalagmite, shows that it had been iii- hal)ited from tl»e time tuat the encrustation began to bo form- ed, and consequently at an early period; and the number of iidiabitants must at different times have been equal to the task of dragging into it, the carcase of an elephant, a rhino- e reckoned below 16 or 20. Now, if tht; whole number of inhabitants, from first to last, did not ex- reed 200, and if there were 20 of them contcm[)oravy, ther.- must have been no more than ten generations, which gives 100 years to each, which is a much longer term of life than the hyena enjoys at the present time. This reasoning may be regarded as more specious than solid; and it is no doubt partly hypothetical. Too mu<'h is assumed, and too little proved; but it is one of those points iii regard tc uliich nothing more than probability is attaina- ble, and I leave it to the candid and discerning to dctermiiif whether this has not been attained. «» f'i *i ,.' IS i CHAP. Viif. OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. rRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. In running the parallel I)etween ijio discoveries of Geolo- gy, and tho brief notices contained in the Scriptures, of the ••arly condition and revolutions of the earth, I have endea- voured to do justice to tho Prc-adamite theory, by selecting JIk' statements of its lea GEOLOGY. mil ' 11' alleged, that I have put a forced construction on those pas- sages of the Sacred Scriptures, which have been compared with the statements of Geology; and, without any straining on cither side, I have pointed out a very striking agreement between them, — an agreement which is not limited to one or two pointH, but which has been traced through a consider- able number and variety. Geology and the Scriptures give us resi)eetivcly the very same accounts of the number and extent of the revolutions of the earth — of the order in which they have occurred — of the principal agents by which they have been eflected — of their influence on vegetable and ani- mal life, and of a immber of important consenuences which have followed them. If this will not identify th period when the sedimentary rocks were formed, with the antediluvian age of the Sacred Scriptures, it would be difficult to determine what kind or amount of proof would be sufficient for that purpose. It is morally impossible that such a number of strikmg coinci- liences as have Ixien jjointed out could have been accidental; and if not, tin y will identify the one period with the other, as fully, and 'clearly, as it is possil>lo for any thing of the kind to be done. Were wc to examiMo two separate and independent ac- counts of the same country, the one giving dates and the other none, if they not oidy gave a si/nilar outline of events:, arranging them in prcci^sely the 8amo order, and rcfi^'ring thorn to the same causes, but corresponded exactly in roganl to ^iich details as were given in etudi, \\\uh uv'ithv.v of thciu contained nny statement that was at variance with the otii' although the one gave particulars which the other omitted. or the one was more full on this particular, ami the other on that, would we hesitate to pronounce them separate accounts of the same period, and scries of events? Geology and the S. i ipturcs are mo far from disagreeing, that they reciprocally cunliruj and illusirato each othiu". The l^iSCOVc ricH of Oe „i, . .^.,1 Oi-'>gy expjiiiji urii! ^rvc impurtunct; tu stutt:- menta of the Scriptures, which are otherwise luisundersttMnl, or regarded as uniutorcstingj and the light thus shed by ilic GHOLOGir. 12i one upon the otiier, is reflected back upon its own source, and illuminutes points in it that would have been otherwise ob- scure. Geology makes known the diflerent revolutions which the earth has undergone, and speculates in regard to their phy- sical causes, or the agents by which they have been etfccted; but from the consideration of their primary and final causes it cautiously abstains, as if these ha 1 been illegitimate subjects of enquiry, or at least lieyond the limits of its province. The Scriptures, on the contrary, point out lo us at once, the first cause, and unfold the reasons of the divine procedure; and in this way some of the most difficult problems are solved, and some of the most perplexing questions me answered. Geology, for instance, shows us that in the last great revo- lution of the earth different races of animals perished, while others, with which they appear to have been intermixed, survived, and have been continued till the present time; but how to reconcile the preservation of o:ie race, with the destruction of another, placed in the same circumstances, ml >ipparently exposed to the same catastrojjhe, i.^ beyond its province; and those who rely upon it as tlieir only guide, have no other alternative than the unphilosophical hypothc: sis, that the whole were destroyed and a part restored by a new creation. But can wc discover in nature any actual analogy to this, to which we may refer in support of its probability ? Every lypc of organization, that wc know, perpetuates its existence by means of reproduction; and in every instance of rcj>ro- duction, that we know, the offspring tlerives its existence from the parent, without any inunediato or direct interposition of the creative energy. Could tli opposite be shown to huvo once occurretl — could it be undoubtedly proved that the cre- ative power has, in a single instance, been interposed for the roxtoralion of a lost genus, or 8i>ccics, we might refer to thn fact, for the solution of a difficulty that does not seem to ad- mit of any other solution, but not otherwise. The Scrip- tures extricate us from tliis dilcnunu, by nudung known to us the means by which existing races escaped thj catastrophe, have rcjiairod their losses, and continued down to our time- (25 GEOLOGY. I mean not, however, to allege that every diflieulty is com- pletely removed, and that no room for objection reniuins. The many, and sometimes contraan would appear probable from the present state of things. " One tropical shower," says Captain Grey, (Discoveries in Australia,) " of only a few hours continuance, deposited over a field of barley a bed of sand nearly five inches deep, which the succeeding showers again swept off, carrying it forther on its way to the ocean." And Dr. Lyell has shown, as was formerly stated, in his Principles of Geology, that in the course of one rainy season the Ganges carries down an amount of sediment sufficient to form a bed of earth of G2I acres in extent, and 500 feet in depth. If then, in ancient times, the temperate, and even the Polar regions, enjoyed a inild, if not a tropical climate, Ave may reasonably suppose tliat heavy ond long-continued rains extendeii much farther than at present, and that their excavating, transporting, and reconstructing influence, was not less than at the present time. Besi riod before; and in 1838 it again emerged and became dry. Beiwcen 1319, when the disturbance occurred, und 1826, the GEOLor;'.-. », Cosequiiia ' the ground iles in a sou- ninialsj both >\v, if such a heavy rains, X, and every was by such and Pompeii ained uncer- ly that some and if some n all ? Beds ;cd to one or IS limestone, I of rock con- ies, — so that ire of any of tion. II cuts which id which, if iquity to tho low. In the ater deposits :j number of district had a, and again f these altei'- ny thousands til at tho Run uddenly sub- vviiile the I Ti- to the hei^dit istrict is ccii- o distant }!c- became dry. kwI 1826. the t:j:J course of the Indus in tliat i)lacc had been continually siiift- ing, but iii the latter year it forced a passage through tho Ullah Bund, into the depressed district, which had then been Jilled with salt water from the sea, and converted it into a fresh water lake foratim-; but during the southerly mon- Hooii in 18-27, when the wind drove in the waters of the sea, it not only recovered its former saltness, but in time became Salter than the sea itself,--no doul t by means of evapora- tion, which, while it carried off the water, lef' he salt behind. Here then is an instance of salt and fresh wacer alternating in the same bason, and tiiat in the space of a single year, and not only so, but of forming deposits of aicicnt inipur- tance to preserve undoubted evidence of the fact to future ages. The passage cut through the Ullah Bund, in ISiii. was 18 feet in depth, 120 in breadth, and IG miles in loii"th: and the mass of rubbish which was removed from this ch;ui- iiel, and of course deposited in the bed f the lake, v.uuld cover an area of considerable extent to the depth of a luim- Iicr of feet. In 1827 tho salt water again predominated, and would of course dejjosit a salt water bed on the surfao.' of the other; but in 1828 an unusual rise in the Phurraun branch of the river, cut away the banks of the above-mentioned passage to a great extent, and consequently formed anodicr l)ed of freshwater sediment, where the others had been de- posited. In the same, or in some similar way, may tho a!- lernating beds in the bason of Paris have been ancient)\ <'■'- posited, and that in a comparatively short time. Another argument for the very great ixge of the earili, is drawn from the form and extent of many of those vjdleym l)y which the surface of the earth is diversified, and down which rivers flow on their way to the sea. On this point T>)\ Lyell reasons thus: — On tho coast of Calabria, tor instance, there are many beds of marine dopo.iits, which are nt pre- sent hundreds and even thousands of feet above the kvel of the sea, and which must have been raised to that heirlst nr a comparatively recent period, as they contain many fossH shells belonging to races which arc still in cxistei";) "n the neighbouring seas; and yet ihese beds arc intcrsectc;! ! y val- p;'i'« M !31 GEOLOGY. *'^% ii- leys varying in ilcptli from 50 to GOO feet, and arc soinctirncs ;i number of iiiilos wiJo; and as these valleys must have been excavated by the streams whicii ilow througii them, and that, at their present rate of progress, the whole operation, fr )m the beginning till now, um*:t have occupied an inconipar tly longer period than the Scriptures allow. "Some specula v)rs!, indeed," he says, " who disregard the analogy of existing .NATURE, and who are always ready to assume that her forces were more energetic in by-gone days, may dispense with u long scries of movements, and suppose thht Calabria * rose like an exhalation' from the deep, after the manner of Mil- ton's Pandemonium. But such an hypothesis would de|»rive tlicm of that peculiar removing force recjuired to foruj a re- gular system of deep and wide valleys; for time, whicli they are so unwilling to assume, is essential to the operation. Time nujst be allowed in the intervals between distinct con- vulsions, for running v/ator to clear away the ruins caused by landslips, otherwise i' fallen masses will servo us but- tresses, and prevent the b.icceeding earthipiaUe from exert- ing its full force. The sides of the valley must be again cut away by the stream, and made to form precipices and over- hanging cliffs, before the next shock can take cftect in the same manner." Priuc. of Ceol., vol. ii. p. 35.3. In this rcasonmg two things arc assumed, which recjuire to bo proved. 1st. That all strata containing fossils belonging to existing ruccs are therefore of recent tiate; and 'idly. That all val- leys have been not only originally opened but subsequently enlarged by internal convulsions. That many existing races of aninuds wcro in being for some tinjo at least before the last general revolution, will not be denied, and thouirh that may bo accounted a recent event, it may have been the ori- gin of many of tin; valleys ref«)rrcd to, and the moans of en- larging and modifying others. The current which depositeil the drift, and which rolled before it, in u straight course over mountuiu and valley for hundreils of miles, masses of stone of many tons weight, nuist have aeto«l with incalculable en- stratu iind scooping onl «j:gy» roy IpttC valleys and basons, wherever chu-^ms or ravines hud existed, GEOLOGY. 135 sometimes t have been n, and that, Lition, IV )iu ;on:par ily peculn >rs, of existing t her forces nse with a ibria ' rose icr of Mil- uld de|>rive I form a re- which they operation, istinct eou- liiiji eauscd rvo a.s liiit- Voni cxert- )c again cut 3 and over- ficct in the i3. In this )l»e proved, to oxistinj>' lint all val- ibscquently iHting raecs t before lli< hontrh that •en the on- loans of en- 'h deposited course over scs of stent Iculttblo on- t capneiouH hud existed or wherever the land had been previously depressed; and if we admit this, it is unnecessary to suppose a series of con- vulsions, precipitating landslips from the brows of moun- tains, to be slowly removed by ordinary currents, acting im- perceptibly during the lapse of intervening periods, which separated them from one another^ and made them " like an- gel visits, short and far between." The excavation of the deep bed of the St. Lawrence, for n number of miles below the celebrated Falls of Niagara, has been referred to as an operation which must have required many thousands of years at its present rate. Had nothing ever occurred to accelerate the process^ it wouhl have been perfectly fair to have estimated its past by its iK«esent rate; but if times have occurred which were attended by circum- stances that dispatched the work of centuries hi n tlay, it would bo unfair in the highest degree, and -ould not fail tut in many instances of n portion of "J^"'' j^'"!' mul when tho rainy sijuaon I ' '' -"'"vi to th"lr t'ustouiary bed- y- lulion i-< for «>n wi th I' VI- GEOLOGV", 130 gour unknown in temperate clinics; and another abundant crop is produced to follow its predecessors in due time. Now, when a tropical or more than a tropical heat prevailed over the greater part of the earth, it is probable that it was accompanied with periodica' '-ains, and that the iiumdations which they occasioned collec^ad the masses of vegetable matter which has been converted into coal. During every intervening period, between one rainy season and another, a fresh crop of the stigmaria, sigillaria, and other jdants of the coal formation, would be produced in the lake and sur- rounding country, and when the rainy season again returned, and tlic land became inundated, this would be first swept (bnvn by the current, and afterwards masses of other sub- stances, to comi)lete the deposit for one season. The seams of coal, with the intervening beds with which they alternate, generally dip towards the centre of the bason in which they rest, and are wedge-shaped, both at their ex- terior and interior edges, which is the usual form in which all such materials as are not for a time hehl in sui pension are de- posited in bodies of deep water, into which they are carried by running streams. " It is well known," says Dr. Lyell, " that torrents and streams, which now descend from Alpine de- clivities to the shores, bring down annually, when the snow melts, vast (juantities of shingle and sand, and then as they subside, lino nmd, while in sui inter they are nearly, or en- tirely dry; so that it may be safely assumed, that deposits like those of the valley of Magnan, consisting of course gra- vel alternating with line sediment, are still in { ie»s at many points, as for instance, at the mouth of the Var. They must advance on the Metliterranean in form of great shoals terminating in a steep talus, such being the original mode of accunudation of all coarse materials conveyed into deep wa- ter, especially when they arc cotnposed in a great part of pebbles, which cann(»t bu transported to iudofinito disuinces by currents of mot!liiciejit lime, provided we admit of competent agency, for ihe formation of the whole of the transition scries. Dr. I/yell seems to admit that 150 feet in thickness, of ronl formation, might have been deposited in an equal num- ber of years, provided the beds had been horizontal, and not wedge-;diaped at the edges, but of an ecjual thickness from e.Ige to edge; (Elem. Geol. vol. ii. p. 14^^;) but because the beams are wedge-shaped, and less or more inclined, he thinks we caimot come to tin; same conclusion. But a stream de- sciMiding from higher grounds into a lake below, and rolling (liilerent substances along with it will fill up the bason Just us soon, by beginning at one side and advancing towards the oilier, i\n by spreading the materials over the whole area in horizontal beds of equal thickness, and dc))ositing one bed above another, rill the whole be completed; and. if the beds 1 1' iliHliniruisindile from one another, their number can be ubluined in eillier iorm, with etjiuil Tortainty, The; tiuic reiuirud fur the nccuiuuUuion of any given amount h nut yr'iTi>. JUm 14-2 GtOLOGY. !;■' 11 . B mk nil'ected li} the form in which the additions are made to it tV(»iii time to time, but by their magnitude. Though there h an establif-hed order among the different formations, it does not follow that they were always depo- sited at different times. In point of order, the lias precedes the oolites, and the oolites the chalk; yet some of these niis,'lit have been formed simultaneously with one another, ;uul there may even have been instances, in which a later in point of order, was earlier in point of time. Though the order is seldom violated, they are very rarely all present in OIK" place, and still more rarely do they ail lie in the same planes. One occurs in one place and another in a different one, and both may be present in a third, where others are wanting, with which they are sometimes conjoined. Again, the different formations may not only be distinguished fron) one another by their mineral characters, but likewise by the fossil remains preserved in them. One formation contains fossils of one type, and another those of a different one; and tiicse are supposed to have belonged to different aires of the earth, but for what reason is not always clear. Different formations may have been simultaneously deposited in dif- ferent localities, and these localities may have been occupied by different but contemporary races. There is in this re- spect a striking similarity between different depths of the sea, and different elevations on the land; and both may be compared with the different zones Into which the face of the earth is divided. According as we ascend above the level of the sea, or descend below it, we pass through different de- grees of tenjperature, and sometliing that affects animal life in the same way as it is affected in passing from the Eipuitor to the Poles. Like the different parallels, different altitudes are adapted to different living forms, and it appears, fann the researches of Professor Forljcs, to be the same in regard to degrees of depth in the sea. They are iniiabitesitcd in dif- eon occupied s ill this rc- epths of the both may l)c le face of the e the level of different do- ts animal life the E(|uatoi' rent altitudes ars, fnnn the I in regard tit ed hy difl'er- ? another, as iige.s. Now, , and indoni '11 formed in ^^g^^ GEOLOGr. 