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diff --git a/39723-0.txt b/39723-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dc4971 --- /dev/null +++ b/39723-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18203 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The World Before the Deluge, by Louis Figuier + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World Before the Deluge + +Author: Louis Figuier + +Editor: H. W. Bristow + +Release Date: May 18, 2012 [EBook #39723] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Harry Lamé and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: | + | | + | * Transcription used: | + | - italic texts in the original work are represented here between| + | underscores, as in _text_; | + | - boldface texts in the original work are represented here | + | between equal signs, as in =text=; | + | - text printed in small capitals in the original work are | + | transcribed in ALL CAPITALS. | + | | + | * Footnotes have been moved to directly under the paragraph they | + | belong to. | + | | + | * Where a line of text was missing from the original work, this is| + | indicated by [...]. | + | | + | More Transcriber's Notes may be found at the end of this text. | + | | + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +[Illustration: THE FIRST MAN.] + + + + + THE + WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE. + + BY + _LOUIS FIGUIER_. + + + NEWLY EDITED AND REVISED + BY + H. W. BRISTOW, F.R.S., F.G.S., + + _Of the Geological Survey of Great Britain; Hon. Fellow of King’s + College, London._ + + + With 235 Illustrations. + + + CASSELL, PETTER, & GALPIN, + LONDON, PARIS, AND NEW YORK. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 1 + CONSIDERATION OF FOSSILS 4 + CHEMICAL AND NEBULAR HYPOTHESES OF THE GLOBE 15 + MODIFICATIONS OF THE EARTH’S SURFACE 26 + ERUPTIVE ROCKS 30 + PLUTONIC ERUPTIONS 31 + Granite 31 + Syenite 34 + Protogine 35 + Porphyry 37 + Serpentine 38 + VOLCANIC ROCKS 39 + Trachytic Formations 39 + Basaltic Formations 44 + Volcanic or Lava Formations 51 + METAMORPHIC ROCKS 71 + General Metamorphism 74 + THE BEGINNING 80 + PRIMARY EPOCH 99 + CAMBRIAN PERIOD 101 + SILURIAN PERIOD 102 + Lower Silurian Period 104 + Upper Silurian Period 110 + OLD RED SANDSTONE AND DEVONIAN PERIOD 119 + CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 130 + Carboniferous Limestone 140 + Coal Measures 150 + Formation of Coal 159 + PERMIAN PERIOD 170 + Permian Rocks 177 + SECONDARY EPOCH 185 + TRIASSIC, OR NEW RED PERIOD 185 + New Red Sandstone 187 + Muschelkalk 188 + Keuper Period 199 + RHÆTIC (PENARTH) PERIOD 207 + JURASSIC PERIOD 211 + Liassic Period 211 + Oolitic Sub-Period 243 + Lower Oolite Fauna 244 + ---- ---- Rocks 249 + Middle Oolite 255 + Upper Oolite 265 + CRETACEOUS PERIOD 275 + Lower Cretaceous Period 286 + Upper Cretaceous Period 300 + TERTIARY EPOCH 312 + Eocene Period 315 + Miocene Period 336 + Pliocene Period 357 + QUATERNARY EPOCH 378 + POST-PLIOCENE 378 + EUROPEAN DELUGES 422 + GLACIAL PERIOD 435 + CREATION OF MAN 464 + ASIATIC DELUGE 480 + EPILOGUE 489 + TABLE AND DIAGRAM OF BRITISH SEDIMENTARY AND FOSSILIFEROUS + STRATA 493 + + + + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + FRONTISPIECE--THE FIRST MAN. + PAGE + I. De Sancy Peak, Mont Dore 42 + II. Basaltic Mountain of La Coupe d’Ayzac 46 + III. Extinct Volcanoes of Le Puy 52 + IV. Mud Volcano of Turbaco 62 + V. Great Geyser of Iceland 66 + VI. The Earth in a gaseous state circulating in space 82 + VII. Condensation and rainfall 94 + VIII. Ideal Landscape of the Silurian Period 104 + IX. Ideal Landscape of the Devonian Period 121 + X. Ideal view of marine life in the Carboniferous + Period 147 + XI. Ideal view of a marshy forest in the Coal Period 156 + XII. Ideal Landscape of the Permian Period 172 + XIII. Ideal Landscape of the Muschelkalk Period 191 + XIV. Ideal Landscape of the Saliferous or Keuper Period 198 + XV. Ideal Scene of the Lias Period with Ichthyosaurus + and Plesiosaurus 231 + XVI. Ideal Landscape of the Liassic Period 241 + XVII. Ideal Landscape of the Lower Oolite Period 254 + XVIII. Ideal Landscape of the Middle Oolite Period 258 + XIX. Apiocrinites rotundus and Encrinus liliiformis 261 + XX. Ideal Landscape of the Upper Oolite Period 267 + XXI. Ideal Scene of the Lower Cretaceous Period 296 + XXII. Ideal Landscape of the Cretaceous Period 307 + XXIII. Ideal Landscape of the Eocene Period 328 + XXIV. Ideal Landscape of the Miocene Period 352 + XXV. Ideal Landscape of the Pliocene Period 375 + XXVI. Skeleton of the Mammoth in the St. Petersburg + Museum 394 + XXVII. Skeleton of Megatherium 403 + XXVIII. Ideal View of the Quaternary Epoch--Europe 416 + XXIX. Ideal Landscape of the Quaternary Epoch--America 419 + XXX. Deluge of the North of Europe 425 + XXXI. Glaciers of Switzerland 445 + XXXII. Appearance of Man 468 + XXXIII. Asiatic Deluge 483 + DIAGRAM AT END--Ideal Section of the Earth’s Crust, showing the + order of superposition or chronological succession of + the principal groups of strata. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The object of “The World before the Deluge” is to trace the progressive +steps by which the earth has reached its present state, from that +condition of chaos when it “was without form and void, and darkness was +upon the face of the deep,” and to describe the various convulsions and +transformations through which it has successively passed. In the words +of the poet-- + + “Where rolls the deep, there grew the tree; + O Earth, what changes hast thou seen! + There, where the long street roars, hath been + The silence of the central sea.” + +It has been thought desirable that the present edition of the work +should undergo a thorough revision by a practical geologist, a task +which Mr. H. W. Bristow has performed. Mr. Bristow has however confined +himself to such alterations as were necessary to secure accuracy in the +statement of facts, and such additions as were necessary to represent +more precisely the existing state of scientific opinion. Many points +which are more or less inferential and therefore matters of individual +opinion, and especially those on which M. Figuier bases his +speculations, have been left in their original form, in preference to +making modifications which would wholly change the character of the +book. In a work whose purpose is to give the general reader a summarised +account of the results at which science has arrived, and of the method +of reasoning regarding the facts on which these generalisations rest, it +would be out of place, as well as ineffective, to obscure general +statements with those limitations which caution imposes on the +scientific investigator. + +In the original work the Author had naturally enough drawn most of his +facts from French localities; in the translation these are mostly +preserved, but others drawn from British Geology have been added, either +from the translator’s own knowledge, or from the works of well-known +British writers. It was considered desirable, for similar reasons, to +enlarge upon the opinions of British geologists, to whom the French work +scarcely does justice, considering the extent to which the science is +indebted to them for its elucidation. + +In the original work the chapter on Eruptive Rocks comes at the end of +the work, but, as the work proceeded, so many unexplained allusions to +that chapter were found that it seemed more logical, and more in +accordance with chronological order, if the expression may be used, to +place that chapter at the beginning. + +A new edition of the French work having appeared in the early part of +1866, to which the Author contributed a chapter on Metamorphic Rocks, a +translation of it is appended to the chapter on Eruptive Rocks. + +A chapter on the Rhætic (or Penarth) beds has been inserted (amongst +much other original matter), the stratigraphical importance of that +series having been recognised since the publication of the First +Edition. + +In the present Edition the text has been again thoroughly revised by Mr. +Bristow, and many important additions made, the result of the recent +investigations of himself and his colleagues of the Geological Survey. + + + + + THE + WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE. + + + + +GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. + + +The observer who glances over a rich and fertile plain, watered by +rivers and streams which have, during a long series of ages, pursued the +same uniform and tranquil course; the traveller who contemplates the +walls and monuments of a great city, the first founding of which is lost +in the night of ages, testifying, apparently, to the unchangeableness of +things and places; the naturalist who examines a mountain or other +locality, and finds the hills and valleys and other accidents of the +soil in the very spot and condition in which they are described by +history and tradition--none of these observers would at first suspect +that any serious change had ever occurred to disturb the surface of the +globe. Nevertheless, the earth has not always presented the calm aspect +of stability which it now exhibits; it has had its convulsions, and its +physical revolutions, whose story we are about to trace. The earth, like +the body of an animal, is wasted, as the philosophical Hutton tells us, +at the same time that it is repaired. It has a state of growth and +augmentation; it has another state, which is that of diminution and +decay: it is destroyed in one part to be renewed in another; and the +operations by which the renewal is accomplished are as evident to the +scientific eye as those by which it is destroyed. A thousand causes, +aqueous, igneous, and atmospheric, are continually at work modifying the +external form of the earth, wearing down the older portions of its +surface, and reconstructing newer out of the older; so that in many +parts of the world denudation has taken place to the extent of many +thousand feet. Buried in the depths of the soil, for example, in one of +those vast excavations which the intrepidity of the miner has dug in +search of coal or other minerals, there are numerous phenomena which +strike the mind of the inquirer, and carry their own conclusions with +them. A striking increase of temperature in these subterranean places +is one of the most remarkable of these. It is found that the temperature +of the earth rises one degree for every sixty or seventy feet of descent +from its surface. Again: if the mine be examined vertically, it is found +to consist of a series of layers or beds, sometimes horizontal, but more +frequently inclined, upright, or contorted and undulating--even folded +back upon themselves. Then, instances are numerous where horizontal and +parallel beds have been penetrated, and traversed vertically or +obliquely by veins of ores or minerals totally different in their +appearance and nature from the surrounding rocks. All these undulations +and varying inclinations of strata are indications that some powerful +cause, some violent mechanical action, has intervened to produce them. +Finally, if the interior of the beds be examined more minutely--if, +armed with the miner’s pick and hammer, the rock is carefully broken +up--it is not impossible that the very first efforts at mining may be +rewarded by the discovery of some fossilised organic form no longer +found in the living state. The remains of plants and animals belonging +to the earlier ages of the world, are, in fact, very common; entire +strata are sometimes formed of them; and in some localities the rocks +can scarcely be disturbed without yielding fragments of bones and +shells, or the impressions of fossilised animals and vegetables--the +buried remains of extinct creations. + +These bones--these remains of animals or vegetables which the hammer of +the geologist has torn from the rock--belong possibly to some organism +which no longer any where exists: it may not be identical with any +animal or plant living in our times: but it is evident that these +beings, whose remains are now so deeply buried, have not always been so +covered; they once lived on the surface of the earth as plants and +animals do in our days, for their organisation is essentially the same. +The beds in which they now repose must, then, in older times have formed +the surface of the earth; and the presence of these fossils proves that +the earth has suffered great mutations at some former period of its +history. + +Geology explains to us the various transformations which the earth has +passed through before it arrived at its present condition. We can +determine, with its help, the comparative epoch to which any beds +belong, as well as the order in which others have been superimposed upon +them. Considering that the stratigraphical crust of the earth with which +the geologist has to deal may be some ten miles thick, and that it has +been deposited in distinct layers in a definite order of succession, the +dates or epochs of each formation may well be approached with hesitation +and caution. + +Dr. Hutton, the earliest of our philosophical geologists, eloquently +observes, in his “Theory of the Earth,” that the solid earth is +everywhere wasted at the surface. The summits of the mountains are +necessarily degraded. The solid and weighty materials of these mountains +have everywhere been carried through the valleys by the force of running +water. The soil which is produced in the destruction of the solid earth +is gradually transported by the moving waters, and is as constantly +supplying vegetation with its necessary aid. This drifted soil is at +last deposited upon some coast, where it forms a fertile country. But +the billows of the ocean again agitate the loose material upon the +shore, wearing away the coast with endless repetitions of this act of +power and imparted force; the solid portion of our earth, thus sapped to +its foundations, is carried away into the deep and sunk again at the +bottom of the sea whence it had originated, and from which sooner or +later it will again make its appearance. We are thus led to see a +circulation of destruction and renewal in the matter of which the globe +is formed, and a system of beautiful economy in the works of Nature. +Again, discriminating between the ordinary and scientific observer, the +same writer remarks, that it is not given to common observation to see +the operation of physical causes. The shepherd thinks the mountain on +which he feeds his flock has always been there. The inhabitant of the +valley cultivates the soil as his fathers did before him, and thinks the +soil coeval with the valley or the mountain. But the scientific observer +looks into the chain of physical events, sees the great changes that +have been made, and foresees others that must follow from the continued +operation of like natural causes. For, as Pythagoras taught 2,350 years +ago, “the minerals and the rocks, the islands and the continents, the +rivers and the seas, and all organic Nature, are perpetually changing; +there is nothing stationary on earth.” To note these changes--to +decipher the records of this system of waste and reconstruction, to +trace the physical history of the earth--is the province of GEOLOGY, +which, the latest of all modern sciences, is that which has been +modified most profoundly and most rapidly. In short, resting as it does +on observation, it has been modified and transformed according to every +series of facts recorded; but while many of the facts of geology admit +of easy and obvious demonstration, it is far otherwise with the +inferences which have been based upon them, which are mostly +hypothetical, and in many instances from their very nature incapable of +proof. Its applications are numerous and varied, projecting new and +useful lights upon many other sciences. Here we ask of it the teachings +which serve to explain the origin of the globe--the evidence it +furnishes of the progressive formation of the different rocks and +mineral masses of which the earth is composed--the description and +restoration of the several species of animals and vegetables which have +existed, have died and become extinct, and which form, in the language +of naturalists, the _Fauna_ and _Flora_ of the ancient world. + + * * * * * + +In order to explain the origin of the earth, and the cause of its +various revolutions, modern geologists invoke three orders of facts, or +fundamental considerations: + + I. The hypothesis of the original incandescence of the globe. + + II. The consideration of fossils. + + III. The successive deposition of the sedimentary rocks. + +As a corollary to these, the hypothesis of the upheaval of the earth’s +crust follows--upheavals having produced local revolutions. The result +of these upheavals has been to superimpose new materials upon the older +rocks, introducing extraneous rocks called _Eruptive_, beneath, upon, +and amongst preceding deposits, in such a manner as to change their +nature in divers ways. Whence is derived a third class of rocks called +_Metamorphic_ or altered _rocks_, our knowledge of which is of +comparatively recent date. + + +FOSSILS. + +The name of _Fossil_ (from _fossilis_, dug up) is given to all organised +bodies, animal or vegetable, buried naturally in the terrestrial strata, +and more or less petrified, that is, converted into stone. Fossils of +the older formations are remains of organisms which, so far as species +is concerned, are quite extinct; and only those of recent formations +belong to genera living in our days. These fossil remains have neither +the beauty nor the elegance of most living species, being mutilated, +discoloured, and often almost shapeless; they are, therefore, +interesting only in the eyes of the observer who would interrogate them, +and who seeks to reconstruct, with their assistance, the Fauna and Flora +of past ages. Nevertheless, the light they throw upon the past history +of the earth is of the most satisfactory description, and the science of +fossils, or palæontology, is now an important branch of geological +inquiry. Fossil shells, in the more recent deposits, are found scarcely +altered; in some cases only an impression of the external form is +left--sometimes an entire cast of the shell, exterior and interior. In +other cases the shell has left a perfect impression of its form in the +surrounding mud, and has then been dissolved and washed away, leaving +only its mould. This mould, again, has sometimes been filled up by +calcareous spar, silica, or pyrites, and an exact cast of the original +shell has thus been obtained. Petrified wood is also of very common +occurrence. + +These remains of an earlier creation had long been known to the curious, +and classed as _freaks of Nature_, for so we find them described in the +works of the ancient philosophers who wrote on natural history, and in +the few treatises on the subject which the Middle Ages have bequeathed +to us. Fossil bones, especially those of elephants, were known to the +ancients, giving rise to all sorts of legends and fabulous histories: +the tradition which attributed to Achilles, to Ajax, and to other heroes +of the Trojan war, a height of twenty feet, is attributable, no doubt, +to the discovery of the bones of elephants near their tombs. In the time +of Pericles we are assured that in the tomb of Ajax a _patella_, or +knee-bone of that hero, was found, which was as large as a dinner-plate. +This was probably only the patella of a fossil elephant. + +The uses to which fossils are applied by the geologist are--First, to +ascertain the relative age of the formations in which they occur; +secondly, the conditions under which these were deposited. The age of +the formation is determined by a comparison of the fossils it contains +with others of ascertained date; the conditions under which the rocks +were deposited, whether marine, lacustrine, or terrestrial, are readily +inferred from the nature of the fossils. The great artist, Leonardo da +Vinci, was the first to comprehend the real meaning of fossils, and +Bernard Palissy had the glory of being the first modern writer to +proclaim the true character of the fossilised remains which are met +with, in such numbers, in certain formations, both in France and Italy, +particularly in those of Touraine, where they had come more especially +under his notice. In his work on “Waters and Fountains,” published in +1580, he maintains that the _figured stones_, as fossils were then +called, were the remains of organised beings preserved at the bottom of +the sea. But the existence of marine shells upon the summits of +mountains had already arrested the attention of ancient authors. Witness +Ovid, who in Book XV. of the “Metamorphoses” tells us he had seen land +formed at the expense of the sea, and marine shells lying dead far from +the ocean; and more than that, an ancient anchor had been found on the +very summit of a mountain. + + “Vidi factas ex æquore terras, + Et procul a pelago conchæ jacuere marinæ, + Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis.” + +Ov., _Met._, Book xv. + +The Danish geologist Steno, who published his principal works in Italy +about the middle of the seventeenth century, had deeply studied the +fossil shells discovered in that country. The Italian painter Scilla +produced in 1670 a Latin treatise on the fossils of Calabria, in which +he established the organic nature of fossil shells. + +The eighteenth century gave birth to two very opposite theories as to +the origin of our globe--namely, the _Plutonian_ or igneous, and the +_Neptunian_ or aqueous theory. The Italian geologists gave a marked +impulse to the study of fossils, and the name of Vallisneri[1] may be +cited as the author to whom science is indebted for the earliest account +of the marine deposits of Italy, and of the most characteristic organic +remains which they contain. Lazzaro Moro[2] continued the studies of +Vallisneri, and the monk Gemerelli reduced to a complete system the +ideas of these two geologists, endeavouring to explain all the phenomena +as Vallisneri had wished, “without violence, without fiction, without +miracles.” Marselli and Donati both studied in a very scientific manner +the fossil shells of Italy, and in particular those of the Adriatic, +recognising the fact that they affected in their beds a regular and +constant order of superposition.[3] + + [1] Dei corpi marini, &c., 1721. + + [2] Sui crostaccei ed altri corpi marini che sè trovano sui monti, + 1740. + + [3] Consult Lyell’s “Principles of Geology” and the sixth edition of + the “Elements,” with much new matter, for further information + relative to the study of fossils during the last two centuries. + +In France the celebrated Buffon gave, by his eloquent writings, great +popularity to the notions of the Italian naturalists concerning the +origin of fossil remains. In his admirable “Époques de la Nature” he +sought to prove that the shells found in great quantities buried in the +soil, and even on the tops of mountains, belonged, in reality, to +species not living in our days. But this idea was too novel not to find +objectors: it counted among its adversaries the bold philosopher who +might have been expected to adopt it with most ardour. Voltaire +attacked, with his jesting and biting criticism, the doctrines of the +illustrious innovator. Buffon insisted, reasonably enough, that the +presence of shells on the summit of the Alps was a proof that the sea +had at one time occupied that position. But Voltaire asserted that the +shells found on the Alps and Apennines had been thrown there by pilgrims +returning from Rome. Buffon might have replied to his opponent, by +pointing out whole mountains formed by the accumulation of these shells. +He might have sent him to the Pyrenees, where shells of marine origin +cover immense areas to a height of 6,600 feet above the present +sea-level. But his genius was averse to controversy; and the philosopher +of Ferney himself put an end to a discussion in which, perhaps, he would +not have had the best of the argument. “I have no wish,” he wrote, “to +embroil myself with Monsieur Buffon about shells.” + +It was reserved for the genius of George Cuvier to draw from the study +of fossils the most wonderful results: it is the study of these remains, +in short, which, in conjunction with mineralogy, constitutes in these +days positive geology. “It is to fossils,” says the great Cuvier, “that +we owe the discovery of the true theory of the earth; without them we +should not have dreamed, perhaps, that the globe was formed at +successive epochs, and by a series of different operations. They alone, +in short, tell us with certainty that the globe has not always had the +same envelope; we cannot resist the conviction that they must have lived +on the surface of the earth before being buried in its depths. It is +only by analogy that we have extended to the primary formations the +direct conclusions which fossils furnish us with in respect to the +secondary formations; and if we had only unfossiliferous rocks to +examine, no one could maintain that the earth was not formed all at +once.”[4] + + [4] “Ossements Fossiles” (4to), vol. i., p. 29. + +The method adopted by Cuvier for the reconstruction and restoration of +the fossil animals found in the plaster-quarries of Montmartre, at the +gates of Paris, has served as a model for all succeeding naturalists; +let us listen, then, to his exposition of the vast problem whose +solution he proposed to himself. “In my work on fossil bones,” he says, +“I propose to ascertain to what animals the osseous fragments belong; it +is seeking to traverse a road on which we have as yet only ventured a +few steps. An antiquary of a new kind, it seemed to me necessary to +learn both to restore these monuments of past revolutions, and to +decipher their meaning. I had to gather and bring together in their +primitive order the fragments of which they are composed; to reconstruct +the ancient beings to which these fragments belonged; to reproduce them +in their proportions and with their characteristics; to compare them, +finally, with others now living on the surface of the globe: an art at +present little known, and which supposes a science scarcely touched upon +as yet, namely, that of the laws which preside over the co-existence of +the forms of the several parts in organised beings. I must, then, +prepare myself for these researches by others, still more extended, upon +existing animals. A general review of actual creation could alone give a +character of demonstration to my account of these ancient inhabitants +of the world; but it ought, at the same time, to give me a great +collection of laws, and of relations not less demonstrable, thus forming +a body of new laws to which the whole animal kingdom could not fail to +find itself subject.”[5] + + [5] “Ossements Fossiles” (4to), vol. i., pp. 1, 2. + +“When the sight of a few bones inspired me, more than twenty years ago, +with the idea of applying the general laws of comparative anatomy to the +reconstruction and determination of fossil species; when I began to +perceive that these species were not quite perfectly represented by +those of our days, which resembled them the most--I no longer doubted +that I trod upon a soil filled with spoils more extraordinary than any I +had yet seen, and that I was destined to bring to light entire races +unknown to the present world, and which had been buried for incalculable +ages at great depths in the earth. + +“I had not yet given any attention to the published notices of these +bones, by naturalists who made no pretension to the recognition of their +species. To M. Vaurin, however, I owe the first intimation of the +existence of these bones, with which the gypsum-quarries swarm. Some +specimens which he brought me one day struck me with astonishment; I +learned, with all the interest the discovery could inspire me with, that +this industrious and zealous collector had already furnished some of +them to other collectors. Received by these amateurs with politeness, I +found in their collections much to confirm my hopes and heighten my +curiosity. From that time I searched in all the quarries with great care +for other bones, offering such rewards to the workmen as might awaken +their attention. I soon got together more than had ever been previously +collected, and after a few years I had nothing to desire in the shape of +materials. But it was otherwise with their arrangement, and with the +reconstruction of the skeleton, which could alone lead to any just idea +of the species. + +“From the first moment of discovery I perceived that, in these remains, +the species were numerous. Soon afterwards I saw that they belonged to +many genera, and that the species of the different genera were nearly +the same size, so that size was likely rather to hinder than aid me. +Mine was the case of a man to whom had been given at random the +mutilated and imperfect remains of some hundreds of skeletons belonging +to twenty sorts of animals; it was necessary that each bone should find +itself alongside that to which it ought to be connected: it was almost +like a small resurrection, and I had not at my disposal the +all-powerful trumpet; but I had the immutable laws prescribed to living +beings as my guide; and at the voice of the anatomist each bone and each +part of a bone took its place. I have not expressions with which to +describe the pleasure I experienced in finding that, as soon as I +discovered the character of a bone, all the consequences of the +character, more or less foreseen, developed themselves in succession: +the feet were found conformable to what the teeth announced; the teeth +to that announced by the feet; the bones of the legs, of the thighs, all +those which ought to reunite these two extreme parts, were found to +agree as I expected; in a word, each species was reproduced, so to +speak, from only one of its elements.”[6] + + [6] “Ossements Fossiles,” vol. iv. (4to), p. 32. + +While the Baron Cuvier was thus zealously prosecuting his inquiries in +France, assisted by many eminent fellow-labourers, what was the state of +geological science in the British Islands? About that same time, Dr. +William Smith, better known as “the father of English geology,” was +preparing, unaided, the first geological map of this country. Dr. Smith +was a native of Wiltshire, and a canal engineer in Somersetshire; his +pursuits, therefore, brought him in the midst of these hieroglyphics of +Nature. It was his practice, when travelling professionally, during many +years to consult masons, miners, wagoners, and agriculturists. He +examined the soil; and in the course of his inquiries he came to the +conclusion that the earth was not all of the same age; that the rocks +were arranged in layers, or strata, superimposed on each other in a +certain definite order, and that the strata, when of the same age, could +be identified by means of their organic remains. In 1794 he formed the +plan of his geological map, showing the superposition of the various +beds; for a quarter of a century did he pursue his self-allotted task, +which was at last completed, and in 1801 was published, being the first +attempt to construct a stratigraphical map. + +Taking the men in the order of the objects of their investigation, +rather than in chronological order, brings before us the patient and +sagacious investigator to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of the +Silurian system. For many years a vast assemblage of broken and +contorted beds had been observed on the borders of North Wales, +stretching away to the east as far as Worcestershire, and to the south +into Gloucester, now rising into mountains, now sinking into valleys. +The ablest geologists considered them as a mere labyrinth of ruins, +whose order of succession and distinctive organic remains were entirely +unknown, “But a man came,” as M. Esquiros eloquently writes, “who threw +light upon this sublime confusion of elements.” Sir Roderick Impey +Murchison, then a young President of the Geological Society, had his +attention directed, as he himself informs us, to some of these beds on +the banks of the Wye. After seven years of unremitting labour, he was +rewarded by success. He established the fact that these sedimentary +rocks, penetrated here and there by eruptive masses of igneous origin, +formed a unique system, to which he gave the name of _Silurian_, because +the rocks which he considered the most typical of the whole were most +fully developed, charged with peculiar organic remains, in the land of +the ancient Silures, who so bravely opposed the Roman invaders of their +country. Many investigators have followed in Sir Roderick’s steps, but +few men have so nobly earned the honours and fame with which his name is +associated. + +The success which attended Sir R. Murchison’s investigations soon +attracted the attention of other geologists. Professor Sedgwick examined +the older slaty strata, and succeeded in proving the position of the +Cambrian rocks to be at the base of the Silurian. Still it was reserved +for Sir William Logan, the Director of the Canadian Geological Survey, +to establish the fact that immense masses of gneissic formation lay at +the base of the Cambrian; and, by subsequent investigations, Sir +Roderick Murchison satisfied himself that this formation was not +confined to Canada, but was identical with the rocks termed by him +Fundamental Gneiss, which exist in enormous masses on the west coast of +Scotland, and which he proved to be the oldest stratified rocks in the +British Isles. Subsequently he demonstrated the existence of these same +Laurentian rocks in Bohemia and Bavaria, far beneath the Silurian rocks +of Barrande. + +While Murchison and Sedgwick were prosecuting their inquiries into the +Silurian rocks, Hugh Miller and many others had their attention occupied +with the Old Red Sandstone--the Devonian of Sedgwick and +Murchison--which immediately overlies them. After a youth passed in +wandering among the woods and rocks of his native Cromarty, the day came +when Miller found himself twenty years of age, and, for the time, a +workman in a quarry. A hard fate he thought it at the time, but to him +it was the road to fame and success in life. The quarry in which he +laboured was at the bottom of a bay formed by the mouth of a river +opening to the south, a clear current of water on one side, as he +vividly described it, and a thick wood on the other. In this silent +spot, in the remote Highlands, a curious fossil fish of the Old Red +Sandstone was revealed to him; its appearance struck him with +astonishment; a fellow-workman named a spot where many such monuments of +a former world were scattered about; he visited the place, and became a +geologist and the historian of the “Old Red.” And what strange fantastic +forms did it afterwards fall to his lot to describe! “The figures on a +China vase or Egyptian obelisk,” he says, “differ less from the real +representation of the objects than the fossil fishes of the ‘Old Red’ +differ from the living forms which now swim in our seas.” + +The _Carboniferous Limestone_, which underlies the coal, the +_Coal-measures_ themselves, the _New Red Sandstone_, the _Lias_, and the +_Chalk_, have in their turn found their historians; but it would be +foreign to our object to dwell further here on these particular branches +of the subject. + +Some few of the fossilised beings referred to resemble species still +found living, but the greater part belong to species which have become +altogether extinct. These fossil remains may constitute natural +families, none of the genera of which have survived. Such is the +_Pterodactyle_ among Pterosaurian reptiles; the _Ammonite_ among +Mollusca; the _Ichthyosaurus_ and the _Plesiosaurus_ among the +Enaliosaurian reptiles. At other times there are only extinct genera, +belonging to families of which there are still some genera now living, +as the genus _Palæoniscus_ among fishes. Finally, in Tertiary deposits, +we meet with some extinct species belonging to genera of our existing +fauna: the _Mammoth_, for example, of the youngest Tertiary deposits, is +an extinct species of the genus elephant. + +Some fossils are terrestrial, like the gigantic Irish stag, _Cervus +Megaceros_, the snail or _Helix_; fluviatile or lacustrine, like the +_Planorbis_, the _Lymnæa_, the _Physa_, and the _Unio_; marine, or +inhabiting the sea exclusively, as the Cowry (_Cypræa_), and the Oyster, +(_Ostrea_). + +Fossils are sometimes preserved in their natural state, or are but very +slightly changed. Such is the state of some of the bones extracted from +the more recent caves; such, also, is the condition of the insects found +enclosed in the fossil resins in which they have been preserved from +decomposition; and certain shells, found in recent and even in old +formations, such as the Jurassic and Cretaceous strata--in some of which +the shells retain their colours, as well as their brilliant pearly +lustre or nacre. At Trouville, in Normandy, in the Kimeridge strata, +magnificent _Ammonites_ are found in the clay and marl, all brilliant +with the colours of mother-of-pearl. In the Cretaceous beds at +Machéroménil, some species of _Ancyloceras_ and _Hamites_ are found +still covered with a nacre, displaying brilliant reflections of blue, +green, and red, and retaining an admirable lustre. At Glos, near +Liseaux, in the Coral Rag, not only the _Ammonites_, but the _Trigoniæ_ +and _Aviculæ_ have preserved all their brilliant nacre. Sometimes these +remains are much changed, the organic matter having entirely +disappeared; it sometimes happens also, though rarely, that they become +petrified, that is to say, the external form is preserved, but the +original organic elements have wholly disappeared, and have been +replaced by foreign mineral substances--generally by silica or by +carbonate of lime. + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Labyrinthodon pachygnathus and footmarks.] + +Geology also enables us to draw very important conclusions from certain +fossil remains whose true nature was long misunderstood, and which, +under the name of _coprolites_, had given rise to much controversial +discussion. Coprolites are the petrified excrements of extinct fossil +animals. The study of these singular remains has thrown unexpected light +on the habits and physiological organisation of some of the great +antediluvian animals. Their examination has revealed the scales and +teeth of fishes, thus enabling us to determine the kind of food in which +the animals of the ancient world indulged: for example, the coprolites +of the great marine reptile which bears the name of _Ichthyosaurus_ +contain the bones of other animals, together with the remains of the +vertebræ, or of the phalanges (paddle-bones) of other Ichthyosauri; +showing that this animal habitually fed on the flesh of its own species, +as many fishes, especially the more voracious ones, do in our days. + +The imprints left upon mud or sand, which time has hardened and +transformed into sandstone, furnish to the geologist another series of +valuable indications. The reptiles of the ancient world, the turtles in +particular, have left upon the sands, which time has transformed into +blocks of stone, impressions which evidently represent the exact moulds +of the feet of those animals. These impressions have, sometimes, been +sufficient for naturalists to determine to what species the animal +belonged which thus left its impress on the wet ground. Some of these +exhibit tracks to which we shall have occasion to refer; others present +traces of the footprints of the great reptile known as the +_Labyrinthodon_ or _Cheirotherium_, whose footmarks slightly resemble +the impression made by the human hand (Fig. 1). Another well-known +impression, which has been left upon the sandstone of Corncockle Moor, +in Dumfriesshire, is supposed to be the impress of the foot of some +great fossil Turtle. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Impressions of rain-drops.] + +We may be permitted to offer a short remark on this subject. The +historian and antiquary may traverse the battle-fields of the Greeks and +Romans, and search in vain for traces of those conquerors, whose armies +ravaged the world. Time, which has overthrown the monuments of their +victories, has also effaced the marks of their footsteps; and of the +many millions of men whose invasions have spread desolation throughout +Europe, not even a trace of a footprint is left. Those reptiles, on the +other hand, which crawled thousands of ages ago on the surface of our +planet when it was still in its infancy, have impressed on the soil +indelible proofs of their existence. Hannibal and his legions, the +barbarians and their savage hordes, have passed over the land without +leaving a material mark of their passage; while the poor turtle, which +dragged itself along the silent shores of the primitive seas, has +bequeathed to learned posterity the image and impression of a part of +its body. These imprints may be perceived as distinctly on the rocks, as +the traces left on moist sand or in newly-fallen snow by some animal +walking under our own eyes. What grave reflections should be awakened +within us at the sight of these blocks of hardened earth, which thus +carry back our thoughts to the early ages of the world! and how +insignificant seem the discoveries of the archæologist who throws +himself into ecstacies before some piece of Greek or Etruscan pottery, +when compared with these veritable antiquities of the earth! + +The palæontologist (from παλαιος “ancient,” οντος “being,” λογος +“discourse”), who occupies himself with the study of animated beings +which have lived on the earth, takes careful account also of the sort of +moulds left by organised bodies in the fine sediment which has enveloped +them after death. Many organic beings have left no trace of their +existence in Nature, except their impressions, which we find perfectly +preserved in the sandstone and limestone, in marl or clay, and in the +coal-measures; and these moulds are sufficient to tell us the kind to +which the living animals belonged. We shall, no doubt, astonish our +readers when we tell them that there are blocks of sandstone with +distinct impressions of drops of rain which had fallen upon sea-shores +of the ancient world. The impressions of these rain-drops, made upon the +sands, were preserved by desiccation; and these same sands, being +transformed by subsequent hardening into solid and coherent sandstones, +their impressions have been thus preserved to the present day. Fig. 2 +represents impressions of this kind upon the sandstone of Connecticut +river in America, which have been reproduced from the block itself by +photography. In a depression of the granitic rocks of Massachusetts and +Connecticut, the red sandstone occupies an area of a hundred and fifty +miles in length from north to south, and from five to ten miles in +breadth. “On some shales of the finest texture,” says Sir Charles Lyell, +“impressions of rain-drops may be seen, and casts of them in the +argillaceous sandstones.” The same impressions occur in the recent red +mud of the Bay of Fundy. In addition to these, the undulations left by +the passage of the waters of the sea, over the sands of the primitive +world, are preserved by the same physical agency. Traces of undulations +of this kind have been found in the neighbourhood of Boulogne-sur-Mer, +and elsewhere. Similar phenomena occur in a still more striking manner +in some sandstone-quarries worked at Chalindrey (Haute-Marne). The +strata there present traces of the same kind over a large area, and +along with them impressions of the excrements of marine worms. One may +almost imagine oneself to be standing on the sea-shore while the tide is +ebbing. + + +CHEMICAL AND NEBULAR HYPOTHESES OF THE GLOBE. + +Among the innumerable hypotheses which human ingenuity has framed to +explain the phenomena which surround the globe, the two which have found +most ready acceptance have been termed respectively the CHEMICAL, and +the NEBULAR or mechanical hypothesis. By the first the solid crust is +supposed to have contained abundance of potassium, sodium, calcium, +magnesium, and other metallic elements. The percolating waters, coming +in contact with these substances, produce combinations resulting in the +conversion of the metals into their oxides--potash, soda, lime, and +magnesia--all of which enter largely into the composition of volcanic +rocks. The second hypothesis involves the idea of an original +incandescent mass of vapour, succeeded by a great and still existing +central fire. + +This idea of a great central fire is a very ancient hypothesis: admitted +by Descartes, developed by Leibnitz, and advocated by Buffon, it is +supposed to account for many phenomena otherwise inexplicable; and it is +confirmed by a crowd of facts, and adopted, or at least not opposed, by +the leading authorities of the age. Dr. Buckland makes it the basis of +his Bridgewater treatise. Herschel, Hind, Murchison, Lyell, Phillips, +and other leading English astronomers and geologists give a cautious +adhesion to the doctrine. The following are some of the principal +arguments adduced in support of the hypothesis, for, in the nature of +the proofs it admits of, it can be no more. + +When we descend into the interior of a mine, it is found that the +temperature rises in an appreciable manner, and that it increases with +the depth below the surface. + +The high temperature of the waters in Artesian wells when these are very +deep, testifies to a great heat of the interior of the earth. + +The thermal waters which issue from the earth--of which the temperature +sometimes rises to 100° Centigrade and upwards--as, for instance, the +Geysers of Iceland--furnish another proof in support of the hypothesis. + +Modern volcanoes are said to be a visible demonstration of the existence +of central heat. The heated gases, the liquid lava, the flames which +escape from their craters, all tend to prove sufficiently that the +interior of the globe has a temperature prodigiously elevated as +compared with that at its surface. + +The disengagement of gases and burning vapours through the accidental +fissures in the crust, which accompany earthquakes, still further tends +to establish the existence of a great heat in the interior of the globe. + +We have already said that the temperature of the globe increases about +one degree for every sixty or seventy feet of depth beneath its surface. +The correctness of this observation has been verified in a great number +of instances--indeed, to the greatest depth to which man has penetrated, +and been able to make use of the thermometer. Now, as we know exactly +the length of the radius of the terrestrial sphere, it has been +calculated from this progression of temperature, supposing it to be +regular and uniform, that the centre of the globe ought to have at the +present time a mean temperature of 195,000° Centigrade. No matter could +preserve its solid state at this excessive temperature; it follows, +then, that the centre of the globe, and all parts near the centre, must +be in a permanent state of fluidity. + +The works of Werner, of Hutton, of Leopold von Buch, of Humboldt, of +Cordier, W. Hopkins, Buckland, and some other English philosophers, have +reduced this hypothesis to a theory, on which has been based, to a +considerable extent, the whole science of modern geology; although, +properly speaking, and in the popular acceptation of the term, that +science only deals with the solid crust of the earth. + +The nebular theory thus embraces the whole solar system, and, by +analogy, the universe. It assumes that the SUN was originally a mass of +incandescent matter, that vast body being brought into a state of +evolution by the action of laws to which the Creator, in His divine +wisdom, has subjected all matter. In consequence of its immense +expansion and attenuation, the exterior zone of vapour, expanding beyond +the sphere of attraction, is supposed to have been thrown off by +centrifugal force. This zone of vapour, which may be supposed at one +time to have resembled the rings of Saturn, would in time break up into +several masses, and these masses coalescing into globes, would (by the +greater power of attraction which they would assume as consolidated +bodies) revolve round the sun, and, from mechanical considerations, +would also revolve with a rotary motion on their own axes. + +This doctrine is applied to all the planets, and assumes each to have +been in a state of incandescent vapour, with a central incandescent +nucleus. As the cooling went on, each of these bodies may be supposed to +have thrown off similar masses of vapour, which, by the operation of the +same laws, would assume the rotary state, and, as satellites, revolve +round the parent planet. Such, in brief, was the grand conception of +Laplace; and surely it detracts nothing from our notions of the +omnipotence of the Creator that it initiates the creation step by step, +and under the laws to which matter is subjected, rather than by the +direct fiat of the Almighty. The hypothesis assumes that as the vaporous +mass cooled by the radiation of heat into space, the particles of matter +would approximate and solidify. + +That the figure of the earth is such as a very large mass of matter in a +state of fluidity would assume from a state of rotation, seems to be +admitted, thus corroborating the speculations of Leibnitz, that the +earth is to be looked on as a heated fluid globe, cooled, and still +cooling at the surface, by radiation of its superfluous heat into space. +Mr. W. Hopkins[7] has put forth some strong but simple reasons in +support of a different theory; although he does not attempt to solve the +problem, but leaves the reader to form his own conclusions. As far as we +have been able to follow his reasoning we gather from it that:-- + + [7] See _Phil. Transactions_, 1839-40-42; also, _Quarterly Journal of + the Geological Society_, vol. viii., p. 56. + +If the earth were a fluid mass cooled by radiation, the cooled parts +would, by the laws of circulating fluids, descend towards the centre, +and be replaced on the surface by matter at a higher temperature. + +The consolidation of such a mass would, therefore, be accompanied by a +struggle for superiority between pressure and temperature, both of which +would be at their maximum at the centre of the mass. + +At the surface, it would be a question of rapidity of cooling, by +radiation, as compared with the internal condition--for comparing which +relations we are without data; but on the result of which depends +whether such a body would most rapidly solidify at the surface by +radiation, or at the centre by pressure. + +The effect of the first would be solidification at the surface, followed +by condensation at the centre through pressure. There would thus be two +masses, a spherical fluid nucleus, and a spherical shell or envelope, +with a large zone of semi-fluid, pasty matter between, continually +changing its temperature as its outer or inner surface became converted +to the solid state. + +If pressure, on the other hand, gained the victory, the centre would +solidify before the circulation of the heated matter had ceased; and the +solidifying process would proceed through a large portion of the globe, +and even approach the surface before that would become solid. In other +words, solidification would proceed from the centre until the +diminishing power of pressure was balanced by radiation, when the +gradual abstraction of heat would allow the particles to approximate and +become solid. + +The terrestrial sphere may thus be a solid indurated mass at the centre, +with a solid stony crust at the surface, and a shifting viscous, but +daily-decreasing, mass between the two; a supposition which the +diminished and diminishing frequency and magnitude of volcanic and other +eruptive convulsions seem to render not improbable. + +It is not to be supposed that amongst the various hypotheses of which +the cosmogony of the world has been the object, a literal acceptation of +the scriptural account finds no defenders among men of science. “Why,” +asks one of these writers,[8] after some scornful remarks upon the +geologists and their science--“why an omnipotent Creator should have +called into being a gaseous-granite nebulous world, only to have to cool +it down again, consisting as it does of an endless variety of +substances, should even have been supposed to be originally constituted +of the matter of granite alone, for nothing else was provided by the +theory, nobody can rationally explain. How the earth’s centre now could +be liquid fire with its surface solid and cold and its seas not boiling +caldrons, has never been attempted to be accounted for. How educated +gentlemen, engaged in scientific investigations, ever came to accept +such a monstrously stupid mass of absurdities as deductions of +‘science,’ and put them in comparison with the rational account of the +creation given by Moses, is more difficult to understand than even this +vague theory itself, which it is impossible to describe. + + [8] “Fresh Springs of Truth.” R. Griffin and Co. + +“Of the first creation of the chaotic world,” the same writer goes on to +say, “or the material elements, before they were shaped into their +present forms, we can scarce have the most vague conception. All our +experience relates to their existing conditions. But knowing somewhat of +the variety of the constituent elements and their distinct properties, +by which they manifest their existence to us, we cannot conceive of +their creation without presupposing a Divine wisdom, and--if I may say +so, with all reverence, and only to suit our human notions--a Divine +ingenuity,” and he follows for six days the operations as described by +Moses, with a running comment. When light is created, the conception of +the work becomes simpler to our minds. Its least manifestation would +suffice at once to dispel darkness, and yet how marvellous is the light! +In the second day’s work the firmament of heaven is opened; the expanse +of the air between the heavens and the earth, dividing the waters above +from the waters below, is the work recorded as performed. Not till the +third day commence the first geological operations. The waters of the +earth are gathered together into seas, and the dry land is made to +appear. It is now that we can imagine that the formation of the primary +strata commenced, while by some of the internal forces of matter the +earth was elevated and stood above the waters. + +Immediately the dry land is raised above and separated from the waters +the fiat goes forth, “Let the earth _bring forth_ grass, and herb and +tree;” vegetable life begins to exist, and the world is first decorated +with its beauteous flora, with all its exquisite variety of forms and +brilliancy of colouring, with which not even Solomon in all his glory +can compare. In like manner, on the sixth day the earth is commanded to +bring forth land-animals--the living creature “after his kind,” cattle +and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, “after his kind;” and last +of all, but on the same day, man is created, and made the chief and +monarch of God’s other living creatures--for that is “man’s place in +Nature.” “Let us now see,” he continues, “how this history came to be +discredited by the opposition of a falsely so-called ‘science’ of +geology, that, while spared by our theologians, has since pulled itself +to pieces. The first step in the false inductions geology made arose +from the rash deduction, that the order in which the fossil remains of +organic being were found deposited in the various strata necessarily +determined the order of their creation; and the next error arose from +blindly rushing to rash conclusions, and hasty generalisation from a +very limited number of facts, and the most imperfect investigations. +There were also (and, indeed, are still) some wild dogmatisms as to the +time necessary to produce certain geologic formations; but the +absurdities of science culminated when it adopted from Laplace the +irrational and unintelligible theory of a _natural_ origin for the world +from a nebula of gaseous granite, intensely hot, and supposed to be +gradually cooled while gyrating senselessly in space.” + +In this paper the writer does not attempt to deal with the various +phenomena of volcanoes, earthquakes, hot springs, and other matters +which are usually considered as proofs of great internal heat. Mr. Evan +Hopkins, C.E., F.G.S., is more precise if less eloquent. He shows that, +in tropical countries, plains of gravel may in a day be converted into +lagoons and marshes; that by the fall of an avalanche rivers have been +blocked up, which, bursting their banks, have covered many square miles +of fertile country with several feet of mud, sand, and gravel. “Two +thousand four hundred years ago,” he says, “Nineveh flourished in all +its grandeur, yet it is now buried in oblivion, and its site overwhelmed +with sand. Look at old Tyre, once the queen of cities and mistress of +the sea. She was in all her pride two thousand four hundred and forty +years ago. We now see but a bare rock in the sea, on which fishermen +spread their nets! A thousand years ago, according to Icelandic +histories, Greenland was a fertile land in the south, and supported a +large population. Iceland at that period was covered with forests of +birch and fir, and the inhabitants cultivated barley and other grain. We +may, therefore, conclude, with these facts before us, that there is no +necessity to assign myriads of ages to terrestrial changes, as assumed +by geologists, as they can be accounted for by means of alterations +effected during a few thousand years, for the surface of the earth is +ever changing. + +“Grant geological speculators,” Mr. Hopkins continues, “a few millions +of centuries, with a command over the agencies of Nature to be brought +into operation when and how they please, and they think they can form a +world with every variety of rock and vegetation, and even transform a +worm into a man! Yet the wisest of our philosophers would be puzzled if +called upon to explain why fluids become spheres, as dew-drops; why +carbonate of lime acquires in solidifying from a liquid the figure of an +obtuse rhomboihedron, silica of a six-sided prism; and why oxygen and +hydrogen gases produce both _fire_ and _water_. And what do they gain,” +he proceeds to ask, “by carrying back the history of the world to these +myriads of centuries? Do they, by the extension of the period to +infinity, explain how the ‘_Original_’ materials were created? But,” he +adds, “geologists are by no means agreed in their assumed geological +periods! The so-called glacial period has been computed by some to be +equal to about eighty-three thousand years, and by others at even as +much as twelve hundred and eighty millions of years! Were we to ask for +a _demonstrative proof_ of any given deposit being more than four or +five thousand years old, they could not give it. Where is Babylon, the +glory of the kingdoms? Look at Thebes, and behold its colossal columns, +statues, temples, obelisks, and palaces desolated; and yet those great +cities flourished within the last three thousand years. Even Pompeii and +Herculaneum were all but lost to history! What,” he asks after these +brief allusions to the past--“what, as a matter of fact, have geologists +discovered, as regards the great terrestrial changes, more than was +known to Pythagoras and the ancient philosophers who taught, two +thousand three hundred and fifty years ago, ‘that the surface of the +earth was ever changing--solid land converted into sea, sea changed into +dry land, marine shells lying far distant from the deep, valleys +excavated by running water, and floods washing down hills into the +sea?’” + +In reference to the argument of the vast antiquity of the earth, founded +on elevation of coasts at a given rate of upheaval, he adduces many +facts to show that upheavals of equal extent have occurred almost within +the memory of man. Two hundred and fifty years ago Sir Francis Drake, +with his fleet, sailed into Albemarle Sound through Roanoke Outlet, +which is now a sand-bank above the reach of the highest tides. Only +seventy years ago it was navigable by vessels drawing twelve feet of +water. The whole American coast, both on the Atlantic and Pacific, have +undergone great changes within the last hundred years. The coast of +South America has, in some places, been upheaved twenty feet in the last +century; in others, a few hundred miles distant, it has been depressed +to an equal extent. A transverse section from Rio Santa Cruz to the base +of the Cordilleras, and another in the Rio Negro, in Patagonia, showed +that the whole sedimentary series is of recent origin. Scattered over +the whole at various heights above the sea, from thirteen hundred feet +downwards, are found recent shells of _littoral_ species of the +neighbouring coast--denoting upheavals which might have been effected +during the last three thousand years. + +Coming nearer home, he shows that in 1538 the whole coast of Pozzuoli, +near Naples, was raised twenty feet in a single night. Then, with regard +to more compact crystalline or semi-crystalline rocks, no reliable +opinion can be formed on mere inspection. Two blocks of marble may +appear precisely alike, though formed at different periods. A crystal of +carbonate of lime, formed in a few years, would be found quite perfect, +and as compact as a crystal formed during many centuries. Nothing can be +deduced from the process of petrifaction and crystallisation, unless +they enclose relics of a known period. At San Filippo, a solid mass of +limestone thirty feet thick has been formed in about twenty years. A +hard stratum of travertine a foot thick is obtained, from these thermal +springs, in the course of four months. Nor can geologists demonstrate +that the Amiens deposits, in which the flint-implements occur, are more +than three or four thousand years old. + +The causes of these changes and mutations are referred by some persons +to floods, or to pre-Adamite convulsions, whereas the cause is in +constant operation; they are due to an invisible and subtle power which +pervades the air, the ocean, and the rocks below--in which all are +wrapped and permeated--which is universally present, namely, +magnetism--a power always in operation, always in a state of activity +and tension. It has an attractive power towards the surface of the +earth, as well as a directive action from pole to pole. “It is, indeed,” +he adds, emphatically, “the _terrestrial gravitation_. Magnetic needles +freely suspended show its meridional or directive polar force, and that +the force converges at two opposite parts, which are bounded by the +Antarctic and Arctic circles.” + +This polar force, like a stream, is constantly moving from pole to pole; +and experiment proves that this movement is from the South Pole to the +North. “Hence the various terrestrial substances, solids and fluids, +through which this subtle and universal power permeates, are controlled, +propelled, and modified over the entire surface of our globe, commencing +at the south and dissolving at the north. Thus, all terrestrial matter +moves towards the Arctic region, and finally disappears by dissolution +and absorption, to be renewed again and again in the Antarctic Sea to +the end of time.” + +In order to prove that the north polar basin is the receptacle of the +final dissolution of all terrestrial substances, Mr. Hopkins quotes the +Gulf Stream. Bottles, tropical plants, and wrecks cast into the sea in +the South Atlantic, are carried to Greenland in a comparatively short +time. The great _tidal_ waves commence at the fountain-head in the +Antarctic circle, impinge against the south coast of Tierra del Fuego, +New Zealand, and Tasmania, and are then propelled northward in a series +of undulations. The South Atlantic stream, after doubling the Cape of +Good Hope, moves towards the Guinea coast, bends towards the Caribbean +Sea, producing the trade winds; again leaves Florida as the Gulf Stream, +and washes the coasts of Greenland and Norway, and finally reaches the +north polar basin. + +Again the great polar force shows itself in the arrangement of the +mineral structure below. In all the primary rocks in every quarter of +the globe where they have been examined, its action is recognised in +giving to the crystalline masses--granites and their laminated +elongations--a polar grain and vertical cleavage. “Had it been possible +to see our globe stripped of its sedimentary deposits and its oceanic +covering, we should see it like a gigantic melon, with a uniform grain +extending from pole to pole.” This structure appears to give polarity to +earthquakes--thermal waters and earthquakes--which are all traceable in +the direction of the polar grain or cleavage from north to south. + +In England, for instance, thermal and saline springs are traceable from +Bath, through Cheltenham, to Dudley. In Central France, mineral springs +occur in lines, more or less, north and south. All the known +salt-springs in South America occur in meridional bands. Springs of +chloride of sodium in the Eastern Cordilleras stretch from Pinceima to +the Llanoes de Meta, a distance of 200 miles. The most productive +metalliferous deposits are found in meridional bands. The watery +volcanoes in South America are generally situated along the lines of the +meridional splits and the secondary eruptive pores on the transverse +fractures. The sudden ruptures arising locally from increasing tension +of the polar force, and the rapid expansion of the generated gases, +produce a vibratory jar in the rocky structure below, which being +propagated along the planes of the polar cleavage, gives rise to great +superficial oscillations, and thus causes earthquakes and subterranean +thunder for thousands of miles, from south to north. + +In 1797, the district round the volcano of Tunguraqua in Quito, during +one of the great meridional shocks, experienced an undulating movement, +which lasted upwards of four minutes, and this was propagated to the +shores of the Caribbean Sea. + +All these movements demonstrated, according to Mr. Hopkins, that the +land as well as the ocean moves from the south pole and north pole, and +that the magnetic power has a tendency to proceed from pole to pole in a +_spiral_ path from south-east to north-west, a movement which produces +an apparent change in the equinoxes, or the outer section of the plane +of the ecliptic with the equator, a phenomenon known to astronomers as +the precession of the equinoxes. + +Such is a very brief summary of the arguments by which Mr. Evan Hopkins +maintains the literal correctness of the Mosaic account of the creation, +and attempts to show that all the facts discovered by geologists may +have occurred in the ages included in the Mosaic chronology. + +That the mysterious power of terrestrial magnetism can perform all that +he claims for it, we can perhaps admit. But how does this explain the +succession of Silurian, Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous and other +strata, up to the Tertiary deposits, with their fossils, each differing +in character from those of the preceding series? That these were +successive creations admits of no doubt, and while it is undeniable that +the fiat of the Creator could readily produce all these phenomena, it +may reasonably be asked if it is probable that all these myriads of +organic beings, whose remains serve as records of their existence, were +created only to be immediately destroyed. + +Again, does not the author of the “Principles of Terrestrial Physics” +prove too much? He admits that 3,000 years ago the climate of England +was tropical: he does not deny that a subsequent period of intense cold +intervened, 2,550 years ago. He admits historical records, and 2,350 +years ago Pythagoras constructed his cosmography of the world, which has +never been seriously impugned; and yet he has no suspicion that +countries so near to his own had changed their climates first from +tropical to glacial, and back again to a temperate zone. It is not +reasonable to believe this parable. + +The school of philosophy generally considered to be the most advanced in +modern science has yet another view of cosmogony, of which we venture to +give a brief outline. Space is infinite, says the exponent of this +system,[9] for wherever in imagination we erect a boundary, we are +compelled to think of space as existing beyond it. The starry heavens +proclaim that it is not entirely void; but the question remains, are the +vast regions which surround the stars, and across which light is +propagated, absolutely empty? No. Modern science, while it rejects the +notion of the luminiferous particles of the old philosophy, has cogent +proofs of the existence of a luminiferous ether with definite mechanical +properties. It is infinitely more attenuated, but more solid than gas. +It resembles jelly rather than air, and if not co-extensive with space, +it extends as far as the most distant star the telescope reveals to us; +it is the vehicle of their light in fact; it takes up their molecular +tremors and conveys them with inconceivable rapidity to our organs of +vision. The splendour of the firmament at night is due to this +vibration. If this ether has a boundary, masses of ponderable matter may +exist beyond it, but they could emit no light. Dark suns may burn there, +metals may be heated to fusion in invisible furnaces, planets may be +molten amid intense darkness; for the loss of heat being simply the +abstraction of molecular motion by the ether, where this medium is +absent no cooling could take place. + + [9] Professor Tyndall in _Fortnightly Review_. + +This, however, does not concern us; as far as our knowledge of space +extends, we are to conceive of it as the holder of this luminiferous +ether, through which the fixed stars are interspersed at enormous +distances apart. Associated with our planet we have a group of dark +planetary masses revolving at various distances around it, each rotating +on its axis; and, connected with them, their moons. Was space furnished +at once, by the fiat of Omnipotence, with these burning orbs? The man of +science should give no answer to this question: but he has better +materials to guide him than anybody else, and can clearly show that the +present state of things _may_ be derivative. He can perhaps assign +reasons which render it probable that it _is derivative_. The law of +gravitation enunciated by Newton is, that every particle of matter in +the universe attracts every other particle with a force which diminishes +as the square of the distance increases. Under this law a stone falls to +the ground, and heat is produced by the shock; meteors plunge into the +atmosphere and become incandescent; showers of such doubtless fall +incessantly upon the sun, and were it stopped in its orbit, the earth +would rush towards the sun, developing heat in the collision (according +to the calculations of MM. Joule, Mayer, Helmholtz, and Thomson), equal +to the combustion of five thousand worlds of solid coal. In the +attraction of gravity, therefore, acting upon this luminous matter, we +have a source of heat more powerful than could be derived from any +terrestrial combustion. + +To the above conception of space we must add that of its being in a +continual state of tremor. The sources of vibration are the ponderable +masses of the universe. Our own planet is an aggregate of solids, +liquids, and gases. On closer examination, these are found to be +composed of still more elementary parts: the water of our rivers is +formed by the union, in definite proportions, of two gases, oxygen and +hydrogen. So, likewise, our chalk hills are formed by a combination of +carbon, oxygen, and calcium; elements which in definite proportions form +chalk. The flint found within that chalk is compounded of oxygen and +silicon, and our ordinary clay is for the most part formed by a union +of silicon, oxygen, and aluminum. By far the greater part of the earthy +crust is thus compounded of a few elementary substances. + +Such is Professor Tyndall’s view of the universe, rising incidentally +out of his theory of heat, his main object being to elucidate his theory +of heat and light. + + +MODIFICATIONS OF THE SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. + +As a consequence of the hypothesis of central heat, it is admitted that +our planet has been agitated by a series of local disturbances; that is +to say, by ruptures of its solid crust occurring at more or less distant +intervals. These partial revolutions at the surface are supposed to have +been produced, as we shall have occasion to explain, by upheavals or +depressions of the solid crust, resulting from the fluidity of the +central parts, and by the cooling down of the external crust of the +globe. + +Almost all bodies, in passing from a liquid to a solid state, are +diminished in size in the process. In molten metals which resume the +solid state by cooling, this diminution amounts to about a tenth of +their volume; but the decrease in size is not equal throughout the whole +mass. Hence, as a result of the solidification of the internal parts of +the globe, the outer envelope would be too large; and would no longer +fit the inner sphere, which had contracted in cooling. Cracks and +hollows occur under such circumstances, even in small masses, and the +effect of converting such a vast body as the earth from a liquid, or +rather molten condition, to a solid state, may be imagined. As the +interior became solid and concrete by cooling, furrows, corrugations, +and depressions in the external crust of the globe would occur, causing +great inequalities in its surface; producing, in short, what are now +called _chains of mountains_. + +At other times, in lieu of furrows and irregularities, the solid crust +has become ruptured, producing fissures and fractures in the outer +envelope, sometimes of immense extent. The liquid substances contained +in the interior of the globe, with or without the action of the gases +they enclose, escape through these openings; and, accumulating on the +surface, become, on cooling and consolidating, _mountains_ of various +heights. + +It would also happen, and always from the same cause, namely, from the +internal contraction caused by the unequal cooling of the globe, that +minor fissures would be formed in the earth’s crust; incandescent liquid +matter would be afterwards injected into these fissures, filling them +up, and forming in the rocky crust those long narrow lines of foreign +substances which we call _dykes_. + +Finally, it would occasionally happen, that in place of molten matter, +such as granite or metalliferous compounds, escaping through these +fractures and fissures in the globe, actual rivers of boiling water, +abundantly charged with various mineral salts (that is to say, with +silicates, and with calcareous and magnesian compounds), would also +escape, since the elements of water would be abundant in the +incandescent mass. Added to these the chemical and mechanical action of +the atmosphere, of rain, rivers, and the sea, have all a tendency to +destroy the hardest rocks. The mineral salts and other foreign +substances, entering into combination with those already present in the +waters of the sea, and separating at a subsequent period from these +waters, would be thrown down, and thus constitute extensive +deposits--that is to say, _sedimentary formations_. These became, on +consolidation, the _sedimentary rocks_. + +The furrows, corrugations, and fractures in the terrestrial crust, which +so changed the aspect of the surface, and for the time displaced the +sea-basins, would be followed by periods of calm. During these periods, +the débris, torn by the movement of the waters from certain points of +the land, would be transported to other parts of the globe by the +oceanic currents. These accumulated heterogeneous materials, when +deposited at a later period, would ultimately constitute +formations--that is, _transported or drifted rocks_. + +We have ventured to explain some of the theories by which it is sought +to explain the cosmography of the world. But our readers must understand +that all such speculations are, of necessity, purely hypothetical. + +In conformity with the preceding considerations we shall divide the +mineral substances of which the earth is composed into three general +groups, under the following heads:-- + +1. _Eruptive Rocks._--Crystalline, like the second, but formed at all +geological periods by the irruption or intrusion of the liquid matter +occupying the interior of our globe through all the pre-existing rocks. + +2. _Crystalline Rocks._--That portion of the terrestrial crust which was +primarily liquid, owing to the heat of the globe, but which solidified +at the period of its first cooling down; forming the masses known as +Fundamental Gneiss, and Laurentian, &c. + +3. _Sedimentary Rocks._--Consisting of various mineral substances +deposited by the water of the sea, such as silica, the carbonates of +lime and magnesia, &c. + +The mineral masses which constitute the _sedimentary rocks_ form beds, +or _strata_, having among themselves a constant order of superposition +which indicates their relative age. The mineral structure of these beds, +and the remains of the organised beings they contain, impress on them +characters which enable us to distinguish each bed from that which +precedes and follows it. + +It does not follow, however, that all these beds are met with, regularly +superimposed, over the whole surface of the globe; under such +circumstances geology would be a very simple science, only requiring the +use of the eyes. In consequence of the frequent eruptions of granite, +porphyry, serpentine, trachyte, basalt, and lava, these beds are often +broken, cut off, and replaced by others. + +_Denudation_ has been another fruitful source of change. Professor +Ramsay[10] shows, in the “Memoirs of the Geological Survey,” that beds +once existed above a great part of the Mendip Hills to the extent of at +least 6,000 feet, which have been removed by the denuding agency of the +sea; while in South Wales and the adjacent country, a series of +Palaeozoic rocks, eleven thousand feet in thickness, has been removed by +the action of water. In fact, every foot of the earth now forming the +dry land is supposed to have been at one time under water--to have +emerged, and to have been again submerged, and subjected to the +destructive action of the ocean. At certain points a whole series of +sedimentary deposits, and often several of them, have been removed by +this cause, known by geologists as _Denudation_. The regular series of +rock formations are, in fact, rarely found in unbroken order. It is only +by combining the collected observations of the geologists of all +countries, that we are enabled to arrange, according to their relative +ages, the several beds composing the solid terrestrial crust as they +occur in the following Table, which proceeds from the surface towards +the centre, in descending order:-- + + [10] “Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain,” vol. i., p. + 297. + +ORDER OF STRATIFICATION. + + Quaternary Epoch Modern Period. + + { Pliocene Period. + Tertiary Epoch { Miocene Period. + { Eocene Period. + + { Cretaceous Rocks. + Secondary Epoch { Jurassic Rocks. + { Triassic Rocks. + + { Permian Rocks. + Primary Epoch { Carboniferous Rocks. + { Devonian Rocks. + { Silurian Rocks. + + Metamorphic Series { Cambrian Rocks. + { Fundamental Gneiss, or Laurentian. + +Under these heads we propose to examine the successive transformations +to which the earth has been subjected in reaching its present condition; +in other words, we propose, both from an historical and descriptive +point of view, to take a survey of the several _epochs_ which can be +distinguished in the gradual formation of the earth, corresponding with +the formation of the great groups of rocks enumerated in the preceding +table. We shall describe the living creatures which have peopled the +earth at each of these epochs, and which have disappeared, from causes +which we shall also endeavour to trace. We shall describe the plants +belonging to each great phase in the history of the globe. At the same +time, we shall not pass over entirely in silence the rocks deposited by +the waters, or thrown up by eruption during these periods; we propose, +also, to give a summary of the mineralogical characters and of the +fossils characteristic of, or peculiar to each formation. What we +propose, in short, is to give a history of the formation of the globe, +and a description of the principal rocks which actually compose it; and +to take also a rapid glance at the several generations of animals and +plants which have succeeded and replaced each other on the earth, from +the very beginning of organic life up to the time of man’s appearance. + + + + +ERUPTIVE ROCKS. + + +Nothing is more difficult than to write a chronological history of the +revolutions and changes to which the earth has been subjected during the +ages which preceded the historic times. The phenomena which have +concurred to fashion its enormous mass, and to give to it its present +form and structure, are so numerous, so varied, and sometimes so nearly +simultaneous in their action, that the records defy the powers of +observation to separate them. The deposition of the sedimentary rocks +has been subject to interruption during all ages of the world. Violent +igneous eruptions have penetrated the sedimentary beds, elevating them +in some places, depressing them in others, and in all cases disturbing +their order of superposition, and ejecting masses of crystalline rocks +from the incandescent centre to the surface. Amidst these perturbations, +sometimes stretching over a vast extent of country, anything like a +rigorous chronological record becomes impossible, for the phenomena are +so continuous and complex that it is no longer possible to distinguish +the fundamental from the accidental and secondary causes. + +In order to render the subject somewhat clearer, the great facts +relative to the progressive formation of the terrestrial globe are +divided into epochs, during which the sedimentary rocks were formed in +due order in the seas of the ancient world, the mud and sand in which +were deposited day by day. Again, even where the line of demarcation is +clearest between one formation and another, it must not be supposed +there is any sharply defined line of separation between them. On the +contrary, one system gradually merges into that which succeeds it. The +rocks and fossils of the one gradually disappear, to be succeeded by +those of the overlying series in the regular order of succession. The +newly-made strata became the cemetery of the myriads of beings which +lived and died in the bosom of the ocean. The rocks thus deposited were +called _Neptunian_ by the older geologists. + +But while the seas of each epoch were thus building up, grain by grain, +and bed by bed, the new formation out of the ruins of the older, other +influences were at work, sometimes, to all appearance, impeding +sometimes advancing, the great work. The _Plutonic rocks_--the _igneous +or eruptive rocks_ of modern geology, as we have seen above, were the +great disturbing agents, and these disturbances occur in every age of +the earth’s history. We shall have occasion to speak of these eruptive +formations while describing the phenomena of the several epochs. But it +is thought that the narrative will be made clearer and more instructive +by grouping this class of phenomena into one chapter, which we place at +the commencement, inasmuch as the constant reference to the eruptive +rocks will thus be rendered more intelligible. To these are now added +the section “Metamorphic Rocks,” from the fifth edition of the French +work. + +The rocks which issued from the centre of the earth in a state of fusion +are found associated or interstratified with masses of every epoch, more +especially with those of the more ancient strata. The formations which +these rocks have originated possess great interest; first, because they +enter into the composition of the terrestrial crust; secondly, because +they have impressed on its surface, in the course of their eruption, +some of the characteristics of its configuration and structure; finally, +because, by their means, the metals which are the objects of human +industry have been brought nearer to the surface. According to the order +of their appearance, or as nearly so as can be ascertained, we shall +class the eruptive rocks in two groups:-- + +I. The _Volcanic Rocks_, of comparatively recent origin, which have +given rise to a succession of trachytes, basalts, and modern lavas. +These, being of looser texture, are presumed to have cooled more rapidly +than the Plutonic rocks, and at or near the surface. + +II. The _Plutonic Rocks_, of older date, which are exemplified in the +various kinds of granites, the syenites, the protogines, porphyries, &c. +These differ from the volcanic rocks in their more compact crystalline +structure, in the absence of tufa, as well as of pores and cavities; +from which it is inferred that they were formed at considerable depths +in the earth, and that they have cooled and crystallised slowly under +great pressure. + + +PLUTONIC ERUPTIONS. + +The great eruptions of _ancient granite_ are supposed to have occurred +during the primary epoch, and chiefly in the carboniferous period. They +present themselves sometimes in considerable masses, for the earth’s +crust being still thin and permeable, it was prepared as it were for +absorbing the granite masses. In consequence of its weak cohesion, the +primitive crust of the globe would be rent and penetrated in all +directions, as represented in the following section of Cape Wrath, in +Sutherlandshire, in which the veins of granite ramify in a very +irregular manner across the gneiss and hornblende-schist, there +associated with it. (Fig. 3.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Veins of granite traversing the gneiss of Cape +Wrath.] + +Granite, when it is sound, furnishes a fine building-stone, but we must +not suppose that it deserves that character of extreme hardness with +which the poets have gratuitously gifted it. Its granular texture +renders it unfit for road-stone, where it gets crushed too quickly to +dust. With his hammer the geologist easily shapes his specimens; and in +the Russian War, at the bombardment of Bomarsund, the shot from our +ships demonstrated that ramparts of granite could be as easily +demolished as those constructed of limestone. + +The component minerals of granite are felspar, quartz, and mica, in +varying proportions; felspar being generally the predominant ingredient, +and quartz more plentiful than mica--the whole being united into a +confusedly granular or crystalline mass. Occasionally it passes +insensibly from fine to coarse-grained granite, and the finer grained is +even sometimes found embedded in the more coarsely granular variety: +sometimes it assumes a porphyritic texture. Porphyritic granite is a +variety of granite, the components of which--quartz, felspar, and +mica--are set in a non-crystallised paste, uniting the mass in a manner +which will be familiar to many of our readers who may have seen the +granite of the Land’s End, in Cornwall. Alongside these orthoclase +crystals, quartz is implanted, usually in grains of irregular shape, +more rarely crystallised, and seldom in the form of perfect crystals. To +these ingredients are added thin scales or small hexagonal plates and +crystals of white, brown, black, or greenish-coloured mica. Finally, the +name of _quartziferous porphyry_ is reserved for those varieties which +present crystals of quartz; the other varieties are simply called +_porphyritic granite_. _True_ porphyry presents a paste essentially +composed of compact felspar, in which the crystals of orthoclase--that +is, felspar with a potash base--are abundantly disseminated, and +sometimes with great regularity. + +Granite is supposed to have been “formed at considerable depths in the +earth, where it has cooled and crystallised slowly under great pressure, +where the contained gases could not expand.”[11] “The influence,” says +Lyell, “of subterranean heat may extend downwards from the crater of +every active volcano to a great depth below, perhaps several miles or +leagues, and the effects which are produced deep in the bowels of the +earth may, or rather must, be distinct; so that volcanic and plutonic +rocks, each different in texture, and sometimes even in composition, may +originate simultaneously, the one at the surface, the other far beneath +it.” Other views, however, of its origin are not unknown to science: +Professor Ramsay and some other geologists consider granite to be +metamorphic. “For my own part,” says the Professor, “I believe that in +one sense it is an igneous rock; that is to say, that it has been +completely fused. But in another sense it is a metamorphic rock, partly +because it is impossible in many cases to draw any definite line between +gneiss and granite, for they pass into each other by insensible +gradations; and granite frequently _occupies the space that ought to be +filled with gneiss_, were it not that the gneiss has been entirely +fused. I believe therefore that granite and its allies are simply the +effect of the extreme of metamorphism, brought about by great heat with +presence of water. In other words, when the metamorphism has been so +great that all traces of the semi-crystalline laminated structure have +disappeared, a more perfect crystallisation has taken place.”[12] It is +obvious that the very result on which the Professor founds his theory, +namely, the difficulty “in many cases,” of drawing a line between the +granite and the gneiss, would be produced by the sudden injection of the +fluid minerals into gneiss, composed of the same materials. Moreover, it +is only in some cases that the difficulty exists; in many others the +line of separation is definable enough.[13] + + [11] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 694. + + [12] “Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain,” by A. C. + Ramsay, p. 38, 2nd ed. + + [13] At the same time it may be safely assumed (as Professor Ramsay + believes to be the case) that granite in most cases is a + metamorphic rock; yet are there many instances in which it may + with greater truth be considered as a true plutonic rock. + +The granitic rock called _Syenite_, in which a part of the mica is +replaced by hornblende or amphibole, has to all appearance been erupted +to the surface subsequently to the granite, and very often alongside of +it. Thus the two extremities of the Vosges, towards Belfort and +Strasburg, are eminently syenitic, while the intermediate part, towards +Colmar, is as markedly granitic. In the Lyonnais, the southern region is +granitic; the northern region, from Arbresle, is in great part syenitic. +Syenite also makes its appearance in the Limousin. + +Syenite, into which rose-coloured felspar often enters, forms a +beautiful rock, because the green or nearly black hornblende heightens, +by contrast, the effect of its colour. This rock is a valuable adjunct +for architectural ornament; it is that out of which the ancient +Egyptians shaped many of their monumental columns, sphinxes, and +sarcophagi; the most perfect type of it is found in Egypt, not far from +the city of Syene, from which it derives its name. The obelisk of Luxor +now in Paris, several of the Egyptian obelisks in Rome, and the +celebrated sphinxes, of which copies may be seen in front of the +Egyptian Court at the Crystal Palace, the pedestal of the statue of +Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, and the facing of the sub-basement of +the column in the Place Vendôme in Paris, are of this stone, of which +there are quarries in the neighbourhood of Plancher-les-Mines in the +Vosges. + +Syenite disintegrates more readily than granite, and it contains +indurated nodular concretions, which often remain in the form of large +spherical balls, in the midst of the débris resulting from +disintegration of the mass. It remains to be added that syenitic masses +are often very variable as regards their composition; the hornblende is +sometimes wanting, in which case we can only recognise an ancient +granite. In other instances the hornblende predominates to such a +degree, that a large or small-grained _diorite_, or greenstone, results. +The geologist should be prepared to observe these transitions, which are +apt to lead him into error if passed over without being noticed. + +_Protogine_ is a talcose granite, composed of felspar, quartz, and talc +or _chlorite_, or decomposed mica, which take the place of the usual +mica. Excessively variable in its texture, protogine passes from the +most perfect granitic aspect to that of a porphyry, in such a manner as +to present continual subjects of uncertainty, rendering it very +difficult to determine its geological age. Nevertheless, it is supposed +to have come to the surface before and during the coal-period; in short, +at Creusot, protogine covers the coal-fields so completely, that it is +necessary to sink the pits through the protogine, in order to penetrate +to the coal, and the rock has so manifestly acted on the coal-measure +strata, as to have contorted and metamorphosed them. Something analogous +to this manifests itself near Mont Blanc, where the colossal mass which +predominates in that chain, and the peaks which belong to it, consist of +protogine. But as no such action can be perceived in the overlying rocks +of the Triassic period, it may be assumed that at the time of the +deposition of the New Red Sandstone the protoginous eruptions had +ceased. + +It is necessary to add, however, that if the protogine rises in such +bold pinnacles round Mont Blanc, the circumstance only applies to the +more elevated parts of the mountain, and is influenced by the excessive +rigour of the seasons, which demolishes and continually wears away all +the parts of the rock which have been decomposed by atmospheric agency. +Where protogine occurs in milder climates--around Creusot, and at +Pierre-sur-Autre, in the Forez chain, for instance--the mountains show +none of the scarped and bristling peaks exhibited in the chain of Mont +Blanc. Only single isolated masses occasionally form _rocking-stones_, +so called because, resting with a convex base upon a pedestal also +convex, but in a contrary way, it is easy to move these naturally +balanced blocks, although from their vast size it would require very +considerable force to displace them. This tendency to fashion themselves +into rounded or ellipsoidal forms belongs, also, to other granitic +rocks, and even to some of the variegated sandstones. The rocking-stones +have often given rise to legends and popular myths. + +The great eruptions of granite, protogine, and porphyry took place, +according to M. Fournet, during the carboniferous period, for +porphyritic pebbles are found in the conglomerates of the Coal-measure +period. “The granite of Dartmoor, in Devonshire,” says Lyell,[14] “was +formerly supposed to be one of the most ancient of the plutonic rocks, +but it is now ascertained to be posterior in date to the culm-measures +of that county, which from their position, and as containing true +coal-plants, are regarded by Professor Sedgwick and Sir R. Murchison as +members of the true Carboniferous series. This granite, like the +syenitic granite of Christiana, has broken through the stratified +formations without much changing their strike. Hence, on the north-west +side of Dartmoor, the successive members of the Culm-measures abut +against the granite, and become metamorphic as they approach. The +granite of Cornwall is probably of the same date, and therefore as +modern as the Carboniferous strata, if not newer.” + + [14] “Elements of Geology,” p. 716, 6th edition. + +The _ancient granites_ show themselves in France in the Vosges, in +Auvergne, at Espinouse in Languedoc, at Plan-de-la-Tour in Provence, in +the chain of the Cévennes, at Mont Pilat near Lyons, and in the southern +part of the Lyonnaise chain. They rarely impart boldness or grandeur to +the landscape, as might be expected from their crystallised texture and +hardness; for having been exposed to the effects of atmospheric changes +from the earliest times of the earth’s consolidation, the rocks have +become greatly worn away and rounded in the outlines of their masses. It +is only when recent dislocations have broken them up that they assume a +picturesque character. + +The Christiania granite alluded to above was at one time thought to have +belonged to the Silurian period. But, in 1813, Von Buch announced that +the strata in question consisted of limestones containing orthoceratites +and trilobites; the shales and limestone being only penetrated by +granite-veins, and altered for a considerable distance from the point of +contact.