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English Reviews of the First Edition of Cuvier's Essay
[This text
has been prepared by Ian Johnston of Vancouver Island University,
Nanaimo, BC. It is in the public domain.]
From The
British Review and London Critical Journal, Volume V (1813), Issue X, 400-413
Art
XXI--Essay on the Theory of the Earth, translated from the French of M.
Cuvier, perpetual Secretary of the French Institute, Professor and
Administrator of the Museum of Natural History, &c. &c. by Robert
Kerr, F. R. S. and F. S. S. Edinburgh. With mineralogical Notes, and an
Account of Cuvier's geological Discoveries. By Professor Jameson.
Edinburgh. 1813.
The
internal formation of the earth, and the deep though marvellous traces of
design in its disordered mass, have been almost the last in the succession of
scientific objects, which have engaged the speculations of mankind. The
dazzling brightness of the canopy which overspreads this globe, and the endless
varieties of animal and vegetable life which cover its surface, presented
attractions with which it was long before the interior examination of its substance
could stand in any competition. The treasures of the mine, indeed, were too
much connected with selfish and ambitious desires to remain long in obscurity,
but the laborious operations of their extraction afforded little leisure or
encouragement to philosophic research. The speculative observation of phenomena
indicating the agency of stupendously powerful causes was reserved for an
advanced age of scientific enquiry. Even the distinction of simple minerals
into genera and species was unknown to the ancients. Pliny and Theophrastus
have left the only records of research in the third great kingdom of nature,
but these records present nothing but some imperfect attempts to describe a few
varieties of stones. We live in an age, however, in which the attention of the
curious has been directed to this pursuit, and the value of the study of
geology has been duly appreciated. But the rapid advance of natural knowledge
in general, during the eighteenth century, in which period geology assumed its
rank among the sciences, involved some consequences which may be considered as
rather injurious to its advancement upon sound philosophical principles. The
sublime speculations of Newton, the extensive classifications of Linnaeus, and
the comprehensive theory of Lavoisier, had induced a too prevailing habit of
generalization. The soil was too forcing for the first buddings of the tender
plant, and the value of a few facts was nearly smothered by a premature ardour
for hypothesis. Gratuitous and fanciful theories, disclaiming all dependence
upon experiments, began, very soon after the study was introduced, to bend it
in subservience to a sort of philosophical faction. Truths of the highest
concern became involved in geological disputes, and the sacred history of
revelation, the inspired account of the design and progress of creation, was
called into question in the arbitrary explanations of natural appearances.
"Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia"
Thus
the title of geologist became, in many instances, synonymous with deist, and a
kind of unholy stain polluted the birth of this infant science. The zeal of
some who undertook to defend, upon their adversaries' ground, the tenets of
their faith, was not less injurious to science, and was more detrimental to the
cause which they espoused. They, in their turn, invented hypothetical
explanations of appearances, and distorted both fats and reasoning to answer
their particular purpose. The refutation of these zealous absurdities was easy,
but there are always those who are ready to confound the credit of a righteous
cause with the imbecility of its advocates.
The
first observations of geological phenomena were rude and accidental, as must be
the case with all new studies before the process of spontaneous developement
begins. Gradual discoveries of arrangement lead to profounder observations and
juster conclusions. System and order arise in the place of confusion; not such
as belong to the products of fancy and the visions of possibility but to the
forms of reality and the objects of the senses.
One
of the first observations which were made after the distinction of rocky masses
in reference to their component parts, was the invariable order of relative
position which the different species maintain with respect to each other.
Different rocks are seen piled upon one another in mountain ranges; and in
digging into the depths of the earth a perpetual and varying succession of
strata is discovered. But no change of place is ever found between the upper
and lower orders of the series. The lines of junction of the different species,
and the strata into which they are individually divided, are parallel to one
another. From hence the conclusion is striking; first, that their component
parts must formerly have been in a state of fluidity; and, secondly, that the
lower rocks in position must have been the first in formation. Their division,
therefore, into two grand classes, distinguished no less by their relative
position than by the obvious characters of their composition is highly
scientific. A crystalline texture, and the absence of extraneous fossils, mark
the series which is lowest in position, and justify the name of primordial;
while the earthy composition of the higher series, and the different bodies
which they envelop, from fragments of the preceding class to remains of
organized bodies, authorize no less for these the appellation of secondary.
