The cliffs of the island of Timor in the Indian Ocean are composed, says

Mr. Jukes, of a raised coral reef abounding in _Astraea_, _Meandrina_,

and _Porites_, with shells of _Strombus_, _Conus_, _Nerita_, _Arca_,

_Pecten_, _Venus_, and _Lucina_. On a ledge about 150 feet above the

sea, a Tridacna (or large clam shell), two feet across, was found bedded

in the rock with closed valves, just as they are often seen in barrier

reefs. This formation in the islands of Sandlewood, Sumbawa, Madura, and

Java, where it is exposed in sea cliffs, was found to be from 200 to 300

feet thick, and is believed to ascend to much greater heights in the

interior. It has usually the form of a "chalk-like" rock, white when

broken, but in the weathered surface turning nearly black.[1135]

It appears, therefore, premature to assert that there are no recent

coral formations uplifted to great heights, for we are only beginning to

be acquainted with the geological structure of the rocks of equatorial

regions. Some of the upraised islands, such as Elizabeth and Queen

Charlotte, in the Pacific, although placed in regions of atolls, are

described by Captain Beechey and others as flat-topped, and exhibiting

no traces of lagoons. In explanation of the fact, we may presume that

after they had been sinking for ages, the descending movement was

relaxed; and while it was in the course of being converted into an

ascending one, the ground remained for a long season almost stationary,

in which case the corals within the lagoon would build up to the

surface, and reach the level already attained by those on the margin of

the reef. In this manner the lagoon would be effaced, and the island

acquire a flat summit.

It may, however, be thought strange that many examples have not been

noticed of fringing reefs uplifted above the level of the sea. Mr.

Darwin, indeed, cites one instance where the reef preserved, on dry land

in the Mauritius, its peculiar moat-like structure; but they ought, he

says, to be of rare occurrence, for in the case of atolls or of barrier

or fringing reefs, the characteristic outline must usually be destroyed

by denudation as soon as a reef begins to rise; since it is immediately

exposed to the action of the breakers, and the large and conspicuous

corals on the outer rim of the atoll or barrier are the first to be

destroyed and to fall to the bottom of vertical and undermined cliffs.

After slow and continued upheaval a wreck alone can remain of the

original reef. If, therefore, says Mr. Darwin, "at some period as far in

futurity as the secondary rocks are in the past, the bed of the Pacific

with its atolls and barrier reefs should be converted into a continent,

we may conceive that scarcely any or none of the existing reefs would be

preserved, but only widely spread strata of calcareous matter derived

from their wear and tear."[1136]

When it is urged in support of the objection before stated (p. 767),

that the theory of atolls by subsidence implies the accumulation of

calcareous formations 2000 or 3000 feet thick, it must be conceded that

this estimate of the minimum density of the deposits is by no means

exaggerated. On the contrary, when we consider that the space over which

atolls are scattered in Polynesia and the Indian oceans may be compared

to the whole continent of Asia, we cannot but infer from analogy that

the differences in level in so vast an area have amounted, antecedently

to subsidence, to 5000 or even a greater number of feet. Whatever was

the difference in height between the loftiest and lowest of the original

mountains or mountainous islands on which the different atolls are

based, that difference must represent the thickness of coral which has

now reduced all of them to one level. Flinders, therefore, by no means

exaggerated the volume of the limestone, which he conceived to have been

the work of coral animals; he was merely mistaken as to the manner in

which they were enabled to build reefs in an unfathomed ocean.

But is it reasonable to expect, after the waste caused by denudation,

that calcareous masses, gradually upheaved in an open sea, should retain

such vast thicknesses? Or may not the limestones of the cretaceous and

oolitic epochs, which attain in the Alps and Pyrenees a density of 3000

or 4000 feet, and are in great part made up of coralline and shelly

matter, present us with a true geological counterpart of the recent

coral reefs of equatorial seas?

Before we attach serious importance to arguments founded on negative

evidence, and opposed to a theory which so admirably explains a great

variety of complicated phenomena, we ought to remember that the upheaval

to the height of 4000 feet of atolls in which the coralline limestone

would be 4000 feet thick, implies, first, a slow subsidence of 4000

feet, and, secondly, an elevation of the same amount. Even if the

reverse or ascending movement began the instant the downward one ceased,

we must allow a great lapse of ages for the accomplishment of the whole

operation. We must also assume that at the commencement of the period in

question, the equatorial regions were as fitted as now for the support

of reef-building zoophytes. This postulate would demand the continuance

of a complicated variety of conditions throughout a much longer period

than they are usually persistent in one place.

To show the difficulty of speculating on the permanence of the

geographical and climatal circumstances requisite for the growth of

reef-building corals, we have only to state the fact that there are no

reefs in the Atlantic, off the west coast of Africa, nor among the

islands of the Gulf of Guinea, nor in St. Helena, Ascension, the Cape

Verdes, or St. Paul's. With the exception of Bermuda, there is not a

single coral reef in the central expanse of the Atlantic, although in

some parts the waves, as at Ascension, are charged to excess with

calcareous matter. This capricious distribution of coral reefs is

probably owing to the absence of fit stations for the reef-building

polypifers, other organic beings in those regions obtaining in the great

struggle for existence a mastery over them. Their absence, in whatever

manner it be accounted for, should put us on our guard against expecting

upraised reefs at all former geological epochs, similar to those now in

progress.

_Lime, whence derived._--Dr. Maculloch, in his system of Geology, vol.

i. p. 219, expressed himself in favor of the theory of some of the

earlier geologists, that all limestones have originated in organized

substances. If we examine, he says, the quantity of limestone in the

primary strata, it will be found to bear a much smaller proportion to

the siliceous and argillaceous rocks than in the secondary; and this may

have some connexion with the rarity of testaceous animals in the ancient

ocean. He farther infers, that in consequence of the operations of

animals, "the quantity of calcareous earth deposited in the form of mud

or stone is always increasing; and that as the secondary series far

exceeds the primary in this respect, so a third series may hereafter

arise from the depths of the sea, which may exceed the last in the

proportion of its calcareous strata."

If these propositions went no farther than to suggest that every

particle of lime that now enters into the crust of the globe, may

possibly in its turn have been subservient to the purposes of life, by

entering into the composition of organized bodies, I should not deem the

speculation improbable; but, when it is hinted that lime may be an

animal product combined by the powers of vitality from some simple

elements, I can discover no sufficient grounds for such an hypothesis,

and many facts militate against it.

If a large pond be made in almost any soil, and filled with rain water,

it may usually become tenanted by testacea; for carbonate of lime is

almost universally diffused in small quantities. But if no calcareous

matter be supplied by waters flowing from the surrounding high grounds,

or by springs, no tufa or shell-marl are formed. The thin shells of one

generation of mollusks decompose, so that their elements afford

nutriment to the succeeding races; and it is only where a stream enters

a lake, which may introduce a fresh supply of calcareous matter, or

where the lake is fed by springs, that shells accumulate and form marl.

All the lakes in Forfarshire which have produced deposits of shell-marl

have been the sites of springs, which still evolve much carbonic acid,

and a small quantity of carbonate of lime. But there is no marl in Loch

Fithie, near Forfar, where there are _no springs_, although that lake is

surrounded by these calcareous deposits, and although, in every other

respect, the site is favorable to the accumulation of aquatic testacea.

We find those Charae which secrete the largest quantity of calcareous

matter in their stems to abound near springs impregnated with carbonate

of lime. We know that, if the common hen be deprived altogether of

calcareous nutriment, the shells of her eggs will become of too slight a

consistency to protect the contents; and some birds eat chalk greedily

during the breeding season.

If, on the other hand, we turn to the phenomena of inorganic nature, we

observe that, in volcanic countries, there is an enormous evolution of

carbonic acid, either free, in a gaseous form, or mixed with water; and

the springs of such districts are usually impregnated with carbonate of

lime in great abundance. No one who has travelled in Tuscany, through

the region of extinct volcanos and its confines, or who has seen the map

constructed by Targioni (1827), to show the principal sites of mineral

springs, can doubt, for a moment, that if this territory was submerged

beneath the sea, it might supply materials for the most extensive coral

reefs. The importance of these springs is not to be estimated by the

magnitude of the rocks which they have thrown down on the slanting sides

of hills, although of these alone large cities might be built, nor by a

coating of travertin that covers the soil in some districts for miles in

length. The greater part of the calcareous matter passes down in a state

of solution to the sea, and in all countries the rivers which flow from

chalk and other marly and calcareous rocks carry down vast quantities of

lime into the ocean. Lime is also one of the component parts of augite

and other volcanic and hypogene minerals, and when these decompose is

set free, and may then find its way in a state of solution to the sea.

The lime, therefore, contained generally in sea water, and secreted so

plentifully by the testacea and corals of the Pacific, may have been

derived either from springs rising up in the bed of the ocean, or from

rivers fed by calcareous springs, or impregnated with lime derived from

disintegrated rocks, both volcanic and hypogene. If this be admitted,

the greater proportion of limestone in the more modern formations as

compared to the most ancient, will be explained, for springs in general

hold no argillaceous, and but a small quantity of siliceous matter in

solution, but they are continually subtracting calcareous matter from

the inferior rocks. The constant transfer, therefore, of carbonate of

lime from the lower or older portions of the earth's crust to the

surface, must cause at all periods and throughout an indefinite

succession of geological epochs, a preponderance of calcareous matter in

the newer as contrasted with the older formations.

THE END.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

In the concluding chapters of the first book, I examined in detail a

great variety of arguments which have been adduced to prove the

distinctness of the state of the earth's crust at remote and recent

epochs. Among other supposed proofs of this distinctness, the dearth of

calcareous matter, in the ancient rocks above adverted to, might have

been considered. But it would have been endless to enumerate all the

objections urged against those geologists who represent the course of

nature at the earliest periods as resembling in all essential

circumstances the state of things now established. We have seen that, in

opposition to this doctrine, a strong desire has been manifested to

discover in the ancient rocks the signs of an epoch when the planet was

uninhabited, and when its surface was in a chaotic condition and

uninhabitable. The opposite opinion, indeed, that the oldest of the

rocks now visible may be the last monuments of an antecedent era in

which living beings may already have peopled the land and water, has

been declared to be equivalent to the assumption that there never was a

beginning to the present order of things.

With equal justice might an astronomer be accused of asserting that the

works of creation extended throughout _infinite_ space, because he

refuses to take for granted that the remotest stars now seen in the

heavens are on the utmost verge of the material universe. Every

improvement of the telescope has brought thousands of new worlds into

view; and it would, therefore, be rash and unphilosophical to imagine

that we already survey the whole extent of the vast scheme, or that it

will ever be brought within the sphere of human observation.

But no argument can be drawn from such premises in favor of the infinity

of the space that has been filled with worlds; and if the material

universe has any limits, it then follows, that it must occupy a minute

and infinitesimal point in infinite space.

So if, in tracing back the earth's history, we arrive at the monuments

of events which may have happened millions of ages before our times, and

if we still find no decided evidence of a commencement, yet the

arguments from analogy in support of the probability of a beginning

remain unshaken; and if the past duration of the earth be finite, then

the aggregate of geological epochs, however numerous, must constitute a

mere moment of the past, a mere infinitesimal portion of eternity.

It has been argued, that, as the different states of the earth's

surface, and the different species by which it has been inhabited have

all had their origin, and many of them their termination, so the entire

series may have commenced at a certain period. It has also been urged,

that, as we admit the creation of man to have occurred at a

comparatively modern epoch--as we concede the astonishing fact of the

first introduction of a moral and intellectual being--so also we may

conceive the first creation of the planet itself.