[15] The same granite is found to penetrate the ancient gneiss +of the country on which the fossiliferous beds rest--unconformably, as +the geologists say; that is, they rest on the edges of the gneiss, from +which other stratified deposits had been washed away, leaving the gneiss +denuded before the sedimentary beds were deposited. “Between the origin, +therefore, of the gneiss and the granite,”[16] says Lyell, “there +intervened, first, the period when the strata of gneiss were denuded; +secondly, the period of the deposition of the Silurian deposits. Yet +the granite produced after this long interval is often so intimately +blended with the ancient gneiss at the point of the junction, that it is +impossible to draw any other than an arbitrary line of separation +between them; and where this is not the case, tortuous veins of granite +pass freely through gneiss, ending sometimes in threads, as if the older +rock had offered no resistance to their passage.” From this example Sir +Charles concludes that it is impossible to conjecture whether certain +granites, which send veins into gneiss and other metamorphic rocks, have +been so injected while the gneiss was scarcely solidified, or at some +time during the Secondary or Tertiary period. As it is, no single mass +of granite can be pointed out more ancient than the oldest known +fossiliferous deposits; no Lower Cambrian stratum is known to rest +immediately on granite; no pebbles of granite are found in the +conglomerates of the Lower Cambrian. On the contrary, granite is usually +found, as in the case of Dartmoor, in immediate contact with primary +formations, with every sign of elevation subsequent to their deposition. +Porphyritic pebbles are found in the Coal-measures; porpyhries continue +during the Triassic period; since, in some parts of Germany, veins of +porphyry are found traversing the New Red Sandstone, or _grès bigarré_ +of French geologists. Syenites have especially reacted upon the Silurian +deposits and other old sedimentary rocks, up to those of the Lower +Carboniferous period. + + [15] “Elements of Geology,” p. 717. + + [16] Ibid, p. 718. + +The term porphyry is usually applied to a rock with a paste or base of +compact felspar, in which felspathic crystals of various sizes assume +their natural form. The variety of their mineralogical characters, the +admirable polish which can be given to them, and which renders them +eminently useful for ornamentation, give to the porphyries an artistic +and industrial importance, which would be greatly enhanced if the +difficulty of working such a hard material did not render the price so +high. + +The porphyries possess various degrees of hardness and compactness. When +a fine dark-red colour--which contrasts well with the white of the +felspar--is combined with hardness, a magnificent stone is the result, +susceptible of taking a polish, and fit for any kind of ornamental work; +for the decoration of buildings, for the construction of vases, columns, +&c. The red Egyptian porphyry, called _Rosso antico_, was particularly +sought after by the ancients, who made sepulchres, baths, and obelisks +of it. The grandest known mass of this kind of porphyry is the Obelisk +of Sextus V. at Rome. In the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris, some +magnificent basins and statues, made of the same stone, may also be +seen. + +In spite of its compact texture porphyry disintegrates, like other +rocks, when exposed to air and water. One of the sphinxes transported +from Egypt to Paris, being accidentally placed under a gutter of the +Louvre, soon began to exhibit signs of exfoliation, notwithstanding it +had remained sound for ages under the climate of Egypt. In this country, +and even in France, where the climate is much drier, the porphyries +frequently decompose so as to become scarcely recognisable. They crop +out in various parts of France, but are only abundant in the +north-eastern part of the central plateau, and in some parts of the +south. They form mountains of a conical form, presenting, nearly always, +considerable depressions on their flanks. In the Vosges they attain a +height of from three to four thousand feet. + +The _Serpentine_ rocks are a sort of compact _talc_, which owe their +soapy texture and greasy feel to silicate of magnesia. Their softness +permits of their being turned in a lathe and fashioned into vessels of +various forms. Even stoves are constructed of this substance, which +bears heat well. The serpentine quarried on the banks of Lake Como, +which bears the name of pierre ollaire, or pot-stone, is excellently +adapted for this purpose. Serpentine shows itself in the Vosges, in the +Limousin, in the Lyonnais, and in the Var; it occupies an immense tract +in the Alps, as well as in the Apennines. Mona marble is an example of +serpentine; and the Lizard Point, Cornwall, is a mass of it. A portion +of the stratified rocks of Tuscany, and also those of the Island of +Elba, have been upheaved and overturned by eruptions of it. + +As for the British Islands, plutonic rocks are extensively developed in +Scotland, where the Cambrian and Silurian rocks, often of gneissic +character--associated here and there with great bosses of granite and +syenite--form by far the greater part of the region known as the +Highlands. In the Isle of Arran a circular mass of coarse-grained +granite protrudes through the schists of the northern part of the +island; while, in the southern part, a finer-grained granite and veins +of porphyry and coarse-grained granite have broken through the +stratified rocks.[17] In Devonshire and Cornwall there are four great +bosses of granite; in the southern parts of Cornwall the mineral axis is +defined by a line drawn through the centre of the several bosses from +south-west to north-east; but in the north of Cornwall, and extending +into Devonshire, it strikes nearly east and west. The great granite +mass in Cornwall lies on the moors north of St. Austell, and indicates +the existence of more than one disturbing force. “There was an elevating +force,” says Professor Sedgwick,[18] “protruding from the St. Austell +granite; and, if I interpret the phenomena correctly, there was a +contemporaneous elevating force acting from the south; and between these +two forces, the beds, now spread over the surface from the St. Austell +granite to the Dodman and Narehead, were broken, contorted, and placed +in their present disturbed position. Some great disturbing forces,” he +observes, “have modified the symmetry of this part of Cornwall, +affecting,” he believes, “the whole transverse section of the country +from the headlands near Fowey to those south of Padstow.” This great +granite-axis was upheaved in a line commencing at the west end of +Cornwall, rising through the slate-rocks of the older Devonian group, +continuing in association with them as far as the boss north of St. +Austell, producing much confusion in the stratified masses; the +granite-mass between St. Clear and Camelford rose between the deposition +of the Petherwin and that of the Plymouth group; lastly, the Dartmoor +granite rose, partially moving the adjacent slates in such a manner that +its north end abuts against and tilts up the base of the Culm-trough, +mineralising the great Culm-limestone, while on the south it does the +same to the base of the Plymouth slates. These facts prove that the +granite of Dartmoor, which was formerly thought to be the most ancient +of the Plutonic rocks, is of a date subsequent to the Culm-measures of +Devonshire, which are now regarded as forming part of the true +carboniferous series. + + [17] “Geology of the Island of Arran,” by Andrew C. Ramsay. “Geology + of Arran and Clydesdale,” by James Bryce. + + [18] See _Quarterly Journal of Geological Society_, vol. viii., pp. 9 + and 10. + + +VOLCANIC ROCKS. + +Considered as a whole, the volcanic rocks may be grouped into three +distinct formations, which we shall notice in the following order, which +is that of their relative antiquity, namely:--1. _Trachytic_; 2. +_Basaltic_; 3. _Volcanic or Lava formations_. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--A peak of the Cantal chain.] + + +TRACHYTIC FORMATIONS. + +_Trachyte_ (derived from τραχυς, rough), having a coarse, cellular +appearance, and a rough and gritty feel, belongs to the class of +volcanic rocks. The eruptions of trachyte seem to have commenced towards +the middle of the Tertiary period, and to have continued up to its +close. The trachytes present considerable analogy in their composition +to the felspathic porphyries, but their mineralogical characters are +different. Their texture is porous; they form a white, grey, black, +sometimes yellowish matrix, in which, as a rule, felspar predominates, +together with disseminated crystals of felspar, some hornblende or +augite, and dark-coloured mica. In its external appearance trachyte is +very variable. It forms the three most elevated mountain ranges of +Central France; the groups of Cantal and Mont Dore, and the chain of the +Velay (Puy-de-Dôme).[19] + + [19] For full information in reference to the rocks and geology of + this part of France, the reader is referred to the masterly work + on “The Geology and Extinct Volcanoes of Central France,” by G. + Poulett Scrope, 2nd edition, 1858. + +[Illustration: I.--Peak of Sancy in the Mont Dore group, Auvergne.] + +The igneous group of Cantal may be described as a series of lofty +summits, ranged around a large cavity, which was at one period probably +a volcanic crater, the circular base of which occupies an area of nearly +fifteen leagues in diameter. The strictly trachytic portion of the group +rises in the centre, and is composed of high mountains, throwing off +spurs, which gradually decrease in height, and terminate in plateaux +more or less inclined. These central mountains attain a height varying +between 4,500 and 5,500 feet above the level of the sea. A scaly or +schistose variety of trachyte, called _phonolite_, or clinkstone (from +the ringing metallic sound it emits when struck with the hammer), with +an unusual proportion of felspar, or, according to Gmelin, composed of +felspar and zeolite, forms the steep trachytic escarpments at the +centre, which enclose the principal valleys; their abrupt peaks giving a +remarkably picturesque appearance to the landscape. In the engraving on +p. 40 (Fig. 4) the slaty, laminated character of the clinkstone is well +represented in one of the phonolitic peaks of the Cantal group. The +group at Mont Dore consists of seven or eight rocky summits, occupying a +circuit of about five leagues in diameter. The massive trachytic rock, +of which this mountainous mass is chiefly formed, has an average +thickness of 1,200 to 2,600 feet; comprehending over that range +prodigious layers of scoriæ, pumiceous conglomerates, and detritus, +interstratified with beds of trachyte and basalt, bearing the signs of +an igneous origin, tufa forming the base; and between them occur layers +of lignite, or imperfectly mineralised woody fibre, the whole being +superimposed on a primitive plateau of about 3,250 feet in height. +Scored and furrowed out by deep valleys, the viscous mass was gradually +upheaved, until in the needle-like Pic de Sancy (PLATE I.), a pyramidal +rock of porphyritic trachyte, which is the loftiest point of Mont Dore, +it attains the height of 6,258 feet. The Pic de Sancy, represented on +page 40 (Fig. 4), gives an excellent idea of the general appearance of +the trachytic mountains of Mont Dore. + +Upon the same plateau with Mont Dore, and about seven miles north of its +last slopes, the trachytic formation is repeated in four rounded +domes--those of Puy-de-Dôme, Sarcouï, Clierzou, and Le Grand Suchet. The +Puy-de-Dôme, one of the most remarkable volcanic domes in Auvergne, +presents another fine and very striking example of an eruptive trachytic +rock. The rock here assumes a peculiar mineral character, which has +caused the name of _domite_ to be given to it. + +The chain of the Velay forms a zone, composed of independent plateaux +and peaks, which forms upon the horizon a long and strangely +intersected ridge. The bareness of the mountains, their forms--pointed +or rounded, sometimes terminating in scarped plateaux--give to the whole +landscape an appearance at once picturesque and characteristic. The peak +of Le Mezen, which rises 5,820 feet above the sea, forms the culminating +point of the chain. The phonolites of which it consists have been +erupted from fissures which present themselves at a great number of +points, ranging from north-north-west to south-south-east. + +On the banks of the Rhine and in Hungary the trachytic formation +presents itself in features identical with those which indicate it in +France. In America it is principally represented by some immense cones, +superposed in the chain of the Andes; the colossal Chimborazo being one +of those trachytic cones. + +[Illustration: II.--Mountain and basaltic crater of La Coupe d’Ayzac, in +the Vivarais.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Theoretical view of a basaltic plateau.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Basalt in prismatic columns.] + + +BASALTIC FORMATIONS. + +Basaltic eruptions seem to have occurred during the Secondary and +Tertiary periods. Basalt, according to Dr. Daubeny,[20] in its more +strict sense, “is composed of an intimate mixture of augite with a +zeolitic mineral, which appears to have been formed out of labradorite +(felspar of Labrador), by the addition of water--the presence of water +being in all _zeolites_ the cause of that bubbling-up under the +blow-pipe to which they owe their appellation.” M. Delesse and other +mineralogists are of opinion that the idea of augite being the +prevailing mineral in basalt, must be abandoned; and that although its +presence gives the rock its distinctive character, as compared with +trachytic and most other trap rocks, still the principal element in +their composition is felspar. Basalt, a lava consisting essentially of +augite, labradorite (or nepheline) and magnetic iron-ore is the rock +which predominates in this formation. It contains a smaller quantity of +silica than the trachyte, and a larger proportion of lime and magnesia. +Hence, independent of the iron in its composition, it is heavier in +proportion, as it contains more or less silica. Some varieties of basalt +contain very large quantities of olivine, a mineral of an olive-green +colour, with a chemical composition differing but slightly from +serpentine. Both basalts and trachyte contain more soda and less silica +in their composition than granites; some of the basalts are highly +fusible, the alkaline matter and lime in their composition acting as a +flux to the silica. There are examples of basalt existing in +well-defined flows, which still adhere to craters visible at the present +day, and with regard to the igneous origin of which there can be no +doubt. One of the most striking examples of a basaltic cone is furnished +by the mountain or crater of La Coupe d’Ayzac, in the Vivarais, in the +south of France. PLATE II., on the opposite page, gives an accurate +representation of this curious basaltic flow. The remnants of the stream +of liquefied basalt which once flowed down the flank of the hill may +still be seen adhering in vast masses to the granite rocks on both sides +of a narrow valley where the river Volant has cut across the lava and +left a pavement or causeway, forming an assemblage of upright prismatic +columns, fitted together with geometrical symmetry; the whole resting on +a base of gneiss. Basaltic eruptions sometimes form a plateau, as +represented in Fig. 5, where the process of formation is shown +theoretically and in a manner which renders further explanation +unnecessary. Many of these basaltic table-lands form plateaux of very +considerable extent and thickness; others form fragments of the same, +more or less dislocated; others, again, present themselves in isolated +knolls, far removed from similar formations. In short, basaltic rocks +present themselves in veins or dykes, more or less, in most countries, +of which Central France and the banks of the Rhine offer many striking +examples. These veins present very evident proofs that the matter has +been introduced from below, and in a manner which could only result from +injection from the interior to the exterior of the earth. Such are the +proofs presented by the basaltic veins of Villeneuve-de-Berg, which +terminate in slender filaments, sometimes bifurcated, which gradually +lose themselves in the rock which they traverse. In several parts of the +north of Ireland, chalk-formations with flints are traversed by basaltic +dykes, the chalk being converted into granular marble near the basalt, +the change sometimes extending eight or ten feet from the wall of the +dyke, and being greatest near the surface of contact. In the Island of +Rathlin, the walls of basalt traverse the chalk in three veins or dykes; +the central one a foot thick, that on the right twenty feet, and on the +left thirty-three feet thick, and all, according to Buckland and +Conybeare, within the breadth of ninety feet. + + [20] “Volcanoes,” 2nd ed. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Basaltic Causeway, on the banks of the river +Volant, in the Ardèche.] + +One of the most striking characteristics of basalt is the prismatic and +columnar structure which it often assumes; the lava being homogeneous +and of very fine grain, the laws which determine the direction of the +fissures or divisional planes consolidated from a molten to a solid +state, become here very manifest--these are always at right angles to +the surfaces of the rock through which the heat of the fused mass +escaped. The basaltic rocks have been at all times remarkable for this +picturesque arrangement of their parts. They usually present columns of +regular prisms, having generally six, often five, and sometimes four, +seven, or even three sides, whose disposition is always perpendicular to +the cooling surfaces. These are often divided transversely, as in Fig. +6, at nearly equal distances, like the joints of a wall, composed of +regularly arranged, equal-sided pieces adhering together, and frequently +extending over a more or less considerable space. The name of Giant’s +Causeway has been given, from time immemorial, to these curious columnar +structures of basalt. In France, in the Vivarais and in the Velay, there +are many such basaltic causeways. That of which Fig. 7 is a sketch lies +on the banks of the river Volant, where it flows into the Ardèche. +Ireland has always been celebrated for its Giant’s Causeway, which +extends over the whole of the northern part of Antrim, covering all the +pre-existing strata of Chalk, Greensand, and Permian formations; the +prismatic columns extend for miles along the cliffs, projecting into the +sea at the point specially designated the Giant’s Causeway. + +These columnar formations vary considerably in length and diameter. +McCulloch mentions some in Skye, which “are about four hundred feet +high; others in Morven not exceeding an inch (vol. ii. p. 137). In +diameter those of Ailsa Craig measure nine feet, and those of Morven an +inch or less.” Fingal’s Cave, in the Isle of Staffa, is renowned among +basaltic rocks, although it was scarcely known on the mainland a century +ago, when Sir Joseph Banks heard of it accidentally, and was the first +to visit and describe it. Fingal’s Cave has been hollowed out, by the +sea, through a gallery of immense prismatic columns of trap, which are +continually beaten by the waves. The columns are usually upright, but +sometimes they are curved and slightly inclined. Fig. 8 is a view of the +basaltic grotto of Staffa. + +Grottoes are sometimes formed by basaltic eruptions on land, followed by +their separation into regular columns. The Grotto of Cheeses, at +Bertrich-Baden, between Trèves and Coblentz, is a remarkable example of +this kind, being so called because its columns are formed of round, and +usually flattened, stones placed one above the other in such a manner as +to resemble a pile of cheeses. + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Basaltic cavern of Staffa--exterior.] + +If we consider that in basalt-flows the lower part is compact, and often +divided into prismatic columns, while the upper part is porous, +cellular, scoriaceous, and irregularly divided--that the points of +separation on which they rest are small beds presenting fragments of the +porous stony concretions known under the name of _Lapilli_--that the +lower portions of these masses present a multitude of points which +penetrate the rocks on which they repose, thereby denoting that some +fluid matter had moulded itself into its crevices--that the neighbouring +rocks are often calcined to a considerable thickness, and the included +vegetable remains carbonised--no doubt can exist as to the igneous +origin of basaltic rocks. When it reached the surface through certain +openings, the fluid basalt spread itself, flowing, as it were, over the +horizontal surface of the ground; for if it had flowed upon inclined +surfaces it could not have preserved the uniform surface and constant +thickness which it generally exhibits. + +[Illustration: III.--Extinct volcanoes forming the Puy-de-Dôme Chain.] + + +VOLCANIC OR LAVA FORMATIONS. + +The _lava_ formations comprehend both extinct and active volcanoes. “The +term,” says Lyell, “has a somewhat vague signification, having been +applied to all melted matter observed to flow in streams from volcanic +vents. When this matter consolidates in the open air, the upper part is +usually scoriaceous, and the mass becomes more and more stony as we +descend, or in proportion as it has consolidated more slowly and under +greater pressure.”[21] + + [21] “Elements of Geology,” p. 596. + +The formation of extinct volcanoes is represented in France by the +volcanoes situated in the ancient provinces of Auvergne, Velay, and the +Vivarais, but principally by nearly seventy volcanic cones of various +sizes and of the height of from 500 to 1,000 feet, composed of loose +scoriæ, lava, and pozzuolana, arranged upon a granitic table-land, about +twelve miles wide, which overlooks the town of Clermont-Ferrand, and +which seem to have been produced along a longitudinal fracture in the +earth’s crust, running in a direction from north to south. It is a range +of volcanic hills, the “chain of _Puys_” nearly twenty miles in length, +by two in breadth. By its cellular and porous structure, which is also +granular and crystalline, the felspathic or pyroxenic lava which flowed +from these volcanoes is readily distinguishable from the analogous lavas +which belong to the basaltic or trachytic formations. Their surface is +irregular, and bristles with asperities, formed by heaped-up angular +blocks. + +The volcanoes of the chain of _Puys_, represented on opposite page (PL. +III.) are so perfectly preserved, their lava is so frequently superposed +on sheets of basalt, and presents a composition and texture so distinct, +that there is no difficulty in establishing the fact that they are +posterior to the basaltic formation, and of very recent age. +Nevertheless, they do not appear to belong to the historic ages, for no +tradition attests their eruption. Lyell places these eruptions in the +Lower Miocene period, and their greatest activity in the Upper Miocene +and Pliocene eras. “Extinct quadrupeds of those eras,” he says, +“belonging to the genera mastodon, rhinoceros, and others, were buried +in ashes and beds of alluvial sand and gravel, which owe their +preservation to overspreading sheets of lava.”[22] + + [22] Ibid, p. 677. + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Section of a volcano in action.] + +All volcanic phenomena can be explained by the theory we have already +indicated, of fractures in the solid crust of the globe resulting from +its cooling. The various phenomena which existing volcanoes present to +us are, as Humboldt has said, “the result of every action exercised by +the interior of a planet on its external crust.”[23] We designate as +volcanoes all conduits which establish a permanent communication between +the interior of the earth and its surface--a conduit which gives passage +at intervals to eruptions of _lava_, and in Fig. 9 we have represented, +in an ideal section, the geological mode of action of volcanic +eruptions. The volcanoes on the surface of the globe, known to be in an +occasional state of activity, number about three hundred, and these may +be divided into two classes: the _isolated_ or _central_, and the +_linear_ or those volcanoes which belong to a _series_.[24] + + [23] “Cosmos,” vol. i., p. 25. Bohn. + + [24] “Cosmos,” vol. i., p. 237. + +The first are active volcanoes, around which there may be established +many secondary active mouths of eruption, always in connection with some +principal crater. The second are disposed like the chimneys of furnaces, +along fissures extending over considerable distances. Twenty, thirty, +and even a greater number of volcanic cones may rise above one such rent +in the earth’s crust, the direction of which will be indicated by their +linear course. The Peak of Teneriffe is an instance of a central +volcano; the long rampart-like chain of the Andes, presents, from the +south of Chili to the north-west coast of America, one of the grandest +instances of a continental volcanic chain; the remarkable range of +volcanoes in the province of Quito belong to the latter class. Darwin +relates that on the 19th of March, 1835, the attention of a sentry was +called to something like a large star which gradually increased in size +till about three o’clock, when it presented a very magnificent +spectacle. “By the aid of a glass, dark objects, in constant succession, +were seen in the midst of a great glare of red light, to be thrown up +and to fall down. The light was sufficient to cast on the water a long +bright reflection--it was the volcano of Osorno in action.” Mr. Darwin +was afterwards assured that Aconcagua, in Chili, 480 miles to the north, +was in action on the same night, and that the great eruption of +Coseguina (2,700 miles north of Aconcagua), accompanied by an earthquake +felt over 1,000 miles, also occurred within six hours of this same time; +and yet Coseguina had been dormant for six-and-twenty years, and +Aconcagua most rarely shows any signs of action.[25] It is also stated +by Professor Dove that in the year 1835 the ashes discharged from the +mountain of Coseguina were carried 700 miles, and that the roaring noise +of the eruption was heard at San Salvador, a distance of 1,000 miles. + + [25] Darwin’s “Journal,” p. 291, 2nd edition. + +In the sea the _series_ of volcanoes show themselves in groups of +islands disposed in longitudinal series. + +Among these may be ranged the volcanic series of Sunda, which, according +to the accounts of the matter ejected and the violence of the eruptions, +seem to be among the most remarkable on the globe; the series of the +Moluccas and of the Philippines; those of Japan; of the Marianne +Islands; of Chili; of the double series of volcanic summits near Quito, +those of the Antilles, Guatemala, and Mexico. + +Among the central, or isolated volcanoes, we may class those of the +Lipari Islands, which have _Stromboli_, in permanent activity, for +their centre; _Etna_, _Vesuvius_, the volcanoes of the _Azores_, of the +_Canaries_, of the _Cape de Verde_, of the _Galapagos_ Islands, the +_Sandwich_ Islands, the _Marquesas_, the _Society_ Islands, the +_Friendly_ Islands, _Bourbon_, and, finally, _Ararat_. + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Existing crater of Vesuvius.] + +The mouths of volcanic chimneys are, almost always, situated near the +summit of a more or less isolated conical mountain; they usually consist +of an opening in the form of a funnel, which is called the _crater_, and +which descends into the interior of the volcanic chimney. But in the +course of ages the crater becomes extended and enlarged, until, in some +of the older volcanoes, it has attained almost incredible dimensions. In +1822 the crater of Vesuvius was 2,000 feet deep, and of a very +considerable circumference. The crater of Kilauea, in the Sandwich +Islands group, is an immense chasm 1,000 feet deep, with an outer +circle no less than from two to three miles in diameter, in which lava +is usually seen, Mr. Dana tells us, to boil up at the bottom of a lake, +the level of which varies continually according to the active or +quiescent state of the volcano. The cone which supports these craters, +and which is designated the _cone of ejection_, is composed for the most +part of lava or _scoriæ_, the products of eruption. Many volcanoes +consist only of a _cone of scoriæ_. Such is that of Barren Isle, in the +Bay of Bengal. Others, on the contrary, present a very small cone, +notwithstanding the considerable height of the volcanic chain. As an +example we may mention the new crater of Vesuvius, which was produced in +1829 within the former crater (Fig. 10). + +[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Fissures near Locarno.] + +The frequency and intensity of the eruptions bear no relation to the +dimensions of the volcanic mountain. The eruption of a volcano is +usually announced by a subterranean noise, accompanied by shocks, +quivering of the ground, and sometimes by actual earthquakes. The noise, +which usually proceeds from a great depth, makes itself heard, sometimes +over a great extent of country, and resembles a well-sustained fire of +artillery, accompanied by the rattle of musketry. Sometimes it is like +the heavy rolling of subterranean thunder. Fissures are frequently +produced during the eruptions, extending over a considerable radius, as +represented in the woodcut on page 57 of the fissures of Locarno (Fig. +11), where they present a singular appearance; the clefts radiating from +a centre in all directions, not unlike the starred fracture in a cracked +pane of glass. The eruption begins with a strong shock, which shakes the +whole interior of the mountain; masses of heated vapour and fluids begin +to ascend, revealing themselves in some cases by the melting of the snow +upon the flanks of the cone of ejection; while simultaneously with the +final shock, which overcomes the last resistance opposed by the solid +crust of the ground, a considerable body of gas, and more especially of +steam, escapes from the mouth of the crater. + +The steam, it is important to remark, is essentially the cause of the +terrible mechanical effects which accompany volcanic eruptions. +Granitic, porphyritic, trachytic, and sometimes even basaltic matters, +have reached the surface without producing any of those violent +explosions or ejections of rocks and stones which accompany modern +volcanic eruptions; the older granites, porphyries, trachytes, and +basalts were discharged without violence, because steam did not +accompany those melted rocks--a sufficient proof of the comparative calm +which attended the ancient as compared with modern eruptions. Well +established by scientific observations, this is a fact which enables us +to explain the cause of the tremendous mechanical effects attending +modern volcanic eruptions, contrasted with the more tranquil eruptions +of earlier times. + +During the first moments of a volcanic eruption, the accumulated masses +of stones and ashes, which fill the crater, are shot up into the sky by +the suddenly and powerfully developed elasticity of the steam. This +steam, which has been disengaged by the heat of the fluid lava, assumes +the form of great rounded bubbles, which are evolved into the air to a +great height above the crater, where they expand as they rise, in clouds +of dazzling whiteness, assuming that appearance which Pliny the Younger +compared to a stone pine rising over Vesuvius. The masses of clouds +finally condense and follow the direction of the wind. + +These volcanic clouds are grey or black, according to the quantity of +_ashes_, that is, of pulverulent matter or dust, mixed with watery +vapour, which they convey. In some eruptions it has been observed that +these clouds, on descending to the surface of the soil, spread around an +odour of hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, and traces of both these acids +are found in the rain which proceeds from the condensation of these +clouds. + +The fleecy clouds of vapour which issue from the volcanoes are streaked +with lightning, followed by continuous peals of thunder; in condensing, +they discharge disastrous showers, which sweep the sides of the +mountain. Many eruptions, known as _mud volcanoes_, and _watery +volcanoes_, are nothing more than these heavy rains, carrying down with +them showers of ashes, stones, and scoriæ, more or less mixed with +water. + +Passing on to the phenomena of which the crater is the scene at the time +of an eruption, it is stated that at first there is an incessant rise +and fall of the lava which fills the interior of the crater. This double +movement is often interrupted by violent explosions of gas. The crater +of Kilauea, in the Island of Hawaii, contains a lake of molten matter +1,600 feet broad, which is subject to such a double movement of +elevation and depression. Each of the vaporous bubbles as it issues from +the crater presses the molten lava upwards, till it rises and bursts +with great force at the surface. A portion of the lava, half-cooled and +reduced to scoriæ, is thus projected upwards, and the several fragments +are hurled violently in all directions, like those of a shell at the +moment when it bursts. + +The greater number of the fragments being thrown vertically into the +air, fall back into the crater again. Many accumulating on the edge of +the opening add more and more to the height of the cone of eruption. The +lighter and smaller fragments, as well as the fine ashes, are drawn +upwards by the spiral vapours, and sometimes transported by the winds +over almost incredible distances. + +In 1794 the ashes from Vesuvius were carried as far as the extremity of +Calabria. In 1812 the volcanic ashes of Saint Vincent, in the Antilles, +were carried eastward as far as Barbadoes, spreading such obscurity over +the island, that, in open day, passengers could not see their way. +Finally, some of the masses of molten lava are shot singly into the air +during an eruption with a rapid rotatory motion, which causes them to +assume the rounded shape in which they are known by the name of +_volcanic bombs_. + +We have already remarked that the lava, which in a fluid state fills the +crater and the internal vent or chimney of the volcano, is forced +upwards by gaseous fluids, and by the steam which has been generated +from the water, entangled with the lava. In some cases the mechanical +force of this vapour is so great as to drive the lava over the edge of +the crater, when it forms a fiery torrent, spreading over the sides of +the mountain. This only happens in the case of volcanoes of +inconsiderable height; in lofty volcanoes it is not unusual for the lava +thus to force an outlet for itself near the base of the mountain, +through which the fiery stream discharges itself over the surrounding +country. In such circumstances the lava cools somewhat rapidly; it +becomes hard and presents a scoriaceous crust on the surface, while the +vapour escapes in jets of steam through the interstices. But under this +superficial crust the lava retains its fluid state, cooling slowly in +the interior of the mass, while the thickening stream moves sluggishly +along, impeded in its progress by the fragments of rock which this +burning river drives before it. + +The rate at which a current of lava moves along depends upon its mass, +upon its degree of fluidity, and upon the inclination of the ground. It +has been stated that certain streams of lava have traversed more than +3,000 yards in an hour; but the rate at which they travel is usually +much less, a man on foot being often able to outstrip them. These +streams, also, vary greatly in dimensions. The most considerable stream +of lava from Etna had, in some parts, a thickness of nearly 120 feet, +with a breadth of a geographical mile and a half. The largest +lava-stream which has been recorded issued from the Skaptár Jokul, in +Iceland, in 1783. It formed two currents, whose extremities were twenty +leagues apart, and which from time to time presented a breadth of from +seven to fifteen miles and a thickness of 650 feet. + +A peculiar effect, and which only simulates volcanic activity, is +observable in localities where _mud volcanoes_ exist. Volcanoes of this +class are for the most part conical hills of low elevation, with a +hollow or depression at the centre, from which they discharge the mud +which is forced upwards by gas and steam. The temperature of the ejected +matter is only slightly elevated. The mud, generally of a greyish +colour, with the odour of petroleum, is subject to the same alternating +movements which have been already ascribed to the fluid lava of +volcanoes, properly so called. The gases which force out this liquid +mud, mixed with salts, gypsum, naphtha, sulphur, sometimes even of +ammonia, are usually carburetted hydrogen and carbonic acid. Everything +leads to the conclusion that these compounds proceed, at least in great +part, from the reaction produced between the various elements of the +subsoil under the influence of infiltrating water between bituminous +marls, complex carbonates, and probably carbonic acid, derived from +acidulated springs. M. Fournet saw in Languedoc, near Roujan, traces of +some of these formations; and not far from that neighbourhood is the +bituminous spring of Gabian. + +[Illustration: IV.--Mud volcano at Turbaco, South America.] + +Mud volcanoes, or _salses_, exist in rather numerous localities. Several +are found in the neighbourhood of Modena. There are some in Sicily, +between Aragona and Girgenti. Pallas observed them in the Crimea--in the +peninsula of Kertch, and in the Isle of Tamàn. Von Humboldt has +described and figured a group of them in the province of Cartagena, in +South America. Finally, they have been observed in the Island of +Trinidad and in Hindostan. In 1797 an eruption of mud ejected from +Tunguragua, in Quito, filled a valley 1,000 feet wide to a depth of 600 +feet. On the opposite page is represented the mud volcano of Turbaco, in +the province of Cartagena (PLATE IV.), which is described and figured by +Von Humboldt in his “Voyage to the Equatorial Regions of America.” + +In certain countries we find small hillocks of argillaceous formation, +resulting from ancient discharges of mud volcanoes, from which all +disengagement of gas, water, and mud has long ceased. Sometimes, +however, the phenomenon returns and resumes its interrupted course with +great violence. Slight shocks of earthquakes are then felt; blocks of +dried earth are projected from the ancient crater, and new waves of mud +flow over its edge, and spread over the neighbouring ground. + +To return to ordinary volcanoes, that is to say, those which eject lava. +At the end of a lava-flow, when the violence of the volcanic action +begins to subside, the discharge from the crater is confined to the +disengagement of vaporous gases, mixed with steam, which make their +escape in more or less abundance through a multitude of fissures in the +ground. + +The great number of volcanoes which have thus become extinct form what +are called _solfataras_. The sulphuretted hydrogen, which is given out +through the fissures in the ground, is decomposed by contact with the +air, water being formed by the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, +and sulphur deposited in considerable quantities on the walls of the +crater, and in the cracks of the ground. Such is the geological source +of the sulphur which is collected at Pozzuoli, near Naples, and in many +other similar regions--a substance which plays a most important part in +the industrial occupations of the world. It is, in fact, from sulphur +extracted from the ground about the mouths of extinct volcanoes, that is +to say from the products of _solfataras_, that sulphuric acid is +frequently made--sulphuric acid being the fundamental agent, one of the +most powerful elements, of the manufacturing productions of both worlds. + +The last phase of volcanic activity is the disengagement of carbonic +acid gas without any increase of temperature. In places where these +continued emanations of carbonic acid gas manifest themselves, the +existence of ancient volcanoes may be recognised, of which these +discharges are the closing phenomenon. This is seen in a most remarkable +manner in Auvergne, where there are a multitude of acidulated springs, +that is to say, springs charged with carbonic acid. During the time when +he was opening the mines of Pontgibaud, M. Fournet had to contend with +emanations which sometimes exhibited themselves with explosive power. +Jets of water were thrown to great heights in the galleries, roaring +with the noise of steam when escaping from the boiler of a locomotive +engine. The water which filled an abandoned mine-shaft was, on two +separate occasions, upheaved with great violence--half emptying the +pit--while vast volumes of the gas overspread the whole valley, +suffocating a horse and a flock of geese. The miners were compelled to +fly in all haste at the moment when the gas burst forth, holding +themselves as upright as possible, to avoid plunging their heads into +the carbonic acid gas, which, from its low specific gravity, was now +filling the lower parts of the galleries. It represented on a small +scale the effect of the _Grotto del Cane_, which excites such surprise +among the ignorant near Naples; passing, also, for one of the marvels of +Nature all over the world. M. Fournet states that all the minute +fissures of the metalliferous gneiss near Clermont are quite saturated +with free carbonic acid gas, which rises plentifully from the soil +there, as well as in many parts of the surrounding country. The +components of the gneiss, with the exception of the quartz, are softened +by it; and fresh combinations of the acid with lime, iron, and manganese +are continually taking place. In short, long after volcanoes have become +extinct, hot springs, charged with mineral ingredients, continue to flow +in the same area. + +The same facts as those of the _Grotto del Cane_ manifest themselves +with even greater intensity in Java, in the so-called Valley of Poison, +which is an object of terror to the natives. In this celebrated valley +the ground is said to be covered with skeletons and carcases of tigers, +goats, stags, birds, and even of human beings; for asphyxia or +suffocation, it seems, strikes all living things which venture into this +desolate place. In the same island a stream of sulphurous water, as +white as milk, issues from the crater of Mount Idienne, on the east +coast; and on one occasion, as cited by Nozet in the _Journal de +Géologie_, a great body of hot water, charged with sulphuric acid, was +discharged from the same volcano, inundating and destroying all the +vegetation of a large tract of country by its noxious fumes and +poisonous properties. + +[Illustration: V.--Great Geyser of Iceland.] + +It is known that the alkaline waters of Plombières, in the Vosges, have +a temperature of 160° Fahr. For 2,000 years, according to Daubrée, +through beds of concrete, of lime, brick, and sandstone, these hot +waters have percolated until they have originated calcareous spar, +aragonite, and fluor spar, together with siliceous minerals, such as +opal, which are found filling the interstices of the bricks and mortar. +From these and other similar statements, “we are led,” says Sir Charles +Lyell,[26] “to infer that when in the bowels of the earth there are +large volumes of molten matter, containing heated water and various +acids, under enormous pressure, these subterraneous fluid masses will +gradually part with their heat by the escape of steam and various gases +through fissures producing hot springs, or by the passage of the same +through the pores of the overlying and injected rocks.” “Although,” he +adds,[27] “we can only study the phenomena as exhibited at the surface, +it is clear that the gaseous fluids must have made their way through the +whole thickness of the porous or fissured rocks, which intervene between +the subterraneous reservoirs of gas and the external air. The extent, +therefore, of the earth’s crust which the vapours have permeated, and +are now permeating, may be thousands of fathoms in thickness, and their +heating and modifying influence may be spread throughout the whole of +this solid mass.” + + [26] “Elements of Geology,” p. 732. + + [27] Ibid, p. 733. + +The fountains of boiling water, known under the name of _Geysers_, are +another emanation connected with ancient craters. They are either +continuous or intermittent. In Iceland we find great numbers of these +gushing springs--in fact, the island is one entire mass of eruptive +rock. Nearly all the volcanoes are situated upon a broad band of +trachyte, which traverses the island from south-west to north-east. It +is traversed by immense fissures, and covered with masses of lava, such +as no other country presents. The volcanic action, in short, goes on +with such energy that certain paroxysms of Mount Hecla have lasted for +six years without interruption. But the Great Geyser, represented on the +opposite page (PLATE V.), is, perhaps, even more an object of curiosity. +This water-volcano projects a column of boiling water, eight yards in +diameter, charged with silica, to the height, it has been said, of about +150 feet, depositing vast quantities of silica as it cools after +reaching the earth. + + * * * * * + +The volcanoes in actual activity are, as we have said, very numerous, +being more than 200 in number, scattered over the whole surface of the +globe, but mostly occurring in tropical regions. The island of Java +alone contains about fifty, which have been mapped and described by Dr. +Junghahn. Those best known are Vesuvius, near Naples; Etna, in Sicily; +and Stromboli, in the Lipari Islands. A rapid sketch of a few of these +may interest the reader. + +Vesuvius is of all volcanoes that which has been most closely studied; +it is, so to speak, the classical volcano. Few persons are ignorant of +the fact that it opened--after a period of quiescence extending beyond +the memory of living man--in the year 79 of our era. This eruption cost +the elder Pliny his life, who fell a sacrifice to his desire to witness +one of the most imposing of natural phenomena. After many mutations the +present crater of Vesuvius consists of a cone, surrounded on the side +opposite the sea by a semicircular crest, composed of pumiceous matter, +foreign to Vesuvius properly speaking, for we believe that Mount +Vesuvius was originally the mountain to which the name of _Somma_ is now +given. The cone which now bears the name of Vesuvius was probably formed +during the celebrated eruption of 79, which buried under its showers of +pumiceous ashes the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This cone +terminates in a crater, the shape of which has undergone many changes, +and which has, since its origin, thrown out eruptions of a varied +character, together with streams of lava. In our days the eruptions of +Vesuvius have only been separated by intervals of a few years. + +The Lipari Isles contain the volcano of Stromboli, which is continually +in a state of ignition, and forms the natural lighthouse of the +Tyrrhenian Sea; such it was when Homer mentioned it, such it was before +old Homer’s time, and such it still appears in our days. Its eruptions +are incessant. The crater whence they issue is not situated on the +summit of the cone, but upon one of its sides, at nearly two-thirds of +its height. It is in part filled with fluid lava, which is continually +subjected to alternate elevation and depression--a movement provoked by +the ebullition and ascension of bubbles of steam which rise to the +surface, projecting upwards a tall column of ashes. During the night +these clouds of vapour shine with a magnificent red reflection, which +lights up the whole isle and the surrounding sea with a lurid glow. + +Situated on the eastern coast of Sicily, Etna appears, at the first +glance, to have a much more simple structure than Vesuvius. Its slopes +are less steep, more uniform on all sides; its vast base nearly +represents the form of a buckler. The lower portion of Etna, or the +cultivated region of the mountain, has an inclination of about three +degrees. The middle, or forest region, is steeper, and has an +inclination of about eight degrees. The mountain terminates in a cone +of an elliptical form of thirty-two degrees of inclination, which bears +in the middle, above a nearly horizontal terrace, the cone of eruption +with its circular crater. The crater is 10,874 feet high. It gives out +no lava, but only vomits forth gas and vapour, the streams of lava +issuing from sixteen smaller cones which have been formed on the slopes +of the mountain. The observer may, by looking at the summit, convince +himself that these cones are disposed in rays, and are based upon clefts +or fissures which converge towards the crater as towards a centre. + +But the most extraordinary display of volcanic phenomena occurs in the +Pacific Ocean, in the Sandwich Islands, and in Java. Mauna Loa and Mauna +Kea, in Hawaii, are huge flattened cones, 14,000 feet high. According to +Mr. Dana, these lofty, featureless hills sometimes throw out successive +streams of lava, not very far below their summits, often two miles in +breadth and six-and-twenty in length; and that not from one vent, but in +every direction, from the apex of the cone down slopes varying from four +to eight degrees of inclination. The lateral crater of Kilauea, on the +flank of Mauna Loa, is from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the +sea--an immense chasm 1,000 feet deep, with an outer circuit two to +three miles in diameter. At the bottom lava is seen to boil up in a +molten lake, the level of which rises or falls according to the active +or quiescent state of the volcano; but in place of overflowing, the +column of melted rock, when the pressure becomes excessive, forces a +passage through subterranean communications leading to the sea. One of +these outbursts, which took place at an ancient wooded crater six miles +east of Kilauea, was observed by Mr. Coan, a missionary, in June, 1840. +Another indication of the subterranean progress of the lava took place a +mile or two beyond this, in which the fiery flood spread itself over +fifty acres of land, and then found its way underground for several +miles further, to reappear at the bottom of a second ancient wooded +crater which it partly filled up.[28] + + [28] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 617. + +The volcanic mountains of Java constitute the highest peaks of a +mountain-range running through the island from east to west, on which +Dr. Junghahn described and mapped forty-six conical eminences, ranging +from 4,000 to 11,000 feet high. At the top of many of the loftiest of +these Dr. Junghahn found the active cones and craters of small size, and +surrounded by a plain of ashes and sand, which he calls the “old crater +wall,” sometimes exceeding 1,000 feet in vertical height, and many of +the semicircular walls enclosing large cavities or _calderas_, four +geographical miles in diameter. From the highest parts of many of these +hollows rivers flow, which, in the course of ages, have cut out deep +valleys in the mountain’s side.[29] + + [29] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 620. + +To this rapid sketch of actually existing volcanic phenomena we may add +a brief notice of submarine volcanoes. If these are known to us only in +small numbers, the circumstance is explained by the fact that their +appearance above the bosom of the sea is almost invariably followed by a +more or less complete disappearance; at the same time such very striking +and visible phenomena afford a sufficient proof of the continued +persistence of volcanic action beneath the bed of the sea-basin. At +various times islands have suddenly appeared, amid the ocean, at points +where the navigator had not before noticed them. In this manner we have +witnessed the island called Graham’s, Ferdinanda, or Julia, which +suddenly appeared off the south-west coast Sicily in 1831, and was swept +away by the waves two months afterwards.[30] At several periods also, +and notably in 1811, new islands were formed in the Azores, which raised +themselves above the waves by repeated efforts all round the islands, +and at many other points. + + [30] Ibid, p. 620. + +The island which appeared in 1796 ten leagues from the northern point of +Unalaska, one of the Aleutian group of islands, is specially remarkable. +We first see a column of smoke issuing from the bosom of the ocean, +afterwards a black point appears, from which bundles of fiery sparks +seem to rise over the surface of the sea. During the many months that +these phenomena continue, the island increases in breadth and in height. +Finally smoke only is seen; at the end of four years, even this last +trace of volcanic convulsion altogether ceases. The island continued, +nevertheless, to enlarge and to increase in height, and in 1806 it +formed a cone, surmounted by four other smaller ones. + +In the space comprised between the isles of Santorin, Tharasia, and +Aspronisi, in the Mediterranean, there arose, 160 years before our era, +the island of _Hyera_, which was enlarged by the upheaval of islets on +its margin during the years 19, 726, and 1427. Again, in 1773, +Micra-Kameni, and in 1707, Nea-Kameni, made their appearance. These +islands increased in size successively in 1709, in 1711, in 1712. +According to ancient writers, Santorin, Tharasia, and Aspronisi, made +their appearance many ages before the Christian era, at the termination +of earthquakes of great violence. + + +METAMORPHIC ROCKS. + +The rocks composing the terrestrial crust have not always remained in +their original state. They have frequently undergone changes which have +altogether modified their properties, physical and chemical. + +When they present these characteristics, we term them _Metamorphic +Rocks_. The phenomena which belong to this subject are at once important +and new, and have lately much attracted the attention of geologists. We +shall best enlighten our readers on the metamorphism of rocks, if we +treat of it under the heads of _special_ and _general_ metamorphism. + +When a mass of eruptive rock penetrates the terrestrial crust it +subjects the rocks through which it passes to a special metamorphism--to +the effects of _heat_ produced by _contact_. Such effects may almost +always be observed near the margin of masses of eruptive rock, and they +are attributable either to the communicated heat of the eruptive rock +itself, or to the disengagement of gases, of steam, or of mineral and +thermal waters, which have accompanied its eruption. The effects vary +not only with the rock ejected, but even with the nature of the rock +surrounding it. + +In the case of volcanic lava ejected in a molten state, for instance, +the modifications it effects on the surrounding rock are very +characteristic. Its structure becomes prismatic, full of cracks, often +cellular and scoriaceous. Wood and other combustibles touched by the +lava are consumed or partially carbonised. Limestone assumes a granular +and crystalline texture. Siliceous rocks are transformed, not only into +quartz like glass, but they also combine with various bases, and yield +vitreous and cellular silicates. It is nearly the same with argillaceous +rocks, which adhere together, and frequently take the colour of red +bricks. + +The surrounding rock is frequently impregnated with specular iron-ore, +and penetrated with hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, and by divers salts +formed from these acids. + +At a certain distance from the place of contact with the lava, the +action of water aided by heat produces silica, carbonate of lime, +aragonite, zeolite, and various other minerals. + +From immediate contact with the lava, then, the metamorphic rocks denote +the action of a very strong heat. They bear evident traces of +calcination, of softening, and even of fusion. When they present +themselves as hydrosilicates and carbonates, the silica and associated +minerals are most frequently at some distance from the points of +contact; and the formation of these minerals is probably due to the +combination of water and heat, although this last ceases to be the +principal agent. + +The hydrated volcanic rocks, such as the basalts and trappean rocks in +general, continue to produce effects of metamorphism, in which heat +operates, although its influence is inconsiderable, water being much the +more powerful agent. The metamorphosis which is observable in the +structure and mineralogical composition of neighbouring rocks is as +follows:--The structure of separation becomes fragmentary, columnar, or +many-sided, and even prismatic. It becomes especially prismatic in +combustibles, in sandstones, in argillaceous formations, in felspathic +rocks, and even in limestones. Prisms are formed perpendicular to the +surface of contact, their length sometimes exceeding six feet. Most +commonly they still contain water or volatile matter. These characters +may be observed at the junction of the basalts which has been ejected +upon the argillaceous strata near Clermont in Auvergne, at Polignac, and +in the neighbourhood of Le Puy-en-Velay. + +If the vein of Basalt or Trap has traversed a bed of coal or of lignite, +we find the combustible strongly _metamorphosed_ at the point of +contact. Sometimes it becomes cellular and is changed into _coke_. This +is especially the case in the coal-basin of Brassac. But more frequently +the coal has lost all, or part of, its bituminous and volatile +matter--it has been metamorphosed into anthracite--as an example we may +quote the lignite of Mont Meisner. + +Again, in some exceptional cases, the combustible may even be changed +into graphite near to its junction with Trap. This is observed at the +coal-mine of New Cumnock in Ayrshire. + +When near its junction with a _trappean_ rock, a combustible has been +metamorphosed into _coke_ or anthracite, it is also frequently +impregnated by hydrated oxide of iron, by clay, foliated carbonate of +lime, iron pyrites, and by various mineral veins. It may happen that the +combustible has been reduced to a pulverulent state, in which case it is +unfit for use. Such is the case in a coal-mine at Newcastle, where the +coal lies within thirty yards of a dyke of Trap. + +When Basalt and Trap have been ejected through limestone rock, the +latter becomes more or less altered. Near the points of contact, the +metamorphism which they have undergone is revealed by the change of +colour and aspect, which is exhibited all around the vein, often also by +the development of a crystalline structure. Limestone becomes granular +and saccharoid--it is changed into marble. The most remarkable instance +of this metamorphism is the Carrara marble, a non-fossiliferous +limestone of the Oolite series, which has been altered and the fossils +destroyed; so that the marble of these celebrated quarries, once +supposed to have been formed before the creation of organic beings, is +now shown to be an altered limestone of the Oolitic period, and the +underlying crystalline schists are sandstones and shales of secondary +age modified by plutonic action. + +The action of basalt upon limestone is observable at Villeneuve de Berg, +in Auvergne; but still more in the neighbourhood of Belfast, where we +may see the Chalk changed into saccharoid limestone near to its contact +with the Trap. Sometimes the metamorphism extends many feet from the +point of contact; nay, more than that, some zeolites and other minerals +seem to be developed in the crystallised limestone. + +When sandstone is found in contact with trappean rock, it presents +unequivocal traces of metamorphism; it loses its reddish colour and +becomes white, grey, green, or black; parallel veins may be detected +which give it a jaspideous structure; it separates into prisms +perpendicular to the walls of the injected veins, when it assumes a +brilliant and vitreous lustre. Sometimes it is even also found +penetrated by zeolites, a family of minerals which melt before the +blowpipe with considerable ebullition. The mottled sandstones of +Germany, which are traversed by veins of basalt, often exhibit +metamorphism, particularly at Wildenstern, in Würtemberg. + +Argillaceous rocks, like all others, are subject to metamorphism when +they come in contact with eruptive trappean rocks. In these +circumstances they change colour and assume a varied or prismatic +structure; at the same time their hardness increases, and they become +lithoidal or stony in structure. They may also become cellular--form +zeolites in their cavities with foliated carbonate of lime, as well as +minerals which commonly occur in amygdaloid. Sometimes even the fissures +are coated by the metallic minerals, and the other minerals which +accompany them in their metalliferous beds. Generally they lose a part +of their water and of their carbonic acid. In other circumstances they +combine with oxide of iron and the alkalies. This has been asserted, for +example, at Essey, in the department of the Meurthe, where a very +argillaceous sandstone is found, charged with jasper porcellanite, near +to the junction of the rock with a vein of basalt. + +Hitherto we have spoken only of the metamorphosis the result of volcanic +action. A few words will suffice to acquaint the reader with the +metamorphism exercised by the porphyries and granites. By contact with +granite, we find coal changed into anthracite or graphite. It is +important to note, however, that coal has seldom been metamorphosed into +coke. As to the limestone, it is sometimes, as we have seen, transformed +into marble; we even find in its interior divers minerals, notably +silicates with a calcareous base, such as garnets, pyroxene, hornblende, +&c. The sandstones and clay-slates have alike been altered. + +The surrounding deposit and the eruptive rock are both frequently +impregnated with quartz, carbonate of lime, sulphate of baryta, +fluorides, and, in a word, with the whole tribe of metalliferous +minerals, which present themselves, besides, with the characteristics +which are common to them in the veins. + + +GENERAL METAMORPHISM. + +Sedimentary rocks sometimes exhibit all the symptoms of metamorphism +where there is no evidence of direct eruptive action, and that upon a +scale much grander than in the case of special metamorphism. It is +observable over whole regions, in which it has modified and altered +simultaneously all the surrounding rocks. This state of things is called +general, or normal, metamorphism. The fundamental gneiss, which covers +such a vast extent of country, is the most striking instance known of +general metamorphism. It was first described by Sir W. E. Logan, +Director of the Canadian Geological Survey, who estimates its thickness +at 30,000 feet. The Laurentian Gneiss is a term which is used by +geologists to designate those metamorphic rocks which are known to be +older than the Cambrian system. They are parts of the old pre-Cambrian +continents which lie at the base of the great American continent, +Scandinavia, the Hebrides, &c.; and which are largely developed on the +west coast of Scotland. In order to give the reader some idea of this +metamorphism, we shall endeavour to trace its effects in rocks of the +same nature, indicating the characters successively presented by the +rocks according to the intensity of the metamorphism to which they have +been subjected. + +Combustibles, which have a special composition, totally different from +all other rocks, are obviously the first objects of examination. When we +descend in the series of sedimentary deposits, the combustibles are +observed completely to change their characters. From the _peat_ which is +the product of our own epoch, we pass to _lignite_, to _coal_, to +_anthracite_, and even to _graphite_; and find that their density +increases, varying up to at least double. Hydrogen, nitrogen, and, +above all, oxygen, diminish rapidly. Volatile and bituminous matters +decrease, while carbon undergoes a proportionate increase. + +This metamorphism of the combustible minerals, which takes place in +deposits of different ages, may also be observed even in the same bed. +For instance, in the coal formations of America, which extend to the +west of the Alleghany mountains, the Coal-measures contain a certain +proportion of volatile matter, which goes on diminishing in proportion +as we approach the granite rocks; this proportion rises to fifty per +cent. upon the Ohio, but it falls to forty upon the Manon-Gahela, and +even to sixteen in the Alleghanies. Finally, in the regions where the +strata have been most disturbed, in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the +coal has been metamorphosed into anthracite and even into graphite or +plumbago. + +Limestone is one of the rocks upon which we can most easily follow the +effects of general metamorphism. When it has not been modified, it is +usually found in sedimentary rocks in the state of compact limestone, of +coarse limestone, or of earthy limestone such as chalk. But let us +consider it in the mountains, especially in mountains which are at the +same time granitic, such as the Pyrenees, the Vosges, and the Alps. We +shall then see its characters completely modified. In the long and deep +valleys of the Alps, for example, we can follow the alterations of the +limestone for many leagues, the beds losing more and more their +regularity in proportion as we approach the central chain, until they +lose themselves in solitary pinnacles and projections enclosed in +crystalline schists or granitic rocks. Towards the upper regions of the +Alps the limestone divides itself into pseudo-regular fragments, it is +more strongly cemented, more compact, more sonorous; its colour becomes +paler, and it passes from black to grey by the gradual disappearance of +organic and bituminous matter with which it has been impregnated, at the +same time its crystalline structure increases in a manner scarcely +perceptible. It may even be observed to be metamorphosed into an +aggregate of microscopic crystals, and finally to pass into a white +saccharoid limestone. + +This metamorphism is produced without any decomposition of the +limestone; it has rather been softened and half melted by the heat, that +is, rendered plastic, so to speak, for we find in it fossils still +recognisable, and among these, notably, some Ammonites and Belemnites, +the presence of which enables us to state that it is the greyish-black +Jurassic limestone, which has been transformed into white saccharoid or +granular limestone. If the limestone subjected to this transformation +were perfectly pure, it would simply take a crystalline structure; but +it is generally mixed with sand and various argillaceous matters, which +have been deposited along with it, matters which go to form new +minerals. These new minerals, however, are not disseminated by chance; +they develop themselves in the direction of the lamination, so to speak, +of the limestone, and in its fissures, in such a manner that they +present themselves in nodules, seams, and sometimes in veins. + +Among the principal minerals of the saccharoid limestone we may mention +graphite, quartz, some very varied silicates, such as andalusite, +disthene, serpentine, talc, garnet, augite, hornblende, epidote, +chlorite, the micas, the felspars; finally, spinel, corundum, phosphate +of lime, oxide of iron and oligiste, iron pyrites, &c. Besides these, +various minerals in veins figure among those which exist more commonly +in the saccharoid limestone. + +When metamorphic limestone is sufficiently pure, it is employed as +statuary marble. Such is the geological origin of Carrara marble, which +is quarried in the Apuan Alps on a great scale; such, also, was the +marble of Paros and Antiparos, still so celebrated for its purity. On +examination, however, with the lens the Carrara marble exhibits blackish +veins and spangles of graphite; the finest blocks, also, frequently +contain nodules of ironstone, which are lined with perfectly limpid +crystals of quartz. These accidental defects are very annoying to the +sculptor, for they are very minute, and nothing on the exterior of the +block betrays their existence. In the marble of Paros, even when it is +strongly translucent, specks of mica are often found. In the ancient +quarries the nodules are so numerous as to have hindered their being +worked, up even to the present time. + +When the mica which occurs in granular limestone takes a green colour +and forms veins, it constitutes the Cipoline marble, which is found in +Corsica, and in the Val Godemar in the Alps. Some white marbles are +quarried in France, chiefly at Loubie, at Sost, at Saint-Béat in the +Pyrenees, and at Chippal in the Vosges. In our country, and especially +in Ireland, there are numerous quarries of marble, veined and coloured +of every hue, but none of a purity suitable for the finest statuary +purposes. All these marbles are only metamorphosed limestones. + +The white marbles employed almost all over the world are those of +Carrara. They result from the metamorphism of limestone of the Lias. +They have not been penetrated by the eruptive rocks, but they have been +subjected upon a great scale to a general metamorphism, to which their +crystalline structure may be attributed. + +It is easily understood that the calcareous strata have not undergone +such an energetic metamorphism without the beds of sandstone and clay, +associated with them, having also undergone some modification of the +same kind. The siliceous beds accompanying the saccharoid limestone +have, in short, a character of their own. They are formed of small +grains of transparent quartz more or less cemented one to the other in a +manner strongly resembling those of the saccharoid limestone. Between +these grains are usually developed some lamellæ of mica of brilliant and +silky lustre, of which the colour is white, red, or green; in a word, it +has produced a _quartzite_. Some veins of quartz frequently traverse +this quartzite in all directions. Independent of the mica, it may +contain, besides, the different minerals already mentioned as occurring +in the limestone, and particularly silicates--such as disthene, +andalusite, staurotide, garnet, and hornblende. + +The argillaceous beds present a series of metamorphisms analogous to the +preceding. We can follow them readily through all their gradations when +we direct our attention towards such granitic masses as those which +constitute the Alps, Pyrenees, the Bretagne Mountains, or our own +Grampians. The schists may perhaps be considered the first step towards +the metamorphism of certain argillaceous rocks; in fact, the schists are +not susceptible of mixing with water like clay; they become stony, and +acquire a much greater density, but their chief characteristic is a +foliated structure. + +Experiment proves that when we subject a substance to a great pressure a +foliated structure is produced in a direction perpendicular to that in +which the pressure is exercised. Everything leads us, therefore, to +believe that pressure is the principal cause of the schistous texture, +and of the foliation of clay-slates, the most characteristic variety of +which is the roofing-slate which is quarried so extensively in North +Wales, in Cumberland, and various parts of Scotland in the British +Islands; in the Ardennes; and in the neighbourhood of Angers, in France. + +In some localities the slate becomes siliceous and is charged with +crystals of felspar. Nevertheless, it still presents itself in parallel +beds, and contains the same fossil remains still in a recognisable +state. For example, in the neighbourhood of Thann, in the Vosges, +certain vegetable imprints are perfectly preserved in the metamorphic +schist, and in their midst are developed some crystals of felspar. + +Mica-schist, which is formed of layers of quartz and mica, is found +habitually associated with rocks which have taken a crystalline +structure, proceeding evidently from an energetic metamorphism of beds +originally argillaceous. Chiastolite, disthene, staurotide, hornblende, +and other minerals are found in it. Mica-schists occur extensively in +Brittany, in the Vosges, in the Pyrenees. In all cases, as we approach +the masses of granite, in these regions, the crystalline structure +becomes more and more marked. + +In describing the various facts relating to the metamorphism of rocks, +we have said little of the causes which have produced it. The causes +are, indeed, in the region of hypothesis, and somewhat mysterious. + +In what concerns special metamorphism, the cause is supposed to admit of +easy explanation--it is heat. When a rock is ejected from the interior +of the earth in a state of igneous fusion, we comprehend readily enough +that the strata, which it traverses, should sustain alterations due to +the influence of heat, and varying with its intensity. This is clear +enough in the case of _lava_. On the other hand, as water always exists +in the interior of the earth’s crust, and as this water must be at a +very high temperature in the neighbourhood of volcanic fires, it +contributes, no doubt, largely to the metamorphism. If the rocks have +not been ejected in a state of fusion, it is evidently water, with the +different mineral substances it holds in solution, which is the chief +actor in the special metamorphism which is produced. + +In general metamorphism, water appears still to be the principal agent. +As it is infiltered through the various beds it will modify their +composition, either by dissolving certain substances, or by introducing +into the metalliferous deposits certain new substances, such as may be +seen forming, even under our eyes, in mineral springs. This has tended +to render the sedimentary deposits plastic, and has permitted the +development of that crystalline structure, which is one of the principal +characteristics of metamorphic rocks. This action has been seconded by +other causes, notably by heat and pressure, which would have an immense +increase of power and energy when metamorphism takes place at a great +depth beneath the surface. Dr. Holl, in an able paper descriptive of the +geology of the Malvern Hills, read before the Geological Society in +February, 1865, adopts this hypothesis as explanatory of the vast +phenomena which are there displayed. After describing the position of +this interesting and strangely-mingled range of rocks, he adds: “These +metamorphic rocks are for the most part highly inclined, and often in a +position nearly vertical. Their disturbance and metamorphism, their +being traversed by granitic veins, and still later their invasion by +trap-dykes and their subsequent elevation above the sea-level, were all +events which must have occupied no inconsiderable period, even of +geological time. I presume,” he adds, “that it will not be maintained +in the present day that the metamorphism of rocks over areas of any but +very moderate extent is due to the intrusion of veins and erupted +masses. The insufficiency of such agency becomes the more obvious when +we consider the slight effects produced by even tolerably extensive +outbursts, such as the Dartmoor granite; while in the case of the +Malverns there is an absence of any local cause whatever. The more +probable explanation in the case of these larger areas is, that they +were faulted down, or otherwise depressed, so as to be brought within +the influence of the earth’s internal heat, and this is the more likely +as they belong to an epoch when the crust is believed to have been +thinner.” When it is considered that, according to the doctrine of +modern geology, the Laurentian rocks, or their equivalents, lie at the +base of all the sedimentary deposits; that this, like other systems of +stratified rocks, was deposited in the form of sand, mud, and clay, to +the thickness of 30,000 feet; and that over an area embracing +Scandinavia, the Hebrides, great part of Scotland, and England as far +south as the Malverns, besides a large proportion of the American +continent, with certain forms of animal life, as recent investigations +demonstrate--can the mind of man realise any other cause by which this +vast extent of metamorphism could have been produced? + +Electric and galvanic currents, circulating in the stratified crust, are +not to be overlooked. The experiments of Mr. R. W. Fox and Mr. Robert +Hunt suggest that, in passing long-continued galvanic currents through +masses of moistened clay, there is a tendency to produce cleavage and a +semi-crystalline arrangement of the particles of matter.[31] + + [31] Report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society for 1837. Robert + Hunt, in “Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain,” + vol. i., p. 433. + + + + +THE BEGINNING. + + +The theory which has been developed, and which considers the earth as an +extinct sun, as a star cooled down from its original heated condition, +as a nebula, or luminous cloud, which has passed from the gaseous to the +solid state--this fine conception, which unites so brilliantly the +kindred sciences of astronomy and geology, belongs to the French +mathematician, Laplace, the immortal author of the “Mécanique Céleste.” + +The hypothesis of Laplace assigns to the sun, and to all bodies which +gravitate in what Descartes calls his _tourbillon_, a common origin. “In +the primitive state in which we must suppose the sun to be,” he says, +“it resembles one of those nebulæ which the telescope reveals to us, +consisting of a more or less brilliant central _nucleus_, surrounded by +luminous clouds, which clouds, condensing at the surface, become +transformed into a star.” + +It has been calculated that the centre of the earth has a temperature of +about 195,000° Cent., a degree of heat which surpasses all that the +imagination can conceive. We can have no difficulty in admitting that, +at a heat so excessive, all the substances which now enter into the +composition of the globe would be reduced to the state of gas or vapour. +Our planet, then, must have been originally an aggregation of aëriform +fluids--a mass of matter entirely gaseous; and if we reflect that +substances in their gaseous state occupy a volume eighteen hundred times +larger than when solid, we shall have some conception of the enormous +volume of this gaseous mass. It would be as large as the sun, which is +fourteen hundred thousand times larger than the terrestrial sphere. In +Fig. 12 we have attempted to give an idea of the vast difference of +volume between the earth in its present solid state and in its primitive +gaseous condition. One of the globes, A, represents the former, B the +latter. It is simply a comparison of size, which is made the more +strikingly apparent by means of these geometrical figures--one the +twentieth part of an inch in diameter, the other two inches and three +quarters. + +[Illustration: VI.--The Earth circulating in space in the state of a +gaseous star.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Comparative volume of the earth in the gaseous +and solid state.] + +At this excessive temperature the gaseous mass, which we have described, +would shine in space as the sun does at the present day; and with the +same brilliancy as that with which, to our eyes, the fixed stars and +planets shine in the serenity of night, as represented on the opposite +page (PLATE VI.). Circulating round the sun in obedience to the laws of +universal gravitation, this incandescent gaseous mass was necessarily +regulated by the laws which govern other material substances. As it got +cooler it gradually transferred part of its warmth to the glacial +regions of the inter-planetary spaces, in the midst of which it traced +the line of its flaming orbit. Consequent on its continual cooling (but +at the end of a period of time of which it would be impossible, even +approximately, to fix the duration), the star, originally gaseous, would +attain a liquid state. It would then be considerably diminished in +volume. + +The laws of mechanics teach us that liquid bodies, when in a state of +rotation, assume a spherical form; it is one of the laws of their being, +emanating from the Creator, and is due to the force of attraction. Thus +the Earth takes the spheroidal form, belonging to it, in common with the +greater number of the celestial bodies. + +The Earth is subject to two distinct movements; namely, a movement of +translation round the sun, and a movement of rotation on its own +axis--the latter a uniform movement, which produces the regular +alternations of days and nights. Mechanics have also established the +fact, which is confirmed by experiment, that a fluid mass in motion +produces (as the result of the variation of the centrifugal force on its +different diameters), a swelling towards the equatorial diameter of the +sphere, and a flattening at the poles or extremities of its axis. It is +in consequence of this law, that the Earth, when it was in a liquid +state, became swollen at the equator, and depressed at its two poles; +and that it has passed from its primitive spherical form to the +spheroidal--that is, has become flattened at each of its polar +extremities, and has assumed its present shape of an oblate spheroid. + +This bulging at the equator and flattening towards the poles afford the +most direct proofs, that can be adduced, of the original liquid state of +our planet. A solid and non-elastic sphere--a stone ball, for +example--might turn for ages upon its axis, and its form would sustain +no change; but a fluid ball, or one of a pasty consistence, would swell +out towards the middle, and, in the same proportion, become flattened at +the extremities of its axis. It was upon this principle, namely, by +admitting the primitive fluidity of the globe, that Newton announced _à +priori_ the bulging of the globe at the equator and its flattening at +the poles; and he even calculated the amount of this depression. The +actual measurement, both of this expansion and flattening, by +Maupertuis, Clairaut, Camus, and Lemonnier, in 1736, proved how exact +the calculations of the great geometrican were. Those gentlemen, +together with the Abbé Outhier, were sent into Lapland by the Academy of +Sciences; the Swedish astronomer, Celsius, accompanied them, and +furnished them with the best instruments for measuring and surveying. At +the same time the Academy sent Bouguer and Condamine to the equatorial +regions of South America. The measurements taken in both these regions +established the existence of the equatorial expansion and the polar +depression, as Newton had estimated it to be in his calculations. + +It does not follow, as a consequence of the partial cooling down of the +terrestrial mass, that all the gaseous substances composing it should +pass into a liquid state; some of these might remain in the state of gas +or vapour, and form round the terrestrial spheroid an outer envelope or +_atmosphere_ (from the Greek words ατμος, _vapour_, and σφαιρα, +_sphere_). But we should form a very inexact idea of the atmosphere +which surrounded the globe, at this remote period, if we compared it +with that which surrounds it now. The extent of the gaseous matter which +enveloped the primitive earth must have been immense; it doubtless +extended to the moon. It included, in short, in the state of vapour, the +enormous body of water which, as such, now constitutes our existing +seas, added to all the other substances which preserve their gaseous +state at the temperature then exhibited by the incandescent earth; and +it is certainly no exaggeration to place this temperature at 2,000° +Centigrade. The atmosphere would participate in this temperature; and +acted on by such excessive heat, the pressure that it would exert on the +Earth would be infinitely greater than that which it exercises at the +present time. To the gases which form the component parts of the present +atmospheric air--namely, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbonic acid--to +enormous masses of watery vapour, must be added vast quantities of +mineral substances, metallic or earthy, reduced to a gaseous state, and +maintained in that state by the temperature of this gigantic furnace. +The metals, the chlorides--metallic, alkaline, and earthy--sulphur, the +sulphides, and even the silicates of alumina and lime; all, at this +temperature, would exist in a vaporous form in the atmosphere +surrounding the primitive globe. + +It is to be inferred that, under these circumstances, the different +substances composing this atmosphere would be ranged round the globe in +the order of their respective densities; the first layer--that nearest +to the surface of the globe--being formed of the heavier vapours, such +as those of the metals, of iron, platinum, and copper, mixed doubtless +with clouds of fine metallic dust produced by the partial condensation +of their vapours. This first and heaviest zone, and the thickest also, +would be quite opaque, although the surface of the earth was still at a +red heat. Above it would come the more vaporisable substances, such as +the metallic and alkaline chlorides, particularly the chloride of sodium +or common salt, sulphur and phosphorus, with all the volatile +combinations of these substances. The upper zone would contain matter +still more easily converted into vapour, such as water (steam), together +with others naturally gaseous, as oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid. +This order of superposition, however, would not always be preserved. In +spite of their differences of density, these three atmospheric layers +would often become mixed, producing formidable storms and violent +ebullitions; frequently throwing down, rending, upheaving, and +confounding these incandescent zones. + +As to the globe itself, without being so much agitated as its hot and +shifting atmosphere, it would be no less subject to perpetual tempests, +occasioned by the thousand chemical actions which took place in its +molten mass. On the other hand, the electricity resulting from these +powerful chemical actions, operating on such a vast scale, would induce +frightful electric detonations, thunder adding to the horror of this +primitive scene, which no imagination, no human pencil could trace, and +which constitutes that gloomy and disastrous chaos of which the +legendary history of every ancient race has transmitted the tradition. +In this manner would our globe circulate in space, carrying in its train +the flaming streaks of its multiple atmosphere, unfitted, as yet, for +living beings, and impenetrable to the rays of the sun, around which it +described its vast orbit. + +The temperature of the planetary regions is infinitely low; according to +Laplace it cannot be estimated at less than 100° below zero. The glacial +regions traversed in its course by the incandescent globe would +necessarily cool it, at first superficially, when it would assume a +pasty consistence. It must not be forgotten that the earth, on account +of its liquid state, would be obedient in all its mass to the action of +flux and reflux, which proceeds from the attraction of the sun and moon, +but to which the sea alone is now subject. This action, to which all its +liquid and movable particles were subject, would singularly accelerate +the commencement of the solidification of the terrestrial mass. It would +thus gradually assume that sort of consistence which iron attains, when +it is first withdrawn from the furnace, in the process of puddling. + +As the earth cooled, beds of concrete substances would necessarily be +formed, which, floating at first in isolated masses on the surface of +the semi-fluid matter, would in course of time come together, +consolidate, and form continuous banks; just as we see with the ice of +the present Polar Seas, which, when brought in contact by the agitation +of the waves, coalesces and forms icebergs, more or less movable. By +extending this phenomenon to the whole surface of the globe, the +solidification of its entire surface would be produced. A solid, but +still thin and fragile crust, would thus envelop the whole earth, +enclosing entirely its still fluid interior. The entire consolidation +would necessarily be a much slower process--one which, according to the +received hypothesis, is very far from being completed at the present +time; for it is estimated that the actual thickness of the earth’s crust +does not exceed thirty miles, while the mean radius or distance from the +centre of the terrestrial sphere, approaches 4,000 miles, the mean +diameter being 7,912·409 miles; so that the portion of our planet, +supposed to be solidified, represents only a very small fraction of its +total mass. + +[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Relative volumes of the solid crust and liquid +mass of the globe.] + +We say thirty miles, for such is the ordinary estimated thickness of the +earth’s crust, usually admitted by savants; and the following is the +process by which this result has been obtained. + +We know that the temperature of the earth increases one degree +Centigrade for every hundred feet of descent. This result has been +borne out by a great number of measurements, made in many of the mines +of France, in the tin mines of Cornwall, in the mines of the Erzgeberge, +of the Ural, of Scotland, and, above all, in the soundings effected in +the Artesian wells of Grenelle and Passy, near Paris, of St. André de +Iregny, and at a great number of other points. + +The greatest depth to which miners have hitherto penetrated is about 973 +yards, which has been reached in a boring executed in Monderf, in the +Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. At Neusalzwerk, near Minden, in Prussia, +another boring has been carried to the depth of 760 yards. In the +coal-mines of Monkwearmouth the pits have been sunk 525 yards, and at +Dukinfield 717 yards. The mean of the thermometic observations made, at +all these points, leads to the conclusion that the temperature increases +about one degree Fahrenheit for every sixty feet (English) of descent +after the first hundred. + +In admitting that this law of temperature exists for all depths of the +earth’s crust, we arrive at the conclusion that, at a depth of from +twenty-five to thirty-five miles--which is only about five times the +height of the highest mountains--the most refractory matter would be in +a state of fusion. According to M. Mitscherlich, the flame of hydrogen, +burning in free air, acquires a temperature of 1,560° Centigrade. In +this flame platinum would be in a state of fusion. Granite melts at a +lower temperature than soft iron, that is at about 1,300°; while silver +melts at 1,023°. In imagining an increase of temperature equal to one +degree for every hundred feet of descent, the temperature at twenty-five +miles will be 1,420° C. or 2,925° F.; thirty miles below the surface +there will be a probable temperature of 1,584° C. or 3,630° F.; it +follows, if these arguments be admitted, and the calculation correct, +that the thickness of the solid crust of the globe does not much exceed +thirty miles. + +This result, which gives to the terrestrial crust a thickness equal to +1/190 of the earth’s diameter, has nothing, it is true, of absolute +certainty. + +Prof. W. Hopkins, F.R.S., an eminent mathematician, has much insisted +upon the fact, that the conductibility of granite rocks, for heat, is +much greater than that of sedimentary rocks; and he argues that in the +lower stratum of the earth the temperature increases much more slowly +than it does nearer the surface. This consideration has led Mr. Hopkins +to estimate the probable thickness of the earth’s solid crust at a +minimum of 200 miles. + +In support of this estimate Mr. Hopkins puts forward another argument, +based upon the precession of the equinoxes. We know that the terrestrial +axis, instead of always preserving the same direction in space, +revolves in a cone round the pole of the ecliptic. Our globe, it is +calculated, will accomplish its revolution in about 25,000 years. In +about this period it will return to its original position. This +balancing, which has been compared to that of a top when about to cease +spinning, produces the movement known as the _precession of the +equinoxes_. It is due to the attraction which the sun and moon exercise +upon the swelling equatorial of the globe. This attraction would act +very differently upon a globe entirely solid, and upon one with a liquid +interior, covered by a comparatively thin crust. Mr. Hopkins subjected +this curious problem to mathematical analysis, and he calculated that +the precession of the equinoxes, observed by astronomers, could only be +explained by admitting that the solid shell of the earth could not be +less than from about 800 to 1,000 miles in thickness. + +In his researches on the _rigidity of the earth_, Sir William Thomson +finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation require that the +earth, if not solid to the core, must be nearly so; and that no +continuous liquid vesicle at all approaching 6,000 miles in diameter can +possibly exist in the earth’s interior, without rendering the phenomena +in question very sensibly different from what they are. + +The calculations of Mr. Hennessey are in direct opposition to those of +Sir William Thomson, and show that the earth’s crust cannot be less than +eighteen miles, or more than 600 miles in thickness. + +Admitting, for the present, that the terrestrial crust is only thirty +miles in thickness, we can express in a familiar, but very intelligible +fashion, the actual relation between the dimensions of the liquid +nucleus and the solid crust of the earth. If we imagine the earth to be +an orange, a tolerably thick sheet of paper applied to its surface will +then represent, approximately, the thickness of the solid crust which +now envelopes the globe. Fig. 13 will enable us to appreciate this fact +still more correctly. The terrestrial sphere having a mean diameter of +7,912 miles, or a mean radius of 3,956 miles, and a solid crust about +thirty miles thick, which is 1/260 of the diameter, or 1/130 of the +radius, the engraving may be presumed to represent these proportions +with sufficient accuracy. + +To determine, even approximately, the time such a vast body would take +in cooling, so as to permit of the formation of a solid crust, or to fix +the duration of the transformations which we are describing, would be an +impossible task. + +[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Formation of primitive granitic mountains.] + +The first terrestrial crust formed, as indicated, would be incapable of +resisting the waves of the ocean of internal fire, which would be +depressed and raised up at its daily flux and reflux in obedience to +the attraction of the sun and moon. Who can trace, even in imagination, +the fearful rendings, the gigantic inundations, which would result from +these movements! Who would dare to paint the sublime horrors of these +first mysterious convulsions of the globe! Amid torrents of molten +matter, mixed with gases, upheaving and piercing the scarcely +consolidated crust, large crevices would be opened, and through these +gaping cracks waves of liquid granite would be ejected, and then left to +cool and consolidate on the surface. Fig. 14 represents the formation of +a primitive granitic mountain, by the eruption of the internal granitic +matter which forces its way to the surface through a fracture in the +crust. In some of these mountains, Ben Nevis for example, three +different stages of the eruption can be traced. “Ben Nevis, now the +undoubted monarch of the Scottish mountains,” says Nicol, “shows well +the diverse age and relations of igneous rocks. The Great Moor from +Inverlochy and Fort William to the foot of the hill is gneiss. Breaking +through, and partly resting on the gneiss is granite, forming the lower +two-thirds of the mountain up to the small tarn on the shoulder of the +hill. Higher still is the huge prism of porphyry, rising steep and +rugged all around.” In this manner would the first mountains be formed. +In this way, also, might some metallic veins be ejected through the +smaller openings, true injections of eruptive matter produced from the +interior of the globe, traversing the primitive rocks and constituting +the precious depository of metals, such as copper, zinc, antimony, and +lead. Fig. 15 represents the internal structure of some of these +metallic veins. In this case the fracture is only a fissure in the rock, +which soon became filled with injected matter, often of different kinds, +which in crystallising would completely fill the hollow of this cleft, +or crack; but sometimes forming cavities or geodes as a result of the +contraction of the mass. + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Metallic veins.] + +But some eruptions of granitic and other substances, ejected from the +interior, never reach the surface at all. In such cases the clefts and +crevices--longitudinal or oblique--are filled, but the fissures in the +crust do not themselves extend to the surface. Fig. 16 represents an +eruption of granite through a mass of sedimentary rock--the granite +ejected from the centre fills all the clefts and fractures, but it has +not been sufficiently powerful to force its way to the surface. + +[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Eruption of granite.] + +On the surface of the earth, then, which would be at first smooth and +unbroken, there were formed, from the very beginning, swelling +eminences, hollows, foldings, corrugations, and crevices, which would +materially alter its original aspect; its arid and burning surface +bristled with rugged protuberances, or was traversed by enormous +fissures and cracks. Nevertheless, as the globe continued to cool, a +time arrived when its temperature became insufficient to maintain, in a +state of vapour, the vast masses of water which floated in the +atmosphere. These vapours would pass into the liquid state, and then the +first rain fell upon the earth. Let us here remark that these were +veritable rains of boiling water; for in consequence of the very +considerable pressure of the atmosphere, water would be condensed and +become liquid at a temperature much above 100° Centigrade (212° Fahr.) + +[Illustration: VII.