THE TERTIARY SYSTEM.
“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind.”
MOSES.
In our rapid sketch of the materials constituting the crust of the
earth, we first of all, in that imaginary section which we supposed to
have been laid bare to us, studied the characters of the hypogene
rocks,[110] that make up the Azoic period, in which, with the exception
of a few zoophytes, all nature was void of animal, life and possessed
only by the genius of dread silence. Rising higher, we surveyed the
Palæozoic or primary rocks, where the fishes of the Old Red Sandstone
convinced us of progress in the forms of life, and taught us our first
lesson in the ascending scale of those types of life with which
Palæontology has now made us familiar. Leaving this period at the
Carboniferous era, we entered upon the Mesozoic,[111] or Secondary
period, ushered in amidst strange convulsions that must again and again
have rendered the earth “without form and void;” and here we found
ourselves in company with the strange and gigantic remains of a higher
order of vertebrated animals, the saurians, the crocodile-kings of a
bygone period; and as we pondered these hieroglyphics of past
generations, our souls “were seized the prisoners of amaze;” and now, in
our upward ascent, leaving behind us the scenes
“Where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of nature, held
Eternal anarchy,”
we come to the Cainozoic,[112] or Tertiary Rocks, where other and higher
types of life are found. Huge mammals, beasts of prodigious size, are
now found inhabitants of the earth, the precursors of man—reasoning,
intelligent, responsible man, who is presently to make his appearance on
this great theatre of life, “made a little lower than the angels,” to
have dominion over the works of Jehovah’s power.
Sir H. de la Beche proposes, for tertiary, the term “_supercretaceous_;”
it is, however, of little consequence which term is adopted, the meaning
in each case being the same, that all the rocks or strata lying above
the chalk are to be considered as belonging to the tertiary system or
series. Confessedly, it is a dark period in the history of those
successive creations which have been engaging our attention, for we can
trace no near connexion between the secondary or older, and tertiary or
newer formations. That is to say—and the bare statement appears so
sufficient and final a refutation of what has been termed the
“development hypothesis,” now recognised as contradictory to fact and to
Scripture—that there are not known to exist in any of these newer strata
the same beings, or the descendants of the same beings, that were found
upon the earth at the termination of the chalk deposit.
Nor is this all; not only are none of the old fossils found in any one
of the three divisions of this system, but we are introduced at once to
so many new ones, that their species and genera are almost endless; and
he is not only a geologist of mark, but a most singularly accomplished
geologist, who thoroughly understands their minute subdivisions, and can
appropriately classify the fossils of this most fossiliferous era. To
make the matter as simple as possible, let us add that “the broad
distinction between tertiary and secondary rocks is a _palæontological_
one. None of the secondary rocks contain any fossil animals or plants of
the _same species_ as any of those living at the present day. Every one
of the tertiary groups _do_ contain some fossil animals or plants of the
_same species_ as those now living.”[113]
Having alluded to the threefold division of this series of rocks, we
shall proceed to notice them, dwelling a while upon each, and showing
the principle on which each is based, as originated and enunciated by
Lyell. Of the three divisions, the first is called _Eocene_ (_ēōs_, the
dawn, and _kainŏs_, recent), by which term is represented the oldest or
lowest of this tripartite series. Then we have the _Miocene_ (_meiōn_,
less, and _kainŏs_, recent)—a name, we think, not the most appropriate,
and likely to mislead the beginner, because really it represents a
series of beds, _more_ and not _less_ recent than the _Eocene_; but the
idea of the name is this (and it must be carefully borne in mind), that
although it is _more_ recent than the series of beds _below_, it is
_less_ recent than those _above_; it is nearer the “dawn” of our present
era than the _Eocene_, but not so near the dawn as the _Pliocene_. This
last term, the _Pliocene_ (from _pleiōn_, more, and _kainŏs_, recent),
is applied to the newest of the beds of the tertiary series in which
there are found many _more recent_ than extinct shells. The Tertiary
system or series, then, is divided into these three sections: viz. 1.
The older Tertiary or Eocene; 2. The middle Tertiary or Miocene; and 3.
The newer Tertiary or Pliocene.
We used a term just now, in quoting from Mr. Juke’s most useful manual,
which we will explain; we said, the “distinction between the secondary
and tertiary rocks is wholly a _palæontological_ one;” that is, it is a
distinction founded not on the character of the rocks, but on the
character of the _organic remains_ found in the rocks. “This character,”
says Sir Charles Lyell, “must be used as a criterion of the age of a
formation, or of the contemporaneous origin of two deposits in different
places, under very much the same restrictions as the test of mineral
composition.