I am far from denying the weight of this reasoning from analogy; but,

although it may strengthen our conviction, that the present system of

change has not gone on from eternity, it cannot warrant us in presuming

that we shall be permitted to behold the signs of the earth's origin, or

the evidences of the first introduction into it of organic beings. We

aspire in vain to assign limits to the works of creation in _space_,

whether we examine the starry heavens, or that world of minute

animalcules which is revealed to us by the microscope. We are prepared,

therefore, to find that in time also the confines of the universe lie

beyond the reach of mortal ken. But in whatever direction we pursue our

researches, whether in _time_ or space, we discover everywhere the clear

proofs of a Creative Intelligence, and of His foresight, wisdom, and

power.

As geologists, we learn that it is not only the present condition of the

globe which has been suited to the accommodation of myriads of living

creatures, but that many former states also have been adapted to the

organization and habits of prior races of beings. The disposition of the

seas, continents, and islands, and the climates, have varied; the

species likewise have been changed; and yet they have all been so

modelled, on types analogous to those of existing plants and animals, as

to indicate, throughout, a perfect harmony of design and unity of

purpose. To assume that the evidence of the beginning or end of so vast

a scheme lies within the reach of our philosophical inquiries, or even

of our speculations, appears to be inconsistent with a just estimate of

the relations which subsist between the finite powers of man and the

attributes of an Infinite and Eternal Being.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Essays on the Philosophy of the Hindoos.

[2] Institutes of Hindoo Law, or the Ordinances of Menu, from the

Sanscrit, translated by Sir William Jones, 1796.

[3] Menu, Inst. c. i. 66, and 67.

[4] Herodot. Euterpe, 12.

[5] A Persian MS. copy of the historian Ferishta, in the library

of the East India Company, relating to the rise and progress of

the Mahomedan empire in India, was procured by Colonel Briggs from

the library of Tippoo Sultan in 1799; which has been referred to

at some length by Dr. Buckland. (Geol. Trans. 2d Series, vol. ii.

part iii. p. 389.)

[6] See Davis on "The Chinese," published by the Soc. for the

Diffus. of Use. Know. vol. i. pp. 137, 147.

[7] Humboldt et Bonpland, Voy. Relat. Hist. vol. i. p. 30.

[8] Prichard's Egypt. Mythol. p. 177.

[9] Plut. de Defectu Oraculorum, cap. 12. Censorinus de Die

Natali. See also Prichard's Egypt. Mythol. p. 182.

[10] Prichard's Egypt. Mythol. p. 182.

[11] Prichard's Egypt. Mythol. p. 193.

[12] Plato's Timaeus.

[13] Ovid's Metamor. lib. 15.

[14] Eluvie mons est deductus in aequor, v. 267. The meaning of

this last verse is somewhat obscure; but, taken with the context,

may be supposed to allude to the abrading power of floods,

torrents, and rivers.

[15] The impregnation from new mineral springs, caused by

earthquakes in volcanic countries, is perhaps here alluded to.

[16] That is probably an allusion to the escape of inflammable

gas, like that in the district of Baku, west of the Caspian; at

Pietramala, in the Tuscan Apennines; and several other places.

[17] Many of those described seem fanciful fictions, like the

virtue still so commonly attributed to mineral waters.

[18] Raspe, in a learned and judicious essay (De Novis Insulis,

cap. 19), has made it appear extremely probable that all the

traditions of certain islands in the Mediterranean having at some

former time frequently shifted their positions, and at length

become stationary, originated in the great change produced in

their form by earthquakes and submarine eruptions, of which there

have been modern examples in the new islands raised in the time

of history. When the series of convulsions ended, the island was

said to become fixed.

[19] It is not inconsistent with the Hindoo mythology to suppose

that Pythagoras might have found in the East not only the system

of universal and violent catastrophes and periods of repose in

endless succession, but also that of periodical revolutions,

effected by the continued agency of ordinary causes. For Brahma,

Vishnu, and Siva, the first, second, and third persons of the

Hindoo triad, severally represented the Creative, the Preserving,

and the Destroying powers of the Deity. The coexistence of these

three attributes, all in simultaneous operation, might well

accord with the notion of perpetual but partial alterations

finally bringing about a complete change. But the fiction

expressed in the verses before quoted from Menu of eternal

vicissitudes in the vigils and slumbers of Brahma seems

accommodated to the system of great general catastrophes followed

by new creations and periods of repose.

[20] Meteor. lib. i. cap. 12.

[21] De Die Nat.

[22] Lib. ii. cap. 14, 15, and 16.

[23] Lib. ii. cap. 14, 15, and 16.

[24] Omne ex integro animal generabitur, dabiturque terris homo

inscius scelerum.--Quaest. Nat. iii. c. 29.

[25] This author was Regius Professor of Syriac and Arabic at

Paris, where, in 1685, he published a Latin translation of many

Arabian MSS. on different departments of philosophy. This work

has always been considered of high authority.

[26] Gerbanitae docebant singulos triginta sex mille annos

quadringentos, viginti quinque bina ex singulis animalium

speciebus produci, marem scilicet ac feminam ex quibus animalia

propagantur, huncque inferiorem incolunt orbem. Absoluta autem

coelestium orbium circulatione, quae illo annorum conficitur

spatio, iterum alia producuntur animalium genera et species,

quemadmodum et plantarum aliarumque rerum, et primus destruitur

ordo, sicque in infinitum producitur.--Histor. Orient Suppl. per

Abrahamum Ecchellensem, Syrum Maronitam, cap. 7. et 8. ad calcem

Chronici Orientali. Parisiis, e Typ. Regia. 1685, fol.

I have given the punctuation as in the Paris edition, there being

no comma after quinque; but, at the suggestion of M. de Schlegel,

I have referred the number twenty-five to the period of years,

and not to the number of pairs of each species created at one

time, as I had done in the two first editions. Fortis inferred

that twenty-five new _species_ only were created at a time; a

construction which the passage will not admit. Mam. sur l'Hist.

Nat. de l'Italie, vol. i. p. 202.

[27] "Quod enim hoc attollitur aut subsidit, et vel inundat

quaedam loca, vel ab iis recedit, ejus rei causa non est, quod

alia aliis sola humiliora sint aut altiora; sed quod idem solum

modo attollitur modo deprimitur, simulque etiam modo attollitur

modo deprimitur, mare: itaque vel exundat vel in suum redit

locum."

Postea, p. 88. "Restat, ut causam adscribamus solo, sive quod

mari subest sive quod inundatur; potius tamen ei quod mari

subest. Hoc enim multo est mobilius, et quod ob humiditatem

celerius multari possit."--Strabo, Geog. Edit. Almelov. Amst.

1707, lib. 1.

[28] _Volcanic eruptions_, eruptiones flatuum, in the Latin

translations, and in the original Greek, [Greek: anaphysemata],

gaseous eruptions? or _inflations_ of land?--Ibid. p. 93.

[29] Strabo, lib. vi. p. 396.

[30] Book iv.

[31] L. vi. ch. xiii.

[32] Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. ii. chap. iv. section iii.

[33] Montes quandoque fiunt ex causa essentiali, quandoque ex

causa accidentali. Ex essentiali causa, ut ex vehementi motu

terrae elevatur terra, et fit mons. Accidentali, &c.--De

Congelatione Lapidum, ed. Gedani, 1682.

[34] Von Hoff, Geschichte der Veranderungen der Erdoberflache,

vol. i. p. 406, who cites Delisle, bey Hismann Welt- und

Volkergeschichte. Alte Geschichte 1^{ter} theil, s. 234.--The

Arabian persecutions for heretical dogmas in theology were often

very sanguinary. In the same ages wherein learning was most in

esteem, the Mahometans were divided into two sects, one of whom

maintained that the Koran was increate, and had subsisted in the

very essence of God from all eternity; and the other, the

Motazalites, who, admitting that the Koran was instituted by God,

conceived it to have been first made when revealed to the Prophet

at Mecca, and accused their opponents of believing in two eternal

beings. The opinions of each of these sects were taken up by

different caliphs in succession, and the followers of each

sometimes submitted to be beheaded, or flogged till at the point

of death, rather than renounce their creed.--Mod. Univ. Hist.

vol. ii. ch. iv.

[35] Koran, chap. xli.

[36] Sale's Koran, chap. xi. see note.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Kossa, appointed master to the Caliph Al Mamud, was author

of a book entitled "The history of the Patriarchs and Prophets,

_from the Creation of the World_."--Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. ii. ch.

iv.

[39] Translated by MM. Chezy and De Sacy, and cited by M. Elie de

Beaumont, Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1832.

[40] See Venturi's extracts from Da Vinci's MMS. now in Library

of Institute of France. They are not mentioned by Brocchi, and my

attention was first called to them by Mr. Hallam. L. da Vinci

died A. D. 1519.

[41] Museum Calceol.--See Brocchi's Discourse on the Progress of

the Study of Fossil Conchology in Italy, where some of the

following notices on Italian writers will be found more at large.

[42] In Sicily, in particular, the title-deeds of many valuable

grants of land to the monasteries are headed by such preambles,

composed by the testators about the period when the good King

Roger was expelling the Saracens from that island.

[43] De Fossilib. pp. 109, 176.

[44] Aristotle, On Animals, chaps. 1, 15.

[45] Brocchi, Con. Fos. Subap. Disc, sui Progressi. vol. i. p.

57.

[46] De Metallicis.

[47] Dies Caniculares.

[48] Storia Naturale.

[49] Osserv. sugli Animali aquat. e terrest. 1626.

[50] Sex itaque distinctas Etruriae facies agnoscimus, dum bis

fluida, bis plana, et sicca, bis aspera fuerit, &c.

[51] Scilla quotes the remark of Cicero on the story that a stone

in Chios had been cleft open, and presented the head of Paniscus

in relief:--"I believe," said the orator, "that the figure bore

some resemblance to Paniscus, but not such that you would have

deemed it sculptured by Scopas; for chance never perfectly

imitates the truth."

[52] De Testaceis fossilibus Mus. Septaliani.

[53] The opinions of Boyle, alluded to by Quirini, were published

a few years before, in a short article entitled "On the Bottom of

the Sea." From observations collected from the divers of the

pearl fishery, Boyle inferred that, when the waves were six or

seven feet high above the surface of the water, there were no

signs of agitation at the depth of fifteen fathoms; and that even

during heavy gales of wind, the motion of the water was

exceedingly diminished at the depth of twelve or fifteen feet. He

had also learnt from some of his informants, that there were

currents running in opposite directions at different

depths.--Boyle's Works, vol. iii. p. 110. London, 1744.

[54] See Conybeare and Phillips, "Outlines of the Geology of

England and Wales," p. 12.

[55] Unde jam duplex origo intelligitur primorum corporum, una,

cum ab ignis fusione refrigescerent, altera, cum reconcrescerent

ex solutione aquarum.

[56] Redeunte mox simili causa strata subinde alia aliis

imponerentur, et facies teneri adhuc orbis saepius novata est.

Donec quiescentibus causis, atque aequilibratis, consistentior

emergeret rerum status.--For an able analysis of the views of

Leibnitz, in his Protogoea, see Mr. Conybeare's Report to the

Brit. Assoc. on the Progress of Geological Science, 1832.

[57] Between the year 1688 and his death, in 1703, he read

several memoirs to the Royal Society, and delivered lectures on

various subjects, relating to fossil remains and the effects of

earthquakes.

[58] Posth. Works, Lecture, Feb. 29, 1688.

[59] Posth. Works, p. 327.

[60] Posth. Works, Lecture, Feb. 15, 1688. Hooke explained with

considerable clearness the different modes wherein organic

substances may become lapidified; and, among other illustrations,

he mentions some silicified palm-wood brought from Africa, on

which M. de la Hire had read a memoir to the Royal Academy of

France (June, 1692), wherein he had pointed out, not only the

tubes running the length of the trunk, but the roots at one

extremity. De la Hire, says Hooke, also treated of certain trees

found petrified in the "river that passes by Bakan, in the

kingdom of _Ava_, and which has for the space of ten leagues the

virtue of petrifying wood." It is an interesting fact that the

silicified wood of the Irawadi should have attracted attention

more than one hundred years ago. Remarkable discoveries have been

made there in later times of fossil animals and vegetables, by

Mr. Crawfurd and Dr. Wallich.--See Geol. Trans. vol. ii. part

iii. p. 377, second series. De la Hire cites Father Duchatz, in

the second volume of "Observations made in the Indies by the

Jesuits."