143 tlie sea, might not the deposition of different orders, witii their respective. fossils, have been going on at the same time? Had they been deposited within the same area, and extended alike to all its boundaries, no two of them could have had tiie same date. But where one occurs in one place, and another in a different one, it is quite possible for them to^ have been formed simultaneouslv. Different races of terrestrial animals prefer very different localities, sometimes for obvious reasons, and at other times for reasons which arc not easily ascertained; and we have no decisive evidence that it was in different ages that the (lai-hydermata inhabited the valley of the Seine, the bears and hyenas the Hercynian forest, and the elephant and rliinoceros the banks of the Lena. Were a general revolu- tion to occur at present, and affect every region of the world, would future geologists be warranted to conclude, from the iliversity of forms found embedded in different regions, that they must have all lived in different ages, and that the earth must have existed a suflicient time to have admitted of this? Now, if different races, which have been referred to dillcr- (.'11': periods, may Jiave been cotemporaries, the geological evidence, that the earth must have existed for millions of yoars before the date of the Mosaic creation, will be exceed- ingly impaired, if not completely overturned. Considering then that the early condition of the earth was (lilferent from the present — that many of the strata consisted originally of mud and sand, and were conscciuently easily •Icmolished and re-constructed — that the agents of such clianges were more numerous and energetic than at the pre- sent day — that the different formations may have been con- temporaneously deposited, and that we have undoubted evi- iloncc of the formation of rocks in diilerent places in a very short time, the objection we have been examining camiot l.«e valid. Wo have three versions of the Sacred Chronology: the Hol>rfi\v, tlio Siitnaritan, nw\ the Alcxaudrian (jreek-. which differ widely from one atiother; and though it may \w. impossible to determine, under such circumstances, whi<'l! of the three id to be preferred, our most approved chronolc- lU GEOLOtiV. gistt!, for rca.soiH which they assign, and which arc at least phiusiblo, |»rctei" the last: according to which, the Deluge happened in the year of the world i2242; and though that period w ill bear no comparison with the niillion.s of years which geologists claini for uic revolutions of the e.irlh, it is a period in which mighty changes may have happened, pro- vided that competent agents were in operation.* si t 1 J i OnJECTlON II. The absence of human remains from the strata, shows that Tiian loas not in existence at the time of their formation. The non-existence of man during the period in question, has been confidently but very inconsiderately assumed, be- cause it rests entirely on negative grounds. There are cases in which negative proof is decisive, but this is not one of them, for even tliough we grant that human remains have not yet been discovered in the strata, we cannot say that they will never be discovered, till every place where they may possibly be preserved has been thoroughly examined. Not a year passes but fossils are discovered Avhich were not previously known to be in existence, and what geologist would venture to ailirm that wc have at last arrived at the ultiniati; limits of such discoveries, and that nothing more of the kind is to be expected. Adniitting the total absence of human remains among the * The following Tabic exhibits ihc Ibrco tliUbrenl versions re- ferred to ia tliu text : Heh. Sam. Greek. Adam, lao 136 2;}0 Solii, 105 105 205 F.I103, })() !)() 1!)0 C'liiian. 70 70 170 IMalialalucI, 1)0 05 165 Jiucd, 162 62 162 I'noch, 65 65 165 l\TntllllU!ilr>li . J 187 67 167 Iiiutiucli, lyii 63 188 Noah, 600 600 600 1656 1307 2242 arc at least , the Delugo though that )n,s of years e ciirth, it is IH)ciiccl, pro- , ahows that formation. ill question, issumed, be- ero are cases J not one of etnains have luot say that whore they y examined, ich were not lat geologist rived at the lothing more IS among the I versions rc- Grock. 205 190 170 162 1(i5 1G7 188 GUO 2242 GEOLOGY. J 4.; undoubted relics of a former world, it may be accounted I'or in dilfereiit way^i, without supposing the non-cxistonco of iuan, as one of its inhabitants. We cannot tell in what region the human race may have then been located, and where human remains have been preserved. It n)ay have been in a region that is yet unexplored, or which now t'ornis a i)art of the bed of the ocean, and is consequ itly inacces- sible to our researches. If the ocean has repeatedly changed its bed, as geologists maintain, and if it cover two thirds of the surface of the globe, this is by no means improbable; and, if admitted, it will account for the fact that human re- mains have not been discoveretl. We will not in that cas(^ have access to the places where they arc chiefly to be found. IJut, independent of this, it must have been in the regions tliat were most frequently disturbed, that the inferior races were most liable to be involved in the revolutions of tht; earth, and to have their existence registered in its archives; and it is in such regions that their remains are found in \\u\ greatest numbers. But for tlio very reason that they were subject to such events, thoy would be shunned by man, tli;- more especially as the earth must have then been but tijinly inhabited, and as more eligible situations must have bccii •'asily found. The danger of api)roaching the disturbed n- gions would have its own influence, and independent of ihi.-. their sultry atmosphere would render them intolcrabi". l!". in the lower grounds, a tropical heat prevailed even as f; r as the Polar circles, man, and many of the inferior ruct • \\liich have shared his fortunes, wouhl in general be coniinc d to the higher ranges of the groat mountain chains, whore the climate \vould be more temi)crate and salubrious. The climate and productions of i.\\Qi'y parallel from the K([Uiit(;r to the Poles, may be found in dilferent degrees of elevation, within the limits > " the same area under the lino. At thf level of the sea, nothing but tro[)ical productions can In- •"'eon; at a greater height the forms of the temperate regions appear; the.--o are succcodfiti by Alpine fcncsff^, above whirli those that are peculiar to the Polar regions maintain a doubt- lul struggle io'c existence, on t!ie nuirgin of the (Uacicr,-. ^11 146 geologv. :-' which sunnount the whole. Now, provided that the tein- pcniturc of the higher regions, in ancient times, bore the same rcUition to tliat of the lower which it bears now, the Peak of Chimborazo, and loftier summita of Dhawalaghiri and Jewakcr, must have enjoyed a niikl and agreeable cli- mate; and it was in all probability in some isuch extreme ele- vations that the cradle of the human race way placed. Some races have evidently been prepared for entering on the stage before they actually made their appearance; for in- stead of appearing in the first instance in sma'll numbers, they entered in sucii force as to make it evident that they had been previously in existence for some time, but remain- ed concealed behind some cover, till they were in a condition to compete successfully Avith those races which they ulti- mately supplanted. In their original habitations, little had occurred to preserve their memory, and they have left no vestiges behind them, till either invited or expelled from their retreats, and drawn into scenes Avliere their momorial.-j have been preserved. To such a conclusion the Scriptures as well as Geology would lead us. The topographical account which they give us of Paradise, shows that it must have been situated in some elevated ground; for besides that gold and jewels were founil in it, which arc chiefly confined to lofty regions, it gave rise to four large rivers, which appear to have flowed in diiferent directions, — -a circumstance that would have been unconunon in a low or even a level country. Accordingly we find it repeatedly called The Mountain of God, which is a common Hebraism for a high mountain. " Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of Cod; every precious stone was thy coverinfr, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the br^ryl, the onyx, and the jasjier, the sapi)hire, the emerald, the carbuuclc, and gold. — Thou wast upon th;^ holy mountain (^f (Jod. — iiy the abundance of thy merclmndise they have filled thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast tl'.oo -IS a }«»-ofa!ie thing out of the mountain of God." Ezek. xxviii. 13 — IG. Ik its literal sense the passage docs uot relutf.' to Eden; but it refers to it, and whatever is here GtOLOCY. 147 represented as belonging Tyre, must have been supposed to be true of it; and it is not only called the garden, but the Miountain of God, or in other wordcs the great mountain. Supposing our j)rcsent races of animals to have existed in the early ages of the earth, anH to have been confined for a time to its higher regions, this )nust have operated as a check upon their increase, and limited their nuiubei's. The more useful productions do not come to the same perfection in the higher regions, even when tlie climate is vory favourable, as they attain ?•. temperate latitudes*. " tV'iieat docs not prosper in South America, at 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, where the UKan ters may have appeared to be considerable, yet they will be- come insignificant when compared with the numbers whicfh ]>ass throiigh life within an equal period in later times; and W Pi !4d GEOLOGY. »» W thcii- numbers were liniitctl, the cluinccs must have also liceu l>ro[)ortionally few of their being involved in the ancient re- volutioMS of the curlh, and preserved in the ruins occasioned I)\- them. Be this as it may, we have decisive proof that dill'erent races inhabited nuich higher regions than they can live in now. The horse and the doer have been found at the height of ,0,000 foi't in the Hinnnaleh-range, whicl; is within the line of perpetual congelation, and too severe for Jicse ani- mals at the present time. And Ihirnes iidorms u-h in his Travels to Bokhara, that ho had seen petrified lorloises which had been brought from the same elevated regions. Vol. ii. p. i273. " In my search," says he, " for siu'li curi- osities, I have heard of some iietriiivliicli man was oxcmptod"; and this will ncroimt tor thn greater ahuiulance of the ro* mains of such races in the sedimentary strata. A sudden change in the temperature of their native element — the mix* tiirc of salt wiiter with fresh, or of a certain proportion of mud or qnick-limc with ciriier, alid riher changes to which water is Subject., all prove fatal to iimnmcrable multitudes of aqtiatic aninuils, which have not in such cases the same re- sources with such animals as breath m ith lui'gs; and as for reptiles, they jjcnerally ■'Iccp in mud, and in an a;>e when re- volutions were so frc< t a. id sudden, their bed smust have often become their jru, cs. In South Amicricu, tho largo saurians bury themselves in the in d ami sand, on the mar- gins of rivers, when the waters arc low, and sleep till the return of the rainy seasons; and if in the nrean time a revo- lulion were lo occur, innnmerAble multitudv;s woui»l be en- ion)bcd wlierc thvy la}'. We liavo undoubted proofs of the existence of animals (huinj? the earlier ages of tho earth, of Avhich no other me- morial has bcoji preserved, or at least discovered, than a few lont-miirks 'mpriiiled on strata, over which they had walked; jmd we may reasoi.ably suppose other aninud^ to have ex- isicd, thouj^h no suc'la evidence of t-lie fact bus been disco- vcrecU There are presum])tions as strong as positive evidence, nf tlie existence of races of which not the slightest vestif^cs has licen disco"ered. The provalcncn of certain predaceous nices in particular regions, durini,' ]n\n of the tertiary era> proves beyond a doubt tUat the herbivorous races were pro- IKM'tionully numerous in the satire re;jrions, for tho one «'an- mu sidfsi^t without tho oilier; but thi*" cjujcIi. iioii is not war- nuitcd by the proportion iir whicfi their fossil remains havo Ic^cn discoveretl. The whole extent of tho Hircynrnn fo- rest, conjpitibojidiiig a disirict of not loss than two hundrotl loiififiH's, appears to liave been almost iti the exchisive p* s* so-isioM of the Hear and Hyena, during n great part of the 'itiury iriii: biit iiicir Vast ilsj jnners proVG {ire incfliy that their iuoansi <)f suksistencc were equally abundant, for in* *» 150 GEOLOGY. - M ruce can ever prosper in u state of famine. The preclacoou.-i races occupied cave.,, where many of them died and became fossilized; \Yliile the herbivora lived above ground, ^vhcre Their remains, being exposed to the action of the elements, v.cre soon reduced to their respective elements. The practice of burying the dead, v, hich can be traced to very ancient times, would have favoured the preservation of human remains, had it been general in the revohitiomiry rimes of the earth; but there have been countries where it was the custom to burn the dead, and there are countries where it is the custom still; and unless we can say that the practice of burying is coeval with man, it cannot be referred to in support of any theory whatever. There have been diflcrent races in early timc^', of which only a very few imperfect remains have yet been tliscovered. The foor-marks of the cheirotherium have only been found in two places; and though it is exceedingly i)robable, it is no more than probable, that a few fragments of his bones have been obtained, and from these few nmtilated relics it has been confidently inferred that there was more than one spe- cies of the animal. There have been other races, of whose ]>nst existence the jn-oofs obtained are etpially scanty, though quite satisfactory; and they wairant the supposition that races have become extinct, of w hose existence no proof re- mains. Had the fossil remains of every extinct race been abun- dant—had complete skeletons of every one of ihem been I'ound in nnnd)ers, the total absence of human remains du- ring the period in fiucstion, woid(i have alibrded a very strong presumption that man was not then in existence; but t)f V. great number of the extinct races no oMier renuiiin have been discovered than a few decayed and mutilated frug- incms: puch as a part of the skull of one, or shouldcr-bladu nf another, a jaw-bone of a third, a tooth of n fourth, and MO on of others; and as the preservation of not a few of these mav bo reganlcd more as an accident than a connnon occur- ience,no iiifcfcncuCaii {>e iiruwtj Iroiii it, agairist tiio f^xi.-'enrc cf man, as a cotcmporary of the races to whicli they belong. GEOLOGV. 151 The non-existcncc of man, during tliu ])erio(l in quostion, cannot therefore he taken for grantcdj and cannot he admit- ted an a valid ohjection to the alleged identity of the revolu- tionary times of Geology, with the antediluvian age of the Sacred Narrative, especially as that identity is supported by tlie agreement already pointed out hetween these periods, — an agreement which is too minute and circumstantial, and extends to too many particulars, to be merely apparent or accidental. IJut have no human remains been discovered in the strata ? This has been hitherto taken for granted, — not because it is u fact, but for the purpose of meeting the objection on its own merits, and show ing its invalidity even if establi.~hed. Ihit it is not the fact. Human remains have been discovered in ditlerent idaces, intermixed with those of extinct ruec!^, ami no oth'M* reason has been assigned for referring them to a later ago than the non-existence of man, as a cotemporary of those races. In the neighbourhood of Bize, of Poiidrcs, of Souvgnar(iuc, and of Liege, there arc caves w hich con- tain human bones among other fossils; and in the island of (jnadaloupe, and at Waterford Haven in Ireland, human skeletons, nearly entire, and in a high state of preservation, have been found entombed in the strata. Ge<)logists, how- ever, allege that these strata arc recent deposits, and will not therefore prove the existence of man in ancient times. They first assume the non-existenco of man in the times in question, from the supposed absence of his remains in tlie .-'.rata, and tliei. they pronounce those strata in which his re- mains are discovered .eceiit deposits, because his remains are contained in them. This is clearly reasoning in a circle, !uid cannot bo admitted. Let them fust jn'ovc the non-ex- istence of man iluring the period in question, by some other ' \ idcncc than that of the absence of his remains in the stra- ta; and then the presence of Ids remains in a bed, will prove it to b(' a recent deposit; or let them prove by some other evidence that the beds arc recent, and then the presence of h'unfm rc{j^!!in?5 in tb.PMi vvill ffi%e no HUinKjrt to the exiKteuee gi%e noHupp 'f man in times more ancient. The bed in Waterford liu- m 15^2 GtOLDGt. m- I VGii irf a marine deposit of sand and chiy, and extends eight miles into the country, avIk le it rises to the heiglit of 45 feet above its level in the haven, Mherc tlie .skeleton was found, the bed In Guadalonpe is a hard limestone, ami contains, be- sides human bones, arrow-heads, and fragments of ])ottery; but wherevLi* man existed in life, some vestiges of his skill and industry may be expected. The age of the bed in Guadalonpe may be doubtful, but the presumption i.s that nil hard rocks are ancient; and its antiquity should be taken for granted, till its recenlness be proved'; and the cxt(?nt of the bed at Waterford Haven, and the height to which it rises in the interior of the country, prove its antiquity, uidoss we can show that there has been an uplifting in that locality in more recent times. Thounh the existence of man in the times in questiofi be generally denied, it is admitted by some geologists of high standing, and for reasons of no small importance. " To what point of the sujjcrcretaceoua period," says Professor Phillips, " shall we refer the creation of man? To this im- portant question impartiality nuist allow that (ieology gives no clear and certain answer. It has no evidence u])on the subject that is at all of n positive character. Wo believe that the older stratified rocks weit? Prc-ndamite, for the fol- lowing reasons: because no remains of plants or animals oc- cur in them, the same, or very similar to the existing forms of life — because land quadrupeds are about utterly mdcnown to them, and because the ))hysical conditions of the globe were utterly dilTerent from what we now behold." '' Let us apply these tests to the supercrelaceous d<>posits. fn none of those, which have been formed in tl'3 sea, have wc yet found the remains of man or his works; but remains of animals and j)lant3, identical or very similar to existing kinds, are found even in the oldest of them; land qundru- nls occur both in iresh-water and marine strata, vhich are ni long the earliest eocene tertiary deposits; and iuially, the pnysical conditions of the glo])e were, at the beginnini,- of the periot!, very similar to tlie prcsrnt, and ihi.i siiniiurity continually augmeuteil." Pag(?s 101, lOy. :ii(ls eight of 45 feet as found, itaiiis, be- f ])ottciT; r his skin ic bed in on i.s that I he tulcen c,\t(3nt of ich it rises unless we kioality in jcstioti l)c s of iiigh ^e. " To Professor o this iui- logy gives ujjon the G believe )r the ful- lininls oc- iiig forms luiknown the globe GEOLOGY. 