“First, the same fossils may be traced over wide regions, if we examine
strata in the direction of their planes, although by no means for
indefinite distances.
“Secondly, while the same fossils prevail in a particular set of strata
for hundreds of miles in a horizontal direction, we seldom meet with the
same remains for many fathoms, and very rarely for several hundred
yards, in a vertical line, or a line transverse to the strata. This fact
has now been verified in almost all parts of the globe, and has led to a
conviction, that at successive periods of the past, the same area of
land and water has been inhabited by species of animals and plants even
more distinct than those which now people the antipodes, or which now
coexist in the Arctic, temperate, and tropical zones. It appears that,
from the remotest periods, there has been ever a _coming in of new
organic forms_, and an _extinction of those which pre-existed on the
earth_, some species having endured for a longer, others for a shorter
time; while none have ever reappeared after once dying out. The law
which has governed the creation and extinction of species seems to be
expressed in the verse of the poet—
‘Nature made him, and then broke the die;’
and this circumstance it is which confers on fossils their highest value
as chronological tests, giving to each of them, in the eyes of the
geologist, that authority which belongs to contemporary medals in
history. The same cannot be said of each peculiar variety of rock; for
some of these, as red-marl and red sandstone for example, may occur at
once upon the top, bottom, and middle of the entire sedimentary series;
exhibiting in each position so perfect an identity of mineral aspect, as
to be undistinguishable. Such exact repetitions, however, of the same
mixtures of sediment, have not often been produced, at distant periods,
in precisely the same parts of the globe; and even where this has
happened, we are seldom in any danger of confounding together the
monuments of remote eras, when we have studied their imbedded fossils
and relative position.”[114]
Let us now briefly explain the very simple but satisfactory basis on
which this threefold division of the Tertiary rocks rests, and then
proceed to a brief explanation of each. The reader will already have
noted a statement on a preceding page, to which we shall be pardoned,
if, a second time, we ask attention to it. In imparting elementary
instruction on geology we have always found our classes more or less
puzzled by the tertiary system, on account of its nomenclature and
minute subdivisions, and we have learnt from experience the importance
of presenting this statement over and over again. We have remarked that
in the _secondary rocks_—that is, up to the end of the chalk
system—there are _no_ organic remains found precisely similar to any
species existing at the present day; but when we come to the tertiary
rocks, although we find many strangers, we find also a good many organic
remains of the same kind and character as the shells, that are now found
on our shores. In one part of the Tertiary the number of fossils that
belongs to existing genera is many, in another more, in another more
still; and upon this simple idea of positive, comparative, and
superlative, the present division is based. Taking the _percentage_
principle as a guide, Sir Charles Lyell and a distinguished French
geologist, M. Deshayes, have ascertained that in the lowest beds of this
system there were only 3½ per cent. of fossil shells similar to
existing species, and this, for “the sake of clearness and brevity,”
says Sir Charles, “was called the _Eocene_ period, or the period of the
dawn, the dawn of our modern era so far as its testaceous fauna are
concerned.” Rising higher in the examination of these rocks, certain
strata were found containing 18 per cent. of fossil shells, similar to
shells found now; and to this was given the name of _Miocene_, the
puzzling name already spoken of, because it means _less_ recent, whereas
it is in reality _more_ recent, and is to be understood in relation to
the series _below_, and not to the series _above_. A step higher up in
this system revealed deposits of a coralline and craggy character, in
which 41 per cent. of fossil shells like those of the present era were
found; and to this the name of _Pliocene_, or more recent still, was
given; and latterly, in Sicily chiefly, a series of strata has been
discovered, referable to the Tertiary, in which 95 per cent. of recent
species of shells have been found, and to this series the name of
Post-Pliocene, or _Pleistocene_, has been given. Before our description
of each of these divisions, let us add, that “the organic _remains of
the system_ constitute its most important and interesting feature. The
fossils of earlier periods presented little analogy, often no
resemblance, to existing plants and animals; here, however, the
similitude is frequently so complete, that the naturalist can scarcely
point out a distinction between them and living races. Geology thus
unfolds a beautiful gradation of being, from the corals, molluscs, and
simple crustacea of the grauwacke—the enamelled fishes, crinoidea, and
cryptogamic plants of the lower secondary—the chambered shells, sauroid
reptiles, and marsupial mammalia of the upper secondary—up to the true
dicotyledonous trees, birds, and gigantic quadrupeds of the tertiary
epoch. The student must not, however, suppose that the fossils of this
era bring him up to the present point of organic nature, for thousands
of species which then lived and flourished became in their turn extinct,
and were succeeded by others long before man was placed on the earth as
the head of animated existence. Of _Plants_, few marine species have
been detected; but the fresh-water beds have yielded cycadeæ, coniferae,
palms, willows, elms, and other species, exhibiting the true
dicotyledonous structure. Nuts allied to those of the cocoa and other
palms have been discovered in the London clay; and seeds of the
fresh-water _characeæ_, or stoneworts, known by the name of _gyrgonites_
(Gr., _gyros_, curved, and _gonos_, seed), are common in the same
deposit. Of the _Radiata_, _Articulata_, and _Mollusca_, so many belong
to existing genera, that this circumstance has suggested the
classification of tertiary rocks according to the number of recent
species which they contain.”—_Chambers’ Outlines_, p. 147.