--Condensation and rainfall on the primitive globe.] + +The first drop of water, which fell upon the still heated terrestrial +sphere, marked a new period in its evolution--a period the mechanical +and chemical effects of which it is important to analyse. The contact of +the condensed water with the consolidated surface of the globe opens up +a series of modifications of which science may undertake the examination +with a degree of confidence, or at least with more positive elements of +appreciation than any we possess for the period of chaos; some of the +features of which we have attempted to represent, leaving of necessity +much to the imagination, and for the reader to interpret after his own +fashion. + +The first water which fell, in the liquid state, upon the slightly +cooled surface of the earth would be rapidly converted into steam by the +elevation of its temperature. Thus, rendered much lighter than the +surrounding atmosphere, these vapours would rise to the utmost limits of +the atmosphere, where they would become condensed afresh, in consequence +of their radiation towards the glacial regions of space; condensing +again, they would re-descend to the earth in a liquid state, to +re-ascend as vapour and fall in a state of condensation. But all these +changes, in the physical condition of the water, could only be +maintained by withdrawing a very considerable amount of heat from the +surface of the globe, whose cooling would be greatly hastened by these +continual alternations of heat and cold; its heat would thus become +gradually dissipated and lost in the regions of celestial space. + +This phenomenon extending itself by degrees to the whole mass of watery +vapour existing in the atmosphere, the waters covered the earth in +increasing quantities; and as the conversion of all liquids into vapour +is provocative of a notable disengagement of electricity, a vast +quantity of electric fluid necessarily resulted from the conversion of +such large masses of water into vapour. Bursts of thunder, and bright +flashes of lightning were the necessary accompaniments of this +extraordinary struggle of the elements--a state of things which M. +Maurando has attempted to represent on the opposite page (PLATE VII.). + +How long did this struggle for supremacy between fire and water, with +the incessant noise of thunder, continue? All that can be said in reply +is, that a time came when water was triumphant. After having covered +vast areas on the surface of the earth, it finally occupied and entirely +covered the whole surface; for there is good reason to believe that at a +certain epoch, at the commencement, so to speak, of its evolution; the +earth was covered by water over its whole extent. The ocean was +universal. From this moment our globe entered on a regular series of +revolutions, interrupted only by the outbreaks of the internal fires +which were concealed beneath its still imperfectly consolidated crust. + +“At the early periods in which the materials of the ancient crystalline +schists were accumulated, it cannot be doubted that the chemical +processes which generated silicates were much more active than in more +recent times. The heat of the earth’s crust was probably then far +greater than at present, while a high temperature prevailed at +comparatively small depths, and thermal waters abounded. A denser +atmosphere, charged with carbonic acid gas, must also have contributed +to maintain, at the earth’s surface, a greater degree of heat, though +one not incompatible with the existence of organic life. + +“These conditions must have favoured many chemical processes, which in +later times have nearly ceased to operate. Hence we find that +subsequently to the eozoic times, silicated rocks of clearly marked +chemical origin are comparatively rare.”[32] + + [32] “Address to the American Association for the Advancement of + Science,” by Thomas Sterry Hunt, LL.D., p. 56. 1871. + +In order to comprehend the complex action, now mechanical, now chemical, +which the waters, still in a heated state, exercised on the solid crust, +let us consider what were the components of this crust. The rocks which +formed its first _stratum_--the framework of the earth, the foundation +upon which all others repose--may be presumed to have been a compound +which, in varying proportions, forms granite and gneiss, and has +latterly been designated by geologists Laurentian. + +What is this gneiss, this granite, speaking of it with reference to its +mineralogical character? It is a combination of silicates, with a base +of alumina, potash, soda, and sometimes lime--_quartz_, _felspar_, and +_mica_ form, by their simple aggregation, _granite_--it is thus a +ternary combination, or composed of three minerals. + +_Quartz_, the most abundant of all minerals, is silica more or less pure +and often crystallised. _Felspar_ is a crystalline or crystallised +mineral, composed of _silicate_ of alumina, potash, soda, or lime; +potash-felspar is called _orthoclase_, soda-felspar _albite_, +lime-felspar _anorthite_. _Mica_ is a silicate of alumina and potash, +containing magnesia and oxide of iron; it takes its name from the Latin +_micare_, to shine or glitter. + +_Granite_ (from the Italian _grano_, being granular in its structure) +is, then, a compound rock, formed of felspar, quartz, and mica, and the +three constituent minerals are more or less crystalline. _Gneiss_ is a +schistose variety of granite, and composed of the same minerals; the +only difference between the two rocks (whatever may be their difference +of origin) being that the constituent minerals, instead of being +confusedly aggregated, as in granite, assume a foliated texture in +gneiss. This foliated structure leads sometimes to gneiss being called +_stratified granite_. “The term gneiss originated with the Freiberg +miners, who from ancient times have used it to designate the rock in +which their veins of silver-ore were found.”[33] + + [33] Cotta’s “Rocks Classified and Described,” by P. H. Lawrence, p. + 232. + +The felspar, which enters into the composition of granite, is a mineral +that is easily decomposed by water, either cold or boiling, or by the +water of springs rich in carbonic acid. The chemical action of carbonic +acid and water, and the action (at once chemical and mechanical) of the +hot water in the primitive seas, powerfully modified the granitic rocks +which lay beneath them. The warm rains which fell upon the +mountain-peaks and granitic pinnacles, the torrents of rain which fell +upon the slopes or in the valleys, dissolved the several alkaline +silicates which constitute felspar and mica, and swept them away to form +elsewhere strata of clay and sand; thus were the first modifications in +the primitive rocks produced by the united action of air and water, and +thus were the first sedimentary rocks deposited from the oceanic waters. + +The argillaceous deposits produced by this decomposition of the +felspathic and micaceous rocks would participate in the still heated +temperature of the globe--would be again subjected to long continued +heat; and when they became cool again, they would assume, by a kind of +semi-crystallisation, that parallel structure which is called foliation. +All foliated rocks, then, are metamorphic, and the result of a +metamorphic action to which sedimentary strata (and even some eruptive +rocks) have been subjected subsequently to their deposition and +consolidation, and which has produced a re-arrangement of their +component mineral particles, and frequently, if not always, of their +chemical elements also. + +In this manner would the first beds of crystalline _schist_, such as +mica-schist, be formed, probably out of sandy and clayey muds, or +arenaceous and argillaceous shales. + +At the end of this first phase of its existence, the terrestrial globe +was, then, covered, over nearly its whole surface, with hot and muddy +water, forming extensive but shallow seas. A few islands, raising their +granitic peaks here and there, would form a sort of archipelago, +surrounded by seas filled with earthy matter in suspension. During a +long series of ages the solid crust of the globe went on increasing in +thickness, as the process of solidification of the underlying liquid +matter nearest to the surface proceeded. This state of tranquillity +could not last long. The solid portion of the globe had not yet attained +sufficient consistency to resist the pressure of the gases and boiling +liquids which it covered and compressed with its elastic crust. The +waves of this internal sea triumphed, more than once, over the feeble +resistances which were opposed to it, making enormous dislocations and +breaches in the ground--immense upheavals of the solid crust raising the +beds of the seas far above their previous levels--and thus mountains +arose out of the ocean, not now exclusively granitic, but composed, +besides, of those schistose rocks which have been deposited under water, +after long suspension in the muddy seas. + +On the other hand the Earth, as it continued to cool, would also +contract; and this process of contraction, as we have already explained, +was another cause of dislocation at the surface, producing either +considerable ruptures or simple fissures in the continuity of the crust. +These fissures would be filled, at a subsequent period, by jets of the +molten matter occupying the interior of the globe--by _eruptive +granite_, that is to say--or by various mineral compounds; they also +opened a passage to those torrents of heated water charged with mineral +salts, with silica, the bicarbonates of lime and magnesia, which, +mingling with the waters of the vast primitive ocean, were deposited at +the bottom of the seas, thus helping to increase the mass of the mineral +substances composing the solid portion of the globe. + +These eruptions of granitic or metallic matter--these vast discharges of +mineral waters through the fractured surface--would be of frequent +occurrence during the primitive epoch we are contemplating. It should +not, therefore, be a matter for surprise to find the more ancient rocks +almost always fractured, reduced in dimensions by faults and +contortions, and often traversed by veins containing metals or their +oxides, such as the oxides of copper and tin; or their sulphides, such +as those of lead, of antimony, or of iron--which are now the object of +the miner’s art. + + + + +PRIMARY EPOCH. + + +After the terrible tempests of the primitive period--after these great +disturbances of the mineral kingdom--Nature would seem to have gathered +herself together, in sublime silence, in order to proceed to the grand +mystery of the creation of living beings. + +During the primitive epoch the temperature of the earth was too high to +admit the appearance of life on its surface. The darkness of thickest +night shrouded this cradle of the world; the atmosphere probably was so +charged with vapours of various kinds, that the sun’s rays were +powerless to pierce its opacity. Upon this heated surface, and in this +perpetual night, organic life could not manifest itself. No plant, no +animal, then, could exist upon the silent earth. In the seas of this +epoch, therefore, only unfossiliferous strata were deposited. + +Nevertheless, our planet continued to be subjected to a gradual +refrigeration on the one hand, and, on the other, continuous rains were +purifying its atmosphere. From this time, then, the sun’s rays, being +less obscured, could reach its surface, and, under their beneficent +influence, life was not slow in disclosing itself. “Without light,” said +the illustrious Lavoisier, “Nature was without life; it was dead and +inanimate. A benevolent God, in bestowing light, has spread on the +surface of the earth organisation, sentiment, and thought.” We begin, +accordingly, to see upon the earth--the temperature of which was nearly +that of our equatorial zone--a few plants and a few animals make their +appearance. These first generations of life will be replaced by others +of a higher organisation, until at the last stage of the creation, man, +endowed with the supreme attribute which we call intelligence, will +appear upon the earth. “The word _progress_, which we think peculiar to +humanity, and even to modern times,” said Albert Gaudry, in a lecture on +the animals of the ancient world, delivered in 1863, “was pronounced by +the Deity on the day when he created the first living organism.” + +Did plants precede animals? We know not; but such would appear to have +been the order of creation. It is certain that in the sediment of the +oldest seas, and in the vestiges which remain to us of the earliest ages +of organic life on the globe, that is to say, in the argillaceous +schists, we find both plants and animals of advanced organisation. But, +on the other hand, during the greater part of the primary +epoch--especially during the Carboniferous age--the plants are +particularly numerous, and terrestrial animals scarcely show themselves; +this would lead us to the conclusion that plants preceded animals. It +may be remarked, besides, that from their cellular nature, and their +looser tissues composed of elements readily affected by the air, the +first plants could be easily destroyed without leaving any material +vestiges; from which it may be concluded, that, in those primitive +times, an immense number of plants existed, no traces of which now +remain to us. + +We have stated that, during the earlier ages of our globe, the waters +covered a great part of its surface; and it is in them that we find the +first appearance of life. When the waters had become sufficiently cool +to allow of the existence of organised beings, creation was developed, +and advanced with great energy; for it manifested itself by the +appearance of numerous and very different species of animals and plants. + +One of the most ancient groups of organic remains are the Brachiopoda, a +group of Mollusca, particularly typified by the genus Lingula, a species +of which still exist in the present seas; the Trilobites (Fig. 17), a +family of Crustaceans, especially characteristic of this period; then +come Productas, Terebratulæ, and Orthoceratites--other genera of +Mollusca. The Corals, which appeared at an early period, seem to have +lived in all ages, and survive to the present day. + +[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Paradoxides Bohemicus--Bohemia.] + +Contemporaneously with these animals, plants of inferior organisation +have left their impressions upon the schists; these are Algæ (aquatic +plants, Fig. 28). As the continents enlarged, plants of a higher type +made their appearance--the Equisetaceæ, herbaceous Ferns, and other +plants. These we shall have occasion to specify when noticing the +periods which constitute the Primary Epoch, and which consists of the +following periods: the Carboniferous, the Old Red Sandstone, and +Devonian, the Silurian, and the Cambrian. + + +CAMBRIAN PERIOD. + +The researches of geologists have discovered but scanty traces of +organic remains in the rocks which form the base of this system in +England. _Arenicolites_, or worm-tracks and burrows, have been found in +Shropshire, by Mr. Salter, to occur in countless numbers through a mile +of thickness in the Longmynd rocks; and others were discovered by the +late Dr. Kinahan in Wicklow. In Ireland, in the picturesque tract of +Bray Head, on the south and east coasts of Dublin, we find, in slaty +beds of the same age as the Longmynd rocks, a peculiar zoophyte, which +has been named by Edward Forbes _Oldhamia_, after its discoverer, Dr. +Oldham, Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India. This fossil +represents one of the earliest inhabitants of the ocean, which then +covered the greater part of the British Isles. “In the hard, purplish, +and schistose rocks of Bray Head,” says Dr. Kinahan,[34] “as well as +other parts of Ireland which are recognised as Cambrian rocks, markings +of a very peculiar character are found. They occur in masses, and are +recognised as hydrozoic animal assemblages. They have regularity of +form, abundant, but not universal, occurrence in beds, and permanence of +character even when the beds are at a distance from each other, and +dissimilar in chemical and physical character.” In the course of his +investigations, Dr. Kinahan discovered at least four species of +Oldhamia, which he has described and figured. + + [34] Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xxiii., p. 556. + +The Cambrian rocks consist of the Llanberis slates of Llanberis and +Penrhyn in North Wales, which, with their associated sandy strata, +attain a thickness of about 3,000 feet, and the Barmouth and Harlech +Sandstones. In the Longmynd hills of Shropshire these last beds attain a +thickness of 6,000 feet; and in some parts of Merionethshire they are of +still greater thickness. + +Neither in North Wales, nor in the Longmynd, do the Cambrian rocks +afford any indications of life, except annelide-tracks and burrows. From +this circumstance, together with general absence of Mollusca in these +strata, and the sudden appearance of numerous shells and trilobites in +the succeeding Lingula Flags, a change of conditions seems to have +ensued at the close of the Cambrian period. + +Believing that the red colour of rocks is frequently connected with +their deposition in inland waters, Professor Ramsay conceives it to be +possible, that the absence of marine mollusca in the Cambrian rocks may +be due to the same cause that produced their absence in the Old Red +Sandstone, and that the presence of sun-cracks and rain-pittings in the +Longmynd beds is a corroboration of this suggestion.[35] + + [35] “On the Red Rocks of England,” by A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. + Geol. Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 250. + + +THE SILURIAN PERIOD. + +The next period of the Primary Epoch is the _Silurian_, a system of +rocks universal in extent, overspreading the whole earth more or less +completely, and covering up the rocks of older age. The term “Silurian” +was given by the illustrious Murchison to the epoch which now occupies +our attention, because the system of rocks formed by the marine +sediments, during the period in question, form large tracts of country +in Shropshire and Wales, a region formerly peopled by the _Silures_, a +Celtic race who fought gloriously against the Romans, under Caractacus +or Caradoc, the British king of those tracts. The reader may find the +nomenclature strange, as applied to the vast range of rocks which it +represents in all parts of the Old and New World, but it indicates, with +sufficient exactness, the particular region in our own country in which +the system typically prevails--reasons which led to the term being +adopted, even at a time when its vast geographical extent was not +suspected. + +On this subject, and on the principles which have guided geologists in +their classification of rocks, Professor Sedgwick remarks in one of his +papers in the _Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society_: “In every +country,” he says,[36] “which is not made out by reference to a +pre-existing type, our first labour is that of determining the physical +groups, and establishing their relations by natural sections. The labour +next in order is the determination of the fossils found in the +successive physical groups; and, as a matter of fact, the natural groups +of fossils are generally found to be nearly co-ordinate with the +physical groups--each successive group resulting from certain conditions +which have modified the distribution of organic types. In the third +place comes the collective arrangement of the groups into systems, or +groups of a higher order. The establishment of the Silurian system is an +admirable example of this whole process. The groups called Caradoc, +Wenlock, Ludlow, &c., were physical groups determined by good natural +sections. The successive groups of fossils were determined by the +sections; and the sections, as the representatives of physical groups, +were hardly at all modified by any consideration of the fossils, for +these two distinct views of the natural history of such groups led to +co-ordinate results. Then followed the collective view of the whole +series, and the establishment of a nomenclature. Not only the whole +series (considered as a distinct system), but every subordinate group +was defined by a geographical name, referring us to a local type within +the limits of Siluria; in this respect adopting the principle of +grouping and nomenclature applied by W. Smith to our secondary rocks. At +the same time, the older slate rocks of Wales (inferior to the system of +Siluria), were called _Cambrian_, and soon afterwards the next great +collective group of rocks (superior to the system of Siluria) was called +_Devonian_. In this way was established a perfect congruity of language. +It was geographical in principle, and it represented the actual +development of all our older rocks, which gave to it its true value and +meaning.” The period, then, for the purposes of scientific description, +may be divided into three sub-periods--the Upper and Lower Silurian, and +the Cambrian. + + [36] _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc_., vol. iii., p. 159. + +[Illustration: VIII.--Ideal Landscape of the Silurian Period.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Back of Asaphus caudatus (Dudley, Mus. Stokes), +with the eyes well preserved. (Buckland.)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 19.--_a_, Side view of the left eye of the above, +magnified, (Buckland.) _b_, Magnified view of a portion of the eye of +Calymene macrophthalmus. (Hœninghaus.)] + +The characteristics of the Silurian period, of which we give an ideal +view opposite (PLATE VIII.), are supposed to have been shallow seas of +great extent, with barren submarine reefs and isolated rocks rising here +and there out of the water, covered with Algæ, and frequented by various +Mollusca and articulated animals. The earliest traces of vegetation +belong to the _Thallogens_, flowerless plants of the class Algæ (Fig. +28), without leaves or stems, which are found among the Lower Silurian +rocks. To these succeed other plants, according to Dr. Hooker, belonging +to the Lycopodiaceæ (Fig. 28), the seeds of which are found sparingly in +the Upper Ludlow beds. Among animals, the _Orthoceratites_ led a +predacious life in the Silurian seas. Their organisation indicates that +they preyed upon other animals, pursuing them into the deepest abysses, +and strangling them in the embrace of their long arms. The _Trilobites_, +a remarkable group of Crustacea, possessing simple and reticulated +compound eyes, also highly characterise this period (Figs. 17 to 20); +presenting at one period or other of their existence 1,677 species, 224 +of which are met with in Great Britain and Ireland, as we are taught by +the “Thesaurus Siluricus.”[37] Add to this a sun, struggling to +penetrate the dense atmosphere of the primitive world, and yielding a +dim and imperfect light to the first created beings as they left the +hand of the Creator, organisms often rudimentary, but at other times +sufficiently advanced to indicate a progress towards more perfect +creations. Such is the picture which the artist has attempted to +portray. + + [37] “The Flora and Fauna of the Silurian Period,” by John T. Bigsby, + M.A., F.G.S. 4to, 1868. + +The elaborate and highly valuable “Thesaurus Siluricus” contains the +names of 8,997 species of fossil remains, but it probably does not tell +us of one-tenth part of the Silurian life still lying buried in rocks of +that age in various parts of the world. A rich field is here offered to +the geological explorer.[38] + + [38] Ibid, p. vi. + + +LOWER SILURIAN. + +The Silurian rocks have been estimated by Sir Roderick Murchison to +occupy, altogether, an area of about 7,600 square miles in England and +Wales, 18,420 square miles in Scotland, and nearly 7,000 square miles in +Ireland. Thus, as regards the British Isles, the Silurian rocks rise to +the surface over nearly 33,000 square miles. + +The Silurian rocks have been traced from Cumberland to the Land’s End, +at the southern extremity of England. They lie at the base of the +southern Highlands of Scotland, from the North Channel to the North Sea, +and they range along the entire western coast of that country. In a +westerly direction they extended to the sea, where the mountains of +Wales--the Alps of the great chain--would stand out in bold relief, some +of them facing the sea, others in detached groups; some clothed with a +stunted vegetation, others naked and desolate; all of them wild and +picturesque. But an interest surpassing all others belongs to these +mountains. They are amongst the most ancient sedimentary rocks which +exist on our globe, a page of the book in which is written the history +of the antiquities of Great Britain--in fine, of the world. + +[Illustration: Fig. 20. Ogygia Guettardi. Natural size.] + +In Shropshire and Wales three zones of Silurian life have been +established. In rocks of three different ages _Graptolites_ have left +the trace of their existence. Another fossil characteristic of these +ancient rocks is the _Lingula_. This shell is horny or slightly +calcareous, which has probably been one cause of its preservation. The +family to which the Lingula belongs is so abundant in the rocks of the +Welsh mountains, that Sir R. Murchison has used it to designate a +geological era. These Lingula-flags mark the beginning of the first +Silurian strata. + +In the Lower Llandovery beds, which mark the close of the period, other +fossils present themselves, thus greatly augmenting the forms of life in +the Lower Silurian rocks. These are cœlenterata, articulata, and +mollusca. They mark, however, only a very ephemeral passage over the +globe, and soon disappear altogether. + +The vertebrated animals are only represented by rare Fishes, and it is +only on reaching the Upper Ludlow rocks, and specially in those beds +which pass upward into the Old Red Sandstone, that the remains have been +found of fishes--the most ancient beings of their class. + +The class of Crustaceans, of which the lobster, shrimp, and the crab of +our days are the representatives, was that which predominated in this +epoch of animal life. Their forms were most singular, and different from +those of all existing Crustaceans. They consisted mainly of the +_Trilobites_, a family which became entirely extinct at the close of the +Carboniferous epoch, but in whose nicely-jointed shell the armourer of +the middle ages might have found all his contrivances anticipated, with +not a few besides which he has failed to discover. The head presents, in +general, the form of an oval buckler; the body is composed of a series +of articulations, or rings, as represented in Fig. 20; the anterior +portion carrying the eyes, which in some are reticulated, like those of +many insects (Figs. 18 and 19); the mouth was placed forward and beneath +the head. Many of these Crustaceans could roll themselves into balls, +like the wood-louse (Figs. 23 and 25). They swam on their backs. + +[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Lituites cornu-arietis. One-third natural +size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Hemicosmites pyriformis. One-third natural +size.] + +During the middle and later Silurian ages, whole rocks were formed +almost exclusively of their remains; during the Devonian period they +seem to have gradually died out, almost disappearing in the +Carboniferous age, and being only represented by one doubtful species in +the Permian rocks of North America. The Trilobites are unique as a +family, marking with certainty the rocks in which they occur; “and yet,” +says Hugh Miller, “how admirably do they exhibit the articulated type of +being, and illustrate that unity of design which pervades all Nature, +amid its endless diversity!” Among other beings which have left their +traces in the Silurian strata is _Nereites Cambriensis_, a species of +annelide, whose articulations are very distinctly marked in the ancient +rocks. + +Besides the Trilobites, many orders of Mollusca were numerously +represented in the Silurian seas. As Sir R. Murchison has observed, no +zoological feature in the Upper Silurian rocks is more striking than the +great increase and profusion of Cephalopods, many of them of great size, +which appear in strata of the age immediately antecedent to the dawn of +vertebrated life. Among the Cephalopods we have _Gyroceras_ and +_Lituites cornu-arietis_ (Fig. 21), whose living representatives are the +Nautilus and Cuttlefish of every sea. The genus _Bellerophon_ (Figs. 54 +and 56), with many others, represented the Gasteropods, and like the +living carinaria sailed freely over the sea by means of its fleshy +parts. The Gasteropods, with the Lamellibranchs, of which the Oyster is +a living type, and the Brachiopods, whose congeners may still be +detected in the _Terebratula_ of our Highland lochs and bays, and the +_Lingulæ_ of the southern hemisphere, were all then represented. The +Lamellibranchiata are without a head, and almost entirely destitute of +power of locomotion. Among the Echinodermata we may cite the +_Hemiscosmites_, of which _H. pyriformis_ (Fig. 22) may be considered an +example. + +The rocks of the Lower Silurian age in France are found in Languedoc, in +the environs of Neffiez and of Bédarrieux. They occupy, also, great part +of Brittany. They occur in Bohemia, also in Spain, Russia, and in the +New World. Limestones, sandstones, and schists (slates of Angers) form +the chief part of this series. The Cambrian slates are largely +represented in Canada and the United States. + + LOWER SILURIAN GROUP. + + Formation. Prevailing Rocks. Thickness. Fossils. + + Lower { Hard sandstones, conglomerates, { 600 to } Pentamerus lens. + Llandovery { and flaggy shaly beds { 1,000 } + + { Shelly sandstones, shales, and } { Brachiopods; + { slaty beds, with grits, con- } { Lamellibranchs; + Caradoc or { glomerates, and occasional } 12,000 { Pteropods; + Bala { calcareous bands (Bala lime- } { Cystideans; + { stone) } { Graptolites; + { } { Trilobites. + + { Dark-grey flagstones, occasionally } + Llandeilo { calcareous sandstones, } + Flags { with black slates, containing } { Trilobites + { Graptolites } 1,000 { (Fig. 36); + { } to { Graptolites; + } 1,500 { Heteropods; + Lower { Dark-grey and ferruginous } { large + Llandeilo { slates, sandy shales, and bluish } { Cephalopods. + Tremadoc { flags, with occasional beds } + Slates { of pisolitic iron-ore } + + { Trilobites + { Black and dark shaly, grey } { (Olenus, + { and brown slaty flagstones } { Conocoryphe, + Lingula { and sandstones, with siliceous } 6,000 { Paradoxides, + Flags { grits and quartzites } { Fig. 17); + { } { Brachiopods; + { } { Cystideans. + + CAMBRIAN GROUP. + + { Llanberis slates, with sandy } 3,000 Annelides. + Cambrian { strata } + { Harlech grits 6,000 Oldhamia. + + LAURENTIAN GROUP. + + Upper { Stratified, highly-crystalline, } 12,060 Eozoon. + Laurentian { and felspathic rocks } + + Lower { Gneiss, quartzite, hornblende } 18,000 None. + Laurentian { and mica-schists } + + UPPER SILURIAN PERIOD. + + UPPER SILURIAN GROUP. + Lithological Characters. Thickness. Fossils. + + { Passage Beds, Tile-stones, and } { Sea-weeds, + { Downton sandstones, at the } 80 { Lingulæ, + { base of the bone-bed } { Mollusca. + { { + { Micaceous, yellowish and } 700 { Crustacea and + Ludlow { grey, sandy mudstone } { Fish-remains. + Rocks { { + { Argillaceous (Aymestry) limestone } 50 { Crinoids. + { { + { Argillaceous Shale with impure } 1000 { Mollusca of + { limestones } { many genera. + + { Argillaceous or semi-crystalline } { Mollusca of + { limestone } { many genera. + { } { + { Argillaceous shales, in places } { Echinodermata; + Wenlock { slaty } 3000 { Actinozoa; + Rocks { } { Trilobites. + { Woolhope Limestone and } { + { occasional bands of argillaceous } { Graptolites. + { nodules } { + + Upper { Grey and yellowish sandstones } { Pentamerus + Llandovery { (occasionally conglomerates) } 800 { oblongus, + Rocks { with bands of } { Rhynchonella, + { limestone } { Orthides, &c. + +Among the fossils of this period may be remarked a number of Trilobites, +which then attained their greatest development. Among others, _Calymene +Blumenbachii_ (Fig. 23), some _Cephalopoda_, and _Brachiopoda_, among +which last may be named _Pentamerus Knightii_, _Orthis_, &c., and some +Corals, as _Halysites catenularius_ (Fig. 26), or the chain coral. + +[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Calymene Blumenbachii partially rolled up.] + +The Trilobites, we have already said, were able to coil themselves into +a ball, like the wood-louse, doubtless as a means of defence. In Fig. +23, one of these creatures, _Calymene Blumenbachii_, is represented in +that form, coiled upon itself. (See also _Illænus Barriensis_, Fig. 25.) + +Crustaceans of a very strange form, and in no respects resembling the +Trilobites, have been met with in the Silurian rocks of England and +America--the _Pterygotus_ (Fig. 27) and the _Eurypterus_, (Fig. 24). +They are supposed to have been the inhabitants of fresh water. They were +called “Seraphim” by the Scotch quarrymen, from the winged form and +feather-like ornamentation upon the thoracic appendage, the part most +usually met with. Agassiz figured them in his work on the ‘Fossil +Fishes of the Old Red Sandstone,’ but, subsequently recognising their +crustacean character, removed them from the Class of Fishes, and placed +them with the _Pœcilipod Crustacea_. The _Eurypteridæ_ and _Pterygoti_ +in England almost exclusively belong to the passage beds--the Downton +sandstone and the Upper Ludlow rocks. + +[Illustration: Fig. 24.--Eurypterus remipes. Natural size.] + +Among the marine plants which have been found in the rocks corresponding +with this sub-period are some species of Algæ, and others belonging to +the Lycopodiaceæ, which become still more abundant in the Old Red +Sandstone and Carboniferous Periods. Fig. 28 represents some examples of +the impressions they have left. + +The seas were, evidently, abundantly inhabited at the end of the Upper +Silurian period, for naturalists have examined nearly 1,500 species +belonging to these beds, and the number of British species, classified +and arranged for public inspection in our museums cannot be much short +of that number. + +[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Illænus Barriensis.--Dudley, Walsall.] + +Towards the close of the Upper Silurian sub-period, the argillaceous +beds pass upwards into more sandy and shore-like deposits, in which the +most ancient known fossil Fishes occur, and then usher us into the first +great ichthyic period of the Old Red Sandstone, or Devonian, so well +marked by its fossil fishes in Britain, Russia, and North America. The +so-called fish-bones have been the subject of considerable doubt. +Between the Upper Ludlow rocks opposite Downton Castle and the next +overlying stratum, there occurs a thin bed of soft earthy shale, and +fine, soft, yellowish greenstone, immediately overlying the Ludlow rock: +just below this a remarkable fish-deposit occurs, called the Ludlow +bone-bed, because the bones of animals are found in this stratum in +great quantities. Old Drayton treats these bones as a great marvel:-- + + “With strange and sundry tales + Of all their wondrous things; and not the least in Wales, + Of that prodigious spring (him neighbouring as he past), + That little fishes’ bones continually doth cast.” + + +POLYOLBION. + +Above the yellow beds, or Downton sandstone, as they are called, organic +remains are extensively diffused through the argillaceous strata, which +have yielded fragments of fishes’ bones (being the earliest trace yet +found of vertebrate life), with seeds and land-plants, the latter +clearly indicating the neighbourhood of land, and the poverty of +numbers and the small size of the shells, a change of condition in the +nature of the waters in which they lived. “It was the central part +only,” says Sir R. Murchison, “of this band, or a ginger-bread-coloured +layer of a thickness of three or four inches, and dwindling away to a +quarter of an inch, exhibiting, when my attention was first directed to +it, a matted mass of bony fragments, for the most part of small size and +of very peculiar character. Some of the fragments of fish are of a +mahogany hue, but others of so brilliant a black that when first +discovered they conveyed the impression that the bed was a heap of +broken beetles.”[39] + + [39] “Siluria,” p. 148. + +[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Halysites catenularius.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 27.--Pterygotus bilobatus.] + +The fragments thus discovered were, after examination on the spot, +supposed to be those of fishes, but, upon further investigation, many of +them were found to belong to Crustaceans. The ichthyic nature of some of +them is, however, now well established. + +[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Plants of the Palæozoic Epoch.--1 and 2, Algæ; +3 and 4, Lycopods.] + +Silurian Rocks are found in France in the departments of La Manche, +Calvados, and of the Sarthe, and in Languedoc the Silurian formation has +occupied the attention of Messrs. Graff and Fournet, who have traced +along the base of the Espinouse, the green, primordial chlorite-schists, +surmounted by clay-slates, which become more and more pure as the +distance from the masses of granite and gneiss increases, and the valley +of the Jour is approached. Upon these last the Silurian system rests, +sinking towards the plain under Secondary and Tertiary formations. In +Great Britain, Silurian strata are found enormously developed in the +West and South Highlands of Scotland, on the western slopes of the +Pennine chain and the mountains of Wales, and in the adjoining counties +of Shropshire--their most typical region--and Worcestershire. In Spain; +in Germany (on the banks of the Rhine); in Bohemia--where, also, they +are largely developed, especially in the neighbourhood of Prague--in +Sweden, where they compose the entire island of Gothland; in Norway; in +Russia, especially in the Ural Mountains; and in America, in the +neighbourhood of New York, and half way across the continent--in all +these countries they are more or less developed. + +We may add, as a general characteristic of the Silurian system as a +whole, that of all formations it is the most disturbed. In the countries +where it prevails, it only appears as fragments which have escaped +destruction amid the numerous changes that have affected it during the +earlier ages of the world. The beds, originally horizontal, are turned +up, contorted, folded over, and sometimes become even vertical, as in +the slates of Angers, Llanberis, and Ireleth. D’Orbigny found the +Silurian beds with their fossils in the American Andes, at the height of +16,000 feet above the level of the sea. What vast upheavals must have +been necessary to elevate these fossils to such a height! + +In the Silurian period the sea still occupied the earth almost entirely; +it covered the greater part of Europe: all the area comprised between +Spain and the Ural was under water. In France only two islands had +emerged from the primordial ocean. One of them was formed of the +granitic rocks of what are now Brittany and La Vendée; the other +constituted the great central plateau, and consisted of the same rocks. +The northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and of Russian Lapland formed a +vast continental surface. In America the emerged lands were more +extensive. In North America an island extended over eighteen degrees of +latitude, in the part now called New Britain. In South America, in the +Pacific, Chili formed one elongated island. Upon the Atlantic, a portion +of Brazil, to the extent of twenty degrees of latitude, was raised above +water. Finally, in the equatorial regions, Guiana formed a later island +in the vast ocean which still covered most other parts of the New World. + +There is, perhaps, no scene of greater geological confusion than that +presented by the western flanks of the Pennine chain. A line drawn +longitudinally from about three degrees west of Greenwich, would include +on its western side Cross Fell, in Cumberland, and the greater part of +the Silurian rocks belonging to the Cambrian system, in which the +Cambrian and Lower Silurian rocks are now well determined; while the +upper series are so metamorphosed by eruptive granite and the effects of +denudation, as to be scarcely recognisable. “With the rare exception of +a seaweed and a zoophyte,” says the author of ‘Siluria,’ “not a trace of +a fossil has been detected in the thousands of feet of strata, with +interpolated igneous matter, which intervene between the slates of +Skiddaw and the Coniston limestone, with its overlying flags; at that +zone only do we begin to find anything like a fauna: here, judging from +its fossils, we find representations of the Caradoc and Bala rocks.” +This much-disturbed district Professor Sedgwick, after several years +devoted to its study, has attempted to reconstruct, the following being +a brief summary of his arguments. The region consists of:-- + +I. Beds of mudstone and sandstone, deposited in an ancient sea, +apparently without the calcareous matter necessary to the existence of +shells and corals, and with numerous traces of organic forms of Silurian +age--these were the elements of the Skiddaw slates. + +II. Plutonic rocks were, for many ages, poured out among the aqueous +sedimentary deposits; the beds were broken up and re-cemented--plutonic +silt and other finely comminuted matter were deposited along with the +igneous rocks: the process was again and again repeated, till a deep sea +was filled up with a formation many thousands of feet thick by the +materials forming the middle Cambrian rocks. + +III. A period of comparative repose followed. Beds of shells and bands +of coral were formed upon the more ancient rocks, interrupted with beds +of sand and mud; processes many times repeated: and thus, in a long +succession of ages, were the deposits of the upper series completed. + +IV. Towards the end of the period, mountain-masses and eruptive rocks +were pushed up through the older deposits. After many revolutions, all +the divisions of the slate-series were upheaved and contorted by +movements which did not affect the newer formations. + +V. The conglomerates of the Old Red Sandstone were now spread out by the +beating of an ancient surf, continued through many ages, against the +upheaved and broken slates. + +VI. Another period of comparative repose followed: the coral-reefs of +the mountain limestone, and the whole carboniferous series, were formed, +but not without any oscillations between the land and sea-levels. + +VII. An age of disruption and violence succeeded, marked by the +discordant position of the rocks, and by the conglomerate of the New Red +Sandstone. At the beginning of this period the great north and south +“Craven fault,” which rent off the eastern calcareous mountains from the +old slates, was formed. Soon afterwards the disruption of the great +“Pennine fault,” which ranges from the foot of Stanmore to the coast of +North Cumberland, occurred, lifting up the terrace of Cross Fell above +the plain of the Eden. About the same time some of the north and south +fissures, which now form the valleys leading into Morecambe Bay, may +have been formed. + +VIII. The more tranquil period of the New Red Sandstone now dawns, but +here our facts fail us on the skirts of the Lake Mountains. + +IX. Thousands of ages rolled away during the Secondary and Tertiary +periods, in which we can trace no movement. But the powers of Nature are +never still: during this age of apparent repose many a fissure may have +started into an open chasm, many a valley been scooped out upon the +lines of “fault.” + +X. Close to the historic times we have evidence of new disruptions and +violence, and of vast changes of level between land and sea. Ancient +valleys probably opened out anew or extended, and fresh ones formed in +the changes of the oceanic level. Cracks among the strata may now have +become open fissures, vertical escarpments formed by unequal elevations +along the lines of fault; and subsidence may have given rise to many of +the tarns and lakes of the district. + +Such is the picture which one of our most eminent geologists gives as +the probable process by which this region has attained its present +appearance, after he had devoted years of study and observation to its +peculiarities; and his description of one spot applies in its general +scope to the whole district. At the close of the Silurian period our +island was probably an archipelago, ranging over ten degrees of +latitude, like many of the island groups now found in the great Pacific +Ocean; the old gneissic hills of the western coast of Scotland, +culminating in the granite range of Ben Nevis, and stretching to the +southern Grampians, forming the nucleus of one island group; the south +Highlands of Scotland, ranging from the Lammermoor hills, another; the +Pennine chain and the Malvern hills, the third, and most easterly group; +the Shropshire and Welsh mountains, a fourth; and Devon and Cornwall +stretching far to the south and west. The basis of the calculation +being, that every spot of this island lying now at a lower elevation +than 800 feet above the sea, was under water at the close of the +Silurian period, except in those instances where depression by +subsidence has since occurred. + +There is, however, another element to be considered, which cannot be +better stated than in the picturesque language of M. Esquiros, an +eminent French writer, who has given much attention to British geology. +“The Silurian mountains,” he says, “ruins in themselves, contain other +ruins. In the bosom of the Longmynd rocks, geologists discover +conglomerates of rounded stones which bear no resemblance to any rocks +now near them. These stones consequently prove the existence of rocks +more ancient still; they are fragments of other mountains, of other +shores, perhaps even of continents, broken up, destroyed, and crumbled +by earlier seas. There is, then, little hope of one discovering the +origin of life on the globe, since this page of the Genesis of the facts +has been torn. For some years geologists loved to rest their eyes, in +this long night of ages, upon an ideal limit beyond which plants and +animals would begin to appear. Now, this line of demarcation between the +rocks which are without vestiges of organised beings, and those which +contain fossils, is nearly effaced among the surrounding ruins. On the +horizon of the primitive world we see vaguely indicated a series of +other worlds which have altogether disappeared; perhaps it is necessary +to resign ourselves to the fact that the dawn of life is lost in this +silent epoch, where age succeeds age, till they are clothed in the garb +of eternity. The river of creation is like the Nile, which, as Bossuet +says, hides its head--a figure of speech which time has falsified--but +the endless speculations opened up by these and similar considerations +led Lyell to say, ‘Here I am almost prepared to believe in the ancient +existence of the Atlantis of Plato.’” + +[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Ischadites Kœnigii. Upper Ludlow Rocks.] + + NOTE.--For accurate representations of the typical fossils of + the Palæozoic strata of Britain, the reader may consult, with + advantage, the carefully executed “Figures of Characteristic + British Fossils,” by W. H. Baily, F.G.S. (Van Voorst). + + +OLD RED SANDSTONE AND DEVONIAN PERIOD. + +Another great period in the Earth’s history opens on us--the Devonian or +“Old Red Sandstone,” so called, because the formation is very clearly +displayed over a great extent of country in the county of Devon. The +name was first proposed by Murchison and Sedgwick, in 1837, for these +strata, which had previously been referred to the “transition” or +Silurian series. + +The circumstances which marked the passage of the uppermost Silurian +rocks into Old Red Sandstone seem to have been:--First, a shallowing of +the sea, followed by a gradual alteration in the physical geography of +the district, so that the area became changed into a series of mingled +fresh and brackish lagoons, which, finally, by continued terrestrial +changes, were converted into a great fresh-water lake; or, if we take +the whole of Britain and lands beyond, into a series of lakes.[40] + + [40] “On the Red Rocks of England,” by A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. + Geol. Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 243. + +Mr. Godwin Austen has, also, stated his opinion that the Old Red +Sandstone, as distinct from the Devonian rocks, was of lacustrine +origin. + +The absence of marine shells helps to this conclusion, and the nearest +living analogues of some of the fishes are found in the fresh water of +Africa and North America. Even the occurrence in the Devonian rocks of +Devonshire and Russia of some Old Red Sandstone fishes along with marine +shells, merely proves that some of them were fitted to live in either +fresh or salt water, like various existing fishes. At the present day +animals that are commonly supposed to be essentially marine, are +occasionally found inhabiting fresh water, as is the case in some of the +lakes of Sweden, where it is said marine crustacea are found. Mr. +Alexander Murray also states that in the inland fresh-water lakes of +Newfoundland seals are common, living there without even visiting the +sea. And the same is the case in Lake Baikal, in Central Asia. + +The red colour of the Old Red Sandstone of England and Scotland, and the +total absence of fossils, except in the very uppermost beds, are +considered by Professor Ramsay to indicate that the strata were +deposited in inland waters. These fossils are terrestrial ferns, +_Adiantites_ (Pecopteris) _Hibernicus_, and a fresh-water shell, _Anodon +Jukesii_, together with the fish _Glyptolepis_.[41] + + [41] “On the Red Rocks of England,” by A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. + Geol. Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 247. + +The rocks deposited during the Devonian period exhibit some species of +animals and plants of a much more complex organisation than those which +had previously made their appearance. We have seen, during the Silurian +epoch, organisms appearing of very simple type; namely, zoophytes, +articulated and molluscous animals, with algæ and lycopods, among +plants. We shall see, as the globe grows older, that organisation +becomes more complex. Vertebrated animals, represented by numerous +Fishes, succeed Zoophytes, Trilobites, and Molluscs. Soon afterwards +Reptiles appear, then Birds and Mammals; until the time comes when man, +His supreme and last work, issues from the hands of the Creator, to be +king of all the earth--man, who has for the sign of his superiority, +intelligence--that celestial gift, the emanation from God. + +Vast inland seas, or lakes covered with a few islets, form the ideal of +the Old Red Sandstone period. Upon the rocks of these islets the +mollusca and articulata of the period exhibit themselves, as represented +on the opposite page (PLATE IX.). Stranded on the shore we see +armour-coated Fishes of strange forms. A group of plants +(_Asterophyllites_) covers one of the islets, associated with plants +nearly herbaceous, resembling mosses, though the true mosses did not +appear till a much later period. _Encrinites_ and _Lituites_ occupy the +rocks in the foreground of the left hand. + +The vegetation is still simple in its development, for forest-trees seem +altogether wanting. The Asterophyllites, with tall and slender stems, +rise singly to a considerable height. Cryptogams, of which our mushrooms +convey some idea, would form the chief part of this primitive +vegetation; but in consequence of the softness of their tissues, their +want of consistence, and the absence of much woody fibre, these earlier +plants have come down to us only in a fragmentary state. + +[Illustration: IX.--Ideal Landscape of the Devonian Period.] + +The plants belonging to the Devonian period differ much from the +vegetation of the present day. They resembled both mosses and lycopods, +which are flowerless cryptogamic plants of a low organisation. The +Lycopods are herbaceous plants, playing only a secondary part in the +vegetation of the globe; but in the earlier ages of organic creation +they were the predominant forms in the vegetable kingdom, both as to +individual size and the number and variety of their species. + +[Illustration: Fig. 30.--Plants of the Devonian Epoch. 1. Algæ. 2. +Zostera. 3. Psilophyton, natural size.] + +In the woodcut (Fig. 30) we have represented three species of aquatic +plants belonging to the Devonian period; they are--1, _Fucoids_ (or +_Algæ_); 2, _Zostera_; 3, _Psilophyton_. The Fucoid closely resembles +its modern ally; but with the first indications of terrestrial +vegetation we pass from the _Thallogens_, to which the _Algæ_ belong +(plants of simple organisation, without flower or stem), to the +_Acrogens_, which throw out their leaves and branches at the extremity, +and bear in the axils of their leaves minute circular cases, which form +the receptacles of their spore-like seeds. “If we stand,” says Hugh +Miller, “on the outer edge of one of those iron-bound shores of the +Western Highlands, where rock and skerries are crowned with sea-weeds; +the long cylindrical lines of _chorda-filum_, many feet in length, lying +aslant in the tideway; long shaggy bunches of _Fucus serratus_ and _F. +nodosus_ drooping from the sides of the rock; the flat ledges bristling +with the stiff cartilaginous many-cleft fronds of at least two species +of _Chondrus_; now, in the thickly-spread Fucoids of this Highland scene +we have a not very improbable representation of the Thallogenous +vegetation. If we add to this rocky tract, so rich in Fucoids, a +submarine meadow of pale shelly sand, covered by a deep-green swathe of +_Zosteræ_, with jointed root and slim flowers, unfurnished with petals, +it would be more representative still.” + +Let us now take a glance at the animals belonging to this period. + +The class of Fishes seem to have held the first rank and importance in +the Old Red Sandstone _fauna_; but their structure was very different +from that of existing fishes: they were provided with a sort of cuirass, +and from the nature of the scales were called _Ganoid_ fishes. Numerous +fragments of these curious fishes are now found in geological +collections; they are of strange forms, some being completely covered +with a cuirass of many pieces, and others furnished with wing-like +pectoral fins, as in _Pterichthys_. + +Let any one picture to himself the surprise he would feel should he, on +taking his first lesson in geology, and on first breaking a stone--a +pebble, for instance, exhibiting every external sign of a water-worn +surface--find, to appropriate Archdeacon Paley’s illustration, a watch, +or any other delicate piece of mechanism, in its centre. Now, this, +thirty years ago, is exactly the kind of surprise that Hugh Miller +experienced in the sandstone quarry opened in a lofty wall of cliff +overhanging the northern shore of the Moray Frith. He had picked up a +nodular mass of blue Lias-limestone, which he laid open by a stroke of +the hammer, when, behold! an exquisitely shaped Ammonite was displayed +before him. It is not surprising that henceforth the half-mason, +half-sailor, and poet, became a geologist. He sought for information, +and found it; he found that the rocks among which he laboured swarmed +with the relics of a former age. He pursued his investigations, and +found, while working in this zone of strata all around the coast, that a +certain class of fossils abounded; but that in a higher zone these +familiar forms disappeared, and others made their appearance. + +He read and learned that in other lands--lands of more recent +formation--strange forms of animal life had been discovered; forms which +in their turn had disappeared, to be succeeded by others, more in +accordance with beings now living. He came to know that he was +surrounded, in his native mountains, by the sedimentary deposits of +other ages; he became alive to the fact that these grand mountain ranges +had been built up grain by grain in the bed of the ocean, and the +mountains had been subsequently raised to their present level by the +upheaval of one part of its bed, or by the subsidence of another. The +young geologist now ceased to wonder that each bed, or series of beds, +should contain in its bosom records of its own epoch; it seemed to him +as if it had been the object of the Creator to furnish the inquirer with +records of His wisdom and power, which could not be misinterpreted. + +[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Fishes of the Devonian Epoch. 1. Coccosteus, +one-third natural size. 2. Pterichthys, one-fourth natural size. 3. +Cephalaspis, one-fourth natural size.] + +Among the Fishes of Old Red Sandstone, the _Coccosteus_ (Fig. 31, No. 1) +was only partially cased in a defensive armour; the upper part of the +body down to the fins was defended by scales. _Pterichthys_ (No. 2), a +strange form, with a very small head, furnished with two powerful +paddles, or arms, like wings, and a mouth placed far behind the nose, +was entirely covered with scales. The _Cephalaspis_ (No. 3), which has a +considerable outward resemblance to some fishes of the present time, was +nevertheless mail-clad, only on the anterior part of the body. + +Other fishes were provided with no such cuirass, properly so called, but +were protected by strong resisting scales, enveloping the whole body. +Such were the _Acanthodes_ (1), the _Climatius_ (2), and the +_Diplacanthus_ (3), represented in Fig. 32. + +[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Fishes of the Devonian epoch. 1. Acanthodes. 2. +Climatius. 3. Diplacanthus.] + +Among the organic beings of the Devonian rocks we find worm-like +animals, such as the _Annelides_, protected by an external shell, and +which at the present day are probably represented by the _Serpulæ_. +Among Crustaceans the _Trilobites_ are still somewhat numerous, +especially in the middle rocks of the period. We also find there many +different groups of Mollusca, of which the _Brachiopoda_ form more than +one-half. We may say of this period that it is the reign of +Brachiopoda; in it they assumed extraordinary forms, and the number of +their species was very great. Among the most curious we may instance the +enormous _Stringocephalus Burtini_, _Davidsonia Verneuilli_, _Uncites +gryphus_, and _Calceola Sandalina_, shells of singular and fantastic +shape, differing entirely from all known forms. Amongst the most +characteristic of these Mollusca, _Atrypa reticularis_ (Fig. 33) holds +the first rank, with _Spirifera concentrica_, _Leptæna Murchisoni_, and +_Productus subaculeatus_. Among the Cephalopoda we have _Clymenia +Sedgwickii_ (Fig. 34), including the _Goniatites_, illustrating the +Ammonites, which so distinctly characterise the Secondary epoch, but +which were only foreshadowed in the Devonian period. + +[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Atrypa reticularis.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 34.--Clymenia Sedgwickii.] + +Among the Radiata of this epoch, the order Crinoidea are abundantly +represented. We give as an example _Cupressocrinus crassus_ (Fig. 35). +The Encrinites, under which name the whole of these animals are +sometimes included, lived attached to rocky places and in deep water, as +they now do in the Caribbean sea. + +The Encrinites, as we have seen, were represented during the Silurian +period in a simple genus, _Hemicosmites_, but they greatly increased in +numbers in the seas of the Devonian period. They diminish in numbers, as +we retire from that geological age; until those forms, which were so +numerous and varied in the earliest seas, are now only represented by +two genera. + +[Illustration: Fig. 35.--Cupressocrinus crassus.] + +The Old Red Sandstone rocks are composed of schists, sandstone, and +limestones. The line of demarcation between the Silurian rocks and those +which succeed them may be followed, in many places, by the eye; but, on +a closer examination, the exact limits of the two systems become more +difficult to fix. The beds of the one system pass into the other by a +gradual passage, for Nature rarely admits of violent contrasts, and +shows few sudden transitions. By-and-by, however, the change becomes +very decided, and the contrast between the dark grey masses at the base +and the superincumbent yellow and red rocks become sufficiently +striking. In fact, the uppermost beds of the Silurian rocks are the +passage-beds of the overlying system, consisting of flagstones, +occasionally reddish, and called in some districts “tile-stones.” Over +these lie the Old Red Sandstone conglomerate, the Caithness flags, and +the great superincumbent mass which forms the upper portion of the +system. Though less abrupt than the eruptive and Silurian mountains, the +Old Red Sandstone scenery is, nevertheless, distinguished by its +imposing outline, assuming bold and lofty escarpments in the Vans of +Brecon, in Grongar Hill, near Caermarthen, and in the Black Mountain of +Monmouthshire, in the centre of a landscape which, wood, rock, and river +combine to render perfect. But it is in the north of Scotland where this +rock assumes its grandest aspect, wrapping its mantle round the loftiest +mountains, and rising out of the sea in rugged and fantastic masses, as +far north as the Orkneys. In Devon and Cornwall, where the rocks are of +a calcareous, and sometimes schistose or slaty character, they are +sufficiently extensive to have given a name to the series, which is +recognised all over the world. + +In Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, and South +Wales, the Old Red Sandstone is largely developed, and sometimes attains +the thickness of from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, divided into: 1. +Conglomerate; 2. Brown stone, with _Eurypterus_; 3. Marl and cornstones, +with irregular courses of concrete limestone, in which are spines of +Fishes and remains of _Cephalaspis_ and _Pteraspis_; 4. Thin +olive-coloured shales and sandstone, intercalated with beds of red marl, +containing _Cephalaspis_ and _Auchenaspis_. In Scotland, south of the +Grampians, a yellow sandstone occupies the base of the system; +conglomerate, red shales, sandstone and cornstones, containing +_Holoptychius_ and _Cephalaspis_, and the Arbroath paving-stone, +containing what Agassiz recognised as a huge Crustacean. + +[Illustration: Fig. 36.--Trinucleus Lloydii. (Llandeilo Flags.)] + +Some of the phenomena connected with the older rocks of Devonshire are +difficult to unravel. The Devonian, it is now understood, is the +equivalent, in another area, of the Old Red Sandstone, and in Cornwall +and Devonshire lie directly on the Silurian strata, while elsewhere the +fossils of the Upper Silurian are almost identical with those in the +Devonian beds. The late Professor Jukes, with some other geologists, was +of opinion that the Devonian rocks of Devonshire only represented the +Old Red Sandstone of Scotland and South Wales in part; the Upper +Devonian rocks lying between the acknowledged Old Red Sandstone and the +Culm-measures being the representatives of the lower carboniferous rocks +of Ireland. + +Mr. Etheridge, on the other hand, in an elaborate memoir upon the same +subject, has endeavoured to prove that the Devonian and Old Red +Sandstone, though contemporaneous in point of time, were deposited in +different areas and under widely different conditions--the one strictly +marine, the other altogether fresh-water--or, perhaps, partly +fresh-water and partly estuarine. This supposition is strongly supported +by his researches into the mollusca of the Devonian system, and also by +the fish-remains of the Devonian and Old Red Sandstone of Scotland and +the West of England and Wales.[42] The difficulty of drawing a +sharply-defined line of demarcation between different systems is +sufficient to dispel the idea which has sometimes been entertained that +special _faunæ_ were created and annihilated in the mass at the close of +each epoch. There was no close: each epoch disappears or merges into +that which succeeds it, and with it the animals belonging to it, much as +we have seen them disappear from our own fauna almost within recent +times. + + [42] For fuller details on this subject, see J. B. Jukes’ “Manual of + Geology,” 3rd ed., p. 762. Also, R. Etheridge, _Quart. Journ. + Geol. Soc._, vol. 23, p. 251. + + +CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD. + +In the history of our globe the Carboniferous period succeeds to the +Devonian. It is in the formations of this latter epoch that we find the +fossil fuel which has done so much to enrich and civilise the world in +our own age. This period divides itself into two great sub-periods: 1. +The _Coal-measures_; and 2. The _Carboniferous Limestone_. The first, a +period which gave rise to the great deposits of coal; the second, to +most important marine deposits, most frequently underlying the +coal-fields in England, Belgium, France, and America. + +The limestone-mountains which form the base of the whole system, attain +in places, according to Professor Phillips, a thickness of 2,500 feet. +They are of marine origin, as is apparent by the multitude of fossils +they contain of Zoophytes, Radiata, Cephalopoda, and Fishes. But the +chief characteristic of this epoch is its strictly terrestrial +flora--remains of plants now become as common as they were rare in all +previous formations, announcing a great increase of dry land. In older +geological times the present site of our island was covered by a sea of +unlimited extent; we now approach a time when it was a forest, or, +rather, an innumerable group of islands, and marshes covered with +forests, which spread over the surface of the clusters of islands which +thickly studded the sea of the period. + +The monuments of this era of profuse vegetation reveal themselves in the +precious Coal-measures of England and Scotland. These give us some idea +of the rich verdure which covered the surface of the earth, newly risen +from the bosom of its parent waves. It was the paradise of terrestrial +vegetation. The grand _Sigillaria_, the _Stigmaria_, and other fern-like +plants, were especially typical of this age, and formed the woods, which +were left to grow undisturbed; for as yet no living Mammals seem to have +appeared; everything indicates a uniformly warm, humid temperature, the +only climate in which the gigantic ferns of the Coal-measures could have +attained their magnitude. In Fig. 37 the reader has a restoration of the +arborescent and herbaceous Ferns of the period. Conifers have been +found of this period with concentric rings, but these rings are more +slightly marked than in existing trees of the same family, from which +it is reasonable to assume that the seasonal changes were less marked +than they are with us. + +[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Ferns restored. 1 and 2. Arborescent Ferns. 3 +and 4. Herbaceous Ferns.] + +Everything announces that the time occupied in the deposition of the +Carboniferous Limestone was one of vast duration. Professor Phillips +calculates that, at the ordinary rate of progress, it would require +122,400 years to produce only sixty feet of coal. Geologists believe, +moreover, that the upper coal-measures, where bed has been deposited +upon bed, for ages upon ages, were accumulated under conditions of +comparative tranquillity, but that the end of this period was marked by +violent convulsions--by ruptures of the terrestrial crust, when the +carboniferous rocks were upturned, contorted, dislocated by faults, and +subsequently partially denuded, and thus appear now in depressions or +basin-shaped concavities; and that upon this deranged and disturbed +foundation a fourth geological system, called Permian, was constructed. + +The fundamental character of the period we are about to study is the +immense development of a vegetation which then covered much of the +globe. The great thickness of the rocks which now represent the period +in question, the variety of changes which are observed in these rocks +wherever they are met with, lead to the conclusion that this phase in +the Earth’s history involved a long succession of time. + +Coal, as we shall find, is composed of the mineralised remains of the +vegetation which flourished in remote ages of the world. Buried under an +enormous thickness of rocks, it has been preserved to our days, after +being modified in its inward nature and external aspect. Having lost a +portion of its elementary constituents, it has become transformed into a +species of carbon, impregnated with those bituminous substances which +are the ordinary products of the slow decomposition of vegetable matter. + +Thus, coal, which supplies our manufactures and our furnaces, which is +the fundamental agent of our productive and economic industry--the coal +which warms our houses and furnishes the gas which lights our streets +and dwellings--is the substance of the plants which formed the forests, +the vegetation, and the marshes of the ancient world, at a period too +distant for human chronology to calculate with anything like precision. +We shall not say--with some persons, who believe that all in Nature was +made with reference to man, and who thus form a very imperfect idea of +the vast immensity of creation--that the vegetables of the ancient world +have lived and multiplied only, some day, to prepare for man the agents +of his economic and industrial occupations. We shall rather direct the +attention of our young readers to the powers of modern science, which +can thus, after such a prodigious interval of time, trace the precise +origin, and state with the utmost exactness, the genera and species of +plants, of which there are now no identical representatives existing on +the face of the earth. + +Let us pause for a moment, and consider the general characters which +belonged to our planet during the Carboniferous period. Heat--though not +necessarily excessive heat--and extreme humidity were then the +attributes of its atmosphere. The modern allies of the species which +formed its vegetation are now only found under the burning latitudes of +the tropics; and the enormous dimensions in which we find them in the +fossil state prove, on the other hand, that the atmosphere was saturated +with moisture. Dr. Livingstone tells us that continual rains, added to +intense heat, are the climatic characteristic of Equatorial Africa, +where the vigorous and tufted vegetation flourishes which is so +delightful to the eye. + +It is a remarkable circumstance that conditions of equable and warm +climate, combined with humidity, do not seem to have been limited to any +one part of the globe, but the temperature of the whole globe seems to +have been nearly the same in very different latitudes. From the +Equatorial regions up to Melville Island, in the Arctic Ocean, where in +our days eternal frost prevails--from Spitzbergen to the centre of +Africa, the carboniferous flora is identically the same. When nearly the +same plants are found in Greenland and Guinea; when the same species, +now extinct, are met with of equal development at the equator as at the +pole, we cannot but admit that at this epoch the temperature of the +globe was nearly alike everywhere. What we now call _climate_ was +unknown in these geological times. There seems to have been then only +one climate over the whole globe. It was at a subsequent period, that +is, in later Tertiary times, that the cold began to make itself felt at +the terrestrial poles. Whence, then, proceeded this general superficial +warmth, which we now regard with so much surprise? It was a consequence +of the greater or nearer influence of the interior heat of the globe. +The earth was still so hot in itself, that the heat which reached it +from the sun may have been inappreciable. + +Another hypothesis, which has been advanced with much less certainty +than the preceding, relates to the chemical composition of the air +during the Carboniferous period. Seeing the enormous mass of vegetation +which then covered the globe, and extended from one pole to the other; +considering, also, the great proportion of carbon and hydrogen which +exists in the bituminous matter of coal, it has been thought, and not +without reason, that the atmosphere of the period might be richer in +carbonic acid than the atmosphere of the present day. It has even been +thought that the small number of (especially air-breathing) animals, +which then lived, might be accounted for by the presence of a greater +proportion of carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere than is the case in +our own times. This, however, is pure assumption, totally deficient in +proof. Nothing proves that the atmosphere of the period in question was +richer in carbonic acid than is the case now. Since we are only able, +then, to offer vague conjectures on this subject, we cannot profess with +any confidence to entertain the opinion that the atmospheric air of the +Carboniferous period contained more carbonic acid gas than that which we +now breathe. What we can remark, with certainty, as a striking +characteristic of the vegetation of the globe during this phase of its +history, was the prodigious development which it assumed. The Ferns, +which in our days and in our climate, are most commonly only small +perennial plants, in the Carboniferous age sometimes presented +themselves under lofty and even magnificent forms. + +Every one knows those marsh-plants with hollow, channelled, and +articulated cylindrical stems; whose joints are furnished with a +membranous, denticulated sheath, and which bear the vulgar name of +“mare’s-tail;” their fructification forming a sort of catkin composed of +many rings of scales, carrying on their lower surface sacs full of +_spores_ or seeds. These humble _Equiseta_ were represented during the +Coal-period by herbaceous trees from twenty to thirty feet high and four +to six inches in diameter. Their trunks, channelled longitudinally, and +divided transversely by lines of articulation, have been preserved to +us: they bear the name of _Calamites_. The engraving (Fig. 38) +represents one of these gigantic mare’s-tails, or Calamites, of the +Coal-period, restored under the directions of M. Eugene Deslongchamps. +It is represented with its fronds of leaves, and its organs of +fructification. They seem to have grown by means of an underground stem, +while new buds issued from the ground at intervals, as represented in +the engraving. + +The _Lycopods_ of our age are humble plants, scarcely a yard in height, +and most commonly creepers; but the Lycopodiaceæ of the ancient world +were trees of eighty or ninety feet in height. It was the +_Lepidodendrons_ which filled the forests. Their leaves were sometimes +twenty inches long, and their trunks a yard in diameter. Such are the +dimensions of some specimens of _Lepidodendron carinatum_ which have +been found. Another Lycopod of this period, the _Lomatophloyos +crassicaule_, attained dimensions still more colossal. The _Sigillarias_ +sometimes exceeded 100 feet in height. Herbaceous Ferns were also +exceedingly abundant, and grew beneath the shade of these gigantic +trees. It was the combination of these lofty trees with such shrubs (if +we may so call them), which formed the forests of the Carboniferous +period. The trunks of two of the gigantic trees, which flourished in the +forests of the Carboniferous period, are represented in Figs. 39 and 40, +reduced respectively to one-fifth and one-tenth the natural size. + +[Illustration: Fig. 38.--Calamite restored. Thirty to forty feet high.] + +What could be more surprising than the aspect of this exuberant +vegetation!--these immense Sigillarias, which reigned over the forest! +these Lepidodendrons, with flexible and slender stems! these +Lomatophloyos, which present themselves as _herbaceous_ trees of +gigantic height, furnished with verdant leaflets! these Calamites, forty +feet high! these elegant arborescent Ferns, with airy foliage, as +finely cut as the most delicate lace! Nothing at the present day can +convey to us an idea of the prodigious and immense extent of +never-changing verdure which clothed the earth, from pole to pole, under +the high temperature which everywhere prevailed over the whole +terrestrial globe. In the depths of these inextricable forests parasitic +plants were suspended from the trunks of the great trees, in tufts or +garlands, like the wild vines of our tropical forests. They were nearly +all pretty, fern-like plants--_Sphenopteris_, _Hymenophyllites_, &c.; +they attached themselves to the stems of the great trees, like the +orchids and _Bromeliaceæ_ of our times. + +[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Trunk of Calamites. One-fifth natural size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 40.--Trunk of Sigillaria. One-tenth natural size.] + +The margin of the waters would also be covered with various plants with +light and whorled leaves, belonging, perhaps, to the Dicotyledons; +_Annularia fertilis_, _Sphenophyllites_, and _Asterophyllites_. + +How this vegetation, so imposing, both on account of the dimensions of +the individual trees and the immense space which they occupied, so +splendid in its aspect, and yet so simple in its organisation, must have +differed from that which now embellishes the earth and charms our eyes! +It certainly possessed the advantage of size and rapid growth; but how +poor it was in species--how uniform in appearance! No flowers yet +adorned the foliage or varied the tints of the forests. Eternal verdure +clothed the branches of the Ferns, the Lycopods, and Equiseta, which +composed to a great extent the vegetation of the age. The forests +presented an innumerable collection of individuals, but very few +species, and all belonging to the lower types of vegetation. No fruit +appeared fit for nourishment; none would seem to have been on the +branches. Suffice it to say that few terrestrial animals seem to have +existed yet; animal life was apparently almost wholly confined to the +sea, while the vegetable kingdom occupied the land, which at a later +period was more thickly inhabited by air-breathing animals. Probably a +few winged insects (some coleoptera, orthoptera, and neuroptera) gave +animation to the air while exhibiting their variegated colours; and it +was not impossible but that many pulmoniferous mollusca (such as +land-snails) lived at the same time. + +But, we might ask, for what eyes, for whose thoughts, for whose wants, +did the solitary forests grow? For whom these majestic and extensive +shades? For whom these sublime sights? What mysterious beings +contemplated these marvels? A question which cannot be solved, and one +before which we are overwhelmed, and our powerless reason is silent; its +solution rests with Him who said, “Before the world was, I am!” + +The vegetation which covered the numerous islands of the Carboniferous +sea consisted, then, of Ferns, of Equisetaceæ, of Lycopodiaceæ, and +dicotyledonous Gymnosperms. The Annularia and Sigillariæ belong to +families of the last-named class, which are now completely extinct. + +The _Annulariæ_ were small plants which floated on the surface of +fresh-water lakes and ponds; their leaves were verticillate, that is, +arranged in a great number of whorls, at each articulation of the stem +with the branches. The _Sigillariæ_ were, on the contrary, great trees, +consisting of a simple trunk, surmounted with a bunch or panicle of +slender drooping leaves, with the bark often channelled, and displaying +impressions or scars of the old leaves, which, from their resemblance to +a seal, _sigillum_, gave origin to their name. Fig. 41 represents the +bark of one of these Sigillariæ, which is often met with in coal-mines. + +The _Stigmariæ_ (Fig. 42), according to palæontologists, were roots of +Sigillariæ, with a subterranean fructification; all that is known of +them is the long roots which carry the reproductive organs, and in some +cases are as much as sixteen feet long. These were suspected by +Brongniart, on botanical grounds, to be the roots of Sigillaria, and +recent discoveries have confirmed this impression. Sir Charles Lyell, in +company with Dr. Dawson, examined several erect _Sigillariæ_ in the +sea-cliffs of the South Joggins in Nova Scotia, and found that from the +lower extremities of the trunk they sent out _Stigmariæ_ as roots, which +divided into four parts, and these again threw out eight continuations, +each of which again divided into pairs. Twenty-one specimens of +Sigillaria have been described by Dr. Dawson from the Coal-measures of +Nova Scotia; but the differences in the markings in different parts of +the same tree are so great, that Dr. Dawson regards the greater part of +the recognised species of _Sigillariæ_ as merely provisional.[43] + + [43] _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. xxii., p. 129. + +[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Sigillaria lævigata. One-third natural size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Stigmaria. One-tenth natural size.] + +Two other gigantic trees grew in the forests of this period: these were +_Lepidodendron carinatum_ and _Lomatophloyos crassicaule_, both +belonging to the family of Lycopodiaceæ, which now includes only very +small species. The trunk of the Lomatophloyos threw out numerous +branches, which terminated in thick tufts of linear and fleshy leaves. + +The _Lepidodendrons_, of which there are about forty known species, have +cylindrical bifurcated branches; that is, the branches were evolved in +pairs, or were _dichotomous_ to the top. The extremities of the branches +were terminated by a fructification in the form of a cone, formed of +linear scales, to which the name of _Lepidostrobus_ (Fig. 45) has been +given. Nevertheless, many of these branches were sterile, and terminated +simply in fronds (elongated leaves). In many of the coal-fields fossil +cones have been found, to which this name has been given by earlier +palæontologists. They sometimes form the nucleus of nodular, +concretionary balls of clay-ironstone, and are well preserved, having a +conical axis, surrounded by scales compactly imbricated. The opinion of +Brongniart is now generally adopted, that they are the fruit of the +Lepidodendron. At Coalbrookdale, and elsewhere, these have been found as +terminal tips of a branch of a well-characterised Lepidodendron. Both +Hooker and Brongniart place them with the Lycopods, having cones with +similar spores and sporangia, like that family. Most of them were large +trees. One tree of _L. Sternbergii_, nearly fifty feet long, was found +in the Jarrow Colliery, near Newcastle, lying in the shale parallel to +the plane of stratification. Fragments of others found in the same shale +indicated, by the size of the rhomboidal scars which covered them, a +still greater size. Lepidodendron Sternbergii (Fig. 43) is represented +as it is found beneath the shales in the collieries of Swina, in +Bohemia. Fig. 46 represents a portion of a branch of _L. elegans_ +furnished with leaves. M. Eugene Deslongchamps has drawn the restoration +of the Lepidodendron Sternbergii, represented in Fig. 47, which is shown +entire in Fig. 44, with its stem, its branches, fronds, and organs of +fructification. The Ferns composed a great part of the vegetation of the +Coal-measure period. + +[Illustration: Fig. 43.--Lepidodendron Sternbergii.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Lepidodendron Sternbergii restored. Forty feet +high.] + +The Ferns differ chiefly in some of the details of the leaf. +_Pecopteris_, for instance (Fig. 48), have the leaves once, twice, or +thrice pinnatifid with the leaflets adhering either by their whole base +or by the centre only; the midrib running through to the point. +_Neuropteris_ (Fig. 49) has leaves divided like Pecopteris, but the +midrib does not reach the apex of the leaflets, but divides right and +left into veins. _Odontopteris_ (Fig. 51) has pinnatifid leaves, like +the last, but its leaflets adhere by their whole base to the stalk. +_Lonchopteris_ (Fig. 50) has the leaves several times pinnatifid, the +leaflets more or less united to one another, and the veins reticulated. +Among the most numerous species of forms of the Coal-measure period was +_Sphenopteris artemisiæfolia_ (Fig. 52), of which a magnified leaf is +represented. Sphenopteris has twice or thrice pinnatifid leaves, the +leaflets narrow at the base, and the veins generally arranged as if they +radiated from the base; the leaflets are frequently wedge-shaped. + +[Illustration: Fig. 45.--Lepidostrobus variabilis.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 46.--Lepidodendron elegans.] + + +CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. (SUB-PERIOD.) + +The seas of this epoch included an immense number of Zoophytes, nearly +400 species of Mollusca, and a few Crustaceans and Fishes. Among the +Fishes, _Psammodus_ and _Coccosteus_, whose massive teeth inserted in +the palate were suitable for grinding; and the _Holoptychius_ and +_Megalichthys_, are the most important. The Mollusca are chiefly +Brachiopods of great size. The Productæ attained here exceptional +development, _Producta Martini_ (Fig. 53), _P. semi-reticulata_ and _P. +gigantea_, being the most remarkable. Spirifers, also, were equally +abundant, as _Spirifera trigonalis_ and _S. glabra_. In _Terebratula +hastata_ the coloured bands, which adorned the shell of the living +animal, have been preserved to us. The _Bellerophon_, whose convoluted +shell in some respects resembles the Nautilus of our present seas, but +without its chambered shell, were then represented by many species, +among others by _Bellerophon costatus_ (Fig. 54), and _B. hiulcus_ (Fig. +56). Again, among the Cephalopods, we find the _Orthoceras_ (Fig. 57), +which resembled a straight Nautilus; and Goniatites (_Goniatites +evolutus_, Fig. 55), a chambered shell allied to the Ammonite, which +appeared in great numbers during the Secondary epoch. + +[Illustration: Fig. 47.--Lepidodendron Sternbergii.] + +Crustaceans are rare in the Carboniferous Limestone strata; the genus +Phillipsia is the last of the Trilobites, all of which became extinct at +the close of this period. As to the Zoophytes, they consist chiefly of +Crinoids and Corals. The Crinoids were represented by the genera +_Platycrinus_ and _Cyathocrinus_. We also have in these rocks many +Polyzoa. + +[Illustration: Fig. 48.--Pecopteris lonchitica, a little magnified.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 49.--Neuropteris gigantea.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 50.--Lonchopteris Bricii.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 51.--Odontopteris Brardii.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 52.--Sphenopteris artemisiæfolia, magnified.] + +Among the corals of the period, we may include the genera +_Lithostrotion_ and _Lonsdalea_, of which _Lithostrotion basaltiforme_ +(Fig. 58), and _Lonsdalea floriformis_ (Fig. 59), are respectively the +representatives, with _Amplexus coralloïdes_. Among the Polyzoa are the +genera _Fenestrella_ and _Polypora_. Lastly, to these we may add a group +of animals which will play a very important part and become abundantly +represented in the beds of later geological periods, but which already +abounded in the seas of the Carboniferous period. We speak of the +_Foraminifera_ (Fig. 60), microscopic animals, which clustered either in +one body, or divided into segments, and covered with a calcareous, +many-chambered shell, as in Fig. 60, _Fusulina cylindrica_. These little +creatures, which, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, formed +enormous banks and entire masses of rock, began to make their +appearance in the period which now engages our attention. + +[Illustration: Fig. 53.--Producta Martini. One-third nat. size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 54.--Bellerophon costatus. Half nat. size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 55.--Goniatites evolutus. Nat. size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 56.--Bellerophon hiulcus.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 57.--Orthoceras laterale.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 58.--Lithostrotion basaltiforme.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 59.--Lonsdalea floriformis.] + +The plate opposite (PLATE X.) is a representation of an ideal aquarium, +in which some of the more prominent species, which inhabited the seas +during the period of the Carboniferous Limestone, are represented. On +the right is a tribe of corals, with reflections of dazzling white: the +species represented are, nearest the edge, the _Lasmocyathus_, the +_Chætetes_, and the _Ptylopora_. The Mollusc which occupies the +extremity of the elongated and conical tube in the shape of a sabre is +an _Aploceras_. It seems to prepare the way for the Ammonite; for if +this elongated shell were coiled round itself it would resemble the +Ammonite and Nautilus. In the centre of the foreground we have +_Bellerophon hiulcus_ (Fig. 56), the _Nautilus Koninckii_, and a +_Producta_, with the numerous spines which surround the shell. (See Fig. +62.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 60.--Foraminifera of the Mountain Limestone, forming +the centre of an oolitic grain. Power 120.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 61.--Foraminifera of the Chalk, obtained by brushing +it in water. Power 120.] + +On the left are other corals: the _Cyathophyllum_ with straight +cylindrical stems; some Encrinites (_Cyathocrinus_ and _Platycrinus_) +wound round the trunk of a tree, or with their flexible stem floating in +the water. Some Fishes, _Amblypterus_, move about amongst these +creatures, the greater number of which are immovably attached, like +plants, to the rock on which they grow. + +[Illustration: X.--Ideal view of marine life in the Carboniferous +Period.] + +In addition, this engraving shows us a series of islets, rising out +of a tranquil sea. One of these is occupied by a forest, in which a +distant view is presented of the general forms of the grand vegetation +of the period. + + * * * * * + +It is of importance to know the rocks formed by marine deposits during +the era of the Carboniferous Limestone, inasmuch as they include coal, +though in much smaller quantities than in the succeeding sub-period of +the true coal-deposit. They consist essentially of a compact limestone, +of a greyish-blue, and even black colour. The blow of the hammer causes +them to exhale a somewhat fetid odour, which is owing to decomposed +organic matter--the modified substance of the molluscs and zoophytes--of +which it is to so great an extent composed, and whose remains are still +easily recognised. + +[Illustration: Fig. 62.