CONSIDERATION OF FOSSILS  4  004  005  006  007  008  009  010  011  012  013  014

[009] For many years a vast assemblage of broken and contorted beds had been observed on the borders of North Wales, stretching away to the east as far as Worcestershire, and to the south into Gloucester, now rising into mountains, now sinking into valleys. The ablest geologists considered them as a mere labyrinth of ruins, whose order of succession and distinctive organic remains were entirely unknown. "But came a man," as M. Esquiros eloquently writes, "who threw light upon this sublime confusion of the elements."  Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, then a young President of the Geological Society, had his attention directed, as he himself informs us, to some of these beds on the banks of the Wye.  After seven years of unremitting labour, he was rewarded by success. He established the fact that these sedimentary rocks, penetrated here and there by eruptive masses of igneous origin, formed a unique system, to which he gave the name Silurian, because the rocks which he considered the most typical of the whole were most fully developed, charged with peculiar organic remains, in the land of the ancient Silures, who so bravely opposed the Roman invaders of their country.

[010] The success which attended Sir R. Murchison's investigations soon attracted the attention of other geologists. Professor Sedgwick examined the older slaty strata, and succeeded in proving the position of the Cambrian rocks to be at the base of the Silurian.

[010] Hugh MIller and many others had their attention occupied with the Old Red Sandstone -- the Devonian -- which immediately overlies [the Silurian].  After a youth passed in wandering among the woods and rocks of his native Cromarty, the day came when Miller found himself twenty years of age, and, for the time, a workman in a quarry. A hard fate he thought it at the time, but to him it was the road to fame and success in life.  The quarry in which he laboured was at the bottom of a bay formed by the mouth of a river opening  to the south, a clear current of water on one side, as he vividly described it, and a thick wood on the other. In this silent spot, in the remote Highlands, a curious fossil fish of the Old Red Sandstone was revealed to him; its appearance struck him with astonishment; a fellow-workman named a spot where many such monuments of a former world were scattered about; he visited the place, and became a geologist and the historian of the "Old Red."


CHEMICAL AND NEBULAR HYPOTHESES OF THE GLOBE  15  015  016  017  018  019  020  021  022  023  024  025

[018] It is not to be supposed that amongst the various hypotheses of which the cosmogony of the world has been the object, a literal acceptation of the scriptural account finds no defenders among men of science.

MODIFICATIONS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE   26  026  027  028  029

ERUPTIVE ROCKS  30  030

PLUTONIC ERUPTIONS  31  031  032  033  034  035  036  037  038

Granite  31 Syenite  34 Protogine  35 Porphyry  37 Serpentine  38

VOLCANIC ROCKS  39

Trachytic Formations  39  039  040  041  042  043

Basaltic Formations  44   044  045  046  047  048  049  050

Volcanic or Lava Formations  51   051  052  053  054  055  056  057  058  059  060  061  062  063  064  065  066  067  068  069  070

METAMORPHIC ROCKS  71   071  072  073

General Metamorphism  74   074  075  076  077  078  079

THE BEGINNING  80   080  081  082  083  084  085  086  087  088  089  090  091  092  093  094  095  096  097  098  099

[099] During the primitive epoch the temperature of the earth was too high to admit the appearance of life on its surface. The darkness of thickest night shrouded this cradle of the world; the atmosphere probably was so charged with vapours of various kinds, that the sun's rays were powerless to pierce its opacity. Upon this heated surface, and in this perpetual night, organic life could not manifest itself. No plant, no animal, then, could exist upon the silent earth. In the seas of this epoch, therefore, only unfossiliferous strata were deposited.

Nevertheless, our planet continued to be subjected to a gradual refrigeration on the one hand, and, on the other, continuous rains were purifying its atmosphere.  From this time, then, the sun's rays, being less obscured, could reach its surface, and, under ther beneficent influence, life was not slow in disclosing itself. "Without light," said the illustrious Lavoisier, "Nature was without life; it was dead and inanimate. A benevolent God, in bestowing light, has spread on the surface of the earth organization, sentiment, and thought."  We begin, accordingly to see upon the earth -- the terperature of which was nearly that of our equatorial zone -- a few plants and a few animals make their appearance. These first generations of life will be replaced by others of a higher organisation, until at the last stage of creation, man, endowed with the supreme attribute which we call intelligence, will appear upon the earth.

[100] During the earlier ages of our globe, the waters covered a great part of its surface; and it is in them that we find the first appearance of life.  When the waters had become sufficiently cool to allow the existence of organised beings, creation was developed, and advanced with great energy; for it manifested itself by the appearance of numerous and very different species of animals and plants.

CAMBRIAN PERIOD  101  101

SILURIAN PERIOD  102  102  103  104  105  106  107  108  109  110  111  112  113  114  115  116  117  118

[170] Sir Roderick Murchison defined and named the Silurian System.