Let us now begin _the Eocene period_. The most remarkable formations of
this period are the London and Hampshire basins. Of the London basin we
have already spoken in a previous chapter; a few additional remarks will
be sufficient. The diagrams 4 and 5, p. 25, will explain these tertiary
deposits better than any verbal explanation; and when it is remembered
that this bed of clay is probably a thousand feet in thickness, we get a
passing illustration of the folly of those puerile reports which a few
years since were industriously circulated about a coming earthquake in
London. Poor, uneducated people took up the alarm rather anxiously,
never dreaming of what any tyro in science would have told them—that
supposing there was a subterranean chimney on fire down below, there was
a wet blanket under their feet composed of a thousand feet of sodden and
solid clay, a blanket of the material they may see in the deep cuttings
of the Great Northern Railway in and about London, that would most
effectually have put out any fire, or checked the progress of any
earthquake, just as a cannon-ball is stopped dead by a woolsack.
A run down the river Thames will take any one who has a day to spare to
the isle of Sheppey, where he will be amply rewarded by seeing, on the
north side of the island, an exposure of this formation in the cliff
laid bare to the height of 200 feet, and which pleasure trip will be
amply rewarded by the discovery _in situ_ of the fossil tropical plants,
&c., that once flourished in the neighbourhood of our cold and foggy
London. “At the entrance of the Thames, the London clay extends on both
sides of the river, and is admirably exhibited in the isle of Sheppey,
which consists entirely of this stratum. The cliffs on the north side of
the island are upwards of 200 feet high, and are cut down vertically by
the action of the sea; they have long been celebrated for the remarkable
abundance and variety of the organic remains obtained from them, amongst
which, perhaps, the most interesting are the fruits, berries, and woody
seed-vessels of several hundred species of plants. From the same
locality there have also been obtained the remains of upwards of fifty
species of fish, and a considerable number of crustaceans, and many
other invertebrata; besides some remarkable bones which have been
described by Professor Owen, and which indicate the former existence in
this island of large serpents, and of such birds as prey upon small
reptiles and mammalia. Many of these fossils, especially those of
plants, are very difficult to preserve, owing to the great tendency of
the iron pyrites, which enter largely into their composition, to
effloresce and be destroyed by exposure to the atmosphere.”[115]
Passing from the London basin to the Hampshire basin or Barton beds, we
shall first give a group of the shells found here; and we wish our
readers could look at them as they lie before us in their condition of
most exquisite preservation, so exquisite, that those who have seen them
have involuntarily and frequently exclaimed, “_But these can’t be
fossils!_” I know of no picture-painting of past history so touching,
and yet so true, as these lovely specimens of the shells of the
pre-Adamite condition of England in all their native simplicity. To
those who see in them shells, and only shells, why, in the name of the
prophet, give them _figs_, while we again remember Wordsworth’s hero,—
“A primrose on the river brim,
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.”
To us they speak a wondrous story, replete with the knowledge that
maketh glad the heart of man, because it is purifying, elevating
knowledge; and though it does not teach the peculiar truths of theology,
and we heartily wish that geology had been allowed to tell only its own
tale of Creation—for here, as elsewhere,
“Nature, when unadorned,
Is then adorned the most”—
instead of being put to the rack, and made to suggest the special truths
of Revelation,[116] with which it has nothing to do;—although, we say,
it does not teach the peculiar and special truths for which a Revelation
was needed, it everywhere throws light on the boundless treasures of
wisdom and care and beneficent Providence of the God of revelation. But
again we catch ourselves sermonizing: to the diagram.