Both these divisions of rocks are traversed by fissures which are filled with
matters wholly foreign to their constitution. These veins are allowed by all to
be of posterior formation to the masses between which they are interposed.
Sometimes veins of different substances cut through each other, and in this
case it is obvious that the one which is cut must have been of older formation
than the one which traverses it. The disorder and various degrees of
inclination of the planes of the strata point to some great revolution which
must have broken their surfaces by the elevation of the upper, or the
depression of the lower ridge. Geologists all agree in this unavoidable
inference, though they differ from each other as to the nature of the cause.
The
existence of marine exuviae upon the summits of many of the highest mountains
is a fact of the utmost interest; as thence arises the uncontroverted
conclusion, that at some former period the ocean had covered their lofty
pinnacles, which have subsequently been exposed by the reflux of its waters, or
by their gradual elevation above its level.
Thus
far do all systems of geology agree, and such are the observations which have
formed the basis of their several theories. Two rival systems have of late
divided the attention of geologists, both of which profess to appeal to facts
as the foundation of their deductions.
One
of these, finding the causes which are at resent in action upon the surface of
the globe sufficient for the operation of all the changes which are visibly
stamped upon its form, compensates the imbecility of these ordinary means by an
arbitrary extension of time, and carries back the commencement of their operation
to millions of ages; or, rather, it supposes an indefinite power of renovation,
which scorns the idea of a beginning, as it precludes the expectation of an
end. According to this hypothesis, the continents of the present world have
been formed from the detritus of pre-existing lands; the causes which destroyed
the preceding mass are now in full action upon the p resent, and the slow
disintegration of rocks by weather and storms, and the gradual abrasion of
their surfaces by water, are preparing the birth of new lands, as they ensure
the destruction of the old. the hollows of the valleys have been worn to their
present depths by the action of the rivers, which originally ran at the level
of the highest mountains, and the incessant attacks of the ocean perpetually
encroach upon the barriers of the earth, the materials of which it washes away
and buries in the depths of its waters. But these depths are the grand
laboratory where new combinations are forming from the fragments of a former
world, which, being deposited in quiet succession, are modified by the action
of an internal fire, which, having melted the lower deposits by the help of the
compression of the incumbent weight of waters, will finally raise its new
creation into light by its expansive powers. The same causes are a gain to act
upon this new earth, the waters of the atmosphere are again to commence their
course from the summits of the mountains, and the sea attacking its new barrier
with undiminished force will again precipitate its spoils into the furnaces of
the deep.
Such
is the geological theory of Dr. Hutton. Its chief support has been derived from
the ingenious illustrations of Professor Playfair. Under his auspices the
igneous origin of the present order of things, and the doctrine of their
incalculable and unimaginable antiquity, have derived an importance which has
saved them from the merited oblivion which involves many other speculations at
least as worthy of being preserved.
The
writings of the disciples of the rival school most triumphantly point out the
absurdities of the Plutonian theory. Although it is impossible to deny the
traces of the agency of fire upon the surface of our planet, proofs of which
are even now visible in the dreadful effects of volcanoes and earthquakes, yet
the facts relied upon to shew the universality of this agent are completely
disproved. The experimental form which the idea seemed to assume from the well
conducted experiments of Sir James Hall vanishes before the very data necessary
to their success. The pressure of a resisting solid may prevent the escape of
carbonic acid gas when limestone is acted upon by heat, but it would
necessarily permeate every part of an incumbent fluid, and escape unchanged.
Moreover, the now established stratification of granite, and the proofs of the
newer construction of granite veins, which run into upper formations, are
destructive of another of its essential arguments. But had not this been the
case, we must confess that we are such old fashioned folks, and so bigoted to
certain superstitions which we have imbibed in our youth, that the
incompatibility of Dr. Hutton's hypothesis with our faith in the sacred volumes
would have been alone conclusive against his arguments, and we should have
still been content to have remained in unphilosophical ignorance of the
solution of an intricate problem, rather than adopt conclusions so glaringly
inconsistent with the concurrent testimony of recorded facts and traditional
history.