153 For these reasons he believes that the creation of man could not liave been earlier than the chalk formation, but that it probably occurred during some part of the tertiary era. The appearance on the stage of those races which are still in existence, or of races very sinnlar to them, shon.s that the earth had come nearly, if not entirely into its pre- sent state; and ue cannot assign a satisfactory reason why the creation of man should have been delayed, after the earth uas i)repared for his reception. Man is more capable than any other terrestrial animal of accommodating himself to a ijreat variety of external (-oiiditions, and if many of those races which have shared his fortunes, and which ai)pear to have been formed principally for his use^ Avere then in ex- istence, the Professor asks, " What is to prevent our receiv- ing, as the most probable indirect inference, that tlu; era of the creallon of man had arrived while t' j tertiary strata were in the course of deposition?" We have no proof whatever, from Geology, that the earth uas prepared for the reception of man prior to the deposition of the chalk formation, but we have as little proof to the con- trary. The fossil animals of the earlier formations are chiefly marine or lacustrine races; but it does not follow that there were no terrestrial aninuils in existence, as the absence of their remains in the strata may be otlnu'wiso accounted for than liy supposing them not to have been created till afterwards. I deposits, sea, have t remain;) existing 1 qundru- vhich are nally, the ;inning of simihirity OBJECTION iir. T!l0^^s;h the great tnnjority of existing races of plants anil animals arc gcnerically the same with fossil races, Ifny are spccificalhj different from them, and may therefore bf regarded as a distinct and later creation. It n[)])enrs from the Scrijitures, that many at lea.-t, if not the whole of existing races, ore to be referred to the Mosaic freation as their origin; but it is alleged by geologists, that >\liih> numy races that were formerly in existence iuive been utterly lost, and have no representatives among living forms, 154 GtOLOGY. Il' IM #f» •il fliosio that appear to l)e represented, such as the ox, tiie horse, the dog, the lion, the tiger, the elephant, the rhino- ceros, and many others, dialer in so many respectrs from their representatives as to show tfcat tlio latter are not their de- scendants, hut have had a dillerent origin. A dilierence of some importance may exist between a liv- ing and a fossil race, without amounting to what is properly n specific difference. Every species Juay be divided into accidental varieties without number, and with our limited acquaintance with tlie extent of the plastic powers of nature, it ^^ ould be impossible for us to decide how far the subdivi- sions of a species may. iji the course of time, diverge from one another, and from the parent stock. The sha[)e, colour, and general ajipearimce of the greater part of known ani- mals, may be less or more modifi..'d by their habits, and their habits are often controlled by circumstances, and rendered in a great measure artificial, or difl'erent from what their na- tural instincts would form. Habits which originatc^a any pin'ticular combination of cricumstances, may be perpetu?ed, and not oidy produced, but transnntted through a series of generations, till it ultimately l)econies constitutional, and it will then be retained till reduced hv ieriments have been attended with great success. The greater purr i/!' our valuable grains Mere ori- f;ina}iy grasses, aijil have iiuen brought to their present Ini* proved cotulition by means of rultivationj unil some of our fwie.st fruits are known to haVi. lud u ])oor and worthless ori- GEOLOGY. 155 tie ox, tiie tlic rhino- fioin their t llieir de- iveen a liv- is properly ividrd into )ur limited ? of nature, le suhdivi- ,'orge from [)e, colour, :nown nni- «, and their I rendered nt their na- I alexia any erpetiuitc(i of time af- :ion of the leni. The lay he pro- while the e. IJv the nforination ransnjitted y !)econte.s •educed hv nt with the s on them d in mnuy with great * N\ ere ori- rescnt irn' nip of our rthlcs.s ori- gin. The common sloe, or black thorn, whieii bears a small and worthless berry, is understood to be the parent from which all our varieties of the plum arc descended; and the red cabbage and caulillowcr, uliich do not differ more from one another than from their common stock, arc both sprung from the wild Brassica Olcracca, a marine plant, which id ill its native state of no value; and I shall only add, that tho o|)inion of T.innrpiH has been fidly confirmed, that notwith- standing of the striking diireronce in form and appearance, I)etween the prinvrose, the polyanthus, the cowslip, &c., they are but accidental varieties of the same pkmt.- This tend icy to diversify under the influence of circum- stances, extends to the animal as well as the vegetable king- flo!ii. The varieties of the dog, the horse, the ox, and the hog, for instance, are much more numerous than those of any species of plant that is known. The varieties or differ- ent breeds of the ox, do not only differ from one another in regard to configuration, size, and colour, but some of them are long horned, otht?rs short horned, an«l others again are hornless; and uhat is curious, the other characteristics of particular breeds seem to be connected with these circum- stances. A few individuals of hornless cattle have been ac- cidentally obtained in iny own neighbourhood, without any intercourse with the Galloway breed, and such is their ge- neral resemblance to that breed, that a Gallovideau would take them for Humble Duns from his native hills. Even die human race, which has fiir more resources than any one of the lower animals, and is better qualified to resist the modifying influence of external circumstances, has in this respect partially shared the fate of the rest. It consists of four or five general divisions, which arc easily distinguished tVom one another by certain peculiarities, and each of which is broken into snudler subdivisions, between which there are minuter i)oints of difference. Now, those who allow tho difiercnces which exist bctuxcM accidental varieties to bo the effcci of physicai cmises, op»>- rnting through a long succession of ages, will fiml it a hard matter to prove that physical causes still more powerful may- Ibi GEOLOGY. l\ never have existed, or that they would not produce, in the course of time, those wider divergences which presupposed to constitute a difference of species. We have not yet as- certained the limits within which accidental variations are conlined, and till we know the points where they terminate, and original and specific diti'erences begin, we arc not in a condition to speak with certainty on this subject. We are only acquainted with two certain or infallible tests of a specific difference. The one is the impossibility by crossing to produce a jjcrmanent hybrid race. There are instances in which a hybrid individual may be obtained by tlic union of one species with another, — as of the horse with the ass, or the lion with the tiger; but the individual is in- capable of transmitting its own mixed nature, in its full in- tegrity, through a series of generations. A mule may in some cases have progeny, but not by union with a mule, or m any other way than by connexion with an individual of one or other of the parent stocks; and this necessarily de- stroys the equilibrium between the tsvo natures, and brings biick the progeny so many degrees nearer to the race with which it has been crossed a second time. The other test is, that accidental varieties, being freed from the influence of those circumstances in which th',y originated, and of all others which are capable of producing them, or on being restored to their original state, gradually lose their acquired peculiarities, and revert again to their original fornj. Hut we caiu\ot subject existing races to either of these tests, so ns to ascertain w hcther or not there is a sjiecific dif- ference between existing and the fossil races representetl by them. Wo can neither cross an existing with a fossil indi- vidual, nor, supposing existing to he descended from fossil races, can we relieve them from the influence of the physical causes which have produced the change, nor replace iheni in the precise condition of their progenitors, to see if they would revert to the t'ossil types. In thcehar.ges whlcii living forms have undorgoisC; it i« remarkable that the carnivoni and pachydermata have suf- fered much more than lh'> ruminatiu, though the latter were n GEOLOGY. 157 i lice, in the e supposed not yet as- •iations me terminate, c not in a aliible tests ssibiliry by Tliere are •btained by horse with dual is in- 1 its full in- ule may in 1 a mule, or divicbial ol" essarily de- , and brings ; race uith >ther test is, inlluence of and of all )r on being 3ir accpiircd i^rni. er of these si)eeiHc dif- rosented by fossil indi- froni fossil the iihysicid piaee ihem see if they o ta have siil- latter were contemporary with the former orders, and exposed to the same dangers and catastrophes. Among the riiminatin-' animals, the deer, the ox, and the buflUlo, have perhaps un- •lergone the least cJiange. It must be admitted, Jio\vever, that the fossil remains of this numerous family present pe- culiar difficulties to the naturalist; for though the character- istics of the ruminantia are so strongly marked as to distin- guish them from every other family, the distinctive attri- Imtes of the genera, and still more of the species, are murji less discernible. In ascertaining the species, the horns are of essential importance, and as these differ both in form and size, in accidental varieties of the same species, the conclu- sions drawn from them with respect to tlie diversity or even identity of one species with another, arc always to be received with much hesitation. Keeping this in view, and looking to the probable, more than to what is absolutely certain, Cu- vier, the chief of comparative anatomists, after a careful ;ind laborious examination, and comparison of the fossil with existing races, decides in favour of their identity. Thr Kime accurate and minute rescmldance subsists l>etween the fossil and the living horse, and various other races not bo longing to the ruminating family. Dilfercnces between the fossil and existing races are ii.. doubt discernible, but they are in many instances not greater tiian are to be found between varieties of the same existing .species. Into how many varieties, for instance, have the horse and the dog become divided? and how far have «omc of thc-o diverged from each other, both in regard to size andconfiguraiion.? Numbers of them oven appear to be possessed of diiforent instincts. The pointer no doubt re- 'luires training, but what other variety of tho species can be trained to the same habits.? Some of the varieties of the species seem even to be possessed of properties that have I'ccn bestowed in compensation for the want of others. ^Vhiio tho fleet grey-hound is destitute of scent, and not en- dowed wil'.i any superior degree of sagacity, but has to de- pend on hid sight and power of action, which arc sudi<'icnt to counterbalance theso deficiencies, sotao of his more clum- Pf^ •"iai^^a^iSat'W ^ ^J^^J^^g^t (.56 GEOT.O'lir.. silvtorhic'l congeners have an .icutencss of scent, tcnaei'17 oi puipuse, and power of endurance, from which it is rfiffi- cult ultimately to escape. The causes of change, whether in plants or animals, ar& not in all cases easily ascertained. A change is sometiniea jjurely nctidiMital, 01 depends on causes tl>at appear to be occasional, and of rare occiwrencOy Avhile at other times it is iljc effect of causes that are permanent, whatever they may be. Both in Britain and iiv British America^ wh«re the cli-. Hiate and other physical- conditions are widc-ly different from those of Africa, Negroes in general? retain tl>e distinctive peculiarities of their race, at least through' a (Kn>sitlerable number of generations; while individu-alslose them in a very short time, and at tl>c same time become handsome Ivlulat- toes in the course of one or two generations, in the country of Seunar, which differs littl© from their native country, cither in clin.ate or any thing else. When Poncet visited that country, in 1G96, the inhabitants were Negroes, who had some time before exp-elled their predecessors, and taken forcible pot5scssion of it. When visiled by Bruce, seventy years lat Bricain become climatized in less than a year af- ter their arrival. The change which the inferior races un- deriro is for obvious reasons not very soon visible, but equal- ly certain, and of still more importance. All the domestic animals degenerate in the course of a \ ^y few generations,— the young in general appear to me to have comparatively little of the buoyancy of youth, and full-grown dogs often lose theuiselves within a few miles of their homes, whicb rarely or never happens in the mother country. Vfc'o'LbG'v. Ud •w It, tenaei'i^ h it is ()ifl[i-<> nimals, are sonietiitieij »pcar to be r times it is r they may \ere the cli-. fterent from distinctive (Oi>sitlerable ;iTi in a very )me Ivlulat- the country ve country^ ncet visited jgroes, who s, and taken ace, seventy itnresjAvhile i>lexion; and , the transi- features arc I has become r ffova-Sco- i, and capa- ^y wouhl be n; and enii- an a year at- or races mi- le, but equal- the domestic LMicrations,— Dmparativoly n dogs often omcs, which ■plants arc as liable td transmutation as animals; and there are both particular localitres and races, in which the teiulen- cy to it is greater than in othors. I have obtained a variety of oats in this country, which has degenerated little in twen- ty years; but have repfiat<^dly imported the Potat6e, Hope- tone, Blain.tition of organized forms opens an important field of enquiry, and presents for sol\ition sonu; highly interesting but difficult problems. It would perhaps be impossible, in the present state of our acquaintance with the subject, to assign a satisfactory reason for the preference given to particular localities, by parti(-ular races. Distance from the Equator, and elevation above the level of the sea, have in ger>eral a marked and powerful influence; l»Ut it may be partily counteracted by the features of a country, or some peculiarities not «asiJy deteci?ed. What is most cilrioUs, and hard to ItcexiT^aitrcd^ is, the want (€ tininnmiiry in reganl to the preferences manifested in dim-rciit localities, b3°th(^ very same races, III Scotland for instance, the hazel gro^^s in a higher talitude than either the Scotch fir or the sjiruce, while in Norway^ which is at no great distamre, the case is reversed. Again, in the latter country, tlu' birch extend- one degree nearer lo the Pole than the Scotch fir, and that In its turn three degrees nearer than the spruce. While in Si' Iwria the spruce extends farther in tire sumo dircclioli tluul I GO GEOLOGif. If. .f •i« i 'i the Scotch llr, and the Scotch fir farther than the Birch. Other instances might be given equally contradictory, and how they have originated, or to what they are owing, it may l)e impossible to determine. It is however a well-known fact, that, generally speakings different countries are preferred by different races; and the (]uestions row to be considered are: if they have been dis- persed from a common centre, as the Scriptures affirm, by what means have they arrived at their respective destina- tions? and, how has it happened that they have continued in the countries which they must have in many instances reached with difficulty, while they have left no trace behind them in that from which they have all taken their departure.^ To either of these questions it may be impossU 'e to give a satisfactory answer; but if there are actual phunomena, as has just been shown, in the distribution of plants, for which it maybe difficult if not impossible to account, there may be other phenomena, equally inexplicable, though not exactly of the same nature; ivnd when a theory accounts in a satis- factory manner for a great number and variety of facts, it is not to be rejected, though it should leave some difficulties^ unsolved. We may give instances of a particular species of animals which has spread from one locality to another, in a waj for which it would be difficult to account. The mydaus hieU- reps, an intermediate link in the chain of being between the ])olecat and the badger, is an iidiabitant of the higher land, of Java, and is not known to descend to a lower elevation than 7000 feet above the level of the sea; and yet it has found its way from one lofty per.k to another, though many ef thf ni are isolated, and separated from one another by intervening l)lains, where it is unknown, and has never been seen. A circumstance which is in some respects similar, is at present I'Xciting no little interest, and occasioning no little specula- tion in this Province. The wolf has been long an inhabi- tant of the Canadas, and ulsu of llie neighbouring Provincr of New Brunswick; but has not till within a year or two made a descent on Nova Scotia. But he has at last made ^ifeOLbaV; iGi the Birch, ctory, and ii.g, itmay speaking) 3; and the been dis- aflirni, by rG destina- continued I instances ttce behind departure? ! to give a lomena, as for which 3re may be lot exactly in a satis- ' facts, it is difficulties of animals I a waj for daus i,ieU- etween the igher lanc^j I- elevation t has found ny uf thfm ntervening [1 seen. A ^ at present le speculn- an inhabi- \ Province /ear or two last made his appcaranc , and ,|': u too in considerable force; and whnt 1= «t.U more re. »arlcu.le, and to the point in question, in tiie very place wh.<^ im v.as least of all to have been expected- ana v.'here ius a.,;.al appears the most unaccountable.' nnmely, m ]Mu«t :, i^boit, to the eastward of Halifax, Had he la.i(led m au, i.art of the Province bordering on the Gulf o. bt. Lawrence, or washed by its waters, he n.i.d>t have l)een supposed to Jiave come from Canada or Labrador, oh a raft of ice; and this has douljtless been his mode of con- veyance; but he must have passed through tho Gut of Can^ seau, doubled the Cape of that nan.e, anu after .^hot m Guysborough, and not uiore than lialf that time sinco another laiuled at Cape George, near the entrance of the (xut, and soon after met with the same tatc; and these occur- vonces point out the course that must have been followed bv 'lie more fortunate adventurer, who, after escapin- the most n>rm,dable dangers, has planted a colony in the heart of the h-ov,nce, before tho possibility of such an occurrence wn. I^yrn dreamed of by the most credulous an may oasdy be blended, and under proper conditions ihe HAod progeny may be preserved entire, and transnntted '"'""Si. a., nulefimte nund.er of generations, without the It)^ GEOLOGlr. .