[61] Posth. Works, Lecture, May 29, 1689.

[62] Posth. Works, p. 312.

[63] Posth. Works, p. 410.

[64] Ray's Physico-theological Discourses were of somewhat later

date than Hooke's great work on earthquakes. He speaks of Hooke

as one "whom for his learning and deep insight into the mysteries

of nature he deservedly honored."--_On the Deluge_, chap. iv.

[65] Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth, 1695. Preface.

[66] Ibid.

[67] Consequences of the Deluge, p. 165.

[68] First published in Latin between the years 1680 and 1690.

[69] An Examination of Dr. Burnet's Theory, &c., 2d ed. 1734.

[70] Ramazzini even asserted, that the ideas of Burnet were

mainly borrowed from a dialogue of one Patrizio; but Brocchi,

after reading that dialogue, assures us that there was scarcely

any other correspondence between these systems, except that both

were equally whimsical.

[71] Dei Corpi Marini, Lettere critiche, &c. 1721.

[72] Brocchi, p. 28.

[73] Ibid. p. 33.

[74] Ibid.

[75] Sui Crostacei ed altri Corpi Marini che si trovano sui

Monti.

[76] Moro does not cite the works of Hooke and Ray; and although

so many of his views were in accordance with theirs, he was

probably ignorant of their writings, for they had not been

translated. As he always refers to the Latin edition of Burnet,

and a French translation of Woodward, we may presume that he did

not read English.

[77] Saggio fisico intorno alla Storia del Mare, part i. p. 24.

[78] "Abbomino al sommo qualsivoglia sistema, che sia di pianta

fabbricato in aria; massime quando e tale, che non possa

sostenersi senza un miracolo," &c.--De' Crostacei e di altre

Produz. del Mare, &c. 1749.

[79] "Senza violenze, senza finzioni, senza supposti, senza

miracoli." De' Crostacei e di altre Produz. del Mare, &c. 1749.

[80] Sui Testacei della Sicilia.

[81] Hist. Nat. tom. v. ad. de l'Imp. Royale, Paris, 1769.

[82] Essai d'une Hist. Nat. des Couches de la Terre, 1759.

[83] John Gesner published at Leyden, in Latin.

[84] Part ii. chap. 9.

[85] Giornale del Criselini, 1759.

[86] See a sketch of the History of English Geology, by Dr.

Fitton, in Edinb. Rev. Feb. 1818, re-edited Lond. and Edinb.

Phil. Mag. vols. i. and ii. 1832-3. Some of Michell's

observations anticipate in so remarkable a manner the theories

established forty years afterwards, that his writings would

probably have formed an era in the science, if his researches had

been uninterrupted. He held, however, his professorship only

eight years, when his career was suddenly cut short by preferment

to a benefice. From that time he appears to have been engaged in

his clerical duties, and to have entirely discontinued his

scientific pursuits, exemplifying the working of a system still

in force at Oxford and Cambridge, where the chairs of

mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, astronomy,

geology, mineralogy, and others, being frequently filled by

clergymen, the reward of success disqualifies them, if they

conscientiously discharge their new duties, from farther

advancing the cause of science, and that, too, at the moment when

their labors would naturally bear the richest fruits.

[87] Sui Corpi Marini del Feltrino, 1761.

[88] De Novis e Mari Natis Insulis. Raspe was also the editor of

the "Philosophical Works of Leibnitz. Amst. et Leipzig, 1765;"

also author of "Tassie's Gems," and "Baron Munchausen's Travels."

[89] Acta Academiae Electoralis Maguntinae, vol. ii. Erfurt.

[90] This account of Fuchsel is derived from an excellent

analysis of his memoirs by M. Keferstein. Journ. de Gaologie,

tom. ii. Oct. 1830.

[91] Saggio orittografico, &c. 1780, and other Works.

[92] Lett. sui Pesci Fossili di Bolca. Milan, 1793.

[93] This argument of Testa has been strengthened of late years

by the discovery that dealers in shells had long been in the

habit of selling Mediterranean species as shells of more southern

and distant latitudes, for the sake of enhancing their price. It

appears, moreover, from several hundred experiments made by that

distinguished hydrographer, Capt. Smith, on the water within

eight fathoms of the surface, that the temperature of the

Mediterranean is on an average 3-1/2 degrees of Fahrenheit higher

than the western part of the Atlantic ocean; an important fact,

which in some degree may help to explain why many species are

common to tropical latitudes and to the Mediterranean.

[94] Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth,

1778.

[95] Observ. on the Formation of Mountains. Act Petrop. ann.

1778, part i.

[96] Nov. comm. Petr. XVII. Cuvier, Eloge de Pallas.

[97] Cuvier, Eloge de Werner.

[98] I am indebted for this information partly to Messrs.

Sedgwick and Murchison, who have investigated the country, and

partly to Dr. Charles Hartmann, the translator of this work into

German.

[99] Cuvier, Eloge de Desmarest.

[100] Journ. de Phys. vol. xiii. p. 115; and Mam. de l'Inst.,

Sciences Mathamat. et. Phys. vol. vi. p. 219.

[101] Journ. de Phys. tom. xxxv. p. 191.

[102] Ib. tom. xxxvii. part ii. p. 200.

[103] Cuvier, Eloge de Desmarest.

[104] Ed. Phil. Trans. 1788.

[105] Playfair's Works, vol. iv. p. 75.

[106] "Before me things create were none, save things

Eternal."--Dante's _Inferno_, canto iii. Cary's Translation.

[107] Playfair's Works, vol. iv. p. 55.

[108] In allusion to the theories of Burnet, Woodward, and

other physico-theological writers, he declared that they were

as fond of changes of scene on the face of the globe, as were

the populace at a play. "Every one of them destroys and

renovates the earth after his own fashion, as Descartes framed

it: for philosophers put themselves without ceremony in the

place of God, and think to create a universe with a

word."--Dissertation envoyae a l'Academie de Boulogne, sur les

Changemens arrivas dans notre Globe. Unfortunately, this and

similar ridicule directed against the cosmogonists was too well

deserved.

[109] See the chapter on "Des Pierres figuras."

[110] In that essay he lays it down, "that all naturalists are

now agreed that deposits of shells in the midst of the

continents are monuments of the continued occupation of these

districts by the ocean." In another place also, when speaking

of the fossil shells of Touraine, he admits their true origin.

[111] As an instance of his desire to throw doubt

indiscriminately on all geological data, we may recall the

passage where he says, that "the bones of a reindeer and

hippopotamus discovered near Etempes did not prove, as some

would have it, that Lapland and the Nile were once on a tour

from Paris to Orleans, but merely that a lover of curiosities

once preserved them in his cabinet."

[112] "Some drill and bore The solid earth, and from the strata there

Extract a register, by which we learn That he who made it, and

revealed its date To Moses, was mistaken in its age." The Task,

book iii. "The Garden."

[113] P. 577.

[114] P. 59.

[115] Introd. p. 2.

[116] London, 1809.

[117] In a most able article, by Mr. Drinkwater, on the "Life

of Galileo," published in the "Library of Useful Knowledge," it

is stated that both Galileo's work, and the book of Copernicus,

"Nisi corrigatur" (for, with the omission of certain passages,

it was sanctioned), were still to be seen on the forbidden list

of the Index at Rome, in 1828. I was, however, assured in the

same year, by Professor Scarpellini, at Rome, that Pius VII., a

pontiff distinguished for his love of science, had procured a

repeal of the edicts against Galileo and the Copernican system.

He had assembled the Congregation; and the late Cardinal

Toriozzi, assessor of the Sacred Office, proposed that they

should wipe off this scandal from the church." The repeal was

carried, with the dissentient voice of one Dominican only. Long

before that time the Newtonian theory had been taught in the

Sapienza, and all Catholic universities in Europe (with the

exception, I am told, of Salamanca); but it was always required

of professors, in deference to the decrees of the church, to

use the term _hypothesis_, instead of theory. They now speak of

the Copernican _theory_.

[118] Elementary Treatise on Geology. London, 1809. Translated

by De la Fite.

[119] See Dr. Fitton's Memoir, before cited, p. 57.

[120] Whewell, British Critic, No. xvii. p. 187, 1831.

[121] Discours sur les Ravol. &c.

[122] Niebuhr's Hist. of Rome, vol. i. p. 5. Hare and

Thirlwall's translation.

[123] Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. xxxiii.

[124] Id. Ibid.

[125] In the earlier editions of this work, a fourth book was

added on Geology Proper, or Systematic Geology, containing an

account of the former changes of the animate and inanimate

creation, brought to light by an examination of the crust of

the earth. This I afterwards (in 1838) expanded into a separate

publication called the Elements of Manual Geology, of which a

fourth edition appeared December, 1851.

[126] See two articles by the Rev. Dr. Fleming, in the

Edinburgh New Phil. Journ. No. xii. p. 277, April, 1829; and

No. xv. p. 65, Jan. 1830.

[127] Book iii. chaps. 46, 47, &c.

[128] Macacus pliocenus, Owen, Brit. Foss. Mam. Intr. p. 37,

found with the extinct elephant, &c. in the modern freshwater

beds at Grays Thurrock (Essex), in the valley of the Thames.

[129] Geol. Proceedings, No. xxxvi. June, 1834.

[130] Phil. Mag., Sept. 1829, and Jan. 1830.

[131] Fleming, Ed. New Phil. Journ., No. xii. p. 282, 1829. The

zebra, however, inhabits chiefly the extra-tropical parts of

Africa.

[132] Humboldt, Fragmens de Gaologie, &c., tome ii. p. 388.

Ehrenberg, Ann. des Sci. Nat., tome xxi. p. 387.

[133] Ehrenberg, ibid. p. 390.

[134] Journ. of Asiat. Soc., vol. i. p. 240.

[135] Rafinesque, Atlantic Journ., p. 18.

[136] Darwin's Journal of Travels in South America, &c., 1832

to 1836, in Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle, p. 159.

[137] Ehrenberg, ibid.

[138] The speculations which follow, on the ancient physical

geography of Siberia, and its former fitness as a residence for

the mammoth, were first given in their present form in my 4th

edition, June, 1835. Recently Sir R. Murchison and his

companions in their great work on the Geology of Russia, 1845

(vol. i. p. 497), have, in citing this chapter, declared that

their investigations have led them to similar conclusions.

Professor Owen, in his excellent History of British Fossil

Mammalia, 1844, p. 261, _et seq._, observes that the teeth of

the mammoth differ from those of the living Asiatic or African

elephant in having a larger proportion of dense enamel, which

may have enabled it to subsist on the coarser ligneous tissues

of trees and shrubs. In short, he is of opinion, that the

structure of its teeth, as well as the nature of its epidermis

and coverings, may have made it "a meet companion for the

reindeer."

[139] Pallas, Reise in Russ. Reiche, pp. 409, 410.

[140] Nov. Com. Petrop. vol. xvii. p. 584.

[141] Nov. Com. Petrop. vol. xvii. p. 591.

[142] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iv. p. 10, Memoirs.

[143] Journal du Nord, St. Petersburg, 1807.

[144] Fleming, Ed. New Phil. Journ., No. xii. p. 285.

Bishop Heber informs us (Narr. of a Journey through the Upper

Provinces of India, vol. ii. p. 166-219), that in the lower

range of the Himalaya mountains, in the northeastern borders of

the Delhi territory, between lat. 29 degrees and 30 degrees, he

saw an Indian elephant of a small size, covered with shaggy

hair. But this variety must be exceedingly rare; for Mr. Royle

(late superintendent of the East India Company's Botanic Garden

at Saharunpore) has assured me, that being in India when Heber's

Journal appeared, and having never seen or heard of such

elephants, he made the strictest inquiries respecting the fact,

and was never able to obtain any evidence in corroboration. Mr.