[Illustration:
FOSSILS FROM THE LONDON CLAY.
1. TELLINA CRASSA.
2. CHAMA SQUAMOSA.
3. TURRITELLA IMBRICATARIA.
4. FUSUS ASPER.
5. PLEUROTOMA COLON.
6. MUREX TUBIFER.
7. APORHAIS PES-PELICANI.
8. VOLUTA LUCTATOR (or luctatrix).
9. TROCHUS MONOLIFER: the necklace trochus.
10. VENERICARDIA COR-AVIUM.
11. FUSUS BULBIFORMIS: the bulb fusus.
]
These fossils we obtained from the neighbourhood of Christchurch; and as
these sheets were being written, we received from Dr. Mantell’s
“Geological Excursions in the Isle of Wight,” the following appropriate
description of them: “The numerous marine fossil shells which are
obtained from this part of the coast of Hampshire, are generally known
as Hordwell fossils; but it is scarcely necessary to remark, that they
almost entirely belong to the London clay strata, and are procured from
Barton cliffs. These fossils are most conveniently obtained from the low
cliff near Beacon Bunny, and occur in greatest abundance in the upper
part of the dark green sandy clay. There are generally blocks of the
indurated portions of the strata on the beach, from which fossils may be
extracted. A collection of Hordwell fossils, consisting of the teeth of
several species of sharks and rays, bones of turtles, and a great
variety of shells, may be purchased at a reasonable price of Jane
Webber, dealer in fossils, Barton cliff, near Christchurch.”—(P. 124.)
Before leaving the Eocene, or rather the London clay of the Eocene, we
will give a drawing of a fossil in our possession. The drawing opposite
represents a piece of fossil wood, pierced through and through by
Teredinæ, a boring mollusk allied to the Teredo, which still proves so
destructive to our vessels. Although the wood is converted into a stony
mass, and in some parts covered by calcareous matter, the same as is
found in the septaria, so common in these beds, to which we shall
presently direct attention, still the grain and woody texture are most
distinct. This wood was once probably floating down what we now call the
Thames, when these piercing, boring mollusks seized hold upon it,
penetrated its soft texture, and lived, moved, and had their being down
at the bottom of the river in their self-constructed chambers. Time
rolled on, and the log of wood is floated upon the shore, and there it
lies to harden and to dry; again the log is drifted away, and, buried in
some soft bed of clay, is preserved from rotting. In process of time it
again sees the light; but now saturated by argillaceous material, and
when hardened by the sun, becomes the petrifaction such as we see it.
[Illustration:
WOOD PERFORATED RY TEREDINA PERSONATA, LONDON CLAY.
]
Here let us refer to the septaria, of which we have just spoken; two
specimens lie before us, which we will briefly describe. In one (1) the
clay is in distinct lozenge-shaped masses of a blue colour, while veins
of calcareous spar or crystallized carbonate of lime surround these,
which are capable of a beautiful marble-like polish; in the other (2)
the clay is of the same colour, only in larger proportions, and the spar
is of a deep brown colour, while here and there portions of iron pyrites
may be seen; they become beautiful ornaments in a room when cut and
polished. It should be added, that the septaria are not without their
economic uses, being extensively used as cement after being stamped and
burnt.
[Illustration:
SEPTARIA
]
Here we may leave this brief sketch of the Eocene, or lowest beds of the
Tertiary. A new creation has been introduced to our view; and although
we still wait for the coming of man—the lord and interpreter of all—the
contemplation of these successive acts and centres of creation fills our
minds with renewed admiration and reverence of Him for whom, and by
whom, and to whom are all things. Thus “even Geology, while it has
exhumed and revivified long buried worlds, peopled with strange forms in
which we can feel little more than a speculative interest, and compared
with which the most savage dweller in the wilderness of the modern
period—jackal, hyæna, or obscene vulture—is as a cherished pet and bosom
friend, has made for us new bonds of connexion between remote regions of
the earth as it is, on account of which we owe it a proportionate share
of gratitude.”[117]
No. II.—_The Miocene._
We shall briefly pass over this period. At Bordeaux, Piedmont, and in
Lisbon, this formation is seen; as well as in various other parts of the
Continent of Europe. The supposition of Geology is, that during this
period “whole regions of volcanoes burst forth, whose lofty but now
tranquil cones can be seen in Catalonia, in Spain, in France,
Switzerland, Asia, and in America. The Alps, the Carpathian Mountains,
and other lofty ranges were at this period partially upheaved. The
researches of Sir Robert Murchison have established this fact, by his
finding deep beds of limestone, characteristic of the Tertiary period,
on the summit of one of the loftiest of the Alps, fully ten thousand
feet above the level of the sea.”