Lower Silurian Period  104
Upper Silurian Period  110

OLD RED SANDSTONE AND DEVONIAN PERIOD  119   119  120  121  122  123  124  125  126  127  128  129


CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD  130   130  131  132  133  134  135  136  137  138  139

Carboniferous Limestone  140   140  141  142  143  144  145  146  147  148  149  150  151  152  153  154  155

Coal Measares  156    156  157  158

Formation of Coal  159   159  160  161  162  163  164  165  166  167  168  169

[161] If we bear in mind the remarkable parallelism existing in the stratification of the coal-formation, and the state of preservation in which the impressions of the most delicate vegetable forms are discovered, it will, we think, be proved to demonstration, that those coal-seams have been formed in perfect tranquility. We are, then, forced to the conclusion that coal results from the mineralisation of plants which has taken place on the spot; that is to say, in the very place where the plants lived and died. ... It has, also, been pointed out... that not only in this country, but in the coal-fields of Nova Scotia, the United States, &c., every layer of true coal is co-extensive with and invariably underlaid by a marked stratum of arenaceous clay of greater or less thickness, which, from its position relatively to the coal has been long known to coal-miners, among other terms, by the name of under-clay.

The clay-beds, "which vary in thickness from a few inches to more than ten feet, are penetrated in all directions by a confused and tangled collection of the roots and leaves, as they may be, of the Stigmaria ficoides, these being frequently traceable to the main stem (Sigillaria) ... From the circumstance... it has been generally recognised as probably the truth ... that the Stigmaria ficoides is only the root of the Sigillaria, and not a distinct plant.

PERMIAN PERIOD 170  170  171  172  173  174  175  176

TRIASSIC, OR NEW RED PERIOD  185   185  186

New Red Sandstone  187   187

[187] In this hew phase ... the Trilobites have disappeared; the molluscous Cephalopods and Brachiopods are few in number, as are the Ganoid and Placoid Fishes, whose existence also seems to have terminated during this period, and vegetation has undergone analogous changes. The cryptogamic plants become less numerous, while the Conifers experienced a certain extension. For the first time the Turtle appears. The Saurian reptiles acquire a great development; they prepare the way for those enormous Saurians, which appear in the following period.

Muschelkalk  188  188  189  190  191  192  193  194  195  196  197  198

Keuper Period  199   199  200  201  202  203  204  205  206

The footprints in Connecticut belong to this time, showing that birds of great size have made their appearance.

RHAETIC (PENARTH) PERIOD  207   207  208  209  210

JURASSIC PERIOD  211

Liassic Period  211   211  212  213  214  215  216  217  218  219  220  221  222  223  224  225  226  227  228  229  230  231  232  233  234  235  236  237  238  239  240  241  242

[211] The Lias may be traced throughout a great part of Europe as a separate and independent group, of considerable thickness, varying from 500 to 1,000 feet, containing many peculiar fossils, and having a very uniform lithological aspect.

[214] The Ammonites, a curious genus of Cephalopoda, which made their first appearance in small numbers towards the close of the Triassic period, become quite special in the Secondary epoch, with the cloas of which they disappear altogether. They were very abundant in the Jurassic period, and, as we have already said, each zone is characerise by its peculiar species.  The name is taken from the resemblance of the shell to the ram's-horn ornaments which decorated the front of the temple of Jupiter Ammon.

[217] The seas of the period contained a great number of the fishes called Ganoids; which are so-called from the splendour of the hard and enamelled scales, which form a sort of defensive armour to protect their bodies.

[218] The distinguishing features [of the Jurassic period] are found in the enormous reptiles with lizard's head, crocodile's conical teeth, the trunk and tail of a quadruped, whale-like paddles, and the double-concave vertebrae of fishes; and this strange form on such a gigantic scale that even their inanimate remains are examined with a curiosity not unmixed with awe. The country around Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, has long been celebrated for the curious fossils discovered in its quarries.

[219] The quarries of Lyme Regis form the cemebery of the Ichthyosauri [= fish-lizard] ... the dragons of the ancient seas.

    In 1811 a country girl ... perceived some bones projecting a little out of the cliff. Finding, on examination, that it was part of a large skeleton, she cleared away the rubbish, and laid bare the whole creature imbedded in the block of stone. She hired workmen to dig out the block of Lias in which it was buried. In this manner was the first of these monsters brought to light: "a monster some thirty feet long, with jaws nearly a fathom in length, and huge saucer-eyes; which have since been found so perfect, that the petrified lenses have been split off and used as magnifiers."