•Vul of cithGr of the stocks from whicli it sprung. Neither do they manifest a tendency to revert to the original type) Mfter havini,' been changed by tlie influence of ciniumstances. ThiK shows the whole race to be of one species— to hrve had a common origin, and therefore to have diverged from a common centre. Keeping this in view, it is easy to account for the ver> .general diffusion of the race. Man, relying on his superior resources, trusts himself on the watc as well as on the land, :uid there arc many well-authenticated instances, in which individuals, and even numbers> have been drifted at sea to a great distance from the ditferent points from which they respectively started. Captain Cook met, in the island of Wateoo, with three natives of Otaheite, who, having lost thems.'lves at sea, had arrived there, though the islands are 5.50 njilcs apart, and the} had not scon huid between them. In 1()9G, tiiirty jiersons^ who had left Ancorso, in two ca- noes, weio thrown upon Samar, one of the Phillippines, at the distan;',c of 800 miles; and Kotzcbue found, in one of the Caroline isU'uds, an individunl, the only remnant of a party, who had come from Ulea, a distance of 1500 miles, which is equal to half tiie breadth of the Atlantic. Other instances might be given if necessary. Now, as no inhabited land, yct^liscovored, is 1500 miles distant from all other inhabited binds, wo see at once from these facts in what way one conti- nfMit or one island may have fnst received its inhabitant^. iVom another. In the same way may we account for the disseminntion ol some at least of the inferior animals. To whatever region, man has wandered, the faithful dog bus been his companion, and though divided into an endlnss number of varieties, their Hp-cific bientit) can be easily ascertained. The crossing of almost any two varieties produces a thinl, and whenever the animal becomes wild it speedily loses its ac.p.ired habits ■md reverts to something like a conunon standard. '1 !.<• larger domnsticatrd animals have for obvious reasons bom b,HS extensively disiiersed, wherever a conveyance by wat. r ii indis|>ensable. When there was no other means ol tran.s- . Neithei' ginal type, uinstavices, 5s — to lun e ergcd from or the verv lis superior 311 the land, 3, iu which ;d ut sea to wliich thoy le island of liaving lost I islands are ween tlicni. in two cn- llippincs, at n one of the t of a party, tiles, which icr instances abited land, er inhnl)it(;tl %y one conti- i inhabitants eiuinntioti of ever regions iconjpanioi!. irleties, their o crossini? <>l' .vhene\('r tlic uir<'(l habit-, jdanl. The reasons been Mce by watt r punfiof tran.s' GEOLOCy. les portation by water than the frail canoe, constructed of liark, reed, or skin, or even of the hollow trunk of a tree, the lenjo- val from one island to another of the larger animals, unless for the most important reasons, was out of the question; and accordingly we find that they are seldom met with in coun- tries which have depended on such meano of nuitual inter- course, when first discovered,— a strong presunjption that the smaller animals have been conveyed to such countries by human agency. ^Vere the actions of men always dictated and guided by reason, or could they be all accounted for on rational prin- ciples, it would be difiicult to assign to hunuin agency many occurrences that can be distinctly traced tc that origin. There are few of the animals by which the earth is inhabit- ed, whether savage or tame, whether wild or domesticated, that have not been deified in some country, or in some age; and to whatever qmirter man emigrates, he carries with iiim the symbols of his fnitli. Whether the Egyi)tians emigrated froniHindostan, ()r th(! Hindoos from B'.gypt, the perfc.i identity of their ancient sui)erstitions shows them to b^ de- scended from a common origin; and wherever they have gone they have carried their gods and rites of worship. The Phenicians did the same. In all their wide-spread co- lonies, the altar was didy erected to Uaal, its precincts stream- ed with human blood, and its fire.^ smoked with the living bodies of ha])less infants, innnolated by the ignorant devo- tion of their parents. Every nation, and every tribe of the human family, acts on this principle, and the Poet only ex- presses a coinmon feeling of our miture, in making the shi-.ilu of Hector address JEneas to this effect: Hncrn, 8unsfiu xi. v. 2^'d, Troy now rnminoadsi'to lime her future »lato, And gi'<''< litT p. A sucoessimi of unusually dry seasons »'.iny give to some jmrticnlar race s||ch n prepon,|eranc.> om ,• another UH to enable it ultimately to evpel it fn,,,, it. hib, ""io'N or t,, destroy it utterly. Should a herbivcu'ous race lie iqduced by fiunine, brought on bv a series of drv s,. j, it itmy he in time e.vieniiinated by the predaeeous raetis, nh.ch depend upon it, from the simpln n.ct ileu j,. diminish- GEOLOGY. 1C& ) and to (lid at (I 1 the oh- [■rnit iiii- i iiiiinljer ive tlieir iDioiis ill u lie ill cu- rt of the ;.s it ha]i- ontinued y, others to Afri- ively be- ll ri' rer- mii, and an iidia- terior to h all hi> Slid with leii it is •e, till a the hear, iiiiunted i.siuii tJK ^. '( !,. i'et'tl\ ni cikU oil lich uic season^ ire ()\ I r tn liulli- >iis racr « raeuM. iiiiini.sh- ed numbers cannot supply the usual demand, without suft'er- ing a further reduction; and the stock is diminished with an accelerating rapidity, in proportion as the increase becomes inoro and more inadefjuate to the combined demand. And the loss does not terminate hero, for the race that encroach- es upon its capital dries up the sources of its regular income, and must sooner or later become the victim of its impru- dence. The musk-ox has for some cause or other deserted Newfoundland, since the era of its discovery; and the Dodo appears to have become entirely extinct within the same pe- riod. I may add that tlic range of the musU-<)X is less ox- tensive now than it has evidently be parts of the dry land in that quarter might not have been »>. ;;re8sod to the same degree as in the North- ern llemlsplicrc, mid if so, the original inhabitants o.' these '•oimtr''"s may have been preserved to the present titne. .Sho 1 , this bi! admitted, the whole dillieulty suggesU'd b,\ tlii(ich it rests. furiticfl fof the hunhx iagues, nl- nti fainilw ely tlifler- re ill po.s- e creiitioii the locali- ijjted; and tastrophcs lal habita* icuiiur hti" h the same tality for a oiiger tiiiKj eeii drifted Indies, to !r coiiiitry, lants havo the fact, it lical distri- ig faces of that out of tt'tl on thr scaped de* il>.sec|uen''_y cntrcs, thn lie tinu' hv' he i(h!ntity hiviaii aire more s|H!- ;o disprove •is more innnediate eUet'ts, is ultiinatrly attemied with beneticial con- sequences, and these of suck imjiortanco as to do mor* than compensate for all its evils. If tlae earth has undergone a series of great and vioAfMit change, bi'fore attaining to its present state of rest, and if these revolutions proved di-- structive to innumerable ra<'«*ri t>f animated beings, they have at the same time prepared it for tin) accommodation of far more important races, and for the full devclopement of the designs of Proviilence in regard to their desiinien, § 'i. To some, it may seem a reliccjtioii on the Creator, to allege that his work was imj irfect at iirst, and has bei'n sid)- Kequently improved by physical agency; but this is his usual mode of procedure, and it is no rttlection to say that he ha.«« not departed from it in bringing the earth to its present state. We generally prefer approaching our rnds by the shortcsi 1G8 GEOLOGY". anil most direct course, especially when tlieir attainment in tliis way alFords an o|)portunity lor the display of our abili- ties; and wo too roadily suppose the Creator to be influenced by the same motives wit!', ourselves; but though the divino power is the movinj,' principle in all the diversified pheno- mena of nature, it is generally masked by second causes, and there is unspeakably more, both of wisdom and pow- er, manifested in the direction of the conflicting elements which Provid(>ncc emjdoys in the accomplishment of its pur- poses, than if these were attained by supernatural interpo- sitions. To an enlightened mind, which delights in search- ing into the mysteries of nature, and tracing the relation between cause and ellect, it alVords the highest and purest pleasure, to contemplate the sure, but gradual and imper- ceptible maimer in which Providence accomplishes its ends — th(! unerring precision with which its elements arc adapted to one another, and the whole to the particular object in view — the perfect regularity with which the movement ar- rives at its intended destination at the time appointed, and the unfailing ceitainty with which anticipated residts are obtain- ed: and because it purifies, enlarges, and elevates the mind, it is the way which Providence generally prefers. The great majority of its works appear in the first ])lace in (jmbryo, and are gradually and im[)crccptil)ly develo})ed and matured by jihysical agency. Indeed it is oidy for special purposes, and on rare occasions, that any other mode of procee restricted to these, but ha .i re- ference to other objects besides, which may be impercejtiblc for a time; and even when they come distintUly into view, they may l>e preliminary to other objects, which we cannot fur a time perceive. Now this complexity and variety of design must alfect the adjustment of the elements, by vvhosf, combined operation it is to be progressively accomplished, § 5. It has evidently not been originally intended, that th^, earth should receive, at the very first, or even sewn after ii.s ••reation, the full number of human l>eings for whom it nuiy yield the means of subsistence, or that they should attuin to tiieir maximum nundwrs, before they had maroveiuent. Had it become densely inhabited liy a race of savages, without fkill and enterprise to explore and develope its hidden resources, nothing but misery and trinie would have been the result. The strong would huvt t>ram»i/.ed over and o))pressed the weak — every gener(Mi> f'-eling of our nature wouhl have been chilhid and exiir- pau'd, and insurtnountable obstacles placed in the way of all iuiproveujent. The numbers of the hunuin race, though rapidly increasing, are still few, in comparison of what thcv may hereafter amount to; and while extensive regions are no GEOLOGf. yrt uiii-eclaiinecl from a state of natuie, there are hut lew (li-tricts improved to the utmost extent of their cnpahilities, or which have been made to yiehi all the means of subsis- t(!nfe, that may be extracted from them by the most skilful modes of cultivation that may be adopted. Now, so long as this continue.^, it l* in perfect accordance with the divine benevolence, that every spot which man is not in a condition lo reclaim, and convert into an abode of rational enjoyment, should be in the mean time con.iitionally occupied by infe- rior races, smd rendered th*? scenes of such kinds and de- {Ti-ees of happiness as are best adapted to their respective natures. The arctic regions have long been, and in all pro- bability will continue to be, the undisputed domain of such animals as the musk-ox an^ to the successive mutations Iiy which it was in-epared for the convenience of man. I shall endeavour to show in the se- roperly examined, they will show, that the revolutions whicli the earth has undergone have been productive of benefits, which do far more tlnui v'ompensate for all the temporary evils which attended them. CHAP. II. OP TKF USKFirL MINEnALS WHICH THK HEVOrUTIONS OV TPK KVnTH HAVE DEEN THK MEANS OK PRRPAUING AND HEN- DEKINU ACCESSrBI.E. If we penetrate below the surface of the earth, and r\- fiiniive the sto«-es of mineral wealth drposit»-d there, we ^^ii! ^iid them To 1)0 both varied and rich in the highe.-t dei,ncf ; and also that thry have eitlier be<^n jnt'pared or rendcrcif available hy the revolutions of the earlli. § 1. I shall begin with limestone. Peing extensively used in arcliiieciuio, tuid agriculture, as u ilux in the reduction o^ ' f I GEOLOGV. *i some valuable ores, and in other hrnnches of industry, it* value is generally known and admitted. Lime, which is one of the earths, is an oxide of calcium, and it combines readily with a number of acids, and forms substances possessing: different properties accordingly. In combination with car- l»onic acid gas, it forms limestone, and chalk, or the hard and soft carbonates of lime, the great majority of sea shells, nnd other bodie.^. of less importance: combined with sulphu- ric acid, it forms plaster of paris, alabaster, &( .: with flu- oric acid, the fluate of lime, which is used in the reduction of copper ores; and with phosphoric acid, the phosphate of lime, of which the bones of animals are chiefly composed. It is of vast importance, therefore in the economy of nature, and many interesting phenomena depend upon it. It enters into the composition of a very great proportion of plants; nnd no coral insect, no shell-fish, and no vertebrated animal whatever, could exist without a regular supply of it. It is necessary to repair the waste of bone which is continually go- ing on in the animal economy. Were lime, therefore, want- ing in the earth, or did it exist in a very small proportion, there is probably not another substance that would supply its place, or answer all the purposes for which it is intend- ed; and it is impossible to calculate what would be the con- sequences, or how many alterations in the system of nature would become indispensable. Lime, in some one or other of its combinations, is very common, and is supposed to constitute an eighth part of the crust of the earth. It is present in all, or at least the great- er part of the strata, but generally so mixed up with other earths, or so combined with other substances, as not to bo available for many of the purposes to which it is applied by man. This evil is obviated by its formation into lime*tone, w hich is so very «^ommon among the sedimentary rocks, but e.si)eciiill.v among the secondary and tertiary systems; and for this we are indebted to the early condition of the earth, ft is probable that vast magazines of calcium exist in its interior, and thai coming into contact with currents of wa- t«;r, it c!>!nb!ned with the oxygen of the latter, and formed GTKOt.OGV^ 17;1 iistry, Its ch is one s readily issessinjf kvith rar- tlie hard m shells, isulphu- with flu- eduction jphRle of imposed, if nature, It enter* >f plants; ;d animal it. It is uially go- tre, want- oportion. Id supply is intend- 3 the con- of nature 5, is very (art of the the great- vith other I not to bo I p plied by limestone', rocks, but terns; and the earth, xist in its Us of wa- nd formed lime, uhich wi\a again deposited among the othov niHtt'iinls of svhich thtj crust ot the earth is coinposoil. Uc this a,-) it may, wat<;r tiltoring through the earth becomes less or njoro charged with lime, which it holds in solution till it becomes stagnant, when it absorbs carbonic acid iVom the atmosphere^ and forms buninm of the carbonate; of lime. At the l)(>tte in a miserable state with- out this mineral. But this is not the only use of coal, nor even the use of it which contributes most to the progress of civilization. It is equally, if not more beneficial to man, as the most important element in the production of steam, and its application to various branches of industry. By means of it, the manufacturer can not only extend his operations, and answer orders to any amount, but is enabled to submit to a very great reduction of prices, without any loss of profit on GEOLOGY. ITS iters was idy men- ' making Iter, and ?rial, the ^Ve may ricties of uch pro- earth, t impor- I changes e origin, — for be- parts of !); and as srally be- state for ;fly oom- en occa- since the been in a xtent for fuel , and \m\y pro- enscly to II present I become R tompc- ulo with- conl, nor ogrciis of ) man, a.<< cam, and means of ion.s, and imit to a |)rotit on his capital; and its application to navigation has the same effect, as the bringing distant nations to each others shores. It facilitates th "r mutual intercourse — the exchange of their respective productions — of their di.'icoveries in the arts and sciences, and improvements in manners, customs, and laws. The discoveries and inventions of one country — the lights that are struck out, atid the new paths that arc opened up to wealth and power, are speedily diffused through steam na- vigation, and become the common property of our race; any Pro- ry minute e rapidity th animal '1 .le iron luo to at- I of small cnt, place, , of which the mar- is to accu- is usually coal; and l)o«^ ore of curbonife- latter coU ril)uteen in the early part of the secondary stra- ta, and which oidy require to be extracted fronj the ra 'th, and reduced to powder, in order to be fit for tise. In many localities springs arise from beds of salt, and it can be ob- tained by evaporating the water, without the trouble nml cx- pens'? of mining. 'I'here are tliftereni ways in which beds of salt niny have been originally formed. In the g»-eat tlesert of Zabara. m Africa, there nre extensive basons which are fdled with wa- ter during the rainy season, but either partially or w holl} dry at other times; and as the sand of the desert is impreg- nated with salt, and tho water of most of the spring** brack- ish, salt is annually carried down int > the basons by the cur- rents which flow in the rainy season, and left there when the waters are dried up; and from this the interior of Norlli- ern Africa is supplied with the article. The deposition «.f m J ns GROLOGY. V^f, b('(l.-i of sail in these localitiep>, somotlmes to a very great thickness, wtxy sui^post to us the way in which rock salt was often foriiietl in the early thncs of the earth. Though the strat:i of the new red sandstone \vstom are cojnmonly re- jranh'iJ a.s aijueous deposits, some of them may have l)een lormed of (hifted sand, like those of Zahara, and the Lybian ileserts; an.i salt may have been formed amonjj: them in the sanu; niiiuner as above mentioned. It niay also have been tormed in lakes and ponds, into which the sea flowed at high water, and where the water was evaporated duriii!