--Producta horrida. Half natural size.] + +In the north of England, and many other parts of the British Islands, +the Carboniferous Limestone forms, as we have seen, lofty +mountain-masses, to which the term _Mountain Limestone_ is sometimes +applied. + +In Derbyshire the formation constitutes rugged, lofty, and +fantastically-shaped mountains, whose summits mingle with the clouds, +while its picturesque character appears here, as well as farther north, +in the _dales_ or valleys, where rich meadows, through which the +mountain streams force their way, seem to be closed abruptly by masses +of rock, rising above them like the grey ruins of some ancient tower; +while the mountain bases are pierced with caverns, and their sides +covered with mosses and ferns, for the growth of which the limestone is +particularly favourable. + +The formation is _metalliferous_, and yields rich veins of lead-ore in +Derbyshire, Cumberland, and other counties of Great Britain. The rock is +found in Russia, in the north of France, and in Belgium, where it +furnishes the common marbles, known as Flanders marble (_Marbre de +Flandres_ and _M. de petit granit_). These marbles are also quarried in +other localities, such as Regneville (La Manche), either for the +manufacture of lime or for ornamental stonework; one of the varieties +quarried at Regneville, being black, with large yellow veins, is very +pretty. + +In France, the _Carboniferous Limestone_, with its sandstones and +conglomerates, schists and limestones, is largely developed in the +Vosges, in the Lyonnais, and in Languedoc, often in contact with +syenites and porphyries, and other igneous rocks, by which it has been +penetrated and disturbed, and even _metamorphosed_ in many ways, by +reason of the various kinds of rocks of which it is composed. In the +United States the Carboniferous Limestone formation occupies a somewhat +grand position in the rear of the Alleghanies. It is also found forming +considerable ranges in our Australian colonies. + +In consequence of their age, as compared with the Secondary and Tertiary +limestones, the Carboniferous rocks are generally more marked and varied +in character. The valley of the Meuse, from Namur to Chockier, above +Liège, is cut out of this formation; and many of our readers will +remember with delight the picturesque character of the scenery, +especially that of the left bank of the celebrated river in question. + + +COAL MEASURES. (SUB-PERIOD.) + +This terrestrial period is characterised, in a remarkable manner, by the +abundance and strangeness of the vegetation which then covered the +islands and continents of the whole globe. Upon all points of the earth, +as we have said, this flora presented a striking uniformity. In +comparing it with the vegetation of the present day, the learned French +botanist, M. Brongniart, who has given particular attention to the flora +of the Coal-measures, has arrived at the conclusion that it presented +considerable analogy with that of the islands of the equatorial and +torrid zone, in which a maritime climate and elevated temperature exist +in the highest degree. It is believed that islands were very numerous at +this period; that, in short, the dry land formed a sort of vast +archipelago upon the general ocean, of no great depth, the islands being +connected together and formed into continents as they gradually emerged +from the ocean. + +This flora, then, consists of great trees, and also of many smaller +plants, which would form a close, thick turf, or sod, when partially +buried in marshes of almost unlimited extent. M. Brongniart indicates, +as characterising the period, 500 species of plants belonging to +families which we have already seen making their first appearance in the +Devonian period, but which now attain a prodigious development. The +ordinary dicotyledons and monocotyledons--that is, plants having seeds +with two lobes in germinating, and plants having one seed-lobe--are +almost entirely absent; the cryptogamic, or flowerless plants, +predominate; especially Ferns, Lycopodiaceæ and Equisetaceæ--but of +forms insulated and actually extinct in these same families. A few +dicotyledonous gymnosperms, or naked-seed plants forming genera of +Conifers, have completely disappeared, not only from the present flora, +but since the close of the period under consideration, there being no +trace of them in the succeeding Permian flora. Such is a general view of +the features most characteristic of the Coal period, and of the Primary +epoch in general. It differs, altogether and absolutely, from that of +the present day; the climatic condition of these remote ages of the +globe, however, enables us to comprehend the characteristics which +distinguish its vegetation. A damp atmosphere, of an equable rather than +an intense heat like that of the tropics, a soft light veiled by +permanent fogs, were favourable to the growth of this peculiar +vegetation, of which we search in vain for anything strictly analogous +in our own days. The nearest approach to the climate and vegetation +proper to the geological period which now occupies our attention, would +probably be found in certain islands, or on the littoral of the Pacific +Ocean--the island of Chloë, for example, where it rains during 300 days +in the year, and where the light of the sun is shut out by perpetual +fogs; where arborescent Ferns form forests, beneath whose shade grow +herbaceous Ferns, which rise three feet and upwards above a marshy soil; +which gives shelter also to a mass of cryptogamic plants, greatly +resembling, in its main features, the flora of the Coal-measures. This +flora was, as we have said, uniform and poor in its botanic genera, +compared to the abundance and variety of the flora of the present time; +but the few families of plants, which existed then, included many more +species than are now produced in the same countries. The fossil Ferns of +the coal-series in Europe, for instance, comprehend about 300 species, +while all Europe now only produces fifty. The gymnosperms, which now +muster only twenty-five species in Europe, then numbered more than 120. + +It will simplify the classification of the flora of the Carboniferous +epoch if we give a tabular arrangement adopted by the best +authorities:-- + + Dr. Lindley. Brongniart. + + I. Thallogens { Cryptogamous Amphigens, } Lichens, Sea-weeds, Fungi. + { or Cellular Cryptogams } + + II. Acrogens Cryptogamous Acrogens { Club-mosses, Equiseta, Ferns, + { Lycopods, Lepidodendra. + + III. Gymnogens Dicotyledonous Gymnosperms Conifers and Cycads. + + { Compositæ, Leguminosæ, Umbel- + IV. Exogens Dicotyledonous Angiosperms { liferæ, Cruciferæ, Heaths. + { All European except Conifers. + + V. Endogens Monocotyledons { Palms, Lilies, Aloes, Rushes, + { Grasses. + +Calamites are among the most abundant fossil plants of the Carboniferous +period, and occur also in the Devonian. They are preserved as striated, +jointed, cylindrical, or compressed stems, with fluted channels or +furrows at their sides, and sometimes surrounded by a bituminous +coating, the remains of a cortical integument. They were originally +hollow, but the cavity is usually filled up with a substance into which +they themselves have been converted. They were divided into joints or +segments, and when broken across at their articulations they show a +number of striæ, originating in the furrows of the sides, and turning +inwards towards the centre of the stem. It is not known whether this +structure was connected with an imperfect diaphragm stretched across the +hollow of the stem at each joint, or merely represented the ends of +woody plates of which the solid part of the stem is composed. Their +extremities have been discovered to taper gradually to a point, as +represented in _C. cannæformis_ (Fig. 64), or to end abruptly, the +intervals becoming shorter and smaller. The obtuse point is now found to +be the root. Calamites are regarded as Equisetaceous plants; later +botanists consider that they belong to an extinct family of plants. +_Sigillariæ_ are the most abundant of all plants in the coal formation, +and were those principally concerned in the accumulation of the mineral +fuel of the Coal-measures. Not a mine is opened, nor a heap of shale +thrown out, but there occur fragments of its stem, marked externally +with small rounded impressions, and in the centre slight tubercles, with +a quincuncial arrangement. From the tubercles arise long ribbon-shaped +bodies, which have been traced in some instances to the length of twenty +feet. + +[Illustration: Fig. 63.--Sphenophyllum restored.] + +In the family of the Sigillarias we have already presented the bark of +_S. lævigata_, at page 138; on page 157 we give a drawing of the bark of +_S. reniformis_, one-third the natural size (Fig. 65). + +In the family of the Asterophyllites, the leaf of _A. foliosa_ (Fig. +66); and the foliage of _Annularia orifolia_ (Fig. 67) are remarkable. +In addition to these, we present, in Fig. 63, a restoration of one of +these Asterophyllites, the _Sphenophyllum_, after M. Eugene +Deslongchamps. This herbaceous tree, like the Calamites, would present +the appearance of an immense asparagus, twenty-five to thirty feet high. +It is represented here with its branches and _fronds_, which bear some +resemblance to the leaves of the ginkgo. The bud, as represented in the +figure, is terminal, and not axillary, as in some of the Calamites. + +[Illustration: Fig. 64.--Calamites cannæformis. One-third natural size.] + +If, during the Coal-period, the vegetable kingdom had reached its +maximum, the animal kingdom, on the contrary, was poorly represented. +Some remains have been found, both in America and Germany, consisting of +portions of the skeleton and the impressions of the footsteps of a +Reptile, which has received the name of Archegosaurus. In Fig. 68 is +represented the head and neck of _Archegosaurus minor_, found in 1847 in +the coal-basin of Saarbruck between Strasbourg and Trèves. Among the +animals of this period we find a few Fishes, analogous to those of the +Devonian formation. These are the _Holoptychius_ and _Megalichthys_, +having jaw-bones armed with enormous teeth. Scales of _Pygopterus_ +have been found in the Northumberland Coal-shale at Newsham Colliery, +and also in the Staffordshire Coal-shale. Some winged insects would +probably join this slender group of living beings. It may then be said +with truth that the immense forests and marshy plains, crowded with +trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, which formed on the innumerable +isles of the period a thick and tufted sward, were almost destitute of +animals. + +[Illustration: XI.--Ideal view of a marshy forest of the Coal Period.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 65.--Sigillaria reniformis.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 66.--Asterophyllites foliosa.] + +On the opposite page (PL. XI.) M. Riou has attempted, under the +directions of M. Deslongchamps, to reproduce the aspect of Nature during +the period. A marsh and forest of the Coal-period are here represented, +with a short and thick vegetation, a sort of grass composed of +herbaceous Fern and mare’s-tail. Several trees of forest-height raise +their heads above this lacustrine vegetation. + +On the left are seen the naked trunk of a _Lepidodendron_ and a +_Sigillaria_, an arborescent Fern rising between the two trunks. At the +foot of these great trees an herbaceous Fern and a _Stigmaria_ appear, +whose long ramification of roots, provided with reproductive spores, +extend to the water. On the right is the naked trunk of another +_Sigillaria_, a tree whose foliage is altogether unknown, a +_Sphenophyllum_, and a _Conifer_. It is difficult to describe with +precision the species of this last family, the impressions of which are, +nevertheless, very abundant in the Coal-measures. + +[Illustration: Fig. 67.--Annularia orifolia.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 68.--Head and neck of Archegosaurus minor.] + +In front of this group we see two trunks broken and overthrown. These +are a _Lepidodendron_ and _Sigillaria_, mingling with a heap of +vegetable débris in course of decomposition, from which a rich humus +will be formed, upon which new generations of plants will soon develop +themselves. Some herbaceous Ferns and buds of _Calamites_ rise out of +the waters of the marsh. + +A few Fishes belonging to the period swim on the surface of the water, +and the aquatic reptile _Archegosaurus_ shows its long and pointed +head--the only part of the animal which has hitherto been discovered +(Fig. 68). A _Stigmaria_ extends its roots into the water, and the +pretty _Asterophyllites_, with its finely-cut stems, rises above it in +the foreground. + +A forest, composed of _Lepidodendra_ and _Calamites_, forms the +background to the picture. + + +FORMATION OF BEDS OF COAL. + +Coal, as we have said, is only the result of a partial decomposition of +the plants which covered the earth during a geological period of immense +duration. No one, now, has any doubt that this is its origin. In +coal-mines it is not unusual to find fragments of the very plants whose +trunks and leaves characterise the Coal-measures, or Carboniferous era. +Immense trunks of trees have also been met with in the middle of a seam +of coal. In the coal-mines of Treuil,[44] at St. Etienne, for instance, +vertical trunks of fossil trees, resembling bamboos or large Equiseta, +are not only mixed with the coal, but stand erect, traversing the +overlying beds of micaceous sandstone in the manner represented in the +engraving, which has been reproduced from a drawing by M. Ad. Brongniart +(Fig. 69). + + [44] “Elements of Geology,” p. 480. + +In England it is the same; entire trees are found lying across the +coal-beds. Sir Charles Lyell tells us[45] that in Parkfield Colliery, +South Staffordshire, there was discovered in 1854, upon a surface of +about a quarter of an acre, a bed of coal which has furnished as many as +seventy-three stumps of trees with their roots attached, some of the +former measuring more than eight feet in circumference; their roots +formed part of a seam of coal ten inches thick, resting on a layer of +clay two inches thick, under which was a second forest resting on a band +of coal from two to five feet thick. Underneath this, again, was a third +forest, with large stumps of _Lepidodendra_, _Calamites_, and other +trees.[46] + + [45] Ibid, p. 479. + + [46] Ibid, p. 479. + +In the lofty cliffs of the South Joggins, in the Bay of Fundy, in Nova +Scotia, Sir Charles Lyell found in one portion of the coal-field 1,500 +feet thick, as many as sixty-eight different surfaces, presenting +evident traces of as many old soils of forests, where the trunks of the +trees were still furnished with roots.[47] + + [47] Ibid, p. 483. + +We will endeavour to establish here the true geological origin of coal, +in order that no doubt may exist in the minds of our readers on a +subject of such importance. In order to explain the presence of coal in +the depths of the earth, there are only two possible hypotheses. This +vegetable débris may either result from the burying of plants brought +from afar and transported by river or maritime currents, forming immense +rafts, which may have grounded in different places and been covered +subsequently by sedimentary deposits; or the trees may have grown on the +spot where they perished, and where they are now found. Let us examine +each of these theories. + +[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Treuil coal-mine, at St. Etienne.] + +Can the coal-beds result from the transport by water, and burial +underground, of immense rafts formed of the trunks of trees? The +hypothesis has against it the enormous height which must be conceded to +the raft, in order to form coal-seams as thick as some of those which +are worked in our collieries. If we take into consideration the specific +gravity of wood, and the amount of carbon it contains, we find that the +coal-deposits can only be about seven-hundredths of the volume of the +original wood and other vegetable materials from which they are formed. +If we take into account, besides, the numerous voids necessarily arising +from the loose packing of the materials forming the supposed raft, as +compared with the compactness of coal, this may fairly be reduced to +five-hundredths. A bed of coal, for instance, sixteen feet thick, would +have required a raft 310 feet high for its formation. These +accumulations of wood could never have arranged themselves with +sufficient regularity to form those well-stratified coal-beds, +maintaining a uniform thickness over many miles, and that are seen in +most coal-fields to lie one above another in succession, separated by +beds of sandstone or shale. And even admitting the possibility of a slow +and gradual accumulation of vegetable débris, like that which reaches +the mouth of a river, would not the plants in that case be buried in +great quantities of mud and earth? Now, in most of our coal-beds the +proportion of earthy matter does not exceed fifteen per cent. of the +entire mass. If we bear in mind, finally, the remarkable parallelism +existing in the stratification of the coal-formation, and the state of +preservation in which the impressions of the most delicate vegetable +forms are discovered, it will, we think, be proved to demonstration, +that those coal-seams have been formed in perfect tranquillity. We are, +then, forced to the conclusion that coal results from the mineralisation +of plants which has taken place on the spot; that is to say, in the very +place where the plants lived and died. + +It was suggested long ago by Bakewell, from the occurrence of the same +peculiar kind of fireclay under each bed of coal, that it was the soil +proper for the production of those plants from which coal has been +formed.[48] + + [48] “Introduction to Geology,” by Robert Bakewell, 5th ed., p. 179. + 1838. + +It has, also, been pointed out by Sir William Logan, as the result of +his observations in the South Wales coal-field, and afterwards by Sir +Henry De la Beche, and subsequently confirmed by the observations of Sir +Charles Lyell in America, that not only in this country, but in the +coal-fields of Nova Scotia, the United States, &c., every layer of true +coal is co-extensive with and invariably underlaid by a marked stratum +of arenaceous clay of greater or less thickness, which, from its +position relatively to the coal has been long known to coal-miners, +among other terms, by the name of _under-clay_. + +The clay-beds, “which vary in thickness from a few inches to more than +ten feet, are penetrated in all directions by a confused and tangled +collection of the roots and leaves, as they may be, of the _Stigmaria +ficoides_, these being frequently traceable to the main stem +(_Sigillaria_), which varies in diameter from about two inches to half a +foot. The main stems are noticed as occurring nearer the top than the +bottom of the bed, as usually of considerable length, the leaves or +roots radiating from them in a tortuous irregular course to considerable +distances, and as so mingled with the under-clay that it is not possible +to cut out a cubic foot of it which does not contain portions of the +plant.” (Logan “On the Characters of the Beds of Clay immediately below +the Coal-seams of South Wales,” Geol. Transactions, Second Series, vol. +vi., pp. 491-2. An account of these beds had previously been published +by Mr. Logan in the Annual Report of the Royal Institution of South +Wales for 1839.) + +From the circumstance of the main stem of the Sigillaria, of which the +_Stigmaria ficoides_ have been traced to be merely a continuation, it +was inferred by the above-mentioned authors, and has subsequently been +generally recognised as probably the truth, that the roots found in the +underclay are merely those of the plant (_Sigillaria_), the stem of +which is met with in the overlying coal-beds--in fact, that the +_Stigmaria ficoides_ is only the root of the _Sigillaria_, and not a +distinct plant, as was once supposed to be the case. + +This being granted, it is a natural inference to suppose that the +present indurated under-clay is only another condition of that soft, +silty soil, or of that finely levigated muddy sediment--most likely of +still and shallow water--in which the vegetation grew, the remains of +which were afterwards carbonised and converted into coal.[49] + + [49] For the opinions respecting the _Stigmaria ficoides_, see a + Memoir on “The Formation of the Rocks in South Wales and + South-Western England,” by Sir Henry T. De la Beche, F.R.S., in + the “Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain,” vol. i., + p. 149. + +In order thoroughly to comprehend the phenomena of the transformation +into coal of the forests and of the herbaceous plants which filled the +marshes and swamps of the ancient world, there is another consideration +to be presented. During the coal-period, the terrestrial crust was +subjected to alternate movements of elevation and depression of the +internal liquid mass, under the impulse of the solar and lunar +attractions to which they would be subject, as our seas are now, giving +rise to a sort of subterranean tide, operating at intervals, more or +less widely apart, upon the weaker parts of the crust, and producing +considerable subsidences of the ground. It might, perhaps, happen that, +in consequence of a subsidence produced in such a manner, the vegetation +of the coal-period would be submerged, and the shrubs and plants which +covered the surface of the earth would finally become buried under +water. After this submergence new forests sprung up in the same place. +Owing to another submergence, the second forests were depressed in their +turn, and again covered by water. It is probably by a series of +repetitions of this double phenomenon--this submergence of whole regions +of forest, and the development upon the same site of new growths of +vegetation--that the enormous accumulations of semi-decomposed plants, +which constitute the Coal-measures, have been formed in a long series of +ages. + +But, has coal been produced from the larger plants only--for example, +from the great forest-trees of the period, such as the Lepidodendra, +Sigillariæ, Calamites, and Sphenophylla? That is scarcely probable, for +many coal-deposits contain no vestiges of the great trees of the period, +but only of Ferns and other herbaceous plants of small size. It is, +therefore, presumable that the larger vegetation has been almost +unconnected with the formation of coal, or, at least, that it has played +a minor part in its production. In all probability there existed in the +coal-period, as at the present time, two distinct kinds of vegetation: +one formed of lofty forest-trees, growing on the higher grounds; the +other, herbaceous and aquatic plants, growing on marshy plains. It is +the latter kind of vegetation, probably, which has mostly furnished the +material for the coal; in the same way that marsh-plants have, during +historic times and up to the present day, supplied our existing peat, +which may be regarded as a sort of contemporaneous incipient coal. + +To what modification has the vegetation of the ancient world been +subjected to attain that carbonised state, which constitutes coal? The +submerged plants would, at first, be a light, spongy mass, in all +respects resembling the peat-moss of our moors and marshes. While under +water, and afterwards, when covered with sediment, these vegetable +masses underwent a partial decomposition--a moist, putrefactive +fermentation, accompanied by the production of much carburetted hydrogen +and carbonic acid gas. In this way, the hydrogen escaping in the form of +carburetted hydrogen, and the oxygen in the form of carbonic acid gas, +the carbon became more concentrated, and coal was ultimately formed. +This emission of carburetted hydrogen gas would, probably, continue +after the peat-beds were buried beneath the strata which were deposited +and accumulated upon them. The mere weight and pressure of the +superincumbent mass, continued at an increasing ratio during a long +series of ages, have given to the coal its density and compact state. + +The heat emanating from the interior of the globe would, also, exercise +a great influence upon the final result. It is to these two causes--that +is to say, to pressure and to the central heat--that we may attribute +the differences which exist in the mineral characters of various kinds +of coal. The inferior beds are _drier_ and more compact than the upper +ones; or less bituminous, because their mineralisation has been +completed under the influence of a higher temperature, and at the same +time under a greater pressure. + +An experiment, attempted for the first time in 1833, at Sain-Bel, +afterwards repeated by M. Cagniard de la Tour, and completed at +Saint-Etienne by M. Baroulier in 1858, fully demonstrates the process by +which coal was formed. These gentlemen succeeded in producing a very +compact coal artificially, by subjecting wood and other vegetable +substances to the double influence of heat and pressure combined. + +The apparatus employed for this experiment by M. Baroulier, at +Saint-Etienne, allowed the exposure of the strongly compressed vegetable +matter enveloped in moist clay, to the influence of a long-continued +temperature of from 200° to 300° Centigrade. This apparatus, without +being absolutely closed, offered obstacles to the escape of gases or +vapours in such a manner that the decomposition of the organic matters +took place in the medium saturated with moisture, and under a pressure +which prevented the escape of the elements of which it was composed. By +placing in these conditions the sawdust of various kinds of wood, +products were obtained which resembled in many respects, sometimes +brilliant shining coal, and at others a dull coal. These differences, +moreover, varied with the conditions of the experiment and the nature of +the wood employed; thus explaining the striped appearance of coal when +composed alternately of shining and dull veins. + +When the stems and leaves of ferns are compressed between beds of clay +or pozzuolana, they are decomposed by the pressure only, and form on +these blocks a carbonaceous layer, and impressions bearing a close +resemblance to those which blocks of coal frequently exhibit. These +last-mentioned experiments, which were first made by Dr. Tyndall, leave +no room for doubt that coal has been formed from the plants of the +ancient world. + +Passing from these speculations to the Coal-measures:-- + +This formation is composed of a succession of beds, of various +thicknesses, consisting of sandstones or gritstones, of clays and +shales, sometimes so bituminous as to be inflammable--and passing, in +short, into an imperfect kind of _coal_. These rocks are interstratified +with each other in such a manner that they may consist of many +alterations. Carbonate of protoxide of iron (clay-ironstone) may also +be considered a constituent of this formation; its extensive +dissemination in connection with coal in some parts of Great Britain has +been of immense advantage to the ironworks of this country, in many +parts of which blast-furnaces for the manufacture of iron rise by +hundreds alongside of the coal-pits from which they are fed. In France, +as is frequently the case in England, this argillaceous iron-ore only +occurs in nodules or lenticular masses, much interrupted; so that it +becomes necessary in that country, as in this, to find other ores of +iron to supply the wants of the foundries. Fig. 70 gives an idea of the +ordinary arrangement of the coal-beds, one of which is seen +interstratified between two parallel and nearly horizontal beds of +argillaceous shale, containing nodules of clay iron-ore--a disposition +very common in English collieries. The coal-basin of Aveyron, in France, +presents an analogous mode of occurrence. + +[Illustration: Fig. 70.--Stratification of coal-beds.] + +The frequent presence of carbonate of iron in the coal-measures is a +most fortunate circumstance for mining industry. When the miner finds, +in the same spot, the ore of iron and the fuel required for smelting it, +arrangements for working them can be established under the most +favourable conditions. Such is the case in the coal-fields of Great +Britain, and also in France to a less extent--that is to say, only at +Saint-Etienne and Alais. + +The extent of the Coal-measures, in various parts of the world, may be +briefly and approximately stated as follows:-- + +ESTIMATED AREA OF THE COAL-MEASURES OF THE WORLD. + + Square Miles. + + United States 220,166 } 420,166 + „ Lignites and inferior Coals 200,000 } + British Possessions in North America 2,200 + Great Britain 3,000 + France 2,000 + Belgium 468 + Rhenish Prussia and Saarbrück 1,550 + Westphalia 400 + Bohemia 620 + Saxony 66 + The Asturias, in Spain 310 + Russia 11,000 + Islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean Unknown. + +The American continent, then, contains much more extensive coal-fields +than Europe; it possesses very nearly two square miles of coal-fields +for every five miles of its surface; but it must be added that these +immense fields of coal have not, hitherto, been productive in proportion +to their extent. The following Table represents the annual produce of +the collieries of America and Europe:-- + + Tons. + + British Islands (in 1870) 110,431,192 + United States 14,593,659 + Belgium (in 1870) 13,697,118 + France (in 1864) 10,000,000 + „ (in 1866) 11,807,142 + Prussia (in 1864) 21,197,266 + Nassau (in 1864) 2,345,459 + Netherlands (in 1864) 24,815 + Austria (in 1864) 4,589,014 + Spain 500,000 + +We thus see that the United States holds a secondary place as a +coal-producing country; raising one-eleventh part of the out-put of the +whole of Europe, and about one-eighth part of the quantity produced by +Great Britain. + +The Coal-measures of England and Scotland cover a large area; and +attempts have been made to estimate the quantity of fuel they contain. +The estimate made by the Royal Commission on the coal in the United +Kingdom may be considered as the nearest; and, in this Report, lately +published, it is stated that in the ascertained coal-fields of the +United Kingdom there is an aggregate quantity of 146,480,000,000 tons of +coal, which may be reasonably expected to be available for use. In the +coal-field of South Wales, ascertained by actual measurement to attain +the extraordinary thickness of 11,000 feet of Coal-measures, there are +100 different seams of coal, affording an aggregate thickness of 120 +feet, mostly in thin beds, but varying from six inches to more than ten +feet. Professor J. Phillips estimates the thickness of the coal-bearing +strata of the north of England at 3,000 feet; but these, in common with +all other coal-fields, contain, along with many beds of the mineral in a +more or less pure state, interstratified beds of sandstones, shales, and +limestone; the real coal-seams, to the number of twenty or thirty, not +exceeding sixty feet in thickness in the aggregate. The Scottish +Coal-measures have a thickness of 3,000 feet, with similar +intercalations of other carboniferous rocks. + +[Illustration: Fig. 71.--Contortions of Coal-beds.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 72.--Cycas circinalis (living form).] + +The coal-basin of Belgium and of the north of France forms a nearly +continuous zone from Liége, Namur, Charleroi, and Mons, to Valenciennes, +Douai, and Béthune. The beds of coal there are from fifty to one hundred +and ten in number, and their thickness varies from ten inches to six +feet. Some coal-fields which are situated beneath the Secondary +formations of the centre and south of France possess beds fewer in +number, but individually thicker and less regularly stratified. The two +basins of the Saône-et-Loire, the principal mines of which are at +Creuzot, Blanzy, Montchanin, and Epinac, only contain ten beds; but some +of these (as at Montchanin) attain 30, 100, and even 130 feet in +thickness. The coal-basin of the Loire is that which contains the +greatest total thickness of coal-beds: the seams there are twenty-five +in number. After those of the North--of the Saône-et-Loire and of the +Loire--the principal basins in France are those of the Allier, where +very important beds are worked at Commentry and Bezenet; the basin of +Brassac, which commences at the confluence of the Allier and the +Alagnon; the basin of the Aveyron, known by the collieries of +Decazeville and Aubin; the basin of the Gard, and of Grand’-Combe. +Besides these principal basins, there are a great many others of +scarcely less importance, which yield annually to France from six to +seven million tons of coal. + +The seams of coal are rarely found in the horizontal position in which +their original formation took place. They have been since much crumpled +and distorted, forced into basin-shaped cavities, with minor +undulations, and affected by numerous flexures and other disturbances. +They are frequently found broken up and distorted by faults, and even +folded back on themselves into zigzag forms, as represented in the +engraving (Fig. 71, p. 167), which is a mode of occurrence common in all +the Coal-measures of Somersetshire and in the basins of Belgium and the +north of France. Vertical pits, sunk on coal which has been subjected to +this kind of contortion and disturbance, sometimes traverse the same +beds many times. + + +PERMIAN PERIOD. + +The name “Permian” was proposed by Sir Roderick I. Murchison, in the +year 1841, for certain deposits which are now known to terminate upwards +the great primeval or Palæozoic Series.[50] + + [50] See “Siluria,” p. 14. _Philosophical Mag._, 3rd series, vol. + xix., p. 419. + +This natural group consists, in descending order, in Germany, of the +Zechstein, the Kupfer-schiefer, Roth-liegende, &c. In England it is +usually divided into Magnesian Limestone or Zechstein, with subordinate +Marl-slate or Kupfer-schiefer, and Rothliegende. The chief calcareous +member of this group of strata is termed in Germany the “Zechstein,” in +England the “Magnesian Limestone;” but, as magnesian limestones have +been produced at many geological periods, and as the German Zechstein is +only a part of a group, the other members of which are known as +“Kupfer-schiefer” (“copper-slate”), “Roth-todt-liegende” (the “Lower New +Red” of English geologists), &c., it was manifest that a single name for +the whole was much needed. Finding, in his examination of Russia in +Europe, that this group was a great and united physical series of marls, +limestones, sandstones, and conglomerates, occupying a region much +larger than France, and of which the Government of Perm formed a central +part, Sir Roderick proposed that the name of Permian, now in general +use, should be thereto applied. + +Extended researches have shown, from the character of its embedded +organic remains, that it is closely allied to, but distinct from, the +carboniferous strata below it, and is entirely distinct from the +overlying Trias, or New Red Sandstone, which forms the base of the great +series of the Secondary rocks. + +Geology is, however, not only indebted to Sir Roderick Murchison for +this classification and nomenclature, but also to him, in conjunction +with Professor Sedgwick, for the name “_Devonian_,” as an equivalent to +“Old Red Sandstone;” whilst every geologist knows that Sir R. Murchison +is the sole author of the SILURIAN SYSTEM. + +[Illustration: XII.--Ideal landscape of the Permian Period.] + +The Permian rocks have of late years assumed great interest, +particularly in England, in consequence of the evidence their correct +determination affords with regard to the probable extent, beneath them, +of the coal-bearing strata which they overlie and conceal; thus tending +to throw a light upon the duration of our coal-fields, one of the most +important questions of the day in connection with our industrial +resources and national prosperity. + +On the opposite page an ideal view of the earth during the Permian +period is represented (PL. XII.). In the background, on the right, is +seen a series of syenitic and porphyritic domes, recently thrown up; +while a mass of steam and vapour rises in columns from the midst of the +sea, resulting from the heat given out by the porphyries and syenites. +Having attained a certain height in the cooler atmosphere, the columns +of steam become condensed and fall in torrents of rain. The evaporation +of water in such vast masses being necessarily accompanied by an +enormous disengagement of electricity, this imposing scene of the +primitive world is illuminated by brilliant flashes of lightning, +accompanied by reverberating peals of thunder. In the foreground, on the +right, rise groups of Tree-ferns, Lepidodendra, and Walchias, of the +preceding period. On the sea-shore, and left exposed by the retiring +tide, are Molluscs and Zoophytes peculiar to the period, such as +_Producta_, _Spirifera_, and _Encrinites_; pretty plants--the +_Asterophyllites_--which we have noticed in our description of the +Carboniferous age, are growing at the water’s edge, not far from the +shore. + +During the Permian period the species of plants and animals were nearly +the same as those already described as belonging to the Carboniferous +period. Footprints of reptilian animals have been found in the Permian +beds near Kenilworth, in the red sandstones of that age in the Vale of +Eden, and in the sandstones of Corncockle Moor, and other parts of +Dumfriesshire. These footprints, together with the occurrence of +current-markings or ripplings, sun-cracks, and the pittings of +rain-drops impressed on the surfaces of the beds, indicate that they +were made upon damp surfaces, which afterwards became dried by the sun +before the flooded waters covered them with fresh deposits of sediment, +in the way that now happens during variations of the seasons in many +salt lakes.[51] M. Ad. Brongniart has described the forms of the Permian +flora as being intermediate between those of the Carboniferous period +and of that which succeeds it. + + [51] A. C. Ramsay, “On the Red Rocks of England.” _Quart. Jour. Geol. + Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 246. + +Although the Permian flora indicates a climate similar to that which +prevailed during the Carboniferous period, it has been pointed out by +Professor Ramsay, as long ago as 1855, that the Permian breccia of +Shropshire, Worcestershire, &c., affords strong proofs of being the +result of direct glacial action, and of the consequent existence at the +period of glaciers and icebergs. + +That such a state of things is not inconsistent with the prevalence of a +moist, equable, and temperate climate, necessary for the preservation of +a luxuriant flora like that of the period in question, is shown in New +Zealand; where, with a climate and vegetation approximating to those of +the Carboniferous period, there are also glaciers at the present day in +the southern island. + +Professor King has published a valuable memoir on the Permian fossils of +England, in the Proceedings of the Palæontographical Society, in which +the following Table is given (in descending order) of the Permian system +of the North of England, as compared with that of Thuringia:-- + + NORTH OF ENGLAND. THURINGIA. MINERAL CHARACTER. + + 1. Crystalline, earthy, } + compact, and oolitic } 1. Stinkstein 1. Oolitic limestones. + limestones } + + 2. Brecciated and pseudo- } 2. Rauchwacke 2. Conglomerates. + brecciated limestones } + + 3. Fossiliferous { 3. Upper Zechstein, or } 3. Marlstones. + limestone { Dolomit-Zechstein } + + 4. Compact limestone 4. Lower Zechstein 4. Magnesian limestones. + + 5. Marl-slate { 5. Mergel-Schiefer or } 5. Red and green grits + { Kupferschiefer } with copper-ore. + + { 6. White limestone with + 6. Lower sandstones, and } 6. Todteliegende { gypsum and white + sands of various colours } { salt. + +At the base of the system lies a band of _lower sandstone_ (No. 6) of +various colours, separating the Magnesian Limestone from the coal in +Yorkshire and Durham; sometimes associated with red marl and gypsum, but +with the same obscure relations in all these beds which usually attend +the close of one series and the commencement of another; the imbedded +plants being, in some cases, stated to be identical with those of the +Carboniferous series. In Thuringia the _Rothliegende_, or _red-lyer_, a +great deposit of red sandstone and conglomerate, associated with +porphyry, basaltic trap, and amygdaloid, lies at the base of the system. +Among the fossils of this age are the silicified trunks of Tree-ferns +(_Psaronius_), the bark of which is surrounded by dense masses of +air-roots, which often double or quadruple the diameter of the original +stem; in this respect bearing a strong resemblance to the living +arborescent ferns of New Zealand. + +The marl-slate (No. 5) consists of hard calcareous shales, +marl-slates, and thin-bedded limestone, the whole nearly thirty +feet thick in Durham, and yielding many fine specimens of Ganoid and +Placoid fishes--_Palæoniscus_, _Pygopterus_, _Cœlacanthus_, and +_Platysomus_--genera which all belong to the Carboniferous system, and +which Professor King thinks probably lived at no great distance from the +shore; but the Permian species of the marl-slate of England are +identical with those of the copper-slate of Thuringia. Agassiz was the +first to point out a remarkable peculiarity in the forms of the fishes +which lived before and after this period. In most living fishes the +trunk seems to terminate in the middle of the root of the tail, whose +free margin is “homocercal” (even-tail), that is, either rounded, or, if +forked, divided into two equal lobes. In Palæoniscus, and most Palæozoic +fishes, the axis of the body is continued into the upper lobe of the +tail, which is thus rendered unsymmetrical, as in the living sharks and +sturgeons. The latter form, which Agassiz termed “heterocercal” +(unequal-tail) is only in a very general way distinctive of Palæozoic +fishes, since this asymmetry exists, though in a minor degree, in many +living genera besides those just mentioned. The compact limestone (No. +4) is rich in Polyzoa. The fossiliferous limestone (No. 3), Mr. King +considers, is a deep-water formation, from the numerous Polyzoa which it +contains. One of these, _Fenestella retiformis_, found in the Permian +rocks of England and Germany, sometimes measures eight inches in width. + +Many species of Mollusca, and especially Brachiopoda, appear in the +Permian seas of this age, _Spirifera_ and _Producta_ being the most +characteristic. + +Other shells now occur, which have not been observed in strata newer +than the Permian. _Strophalosia_ (Fig. 73) is abundantly represented in +the Permian rocks of Germany, Russia, and England, and much more +sparingly in the yellow magnesian limestone, accompanied by _Spirifera +undulata_, &c. _S. Schlotheimii_ is widely disseminated both in England, +Germany, and Russia, with _Lingula Credneri_, and other Palæozoic +Brachiopoda. Here also we note the first appearance of the Oyster, but +still in small numbers. _Fenestella_ represents the Polyzoa. _Schizodus_ +has been found by Mr. Binney in the Upper Red Permian Marls of +Manchester; but no shells of any kind have hitherto been met with in the +Rothliegende of Lancashire, or in the Vale of Eden. + +The brecciated limestone (No. 2) and the concretionary masses (No. 1) +overlying it (although Professor King has attempted to separate them) +are considered by Professor Sedgwick as different forms of the same +rock. They contain no foreign elements, but seem to be composed of +fragments of the underlying limestone, No. 3. Some of the angular masses +at Tynemouth cliff are two feet in diameter, and none of them are +water-worn. + +[Illustration: Fig. 73.--Strophalosia Morrisiana.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 74.--Cyrtoceras depressum.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 75.--Walchia Schlotheimii.] + +The crystalline or concretionary limestone (No. 1) formation is seen +upon the coast of Durham and Yorkshire, between the Wear and the Tees; +and Mr. King thinks that the character of the shells and the absence of +corals indicate a deposit formed in shallow water. + +The plants also found in some of the Permian strata indicate the +neighbourhood of land. These are land species, and chiefly of genera +common in the Coal-measures. Fragments of supposed coniferous wood +(generally silicified) are occasionally met with in the Permian red beds +of many parts of England. + +Among the Ferns characteristic of the period may be mentioned +_Sphenopteris dichotoma_ and _S. Artemisiæfolia_; _Pecopteris +lonchitica_ and _Neuropteris gigantea_, figured on pp. 143, 144. “If we +are,” says Lyell, “to draw a line between the Secondary and Primary +fossiliferous strata, it must be run through the middle of what was once +called the ‘New Red.’ The inferior half of this group will rank as +Primary or Palæozoic, while its upper member will form the base of the +Secondary or Mesozoic series.”[52] Among the _Equiseta_ of the Permian +formation of Saxony, Colonel Von Gutbier found _Calamites gigas_ and +sixty species of fossil plants, most of them Ferns, forty of which have +not been found elsewhere. Among these are several species of _Walchia_, +a genus of Conifers, of which an example is given in Fig. 75. + + [52] “Elements of Geology,” p. 456. + +[Illustration: Fig. 76.--Trigonocarpum Nöggerathii.] + +In their stems, leaves, and cones, they bear some resemblance to the +_Araucarias_, which have been introduced from North America into our +pleasure-grounds during the last half-century. + +Among the genera enumerated by Colonel Von Gutbier are some fruits +called _Cardiocarpon_, and _Asterophyllites_ and _Annularia_, so +characteristic of the Carboniferous age. The Lepidodendron is also +common to the Permian rocks of Saxony, Russia, and Thuringia; also the +_Nöggerathia_, a family of large trees, intermediate between Cycads +(Fig. 72) and the Conifers. The fruit of one of these is represented in +Fig 76. + +PERMIAN ROCKS.--We now give a sketch of the physiognomy of the earth in +Permian times. Of what do the beds consist? What is the extent, and what +is the mineralogical constitution of the rocks deposited in the seas of +the period? The Permian formation consists of three members, which are +in descending order-- + +1. Upper Permian sandstone, or Grès des Vosges; 2. Magnesian Limestone, +or Zechstein; 3. Lower Red Sandstone, Marl-slate or Kupferschiefer, and +Rothliegende. + +The _grès des Vosges_, usually of a red colour, and from 300 to 450 feet +thick, composes all the southern part of the Vosges Mountains, where it +forms frequent level summits, which are evidences of an ancient plain +that has been acted on by running water. It only contains a few +vegetable remains. + +The _Magnesian Limestone_, Pierre de mine, or Zechstein, so called in +consequence of the numerous metalliferous deposits met with in its +diverse beds, presents in France only a few insignificant fragments; but +in Germany and England it attains the thickness of 450 feet. It is +composed of a diversified mass of Magnesian Limestone, generally of a +yellow colour, but sometimes red and brown, and bituminous clay, the +last black and fetid. The subordinate rocks consist of marl, gypsum, and +inflammable bituminous schists. The beds of marl slate are remarkable +for the numbers of peculiar fossil fishes which they contain; and from +the occurrence of small proportions of argentiferous grey copper-ore, +met with in the bituminous shales which are worked in the district of +Mansfeld, in Thuringia--the latter are called _Kupferschiefer_ in +Germany. + +The _Lower Red Sandstone_, which attains a thickness of from 300 to 600 +feet, is found over great part of Germany, in the Vosges, and in +England. Its fossil remains are few and rare; they include silicified +trunks of Conifers, some impressions of Ferns, and Calamites. + +In England the Permian strata, to a great extent, consist of red +sandstones and marls; and the Magnesian Limestone of the northern +counties is also, though to a less degree, associated with red marls. + +In Lancashire thin beds of Magnesian Limestone are interstratified with +red marls in the upper Permian strata, beneath which there are soft Red +Sandstones, estimated by Mr. Hull to be about 1,500 feet thick. These +are supposed to represent the Rothliegende, and no shells of any kind +have been found in them. The upper Permian beds, however, contain a few +Magnesian Limestone species, such as _Gervillia antiqua_, _Pleurophorus +costatus_, _Schizodus obscurus_, and some others, but all small and +dwarfed. + +The coal-fields of North and South Staffordshire, Tamworth, Coalbrook +Dale, and of the Forest of Wyre, are partly bordered by Permian rocks, +which lie unconformably on the Coal-measures; as is the case, also, in +the immediate neighbourhood of Manchester, where they skirt the borders +of the main coal-field, and consist of the Lower Red Sandstone, resting +unconformably on different parts of the Coal-measures, and overlaid by +the pebble-beds of the Trias. + +At Stockport the Permian strata are stated by Mr. Hull to be more than +1,500 feet thick. + +In Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, the Permian strata are +stated by Mr. Aveline to be divided into two chief groups: the +Roth-liegende, of no great thickness, and the Magnesian Limestone +series; the latter being the largest and most important member of the +Permian series in the northern counties of England. The Magnesian +Limestone consists there of two great bands, separated by marls and +sandstone, and quarried for building and for lime. In Derbyshire and +Yorkshire the magnesian limestone, under the name of Dolomite, forms an +excellent building-stone, which has been used in the construction of the +Houses of Parliament. + +In the midland counties and on the borders of Wales, the Permian section +is different from that of Nottinghamshire and the North of England. The +Magnesian Limestones are absent, and the rocks consist principally of +dark-red marl, brown and red sandstones, and calcareous conglomerates +and breccias, which are almost entirely unfossiliferous. In +Warwickshire, where they rest conformably on the Coal-measures, they +occupy a very considerable tract of country, and are of very great +thickness, being estimated by Mr. Howell to be 2,000 feet thick. + +In the east of England the Magnesian Limestone contains a numerous +marine fauna, but much restricted when compared with that of the +Carboniferous period. The shells of the former are all small and dwarfed +in size when compared with their congeners of Carboniferous times, when +such there are, and in this respect, and the small number of genera, +they resemble the living mollusca of the still less numerous fauna of +the Caspian Sea. + +Besides the poverty and small size of the mollusca, the later strata of +the true Magnesian Limestone seem to afford strong indications that they +may have been deposited in a great inland salt-lake subject to +evaporation. + +The absence of fossils in much of the formation may be partly accounted +for by its deposition in great measure from solution, and the +uncongenial nature of the waters of a salt-lake may account for the +poverty-stricken character of the whole molluscan fauna. + +The red colouring-matter of the Permian sandstones and marls is +considered, by Professor Ramsay, to be due to carbonate of iron +introduced into the waters, and afterwards precipitated as peroxide +through the oxidising action of the air and the escape of the carbonic +acid which held it in solution. This circumstance of the red colour of +the Permian beds affords an indication that the red Permian strata were +deposited in inland waters unconnected with the main ocean, which waters +may have been salt or fresh as the case may be. + +“The Magnesian Limestone series of the east of England may, possibly, +have been connected directly with an open sea at the commencement of the +deposition of these strata, whatever its subsequent history may have +been; for the fish of the marl strata have generically strong affinities +with those of Carboniferous age, some of which were truly marine, while +others certainly penetrated shallow lagoons bordered by peaty +flats.”[53] + + [53] “On the Red Rocks of England,” by A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. + Geol. Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 246. + +There is indisputable evidence that the Permian ocean covered an immense +area of the globe. In the Permian period this ocean extended from +Ireland to the Ural mountains, and probably to Spitzbergen, with its +northern boundary defined by the Carboniferous, Devonian, Silurian, and +Igneous regions of Scotland, Scandinavia, and Northern Russia; and its +southern boundaries apparently stretching far into the south of Europe +(King). The chain of the Vosges, stretching across Rhenish Bavaria, the +Grand Duchy of Baden, as far as Saxony and Silesia, would be under +water. They would communicate with the ocean, which covered all the +midland and western counties of England and part of Russia. In other +parts of Europe the continent has varied very little since the preceding +Devonian and Carboniferous ages. In France the central plateaux would +form a great island, which extended towards the south, probably as far +as the foot of the Pyrenees; another island would consist of the mass of +Brittany. In Russia the continent would have extended itself +considerably towards the east; finally, it is probable that, at the end +of the Carboniferous period, the Belgian continent would stretch from +the Departments of the Pas-de-Calais and Du Nord, in France, and would +extend up to and beyond the Rhine. + +In England, the Silurian archipelago, now filled up and occupied by +deposits of the Devonian and Carboniferous systems, would be covered +with carboniferous vegetation; dry land would now extend, almost without +interruption, from Cape Wrath to the Land’s End; but, on its eastern +shore, the great mass of the region now lying less than three degrees +west of Greenwich would, in a general sense, be under water, or form +islands rising out of the sea. Alphonse Esquiros thus eloquently closes +the chapter of his work in which he treats of this formation in England: +“We have seen seas, vast watery deserts, become populated; we have seen +the birth of the first land and its increase; ages succeeding each +other, and Nature in its progress advancing among ruins; the ancient +inhabitants of the sea, or at least their spoils, have been raised to +the summit of lofty mountains. In the midst of these vast cemeteries of +the primitive world we have met with the remains of millions of beings; +entire species sacrificed to the development of life. Here terminates +the first mass of facts constituting the infancy of the British Islands. +But great changes are still to produce themselves on this portion of the +earth’s surface.” + +Having thus described the _Primary Epoch_, it may be useful, before +entering on what is termed by geologists the _Secondary Epoch_, to +glance backwards at the facts which we have had under consideration. + +In this Primary period plants and animals appear for the first time +upon the surface of the cooling globe. We have said that the seas of the +epoch were then dominated by the fishes known as _Ganoids_ (from γανος, +_glitter_), from the brilliant polish of the enamelled scales which +covered their bodies, sometimes in a very complicated and fantastic +manner; the _Trilobites_ are curious Crustaceans, which appear and +altogether disappear in the Primary epoch; an immense quantity of +Mollusca, Cephalopoda, and Brachiopoda; the _Encrinites_, animals of +curious organisation, which form some of the most graceful ornaments of +our Palæontological collections. + +[Illustration: Fig. 77.--Lithostrotion. (Fossil Coral.)] + +But, among all these beings, those which prevailed--those which were +truly the kings of the organic world--were the Fishes, and, above all, +the _Ganoids_, which have left no animated being behind them of similar +organisation. Furnished with a sort of defensive armour, they seem to +have received from Nature this means of protection to ensure their +existence, and permit them to triumph over all the influences which +threatened them with destruction in the seas of the ancient world. + +[Illustration: Fig. 78.--Rhyncholites, upper, side, and internal views. +1, Side view (Muschelkalk of Luneville); 2, Upper view (same locality); +3, Upper view (Lias of Lyme Regis); 4, Calcareous point of an under +mandible, internal view, from Luneville. (Buckland.)] + +In the Primary epoch the living creation was in its infancy. No Mammals +then roamed the forests; no bird had yet displayed its wings. Without +Mammals, therefore, there was no maternal instinct; none of the soft +affections which are, with animals, as it were, the precursors of +intelligence. Without birds, also, there could be no songs in the air. +Fishes, Mollusca, and Crustacea silently ploughed their way in the +depths of the sea, and the immovable Crinoid lived there. On the land we +only find a few marsh-frequenting Reptiles, of small size--forerunners +of those monstrous Saurians which make their appearance in the Secondary +epoch. + +The vegetation of the Primary epoch is chiefly of inferior organisation. +With a few plants of a higher order, that is to say, Dicotyledons, +Calamites, Sigillarias, it was the Cryptogamia (also several species of +Ferns, the Lepidodendra, Lycopodiaceæ, and the Equisetaceæ, and some +doubtfully allied forms, termed Nöggerathia), then at their maximum of +development, which formed the great mass of the vegetation. + +Let us also consider, in this short analysis, that during the epoch +under consideration, what we call _climate_ may not have existed. The +same animals and the same plants then lived in the polar regions as at +the equator. Since we find, in the Primary formations of the icy regions +of Spitzbergen and Melville Islands, nearly the same fossils which we +meet with in these same rocks in the torrid zone, we must conclude that +the temperature at this epoch was uniform all over the globe, and that +the heat of the earth itself was sufficiently high to render +inappreciable the calorific influence of the sun. + +During this same period the progressive cooling of the earth occasioned +frequent ruptures and dislocations of the ground; the terrestrial crust, +in opening, afforded a passage for the rocks called _igneous_, such as +granite, afterwards to the porphyries and syenites, which poured slowly +through these immense fissures, and formed mountains of granite and +porphyry, or simple clefts, which subsequently became filled with oxides +and metallic sulphides, forming what are now designated metallic veins. +The great mountain-range of Ben Nevis offers a striking example of the +first of these phenomena; through the granite base a distinct natural +section can be traced of porphyry ejected through the granite, and of +syenite through the porphyry. These geological commotions (which +occasioned, not over the whole extent of the earth, but only in certain +places, great movements of the surface) would appear to have been more +frequent at the close of the Primary epoch; during the interval which +forms the passage between the Primary and Secondary epochs; that is to +say, between the Permian and the Triassic periods. The phenomena of +eruptions, and the character of the rocks called eruptive, are treated +of in a former chapter. + +[Illustration: Fig. 79. _a_, Pentacrinites Briareus, reduced; _b_, the +same from the Lias of Lyme Regis; natural size.] + +The convulsions and disturbances by which the surface of the earth was +agitated did not extend, let it be noted, over the whole of its +circumference; the effects were partial and local. It would, then, be +wrong to affirm, as is asserted by many modern geologists, that the +dislocations of the crust and the agitations of the surface of the +globe extended to both hemispheres, resulting in the destruction of all +living creatures. The Fauna and Flora of the Permian period did not +differ essentially from the Fauna and Flora of the Coal-measures, which +shows that no general revolution occurred to disturb the entire globe +between these two epochs. Here, then, as in all analogous cases, it is +unnecessary to recur to any general cataclysm to explain the passage +from one epoch to another. Have we not, almost in our our own day, seen +certain species of animals die out and disappear, without the least +geological revolution? Without speaking of the Beaver, which abounded +two centuries ago on the banks of the Rhône, and in the Cévennes, which +still lived at Paris in the little river Bièvre in the middle ages, its +existence being now unknown in these latitudes, although it is still +found in America and other countries, we could cite many examples of +animals which have become extinct in times by no means remote from our +own. Such are the _Dinornis_ and the _Epyornis_, colossal birds of New +Zealand and Madagascar, and the _Dodo_, which lived in the Isle of +France in 1626. _Ursus spelæus_, _Cervus Megaceros_, _Bos primigenius_, +are species of Bear, Deer, and Ox which were contemporary with man, but +have now become extinct. In France we no longer know the gigantic +wood-stag, figured by the Romans on their monuments, and which they had +brought from England for the fine quality of its flesh. The Erymanthean +boar, so widely dispersed during the ancient historical period, no +longer exists among our living races, any more than the Crocodiles +_lacunosus_ and _laciniatus_ found by Geoffroy St.-Hilaire in the +catacombs of ancient Egypt. Many races of animals figured in the mosaics +of Palestrina, engraved and painted along with species now actually +existing, are no longer found living in our days any more than are the +Lions with curly manes, which formerly existed in Syria, and perhaps +even in Thessaly and the northern parts of Greece. From what happens in +our own time, we may infer what has taken place in times antecedent to +the appearance of man; and the idea of successive cataclysms of the +globe, must be restrained within bounds. Must we imagine a series of +geological revolutions to account for the disappearance of animals which +have evidently become extinct in a natural way? What has come to pass in +our days, it is reasonable to conclude, may have taken place in the +times anterior to the appearance of man. + +[Illustration: Fig. 80.--Terebellaria ramosissima. (Recent Coral.)] + + + + +SECONDARY EPOCH. + + +During the _Primary Epoch_ our globe would appear to have been chiefly +appropriated to beings which lived in the waters--above all, to the +Crustaceans and Fishes; during the _Secondary Epoch_ Reptiles seem to +have been its prevailing inhabitants. Animals of this class assumed +astonishing dimensions, and would seem to have multiplied in a most +singular manner; they were, apparently, the kings of the earth. At the +same time, however, that the animal kingdom thus developed itself, the +vegetation lost much of its importance. + +Geologists have agreed among themselves to divide the Secondary epoch +into three periods: 1, the _Cretaceous_; 2, the _Jurassic_; 3, the +_Triassic_--a division which it is convenient to adopt. + + +THE TRIASSIC, OR NEW RED PERIOD. + +This period has received the name of Triassic because the rocks of which +it is composed, which are more fully developed in Germany than either in +England or France, were called the Trias (or Triple Group), by German +writers, from its division into three groups, as follows, in descending +order:-- + + ENGLAND. FRANCE. GERMANY. + + Saliferous and gypseous } Marnes irisées Keuper. 1,000 feet. + shales and sandstone } + + Wanting { Muschelkalk or Calcaire } Muschelkalk. 600 feet. + { coquillier } + + Sandstone and quartzose } Grès bigarré Bunter-Sandstein. + conglomerate } 1,500 ft. + +The following has been shown by Mr. Ed. Hull to be the general +succession of the Triassic formation in the midland and north-western +counties of England, where it attains its greatest vertical development, +thinning away in the direction of the mouth of the Thames:-- + + Foreign Equivalents. + -------------------- + / NEW RED MARL. Red and grey shales and Keuper. Marnes + | marls, sometimes micaceous, irisées. + | with beds of rock-salt + | and gypsum, containing + | _Estheria_ and _Fora- + | minifera_ (Chellaston). + | + | LOWER KEUPER Thinly-laminated mica- Letten + | SANDSTONE. ceous sandstones and Kohle (?) „ + T | marls (waterstones); + R | passing downwards into + I | white, brown, or reddish + A | sandstone, with a + S | base of calcareous con- + S | glomerate or breccia. + I | + C< Wanting in ... Muschelkalk. Calcaire + | England. coquillier. + S | + E | UPPER MOTTLED Soft, bright-red and \ + R | SANDSTONE. variegated sandstone | + I | (without pebbles). | + E | | + S | PEBBLE BEDS. Harder reddish-brown | Bunter Grès bigarré, + . | sandstones with quartz- | Sandstein. or Grès des + | ose pebbles, passing > Vosges (in + | into conglomerate; | part). + | with a base of calca- | + | reous breccia. | + | | + | LOWER MOTTLED Soft bright-red and | + | SANDSTONE. variegated sandstone | + \ (without pebbles). / + + P / UPPER PERMIAN. Red marls, with thin- Zechstein. + E | bedded fossiliferous + R | limestones (Manchester). + M | + I | / Red and variegated sand- \ + A | | stone (Collyhurst, Man- | + N | | chester) represented by | + < | [...]. | + S | | | + E | LOWER < Reddish-brown and purple > Rothe-todte- Grès des + R | | sandstones and | liegende. Vosges (in + I | | marls, with calcareous | part). + E | | conglomerates and | + S | | trappoid breccia. | + . \ \ (Central counties). / + + +NEW RED SANDSTONE. + +In this new phase of the revolutions of the globe, the animated beings +on its surface differ much from those which belonged to the Primary +epoch. The curious Crustaceans which we have described under the name of +_Trilobites_ have disappeared; the molluscous Cephalopods and +Brachiopods are here few in number, as are the Ganoid and Placoid +Fishes, whose existence also seems to have terminated during this +period, and vegetation has undergone analogous changes. The cryptogamic +plants, which reached their maximum in the Primary epoch, become now +less numerous, while the Conifers experienced a certain extension. Some +kinds of terrestrial animals have disappeared, but they are replaced by +genera as numerous as new. For the first time the Turtle appears in the +bosom of the sea, and on the borders of lakes. The Saurian reptiles +acquire a great development; they prepare the way for those enormous +Saurians, which appear in the following period, whose skeletons present +such vast proportions, and such a strange aspect, as to strike with +astonishment all who contemplate their gigantic, and, so to speak, +awe-inspiring remains. + +The _Variegated Sandstone_, or Bunter, contains many vegetable, but few +animal, remains, although we constantly find imprints of the footsteps +of the Labyrinthodon. + +The lowest Bunter formation shows itself in France, in the Pyrenees, +around the central plateau in the Var, and upon both flanks of the +Vosges mountains. It is represented in south-western and central +Germany, in Belgium, in Switzerland, in Sardinia, in Spain, in Poland, +in the Tyrol, in Bohemia, in Moravia, and in Russia. M. D’Orbigny +states, from his own observation, that it covers vast surfaces in the +mountainous regions of Bolivia, in South America. It is recognised in +the United States, in Columbia, in the Great Antilles, and in Mexico. + +The Bunter in France is reduced to the variegated sandstone, except +around the Vosges, in the Var, and the Black Forest, where it is +accompanied by the Muschelkalk. In Germany it furnishes building-stone +of excellent quality; many great edifices, in particular the cathedrals, +so much admired on the Rhine--such, for example, as those of Strasbourg +and Fribourg--are constructed of this stone, the sombre tints of which +singularly relieve the grandeur and majesty of the Gothic architecture. +Whole cities in Germany are built of the brownish-red stones drawn from +its mottled sandstone quarries. In England, in Scotland, and in Ireland +this formation extends from north to south through the whole length of +the country. “This old land,” says Professor Ramsay,[54] “consisted in +great part of what we now know as Wales, and the adjacent counties of +Hereford, Monmouth, and Shropshire; of part of Devon and Cornwall, +Cumberland, the Pennine chain, and all the mountainous parts of +Scotland. Around old Wales, and part of Cumberland, and probably all +round and over great part of Devon and Cornwall, the New Red Sandstone +was deposited. Part, at least, of this oldest of the Secondary rocks was +formed of the material of the older Palæozoic strata, that had then +risen above the surface of the water. The New Red Sandstone series +consists in its lower members of beds of red sandstone and conglomerate, +more than 1,000 feet thick, and above them are placed red and green +marls, chiefly red, which in Germany are called the Keuper strata, and +in England the New Red Marl. These formations range from the mouth of +the Mersey, round the borders of Wales, to the estuary of the Severn, +eastwards into Warwickshire, and thence northwards into Yorkshire and +Northumberland, along the eastern border of the Magnesian Limestone. +They also form the bottom of the valley of the Eden, and skirt +Cumberland on the west; in the centre of England the unequal hardness of +its sub-divisions sometimes giving rise to minor escarpments, +overlooking plains and undulating grounds of softer strata.” + + [54] “The Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain,” 2nd ed., + p. 60. + +“Different members of the group rest in England, in some region or +other,” says Lyell, “on almost every principal member of the Palæozoic +series, on Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian +rocks; and there is evidence everywhere of disturbance, contortion, +partial upheaval into land, and vast denudations which the older rocks +underwent before and during the deposition of the successive strata of +the New Red Sandstone group.” (“Elements of Geology,” p. 439.) + +The _Muschelkalk_ consists of beds of compact limestone, often greyish, +sometimes black, alternating with marl and clay, and commonly containing +such numbers of shells that the name of shelly limestone (_Muschelkalk_) +has been given to the formation by the Germans. The beds are sometimes +magnesian, especially in the lower strata, which contain deposits of +gypsum and rock-salt. + +The seas of this sub-period, which is named after the innumerable masses +of shells inclosed in the rocks which it represents, included, besides +great numbers of Mollusca, Saurian Reptiles of twelve different genera, +some Turtles, and six new genera of Fishes clothed with a cuirass. Let +us pause at the Mollusca which peopled the Triassic seas. + +[Illustration: Fig. 81.--Ceratites nodosus. (Muschelkalk.)] + +Among the shells characteristic of the Muschelkalk period, we mention +_Natica Gaillardoti_, _Rostellaria antiqua_, _Lima striata_, _Avicula +socialis_, _Terebratula vulgaris_, _Turbonilla dubia_, _Myophoria +vulgaris_, _Nautilus hexagonalis_, and _Ceratites nodosus_. The +_Ceratites_, of which a species is here represented (Fig. 81), form a +genus closely allied to the _Ammonites_, which seem to have played such +an important part in the ancient seas, but which have no existence in +those of our era, either in species or even in genus. This Ceratite is +found in the Muschelkalk of Germany, a formation which has no equivalent +in England, but which is a compact greyish limestone underlying the +saliferous rocks in Germany, and including beds of dolomite with gypsum +and rock-salt. + +The _Mytilus_ or _Mussel_, which properly belonged to this age, are +acephalous (or headless) Molluscs with elongated triangular shells, of +which there are many species found in our existing seas. _Lima_, +_Myophoria_, _Posidonia_, and _Avicula_, are acephalous Molluscs of the +same period. The two genera _Natica_ and _Rostellaria_ belong to the +Gasteropoda, and are abundant in the Muschelkalk in France, Germany, and +Poland. + +Among the Echinoderms belonging to this period may be mentioned +_Encrinus moniliformis_ and _E. liliiformis_, or _lily encrinite_ (Fig. +82), whose remains, constituting in some localities whole beds of rock, +show the slow progress with which this zoophyte formed beds of limestone +in the clear seas of the period. To these may be added, among the +Mollusca, _Avicula subcostata_ and _Myophoria vulgaris_. + +In the Muschelkalk are found the skull and teeth of _Placodus gigas_, a +reptile which was originally placed by Agassiz among the class of +Fishes; but more perfect specimens have satisfied Professor Owen that it +was a Saurian Reptile. + +It may be added, that the presence of a few genera, peculiar to the +Primary epoch, which entirely disappeared during the sub-period, and +the appearance for the first time of some other animals peculiar to the +Jurassic period, give to the Muschelkalk fauna the appearance of being +one of passage from one period to the other. + +[Illustration: Fig. 82.--Encrinus liliiformis.] + +The seas, then, contained a few Reptiles, probably inhabitants of the +banks of rivers, as _Phytosaurus_, _Capitosaurus_, &c., and sundry +Fishes, as _Sphœrodus_ and _Pycnodus_. In this sub-period we shall say +nothing of the Land-Turtles, which for the first time now appear; but, +we should note, that at the Bunter period a gigantic Reptile appears, on +which the opinions of geologists were for a long while at variance. In +the argillaceous rocks of the Muschelkalk period imprints of the foot of +some animal were discovered in the sandstones of Storeton Hill, in +Cheshire, and in the New Red Sandstone of parts of Warwickshire, as well +as in Thuringia, and Hesseburg in Saxony, which very much resembled the +impression that might be made in soft clay by the outstretched fingers +and thumb of a human hand. These traces were made by a species of +Reptile furnished with four feet, the two fore-feet being much broader +than the hinder two. The head, pelvis, and scapula only of this +strange-looking animal have been found, but these are considered to have +belonged to a gigantic air-breathing reptile closely connected with the +Batrachians. It is thought that the head was not naked, but protected by +a bony cushion; that its jaws were armed with conical teeth, of great +strength and of a complicated structure. This curious and +uncouth-looking creature, of which the woodcut Fig. 83 is a restoration, +has been named the _Cheirotherium_, or _Labyrinthodon_, from the +complicated arrangement of the cementing layer of the teeth. (See also +Fig. 1, p. 12.) + +Another Reptile of great dimensions--which would seem to have been +intended to prepare the way for the appearance of the enormous Saurians +which present themselves in the Jurassic period--was the _Nothosaurus_, +a species of marine Crocodile, of which a restoration has been attempted +in PLATE XIII. opposite. + +[Illustration: XIII.--Ideal Landscape of the Muschelkalk Sub-period.] + +It has been supposed, from certain impressions which appear in the +Keuper sandstones of the Connecticut river in North America, that +Birds made their appearance in the period which now occupies us; the +flags on which these occur by thousands show the tracks of an animal of +great size (some 20 inches long and 4½ feet apart), presenting the +impression of three toes, like some of the Struthionidæ or Ostriches, +accompanied by raindrops. No remains of the skeletons of birds have been +met with in rocks of this period, and the footprints in question are all +that can be alleged in support of the hypothesis. + +[Illustration: Fig. 83.--Labyrinthodon restored. One-twentieth natural +size.] + +M. Ad. Brongniart places the commencement of dicotyledonous gymnosperm +plants in this age. The characteristics of this Flora consist in +numerous Ferns, constituting genera now extinct, such as _Anomopteris_ +and _Crematopteris_. The true _Equiseta_ are rare in it. The Calamites, +or, rather, the _Calamodendra_, abound. The gymnosperms are represented +by the genera _Conifer_, _Voltzia_, and _Haidingera_, of which both +species and individuals are very numerous in the formation of this +period. + +Among the species of plants which characterise this formation, we may +mention _Neuropteris elegans_, _Calamites arenaceus_, _Voltzia +heterophylla_, _Haidingera speciosa_. The _Haidingera_, belonging to the +tribe of _Abietinæ_, were plants with large leaves, analogous to those +of our _Damara_, growing close together, and nearly imbricated, as in +the _Araucaria_. Their fruit, which are cones with rounded scales, are +imbricated, and have only a single seed, thus bearing out the strong +resemblance which has been traced between these fossil plants, and the +Damara. + +The _Voltzias_ (Fig. 84), which seem to have formed the greater part of +the forests were a genus of Cupressinaceæ, now extinct, which are well +characterised among the fossil Conifers of the period. The alternate +spiral leaves, forming five to eight rows sessile, that is, sitting +close to the branch and drooping, have much in them analogous to the +_Cryptomerias_. Their fruit was an oblong cone with scales, loosely +imbricated, cuneiform or wedge-shaped, and, commonly, composed of from +three to five obtuse lobes. In Fig. 84 we have a part of the stem, a +branch with leaves and cone. In his “Botanic Geography,” M. Lecoq thus +describes the vegetation of the ancient world in the first period of the +Triassic age: “While the variegated sandstone and mottled clays were +being slowly deposited in regular beds by the waters, magnificent Ferns +still exhibited their light and elegantly-carved leaves. Divers +_Protopteris_ and majestic _Neuropteris_ associated themselves in +extensive forests, where vegetated also the _Crematopteris typica_ of +Schimper, the _Anomopteris Mongeotii_ of Brongniart, and the pretty +_Trichomanites myriophyllum_ (Göppert). The Conifers of this epoch +attain a very considerable development, and would form graceful forests +of green trees. Elegant monocotyledons, representing the forms of +tropical countries, seem to show themselves for the first time, the +_Yuccites Vogesiacus_ of Schimper constituted groups at once thickly +serried and of great extent. + +“A family, hitherto doubtful, appears under the elegant form of +_Nilssonia Hogardi_, Schimp.; _Ctenis Hogardi_, Brongn. It is still seen +in the _Zamites Vogesiacus_, Schimp.; and the group of the Cycads +sharing at once in the organisation of the Conifers and the elegance of +the Palms, now decorate the earth, which reveals in these new forms its +vast fecundity. (See Fig. 72, p. 168.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 84.--Branch and cone of Voltzia restored.] + +“Of the herbaceous plants which formed the undergrowth of the forests, +or which luxuriated in its cool marshes, the most remarkable is the +_Ætheophyllum speciosum_, Schimp. Their organisation approximates to +the Lycopodiaceæ and Thyphaceæ, the _Ætheophyllum stipulare_, Brongn., +and the curious _Schizoneura paradoxa_, Schimp. Thus we can trace the +commencement of the reign of the Dicotyledons with naked seeds, which +afterwards become so widely disseminated, in a few Angiosperms, composed +principally of two families, the Conifers and Cycadeaceæ, still +represented in the existing vegetation. The former, very abundant at +first, associated themselves with the cellular Cryptogams, which still +abound, although they are decreasing, then with the Cycadeaceæ, which +present themselves slowly, but will soon be observed to take a large +part in the brilliant harmonies of the vegetable kingdom.” + +The engraving at page 191 (PLATE XIII.) gives an idealised picture of +the plants and animals of the period. The reader must imagine himself +transported to the shores of the Muschelkalk sea at a moment when its +waves are agitated by a violent but passing storm. The reflux of the +tide exposes some of the aquatic animals of the period. Some fine +Encrinites are seen, with their long flexible stems, and a few Mytili +and Terebratulæ. The Reptile which occupies the rocks, and prepares to +throw itself on its prey, is the _Nothosaurus_. Not far from it are +other reptiles, its congeners, but of a smaller species. Upon the dune +on the shore is a fine group of the trees of the period, that is, of +_Haidingeras_, with large trunks, with drooping branches and foliage, of +which the cedars of our own age give some idea. The elegant _Voltzias_ +are seen in the second plane of this curtain of verdure. The Reptiles +which lived in these primitive forests, and which would give to it so +strange a character, are represented by the _Labyrinthodon_, which +descends towards the sea on the right, leaving upon the sandy shore +those curious tracks which have been so wonderfully preserved to our +days. + +The footprints of the reptilian animals of this period prove that they +walked over moist surfaces; and, if these surfaces had been simply left +by a retiring tide, they would generally have been obliterated by the +returning flood, in the same manner that is seen every day on our own +sandy shores. It seems more likely that the surfaces, on which fossil +footprints are now found, were left bare by the summer evaporation of a +lake; that these surfaces were afterwards dried by the sun, and the +footprints hardened, so as to ensure their preservation, before the +rising waters brought by flooded muddy rivers again submerged the low +flat shores and deposited new layers of salt, just as they do at the +present day round the Dead Sea and the Salt Lake of Utah. + +[Illustration: XIV.--Ideal Landscape of the Keuper Sub-period.] + + +KEUPER SUB-PERIOD. + +The formation which characterises the Keuper, or saliferous period, is +of moderate extent, and derives the latter name from the salt deposits +it contains. + +These rocks consist of a vast number of argillaceous and marly beds, +variously coloured, but chiefly red, with tints of yellow and green. +These are the colours which gave the name of _variegatea_ (Poikilitic) +to the series. The beds of red marl often alternate with sandstones, +which are also variegated in colour. As subordinate rocks, we find in +this formation some deposits of a poor pyritic coal and of gypsum. But +what especially characterises the formation are the important deposits +of rock-salt which are included in it. The saliferous beds, often +twenty-five to forty feet thick, alternate with beds of clay, the whole +attaining a thickness of 160 yards. In Germany in Würtemberg, in France +at Vic, at Dieuze, and at Château-Salins, the rock-salt of the +saliferous formation has become an important branch of industry. In the +Jura, salt is extracted from the water charged with chlorides, which +issues from this formation. + +Some of these deposits are situated at great depths, and cannot be +reached without very considerable labour. The salt-mines of Wieliczka, +in Poland, for example, can be procured on the surface, or by galleries +of little depth, because the deposit belongs to the Tertiary period; but +the deposits of salt, in the Triassic age, lie so much deeper, as to be +only approachable by a regular process of mining by galleries, and the +ordinary mode of reaching the salt is by digging pits, which are +afterwards filled with water. This water, charged with the salt, is then +pumped up into troughs, where it is evaporated, and the crystallised +mineral obtained. + +What is the origin of the great deposits of marine salt which occur in +this formation, and which always alternate with thin beds of clay or +marl? We can only attribute them to the evaporation of vast quantities +of sea-water introduced into depressions, cavities, or gulfs, which the +sandy dunes afterwards separated from the great open sea. In PLATE XIV. +an attempt is made to represent the natural fact, which must have been +of frequent recurrence during the saliferous period, to form the +considerable masses of rock-salt which are now found in the rocks of the +period. On the right is the sea, with a dune of considerable extent, +separating it from a tranquil basin of smooth water. At intervals, and +from various causes, the sea, clearing the dune, enters and fills the +basin. We may even suppose that a gulf exists here which, at one time, +communicated with the sea; the winds having raised this sandy dune, the +gulf becomes transformed, by degrees, into a basin or back-water, closed +on all sides. However that may be, it is pretty certain that if the +waters of the sea were once shut up in this basin, with an argillaceous +bottom and without any opening, evaporation from the effects of solar +heat would take place, and a bed of salt would be the result of this +evaporation, mixed with other mineral salts which accompany chloride of +sodium in sea-water, such as sulphate of magnesia, chloride of +potassium, &c. This bed of salt, left by the evaporation of the water, +would soon receive an argillaceous covering from the clay and silt +suspended in the muddy water of the basin, thus forming a first +alternation of salt and of clay or marl. The sea making fresh breaches +across the barriers, the same process took place with a similar result, +until the basin was filled up. By the regular and tranquil repetition of +this phenomenon, continued during a long succession of ages, this +abundant deposit of rock-salt has been formed, which occupies so +important a position in the Secondary rocks. + +There is in the delta of the Indus a singular region, called the Runn of +Cutch, which extends over an area of 7,000 square miles, which is +neither land nor sea, but is under water during the monsoons, and in the +dry season is incrusted, here and there, with salt about an inch thick, +the result of evaporation. Dry land has been largely increased here, +during the present century, by subsidence of the waters and upheavals by +earthquakes. “That successive layers of salt may have been thrown down +one upon the other on many thousand square miles, in such a region, is +undeniable,” says Lyell. “The supply of brine from the ocean is as +inexhaustible as the supply of heat from the sun. The only assumption +required to enable us to explain the great thickness of salt in such an +area, is the continuance for an indefinite period of a subsidence, the +country preserving all the time a general approach to horizontally.” The +observations of Mr. Darwin on the atolls of the Pacific, prove that such +a continuous subsidence is probable. Hugh Miller, after ably discussing +various spots of earth where, as in the Runn of Cutch, evaporation and +deposit take place, adds: “If we suppose that, instead of a barrier of +lava, sand-bars were raised by the surf on a flat arenaceous coast, +during a slow and equable sinking of the surface, the waters of the +outer gulf might occasionally topple over the bar and supply a fresh +brine when the first stock had been exhausted by evaporation.” + +Professor Ramsay has pointed out that both the sandstones and marls of +the Triassic epoch were formed in lakes. In the latter part of this +epoch, he is of opinion, that the Keuper marls of the British Isles were +deposited in a large lake, or lakes, which were fresh or brackish at +first, but afterwards salt and without outlets to the sea; and that the +same was occasionally the case with regard to other portions of northern +Europe and its adjoining seas. + +By the silting up of such lakes with sediment, and the gradual +evaporation of their waters under favourable conditions, such as +increased heat and diminished rainfall--where the lakes might cease to +have an outflow into the sea and the loss of water by evaporation would +exceed the amount flowing into them--the salt or salts contained in +solution would, by degrees, become concentrated and finally +precipitated. In this way the great deposits of rock-salt and gypsum, +common in the Keuper formation, may be accounted for. + +Subsequently, by increase of rainfall or decrease of heat, and sinking +of the district, the waters became comparatively less salt again; and a +recurrence of such conditions lasted until the close of the Keuper +period, when a partial influx of the sea took place, and the Rhætic beds +of England were deposited. + +The red colour of the New Red Sandstones and marls is caused by peroxide +of iron, which may also have been carried into the lakes in solution, as +a carbonate, and afterwards converted into peroxide by contact with air, +and precipitated as a thin pellicle upon the sedimentary grains of sandy +mud, of which the Triassic beds more or less consist. Professor Ramsay +further considers that all the red-coloured strata of England, including +the Permian, Old Red Sandstone, and even the Old Cambrian formation, +were deposited in lakes or inland waters.[55] + + [55] A. C. Ramsay, _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. 27, p. 191. + + * * * * * + +There is little to be said of the animals which belong to the Saliferous +period. They are nearly the same as those of the Muschelkalk, &c. + +Among the most abundant of the shells belonging to the upper Trias, in +all the countries where it has been examined, are the _Avicula, +Cardium_, and _Pecten_, one of which is given in Fig. 85. Foraminifera +are numerous in the Keuper marls. The remains of land-plants, and the +peculiarities of some of the reptiles of the Keuper period, tend to +confirm the opinion of Professor Ramsay, that the strata were deposited +in inland salt-lakes. + +In the Keuper period the islands and continents presented few +mountains; they were intersected here and there by large lakes, with +flat and uniform banks. The vegetation on their shores was very +abundant, and we possess its remains in great numbers. The Keuper Flora +was very analogous to those of the Lias and Oolite, and consisted of +Ferns, Equisetaceæ, Cycads, Conifers, and a few plants, which M. Ad. +Brongniart classes among the dubious monocotyledons. Among the Ferns may +be quoted many species of _Sphenopteris_ or _Pecopteris_. Among them, +_Pecopteris Stuttgartiensis_, a tree with channelled trunk, which rises +to a considerable height without throwing out branches, and terminates +in a crown of leaves finely cut and with long petioles; the _Equisetites +columnaris_, a great Equisetum analogous to the horse-tails of our age, +but of infinitely larger dimensions, its long fluted trunk, surmounted +by an elongated fructification, towering over all the other trees of the +marshy soil. + +[Illustration: Fig. 85.--Pecten orbicularis.] + +The _Pterophyllum Jägeri_ and _P. Münsteri_ represented the Cycads, the +_Taxodites Münsterianus_ represented the Conifers, and, finally, the +trunk of the Calamites was covered with a creeping plant, having +elliptical leaves, with a re-curving nervature borne upon its long +petioles, and the fruit disposed in bunches; this is the _Preissleria +antiqua_, a doubtful monocotyledon, according to Brongniart, but M. +Unger places it in the family of _Smilax_, of which it will thus be the +earliest representative. The same botanist classes with the canes a +marsh-plant very common in this period, the _Palæoxyris Münsteri_, which +Brongniart classes with the _Preissleria_ among his doubtful +Monocotyledons. + +The vegetation of the latter part of the Triassic period is thus +characterised by Lecoq, in his “Botanical Geography”: “The cellular +_Cryptogameæ_ predominate in this as they do in the Carboniferous epoch, +but the species have changed, and many of the genera also are different; +the _Cladephlebis_, the _Sphenopteris_, the _Coniopteris_, and +_Pecopteris_ predominate over the others in the number of species. The +Equisetaceæ are more developed than in any other formation. One of the +finest species, the _Calamites arenaceus_ of Brongniart, must have +formed great forests. The fluted trunks resemble immense columns, +terminating at the summit in leafy branches, disposed in graceful +verticillated tufts, foreshadowing the elegant forms of _Equisetum +sylvaticum_. Growing alongside of these were a curious Equisetum and +singular Equisetites, a species of which last, _E. columnaris_, raised +its herbaceous stem, with its sterile articulations, to a great height. + +“What a singular aspect these ancient rocks would present, if we add to +them the forest-trees _Pterophyllum_ and the _Zamites_ of the fine +family of Cycadeaceæ, and the Conifers, which seem to have made their +appearance in the humid soil at the same time! + +“It is during this epoch, while yet under the reign of the +dicotyledonous angiosperms, that we discover the first true +monocotyledons. The _Preissleria antiqua_, with its long petals, +drooping and creeping round the old trunks, its bunches of +bright-coloured berries like the _Smilax_ of our own age, to which +family it appears to have belonged. Besides, the Triassic marshes gave +birth to tufts of _Palæoxyris Münsteri_, a cane-like species of the +Gramineæ, which, in all probability, cheered the otherwise gloomy shore. + +“During this long period the earth preserved its primitive vegetation; +new forms are slowly introduced, and they multiply slowly. But if our +present types of vegetation are deficient in these distant epochs, we +ought to recognise also that the plants which in our days represent the +vegetation of the primitive world are often shorn of their grandeur. Our +Equisetaceæ and Lycopodiaceæ are but poor representatives of the +Lepidodendrons; the Calamites and Asterophyllites had already run their +race before the epoch of which we write.” + +The principal features of Triassic vegetation are represented in PLATE +XIV., page 198. On the cliff, on the left of the ideal landscape, the +graceful stems and lofty trees are groups of _Calamites arenaceus_; +below are the great “horse-tails” of the epoch, _Equisetum columnare_, a +slender tapering species, of soft and pulpy consistence, which, rising +erect, would give a peculiar physiognomy to the solitary shore. + +The Keuper formation presents itself in Europe at many points, and it +is not difficult to trace its course. In France it appears in the +department of the Indre, of the Cher, of the Allier, of the Nièvre, of +the Saône-et-Loire; upon the western slopes of the Jura its outliers +crop out near Poligny and Salins, upon the western slopes of the Vosges; +in the Doubs it shows itself; then it skirts the Muschelkalk area in the +Haute-Marne; in the Vosges it assumes large proportions in the Meurthe +at Luneville and Dieuze; in the Moselle it extends northward to +Bouzonville; and on the Rhine to the east of Luxembourg as far as +Dockendorf. Some traces of it show themselves upon the eastern slopes of +the Vosges, on the lower Rhine. + +It appears again in Switzerland and in Germany, in the canton of Basle, +in Argovia, in the Grand Duchy of Würtemberg, in the Tyrol, and in +Austria, where it gives its name to the city of Salzburg. + +In the British Islands the Keuper formation commences in the eastern +parts of Devonshire, and a band, more or less regular, extends into +Somersetshire, through Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwick, +Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, to the banks of the Tees, in Yorkshire, +with a bed, independent of all the others in Cheshire, which extends +into Lancashire. “At Nantwich, in the upper Trias of Cheshire,” Sir +Charles Lyell states, “two beds of salt, in great part unmixed with +earthy matter, attain the thickness of 90 or 100 feet. The upper surface +of the highest bed is very uneven, forming cones and irregular figures. +Between the two masses there intervenes a bed of indurated clay +traversed by veins of salt. The highest bed thins off towards the +south-west, losing fifteen feet of its thickness in the course of a +mile, according to Mr. Ormerod. The horizontal extent of these beds is +not exactly known, but the area containing saliferous clay and +sandstones is supposed to exceed 150 miles in diameter, while the total +thickness of the Trias in the same region is estimated by Mr. Ormerod at +1,700 feet. Ripple-marked sandstones and the footprints of animals are +observed at so many levels, that we may safely assume the whole area to +have undergone a slow and gradual depression during the formation of the +New Red Sandstone.” + +Not to mention the importance of salt as a source of health, it is in +Great Britain, and, indeed, all over the world where the saliferous +rocks exist, a most important branch of industry. The quantity of the +mineral produced in England, from all sources, is between 5,000 and +6,000 tons annually, and the population engaged in producing the +mineral, from sources supposed to be inexhaustible, is upwards of +12,000. + +The lower Keuper sandstones, which lie at the base of the series of red +marls, frequently give rise to springs, and are in consequence called +“water-stones,” in Lancashire and Cheshire. + +[Illustration: Fig. 86.--Productus Martini.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 87.--Patella vulgata. + +(Living.)] + +If the Keuper formation is poor in organic remains in France, it is by +no means so on the other side of the Alps. In the Tyrol, and in the +remarkable beds of Saint Cassian, Aussec, and Hallstadt, the rocks are +made up of an immense number of marine fossils, among them Cephalopods, +Ceratites, and Ammonites of peculiar form. The Orthoceras, which we have +seen abounding in the Silurian period, and continued during the deposit +of the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, appears here for the last +time. We still find here a great number of Gasteropods and of +Lamellibranchs of the most varied form. Sea Urchins--corals of elegant +form--appear to have occupied, on the other side of the Alps, the same +seas which in France and Germany seem to have been nearly destitute of +animals. Some beds are literally formed of accumulated shells belonging +to the genus _Avicula_; but these last-mentioned deposits are to be +considered as more properly belonging to the Rhætic or Penarth strata, +into which the New Red or Keuper Marl gradually passes upwards, and +which are more fully described at page 207. + +In following the grand mountainous slopes of the Alps and Carpathians we +discover the saliferous rocks by this remarkable accumulation of +Aviculæ. The same facies presents itself under identical conditions in +Syria, in India, in New Caledonia, in New Zealand, and in Australia. It +is not the least curious part of this period, that it presents, on one +side of the site of the Alps, which were not yet raised, an immense +accumulation of sediment, charged with gypsum, rock-salt, &c., without +organic remains; while beyond, a region presents itself equally +remarkable for the extraordinary accumulation of the remains of marine +Mollusca. Among these were _Myophoria lineata_, which is often +confounded with Trigonia, and _Stellispongia variabilis_. + +France at this period was still the skeleton of what it has since +become. A map of that country represents the metamorphic rocks occupying +the site of the Alps, the Cévennes, and the Puy-de-Dôme, the country +round Nantes, and the Islands of Brittany. The Primary rocks reach the +foot of the Pyrenees, the Cotentin, the Vosges, and the Eifel Mountains. +Some bands of coal stretch away from Valenciennes to the Rhine, and on +the north of the Vosges, these mountains themselves being chiefly +composed of Triassic rocks. + + +RHÆTIC, OR PENARTH SUB-PERIOD. + +The attention of geologists has been directed within the last few years, +more especially, to a series of deposits which intervene between the New +Red Marl of the Trias, and the blue argillaceous limestones and shales +of the Lower Lias. The first-mentioned beds, although they attain no +great thickness in this country, nevertheless form a well-defined and +persistent zone of strata between the unfossiliferous Triassic marls and +the lower Liassic limestone with _Ostrea Liassica_ and _Ammonites +planorbis_, _A. angulatus_ and _A. Bucklandi_; being everywhere +characterised by the presence of the same groups of organic remains, and +the same general lithological character of the beds. These last may be +described as consisting of three sub-divisions, the lowermost composed +of alternations of marls, clays, and marly limestones in the lower part, +forming a gradual passage downwards into the New Red Marls upon which +they repose. 