    The eyes of this marine monster were much larger than those of any animal now living; in volume they frequently exceed the human head, and their structure was one of their most remarkable peculiarities. In front of the sclerotic coat or capsule of the eye there is an annular series of thin bony plates, surrounding the pupil.  This structure, which is now only met with in the eyes of certain turtles, tortises, and lizards, and in those of many birds, could be used so as to increase or diminish the curvature of the transparent cornea, and thus increase or diminish the magnifying power, according to the requirements of the animal -- performing the office, in short, of a telescope or microscope at pleasure. The eyes of the Ichthyosaurus were, then, an optical apparatus of wonderful power and of singular perfection.

[220] At no period in the earth's history have Reptiles occupied so important place as they did in the Jurassic period. Nature seems to have wished to bring this class of animals to the highest state of development. The great Reptiles of the Lias are as complicated in their structure as the Mammals which appeared at a later period.

[221] The great Saurians in the Lias of Lyme Regis seem to have suffered a somewhat sudden death ... "In general the bones are not scattered about, and in a detached state, as would happen if the dead animal had descended to the bottom of the sea, to be decomposed, or devoured piecemeal ...; on the contrary, the bones of the skeleton, .. are tolerably connected, frrequently in perfect, or nearly perfect, order, as if prepared by the anatomist.  The skin, moreover, may sometimes be traced, and the compressed contents of the intestines may at times be also observed -- all tending to show that the animals were suddenly destroyed, and as suddenly preserved." (De la Beche)

[230] The Plesiosaurus was first described by the Rev. W. D. Coybeare and Sir Henry De la Becha, in the "Geological Society's Transactions" for 182`. The first specimen was discovered in the Lias of Lyme Regis.

[233] There are no monsters in Nature; in no living creature are the laws of organisation ever positively infringed; and it is more in accordance with the general perfection of creation to se in an organization so special, in a structure which differs so notably from that of the animals of our own days, the simple development of a type, and sometimes also the introduction of beings, and successive changes in their structure.  We shall see, in examining the surioud series of animals of the ancient world, that the organization and physiological functions go on improving unceasingly, and that each of the extinct genera which preceded the appearance of man, present, for each organ, modifications which always tend toward greater perfection. The fins of the fishes of Devonian seas become the paddles of the Ichthyosauri and of the Plesiosauri; these, in their turn, become the membranous foot of the Pterodactyle, and, finally, the wing of the bird. Afterwards comes the articulated fore-foot of the terrestrial mammalia, which after attaining remarkable perfection in the hand of the ape, becomes, finally, the arm and hand of man, an instrument of wonderful delicacy and poser, belonging to an enlightened being gifted with the divine attribute of reason! Let us, then dismiss any idea of monstrosity with regard to these antediluvian animals; let us learn, on the contrary, to recognise, with admiration, the divine proofs of design which they display, and in their organization to see only the handiwork of the Creator.

Oolitic Sub-Period 243  243

[243] This period is so named because many of the limestones entering into the composition of the formations it comprises, consist almost entirely of an aggregation of rounded concretionary grains resembling, in outer appearance, the roe or eggs of fishes, and each of which contains a nucleus of sand, around which concentric layers of calcareous matter have accumulated. [ed. note: as if the "eggs" precipitated out of a highly saturated mineral solution].

CRETACOUS PERIOD  275  275  276  277  278  279  280  281  282  283  284  285

[275] The name Cretaceous (from creta, chalk) is given to this epoch because the rocks deposited by the sea, towards its close, are almost entirely composed of chalk (carbonate of lime).... If chalk be examined with a microscope, it will be found to be composed of the remains of numerous Zoophytes, of minute and divers kinds of shells, and, above all, of Foraminifera.

Lower Cretaceous Period  286   286  287  288  289  290  291  292  293  294  295  296  297  298  299

Upper Cretaceous Period  300   300  301  302  303  304  305  306  307  308  309  310  311

Eocene Period  315   315  316  317  318  319  320  321  322  323  324  325  326  327  328  329  330  331  332  333  334  335

Miocene Period  336   336  337  338  339  340  341  342  343  344  345  346  347  348  349  350  351  352  353  354  355  356

[341] The Mastadon was, to all appearance, very nearly of the size and form of our Elephant -- his body, however, being somewhat longer, while his limbs, on the contrary, were a little thicker. He had tusks, and very probably a trunk, and is chiefly distinguished from the existing Elephant by the form of hismolar teeth, which form the most distinctive character in his organization. ... [347] Cuvier [gave it] the name of Mastodon (from the greek mastos = a teat and odous = a tooth), or teat-like-toothed animal. The form of the teeth shows that it fed, like the Elephant, on the roots and succulent parts of vegetables.

[349] The Apes made their appearance at this period.

Pliocene Period  357   357  358  359  360  361  362  363  364  365  366  367  368  369  370  371  372  373  374  375  376  377

[357] During the Pliocene period, many mountains and mountain-chains were formed in Europe by basaltic and volcanic eruptions. Of genera totally unknown till now, some of them, such as the Hippopotamus, the Camel, the Horse, the Ox, and the Deer, survive to the present day.