^ the re* cess of the tides. It inay also in some instances have had a volcanic orij^in, as it is one of the most common saline sub- stances, formed by sublimation in the craters of volcanoes; nnd Messrs. Smythc and Lowe give an instance in which it (•moresces from the ground, and covers it like a full of snow. .Innrncy from Lima to Para, p. 115. When compost heaps (M)ntaining salt have become heated, the salt sometimes rises to the surface and forms an encrustation. In an age when so many regions of the globe were subject to intense volcanic action, masses of salt may have been formed by its influence. IJut in whatever way it was fjrnied, it originated in the ])e- culiar condition of the earti), and is therefore to he numbered among the benedts, which we now derive from that condition. § {). There are many other metals besides iron, \\hich are of very great use to ma and there are numbers of them at least which have been rL-idcred accessible to us by the revo- hitions of the earth. They generally occur in veins, a?)d these veins have evidently been furmed subsequently to the strata in which they are found, and they appear to have been filled from the interior of the earth. They «lo not lie be- tween the strata, or on th(' san)e planes with then), but in- tersect them at higher or lower angles; and commencirg at greater or less d('|)ths below the siu'fnce, they descend in n vertical or inclitjed direction, through all the Jindcrlying stra- ta, and even through thecrystalTme masses beneath, to an in- terminable depth in the interior. Small veins are occasion- ally discovered, which are wider above and narrower below, till their o]»posite sides meet, and they conHequently run out: GEOLOGY, 179 cry great : salt wa^s ougli the nonly re- ave been )G Lybian em in the i«ve been lmI at high iig the re* ive liad a aline sub- olcanoes; 1 which it 1 of snow. »ost heaps imes rises e when so 5 volcanic influence, in the ])e- numbered condition. \\ liich are ^f them at the revo- I'cins, n?)d itly to the have been lot lie he- rn, l>ut in- lencirij nt seond in n lying stra- I, to i»n in- od'usion- ver below, ly run out: and from this fact, taken in connection wiih another, nnnie- Jy, that they sometimes contain water-worn pel.'bles, it iuis been inferred that they have been formed in chasms occa- sionetl by the drying of the ground, and lllled from al)0vc, rather than from below, IJut thcmgh the minor branches sometimes b'>come thinner as they descend, till tliey ultirnately run out, this never hap- pens with tlie large veins, from the sides of which these branches start off. Wherever metallic veins have been formed, the rocks which they intersect, whether crystalline or stratified, present the most unequivocal evidences of ha- ving been ruptured and dislocate disturbing force by whi(!h the rocks have been affected. While they abound in some districts that have been repeatedly and vio-lently dis- turbeil, they occur but rarely or not at all in other districts, that have been but little disturbed, although the rocks arr precisely the same, " The most general point of view in which mineral veins present themselves," says the same wri- ter, '^ is that of dependance «mi proximity to the sources of subterranean heat. In the rocks nearest these sources, they are most numerous and varied; they abound nearest the dis- turbances which are consequences of vaviution of internal heat; and in certain cases (Pyrenees, Stc.) they are not rare among newer strata, where the subterranean igneous rooks have exerted a remarkid)lc influence." Whether we sup- pose them to have been lille'' by the injection of matter from GEOLOGY. 181- 4ing they : no : force by abound in ently dis- • districts, rocks nro t* view in same wri- iourccs of I roes, they St the dis- if internal e not rart> ous rooks : we siip- lUt.or from the interior, or by sublimation, or in some other way differ- ent from either of these, their repletion appears very clearly to have been connected with and dependent upon subterr^i- neous disturbances; and, in so far as their contents are useful to man, ve are indebted to these disturbances for the access we have to them. By far the greater part of the metals contained in these veins are useful to man, either in one form or another. Ma- ny of them are i seful in a very high degree; and numbers of them are almost indispensable to his interests in a state of society. And Jt is a circumstance well entitled to notice, thai they app*^" r ie b^ more or less abundant, in proportion as they ». '• m(».\j or lfcs,« u\ /{.inronu! as Will as an ii tr -nsic value; and in sucli caser ua iv' v- bUidan^.^ would ('o lai more harm than good. Iron, lej'd, und .iescval others v:ch as tin and copper, &,c., possess only an intrinsic value, and tiierefore the more abun- dant they are the better,— provided the supply do not exceed the consumption, and a useful branch of industry be ruined. But were the precious metals, such as gold and silver, to be increased beyond a certain proportion, their value would l>o diminished, and their . .ility destroyed. In the proportions in which they have hitherto been obtained, they are useful in a verv high degree, but viere they to become as common as iron ./ lead they would be good for nothing. It is of the utmost importance to the progress of civiliza- tion, that we possess an article which may be universally adopted as a representative of value, and an instrument of exchange; as a standard by which we can compare all other commodities, and that will facilitate tho exchange of whut we have to dispose of for what we need. But an article of this kind should possess an intrinsic as well as a convention- al value, in order that tlw3 supjily may not exceed the de- mand. Under proper regulations, a paper currency possess- es many advantages. It is easily handled, and easily trans- mitted from place to place, — its cost is trifling, and when ac- IS> GEOLaCJT, t .'4to ridentally lost or destroyed, the community at largo docs not suffer by tho event; but unless it be convertible into specie at pleasure, an over-issue cannot be prevented, and its value cannot possibly be sustained. Besides, it cannot, by any re- gulations whatever, be prepared to .neet the exigencies ofu crisis, or made capable of resisting the influence of a panic, and preventing its consequences on conunercial credit; and not only is it inelTectual under such circumstances, but it is calculated, from its very nature, to produce alarm, and to aggravate its evils, — for no sooner is a crisis apprehended, than the issuer who possesses peculiar facilities in foreseeing its approach, begins to limit his accommodations, and to withdraw a portion of his paper from circulation; and this in itself, when markets are glutted, and sales dull, may lead to a crash, which might have otherwise been avoided. The precious metals are not liable to any sudden or sensi- ble depreciation from a superabundance, — for the moment they begin to exceed the demajul for them in any one coun- try, and const quently to sink in value, they find a vent to other countries, and the equilibrium is restored. Neither arc they so likely to be withdrawn from circulation, as a pa- j»cr currency, — for this reason, that being real., and not ficti- tious property, and the capitalist having given value for them, he cannot so vvell aflbrd to lock them up in his coffers, id when he can obtain security for them, he will let them still continue in circulation. They sustain their credit at the very height of a paroxysm of commercial suspicion; and though their circulation nuiy sulTcr a momentary check, it is easily restored. They are like every other commodity, — no one wishes to hoard them, and those who are in posses- sion of them are anxious to invest them in something that promises to yield a profit. Moreover, the precious metals may be easily coined, and have their integrity guaranteed by public authority. They are not easily counterfeited, and they can never become more abundant than is suliicient to meet the general demand for them. While copper, lead, tin, &.C., occur in districts where they can be i)rocured at an expense which admits of their GtOLOGY^ 1S3 application to all the purposes for which they are adapted, it is u wise provision of nature, that the richest gold and sil- ver mines which have yet beea discovered, namely, those of Potosi, Pasco, and Chota, are placed in regions where the means of subsistence cannot be raised, and must be brought from a distance, and that at a very heavy cost, on account of the natural features of the country; and where nil the ope- rations of the miner are necessarily performed with such dif- ficulty-, that the j)roduce of the mines could not be made to pay, were the supply to become greater than the demand. It may perliaps be supposed, that though a supply beyond a given amount might operate injuriously, a deficiency coiiUl lu;ve no bad effect, as a smaller weight would ]>ossess a va- lue equal to a greater one, and as the quantity obtained might be divided into smaller portions, and answer the ))urposes of an instrument of exchange equally well as if they had been more abundant; but this is a mistake. The smaller the por- tions into which gold and silver are divided, the greater will be their surface, and the more the waste. For in order to prevent them from being counterfeited, they must have roon- on their surface for the devices of the mint; and, indepen- dent of this, whatever is scarce is niore easily monopolized, and when money, or whatever may be a substitute for it, i>; in the hands of a few, it becomes an instrument of oppres- sion, rather than of advantage to the community at largo. The circulating medium should always bear a certain pro- portion to the commerce of a country, but an excess does less harm than a deficiency. When it exceeds, it produces a corresponding depreciation, but that is not generally per- <'eived at first. It is rather supposed that a general rise of prices has taken place; anlt at the id acces- the main red from I the sur- red from ivc been jbttiinc'l, ; and had lovvels of me, been hey hap- jvidence, ecessary. peratic ns hich they jse of the n thought en much ed chiefly compact to V ater; ir with a B througli , running !a; or any econoujy )n and go- onie beds ious to it; r surface, 1 the form into rills, E? returned J new aver The usual state of coal fields may be here referred to, as a striking instance of tiie beneficial effects of the i n' tions of the earth on the disposition of the strata. T..ey have been everywhere more or Ws disturbed since the coal wars deposited; and though their dislocations have in some re- spects been hurtful, they have been fa*- more beneficial thaa injurious. Coa'; is naturally a porous .substance, and readily adnuts the entrance of water, and its free circulation :hrout;h the whole mass; and resting as it generally does >n capacious basons, that retaivi the water which finds its w^' .to t^'ein, it would in many instances have been an insurm table ob- stacle to the progress of the miner, had the foriiiation con- tinued in its original state. But coal fields are fr^narallv di- vided into sections, some^'mes of greater, and .i other ;iu>es of less extent; and these sections are separated jn all sides fro)n one another by natural j)artitions, usually called "Ouilts'^ in mining phrascolosry, which run through the bason in dif- ferent directions, from side to side, and from t^ip to bottom; and being in a great measure impervious to water, they pre- vent its passage from one section to another. The strata of the fortnation have been violently agitated-, ruptured, and tlis))Iaceu. Sometimes one part ha^ been raised uj) above its original level, and another adjoining has sunk below it; and everywhere rents and chasms have been opened, intersecting one another in all directions; and these having been subse- quently filled with mud, whicL has in course of time become solid and compact, the sections are sci»arai;ed by massy walls, through which the water does not penetrate. By means «»r this arrangement, one section may be wrought at a time, whicti woul(' have been otherwise impnssocn placed tnider a different arrangement. Besides, were it not for the influence of the sea, the heat would accuinnlato to a ruinous dcgreo within the tropics, while the hiirlinr latitudes would be left in a deficiency; but it takes off part of the excess in the former, and by convey- ing it to the latter, tends to bring it nearer to an equilibrium; and consequently contributes to the production of a greater amount of the conveniencics of life, ihun would bt- obtained otherwise. Moreover, as the great sink of the world, the ocean re- ceives all the waters tliat are drniuod from lii- land, with all the impurities, and other substances with which thpy have GEOLor.r. 137 become impregnated in their course; ami wiiile it retains every thing that is noxious, or useless, and renders them in- nocuous, it returns the purified water to the heavens, to per- form the same circ:iit anew. § 2. And if the division of the earth into land and seu be a liencficial arrangement, that of the land into mountain and valley is equally advantageous, though in a different way. Besides giving a pleasing variety to the face of nature, it id directly conducive to a variety of objects, both physical and moral, of vast importance to the inhabitants of the earth, and for which substitutes would not easily bo iound. Were the surface of the land as uniform an u >w. ti>» iiinitnf iitiwla tliiit 1*11111 'tn hfith oio^t frcQuent and Hbundunt; while on some low, level, and extensive regions, 18d GEOLOSr. Hi r » ^i« I.H' such ns Kgypt and the Lybiuii deserts, it seldoia or novor r'lins at nil. Moutitiiinsarc also a great protection to the lowTr grounds, from the injuriouM intluencc oi" atmospheric currents, in their sweeping course from the Pole; to the Equator. C';»id air is always more condensed, and consequently heavier tiian what is hoateers nm' few are suirtcie'iitly aware of the degr|iiniit of nthor lands, liritain. for instance, owes much to her insular situation. It has on diflercnt octMsion.i saved hi ; from the calamities of a hc.stile ii vasion, >vlii«U ar-e i^ lf»0 G£OLOGt. always great, even when the invasion is repelied. It has fa- vourotl the pi^oificssive iinproveuientof herinstitutions,whi<'h has been slowly but steadily and surely advancing for ma- ny ^'oneratioii-:; and is, along with her inexhaustible ujineral resources, th*- origin of that commercial greatness on which her vast power depends, and by which she has been enabled to disseminate the elements of sociyl iniprovenrent overmany i>xtensive and populous regions, situated in distant quarters' of the gl(»bc. Had she formed a part of Continental Eu- rope, she couhl hardly have escaped from the blasting indu- t'licc of des]»otism which so long predominated there; and hud her civil liberty been crushed in the bud, the human race must have suflered to an extent of which it would be ditli- cult to form nn estimate. The division of mankind into families, all speaking differ- ent languages, and observing different customs and laws, rnay appear at first sight as i\\\ injurious arrangement, — as an arrangement calculated to produce national jealousio?, and dislikes, and to prevent the free interchange of their disco- veries; and to a certain extent this is true; but national jea- lousies and national emulations have their beneficial as well us their injurious influence, and the one will do more than <(MUiterbalHnce the other Austria ann Italy, Spain and Por- tugal, have never looked with the same hostility on the grow- ing power of Uritain, with w hich it has been long regarded by Trance; and France has been the fir.st of the continental nations to adopt her constituticn, and to follow in her wake; and this is very easily accounted for. In every contest in w hich they have been engaged, she has felt the superior power \n her o|)[ionenf , and has after repeated trials l)Ccov.ie sensible tli;»t ihn oidy way of 'ittaining to an C(|uality, is to take the ^ame course. The real secret of a rival's power is very often soonest discovered by an unsuccessful trial of strength. Na- tional animosities have no doubt been a fruitful source of bloody wars; but oven these, with all the frightful conse- quences that attend thrm, have not uidVequently a redeem- ing ctTect. When civilization has attained to a certain stagey it can «li*pense with the assistance of violent stimulants; but (5E0L0GT. 101 wiretlier it would have reached limt s.age without them, is at least questionable; and that they have accelerated its pro- gress may be easily proved. But, independent of this, dif- ferent nations, speaking different languages, and observinjj different customs and lavi^s- necessarily form different tastes, and different habits, and modes of thinking; and by compa- ring these, and analysing their tendencies, a cleaver light is often struck out — practical errors are detected and ex- posed, and the path of improvement in the arts of life is made more plain and easy. But had it not been for the lines of demarcation formed by the hand of nature, in the formation of such barriers, us mountain chains, unfordablo rivers, and arms of the sea. thr; national existence of many tamilies of the human race could never h?ve been established; or hiiving been accidentally es- 7 * tablished, they could not have been preserved. No country ean be effectually protected by naturnl defences, however formidable, utdess these defences be tnaimed by a people de- termined to be free; but they are nevertheless of essential service to such a people, and have oiYon proved of much avail, when the boldest spirits would have failed without them. The Pass of Thermopyla) was turned by the Per- sians, but the determination with which it was defended by the Greeks, made an imjjression on the minds of the inva- ders that was not lost, and contriljuted materially to the fate of the campaign. Kvery region has its peculiar productions, which become objects of desire to the inhabitants of every other; and the effect of this ])hysi(!al diversity is increased by the diversify of taste ntui habit, which accidentally grows up among dif- ferent natio!is. By giving a mrs(? between them, in the bene- ficial exchange of their respecrtive productions; and were those arrangements not iiitorl'ered with, by th<' paltry at- temptH of statesmen to improve them — were there no r< - stnctions imposed on connnerce, by impolitic tariffs — were it allowed to How in the channels that nat;ire has n|>encd, it • im GEOLoar. would exorcise a far more powerful and beneficial influence on the character and condition of human nature, than it can possibly do under the shackles unwisely imposed upon it. !l?. I I 13' il- CHAP. IV. OF THE BENEFITS WHICH RESULT FROM THE COURSE OP THF. SEASONS, ANB THE DIFFERENCE OF CLIMATE IN DIFFERENT PARALLELS.. § 1. The earth has, in consequence of the revolutions it has undergone, become better adapted in various ways, to the constitutions and habits of a great majority of the ex- isting races, both anitnal and vegetable.. The greater part both of plants and animals have their times for activity and fheir times for repose. A very great propoi'tion of both wake in the day, when all the functions of life are in exer- cise, and sleep in the night, when the exercise of these func- tions is suspended for the time. There are both nocturnal plants atid animals, with regard to which this order is in- verted; but the invei'sion i» not accidental or acquired, it is originnl and constitutional, and accord^i with certain pecu- liarities of their organization. To both classes, therefore, the regular alternations between day and night are not only convenient and agreeable, but even necessary. Rest and sleep are as necessary to health and vigour,. as any of the other means of subsistence. An artificial stimulus, judici- ously a|)plied, may enable individuals to (lispense for a timf with the repose and nourishment which nature requires; but the experiment is always atv«nded with risk, and when often repeated seldom fails to impair the couhtitution, and .endcr it more liable to the attacks of disease. That rest is in all cases indispensable, is universally known; and the regular return of the night, after the fatigues of the day have been borne, is a wise and benevolent [H-ovisiou of nature, and well adapted to the purposes of aflfprding relief and refroshrnent. A •»?•!!!. bv fur the irrenter nijinber of plants, and not a few animals, hybernate. They sleep in the winter and revive in the spring; and the seasoua hnvo a very powerful inlluencc. GEoraoT. i?: even on races whose habits are different. Domesticated an r- inals have, through the force of circumstances, become in a great measure artificial, and we cannot reason from their ha- bits, with regard to the point under consideration; but if we attend to those which, are guided by their original and ur.