2. A middle group of black, thinly laminated or paper-like +shales, with thin layers of indurated limestone, and crowded in places +with _Pecten Valoniensis_, _Cardium Rhæticum_, _Avicula contorta_, and +other characteristic shells, as well as by the presence, nearly always, +of a remarkable bed, which is commonly known as the “Bone-bed.” This +thin band of stone, which is so well known at Aust, Axmouth, +Westbury-on-Severn, and elsewhere, is a brecciated or conglomerated band +of variable thickness which, sometimes a sandstone and sometimes a +limestone, is always more or less composed of the teeth, scales, and +bones of numerous genera of Fishes and Saurians, together with their +fossilised excrement, which will be more fully and subsequently +described under the name of Coprolites, under the Liassic period. + +The molar tooth of a small predaceous fossil mammal of the Microlestes +family (μικρος, _little_; ληστης, _beast_), whose nearest living +representative appears to be some of the Hypsiprymnidæ or Kangaroo Rats, +has been found by Mr. Dawkins in some grey marls underlying the bone-bed +on the sea-shore at Watchett, in Somersetshire; affording the earliest +known trace of a fossil mammal in the Secondary rocks. Several small +teeth belonging to the genus Microlestes have also been discovered by +Mr. Charles Moore in a breccia of Rhætic age, filling a fissure +traversing Carboniferous Limestone near Frome; and in addition to the +discovery of the remains of Microlestes, those of a mammal more closely +allied to the Marsupials than any other order, have been met with at +Diegerloch, south-east of Stuttgart, in a remarkable bone-breccia, which +also yielded coprolites and numerous traces of fishes and reptiles. + +The uppermost sub-division includes certain beds of white and +cream-coloured limestone, resembling in appearance the smooth fracture +and closeness of texture of the lithographic limestone of Solenhofen, +and which, known to geologists and quarrymen under the name “white +lias,” given to it by Dr. William Smith, was formerly always considered +to belong to, and was included in, the Lias proper. The most remarkable +bed in this zone is one of only a few inches in thickness, but it has +long been known to collectors, and sought after under the name of Cotham +Marble or Landscape Stone, the latter name having reference to the +curious dendritic markings which make their appearance on breaking the +stone at right angles to its bedding, bearing a singular resemblance to +a landscape with trees, water, &c.; while the first name is that derived +from its occurrence abundantly at Cotham, in the suburbs of Bristol, +where the stone was originally found and noticed. + +This band of stone is interesting in another respect, because it +sometimes shows by its uneven, eroded, and water-worn upper surface, +that an interval took place soon after it had been deposited, when the +newly-formed stone became partially dissolved, eroded, or worn away by +water, before the stratum next in succession was deposited upon it. The +same phenomenon is displayed, in a more marked degree, in the uppermost +limestone or “white lias” bed of the series, which not only shows an +eroded surface, but the holes made by boring Molluscs, exactly as is +produced at the present day by the same class of animals, which excavate +holes in the rocks between high and low-water marks, to serve for their +dwelling-places, and as a protection from the waves to their somewhat +delicate shells. + +The “White Lias” of Smith is the equivalent of the Koessen beds which +immediately underlie the Lower Lias of the Swabian Jura, and have been +traced for a hundred miles, from Geneva to the environs of Vienna; and, +also, of the Upper St. Cassian beds, which are so called from their +occurrence at St. Cassian in the Austrian Alps. + +The general character of the series of strata just described, is that +of a deposit formed in tolerably shallow water. In the Alps of Lombardy +and the Tyrol, in Luxembourg, in France, and, in fact, throughout nearly +the whole of Europe, they form a sort of fringe in the margin of the +Triassic sea; and, although of comparatively inconsiderable thickness in +England, they become highly developed in Lombardy, &c., to an enormous +thickness, and constitute the great mass of the Rhætian Alps and a +considerable part of the well-known beds of St. Cassian, and Hallstadt +in the Austrian Alps. (See page 205.) + +The Rhætic beds of Europe were, as a whole, formed under very different +conditions in different areas. The thickness of the strata and the large +and well-developed fauna (chiefly Mollusca) indicate that the Rhætic +strata of Lombardy, and other parts of the south and east of Europe, +were deposited in a broad open ocean. On the other hand, the +comparatively thin beds of this age in England and north-western Europe, +the fauna of which, besides being poor in genera and species, consists +of small and dwarfed forms, point to the conclusion that they were in +great part deposited in shallow seas and in estuaries, or in lagoons, or +in occasional salt lakes, under conditions which lasted for a long +period.[56] + + [56] See A. C. Ramsay, “On the Physical Relations of the New Red Marl, + Rhætic Beds, and Lower Lias,” _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. 27, + p. 189. + +In consequence of the importance they assume in Lombardy (the ancient +Rhætia), the name “Rhætic Beds” has been given to these strata by Mr. +Charles Moore; Dr. Thomas Wright has proposed the designation “Avicula +Contorta Zone,” from the plentiful occurrence of that shell in the black +shales forming the well-marked middle zone, and which is everywhere +present where this group of beds is found; Jules Martin and others have +proposed the term “Infra-lias,” or “Infra-liassic strata;” while the +name “Penarth Beds” has been assigned to these deposits in this country +by Mr. H. W. Bristow, at the suggestion of Sir Roderick Murchison, in +consequence of their conspicuous appearance and well-exposed sections in +the bold headlands and cliffs of that locality, in the British Channel, +west of Cardiff. + +A fuller description of these beds will be found in the Reports of the +Bath Meeting of the British Association (1864), by Mr. Bristow; also in +communications to the _Geological Magazine_, for 1864, by MM. Bristow +and Dawkins;[57] in papers read before the Geological Society by Dr. +Thomas Wright,[58] Mr. Charles Moore,[59] and Mr. Ralph Tate,[60] as +printed in their _Quarterly Journal_; and by Mr. Etheridge, in the +Transactions of the Cotteswold Natural History Club for 1865-66. The +limits of the Penarth Beds have also been lately accurately laid down by +Mr. Bristow in the map of the Geological Survey over the district +comprised between Bath, Bristol, and the Severn; and elaborately +detailed typical sections of most of the localities in England, where +these beds occur, have been constructed by MM. Bristow, Etheridge, and +Woodward, of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, which, when +published, will greatly add to our knowledge of this remarkable and +interesting series of deposits. + + [57] _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. xx., p. 396. + + [58] Ibid, vol. xvii., p. 483. + + [59] Ibid, vol. xvi., p. 374. + + [60] Ibid, vol. xx., p. 103. + + +JURASSIC PERIOD. + +This period, one of the most important in the physical history of the +globe, has received its name from the Jura mountains in France, the Jura +range being composed of the rocks deposited in the seas of the period. +In the term Jurassic, the formations designated as the “Oolite” and +“Lias” are included, both being found in the Jura mountains. The +Jurassic period presents a very striking assemblage of characteristics, +both in its vegetation and in the animal remains which belong to it; +many genera of animals existing in the preceding age have disappeared, +new genera have replaced them, comprising a very specially organised +group, containing not less than 4,000 species. + +The Jurassic period is sub-divided into two sub-periods: those of the +_Lias_ and the _Oolite_. + + +THE LIAS + +is an English provincial name given to an argillaceous limestone, which, +with marl and clay, forms the base of the Jurassic formation, and passes +almost imperceptibly into the Lower Oolite in some places, where the +Marlstone of the Lias partakes of the mineral character, as well as the +fossil remains of the Lower Oolite; and it is sometimes treated of as +belonging to that formation. “Nevertheless, the Lias may be traced +throughout a great part of Europe as a separate and independent group, +of considerable thickness, varying from 500 to 1,000 feet, containing +many peculiar fossils, and having a very uniform lithological +aspect.”[61] The rocks which represent the Liassic period form the base +of the Jurassic system, and have a mean thickness of about 1,200 feet. +In the inferior part we find argillaceous sandstones, which are called +the sandstones of the Lias, and comprehend the greater part of the +_Quadersandstein_, or building-stone of the Germans, above which comes +compact limestone, argillaceous, bluish, and yellowish; finally, the +formation terminates in the marlstones which are sometimes sandy, and +occasionally bituminous. + + [61] Lyell, “Elements of Geology,” p. 413. + +The Lias, in England, is generally in three groups: 1, the upper, clays +and shales, underlying sands; 2, the middle, lias or marlstone; and 3, +the lower, clays and limestone; but these have been again +sub-divided--the last into six zones, each marked by its own peculiar +species of Ammonites; the second into three zones; the third consists of +clay, shale, and argillaceous limestone. For the purposes of description +we shall, therefore, divide the Lias into these three groups:-- + +1. _Upper Lias Clay_, consists of blue clay, or shale, containing +nodular bands of claystones at the base, crowded with _Ammonites +serpentinus_, _A. bifrons_, _Belemnites_, &c. + +2. The _Middle Lias_, commonly known as the Marlstone, is surmounted by +a bed of oolitic ironstone, largely worked in Leicestershire and in the +north of England as a valuable ore of iron. The underlying marls and +sands, the latter of which become somewhat argillaceous below, form beds +from 200 to 300 feet thick in Dorsetshire and Gloucestershire; the +fossils are _Ammonites margaritaceus_, _A. spinatus_, _Belemnites +tripartitus_. The upper rock-beds, especially the bed of ironstone on +the top, is generally remarkably rich in fossils. + +[Illustration: Fig. 88.--Gryphæa incurva.] + +3. _Lower Lias_ (averaging from 600 to 900 feet in thickness) consists, +in the lower part, of thin layers of bluish argillaceous limestone, +alternating with shales and clays; the whole overlaid by the blue clay +of which the lower member of the Liassic group usually consists. This +member of the series is well developed in Yorkshire, at Lyme Regis and +Charmouth in Dorsetshire, and generally over the South-West and Midland +Counties of England. _Gryphæa incurva_ (Fig. 88), with sandy bands, +occurs at the base, in addition to which we find _Ammonites planorbis +Bucklandi_, _A. Ostrea liassica_, _Lima gigantea_, _Ammonites +Bucklandi_, &c., in the lower limestones and shales. + +Above the clay are yellow sands from 100 to 200 feet thick, underlying +the limestone of the Inferior Oolite. These sands were, until lately, +considered to belong to the latter formation--as they undoubtedly do +physically--until they were shown, by Dr. Thomas Wright, of Cheltenham, +to be more nearly allied, by their fossils, to the Lias below than to +the Inferior Oolite above, into which they form the passage-beds. + +In France the Lias abounds in the Calvados, in Burgundy, Lorraine, +Normandy, and the Lyonnais. In the Vosges and Luxembourg, M. Elie de +Beaumont states that the Lias containing _Gryphæa incurva_ and _Lima +gigantea_, and some other marine fossils, becomes arenaceous; and around +the Harz mountains, in Westphalia and Bavaria, in its lower parts the +formation is sandy, and is sometimes a good building-stone. + +“In England the Lias constitutes,” says Professor Ramsay, “a +well-defined belt of strata, running continuously from Lyme Regis, on +the south-west, through the whole of England, to Yorkshire on the +north-east, and is an extensive series of alternating beds of clay, +shale, and limestone, with occasional layers of jet in the upper part. +The unequal hardness of the clays and limestones of the Liassic strata +causes some of its members to stand out in the distinct minor +escarpments, often facing the west and north-west. The Marlstone forms +the most prominent of these, and overlooks the broad meadows of the +lower Lias-clay, that form much of the centre of England.” In Scotland +there are few traces of the Lias. Zoophytes, Mollusca, and Fishes of a +peculiar organisation, but, above all, Reptiles of extraordinary size +and structure gave to the sea of the Liassic period an interest and +features quite peculiar. Well might Cuvier exclaim, when the drawings of +the Plesiosaurus were sent to him: “Truly this is altogether the most +monstrous animal that has yet been dug out of the ruins of a former +world!” In the whole of the English Lias there are about 243 genera, and +467 species of fossils. The whole series has been divided into zones +characterised by particular Ammonites, which are found to be limited to +them, at least locally. + +Among the Echinodermata belonging to the Lias we may cite _Asterias +lumbricalis_ and _Palæocoma Furstembergii_, which constitutes a genus +not dissimilar to the star-fishes, of which its radiated form reminds +us. The Pentacrinites, of which _Pentacrinites Briareus_ is a type, +ornaments many collections by its elegant form, and is represented in +Figs. 79 and 89. It belongs to the order of Crinoidea, which is +represented at the present time by a single living species, _Pentacrinus +caput-Medusæ_, one of the rare and delicate Zoophytes of the Caribbean +sea. + +Oysters (_Ostrea_) made their appearance in the Muschelkalk of the last +period, but only in a small number of species; they increased greatly in +importance in the Liassic seas. + +[Illustration: Fig. 89.--Pentacrinites Briareus. Half natural size.] + +The _Ammonites_, a curious genus of Cephalopoda, which made their first +appearance in small numbers towards the close of the preceding Triassic +period, become quite special in the Secondary epoch, with the close of +which they disappear altogether. They were very abundant in the Jurassic +period, and, as we have already said, each zone is characterised by its +peculiar species. The name is taken from the resemblance of the shell to +the ram’s-horn ornaments which decorated the front of the temple of +Jupiter Ammon and the bas-reliefs and statues of that pagan deity. They +were Cephalopodous Mollusca with circular shells, rolled upon themselves +symmetrically in the same plane, and divided into a series of chambers. +The animal only occupied the outer chamber of the shell; all the others +were empty. A siphon or tube issuing from the first chamber traversed +all the others in succession, as is seen in all the Ammonites and +Nautili. This tube enabled the animal to rise to the surface, or to sink +to the bottom, for the Ammonite could fill the chambers with water at +pleasure, or empty them, thus rendering itself lighter or heavier as +occasion required. The Nautilus of our seas is provided with the same +curious organisation, and reminds us forcibly of the Ammonites of +geological times. + +Shells are the only traces which remain of the Ammonites. We have no +exact knowledge of the animal which occupied and built them. The attempt +at restoration, as exhibited in Fig. 91, will probably convey a fair +idea of the Ammonite when living. We assume that it resembled the +Nautilus of modern times. What a curious aspect these early seas must +have presented, covered by myriads of these Molluscs of all sizes, +swimming about in eager pursuit of their prey! + +The Ammonites of the Jurassic age present themselves in a great variety +of forms and sizes; some of them of great beauty. _Ammonites bifrons_, +_A. Noditianus_, _A. bisulcatus_, _A. Turneri_ (Fig. 90), and _A. +margaritatus_, are forms characteristic of the Lias. + +[Illustration: Fig. 90.--Ammonites Turneri, from the Lower Lias.] + +The _Belemnites_, molluscous Cephalopods of a very curious organisation, +appeared in great numbers, and for the first time, in the Jurassic seas. +Of this Mollusc we only possess the fossilised internal “bone,” +analogous to that of the modern cuttle-fish and the calamary of the +present seas. This simple relic is very far from giving us an exact idea +of what the animal was to which the name of Belemnite has been given +(from Βελεμνον, _a dart_) from their supposed resemblance to the head of +a javelin. The slender cylindrical bone, the only vestige remaining to +us, was merely the internal skeleton of the animal. When first +discovered they were called, by the vulgar, “Thunder-stones” and +“Ladies’ fingers.” They were, at last, inferred to be the shelly +processes of some sort of ancient cuttle-fish. Unlike the Ammonite, +which floated on the surface and sunk to the bottom at pleasure, the +Belemnite, it has been thought, swam nearer the bottom of the sea, and +seized its prey from below. + +[Illustration: Fig. 91.--Ammonite restored.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 92.--Belemnite restored.] + +In Fig. 92 is given a restoration of the living Belemnite, by Dr. +Buckland and Professor Owen, in which the terminal part of the animal is +marked in a slightly darker tint, to indicate the place of the bone +which alone represents in our days this fossilised being. A sufficiently +exact idea of this Mollusc may be arrived at from the existing +cuttle-fish. Like the cuttle-fish, the Belemnite secreted a black +liquid, a sort of ink or sepia; and the bag containing the ink has +frequently been found in a fossilised state, with the ink dried up, and +elaborate drawings have been made with this fossil pigment. + +The beaks, or horny mandibles of the mouth, which the Belemnite +possessed in common with the other naked Cephalopoda, are represented in +Fig. 78, p. 181. + +As Sir H. De la Beche has pointed out, the destruction of the animals +whose remains are known to us by the name of Belemnites was exceedingly +great when the upper part of the Lias of Lyme Regis was deposited. +Multitudes seem to have perished almost simultaneously, and millions are +entombed in a bed beneath Golden Cap, a lofty cliff between Lyme Regis +and Bridport Harbour, as well as in the upper Lias generally.[62] + + [62] De la Beche’s “Geological Manual,” 3rd ed., p. 447. + +Among the Belemnites characteristic of the Liassic period may be cited +_B. acutus_ (Fig. 93), _B. pistiliformis_, and _B. sulcatus_. + +[Illustration: Fig. 93.--Belemnites acutus.] + +The seas of the period contained a great number of the fishes called +_Ganoids_; which are so called from the splendour of the hard and +enamelled scales, which formed a sort of defensive armour to protect +their bodies. _Lepidotus gigas_ was a fish of great size belonging to +this age. A smaller fish was the _Tetragonolepis_, or _Æchmodus Buchii_. +The _Acrodus nobilis_, of which the teeth are still preserved, and +popularly known by the name of _fossil leeches_, was a fish of which an +entire skeleton has never been met with. Neither are we better informed +as to the _Hybodus reticulatus_. The bony spines, which form the +anterior part of the dorsal fin of this fish, had long been an object of +curiosity to geologists, under the general name of _Ichthyodorulites_, +before they were known to be fragments of the fin of the _Hybodus_. The +Ichthyodorulites were supposed by some naturalists to be the jaw of some +animal--by others, weapons like those of the living _Balistes_ or +_Silurus_; but Agassiz has shown them to be neither the one nor the +other, but bony spines on the fin, like those of the living genera of +_Cestracions_ and _Chimæras_, in both of which the concave face is armed +with small spines like those of the _Hybodus_. The spines were simply +imbedded in the flesh, and attached to it by strong muscles. “They +served,” says Dr. Buckland, “as in the _Chimæra_, to raise and depress +the fin, their action resembling that of a movable mast lowering +backward.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 94.--Ichthyosaurus communis.] + +Let us hasten to say, however, that these are not the beings that +characterised the age, and were the salient features of the generation +of animals which existed during the Jurassic period. These +distinguishing features are found in the enormous reptiles with lizard’s +head, crocodile’s conical teeth, the trunk and tail of a quadruped, +whale-like paddles, and the double-concave vertebræ of fishes; and this +strange form, on such a gigantic scale that even their inanimate remains +are examined with a curiosity not unmixed with awe. The country round +Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, has long been celebrated for the curious +fossils discovered in its quarries, and preserved in the muddy +accumulations of the sea of the Liassic period. The country is +hilly--“up one hill and down another,” is a pretty correct provincial +description of the walk from Bridport to Lyme Regis--where some of the +most frightful creatures the living world has probably ever beheld, +sleep the sleep of stones. The quarries of Lyme Regis form the cemetery +of the Ichthyosauri; the sepulchre where lie interred these dragons of +the ancient seas. + +In 1811 a country girl, who made her precarious living by picking up +fossils for which the neighbourhood was famous, was pursuing her +avocation, hammer in hand, when she perceived some bones projecting a +little out of the cliff. Finding, on examination, that it was part of a +large skeleton, she cleared away the rubbish, and laid bare the whole +creature imbedded in the block of stone. She hired workmen to dig out +the block of Lias in which it was buried. In this manner was the first +of these monsters brought to light: “a monster some thirty feet long, +with jaws nearly a fathom in length, and huge saucer-eyes; which have +since been found so perfect, that the petrified lenses have been split +off and used as magnifiers,” as a writer in _All the Year Round_ assures +us. + +[Illustration: Fig. 95.--Head of Ichthyosaurus platydon.] + +In Fig. 95 the head of _I. platydon_ is represented. As in the Saurians, +the openings of the nostrils are situated near the anterior angle of the +orbits of the eyes, while those of the Crocodile are near the snout; +but, on the other hand, in its osteology and its mode of dentition it +nearly resembles the Crocodile; the teeth are pointed and conical--not, +however, set in deep or separate sockets, but only implanted in a long +and deep continuous groove hollowed in the bones of the jaw. These +strong jaws have an enormous opening; for, in some instances, they have +been found eight feet in length and armed with 160 teeth. Let us add +that teeth lost through the voracity of the animal, or in contests with +other animals, could be renewed many times; for, at the inner side of +the base of every old tooth, there is always the bony germ of a new one. + +The eyes of this marine monster were much larger than those of any +animal now living; in volume they frequently exceed the human head, and +their structure was one of their most remarkable peculiarities. In front +of the sclerotic coat or capsule of the eye there is an annular series +of thin bony plates, surrounding the pupil. This structure, which is now +only met with in the eyes of certain turtles, tortoises, and lizards, +and in those of many birds, could be used so as to increase or diminish +the curvature of the transparent cornea, and thus increase or diminish +the magnifying power, according to the requirements of the +animal--performing the office, in short, of a telescope or microscope at +pleasure. The eyes of the Ichthyosaurus were, then, an optical apparatus +of wonderful power and of singular perfection, enabling the animal, by +their power of adaptation and intensity of vision, to see its prey far +and near, and to pursue it in the darkness and in the depths of the sea. +The curious arrangement of bony plates we have described furnished, +besides, to its globular eye, the power necessary to bear the pressure +of a considerable weight of water, as well as the violence of the waves, +when the animal came to the surface to breathe, and raised its head +above the waves. This magnificent specimen of the fish-lizard, or +Ichthyosaurus, as it was named by Dr. Ure, now forms part of the +treasures of the British Museum. + +At no period in the earth’s history have Reptiles occupied so important +a place as they did in the Jurassic period. Nature seems to have wished +to bring this class of animals to the highest state of development. The +great Reptiles of the Lias are as complicated in their structure as the +Mammals which appeared at a later period. They probably lived, for the +most part, by fishing in shallow creeks and bays defended from heavy +breakers, or in the open sea; but they seem to have sought the shore +from time to time; they crawled along the beach, covered with a soft +skin, perhaps not unlike some of our Cetaceæ. The Ichthyosaurus, from +its form and strength, may have braved the waves of the sea as the +porpoise does now. Its destructiveness and voracity must have been +prodigious, for Dr. Buckland describes a specimen which had between its +ribs, in the place where the stomach might be supposed to have been +placed, the skeleton of a smaller one--a proof that this monster, not +content with preying on its weaker neighbours, was in the habit of +devouring its own kind. In the same waters lived the Plesiosaurus, with +long neck and form more strange than that of the Ichthyosaurus; and +these potentates of the seas were warmed by the same sun and tenanted +the same banks, in the midst of a vegetation not unlike that which the +climate of Africa now produces. + +The great Saurians in the Lias of Lyme Regis seem to have suffered a +somewhat sudden death, partly in consequence of a series of small +catastrophes suddenly destroying the animals then existing in particular +spots. “In general the bones are not scattered about, and in a detached +state, as would happen if the dead animal had descended to the bottom of +the sea, to be decomposed, or devoured piecemeal, as, indeed, might also +happen if the creature floated for a time on the surface, one animal +devouring one part, and another carrying off a different portion; on the +contrary, the bones of the skeleton, though frequently compressed, as +must arise from the enormous pressure to which they have so long been +subjected, are tolerably connected, frequently in perfect, or nearly +perfect, order, as if prepared by the anatomist. The skin, moreover, may +sometimes be traced, and the compressed contents of the intestines may +at times be also observed--all tending to show that the animals were +suddenly destroyed, and as suddenly preserved.”[63] + + [63] “Geological Manual,” by H. T. De la Beche, 3rd ed., p. 346. + +These strange and gigantic Saurians seem almost to disappear during the +succeeding geological periods; for, although they have been discovered +as low down as the Trias in Germany, and as high up as the Chalk in +England, they only appear as stragglers in these epochs; so, too, the +Reptiles, the existing Saurians are, as it were, only the shadowy, +feeble representatives of these powerful races of the ancient world. + +Confining ourselves to well-established facts, we shall consider in some +detail the best known of these fossil reptiles--the _Ichthyosaurus_, +_Plesiosaurus_, and _Pterodactyle_. + +The extraordinary creature which bears the name of _Ichthyosaurus_ (from +the Greek words Ιχθυς σαυρος, signifying fish-lizard), presents certain +dispositions and organic arrangements which are met with dispersed in +certain classes of animals now living, but they never seem to be again +reunited in any single individual. It possesses, as Cuvier says, the +snout of a dolphin, the head of a lizard, the jaws and teeth of a +crocodile, the vertebræ of a fish, the head and sternum of a lizard, the +paddles like those of a whale, and the trunk and tail of a quadruped. + +Bayle appears to have furnished the best idea of the Ichthyosaurus by +describing it as the Whale of the Saurians--the Cetacean of the +primitive seas. It was, in fact, an animal exclusively marine; which, on +shore, would rest motionless like an inert mass. Its whale-like paddles, +and fish-like vertebræ, the length of the tail and other parts of its +structure, prove that its habits were aquatic; as the remains of fishes +and reptiles, and the form of its teeth, show that it was carnivorous. +Like the Whale, also, the Ichthyosaurus breathed atmospheric air; so +that it was under the necessity of coming frequently to the surface of +the water, like that inhabitant of the deep. We can even believe, with +Bayle, that it was provided, like the Whale, with vents or blowers, +through which it ejected, in columns into the air, the water it had +swallowed. + +The dimensions of the Ichthyosaurus varied with the species, of which +five are known and described. These are _Ichthyosaurus communis_, _I. +platydon_, _I. intermedius_, _I. tenuirostris_, and _I. Cuvierii_, the +largest being more than thirty feet in length. + +[Illustration: Fig. 96.--Ichthyosaurus platydon.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 97.--Lower jaw of Ichthyosaurus. (Dr. Buckland.)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 98.--Skeleton of Ichthyosaurus. + +Containing teeth and bones of Fishes in a coprolitic form. One-fifteenth +natural size.] + +The short, thick neck of the Ichthyosaurus supported a capacious head, +and was continued backwards, from behind the eyes, in a column composed +of more than a hundred vertebræ. The animal being adapted, like the +whale, for rapid movement through the water, its vertebræ had none of +the invariable solidity of those of the Lizard or Crocodile, but rather +the structure and lightness of those of Fishes. The section of these +vertebræ presents two hollow cones, connected only by their summits to +the centre of the vertebræ, which would permit of the utmost flexibility +of movement. The ribs extended along the entire length of the vertebral +column, from the head to the pelvis. The bones of the sternum, or that +part of the frame which supported the paddles, present the same +combinations with those of the sternum in the Ornithorhynchus, or +Duck-billed Platypus, of New Holland, an animal which presents the +singular combination of a mammalian furred quadruped having the bill of +a duck and webbed feet; which dived to the bottom of the water in search +of its food, and returned to the surface to breathe the air. In this +phenomenon of living Nature the Creator seems to have repeated, in our +days, the organic arrangements which he had originally provided for the +Ichthyosaurus. + +In order that the animal should be able to move with rapidity in the +water, both its anterior and posterior members were converted into fins +or paddles. The anterior fins were half as large again as the posterior. +In some species each paddle was made up of nearly a hundred bones, of +polygonal form, and disposed in series representing the phalanges of the +fingers. This hand, jointed at the arm, bears resemblance, in +osteological construction, to the paddles, without distinct fingers, of +the Porpoise and the Whale. A specimen of the posterior fin of _I. +communis_, discovered at Barrow-on-Soar, in Leicestershire, in 1840, by +Sir Philip Egerton, exhibited on its posterior margin the remains of +cartilaginous rays, which bifurcated as they approached the edge, like +those in the fins of a fish. “It had previously been supposed,” says +Professor Owen, “that the locomotive organs were enveloped, while +living, in a smooth integument, like that of the turtle and porpoise, +which has no other support than is afforded by the bones and ligaments +within; but it now appears that the fin was much larger, expanding far +beyond the osseous frame-work, and deviating widely in its fish-like +rays from the ordinary reptilian type.” The Professor believes that, +besides the fore-paddles, these stiff-necked Saurians were furnished at +the end of the tail with a fin to assist them in turning, not placed +horizontally, as in the whale, but vertically, forming a powerful +instrument of progression and motion. It is obvious that the +Ichthyosaurus was an animal powerfully armed for offence and defence. We +cannot say, with certainty, whether the skin was smooth, like that of +the whale or lizard, or covered with scales, like the great reptiles of +our own age. Nevertheless, as the scales of the Fishes and the cuirass +and horny armour of other Reptiles of the Lias are preserved, and as no +such defensive scales have been found belonging to the Ichthyosaurus, it +is probable that the skin was naked and smooth. The tail, composed of +from eighty to eighty-five vertebræ, was provided with large and long +paddles, arranged vertically as in the Whale. + +It is curious to see to what a degree of perfection has been carried, in +our days, the knowledge of the antediluvian animals, their habits, and +their economy. Fig. 98 represents the skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus found +in the Lias of Lyme Regis, which still retains in its abdominal cavity +coprolites, that is to say, the residue of digestion. The soft parts of +the intestinal canal have disappeared, but the _fæces_ themselves are +preserved, and their examination informs us as to the alimentary +regimen of this animal which has perished from the earth many thousands, +perhaps millions, of years. Mary Anning, to whom we owe many of the +discoveries made in the neighbourhood of Lyme Regis, her native place, +had in her collection an enormous coprolite of the Ichthyosaurus. This +coprolite (Fig. 99) contained some bones and scales of Fishes, and of +divers Reptiles, well enough preserved to have their species identified. +It only remains to be added that, among the bones, those of the +Ichthyosaurus were often found, especially those of young individuals. +The presence of the undigested remains of vertebræ and other bones of +animals of its own species in the coprolites of the Ichthyosaurus +proves, as we have already had occasion to remark, that this great +Saurian must have been a most voracious monster, since it habitually +devoured not only fish, but individuals of its own race--the smaller +becoming the prey of the larger. The structure of the jaw of the +Ichthyosaurus leads us to believe that the animal swallowed its prey +without dividing it. Its stomach and intestines must, then, have formed +a sort of pouch of great volume, filling entirely the abdominal cavity, +and corresponding in extent to the great development of the teeth and +jaws. + +[Illustration: Fig. 99.--Coprolite, enclosing bones of small +Ichthyosaurus.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 100.--Coprolite of Ichthyosaurus.] + +The perfection with which its contents have been preserved in the +fossilised coprolites, furnishes indirect proofs that the intestinal +canal of the Ichthyosaurus resembled closely that of the shark and the +dog-fish--fishes essentially voracious and destructive, which have the +intestinal canal spirally convoluted, an arrangement which is exactly +that indicated in some of the coprolites of the Ichthyosaurus, as is +evident from the impressions which the folds of the intestine have left +on the coprolite, of which Fig. 100 is a representation. In the cliffs +near Lyme Regis coprolites are abundant in the Liassic formation, and +have been found disseminated through the shales and limestones along +many miles of that coast. + +What an admirable privilege of science, which is able, by an examination +of the simplest parts in the organisation of beings which lived ages +ago, to give to our minds such solid teachings and such true enjoyments! +“When we discover,” says Dr. Buckland, “in the body of an Ichthyosaurus +the food which it has engulfed an instant before its death, when the +intervals between its sides present themselves still filled with the +remains of fishes which it had swallowed some ten thousand years ago, or +a time even twice as great, all these immense intervals vanish, time +disappears, and we find ourselves, so to speak, thrown into immediate +contact with events which took place in epochs immeasurably distant, as +if we occupied ourselves with the affairs of the previous day.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 101.--Skull of Plesiosaurus restored. (Conybeare.) + +_a_, profile; _b_, seen from above.] + +The name of _Plesiosaurus_ (from the Greek words πλησιος, _near_, and +σαυρος, _lizard_) reminds us that this animal, though presenting many +peculiarities of general structure, is allied by its organisation to the +Saurian or Lizard family, and, consequently, to the Ichthyosaurus. + +The Plesiosaurus presents, in its organic structure, the most curious +assemblage we have met with among the organic vestiges of the ancient +world. The Plesiosaurus was a marine, air-breathing, carnivorous +reptile, combining the characters of the head of a Lizard, the teeth of +a Crocodile, a neck of excessive length resembling that of a Swan, the +ribs of a Chameleon, a body of moderate size, and a very short tail, +and, finally, four paddles resembling those of a Whale. Let us bestow a +glance upon the remains of this strange animal which the earth has +revealed, and which science has restored to us. + +The head of the Plesiosaurus presents a combination of the characters +belonging to the Ichthyosaurus, the Crocodile, and the Lizard. Its +enormously long neck comprises a greater number of vertebræ than the +neck of either the Camel, the Giraffe, or even the Swan, which of all +the feathered race has the longest neck in comparison to the rest of the +body. And it is to be remarked, that, contrary to what obtains in the +Mammals, where the vertebræ of the neck are always seven, the vertebræ +in birds increase in number with the length of the neck. + +[Illustration: Fig. 102.--Skeleton of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus +restored. (Conybeare principally.)] + +The body is cylindrical and rounded, like that of the great marine +Turtles. It was, doubtless, naked, _i.e._, not protected with the scales +or carapace with which some authors have invested it; for no traces of +such coverings have been found near any of the skeletons which have been +hitherto discovered. The dorsal vertebræ are attached to each other by +nearly plane surfaces like those of terrestrial quadrupeds, a mode of +arrangement which must have deprived the whole of its vertebral column +of much of its flexibility. Each pair of ribs surrounded the body with a +complete girdle, formed of five pieces, as in the Chameleon and Iguana; +whence, no doubt, as with the Chameleon, great facilities existed for +the contraction and dilatation of the lungs. + +[Illustration: Fig. 103.--Sternum and pelvis of Plesiosaurus. Pub., +pubis; Isch., ischium; Il., ilium.] + +The breast, the pelvis, and the bones of the anterior and posterior +extremities furnished an apparatus which permitted the Plesiosaurus, +like the Ichthyosaurus and existing Cetaceans, to sink in the water and +return to the surface at pleasure (Fig. 103). Prof. Owen, in his “Report +on British Reptiles,” characterises them as air-breathing and +cold-blooded animals; the proof that they respired atmospheric air +immediately, being found in the position and structure of the nasal +passages, and the bony mechanism of the thoracic duct and abdominal +cavity. In the first, the size and position of the external nostrils +(Fig. 102), combined with the structure of the paddles, indicate a +striking analogy between the extinct Saurians and the Cetaceans, +offering, as the Professor observes, “a beautiful example of the +adaptation of structure to the peculiar exigencies of species.” While +the evidence that they were cold-blooded animals is found in the +flexible or unanchylosed condition of the osseous pieces of the occiput +and other cranial bones of the lower jaw, and of the vertebral column; +from which the Professor draws the conclusion that the heart was adapted +for transmitting a part only of the blood through the respiratory +organs; the absence of the ball-and-socket articulations of the bones of +the vertebræ, the position of the nostrils near the summit of the head, +the numerous short and flat digital bones, which must have been +enveloped in a simple undivided integumentary sheath, forming in both +fore and hind extremities a paddle closely resembling that of the living +Cetacea. The paddles are larger and more powerful than those of the +Ichthyosaurus, to compensate for the slight assistance the animal +derived from the tail. The latter--shorter, as compared with the length +of the rest of the body, than in the Ichthyosaurus--was more calculated +to act the part of a rudder, in directing the course of the animal +through the water, than as a powerful organ of propulsion. + +[Illustration: Fig. 104.--Remains of Plesiosaurus macrocephalus. +One-twelfth natural size.] + +Such were the strange combinations of form and structure in the +Plesiosaurus and Ichthyosaurus--genera of animals whose remains have, +after an interment extending to unknown thousands of years, been +revealed to light and submitted to examination; nay, rebuilt, bone by +bone, until we have the complete skeletons before us, and the habits of +the animals described, as if they had been observed in life. Conybeare +thus speaks of the supposed habits of these extinct forms, which he had +built up from scanty materials: “That the Plesiosaurus was aquatic is +evident from the form of its paddles; that it was marine is equally so, +from the remains with which it is universally associated; that it may +have occasionally visited the shore, the resemblance of its extremities +to the turtle may lead us to conjecture; its motion, however, must have +been very awkward on land; its long neck must have impeded its progress +through the water, presenting a striking contrast to the organisation +which so admirably fits the Ichthyosaurus for cutting through the waves. +May it not, therefore, be concluded that it swam on or near the surface, +arching back its long neck like the swan, and occasionally darting it +down at the fish which happened to float within its reach? It may, +perhaps, have lurked in shallow water along the coasts, concealed among +the sea-weeds, and, raising its nostrils to the surface from a +considerable depth, may have found a secure retreat from the assaults of +dangerous enemies, while the length and flexibility of its neck may have +compensated for the want of strength in its jaws, and incapacity for +swift motion through the water, by the suddenness and agility of the +attack they enabled it to make on every animal fitted to become its +prey.” + +The Plesiosaurus was first described by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare and Sir +Henry De la Beche, in the “Geological Society’s Transactions” for 1821, +and a restoration of _P. dolichodeirus_, the most common of these +fossils, appeared in the same work for 1824. The first specimen was +discovered, as the Ichthyosaurus had been previously, in the Lias of +Lyme Regis; since then other individuals and species have been found in +the same geological formation in various parts of England, Ireland, +France, and Germany, and with such variations of structure that +Professor Owen has felt himself justified in recording sixteen distinct +species, of which we have represented _P. dolichodeirus_ (Fig. 102), as +restored by Conybeare, and _P. macrocephalus_ (Fig. 104), with its +skeleton, as moulded from the limestone of Lyme Regis, which has been +placed in the Palæontological Gallery of the British Museum. + +[Illustration: XV.--Ideal scene of the Lias with Ichthyosaurus and +Plesiosaurus.] + +The Plesiosaurus was scarcely so large as the Ichthyosaurus. The +specimen of _I. platydon_ in the British Museum probably belonged to an +animal four-and-twenty feet long, and some are said to indicate thirty +feet, while there are species of Plesiosauri measuring eighteen and +twenty, the largest known specimen of _Plesiosaurus Cramptoni_ found in +the lias of Yorkshire, and now in the Museum of the Royal Society of +Dublin, being twenty-two feet four inches in length. On the opposite +page (PLATE XV.) an attempt is made to represent these grand reptiles of +the Lias in their native element, and as they lived. + +Cuvier says of the Plesiosaurus, “that it presents the most monstrous +assemblage of characteristics that has been met with among the races of +the ancient world.” This expression should not be understood in a +literal sense; there are no monsters in Nature; in no living creature +are the laws of organisation ever positively infringed; and it is more +in accordance with the general perfection of creation to see in an +organisation so special, in a structure which differs so notably from +that of the animals of our own days, the simple development of a type, +and sometimes also the introduction of beings, and successive changes in +their structure. We shall see, in examining the curious series of +animals of the ancient world, that the organisation and physiological +functions go on improving unceasingly, and that each of the extinct +genera which preceded the appearance of man, present, for each organ, +modifications which always tend towards greater perfection. The fins of +the fishes of Devonian seas become the paddles of the Ichthyosauri and +of the Plesiosauri; these, in their turn, become the membranous foot of +the Pterodactyle, and, finally, the wing of the bird. Afterwards comes +the articulated fore-foot of the terrestrial mammalia, which, after +attaining remarkable perfection in the hand of the ape, becomes, +finally, the arm and hand of man, an instrument of wonderful delicacy +and power, belonging to an enlightened being gifted with the divine +attribute of reason! Let us, then, dismiss any idea of monstrosity with +regard to these antediluvian animals; let us learn, on the contrary, to +recognise, with admiration, the divine proofs of design which they +display, and in their organisation to see only the handiwork of the +Creator. + +Another strange inhabitant of the ancient world, the _Pterodactylus_ +(from πτερον, _a wing_, and δακτυλος, _a finger_), discovered in 1828, +made Cuvier pronounce it to be incontestably the most extraordinary of +all the extinct animals which had come under his consideration; and such +as, if we saw them restored to life, would appear most strange and +dissimilar to anything that now exists. In size and general form, and in +the disposition and character of its wings, this fossil genus, according +to Cuvier, somewhat resembled our modern bats and vampyres, but had its +beak elongated like the bill of a woodcock, and armed with teeth like +the snout of a crocodile; its vertebræ, ribs, pelvis, legs, and feet +resembled those of a lizard; its three anterior fingers terminated in +long hooked claws like that on the fore-finger of the bat; and over its +body was a covering, neither composed of feathers as in the bird, nor of +hair as in the bat, but probably a naked skin; in short, it was a +monster resembling nothing that has ever been heard of upon earth, +except the dragons of romance and heraldry. Moreover, it was probably +noctivagous and insectivorous, and in both these points resembled the +bat; but differed from it in having the most important bones in its body +constructed after the manner of those of reptiles. + +[Illustration: Fig. 105.--Pterodactylus crassirostris.] + +“Thus, like Milton’s fiend, all-qualified for all services and all +elements, the creature was a fit companion for the kindred reptiles that +swarmed in the seas, or crawled on the shores, of a turbulent planet: + + “The Fiend, + O’er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, + With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, + And sinks, or swims, or wades, or creeps, or flies. + +_Paradise Lost_, Book II., line 947. + +“With flocks of such-like creatures flying in the air, and shoals of +Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri swarming in the ocean, and gigantic +Crocodiles and Tortoises crawling on the shores of primæval lakes and +rivers--air, sea, and land must have been strangely tenanted in these +early periods of our infant world.”[64] + + [64] Professor Buckland on the Pterodactylus. “Trans. Geol. Soc.,” 2nd + series, vol. iii., p. 217. + +[Illustration: Fig. 106.--Pterodactylus brevirostris.] + +The strange structure of this animal gave rise to most contradictory +opinions from the earlier naturalists. One supposed it to be a bird, +another a bat, and others a flying reptile. Cuvier was the first to +detect the truth, and to prove, from its organisation, that the animal +was a Saurian. “Behold,” he says, “an animal which in its osteology, +from its teeth to the end of its claws, presents all the characters of +the Saurians; nor can we doubt that their characteristics existed in its +integuments and softer parts, in its scales, its circulation, its +generative organs: it was at the same time provided with the means of +flight; but when stationary it could not have made much use of its +anterior extremities, even if it did not keep them always folded as +birds fold their wings. It might, it is true, use its small anterior +fingers to suspend itself from the branches of trees; but when at rest +it must have been generally on its hind feet, like the birds again, and +like them it must have carried its neck half-erect and curved backwards, +so that its enormous head should not disturb its equilibrium.” This +diversity of opinion need not very much surprise us after all, for, with +the body and tail of an ordinary mammal, it had the form of a bird in +its head and the length of its neck, of the bat in the structure and +proportion of its wings, and of a reptile in the smallness of its head +and in its beak, armed with at least sixty equal sharp-pointed teeth, +differing little in form and size. + +Dr. Buckland describes eight distinct species, varying in size from a +snipe to a cormorant. Of these, _P. crassirostris_ (Fig. 105) and _P. +brevirostris_ (Fig. 106), were both discovered in the Lias of +Solenhofen. _P. macronyx_ belongs to the Lias of Lyme Regis. + +The Pterodactyle was, then, a reptile provided with wings somewhat +resembling those of Bats, and formed, as in that Mammal, of a membrane +which connected the body with the excessively elongated phalanges of the +fourth finger, which served to expand the membrane that answered the +purposes of a wing. The Pterodactyle of the Liassic period was, as we +have seen, an animal of small size; the largest species in the older +Lias beds did not exceed ten or twelve inches in length, or the size of +a raven, while the later forms found fossil in the Greensand and Wealden +beds must have measured more than sixteen feet between the tips of the +expanded wings. On the other hand, its head was of enormous dimensions +compared with the rest of the body. We cannot admit, therefore, that +this animal could really fly, and, like a bird, beat the air. The +membranous appendage which connected its long finger with its body was +rather a parachute than a wing. It served to moderate the velocity of +its descent when it dropped on its prey from a height. Essentially a +climber, it could only raise itself by climbing up tall trees or rocks, +after the manner of lizards, and throw itself thence to the ground, or +upon the lower branches, by making use of its natural parachute. + +The ordinary position of the Pterodactyle was probably upon its two hind +feet, the lower extremities being adapted for standing and moving on the +ground, after the manner of birds. Habitually, perhaps, it perched on +trees; it could creep, or climb along rocks and cliffs, or suspend +itself from trees, with the assistance of its claws and feet, after the +manner of existing Bats. It is even probable, Dr. Buckland thought, that +it had the power of swimming and diving, so common to reptiles, and +possessed by the Vampyre Bat of the island of Bonin. It is believed that +the smaller species lived upon insects, and the larger preyed upon +fishes, upon which it could throw itself like the sea-gull. + +The most startling feature in the organisation of this animal is the +strange combination of two powerful wings attached to the body of a +reptile. The imagination of the poets long dwelt on such a combination; +the _Dragon_ was a creation of their fancy, and it played a great part +in fable and in pagan mythology. The Dragon, or flying reptile, +breathing fire and poisoning the air with his fiery breath, had, +according to the fable, disputed with man the possession of the earth. +Gods and demigods claimed, among their most famous exploits, the glory +of having vanquished this powerful and redoubtable monster. + +Among the animals of our epoch, only a single reptile is found provided +with wings, or digital appendages analogous to the membranous wings of +the bats, and which can be compared to the Pterodactyle. This is called +the _Dragon_, one of the Draconidæ, a family of Saurians, which has been +described by Daudin, as distinguished by the first six ribs, instead of +hooping round the abdomen, extending in nearly a straight line, and +sustaining a prolongation of skin which forms a sort of wing analogous +to that of the Pterodactyle. Independent of the four feet, this wing +sustains the animal, like a parachute, as it leaps from branch to +branch; but the creature has no power to beat the air with it as birds +do when flying. This reptile lives in the forests of the hottest parts +of Africa, and in some isles of the Indian Ocean, especially in Sumatra +and Java. The only known species is that figured at page 238 (Fig. 107), +which comes from the East Indies. + +What a strange population was that which occupied the earth at this +stage of its history, when the waters were filled with creatures so +extraordinary as those whose history we have traced! Plesiosauri and +Ichthyosauri filled the seas, upon the surface of which floated +innumerable Ammonites in light skiffs, some of them as large as a +good-sized cart-wheel, while gigantic Turtles and Crocodiles crawled on +the banks of the rivers and lakes. Only one genus of Mammals had yet +appeared, but no birds; nothing broke the silence of the air, if we +except the breathing of the terrestrial reptiles and the flight of +winged insects. + +The earth cooled progressively up to the Jurassic period, the rains lost +their continuity and abundance, and the pressure of the atmosphere +sensibly diminished. All these circumstances favoured the appearance +and the multiplication of innumerable species of animals, whose singular +forms then showed themselves on the earth. We can scarcely imagine the +prodigious quantity of Molluscs and Zoophytes whose remains lie buried +in the Jurassic rocks, forming entire strata of immense thickness and +extent. + +[Illustration: Fig. 107.--Draco volans.] + +The same circumstances concurred to favour the production of plants. If +the shores and seas of the period received such a terrible aspect from +the formidable animals we have described, the vegetation which covered +the land had also its peculiar character and appearance. Nothing that we +know of in the existing scenery of the globe surpasses the rich +vegetation which decorated the continents of the Jurassic period. A +temperature still of great elevation, a humid atmosphere, and, we have +no reason to doubt, a brilliant sun, promoted the growth of a luxuriant +vegetation, such as some of the tropical islands, with their burning +temperature and maritime climate, can only give us an idea of, while it +recalls some of the Jurassic types of vegetation. The elegant Voltzias +of the Trias had disappeared, but the Horse-tails (_Equiseta_) remained, +whose slender and delicate stems rose erect in the air with their +graceful panicles; the gigantic rushes also remained; and though the +tree-ferns had lost their enormous dimensions of the Carboniferous age, +they still preserved their fine and delicately-cut leaves. + +Alongside these vegetable families, which passed upwards from the +preceding age, an entire family--the Cycads (Fig. 72, p. 168)--appear +for the first time. They soon became numerous in genera, such as +Zamites, Pterophyllum (Williamsonia), and Nilssonia. Among the species +which characterise this age, we may cite the following, arranging them +in families:-- + + FERNS. CYCADS. CONIFERS. + + Odontopteris cycadea. Zamites distans. Taxodites. + Taumopteris Munsteri. Zamites heterophyllus. Pinites. + Camptopteris crenata. Zamites gracilis. + Pterophyllum dubium. + Nilssonia contigua. + Nilssonia elegantissima. + Nilssonia Sternbergii. + +The _Zamites_ seem to be forerunners of the Palms, which make their +appearance in the following epoch; they were trees of elegant +appearance, closely resembling the existing Zamias, which are trees of +tropical America, and especially of the West India Islands; they were so +numerous in species and in individuals that they seem to have formed, of +themselves alone, one half of the forests during the period which +engages our attention. The number of their fossilised species exceeds +that of the living species. The trunk of the Zamites, simple and covered +with scars left by the old leaves, supports a thick crown of leaves more +than six feet in length, disposed in fan-like shape, arising from a +common centre. + +The _Pterophyllum_ (Williamsonia), formed great trees, of considerable +elevation, and covered with large pinnated leaves from top to bottom. +Their leaves, thin and membranous, were furnished with leaflets +truncated at the summit and traversed by fine nervures, not convergent, +but abutting on the terminal truncated edge. + +The _Nilssonia_, finally, were Cycadeaceæ resembling the Pterophyllum, +but with thick and coriaceous leaves, and short leaflets contiguous to, +and in part attached to the base; they were obtuse or nearly truncated +at the summit, and would present nervures arched or confluent towards +that summit. + +The essential characters of the vegetation during the Liassic sub-period +were:--1. The great predominance of the Cycadeaceæ, thus continuing the +development which commenced in the previous period, expanding into +numerous genera belonging both to this family and that of the _Zamites_ +and _Nilssonia_; 2. The existence among the Ferns of many genera with +reticulated veins or nervures, and under forms of little variation, +which scarcely show themselves in the more ancient formations. + +[Illustration: Fig. 108.--Millepora alcicornis. + +(Recent Coral.)] + +[Illustration: XVI.--Ideal Landscape of the Liassic Period.] + +On the opposite page (PLATE XVI.) is an ideal landscape of the Liassic +period; the trees and shrubs characteristic of the age are the elegant +Pterophyllum, which appears in the extreme left of the picture, and the +Zamites, which are recognisable by their thick and low trunk and +fan-like tuft of foliage. The large horsetail, or Equisetum of this +epoch, mingles with the great Tree-ferns and the Cypress, a Conifer +allied to those of our own age. Among animals, we see the Pterodactyle +specially represented. One of these reptiles is seen in a state of +repose, resting on its hind feet. The other is represented, not flying, +after the manner of a bird, but throwing itself from a rock in order to +seize upon a winged insect, the dragon-fly (_Libellula_), the remains of +which have been discovered, associated with the bones of the +Pterodactyle, in the lithographic limestone of Pappenheim and +Solenhofen. + + +OOLITIC SUB-PERIOD. + +This period is so named because many of the limestones entering into the +composition of the formations it comprises, consist almost entirely of +an aggregation of rounded concretionary grains resembling, in outward +appearance, the roe or eggs of fishes, and each of which contains a +nucleus of sand, around which concentric layers of calcareous matter +have accumulated; whence the name, from ωον, _egg_, and λιθος, _stone_. + +The Oolite series is usually subdivided into three sections, the +_Lower_, _Middle_, and _Upper Oolite_. These rocks form in England a +band some thirty miles broad, ranging across the country from Yorkshire, +in the north-east, to Dorset, in the south-west, but with a great +diversity of mineral character, which has led to a further subdivision +of the series, founded on the existence of particular strata in the +central and south-western counties:-- + + UPPER. MIDDLE. LOWER. + + 1. Purbeck Beds. 1. Coral Rag. 1. Cornbrash. + 2. Portland Stone 2. Oxford Clay. 2. Great Oolite & Forest + and Sand. Marble. + 3. Kimeridge Clay. 3. Stonesfield Slate. + 4. Fuller’s Earth. + 5. Inferior Oolite. + +The alternations of clay and masses of limestone in the Liassic and +Oolite formations impart some marked features to the outline of the +scenery both of France and England: forming broad valleys, separated +from each other by ranges of limestone hills of more or less elevation. +In France, the Jura mountains are composed of the latter; in England, +the slopes of this formation are more gentle--the valleys are +intersected by brooks, and clothed with a rich vegetation; it forms what +is called a tame landscape, as compared with the wilder grandeur of the +Primary rocks--it pleases more than it surprises. It yields materials +also, more useful than some of the older formations, numerous quarries +being met with which furnish excellent building-materials, especially +around Bath, where the stone, when first quarried, is soft and easily +worked, but becomes harder on exposure to the air. + +The annexed section (Fig. 109) will give some idea of the configuration +which the stratification assumes, such as may be observed in proceeding +from the north-west to the south-east, from Caermarthenshire to the +banks of the Ouse. + + +LOWER OOLITE FAUNA. + +The most salient and characteristic feature of this age is, undoubtedly, +the appearance of animals belonging to the class of Mammals. But the +organisation, quite special, of the first of the Mammalia will certainly +be a matter of astonishment to the reader, and must satisfy him that +Nature proceeded in the creation of animals by successive steps, by +transitions which, in an almost imperceptible manner, connect the beings +of one age with others more complicated in their organisation. The first +Mammals which appeared upon the earth, for example, did not enjoy all +the organic attributes belonging to the more recent creations of the +class. In the latter the young are brought forth living, and not from +eggs, like Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes. But the former belonged to that +order of animals quite special, and never numerous, the young of which +are transferred in a half-developed state, from the body of the mother +to an external pouch in which they remain until they become perfected; +in short, to marsupial animals. The mother nurses her young during a +certain time in a sort of pouch external to the body, in the +neighbourhood of the abdomen, and provided with teats to which the young +adhere. After a more or less prolonged sojourn in this pouch, the young +animal, when sufficiently matured and strong enough to battle with the +world, emerges from its warm retreat, and enters fully into life and +light; the process being a sort of middle course between oviparous +generation, in which the animals are hatched from eggs after exclusion +from the mother’s body, like Birds; and viviparous, in which the animals +are brought forth alive, as in the ordinary Mammals. + +[Illustration: Fig. 109.--General view of the succession of British +strata, with the elevations they reach above the level of the sea. + +_G_, Granitic rocks; _a_, Gneiss; _b_, Mica-schist; _c_, Skiddaw or +Cumbrian Slates; _d_, Snowdon rocks; _e_, Plynlymmon rocks; _f_, +Silurian rocks; _g_, Old Red Sandstone; _h_, Carboniferous Limestone; +_i_, Millstone Grit; _k_, Coal-measures; _l_, Magnesian Limestone; _m_, +New Red Sandstone; _n_, Lias; _o_, Lower, Middle, and Upper Oolites; +_p_, Greensand; _q_, Chalk; _r_, Tertiary strata.] + +In standard works on natural history the animals under consideration are +classed as _mammiferous Didelphæ_. They are brought forth in an +imperfect state, and during their transitional condition are suckled in +a pouch supported by bones called _marsupial_, which are attached by +their extremities to the pelvis, and serve to support the marsupium, +whence the animals provided with these provisions for bringing up their +progeny are called _Marsupial Mammals_. The Opossum, Kangaroo, and +Ornithorhynchus are existing representatives of this group. + +[Illustration: Fig. 110.--Jaw of Thylacotherium Prevostii.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 111.--Jaw of Phascolotherium.] + +The name of _Thylacotherium_, or _Amphitherium_, or _Phascolotherium_, +is given to the first of these marsupial Mammals which made their +appearance, whose remains have been discovered in the Lower Oolite, and +in one of its higher stages, namely, that called the _Great Oolite_. +Fig. 110 represents the jaw of the first of these animals, and Fig. 111 +the other--both of the natural size. These jaw-bones represent all that +has been found belonging to these early marsupial animals; and Baron +Cuvier and Professor Owen have both decided as to their origin. The +first was found in the Stonesfield quarries. The Phascolotherium, also a +Stonesfield fossil, was the ornament of Mr. Broderip’s collection. The +animals which lived on the land during the Lower Oolitic period would be +nearly the same with those of the Liassic. The insects were, perhaps, +more numerous. + +The marine fauna included Reptiles, Fishes, Molluscs, and Zoophytes. +Among the first were the Pterodactyle, and a great Saurian, the +Teleosaurus, belonging to a family which made its appearance in this +age, and which reappears in the following epoch. Among the Fishes, the +Ganoids and Ophiopsis predominate. Among the Ammonites, _Ammonites +Humphriesianus_, _A. Herveyii_ (Fig. 112), _A. Brongniarti_, _Nautilus +lineatus_, and many other representatives of the cephalopodous Mollusca. +Among the Brachiopods are _Terebratula digona_ (Fig. 113) and _T. +spinosa_. Among the Gasteropoda the _Pleurotomaria conoidea_ is +remarkable from its elegant shape and markings, and very unlike any of +the living _Pleurotoma_ as represented by _P. Babylonia_ (Fig. 114). +_Ostrea Marshii_ and _Lima proboscidea_, which belong to the Acephala, +are fossil Mollusca of this epoch, to which also belong _Entalophora +cellarioides_, _Eschara Ranviliana_, _Bidiastopora cervicornis_; elegant +and characteristic molluscous Polyzoa. We give a representation of two +living species, as exhibiting the form of these curious beings. (Figs. +115 and 116.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 112.--Ammonites Herveyii.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 113.--Terebratula digona.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 114.--Pleurotoma Babylonia. (Recent.)] + +The Echinoderms and Polyps appear in great numbers in the deposits of +the Lower Oolite: _Apiocrinus elegans_, _Hyboclypus gibberulus_, +_Dysaster Endesii_ represent the first; _Montlivaltia caryophyllata_, +_Anabacia orbulites_, _Cryptocœnia bacciformis_, and _Eunomia radiata_ +represent the second. + +[Illustration: Fig. 115.--Adeona folifera. + +(Recent Polyzoa.)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 116.--Cellaria loriculata. + +(Recent Polyzoa.)] + +This last and most remarkable species of Zoophyte presents itself in +great masses many yards in circumference, and necessitates a long period +of time for its production. This assemblage of little creatures living +under the waters but only at a small depth beneath the surface, as Mr. +Darwin has demonstrated, has nevertheless produced banks, or rather +islets, of considerable extent, which at one time constituted veritable +reefs rising out of the ocean. These reefs were principally constructed +in the Jurassic period, and their extreme abundance is one of the +characteristics of this geological age. The same phenomenon continues in +our day, but by the agency of a new race of zoophytes, which carry on +their operations, preparing a new continent, probably, in the _atolls_ +of the Pacific Ocean. (See Fig. 108, p. 240.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 117. + +1, Otopteris dubia; 2, Otopteris obtusa; 3, +Otopteris acuminata; 4, Otopteris cuneata.] + +The flora of the epoch was very rich. The Ferns continue to exist, but +their size and bearing were sensibly inferior to what they had been in +the preceding period. Among them Otopteris, distinguished for its +simply pinnated leaves, whose leaflets are auriculate at the base: of +the five species, 1, _O. dubia_; and 2, _O. obtusa_; and 3, _O. +acuminata_; and 4, _O. cuneata_ (Fig. 117), are from the Oolite. In +addition to these we may name _Coniopteris Murrayana_, _Pecopteris +Desnoyersii, Pachypteris lanceolata_, and _Phlebopteris Phillipsii_; and +among the Lycopods, _Lycopodus falcatus_. + +The vegetation of this epoch has a peculiar facies, from the presence of +the family of the Pandanaceæ, or screw-pines, so remarkable for their +aërial roots, and for the magnificent tuft of leaves which terminates +their branches. Neither the leaves nor the roots of these plants have, +however, been found in the fossil state, but we possess specimens of +their large and spherical fruit, which leave no room for doubt as to the +nature of the entire plant. + +The Cycads were still represented by the _Zamias_, and by many species +of Pterophyllum. The Conifers, that grand family of recent times, to +which the pines, firs, and other trees of our northern forests belong, +began to occupy an important part in the world’s vegetation from this +epoch. The earliest Conifers belonged to the genera _Thuites_, +_Taxites_, and _Brachyphyllum_. The _Thuites_ were true _Thuyas_, +evergreen trees of the present epoch, with compressed branches, small +imbricated and serrated leaves, somewhat resembling those of the +Cypress, but distinguished by many points of special organisation. The +_Taxites_ have been referred, with some doubts, to the Yews. Finally, +the _Brachyphyllum_ were trees which, according to the characteristics +of their vegetation, seem to have approached nearly to two existing +genera, the _Arthotaxis_ of Tasmania, and the _Weddringtonias_ of South +Africa. The leaves of the Brachyphyllum are short and fleshy, with a +large and rhomboidal base. + + +LOWER OOLITE ROCKS. + +The formation which represents the Lower Oolite, and which in England +attains an average thickness of from 500 to 600 feet, forms a very +complex system of stratification, which includes the two formations, +_Bajocien_ and _Bathonian_, adopted by M. D’Orbigny and his followers. +The lowest beds of the _Inferior Oolite_ occur in Normandy, in the Lower +Alps (Basses-Alpes), in the neighbourhoods of Lyons and Neuchatel. They +are remarkable near Bayeux for the variety and beauty of their fossils: +the rocks are composed principally of limestones--yellowish-brown, or +red, charged with hydrated oxide of iron, often oolitic, and reposing on +calcareous sands. These deposits are surmounted by alternate layers of +clay and marl, blue or yellow--the well-known _Fuller’s Earth_, which is +so called from its use in the manufacture of woollen fabrics to extract +the grease from the wool. The second series of the Lower Oolite, which +attains a thickness of from 150 to 200 feet on the coast of Normandy, +and is well developed in the neighbourhood of Caen and in the Jura, has +been divided, in Britain, into four formations, in an ascending scale:-- + +1. The _Great_ or _Bath Oolite_, which consists principally of a very +characteristic, fine-grained, white, soft, and well-developed oolitic +limestone, at Bath, and also at Caen in Normandy. At the base of the +Great Oolite the Stonesfield beds occur, in which were found the bones +of the marsupial Mammals, to which we have already alluded; and along +with them bones of Reptiles, principally Pterodactyles, together with +some finely-preserved fossil plants, fruits, and insects. + +2. _Bradford Clay_, which is a bluish marl, containing many fine +Encrinites (commonly called stone-lilies), but which had only a local +existence, appearing to be almost entirely confined to this formation. +“In this case, however,” says Lyell, “it appears that the solid upper +surface of the ‘Great Oolite’ had supported, for a time, a thick +submarine forest of these beautiful Zoophytes, until the clear and still +water was invaded with a current charged with mud, which threw down the +stone-lilies, and broke most of their stems short off near the point of +attachment. The stumps still remain in their original position.”[65] See +Fig. 1, PLATE XIX., p. 261. (Bradford, or Pear, Encrinite.) + + [65] “Elements of Geology,” p. 399. + +3. _Forest Marble_, which consists of an argillaceous shelly limestone, +abounding in marine fossils, and sandy and quartzose marls, is quarried +in the forest of Wichwood, in Wiltshire, and in the counties of Dorset, +Wilts, and Somerset. + +4. The _Cornbrash_ (wheat-lands) consists of beds of rubbly +cream-coloured limestone, which forms a soil particularly favourable to +the cultivation of cereals; hence its name.[66] + + [66] See Bristow in Descriptive Catalogue of Rocks, in _Mus. Pract. + Geol._, p. 134. + +[Illustration: Fig. 118.--Meandrina Dædalæa. + +_a_, entire figure, reduced; _b_, portion, natural size. + +(Recent Coral.)] + +The Lower Oolite ranges across the greater part of England, but “attains +its maximum development near Cheltenham, where it can be subdivided, at +least, into three parts. Passing north, the two lower divisions, each +more or less characterised by its own fossils, disappear, and the +Ragstone north-east of Cheltenham lies directly upon the Lias; +apparently as conformably as if it formed its true and immediate +successor, while at Dundry the equivalents of the upper freestones and +ragstones (the lower beds being absent) lie directly on the exceedingly +thin sands, which there overlie the Lower Lias. In Dorsetshire, on the +coast, the series is again perfect, though thin. Near Chipping Norton, +in Oxfordshire, the Inferior Oolite disappears altogether, and the Great +Oolite, having first overlapped the Fullers’ Earth, passes across the +Inferior Oolite, and in its turn seems to lie on the Upper Lias with a +regularity as perfect as if no formation in the neighbourhood came +between them. In Yorkshire the changed type of the Inferior Oolite, the +prevalence of sands, land-plants, and beds of coal, occur in such a +manner as to leave no doubt of the presence of terrestrial surfaces on +which the plants grew, and all these phenomena lead to the conclusion +that various and considerable oscillations of level took place in the +British area during the deposition of the strata, both of the Inferior +Oolite and of the formations which immediately succeed it.”[67] + + [67] President’s Address, by Professor A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. + Geol. Soc._, 1864, vol. xx., p. 4. + +The Inferior Oolite here alluded to is a thin bed of calcareous +freestone, resting on, and sometimes replaced by yellow sand, which +constitutes the passage-beds from the Liassic series. The Fullers’ Earth +clay lies between the limestones of the Inferior and Great Oolite, at +the base of which last lies the Stonesfield slate--a slightly oolitic, +shelly limestone, or flaggy and fissile sandstone, some six feet thick, +rich in organic remains, and ranging through Oxfordshire towards the +north-east, into Northamptonshire and Yorkshire. At Colley Weston, in +Northamptonshire, fossils of _Pecopteris polypodioides_ are found. In +the Great Oolite formation, near Bath, are many corals, among which the +_Eunomia radiata_ is very conspicuous. The fossil is not unlike the +existing brain-coral of the tropical seas (Fig. 118). The work of this +coral seems to have been suddenly stopped by “an invasion,” says Lyell, +“of argillaceous matter, which probably put a sudden stop to the growth +of Bradford Encrinites, and led to their preservation in marine +strata.”[68] The Cornbrash is, in general, a cream-coloured limestone, +about forty feet thick, in the south-west of England, and occupying a +considerable area in Dorsetshire and North Wilts, as at Cricklade, +Malmesbury, and Chippenham, in the latter county. _Terebratula obovata_ +is its characteristic shell, and _Nucleolites clunicularis_, _Lima +gibbosa_, and _Avicula echinata_ occur constantly in great numbers. +Wherever it occurs the Cornbrash affords a rich and fertile soil, well +adapted for the growth of wheat, while the Forest Marble, as a soil, is +generally poor. The Cornbrash passes downwards into the Forest Marble, +and sometimes, as at Bradford, near Bath, is replaced by clay. This +clay, called the Bradford clay, is almost wholly confined to the county +of Wilts. _Terebratula decussata_ is one of the most characteristic +fossils, but the most common is the Apiocrinites or pear-shaped +encrinite, whose remains in this clay are so perfectly preserved that +the most minute articulations are often found in their natural +positions. PLATE XIX., p. 261 (Fig. 1), represents an adult attached by +a solid base to the rocky bottom on which it grew, whilst the smaller +individuals show the Encrinite in its young state--one with arms +expanded, the other with them closed. Ripple-marked slabs of fissile +Forest Marble are used as a roofing-slate, and may be traced over a +broad band of country in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, separated from +each other by thin seams of clay, in which the undulating ridges of +the sand are preserved, and even the footmarks of small Crustaceans are +still visible. + + [68] “Elements of Geology,” p. 400. + +[Illustration: XVII.--Ideal Landscape of the Lower Oolite Period.] + +On the opposite page (PLATE XVII.) is represented an ideal landscape of +the period of the Lower Oolite. On the shore are types of the vegetation +of the period. The _Zamites_, with large trunk covered with fan-like +leaves, resembled in form and bearing the existing Zamias of tropical +regions; a _Pterophyllum_, with its stem covered from base to summit +with its finely-cut feathery leaves; Conifers closely resembling our +Cypress, and an arborescent Fern. What distinguishes this sub-period +from that of the Lias is a group of magnificent trees, _Pandanus_, +remarkable for their aërial roots, their long leaves, and globular +fruit. + +Upon one of the trees of this group the artist has placed the +_Phascolotherium_, not very unlike to our Opossum. It was amongst the +first of the Mammalia which appeared in the ancient world. The artist +has here enlarged the dimensions of the animal in order to show its +form. Let the reader reduce it in imagination one-sixth, for it was not +larger than an ordinary-sized cat. + +A Crocodile and the fleshless skeleton of the Ichthyosaurus remind us +that Reptiles still occupied an important place in the animal creation. +A few Insects, especially Dragon-flies, fly about in the air. Ammonites +float on the surface of the waves, and the terrible Plesiosaurus, like a +gigantic swan, swims about in the sea. The circular reef of coral, the +work of ancient Polyps, foreshadows the atolls of the great ocean, for +it was during the Jurassic period that the Polyps of the ancient world +were most active in the production of coral-reefs and islets. + + +MIDDLE OOLITE. + +The terrestrial flora of this age was composed of Ferns, Cycads, and +Conifers. The first represented by the _Pachypteris microphylla_, the +second by _Zamites Moreana_. _Brachyphyllum Moreanum_ and _B. majus_ +appear to have been the Conifers most characteristic of the period; +fruits have also been found in the rocks of the period, which appear to +belong to Palms, but this point is still obscure and doubtful. + +Numerous vestiges of the fauna which animated the period are also +revealed in the rocks of this age. Certain hemipterous insects appear on +the earth for the first time, and the Bees among the Hymenoptera, +Butterflies among the Lepidoptera, and Dragon-flies among the +Neuroptera. In the bosom of the ocean, or upon its banks, roamed the +_Ichthyosaurus_, _Ceteosaurus_, _Pterodactylus crassirostris_, and the +_Geosaurus_; the latter being very imperfectly known. + +The Ceteosaurus whose bones have been discovered in the upper beds of +the Great Oolite at Enslow Rocks, at the Kirtlington Railway Station, +north of Oxford, and some other places, was a species of Crocodile +nearly resembling the modern Gavial or Crocodile of the Ganges. This +huge whale-like reptile has been described by Professor John Phillips as +unmatched in size and strength by any of the largest inhabitants of the +Mesozoic land or sea--perhaps the largest animal that ever walked upon +the earth. A full-grown Ceteosaurus must have been _at least_ fifty feet +long, ten feet high, and of a proportionate bulk. In its habits it was, +probably, a marsh-loving or river-side animal, dwelling amidst filicene, +cycadaceous, and coniferous shrubs and trees full of insects and small +mammalia. The one small and imperfect tooth which has been found +resembles that of Iguanodon more than of any other reptile; and it seems +probable that the Ceteosaurus was nourished by vegetable food, which +abounded in the vicinity of its haunts, and was not obliged to contend +with the Megalosaurus for a scanty supply of more stimulating diet.[69] + + [69] For a full account of the Ceteosaurus, see “The Geology of the + Thames Valley,” by Prof. John Phillips, F.R.S. 1871. + +Another reptile allied to the Pterodactyle lived in this epoch--the +_Ramphorynchus_, distinguished from the Pterodactyle by a long tail. The +imprints which this curious animal has left upon the sandstone of the +period are impressions of its feet and the linear furrow made by its +tail. Like the Pterodactyle, the Ramphorynchus, which was about the size +of a crow, could not precisely fly, but, aided by the wing (a sort of +natural parachute formed by the membrane connecting the fingers with the +body), it could throw itself from a height upon its prey. Fig. 119 +represents a restoration of this animal. The footprints in the soil are +in imitation of those which accompany the remains of the Ramphorynchus +in the Oolitic rocks, and they show the imprints of the anterior and +posterior feet and also the marks made by the tail. + +This tail was very long, far surpassing in length the rest of the +vertebral column, and consisting of more than thirty vertebræ--which +were at first short, but rapidly elongate, retain their length for a +considerable distance, and then gradually diminish in size. + +[Illustration: XVIII.--Ideal landscape of the Middle Oolitic Period.] + +Another genus of Reptiles appears in the Middle Oolite, of which we have +had a glimpse in the Lias and Great Oolite of the preceding section. +This is the _Teleosaurus_, which the recent investigations of M. E. +Deslongchamps allow of re-construction. The Teleosaurus enables us to +form a pretty exact idea of these Crocodiles of the ancient seas--these +cuirassed Reptiles, which the German geologist Cotta describes as “the +great barons of the kingdom of Neptune, armed to the teeth, and clothed +in an impenetrable panoply; the true filibusters of the primitive seas.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 119.--Ramphorynchus restored. One-quarter natural +size.] + +The Teleosaurus resembled the Gavials of India. The former inhabited the +banks of rivers, perhaps the sea itself; they were longer, more slender, +and more active than the living species; they were about thirty feet in +length, of which the head may be from three to four feet, with their +enormous jaws sometimes with an opening of six feet, through which they +could engulf, in the depths of their enormous throat, animals of +considerable size. + +The _Teleosaurus cadomensis_ is represented on the opposite page (PLATE +XVIII.), after the sketch of M. E. Deslongchamps, carrying from the sea +in its mouth a _Geoteuthis_, a species of Calamary of the Oolitic epoch. +This creature was coated with a cuirass both on the back and belly. In +order to show this peculiarity, a living individual is represented on +the shore, and a dead one is floating on its back in shallow water, +leaving the ventral cuirass exposed. + +Behind the _Teleosaurus cadomensis_ in the engraving, another Saurian, +the _Hylæosaurus_, is represented, which makes its appearance in the +Cretaceous epoch. We have here adopted the restoration which has been so +ably executed by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, at the Crystal Palace, +Sydenham. + +Besides the numerous Fishes with which the Oolitic seas swarmed, they +contained some Crustaceans, Cirripedes, and various genera of Mollusca +and Zoophytes. _Eryon arctiformis_, represented in Fig. 119, belongs to +the class of Crustaceans, of which the spiny lobster is the type. Among +the Mollusca were some Ammonites, Belemnites, and Oysters, of which many +hundred species have been described. Of these we may mention _Ammonites +refractus, A. Jason and A. cordatus, Ostrea dilatata, Terebratula +diphya, Diceras arietena, Belemnites hastatus_, and _B. Puzosianus_. In +some of the finely-laminated clays the Ammonites are very perfect, but +somewhat compressed, with the outer lip or margin of the aperture entire +(Fig. 120). Similar prolongations have been noticed in Belemnites found +by Dr. Mantell in the Oxford Clay, near Chippenham. + +[Illustration: Fig. 120.--Eryon arctiformis.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 121.--Perfect Ammonite.] + +Among the Echinoderms, _Cidaris glandiferus_, _Apiocrinus Roissyanus_, +and _A. rotundus_, the graceful _Saccocoma pectinata_, _Millericrinus +nodotianus_, _Comatula costata_, and _Hemicidaris crenularis_ may be +mentioned; _Apiocrinites rotundus_, figured in PLATE XIX., is a reduced +restoration: 1, being expanded; _a_, closed; 3, a cross section of +the upper extremity of the pear-shaped head; 4, a vertical section +showing the enlargement of the alimentary canal, with the hollow +lenticular spaces which descend through the axis of the column, forming +the joints, and giving elasticity and flexure to the whole stem, without +risk of dislocation. _A. rotundus_ is found at Bradford in Wiltshire, +Abbotsbury in Dorset, at Soissons, and Rochelle. This species--known as +the Bradford Pear-Encrinite--is only found in the strata mentioned. + +[Illustration: XIX.--Fig. 1.--Apiocrinites rotundus. Fig. 2.--Encrinus +liliiformis.] + +The Corals of this epoch occur in great abundance. We have already +remarked that these aggregations of Polyps are often met with at a great +depth in the strata. These small calcareous structures have been formed +in the ancient seas, and the same phenomenon is extending the +terrestrial surface in our days in the seas of Oceania, where reefs and +atolls of coral are rising by slow and imperceptible steps, but with no +less certainty. Although their mode of production must always remain to +some extent a mystery, the investigations of M. Lamaroux, Mr. Charles +Darwin, and M. D’Orbigny have gone a long way towards explaining their +operations; for the Zoophyte in action is an aggregation of these minute +Polyps. Describing what he believes to be a sea-pen, a Zoophyte allied +to _Virgularia Patagonia_, Mr. Darwin says: “It consists of a thin, +straight, fleshy stem, with alternate rows of polypi on each side, and +surrounding an elastic stony axis. The stem at one extremity is +truncate, but at the other is terminated by a vermiform fleshy +appendage. The stony axis which gives strength to the stem, may be +traced at this extremity into a mere vessel filled with granular matter. +At low water hundreds of these zoophytes might be seen, projecting like +stubble, with the truncate end upwards, a few inches above the surface +of the muddy sand. When touched or pulled, they drew themselves in +suddenly, with force, so as nearly or quite to disappear. By this +action, the highly-elastic axis must be bent at the lower extremity, +where it is naturally slightly curved; and I imagine it is by this +elasticity alone that the zoophyte is enabled to rise again through the +mud. Each polypus, though closely united to its brethren, has a distinct +mouth, body, and tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large specimen there +must be many thousands. Yet we see that they act by one movement; that +they have one central axis, connected with a system of obscure +circulation.” Such is the brief account given by a very acute observer +of these singular beings. They secrete the calcareous matter held in +solution in the oceanic waters, and produce the wonderful structures we +have now under consideration; and these calcareous banks have been in +course of formation during many geological ages. They just reach the +level of the waters, for the polyps perish as soon as they are so far +above the surface that neither the waves nor the flow of the tides can +reach them. In the Oolitic rocks these banks are frequently found from +twelve to fifteen feet thick, and many leagues in length, and +preserving, for the most part, the relative positions which they +occupied in the sea while in course of formation. + +The rocks which now represent the Middle Oolitic Period are usually +divided into the _Oxford Clay_, the lower member of which is an +arenaceous limestone, known as the _Kellaways Rock_, which in Wiltshire +and other parts of the south-west of England attains a thickness of +eight or ten feet, with the impressions of numerous Ammonites, and other +shells. In Yorkshire, around Scarborough, it reaches the thickness of +thirty feet; and forms well-developed beds of bluish-black marl in the +department of Calvados, in France. It is the base of this clay which +forms the soil (_Argile de Dives_) of the valley of the Auge, renowned +for its rich pasturages and magnificent cattle. The same beds form the +base of the oddly-shaped but fine rocks of La Manche, which are +popularly known as the _Vaches Noires_ (or black cows)--a locality +celebrated, also, for its fine Ammonites transformed into pyrites. + +The _Oxford Clay_ constitutes the base of the hills in the neighbourhood +of Oxford, forming a bed of clay sometimes more than 600 feet thick. It +is found well-developed in France, at Trouville, in the department of +the Calvados; and at Neuvisy, in the department of the Ardennes, where +it attains a thickness of about 300 feet. It is a bluish, sometimes +whitish limestone (often argillaceous), and bluish marl. The _Gryphæa +dilatata_ is the most common fossil in the Oxford Clay. The _Coral Rag_ +is so called from the fact that the limestone of which it is chiefly +composed consists, in part, of an aggregation of considerable masses of +petrified Corals; not unlike those now existing in the Pacific Ocean, +supposing them to be covered up for ages and fossilised. This coral +stratum extends through the hills of Berkshire and North Wilts, and it +occurs again near Scarborough. In the counties of Dorset, Bedford, +Buckingham, and Cambridge, and some other parts of England, the +limestone of the Coral Rag disappears and is replaced by clay--in which +case the Oxford Clay is overlaid directly by the Kimeridge Clay. In +France it is found in the departments of the Meuse, of the Yonne, of the +Ain, of the Charente Inférieure. In the Alps the _Diceras limestone_ is +regarded, by most geologists, as coeval with the English Coral Rag. + + +UPPER OOLITE. + +[Illustration: Fig. 122.--Bird of Solenhofen (Archæopteryx).] + +Some marsupial Mammals have left their remains in the Upper Oolite as in +the Lower. They belong to the genus _Sphalacotherium_. Besides the +Plesiosauri and Teleosauri, there still lived in the maritime regions a +Crocodile, the _Macrorhynchus_; and the monstrous _Pœcilopleuron_, with +sharp cutting teeth, one of the most formidable animals of this epoch; +the _Hylæosaurus_, _Cetiosaurus_, _Stenosaurus_, and _Streptospondylus_, +and among the Turtles, the _Emys_ and _Platemys_. As in the Lower +Oolite, so also in the Upper, Insects similar to those by which we are +surrounded, pursued their flight in the meadows and hovered over the +surface of the water. Of these, however, too little is known for us to +give any very precise indication on the subject of their special +organisation. + +The most remarkable fact relating to this period is the appearance of +the first bird. Hitherto the Mammals, and of these only +imperfectly-organised species, namely, the Marsupials, have alone +appeared. It is interesting to witness birds appearing immediately +after. In the quarries of lithographic stone at Solenhofen, the remains +of a bird, with feet and feathers, have been found, but without the +head. These curious remains are represented in Fig. 122, in the position +in which they were discovered. The bird is usually designated the Bird +of Solenhofen. + +[Illustration: Fig. 123. + +Shell of Physa fontinalis.] + +The Oolitic seas of this series contained Fishes belonging to the genera +_Asteracanthus_, _Strephodes_, _Lepidotus_, and _Microdon_. The +Cephalopodous Mollusca were not numerous, the predominating genera +belonging to the Lamellibranchs and to the Gasteropods, which lived on +the shore. The reef-making Madrepores or Corals were more numerous. A +few Zoophytes in the fossil state testify to the existence of these +extraordinary animals. The fossils characteristic of the fauna of the +period include _Ammonites decipiens_ and _A. giganteus_, _Natica +elegans_ and _hemispherica_, _Ostrea deltoidea_ and _O. virgula_, +_Trigonia gibbosa_, _Pholadomya multicostata_ and _P. acuticostata_, +_Terebratula subsella_, and _Hemicidaris Purbeckensis_. Some _Fishes_, +_Turtles_, _Paludina_, _Physa_ (Fig. 123), _Unio_, _Planorbis_ (Fig. +201), and the little crustacean bivalves, the Cypris, constituted the +fresh-water fauna of the period. + +The terrestrial flora of the period consisted of Ferns, Cycadeaceæ, and +Conifers; in the ponds and swamps some Zosteræ. The _Zosteræ_ are +monocotyledonous plants of the family of the Naïdaceæ, which grow in the +sandy mud of maritime regions, forming there, with their long, narrow, +and ribbon-like leaves, vast prairies of the most beautiful green. At +low tides these masses of verdure appear somewhat exposed. They would +form a retreat for a great number of marine animals, and afford +nourishment to others. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: XX.