No. III.—_The Pliocene Period._
This term has already been explained. We shall only detain the reader by
a few words respecting the organic remains that characterize this
formation. In England it is confined to the eastern part of the county
of Suffolk, where it is called “Crag.” This is a mere provincial name,
given particularly to those masses of shelly sand which are used to
fertilize lands deficient in calcareous matter. The geological name
given to this strata is the “Red or Coralline Crag;” and it is so called
on account of the deep ferruginous colour its fossils have through
extensive oxidization of iron. We give drawings of the fossils of the
Red Crag, obtained from the neighbourhood of Ipswich.
[Illustration:
FOSSILS FROM THE RED CRAG, NEAR IPSWICH.
1. VENERICARDIA SENILIS.
2. TURRITELLA.
3. PATELLA ÆQUALIS.
4. CYPREA.
5. PALUDINA LENTA.
6. PECTUNCULUS VARIABILIS.
7. MUREX.
8. FUSUS CONTRARIUS.
9. BUCCINUM ELONGATA.
10. VENERICARDIA SCALARIS.
11. VOLUTA LAMBERTI.
12. FUSUS ASPER.
13. PECTUNCULUS PILOSUS.
]
But these are not the only fossils of this period; it is here we meet,
and that for the first time, with the highest form of animal life with
which the researches of geology have made us acquainted. We have traced
life in various forms in the different rocks that have passed under our
rapid survey, and in all we have seen a wondrous and most orderly
gradation. We began with the coral zoophytes, and from them proceeded to
the mollusks and crustacea of the hypogene rocks; ascending, we
discovered “fish with glittering scales,” associated with the crinoids
and cryptogamous plants of the secondary series of rocks; and then we
arrive where we are now, among the true dicotyledonous and exogenous
plants and trees, with the strange birds and gigantic quadrupeds of the
tertiary period. But the student must not imagine that even the fossils
of this epoch bring him up to the modern era, or the _reign of man_; for
even in the tertiary system numberless species lived and flourished,
which in their turn became extinct, to be succeeded by others long
before man, the chief of animals and something more, made his
appearance, to hold dominion over these manifold productions of creative
skill and power. But amidst these creations,
“God was everywhere, the God who framed
Mankind to be one mighty human family,
Himself their Father, and the world their home.”
It would be altogether beside the purpose of this preliminary treatise
to enter into any details respecting the animals that have been found in
such abundance in the Norwich Crag, that it has been called the
“Mammaliferous Crag.” Those who desire full and deeply interesting
information on this question should consult Owen’s noble work, entitled
“British Fossil Mammals and Birds,” where, under the respective
divisions of Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, he will see a complete chart
of our riches in the possessions of a past creation. For the discovery
of the Siberian Mammoth so often quoted, we shall refer to the same
work, page 217, &c.; from which we shall only quote one brief extract,
illustrative of the abundance of these remains in our own coasts in the
ages past.
“Mr. Woodward, in his ‘Geology of Norfolk,’ supposes that upwards of two
thousand grinders of the mammoth have been dredged up by the fishermen
of the little village of Happisburgh in the space of thirteen years. The
oyster-bed was discovered here in 1820; and during the first twelve
months hundreds of the molar teeth of mammoths were landed in strange
association with the edible mollusca. Great quantities of the bones and
tusks of the mammoth are, doubtless, annually destroyed by the action of
the waves of the sea. Remains of the mammoth are hardly less numerous in
Suffolk, especially in the pleistocene beds along the coast, and at
Stutton;—they become more rare in the fluvio-marine crag at Southwold
and Thorp. The village of Walton, near Harwich, is famous for the
abundance of these fossils, which lie along the base of the sea-cliffs,
mixed with bones of species of horse, ox, and deer.”[118]
[Illustration:
SKELETON OF THE MEGATHERIUM CUVIERI (AMERICANUM).