- controlled instincts,. we will find in general that they change along with the changing year.. The lengthening of the sha- dow, and turning of the leaf, are signals for the melody of the groves to cease-, and it is hushed till awakened by the re- turn of the spring.. In autumn the trees drop their Icave.s, and the fields put off their cheerful green— the inferior ani- mals relinquish their gambols, and all nature assumes the aspect of sadness and decay. On the other hand, when the year comes round, the woods resume their wonted dress, in all its varied tints and hues— the fields are overspread with a carpet of flowers— the melody of the groves opens anew, in full chorus, to welcome in the summer months, and every tiling again looks fresh and gay. These, and other well- known facts, are decisive proofs cf the infiuence of the sea- sons on animated nature. But, whatever effect they may have on animals^ they have a still greater influence on vegetation. There are two dif- ferent seasons of the year, namely, spring and autunm, win n the majority of plants undergo a change; but every, tree, and shrub, and flower, has its proper season for coming inio bloom, and bringing its seed to maturity. There is a clii-s indeed, natives loo of tf\e temperate regions, which continue to bloom and bear seed during tb« whole year, and which have at all times a succe^Hion of cropH, in all the diflorcnt stages of their progress towards maturity; but a far greater number bear seed but once in the y(^ar, and they pn-for vlm y different times for this purpose. The hardy inevierooii, and modest snow-drop, bloom in the midst of the snows of F( - bruary; the dazzling crocus prefers March^ and in April "the primroses paint the sweet plain." A vast nutni»er lilnft... 1.1 Mqv-. many in June, and not a few near the clo> are capable of adapting themselves to an artificial existence, there arc others that are not, and which resist every ntcempt to sub- ject them to it, till they ultimately become a sacrifice to their own immutability. Some will after a short time grow in the i iselves to lot. The the exact ie\y, their and each n to occur it would me course lot at the ;res is d it- lie one he- stances in winter of ; and they !onie per- 1 their ob- ;apable of there am |)t to sub- ice to their [row in the ni ■i.siii.'.iuiij 3 continue en though "GEOliOUT.. m in darkness, and to shut them during the niglit, even though placed in a blaze of light. These facts show, that there is semetliiDg in the natural con- fititutioM of plants, which accords belfter with the actual ar- rangeuiertts trf" nature, than it would have done with any dif- 5fereot arrangement. And whatever this property may be, the establi^ed course tff the seasons is adapted to it; and They act in accordance with oi»e ano«lier, in producing sub- sistence 'for man and beast. To every thing ^rossessing life, times of repose are indis- pensable^ Arn\ lihough there are both nocturnal plants and animals, v/hv; e organization fits them for acting in the night, rather than in the day, all other races, when leit to the bias of their natural instincts, retire to rest with the olofe of the day, and start with the aawn; and this habit is nat only the (most natural b«t the most beneficial, h is, all other things being'eth, and prevented from taking effect, by the frequency and intensity of volcanic action, whicli gave an unnatural temperature to the earth, and often turncl the night into day by its vivid coruscanions. Till this state of the earth terminated, the order of nature was held in abey- nnce: but the trunnuility to which it has long since attained, has removed the obstruction out of the way, and we are jiow eiijojing tlie benefits of the change. ii'^e GSOLoar. M f i t » I § 2. The reduction of the temperature of the earth to its present stanHlard, has been of the greatest service to its ex- isting inhabitants. From tiH that we cap learn of the nature and habits of the extinct races which inhabited the earth in ancient times, it does not appear that we have sustained any serious loss by theii destruction. Their fossil remains may be regarded as authentic and invaluable memorials of the ancient state of the earth, and of the repeated and migiity revolutions it has undergone; but h»»«i they been preserved to our times, they would have been of no use to usj and they must have occupied room which is far more advantageously filled by others. In consetjuence of the reduction of the temperature of the earth, there are different elements in different parallels; and a far greater variety has been introiluced, boSh into animal and vegetable life. We liave, both in the animal and vege- table kingdoms, erpiatorial, teriii>erate, andpdlar races; and each of the divisions is si^bdivided into an almost endless number of varieties. Now, as the productions that are pe- culiar to one region of the globe are, from the constitution of our minds, objects of desire to the inhabitants of every other region, a foundation is laid for a free and friend- ly intercourse between them, for an advantageous exchange of their respective commodities, and a still more beireficial exchange of their tliscoveries and improvements. The Po- et's imagination may be pleased with the i)rospect of that anticipated state of things, when — Cedit et ipse mart vector: nee nantica pinus Alutabit niarces: omnis foret omnia tellua. Vikuii.. 'J'he greedy snilor bIirII the sens forego; No keel shall cut the waves for foreign ware; for every soil shall ever) product bear. Dryuen. But to (he philanthropist, the statesman, and the philoso- pher, it appears in a very different light, — for if " every land produced every thing" — if every man got in his neigh- bourhood whatever he might exjiect to obtain from a dis- tance, there would be no motive sufficionfiy powerful to in- duce the great majority of mankind ^« Tentare Tketim ra- .tihusy*^ — to brave the datigers of the ocean; and there would GEOLOGY. 1915' \)e no community of interest or opinion among the different families of the human race. Whatever discoveries or im- provements might be made, would either be confined within a comparatively narrow circle, or if they penetrated fartheis it would be slowly and imperfectly, and the interests of ci- vilization would thas bu sacrificed. § 3. It is a trite saying, that " man is tlie creature of cir- cumstances"— that if the basis of his character be founded in nature, it is greatly modified by h'^ external condition. In a tropical country, where his real wants are comparative- ly few, and the means of supi>lying them easily obtained, he has not the same incitements to industry, nor the same mo- tives to endeavour to abridge or supersede the necessity of manual labour, by ingenious contrivances, and he therefore seldom or never attempts it, and permits botii his physical and mental energies to lie dormant, or become impaired Through disease. And independent of the absence of stimu- lants to action, the enervating influence of a tropical climate telaxes the system, and unfits both borly and mind for sus- tained exertion. Mrs. Wilson, of the Scotch Mission m >lindostan, says, in one of her letters to her friends, "The climate has a depressing influence, and the susceptibilities, which would be awakened and roused to energy in England, are hero permitted to lie dormant. Most of ns live like the natives, creatures of mere sensation, and scarcely conscious of the existence of intellectual life." It would be f' My to expect that any decided improvement could originate in such a situation, and under such circumstances. It must be in colder climates, where the system is braced by physical agency— where the wants are both more nlunerous and ur- gent—where a man must be comfortably clothed and fed--- where he can neither go naked, nor subsist on a handful of fice for a day, and where conseqtiently his imagniation is taxed and exerted, to supply what is deficient in the boun- ties of nature, that all the resources of the L-w-.jm mmd are put in requisition and gradually developed. If in the warmer regions, where the inhabitants can aftord to spend their da^s i« voluptuous ease, any thin^ should oc- I 398 fiZOLOGt. chT of Kuflicient influence to agitate the stagnant waters of life, and produce some temiwrary symptoms of energy, the attention is directed to the arts which only serve to embel- lish, and not to chose that reu!ly improve; and whj'e the high- er and sterner attributes of m»jd are wholly neglected, the reveries of a heated imagrnadon are indulged; and the re- sults are, a fervid species of fiction, and glowing stylR of poetic representation, which having no actual types in na- ture, possesses no practical influence, and though it interests ond excites for a moment, the excitation speedily terminates in exhaustion, and leaves no other fruit behind. Those who arc independent of the useful arts, will not trouble them- selves with framing laws and institutions for their encourage- ment; and Hthout useful laws and customs, men are either ])arbarians or slaves. If they have not sufficient energy of mind to attempt the improvement of their social system, they w:ll pay little attention to their personal improvement; and though they may yield for a time to an unnatural excite- ment, and be impelled into an artificial and misdirected ac- tivity, th«.y q^eedily relapse into their former apathy, and even become more hopeless than before. With the single exception of the Saracen movement, which originated in no permanent principle, and swept over the East with all the rapidity and violence of a hurricane, till it spent its force, and terminated in a -'ead and fatal calm, no agitation of any importance, and hairing sUmn: with it the elements of imprcv^ement, ever proceeded from South to North; but on many occas" ns have such move- ments taken an opposite directJoii, and either directly or in- directly ameliorated thf: CKi.li'usn of the countries which they visited. One of thj most memorable and important of these, was that which overthrew the western empire in the Middle Ages. Under the influence of a system that was ra- dically vicious and defective, the South had sunk into a com- pletely rotten an«J demoralizing species of social existence, and nothing bui a violent dismctnlicnncnt of the system, and reconstruction of its elements on an imjiroved principle, could have produced an amelioration. This v.'as accomplish- I :1 GEOLOGT. 11» waters of icrgy, the embel- the high- cied, the d the re- ; stylR of )es in na- intercHts srininates [lose who »le them- icou rage- re either energy of 1 system, jvement; il excite- ected ac- ithy, and )vetnent, ^ept over urricanc, and fatal iig tilon^? led from h move- tly or in- s which ortant of re in the t was ra- :o a com- xistence, tein, and rinciple, oinplish- •ed by the overwhelming irruption of the Baibi:..ans of the Nontlv, the most fitting agents for such an iiohievemenr. The Reformation originated in the same quarter, and took the vf-'xe direction. The general current of human improve- ment is like the course of the wind from North to South— from the Pole to the Equator. The prospect of finding a more genial climate, fairer skies, and a brighter sun, invites the hardy sons of the North to try their fortunes in that di- rection. Surge after surge, and wave after wave, have fol- lowed one another with longer or shorter intervals between them, but whatever may have been their respective destina- tions, or wherever they fell to pieces, none has returned to- wards its starting I'.oint. Tyrus and Napoleon, the greatest meo of their respective times, and who have few rivals on the page of history, both tried to stem the torrent, and roll it back on its own source, and both fell victims to the vain attempt. Afte^- the flow had settled liito a smooth aiid pla- cid state, and been imperceptible for several centuries, it has been again agitated in our "wn times; the Scythian hordes have once more made a descent on the South — placed their banners at the foot of the Alps, and on the banks of the Seine, and acted a very prominent part in the overthrow and dis- memberment cf one of the most powerful and warlike des- potisms ever erected by the ambition of man. The elements of iinprovejueni have become too deeply rooted in the social system of Western Europe, either to re- quire or even to admit of a total dissolution of that system, and it is impossible for the North to produce more than a temporary agitation in that quarter. That has been done on the occasion just referred to, — the elements of improvement have been agitated and they are now fermenting, and pre- paring to enter into new combinations, and to assume a new and atneliorated form; and it is highly probable, that while Western Europe is engaged with Its own internal arrange- ments, Russia may perforni an important service to the in- terests of civilization in Eastern Europe, and Western Asia, Turkey and Persia have ceased to perform the functions of nations, and can hardly be regarded in any other light than 200 GtOLOGY*. Ml US cancers in the social system of the world; and the sooner they are extirpated, so much the better for the good nos|)hcric currents from the Poles to- wards the Equator; and these meeting together within the tropics, produce the trade winds, which are known to be of vast importance to cofumcrce. But this is neitht. the only nor the greatest benefit we derive from them. They pu- ify ihc air and render it .*Hlubrious, aiul fit it for performing its various functions in tin* econoi-'y of nature. Wherever or- ganized bodies ar«! in existence, there are alwuy^; some of tluMis in a state of decay. 'I' he prncesa of decQinpo-ition in c«ntinuully going on, either on a larger or more limited CtOLOGY. 5(»1 imiflOIl IM Kcale; and the consequence is, that gases, injurious to aninud life, though necessary to plants, are freely disengaged; and if allowed to accumulate in any locality would poison the at- mosphere, and i*ender it destructive to animal life. It is al>- solutely nece5?sary that these should be dissijiated — that they siiould be dispersed over the face of the earlh, or put into a state to enter into new and usifid cembinations; and this, with other interesting phenomena, ia effected by tlie wind. In the earlier ages, the temperature of the earth was not subject to the same arrangement as at the present time, and the consertucnce was, that in (he carljoniferous era, azotic gases accumulated in the atmosphere in particular localities, to an amount that proved highly conducive to the progress of vegetation, but destructive to animals breathing with iungs. In the succeeding age, which is that crt" the new red sandstone, a large proportion of the sut^ace of the land was overwhelmed with an ocean ot* drifting sand;; and though the frequent chang«3s in the direction of the strata, show that the winds by which they \,"ere broken up and reconstructed must have been cxtremdy variable, they must aflso have been more under local influences, than under the general law by which they are now regulat* d. If they t miudier of human beings, consistent with their due preparation for n future ami higher sti«»:€ of existence. The chtmg;.s referred to in the economy of animals wore formerly pointed out; and they have no doubt restilted froin tli(^ nuitalions of the earth. HtuI they been occasioned by f^tipernatural, and not by physical agency, they woulil haM' in all probability been completed at once; wherttas they ap- pear to have been progressive, ami even slower in some in- 8tances than in others. The mean ages of the antediluvian patriarchs, omitting Enoch, was something more than 9li years; and Noah, the ia?t of them, li ed to tJje age of ()'>0; which shows that, till the Deluge, no material change had «ccurr«;d. The age of Shem was reduced more than mn- *|.'.u.l I u: ^.. _....:.. »»ui.. «i.:».i ..i _. .u.... stiiitt, niis-i is:- nv:i 3 n^.-xiii rcjin iscni sj s;j!t: i::ir!i -zs-?Mt;i sitaii his own. For three generations alter Shorn, the term of lifo wmaiijcd stationary; when in the iK-xtfoibj-v ing, it fell again GEOLaor. 203 rHBTBRM otio hair, and then continued nearly stationary for other four or five generations, when it sunk rapidly to its present stan- dard. Since the days of Moses, '* three score years and ten" have heen the measure of our clays; but it may he lengthened or shortened by the influence of circumstances; and in some countries it overruns, and in others does not reach that stan- dard, which may no doubt be trace: .>'•!... liiai :; ritau^t; i:t ust; •K;iJintiist/tt tn utv the course of time produce a very sensible eflbet on their general appearance, or that they can be either dcterioraiec' I V m a04' GEOtOCy. or improvcd'by treatment; but they can neither be brought all at once to the highest pitch of improvement of which they are susceptible, nor do they sink all at once to the ne plus ultror of deterioration. They come progressively to both. One generation gains or loses to a smaller extent, another does the same, and so on, till the full eflect is ulti- mately produced; awl tire process in either direction may be accelerated, or it may be retawled by the influence of cin- cumstances. Now,, considering the present state of existence as intro- ductory to-another, and the earth as a nursery, intended for raising the greatest nuuibor of human beings that is consis- tent with their due preparation for that other, the removal of every thing that might operate as a check upon the iti- erease of their numbers must be favourable to the attain- ment of that end; and there cannot be the slightest doubt that such is the tendency, both of the reduction of the sta- ture of man and of the al'breviation of his allotted term of life. The larg r the size of any animal, the more in ge- neral will it r< [uire of the means of subsistence: and as the fertility ol the earth has its impassable limits, be- yond which the most skilful modes of cultivation could not stimulate its powers, it must be a wise arraugomont to re- duce the amount of bone and muscle to be kep' in repair, as far as may be done consistently with the duo performance of their functions. There are Pigmy races in diflferent quar- ters of the globe, but to whatever it may bo owing, or how- ever wo are to account for it, their mental capacities appear in general to be as deficientas their stature; and it may be laid down as a general rule, in every country, that diminutive races have inferior inte'lects, though if taken individually diero are many striking exceptions to it. On the other hand, a gigantic btature is no proof of superior infoUect, but ra- tlier of the contrary, at least . y credit be due to the uni- versal opinion of mankind on the j)oint, — for the fubuloui^ giant."' of all ages anihivery nation hiivo breii eijuuiiy niiirSi- ed by brutality of disjiosition and mental incapacity; ami tluee nations of them, then esteemed nutncrous and power- GEOLOGY. 