--Ideal Landscape of the Upper Oolitic Period.] + +On the opposite page an ideal landscape of the period (PLATE XX.) +represents some of the features of the Upper Oolite, especially the +vegetation of the Jurassic period. The _Sphenophyllum_, among the +Tree-ferns, is predominant in this vegetation; some _Pandanas_, a few +_Zamites_, and many _Conifers_, but we perceive no Palms. A coral islet +rises out of the sea, having somewhat of the form of the _atolls_ of +Oceania, indicating the importance these formations assumed in the +Jurassic period. The animals represented are the _Crocodileimus_ of +Jourdan, the _Ramphorynchus_, with the imprints which characterise its +footsteps, and some of the invertebrated animals of the period, as the +_Asteria_, _Comatula_, _Hemicidaris_, _Pteroceras_. Aloft in the air +floats the bird of Solenhofen, the _Archæopteryx_, which has been +re-constructed from the skeleton, with the exception of the head, which +remains undiscovered. + + * * * * * + +The rocks which represent the Upper Oolite are usually divided into two +series: 1. The _Purbeck Beds_; 2. The _Portland Stone and Sand_; and 3. +The _Kimeridge Clay_. + +The _Kimeridge Clay_, which in many respects bears a remarkable +resemblance to the Oxford Clay, is composed of blue or yellowish +argillaceous beds, which occur in the state of clay and shale +(containing locally beds of bituminous schist, sometimes forming a sort +of earthy impure coal), and several hundred feet in thickness. These +beds are well developed at Kimeridge, in Dorsetshire, whence the clay +takes its name. In some parts of Wiltshire the beds of bituminous matter +have a shaly appearance, but there is an absence of the impressions of +plants which usually accompany the bitumen, derived from the +decomposition of plants. These rocks, with their characteristic fossils, +_Cardium striatulum_ and _Ostrea deltoidea_, are found throughout +England: in France, at Tonnerre, Dept. Yonne; at Havre; at Honfleur; at +Mauvage; in the department of the Meuse it is so rich in shells of +_Ostrea deltoidea_ and _O. virgula_, that, “near Clermont in Argonne, a +few leagues from St. Menehould,” says Lyell,[70] “where these indurated +marls crop out from beneath the Gault, I have seen them (_Gryphæa +virgula_) on decomposing leave the surface of every ploughed field +literally strewed over with this fossil oyster.” + + [70] “Elements of Geology,” p. 393. + +The second section of this series consists of the oolitic limestone of +Portland, which is quarried in the Isle of Portland and in the cliffs of +the Isle of Purbeck in Dorsetshire, and also at Chilmark in the Vale of +Wardour, in Wiltshire. In France, the Portland beds are found near +Boulogne, at Cirey-le-Château, Auxerre, and Gray (Haute Saône). + +The Isle, or rather peninsula of Portland,[71] off the Dorsetshire +coast, rises considerably above the sea-level, presenting on the side of +the port a bold line of cliffs, connected with the mainland by the +Chesil bank,[72] an extraordinary formation, consisting of a beach of +shingle and pebbles loosely piled on the blue Kimeridge clay, and +stretching ten miles westward along the coast. The quarries are chiefly +situated in the northerly part of the island. The story told of this +remarkable island is an epitome of the revolutions the surface of the +earth has undergone. The slaty Purbeck beds which overlie the Portland +stone are of a dark-yellowish colour; they are burnt in the +neighbourhood for lime. The next bed is of a whiter and more lively +colour. It is the stone of which the portico of St. Paul’s and many of +the houses of London, built in Queen Anne’s time, were constructed. The +building-stone contains fossils exclusively marine. Upon this stratum +rests a bed of limestone formed in lacustrine waters. Finally, upon this +bed rests another deposit of a substance which consists of very +well-preserved vegetable earth or _humus_, quite analogous to our +vegetable soil, of the thickness of from fifteen to eighteen inches, and +of a blackish colour; it contains a strong proportion of carbonaceous +earth; it abounds in the silicified remains of Conifers and other +plants, analogous to the _Zamia_ and _Cycas_--this soil is known as the +“dirt-bed.” The trunks of great numbers of silicified trees and tropical +plants are found here erect, their roots fixed in the soil, and of +species differing from any of our forest trees. “The ruins of a forest +upon the ruins of a sea,” says Esquiros, “the trunks of these trees were +petrified while still growing. The region now occupied by the narrow +channel and its environs had been at first a sea, in whose bed the +Oolitic deposits which now form the Portland stone accumulated: the bed +of the sea gradually rose and emerged from the waves. Upon the land thus +rescued from the deep, plants began to grow; they now constitute with +their ruins the soil of the dirt-bed. This soil, with its forest of +trees, was afterwards plunged again into the waters--not the bitter +waters of the ocean, but in the fresh waters of a lake formed at the +mouth of some great river.” + + [71] For details respecting these strata the reader may consult, with + advantage, the useful handbook to the geology of Weymouth and + Portland, by Robert Damon. + + [72] See Bristow and Whitaker “On the Chesil Bank,” _Geol. Mag._, vol. + vi., p. 433. + +Time passed on, however; a calcareous sediment brought from the interior +by the waters, formed a layer of mud over the dirt-bed; finally, the +whole region was covered by a succession of calcareous deposits, until +the day when the Isle of Portland was again revealed to light. “From the +facts observed,” says Lyell, “we may infer:--1. That those beds of the +Upper Oolite, called the Portland, which are full of marine shells, were +overspread with fluviatile mud, which became dry land, and covered with +a forest, throughout a portion of space now occupied by the south of +England, the climate being such as to admit of the growth of the _Zamia_ +and _Cycas_. 2. This land at length sank down and was submerged with its +forest beneath a body of fresh water from which sediment was thrown down +enveloping fluviatile shells. 3. The regular and uniform preservation of +this thin bed of black earth over a distance of many miles, shows that +the change from dry land to the state of a fresh-water lake, or estuary, +was not accompanied by any violent denudation or rush of water, since +the loose black earth, together with the trees which lay prostrate on +its surface, must inevitably have been swept away had any such violent +catastrophe taken place.”[73] + + [73] “Elements of Geology,” p. 389. + +[Illustration: Fig. 124.--Geological humus. _a_, Fresh-water calcareous +slate (Purbeck); _b_, Dirt-bed, with roots and stems of trees; _c_, +Fresh-water beds; _d_, Portland Stone.] + +The soil known as the _dirt-bed_ is nearly horizontal in the Isle of +Portland; but we discover it again not far from there in the sea-cliffs +of the Isle of Purbeck, having an inclination of 45°, where the trunks +continue perfectly parallel among themselves, affording a fine example +of a change in the position of beds originally horizontal. Fig. 124 +represents this species of geological _humus_. “Each _dirt-bed_” says +Sir Charles Lyell, “may, no doubt, be the memorial of many thousand +years or centuries, because we find that two or three feet of vegetable +soil is the only monument which many a tropical forest has left of its +existence ever since the ground on which it now stands was first covered +with its shade.”[74] + + [74] Ibid, p. 391. + +This bed of vegetable soil is, then, near the summit of that long and +complicated series of beds which constitute the Jurassic period; these +ruins, still vegetable, remind us forcibly of the coal-beds, for they +are nothing else than a less advanced state of that kind of vegetable +fossilisation which was perfected on such an immense scale, and during +an infinite length of time in the coal period. + +The Purbeck beds, which are sometimes subdivided into Lower, Middle, and +Upper, are mostly fresh-water formations, intimately connected with the +Upper Portland beds. But there they begin and end, being scarcely +recognisable except in Dorsetshire, in the sea-cliffs of which they were +first studied. They are finely exposed in Durdlestone Bay, near Swanage, +and at Lulworth Cove, on the same coast. The _lower beds_ consist of a +purely fresh-water marl, eighty feet thick, containing shells of +_Cypris_, _Limnæa_, and some _Serpulæ_ in a bed of marl of +brackish-water origin, and some _Cypris_-bearing shales, strangely +broken up at the west end of the Isle of Purbeck. + +The _Middle series_ consists of twelve feet of marine strata known as +the “cinder-beds,” formed of a vast accumulation of _Ostrea distorta_, +resting on fresh-water strata full of _Cypris fasciculata_, _Planorbis_, +and _Limnæa_, by which this strata has been identified as far inland as +the vale of Wardour in Wiltshire. Above the cinder-beds are shales and +limestones, partly of fresh-water and partly of brackish-water origin, +in which are Fishes, many species of Lepidotus, and the crocodilian +reptile, _Macrorhynchus_. On this rests a purely marine deposit, with +_Pecten_, _Avicula_, &c. Above, again, are brackish beds with _Cyrena_, +overlying which is thirty feet of fresh-water limestone, with _Fishes_, +_Turtles_, and _Cyprides_. + +The _upper beds_ are purely fresh-water strata, about fifty feet thick, +containing _Paludina_, _Physa_, _Limnæa_, all very abundant. In these +beds the Purbeck marble, formerly much used in the ornamental +architecture of the old English cathedrals, was formerly quarried. (See +Note, page 274.) + + * * * * * + +A few words may be added, in explanation of the term _oolite_, applied +to this sub-period of the Jurassic formation. In a great number of rocks +of this series the elements are neither crystalline nor amorphous--they +are, as we have already said, oolitic; that is to say, the mass has the +form of the roe of certain fishes. The question naturally enough arises, +Whence this singular oolitic structure assumed by the components of +certain rocks? It is asserted that the grinding action of the sea acting +upon the precipitated limestone produces rounded forms analogous to +grains of sand. This hypothesis may be well founded in some cases. The +marine sediments which are deposited in some of the warm bays of +Teneriffe are found to take the spheroidal granulated form of the +oolite. But these local facts cannot be made to apply to the whole +extent of the oolitic formations. We must, therefore, look further for +an explanation of the phenomena. + +It is admitted that if the cascades of Tivoli, for example, can give +birth to the oolitic grains, the same thing happens in the quietest +basins, that in stalactite-caverns oolitic grains develop themselves, +which afterwards, becoming cemented together from the continued, but +very slow, affluence of the calcareous waters, give rise to certain +kinds of oolitic rocks. + +On the other hand, it is known that nodules, more or less large, develop +themselves in marls in consequence of the concentration of the +calcareous elements, without the possibility of any wearing action of +water. Now, as there exists every gradation of size between the smallest +oolitic grains and the largest concretions, it is reasonable to suppose +that the oolites are equally the product of concentration. + +Finally, from research to research, it is found that perfectly +constituted oolites--that is to say, concentric layers, as in the +Jurassic limestone--develop themselves in vegetable earth in places +where the effects of water in motion is not more admissible than in the +preceding instances. + +Thus we arrive at the conclusion, that if Nature sometimes forms +crystals with perfect terminations in magmas in the course of +solidification, she gives rise also to spheroidal forms surrounding +various centres, which sometimes originate spontaneously, and in other +cases are accumulated round the débris of fossils, or even mere grains +of sand. Nevertheless, all mineral substances are not alike calculated +to produce oolitic rocks; putting aside some particular cases, this +property is confined to limestone and oxide of iron. + + * * * * * + +With regard to the distribution of the Jurassic formation on the +terrestrial globe, it may be stated that the Cotteswold Hills in +England, and in France the Jura mountains, are almost entirely composed +of these rocks, the several series of beds being all represented in +them--this circumstance, in fact, induced Von Humboldt to name the +formation after this latter range. The Upper Lias also exists in the +Pyrenees and in the Alps; in Spain; in many parts of Northern Italy; in +Russia, especially in the government of Moscow, and in the Crimea; but +it is in Germany where it occupies the most important place. A thin bed +of oolitic limestone presents, at Solenhofen in Bavaria, a geological +repository of great celebrity, containing fossil Plants, Fishes, +Insects, Crustaceans, with some Pterodactyles, admirably preserved; it +yielded also some of the earliest of the feathered race. The fine +quarries of lithographic stone at Pappenheim, so celebrated all over +Europe, belong to the Jurassic formation. + +It has recently been announced that these rocks have been found in +India; they contribute largely to the formation of the main mass of the +Himalayas, and to the chain of the Andes in South America; finally, from +recent investigations, they seem to be present in New Zealand. + +In England the Lias constitutes a well-defined belt about thirty miles +broad, extending from Dorsetshire, in the south, to Yorkshire, in the +north, formed of alternate beds of clay, shales, and limestone (with +layers of jet), on the coast near Whitby. It is rich, as we have seen, +in ancient life, and that in the strongest forms imaginable. From the +unequal hardness of the rocks it comprises, it stands out boldly in some +of the minor ranges of hills, adding greatly to the picturesque beauty +of the scenery in the centre of the country. In Scotland the formation +occupies a very limited space. + +A map of the country at the close of the Jurassic period would probably +show double the extent of dry land in the British Islands, compared with +what it displayed as an island in the primordial ocean; but Devon and +Cornwall had long risen from the sea, and it is probable that the +Jurassic beds of Dorsetshire and France were connected by a tongue of +land running from Cherbourg to the Liassic beds of Dorsetshire, and that +Boulogne, still an island, was similarly connected with the Weald. + +[Illustration: Fig. 125.--Crioceras Duvallii, Sowerby. A non-involuted +Ammonite. (Neocomian.)] + + NOTE.--Sections of the Purbeck strata of Dorsetshire have been + constructed by Mr. Bristow, from actual measurement, in the + several localities in the Isle of Purbeck, where they are most + clearly and instructively displayed. + + These sections, published by the Geological Survey, show in + detail the beds in their regular and natural order of + succession, with the thickness, mineral character, and contents, + as well as the fossils, of each separate bed. + + +THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD. + +The name _Cretaceous_ (from _creta_, chalk) is given to this epoch in +the history of our globe because the rocks deposited by the sea, towards +its close, are almost entirely composed of chalk (carbonate of lime). + +Carbonate of lime, however, does not now appear for the first time as a +part of the earth’s crust; we have already seen limestone occurring, +among the terrestrial materials, from the Silurian period; the Jurassic +formation is largely composed of carbonate of lime in many of its beds, +which are enormous in number as well as extent; it appears, therefore, +that in the period called _Cretaceous_ by geologists, carbonate of lime +was no new substance in the constitution of the globe. If geologists +have been led to give this name to the period, it is because it accords +better than any other with the characteristics of the period; with the +vast accumulations of chalky or earthy limestone in the Paris basin, and +the beds of so-called Greensand, and Chalk of the same age, so largely +developed in England. + +We have already endeavoured to establish the origin of lime, in speaking +of the Silurian and Devonian periods, but it may be useful to +recapitulate the explanation here, even at the risk of repeating +ourselves. + +We have said that lime was, in all probability, introduced to the globe +by thermal waters flowing abundantly through the fissures, dislocations, +and fractures in the ground, which were themselves caused by the gradual +cooling of the globe; the central nucleus being the grand reservoir and +source of the materials which form the solid crust. In the same manner, +therefore, as the several eruptive substances--such as granites, +porphyries, trachytes, basalts, and lava--have been ejected, so have +thermal waters charged with carbonate of lime, and often accompanied by +silica, found their way to the surface in great abundance, through the +fissures, fractures, and dislocations in the crust of the earth. We need +only mention here the Iceland geysers, the springs of Plombières, and +the well-known thermal springs of Bath and elsewhere in this country. + +But how comes lime in a state of bicarbonate, dissolved in these +thermal waters, to form rocks? That is what we propose to explain. + +During the primary geological periods, thermal waters, as they reached +the surface, were discharged into the sea and united themselves with the +waves of the vast primordial ocean, and the waters of the sea became +sensibly calcareous--they contained, it is believed, from one to two per +cent. of lime. The innumerable animals, especially Zoophytes, and +Mollusca with solid shells, with which the ancient seas swarmed, +secreted this lime, out of which they built up their mineral +dwelling--or shell. In this liquid and chemically calcareous medium, the +Foraminifera and Polyps of all forms swarmed, forming an innumerable +population. Now what became of the bodies of these creatures after +death? They were of all sizes, but chiefly microscopic; that is, so +small as to be individually all but invisible to the naked eye. The +perishable animal matter disappeared in the bosom of the waters by +decomposition, but there still remained behind the indestructible +inorganic matter, that is to say, the carbonate of lime forming their +testaceous covering; these calcareous deposits accumulating in thick +beds at the bottom of the sea, became compacted into a solid mass, and +formed a series of continuous beds superimposed on each other. These, +increasing imperceptibly in the course of ages, ultimately formed the +rocks of the _Cretaceous_ period, which we have now under consideration. + +These statements are not, as the reader might conceive from their +nature, a romantic conception invented to please the imagination of +those in search of a system--the time is past when geology should be +regarded as the romance of Nature--nor has what we advance at all the +character of an arbitrary conception. One is no doubt struck with +surprise on learning, for the first time, that all the limestone rocks, +all the calcareous stones employed in the construction of our dwellings, +our cities, our castles and cathedrals, were deposited in the seas of an +earlier world, and are only composed of an aggregation of shells of +Mollusca, or fragments of the testaceous coverings of Foraminifera and +other Zoophytes--nay, that they were secreted from the water itself, and +then assimilated by these minute creatures, and that this would appear +to have been the great object of their creation in such myriads. Whoever +will take the trouble to observe, and reflect on what he observes, will +find all his doubts vanish. If chalk be examined with a microscope, it +will be found to be composed of the remains of numerous Zoophytes, of +minute and divers kinds of shells, and, above all, of Foraminifera, so +small that their very minuteness seems to have rendered them +indestructible. A hundred and fifty of these small beings placed end to +end, in a line, will only occupy the space of about one-twelfth part of +an inch. + +[Illustration: Chalk under the Microscope. + +Fig. 126.--Chalk of Meudon (magnified).] + +Much of this curious information was unknown, or at least only +suspected, when Ehrenberg began his microscopical investigations. From +small samples of chalk reduced to powder, placed upon the object-glass, +and examined under the microscope, Ehrenberg prepared the designs which +we reproduce from his learned micrographical work, in which some of the +elegant forms discovered in the Chalk are illustrated, greatly +magnified. Fig. 126 represents the chalk of Meudon, in France, in which +ammonite-like forms of Foraminifera and others, equally beautiful, +appear. Fig. 127, from the chalk of Gravesend, contains similar objects. +Fig. 128 is an example of chalk from the island of Moën, in Denmark; +and Fig. 129, that which is found in the Tertiary rocks of Cattolica, in +Sicily. In all these the shells of Ammonites appear, with clusters of +round Foraminifera and other Zoophytes. In two of these engravings +(Figs. 126 and 128), the chalk is represented in two modes--in the upper +half, by transparency or transmitted light; in the lower half, the mass +is exhibited by superficial or reflected light. + +[Illustration: Chalk under the Microscope. + +Fig. 127.--Chalk of Gravesend. (After Ehrenberg).--Magnified.] + +Observation, then, establishes the truth of the explanation we have +given concerning the formation of the chalky or Cretaceous rocks; but +the question still remains--How did these rocks, originally deposited in +the sea, become elevated into hills of great height, with bold +escarpments, like those known in England as the North and South Downs? +The answer to this involves the consideration of other questions which +have, at present, scarcely got beyond hypothesis. + +[Illustration: Chalk under the Microscope. + +Fig. 128.--Chalk of the Isle of Moën, Denmark.] + +[Illustration: Chalk under the Microscope. + +Fig. 129.--Chalk of Cattolica, Sicily (magnified).] + +During and after the deposition of the Portland and Purbeck beds, the +entire Oolite Series, in the south and centre of England and other +regions, was raised above the sea-level and became dry land. Above these +Purbeck beds, as Professor Ramsay tells us [in the district known as the +Weald], “we have a series of beds of clays, sandstones, and shelly +limestones, indicating by their fossils that they were deposited in an +estuary where fresh water and occasionally brackish water and marine +conditions prevailed. The Wealden and Purbeck beds indeed represent the +delta of an immense river which in size may have rivalled the Ganges, +Mississippi, Amazon, &c., and whose waters carried down to its mouth the +remains of land-plants, small Mammals, and great terrestrial Reptiles, +and mingled them with the remains of Fishes, Molluscs, and other forms +native to its waters. I do not say that this immense river was formed +or supplied by the drainage of what we now call Great Britain--I do not +indeed know where this continent lay, but I do know that England formed +a part of it, and that in size it must have been larger than Europe, and +was probably as large as Asia, or the great continent of America.” +Speaking of the geographical extent of the Wealden, Sir Charles Lyell +says: “It cannot be accurately laid down, because so much of it is +concealed beneath the newer marine formations. It has been traced about +200 miles from west to east; from the coast of Dorsetshire to near +Boulogne, in France; and nearly 200 miles from north-west to +south-east, from Surrey and Hampshire to Beauvais, in France;”[75] but +he expresses doubt, supposing the formation to have been continuous, if +the two areas were contemporaneous, the region having undergone frequent +changes, the great estuary having altered its form, and even shifted its +place. Speaking of a hypothetical continent, Sir Charles Lyell says: “If +it be asked where the continent was placed from the ruins of which the +Wealden strata were derived, and by the drainage of which a great river +was fed, we are half tempted to speculate on the former existence of the +Atlantis of Plato. The story of the submergence of an ancient continent, +however fabulous in history, must have been true again and again as a +geological event.”[76] + + [75] “Elements of Geology,” p. 349. + + [76] Ibid, p. 350. + +The proof that the Wealden series were accumulated under fresh-water +conditions and as a river deposit[77] lies partly in the nature of the +strata, but chiefly in the nature of the organic remains. The fish give +no positive proof, but a number of Crocodilian reptiles give more +conclusive evidence, together with the shells, most of them being of +fresh-water origin, such as Paludina, Planorbis, Lymnæa, Physa, and such +like, which are found living in many ponds and rivers of the present +day. Now and then we find bands of marine remains, not mixed with +fresh-water deposits, but interstratified with them; showing that at +times the mouth and delta of the river had sunk a little, and that it +had been invaded by the sea; then by gradual change it was lifted up, +and became an extensive fresh-water area. This episode at last comes to +an end by the complete submergence of the Wealden area; and upon these +fresh-water strata a set of marine sands and clays, and upon these again +thick beds of pure white earthy limestone of the Cretaceous period were +deposited. The lowest of these formations is known as the Lower +Greensand; then followed the clays of the Gault, which were succeeded by +the Upper Greensand. Then, resting upon the Upper Greensand, comes the +vast mass of Chalk which in England consists of soft white earthy +limestone, containing, in the upper part, numerous bands of +interstratified flints, which were mostly sponges originally, that have +since become silicified and converted into flint. The strata of chalk +where thickest are from 1,000 to 1,200 feet in thickness. Their upheaval +into dry land brought this epoch to an end; the conditions which had +contributed to its formation ceased in our area, and as the uppermost +member of the Secondary rocks, it closes the record of Mesozoic times in +England. + + [77] “The Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain,” by A. C. + Ramsay, F.R.S., p. 64. + +Let us add, to remove any remaining doubts, that in the basin of a +modern European sea--the Baltic--a curious assemblage of phenomena, +bearing on the question, is now in operation. The bed and coast-line of +the Baltic continue slowly but unceasingly to rise, and have done so for +several centuries, in consequence of the constant deposit which takes +place of calcareous shells, added to the natural accumulations of sand +and mud. The Baltic Sea will certainly be filled up in time by these +deposits, and this modern phenomenon, which we find in progress, so to +speak, brings directly under our observation an explanation of the +manner in which the cretaceous rocks were produced in the ancient world, +more especially when taken in connection with another branch of the same +subject to which Sir Charles Lyell called attention, in an address to +the Geological Society. It appears that just as the northern part of the +Scandinavian continent is now rising, and while the middle part south of +Stockholm remains unmoved, the southern extremity in Scania is sinking, +or at least has sunk, within the historic period; from which he argues +that there may have been a slow upheaval in one region, while the +adjoining one was stationary, or in course of submergence. + +After these explanations as to the manner in which the cretaceous rocks +were formed, let us examine into the state of animal and vegetable life +during this important period in the earth’s history. + +The vegetable kingdom of this period forms an introduction to the +vegetation of the present time. Placed at the close of the Secondary +epoch, this vegetation prepares us for transition, as it were, to the +vegetation of the Tertiary epoch, which, as we shall see, has a great +affinity with that of our own times. + +The landscapes of the ancient world have hitherto shown us some species +of plants of forms strange and little known, which are now extinct. But +during the period whose history we are tracing, the vegetable kingdom +begins to fashion itself in a less mysterious manner; Palms appear, and +among the regular species we recognise some which differ little from +those of the tropics of our days. The dicotyledons increase slightly in +number amid Ferns and Cycads, which have lost much of their importance +in numbers and size; we observe an obvious increase in the dicotyledons +of our own temperate climate, such as the alder, the wych-elm, the +maple, and the walnut, &c. + +“As we retire from the times of the primitive creation,” says Lecoq, +“and slowly approach those of our own epoch, the sediments seem to +withdraw themselves from the polar regions and restrict themselves to +the temperate or equatorial zones. The great beds of sand and +limestone, which constitute the Cretaceous formation, announce a state +of things very different from that of the preceding ages. The seasons +are no longer marked by indications of central heat; zones of latitude +already show signs of their existence. + +“Hitherto two classes of vegetation predominated: the cellular +_Cryptogams_ at first, the dicotyledonous _Gymnosperms_ afterwards; and +in the epoch which we have reached--the transition epoch of +vegetation--the two classes which have reigned heretofore become +enfeebled, and a third, the dicotyledonous _Angiosperms_, timidly take +possession of the earth--they consist at first of a small number of +species, and occupy only a small part of the soil, of which they +afterwards take their full share; and in the succeeding periods, as in +our own times, we shall see that their reign is firmly established; +during the Cretaceous period, in short, we witness the appearance of the +first dicotyledonous _Angiosperms_. Some arborescent Ferns still +maintain their position, and the elegant _Protopteris Singeri_, +Preissl., and P. _Buvigneri_, Brongn., still unfold their light fronds +to the winds of this period. Some _Pecopteri_, differing from the +Wealden species, live along with them. Some _Zamites_, _Cycads_, and +_Zamiostrobi_ announce that in the Cretaceous period the temperature was +still high. New Palms show themselves, and, among others, _Flabellaria +chamæropifolia_ is especially remarkable for the majestic crown at its +summit. + +“The _Conifers_ have endured better than the _Cycadeæ_; they formed +then, as now, great forests, where _Damarites_, _Cunninghamias_, +_Araucarias_, _Eleoxylons_, _Abietites_, and _Pinites_ remind us of +numerous forms still existing, but dispersed all over the earth. + +“From this epoch date the _Comptonias_, attributed to the Myricaceæ; +_Almites Friesii_, Nils., which we consider as one of the Betulaceæ; +_Carpinites arenaceus_, Gœp., which is one of the Cupuliferæ; the +_Salicites_, which are represented to us by the arborescent willows; the +Acerinæ would have their _Acerites cretaceæ_, Nils., and the Juglanditæ, +the _Juglandites elegans_, Gœp. But the most interesting botanical event +of this period is the appearance of the _Credneria_, with its +triple-veined leaves, of which no less than eight species have been +found and described, but whose place in the systems of classification +still remains uncertain. The _Crednerias_, like the _Salicites_, were +certainly trees, as were most of the species of this remote epoch.” + +In the following illustration are represented two of the Palms belonging +to the Cretaceous period, restored from the imprints and fragments of +the fossil remains left by the trunk and branches in the rocks of the +period (Fig. 130.) + +[Illustration: Fig. 130.--Fossil Palms restored.] + +But if the vegetation of the Cretaceous period exhibits sensible signs +of approximation to that of our present era, we cannot say the same of +the animal creation. The time has not yet come when Mammals analogous to +those of our epoch gave animation to the forests, plains, and shores of +the ancient world; even the Marsupial Mammals, which made their +appearance in the Liassic and Oolitic formations, no longer exist, so +far as is known, and no others of the class have taken their place. No +climbing Opossum, with its young ones, appears among the leaves of the +Zamites. The earth appears to be still tenanted by Reptiles, which alone +break the solitudes of the woods and the silence of the valleys. The +Reptiles, which seem to have swarmed in the seas of the Jurassic period, +partook of the crocodilian organisation, and those of this period seem +to bear more resemblance to the Lizards of our day. In this period the +remains of certain forms indicate that they stood on higher legs; they +no longer creep on the earth, and this is apparently the only +approximation which seems to connect them more closely with higher +forms. + +It is not without surprise that we advert to the immense development, +the extraordinary dimensions which the Saurian family attained at this +epoch. These animals which, in our days, rarely exceed a yard or so in +length, attained in the Cretaceous period as much as twenty. The marine +lizard, which we notice under the name of _Mosasaurus_, was then the +scourge of the seas, playing the part of the Ichthyosauri of the +Jurassic period; for, from the age of the Lias to that of the Chalk, the +Ichthyosauri, the Plesiosauri, and the Teleosauri were, judging from +their organisation, the tyrants of the waters. They appear to have +become extinct at the close of the Cretaceous period, and to give place +to the _Mosasaurus_, to whom fell the formidable task of keeping within +proper limits the exuberant production of the various tribes of Fishes +and Crustaceans which inhabited the seas. This creature was first +discovered in the celebrated rocks of St. Peter’s Mount at Maestricht, +on the banks of the Meuse. The skull alone was about four feet in +length, while the entire skeleton of _Iguanodon Mantelli_, discovered by +Dr. Mantell in the Wealden strata, has since been met with in the +Hastings beds of Tilgate Forest, measuring, as Professor Owen estimates, +between fifty and sixty feet in length. These enormous Saurians +disappear in their turn, to be replaced in the seas of the Tertiary +epoch by the Cetaceans; and henceforth animal life begins to assume, +more and more, the appearance it presents in the actually existing +creation. + +Seeing the great extent of the seas of the Cretaceous period, Fishes +were necessarily numerous. The pike, salmon, and dory tribes, analogous +to those of our days, lived in the seas of this period; they fled before +the sharks and voracious dog-fishes, which now appeared in great +numbers, after just showing themselves in the Oolitic period. + +The sea was still full of Polyps, Sea-urchins, Crustaceans of various +kinds, and many genera of Mollusca different from those of the Jurassic +period; alongside of gigantic Lizards are whole piles of +animalculæ--those Foraminifera whose remains are scattered in infinite +profusion in the Chalk, over an enormous area and of immense thickness. +The calcareous remains of these little beings, incalculable in number, +have indeed covered, in all probability, a great part of the terrestrial +surface. It will give a sufficient idea of the importance of the +Cretaceous period in connection with these organisms to state that, in +the rocks of the period, 268 genera of animals, hitherto unknown, and +more than 5,000 species of special living beings have been found; the +thickness of the rocks formed during the period being enormous. Where is +the geologist who will venture to estimate the time occupied in creating +and destroying the animated masses of which this formation is at once +both the cemetery and the monument? For the purposes of description it +will be convenient to divide the Cretaceous series into lower and upper, +according to their relative ages and their peculiar fossils. + + +THE LOWER CRETACEOUS PERIOD. + + English equivalents. French classification. + + Lower Greensand, upper part. Étage Aptien st. + Lower Greensand, lower part. „ Néocomien supérieur. + Weald clay and Hastings sands. „ Néocomien inférieur. + +The Lower Wealden or Hastings Sand consists of sand, sandstone, and +calciferous grit, clay, and shale, the argillaceous strata +predominating. This part of the Wealden consists, in descending order, +of:-- + + Feet. + Tunbridge Wells sand--Sandstone and loam 150 + Wadhurst clay--Blue and brown shale and clay, with a little + calc grit 100 + Ashdown sands--Hard sand, with beds of calc grit 160 + Ashburnham sands--Mottled, white, and red clay and sandstone 330 + +The Hastings sand has a hard bed of white sand in its upper part, whose +steep natural cliffs produce the picturesque scenery of the “High rocks” +of Hastings in Sussex. + +Calcareous sandstone and grit, in which Dr. Mantell found the remains of +the _Iguanodon_ and _Hylæosaurus_, form an upper member of the +Tunbridge Wells Sand. The formation extends over Hanover and Westphalia; +the Wealden of these countries, according to Dr. Dunker and Von Meyer, +corresponding in their fossils and mineral characters with those of the +English series. So that “we can scarcely hesitate,” says Lyell, “to +refer the whole to one great delta.”[78] + + [78] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 349. + +The overlying Weald clay crops out from beneath the Lower Greensand in +various parts of Kent and Sussex, and again in the Isle of Wight, and in +the Isle of Purbeck, where it reappears at the base of the chalk. + +The upper division (or the Weald clay) is, as we have said, of purely +fresh-water origin, and is supposed to have been the estuary of some +vast river which, like the African Quorra, may have formed a delta some +hundreds of miles broad, as suggested by Dr. Dunker and Von Meyer. + +The Lower Greensand is known, also, as the _Néocomien_, after Neocomium, +the Latin name of the city of Neufchatel, in Switzerland, where this +formation is largely developed, and where, also, it was first recognised +and established as a distinct formation. Dr. Fitton, in his excellent +monograph of the Lower Cretaceous formations, gives the following +descending succession of rocks as observable in many parts of Kent:-- + + Feet. + + 1. Sand, white, yellowish, or brown, with concretions + of limestone and chert 70 + 2. Sand, with green matter 70 to 100 + 3. Calcareous stone, called Kentish rag 60 to 80 + +These divisions, which are traceable more or less from the southern part +of the Isle of Wight to Hythe in Kent, present considerable variations. +At Atherfield, where sixty-three distinct strata, measuring 843 feet, +have been noticed, the limestone is wholly wanting, and some fossils +range through the whole series, while others are confined to particular +divisions; but Prof. E. Forbes states, that when the same conditions are +repeated in overlying strata the same species reappear; but that changes +of depth, or of the mineral nature of the sea-bottom, the presence or +absence of lime or of peroxide of iron, the occurrence of a muddy, +sandy, or gravelly bottom, are marked by the absence of certain species, +and the predominance of others.[79] + + [79] Ibid, p. 340. + +Among the marine fauna of the Néocomian series the following are the +principal. Among the _Acephala_, one of the largest and most abundant +shells of the lower Néocomian, as displayed in the Atherfield section, +is the large _Perna Mulleti_ (Fig. 131). + +[Illustration: Fig. 131.--Perna Mulleti. One-quarter natural size. + +_a_, exterior; _b_, part of the upper hinge.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 132.--Hamites. One-third natural size.] + +The _Scaphites_ have a singular boat-shaped form, wound with contiguous +whorls in one part, which is detached at the last chamber, and projects +in a more or less elongated condition. + +_Hamites_, _Crioceras_, and _Ancyloceras_ have club-like terminations +at both extremities; they may almost be considered as non-involuted +Ammonites with the spiral evolutions disconnected or partially unrolled, +as in the engraving (Figs. 125 and 132). _Ancyloceras Matheronianus_ +seems to have had spines projecting from the ridge of each of the +convolutions. + +[Illustration: Fig. 133.--Shell of Turritella terebra. + +(Living form.)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 134.--Turrillites costatus. + +(Chalk.)] + +The _Toxoceras_ had the shell also curved, and not spiral. + +The _Baculites_ had the shell differing from all Cephalopods, inasmuch +as it was elongated, conical, perfectly straight, sometimes very +slender, and tapering to a point. + +The _Turrilites_ have the shell regular, spiral, and _sinistral_; that +is, turning to the left in an oblique spiral of contiguous whorls. The +engraving will convey the idea of their form (Fig. 134). + +Among others, as examples of form, we append Figs. 133, 135, 136. + +This analysis of the marine fauna belonging to the Néocomian formation +might be carried much further, did space permit, or did it promise to be +useful; but, without illustration, any further merely verbal description +would be almost valueless. + +[Illustration: Fig. 135--Terebrirostra lyra. + +_a_, back view; _b_, side view.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 136.--Terebratula deformis.] + +Numerous Reptiles, a few Birds, among which are some “Waders,” belong to +the genera of _Palæornis_ or _Cimoliornis_; new Molluscs in considerable +quantities, and some extremely varied Zoophytes, constitute the rich +fauna of the Lower Chalk. A glance at the more important of these +animals, which we only know in a few mutilated fragments, is all our +space allows; they are true medals of the history of our globe, medals, +it is true, half effaced by time, but which consecrate the memory of +departed ages. + +In the year 1832 Dr. Mantell added to the wonderful discoveries he had +made in the Weald of Sussex, that of the great Lizard-of-the-woods, the +_hylæosaurus_ (ὑλη, _wood_, σαυρος, _lizard_). This discovery was made +in Tilgate forest, near Cuckfield, and the animal appears to have been +from twenty to thirty feet in length. The osteological characters +presented by the remains of the Hylæosaurus are described by Dr. Mantell +as affording another example of the blending of the Crocodilian with the +Lacertian type of structure; for we have, in the pectoral arch, the +scapula or omoplate of a crocodile associated with the coracoid of a +lizard. Another remarkable feature in these fossils is the presence of +the large angular bones or spines, which, there is reason to infer, +constituted a serrated crest along the middle of the back; and the +numerous small oval dermal bones which appear to have been arranged in +longitudinal series along each side of the dorsal fringe. + +The _Megalosaurus_, the earliest appearance of which is among the more +ancient beds of the Liassic and Oolitic series, is again found at the +base of the Cretaceous rocks. It was, as we have seen, an enormous +lizard, borne upon slightly raised feet; its length exceeded forty feet, +and in bulk it was equal to an elephant seven feet high. + +[Illustration: Fig. 137.--Lower Jaw of the Megalosaurus.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 138.--Tooth of Megalosaurus.] + +The Megalosaurus found in the ferruginous sands of Cuckfield, in Sussex, +in the upper beds of the Hastings Sands, must have been at least sixty +or seventy feet long. Cuvier considered that it partook both of the +structure of the Iguana and the Monitors, the latter of which belong to +the Lacertian Reptiles which haunt the banks of the Nile and tropical +India. The Megalosaurus was probably an amphibious Saurian. The +complicated structure and marvellous arrangement of the teeth prove that +it was essentially carnivorous. It fed probably on other Reptiles of +moderate size, such as the Crocodiles and Turtles which are found in a +fossil state in the same beds. The jaw represented in Fig. 137 is the +most important fragment of the animal we possess. It is the lower jaw, +and supports many teeth: it shows that the head terminated in a straight +muzzle, thin and flat on the sides, like that of the _Gavial_, the +Crocodile of India. The teeth of the Megalosaurus were in perfect accord +with the destructive functions with which this formidable creature was +endowed. They partake at once of the nature of a knife, sabre, and saw. +Vertical at their junction with the jaw, they assume, with the increased +age of the animal, a backward curve, giving them the form of a +gardener’s pruning-knife (Fig. 138; also _c._ Fig. 179). After +mentioning some other particulars, respecting the teeth, Buckland says: +“With teeth constructed so as to cut with the whole of their concave +edge, each movement of the jaws produced the combined effect of a knife +and a saw, at the same time that the point made a first incision like +that made by a point of a double-cutting sword. The backward curvature +taken by the teeth at their full growth renders the escape of the prey +when once seized impossible. We find here, then, the same arrangements +which enable mankind to put in operation many of the instruments which +they employ.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 139.--Nasal Horn of Iguanodon. + +Two-thirds natural size.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 140.--Ammonites rostratus. + +(Upper Greensand.)] + +The _Iguanodon_, signifying _Iguana-toothed_ (from the Greek word, +οδους, _tooth_), was more gigantic still than the Megalosaurus; one of +the most colossal, indeed, of all the Saurians of the ancient world +which research has yet exposed to the light of day. Professor Owen and +Dr. Mantell were not agreed as to the form of the tail; the former +gentleman assigning it a short tail, which would affect Dr. Mantell’s +estimate of its probable length of fifty or sixty feet; the largest +thigh-bone yet found measures four feet eight inches in length. The form +and disposition of the feet, added to the existence of a bony horn (Fig. +139), on the upper part of the muzzle or snout, almost identifies it as +a species with the existing Iguanas, the only Reptile which is known to +be provided with such a horn upon the nose; there is, therefore, no +doubt as to the resemblance between these two animals; but while the +largest of living Iguanas scarcely exceeds a yard in length, its fossil +congener was probably fifteen or sixteen times that length. It is +difficult to resist the feeling of astonishment, not to say incredulity, +which creeps over one while contemplating so striking a disproportion as +that which subsists between this being of the ancient world and its ally +of the new. + +[Illustration: Fig. 141.--Teeth of Iguanodon. + +_a_, young tooth; _b_, _c_, teeth further advanced, and worn. + +(Wealden.)] + +The Iguanodon carried, as we have said, a horn on its muzzle; the bone +of its thigh, as we have seen, surpassed that of the Elephant in size; +the form of the bone and feet demonstrates that it was formed for +terrestrial locomotion; and its dental system shows that it was +herbivorous. + +[Illustration: Fig. 142.--Fishes of the Cretaceous period. + +1, Beryx Lewesiensis; 2, Osmeroides Mantelli.] + +The teeth (Fig. 141), which are the most important and characteristic +organs of the whole animal, are imbedded laterally in grooves, or +sockets, in the dentary bone; there are three or four sockets of +successional teeth on the inner side of the base of the old teeth. The +place thus occupied by the edges of the teeth, their trenchant and +saw-like form, their mode of curvature, the points where they become +broader or narrower which turn them into a species of nippers or +scissors--are all suitable for cutting and tearing the tough vegetable +substances which are also found among the remains buried with this +colossal reptile, a restoration of which is represented in PLATE XXI., +p. 296. + + * * * * * + +The Cretaceous seas contained great numbers of Fishes, among which some +were remarkable for their strange forms. The _Beryx Lewesiensis_ (1), +and the _Osmeroides Mantelli_ (2) (Fig. 142), are restorations of these +two species as they are supposed to have been in life. The _Odontaspis_ +is a new genus of Fishes which may be mentioned. _Ammonites rostratus_ +(Fig. 140), and _Exogyra conica_ (Fig. 147), are common shells in the +Upper Greensand. + +[Illustration: XXI.--Ideal scene in the Lower Cretaceous Period, with +Iguanodon and Megalosaurus.] + +The seas of the Lower Cretaceous period were remarkable in a zoological +point of view for the great number of species and the multiplicity of +generic forms of molluscous Cephalopods. The Ammonites assume quite +gigantic dimensions; and we find among them new species distinguished by +their furrowed transverse spaces, as in the _Hamites_ (Fig. 132). Some +of the _Ancyloceras_ attained the magnitude of six feet, and other +genera, as the _Scaphites_, the _Toxoceras_, the _Crioceras_ (Fig. 125), +and other Mollusca, unknown till this period, appeared now. Many +Echinoderms, or sea-urchins, and Zoophytes, have enriched these rocks +with their animal remains, and would give its seas a condition quite +peculiar. + +On the opposite page an ideal landscape of the period is represented +(PLATE XXI.), in which the Iguanodon and Megalosaurus struggle for the +mastery in the centre of a forest, which enables us also to convey some +idea of the vegetation of the period. Here we note a vegetation at once +exotic and temperate--a flora like that of the tropics, and also +resembling our own. On the left we observe a group of trees, which +resemble the dicotyledonous plants of our forests. The elegant +_Credneria_ is there, whose botanical place is still doubtful, for its +fruit has not been found, although it is believed to have belonged to +plants with two seed-leaves, or dicotyledonous, and the arborescent +Amentaceæ. An entire group of trees, composed of Ferns and Zamites, are +in the background; in the extreme distance are some Palms. We also +recognise in the picture the alder, the wych-elm, the maple, and the +walnut-tree, or at least species analogous to these. + + * * * * * + +The Néocomian beds in France are found in Champagne, in the departments +of the Aube, the Yonne, the Haute-Alps, &c. They are largely developed +in Switzerland at Neufchatel, and in Germany. + +1. The Lower Néocomian consists of marls and greyish clay, alternating +with thin beds of grey limestone. It is very thick, and occurs at +Neufchatel and in the Drôme. The fossils are _Spatangus retusus_, +_Crioceras_ (Fig. 125), _Ammonites Asterianus_, &c. + +2. _Orgonian_ (the limestone of Orgon). This group exists, also, at +Aix-les-Bains in Savoy, at Grenoble, and generally in the thick, white, +calcareous beds which form the precipices of the Drôme. The fossils +_Chama ammonia_, _Pigaulus_, &c. + +3. The _Aptien_ (or Greensand) consists generally of marls and clay. In +France it is found in the department of Vaucluse, at Apt (whence the +name Aptien), in the department of the Yonne, and in the Haute-Marne. +Fossils, _Ancyloceras Matheronianus_, _Ostrea aquila_, and _Plicatula +placunea_. These beds consist here of greyish clay, which is used for +making tiles; there of bluish argillaceous limestone, in black or +brownish flags. In the Isle of Wight it becomes a fine sandstone, +greyish and slightly argillaceous, which at Havre, and in some parts of +the country of Bray, become well-developed ferruginous sandstones. + +[Illustration: Fig. 143.--Cypris spinigera.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 144.--Cypris Valdensis.] + +We have noted that the Lower Néocomian formation, although a marine +deposit, is in some respects the equivalent of the _Weald Clay_, a +fresh-water formation of considerable importance on account of its +fossils. We have seen that it was either formed at the mouth of a great +river, or the river was sufficiently powerful for the fresh-water +current to be carried out to sea, carrying with it some animals, forming +a fluviatile, or lacustrine fauna, on a small scale. These were small +Crustaceans of the genus _Cypris_, with some molluscous Gasteropoda of +the genera _Melania_, _Paludina_, and acephalous Mollusca of the five +genera _Cyrena_, _Unio_, _Mytilus_, _Cyclas_, and _Ostrea_. Of these, +_Cypris spinigera_ (Fig. 143) and _Cypris Valdensis_ (Fig. 144) may be +considered as among the most characteristic fossils of this local fauna. + +The Cretaceous series is not interesting for its fossils alone; it +presents also an interesting subject for study in a mineralogical point +of view. The white Chalk, examined under the microscope by Ehrenberg, +shows a curious globiform structure. The green part of its sandstone and +limestone constitutes very singular compounds. According to the result +of Berthier’s analysis, we must consider them as silicates of iron. The +iron shows itself here not in beds, as in the Jurassic rocks, but in +masses, in a species of pocket in the Orgonian beds. They are usually +hydrates in the state of hematites, accompanied by quantities of ochre +so abundant that they are frequently unworkable. In the south of France +these veins were mined to a great depth by the ancient monks, who were +the metallurgists of their age. But for the artist the important +Orgonian beds possess a special interest; their admirable vertical +fractures, their erect perpendicular peaks, each surpassing the other in +boldness, form his finest studies. In the Var, the defiles of Vésubia, +of the Esteron, and Tinéa, are jammed up between walls of peaks, for +many hundreds of yards, between which there is scarcely room for a +narrow road by the side of the roaring torrent. “In the Drôme,” says +Fournet, “the entrance to the beautiful valley of the Vercors is closed +during a part of the year, because, in order to enter, it is necessary +to cross the two gullies, the _Great_ and _Little Goulet_, through which +the waters escape from the valley. Even during the dry season, he who +would enter the gorge must take a foot-bath. + +“This state of things could not last; and in 1848 it was curious to see +miners suspended on the sides of one of these lateral precipices, some +450 feet above the torrent, and about an equal distance below the summit +of the Chalk. There they began to excavate cavities or niches in the +face of the rock, all placed on the same level, and successively +enlarged. These were united together in such a manner as to form a road +practicable for carriages; now through a gallery, now covered by a +corbelling, to look over which affords a succession of surprises to the +traveller. + +“This is not all,” adds M. Fournet: “he who traverses the high plateaux +of the country finds at every step deep diggings in the soil, designated +pits or _scialets_, the oldest of which have their sides clothed with a +curious vegetation, in which the _Aucolin_ predominates; shelter is +found in these pits from the cutting winds which rage so furiously in +these elevated regions. Others form a kind of cavern, in which a +temperature obtains sufficient to freeze water even in the middle of +summer. These cavities form natural _glaciers_, which we again find upon +some of the table-lands of the Jura. + +“The cracks and crevasses of the limestone receive the waters produced +by falling rain and melted snow; true to the laws of all fluid bodies, +they filter through the rocks until they reach the lower and impervious +marly beds, where they form sheets of water, which in course of time +find some outlet through which they discharge themselves. In this manner +subterranean galleries, sometimes of great extent, are formed, in which +are assembled all the marvels which crumbling stalactites, stalagmites, +placid lakes, and headlong torrents can produce; finally, these waters, +forcing their way through the external orifices, give rise to those fine +cascades which, with the first gushing torrent, form an actual river.” + +The _Albien_ of Alc. D’Orbigny, which Lyell considers to be the +equivalent of the _Gault_, French authors treat as the “_glauconie_” +formation, the name being drawn from a rock composed of chalk with +greenish grains of _glauconite_, or silicate of iron, which is often +mixed with the limestone of this formation. The fossils by which it is +identified are very varied. Among its numerous types, we find +Crustaceans belonging to the genera _Arcania_ and _Corystes_; many new +Mollusca, _Buccinum_, _Solen_, _Pterodonta_, _Voluta_, _Chama_, &c.; +great numbers of molluscous Brachiopods, forming highly-developed +submarine strata; some Echinoderms, unknown up to this period, and +especially a great number of Zoophytes; some Foraminifera, and many +Polyzoa (Bryozoa). The glauconitic formation consists of two groups of +strata: the _Gault_ Clay and the _glauconitic_ chalk, or Upper Greensand +and Chloritic Marl. + + +UPPER CRETACEOUS PERIOD. + +During this phase of the terrestrial evolutions, the continents, to +judge from the fossilised wood which we meet with in the rocks which now +represent it, would be covered with a very rich vegetation, nearly +identical, indeed, with that which we have described in the preceding +sub-period; according to Adolphe Brongniart, the “age of angiosperms” +had fairly set in; the Cretaceous flora displays, he considers, a +transitional character from the Secondary to the Tertiary vegetation; +that the line between the gymnosperms, or naked-seeded plants, and the +angiosperms, having their seeds enclosed in seed-vessels, runs between +the Upper and Lower Cretaceous formations. “We can now affirm,” says +Lyell, “that these Aix-la-Chapelle plants, called Credneria, flourished +before the rich reptilian fauna of the secondary rocks had ceased to +exist. The Ichthyosaurus, Pterodactyle, and Mosasaurus were of coeval +date with the oak, the walnut, and the fig.”[80] + + [80] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 333. + +The terrestrial fauna, consisting of some new Reptiles haunting the +banks of rivers, and Birds of the genus Snipe, have certainly only +reached us in small numbers. The remains of the marine fauna are, on the +contrary, sufficiently numerous and well preserved to give us a great +idea of its riches, and to enable us to assign to it a characteristic +facies. + +The sea of the Upper Cretaceous period bristled with numerous submarine +reefs, occupying a vast extent of its bed--reefs formed of Rudistes +(Lamarck), and of immense quantities of various kinds of corals which +are everywhere associated with them. The Polyps, in short, attain here +one of the principal epochs of their existence, and present a remarkable +development of forms; the same occurs with the Polyzoa (Bryozoa) and +Amorphozoa; while, on the contrary, the reign of the Cephalopods seems +to end. Beautiful types of these ancient reefs have been revealed to us, +and we discover that they have been formed under the influence of +submarine currents, which accumulated masses of these animals at certain +points. Nothing is more curious than this assemblage of +_Rudistes_--still standing erect, isolated or in groups--as may be seen, +for instance, at the summit of the mountains of the _Cornes_ in the +Corbières, upon the banks of the pond of Berre in Provence, and in the +environs of Martigues, at La Cadière, at Figuières, and particularly +above Beausset, near Toulon. + +“It seems,” says Alcide D’Orbigny, “as if the sea had retired in order +to show us, still intact, the submarine fauna of this period, such as it +was when in life. There are here enormous groups of _Hippurites_ in +their places, surrounded by Polyps, Echinoderms, and Molluscs, which +lived in union in these animal colonies, analogous to those which still +exist in the coral-reefs of the Antilles and Oceania. In order that +these groups should have been preserved intact, they must first have +been covered suddenly by sediment, which, being removed by the action of +the atmosphere, reveals to us, in their most secret details, this Nature +of the past.” + +In the Jurassic period we have already met with these isles or reefs +formed by the accumulation of Coral and other Zoophytes; they even +constituted, at that period, an entire formation called the _Coral-rag_. +The same phenomenon, reproduced in the Cretaceous seas, gave rise to +similar calcareous formations. We need not repeat what we have said +already on this subject when describing the Jurassic period. The coral +or madrepore isles of the Jurassic epoch and the reefs of Rudistes and +Hippurites of the Cretaceous period have the same origin, and the +_atolls_ of Oceania are reproductions in our own day of precisely +similar phenomena. + +The invertebrate animals which characterise the Cretaceous age are among + + CEPHALOPODA. + + _Nautilus sublævigatus_ and _N. Danicus; Ammonites rostratus; + Belemnitella mucronata._ + + GASTEROPODA. + + _Voluta elongata; Phorus canaliculatus; Nerinea bisulcata; + Pleurotomaria Fleuriausa_, and _P. Santonensis; Natica + supracretacea._ + + ACEPHALA. + + _Trigonia scabra; Inoceramus problematicus_ and _I. Lamarckii; + Clavigella cretacea; Pholadomya æquivalvis; Spondylus spinosus; + Ostrea vesicularis; Ostrea larva; Janira quadricostata; Arca + Gravesii; Hippurites Toucasianus_ and _H. organisans; Caprina + Aguilloni; Radiolites radiosus_, and _R. acuticostus._ + + BRACHIOPODA. + + _Crania Ignabergensis; Terebratula obesa._ + + POLYZOA (BRYOZOA) AND ESCHINODEMATA. + + _Reticulipora obliqua; Ananchytes ovatus; Micraster + cor-anguinum, Hemiaster bucardium_ and _H. Fourneli; Galerites + albogalerus; Cidaris Forchammeri; Palæocoma Furstembergii._ + + 1. POLYPI; 2. FORAMINIFERA; 3. AMORPHOZOA. + + 1. _Cycollites elliptica; Thecosmilia rudis; Enallocœnia ramosa; + Meandrina Pyrenaica; Synhelia Sharpeana_. 2. _Orbitoides media; + Lituola nautiloidea; Flabellina rugosa_. 3. _Coscinopora + cupuliformis; Camerospongia fungiformis_. + +Among the numerous beings which inhabited the Upper Cretaceous seas +there is one which, by its organisation, its proportions, and the +despotic empire which it would exercise in the bosom of the waters, is +certainly most worthy of our attention. We speak of the _Mosasaurus_, +which was long known as the great animal of _Maestricht_, because its +remains were found near that city in the most modern of the Cretaceous +deposits. + +In 1780 a discovery was made in the quarries of Saint Peter’s Rocks, +near Maestricht, of the head of a great Saurian, which may now be seen +in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. This discovery baffled all +the science of the naturalists, at a period when the knowledge of these +ancient beings was still in its infancy. One saw in it the head of a +Crocodile; another, that of a Whale; memoirs and monographs rained down, +without throwing much light on the subject. It required all the efforts +of Adrian Camper, joined to those of the immortal Cuvier, to assign its +true zoological place to the Maestricht animal. The controversy over +this fine fossil engaged the attention of the learned for the remainder +of the last century and far into the present. + +Maestricht is a city of the Netherlands, built on the banks of the +Meuse. At the gates of this city, in the hills which skirt the left or +western bank of the river, there rises a solid mass of cretaceous +formation known as Saint Peter’s Rocks. In composition these beds +correspond with the Meudon chalk beds, and they contain similar fossils. +The quarries are about 100 feet deep, consisting in the upper part of +twenty feet abounding in corals and Polyzoa, succeeded by fifty feet of +soft yellowish limestone, furnishing a fine building stone, which has +been quarried from time immemorial, and extends up to the environs of +Liège; this is succeeded by a few inches of greenish soil with +Encrinites, and then by a very white chalk with layers of flints. The +quarry is filled with marine fossils, often of great size. + +These fossil remains, naturally enough, attracted the attention of the +curious, and led many to visit the quarries; but of all the discoveries +which attracted attention the greatest interest attached to the gigantic +animal under consideration. Among those interested by the discovery of +these strange vestiges was an officer of the garrison of Maestricht, +named Drouin. He purchased the bones of the workmen as the pick +disengaged them from the rock, and concluded by forming a collection in +Maestricht, which was spoken of with admiration. In 1766, the trustees +of the British Museum, hearing of this curiosity, purchased it, and had +it removed to London. Incited by the example of Drouin, Hoffmann, the +surgeon of the garrison, set about forming a similar collection, and his +collection soon exceeded that of Drouin’s Museum in riches. It was in +1780 that he purchased of the quarrymen the magnificent fossil head, +exceeding six feet in length, which has since so exercised the sagacity +of naturalists. + +Hoffman did not long enjoy the fruits of his precious prize, however; +the chapter of the church of Maestricht claimed, with more or less +foundation, certain rights of property; and in spite of all protest, the +head of the _Crocodile of Maestricht_, as it was already called, passed +into the hands of the Dean of the Chapter, named Goddin, who enjoyed +the possession of his antediluvian trophy until an unforeseen incident +changed the aspect of things. This incident was nothing less than the +bombardment and surrender of Maestricht to the Army of the North under +Kleber, in 1794. + +The Army of the North did not enter upon a campaign to obtain the crania +of Crocodiles, but it had on its staff a savant who was devoted to such +pacific conquests. Faujas de Saint-Fond, who was the predecessor of +Cordier in the Zoological Chair of the Jardin des Plantes, was attached +to the Army of the North as Scientific Commissioner; and it is suspected +that, in soliciting this mission, our naturalist had in his eye the +already famous head of the Crocodile of the Meuse. However that may be, +Maestricht fell into the hands of the French, and Faujas eagerly claimed +the famous fossil for the French nation, which was packed with the care +due to a relic numbering so many thousands of ages, and dispatched to +the Museum of Natural History in Paris. On its arrival, Faujas undertook +a labour which, as he thought, was to cover him with glory. He commenced +the publication of a work entitled “The Mountain of Saint Peter of +Maestricht,” describing all the fossil objects found in the Dutch quarry +there, especially the _Great Animal_ of Maestricht. He endeavoured to +prove that this animal was a Crocodile. + +Unfortunately for the glory of Faujas, a Dutch savant had devoted +himself to the same study. Adrian Camper was the son of a great +anatomist of Leyden, Pierre Camper, who had purchased of the heirs of +the surgeon Hoffman some parts of the skeleton of the animal found in +the quarry of Saint Peter. He had even published in the _Philosophical +Transactions_ of London, as early as 1786, a memoir, in which the animal +is classed as a Whale. At the death of his father, Adrian Camper +re-examined the skeleton, and in a work which Cuvier quotes with +admiration, he fixed the ideas which were until then floating about. He +proved that the bones belonged neither to a Fish, nor a Whale, nor to a +Crocodile, but rather to a particular genus of Saurian Reptiles, or +marine lizards, closely resembling in many important structural +characters, existing Monitors and Iguanas, and peculiar to rocks of the +Cretaceous period, both in Europe and America. Long before Faujas had +finished the publication of his work on _La Montagne de Saint-Pierre_ +that of Adrian Camper had appeared, and totally changed the ideas of the +world on this subject. It did not, however, hinder Faujas from +continuing to call his animal the Crocodile of Maestricht. He even +announced, some time after, that Adrian Camper was also of his opinion. +“Nevertheless,” says Cuvier, “it is as far from the Crocodile as it is +from the Iguana; and these two animals differ as much from each other +in their teeth, bones, and viscera, as the ape differs from the cat, or +the elephant from the horse.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 145. + +_a_, skull of Monitor Niloticus; _b_, under-jaw of same.] + +The masterly memoir of Cuvier, while confirming all the views of Camper, +has restored the individuality of this surprising being, which has since +received the name of Mosasaurus, that is to say, Saurian or Lizard of +the Meuse. It appears, from the researches of Camper and Cuvier, that +this reptile of the ancient world formed an intermediate genus between +the group of the Lacertilia, which comprehends the Monitors (represented +in Fig. 145), and the ordinary Lizards; and the Lacertilia, whose +palates are armed with teeth, a group which embraces the _Iguana_ and +the _Anolis_. In respect to the Crocodiles, the Mosasaurus resembles +them in so far as they all belong to the same class of Reptiles. + +The idea of a lizard, adapted for living and moving with rapidity at the +bottom of the water, is not readily conceived; but a careful study of +the skeleton of the Mosasaurus reveals to us the secret of this +anatomical mechanism. The vertebræ of the animal are concave in front +and convex behind; they are attached by means of orbicular or arched +articulations, which permitted it to execute easily movements of flexion +in any direction. From the middle of the back to the extremity of the +tail these vertebræ are deficient in the articular processes which +support and strengthen the trunk of terrestrial vertebrated animals: +they resemble in this respect the vertebræ of the Dolphins; an +organisation necessary to render swimming easy. The tail, compressed +laterally at the same time that it was thick in a vertical direction, +constituted a straight rudder, short, solid, and of great power. An +arched bone was firmly attached to the body of each caudal vertebra in +the same manner as in Fishes, for the purpose of giving increased power +to the tail; finally, the extremities of the animal could scarcely be +called feet, but rather paddles, like those of the Ichthyosaurus, the +Plesiosaurus, and the Whale. We see in Fig. 146 that the jaws are armed +with numerous teeth, fixed in their sockets by an osseous base, both +large and solid. Moreover, an altogether peculiar dental system occupies +the vault of the palate, as in the case of certain Serpents and Fishes, +where the teeth are directed backwards, like the barb of a hook, thus +opposing themselves to the escape of prey. Such a disposition of the +teeth sufficiently proves the destructive character of this Saurian. + +[Illustration: Fig. 146.--Head of Mosasaurus Camperi.] + +The dimensions of this aquatic lizard, estimated at twenty-four feet, +are calculated to excite surprise. But, as we have already seen, the +Ichthyosauri and Teleosauri were of great dimensions, as were also the +Iguanodon and Megalosaurus, which were ten times the size of living +Iguanas. In all these colossal forms we can only see a difference of +dimensions, the aggrandisement of a type; the laws which affected the +organisation of all these beings remain unchanged, they were not errors +of Nature--_monstrosities_, as we are sometimes tempted to call +them--but simply types, uniform in their structure, and adapted by their +dimensions to the physical conditions with which God had surrounded +them. + +[Illustration: XXII.--Ideal Landscape of the Cretaceous Period.] + +In PLATE XXII. is represented an ideal view of the earth during the +_Upper Cretaceous_ period. In the sea swims the Mosasaurus; Molluscs, +Zoophytes, and other animals peculiar to the period are seen on the +shore. The vegetation seems to approach that of our days; it consists of +Ferns and Cycadeæ (Pterophyllums), mingled with Palms, Willows, and some +dicotyledons of species analogous to those of our present epoch. Algæ, +then very abundant, composed the vegetation of the sea-shore. + +We have said that the terrestrial flora of the Upper Cretaceous period +was nearly identical with that of the Lower. The marine flora of these +two epochs included some Algæ, Confervæ, and Naïadæ, among which may be +noted the following species: _Confervites fasciculatus_, _Chondrites +Mantelli_, _Sargassites Hynghianus_. Among the Naïadæ, _Zosterites +Orbigniana_, _Z. lineata_, and several others. + +The _Confervæ_ are fossils which may be referred, but with some doubt, +to the filamentous Algæ, which comprehend the great group of the +Confervæ. These plants were formed of simple or branching filaments, +diversely crossing each other; or subdivided, and presenting traces of +transverse partitions. + +The _Chondrites_ are, perhaps, fossil Algæ, with thick, smooth branching +fronds, pinnatifid, or divided into pairs, with smooth cylindrical +divisions, and resembling _Chondrus_, _Dumontia_, and _Halymenia_ among +living genera. + +The _Sargassites_, finally, have been vaguely referred to the genus +_Sargassum_, so abundant in tropical seas. These Algæ are distinguished +by a filiform, branched, or ramose stem, bearing foliaceous appendages, +regular, often petiolate, and altogether like leaves, and globular +vesicles, supported by a small stalk. + + * * * * * + +The rocks which actually represent the _Upper Cretaceous period_ divide +themselves naturally into six series; but British and French geologists +make some distinction: the former dividing them into 1, _Maestricht_ and +_Faxoe_ beds, said not to occur in England; 2, _White Chalk_, with +_flints_; 3, _White Chalk_, without _flint_s; 4, _Chalk Marl_; 5, _Upper +Greensand_; and 6, _Gault_. The latter four are divided by foreign +geologists into 1, _Turonian_; 2, _Senonian_; 3, _Danian_. + +The _Gault_ is the lowest member of the Upper Cretaceous group. It +consists of a bluish-black clay mixed with greensand, which underlies +the Upper Greensand. Near Cambridge, where the Gault is about 200 feet +thick, a layer of shells, bones, and nodules, called the “Coprolite +Bed,” from nine inches to a foot thick, represents the Upper Greensand, +and rests on the top of the Gault Clay. These nodules and fossils are +extensively worked on account of the phosphatic matter they contain, and +when ground and converted into superphosphate of lime they furnish a +very valuable agricultural manure. The Gault attains a thickness of +about 100 feet on the south-east coast of England. It extends into +Devonshire, Mr. Sharpe considering the Black Down beds of that country +as its equivalents. It shows itself in the Departments of the +Pas-de-Calais, the Ardennes, the Meuse, the Aube, the Yonne, the Ain, +the Calvados, and the Seine-Inférieure. It presents very many distinct +mineral forms, among which two predominate: green sandstone and blackish +or grey clays. It is important to know this formation, for it is at this +level that the Artesian waters flow in the wells of Passy and Grenelle, +near Paris. + +The _glaucous_ chalk, or Upper Greensand, which is represented typically +in the departments of the Sarthe, of the Charente-Inférieure, of the +Yonne and the Var, is composed of quartzose sand, clay, sandstone, and +limestone. In this formation, at the mouth of the Charente, we find a +remarkable bed, which has been described as a submarine forest. It +consists of large trees with their branches imbedded horizontally in +vegetable matter, containing kidney-shaped nodules of amber, or +fossilised resin. + +The _Turonian_ beds are so named because the province of Touraine, +between Saumur and Montrichard, possesses the best-developed type of +this strata. The mineralogical composition of the beds is a fine and +grey marly chalk, as at Vitry-le-François; of a pure white chalk, with a +very fine grain, slightly argillaceous, and poor in fossils, in the +Departments of the Yonne, the Aube, and the Seine-Inférieure; granular +tufaceous chalk, white or yellowish, mixed with spangles of mica, and +containing Ammonites, in Touraine and a part of the Department of the +Sarthe; white, grey, yellow, or bluish limestone, inclosing Hippurites +and Radiolites. In England the Lower Chalk passes also into Chalk Marl, +with Ammonites, and then into beds known as the Upper Greensand, +containing green particles of glauconite, mixed, in Hampshire and +Surrey, with much calcareous matter. In the Isle of Wight this formation +attains a thickness of 100 feet. The _Senonian_ beds take their name +from the ancient _Senones_. The city of Sens is in the centre of the +best-characterised portion of this formation; Epernay, Meudon, Sens, +Vendôme, Royau, Cognac, Saintes, are the typical regions of the +formation in France. In the Paris basin, inclusive of the Tours beds, it +attains a thickness of upwards of 1,500 feet, as was proved by the +samples brought up, during the sinking of the Artesian well, at +Grenelle, by the borings. + +In its geographical distribution the Chalk has an immense range; fine +Chalk of nearly similar aspect and composition being met with in all +directions over hundreds of miles, alternating in its lower beds with +layers of flints. In England the higher beds usually consist of a +pure-white calcareous mass, generally too soft for building-stone, but +sometimes passing into a solid rock. + +The _Danian_ beds, which occupy the summit of the scale in the +Cretaceous formation, are finely developed at Maestricht, on the Meuse; +and in the Island of Zeeland, belonging to Denmark; where they are +represented by a slightly yellowish, compact limestone, quarried for the +construction of the city of Faxoe. It is slightly represented in the +Paris basin at Meudon, and Laversines, in the Department of the Oise, by +a white and often rubbly limestone known as _pisolitic limestone_. In +this formation _Ammonites Danicus_ is found. The yellowish sandy +limestone of Maestricht is referred to the _Danian_ type. Besides +Molluscs, Polyps, and Polyzoa (Bryozoa), this limestone contains remains +of Fishes, Turtles, and Crocodiles. But what has rendered this rock so +celebrated was that it contained the remains of the _great animal of +Mæstricht_, the Mæsasaurus. + +At the close of the geological period, whose natural physiognomy we have +thus traced, Europe was still far from displaying the configuration +which it now presents. A map of the period would represent the great +basin of Paris (with the exception of a zone of Chalk), the whole of +Switzerland, the greater part of Spain and Italy, the whole of Belgium, +Holland, Prussia, Hungary, Wallachia, and Northern Russia, as one vast +sheet of water. A band of Jurassic rocks still connected France and +England at Cherbourg--which disappeared at a later period, and caused +the separation of the British Islands from what is now France. + +[Illustration: Fig. 147.--Exogym conica. Upper Greensand and Gault, from +Blackdown Hill.] + + + + +TERTIARY PERIOD. + + +A new organic creation makes its appearance in the Tertiary period; +nearly all the animal life is changed, and what is most remarkable in +this new development is the appearance, in larger numbers, of the great +class of Mammifera. + +During the Primary period, Crustaceans and Fishes predominated in the +animal kingdom; in the Secondary period the earth was assigned to +Reptiles; but during the Tertiary period the Mammals were kings of the +earth; nor do these animals appear in small number, or at distant +intervals of time; great numbers of these beings appear to have lived on +the earth, and at the same moment; many of them being, so to say, +unknown and undescribed. + +If we except the Marsupials, the first created Mammals would appear to +have been the Pachyderms, to which the Elephant belongs. This order of +animals long held the first rank; it was almost the only representative +of the Mammal during the first of the three periods which constitute the +Tertiary epoch. In the second and third periods Mammals appear of +species which have now become extinct, and which were alike curious from +their enormous proportions, and from the singularity of their structure. +Of the species which appeared during the latter part of the epoch, the +greater number still exist. Among the new Reptiles, some Salamanders, as +large as Crocodiles, and not very distinct from existing forms, are +added to the animal creation during the three periods of the Tertiary +epoch. Chelonians were abundant within the British area during the older +epoch. During the same epoch Birds are present, but in much fewer +numbers than the Mammalia; here songsters, there birds of prey, in other +cases domestic--or, rather, some appear to wait the yoke and +domestication from man, the future supreme lord of the earth. + +The seas were inhabited by a considerable number of beings of all +classes, and nearly as varied as those now living; but we no longer find +in the Tertiary seas those Ammonites, Belemnites, and Hippurites which +peopled the seas and multiplied with such astonishing profusion during +the Secondary period. Henceforth the testaceous Mollusca approximate in +their forms to those of the present time. The older and newer Tertiary +Series contain few peculiar genera. But genera now found in warmer +climates were greatly developed within the British area during the +earlier Tertiary times, and _species_ of cold climates mark the close of +the later Tertiaries. + +What occurs to us, however, as most remarkable in the Tertiary epoch is +the prodigious increase of animal life; it seems as if it had then +attained its fullest extension. Swarms of testaceous Mollusca of +microscopic proportions--Foraminifera and Nummulites--must have +inhabited the seas, crowding together in ranks so serried that the +agglomerated remains of their shells form, in some places, beds hundreds +of feet thick. It is the most extraordinary display which has appeared +in the whole range of creation. + +Vegetation during the Tertiary period presents well-defined +characteristics. The Tertiary flora approaches, and is sometimes nearly +identical with, that of our days. The class of dicotyledons shows itself +there in its fullest development; it is the epoch of flowers. The +surface of the earth is embellished by the variegated colours of the +flowers and fruits which succeed them. The white spikes of the Gramineæ +display themselves upon the verdant meadows without limit; they seem +provocative of the increase of Insects, which now singularly multiply. +In the woods crowded with flowering trees, with rounded tops, like our +oak and birch, Birds become more numerous. The atmosphere, purified and +disembarrassed of the veil of vapour which has hitherto pervaded it, now +permits animals with such delicate pulmonary organs to live and multiply +their race. + +During the Tertiary period the influence of the central heat may have +ceased to make itself felt, in consequence of the increased thickness of +the terrestrial crust. By the influence of the solar heat, climates +would be developed in the various latitudes; the temperature of the +earth would still be nearly that of our present tropics, and at this +epoch, also, cold would begin to make itself felt at the poles. + +Abundant rains would, however, continue to pour upon the earth enormous +quantities of water, which would give rise to important rivers; new +lacustrine deposits of fresh water were formed in great numbers; and +rivers, by means of their alluvial deposits, began to form new land. It +is, in short, during the Tertiary epoch that we trace an alternate +succession of beds containing organic beings of marine origin, with +others peculiar to fresh water. It is at the end of this period that +continents and seas take their respective places as we now see them, +and that the surface of the earth received its present form. + +The Tertiary epoch, or series, embraces three very distinct periods, to +which the names of _Eocene_, _Miocene_, and _Pliocene_ have been given +by Sir Charles Lyell. The etymology of these names is derived--Eocene, +from the Greek ηως, _dawn_, and καινος, _recent_; Miocene, from μειον, +_less_, καινος, _recent_; and Pliocene, from πλειον, _more_, καινος, +_recent_; by which it is simply meant to express, that each of these +periods contains a minor or greater proportion of recent species (of +Testacea), or is more or less remote from the dawn of life and from the +present time;[81] the expressions are in one sense forced and incorrect, +but usage has consecrated them, and they have obtained universal +currency in geological language, from their convenience and utility. + + [81] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 187. + +[Illustration: Fig. 148.--Trigonia margaritacea. (Living form.)] + + +THE EOCENE PERIOD. + +During this period _terra firma_ has vastly gained upon the domain of +the sea; furrowed with streams and rivers, and here and there with great +lakes and ponds, the landscape of this period presented the same curious +mixture which we have noted in the preceding age, that is to say, a +combination of the vegetation of the primitive ages with one analogous +to that of our own times. Alongside the birch, the walnut, the oak, the +elm, and the alder, rise lofty palm-trees, of species now extinct, such +as _Flabellaria_ and _Palmacites_; with many evergreen trees (Conifers), +for the most part belonging to genera still existing, as the _firs_, the +_pines_, the _yews_, the _cypresses_, the _junipers_, and the _thuyas_ +or tree of life. + +The _Cupanioides_, among the Sapindaceæ; the _Cucumites_, among the +Cucurbitaceæ (species analogous to our bryony), climb the trunks of +great trees, and hang in festoons of aerial garlands from their +branches. + +The Ferns were still represented by the genera _Pecopteris_, by the +_Tæniopteris_, _Asplenium_, _Polypodium_. Of the mosses, some +_Hepaticas_ formed a humble but elegant and lively vegetation alongside +the terrestrial and frequently ligneous plants which we have noted. +_Equiseta_ and _Charæ_ would still grow in marshy places and on the +borders of rivers and ponds. + +It is not without some surprise that we observe here certain plants of +our own epoch, which seem to have had the privilege of ornamenting the +greater watercourses. Among these we may mention the Water Caltrop, +_Trapa natans_, whose fine rosettes of green and dentated leaves float +so gracefully in ornamental ponds, supported by their spindle-shaped +petioles, its fruit a hard coriaceous nut, with four horny spines, known +in France as _water-chestnuts_, which enclose a farinaceous grain not +unpleasant to the taste; the pond-weed, _Potamogeton_, whose leaves form +thick tufts of green, affording food and shelter to the fishes; +_Nympheaceæ_, which spread beside their large round and hollow leaves, +so admirably adapted for floating on the water, now the deep-yellow +flowers of the _Nenuphar_ now the pure white flowers of the _Nymphæa_. +Listen to Lecoq, as he describes the vegetation of the period:--“The +Lower Tertiary period,” he says, “constantly reminds us of the tropical +landscapes of the present epoch, in localities where water and heat +together impress on vegetation a power and majesty unknown in our +climates. The Algæ, which have already been observed in the marine +waters at the close of the Cretaceous period, represented themselves +under still more varied forms, in the earlier Tertiary deposits, when +they have been formed in the sea. Hepaticas and Mosses grew in the more +humid places; many pretty Ferns, as _Pecopteris_, _Tæniopteris_, and the +_Equisetum stellare_ (Pomel) vegetated in cool and humid places. The +fresh waters are crowded with _Naiades_, _Chara_, _Potamogeton_, +_Caulinites_, with _Zosterites_, and with _Halochloris_. Their leaves, +floating or submerged, like those of our aquatic plants, concealed +legions of Molluscs whose remains have also reached us. + +“Great numbers of Conifers lived during this period. M. Brongniart +enumerates forty-one different species, which, for the most part, remind +us of living forms with which we are familiar--of Pines, Cypresses, +Thuyas, Junipers, Firs, Yews, and Ephedra. Palms mingled with these +groups of evergreen trees; the _Flabellaria Parisiensis_ of Brongniart, +_F. raphifolia_ of Sternberg, _F. maxima_ of Unger; and some +_Palmacites_, raised their widely-spreading crowns near the magnificent +_Hightea_; Malvaceæ, or _Mallows_, doubtless arborescent, as many among +them, natives of very hot climates, are in our days. + +“Creeping plants, such as the _Cucumites variabilis_ (Brongn.), and the +numerous species of _Cupanioïdes_--the one belonging to the +Cucurbitaceæ, and the other to the Sapindaceæ--twined their slender +stems round the trunks, doubtless ligneous, of various Leguminaceæ. + +“The family of Betulaceæ of the order Cupuliferæ show the form, then +new, of _Quercus_, the Oak; the Juglandeæ, and Ulmaceæ mingle with the +Proteaceæ, now limited to the southern hemisphere. _Dermatophyllites_, +preserved in amber, seem to have belonged to the family of the Ericineæ, +and _Tropa Arcturæ_ of Unger, of the group Œnothereæ, floated on the +shallow waters in which grew the _Chara_ and the _Potamogeton_. + +“This numerous flora comprises more than 200 known species, of which 143 +belonged to the Dicotyledons, thirty-three to the Monocotyledons, and +thirty-three to the Cryptogams. + +“Trees predominate here as in the preceding period, but the great +numbers of aquatic plants of the period are quite in accordance with the +geological facts, which show that the continents and islands were +intersected by extensive lakes and inland seas, while vast marine bays +and arms of the sea penetrated deeply into the land.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 149.--Branch of Eucalyptus restored.] + +It is moreover a peculiarity of this period that the whole of Europe +comprehended a great number of those plants which are now confined to +Australasia, and which give so strange an aspect to that country, which +seems, in its vegetation, as in its animals, to have preserved in its +warm latitudes the last vestiges of the organic creations peculiar to +the primitive world. As a type of dicotyledonous trees of the epoch, we +present here a restored branch of _Eucalyptus_ (Fig. 149), with its +flowers. All the family of the Proteaceæ, which comprehends the +_Banksia_, the _Hakea_, the _Gerilea protea_, existed in Europe during +the Tertiary period. The family of Mimosas, comprising the _Acacia_ and +_Inga_, which in our age are only natives of the southern hemisphere, +abounded in Europe during the same geological period. A branch of +_Banksia_, with its fructification, taken from impressions discovered in +rocks of the period, is represented in Fig. 150--it is different from +any species of Banksia living in our days. + +[Illustration: Fig. 150.--Fruit-branch of Banksia restored.] + +Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, and Molluscs, form the +terrestrial fauna of the Eocene period. In the waters of the lakes, +whose surfaces are deeply ploughed by the passage of large Pelicans, +lived Molluscs of varied forms, as _Physa_, _Limnæa_, _Planorbis_; and +Turtles swam about, as _Trionyx_ and the _Emides_. Snipes made their +retreat among the reeds which grew on the shore; sea-gulls skimmed the +surface of the waters or ran upon the sands; owls hid themselves in the +cavernous trunks of old trees; gigantic buzzards hovered in the air, +watching for their prey; while heavy crocodiles slowly dragged their +unwieldy bodies through the high marshy grasses. All these terrestrial +animals have been discovered in England or in France, alongside the +overthrown trunks of palm-trees. The temperature of these countries was +then much higher than it is now. The Mammals which lived under the +latitudes of Paris and London are only found now in the warmest +countries of the globe. + +The Pachyderms (from the Greek παχυς, _thick_, δερμα, _skin_) seem to +have been amongst the earliest Mammals which appeared in the Eocene +period, and they held the first rank from their importance in number of +species as well as in size. Let us pause an instant over these +Pachyderms. Their predominance over other fossil Mammals, which exceed +considerably the number now living, is a fact much insisted on by +Cuvier. Among them were a great number of intermediate forms, which we +seek for in vain in existing genera. In fact, the Pachyderms are +separated, in our days, by intervals of greater extent than we find in +any other mammalian genera; and it is very curious to discover among the +animals of the ancient world the broken link which connects the chain of +these beings, which have for their great tomb the plaster-quarries of +Paris, Montmartre and Pantin being their latest refuge. + +Each block taken from those quarries encloses some fragment of a bone of +these Mammals; and how many millions of these bones had been destroyed +before attention was directed to the subject! The _Palæotherium_ and the +_Anoplotherium_ were the first of these animals which Cuvier restored; +and subsequent discoveries of other fragments of the same animals have +only served to confirm what the genius of the great naturalist divined. +His studies in the quarries of Montmartre gave the signal, as they +became the model, for similar researches and restorations of the animals +of the ancient world, all over Europe--researches which, in our age, +have drawn geology from the state of infancy in which it languished, in +spite of the magnificent and persevering labours of Steno, Werner, +Hutton, and Saussure. + +[Illustration: Fig. 151.--Palæotherium magnum restored.] + +The _Palæotherium_, _Anoplotherium_, and _Xiphodon_ were herbivorous +animals, which must have lived in great herds. They appear to have been +intermediate, according to their organisation, between the Rhinoceros, +the Horse, and the Tapir. There seem to have existed many species of +them, of very different sizes. After the labours of Cuvier, nothing is +easier than to represent the _Palæotherium_ as it lived: the nose +terminating in a muscular fleshy trunk, or rather snout, somewhat like +that of the Tapir; the eye small, and displaying little intelligence; +the head enormously large; the body squat, thick, and short; the legs +short and very stout; the feet supported by three toes, enclosed in a +hoof; the size, that of a large horse. Such was the great Palæotherium, +peaceful flocks of which must have inhabited the valleys of the plateau +which surrounds the ancient basin of Paris; in the lacustrine formations +of Orleans and Argenton; in the Tertiary formations of Issil and +Puy-en-Velay, in the department of the Gironde; in the Tertiary +formations near Rome; and in the beds of limestone[82] at the quarries +of Binsted, in the Isle of Wight. Fig. 151 represents the great +Palæotherium, after the design, in outline, given by Cuvier in his work +on _fossil bones_. + + [82] This limestone belongs to the Bembridge beds, and forms part of + the Fluvio-marine series. See “Survey Memoir on the Geology of + the Isle of Wight,” by H. W. Bristow. + +[Illustration: Fig. 152.--Skull of Palæotherium magnum.] + +The discovery and re-arrangement of these and other forms, now swept +from the face of the globe, are the noblest triumphs of the great French +zoologist, who gathered them, as we have seen, from heaps of confused +fragments, huddled together pell-mell, comprising the bones of a great +many species of animals of a former age of the world, all unknown within +the historic period. The generic characters of Palæotherium give them +forty-four teeth, namely, twelve _molars_, two _canines_, and +twenty-eight others, three toes, a short proboscis, for the attachment +of which the bones of the nose were shortened, as represented in Fig. +153, leaving a deep notch below them. The molar teeth bear considerable +resemblance to those of the Rhinoceros. In the structure of that part of +the skull intended to support the short proboscis, and in the feet, the +animal seems to have resembled the Tapir. + +[Illustration: Fig. 153.--Skeletons of the Palæotherium magnum (_a_) and +minimum (_b_) restored.] + +The geological place of the extinct Palæotherium seems to have been in +the first great fresh-water formation of the Eocene period, where it is +chiefly found with its allies, of which several species have been found +and identified by Cuvier. Dr. Buckland is not singular in thinking that +they lived and died on the margins of lakes and rivers, as the +Rhinoceros and Tapir do now. He is also of opinion that some retired +into the water to die, and that the dead carcases of others may have +been drifted into the deeper parts in seasons of flood. + +The _Palæotherium_ varied greatly in size, some species being as large +as the Rhinoceros, while others ranged between the size of the Horse and +that of a Hog or a Roe. The smaller Palæotherium resembled the Tapir. +Less in size than a Goat, with slim and light legs, it must have been +very common in the north of France, where it would browse on the grass +of the wild prairies. Another species, the _P. minimum_, scarcely +exceeded the Hare in size, and it probably had all the lightness and +agility of that animal. It lived among the bushy thickets of the +environs of Paris, in Auvergne, and elsewhere. + +All these animals lived upon seeds and fruits, on the green twigs, or +subterranean stems, and the succulent roots of the plants of the period. +They generally frequented the neighbourhood of fresh water. + +[Illustration: Fig. 154.--Anoplotherium commune. One-twentieth natural +size.] + +The _Anoplotherium_ (from ανοπλος, _defenceless_, θηριον, _animal_), had +the posterior molar teeth analogous to those of the Rhinoceros, the feet +terminating in two great toes, forming an equally divided hoof, like +that of the Ox and other Ruminants, and the tarsus of the toes nearly +like those of the Camel. It was about the size of the Ass; its head was +light; but what would distinguish it most must have been an enormous +tail of at least three feet in length, and very thick at its junction +with the body. This tail evidently served it as a rudder and propeller +when swimming in the lakes or rivers, which it frequented, not to seize +fish (for it was strictly herbivorous), but in search of roots and stems +of succulent aquatic plants. “Judging from its habits of swimming and +diving,” says Cuvier, “the Anoplotherium would have the hair smooth, +like the otter; perhaps its skin was even half naked. It is not likely +either that it had long ears, which would be inconvenient in its aquatic +kind of life; and I am inclined to think that, in this respect, it +resembled the Hippopotamus and other quadrupeds which frequent the water +much.” To this description Cuvier had nothing more to add. His memoir +upon the _pachydermatous fossils_ of Montmartre is accompanied by a +design in outline of _Anoplotherium commune_, which has been closely +followed in Fig. 154. + +There were species of Anoplotherium of very small size. _A. leporinum_ +(or the Hare-Anoplotherium), whose feet are evidently adapted for speed; +_A. minimum_ and _A. obliquum_ were of still smaller dimensions; the +last, especially, scarcely exceeded the size of a rat. Like the +Water-rats, this species inhabited the banks of brooks and small rivers. + +[Illustration: Fig. 155.