The
theory of Werner not only boasts the best connected series of facts for its
illustration, but the greatest number of able supporters. The talents and
sagacity of the founder himself are the of the first class; and it will ever be
matter of regret that no account of his labours from his own en enrich the
records of science. Professor Jameson has ably filled the place of expositor
and annotator; but it is to the labours of the indefatigable De Luc that we are
chiefly indebted not only for illustrations but judicious modifications. This
acute philosopher has spent the greater part of a long life in geological
pursuits; and the volumes of his travels, with the theoretical application of
his observations to the support of the Wernerian, and the refutation of the
Huttonian hypotheses, are monuments of logical exactness, and of unwearied
assiduity of research.
This
theory sets out with a distinction between the effects of causes obviously now
in operation, and of others which have ceased to act. Carried back to the
formation of granite as the first discernible effect which can be traced, it
supposes that all the elements of the globe were held together in one chaotic
mass. This mass became fluid by the extrication of the matter of heat, whereby
the reciprocal power of the affinities of the different substances was brought
into action. the granite strata were the first deposits from this disordered
fluid, and the rest of the primitive rocks in the order of their succession.
While this operation was in progress, the new-formed strata were fractured by
the power of the expansive fluids which were produced by the different actions
of affinity, and sinking into the caverns which were thus formed beneath them,
rested in an inclined position. Other formations were again deposited upon
these from the remaining fluid, influenced possibly by new affinities brought
into action by the extrication of the gaseous matters. Such catastrophes
occurred at different intervals, fracturing the rocks by the violence of the
commotion. Their fragments were rounded by the tumultuous action of the waters,
and gave birth to those immense deposits of water-worn stones which are so
often met with in the newer formations. The organic remains which occur in
these latter testify the different periods at which the earth was clothed with
vegetation, and furnished with its various kinds of animated beings.
There
is something more than beautiful in the correspondence of this explanation of
the appearances of nature with the inspired account of the creation of the
world by the great historian of the Jews. In the emphatic command of "Let
there be light," we indistinctly trace a part of that comprehensive design
which embraced at once all the beneficial consequences of its
fulfilment--"There was light:" heat the concomitant, and possibly
only a modification of light, loosed at once the bands of nature. The spirit of
God, indeed, moved upon the face of the waters; the powers of affinity, which
we are never tired of admiring in our closets in a small scale, were let loose
in the great deep, and dry land appeared, the product of the new combinations.
But further still, in the relics of a former world, preserved to us in the
bosoms of the rocks, we may trace the order and succession of the creation of
organic forms, as recorded in the same history. The older classes of secondary
rocks contain remnants of vegetable forms alone; a second and a newer division
are rich in the remains of all that the waters brought forth abundantly,
while the skeletons and impressions of cattle, creeping things,
and beasts of the earth, are discovered only in the newest alluvial
formations.
The
succession of catastrophes which dislocated the strata in the striking manner
which we now trace, wherever their sections are exposed to view, was closed by
that last subsidence which brought the waters of the ocean upon the habitations
of men. The fountains of the deep were opened, the bed of the sea was changed,
and our present continents rose above the retiring flood.
It
is not the least ingenious and interesting part of the theory which we are
contemplating, that it helps us to infer from the effects of causes which are
now in action, and which commenced their course from the period of the last
catastrophe of the surface of the earth, the time which has elapsed from that
period. The bold outline of the boundaries of the seas in most places broken
down by the perpetual agitation of the waves. After every storm fragments of
the broken strata fall down upon the gradually accumulating beach, and being
rounded by the action of the water, are deposited in heaps at the feet of the
rocky cliffs. These heaps increase gradually, and modifying the action of the
waves, repel their attacks, and in the lapse of time become covered with the
earthy deposits of the land waters, and overspread with vegetation. Thus a kind
of chronometer is formed, which with little observation and calculation will
give us the probably length of time since first the waves began to act upon the
rugged outline of the rock.