]
All the animals of this period are called theroid animals: from
_therion_, a wild beast; and looking at the skeletons as they have been
arranged from the few existing fossils, or from nearly complete
materials—a matter not of guess-work, but of the most rigid application
of the principles of comparative anatomy—we stand astounded at the
prodigious sizes of these mammoths of the tertiary era. There is the
_deinotherium_, or fierce wild beast; the _palæotherium_, or ancient
wild beast; the _anoplotherium_, or unarmed wild beast, and others. We
give above a drawing of the well-known _megatherium_, or great wild
beast, to be seen in the British Museum, and add the following from
Mantell’s Guide to the Fossils of the British Museum:—“This stupendous
extinct animal of the sloth tribe was first made known to European
naturalists by a skeleton, almost entire, dug up in 1789, on the banks
of a river in South America, named the Luxon, about three miles
south-east of Buenos Ayres. The specimen was sent to Madrid, and fixed
up in the Museum, in the form represented in numerous works on natural
history. A second skeleton was exhumed at Lima, in 1795; and of late
years Sir Woodbine Parish, Mr. Darwin, and other naturalists have sent
bones of the megatherium, and other allied genera, to England. The model
of the megatherium has been constructed with great care from the
original bones, in the Wall-cases 9, 10, and in the Hunterian Museum.
The attitude given to the skeleton, with the right arm clasping a tree,
is, of course, hypothetical; and the position of the hinder toes and
feet does not appear to be natural. Altogether, however, the
construction is highly satisfactory; and a better idea of the colossal
proportions of the original is conveyed by this model, than could
otherwise be obtained.”[119]
[Illustration:
SKELETON OF THE MASTODON OHIOTICUS, FROM NORTH AMERICA.
(Height, 9½ feet; length, 20 feet.)
]
We give below a drawing of the “_Mastodon Ohioticus_;” for the following
account of which we are indebted to the same source. It will be found in
Room 6, figure 1.—“This fine skeleton was purchased by the trustees of
the British Museum of Albert Koch, a well-known collector of fossil
remains; who had exhibited, in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, under the
name of the Missourium, or Leviathan of the Missouri, an enormous
osteological monster, constructed of the bones of this skeleton,
together with many belonging to other individuals—the tusks being fixed
in their sockets so as to curve outwards on each side of the head. From
this heterogeneous assemblage of bones, those belonging to the same
animal were selected, and are articulated in their natural
juxtaposition.”[120]
[Illustration:
FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON, FROM GUADALOUPE. (The original 4 feet 2 inches
long, by 2 feet wide.)
]
[Illustration:
PLAN OF THE CLIFF AT GAUDALOUPE.
]
In Wall-case D of the British Museum, may be seen a fossil skeleton of a
human being, brought from the island of Guadaloupe, the consideration of
which must for ever remove any idea that may exist about man being
contemporaneous with the theroidal mammals of which we have been
speaking.[121] Professor Whewell has remarked that the “gradation in
form between man and other animals is but a slight and unimportant
feature in contemplating the great subject of the origin of the human
race. Even if we had not revelation to guide us, it would be most
unphilosophical to attempt to trace back the history of man, without
taking into account the most remarkable facts in his nature: the facts
of civilization, arts, government, speech—his traditions—his internal
wants—his intellectual, moral, and religious constitution. If we will
attempt a retrospect, we must look at all these things as evidence of
the origin and end of man’s being; and we do thus comprehend, in one
view, the whole of the argument—it is impossible for us to arrive at an
origin homogeneous with the present order of things. On this subject,
the geologist may, therefore, be well content to close the volume of the
earth’s physical history, and open that divine record which has for its
subject the moral and religious nature of man.”
“Mysterious framework of bone, locked up in the solid marble,—unwonted
prisoner of the rock! an irresistible voice shall yet call thee out of
thy stony matrix. The other organisms, thy partners in the show, are
incarcerated in the lime for ever,—thou but for a term. How strangely
has the destiny of the race to which thou belongest re-stamped with new
meanings the old phenomena of creation!... When thou wert living,
prisoner of the marble, haply as an Indian wife and mother, ages ere the
keel of Columbus had disturbed the waves of the Atlantic, the high
standing of thy species had imparted new meanings to death and the
rainbow. The prismatic arch had become the bow of the covenant, and
death a great sign of the unbending justice and purity of the Creator,
and of the aberration and fall of the living soul, formed in the
Creator’s own image,—reasoning, responsible man.”[122]
FINIS:—THE GEOLOGIST’S DREAM.
[Illustration:
ALARM, BUT NO DANGER.
]