--Xiphodon gracile.] + +The _Xiphodon_ was about three feet in height at the withers, and +generally about the size of the Chamois, but lighter in form, and with a +smaller head. In proportion as the appearance of the _Anoplotherium +commune_ was heavy and sluggish, so was that of _Xiphodon gracile_ +graceful and active; light and agile as the Gazelle or the Goat, it +would rapidly run round the marshes and ponds, depasturing on the +aromatic herbs of the dry lands, or browsing on the sprouts of the young +shrubs. “Its course,” says Cuvier, in the memoir already quoted, “was +not embarrassed by a long tail; but, like all active herbivorous +animals, it was probably timid, and with large and very mobile ears, +like those of the stag, announcing the slightest approach of danger. +Neither is there any doubt that its body was covered with short smooth +hair; and consequently we only require to know its colour in order to +paint it as it formerly existed in this country, where it has been dug +up after so many ages.” Fig. 155 is a reproduction from the design in +outline with which Cuvier accompanied the description of this animal, +which he classes with the Anoplotherium, and which has received in our +days the name of _Xiphodon gracile_. + +The gypsum-quarries of the environs of Paris include, moreover, the +remains of other Pachyderms: the _Chæropotamus_, or River-hog (from +χοιρος ποταμος), which has some analogy with the living Pecari, though +much larger; the _Adapis_, which reminds us, in its form, of the +Hedgehog, of which, however, it was three times the size. It seems to +have been a link between the Pachyderms and the Insectivorous Carnivora. +The _Lophiodon_, the size of which varied with the species, from that of +the Rabbit to that of the Rhinoceros, was still more closely allied to +the Tapir than to the Anoplotherium; it is found in the lower beds of +the gypseous formation, that is to say in the “Calcaire Grossier.” + +A Parisian geologist, M. Desnoyers, librarian of the Museum of Natural +History there, has discovered in the gypseous beds of the valley of +Montmorency, and elsewhere in the neighbourhood of Paris, as at Pantin, +Clichy, and Dammartin, the imprints of the footsteps of some Mammals, of +which there seems to be some question, especially with regard to the +Anoplotherium and Palæotherium. Footprints of Turtles, Birds, and even +of Carnivora, sometimes accompany these curious traces, which have a +sort of almond-shape more or less lobed, according to the divisions of +the hoof of the animal, and which recall to mind completely, in their +mode of production and preservation, those imprints of the steps of the +Labyrinthodon which have been mentioned as occurring in rocks of the +Triassic period. This discovery is interesting, as it furnishes a means +of comparison between the imprints and the animals which have produced +them. It brings into view, as it were, the material traces left in their +walks upon the soil by animals now annihilated, but who once occupied +the mysterious sites of an earlier world. (See Fig. 1, p. 12.) + +It is interesting to picture in imagination the vast pasturages of the +Tertiary period swarming with Herbivora of all sizes. The country now +surrounding the city of Paris belongs to the period in question, and not +far from its gates, the woods and plains were crowded with “game” of +which the Parisian sportsman little dreams, but which would nevertheless +singularly animate the earth at this distant epoch. The absence of great +Carnivora explains the rapid increase of the agile and graceful denizens +of the wood, whose race seems to have been so multiplied then, but which +was ultimately annihilated by the ferocious beasts of prey which +afterwards made their appearance. + +The same novelty, riches, and variety which distinguished the Mammals of +the Tertiary period extended to other classes of animals. The class of +Birds, of which we can only name the most remarkable, was represented by +the curious fossil known as the “_Bird of Montmartre_.” The bones of +other birds have been obtained from Hordwell, as well as the remains of +quadrupeds. Among the latter the _Hyænodon_, supposed to be the oldest +known example of a true carnivorous animal in the series of British +fossils, and the fossil Bat known as the _Vespertilio Parisiensis_. +Among Reptiles the Crocodile, which bears the name of Isle of Wight +Alligator, _Crocodilus Toliapicus_. Among the Turtles the _Trionyx_, of +which there is a fine specimen in the Museum of Natural History in Paris +(Fig. 156). + +[Illustration: Fig. 156.--Trionyx, or Turtle, of the Tertiary period.] + +In the class Fishes we now see the _Pleuronectes_, or flat-fish, of +which _Platax altissimus_ and _Rhombus minimus_ are well-known examples. +Among the Crustaceans we see the earliest crabs. At the same time +multitudes of new Mollusca make their appearance: _Oliva_, _Triton_, +_Cassis_, _Harpa_, _Crepidula_, &c. + +[Illustration: XXIII.--Ideal Landscape of the Eocene Period.] + +The hitherto unknown forms of _Schizaster_ are remarkable among +Echinoderms; the Zoophytes are also abundant, especially the +_Foraminifera_, which seem to make up by their numbers for their +deficiency in size. It was in this period, in the bosom of its seas, and +far from shore, that the _Nummulites_ existed, whose calcareous +envelopes play such a considerable part as the elements of some of the +Tertiary formations. The shelly agglomerates of these Protozoan +Rhizopods constitute now very important rocks. The Nummulitic limestone +forms, in the chain of the Pyrenees, entire mountains of great height; +in Egypt it forms strata of considerable extent, and it is of these +rocks that the ancient pyramids were built. What an enormous time must +have been necessary to convert the remains of these little shells into +beds many hundreds of feet thick! The _Miliola_ were also so abundant in +the Eocene seas as to constitute the greater part of calcareous +rocks[83] out of which Paris has been built. Agglomerated in this +manner, these little shells form the continuous beds of limestone which +are quarried for building purposes in the environs of Paris, at +Gentilly, Vaugirard, and Châtillon. + + [83] Similar beds of Miliolite limestone are found in the Middle + Bagshot beds on the coast of Sussex, off Selsey--the only + instance in England of the occurrence of such calcareous deposits + of Middle Eocene age.--H. W. B. + + * * * * * + +On the opposite page we present, in PLATE XXIII., an imaginary landscape +of the Eocene period. We remark amongst its vegetation a mixture of +fossil species with others belonging to the present time. The Alders, +the Wych-elms, and the Cypresses, mingle with _Flabellaria_; the Palms +of extinct species. A great Bird--a wader, the _Tantalus_--occupies the +projecting point of a rock on the right; the Turtle (_Trionyx_), floats +on the river, in the midst of Nymphæas, Nenuphars, and other aquatic +plants; whilst a herd of Palæotheria, Anoplotheria, and Xiphodon +peacefully browse the grass of the natural meadows of this peaceful +oasis. + +With a general resemblance in their fossils, nothing can be more +dissimilar, on the whole, than the lithological or mineral characters of +the Eocene deposits of France and England; “those of our own island,” +says Lyell,[84] “being almost exclusively of mechanical +origin--accumulations of mud, sand, and pebbles; while in the +neighbourhood of Paris we find a great succession of strata composed of +limestones, some of them siliceous, and of crystalline gypsum and +siliceous sandstone, and sometimes of pure flint used for millstones. +Hence it is by no means an easy task to institute an exact comparison +between the various members of the English and French series. It is +clear that, on the sites both of Paris and London, a continual change +was going on in the fauna and flora by the coming in of new species and +the dying out of others; and contemporaneous changes of geographical +conditions were also in progress in consequence of the rising and +sinking of the land and bottom of the sea. A particular subdivision, +therefore, of time was occasionally represented in one area by land, in +another by an estuary, in a third by sea; and even where the conditions +were in both areas of a marine character, there was often shallow water +in one, and deep sea in another, producing a want of agreement in the +state of animal life.” The Eocene rocks, as developed in France and +England, may be tabulated as follows, in descending order:-- + + [84] “Elements of Geology,” p. 292. + + + English. French. + / \ / Calcaire de la Beauce. + | Hempstead beds. | \ Grès de Fontainebleau. + | | + Upper Eocene. < | / Calcaire silicieux or + | Bembridge beds. >Fluvio-marine< Calcaire Lacustre + | | series. | Moyen. Gypseous + \ | \ series of Montmartre. + | + / Osborne beds. | / Grès de Beauchamp + | Headon beds. / \ and Calcaire Marin. + | + | Upper Bagshot sand. Upper Sables Moyens. + | + Middle Eocene.< / Lower Sables Moyens, + | Barton clay. \ Middle < Lower Calcaire + | Bracklesham beds. / Bagshot. | Grossier, and + | \ Glauconie Grossière. + | + | Lower Bagshot / Lits coquillières. + \ beds. \ Glauconie Moyenne. + + / London clay. Wanting. + | + | Woolwich and \ / Argile Plastique. + | Reading beds, or > \ Glauconie Inférieure. + Lower Eocene. < Plastic clay. / + | + | Oldhaven beds. + | + \ Thanet sands. Sables Inférieurs. + +The Woolwich and Reading Beds, or the Plastic Clay of older writers, +consists of extensive beds of sand with occasional beds of potter’s +clay, which lie at the base of the Tertiary formation in both England +and France. Generally variegated, sometimes grey or white, it is +employed as a potter’s earth in the manufacture of delf-ware. + +In England the red-mottled clay of the Woolwich and Reading Beds in +Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is often seen in contact with the chalk; +but in the south-eastern part of the London basin, Mr. Prestwich shows +that the Thanet Sand (consisting of a base of fine, light-coloured sand, +mixed with more or less argillaceous matter) intervenes between the +Chalk and the Oldhaven Beds, or in their absence the Woolwich and +Reading beds, which lie below the London Clay. The Thanet Sands derive +their name from their occurrence in the Isle of Thanet, in Kent, in the +eastern part of which county they attain their greatest development. +Under London and its southern suburbs the Thanet sand is from thirteen +to forty-four feet thick, but it becomes thinner in a westerly +direction, and does not occur beyond Ealing.[85] + + [85] “Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. The Geology of + Middlesex, &c.;” by W. Whitaker, p. 9. + +The Woolwich and Reading beds in the Hampshire basin rest immediately on +the Chalk, and separate it from the overlying London Clay, as may be +seen in the fine exposure of the Tertiary strata in Alum Bay, at the +western extremity of the Isle of Wight, and in Studland Bay, on the +western side of the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorsetshire. + +In the London basin the Woolwich and Reading beds also rest on the +Chalk, where the Thanet Sands are absent, as is the case, for the most +part, over the area west of Ealing and Leatherhead. + +The beds in question are very variable in character, but may be +generally described as irregular alternations of clays and sands--the +former mostly red, mottled with white, and from their plastic nature +suitable for the purposes of the potter; the latter also of various +colours, but sometimes pure white, and sometimes containing pebbles of +flint. + +The Woolwich and Reading beds are called after the localities of the +same names; they are fifty feet thick at Woolwich, and from sixty to +seventy feet at Reading. + +The Oldhaven beds (so termed by Mr. W. Whitaker from their development +at the place of the same name in Kent) are a local deposit, occurring +beneath the London Clay on the south side of the London basin, from +Croydon eastward, at the most eastern part of Surrey, and through +Kent--in the north-western corner of which county they form some +comparatively broad tracts. The beds consist of rounded flint pebbles, +in a fine sandy base, or of fine light-coloured sand, and are from +eighty to ninety feet thick under London. + +The London Clay, which has a breadth of twenty miles or more about +London, consists of tenacious brown and bluish-grey clay, with layers of +the nodular concretions, called Septaria, which are well known on the +Essex and Hampshire coasts, where they are collected for making Roman +cement. The London Clay has a maximum thickness of nearly 500 feet. The +fossils of the London Clay are of marine genera, and very plentiful in +some districts. Taken altogether they seem to indicate a moderate, +rather than a tropical climate, although the Flora is, as far as can be +judged, certainly tropical in its affinities.[86] The number of species +of extinct Turtles obtained from the Isle of Sheppey alone, is stated by +Prof. Agassiz to exceed that of all the species of Chelone now known to +exist throughout the globe. Above this great bed lie the Bracklesham and +Bagshot beds, which consist of light-yellow sand with an intermediate +layer of dark-green and brown clay, over which lie the Barton Clay (in +the Hampshire basin) and the white Upper Bagshot Sands, which are +succeeded by the Fluvio-marine series comprising the Headon, Bembridge, +and Hempstead series, and consisting of limestones, clays, and marls, of +marine, brackish, and fresh-water origin.[87] For fuller accounts of the +Tertiary strata of England, the reader is recommended to the numerous +excellent memoirs of Mr. Prestwich, to the memoir “On the Tertiary +Fluvio-marine Formations of the Isle of Wight,” by Professor Edward +Forbes, and to the memoir “On the Geology of the London Basin,” by Mr. +W. Whitaker. + + [86] Prestwich. _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. x., p. 448. + + [87] Detailed sections of the whole of the Tertiary strata of the Isle + of Wight have been constructed by Mr. H. W. Bristow from actual + measurement of the beds in their regular order of succession, as + displayed at Hempstead, Whitecliff Bay, Colwell and Tolland’s + Bays, Headon Hill, and Alum Bay. These sections, published by the + Geological Survey of Great Britain, show the thickness, mineral + character, and organic remains found in each stratum, and are + accompanied by a pamphlet in explanation. + +At the base of the _Argile Plastique_ of France is a conglomerate of +chalk and of divers calcareous substances, in which have been found at +Bas-Meudon some remains of Reptiles, Turtles, Crocodiles, Mammals, and, +more lately, those of a large Bird, exceeding the Ostrich in size, the +_Gastornis_, which Professor Owen classes among the wading rather than +among aquatic birds. In the Soissonnais there is found, at the same +horizon, a great mass of lignite, enclosing some shells and bones of the +most ancient Pachyderm yet discovered, the _Coryphodon_, which resembles +at once both the Anoplotherium and the Pig. The _Sables Inférieurs_, or +Bracheux Sands, form a marine bed of great thickness near Beauvais; they +are principally sands, but include beds of calciferous clay and banks of +shelly sandstone, and are considered to be older than the plastic clay +and lignite, and to correspond with the Thanet Sands of England. They +are rich in shells, including many Nummulites. At La Fère, in the +Department of the Aisne, a fossil skull of _Arctocyon primævus_, +supposed to be related both to the Bear and to the Kinkajou, and to be +the oldest known Tertiary Mammal, was found in a deposit of this age. +This series seems to have been formed chiefly in fresh water. + +The _Calcaire grossier_, consisting of marine limestones of various +kinds, and with a coarse, sometimes compact, grain, is suitable for +mason-work. These deposits, which form the most characteristic member +of the Paris basin, naturally divide themselves into three groups of +strata, characterised, the first, by _Nummulites_; the second by +_Miliolites_; and the third or upper beds by _Cerithia_. The beds are +also sometimes named Nummulite limestone, Miliolite limestone, and +Cerithium limestone. Above these a great mass, generally sandy, is +developed. It is marine at the base, and there are indications of +brackish water in its upper parts; it is called Beauchamp Sandstone, or +Sables Moyens (_Grès de Beauchamp_). These sands are very rich in +shells. The _siliceous limestone_, or lower travertin, is a compact +siliceous limestone extending over a wide area, and resembles a +precipitate from mineral waters. The _gypseous_ formation consists of a +long series of marly and argillaceous beds, of a greyish, green, or +white colour, in the intervals between which a thick deposit of gypsum, +or sulphate of lime, is intercalated. This gypsum bed is found in its +greatest thickness in France at Montmartre and Pantin near Paris. The +formation of this gypsum is probably due to the action of free sulphuric +acid upon the carbonate of lime of the formation; the sulphuric acid +itself being produced by the transformation of the gaseous masses of +sulphuretted hydrogen emanating from volcanic vents, into that acid, by +the action of air and water. It was, as we have already said, in the +gypsum-quarries of Montmartre that the numerous bones of Palæotherium +and Anoplotherium were found. It is exclusively at this horizon that we +find the remains of these animals, which seem to have been preceded by +the _Coryphodon_, and afterwards by the _Lophiodon_; the order of +succession in the appearance of these animals is now perfectly +established. It may be added that round Paris the Eocene formation, from +its lowest beds to the highest, is composed of beds of plastic clay, of +the _Calcaire grossier_ with its _Nummulites_, _Miliolites_, and +_Alveolites_, followed by the gypseous formation; the series terminating +in the Fontainebleau Sandstone, remarkable for its thickness and also +for its fine scenery, as well as for its usefulness in furnishing +paving-stone for the capital. In Provence the same series of rocks are +continued, and attain an enormous thickness. This upper part of the +Eocene deposit is entirely of lacustrine formation. Grignon has procured +from a single spot, where they were embedded in a calcareous sand, no +less than 400 fossils, chiefly formed of comminuted shells, in which, +however, were well-preserved species both of marine, terrestrial, and +fresh-water shells. Of the Paris basin, Sir Charles Lyell says: “Nothing +is more striking in this assemblage of fossil testacea than the great +proportion of species referable to the genus _Cerithium_. There occur no +less than 137 species of this genus in the Paris basin, and almost all +of them in the _Calcaire grossier_. Most of the living _Cerithia_ (Figs. +157 and 168) inhabit the sea near the mouths of rivers, where the waters +are brackish; so that their abundance in the marine strata now under +consideration is in harmony with the hypothesis that the Paris basin +formed a gulf into which several rivers flowed.”[88] + + [88] “Elements of Geology,” p. 300. + +To give the reader some idea of the formation, first come the limestones +and lower marls, which contain fine lignite or wood-coal produced from +vegetable matter buried in moist earth, and excluded from all access of +air, a material which is worked in some parts of the south of France as +actively as a coal-mine. In these lignites _Anodon_ and other +fresh-water shells are found. + +From the base of Sainte-Victoire to the other side of Aix, we trace a +conglomerate characterised by its red colour, but which dies away in its +prolongation westward. This conglomerate contains land-snails (_Helix_) +of various sizes, mixed with fresh-water shells. Upon this conglomerate, +comprising therein the marls, rests a thick deposit of limestone with +the gypsum of Aix and Manosque, which is believed to correspond with +that of Paris. Some of the beds are remarkably rich in sulphur. The +calcareous marly laminæ which accompany the gypsum of Aix contain +Insects of various kinds, and Fishes resembling _Lebias cephalotes_. +Finally, the whole terminates at Manosque in a fresh series of marls and +sandstones, alternating with beds of limestone with _Limnæa_ and +_Planorbis_. At the base of this series are found three or four beds of +lignite more inflammable than coal, which also give out a very +sulphurous oil. We may form some estimate of the thickness of this last +stage, if we add that, above the beds of fusible lignite, we may reckon +sixty others of dry lignite, some of them capable of being very +profitably worked if this part of Provence were provided with more +convenient roads. + +“The Nummulitic formation, with its characteristic fossils,” says +Lyell,[89] “plays a far more conspicuous part than any other Tertiary +group in the solid framework of the earth’s crust, whether in Europe, +Asia, or Africa. It often attains a thickness of many thousand feet, and +extends from the Alps to the Carpathians, and is in full force in the +north of Africa, as, for example, in Algeria and Morocco. It has been +traced from Egypt, where it was largely quarried of old for the building +of the Pyramids, into Asia Minor, and across Persia, by Bagdad, to the +mouth of the Indus. It occurs not only in Cutch, but in the mountain +ranges which separate Scinde from Persia, and which form the passes +leading to Caboul; and it has been followed still further eastward into +India, as far as eastern Bengal and the frontiers of China.” + + [89] Ibid., p. 305. + +“When we have once arrived at the conclusion,” he adds, “that the +Nummulitic formation occupies a middle place in the Eocene series, we +are struck with the comparatively modern date to which some of the +greatest revolutions in the physical geography of Europe, Asia, and +northern Africa must be referred. All the mountain chains, such as the +Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, and Himalayas, into the composition of +whose central and loftiest parts the Nummulitic strata enter bodily, +could have had no existence till after the Middle Eocene period.” + +The Eocene strata, Professor Ramsay thinks, extended in their day _much +further_ west, “because,” he says, “here, at the extreme edge of the +chalk escarpments, you find outlying fragments of them,” from which he +argues that they were originally deposited all over the Chalk as far as +these points, but being formed of soft strata they were “denuded” +backwards. + +The Beloptera represented in Fig. 195 are curious Belemnite-like +organisms, occurring in Tertiary strata, and evidently the internal bone +of a Cephalopod, having a wing-like projection or process on each side. +As a genus it holds a place intermediate between the Cuttle-fish and the +Belemnite. + +[Illustration: Fig. 157.--Cerithium telescopium. + +(Living form.)] + + +THE MIOCENE PERIOD. + +The Miocene formation is not present in England; unless we suppose, with +Sir Charles Lyell, that it is represented by the Hempstead beds of the +Isle of Wight. + +It is on the European continent that we find the most striking +characteristics of the Miocene period. In our own islands traces of it +are few and far between. In the Island of Mull certain beds of shale, +interstratified with basalt and volcanic ash, are described by the Duke +of Argyll as of Miocene date;[90] and Miocene clay is found +interstratified with bands of imperfect coal at Bovey Tracey. The +vegetation which distinguished the period is a mixture of the vegetable +forms peculiar to the burning climate of the present tropical Africa, +with such as now grow in temperate Europe, such as Palms, Bamboos, +various kinds of Laurels, Combretaceæ (Terminalia), with the grand +Leguminales of warm countries (as _Phaseolites_, _Erythrina_, +_Bauhinia_, _Mimosites_, _Acacia_); Apocyneæ analogous to the genera of +our tropical regions; a _Rubiacea_ altogether tropical (_Steinhauera_) +mingle with some Maples, Walnut-trees, Beeches, Elms, Oaks, and +Wych-elms, genera now confined to temperate and even cold countries. + + [90] _Quarterly Journal of Geol. Soc._, vol. vii., p. 89. + +Besides these, there were, during the Miocene period, mosses, mushrooms, +charas, fig-trees, plane-trees, poplars, and evergreens. “During the +second period of the Tertiary epoch,” says Lecoq, “the Algæ and marine +Monocotyledons were less abundant than in the preceding age; the Ferns +also diminished, the mass of Conifers were reduced, and the Palms +multiplied in species. Some of those cited in the preceding period seem +still to belong to this, and the magnificent _Flabellaria_, with the +fine _Phœnicites_, which we see now for the first time, gave animation +to the landscape. Among the Conifers some new genera appear; among them +we distinguish _Podocarpens_, a southern form of vegetation of the +present age. Almost all the arborescent families have their +representatives in the forests of this period, where for the first time +types so different are united. The waters are covered with _Nymphæa +Arithnæa_ (Brongniart); and with _Myriophyllites capillifolius_ (Unger); +_Culmites animalis_ (Brongniart); and _C. Gœpperti_ (Munster), spring up +in profusion upon their banks, and the grand _Bambusinites sepultana_ +throws the shadow of its long articulated stem across them. Some +analogous species occupy the banks of the great rivers of the New World; +one Umbellifera is even indicated, by Unger, in the _Pimpinellites +zizioides_. + +Of this period date some beds of lignite resulting from the +accumulation, for ages, of all these different trees. It seems that +arborescent vegetation had then attained its apogee. Some _Smilacites_ +interlaced like the wild vines with these grand plants, which fell on +the ground where they grew, from decay; some parts of the earth, even +now, exhibit these grand scenes of vegetation. They have been described +by travellers who have traversed the tropical regions, where Nature +often displays the utmost luxury, under the screen of clouds which does +not allow the rays of the sun to reach the earth. M. D’Orbigny cites an +interesting instance which is much to the point. “I have reached a +zone,” he says (speaking of Rio Chapura in South America), “where it +rains regularly all the year round. We can scarcely perceive the rays of +the sun, at intervals, through the screen of clouds which almost +constantly veils it. This circumstance, added to the heat, gives an +extraordinary development to the vegetation. The wild vines fall on all +sides, in garlands, from the loftiest branches of trees whose summits +are lost in the clouds.” + +The fossil species of this period, to the number of 133, begin to +resemble those which enrich our landscapes. Already tropical plants are +associated with the vegetables of temperate climates; but they are not +yet the same as existing species. Oaks grow side by side with Palms, the +Birch with Bamboos, Elms with Laurels, the Maples are united to the +Combretaceæ, to the Leguminales, and to the tropical Rubiaceæ. The forms +of the species, belonging to temperate climates, are rather American +than European. + +The luxuriance and diversity of the Miocene flora has been employed by a +German savant in identifying and classifying the Middle Tertiary or +Miocene strata of Switzerland. We are indebted to Professor Heer, of +Zurich, for the restoration of more than 900 species of plants, which he +classified and illustrated in his “Flora Tertiaria Helvetiæ.” In order +to appreciate the value of the learned Professor’s undertaking, it is +only necessary to remark that, where Cuvier had to study the position +and character of a bone, the botanist had to study the outline, +nervation, and microscopic structure of a leaf. Like the great French +naturalist, he had to construct a new science at the very outset of his +great work. + +[Illustration: Fig. 158.--Andrias Scheuchzeri.] + +The Miocene formations of Switzerland are called _Molasse_ (from the +French _mol_, soft), a term which is applied to a _soft_, incoherent, +greenish sandstone, occupying the country between the Alps and the Jura, +and they may be divided into lower, middle, and upper Miocene; the +middle one is marine, the other two being fresh-water formations. The +upper fresh-water Molasse is best seen at Œningen, in the Rhine valley, +where, according to Sir Roderick Murchison, it ranges ten miles east and +west from Berlingen, on the right bank, to Waugen and to Œningen, near +Stein, on the left bank. In this formation Professor Heer enumerates +twenty-one beds. No. 1, a bluish-grey marl seven feet thick, without +organic remains, resting on No. 2, limestone, with fossil plants, +including leaves of poplar, cinnamon, and pond-weed (_Potamogeton_). No. +3, bituminous rock, with _Mastodon angustidens_. No. 5, two or three +inches thick, containing fossil Fishes. No. 9, the stone in which the +skeleton of the great Salamander _Andrias Scheuchzeri_ (Fig. 158) was +found. Below this, other strata with Fishes, Tortoises, the great +Salamander, as before, with fresh-water Mussels, and plants. In No. 16, +Sir R. Murchison obtained the fossil fox of Œningen, _Galacynus +Œningensis_ (Owen). In these beds Professor Heer had, as early as 1859, +determined 475 species of fossil plants, and 900 insects. + +The plants of the Swiss Miocene period have been obtained from a country +not one-fifth the size of Switzerland, yet such an abundance of species, +which Heer reckons at 3,000, does not exist in any area of equal extent +in Europe. It exceeds in variety, he considers, after making every +allowance for all not having existed at the same time, and from other +considerations, the Southern American forests, and rivals such tropical +countries as Jamaica and Brazil. European plants occupy a secondary +place, while the evergreen Oaks, Maples, Poplars, and Plane-trees, +Robinias, and Taxodiums of America and the smaller Atlantic islands, +occupy such an important place in the fossil flora that Unger was +induced to suggest the hypothesis, that, in the Miocene period the +present basin of the Atlantic was dry land--and this hypothesis has been +ably advocated by Heer. + + * * * * * + +The terrestrial animals which lived in the Miocene period were Mammals, +Birds, and Reptiles. Many new Mammals had appeared since the preceding +period; among others, Apes, Cheiropteras (Bats), Carnivora, Marsupials, +Rodents, Dogs. Among the first we find _Pithecus antiquus_ and +_Mesopithecus_; the Bats, Dogs, and Coati inhabited Brazil and Guiana; +the Rats North America; the Genettes, the Marmots, the Squirrels, and +Opossums having some affinity to the Opossums of America. Thrushes, +Sparrows, Storks, Flamingoes, and Crows, represent the class Birds. +Among the Reptiles appear several Snakes, Frogs, and Salamanders. The +lakes and rivers were inhabited by Perches and Shad. But it is among the +Mammals that we must seek for the most interesting species of animals of +this period. They are both numerous and remarkable for their dimensions +and peculiarities of form; but the species which appeared in the Miocene +period, as in those which preceded it, are now only known by their +fossil remains and bones. + +The _Dinotherium_ (Fig. 159), one of the most remarkable of these +animals, is the largest terrestrial Mammal which has ever lived. For a +long time we possessed only very imperfect portions of the skeleton of +this animal, upon the evidence of which Cuvier was induced erroneously +to place it among the Tapirs. The discovery of a lower jaw, nearly +perfect, armed with defensive tusks descending from its lower jaw, +demonstrated that this hitherto mysterious animal was the type of an +altogether new and singular genus. Nevertheless, as it was known that +there were some animals of the ancient world in which both jaws were +armed, it was thought for some time that such was the case with the +Dinotherium. But in 1836, a head, nearly entire, was found in the +already celebrated beds at Eppelsheim, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse +Darmstadt. In 1837 this fine fragment was carried to Paris, and exposed +to public view. It was nearly a yard and a half long, and above a yard +wide. The defences, it was found, were enormous, and were carried at the +anterior extremity of the lower maxillary bone, and much curved inwards, +as in the Morse. The molar teeth were in many respects analogous to +those of the Tapir, and the great suborbital apertures, joined to the +form of the nasal bone, rendered the existence of a proboscis or trunk +very probable. But the most remarkable bone belonging to the Dinotherium +which has yet been found is an omoplate or scapula, which by its form +reminds us of that of the Mole. + +[Illustration: Fig. 159.--Dinotherium.] + +This colossus of the ancient world, respecting which there has been so +much argument, somewhat approaches the Mastodon; it seems to announce +the appearance of the Elephant; but its dimensions were infinitely +greater than those of existing Elephants, and superior even to those of +the Mastodon and of the Mammoth, both fossil Elephants, the remains of +which we shall have to describe presently. + +[Illustration: Fig. 160.--Teeth of Mastodon.] + +From its kind of life, and its frugal regimen, this Pachyderm scarcely +merited the formidable name of Dinotherium which has been bestowed on it +by naturalists (from δεινος, _terrible_, θηριον, _animal_). Its size +was, no doubt, frightful enough, but its habits seem to have been +peaceful. It is supposed to have inhabited fresh-water lakes, or the +mouths of great rivers and the marshes bordering their banks by +preference. Herbivorous, like the Elephant, it employed its proboscis +probably in seizing the plants which hung suspended over the waters, or +floated on their surface. We know that the elephants are very partial to +the roots of herbaceous plants which grow in flooded plains. The +Dinotherium appears to have been organised to satisfy the same tastes. +With the powerful natural mattock which Nature had supplied him for +penetrating the soil, he would be able to tear from the bed of the +river, or lake, feculent roots like those of the Nymphæa, or even much +harder ones, for which the mode of articulation of the jaws, and the +powerful muscles intended to move them, as well as the large surface of +the teeth, so well calculated for grinding, were evidently intended +(Fig. 160). + + * * * * * + +The _Mastodon_ was, to all appearance, very nearly of the size and form +of our Elephant--his body, however, being somewhat longer, while his +limbs, on the contrary, were a little thicker. He had tusks, and very +probably a trunk, and is chiefly distinguished from the existing +Elephant by the form of his molar teeth, which form the most distinctive +character in his organisation. These teeth are nearly rectangular, and +present on the surface of their crown great conical tuberosities, with +rounded points disposed in pairs to the number of four or five, +according to the species. Their form is very distinct, and may be easily +recognised. They do not bear any resemblance to those of the carnivora, +but are like those of herbivorous animals, and particularly those of the +Hippopotamus. The molar teeth are at first sharp and pointed, but when +the conical points are ground down by mastication, they assume the +appearance presented in Fig. 161. When, from continued grinding, the +conical teat-like points are more deeply worn, they begin to assume the +appearance shown in Fig. 160. In Fig. 162 we represent the head and +lower jaw of the Miocene Mastodon; from which it will appear that the +animal had two projecting tusks in the lower jaw, corresponding with two +of much larger dimensions which projected from the upper jaw. + +[Illustration: Fig. 161.--Molar teeth of Mastodon, worn.] + +It was only towards the middle of the last century that the Mastodon +first attracted attention in Europe. About the year 1705, it is true, +some bones of this animal had been found at Albany, now the capital of +New York, but the discovery attracted little attention. In 1739, a +French officer, M. de Longueil, traversed the virgin forests bordering +the great river Ohio, in order to reach the great river Mississippi, and +the savages who escorted him accidentally discovered on the borders of a +marsh various bones, some of which seemed to be those of unknown +animals. In this turfy marsh, which the natives designated the Great +Salt Lake, in consequence of the many streams charged with salt which +lose themselves in it, herds of wild ruminants still seek its banks, +attracted by the salt--for which they have a great fondness--such being +the reason probably which had caused the accumulation, at this point, of +the remains of so large a number of quadrupeds belonging to these remote +ages in the history of the globe. M. de Longueil carried some of these +bones with him, and, on his return to France, he presented them to +Daubenton and Buffon; they consisted of a femur, one extremity of a +tusk, and three molar teeth. Daubenton, after mature examination, +declared the teeth to be those of a Hippopotamus; the tusk and the +gigantic femur, according to his report, belonged to an Elephant; so +that they were not even considered to be parts of one and the same +animal. Buffon did not share this opinion, and he was not long in +converting Daubenton, as well as other French naturalists, to his views. +Buffon declared that the bones belonged to an Elephant, whose race had +lived only in the primitive ages of the globe. It was then, only, that +the fundamental notion of extinct species of animals, exclusively +peculiar to ancient ages of the world, began to be entertained for the +first time by naturalists--a notion which laid dormant during nearly a +century, before it bore the admirable fruits which have since so +enriched the natural sciences and philosophy. + +[Illustration: Fig. 162.--Head of the Mastodon of the Miocene period. + +A, B, the whole head; C, lower jaw.] + +Buffon gave the fossil the name of the _Animal or Elephant of the Ohio_, +but he deceived himself as to its size, believing it to be from six to +eight times the size of our existing Elephant; an estimate which he was +led to make by an erroneous notion with regard to the number of the +Elephant’s teeth. The _Animal of the Ohio_ had only four molars, while +Buffon imagined that it might have as many as sixteen, confounding the +germs, or supplementary teeth, which exist in the young animal, with the +permanent teeth of the adult individual. In reality, however, the +Mastodon was not much larger than the existing species of African +Elephant. + +The discovery of this animal had produced a great impression in Europe. +Becoming masters of Canada by the peace of 1763, the English sought +eagerly for more of these precious remains. The geographer Croghan +traversed anew the region of the Great Salt Lake, pointed out by De +Longueil, and found there some bones of the same nature. In 1767 he +forwarded many cases to London, addressing them to divers naturalists. +Collinson, among others, the friend and correspondent of Franklin, who +had his share in this consignment, took the opportunity of sending a +molar tooth to Buffon. + +[Illustration: Fig. 163.--Skeleton of Mastodon giganteus.] + +It was not, however, till 1801 that the remains of the perfect skeleton +were discovered. An American naturalist, named Peale, was fortunate +enough to get together two nearly complete skeletons of this important +animal. Having been apprised that many large bones had been found in the +marly clay on the banks of the Hudson, near Newburg, in the State of New +York, Mr. Peale proceeded to that locality. In the spring of 1801 a +considerable part of one skeleton was found by the farmer who had dug it +out of the ground, but, unfortunately, it was much mutilated by his +awkwardness, and by the precipitancy of the workmen. Having purchased +these fragments, Mr. Peale sent them on to Philadelphia. + +[Illustration: Fig. 164.--Mastodon restored.] + +In a marsh, situated five leagues west of the Hudson, the same gentleman +discovered, six months after, a second skeleton of the Mastodon, +consisting of a perfect jaw and a great number of bones. With the bones +thus collected, the naturalist managed to construct two nearly complete +skeletons. One of these still remains in the Museum of Philadelphia; the +other was sent to London, where it was exhibited publicly. + +[Illustration: Fig. 165.--Molar tooth of Mastodon.] + +Discoveries nearly analogous to these followed, the most curious of +which was made in this manner by Mr. Barton, a Professor of the +University of Pennsylvania. At a depth of six feet in the ground, and +under a great bank of chalk, bones of the Mastodon were found sufficient +to form a skeleton. One of the teeth found weighed about seventeen +pounds (Fig. 165); but the circumstance which made this discovery the +more remarkable was, that in the middle of the bones, and enveloped in a +kind of sac which was probably the stomach of the animal, a mass of +vegetable matter was discovered, partly bruised, and composed of small +leaves and branches, among which a species of rush has been recognised +which is yet common in Virginia. We cannot doubt that these were the +undigested remains of the food, which the animal had browsed on just +before its death. + +The aboriginal natives of North America called the Mastodon the _father +of the ox_. A French officer named Fabri wrote thus to Buffon in 1748. +The natives of Canada and Louisiana, where these remains are abundant, +speak of the Mastodon as a fantastic creature which mingles in all their +traditions and in their ancient national songs. Here is one of these +songs, which Fabri heard in Canada: “When the great _Manitou_ descended +to the earth, in order to satisfy himself that the creatures he had +created were happy, he interrogated all the animals. The bison replied +that he would be quite contented with his fate in the grassy meadows, +where the grass reached his belly, if he were not also compelled to keep +his eyes constantly turned towards the mountains to catch the first +sight of the _father of oxen_, as he descended, with fury, to devour +him and his companions.” + +The Cheyenne Indians have a tradition that these great animals lived in +former times, conjointly with a race of men whose size was proportionate +to their own, but that the _Great Being_ destroyed both by repeated +strokes of his terrible thunderbolts. + +The native Indians of Virginia had another legend. As these gigantic +Elephants destroyed all other animals specially created to supply the +wants of the Indians, God, the thunderer, destroyed them; a single one +only succeeded in escaping. It was “the great male, which presented its +head to the thunderbolts and shook them off as they fell; but being at +length wounded in the side, he took to flight towards the great lakes, +where he remains hidden to this day.” All these simple fictions prove, +at least, that the Mastodon has lived upon the earth at some not very +distant period. We shall see, in fact, that it was contemporaneous with +the Mammoth, which, it is now supposed, may have been co-existent with +the earlier races of mankind, or only preceded a little the appearance +of man. + +Buffon, as we have said, gave to this great fossil animal the name of +the Elephant of the Ohio; it has also been called the Mammoth of the +Ohio. In England it was received with astonishment. Dr. Hunter showed +clearly enough, from the thigh-bone and the teeth, that it was no +Elephant; but having heard of the existence of the Siberian Mammoth, he +at once came to the conclusion that they were bones of that animal. He +then declared the teeth to be carnivorous, and the idea of a +_carnivorous elephant_ became one of the wonders of the day. Cuvier at +once dissipated the clouds of doubt which surrounded the subject, +pointing out the osteological differences between the several species, +and giving to the American animal the appropriate name of Mastodon (from +μαστος, _a teat_, and οδους, _a tooth_), or teat-like-toothed animal. + +Many bones of the Mastodon have been found in America since that time, +but remains are rarely met with in Europe, except as fragments--as the +portion of a jaw-bone discovered in the Red Crag near Norwich, which +Professor Owen has named _Mastodon angustidens_. It was even thought, +for a long time, with Cuvier, that the Mastodon belonged exclusively to +the New World; but the discovery of many of the bones mixed with those +of the Mammoth, (_Elephas primigenius_) has dispelled that opinion. +Bones of Mastodon have been found in great numbers in the Val d’Arno. In +1858 a magnificent skeleton was discovered at Turin. + +The form of the teeth of the Mastodon shows that it fed, like the +Elephant, on the roots and succulent parts of vegetables; and this is +confirmed by the curious discovery made in America by Barton. It lived, +no doubt, on the banks of rivers and on moist and marshy lands. Besides +the great Mastodon of which we have spoken, there existed a Mastodon +one-third smaller than the Elephant, and which inhabited nearly all +Europe. + +There are some curious historical facts in connection with the remains +of the Mastodon which ought not to be passed over in silence. On the +11th of January, 1613, the workmen in a sand-pit situated near the +Castle of Chaumont, in Dauphiny, between the cities of Montricourt and +Saint-Antoine, on the left bank of the Rhône, found some bones, many of +which were broken up by them. These bones belonged to some great fossil +Mammal, but the existence of such animals was at that time wholly +unknown. Informed of the discovery, a country surgeon named Mazuyer +purchased the bones, and gave out that he had himself discovered them in +a tomb, thirty feet long by fifteen broad, built of bricks, upon which +he found the inscription TEUTOBOCCHUS REX. He added that, in the same +tomb, he found half a hundred medals bearing the effigy of Marius. This +Teutobocchus was a barbarian king, who invaded Gaul at the head of the +Cimbri, and who was vanquished near _Aquæ Sextiæ_ (Aix in Provence) by +Marius, who carried him to Rome to grace his triumphal procession. In +the notice which he published in confirmation of this story, Mazuyer +reminded the public that, according to the testimony of Roman authors, +the head of the Teuton king exceeded in dimensions all the trophies +borne upon the lances in the triumph. The skeleton which he exhibited +was five-and-twenty feet in length and ten broad. + +Mazuyer showed the skeleton of the pretended Teutobocchus in all the +cities of France and Germany, and also to Louis XIII., who took great +interest in contemplating this marvel. It gave rise to a long +controversy, or rather an interminable dispute, in which the anatomist +Riolan distinguished himself--arguing against Habicot, a physician, +whose name is all but forgotten. Riolan attempted to prove that the +bones of the pretended king were those of an Elephant. Numerous +pamphlets were exchanged by the two adversaries, in support of their +respective opinions. We learn also from Gassendi, that a Jesuit of +Tournon, named Jacques Tissot, was the author of the notice published by +Mazuyer. Gassendi also proves that the pretended medals of Marius were +forgeries, on the ground that they bore Gothic characters. It seems very +strange that these bones, which are still preserved in the cases of the +Museum of Natural History in Paris, where anybody may see them, should +ever have been mistaken, for a single moment, for human remains. The +skeleton of Teutobocchus remained at Bordeaux till 1832, when it was +sent to the Museum of Natural History in Paris, where M. de Blainville +declared that it belonged to a Mastodon. + +[Illustration: Fig. 166.--Skeleton of Mesopithecus.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 167.--Mesopithecus restored. One-fifth natural +size.] + +The Apes made their appearance at this period. In the ossiferous beds +of Sansan M. Lartet discovered the _Dryopithecus_, as well as _Pithecus +antiquus_, but only in imperfect fragments. M. Albert Gaudry was more +fortunate: in the Miocene rocks of Pikermi, in Greece, he discovered the +entire skeleton of _Mesopithecus_, which we present here (Fig. 166), +together with the same animal restored (Fig. 167). In its general +organisation it resembles the dog-faced baboon or ape, a piece of +information which has guided the artist in the restoration of the +animal. + + * * * * * + +The seas of the Miocene period were inhabited by great numbers of beings +altogether unknown in earlier formations; we may mention no less than +ninety marine genera which appear here for the first time, and some of +which have lived down to our epoch. Among these, the molluscous +Gasteropods, such as _Conus_, _Turbinella_, _Ranella_, _Murex_ (Fig. +169), and _Dolium_ are the most abundant; with many Lamellibranchiata. + +[Illustration: Fig. 168.--Cerithium plicatum.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 169.--Murex Turonensis.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 170.--Ostrea longirostris. One quarter natural size. + +Living form.] + +The Foraminifera are also represented by new genera, among which are the +Bolivina, Polystomella, and Dentritina. + +Finally, the Crustaceans include the genera _Pagurus_ (or the Hermit +crabs); _Astacus_. (the lobster); and _Portunus_ (or paddling crabs). Of +the first, it is doubtful if any fossil species have been found; of the +last, species have been discovered bearing some resemblance to +_Podophthalmus vigil_, as _P. Defrancii_, which only differs from it in +the absence of the sharp spines which terminate the lateral angles of +the carapace in the former; while _Portunus leucodon_ (Desmarest) bears +some analogy to Lupea. + +[Illustration: XXIV.--Ideal Landscape of the Miocene Period.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Fig. 171.--Podophthalmus vigil.] + +An ideal landscape of the Miocene period, which is given on the opposite +page (PLATE XXIV.), represents the Dinotherium lying in the marshy +grass, the Rhinoceros, the Mastodon, and an Ape of great size, the +_Dryopithecus_, hanging from the branches of a tree. The products of the +vegetable kingdom are, for the greater part, analogous to those of the +present time. They are remarkable for their abundance, and for their +graceful and serried vegetation; and still remind us in some respects, +of the vegetation of the Carboniferous period. It is, in fact, a +continuation of the characteristics of that period, and from the same +cause, namely, the submersion of land under marshy waters, which has +given birth to a sort of coal which is often found in the Miocene +formation, and which we call _lignite_. This imperfect coal does not +quite resemble that of the Carboniferous, or true Coal-measure period, +because it is of much more recent date, and because it has not been +subjected to the same internal heat, accompanied by the same pressure of +superincumbent strata, which produced the older coal-beds of the Primary +epoch. + +[Illustration: Fig. 172.--Lupea pelagica.] + +The _lignites_, which we find in the Miocene, as in the Eocene period, +constitute, however, a combustible which is worked and utilised in many +countries, especially in Germany, where it is made in many places to +serve in place of coal. These beds sometimes attain a thickness of above +twenty yards, but in the environs of Paris they form beds of a few +inches only, which alternate with clays and sands. We cannot doubt that +lignites, like true coal, are the remains of the buried forests of an +ancient world; in fact, the substance of the woods of our forests, often +in a state perfectly recognisable, is frequently found in the lignite +beds; and the studies of modern botanists have demonstrated, that the +species of which the lignites are formed, belong to a vegetation +closely resembling that of Europe in the present day. + +Another very curious substance is found with the lignite--yellow amber. +It is the mineralised resin, which flowed from certain extinct +pine-trees of the Tertiary epoch; the waves of the Baltic Sea, washing +the amber out of the deposits of sand and clay in which it lies buried, +this substance, being very little heavier than water, is thrown by the +waves upon the shore. For ages the Baltic coast has supplied commerce +with amber. The Phœnicians ascended its banks to collect this beautiful +fossil resin, which is now chiefly found between Dantzic and Memel, +where it is a government monopoly in the hands of contractors, who are +protected by a law making it theft to gather or conceal it. + +Amber,[91] while it has lost none of its former commercial value, is, +besides, of much palæontological interest; fossil insects, and other +extraneous bodies, are often found enclosed in the nodules, where they +have been preserved in all their original colouring and integrity of +form. As the poet says-- + + [91] See Bristow’s “Glossary of Mineralogy,” p. 11. + + “The things themselves are neither rich nor rare, + The wonder’s how the devil they got there.” + +The natural aromatic qualities of the amber combined with exclusion of +air, &c., have embalmed them, and thus transmitted to our times the +smaller beings and the most delicate organisms of earlier ages. + +The Miocene rocks, of marine origin, are very imperfectly represented in +the Paris basin, and their composition changes with the localities. They +are divided into two groups of beds: 1. _Molasse_, or soft clay; 2. +_Faluns_, or shelly marl. + +In the Paris basin the _Molasse_ presents, at its base, quartzose sands +of great thickness, sometimes pure, sometimes a little argillaceous or +micaceous. They include beds of sandstone (with some limestone), which +are worked in the quarries of Fontainebleau, d’Orsay, and Montmorency, +for paving-stone for the streets of Paris and the neighbouring towns. +This last formation is altogether marine. To these sands and sandstones +succeeds a fresh-water deposit, formed of a whitish and partly siliceous +limestone, which forms the ground of the plateau of La Beauce, between +the valleys of the Seine and the Loire: this is called the _Calcaire de +la Beauce_. It is there mixed with a reddish and more or less sandy +clay, containing small blocks of burrh-stone used for millstones, easily +recognised by their yellow-ochreous colour, and the numerous cavities +or hollows with which their texture is honeycombed. + +This grit, or _silex meulier_, is much used in Paris for the arches of +cellars, underground conduits, sewers, &c. + +The _Faluns_ in the Paris basin consist of divers beds formed of shells +and Corals, almost entirely broken up. In many parts of the country, and +especially in the environs of Tours and Bordeaux, they are dug out for +manuring the land. To the Falun series belong the fresh-water marl, +limestone, and sand, which composed the celebrated mound of Sansan, near +Auch, in the Department of Gers, in which M. Lartet found a considerable +number of bones of Turtles, Birds, and especially Mammals, such as +_Mastodon_ and _Dinotherium_, together with a species of long-armed ape, +which he named _Pithecus antiquus_, from the circumstance of its +affording the earliest instance of the discovery of the remains of the +quadrumana, or monkey-tribe, in Europe. Isolated masses of Faluns occur, +also, near the mouth of the Loire and to the south of Tours, and in +Brittany. + +[Illustration: Fig. 173.--Caryophylla cyathus.] + + +PLIOCENE PERIOD. + +This last period of the Tertiary epoch was marked, in some parts of +Europe, by great movements of the terrestrial crust, always due to the +same cause--namely, the continual and gradual cooling of the globe. This +leads us to recall what we have repeatedly stated, that this cooling, +during which the outer zone of the fluid mass passed to the solid state, +produced irregularities and inequalities in the external surface, +sometimes accompanied by fractures through which the semi-fluid or pasty +matter poured itself; leading afterwards to the upheaval of mountain +ranges through these gaping chasms. Thus, during the Pliocene period, +many mountains and mountain-chains were formed in Europe by basaltic and +volcanic eruptions. These upheavals were preceded by sudden and +irregular movements of the elastic mass of the crust--by earthquakes, in +short--phenomena which have been already sufficiently explained. + + * * * * * + +In order to understand the nature of the vegetation of the period, as +compared with that with which we are familiar, let us listen to M. +Lecoq: “Arrived, finally,” says that author, “at the last period which +preceded our own epoch--the epoch in which the temperate zones were +still embellished by tropical forms of vegetation, which were, however, +slowly declining, driven out as it were by a cooling climate and by the +invasion of more vigorous species--great terrestrial commotions took +place: mountains are covered with eternal snow; continents now take +their present forms; but many great lakes, now dried up, still existed; +great rivers flowed majestically through smiling countries, whose +surface man had not yet come to modify. + +“Two hundred and twelve species compose this rich flora, in which the +Ferns of the earlier ages of the world are scarcely indicated, where the +Palms seem to have quite disappeared, and we see forms much more like +those which are constantly under our observation. The _Culmites +arundinaceus_ (Unger) abounds near the water, where also grows the +_Cyperites tertiarius_ (Unger), where floats _Dotamogeton geniculatus_ +(Braun), and where we see submerged _Isoctites Brunnii_ (Unger). Great +Conifers still form the forests. This fine family has, as we have seen, +passed through every epoch, and still presents us with its elegant forms +and persistent evergreen foliage; _Taxodites_, _Thuyoxylum_, +_Abietites_, _Pinites_, _Eleoxylon_, and _Taxites_ being still the forms +most abundant in these old natural forests. + +“The predominating character of this period is the abundance of the +group of the Amentaceæ; whilst the Conifers are thirty-two in number, of +the other we reckon fifty-two species, among which are many European +genera, such as _Alnus_; _Quercus_, the oak; _Salix_, the willow; +_Fagus_, the beech; _Betula_, the birch, &c. + +“The following families constitute the arborescent flora of the period +besides those already mentioned:--Balsaminaceæ, Lauraceæ, Thymelæaceæ, +Santalaceæ, Cornaceæ, Myrtaceæ, Calycanthaceæ, Pomaceæ, Rosaceæ, +Amygdaleæ, Leguminosæ, Anacardiaceæ, Juglandaceæ, Rhamnaceæ, +Celastrinaceæ, Sapindaceæ, Meliaceæ, Aceraceæ, Tiliaceæ, Magnoliaceæ, +Capparidaceæ, Sapoteaceæ, Styracaceæ, Oleaceæ, Juncaceæ, Ericaceæ. + +“In all these families great numbers of European genera are found, often +even more abundant in species than now. Thus, as Brongniart observes, in +this flora we reckon fourteen species of Maple; three species of Oak; +and these species proceed from two or three very circumscribed +localities, which would not probably, at the present time, represent in +a radius of several leagues more than three or four species of these +genera.” + +An important difference distinguishes the Pliocene flora, as compared +with those of preceding epochs, it is the absence of the family of Palms +in the European flora, as noted by Lecoq, which forms such an essential +botanical feature in the Miocene period. We mention this, because, in +spite of the general analogy which exists between the vegetation of the +Pliocene period and that of temperate regions in the present day, it +does not appear that there is a single species of the former period +absolutely identical with any one now growing in Europe. Thus, the +European vegetation, even at the most recent geological epoch, differs +specifically from the vegetation of our age, although a general +resemblance is observable between the two. + +[Illustration: Fig. 174.--Skeleton of the Mastodon of Turin.] + +The terrestrial animals of the Pliocene period present us with a great +number of creatures alike remarkable from their proportions and from +their structure. The Mammals and the batrachian Reptiles are alike +deserving of our attention in this epoch. Among the former the Mastodon, +which makes its first appearance in the Miocene formations, continues +to be found, but becomes extinct apparently before we reach the upper +beds. Others present themselves of genera totally unknown till now, some +of them, such as the _Hippopotamus_, the _Camel_, the _Horse_, the _Ox_, +and the _Deer_, surviving to the present day. The fossil horse, of all +animals, is perhaps that which presents the greatest resemblance to +existing individuals; but it was small, not exceeding the ass in size. + +[Illustration: Fig. 175.--Head of Rhinoceros tichorhinus, partly +restored under the direction of Eugene Deslongchamps.] + +The _Mastodon_, which we have considered in our description of the +preceding period, still existed in Pliocene times; in Fig. 174 the +species living in this latter age is represented--it is called the +Mastodon of Turin. As we see, it has only two projecting tusks or +defences in the upper jaw, instead of four, like the American species, +which is described in page 343. Other species belonging to this period +are not uncommon; the portion of an upper jaw-bone with a tooth which +was found in the Norwich Crag at Postwick, near Norwich, Dr. Falconer +has shown to be a Pliocene species, first observed in Auvergne, and +named by Messrs. Croizet and Jobert, its discoverers, _Mastodon +Arvernensis_. + +The _Hippopotamus_, _Tapir_, and _Camel_, which appear during the +Pliocene period, present no peculiar characteristics to arrest our +attention. + +The Apes begin to abound in species; the Stags were already numerous. + +The _Rhinoceros_, which made its appearance in the Miocene period, +appears in greater numbers in the Pliocene deposits. The species +peculiar to the Tertiary epoch is _R. tichorhinus_, which is descriptive +of the bony partition which separated its two nostrils, an anatomical +arrangement which is not found in our existing species. Two horns +surmount the nose of this animal, as represented in Fig. 175. Two living +species, namely, the Rhinoceros of Africa and Sumatra, have two horns, +but they are much smaller than those of _R. tichorhinus_. The existing +Indian Rhinoceros has only one horn. + +The body of _R. tichorhinus_ was covered with very thick hair, and its +skin was without the rough and callous scales which we remark on the +skin of the living African species. + +Contemporaneously with this gigantic species there existed a dwarf +species about the size of our Hog; and along with it several +intermediate species, whose bones are found in sufficient numbers to +enable us to reconstruct the skeleton. The curvature of the nasal bone +of the fossil Rhinoceros and its gigantic horn have given rise to many +tales and popular legends. The famous bird, the _Roc_, which played so +great a part in the fabulous myths of the people of Asia, originated in +the discovery in the bosom of the earth of the cranium and horns of a +fossil Rhinoceros. The famous dragons of western tradition have a +similar origin. + +In the city of Klagenfurth, in Carinthia, is a fountain on which is +sculptured the head of a monstrous dragon with six feet, and a head +surmounted by a stout horn. According to the popular tradition still +prevalent at Klagenfurth, this dragon lived in a cave, whence it issued +from time to time to frighten and ravage the country. A bold cavalier +kills the dragon, paying with his life for this proof of his courage. It +is the same legend which is current in every country, from that of the +valiant St. George and the Dragon and of St. Martha, who nearly about +the same age conquered the fabulous _Tarasque_ of the city of Languedoc, +which bears the name of Tarascon. + +But at Klagenfurth the popular legend has happily found a +mouth-piece--the head of the pretended dragon, killed by the valorous +knight, is preserved in the Hôtel de Ville, and this head has furnished +the sculptor for his fountain with a model for the head of his statue. +Herr Unger, of Vienna, recognised at a glance the cranium of the fossil +Rhinoceros; its discovery in some cave had probably originated the fable +of the knight and the dragon. And all legends are capable of some such +explanation when we can trace them back to their sources, and reason +upon the circumstances on which they are founded. + +The traveller Pallas gives a very interesting account of a _Rhinoceros +tichorhinus_ which he saw, with his own eyes, taken out of the ice in +which its skin, hair, and flesh had been preserved. It was in December, +1771, that the body of the Rhinoceros was observed buried in the frozen +sand upon the banks of the Viloui, a river which discharges itself into +the Lena below Yakutsk, in Siberia, in 64° north latitude. “I ought to +speak,” the learned naturalist says, “of an interesting discovery which +I owe to the Chevalier de Bril. Some Yakouts hunting this winter near +the Viloui found the body of a large unknown animal. The Sieur Ivan +Argounof, inspector of the Zimovic, had sent on to Irkutsk the head and +a fore and hind foot of the animal, all very well preserved.” The Sieur +Argounof, in his report, states that the animal was half buried in the +sand; it measured as it lay three ells and three-quarters Russian in +length, and he estimated its height at three and a half; the animal, +still retaining its flesh, was covered with skin which resembled tanned +leather; but it was so decomposed that he could only remove the fore and +hind foot and the head, which he sent to Irkutsk, where Pallas saw them. +“They appeared to me at first glance,” he says, “to belong to a +Rhinoceros; the head especially was quite recognisable, since it was +covered with its leathery skin, and the skin had preserved all its +external characters, and many short hairs. The eyelids had even escaped +total decay, and in the cranium here and there, under the skin, I +perceived some matter which was evidently the remains of putrefied +flesh. I also remarked in the feet the remains of the tendons and +cartilages where the skin had been removed. The head was without its +horn, and the feet without hoofs. The place of the horn, and the raised +skin which had surrounded it, and the division which existed in both the +hind and fore feet, were evident proofs of its being a Rhinoceros. In a +dissertation addressed to the Academy of St. Petersburg, I have given a +full account of this singular discovery. I give there reasons which +prove that a Rhinoceros had penetrated nearly to the Lena, in the most +northern regions, and which have led to the discovery of the remains of +other strange animals in Siberia. I shall confine myself here to a +description of the country where these curious remains were found, and +to the cause of their long preservation. + +“The country watered by the Viloui is mountainous; all the +stratification of these mountains is horizontal. The beds consist of +selenitic and calcareous schists and beds of clay, mixed with numerous +beds of pyrites. On the banks of the Viloui we meet with coal much +broken; probably coal-beds exist higher up near to the river. The brook +Kemtendoï skirts a mountain entirely formed of selenite or crystallised +sulphate of lime and of rock-salt, and this mountain of alabaster is +more than 300 versts (about 200 miles), in ascending the Viloui, from +the place where the Rhinoceros was found. Opposite to the place we see, +near the river, a low hill, about a hundred feet high, which, though +sandy, contains some beds of millstone. The body of the Rhinoceros had +been buried in coarse gravelly sand near this hill, and the nature of +the soil, which is always frozen, had preserved it. The soil near the +Viloui never thaws to a great depth, for, although the rays of the sun +soften the soil to the depth of two yards in the more elevated sandy +places, in the valleys, where the soil is half sand and half clay, it +remains frozen at the end of summer half an ell below the surface. +Without this intense cold the skin of the animal and many parts of it +would long since have perished. The animal could only have been +transported from some southern country to the frozen north at the epoch +of the Deluge, for the most ancient chronicles speak of no changes of +the globe more recent, to which we could attribute the deposit of these +remains and of the bones of elephants which are found dispersed all over +Siberia.”[92] + + [92] “Pallas’s Voyage,” vol. iv., pp. 130-134. + +In this extract the author refers to a memoir previously published by +himself, in the “Commentarii” of the Academy of St. Petersburg. This +memoir, written in Latin, and entitled “Upon some Animals of Siberia,” +has never been translated. After some general considerations, the author +thus relates the circumstances attending the discovery of the fossil +Rhinoceros, with some official documents affirming their correctness, +and the manner in which the facts were brought under his notice by the +Governor of Irkutsk, General Bril: “The skin and tendons of the head and +feet still preserved considerable flexibility, imbued as it were with +humidity from the earth; but the flesh exhaled a fetid ammoniacal odour, +resembling that of a latrine. Compelled to cross the Baïkal Lake before +the ice broke up, I could neither draw up a sufficiently careful +description nor make sketches of the parts of the animal; but I made +them place the remains, without leaving Irkutsk, upon a furnace, with +orders that after my departure they should be dried by slow degrees and +with the greatest care, continuing the process for some time, because +the viscous matter which incessantly oozed out could only be dissipated +by great heat. It happened, unfortunately, that during the operation the +posterior part of the upper thigh and the foot were burnt in the +overheated furnace, and they were thrown away; the head and the +extremity of the hind foot only remained intact and undamaged by the +process of drying. The odour of the softer parts, which still contained +viscous matter in their interior, was changed by the desiccation into +one resembling that of flesh decomposed in the sun. + +“The Rhinoceros to which the members belonged was neither large for its +species nor advanced in age, as the bones of the head attest, yet it +was evidently an adult from the comparison made of the size of the +cranium as compared with that of others of the same species more aged, +which were afterwards found in a fossil state in divers parts of +Siberia. The entire length of the head from the upper part of the nape +of the neck to the extremity of the denuded bone of the jaw was thirty +inches; the horns were not with the head, but we could still see evident +vestiges of two horns, the nasal and frontal. The front, unequal and a +little protuberant between the orbits, and of a rhomboidal egg-shape, is +deficient in the skin, and only covered by a light horny membrane, +bristling with straight hairs as hard as horn. + +“The skin which covers the greater part of the head is in the dried +state, a tenacious, fibrous substance, like curried leather, of a +brownish-black on the outside and white in the inside; when burnt, it +had the odour of common leather; the mouth, in the place where the lips +should have been soft and fleshy, was putrid and much lacerated; the +extremities of the maxillary bone were bare. Upon the left side, which +had probably been longest exposed to the air, the skin was here and +there decomposed and rubbed on the surface; nevertheless, the greater +part of the mouth was so well preserved on the right side that the +pores, or little holes from which doubtless the hairs had fallen, were +still visible all over that side, and even in front. In the right side +of the jaw there were still in certain places numerous hairs grouped in +tufts, for the most part rubbed down to the roots, and here and there of +two or three lines still retaining their full length. They stand erect, +are stiff, and of an ashy colour, but with one or two black, and a +little stiffer than the others, in each bunch. + +“What was most astonishing, however, was the fact that the skin which +covered the orbits of the eyes, and formed the eyelids, was so well +preserved and so healthy that the openings of the eyelids could be seen, +though deformed and scarcely penetrable to the finger; the skin which +surrounded the orbits, though desiccated, formed circular furrows. The +cavities of the eyes were filled with matter, either argillaceous or +animal, such as still occupied a part of the cavity of the cranium. +Under the skin the fibres and tendons still remained, and above all the +remains of the temporal muscles; finally, in the throat hung some great +bundles of muscular fibres. The denuded bones were young and less solid +than in other fossil crania of the same species. The bone which gave +support to the nasal horn was not yet attached to the _vomer_; it was +unprovided with articulations like the processes of the young bones. The +extremities of the jaws preserved no vestige either of teeth or +sockets, but they were covered here and there with the remains of the +integument. The first molar was distant about four inches from the +extreme edge of the jaw. + +“The foot which remains to me, and which, if I am not mistaken, belongs +to the left hind limb, has not only preserved its skin quite intact and +furnished with hairs, or their roots, as well as the tendons and +ligaments of the heel in all their strength, but also the skin itself +quite whole as far as the bend in the knee. The place of the muscles was +filled with black mud. The extremity of the foot is cloven into three +angles, the bony parts of which, with the periosteum, still remain here +and there; the horny hoofs had been detached. The hairs adhering in many +places to the skin were from one to three lines in length, tolerably +stiff and ash-coloured. What remains of it proves that the foot was +covered with bunches of hair, which hung down. + +“We have never, so far as I know, observed so much hair on any +rhinoceros which has been brought to Europe in our times, as appears to +have been presented by the head and feet we have described. I leave you +then to decide if our rhinoceros of the Lena was born or not in the +temperate climate of Central Asia. In fact, the rhinoceros, as I gather +from the relations of travellers, belongs to the forests of Northern +India; and it is likely enough that these animals differ in a more hairy +skin from those which live in the burning zones of Africa, just in the +same way that other animals of a hotter climate are less warmly covered +than those of the same genera in temperate countries.”[93] + + [93] “Commentarii Academiæ Petersburgicæ,” p. 3. + +Of all fossil ruminants one of the largest and most singular is the +_Sivatherium_, whose remains have been found in the valley of Murkunda, +in the Sewalik branch of the Sub-Himalayan Mountains. Its name is taken +from that of Siva, the Indian deity worshipped in that part of India. + +The _Sivatherium giganteum_ had a body as bulky as that of an ox, and +bore a sort of resemblance to the living Elk. It combined in itself the +characteristics of different kinds of Herbivores, at the same time that +it was marked by individual peculiarities. The massive head possessed +four deciduous, hollow horns, like the Prongbuck; two front ones +conical, smooth, and rapidly rising to a point, and two hinder ones of +larger size, and branched, projected forward above the eyes.[94] Thus it +differed from the deer, whose solid horns annually drop off, and from +the antelope tribe, sheep and oxen, whose hollow horns are persistent, +and resembled only one living ruminant, the prongbuck, in having had +hollow horns subject to shedding. Fig. 176 is a representation of the +_Sivatherium_ restored, in so far, at least, as it is possible to do so +in the case of an animal of which only the cranium and a few other bones +have been discovered. + + [94] Dr. James Murie, _Geological Magazine_, vol. viii., p. 438. + +[Illustration: Fig. 176.--Sivatherium restored.] + +As if to rival these gigantic Mammals, great numbers of Reptiles seem to +have lived in the Pliocene period, although they are no longer of the +same importance as in the Secondary epoch. Only one of these, however, +need occupy our attention, it is the _Salamander_. The living +Salamanders are amphibious Batrachians, with smooth skins, and rarely +attaining the length of twenty inches. The Salamander of the Tertiary +epoch had the dimensions of a Crocodile; and its discovery opens a +pregnant page in the history of geology. The skeleton of this Reptile +was long considered to be that of a human victim of the deluge, and was +spoken of as “_homo diluvii testis_.” It required all the efforts of +Camper and Cuvier to eradicate this error from the minds of the learned, +and probably in the minds of the vulgar it survived them both. + +Upon the left bank of the Rhine, not far from Constance, a little above +Stein, and near the village of Œningen, in Switzerland, there are some +fine quarries of schistose limestone. In consequence of their varied +products these quarries have often been described by naturalists; they +are of Tertiary age, and were visited, among others, by Horace de +Saussure, by whom they are described in the third volume of his “Voyage +dans les Alpes.” + +In 1725, a large block of stone was found, incrusted in which a skeleton +was discovered, remarkably well preserved; and Scheuchzer, a Swiss +naturalist of some celebrity, who added to his scientific pursuits the +study of theology, was called upon to give his opinion as to the nature +of this relic of ancient times. He thought he recognised in the skeleton +that of a man. In 1726 he published a description of these fossil +remains in the “Philosophical Transactions” of London; and in 1731 he +made it the subject of a special dissertation, entitled “_Homo diluvii +testis_”--Man, a witness of the Deluge. This dissertation was +accompanied by an engraving of the skeleton. Scheuchzer returned to the +subject in another of his works, “Physica Sacra,” saying: “It is certain +that this schist contains the half, or nearly so, of the skeleton of a +man; that the substance even of the bones, and, what is more, of the +flesh and of parts still softer than the flesh, are there incorporated +in the stone; in a word, it is one of the rarest relics which we have of +that accursed race which was buried under the waters. The figure shows +us the contour of the frontal bone, the orbits with the openings which +give passage to the great nerves of the fifth pair. We see there the +remains of the brain, of the sphenoidal bone, of the roots of the nose, +a notable fragment of the maxillary bone, and some vestiges of the +liver.” + +And our pious author exclaims, this time taking the lyrical form-- + + “Betrübtes Beingerüst von einem altem Sünder + Erweiche, Stein, das Herz der neuen Bosheitskinder!” + + “O deplorable skeleton of an accursed ancient, + Mayst thou soften the hearts of the late children of wickedness!” + +The reader has before him the fossil of the Œningen schist (Fig. 177). +It is obviously impossible to see in this skeleton what the enthusiastic +savant wished to perceive. And we can form an idea from this instance, +of the errors to which a preconceived idea, blindly followed, may +sometimes lead. How a naturalist of such eminence as Scheuchzer could +have perceived in this enormous head, and in these upper members, the +least resemblance to the osseous parts of a man is incomprehensible! + +[Illustration: Fig. 177.--Andrias Scheuchzeri.] + +The Pre-Adamite “witness of the deluge” made a great noise in Germany, +and no one there dared to dispute the opinion of the Swiss naturalist, +under his double authority of theologian and savant. This, probably, is +the reason why Gesner in his “Traité des Pétrifactions,” published in +1758, describes with admiration the fossil of Œningen, which he +attributes, with Scheuchzer, to the _antediluvian man_. + +Pierre Camper alone dared to oppose this opinion, which was then +universally professed throughout Germany. He went to Œningen in 1787 to +examine the celebrated fossil animal; he had no difficulty in detecting +the error into which Scheuchzer had fallen. He recognised at once that +it was a Reptile; but he deceived himself, nevertheless, as to the +family to which it belonged; he took it for a Saurian. “A petrified +lizard,” Camper wrote; “could it possibly pass for a man?” It was left +to Cuvier to place in its true family the fossil of Œningen; in a memoir +on the subject he demonstrated that this skeleton belonged to one of the +amphibious batrachians called Salamanders. “Take,” he says in his +memoir, “a skeleton of a Salamander and place it alongside the fossil, +without allowing yourself to be misled by the difference of size, just +as you could easily do in comparing a drawing of the salamander of the +natural size with one of the fossil reduced to a sixteenth part of its +dimensions, and everything will be explained in the clearest manner.” + +“I am even persuaded,” adds the great naturalist, in a subsequent +edition of this memoir, “that, if we could re-arrange the fossil and +look closer into the details, we should find still more numerous proofs +in the articular faces of the vertebræ, in those of the jaws, in the +vestiges of very small teeth, and even in the labyrinth of the ear.” And +he invited the proprietors or depositaries of the precious fossil to +proceed to such an examination. Cuvier had the gratification of making, +personally, the investigation he suggested. Finding himself at Haarlem, +he asked permission of the Director of the Museum to examine the stone +which contained the supposed fossil man. The operation was carried on in +the presence of the director and another naturalist. A drawing of the +skeleton of a Salamander was placed near the fossil by Cuvier, who had +the satisfaction of recognising, as the stone was chipped away under the +chisel, each of the bones, announced by the drawing, as they made their +appearance. In the natural sciences there are few instances of such +triumphant results--few demonstrations so satisfactory as this, of the +certitude of the methods of observation and induction on which +palæontology is based. + + * * * * * + +During the Pliocene period Birds of very numerous species, and which +still exist, gave animation to the vast solitudes which man had not yet +occupied. Vultures and Eagles, among the rapacious birds; and among +other genera of birds, gulls, swallows, pies, parroquets, pheasants, +jungle-fowl, ducks, &c. + + * * * * * + +In the marine Pliocene fauna we see, for the first time, aquatic Mammals +or Cetaceans--the _Dolphin_ and _Balæna_ belonging to the period. Very +little, however, is known of the fossil species belonging to the two +genera. Some bones of Dolphins, found in different parts of France, +apprise us, however, that the ancient species differed from those of our +days. The same remark may be made respecting the Narwhal. This Cetacean, +so remarkable for its long tusk, or tooth, in the form of a horn, has +at all times been an object of curiosity. + +The Whales, whose remains are found in the Pliocene rocks, differ little +from those now living. But the observations geologists have been able to +make upon these gigantic remains of the ancient world are too few to +allow of any very precise conclusion. It is certain, however, that the +fossil differs from the existing Whale in certain characters drawn from +the bones of the cranium. The discovery of an enormous fragment of a +fossil Whale, made at Paris in 1779, in the cellar of a wine-merchant in +the Rue Dauphine, created a great sensation. Science pronounced, without +much hesitation, on the true origin of these remains; but the public had +some difficulty in comprehending the existence of a whale in the Rue +Dauphine. It was in digging some holes in his cellars that the +wine-merchant made this interesting discovery. His workmen found, under +the pick, an enormous piece of bone buried in a yellow clay. Its +complete extraction caused him a great deal of labour, and presented +many difficulties. Little interested in making further discoveries, our +wine-merchant contented himself with raising, with the help of a chisel, +a portion of the monstrous bone. The piece thus detached weighed 227 +pounds. It was exhibited in the wine-shop, where large numbers of the +curious went to see it. Lamanon, a naturalist of that day, who examined +it, conjectured that the bone belonged to the head of a whale. As to the +bone itself, it was purchased for the Teyler Museum, at Haarlem, where +it still remains. + +There exists in the Museum of Natural History in Paris only a copy of +the bone of the whale of the Rue Dauphine, which received the name of +_Balænodon Lamanoni_. The examination of this figure by Cuvier led him +to recognise it as a bone belonging to one of the antediluvian Balænæ, +which differed not only from the living species, but from all others +known up to this time. + +Since the days of Lamanon, other bones of Balæna have been discovered in +the soil in different countries, but the study of these fossils has +always left something to be desired. In 1806 a fossil Balæna was +disinterred at Monte-Pulgnasco by M. Cortesi. Another skeleton, +seventy-two feet long, was found on the banks of the river Forth, near +Alloa, in Scotland. In 1816 many bones of this animal were discovered in +a little valley formed by a brook running into the Chiavana, one of the +affluents of the Po. + +Cuvier has established, among the cetacean fossils, a particular genus, +which he designates under the name of _Ziphius_. The animals to which he +gave the name, however, are not identical either with the Whales +(_Balænæ_), the Cachelots or Sperm Whales, or with the Hyperoodons. They +hold, in the order of Cetaceans, the place that the Palæotherium and +Anoplotherium occupy among the Pachyderms, or that which the Megatherium +and Megalonyx occupy in the order of the Edentates. The _Ziphius_ still +lives in the Mediterranean. + +[Illustration: Fig. 178.--Pecten Jacobæus. + +(Living species.)] + + * * * * * + +The genera of Mollusca, which distinguish this period from all others, +are very numerous. They include the Cardium, Panopæa, Pecten (Fig. +178), Fusus, Murex, Cypræa, Voluta, Chenopus, Buccinum, Nassa, and many +others. + + * * * * * + +The _Pliocene_ series prevails over Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, where +it is popularly known as the Crag. In Essex it rests directly on the +London Clay. Near Norwich it rests on the Chalk. + +The _Pliocene rocks_ are divided into lower and upper. The _Older +Pliocene_ comprises the White or Coralline Crag, including the Red Crag +of Suffolk, containing marine shells, of which sixty per cent. are of +extinct species. The _Newer Pliocene_ is represented by the +Fluvio-marine or Norwich Crag, which last, according to the Rev. Osmond +Fisher, is overlaid by Chillesford clay, a very variable and more arctic +deposit, often passing suddenly into sands without a trace of clay. + +The Norfolk Forest Bed rests upon the Chillesford clay, when that is not +denuded. + +A ferruginous bed, rich in mammalian remains, and known as the Elephant +bed, overlies the Forest Bed, of which it is considered by the Rev. John +Gunn to be an upper division. + +The Crag, divided into three portions, is a local deposit of limited +extent. It consists of variable beds of sand, gravel, and marl; +sometimes it is a shelly ferruginous grit, as the Red Crag; at others a +soft calcareous rock made up of shells and bryozoa, as the Coralline +Crag. + +The _Coralline Crag_, of very limited extent in this country, ranges +over about twenty miles between the rivers Stour and Alde, with a +breadth of three or four. It consists of two divisions--an upper one, +formed chiefly of the remains of Bryozoa, and a lower one of +light-coloured sands, with a profusion of shells. The upper division is +about thirty-six feet thick at Sudbourne in Suffolk, where it consists +of a series of beds almost entirely composed of comminuted shells and +remains of Bryozoa, forming a soft building-stone. The lower division is +about forty-seven feet thick at Sutton; making the total thickness of +the Coralline Crag about eighty-three feet. + +Many of the Coralline Crag Mollusca belong to living species; they are +supposed to indicate an equable climate free from intense cold--an +inference rendered more probable by the prevalence of northern forms of +shells, such as _Glycimeris_, _Cyprina_, and _Astarte_. The late +Professor Edward Forbes, to whom science is indebted for so many +philosophical deductions, points out some remarkable inferences drawn +from the fauna of the Pliocene seas.[95] It appears that in the glacial +period, which we shall shortly have under consideration, many shells, +previously established in the temperate zone, retreated southwards, to +avoid an uncongenial climate. The Professor gives a list of fifty which +inhabited the British seas while the Coralline and Red Crag were +forming, but which are all wanting in the glacial deposits;[96] from +which he infers that they migrated at the approach of the glacial +period, and returned again northwards, when the temperate climate was +restored.[97] + + [95] Edward Forbes in “Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great + Britain,” vol. i., p. 336. + + [96] For full information on these deposits the reader is referred to + the “Memoirs on the Structure of the Crag-beds of Norfolk and + Suffolk,” by J. Prestwich, F.R.S., in the _Quart. Jour. Geol. + Soc._, vol. xxvii., pp. 115, 325, and 452 (1871). Also to the + many Papers by the Messrs. Searles Wood published in the _Quar. + Jour. Geol. Soc._, the _Ann. Nat. Hist._, the _Phil. Mag._, &c. + + [97] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 203. + +In the Upper or Mammaliferous (or Norwich) Crag, of which there is a +good exposure in a pit near the asylum at Thorpe, bones of Mammalia are +found with existing species of shells. The greater number of the +Mammalian remains have been supposed, until lately, to be extraneous +fossils; but they are now considered by Mr. Prestwich as truly +contemporaneous. The peculiar mixture of southern forms of life with +others of a more northern type lead to the inference that, at this early +period, a lowering of temperature began gradually to set in from the +period of the Coralline Crag to that of the Forest Bed, which marks the +commencement of the Glacial Period. + +The distinction between the Mammaliferous Crag of Norwich and the Red +Crag of Suffolk is purely palæontological, no case of superposition +having yet been discovered, and they are now generally considered as +contemporaneous. Two Proboscidians abundant during the Crag period were +the _Mastodon Arvernensis_ and the _Elephas meridionalis_. In the Red +Crag the Mastodon is stated by the Rev. John Gunn to be more abundant +than the Elephant, while in the Norwich beds their proportions are +nearly equal. + +At or near the base of the Red Crag there is a remarkable accumulation, +varying in thickness from a few inches to two feet, of bones, teeth, and +phosphatic nodules (called coprolites), which are worked for making +superphosphate of lime for agricultural manure. + +The foreign equivalents of the older Pliocene are found in the +_sub-Apennine strata_. These rocks are sufficiently remarkable in the +county of Suffolk, where they consist of a series of marine beds of +quartzose sand, coloured red by ferruginous matter. + +At the foot of the Apennine chain, which forms the backbone, as it +were, of Italy, throwing out many spurs, the formations on either side, +and on both sides of the Adriatic, are Tertiary strata; they form in +many cases, low hills lying between the Apennines of Secondary formation +and the sea, the strata generally being a light-brown or bluish marl +covered with yellow calcareous sand and gravel, with some fossil shells, +which, according to Brocchi, are found all over Italy. But this wide +range includes some older Tertiary formations, as in the strata of the +Superga near Turin, which are Miocene. + +The _Antwerp_ Crag, which is of the same age with the Red and Coralline +Crag of Suffolk, forms great accumulations upon divers points of Europe: +at Antwerp in Belgium, at Carentan and Perpignan, and, we believe, in +the basin of the Rhône, in France. The thickest deposits of this rock +consist of clay and sand, alternating with marl and arenaceous +limestone. These constitute the sub-Apennine hills, alluded to above as +extending on both slopes of the Apennines. This deposit occupies the +Upper Val d’Arno, above Florence. Its presence is recognised over a +great part of Australia. Finally, the seven hills of Rome are composed, +in part, of marine Tertiary rocks belonging to the Pliocene period. + +In PLATE XXV. an ideal landscape of the Pliocene period is given under +European latitudes. In the background of the picture, a mountain, +recently thrown up, reminds us that the period was one of frequent +convulsions, in which the land was disturbed and upheaved, and mountains +and mountain-ranges made their appearance. The vegetation is nearly +identical with the present. We see assembled in the foreground the more +important animals of the period--the fossil species, as well as those +which have survived to the present time. + +At the close of the Pliocene period, and in consequence of the deposits +left by the seas of the Tertiary epoch, the continent of Europe was +nearly what it is now; few permanent changes have occurred since to +disturb its general outline. Although the point does not admit of actual +proof, there is strong presumptive evidence that in this period, or in +that immediately subsequent to it, the entire European area, with some +trifling exceptions, including the Alps and Apennines, emerged from the +deep. In Sicily, Newer Pliocene rocks, covering nearly half the surface +of the island, have been raised from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the level +of the sea. Fossil shells have been observed at the height of 8,000 feet +in the Pyrenees; and, as if to fix the date of upheaval, there are great +masses of granite which have penetrated the Lias and the Chalk. Fossil +shells of the period are also found at a height of 10,000 feet in the +Alps, at 13,000 feet in the Andes, and at 18,000 feet in the Himalayas. + +[Illustration: XXV.--Ideal Landscape of the Pliocene Period.] + +In the mountainous regions of the Alps it is always difficult to +determine the age of beds, in consequence of the disturbed state of the +strata; for instance, the lofty chain of the Swiss Jura consists of many +parallel ridges, with intervening longitudinal valleys; the ridges +formed of contorted fossiliferous strata, which are extensive in +proportion to the number and thickness of the formations which have been +exposed on upheaval. The proofs which these regions offer of +comparatively recent elevation are numerous. In the central Alps, +Cretaceous, Oolitic, Liassic, and Eocene strata are found at the +loftiest summits, passing insensibly into metamorphic rocks of granular +limestone, and into talcose and mica-schists. In the eastern parts of +the chain the older fossiliferous rocks are recognised in similar +positions, presenting signs of intense Plutonic action. Oolitic and +Cretaceous strata have been raised 12,000 feet, Eocene 10,000, and +Miocene 4,000 and 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Equally +striking proofs of recent elevation exist in the Apennines; the +celebrated Carrara marble, once supposed--from its crystalline texture +and the absence of fossils, and from its resting--1. on talcose schists, +2. on quartz and gneiss--to be very ancient, now turns out to be an +altered limestone of the Oolitic series, and the underlying crystalline +rocks to be metamorphosed Secondary sandstones and shales. Had all these +rocks undergone complete metamorphism, another page in the earth’s +history would have been obscured. As it is, the proofs of what we state +are found in the gradual approach of the rocks to their unaltered +condition as the distance from the intrusive rock increases. This +intrusive rock, however, does not always reach the surface, but it +exists below at no great depth, and is observed piercing through the +talcose gneiss, and passing up into Secondary strata. + +At the close of this epoch, therefore, there is every probability that +Europe and Asia had pretty nearly attained their present general +configuration. + + + + +QUATERNARY EPOCH. + + +The Quaternary epoch of the history of our globe commences at the close +of the Tertiary epoch, and brings the narrative of its revolutions down +to our own times. + +The tranquillity of the globe was only disturbed during this era by +certain cataclysms whose sphere was limited and local, and by an +interval of cold of very extended duration; the _deluges_ and the +_glacial_ period--these are the two most remarkable peculiarities which +distinguished this epoch. But the fact which predominates in the +Quaternary epoch, and distinguishes it from all other phases of the +earth’s history is the appearance of man, the culminating and supreme +work of the Creator of the universe. + +In this last phase of the history of the earth geology recognises three +chronological divisions:-- + + 1. The European Deluges. + + 2. The Glacial Period. + + 3. The creation of man and subsequent Asiatic Deluge. + +Before describing the three orders of events which occurred in the +Quaternary epoch, we shall present a brief sketch of the organic +kingdoms of Nature, namely, of the animals and vegetables which +flourished at this date, and the new formations which arose. Lyell, and +some other geologists, designate this the POST-TERTIARY EPOCH, which +they divide into two subordinate groups.