The
accumulation of sand upon different coasts, the gradually increasing deposits
of mud at the mouths of rivers, the progress of new lands, the filling up of
lakes, and the raising of marshes by the slow depositions of the sediments of
water, together with the formation of stalactitical incrustations, are similar
measures of the like period. All these concurrent testimonies prove that the
time from the formation of our present continents cannot have exceeded a very
few thousand years, affording another proof of the authenticity of that history
which relates the stupendous story of the universal deluge.
Such
is the outline of the Wernerian theory. It must be allowed to be consistent
with the known laws of chemical and mechanical philosophy; and although in many
instances it may be thought to have ventured too far into the regions of fancy,
yet its speculations have imported from thence no arts to disguise
inconsistency, or arms to assist presumption.
Geology
within this year or two has assumed a different mien. Observation has
superseded useless speculation, and the classification of the different
formations of the earth's surface, the distinction and description of different
individuals in a series, the analysis of minerals and the investigation of
their properties, have taken the place of useless cavils about remoter causes.
It is by such gradual means that we may hope to penetrate the secrets of
time;--step by step to unravel the long series of past events;--to harmonize
philosophy with divinity.
In
adverting to this revolution in the science we have been considering, we are
happy in an opportunity of directing attention to the exertions of a body of
scientific men, who have lately formed themselves into a society in this
country for the advancement of geology. Attached to no particular system, they
meet together for the purpose of encouraging and facilitating inquiry, and by
the discussions of opinions to elicit truth. Their early labours have been
crowned with merited success, and the first volume of their transactions is
replete with original, well-described, and highly interesting observations.
Their later proceedings we shall hope shortly to see recorded; and it will be,
we trust, not the least instructive part of our labours, either to ourselves or
to our readers, to watch from time to time the progress of researches which we
are convinced will contribute most essentially to erect upon a rational basis a
true system of geology.
But
we must abridge our observations upon the present state of the science in
general, for the sake of the book which we have named at the head of this
article, and which is of too interesting a character, both from the names of
its author and annotator, and the contents of its pages, not to claim some
space for its analysis.
An
Essay upon the Theory of the Earth by Cuvier, one of the first geologists of
France, with mineralogical notes by Jameson, who hold a parallel situation
among British naturalists, is well calculated to excite attention; and we do
not scruple to say that it will be read with satisfaction by the numerous
students of this interesting science. It may be considered as a condensed view
of the various discoveries with which its eminent author has enriched geology;
and more particularly that department of it which relates to the history of the
fossil remains of organized bodies. These remains of animal and vegetable
substances vary as to the state in which they are found as much as they do in
their respective species. Sometimes the most delicate bodies are little changed
by the processes which they have undergone; sometimes they are completely
impregnated with stony matter; and often they exhibit mere casts of the
original substance. It has been the arduous undertaking of M. Cuvier not only
to class the different species, and compare them with their existing analogues,
but carefully to ascertain the superpositions of the strata in which their
remains occur, and their connexion with the different animals and plants which
they enclose. A condensed and highly interesting view of these observations in
general is given in the notes; but the peculiar subject of the essay before us
consists in the investigation of the fossil remains of quadrupeds.
The
highest degree of importance attaches to this class of extraneous fossils. They
indicate more clearly than others the nature of the revolutions they have
undergone. The important fact of the repeated irruptions of the sea upon the
land is by them placed beyond a doubt. The remains of shells and of other
bodies of marine origin might merely indicate that the sea had once existed where
these collections are found. Thousands of aquatic animals may have been left
dry by a recess of the waves, while their races may have been preserved in more
peaceful parts of the ocean. But a change in the bed of the sea, and a general
irruption of its waters must have destroyed all the quadrupeds within the reach
of its influence. Thus entire classes of animals, or at least many species,
must have been utterly destroyed. Whether this actually has been the case we
are more easily able to determine from the greater precision of our knowledge
with respect to the quadrupeds, and the smaller limits of their number. It may
be decided at once whether fossil bones belong to any species which still
exits, or to one that is lost; but it is impossible to say whether fossil
testaceous animals, although unknown to the zoologist, may not belong to genera
yet undiscovered in the fathomless depths of the sea.
