[Illustration: FIG. 25.--PLESIOSAURUS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--NAUTILUS INEQUALIS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--ORGANISMS FROM CHALK.]
The chalk is interstratifìed with lines of sand, and the lower part is
almost entirely sandy, forming the gault and greensand deposits; these
each contain organic remains, and must have been the original sand of
the sea-bottom before the chalk was deposited on it. These seas must
have been the residence of a vast number of reptiles, for the gault
contains an enormous number of nodules of what appears to be stone,
but which upon closer examination, prove to be coprolites, or portions
of the excrement of those creatures partly fossilised, but still
retaining phosphate of lime enough to render them valuable manure, and
these--like the coal--after being buried in the earth for thousands
of years, are now being brought into use. In these coprolites may be
constantly seen the teeth and bones of fishes, together with portions
of echini and crustaceans, which had passed through the intestines
of these saurian reptiles. Fig. 26 is the shell of a small nautilus
(_Nautilus inequalis_) thus found.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--AMMONITE FROM THE CHALK.]
This chalk is of a white colour, very light and porous; under the
higher powers of the microscope, it appears to be made up of organic
forms, as "Foraminifera," and portions of various kinds of shells,
crushed and broken into minute fragments (fig. 27). Dr. Carpenter,
in his work on the microscope, says: "Many parts of it (the chalk)
consist in a great measure of the minuter parts of the smaller kinds
of Foraminifera, whose shells are imbedded in a mass of apparently
amorphous particles, many of which nevertheless present indications of
being the worn fragments of similar shells, or of larger calcareous
organisms. In the chalk of some localities, Foraminifera constitute the
principal part of the minute organisms which can be recognised with the
microscope; in other instances the disintegrated prisms of Pinnæ, or
other large shells of the like structure (as Inoceramus), constitute
the great bulk." The fossil remains in the chalk are very numerous and
are all of a marine character, the ammonites (fig. 28), belemnites,
and other cephalopods, were very prevalent, as were the various
Echinodermata, as the _Hemicidarus intermedia_ (fig. 29), together
with numerous univalve and bivalve mollusca, various crustacea, fish
and reptiles. There was some considerable wonderment a few years
ago expressed at the skeletons of men being found in the chalk at
Guadaloupe; but it has been ascertained that this chalk is a modern
formation, being produced by the sea washing and disintegrating the
adjacent coral reefs, and depositing a fine white sediment of broken
coral on the shore which can hardly be distinguished from ancient
chalk; the same process is taking place at the Bermudas and other
islands of the West Indies.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--ECHINUS (Hemicidarus intermedia, Chalk).]
In many places the chalk strata contain single lines of flints,
running for miles parallel to the layers of chalk; these flints
consist of almost pure silica, and it has been, matter of wonder how
they got there, but on considering how slowly the deposition of chalk
must have taken place, from the formation and death of millions of
minute creatures, and that it was once the bottom of a deep sea, the
disposition of the flints in lines would be accounted for, supposing
them to have been formed on that sea-bottom, and the source from which
they have been derived is doubtless the petrifaction of sponges,
madrapores, &c., there formed. Dr. Carpenter (in the work before
referred to) says: "It may be stated, as a fact beyond all question,
that nodular flint and other analogous concretions (such as agates) may
generally be considered as fossilised sponges or alcyonian zoophytes,
since not only are their external forms and their superficial markings
often highly characteristic of those organisms, but when sections of
them are made sufficiently thin to be transparent, a spongy texture may
be most distinctly recognised in their interior."
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--TERTIARY FORMATION.]