Royle resided at Saharunpore, lat. 30 degrees N., upon _the

extreme northern limits_ of the range of the elephant. Mr.

Everest also declares that he has been equally unsuccessful in

finding any one aware of the existence of such a variety or

breed of the animal, though one solitary individual was

mentioned to him as having been seen at Delhi, with a good deal

of long hair upon it. The greatest elevation, says Mr. E., at

which the wild elephant is found in the mountains to the north

of Bengal, is at a place called Nahun, about 4000 feet above the

level of the sea, and in the 31st degree of N. lat., where the

mean yearly temperature may be about 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and

the difference between winter and summer very great, equal to

about 36 degrees F., the month of January averaging 45 degrees,

and June, the hottest month, 81 degrees F. (Everest on climate

of Foss. Eleph., Journ. of Asiat. Soc., No. 25, p. 21.)

[145] See Dr. Buckland's description of these bones, Appen. to

Beechy's Voy.

[146] Darwin, Journal of Travels in S. America, &c., 1832-36,

in voyage of H. M. S. Beagle, p. 98. 2d Ed. London, 1845, p.

86.

[147] Darwin, Journal of Travels in S. America, &c., p. 99, 2d

Ed. p. 85.

[148] Burchell, cited by Darwin, ibid. p. 101. 2d Ed. p. 87.

[149] Since the above passage was first printed in a former

edition, June, 1835, it has been shown by the observations of

Sir R. Murchison, M. de Verneuil, and Count Keyserling, and

more recently by M. Middendorf (see above, p. 81), that the

Lowland of Siberia has actually been extended, since the

existing species of shells inhabited the northern seas.

[150] Humboldt, Fragmens Asiatiques, tom. ii. p. 393.

[151] Reboul. Geol. de la Pariode Quaternaire, who cites

Observ. sur la Sibarie, Bibl. Univ., Juillet, 1832.

[152] Conjectured to be the wild stock of Bos grunniens.

[153] Recollections of a Journey through Tartary, Thibet, and

China (ch. xv. p. 234), by M. Huc. Longman, 1852.

[154] For an account of the more modern changes of the tertiary

fauna and flora of the British Isles and adjoining countries,

and particularly those facts which relate to the "glacial

epoch," see an admirable essay by Prof. E. Forbes. Memoirs of

Geol. Survey of Great Brit. vol. i. p. 336. London, 1846. To

this important memoir I shall have frequent occasion to refer

in the sequel.

[155] See a paper by Charles J. F. Bunbury, Esq., Journ. of

Geol. Soc., London, No. 6, p. 88. 1846.

[156] The Calamites were formerly regarded by Adolphe

Brongniart as belonging to the tribe of Equisetaceae; but he is

now inclined to refer them to the class of gymnogens, or

gymnospermous exogens, which includes the Coniferae and Cycadeae.

Lepidodendron appears to have been either a gigantic form of

the lycopodium tribe, or, as Dr. Lindley thinks, intermediate

between the lycopodia and the fir tribe. The Sigillariae were

formerly supposed by Ad. Brongniart, to be arborescent ferns;

but the discovery of their internal structure, and of their

leaves, has since proved that they have no real affinity to

ferns. According to the view now taken of their structure,

their nearest allies in the recent world are the genera Cycas

and Zamia; while Corda, on the other hand, maintains that they

were closely related to the succulent euphorbias. Stigmaria is

now generally admitted to have been merely the root of

sigillaria. The scalariform vessels of these two genera are not

conclusive in proving them to have a real affinity with ferns,

as Mr. Brown has discovered the same structure of vessels in

Myzodendron, a genus allied to the mistletoe; and Corda has

lately shown that in two species of Stigmaria, hardly

distinguishable by external characters, the vessels of the one

are scalariform, and of the other dotted.

[157] Mr. Lindley endeavored formerly (1834) to show, in the

"Fossil Flora," that Trigonocarpum Noeggerathii, a fruit found

in the coal measures, has the true structure of a palm-fruit;

but Ad. Brongniart has since inclined to regard it as

cycadeous; nor is the French botanist satisfied that some

specimens of supposed palm wood from the coal-mines of Radnitz

in Bohemia, described by Corda, really belong to palms. On the

other hand, Corda has proved Flabellaria borassifolia of

Sternberg to be an exogenous plant, and Brongniart contends

that it was allied to the Cycadeae. See Tableau des Genres de

Vagataux Fossiles. Paris, 1849.

[158] Prodrome d'une Hist. des Vagat. Foss. p. 179. See also a

late paper, Quart. Journ. of Geol. Soc. London, 1846, in which

coal-plants of Alabama, lat. 33 degrees N., collected by the

author, are identified by Mr. Bunbury with British fossil

species, showing the great southern extension of this flora.

[159] Konig, Journ. of Sci., vol. xv. p. 20. Mr. Konig informs

me that he no longer believes any of these fossils to be tree

ferns, as he at first stated, but that they agree generically

with plants in our English coal-beds. The Melville Island

specimens, now in the British Museum, are very obscure

impressions.

[160] Fossil Flora of Great Britain, by John Lindley and

William Hutton, Esqrs., No. IV.

[161] Fossil Flora of Great Britain, by John Lindley and

William Hutton, Esqrs. No. IV.

[162] Fossil Flora, No. X.

[163] This has been proved by Mr. Lindley's experiments, ibid.

No. XVII.

[164] I have treated of this subject in my Manual of Geology,

and still more fully in my Travels in N. America, vol. ii. p.

178. For a full account of the facts at present known, and the

theories entertained by the most eminent geologists and

botanists on this subject, see Mr. Horner's Anniversary Address

to the Geological Society of London, February, 1846. Consult

also Sir H. de la Beche, on the formation of rocks in South

Wales, Memoirs of Geol. Survey of Great Britain, 1846, p. 1 to

296.

[165] The theory proposed in this and the following chapters,

to account for former fluctuations of climate at successive

geological periods, agrees in every essential particular, and

has indeed been reprinted almost verbatim from that published

by me twenty years ago in the first edition of my Principles,

1830. It was referred to by Sir John F. W. Herschel in his

Discourse on Natural Philosophy, published in 1830. In

preceding works the gradual diminution of the earth's central

heat was almost the only cause assigned for the acknowledged

diminution of the superficial temperature of our planet.

[166] We are indebted to Baron Alex. von Humboldt for having

first collected together the scattered data on which he founded

an approximation to a true theory of the distribution of heat

over the globe. Many of these data were derived from the

author's own observations, and many from the works of M. Pierre

Prevost, of Genera, on the radiation of heat, and from other

writers.--See Humboldt on Isothermal Lines, Mamoires d'Arcueil,

tom. iii. translated in the Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. iii. July,

1820.

The map of Isothermal Lines, recently published by Humboldt and

Dove (1848), supplies a large body of well-established data for

such investigations, of which Mr. Hopkins has most ably availed

himself in an essay "On the Causes which may have produced

Changes in the earth's Superficial Temperature."--Q. Journ.

Geol. Soc. 1852, p. 56.

[167] Sir J. Richardson's Appendix to Sir G. Bach's Journal,

1843-1845, p. 478.

[168] Malte-Brun, Phys. Geol. book xvii.

[169] On Isothermal Lines, &c.

[170] Rennell on Currents, p. 96. London, 1832.

[171] Ibid. p. 153.

[172] Ibid. p. 25.

[173] Scoresby's Arctic Regions, vol. i. p. 208.--Dr. Latta's

Observations on the Glaciers of Spitzbergen, &c. Edin. New

Phil. Journ. vol. iii. p. 97.

[174] Rennell on Currents, p. 95.

[175] Humboldt on Isothermal Lines.

[176] Journ. of Travels in S. America, &c. p. 272.

[177] Darwin's travels in S. America, p. 271.

[178] Mr. Hopkins raises the question whether, in South

Georgia, the descent of glaciers to the margin of the sea might

not have been mistaken by Capt. Cook for the descent of the

snow-line to the sea level. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. p. 85,

1852. The great navigator is generally very accurate, and there

seem to be no observations of more recent date either to

confirm or invalidate his statements.

[179] After all these modern discoveries, the area still

unexplored, within the antarctic circle, is more than double

the area of Europe. The surface of the latter contains about

2,793,000 square geographical miles. The unexplored antarctic

region, as calculated for me by Mr. Gardner, in 1840, equalled

about 7,620,000 square miles.

[180] On icebergs in low latitudes, by Capt. Horsburgh, by whom

the sketch was made. Phil. Trans. 1830.

[181] Scoresby's Arctic Regions, vol. i. p. 234.

[182] This follows, observes Herschel, from a very simple

theorem, which may be thus stated:--"The amount of heat

received by the earth from the sun, while describing any part

of its orbit, is proportional to the angle described round the

sun's centre." So that if the orbit be divided into two

portions by a line drawn _in any direction_ through the sun's

centre, the heat received in describing the two unequal

segments of the eclipse so produced will be equal. Geol. Trans.

vol. iii. part. ii. p. 298; second series.

[183] On Isothermal Lines.

[184] A full consideration of the effect of changes in physical

geography on the distribution and extinction of species is

given in book iii.

[185] For calculations founded on astronomical data, see

Young's Nat. Phil., Lect. xlvii.; Mrs. Somerville's Connex. of

Phys. Sci., sect. 14, p. 110. Laplace, endeavoring to estimate

the probable depth of the sea from some of the phenomena of the

tides, says of the ocean generally, "que sa profondeur moyenne

est du meme ordre que la hauteur moyenne des continens et des

isles au-dessus de son niveau, hauteur qui ne surpasse pas

mille metres (3280 ft.)" Mec. Caleste, tom. xi. et Syst. du

Monde, p. 254. The expression "du meme ordre" admits in

mathematical language of considerable latitude of

signification, and does not mean that the depth of the water

below the level of the sea corresponds exactly to the height of

the land above it.

It appeared from the observations of Sir James Ross,

communicated to me in 1849, by himself, and his fellow voyager,

Dr. Joseph Hooker, that in latitude 15 degrees 3 minutes S.,

longitude 23 degrees 14 minutes W. (the island of Trinidad, the

nearest land, being 486 miles distant, and bearing S. 47 W.),

they sounded with a weight of 76 lbs., and 4600 fathoms of line,

which ran out to the very end, without finding bottom. Here

therefore in mid-ocean the depth exceeded 27,600 feet. One of

the shallowest soundings ever obtained in the open sea during

the same survey, struck bottom with 2677 fathoms, or 16,062

feet, latitude 33 degrees 21 minutes S., longitude 9 degrees 4

minutes E. The surveyors arrived at the conclusion, that at a

moderate distance from the shore, the depth of the great ocean

always exceeds 4000 feet.

During the American survey in 1849, a much greater depth, or

5700 fathoms (34,200 feet), was sounded in the Atlantic by

Lieut. Walsh, without reaching the bottom, in lat. 31 degrees 59

minutes N., long. 58 degrees 43 minutes W., or between the

Bermudas and the Azores. But the deepest soundings yet published

were taken Oct. 30th 1852, by Capt. Henry M. Denham, R. N., who

reached bottom at 7706 fathoms (46,236 feet), lat. 36 degrees 49

minutes S., long. 37 degrees 6 minutes W., the nearest land

being at the mouth of the River Plate. A weight of 9 lbs. was

attached to the line, which was one-tenth of an inch in

diameter; the day was calm, and the line took 9 hours 24 minutes

to run out. When the bottom was struck the line was raised 50

fathoms, and then allowed to run out again. It struck at the

same point as before, verifying the observations. Nevertheless

some experienced surveyors have remarked that the experiment

would have been more satisfactory had the weight been greater.