205 (i brought of vvhicii to the ne ssively to er extent, ;ct is ulti- »n may be CO of cin- us intro* tended for 13 consis- 3 removal )n the iti- ;he ftttain- test doubt if the sta- led term of )re in ge- e: and as Imits, Le- could not ont to re- ropnir, as irmanco of rctit quat- g, or how- if'S appear riny be hi id liininutivt' idividually ither hand, It, but ra- to the uni- 3 fubuhiiM niiy niiirk- aoity; ami lid power- ful, were simultaneously defeated by a roving band, whirfi was pur*' ' and routed by Abraiiani, at the liead of tlu; trained ,«• ts of his own establi.shnicnt, amounting only to 318, (jren. XIV. 5. We may then conclude that the jirescnt stature of man is, upon the whole, the best adapted to the end of his l)cin^ — that it could not admit of any greater reduction, consistent with that em!, and thtit an increase would have the etfect of reihicing our ntnnbors, witiiout being compensated by any positive gain, if not attended with loss. \Yh\i respect to the inferior animals, there aro some <•««(. s in which weight is a benefit, as it may enable a single teasn to perform a piece of work for which it would be otherwise unfit, and where the employment of a doulile team would be necessarily attended with !i waste of harness, time, and power, beyond what might have been smiicicnt. lint in uil other cases, if we can reconcile our minds to it, what is wanting in wre, it is clear that a greater number (if animals, of dimensions sufiii^ent for the (md of tln-lr «'\ist- ence, nmst have nn aggregate of enjoyment superior t(» that of a snniller nutnber of the sa»ne race; and if the pinalb ! nund)er have no iwurr. weight and no more value tluui !!;■ greater number, there is a loss of enjoyment ^vitluna any adtMiuate compensation. 'I'he Dinotherium "nay ha\'e cou- sumed the vcgrtatioii of a l.iUe, and cmiseqiicntly expL-ili. 1 front it itil the happy herbivorous Ibrnis that \ onlil ha^' nported in its waters; and the consequeiice w<»idd have hv \,. that all the hap|»iness which that scene afforded, would ha\( been coujpressod into that nionsure of passive enjoyna which 'ms Klugc^ish f )rm was susceptihlc Three oxen, ui f>()0 lbs. each, are of the same value as two of 700; but, sup- posing th(! circumstances of each to be the s^iime, and riiut they hav J idl the same cajjacity for cnjoyfiiont, the diifcinMn i in regaril to the latter will anioutit to SSI per cent. Add r. 2.06 GEOLOOV, this, that gigantic animals do not in generul appear to have an <• .uhI oapuir.ty for enjoyment with those of inferior di- mensions, even when they belong to the same species. All our diflerent races of dogs are but accidental varieties of the same species, — they have ali sprung from one stock, and are reducible to a common type; but though the larger varieties generally possess more sagacity, and are therefore more use- ful, the smaller ones as commonly exhibit a greater flow of i^pii-it^s — ;x greater pro{)ensity to frisk and to gambol, and en- ter with a keener zest into all the forms of canine amuse- ment-, and there are various other animals besides the dog, to which these observations are applicable. If such fact3 are forced upon our attention, our selfishness leads us to overlook their importance; but we may rest assured that they enter into the primary calculations of the great and inihiitely benevolent Being, without whom eve'- a sparrow falleth not to the ground, and whoso chief delight is to nmlliply, to di- versify, and extend enjoy n\ent — to contemplate the oulless variety of its form.;— to provide for their pernianence, and to watch over and project ihem from injury. This is, however, to bo kept in mind, that as the inferior animals were not ^vholly made for themi-elves, tlieir capacity for enjoyiMont must be combined with tlieir usefulness; and though a still greater reduction in size might have increasc^i the gross amount of happiness, it niight have been attended with a corresponding loss of elliciency, which would have acted unfavourably in some instances even on the very ob- ject it was intended to ])romote. Prcdacoous animals, dxr instance, are indi.spcuHable in the system of nature. They are its scavengers, and its police. They prev. nt an excess of numbers, and eonsetiuently a famine among the herbivo- ra; and thoy often prevent, by a speedy destruction, the lingering miseries of «lcknes.s and of age; but that they mny not < reati! unnecessary sulTering — that they may (h;Mputch their vielim.^ n.<» speedily as j)ossible, they must have size and str«Mi'^th aileqmite to the work. That tiie reduction of the si/o of nnimnl.s^ af. far as atten- tion to their ciliciency would admit, h a wise urrangoment, C.EOLOGT, 5K)7 to htxve rior di- ;.s. All !s of the and arc arieiies ore use- • flow of and en- amuse- thfi dog, cli im.'t3 ds us to hat they iniiiiitoly lloth not ly, to di-- ! endless nee, and inlt'iior caj>U(Mty lesrtj and increasc*s I herhivo- ^tion, the I hey mny thispulrh n si/.o and r as atten- itigoinent, r.Tid that it admits of an increase of numbers, and especially of the nuii.bers of the human race, cannot admit of a doubf, and it is one of the innumerable benefits which have result- e mincwil treasures of the earth are vast, but still they ha\ their limits. They are far from being inexhuustible; and tlie higher the degree of civilization we attain to, the great- <»r is their consumption, and the sooner must tjiey be spent. F'^rom this it ie clear that the earth is not ititendcd to last fur ever. It is coming to an end, tmt! cannot even exist under the present arrangement for a very long time. Supp<».sing it then to be designed, as we have every reason to believ*-, for raising and preparing human beings fur a fuiuro antl high- n:r state of existence, it is of tije utnwst importance that thi; term of life be as short m is consistent w ith tin; attainmer.t of this end, that the mnnber thus raised and prepared uuxy be as great as possible. The einlh can only contain a given number at on« time; and as that number must go out befv»r<» another enters, the sooner tbey can dispatch their businos.^ jujd depart, the more vviU their numbers amount to in tbs end ':o3 GEOLOGr. li.'J-! As a certain amount of information and experience ncccs* surily dies with every generation, and indeed with every in- dividual, and has to bo acquired anew by tLe next in suc- cession, and as much of this must, from its very nature, be acquired by means of instruction and example, and that too in a slow and progressive manner, it cannot be transmitted from race to race, uidess they go out and come in by divi- sions — numbers being at all times in all the difl'erent stages of the progress. Now this cannot be done in a very few years. We come very slowly to a state of maturity, c.id u considerable number of years are spent before we can even be gin to learn the useful arts, a number more are spent in the learning, and all this preparation would be useless, were there no time allowed, after the acquisition, to practice the arts thus slowly acquired. All things considered, the pre- sent standard of the term of life could not suffer any farther reduction. But the question is, Has it not been roduccd too much al- ready? It is certainly possible, if not more than possible, that tt greater progress in improvement might have been made, had the lif- of man still extended to hundreds of years; but we have no great reason for thinking that a greater im- provement would have actually taken place. It is for the most ])art before we enter on the decline of life, when all our powers of body and mind begin to flag, that we embark with the greatest 'irdour and success in the busy scenes of active life; and though a man who lived to the age of 900 years may have made gnater progress than another who lived only 70, the progress made by thirteen successive ge- nerations of the latter, n-ight have been much greater than that of the former, it was not before the eighth generation, which was about 900, or if we prefer the Greek version of the Sacred Chronology, 1450 years frotn the creation, that some of the most necessary and easily-invented improve- ments were adopted, which is no great evidence that long life is fiivoura!)le to improvement, Gen. iv. 'iO — 22. Con- stituted as we are, the prospect of a lengthened period be- fore us might operate very unfavourably upon our activity, C20LOGY. ^0> I while tTie certainty that we have not very long to live, may prove a stimulus. It is certain that moralists, in rceom- !!iendinj5 Hilifjence to their fellow n^en, have in all ages re- presented the shortness of human life as a pow-ei''ft:l motive to diligence and jjerscverance, and it is reasonable to aupr- poK«> that it should be a stinnilus. But t.-ve'i supposing that soniethinjr might have been guin^ ed Ml the way of improvement, had the antediluvian term of life been continued, what loss rMjst have been sustained in respeet of numbers by such an arrangement? What was trained in one way would have been no compensation for what was lost in aiiother. CONCLUSION. § 1. In these researehtis into the physical hi.-^tory of the <;arth, we have seen that it has undergone a number of vio- lent and extensive revolutions before attaining to its present Htate of rest; and though these revolutions may appear to us nt first sight to have been the effects of accident — to have been based on o general principle, antl to have possessed no unity of design, the very reverse is found, upon an atten- tive enquiry, to be the case. That they may be ail traced to physical agency is readily admitrctl, b\>t this is only mo- ving the enquiry one step farther back; for whatever links we nuiy be able to number in the chain of secjuences, we must come at last to a first cause. The revolutions of tiie earth, without one e.xcoj)tion, contribute directly, though in dilferent ways, to a common objetit; and in doing this, they present to us the most clear and derisive proofs of unity of design. Now design implies intelligence, which physical agency cannot possibly possess. Matter may act in ditrerciit ways upon niiUter— one class of substances may have the property of attracting aiul fiuother that of repelling one another — one may condense arul another may ex{)and; but when we b, serve r mmber of conflicting elements, appa- rently working confusion and disorder, but terininatif^g in 2i0 GEOLOGV. the establiahinent of an improved state of things — when we see this perplexing process repeated, and that for a consider- al)!c number of times, with longer or shorter intervals be- tween each — when we see that every succeeding repetition Is attended with fsome variation in the phenomena, but that notwithstanding of the diversity in the length of the inter- vening ])eriods, of the change of circumstances, o d difier- tnee of the more immediate results, they all bear upon one object, and promote that object more eftectually by their par- tial disagreement, than they could have done by tho most perfect uniformity, we may rest assured that the whole is arranged by a presiding intelligence, and directed by a skil- ful and omnipotent hand; or in other words that it is tho work of Him who has " prepared his throne in the heaven.-;, and whose kingdom ruleth over all." The intelligence which directed the revolutions of the eaiih has been skilfully masked, but not so as to be conceal- ed from those who are open to conviction, and are willing to behold the perfections of their Maker, in the works of His hands; and they do not only see the most interesting displays of intelligence in them, but intelligence and power, working ir the most perfect unison with goodness. All these revolu- tii.ns have been useful, and that in a very high degree; anpcd at the precise points at which they were calculated to do tho most exten- sive and lasting good, and beyond which they would have unavoidably done the greatest mi; diicf. Some of them liavo been more and others loss violent and extensive; and there cannot be the slightest doubt that they might have been still more diversified than they have actually been — that some difference in tho proportions or combinations of their <.'lcnients was within the range of possil)ility, and that tliey might, by a dillbi it arrangement, have either accomplished much less good, 0/ occasioned the most tremenduous evils: they might have neutralized cacli other's influence, and con- , I GEOLOGY. SI! rvhen we lonsider- fvals be- spetition but that je iuter- d (lificr- ipon one heir par- iho most whole is y a skil- it i« the heaven.-;, s of the conccal- A'iliing to ks of Hi.s [ disj)lay3 working revolu- jrce; and the order good — at t possible precise •St exton- uld have of them sive; and lave been een — that ? of their that tliey ntiplished )U3 evils: , and con- t sequently Kft the earth \n an unfinished state; or they nii^^ht have blown it into atoms, and dispersed them among dilVer- ent sections of the universe; or without imagining ; lei) a catastrophe, no great addition to the disturbing forces would have been required, to convert all the limestones either into marble or calcareous spar — the coal into coke, and the sand- stones into schists; and it would be imj)ossible to estinuite the amount of loss we should have sustained from such a change. There canno' be the slightest doubt, that the heat whiclj fused the crystalline nuisses, and ejected them from the in- terior, in incandescent floods, might have been increased to such a degree as to melt the sedimentary strata, and convert thetn likewise into refractory masses. The primary strata have all been partially crystallized since their dei)osition, and had they been subjc ted to an "additional heat, the change produced must have beon proportionally greater: or the more useful f'jrmations may have been buried to such a depth in the bowels of the earth, as to have been rendered complete- ly inaccessible to man. The dillerent geological periods ai)p6ar to have been contiimed just as long as they could be rcndereil subsidiary to the great object towards which they all converged, and no sooner were their respective parts per- formed, than they terminated respectively in revolutions, which still contributeil, though in different ways, to the same great and ultimate object. Had the carboniferous period been much prolonged beyond its actual duration, it would no doubt have j)roduced a greater amount of coal, i lime, and other minerals; but while these would have been accu- mulated to a greater amount than will probably be required, other im])ortant objects would have been sacrificed. The same, or at least a similar observation, may be made in re- gard to every other geological era. Had they been abbrevi- ated, they would not have done the good they have done; and had they continued lotiger thou their ajjj <)i)iicd times, they would have accomplished more than was required, and prevented the accomplishment of o^ier and more important objects that were required, and from which we derive tha moat important bcnefiti. Mil i:MI ^iia GtOI-OGT. N! Now, had iliore been only one or two chinj;c8, their bcne'- fif.jal tendeney, or even their agreement in promoting one groat o!)jeet, might have been accidental, or at all events it would not have nmoiinted to a full and sati>«(yins^ evidence of desiffn; bnt in the calenlation of prohabilitie.<, the \iiii- forin agreement, in re«f;ird to tendency, of sucli a number of changes as the earth has undergone, and of chajiges wliicij, while they agreed in tendency, differed in nuuiy other re- .^pects, cannot be set do\v\ as accidental. They differed fronj one another in too many ways, and to such an extent, as to show that tliey could on no account be regarded as si- iTiilar effects of similar causes — th;it they were not tlepend- »nt, like the "ising and setting of the orbs of heaven, on some ujiiform and j)ermanent law; and yet they acted in such a manner, as to indicate a common relation to a common ob- ject, and subjection to one presiding })ower. Theconsbina- tion and adjustment of so many different and conflicting ele- ments — the balancing and directing of such tremendous forces, and the adapting of their intensit}' to the ends intend- fell, are all evidences of the mos: decisive nature, that the presiding Inte'tigence unitets ..i his character, tmbounded wisdom, power, and goodness. § 'i. AntI besides establishing the fundamental doctrmes of tural Theology, the discoveries of Geoloc -n've to confirm the truth of the Scrijitures, and consequently give their sup- port to Revealed Religion. They coi oborate the truth of some of the most diflicult passages of the Sacred Narrative, uik! illustrate some of the most obscure. But there is no way in M'hich they give more efficient sup- port to the Scriptures, as a Divme Revelation, than by af* fording the most conclusive and satisfactory evidence of the truth of miracles. The truth of miracles is one of the main pillars of Revealed. Religion, and for this very reason it has been mon; fiercely assailed, and warmly defended, than any u'lher point in whiefj religion is concerned. If he fniracles recorded in the Scriptures were genuine, they prove the Scripture to be beyond all dotibt the Word of God; but if thf;y were an imposition practised on the crctlulity of man- GEOLOuy, V.i clr bene- titig one pvetits \i c'vidoneo tlie mu- jrnber of =! wliicij, )tlier re- differed ti extent, od as si- tlepcnfl- iveii, on d in such i!))on ob- loiubina- ;ting ele' mendous s intend- that the bounded itriues of > confirm heir sup- truth of arrative, i^nt s«p- in by af- i"ft of thr the main ion it hixfi than any foiracles rovo the d; but if of man- kind, the Sciiptures are not divinely ins])irod books, howe- ver subliinp their comjiosition and sentiments, or iiowever pure iuid cxcellonl their morality. The truth of miracles luis often been exposed, rather tlian I'onhrmed, by the indiscreet zeal of its well-meaning but in- judicious frietuls. The evidence of miracles has little in common with hun.an testimonv. The latter is .rengthencd by the numbers who concur in it, because it is at all times less likely, that a multitude of men of common sense shor.!;! cither b"^; njistaken or cons})ire to impose a falsehood on the world, than that this should l>e done by a very few. \\'here- as the more common that tiiiracles become, they become tlio more susjjicious; for we have no right to sui)pose that the Divine Being will either condescend to overcome our obsti- nacy by the performance of a long series of miracles in sup- port of one point, or that there can be many points that ro- (piire such proof, Moses perfjrmed a long series of mira- cles in Egypt; but the lesign was not to convince, but to harden, and it was calculated to produce this efl'ect. And many of our Lord's miracles were ratlicr designed to show the extent and variety of his power than the divinity of his Uiission. One or two genuine or well-attested miracles, are better than a thousand; because when miracles become common occurrences, thry cease to bo regarded as miracles, whether we be able to trace them to secondary causes or not. There are many events recorded in the Scriptures, which, though by no means common, may easily be referred to na- tural agency; and yet it has been customary to represc!:t them as miracles, either from a natural fondness for the mar- vellous, or froui a mistaken idea that the niore miracles we can produce the better. This is unwise, and attended wiiJi no small d{;gree of danger. The nmltiplication of positioj s which must be defended, serves to fritter away our strength, and the more especially if the points be untenable; and when any such point must be surrendered, it invariably produces an unfavourable impression. It would be well, therefore, for the friends of religion, to surrender at once all that i;> doubtful, 'ind to reserve their unbroken strength fur the tie- :'ii CtOLOGT. frrirc of \\lirtt ruubt be defeinlud*, muI i ■ act in general upon ilie nuixiiii of Morare, whicli whs orijriuullv intended for a vi-ry diHernit })urpose: Nor Di'im ititersit, nisi dignus viiulioe nodus. Im'JdiTi't. Di: Ahte I'oKT., V. im Novi^r pi<";umo to make n (iod appoar, lUit fur a lnisiii('«s worlliv of a (ii)d. Roscommon. Had the friends of truth always acted upon this principle, ihoy would have strengthened their position; hut they have in r.ifiny instances acted differently, und their opponeiits havo made dexterous use of their blunders. Had the latter been contentfid with the detection and exposure of fraud and fol- ly, tlieir coiifluct would have been unobjectionable, if not praiseworthy; but their olijcct was not to in^provc, but to destroy — not to prune and dres«, but to extirj»ate; and ha- vin^T torn ort'souie excrescences, tiiey laid the axe to the root of the tree, with the full intention of levelling it with the ground. They have denied even the po!