This
indefatigable observer of nature, from a mature consideration of the subject,
after a display of the most complete knowledge of the osteology of comparative
anatomy, and after a learned comparison of the description of the rare animals
of the ancients, and the fabulous products of their imaginations, draws the
following instructive conclusion.
"None
of the larger species of quadrupeds, whose remains are now found imbedded in
regular rocky strata, are al all similar to any of the known living species.
This circumstance is by no means the mere effect of chance, or because the
species to which these fossil bones have belonged are still concealed in the
desert and uninhabited parts of the world, and have hitherto escaped the
observation of travellers, but this astonishing phenomenon has proceeded from
general causes; and the careful investigation of it affords one of the best
means for discovering and investigating the nature of those causes."
The
method of observation adopted is susceptible of the utmost accuracy, and
affords a specimen of induction from facts highly honourable to human reason.
"Every
organized individual forms an entire system of its own, all the parts of which
mutually correspond and concur to produce a certain definite purpose by
reciprocal re-action, or by combining towards the same end. Hence none of these
separate parts can change their forms without a corresponding change on the
other parts of the same animal, and consequently each of these parts taken
separately indicates all the other parts to which it has belonged. Thus, if the
viscera of an animal are so organized as only to be fitted for the digestion of
recent flesh, it is also required that the jaws should be so constructed as to
fit them for devouring their prey; the claws must be constructed for seizing
and tearing it to pieces; the teeth for cutting and dividing the flesh; the
entire system of limbs, or organs of motion, for pursuing and overtaking it;
and the organs of sense for discovering it at a distance. Hence any one who
observes merely the print of a cloven foot, may conclude that it has been left
by a ruminant animal; and regard the conclusion as equally certain with any
other in physics or in morals. Consequently, this single foot-mark clearly
indicates to the observer the forms of the teeth, of the jaws, of the
vertebrae, of all the leg bones, thighs, shoulders, and of the trunk of the
body of the animal that left the mark."
It
is from this connexion of all the different parts of an animal that the
smallest piece of one may become the sure index of the class and species of
animal to which it has belonged; and it is from an indefatigable and ingenious
application of this rule that our author has been enabled to class the fossil
remains of seventy-eight different quadruped, of which forty-nine are distinct
species, hitherto unknown to naturalists. The bones are generally dispersed,
seldom occurring in complete skeletons, and still more rarely is the fleshy
part of the animal preserved. We extract the following interesting instance of
the preservation of the carcase of the mammoth, which is given by Professor
Cuvier as taken from a report in the supplement to the Journal du Nord,
by M. Adams, a member of the academy of St. Petersburg.
"In
the year 1799, a Tungusian fisherman observed a strange shapeless mass
projecting from an ice-bank, near the mouth of a river in the north of Siberia,
the nature of which he did not understand, and which was so high in the bank as
to be beyond his reach. He next year observed the same object, which was then
rather more disengaged from among the ice, but was till unable to conceive what
it was. Towards the end of the following summer, 1801, he could distinctly see
that it was the frozen carcase of an enormous animal, the entire flank of
which, and one of its tusks, had become disengaged from the ice. In consequence
of the ice beginning to melt earlier and to a greater degree than usual in
1803, the fifth year of this discovery, the enormous carcase became entirely
disengaged, and fell down from the ice-crag on a sand-bank, forming part of the
coast of the Arctic ocean. In the months of March in that year the Tungusian
carried away the two tusks, which he sold for the value of fifty rubles; and at
this time a drawing was made of the animal, of which I possess a copy.