The highest summits of the Himalaya are about 28,000 feet; the

Pacific, according to this sounding, is probably at some points

twice as deep as the Himalaya are high.

[186] Mr. Hopkins, reasoning on data furnished by Dove's

Isothermal maps, has arrived at the very interesting

conclusion, that both on Snowdon and the lower mountains of the

West of Ireland the snow-line would descend to within 1000 feet

of the sea level, and glaciers reach the sea, if we could

simply assume the three following geographical changes:--

1st, The diversion of the Gulf stream from its present

northerly course; 2dly, the depression of the existing land of

Northern and Western Europe, to the amount of no more than 500

feet; and 3dly, a cold current from the North sweeping over the

submerged area. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1852, p. 85.

[187] Daniell's Meteorological Essays, p. 103.

[188] Observed by J. Crawfurd, Esq.

[189] In speaking of the circulation of air and water in this

chapter, no allusion is made to the trade winds, or to

irregularities in the direction of currents, caused by the

rotary motion of the earth. These causes prevent the movements

from being direct from north to south, or from south to north,

but they do not affect the theory of a constant circulation.

[190] See Scoreby's Arctic Regions, vol. i. p. 378.

[191] Ibid. p. 320.

[192] This is shown by projecting a map on the horizon of

London, that is to say, by supposing the eye of the observer to

be placed above that city, and to see from thence one half of

the globe. For it so happens that from that point, and no

other, we should behold the greatest possible quantity of land;

and if we are then transferred to the opposite or antipodal

point, we should see the greatest possible quantity of water.

(See figs. 3 and 4.) A singular fact, first pointed out by Mr.

James Gardner, namely, that only one twenty-seventh part of the

dry land has any land opposite to it, is intimately connected

with this excess of land in one of the two hemispheres above

alluded to. Thus, in fig. 3, the land shaded black in part of

China answers to that portion of the extremity of South America

and Tierra del Fuego which is opposite or antipodal to it,

whilst the dark spots in the northern and central parts of

South America represent Borneo, Sumatra, and other antipodal

islands in the Eastern Archipelago. See Gardner, Geol. Soc.

Proceedings, 1833, vol. i. p. 488.

[193] Humboldt on Isothermal Lines

[194] Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature, tom. i. p. 112.

[195] Ad. Brongniart, Consid. Ganarales sur la Nat. de la

Vagat. &c. Ann. des Sciences Nat., Nov. 1828.

[196] Sir J. Richardson, Proceedings of Geol. Soc. No. 7, p.

68, March, 1828.

[197] Ad. Brongniart, Consid. Ganarales sur la Nat. de la

Vagat. &c., Ann. des Sci. Nat., Nov. 1828.

[198] See a Memoir on the Alps, by Professor Sedgwick and Sir

Rod. Murchison, Trans. of Geol. Soc. second ser. vol. iii.

accompanied by a map.

[199] See Proceedings of Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 334.

[200] It may be observed, that the facts and inferences

exhibited in this map bear not merely on the theory of climate

above proposed, but serve also to illustrate the views

explained in the third book respecting the migration of animals

and plants and the gradual extinction of species.

[201] See Sir R. Murchison's Paper on the Alps, Quart. Journ.

Geol. Soc. vol. v. and my Anniversary Address for 1850, ibid.

vol. vi.

[202] Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung, No. cxxxix. July, 1833.

[203] In this estimate, the space within the antarctic circle

is not taken into account: if included, it would probably add

to the excess of dry land; for the late discoveries of Capt.

Sir James Ross, who penetrated to lat. 78 degrees 10 minutes S.,

confirm the conjecture of Captain Cook that the accumulation of

antarctic ice implies the presence of a certain quantity of

terra firma. The number of square miles on the surface of the

globe are 148,522,000, the part occupied by the sea being

110,849,000, and that by land, 37,673,000; so that the land is

very nearly to the sea as 1 part in 4. I am informed by Mr.

Gardner that, according to a rough approximation, the land

between the 30 degrees N. lat. and the pole occupies a space

_about equal to that of the sea_, and the land between the 30

degrees S. lat. and the antarctic circle about one-sixteenth of

that zone.

[204] See papers by Mr. Smith of Jordanhill, F. G. S., and the

author, Proceedings Geol. Soc. No. 63, 1839, also that of Prof.

E. Forbes, before cited, p. 86, note.

[205] The theorem is thus stated:--"The eccentricity of the

orbit varying, the total quantity of heat received by the earth

from the sun in one revolution is inversely proportional to the

minor axis of the orbit. The major axis is invariable, and

therefore, of course, the absolute length of the year: hence it

follows that the mean annual average of heat will also be in

the same inverse ratio of the minor axis."--Geol. Trans. second

series, vol. iii. p. 295.

[206] Ann. du Bur. des Long. 1834.

[207] Poisson, Thaorie Mathamat. de la Chaleur, Comptes Rendus

de l'Acad. des Sci., Jan. 30, 1837.

[208] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1852, p. 62.

[209] Proceedings Roy. Astronom. Soc. No. iii. Jan. 1840.

[210] See a Memoir on the Temperature of the Terrestrial Globe,

and the Planetary Spaces, Ann. de Chimie et Phys. tom. xxvii.

p. 136. Oct. 1824.

[211] Sir H. Davy, Consolations in Travel: Dialogue III. "The

Unknown."

[212] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1852.

[213] Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, p. 409.

[214] Owen's Report on "British Fossil Reptiles, to Brit. Soc."

1841, p. 200.

[215] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. No. 6, p. 96.

[216] See Hitchcock's Report on Geol. of Massachusetts, and

Lyell's Travels in North America, chap. 12.

[217] See Manual of Geol. by the Author, index _Microlestes_.

[218] This figure (No. 8) is from a drawing by Professor C.

Prevost, published Ann. des Sci. Nat. Avril, 1825. The fossil

is a lower jaw, adhering by its inner side to the slab of

oolite, in which it is sunk. The form of the condyle, or

posterior process of the jaw, is convex, agreeing with the

mammiferous type, and is distinctly seen, an impression of it

being left on the stone, although in this specimen the bone is

wanting. The anterior part of the jaw has been partially broken

away, so that the double fangs of the molar teeth are seen

fixed in their sockets, the form of the fangs being

characteristic of the mammalia. Ten molars are preserved, and

the place of an eleventh is believed to be apparent. The enamel

of some of the teeth is well preserved.

[219] A colored figure of this small and elegant quadruped is

given in the Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. ii. pl. 28. It is

insectivorous, and was taken in a hollow tree, in a country

abounding in ant-hills, ninety miles to the southeast of the

mouth of Swan River in Australia.--It is the first living

marsupial species known to have nine molar teeth in the lower

jaw, and some of the teeth are widely separated from others,

one of the peculiarities in the thylacotherium of Stonesfield,

which at first induced M. Blainville to refer that creature to

the class of reptiles.

[220] This figure (No. 10) was taken from the original,

formerly in Mr. Broderip's collection, and now in the British

Museum. It consists of the right half of a lower jaw, of which

the inner side is seen. The jaw contains seven molar teeth, one

canine, and three incisors; but the end of the jaw is

fractured, and traces of the alveolus of a fourth incisor are

seen. With this addition, the number of teeth would agree

exactly with those of a lower jaw of a didelphis. The fossil is

well preserved in a slab of oolitic structure containing shells

of trigoniae and other marine remains. Two or three other

similar jaws, besides those above represented, have been

procured from the quarries of Stonesfield.--See Broderip, Zool.

Journ. vol. ii. p. 408. Owen, Proceedings Geol. Soc., November,

1838.

[221] Darwin's Journal, chap. 19. Lyell's Manual of Geol. chap.

21, p. 279.

[222] Taylor's Annals of Nat. Hist. Nov. 1839.

[223] See notice by the Author, and Professor Owen, Taylor's

Annals of Nat. Hist. Nov. 1839.

[224] See Principles of Geology, 1st ed. 1830, vol. i p. 152.

[225] The first quadrumanous fossils discovered in India were

observed in 1836 in the Sewalik Hills, a lower range of the

Himalayan Mountains, by Lieutenants Baker and Durond, by whom

their osteological characters were determined (Journ. of Asiat.

Soc. of Bengal, vol. v. p. 739), and in the year following, other

fossils of the same class were brought to light and described by

Capt. Cantley and Dr. Falconer. These were imbedded, like the

former, in tertiary strata of conglomerate, sand, marl, and clay,

in the Sub-Himalayan Mountains. (Ibid. vol. v. p. 379. Nov. 1836;

and vol. vi. p. 354. May, 1837.)

The Brazilian quadrumane was found, with a great many other

extinct species of animals, by a Danish naturalist, Dr. Lund,

between the rivers Francisco and Velhas, in 1837.

The gibbon of the South of France was found by M. Lartet in the

beginning of 1837, and determined by M. de Blainville. It

occurred near Auch, in the department of Gers, about forty miles

west of Toulouse, in freshwater marl, limestone, and sand. They

were accompanied by the remains of the mastodon, dinotherium,

palaeotherium, rhinoceros, gigantic sloth, and other extinct

quadrupeds. (Bulletin de la Soc. Geol. de France, tom. viii. p.

92.)

The British quadrumane was discovered in 1839, by Messrs. William

Colchester and Searles Wood, at Kyson, near Woodbridge, in

Suffolk, and was referred by Professor Owen to the genus Macacus.

(Mag. of Nat. Hist. Sept. 1839. Taylor, Annals of Nat. Hist. No.

xxiii. Nov. 1839.)

[226] Owen's Introduction to British Fossil Mammals, p. 46.

[227] Proceedings of Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. Dec. 9, 1851.

[228] See ch. 48.

[229] Ibid.

[230] Ibid.

[231] Phys. Hist. of Mankind, vol. ii. p. 594.

[232] Virgil, Eclog. iv. For an account of these doctrines, see

Dugald Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind,

vol. ii. chap. ii. sect. 4, and Prichard's Egypt. Mythol. p. 177.

[233] See ch. 41.

[234] See ch. 35.

[235] See ch. 37, 38, 39, 41.

[236] See also Manual of Geology, ch. 11, 12.

[237] It has been suspected ever since the middle of the last

century, that the Caspian was lower than the ocean, it being

known that in Astrakhan the mercury in the barometer generally

stands above thirty inches. In 1811, MM. Engelhardt and Parrot

attempted to determine the exact amount of difference by a series

of levellings and barometrical measurements across the isthmus at

two different places near the foot of Mount Caucasus. The result

of their operations led them to the opinion that the Caspian was

more than 300 feet below the Black Sea. But the correctness of

the observations having afterwards been called in question, M.

Parrot revisited the ground in 1829 and 1830, and inferred from

new levellings, that the mouth of the Don was between three and

four feet lower than that of the Wolga; in other words, that the

sea of Azof, which communicates with the Black Sea, was actually

lower than the Caspian! Other statements, no less contradictory,

having been made by other observers, the Russian government at

length directed the Academy of St. Petersburg to send an

expedition, in 1836, to decide the point by a trigonometrical

survey, from which it appeared that the Caspian is 101 Russian,

or 108 English, feet lower than the Black Sea. (For authorities,

see Journ. Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. viii. p. 135). Sir R.

Murchison, however, concludes, in 1845, from the best Russian

authorities, that the depression of the Caspian is only 83 feet 6

inches.

The measurements of Major Anthony Symonds, since confirmed by

French authorities, make the Dead Sea to be 1200 feet below the

Mediterranean.

[238] See Lyell's Travels in N. America, ch. 2 and 25.

[239] See Manual of Geology, chap. 29 to 33, inclusive.

[240] See ch. 26, _infra._

[241] See ch. 27, _infra._

[242] Ann. des Sci. Nat., Septembre, Novembre, et Dacembre, 1829.