During the deposition of these secondary strata in the hollows of the
surface, but little alteration of the relative situations of sea and
land could have taken place, as the deposits for the most part lie
conformably to the same hollows or "basins" (fig. 30 will illustrate
this); but after the deposition of these strata, there appears to have
been a very great disturbance, many chains of mountains were cast up
(as the Apennines), carrying upwards with them these deposits; some of
the strata were so displaced that they were left in a perpendicular
position, as may be seen in several places at the south side of
the Isle of Wight. These disturbances, however, did not amount to
so general a convulsion as those before described, nor is it known
whether all the effects produced on these strata took place at or near
the same period of time; they nevertheless appear to have produced
an almost total change in the situation of the land and sea, for the
"downs" of chalk (on the southern coast of England, for example)
were, before these changes, the beds of seas. This is the last of
the great convulsions which the earth has undergone, for the tertiary
strata which afterwards began to be deposited rest in the hollows or
basins (chiefly in the chalk) then left; the alterations in and since
these deposits appear to consist chiefly of the upheaval of certain
localities, the depression of others, the evaporation of inland lakes,
and the wear and tear of the land from these causes, which are still in
continuous action (as from the washing down of cliffs by the sea, and
the formation of mud deposits at the mouths of rivers), or the volcanic
agencies which in some places (as in Ireland) have cast up basalt over
the chalk.
The tertiary strata contain remains of most of the classes of animals
now in existence, but yet differing greatly in species, and as the
strata approach the surface those species become more and more general;
the plants also approach more nearly to those of the present time, but
still most parts of Europe possessed a climate almost tropical. The
tertiary strata consist chiefly of marine and fresh water deposits in
the form of sands and clays, as the "London clay," which extends under
London, resting upon a basin of chalk. The last deposits, forming the
superficial layer of earth, and the formation last deposited before
the creation of man, are called the Diluvium and Alluvium, and contain
numerous remains of mammalia, birds, reptiles, and fishes. One of the
most extraordinary animals of this period was the Dinotherium, a sort
of walrus, which is supposed to have been the largest of quadrupeds,
if indeed it was one (fig. 31). The quadrupeds of this, the "Pliocene"
formation, are thus described by Professor Owen in his "History of
British Fossil Mammals."
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--SKULL OF THE DINOTHERIUM.]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--MAMMOTH, TELEOSAURUS, AND GLYPTODON.]
"At the period indicated by these superficial stratified and
unstratified deposits the Mastodon had probably disappeared from
England, but gigantic elephants (fig. 32), nearly twice the bulk of the
largest individuals that now exist in Ceylon and Africa, roamed here
in herds, if one may judge from the abundance of their remains. Two
horned rhinoceros, of at least two species, forced their way through
the ancient forests or wallowed in the swamps. The lakes and rivers
were tenanted by hippopotami, as bulky and with as formidable tusks
as those of Africa. Three kinds of wild oxen, two of which were of
colossal size and strength, and one of them maned and villous like
the bonassus, found subsistence on the plains. Deer as gigantic, in
proportion to existing species, were the contemporaries of the old
_Uri_ and _Bisontes_, and may have disputed with them the pasturage of
that ancient land. One of these extinct deer is well known as the Irish
elk, by the enormous expanse of its broad-palmed antlers (fig. 33).
Another herd proves more like those of the wapiti, but surpassed that
great Canadian deer in bulk. A third extinct species more resembled the
Indian _Hippelaphus_, and with these were associated the red-deer,
the rein-deer, the roebuck, and the goat. A wild horse, a wild ass or
quagga, and the wild boar, entered also into the series of British
pliocene hoofed animals. The carnivora, organised to enjoy a life of
rapine at the expense of the vegetable feeders, to restrain their undue
increase and abridge the pangs of the maimed and sickly, were duly
adjusted in size and ferocity to the fell task assigned them in the
organic economy of the pre-adamite world. Besides a British tiger, of
larger size and with proportionately longer paws than that of Bengal,
there existed a stronger feline animal (Machairodus) of equal size,
which from the great length and sharpness of its sabre-shaped canines,
was probably the most ferocious and destructive of its peculiarly
carnivorous family. Of the smaller felines, we recognise the remains of
a leopard, a large lynx, and of a wild cat. Troops of hyenas, larger
than the Crocuta of South Africa, which they most resembled, craunched
the bones of the carcases relinquished by the nobler beasts of prey,
and doubtless often themselves waged the war of destruction on the
feebler quadrupeds.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--IRISH ELK. THE PALEOTHERIUM.]