>i^il)i^^ty of proving n nnracle, to the satisfaction of any rational mind, — partly because, as they allege, a niiraclo is from itu luiture unsus- cej)til)le of proof, and partly because it is contr iry to the Constilution of our nature to adniiit of it, however strong the proof iiuiy seem. Ill support of this objection, they lay down the ge-ieral principle, that like causes invariably produce like eflects; and that we instinctively taiie this uniformity for granted — tliat we have no exjferience of any thing else, and that we orumot b»di(!ve in any d<;viation from it. It is true in gene- ral that we rely upon the unih'viating uniformity of cuusu- lion, and instinctively anticipate like effects fiom lik(! cuuses; and that we also reason backwards, as well as forwards, from this point; and take it for granted that like elTects havt al- ways had like caust^s. But as nothing is imposHible but what implies a contradiction, we n«;ver doubt that tne iraia of setjuences nu»y be interrujjtcd by the interposition of a now cause, different frouj any cause, of the effucls of whi;:l< we have yet had experience; and wo can as little doubt that it may hnvt* been interrupted by soch au intcrpoyitioj. r. GEOLOGY.. 5i3 leral upon ii<.l«d for a , V. Iftl. OMMON. principle, they havp (\e!)ts liavo latter been 1(1 and foi- ble, if not JVC, but to ?; and ha- to the root it \\'n\\ the of proving id, — partly lire unsijs- i-iry to the strong the lio gc'ieral ike eflects; • granted — id that wc le in gen«'- ' of cuusu- ik(! cuutio.ii rardii, from is havfc al- ossible but It toe train isitioti of a t^ of whii li doubt that •poyitioj; s. time past, and either temporarily suspended or pcriuanenily obanged. When we sec a complicated machine in opera- tion, and observe the perfect regularity of its movenieniss, and the skilful adaptation of its variouji j)arts to their re.spec^ five functions, \\g can no more doubt of the conipotency of the .skill displayed in its construotio'% to alter or suspend its tnovements entirely, than we can doubt that its speed may be increased or diminished, by an increase or diminution of the moving po'vcr. Tiie power to alter cannot be diflereni from the power to make; or if it (lifter from it in any thing, it must be in degree, and not in kiiidj and if we allow the existence of a God at all — if we allow him to be the Creator of the ;;niversc — to have adjusted it s imuimerable and inf*- nilely diversifieil parts, and to have subjected the whole to a system of laws, necessarily complicated in the highest de- gree, but never interfering with one another, it would lie air- surd to question his power to interfere with the:-e laws, pro- vided ho has a sufticient reason for doing so; and to allege that such a reason cannot exist, is to assume the right to judge of matters of whicii wo are not competent to de- cide. There is nothing in the constitution of human natur*" against iho truth of miracles, but an (evident predisposition to admit of if. All nations and all ages have had their pro- digies; and children, and all ignorant people, who are more tiiution of our nature, ti admit liie re- ality of an interruption or su»p(^nsion of them, but, whether or not, in the nature of things, there can bo .^nch an occa- sicm as thissupjioscs. Now this is ono of those piublcrn^ »hich can only be solved by a reference to facts. It i« rcu- 216 GEOr.OGT. sonablo to suppose that there may be such oeeasionj^. That every emergency must have been foresnen, aiiil that it might have been provided for f)y the divine prescience, so as to have rendered any direct interposition of the divine power unnecessary, i.s readily admitted; but the f|uestion is not, >vhal might have been doiie, but what wouhl have been pro- per; and as we have been created by the divine power, an«l are wholly dependent upon the divine bounty, it may be use- ful to us, from time to time, to Ik reminded of this; and no- thing can make us more sensible of our dependence on God, than to see distinctly that the laws of nature themselves are in his j>ower; and this is placed beyond all doubt by the dis- coveries; of Geology. [n the compositiii and structure of the crust of the earth, we meet with freqiuMit and decisive proofs, either that the laws of natiire have been dilTerent from what tliey are at I>rc.scnt, or that if they were the sajue, they were at times i-aunteracted by intluences which are not no\v in operation. The uniform tendency of the law.^ of nature, so fnr as we huvo the ability and means of ascertaining it, is to j)reserve every thing in thv. same stat<^, or at least froni aiiy perma- nent change. There are many estaMished cycles in nature, but they are ri',,iilar and uniform in their respective; courses. They are exact rcpetition.s of one another, without any real deviation; and we can tell at the comnuMiccment of any one of them, how hmg it will move in a certain direction, and when it will return to the starting ])oin(; and it is iVcui on.' «'xperiencc of thiri undeviating u!iif irmity in the «)i)erations of untm*e, that we have come to the conclu. ut any real of any onr eetion, and s iVoin DtJi' operation,-, tnat likt; \i\uf f^l'ect. t tlio chain ontitinc v> ftgt hlf«tory hi< eonelu- •rutions oJ' "*, as they nil the rt'- the eeono- GEOLOGY. 217 my of nature has been uniform, and her laws are the only thinj^s that iiavc resisted the general movement. The rivers nnd the rocks, the seas and the continents, have been changed in all their parts; but the laws which 'lirect these change.--, and the rules to which they are subject, have remained in- varial)ly the same." Again, " The inhabitants of the globe, like all other parts of it, are subject to change. It is not only the individual that perishes, but the whole species." " A change in the animal kingdom seems to be a part of the order of nature, and is visible in instances to which hn- )nan power cannot have extended." Illustrations of the Hnttonian Theory, § 374, & § 413. And Dr. Lyell, to murk his cordial concurrence in these statenn nts, has placed them on the title pages of his " Princij)les of Geology." Now, if this be true, if all things have been changed bivt the laws of nature, the operation of these laws has not al- ways been sntlicient to preserve eery thing in the satiie state; and whatever confidence we may have in the uniformi- ty of causation, there have been times when it luded. Day and night, and sunnner and winter, with their respective- phenomena, arc uniform in tlleir courses; but the carbonife- rous period having once passed has never returned — it has had no representative in any subsequent ago of the earth, and ther(,' has bei-n no repetition of any of the other geologi- cal ei)ochs, — no one of them can b(; regarded as a return of any one that has gone before it. But it may perhaps bo al- leged, that they arc only the stages of a larger cycle, which requires millions of ages to run its round; and that when tlni imn nnd coal hav(! been exhausted, past changes will again commence: lliat there will be a new series of all the forma- tions, with their r(!spe< tive revolutions, disruptions, and roconstrnctions — that another deluge shall overwhelm tho onrth, and that — Alter erit turn Tiphya, ct-nlt«ra qiiip veliat Argo, Doloclos huroas : criiiit ullora litiila; .Atfpio iliMum ad Triijim mtigiiiis aiittetur Acliillcs, Another 'riphj'H shall now si.'as explore, Anotlior Aifins linc i^aid, have already been ref(!rrcd to physical aa^ency, and thonjrh not ajErreeable to the existini^ order of thinirs, are not to bo rc'^nirdcd in the lit!;ht of n'iraclcs. Ijitt if they prove that the laws of nature iiave either been changed, or if they have been always the same, that they have been repeatedly coun- teracted by otiinr influences, thoy «lisprove the doctrine of tJieir undcviatin;^ uniformity. They show that reasons for their interrn])t,ions and suspensions have existed; and if so, reasons for their interruption may iiave o(;cjirred aa;ain. But the discoveries of Geology go farther than this, they show that events have actually occurred which were strictly miraculous, and which, if they were now to be repeated, would be regarded as miracles of the highest order. No (ivent could be more truly miraculous than the creation of a man, or indeed ( .' any onB of tiie inferior animals; anp said, (1 thou«Th not to ho rove that they have (lly coun- 3Ctrine of lasons for and if so, lajuin. this, thoy !ro strictly repeated, •der. No ation of » \\fi', Hiid if >te(liy that vegotahio, wo adopt, wasante- mst thore- o dissents primary id that tho 1 ohlit(M-a- 8 tiiat tho on of nuin t inipossi- hroui^hont I Uc'iwjf to 2C('dod bo- Hfion?") ill to tbu ox- istonce of mall, Wc- can prove that man liad a bei^iiinin!T, and that all the species now contemporary with man, ami many others whicii precetled, had also a hcifinninj^, and that i'.onseqnently the present state of the organic world has m>t yono on from all eternity us some philosoi)hers had maintain- ed." Elements of Geology, vol. ii. j). ^5. lie jjoes farther than this, he says also, " It appears, that from the remotest periods there has been tor ever a coming in of nev/ oigaiiic forms, and an extinction of those wiiich [)re-existed on the earth; some species have endured for u longer, others for a sihorter time; while none have ever reappeared after once (iving out. The law which has governed the creation and extinction of species seems to be expressed in the verse of the Poet: Ntilurn il feco, e poi riippe la stpinpn. Auio-sro. A'uture iiiailc il, and then broke tli« dit.-. And this circumstance it is, which confers on fossils their highest value ns chronological tests, giving to each of them, in the eyes of the Geologist, that authority which belongs to coiiltfiiiporary medals in history," vol. i. j). 200. There have then, without idl controversy, been repeated instances in which the Divine Power has acted directly, oi- v/ithout the use of meims, when there was a projjor occasion for it. And if for the purpose of giving existence to man, and of givl ig existence to such plants and animnis as may l»e directly or even indirectlv useful to man, thnt Power has been directly exerted, would it be im[)ro]ier to exert it direct- ly again, for the ])urpose of promoting tho great en«l of his creation, wheti it was exposed to clanger, and could not be so effectually promoteil otherwise.* If reli;,Mon be necessa- ry, or even useful, in prefiaring us for a higher state of ex- istence, and if we are in danger of adopting a false religion, as is clear from the fre(|uency with which this has been done, we cannot conceive a more suitable occasion for the pcrform- nnco of a miracle, than that of aticstingti divine commission, and putting an end to all doulit about \\ lint is truth. If plants and aiiimnlM Iipvo been created, jiarlly lor the sujiply of our tenii>;irid wants, and ])artly for our iiHtruction, by Vlf) GEOLOGY. 11'' V 'A V)ro.sonting us with more varied and iiiterestiiif^ oxliibitions <>r the divine wisdom, and the divine ]>ower, may not mira- cles have been performed in confirmation of the divine in- wpiration of the Scriptures, which give us fur more clear and precise information with regard to the perfections of the Divine Character — the duties we owe to our maker, and to one another, and the imj)ortance of attending to these du- ties, than we can possibly obtain from any other source, or by any other means? Hut while we adhere to this as a reasonable supposi- tion, and one that is borne out by science, let us beware of rcihiering the miracles recorded in the Scriptures sus- j)icious, by bringing them down to the level of events, which, though memorable and instructive in a high degree, V ere not intended for the same purpose, and which may be ..ccounted for by a rcu;rence to i)hysical agency. There is a sulHcient number of genuine miracles recorded in the Scriptures, which can be accounted for in no other way than by a direct reference to the divine power; and nothing can be gained by increasing their number. Anxiety to do this rather !)etrays a .suspicion of their .ufticiency, or a doubt that something fartluu' is necessary; antl it may be the means of creating doubts where none would have existed., and will ceitainly be taken advantage of by those who deny the truth of the Scriptures. § .>. Again, Geology corroborates the view presented in the ScrijJtures, resjjecting the future destiny of the earth. The Apostle seems, in liom. viii. !21, to reJer to some great ane accomplished, is distinctly foretoJd in ii Pet. iii. 10 — 13: *■ The day of the liord wiJl come as a thief in the night; iti which the heavens shall i)ass iiway with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, nhat numner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godli- ness, looking fur and hasting unto the conjing of the dny of &EOLOGV. ^21 hibitions lot mira- ivine in- )re clear ns of tli<; r, and to hes<3 clu- 311 re e, or suppos-i- CAvarc ol* ires siis- events, 1 degree, I may be There is i\ ill the ivny than hing can > do thi^ a doubt be means a!i(l will the truth ientcd in le earth. lie great is yet to ill it is to . 10—13: night; in oise, and also and Seeing ninner of nd godii- lie dwy of Cioil, wherein the heavens being on fufi sfudl Ik: dissolved, and the elements shall nielt with ferront heat? Neverthe- loi^s we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dweUeth righteousness." Tliis is evi- dtsntly not to lie regarded as a |)oetioal or figurative repre- sentation, but as a plain matter of fact statement, made with a view to allect our minds and influence our conduct; and it clearly foretells another general revolution, in which the mass of the globe is to be melted, and its elements are to be reconstrnctcd on a new principle, and adapted to a new and ditlerent mode of existence from the present. We have no right to regard one part of tJie jjassage as literal, and ano- ther as figurative; and as one part of it undoubtedly refers to the dissolution of the earth, and its^attendant atmosphere, the other must refer to the reconstruction of both, n])on an imjiroved plan. It is at present infested witJi vice and crime, and a scene of nmch privation and suffering, and consecpient- ly adapted to the nature of the transactions of which it is the theatre, and the characters of those who are actors upon its stage; but it may be destined to become the abode of ])u- rity and of peace, and to be brought into an accordance with that design. Man is intended for a far higher smd hapjiier state of existence than the present, and should the earth be hereafter the occasional resort, or stated residence of any part of the human family in their improved condition, it will no doubt be adapted to that Ciul; and it is clear from the pas- sage, that to whatever extent it may be changed, or to \> hat- ever future use it nuiy be appropriated, heat is again to be the revolutionizing agent, as it has so often been in times I hat are past. J'or all this our minds are prepared by the discoveries of (Jeology. Though we may now regard the earth as an em- blem of stabiliry, its nnitability is indelibly written in its strnc;ture. It is the mwsery of a race of beings who arc formed with aspirations which it camiot satisfv, ami who in- slinctively look forward to another state of existence than the present, and one more adnjncd to their capacitie-^ and powers. It has already undergone a series of vai^t and itn- GEoronY. i portant niutatio;)s, liy which it has l)o.(;n MT^ro and more iin- y will he ill be in- iinount it iiiii,'s will ade for it i made in II accoin- II, and nn *ent state id ns tlie e c v'pect- s express tieipated, rather than the rev; rse. The past history af the earth ha.- hi-en divided into perio nm. Tl icre are diii'erent procer<::- tii;;L to anv amonis be called again into act es by which it may be generated, and require*!: aiid when subjected to a hi'.-.h l)iession, the elements of expansion m;iy be greatly ii;- inteiisitv du- (legree of com- crcascd. The fires which burnt with m) much ring the er.riier ages of the earth, have greatly abated in ter times, Ijut tlir have not been ext thermal siprings, and active volcanoe the globe; and there are few coujitri inguif^hcd a- liere aiv s, m cwry quarter nt' les uliich are isot orca- ssioually agitated by earthquakes. The elements of disluifi- ance are there still in existence, and may be thrown into a niore tremendous paroxysm than o,or. It fref|uently h:ip- pens that the longer that acti'-o volcanoes shnrdjer, the more violent are the eruptions by which their rest is !)roken; at;d if the earth has remained for thousands of years in a srr;t<' uf tranquillity, we may believe that the ex])losion will cor- respond in magnitude to the time that has been spent in pre- paring for it. V/hilc we are living in |)eace on its suri'aec, and busily engaged in works which v>c fondly ho])e to \h. lusting, mines are charged muhn- our feet, and ready to l.p, t»prung. The elements of the most awfid catastrophe with which the earth has yet been visited are silently elaborated in its interior furnaces, and nccumulating in its magazines ; and when all flic jirepaiations have been brought to a clo-c, in the twinkling of an eye, and without any previous wan,- «0J GEOr.OGV. ing given, it will be rent into fragment?, and thrown once more into the crneihlc of Onmipotence, to be funed and recast in a morelieantiful monhi; and Ido not know witli what more suitable thoughts and rertections we can contemplate the ap- lu'oacii of such an event than tho.se of the Apo.stle, " Seo- ijig then that all these things shall be dissolved, wliat man- ner of persons ought wc to be in all holy conversation and godliness, waiting for and hasting unto the coming of the dav of (jod." THE END. r^m^-^.jr'^ #*'*.^^-^"x^ v^ v^"^v^.^^ i t'uge 3, line' G,- 8, " 13, i 25, c; 1, (( i 30, 11. 10, cc ( 34, C( (( 47, 3, 54, 37, (C. 55, 1, (C iiO, 30, C( 01, 17, (( H4, 25, (I GO, 7,. (C 70, i (( 84, 19, (C 85, 30, a 91, iS, (C 92, 38,. s« 93, 11, <; 96, H>, (C «• 98, 27, (C " 14G, " 5, " 151, " 19, " li)8, " 37,. ERflxVTA. For ' epuator,' read, F.quator, " 'they enter t\\ : latter,' read, they enter bene itli the latter.. ' from,' read, form. ' raised,' read, rijise.s. ' means comjjression,' read, mean:« of compression. ' fidly clearly,' read, fully and clearly. ' identified,' read, nlentifiable. ' salulary,' read, sultry. « raining,' read, rainy. ' a cherubim,' read, cherubim, 'then,' read, then). ' |)ropably,' read, probably. ' in coming,' read, as coming. ' developed,' read, dissolved. ' that,' read, than, ' events,' read, etTect.s. 'intermittent,' read, intervening. ' large,' read, larger. " ' dimension,' read, dimensions. ' by whi^h they are intersected,' read, which'they intersect. " ' .Jewaker,' rea