"Two
years afterward, or in 1806, Mr. Adams went to examine this animal, which still
remained on the sand-bank where it had fallen from the ice, but is body was
then greatly mutilated. The Jukuts of the neighbourhood had taken away
considerable quantities of its flesh to feed their dogs; and the wild animals,
particularly the white bears, had also feasted on the carcase; yet the skeleton
remained entire, except that one of the fore legs was gone. The entire spine,
the pelvis, one shoulder-blade, and three legs were still held together by
their ligaments and by some remains of skin; and the other shoulder-blade was
found at a short distance. The head remained covered by the dry skin; and the
pupil of the eyes was still distinguishable. The brain also remained within the
skull, but a good deal shrunk and dried up; and one of the ears was in excellent
preservation, still retaining a tuft of strong bristly hair. The upper lip was
a good deal eaten away, and the under lip was entirely gone, so that the teeth
were distinctly seen. The skin was extremely thick and heavy, and as much of it
remained as required the exertions of ten men to carry it away, which they did
with considerable difficulty. More than thirty pounds weight of the hair and
bristles of this animal were gathered from the wet sand-bank, having been
trampled into the mud by the white bears while devouring the carcase. Some of
the hair was presented to our Museum of Natural History by M. Targe, censor in
the Lyceum of Charlemagne. It consisted of three distinct kinds: one of these
is stiff black bristles, a foot or more in length; another is thinner bristles,
or coarse flexible hair of a reddish brown colour; and the third is a coarse
reddish brown wool, which grew among the roots of the long hair. These afford
an undeniable proof that this animal has belonged to a race of elephants inhabiting
a cold region, with which we are now unacquainted, and by no means fitted
to dwell in the torrid zone. It is also evident that the enormous animal must
have been frozen up by the ice at the moment of its death."
But
one of the most important and interesting of the observations for which we are
indebted to the precision of the French naturalist is the distinction of two
different formations amongst secondary strata. These consist of alternate
deposits from salt and fresh water; and are characterized by the nature of the
shells which are found imbedded in them. The country about Paris is founded
upon chalk. This is covered with clay and a coarse limestone, containing marine
petrifactions. Over this lies an alternating series of gypsum and clay, in which
occur the remains of quadrupeds, birds, fish, and shells, all of land or fresh
water species. Above this interesting stratum lie marl and sandstone,
containing marine shells, which again contain petrifactions of fresh water
remains. The upper bed of all is of an alluvial nature, in which trunks of
trees, bones of elephants, oxen, and rein-deer, intermingled with salt water
productions, seem to suggest that both salt and fresh water have contributed to
its accumulation. This alternate flux and reflux of the two fluids is a most
extraordinary phenomenon, and promises to lead to an important conclusion
respecting the general theory of the earth.
We
are inclined to think that something analogous to the process which produced
these changes may be perceived in operations which are going on in our own
time, and in gradual alterations which have been affected within the memory of
one generation. The following extract from the accurate descriptions of the
indefatigable De Luc will better explain our ideas upon this subject. We have
selected one from among many instances where are afforded by an attentive
examination of our own coasts.
"Slapton
Lee occupies the lower part of a combe, which at first formed a recess in the
bay, but the sea before it being shallow, the waves brought up the gravel from
the bottom along the coast, and the beach thus produced passed at length quite
across this recess, which it closed: since then, the fresh water proceeding
from the combe has almost entirely displaced the salt water within this space,
because the former arriving there freely, and passing through the gravel of the
beach, repels the small quantity of the sea water which filtrates into it.
Slapton Lee, which is about two miles in length and a quarter of a mile in its
greatest breadth, is a little brackish, on account of its communications with
the sea water, as well through the gravel in common seasons, as when there is
any opening in the beach; however, it contains fresh water fish, carp, tench,
and pike. The sediments of the land waters are tending to fill up this basin,
and wherever the bottom is sufficiently raised the reeds are beginning to
grow."
Such,
we conceive, may have been the process which formed a fresh water deposit upon
a marine basis. By extending the analogy further, we can have little difficulty
in conceiving that the barrier thus raised by the action of the waves may have
been easily destroyed again, even by an extraordinary exertion of the same
power which raised it, or by some other of those violent revolutions whose
effects are marked upon the face of the whole earth. Thus a way was opened for
a return of the waters of the ocean, which again deposited their sediments and
the remains of their living tribes, and thus gave rise to the upper salt water
strata. The same causes again acting excluded one more the waves of the sea,
and gave time for the deposit of the upper fresh water formation. Such an
explanation appears to us simple and satisfactory. It accounts for the
phenomena of nature by nature's laws. But however this may be, the sagacity
which first pointed out the distinction cannot be too much praised. The
discovery has already stimulated the exertions of others, and there is reason
to suppose that the phenomenon is not only not confined to the environs of
Paris, but is of pretty general occurrence in secondary countries. A similar
formation has been lately observed in the Isle of Wight; and has been most
scientifically described and compared with the French strata by a member of the
Geological Society, in a most interesting paper lately laid before that body.