"A savage bear, surpassing the _Ursus ferox_ of the Rocky Mountains,
found its hiding-place, like the hyæna, in many of the existing
limestone caverns of England. With the _Ursus spoelus_ was associated
another bear, more like the common European species, but larger than
the present individuals of the _Ursus Arctas_. Wolves and foxes, the
badger, the otter, the foumart, and the stoat, complete the category of
known pliocene carnivora of Britain."
In the time of these the last of the tertiary strata, there appear
evidences of a degree of cold much greater than at present exists;
this seems to be pretty well proved by the "boulder formation," or
prevalence of erratic blocks of stone, the progress of which have been
traced from their sources of origin to hundreds of miles distant, and
there is no conceivable power which could have carried them but the
floating fields of ice or glaciers; both of these sources are capable
of this removal, for it is not uncommon to find large pieces of rock
and layers of gravel floating on masses of ice. Glaciers are formed
by the snow on the sides of mountains becoming hardened by being
partially melted and again frozen, and at every melting the fluid tends
to descend, when it again becomes frozen, always adding to the lower
part and carrying away from the upper. In this way whole glaciers of
many miles extent become unfixed, and as fresh snows are added to their
upper parts, they descend slowly, entangling with them and tearing away
the rocks in their vicinity. When they arrive at the sea and float
forth, these rocks are borne with them.
But there are as yet no traces of man, not one small fragment of his
skeleton, not one minute relic of his constructive powers, although
the bones of man are as capable of preservation as those of any other
animal, being the same in structure and composition; the remains of
hundreds of fragile insects, seeds, leaves, and all sorts of organic
structures, are found perfectly preserved (fig. 34). The only way,
therefore, of accounting for the absence of any organic remains of man,
is the assumption that he was not then created; and this is confirmed
by the fact that in the very uppermost layers of the earth's surface
his bones and the works of his hands are found in great abundance;
it is therefore with good reason that we come to the conclusion,
that he was the last creature formed by his Maker. That the creation
of man was pre-intended by God, seems also almost proved by the
numerous objects before created, capable of ministering to his use
and happiness--capable of exercising his constructive and inquiring
capabilities--suitable to his imagination and tastes, and his only,
and which would serve no purpose of utility to the mere brutes. Of
what use, to any creature but man, is coal--of what use the metals?
Of what avail is it to any of the lower animals, that God has caused
glass and other transparent substances to have the power of refracting
the rays of light? but without which not one-half of our knowledge of
His wondrous works would ever have been obtained, for it is upon this
property alone that the powers of the telescope and microscope depend.
Of what use to any but man are fire, artificial light, and galvanism?
and yet all these were created long before man was.
[Illustration: FIG. 34--FOSSIL LEAVES.]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--SCULPTURE FROM NINEVEH.]
It has often been asked, What does man gain by the study of the
sciences? Besides the enlarged views which they give him of his
Creator's goodness and power, they at this time are fast reaching
towards the demonstration of many obscure passages of His Holy Word as
revealed to us in the Scriptures. The study of truth can moreover never
lead one into error, and a habit of drawing correct conclusions from
the facts presented is useful to every one. Geology has confirmed one
great truth in Scripture, and overthrown the greatest groundwork of
Deism, for it had been asserted by many that man (and indeed all other
creatures) had risen to his present state by slow developments, and no
proof to the contrary had ever been given. But geology has shown that
at a certain era man was created, that (as is stated in Scripture) he
was the last of God's works, and that neither before that time had
he existed in an undeveloped form, nor since has he altered one jot
from his original configuration; and the same may be said of all other
creatures, whatever may be pretended to the contrary, for from the
sculptures brought from the ruins of Nineveh (at least 3000 years old),
there appears the same external form (fig. 35), both of man and what
animals are there depicted, and his and their habits were described by
the very earliest writers to be then as now. But with respect to the
form of the earth's surface it is otherwise, there being a slow but
continuous change. Those parts of the land exposed to the tides and
action of the waves, are washed away, and the rivers are constantly
bringing down soil to deposit it at their mouths, forming those tracts
of land known as "deltas;" every wind that blows takes away some dust
from the higher and deposits it on the lower parts of the earth's
surface, so that, to use the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "every valley
shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low." But
this alteration is so slow that it takes hundreds of years to make but
a small difference, yet a difference there undoubtedly is, and a time
must come when the alteration will be such as has been shown to have
taken place in far-back times and recorded in the strata in evident
language, for though the changes are slow the result is inevitable.