Revue Francaise, No. 15, May, 1830. Bulletin de la Sociata Gaol.

de France, p. 864, May, 1847. The latest edition of M. de

Beaumont's theory will be found in the 12th vol. of the

Dictionnaire Universel d'Hist. Nat. 1852, art. "Systemes des

Montagues;" also the same printed separately.

[243] Systeme de Mont. p. 762.

[244] Ibid. pp. 761 and 773.

[245] Phil. Mag. and Annals, No. 58. New Series, p. 242.

[246] Systeme de Montagnes, 1852, p. 429.

[247] Phil. Mag. and Annals, No. 58. New series, p. 243.

[248] Systeme de Montagnes, 1852, p. 429.

[249] For page, see Index, "Hopkins."

[250] Art. Systeme de Montagnes, p. 775.

[251] M. E de Beaumont in his later inquiries (Comptes rendus,

Sept. 1850, and Systemes des Montagnes) has come to the

conclusion, that the principal mountain ranges, if prolonged,

would intersect each other at certain angles, so as to produce a

regular geometric arrangement, which he calls "a pentagonal

network." This theory has been ably discussed and controverted by

Mr. Hopkins, in his Anniversary Address as President of the Geol.

Soc., Feb. 1853.

[252] Darwin's Geology of South America, p. 248. London, 1846.

[253] Systeme de Montagnes, p. 748.

[254] See Lyell's Manual of Elementary Geology, ch. 5.

[255] See the Author's Anniversary Address, Quart. Journ. Geol.

Soc. 1850, vol. vi. p. 46, from which some of the above passages

are extracted.

[256] See Lyell's Manual of Elementary Geology.

[257] Reports to Brit. Assoc. 1842, 1843, and Introd. to Brit.

Foss. Mamm. p. 31. The conchological evidence respecting the

British Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene fossils, examined by

Mr. Forbes, in the paper before cited, p. 88, note, bear out some

of the most important conclusions of M. Deshayes, quoted by me in

the first edition of the Principles, 1831, and the recent

observations of Philippi in regard to the passage of species from

one formation to another. I refer to these authorities more

especially because this doctrine of a gradual transition has been

opposed by some living naturalists of high distinction, among

whom I may mention M.A. d'Orbigny and M. Agassiz. I have long

been convinced that we must abandon many of the identifications

formerly made of Eocene with recent shells; but some errors of

this kind do not affect the general reasoning on the subject. See

a discussion on this question, Quarterly Journ. of Geog. Soc.,

No. 5, p. 47 Feb. 1846.

[258] Darwin's Journal, p. 163. 2d. ed. p. 139.

[259] Journ. Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. iii. p. 142.

[260] Book iii. ch. 50.

[261] Darwin's S. America, pp. 136, 139.

[262] Miller, Phil. Trans. 1851, p. 155.

[263] Phil. Trans. 1850, p. 354.

[264] Hooker's Himalayan Journal, ined.

[265] Ibid.

[266] See Manual of Geology, Index, _Rain-prints_.

[267] See Lyell on recent and fossil rains. Quart. Journ. Geol.

Soc. 1851, vol. vii. p. 239.

[268] Lyell's Second Visit to the United States, 1846, vol. ii.

p. 25.

[269] Encyc. Brit. art. _Rivers_.

[270] Sir T. D. Lauder's Account of the Great Floods in

Morayshire, August, 1829.

[271] Quarterly Jour. of Sci. &c. No. xii. New Series, p. 331.

[272] Culley, Proceed. Geol. Soc. 1829.

[273] Silliman's Journal, vol. xv. No. 2, p. 216. Jan. 1829.

[274] Silliman's Journal, vol. xxxiv. p. 115.

[275] See Lyell's Second Visit to the U. S. vol. i. p. 69.

[276] This block was measured by Capt. B. Hall, R. N.

[277] Inundation of the Val de Bagnes, in 1818, Ed. Phil. Journ.,

vol. i. p. 187, from memoir of M. Escher.

[278] Lib. viii. Epist. 17.

[279] When at Tivoli, in 1829, I received this account from

eye-witnesses of the event.

[280] Illustr. of Hutt. Theory, Section 3, p. 147.

[281] Quadro Istorico dell' Etna, 1824.

[282] The reader will find in my Travels in North America, vol.

i. ch. 2, a colored geological map and section of the Niagara

district, also a bird's-eye view of the Falls and adjacent

country, colored geologically, of which the first idea was

suggested by the excellent original sketch given by Mr. Bakewell.

I have referred more fully to these and to Mr. Hall's Report on

the Geology of New York, as well as to the earlier writings of

Hennepin and Kalm in the same work, and have speculated on the

origin of the escarpment over which the Falls may have been

originally precipitated. Vol. i. p. 32, and vol. ii. p. 93.

[283] Consid. sur les Blocs Errat. 1829.

[284] Capt. Bayfield, Geol. Soc. Proceedings, vol. ii. p. 223.

[285] M. Arago, Annuaire, &c. 1833; and Rev. J. Farquharson,

Phil. Trans. 1835, p. 329.

[286] Journ. of Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. vi. p. 416.

[287] See Systeme Glaciaire, by Agassiz, Guyot, and Desor, pp.

436, 437, 445. Mr. Agassiz, at p. 462, states that he published

in the Deutsche Vierteljahrschrift for 1841, this result as to

the central motion being greater than that of the sides, and

was, therefore, the first to correct his own previous mistake.

[288] J. Forbes. 8th Letter on Glaciers, Aug. 1844.

[289] See Mr. Hopkins on Motion of Glaciers, Cambridge Phil.

Trans. 1844, and Phil. Mag. 1845. Some of the late concessions

of this author as to a certain plasticity in the mass, appear

to me to make the difference between him and Professor Forbes

little more than one of degree. (For the latest summary of

Prof. Forbes' views, see Phil. Trans. 1846, pt. 2.)

[290] This experiment is cited by Mr. Forbes, Phil. Trans.

1846, p. 206; and I have conversed with Mr. Christie on the

subject.

[291] Etudes sur les Glaciers, 1840.

[292] See Manual of Geol. ch. xi.

[293] Agassiz, Jam. Ed. New Phil. Journ. No. 54, p. 388.

[294] Charpentier, Ann. des Mines, tom. viii.; see also Papers

by MM. Venetz and Agassiz.

[295] Voyage in 1822, p. 233.

[296] Travels in Norway.

[297] Darwin's Journal, p. 283.

[298] Journ. of Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. ix. p. 526.

[299] Journ. of Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. ix. p. 529.

[300] Ibid. vol. viii. p. 221.

[301] In my Travels in N. America, pp. 19, 23, &c., and Second

Visit to the U. S., vol. i. ch. 2, also in my Manual of

Geology, a more full account of the action of floating ice and

coast-ice, and its bearing on geology, will be found.

[302] Jam. Ed. New Phil. Journ. No. xlviii. p. 439.

[303] Bulletin de la Soc. Gaol. de France, 1847, tom. iv. pp.

1182, 1183.

[304] Consult J. Prestwich, Water-bearing Strata around

London. 1851. (Van Voorst)

[305] Sabine, Journ. of Sci. No. xxxiii. p. 72. 1824.

[306] Haricart de Thury, "Puits Foras," p. 49.

[307] Prestwich, p. 69.

[308] Bull. de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. iii. p. 194.

[309] Boua Rasuma des Prog. de la Gaol. en 1832, p. 184.

[310] Seventh Rep. Brit. Ass. 1837, p. 66.

[311] H. de Thury, p. 295.

[312] Bull. de la Soc. Gaol de France, tom. i. p. 93.

[313] Bull. de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. ii. p. 248.

[314] See Glossary, "Tufa," "Travertin."

[315] Dr. Grosse on the Baths of San Filippo, Ed. Phil. Journ.

vol. ii p. 292.

[316] Consolations in Travel, pp. 123-125.

[317] Ibid. p. 127.

[318] C. Prevost, Essai sur la Constitution Physique du Bassin

de Vienne, p. 10.

[319] Travels across the Andes, p. 240.

[320] Annalen der Chem. 1847.

[321] Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 222.

[322] Dr. Webster on the Hot Springs of Furnas, Ed. Phil.

Journ. vol. vi. p. 306.

[323] See a cut of the Icelandic geyser, chap. 32.

[324] M. Robert, Bullatin de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom.

vii. p. 11.

[325] Barrow's Iceland, p. 209.

[326] See Lyell's Manual of Elementary Geology; and Dr.

Turner, Jam. Ed. New Phil. Journ. No. xxx. p. 246.

[327] L. Horner, Geol. Trans, vol. ii. p. 94.

[328] Ann. de l'Auvergne, tome i. p. 234.

[329] Ann. Scient. de l'Auvergne, tome ii. June, 1829.

[330] Edinb. New Phil. Journ. Oct. 1839.

[331] See Lyell's Travels in N. America, vol. i p. 150.

[332] Symes, Embassy to Ava, vol. ii. Geol. Trans. second

series, vol. ii. part iii. p. 388.

[333] Dr. Nugent, Geol. Trans. vol. i. p. 69.

[334] Ibid. p. 67.

[335] De la Beche, Ed. Phil. Journ. vol. ii. p. 107. Jan.

1820.

[336] De la Beche, MS.

[337] De la Beche, MS.

[338] Trans. of Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec, vol. i. p. 5,

1829.

[339] Prony, see Cuvier, Disc. Prelim, p. 146.

[340] See De Beaumont, Gaologie Pratique, vol. i. p. 323,

1844.

[341] Prony, cited by Cuvier, Discours Pralimin.

[342] Brocchi, Conch. Foss. Subap. vol. i. p. 118.

[343] Archiac, Histoire des Progras de la Gaol. 1848, vol. ii.

p. 232.

[344] Brocchi, Conch. Foss. Subap. vol. i. p. 39.

[345] Ibid. vol. ii. p. 94.

[346] Mam. d'Astruc, cited by Von Hoff, vol. i. p. 288.

[347] Lib. ii. c. v.

[348] Bouche, Chorographie et Hist. de Provence, vol. i. p.

23, cited by Von Hoft, vol. i. p. 290.

[349] Hist. Phys. de la Mer.

[350] Karamania, or a brief Description of the Coast of Asia

Minor, &c. London, 1817.

[351] Geog. Syst. of Herod, vol. ii. p. 107.

[352] Euterpe, XI.

[353] Journ. of Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. ix. p. 432.

[354] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. v.; Memoirs, p. 20; and

Lassaigue, Journ. Pharm. t. v. p. 468.

[355] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1848, vol. iv. p. 342.

[356] Flint's Geography, vol. i. p. 142. Lyell's Second Visit

to the United States, vol. ii chaps. 28 to 34.

[357] Geograph. Descrip. of Louisiana, by W. Darby,

Philadelphia, 1816, p. 102.

[358] Flint's Geography, vol. i. p. 152.

[359] Travels in North America, vol. iii. p. 361.

[360] Travels in North America, vol. iii. p. 362.

[361] "The boats are fitted," says Captain Hall, "with what is

called a snag-chamber;--a partition formed of stout planks,

which is calked, and made so effectually water-tight that the

foremost end of the vessel is cut off as entirely from the

rest of the hold as if it belonged to another boat. If the

steam-vessel happen to run against a snag, and that a hole is

made in her bow, under the surface, this chamber merely fills

with water."--Travels in North America, vol. iii. p. 363.

[362] Darby's Louisiana, p. 33.

[363] Featherstonhaugh, Geol. Report, Washington, 1835, p. 84.

[364] Trees submerged in an upright position have been observed

in other parts of N. America. Thus Captains Clark and Lewis

found, about the year 1807, a forest of pines standing erect

under water in the body of the Columbia river, which they

supposed, from the appearance of the trees, to have been

submerged only about twenty years. (Travels, &c. vol. ii. p.

