Quaternary Epoch Modern Period.
{ Pliocene Period.
Tertiary Epoch { Miocene Period.
{ Eocene Period.
{ Cretaceous Rocks.
Secondary Epoch { Jurassic Rocks.
{ Triassic Rocks.
{ Permian Rocks.
Primary Epoch { Carboniferous Rocks.
{ Devonian Rocks.
{ Silurian Rocks.
Metamorphic Series { Cambrian Rocks.
{ Fundamental Gneiss, or Laurentian.
Under these heads we propose to examine the successive transformations
to which the earth has been subjected in reaching its present condition;
in other words, we propose, both from an historical and descriptive
point of view, to take a survey of the several _epochs_ which can be
distinguished in the gradual formation of the earth, corresponding with
the formation of the great groups of rocks enumerated in the preceding
table. We shall describe the living creatures which have peopled the
earth at each of these epochs, and which have disappeared, from causes
which we shall also endeavour to trace. We shall describe the plants
belonging to each great phase in the history of the globe. At the same
time, we shall not pass over entirely in silence the rocks deposited by
the waters, or thrown up by eruption during these periods; we propose,
also, to give a summary of the mineralogical characters and of the
fossils characteristic of, or peculiar to each formation. What we
propose, in short, is to give a history of the formation of the globe,
and a description of the principal rocks which actually compose it; and
to take also a rapid glance at the several generations of animals and
plants which have succeeded and replaced each other on the earth, from
the very beginning of organic life up to the time of man’s appearance.