It has been ascertained that the northern part of Sweden has been
steadily rising and the southern part sinking to a corresponding
degree for many centuries past, and that the west coast of Italy has
been elevated for ages past, at the rate of not quite an inch yearly.
Volcanic actions are raising some lands and depressing others (in the
earthquakes of 1822 and 1835, the whole of Chili from the Andes to the
sea, and probably the bed of the sea to an unknown extent, was elevated
considerably), rain and the rivers carry away land into the sea, the
beds of many seas are being filled up by coral polypes and protophytes,
so that the beds of these seas must ultimately be the land whilst the
lower parts of the land will become sea.
After these various changes upon the surface of the earth, from a
climate hot beyond anything now existing, from a surface rocky and full
of fissures and inequalities, studded with islands and continents,
abounding in marshes and swamps--from a state of atmosphere in which
the higher animals could not live--to the present division and
separation of land and water, of oceans and seas, of islands and
continents, well supplied with rivers to drain off the superfluous
fluid and supply highways easy to traverse in boat or canoe, the world
remains, a fitting habitation for the creatures God has placed upon it
on every hand. Forests to shelter the wild animals from the rains and
heat of the sun; waters for those who dwell or delight in them; metals,
stone, earth, and wood for man to exercise his ingenuity upon, and
other innumerable things contributing to his comfort or luxury--all
freely given by the hand of his Heavenly Father for his well-being and
delight, that he may lack no excuse to worship and adore Him, and this
delightful earth, as Milton says:--
Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
Her universal face with pleasant green,
Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd
Opening their various colours, and made gay
Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown,
Forth flourish'd thick the clustering vine, forth crept
The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
Embattled in her field, and the humble shrub,
And bush with frizzled hair implicit: last
Rose as in dance the stately trees, and spread
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed
Their blossoms; with high woods the hills were crowned.
With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side,
With borders, long the rivers: that earth now
Seem'd like to heaven, a seat where gods might dwell
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her sacred shades.
After all these various elevations and depressions, the land remains
at this present time in the form of large tracts occupying about a
third of the superficial area of our globe. The largest tract is made
up of Europe, Asia, and Africa, which constitute one continuous area,
Africa being almost severed from the others, but still united by the
Isthmus of Suez; the tract next in size to this is made up of North and
South America, these again are nearly severed, but still united by the
Isthmus of Panama or Darien; next come Australia and Greenland, but
these, although very large, are yet not to be compared in size with
the former two; there are numerous other large islands, as Borneo, New
Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, Iceland, England, Ireland, &c., and
scores of smaller ones.
The temperature of the earth (as a general rule) is greatest on the
equator and diminishes gradually towards each pole, but this is by
no means invariable, for two places of the same latitude may be
very different in climate, and a system of lines passing round the
earth from east to west, would each pass through regions of various
temperatures, or what is the same thing, lines made to follow the same
temperature would have to make various curves and contortions; such
lines have been constructed and are called "isothermal" lines. The
causes of this are to be found in the various currents of the ocean,
the tides and winds, and in the proximity to the ocean of snow-clad
mountains and arid plains. The variation of latitude in these lines
sometimes reaches as much as seven degrees.