[374] At the close of the Pliocene period, the continent of Europe was nearly what it is now.... There is strong presumptive evidence that in this period, or in that immediately subsequent to it, the entire European area, with some trifling exceptions, including the Alps and Apennines, emerged from the deep.

POST-PLIOCENE  378   378  379  380  381  382  383  384  385  386  387  388  389  390  391  392  393  394  395  396  397  398  399  400  401  402  403  404  405  406  407  408  409  410  411  412  413  414  415  416  417  418  419  420  421

[381] It was the opinion of Cuvier and the early geologists that the ancient species were destroyed in some great and sudden catastrophe, from which none made their escape. But recent geologists trace their extinction to slow, successive, and determinative action due to local causes, the chief one being the gradual lowering of the temperature.

[391] In 1800, a Russian naturalist, Gabriel Sartyschew, travelled in northern Siberia. Having arrived in the neighbourhood of the Frozen Ocean, he found upon the banks of the Alasoeia, which discharges itself into this sea, the entire body of a Mammoth enveloped in a mass of ice. The body was in a complete state of preservation.

EUROPEAN DELUGES  422   422  423  424  425  426  427  428  429  430  431  432  433  434

GLACIAL PERIOD  435   435  436  437  438  439  440  441  442  443  444  445  446  447  448  449  450  451  452  453  454  455  456  457  458  459  460  461  462  463

CREATION OF MAN  464   464  465  466  467  468  469  470  471  472  473  474  475  476  477  478  479

[469] Volumes have been written upon the question of the unity of the human race; that is, whether there were many centres of the creation of man, or whether our race is derived solely from the Adam of Scripture. We think, with many naturalists, that the stock of humanity is unique, and that the different human races, the negroes, and the yellow race, are only the result of the influence of climate upon organization.

ASIATIC DELUGE  480   480  481  482  483  484  485  486  487  488

[480] The Asiatic deluge -- of which sacred hstory has transmitted to us the few particulars we know -- was the result of the upheaval of a part of the long chain of mountains which are a prolongation of the Caucasus. ... Volumes of watery vapour or steam accompnied the lava discharged from the interior of the globe, which, being first dissipated in clouds and afterwards condensing, descended in torrents of rain, and the plains were drowned with the volcanic mud.

    The particulars of the Biblical narrative [of the Noahic flood]  are only to be explained by the volcanic and muddy eruption which preceded the formation of mount Ararat. The waters which produced the inundation of these countries proceeded from a volcanic eruption accompanied by enormous volumes of vapour, which in due course became condensed and descended on the earth, inundating the extensive plains which now stretch away from the foot of Ararat.

[482] "All the earth" which might be implied to mean the entire globe, is explained by Marcel de Serres... and other philologists, as being an inaccurate translation. He has proved that the Hebrew word haarrets, incorrectly translated "all the earth," is often used in the sense of region or country, and that, in this instance, Moses used it to express only the part of the globe which was then peopled, and not its entire surface. In the same manner, "the mountains" only implies all the mountains known to Moses.

    Nothing occurs, therefore, in the description given by Moses, to hinder us from seeing in the Asiatic deluge a means made use of by God to chastise and punish the human race, then in the infancy of its existence, and which had strayed from the path which he had marked out for it.

[489] Can the actual state of the earth be considered as definitive? The revolutions which have fashioned its surface, and produced the Alps in Europe, Mount Ararat in Asia, the Cordilleras in the New World -- are they to be the last? ... It is diffult to reply with any confidence to this question.

What are the causes which have produced the present inequalities of the globe -- the mountain-ranges, continents, and waters? The primordial cause is the cooling of the earth, and the progressive solidification of the external crust, the nucleus of which still remains in a fluid or viscous state. ... The secondary causes which have contributed to the formation of a vast extent of dry land are due to the sedimentary deposits, which have resulted in the creation of new continents by filling up the basins of the ancient seas. Now these two causes, although in a minor degree, continue in operation to the present day.

During the Metamorphic epoch the mineral kingdom existed along; the rocks, silent and solitary, were all that was yet formed of the burning earth. During the Primary epoch, the vegetable kingdom, newly created, extended itself over the whold globe, which it soon covered from pole to pole with an uninterrupted mass of verdure.  During the Secondary and Tertiary epochs, the vegetable and animal kingdoms divided the earth between them. In the Quaternary epoch the himan kingdom appeared.  Is it in the future destinies of our planet to receive let another lord?

We must be content with suggesting, without hoping to solve, this formidable problem. It is a great mystery, which, according to the fine expression of Pliny, "lies hidden in the majesty of Nature;" or, (to speak more in the spirit of Christian philosophy) it is known only to the Almighty Creator of the Universe.

 494  495  496  497  498  499