It
is remarkable that those coarse limestone strata which are chiefly employed at
Paris for building, are the last formed series which indicate a long and quiet
continuance of the water of the sea above the surface of the continent. Above
them indeed there are found formations containing abundance of shells and other
productions of the sea, but these consist of alluvial materials, sand, marle,
sand-stone, or clay, which rather indicate transportations that have taken
place with some degree of violence than strata formed by quiet depositions; and
where some regular rocky strata of inconsiderable extent and thickness appear
above or below these alluvial formations they generally bear the marks of
having been deposited from fresh water. All the known specimens of the bones of
viviparous land quadrupeds have either been found in the formations from fresh
water, or in the alluvial formations; whence there is every reason to conclude
that these animals have only begun to exist, or at least to leave their remains
in the strata of our earth since that retreat of the sea which was next before
its last irruption. It has also been clearly ascertained, from an attentive
consideration of the relation of the different remains with the strata in which
they have been discovered, that oviparous quadrupeds are found in much older
strata than those of the viviparous class. Some of the former have been
observed in and even beneath the chalk. Dry land and fresh waters must
therefore have existed before the formation of the chalk strata. No bones of
mammiferous quadrupeds are to be found till we come to the newer formations,
which lie over the coarse limestone strata incumbent on the chalk. Determinate
order may also be observed in the success of these. The general which are now
unknown are the lowest in position: unknown species of known genera are next in
succession: and lastly, the bones of species, apparently the same with those
which are now in existence, are never found but in the latest alluvial
depositions.
The
more we learn respecting the secondary strata of the globe, the more
interesting becomes this investigation. The bold outline of the primitive
ranges, their cloud-capt summits and majestic forms, are calculated to rivet
the attention; but they rather force the fancy to speculate upon their
formation, than lead the judgment by internal evidences to their origin. It is
in the curious observations above recited that we seem to approach the history
of our own state. The study of secondary formations is as yet scarcely
commenced. The labours of Cuvier have thrown a new light upon their high
importance; already by his exertions has the history of the most recent changes
been ascertained, in one particular spot, as far as the chalk formation. This,
which has hitherto been conceived to be of very modern origin, is shewn to have
owed its deposition to causes connected with the revolution and catastrophe
before the last general irruption of the waters over our present habitable
world. Our author well observes that these posterior geological facts which
have hitherto been neglected by geologists, furnish the only clue by which we
my hope, in some measure, to dispel the darkness of the preceding times.
"It
would certainly be exceedingly satisfactory to have the fossil organic
productions arranged in chronological order, in the same manner as we now have
the principal mineral substances. By this the science of organization itself
would be improved; the developments of animal life; the succession of its
forms; the precise determinations of those which have been first called into
existence, the simultaneous production of certain species and their gradual
extinction;--all these would perhaps instruct us fully as much in the essence
of organization as all the experiments that we shall ever be able to make upon
living animals: and man, to whom only a short space of time is allotted upon
the earth, would have the glory of restoring the history of thousands of ages
which preceded the existence of the race, and of thousands of animals which
never were contemporaneous with his species."
In
giving praise generally to this little volume, from which we have derived both
entertainment and instruction, we cannot but particularise the deference which
is paid throughout to the authority of the sacred writings. In an inhabitant of
that country which has lately been as much distinguished for its philosophical
infidelity as for the signal punishment with which it has been attended, we hail
this omen as doubly auspicious at the present moment. The time, we trust, is
not far distant when a justly afflicted country is to be rescued from the
grinding oppression of a despot, the chastisement of whose impiety appears to
be fast accomplishing. His ill-omened rise was as the resistless and splendid
ascension of a rocket--he falls with the accumulating velocity of its extinct
remains.
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