Europe contains about 3,900,000 square miles of surface, and is
separated from Asia by the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, River Ural, and
Uralian Mountains. It is about 3000 miles long and 2400 broad, about
two-thirds being plain and table-land and one-third mountain land. The
chief mountain ranges are those which run through Norway and Sweden in
a north-westerly direction, and the mountain system along the south
part from Portugal to Turkey. This last includes the Pyrenees, which
runs from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean, the highest peak of
which is Mont Maladeta (11,500 feet); the Alps, the highest point of
which is Mont Blanc (15,748 feet); the Apennines, the highest point of
which is Mont Viso (12,586 feet); the Carpathian Mountains, extending
from Presburg in Hungary towards the sources of the Waag and March, the
highest point being Mont Lemnitz (7962 feet); and the Balkan range,
which may be considered a continuation of the Alps eastward, runs as
far as the Black Sea, together with many inferior ranges and branches.
The climate of Europe embraces a range from the temperate to extreme
cold. It is bounded by the Arctic Ocean on the north, Asia eastward,
the Mediterranean Sea southward, and the Atlantic Ocean to the
westward; it contains two great inland seas, the Black Sea and the
Caspian Sea. There are three great volcanoes in Europe, Hecla,
Vesuvius, and Etna, but the plains of Auvergne contain many which are
extinct.
Asia contains the highest mountains and the most extensive table-lands
in the world. It is somewhat square, being bounded northwards by the
Arctic Ocean, westward by Europe, southward by the Indian Ocean, and
eastward by the North Pacific, and contains about 17,500,000 square
miles; the greater part is made up of two extensive tracts of elevated
land called table-lands, although these are often varied by valleys and
mountain chains of great extent, yet as a whole, they are from 5000 to
10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The eastern table-land is that
of Thibet and the Great Desert Gobi, and the western that of Persia.
Asia contains many great mountain chains, the chief of which are the
Himalaya Mountains, which run along the centre of its southern part
and contain some of the highest peaks in the world; the Dhawalagiri is
28,072 feet high, but there are some others supposed to be as high.
The Altai or Gold Mountains, forming a boundary to the lowlands of
Siberia, the highest peak of which is called the Katunia Pillars, and
is 11,000 feet high.
The Thain-schan or Celestial Mountains, the Kuen Lun, and the Hindoo
Coosh, all of which run pretty nearly east and west, while the ranges
called Uralian, Bolor, Khingan, and Chinese chains run nearly north and
south.
Africa is somewhat triangular, with its base towards Asia and its apex
pointing southward. It is bounded northwards by the Mediterranean
Sea, and at its east side by the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, while the
Atlantic flows on its south-west side. In Africa is the largest desert
in the world, the Great Desert of Sahara; it occupies nearly all the
northern part, the southern has but few mountains of great extent, but
from their elevation and the amount of waters brought down by rivers,
it is supposed that the centre has very high table lands. At the
north-western part is an extensive mountain system (the Atlas) covering
with its branches nearly 500,000 square miles, and sending its slopes
to bound the great Desert northwards.
The great tract of land comprising North and South America extends in
a longitudinal direction pretty nearly north and south through 130
degrees of latitude, or nearly 8000 miles. This great tract is divided
by a narrow neck of land (the Isthmus of Panama) into two pretty equal
portions; the northern part is peculiar, from containing a number
of lakes of immense extent, deserving well the name of inland seas,
and both northern and southern divisions for the great number and
extent of their water-courses. The whole of this great tract of land
is traversed from end to end by an extensive chain of mountains, the
longest in the world; at its southern part it forms the Andes, from
which a range is continued through the Isthmus, and onwards to form the
Rocky Mountains. In the southern division this immense chain passes on
the west side of the land close to the sea, is of great elevation in
some parts, has some of the highest mountain peaks in the world, and
volcanoes also, the highest being in the Andes (Popocatapetl is about
16,000 feet high); but from the western side of the continent the land
descends gradually to the eastern. In South America are some of the
highest table-lands known, great elevated tracts in connection with the
mountain ranges.