241.) More lately (1835), the Rev. Mr. Parker observed on the

same river (lat. 45 degrees N., long. 121 degrees W.) trees

standing in their natural position in spots where the water was

more than twenty feet deep. The tops of the trees had

disappeared; but between high and low water-mark the trunks were

only partially decayed; and the roots were seen through the

clear water, spreading as they had grown in their native forest.

(Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, p. 132.) Some have inferred

from these facts that a tract of land, more than twenty miles in

length, must have subsided vertically; but Capt. Fremont, Dec.

1845 (Rep. of Explor. Exped. p. 195), satisfied himself that the

submerged forests have been formed by immense land-slides from

the mountains, which here closely shut in the river.

[365] For an account of the "sunk country," shaken by the

earthquake of 1811-12, see Lyell's Second Visit to the United

States, ch. 33.

[366] Darby's Louisiana, p. 103.

[367] The calculations here given were communicated to the

British Association, in a lecture which I delivered at

Southampton in September, 1846. (See Athenaeum Journal, Sept.

26, 1846, and Report of British Association, 1846, p. 117.)

Dr. Riddell has since repeated his experiments on the quantity

of sediment in the river at New Orleans without any material

variation in the results.

Mr. Forshey, in a memoir on the Physics of the Mississippi,

published in 1850, adopts Dr. Riddell's estimate for the

quantity of mud, but takes 447,199 cubic feet per second as

the average discharge of water for the year at Carrolton, nine

miles above New Orleans, a result deduced from thirty years of

observations. This being one-tenth more than I had assumed,

would add a tenth to the sediment, and would diminish by

one-eleventh the number of years required to accomplish the

task above alluded to. "The cubic contents of sedimentary

matter," says Forshey, "are equal to 4,083,333,333, and this

sediment would annually cover twelve miles square one foot

deep."

[368] The Mississippi is continually shifting its course in

the great alluvial plain, cutting frequently to the depth of

100, and even sometimes to the depth of 250 feet. As the old

channels become afterwards filled up, or in a great degree

obliterated, this excavation alone must have given a

considerable depth to the basin, which receives the alluvial

deposit, and subsidences like those accompanying the

earthquake of New Madrid in 1811-12 may have given still more

depth.

[369] Account of the Ganges and Burrampooter rivers, by Major

Rennell, Phil. Trans. 1781.

[370] Trans. of the Asiatic Society, vol. vii. p. 14.

[371] Cuvier referred the true crocodiles of the Ganges to a

single species, _C. biporcatus_. But I learn from Dr. Falconer

that there are three well-marked species, _C. biporcatus_, _C.

palustris_, and _C. bombifrons_. _C. bombifrons_ occurs in the

northern branches of the Ganges, 1000 miles from Calcutta; _C.

biporcatus_ appears to be confined to the estuary; and _C.

palustris_, to range from the estuary to the central parts of

Bengal. The garial is found along with _C. bombifrons_ in the

north, and descends to the region of _C. biporcatus_ in the

estuary.

[372] See below, ch. 22 and 29.

[373] Second Visit to the United States, vol. ii. p. 145.

[374] Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. p. 466.

[375] Lyell's Second Visit to the United States, vol. ii.

chap. 34.

[376] See Manual of Geology by the Author.

[377] See p. 13.

[378] Geog. of Herod, vol ii. p. 331.

[379] Ibid. p. 328.

[380] Romme, Vents et Courans, vol. ii. p. 2. Rev. F. Fallows,

Quart. Journ. of Science, March, 1829.

[381] The heights of these tides were given me by the late

Captain Hewett, R. N.

[382] On the authority of Admiral Sir F. Beaufort, R. N.

[383] Consult the map of Currents by Capt. F. Beechy, R. N.,

Admiralty Manual, 1849, London.

[384] Rennell on Currents, p. 58.

[385] Rennell on the Channel current.

[386] An. du Bureau des Long. 1836.

[387] Second Parliamentary Report on Steam Communication with

India, July, 1851.

[388] Phil. Trans. 1830, p. 59.

[389] See Capt. B. Hall, On Theory of Trade Winds, Fragments

of Voy. second series, vol. i., and Appendix to Daniell's

Meteorology.

[390] Treatise on Astronomy, chap. 3.

[391] Descrip. of Shetland Islands, p. 527, Edin. 1822, to

which work I am indebted for the following representations of

rocks in the Shetland Isles.

[392] Dr. Hibbert, from MSS. of Rev. George Low, of Fetlar.

[393] Hibbert, p. 528.

[394] Hibbert, p. 519.

[395] Account of Erection of Bell Rock Lighthouse, p. 163.

[396] Ed. Phil. Journ. vol. iii. p. 54, 1820.

[397] Quart. Journ. of Sci. &c., No. xiii. _N. S._ March,

1830.

[398] Buist, Quart. Journ. of Agricult., No. xlv. p. 34, June,

1839.

[399] Phillips's Geology of Yorkshire, p. 61.

[400] Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-coast of Yorkshire p. 122,

1853, London.

[401] Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 10, Introduction.

[402] Phillips's Geol. of York. p. 60.

[403] Arct. Zool. vol. i. p. 13, Introd.

[404] Taylor's Geology of East Norfolk, p. 32.

[405] Ibid.

[406] De Beaumont, Gaologie Pratique, p. 218.

[407] Taylor's Geology of East Norfolk, p. 10.

[408] From Mr. R. C. Taylor's Mem., see Phil. Mag., Oct. 1827, p.

297.

[409] Consequences of the Deluge, Phys. Theol. Discourses.

[410] History of British Birds, vol. ii. p. 220 ed. 1821.

[411] Tidal Harbor Commissioners' First Report, 1845, p. 176.

[412] On authority of Dr. Mitchell, F. G. S.

[413] On the authority of W. Gunnell, Esq., and W. Richardson,

Esq., F. G. S.

[414] Vol. ii. New Ser. 1809, p. 801.

[415] Geog. of Herod. vol. ii. p. 326.

[416] Dodsley's Ann. Regist. 1772.

[417] See J. B. Redman on Changes of S. E. Coast of England,

Proceed. Instit. Civil Engin. vol. ii. 1851, 1852.

[418] Stevenson, Ed. Phil Journ. No. v. p. 45, and Dr. Fitton,

Geol. Trans. 2d series, vol. iv. plate 9.

[419] On the authority of Mr. J. Meryon, of Rye.

[420] Redman, ibid, see p. 315.

[421] Edin. Journ. of Sci. No. xix. p. 56.

[422] Redman as cited, p. 315.

[423] Webster, Geol. Trans. vol. ii. p. 192, 1st series.

[424] Mantell, Geology of Sussex, p. 293.

[425] See Palmer on Shingle Beaches, Phil. Trans. 1834, p. 568.

[426] Groins are formed of piles and wooden planks, or of fagots

staked down and are used either to break the force of the waves,

or to retain the beach.

[427] Redman as cited, p. 315.

[428] Rob. A. C. Austen on the Valley of the English Channel,

Quart. Journ. G. S. vol. vi. p. 72.

[429] See Palmer on Motion of Shingle Beaches, Phil. Trans. 1834,

p. 568; and Col. Sir W. Reid, Papers of Royal Engineers, 1838,

vol ii. p. 128.

[430] De la Beche, Geolog. Manual, p. 82.

[431] According to the measurement of Carpenter of Lyme.

[432] Rev. W. D. Conybeare, letter dated Axminster, Dec. 31,

1839.

[433] London, J. Murray, 1840.

[434] Boase, Trans. Royal Geol. Soc. of Cornwall, vol. ii. p.

129.

[435] Boase, ibid. vol. ii. p. 135.

[436] De la Beche's Report on the Geology of Devon, &c. chap.

xiii.

[437] Geol. Trans. 1st series, vol. iii. p. 383.

[438] Boase, vol. ii. p. 130.

[439] Stevenson, Jameson's Ed. New Phil. Journ. No. 8, p. 386.

[440] Camden, who cites Gyraldus; also Ray, "On the Deluge,"

Phys. Theol. p. 228.

[441] Meyrick's Cardigan.

[442] Von Hoff, Geschichte, &c. vol. i. p. 49.

[443] E. de Beaumont, Gaologie Pratique, vol. i. p. 316, and

ibid. p. 260.

[444] Belpaire, Mam. de l'Acad. Roy. de Bruxelles, tom. x. 1837.

Dumont, Bulletin of the same Soc. tom. v. p. 643.

[445] Von Hoff, vol. i. p. 364.

[446] Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. 32; Memoirs.

[447] See examples in Von Hoff; vol. i. p. 73, who cites

Pisansky.

[448] Book vii. Cimbri.

[449] Lib. iii. cap 3.

[450] New Monthly Mag. vol. vi. p. 69.

[451] Von Hoff, vol. i. p. 96.

[452] Phil. Trans. 1833, p. 204.

[453] See Lyell's Travels in North America, in 1842, vol. ii. p.

166. London, 1845.

[454] Rennell, Phil. Trans. 1781.

[455] MS. of Capt. Bayfield, R. N.

[456] Silliman's Journ. vol. xxxiv. p. 349.

[457] Phil. Trans. 1829, part i. p. 29.

[458] Phil. Trans. 1724.

[459] Bull. de la Soc. Gaol de France,--Rasuma, p. 72, 1832.

[460] Clarke's Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, vol. iii. pp.

340 and 363, 4th edition.

[461] Nouvelle Chronique de la Ville de Bayonne, pp. 113, 139:

1827.

[462] Stevenson on bed of German Ocean, Ed. Phil. Journ. No. v.

p. 44: 1820.

[463] Stevenson, ibid. p. 47: 1820.

[464] Robt. A. C. Austen, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. p.

76.

[465] Experiments to determine the Figure of the Earth, &c. p.

445.

[466] Lochead on Nat. Hist. of Guiana, Edin. Trans. vol. iv.

[467] On the authority of Mr. Faraday.

[468] On the authority of Mr. R. Phillips.

[469] See Von Buch's Description of Canary Islands (Paris, ed.

1836) for a valuable sketch of the principal volcanoes of the

globe.

[470] Darwin, Geol. Trans. 2d series, vol. v. p. 612.

[471] Ibid. p. 606.

[472] Bull. de la Soc. Gaol. tom. vi. p. 55.

[473] Bull. de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. vi. p. 56.

[474] Caldeleugh, Phil. Trans. 1836, p. 27.

[475] Comptes Rendus, 1849, vol. xxix. p. 531.

[476] See map of volcanic lines in Von Buch's work on the

Canaries.

[477] Von Buch, ibid. p. 409.

[478] Darwin, Structure and Distrib. of Coral reefs, &c., London,

1842. In the subjoined map, fig. 39, I have copied with

permission a small part of the valuable map accompanying this

work.

[479] Von Buch, Descrip. des Iles Canar. p. 450, who cites Erman

and others.

[480] Paper read at meeting of Brit. Assoc. Southampton, Sept.

1846.

[481] Macclelland, Report on Coal and Min. Resources of India.

Calcutta, 1838.

[482] Geology of the American Exploring Expedition. See also

Lyell's Manual, "Sandwich I. Volcanoes"--Index.

[483] Strabo, ed Fal., p. 900.

[484] Researches in Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 39.

[485] Virlet, Bulletin de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. iii. p.

109.

[486] Daubeny on Mount Vultur, Ashmolean Memoirs. Oxford, 1835.

[487] Book v. ch. xlvi.--See letter of M. Virlet, Bulletin de la

Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. ii. p. 341.

[488] See ch. 32, _Cause of Volcanic Eruptions_.

[489] Verneur, Journal des Voyages, tom. iv. p. 111. Von Hoff,

vol. ii. p. 275.

[490] Lib. v.

[491] Nat. Hist. lib. iii. c. 6.

[492] See Poulett Scrope, Geol. Trans. 2d series, vol. ii. pl.

34.

[493] De Rerum Nat. vi. 740.--Forbes, on Bay of Naples, Edin.

Journ. of Sci. No iii. new series, p. 87. Jan. 1830.

[494] Humboldt, Voy. p. 317.

[495] Von Buch, Ueber einen vulcanischen Ausbruch auf der Insel

Lanzerote.

[496] Haustae aut obrutae urbes.--Hist. lib. i.

[497] Hist. Rom. lib. lxvi.

[498] The earliest authority, says Mr. Forbes, given for this

fact, appears to be Capaccio, quoted in the Terra Tremante of

Bonito.--Edin. Journ. of Sci. &c. No. i. new series, p. 127.

July, 1829.

[499] Geol. Trans. second series, vol. ii. p. 346.

[500] Lib. vi. de Bello Neap. in Graevii Thesaur.

[501] Prodig. libel. c. cxiv.

[502] This representation of the Phlegraean Fields is reduced

from part of Plate xxxi. of Sir William Hamilton's great work

"Campi Phlegraei." The faithfulness of his colored delineations

of the scenery of that country cannot be too highly praised.

[503] Campi Phlegraei, p. 70.

[504] Campi Phlegraei, p. 77.

[505] P. 347. Paris, 1836.

[506] "Magnus terrae tractus, qui inter radices montis, quem

Barbarum incolae appellant, et mare juxta Avernum jacet, sese

erigere videbatur, et montis subito nascentis figuram imitari.

Eo ipso die hora noctis II., iste terrae cumulus, aperto veluti

ore, magno cum fremitu, magnos ignes evomuit; pumicesque, et

lapides, cineresque."--Porzio, Opera Omnis, Medica, Phil., et

Mathemat., in unum collecta, 1736, cited by Dufranoy, Mam.

pour servir a une Description Gaologique de la France, tom.

iv. p. 274.

[507] See Neues Jahr Buch for 1846, and a translation in the

Quarterly Journ. of the Geol. Soc. for 1847, vol iii. p. 20,

Memoirs.

[508] Mem. Roy. Acad. Nap. 1849.

[509] "Verum quod omnem superat admirationem, mons circum eam

voraginem ex pummicibus et cincere plusquam mille passuum

altitudine una nocte congestus aspicitur."

[510] Mam. de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. ii. p. 91.

[511] Dufranoy, Mem. pour servir, &c. p. 277.

[512] Darwin's Volcanic Islands, 106, note.

[513] Geology of the American Exploring Expedition, in

1838-1842, p. 354.

[514] Ibid. p. 328.

[515] See chap. 29.

[516] Hamilton (writing in 1770) says, "the new mountain

produces as yet but a very slender vegetation."--Campi

Phlegraei, p. 69. This remark was no longer applicable when I

saw it, in 1828.

[517] Hamilton's Campi Phlegraei, folio, vol. i. p. 62; and

Brieslak, Campanie, tome i. p. 186.

[518] Account of the Eruption of Vesuvius in October, 1822, by

G. P. Scrope, Esq., Journ. of Sci. &c. vol. xv. p. 175.

[519] Mr. Forbes, Account of Mount Vesuvius, Edin. Journ. of

Sci. No. xviii. p. 195. Oct. 1828.

[520] Ibid. p. 194.

[521] Monticelli and Covelli, Storia di Fenon. del Vesuv. en

1821-23.

[522] Campi Phlegraei.

[523] Otter's Life of Dr. Clarke.

[524] Phil. Trans. 1846, p. 154.

[525] Ibid. p. 148.

[526] Ibid. p. 241.

[527] Bulletin de la Soc. Gaol. de France, tom. vii. p. 43;

and Illustrations of Vesuvius and Etna, p. 3.

[528] Geognost. Beobachtungen, &c., p. 182. Berlin, 1839.

[529] Von Buch, Descrip. Phys. des Iles Canaries, p. 342.

Paris, 1836.

[530] Vues Illust. de Phanom. Gaol. Observ. sur le Vasuve et

l'Etna. Berlin, 1837.

[531] Ibid. p. 2.

[532] 2d edit. 1848, p. 216.

[533] So called from travellers leaving their horses and mules

there when they prepare to ascend the cone on foot.

[534] Dufranoy, Mam. pour servir a une Descrip. Geol. de la

France, tom. iv. p. 294.

[535] Descrip. Phys. des Iles Canaries, p. 344.

[536] See Daubeny's Volcanoes, p. 400.

[537] Geol. of American Explor. Exped. p. 359, note. Mr. Dana

informed me (Sept. 1852), that an angle of 60 degrees instead of

30 degrees, was given by mistake in his work.

[538] Ibid. p. 354.

[539] Geol. Trans. 2d series, vol. ii. p. 341.

[540] See a paper by the Author on "Craters of Denudation,"

Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1850.

[541] Dufranoy, Mam. pour servir, &c. tom. iv. p. 285.

[542] Journal of Science, vol. xv. p. 177.

[543] Voy. dans la Campanie, tome i. p. 201.

[544] Mr. Forbes, Edin. Journ. of Sci. No. xviii. Oct. 1828.

[545] Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 169.

[546] Scrope, Geol. Trans. second series, vol. ii. p. 346.

[547] Monticelli and Covelli, Prodrom. della Mineral. Vesuv.

[548] The great eruption, in 1822, caused a covering only a

few inches thick on Pompeii. Several feet are mentioned by

Prof. J. D. Forbes.--Ed. Journ. of Science, No. xix. p. 181,

Jan. 1829. But he must have measured in spots where it had

drifted. The dust and ashes were five feet thick at the top of

the crater, and decreased gradually to ten inches at Torre del

Annunziata. The size and weight of the ejected fragments

diminished very regularly in the same continuous stratum, as

the distance from the centre of projection was greater.

[549] Forbes, Ed. Journ. of Sci. No. xix. p. 130, Jan. 1829.

[550] Scrope, Geol. Trans. second series, vol. ii. p. 346.

[551] Napoli, 1816.

[552] Not a few of the organic bodies, called by Ehrenberg

"infusoria," such as Galionella and Bacillaria, have been

recently claimed by many botanists as belonging to the

vegetable kingdom, and are referred to the classes called

Diatomaceae and Desmidiae.

[553] See Ehrenberg, Proceedings (Berichte) of the Royal Acad.

of Sci. Berlin, 1844, 1845, and an excellent abstract of his

papers by Mr. Ansted in the Quart. Journ. of the Geol. Soc.

London, No. 7, Aug. 1846. In regard to marine infusoria found

in volcanic tuff; it is well known that on the shores of the

island of Cephalonia in the Mediterranean (Proceedings, Geol.

Soc. vol. ii. p. 220), there is a cavity in the rock, into

which the sea has been flowing for ages, and many others

doubtless exist in the leaky bottom of the ocean. The marine

current has been rushing in for many years, and as the

infusoria inhabiting the waters of the Mediterranean are

exceedingly abundant, a vast store of their cases may

accumulate in submarine caverns (the water, perhaps, being

converted into steam, and so escaping upwards), and they may

then be cast up again to furnish the materials of volcanic

tuff, should an eruption occur like that which produced Graham

Island, off the coast of Sicily, in 1831.

[554] Hamilton, Observ. on Mount Vesuvius, p. 94. London,

1774.

[555] Swinburne and Lalande. Paderni, Phil. Trans. 1758, vol.

i. p. 619.

[556] Prof. J. D. Forbes, Edin. Journ. of Sci. No. xix. p.

130, Jan. 1829.

[557] In one of the manuscripts which was in the hands of the

interpreters when I visited the museum in 1828, the author

indulges in the speculation that all the Homeric personages

were allegorical--that Agamemnon was the ether, Achilles the

sun, Helen the earth, Paris the air, Hector the moon, &c.

[558] Sir H. Davy, Consolations in Travel, p. 66.

[559] Forsyth's Italy, vol. ii.

[560] In 1815, Captain Smyth ascertained, trigonometrically,

that the height of Etna was 10,874 feet. The Catanians,

disappointed that their mountain had lost nearly 2000 feet of

the height assigned to it by Recupero, refused to acquiesce in

the decision. Afterwards, in 1824, Sir J. Herschel, not being

aware of Captain Smyth's conclusions, determined by careful

barometrical measurement that the height was 10,872-1/2 feet.

This singular agreement of results so differently obtained was

spoken of by Herschel as "a happy accident;" but Dr. Wollaston

remarked that "it was one of those accidents which would not

have happened to two fools."

[561] Book iii. at the end.

[562] The hill which I have here introduced was called by my

guide Vampolara, but the name given in the text is the nearest

to this which I find in Gemmellaro's Catalogue of Minor Cones.

[563] Mam. pour servir, &c. tom. iv. p. 116.

[564] See Prof. J. D. Forbes, Phil. Trans. 1846, p. 155, on

Velocity of Lava.

[565] Ferrara, Descriz. dell' Etna, p. 108.

[566] Ferrara, Descriz. dell' Etna. Palermo, 1818.

[567] This view is taken from a sketch made by Mr. James

Bridges, corrected after comparison with several sketches of

my own.

[568] Scrope on Volcanoes, p. 153.

[569] This drawing is part of a panoramic sketch which I made

from the summit of the cone, December 1, 1828, when every part

of Etna was free from clouds except the Val del Bove. The

small cone, and the crater nearest the foreground, were among

those formed during the eruptions of 1810 and 1811.

[570] Scrope on Volcanoes, p. 102.

[571] Ferara, Descriz. dell' Etna, p. 116.

[572] Mr. Nasmyth, the inventor of the steam-hammer, has

lately illustrated, by a very striking experiment, the

non-conductibility of a thin layer of dry sand and clay. Into

a caldron of iron one-fourth of an inch thick, lined with sand

and clay five-eighths of an inch thick, he poured eight tons

of melted iron at a white heat. After the fused metal had been

twenty minutes in the caldron the palm of the hand could be

applied to the outside without inconvenience, and after forty

minutes there was not heat enough to singe writing-paper. This

fact may help us to explain how strata in contact with dikes,

or beds of fused matter, have sometimes escaped without

perceptible alteration by heat.

[573] Journ. of Roy. Geograph. Soc. vol. i. p. 64.

[574] Hoffman, Geognost. Beobachtungen, p. 701. Berlin, 1839.

[575] Mam. pour servir, &c., tom. iv. Paris, 1838.

[576] Geognost. Beobachtungen, &c. Berlin, 1839.

[577] De Beaumont, Mam. pour servir, &c. tom. iv. pp. 187,

188.

[578] Mam. pour servir, tom. iv. p. 149.

[579] P. 62, _supra_.

[580] See p. 366.

[581] On the Longevity of Trees, Bibliot. Univ., May, 1831.

[582] Sedgwick, Anniv. Address to Geol. Soc. p. 35. Feb. 1831.

[583] Von Hoff, vol. ii. p. 393.

[584] The first narrative of the eruption was drawn up by

Stephenson, then Chief Justice in Iceland, appointed

Commissioner by the King of Denmark for estimating the damage

done to the country, that relief might be afforded to the

sufferers. Henderson was enabled to correct some of the

measurements given by Stephenson, of the depth, width, and

length of the lava currents, by reference to the MS. of Mr.

Paulson, who visited the tract in 1794, and examined the lava

with attention. (Journal of a Residence in Iceland, &c. p.

229.) Some of the principal facts are also corroborated by Sir

William Hooker, in his "Tour in Iceland," vol. ii. p. 128.

[585] Henderson's Journal, &c. p. 228.

[586] Jameson's Phil. Journ. vol. xxvi. p. 291.

[587] Tableau des Terrains qui composent l'Ecorce du Globe, p.

52. Paris, 1829.

[588] Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 337.

[589] See Scrope on Volcanoes, p. 267.

[590] Leonhard and Bronn's Neues Jahrbuch, 1835, p. 36.

[591] Van der Boon Mesch, de Incendiis Montium Javae, &c. Lugd.

Bat. 1826; and Official Report of the President, Baron Van der

Capellen; also, Von Buch, Iles Canar. p. 424.

[592] Journ. de Gaol. tome i.