--1. _The Post-Pliocene Period_; +2. _The Recent or Pleistocene Period._ + + +POST-PLIOCENE PERIOD. + +In the days of Cuvier the Tertiary formations were considered as a mere +chaos of superficial deposits, having no distinct relations to each +other. It was reserved for the English geologists, with Sir Charles +Lyell at their head, to throw light upon this obscure page of the +earth’s history; from the study of fossils, science has not only +re-animated the animals, it has re-constructed the theatre of their +existence. We see the British Islands now a straggling archipelago, and +then the mouth of a vast river, of which the continent is lost; for, +says Professor Ramsay, “We are not of necessity to consider Great +Britain as having always been an island; it is an accident that it is an +island now, and it has been an island many times before.” In the +Tertiary epoch we see it surrounded, then, by shallow seas swarming with +numerous forms of animal life; islands covered with bushy Palms; banks +on which Turtles basked in the sun; vast basins of fresh or brackish +water, in which the tide made itself felt, and which abounded with +various species of sharks; rivers in which Crocodiles increased and +multiplied; woods which sheltered numerous Mammals and some Serpents of +large size; fresh-water lakes which received the spoils of numerous +shells. Dry land had increased immensely. Groups of ancient isles we +have seen united and become continents, with lakes, bays, and perhaps +inland seas. Gigantic Elephants, vastly larger than any now existing, +close the epoch, and probably usher in the succeeding one; for we are +not to suppose any sudden break to distinguish one period from another +in Nature, although it is convenient to arrange them so for the purposes +of description. If we may judge from their remains, these animals must +have existed in great numbers, for it is stated that on the coast of +Norfolk alone the fishermen, in trawling for oysters, dredged up between +1820 and 1833, no less than 2,000 molar teeth of Elephants. If we +consider how slowly these animals multiply, these quarries of ivory, as +we may call them, must have required many centuries for their production +and accumulation. + +The same lakes and rivers were at this time occupied, also, by the +Hippopotamus, as large and as formidably armed as that now inhabiting +the African solitudes; also the two-horned Rhinoceros; and three species +of Bos, one of which was hairy and bore a mane. Some Deer of gigantic +size, as compared with living species, bounded over the plains. In the +same savannahs lived the Reindeer, the Stag, a Horse of small size, the +Ass, the Bear, and the Roe, for Mammals had succeeded the Ichthyosauri +of a former age. Nevertheless, the epoch had its tyrants also. A Lion, +as large as the largest of the Lions of Africa, hunted its prey in the +British jungles. Another animal of the feline race, the _Machairodus_ +(Fig. 179), was probably the most ferocious and destructive of +Carnivora; bands of Hyænas and a terrible Bear, surpassing in size that +of the Rocky Mountains, had established themselves in the caverns; two +species of Beaver made their appearance on the scene. + +[Illustration: Fig. 179.--_a_, Tooth of Machairodus, imperfect below, +natural size; _b_, outline of cast of tooth, perfect, half natural size; +_c_, tooth of Megalosaurus, natural size.] + +The finding of the remains of most of these animals in caverns was +perhaps among the most interesting discoveries of geology. The discovery +was first made in the celebrated Kirkdale Cave in Yorkshire, which has +been described by Dr. Buckland; and afterwards at Kent’s Hole, near +Torquay. This latter pleasant Devonshire town is built in a creek, shut +out from exposure on all sides except the south. In this creek, hollowed +out of the rocks, is the great fissure or cavern known as Kent’s Hole; +like that of Kirkdale, it has been under water, from whence, after a +longer or shorter interval, it emerged, but remained entirely closed +till the moment when chance led to its discovery. The principal cavern +is 600 feet in length, with many crevices or fissures of smaller extent +traversing the rock in various directions. A bed of hard stalagmite of +very ancient formation, which has been again covered with a thin layer +of soil, forms the floor of the cavern, which is a red sandy clay. From +this bed of red loam or clay was disinterred a mass of fossil bones +belonging to extinct species of Bear, Lion, Rhinoceros, Reindeer, +Beaver, and Hyæna. + +Such an assemblage gave rise to all sorts of conjectures. It was +generally thought that the dwelling of some beasts of prey had been +discovered, which had dragged the carcases of elephants, deer, and +others into these caves, to devour them at leisure. Others asked if, in +some cases, instinct did not impel sick animals, or animals broken down +by old age, to seek such places for the purpose of dying in quiet; while +others, again, suggested that these bones might have been engulfed +pell-mell in the hole during some ancient inundation. However that may +be, the remains discovered in these caves show that all these Mammals +existed at the close of the Tertiary epoch, and that they all lived in +England. What were the causes which led to their extinction? + +It was the opinion of Cuvier and the early geologists that the ancient +species were destroyed in some great and sudden catastrophe, from which +none made their escape. But recent geologists trace their extinction to +slow, successive, and determinative action due to local causes, the +chief one being the gradual lowering of the temperature. We have seen +that at the beginning of the Tertiary epoch, in the older Eocene age, +palms, cocoa-nuts, and acacias, resembling those now met with in +countries more favoured by the sun, grew in our island. The Miocene +flora presents indications of a climate still warm, but less tropical; +and the Pliocene period, which follows, contains remains which announce +an approach to our present climate. In following the vegetable +productions of the Tertiary epoch, the botanist meets with the floras of +Africa, South America, and Australia, and finally settles in the flora +of temperate Europe. Many circumstances demonstrate this decreasing +temperature, until we arrive at what geologists call the _glacial +period_--one of the winters of the ancient world. + +But before entering on the evidences which exist of the glacial era we +shall glance at the picture presented by the animals of the period; the +vegetable products we need not dwell on--it is, in fact, that of our own +era, the flora of temperate regions in our own epoch. The same remark +would apply to the animals, but for some signal exceptions. In this +epoch Man appears, and some of the Mammals of the last epoch, but of +larger dimensions, have long disappeared. The more remarkable of these +extinct animals we shall describe, as we have those belonging to +anterior ages. They are not numerous; those of our hemisphere being the +Mammoth, _Elephas primigenius_; the Bear, _Ursus spelæus_; gigantic +Lion, _Felis spelæa_; Hyæna, _Hyæna spelæa_; Ox, _Bison priscus_, _Bos +primigenius_; the gigantic Stag, _Cervus megaceros_; to which we may add +the _Dinornis_ and _Epiornis_, among birds. In America there existed in +the Quaternary epoch some Edentates of colossal dimensions and of very +peculiar structure, these were _Megatherium_, _Megalonyx_, and +_Mylodon_; we shall pass these animals in review, beginning with those +of our own hemisphere. + +The Mammoth, the skeleton of which is represented in Fig. 180, surpassed +the largest existing Elephants of the tropics in size, for it was from +sixteen to eighteen feet in height. The teeth, and the size of the +monstrous tusks, much curved, and with a spiral turn outwards, and which +were from ten to fifteen feet in length, serve to distinguish the +Mammoth from the two Elephants living at the present day, the African +and the Indian. The form of its teeth permits of its being distinguished +from its ally, the Mastodon; for while the teeth of the latter have +rough mammillations on their surface, those of the Mammoth, like those +of the living Indian Elephant, have a broad united surface, with regular +furrowed lines of large curvature. The teeth of the Mammoth are four in +number, like the Elephants, two in each jaw when the animal is adult, +its head is elongated, its forehead concave, its jaws curved and +truncated in front. It has been an easy task, as we shall see, to +recognise the general form and structure of the Mammoth, even to its +skin. We know beyond a doubt that it was thickly covered with long +shaggy hair, and that a copious mane floated upon its neck and along its +back; its trunk resembled that of the Indian Elephant; its body was +heavy, with a tail naked to the end, which was covered with thick tufty +hair, and its legs were comparatively shorter than those of the latter +animal, many of the habits of which it nevertheless possessed. +Blumenbach gave it the specific name of _Elephas primigenius_. + +[Illustration: Fig. 180.--Skeleton of the Mammoth, Elephas primigenius.] + +In all ages, and in almost all countries, chance discoveries have been +made of fossil bones of elephants in the soil. Pliny has transmitted to +us a tradition, recorded by the historian Theophrastus, who wrote 320 +years before Jesus Christ, of the existence of bones of fossil ivory in +the soil of Greece, that the bones were sometimes transformed into +stones. “These bones,” the historian gravely tells us, “were both black +and white, and born of the earth.” Some of the elephant’s bones having a +slight resemblance to those of man, they have often been mistaken for +human bones. In the earlier historic times these great bones, +accidentally disinterred, have passed as having belonged to some hero or +demigod; at a later period they were thought to be the bones of giants. +We have already spoken of the mistake made by the Greeks in taking the +patella of a fossil elephant for the knee-bone of Ajax; in the same +manner the bones revealed by an earthquake, and attributed by Pliny to a +giant, belonged, no doubt, to a fossil elephant. To a similar origin we +may assign the pretended body of Orestes, thirteen feet in length, which +was discovered at Tegea by the Spartans; those of Asterius, the son of +Ajax, discovered in the Isle of Ladea, of ten cubits in length (about +eighteen feet), according to Pausanius; finally, such were the great +bones found in the Isle of Rhodes, of which Phlegon of Tralles speaks in +his “Mundus Subterraneus.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 181.--Tooth of the Mammoth.] + +We might fill volumes with the history of the remains of pretended +giants found in ancient tombs. The books, in fact, which exist, formed a +voluminous literature in the middle ages--entitled _Gigantology_. All +the facts, more or less real, true or imaginative, may be explained by +the accidental discovery of the bones of some of these gigantic animals. +We find in works on Gigantology, the history of a pretended giant, +discovered in the 4th century, at Trapani in Sicily, of which Boccaccio +speaks, and which may be taken for Polyphemus; of another, found in the +16th century, according to Fasellus, near Palermo; others, according to +the same author, at Melilli between Leontium and Syracuse, Calatrasi and +Petralia, at each of which places the bones of supposed giants were +disinterred. P. Kircher speaks of three other giants being found in +Sicily, of which only the teeth remained perfect. + +In 1577, a storm having uprooted an oak near the cloisters of Reyden, in +the Canton of Lucerne, in Switzerland, some large bones were exposed to +view. Seven years after, the celebrated physician and Professor at +Basle, Felix Pläten, being at Lucerne, examined these bones, and +declared they could only be those of a giant. The Council of Lucerne +consented to send the bones to Basle for more minute examination, and +Pläten thought himself justified in attributing to the giant a height of +nineteen feet. He designed a human skeleton on this scale, and returned +the bones with the drawing to Lucerne. In 1706 there only remained of +these bones a portion of the scapula and a fragment of the wrist bone; +the anatomist Blumenbach, who saw them at the beginning of the century, +easily recognised in them the bones of an Elephant. Let us not omit to +add, as a complement to this story, that since the sixteenth century, +the inhabitants of Lucerne have adopted the image of this fabulous giant +as the supporter of the city arms. + +Spanish history preserves many stories of giants. The supposed tooth of +St. Christopher, shown at Valence, in the church dedicated to the saint, +was certainly the molar tooth of a fossil Elephant; and in 1789, the +canons of St. Vincent carried through the streets in public procession, +to procure rain, the pretended arm of a saint, which was nothing more +than the femur of an Elephant. + +In France, in the reign of Charles VII. (1456), some of these bones of +imaginary giants appeared in the bed of the Rhône. A repetition of the +phenomenon occurred near Saint-Peirat, opposite Valence, when the +Dauphin, afterwards Louis XI., then residing at the latter place, caused +the bones to be gathered together and sent to Bourges, where they long +remained objects of public curiosity in the interior of the +Sainte-Chapelle. In 1564 a similar discovery took place in the same +neighbourhood. Two peasants observed on the banks of the Rhône, along a +slope, some great bones sticking out of the ground. They carried them to +the neighbouring village, where they were examined by Cassanion, who +lived at Valence. It was no doubt apropos to this that Cassanion wrote +his treatise “De Gigantibus.” The description given by the author of a +tooth sufficed, according to Cuvier, to prove that it belonged to an +Elephant; it was a foot in length, and weighed eight pounds. It was also +on the banks of the Rhône, but in Dauphiny, as we have seen, that the +skeleton of the famous Teutobocchus, of which we have spoken in a +previous chapter, was found. + +In 1663 Otto de Guericke, the illustrious inventor of the air-pump, +witnessed the discovery of the bones of an Elephant, buried in the +shelly limestone, or Muschelkalk. Along with it were found its enormous +tusks, which should have sufficed to establish its zoological origin. +Nevertheless they were taken for horns, and the illustrious Leibnitz +composed, out of the remains, a strange animal, carrying a horn in the +middle of its forehead, and in each jaw a dozen molar teeth a foot long. +Having fabricated this fantastic animal, Leibnitz named it also--he +called it the _fossil unicorn_. In his “Protogæa,” a work remarkable +besides as the first attempt at a theory of the earth, Leibnitz gave the +description and a drawing of this imaginary animal. During more than +thirty years the unicorn of Leibnitz was universally accepted throughout +Germany; and nothing less than the discovery of the entire skeleton of +the Mammoth in the valley of the Unstrut was required to produce a +change of opinion. This skeleton was at once recognised by Tinzel, +librarian to the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, as that of an Elephant, and was +established as such; not, however, without a keen controversy with +adversaries of all kinds. + +In 1700 a soldier of Würtemberg accidentally observed some bones showing +themselves projecting out of the earth, in an argillaceous soil, near +the city of Canstadt, not far from the banks of the Necker. Having +addressed a report to the reigning Duke, the latter caused the place to +be excavated, which occupied nearly six months. A veritable cemetery of +elephants was discovered, in which were not less than sixty tusks. Those +which were entire were preserved; the fragments were abandoned to the +court physician, and they became a mere vulgar medicine. In the last +century the fossil bones of bears, which were abundant in Germany, were +administered in that country medicinally, as an absorbent, astringent, +and sudorific. It was then called by the German doctors the _Ebur +fossile_, or _Unicornu fossile_, _Licorn fossil_. The magnificent tusks +of the Mammoth found at Canstadt helped to combat fever and colic. What +an intelligent man this court physician of Würtemberg must have been! + +Numerous discoveries like those we have quoted distinguished the 18th +century; but the progress of science has now rendered such mistakes as +we have had to relate impossible. These bones were at length universally +recognised as belonging to an Elephant, but erudition now intervened, +and helped to obscure a subject which was otherwise perfectly clear. +Some learned pedant declared that the bones found in Italy and France +were the remains of the Elephants which Hannibal brought from Carthage +with the army in his expedition against the Romans. The part of France +where the most ancient bones of these Elephants were found is in the +environs of the Rhône, and consequently on the route of the Carthaginian +general, and this consideration appeared to these terrible savants to be +a particularly triumphant answer to the naturalist’s reasoning. Again, +at a later period, Domitius Ænobarbus conducted the Carthaginian armies, +which were followed by a number of Elephants, armed for war. Cuvier +scarcely took the trouble to refute this insignificant objection. It is +merely necessary to read, in his learned dissertation, of the number of +elephants which could remain to Hannibal when he had entered Gaul. + +But the best reply that can be made to this strange objection raised by +the learned, is to show how extensively these fossil bones of Elephants +are scattered, not in Europe only, but over the world--there are few +regions of the globe in which their remains are not found. In the north +of Europe, in Scandinavia, in Ireland, in Belgium, in Germany, in +Central Europe, in Poland, in Middle Russia, in South Russia, in Greece, +in Italy, in Africa, in Asia, and, as we have seen, in England. In the +New World remains of the Mammoth are also met with. What is most +singular is that these remains exist more especially in great numbers in +the north of Europe, in the frozen regions of Siberia--regions +altogether uninhabitable for the Elephant in our days. “There is not,” +says Pallas, “in all Asiatic Russia, from the Don to the extremity of +the promontory of Tchutchis, a stream or river, especially of those +which flow in the plains, on the banks of which some bones of Elephants +and other animals foreign to the climate have not been found. But in the +more elevated regions, the primitive and schistose chains, they are +wanting, as are marine petrifactions. But in the lower slopes and in the +great muddy and sandy plains, above all, in places which are swept by +rivers and brooks, they are always found, which proves that we should +not the less find them throughout the whole extent of the country if we +had the same means of searching for them.” + +Every year in the season when thaw takes place, the vast rivers which +descend to the Frozen Ocean in the north of Siberia sweep down with +their waters numerous portions of the banks, and expose to view bones +buried in the soil and in the excavations left by the rushing waters. +Cuvier gives a long list of places in Russia in which interesting +discoveries have been made of Elephants’ bones; and it is certainly +curious that the more we advance towards the north in Russia the more +numerous and extensive do the bone depositories become. In spite of the +oft-repeated and undoubted testimony of numerous travellers, we can +scarcely credit the statements made respecting some of the islands of +the glacial sea near the poles, situated opposite the mouth of the Lena +and of the Indighirka. Here, for example, is an extract from “Billing’s +Voyage” concerning these isles: “The whole island (which is about +thirty-three leagues in length), except three or four small rocky +mountains, is a mixture of ice and sand; and as the shores fall, from +the heat of the sun’s thawing them, the tusks and bones of the mammont +are found in great abundance. To use Chvoinoff’s own expression, the +island is formed of the bones of this extraordinary animal, mixed with +the horns and heads of the buffalo, or something like it, and some horns +of the rhinoceros.” + +New Siberia and the Lächow Islands off the mouth of the river Lena, are, +for the most part, only an agglomeration of sand, ice, and Elephants’ +teeth. At every tempest the sea casts ashore new quantities of mammoths’ +tusks, and the inhabitants of Siberia carry on a profitable commerce in +this fossil ivory. Every year, during the summer, innumerable +fishermen’s barks direct their course towards this _isle of bones_; and, +during winter, immense caravans take the same route, all the convoys +drawn by dogs, returning charged with the tusks of the Mammoth, each +weighing from 150 to 200 pounds. The fossil ivory thus withdrawn from +the frozen north is imported into China and Europe, where it is employed +for the same purposes as ordinary ivory, which is furnished, as we know, +by the existing Elephant and Hippopotamus of Africa and Asia. + +The _Isle of Bones_ has served as a quarry of this valuable material, +for export to China, for 500 years; and it has been exported to Europe +for upwards of 100. But the supply from these strange diggings +apparently remains practically undiminished. What a number of +accumulated generations of these bones and tusks does not this profusion +imply! + +It was in Siberia that the fossil Elephant received the name of the +_Mammoth_, and its tusks that of _mammoth horns_. The celebrated Russian +savant, Pallas, who gave the first systematic description of the +Mammoth, asserts that the name is derived from the word _mama_, which in +the Tartar idiom signifies the _earth_. According to others, the name is +derived from _behemoth_, mentioned in the Book of Job; or from the +epithet _mahemoth_, which the Arabs add to the word “elephant,” to +designate one of unusual size. A curious circumstance enough is, that +this same legend of an animal living exclusively under ground, exists +amongst the Chinese. They call it _tien-schu_, and we read, in the +great Chinese work on natural history, which was written in the +sixteenth century: “The animal named _tien-schu_, of which we have +already spoken in the ancient work upon the ceremonial entitled “Lyki” +(a work of the fifth century before Jesus Christ), is called also +_tyn-schu_ or _yn-schu_, that is to say, _the mouse which hides itself_. +It always lives in subterranean caverns; it resembles a mouse, but is of +the size of a buffalo or ox. It has no tail; its colour is dark; it is +very strong, and excavates caverns in places full of rocks, and +forests.” Another writer, quoting the same passage, thus expresses +himself: “The _tyn-schu_ haunts obscure and unfrequented places. It dies +as soon as it is exposed to the rays of the sun or moon; its feet are +short in proportion to its size, which causes it to walk badly. Its tail +is a Chinese ell in length. Its eyes are small, and its neck short. It +is very stupid and sluggish. When the inundations of the river +_Tamschuann-tuy_ took place (in 1571), a great many tyn-schu appeared in +the plain; it fed on the roots of the plant _fu-kia_.” + +The existence in Russia of the bones and tusks of the Mammoth is +sufficiently confirmed by the following extract from an old Russian +traveller, Ysbrants Ides, who, in 1692, was sent by Peter the Great as +ambassador to the Emperor of China. In the extract which follows, we +remark the very surprising fact of the discovery of a head and foot of +the Mammoth which had been preserved in ice with all the flesh. “Amongst +the hills which are situate north-east of the river Kata,” says the +traveller, “the Mammuts’ tongues and legs are found, as they are also +particularly on the shores of the river Jenize, Trugan, Mongamsea, Lena, +and near Jakutskoi, even as far as the Frozen Ocean. In the spring, when +the ice of this river breaks, it is driven in such vast quantities and +with such force by the high swollen waters, that it frequently carries +very high banks before it, and breaks off the tops of hills, which, +falling down, discover these animals whole, or their teeth only, almost +frozen to the earth, which thaw by degrees. I had a person with me who +had annually gone out in search of these bones; he told it to me as a +real truth, that he and his companions found the head of one of these +animals, which was discovered by the fall of such a frozen piece of +earth. As soon as he opened it, he found the greatest part of the flesh +rotten, but it was not without difficulty that they broke out his teeth, +which were placed in the fore-part of his mouth, as those of the +Elephants are; they also took some bones out of his head, and afterwards +came to his fore-foot, which they cut off, and carried part of it to the +city of Trugan, the circumference of it being as large as that of the +waist of an ordinary man. The bones of the head appeared somewhat red, +as though they were tinctured with blood. + +“Concerning this animal there are very different reports. The heathens +of Jakuti, Tungusi, and Ostiacki, say that they continually, or at +least, by reason of the very hard frosts, mostly live under ground, +where they go backwards and forwards; to confirm which they tell us, +that they have often seen the earth heaved up when one of these beasts +was upon the march, and after he was passed, the place sink in, and +thereby make a deep pit. They further believe, that if this animal comes +so near to the surface of the frozen earth as to smell the air, he +immediately dies, which they say is the reason that several of them are +found dead on the high banks of the river, where they unawares came out +of the ground. + +“This is the opinion of the Infidels concerning these beasts, which are +never seen. + +“But the old Siberian Russians affirm, that the Mammuth is very like the +Elephant, with this difference only, that the teeth of the former are +firmer, and not so straight as those of the latter. They also are of +opinion that there were Elephants in this country before the Deluge, +when this climate was warmer, and that their drowned bodies, floating on +the surface of the water of that flood, were at last washed and forced +into subterranean cavities; but that after this universal deluge, the +air, which before was warm, was changed to cold, and that these bones +have lain frozen in the earth ever since, and so are preserved from +putrefaction till they thaw, and come to light, which is no very +unreasonable conjecture, though it is not absolutely necessary that this +climate should have been warmer before the Flood, since the carcases of +the drowned elephants were very likely to float from other places +several hundred miles distant to this country in the great deluge which +covered the surface of the whole earth. Some of these teeth, which +doubtless have lain the whole summer on the shore, are entirely black +and broken, and can never be restored to their former condition. But +those which are found in good case, are as good as ivory, and are +accordingly transported to all parts of Muscovy, where they are used to +make combs, and all other such-like things, instead of ivory. + +“The above-mentioned person also told me that he once found two teeth in +one head that weighed above twelve Russian pounds, which amount to four +hundred German pounds; so that these animals must of necessity be very +large, though a great many lesser teeth are found. By all that I could +gather from the heathens, no person ever saw one of these beasts alive, +or can give any account of its shape; so that all we heard said on this +subject arises from bare conjecture only.” + +It is possible this recital may seem suspicious to some readers. We have +ourselves felt some difficulty in believing that this head and foot were +taken from the ice, with the flesh and skin, when we consider that the +animal to which they belonged has been extinct probably more than ten +thousand years. But the assertion of Ysbrants Ides is confirmed by +respectable testimony of more recent date. In 1800, a Russian +naturalist, Gabriel Sarytschew, travelled in northern Siberia. Having +arrived in the neighbourhood of the Frozen Ocean, he found upon the +banks of the Alasœia, which discharges itself into this sea, the entire +body of a Mammoth enveloped in a mass of ice. The body was in a complete +state of preservation, for the permanent contact of the ice had kept out +the air and prevented decomposition. It is well known that at zero and +below it, animal substances will not putrefy, so that in our households +we can preserve all kinds of animal food as long as we can surround them +with ice; and this is precisely what happened to the Mammoth found by +Gabriel Sarytschew in the ice of the Alasœia. The rolling waters had +disengaged the mass of ice which had imprisoned the monstrous pachyderm +for thousands of years. The body, in a complete state of preservation +and covered with its flesh as well as its entire hide, to which long +hairs adhered in certain places, found itself, again, nearly erect on +its four feet. + +The Russian naturalist Adams, in 1806, made a discovery quite as +extraordinary as the preceding. We borrow his account from a paper by +Dr. Tilesius in the “Memoirs of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. +Petersburg” (vol. v.). In 1799, a Tungusian chief, Ossip Schumachoff, +while seeking for mammoth-horns on the banks of the lake Oncoul, +perceived among the blocks of ice a shapeless mass, not at all +resembling the large pieces of floating wood which are commonly found +there. The following year he noticed that this mass was more disengaged +from the blocks of ice, and had two projecting parts, but he was still +unable to make out what it could be. Towards the end of the following +summer one entire side of the animal and one of his tusks were quite +free from the ice. But the succeeding summer of 1802, which was less +warm and more windy than common, caused the Mammoth to remain buried in +the ice, which had scarcely melted at all. At length, towards the end of +the fifth year (1803), the ice between the earth and the Mammoth having +melted faster than the rest, the plane of its support became inclined; +and this enormous mass fell by its own weight on a bank of sand. In the +month of March, 1804, Schumachoff cut off the horns (the tusks), which +he exchanged with the merchant Bultenof for goods of the value of fifty +roubles (not quite eight pounds sterling). It was not till two years +after this that Mr. Adams, of the St. Petersburg Academy, who was +travelling with Count Golovkin, sent by the Czar of Russia on an embassy +to China, having been told at Jakutsk of the discovery of an animal of +extraordinary magnitude on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, near the +mouth of the river Lena, betook himself to the place. He found the +Mammoth still in the same place, but altogether mutilated. The +Jakoutskis of the neighbourhood had cut off the flesh, with which they +fed their dogs; wild beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines, +and foxes, had also fed upon it, and traces of their footsteps were seen +around. The skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, remained +whole, with the exception of one fore-leg. The spine of the back, one +scapula, the pelvis, and the other three limbs were still held together +by the ligaments and by parts of the skin; the other scapula was found +not far off. The head was covered with a dry skin; one of the ears was +furnished with a tuft of hairs; the balls of the eyes were still +distinguishable; the brain still occupied the cranium, but seemed dried +up; the point of the lower lip had been gnawed and the upper lip had +been destroyed so as to expose the teeth; the neck was furnished with a +long flowing mane; the skin, of a dark-grey colour, covered with black +hairs and a reddish wool, was so heavy that ten persons found great +difficulty in transporting it to the shore. There was collected, +according to Mr. Adams, more than thirty-six pounds’ weight of hair and +wool which the white bears had trod into the ground, while devouring the +flesh. This Mammoth was a male so fat and well fed, according to the +assertion of the Tungusian chief, that its belly hung down below the +joints of its knees. Its tusks were nine feet six inches in length, +measured along the curve, and its head without the tusks weighed 414 +pounds avoirdupois. + +Mr. Adams took every care to collect all that remained of this unique +specimen of an ancient creation, and forwarded the parts to St. +Petersburg, a distance of 11,000 versts (7,330 miles). He succeeded in +re-purchasing what he believed to be the tusks at Jakutsk, and the +Emperor of Russia, who became the owner of this precious relic, paid him +8,000 roubles. The skeleton is deposited in the Museum of the Academy of +St. Petersburg, and the skin still remains attached to the head and the +feet. “We have yet to find,” says Cuvier, “any individual equal to +it.” + +[Illustration: XXVI.--Skeleton of the Mammoth in the St. Petersburg +Museum.] + +Beside the skeleton of this famous Mammoth there is placed that of an +Indian Elephant, and another Elephant with skin and hair, in order that +the visitor may have a proper appreciation of the vast proportions of +the Mammoth, as compared with them. PLATE XXVI., on the opposite page, +represents the saloon of the Museum of St. Petersburg, which contains +these three interesting remains. + +[Illustration: Fig. 182.--Mammoth restored.] + +In 1860 a great number of bones of the Mammoth, with remains of Hyæna, +Horse, Reindeer, Rhinoceros-megarhinus, and Bison, were found in Belgium +in digging a canal at Lierre, in the province of Antwerp. An entire +skeleton of a young Mammoth, eleven feet six inches high (to the +shoulder), has been reconstructed from these remains by M. Dupont, and +is now placed in the Royal Museum of Natural History in Brussels.[98] + + [98] H. Woodward, _Geological Magazine_, vol. viii., p. 193. + +We cannot doubt, after such testimony, of the existence in the frozen +north, of the almost entire remains of the Mammoth. The animals seem to +have perished suddenly; enveloped in ice at the moment of their death, +their bodies have been preserved from decomposition by the continued +action of the cold. If we suppose that one of those animals had sunk +into a marsh which froze soon afterwards, or had fallen accidentally +into the crevasse of some glacier, it would be easy for us to understand +how its body, buried immediately under eternal ice, had remained there +for thousands of years without undergoing decomposition. + +In Cuvier’s great work on _fossil bones_, he gives a long and minute +enumeration of the various regions of Germany, France, Italy, and other +countries, which have furnished in our days bones or tusks of the +Mammoth. We venture to quote two of these descriptions:--“In October, +1816,” he says, “there was discovered at Seilberg, near Canstadt, in +Würtemberg, near which some remarkable discoveries were made in 1700, a +very remarkable deposit, which the king, Frederick I., caused to be +excavated, and its contents collected with the greatest care. We are +even assured that the visit which the prince, in his ardour for all that +was great, paid to this spot, aggravated the malady of which he died a +few days after. An officer, Herr Natter, commenced some excavations, and +in four-and-twenty hours discovered twenty-one teeth or fragments of +teeth of elephant, mixed with a great number of bones. The king having +ordered him to continue the excavations, on the second day they came +upon a group of thirteen tusks heaped close upon each other, and along +with them some molar teeth, lying as if they had been packed +artificially. It was on this discovery that the king caused himself to +be transported thither, and ordered all the surrounding soil to be dug +up, and every object to be carefully preserved in its original position. +The largest of the tusks, though it had lost its points and its roots, +was still eight feet long and one foot in diameter. Many isolated tusks +were also found, with a quantity of molar teeth, from two inches to a +foot in length, some still adhering to the jaws. All these fragments +were better preserved than those of 1700, which was attributed to the +depth of the bed, and, perhaps, to the nature of the soil. The tusks +were generally much curved. In the same deposit some bones of Horses and +Stags were found, together with a quantity of teeth of the Rhinoceros, +and others which were thought to belong to a Bear, and one specimen +which was attributed to the Tapir. The place where this discovery was +made is named Seilberg; it is about 600 paces from the city of Canstadt, +but on the opposite side of the Necker. + +“All the great river basins of Germany have, like those of the Necker, +yielded fossil bones of the Elephant; those especially abutting on the +Rhine are too numerous to be mentioned, nor is Canstadt the only place +in the valley of the Necker where they are found.” + +But of all parts of Europe, that in which they are found in greatest +numbers is the valley of the Upper Arno. We find there a perfect +cemetery of Elephants. These bones were at one time so common in this +valley, that the peasantry employed them, indiscriminately with stones, +in constructing walls and houses. Since they have learned their value, +however, they reserve them for sale to travellers. + +The bones and tusks of the Mammoth are met with in America as well as in +the Old World, scattered through Canada, Oregon, and the Northern States +as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Cuvier enumerates several places on +that continent where their remains are met with, mingled with those of +the Mastodon. The Russian Lieutenant Kotzebue found them on the north +coast of America, in the cliffs of frozen mud in Eschsholtz Bay, within +Behring’s Strait, and in other distant parts of the shores of the Arctic +Seas, where they were so common that the sailors burnt many pieces in +their fires. + +It is very strange that the East Indies, that is, one of the only two +regions which is now the home of the Elephant, should be almost the only +country in which the fossil bones of these animals have not been +discovered. In short, from the preceding enumeration, it appears that, +during the geological period whose history we are recording the gigantic +Mammoth inhabited most regions of the globe. Now-a-days, the only +climates which are suited for the existing race of Elephants are those +of Africa and India, that is to say, tropical countries; from which we +must draw the conclusions to which so many other inferences lead, that, +at the epoch in which these animals lived, the temperature of the earth +was much higher than in our days; or, more probably, the extinct race of +Elephants must have been adapted for living in a colder climate than +that which they now require. + +Among the antediluvian Carnivora, one of the most formidable seems to +have been the _Ursus spelæus_, or Cave-bear (Fig. 183). This species +must have been a fifth, if not a fourth, larger than the Brown Bear of +our days. It was also more squat: some of the skeletons we possess are +from nine to ten feet long, and only about six feet high. The _U. +spelæus_ abounded in England, France, Belgium, and Germany; and so +extensively in the latter country, that the teeth of the antediluvian +Bear, as we have already stated, formed for a long time part of its +materia medica, under the name of _fossil licorn_. Fig. 183 represents +the skull of the Cave-bear. + +At the same time with the _Ursus spelæus_ another Carnivore, the _Felis +spelæus_, or Cave-lion, lived in Europe. This animal is specifically +identical with the living Lion of Asia and Africa: but since in these +early times he had not to contend with the hunter for food, he was, on +the whole, considerably larger than any Lion now existing on the earth. + +[Illustration: Fig. 183.--Head of Ursus spelæus.] + +The Hyænas of our age consist of two species, the striped and the +spotted Hyænas. The last presents considerable conformity in its +structure with that of the Post-pliocene period, which Cuvier designates +under the name of the fossil Spotted Hyæna. It seems to have been only a +little larger than the existing species. Fig. 184 represents the head of +the _Hyæna spelæa_, whose remains, with those of others, were found in +the caves of Kirkdale and Kent’s Hole; the remains of about 300 being +found in the former. Dr. Buckland satisfied himself, from the quantity +of their dung, that the Hyænas had lived there. In the cave were found +remains of the ox, young elephant, rhinoceros, horse, bear, wolf, hare, +water-rat, and several birds. All the bones present an appearance of +having been broken and gnawed by the teeth of the Hyænas, and they occur +confusedly mixed in loam or mud, or dispersed through the crust of +stalagmite which covered the contents of the cave. + +The Horse dates from the Quaternary epoch, if not from the last period +of the Tertiary epoch. Its remains are found in the same rocks with +those of the Mammoth and the Rhinoceros. It is distinguished from our +existing Horse only by its size, which was smaller--its remains abound +in the Post-pliocene rocks, not only in Europe, but in America; so that +an aboriginal Horse existed in the New World long before it was carried +thither by the Spaniards, although we know that it was unknown at the +date of their arrival. “Certainly it is a marvellous fact in the history +of the Mammalia, that in South America, a native horse should have lived +and disappeared, to be succeeded in after ages by the countless herds +descended from the few introduced with the Spanish colonists!”[99] + + [99] “Darwin’s Journal,” p. 130. + +[Illustration: Fig. 184.--Head of Hyæna spelæa.] + +The Oxen of the period, if not identical with, were at least very near +to our living species. There were three species: the _Bison priscus_, +_B. primigenius_, and _B. Pallasii_; the first with slender legs, with +convex frontal, broader than it was high, and differing but slightly +from the _Aurochs_, except in being taller and by having larger horns. +The remains of _Bison priscus_ are found in England, France, Italy, +Germany, Russia, and America. _Bison primigenius_ was, according to +Cuvier, the source of our domestic cattle. The _Bos Pallasii_ is found +in America and in Siberia, and resembles in many respects the Musk-ox of +Canada. + +Where these great Mammals are found we generally discover the fossil +remains of several species of Deer. The palæontological question as +regards these animals is very obscure, and it is often difficult to +determine whether the remains belong to an extinct or an existing +species. This doubt does not extend, however, to the gigantic +forest-stag, _Cervus megaceros_, one of the most magnificent of the +antediluvian animals, whose remains are still frequently found in +Ireland in the neighbourhood of Dublin; more rarely in France, Germany, +Poland, and Italy. Intermediate between the Fallow-deer and the Elk, the +_Cervus megaceros_ partakes of the Elk in its general proportions and in +the form of its cranium, but it approaches the Fallow-deer in its size +and in the disposition of its horns. These magnificent appendages, +however, while they decorated the head of the animal and gave a most +imposing appearance to it, must have sadly impeded its progress through +the thick and tangled forests of the ancient world. The length of these +horns was between nine and ten feet; and they were so divergent that, +measured from one extremity to the other, they occupied a space of +between three and four yards. + +The skeleton of the _Cervus megaceros_ is found in the deposits of +calcareous tufa, which underlie the immense peat moss of Ireland; +sometimes in the turf itself, as near the Curragh in Kildare; in which +position they sometimes occur in little mounds piled up in a small +space, and nearly always in the same attitude, the head aloft, the neck +stretched out, the horns reversed and thrown downwards towards the back, +as if the animal, suddenly immersed into marshy ground, had been under +the necessity of throwing up its head in search of respirable air. In +the Geological Cabinet of the Sorbonne, at Paris, there is a magnificent +skeleton of _Cervus megaceros_; another belongs to the College of +Surgeons in London; and there is a third at Vienna. + + * * * * * + +The most remarkable creatures of the period, however, were the great +Edentates--the Glyptodon, the gigantic Megatherium, the Mylodon and the +Megalonyx. The order of Edentates is more particularly characterised by +the absence of teeth in the fore part of the mouth. The masticating +apparatus of the Edentates consists only of molars, the incisors and +canine teeth being, with a few exceptions, absent altogether, as the +animals composing this order feed chiefly on insects or the tender +leaves of plants. The Armadillo, Anteater and Pangolin, are the living +examples of the order. We may add, as still further characteristics, +largely developed claws at the extremities of the toes. The order seems +thus to establish itself as a zoological link in the chain between the +hoofed Mammals and the ungulated animals, or those armed with claws. +All these animals are peculiar to the continent of America. + +The _Glyptodon_, which appears during the Quaternary period, belonged to +the family of Armadilloes, and their most remarkable feature was the +presence of a hard, scaly shell, or coat of mail six feet in length, and +composed of numerous segments, which covered the entire upper service of +the animal from the head to the tail. It was, in short, a mammiferous +animal, which appears to have been enclosed in a shell like that of a +Turtle; it resembled in many respects the _Dasypus_ or Anteater, and had +sixteen teeth in each jaw. These teeth were channelled laterally with +two broad and deep grooves, which divided the surface of the molars into +three parts, whence it was named the Glyptodon. The hind feet were broad +and massive, and evidently designed to support a vast incumbent mass; it +presented phalanges armed with short thick and depressed nails or claws. +The animal was, as we have said, enveloped in, and protected by, a +cuirass, or solid carapace, composed of plates which, seen from beneath, +appeared to be hexagonal and united by denticulated sutures: above they +represented double rosettes. The habitat of _Glyptodon clavipes_ was the +pampas of Buenos Ayres, and the banks of an affluent of the Rio Santo, +near Monte Video; specimens have been found not less than nine feet in +length. + +The tesselated carapace of the Glyptodon was long thought to belong to +the Megatherium; but Professor Owen shows, from the anatomical structure +of the two animals, that the cuirass belonged to one of them only, +namely, the Glyptodon. + +The _Schistopleuron_ does not differ essentially from the Glyptodon, but +is supposed to have been a different species of the same genus; the +chief difference between the two animals being in the structure of the +tail, which is massive in the first and in the other composed of half a +score of rings. In other respects the organisation and habits are +similar, both being herbivorous, and feeding on roots and vegetables. +Fig. 185 represents the _Schistopleuron typus_ restored, and as it +appeared when alive. + +Some of the fossil Tortoises discovered in the sub-Himalayan beds +possessed a carapace twelve feet long by six feet in breadth, which must +have corresponded to an animal from eighteen to twenty feet in length; +and the bones of the legs were as massive as those of the Rhinoceros. + +The _Megatherium_, or Animal of Paraguay, as it was called, is, at first +view, the oddest and most remarkable animal we have yet had under +consideration, where all have been, according to our notions, strange, +extraordinary, and formidable. The animal creation still goes on as if-- + + “Nature made them and then broke the die.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 185.--Schistopleuron typus. One-twentieth natural +size.] + +[Illustration: XXVII.--Skeleton of the Megatherium (Clift).] + +If we cast a glance at the skeleton figured on the opposite page (PLATE +XXVII.), which was found in Paraguay, at Buenos Ayres, in 1788, and +which is now placed, in a perfect state of preservation, in the Museum +of Natural History in Madrid, it is impossible to avoid being struck +with its unusually heavy form, at once awkward as a whole, and ponderous +in most of its parts. It is allied to the existing genus of Sloths, +which Buffon tells us is “of all the animal creation that which has +received the most vicious organisation--a being to which Nature has +forbidden all enjoyment; which has only been created for hardships and +misery.” This notion of the romantic Buffon is, however, altogether +incorrect. An attentive examination of the _Animal of_ _Paraguay_ +shows that its organisation cannot be considered either odd or awkward +when viewed in connection with its mode of life and individual habits. +The special organisation which renders the movements of the Sloths so +sluggish, and apparently so painful on level ground, gives them, on the +other hand, marvellous assistance when they live in trees, the leaves of +which constitute their exclusive food. In the same manner, if we +consider that the _Megatherium_ was created to burrow in the earth and +feed upon the roots of trees and shrubs, every organ of its heavy frame +would appear to be perfectly appropriate to its kind of life, and well +adapted to the special purpose which was assigned to it by the Creator. +We ought to place the Megatherium between the Sloths and the Anteaters. +Like the first, it usually fed on the branches and leaves of trees; like +the latter, it burrowed deep in the soil, finding there both food and +shelter. It was as large as an Elephant or Rhinoceros of the largest +species. Its body measured twelve or thirteen feet in length, and it was +between five and six feet high. The engraving on page 403 (PLATE XXVII.) +will convey, more accurately than any mere verbal description, an idea +of the form and proportions of the animal. + +The English reader is chiefly indebted to the zeal and energy of Sir +Woodbine Parish for the materials from which our naturalists have been +enabled to re-construct the history of the Megatherium. The remains +collected by him were found in the river Salado, which runs through the +flat alluvial plains called Pampas to the south of the city of Buenos +Ayres. A succession of three unusually dry seasons had lowered the +waters to such a degree as to expose part of the pelvis to view, as the +skeleton stood upright in the mud forming the bed of the river. Further +inquiries led to the discovery of the remains of two other skeletons +near the place where the first had been found; and with them an immense +shell or carapace was met with, most of the bones associated with which +crumbled to pieces on exposure to the air. The osseous structure of this +enormous animal, as furnished by Mr. Clift, an eminent anatomist of the +day, and under whose superintendence the skeleton was drawn, must have +exceeded fourteen feet in length, and upwards of eight feet in height. +The deeply shaded parts of the figure show the portions which are +deficient in the Madrid skeleton. + +Cuvier pointed out that the skull very much resembled that of the +Sloths, but that the rest of the skeleton bore relationship, partly to +the Sloths, and partly to the Anteaters. + +The large bones, which descend from the zygomatic arch along the +cheek-bones, would furnish a powerful means of attaching the motor +muscles of the jaws. The anterior part of the muzzle is fully developed, +and riddled with holes for the passage of the nerves and vessels which +must have been there, not for a trunk, which would have been useless to +an animal furnished with a very long neck, but for a snout analogous to +that of the Tapir. + +[Illustration: Fig. 186.--Skeleton of Megatherium foreshortened.] + +The jaw and dental apparatus cannot be exactly stated, because the +number of teeth in the lower jaw is not known. The upper jaw, Professor +Owen has shown, contained five molars on each side; and from comparison +and analogy with the _Scelidotherium_ it may be conjectured that the +_Megatherium_ had four on each side of the lower jaw. Being without +incisors or canines, the structure of its eighteen molars proves that it +was not carnivorous: they each resemble the composite molars of the +Elephant. + +[Illustration: Fig. 187.--Bones of the pelvis of the Megatherium.] + +The vertebræ of the neck (as exhibited in the foreshortened figure (Fig. +186), taken from the work of Pander and D’Alton, and showing nearly a +front view of the head), as well as the anterior and posterior +extremities of the Madrid skeleton, although powerful, are not to be +compared in dimensions to those of the other extremity of the body; for +the head seems to have been relatively light and defenceless. The lumbar +vertebræ increase in a degree corresponding to the enormous enlargement +of the pelvis and the posterior members. The vertebræ of the tail are +enormous, as is seen in Fig. 187, which represents the bones of the +pelvis and hind foot, discovered by Sir Woodbine Parish, and now in the +Museum of the College of Surgeons. If we add to these osseous organs the +muscles, tendons, and integuments which covered them, we must admit that +the tail of the _Megatherium_ could not be less than two feet in +diameter. It is probable that, like the Armadillo, it employed the tail +to assist in supporting the enormous weight of its body; it would also +be a formidable defensive organ when employed, as is the case with the +Pangolins and Crocodiles. The fore-feet would be about three feet long +and one foot broad. They would form a powerful implement for excavating +the earth, to the greatest depths at which the roots of vegetables +penetrate. The fore-feet rested on the ground to their full length. Thus +solidly supported by the two hind-feet and the tail, and in advance by +one of the fore-feet, the animal could employ the fore-foot left at +liberty in clearing away the earth, in digging up the roots of trees, or +in tearing down the branches; the toes of the fore-feet were, for this +purpose, furnished with large and powerful claws, which lie at an +oblique angle relatively to the ground, much like the burrowing talons +of the mole. + +The solidity and size of the pelvis must have been enormous; its immense +iliac bones are nearly at right angles with the vertebral column; their +external edges are distant more than a yard and a half from each other +when the animal is standing. The femur is three times the thickness of +the thigh-bone of the Elephant, and the many peculiarities of structure +in this bone appear to have been intended to give solidity to the whole +frame, by means of its short and massive proportions. The two bones of +the leg are, like the femur, short, thick, and solid; presenting +proportions which we only meet with in the Armadilloes and Anteaters; +burrowing animals with which, as we have said, its two extremities seem +to connect it. + +The anatomical organisation of these members denotes heavy, slow, and +powerful locomotion, but solid and admirable combinations for supporting +the weight of an enormous sedentary creature; a sort of excavating +machine, slow of motion but of incalculable power for its own purposes. +In short, the _Megatherium_ exceeded in dimensions all existing +Edentates. It had the head and shoulders of the Sloth, the feet and legs +combined the characteristics of the Anteaters and Sloths, of enormous +size, since it was at least twelve feet long when full grown, its feet +armed with gigantic claws, and its tail at once a means of supporting +its huge body and an instrument of defence. An animal built with such +massive proportions could evidently neither creep nor run; its walk +would be excessively slow. But what necessity was there for rapid +movement in a being only occupied in burrowing under the earth, seeking +for roots, and which would consequently rarely change its place? What +need had it of agility to fly from its enemies, when it could overthrow +the Crocodile with a sweep of its tail? Secure from the attacks of other +animals, this robust herbivorous creature, of which Figure 188 is a +restoration, must have lived peacefully and respected in the solitary +pampas of America. + +[Illustration: Fig. 188.--Megatherium restored.] + +The immediate cause of the extinction of the Megatherium is, probably, +to be found in causes which are still in operation in South America. The +period between the years 1827 and 1830 is called the “gran seco,” or +the great drought, in South America; and according to Darwin, the loss +of cattle in the province of Buenos Ayres alone was calculated at +1,000,000 head. One proprietor at San Pedro, in the middle of the finest +pasture-country, had lost 20,000 cattle previously to those years. “I +was informed by an eyewitness,” he adds, “that the cattle, in herds of +thousands, rushed into the Parana, and, being exhausted by hunger, they +were unable to crawl up the muddy banks, and thus were drowned. The arm +of the river which runs by San Pedro was so full of putrid carcases, +that the master of a vessel told me that the smell rendered it quite +impassable. All the small rivers became highly saline, and this caused +the death of vast numbers in particular spots; for when an animal drinks +of such water it does not recover. Azara describes the fury of the wild +horses on a similar occasion: rushing into the marshes, those which +arrived first being overwhelmed and crushed by those which +followed.”[100] The upright position in which the various specimens of +Megatheria were found indicates some such cause of death; as if the +ponderous animal, approaching the banks of the river, when shrunk within +its banks, had been bogged in soft mud, sufficiently adhesive to hold it +there till it perished. + + [100] “Journal of Researches,” &c., 2nd ed., p. 133. Charles Darwin. + +Like the Megatherium, the _Mylodon_ closely resembled the Sloth, and it +belonged exclusively to the New World. Smaller than the Megatherium, it +differed from it chiefly in the form of the teeth. These organs +presented only molars with smooth surfaces, indicating that the animal +fed on vegetables, probably the leaves and tender buds of trees. As the +Mylodon presents at once hoofs and claws on each foot, it has been +thought that it formed the link between the hoofed, or ungulated animals +and the Edentates. Three species are known, which lived in the pampas of +Buenos Ayres. + +In consequence of some hints given by the illustrious Washington, Mr. +Jefferson, one of his successors as President of the United States, +discovered, in a cavern of Western Virginia, the bones of a species of +gigantic Sloth, which he pronounced to be the remains of some +carnivorous animal. They consisted of a femur, a humerus, an ulna, and +three claws, with half a dozen other bones of the foot. These bones Mr. +Jefferson believed to be analogous to those of the lion. Cuvier saw at +once the true analogies of the animal. The bones were the remains of a +species of gigantic Sloth; the complete skeleton of which was +subsequently discovered in the Mississippi, in such a perfect state of +preservation that the cartilages, still adhering to the bones, were not +decomposed. Jefferson called this species the _Megalonyx_. It resembled +in many respects the Sloth. Its size was that of the largest ox; the +muzzle was pointed; the jaws were armed with cylindrical teeth; the +anterior limbs much longer than the posterior; the articulation of the +foot oblique to the leg; two great toes, short, and armed with long and +very powerful claws; the index finger more slender, and armed also with +a less powerful claw; the tail strong and solid: such were the salient +points of the organisation of the _Megalonyx_, whose form was a little +slighter than that of the _Megatherium_. + +[Illustration: Fig. 189.--Mylodon robustus.] + +The country in which the Megatherium has been found is described by Mr. +Darwin as belonging to the great Pampean formation, which consists +partly of a reddish clay and in part of a highly calcareous marly rock. +Near the coast there are some plains formed from the wreck of the upper +plain, and from mud, gravel, and sand thrown up by the sea during the +slow elevation of the land, as shown by the raised beds of recent +shells. At Punta Alta there is a highly-interesting section of one of +the later-formed little plains, in which many remains of these gigantic +land-animals have been found. These were, says Mr. Darwin:--“First, +parts of three heads and other bones of the Megatherium, the huge +dimensions of which are expressed by its name. Secondly, the +_Megalonyx_, a great allied animal. Thirdly, the _Scelidotherium_, also +an allied animal, of which I obtained a nearly perfect skeleton: it must +have been as large as a rhinoceros; in the structure of its head it +comes, according to Professor Owen, nearest to the Cape Anteater, but in +some other respects it approaches to the Armadilloes. Fourthly, the +_Mylodon Darwinii_, a closely related genus, of little inferior size. +Fifthly, another gigantic edental quadruped. Sixthly, a large animal +with an osseous coat, in compartments, very like that of an armadillo. +Seventhly, an extinct kind of horse. Eighthly, a tooth of a +pachydermatous animal, probably the same with the Macrauchenia, a huge +beast with a long neck like a camel. Lastly, the Toxodon, perhaps one of +the strangest animals ever discovered; in size it equalled an Elephant +or Megatherium, but the structure of its teeth, as Professor Owen +states, proves indisputably that it was intimately related to the +Gnawers, the order which, at the present day, includes most of the +smallest quadrupeds; in many details it is allied to the pachydermata; +judging from the position of its eyes, ears, and nostrils, it was +probably aquatic, like the Dugong and Manatee, to which it is allied. +How wonderfully are the different orders--at the present time so well +separated--blended together in different points in the structure of the +Toxodon!”[101] + + [101] “Journal of Researches,” &c., by Charles Darwin, p. 81. + +[Illustration: Fig. 190.--Lower jaw of the Mylodon.] + +The remains on which our knowledge of the _Scelidotherium_ is founded +include the cranium, which is nearly entire, with the teeth and part of +the os hyoides, seven cervical, eight dorsal, and five sacral vertebræ, +both the scapulæ, and some other bones. The remains of the cranium +indicate that its general form was an elongated slender compressed cone, +beginning behind by a flattened vertical base, expanding slightly to the +cheek-bone, and thence contracting to the anterior extremity. All these +parts were discovered in their natural relative positions, indicating, +as Mr. Darwin observes, that the gravelly formation in which they were +discovered had not been disturbed since its deposition. + +[Illustration: Fig. 191.--Skull of Scelidotherium.] + +The lower jaw-bone of _Mylodon_, which Mr. Darwin discovered at the base +of the cliff called Punta Alta, in Northern Patagonia, had the teeth +entire on both sides; they are implanted in deep sockets, and only about +one-sixth of the last molar projects above the alveolus, but the +proportion of the exposed part increases gradually in the inner teeth +(Fig. 191). + +[Illustration: Fig. 192.--Dinornis, and Bos.] + +“The habits of life of these Megatheroid animals were a complete puzzle +to naturalists, until Professor Owen solved the problem with remarkable +ingenuity. The teeth indicate, by their simple structure, that these +Megatheroid animals lived on vegetable food, and probably on the leaves +and small twigs of trees; their ponderous forms and great strong curved +claws seem so little adapted for locomotion, that some eminent +naturalists have actually believed that, like the Sloths, to which they +are intimately related, they subsisted by climbing back downwards, on +trees, and feeding on the leaves. It was a bold, not to say preposterous +idea to conceive even antediluvian trees with branches strong enough to +bear animals as large as elephants. Professor Owen, with far more +probability, believes that, instead of climbing on the trees, they +pulled the branches down to them, and tore up the smaller ones by the +roots, and so fed on the leaves. The colossal breadth and weight of +their hinder quarters, which can hardly be imagined without having been +seen, become, on this view, of obvious service instead of being an +encumbrance; their apparent clumsiness disappears. With their great +tails and their huge heels firmly fixed like a tripod in the ground, +they could freely exert the full force of their most powerful arms and +great claws. The _Mylodon_, moreover, was furnished with a long +extensile tongue, like that of the giraffe, which by one of those +beautiful provisions of Nature, thus reaches, with the aid of its long +neck, its leafy food.”[102] + + [102] “Journal of Researches,” &c., by Charles Darwin, 2nd ed., p. 81. + +[Illustration: XXVIII.--Ideal European Landscape in the Quaternary +Epoch.] + + * * * * * + +Two gigantic birds seem to have lived in New Zealand during the +Quaternary epoch. The _Dinornis_, which, if we may judge from the +_tibia_, which is upwards of three feet long, and from its eggs, which +are much larger than those of the Ostrich, must have been of most +extraordinary size for a bird. In Fig. 192 an attempt is made to restore +this fearfully great bird, the _Dinornis_. As to the _Epiornis_, its +eggs only have been found. + +On the opposite page (PLATE XXVIII.) an attempt is made to represent the +appearance of Europe during the epoch we have under consideration. The +Bear is seated at the mouth of its den--the cave (thus reminding us of +the origin of its name of _Ursus spelæus_), where it gnaws the bones of +the Elephant. Above the cavern the _Hyæna spelæa_ looks out, with savage +eye, for the moment when it will be prudent to dispute possession of +these remains with its formidable rival. The great Wood-stag, with other +great animals of the epoch, occupies the farthest shore of a small lake, +where some small hills rise out of a valley crowned with the trees and +shrubs of the period. Mountains, recently upheaved, rise on the distant +horizon, covered with a mantle of frozen snow, reminding us that the +glacial period is approaching, and has already begun to manifest itself. + +All these fossil bones, belonging to the great Mammalia which we have +been describing, are found in the Quaternary formation; but the most +abundant of all are those of the Elephant and the Horse. The extreme +profusion of the bones of the Mammoth, crowded into the more recently +formed deposits of the globe, is only surpassed by the prodigious +quantity of the bones of the Horse which are buried in the same beds. +The singular abundance of the remains of these two animals proves that, +during the Quaternary epoch, the earth gave nourishment to immense herds +of the Horse and the Elephant. It is probable that from one pole to the +other, from the equator to the two extremities of the axis of the globe, +the earth must have formed a vast and boundless prairie, while an +immense carpet of verdure covered its whole surface; and such abundant +pastures would be absolutely necessary to sustain these prodigious +numbers of herbivorous animals of great size. + +The mind can scarcely realise the immense and verdant plains of this +earlier world, animated by the presence of an infinity of such +inhabitants. In its burning temperature, Pachyderms of monstrous forms, +but of peaceful habits, traversed the tall vegetation, composed of +grasses of all sorts. Deer of gigantic size, their heads ornamented with +enormous horns, escorted the heavy herds of the Mammoth; while the +Horse, small in size and compact of form, galloped and frisked round +these magnificent horizons of verdure which no human eye had yet +contemplated. + +Nevertheless, all was not quiet and tranquil in the landscapes of the +ancient world. Voracious and formidable carnivorous animals waged a +bloody war on the inoffensive herds. The Tiger, the Lion, and the +ferocious Hyæna; the Bear, and the Jackal, there selected their prey. On +the opposite page an endeavour is made to represent the great animals +among the Edentates which inhabited the American plains during the +Quaternary epoch (PLATE XXIX). We observe there the Glyptodon, the +Megatherium, the Mylodon, and, along with them, the Mastodon. A small +Ape (the Orthopithecus), which first appeared in the Miocene period, +occupies the branch of a tree in the landscape. The vegetation is that +of tropical America at the present time. + + * * * * * + +The deposits of this age, which are of later date than the Crag, and of +earlier date than the Boulder Clay, with its fragments of rocks +frequently transported from great distances, are classed under the term +“pre-glacial.” + +After the deposition of the Forest Bed, which is seen overlying the Crag +for miles between high and low-water mark, on the shore west of Cromer, +in Norfolk, there was a general reduction of temperature, and a period +of intense cold, known as the “glacial period,” seems to have set in, +during which a great part of what is now the British Islands was covered +with a thick coating of ice, and probably united with the Continent. + +At this time England south of the Bristol Channel (the estuary of the +Severn), and the Thames, appears to have been above water. The northern +part of the country, and the high-ground generally of Britain and +Ireland were covered with gliding glaciers, by whose grinding action the +whole surface became moulded and worn into its present shape, while the +floating icebergs which broke off at the sea-side from these glaciers, +conveyed away and dropped on the bed of the sea those fragments of rocks +and the gravel and other earthy materials which are now generally +recognised as glacial accumulations. + +In all directions, however, proofs are being gradually obtained that, +about this period, movements of submersion under the sea were in +progress, all north of the Thames. + +[Illustration: XXIX.--Ideal American Landscape in the Quaternary +Epoch.] + +Ramsay points out indications, first of an intensely cold period, when +land was much more elevated than it is now; then of submergence beneath +the sea; and, lastly, re-elevation attended by glacial action. “When we +speak of the vegetation and quadrupeds of Cromer Forest being +pre-glacial,” says Lyell, “we merely mean that their formation preceded +the era of the general submergence of the British Isles beneath the +waters of the glacial sea. The successive deposits seen in direct +superposition on the Norfolk coast,” adds Sir Charles, “imply at first +the prevalence over a wide area of the Newer Pliocene Sea. Afterwards, +the bed of the sea was converted into dry land, and underwent several +oscillations of level, so as to be, first, dry land supporting a forest; +then an estuary; then again land; and, finally, a sea near the mouth of +a river, till the downward movement became so great as to convert the +whole area into a sea of considerable depth, in which much floating ice, +carrying mud, sand, and boulders melted, letting its burthen fall to the +bottom. Finally, over the till with boulders stratified drift was +formed; after which, but not until the total subsidence amounted to more +than 400 feet, an upward movement began, which re-elevated the whole +country, so that the lowest of the terrestrial formations, or the forest +bed, was brought up to nearly its pristine level, in such a manner as to +be exposed at a low tide. Both the descending and ascending movement +seem to have been very gradual.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 193.--Palæophognos Gesneri. Fossil Toad.] + + +EUROPEAN DELUGES. + +The Tertiary formations, in many parts of Europe, of more or less +extent, are covered by an accumulation of heterogeneous deposits, +filling up the valleys, and composed of very various materials, +consisting mostly of fragments of the neighbouring rocks. The erosions +which we remark at the bottoms of the hills, and which have greatly +enlarged already existing valleys; the mounds of gravel accumulated at +one point, and which is formed of rolled materials, that is to say, of +fragments of rocks worn smooth and round by continual friction during a +long period, in which they have been transported from one point to +another--all these signs indicate that these denudations of the soil, +these displacements and transport of very heavy bodies to great +distances, are due to the violent and sudden action of large currents of +water. An immense wave has been thrown suddenly on the surface of the +earth, making great ravages in its passage, furrowing the earth and +driving before it débris of all sorts in its disorderly course. +Geologists give the name of _diluvium_ to a formation thus removed and +scattered, which, from its heterogeneous nature, brings under our eyes, +as it were, the rapid passage of an impetuous torrent--a phenomenon +which is commonly designated as a _deluge_. + +To what cause are we to attribute these sudden and apparently temporary +invasions of the earth’s surface by rapid currents of water? In all +probability to the upheaval of some vast extent of dry land, to the +formation of some mountain or mountain-range in the neighbourhood of the +sea, or even in the bed of the sea itself. The land suddenly elevated by +an upward movement of the terrestrial crust, or by the formation of +ridges and furrows at the surface, has, by its reaction, violently +agitated the waters, that is to say, the more mobile portion of the +globe. By this new impulse the waters have been thrown with great +violence over the earth, inundating the plains and valleys, and for the +moment covering the soil with their furious waves, mingled with the +earth, sand, and mud, of which the devastated districts have been +denuded by their abrupt invasion. The phenomenon has been sudden but +brief, like the upheaval of the mountain or chain of mountains, which is +presumed to have been the cause of it; but it was often repeated: +witness the valleys which occur in every country, especially those in +the neighbourhood of Lyons and of the Durance. These strata indicate as +many successive deposits. Besides this, the displacement of blocks of +minerals from their normal position is proof, now perfectly +recognisable, of this great phenomenon. + +There have been, doubtless, during the epochs anterior to the Quaternary +period of which we write, many deluges such as we are considering. +Mountains and chains of mountains, through all the ages we have been +describing, were formed by upheaval of the crust into ridges, where it +was too elastic or too thick to be fractured. Each of these subterranean +commotions would be provocative of momentary irruptions of the waves. + +But the visible testimony to this phenomenon--the living proofs of this +denudation, of this tearing away of the soil, are found nowhere so +strikingly as in the beds superimposed, far and near, upon the Tertiary +formations, and which bear the geological name of _diluvium_. This term +was long employed to designate what is now better known as the “boulder” +formation, a glacial deposit which is abundant in Europe north of the +50th, and in America north of the 40th, parallel, and re-appearing again +in the southern hemisphere; but altogether absent in tropical regions. +It consists of sand and clay, sometimes stratified, mixed with rounded +and angular fragments of rock, generally derived from the same district; +and their origin has generally been ascribed to a series of diluvial +waves raised by hurricanes, earthquakes, or the sudden upheaval of land +from the bed of the sea, which had swept over continents, carrying with +them vast masses of mud and heavy stones, and forcing these stones over +rocky surfaces so as to polish and impress them with furrows and striæ. +Other circumstances occurred, however, to establish a connection between +this formation and the glacial drift. The size and number of the erratic +blocks increase as we travel towards the Arctic regions; some intimate +association exists, therefore, between this formation and the +accumulations of ice and snow which characterise the approaching glacial +period. + +As we have already stated at the beginning of this chapter, there is +very distinct evidence of two successive deluges in our hemisphere +during the Quaternary epoch. The two may be distinguished as the +_European Deluge_ and the _Asiatic_. The two European deluges occurred +prior to the appearance of man; the Asiatic deluge happened after that +event; and the human race, then in the early days of its existence, +certainly suffered from this cataclysm. In the present chapter we +confine ourselves to the two cataclysms which overwhelmed Europe in the +Quaternary epoch. + +The first occurred in the north of Europe, where it was produced by the +upheaval of the mountains of Norway. Commencing in Scandinavia, the wave +spread and carried its ravages into those regions which now constitute +Sweden, Norway, European Russia, and the north of Germany, sweeping +before it all the loose soil on the surface, and covering the whole of +Scandinavia--all the plains and valleys of Northern Europe--with a +mantle of transported soil. As the regions in the midst of which this +great mountainous upheaval occurred--as the seas surrounding these vast +spaces were partly frozen and covered with ice, from their elevation and +neighbourhood to the pole--the wave which swept these countries carried +along with it enormous masses of ice. The shock, produced by the +collision of these several solid blocks of frozen water, would only +contribute to increase the extent and intensity of the ravages +occasioned by this violent cataclysm, which is represented in PLATE XXX. + +The physical proof of this _deluge of the north of Europe_ exists in the +accumulation of unstratified deposits which covers all the plains and +low grounds of Northern Europe. On and in this deposit are found +numerous blocks which have received the characteristic and significant +name of erratic blocks, and which are frequently of considerable size. +These become more characteristic as we ascend to higher latitudes, as in +Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the southern borders of the Baltic, and in +the British Islands generally, in all of which countries deposits of +marine fossil shells occur, which prove the submergence of large areas +of Scandinavia, of the British Isles, and other regions during parts of +the glacial period. Some of these rocks, characterised as _erratic_, are +of very considerable volume; such, for instance, is the granite block +which forms the pedestal of the statue of Peter the Great at St. +Petersburg. This block was found in the interior of Russia, where the +whole formation is _Permian_, and its presence there can only be +explained by supposing it to have been transported by some vast iceberg, +carried by a diluvial current. This hypothesis alone enables us to +account for another block of granite, weighing about 340 tons, which was +found on the sandy plains in the north of Prussia, an immense model of +which was made for the Berlin Museum. The last of these erratic blocks +deposited in Germany covers the grave of King Gustavus Adolphus, of +Sweden, killed at the battle of Lutzen, in 1632. He was interred beneath +the rock. Another similar block has been raised in Germany into a +monument to the geologist Leopold von Buch. + +[Illustration: XXX.--Deluge of the North of Europe.] + +These erratic blocks which are met with in the plains of Russia, Poland, +and Prussia, and in the eastern parts of England, are composed of rocks +entirely foreign to the region where they are found. They belong to the +primary rocks of Norway; they have been transported to their present +sites, protected by a covering of ice, by the waters of the northern +deluge. How vast must have been the impulsive force which could carry +such enormous masses across the Baltic, and so far inland as the places +where they have been deposited for the surprise of the geologist or the +contemplation of the thoughtful! + + * * * * * + +The second European deluge is supposed to have been the result of the +formation and upheaval of the Alps. It has filled with débris and +transported material the valleys of France, Germany, and Italy over a +circumference which has the Alps for its centre. The proofs of a great +convulsion at a comparatively recent geological date are numerous. The +Alps may be from eighty to 100 miles across, and the probabilities are +that their existence is due, as Sir Charles Lyell supposes, to a +succession of unequal movements of upheaval and subsidence; that the +Alpine region had been exposed for countless ages to the action of rain +and rivers, and that the larger valleys were of pre-glacial times, is +highly probable. In the eastern part of the chain some of the Primary +fossiliferous rocks, as well as Oolitic and Cretaceous rocks, and even +Tertiary deposits, are observable; but in the central Alps these +disappear, and more recent rocks, in some places even Eocene strata, +graduate into metamorphic rocks, in which Oolitic, Cretaceous, and +Eocene strata have been altered into granular marble, gneiss, and other +metamorphic schists; showing that eruptions continued after the deposit +of the Middle Eocene formations. Again, in the Swiss and Savoy Alps, +Oolitic and Cretaceous formations have been elevated to the height of +12,000 feet, and Eocene strata 10,000 feet above the level of the sea; +while in the Rothal, in the Bernese Alps, occurs a mass of gneiss 1,000 +feet thick between two strata containing Oolitic fossils. + +Besides these proofs of recent upheaval, we can trace effects of two +different kinds, resulting from the powerful action of masses of water +violently displaced by this gigantic upheaval. At first broad tracks +have been hollowed out by the diluvial waves, which have, at these +points, formed deep valleys. Afterwards these valleys have been filled +up by materials derived from the mountain and transported into the +valley, these materials consisting of rounded pebbles, argillaceous and +sandy mud, generally calcareous and ferriferous. This double effect is +exhibited, with more or less distinctness, in all the great valleys of +the centre and south of France. The valley of the Garonne is, in respect +to these phenomena, classic ground, as it were. + +As we leave the little city of Muret, three successive levels will be +observed on the left bank of the Garonne. The lowest of the three is +that of the valley, properly so called; while the loftiest corresponds +to the plateau of Saint-Gaudens. These three levels are distinctly +marked in the Toulousean country, which illustrates the diluvial +phenomena in a remarkable fashion. The city of Toulouse reposes upon a +slight eminence of diluvial formation. The flat diluvial plateau +contrasts strongly with the rounded hills of Gascony and Languedoc. They +are essentially constituted of a bed of gravel, formed of rounded or +oval pebbles, and again covered with sandy and earthy deposits. The +pebbles are principally quartzose, brown or black externally, mixed with +portions of hard “Old Red” and New Red Sandstone. The soft earth which +accompanies the pebbles and gravel is a mixture of argillaceous sand of +a red or yellow colour, caused by the oxide of iron which enters into +its composition. In the valley, properly so called, we find the pebbles +again associated with other minerals which are rare at the higher +levels. Some teeth of the Mammoth, and _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_, have +been found at several points on the borders of this valley. + +The small valleys, tributary to the principal valley, would appear to +have been excavated secondarily, partly out of diluvial deposits, and +their alluvium, essentially earthy, has been formed at the expense of +the Tertiary formation, and even of the diluvium itself. Among other +celebrated sites, the diluvial formation is largely developed in Sicily. +The ancient temple of the Parthenon at Athens is built on an eminence +formed of diluvial earth. + +In the valley of the Rhine, in Alsace, and in many isolated parts of +Europe, a particular sort of _diluvium_ forms thick beds; it consists of +a yellowish-grey mud, composed of argillaceous matter mixed with +carbonate of lime, quartzose and micaceous sand, and oxide of iron. This +mud, termed by geologists _loess_, attains in some places considerable +thickness. It is recognisable in the neighbourhood of Paris. It rises a +little both on the right and left, above the base of the mountains of +the Black Forest and of the Vosges; and forms thick beds on the banks of +the Rhine. + +The fossils contained in diluvial deposits consist, generally, of +terrestrial, lacustrine, or fluviatile shells, for the most part +belonging to species still living. In parts of the valley of the Rhine, +between Bingen and Basle, the fluviatile loam or loess, now under +consideration, is seen forming hills several hundred feet thick, and +containing, here and there, throughout that thickness, land and +fresh-water shells; from which it seems necessary to suppose, according +to Lyell, first, a time when the loess was slowly accumulated, then a +later period, when large portions of it were removed--and followed by +movements of oscillation, consisting, first, of a general depression, +and then of a gradual re-elevation of the land. + + * * * * * + +We have already noticed the caverns in which such extraordinary +accumulations of animal remains were discovered: it will not be out of +place to give here a résumé of the state of our knowledge concerning +_bone-caves_ and _bone-breccias_. + +The _bone-caves_ are not simply cavities hollowed out of the rock; they +generally consist of numerous chambers or caverns communicating with +each other by narrow passages (often of considerable length) which can +only be traversed by creeping. One in Mexico extends several leagues. +Perhaps the most remarkable in Europe is that of Gailenreuth in +Franconia. The Harz mountains contain many fine caverns; among others, +those of Scharrfeld and _Baumann’s Hohl_, in which many bones of Hyæna, +Bears, and Lions have been found together. The _Kirkdale Cave_, so well +known from the description given of it by Dr. Buckland, lying about +twenty-five miles north-north-east of York, was the burial-place, as we +have stated, of at least 300 Hyænas belonging to individuals of +different ages; besides containing some other remains, mostly teeth +(those of the Hyæna excepted) belonging to ruminating animals. Buckland +states that the bones of all the other animals, those of the Hyænas not +excepted, were gnawed. He also noticed a partial polish and wearing away +to a considerable depth of one side of many of the best preserved +specimens of teeth and bones, which can only be accounted for by +referring the partial destruction to the continual treading of the +Hyænas, and the rubbing of their skin on the side that lay uppermost at +the bottom of the den. + +From these facts it would appear probable that the Cave at Kirkdale was, +“during a long succession of years, inhabited as a den by Hyænas, and +that they dragged into its recesses the other animal bodies, whose +remains are found mixed indiscriminately with their own.”[103] This +conjecture is made almost certain by the discovery made by Dr. Buckland +of many coprolites of animals that had fed on bones, as well as traces +of the frequent passage of these animals to or from the entrance of the +cavern or den. A modern naturalist visiting the Cavern of Adelsberg, in +Carniola, traversed a series of chambers extending over three leagues in +the same direction, and was only stopped in his subterranean discoveries +by coming to a lake which occupied its entire breadth. + + [103] “Reliquiæ Diluvianæ,” by the Rev. W. Buckland, 1823, p. 19. + +The interior walls of the bone-caves are, in general, rounded off, and +furrowed, presenting many traces of the erosive action of water, +characteristics which frequently escape observation because the walls +are covered with the calcareous deposit called _stalactite_ or +_stalagmite_--that is, with carbonate of lime, resulting from the +deposition left by infiltrating water, through the overlying limestone, +into the interior of the cavern. The formation of the stalactite, with +which many of the bones were incrusted in the Cave of Gailenreuth, is +thus described by Liebig. The limestone over the cavern is covered with +a rich soil, in which the vegetable matter is continually decaying. This +mould, or humus, being acted on by moisture and air, evolves carbonic +acid, which is dissolved by rain. The rain-water thus impregnated, +permeating the porous limestone, dissolves a portion of it, and +afterwards, when the excess of carbonic acid evaporates in the caverns, +parts with the calcareous matter, and forms _stalactite_--the +stalactites being the pendent masses of carbonate of lime, which hang in +picturesque forms either in continuous sheets, giving the cave and its +sides the appearance of being hung with drapery, or like icicles +suspended from the roof of the cave, through which the water percolates; +while those formed on the surface of the floor form _stalagmite_. These +calcareous products ornament the walls of these gloomy caverns in a most +brilliant and picturesque manner. + +Under a covering of stalagmite, the floor of the cave frequently +presents deposits of mud and gravel. It is in excavating this soil that +the bones of antediluvian animals, mixed with shells, fragments of +rocks, and rolled pebbles, are discovered. The distribution of these +bones in the middle of the gravelly argillaceous mud is as irregular as +possible. The skeletons are rarely entire; the bones do not even occur +in their natural positions. The bones of small Rodents are found +accumulated in the crania of great Carnivora. The teeth of Bears, +Hyænas, and Rhinoceros are cemented with the jaw-bones of Ruminants. The +bones are very often polished and rounded, as if they had been +transported from great distances; others are fissured; others, +nevertheless, are scarcely altered. Their state of preservation varies +with their position in the cave. + +The bones most frequently found in caves are those of the Carnivora of +the Quaternary epoch: the Bear, Hyæna, the Lion, and Tiger. The animals +of the plain, and notably the great Pachyderms--the Mammoth and +Rhinoceros--are only very rarely met with, and always in small numbers. +From the cavern of Gailenreuth more than a thousand skeletons have been +taken, of which 800 belonged to the large _Ursus spelæus_, and sixty to +the smaller species, with 200 Hyænas, Wolves, Lions, and Gluttons. A jaw +of the Glutton has lately been found by Mr. T. McK. Hughes in a cave in +the Mountain Limestone at Plas Heaton, associated with Wolf, Bison, +Reindeer, Horse, and Cave Bear; proving that the Glutton, which at the +present day inhabits Siberia and the inclement northern regions of +Europe, inhabited Great Britain during the Pleistocene or Quaternary +Period. In the Kirkdale cave the remains, as we have seen, included +those of not less than 300 Hyænas of all ages. Dr. Buckland concludes, +from these circumstances, that the Hyænas alone made this their den, and +that the bones of other animals accumulated there had been carried +thither by them as their prey; it is, however, now admitted that this +part of the English geologist’s conclusions do not apply to the contents +of all bone-caves. In some instances the bones of the Mammals are broken +and worn as with a long transport, _rolled_, according to the technical +geological expression, and finally cemented in the same mud, together +with fragments of the rocks of the neighbourhood. Besides bones of +Hyænas, are found not only the bones of inoffensive herbivora, but +remains of Lions and Bears. + +We ought to note, in order to make this explanation complete, that some +geologists consider that these caves served as a refuge for sick and +wounded animals. It is certain that we see, in our own days, some +animals, when attacked by sickness, seek refuge in the fissures of +rocks, or in the hollows of trunks of trees, where they die; to this +natural impulse it may, probably, be ascribed that the skeletons of +animals are so rarely found in forests or plains. We may conclude, then, +that besides the more general mode in which these caverns were filled +with bones, the two other causes which we have enumerated may have been +in operation; that is to say, they were the habitual sojourn of +carnivorous and destructive animals, and they became the retreat of sick +animals on some particular occasions. + +What was the origin of these caves? How have these immense excavations +been produced? Nearly all these caves occur in limestone rocks, +particularly in the Jurassic and Carboniferous formations, which present +many vast subterranean caverns. At the same time some fine caves exist +in the Silurian formation, such as the _Grotto des Demoiselles_ (Fig. +194) near Ganges, of Hérault. It should be added, in order to complete +the explanation of the cave formations, that the greater part of these +vast internal excavations have been chiefly caused by subterranean +watercourses, which have eroded and washed away a portion of the walls, +and in this manner greatly enlarged their original dimensions. + +But there are other modes than the above of accounting, in a more +satisfactory manner, for the existence of these caves. According to Sir +Charles Lyell, there was a time when (as now) limestone rocks were +dissolved, and when the carbonate of lime was carried away gradually by +springs from the interior of the earth; that another era occurred, when +engulfed rivers or occasional floods swept organic and inorganic débris +into the subterranean hollows previously formed; finally, there were +changes, in which engulfed rivers were turned into new channels, and +springs dried up, after which the cave-mud, breccia, gravel, and fossil +bones were left in the position in which they are now discovered. “We +know,” says that eminent geologist,[104] “that in every limestone +district the rain-water is _soft_, or free from earthy ingredients, when +it falls upon the soil, and when it enters the rocks below; whereas it +is _hard_, or charged with carbonate of lime, when it issues again to +the surface in springs. The rain derives some of its carbonic acid from +the air, but more from the decay of vegetable matter in the soil through +which it percolates; and by the excess of this acid, limestone is +dissolved, and the water becomes charged with carbonate of lime. The +mass of solid matter silently and unceasingly subtracted in this way +from the rocks in every century is considerable, and must in the course +of thousands of years be so vast, that the space it once occupied may +well be expressed by a long suite of caverns.” + + [104] “Elements of Geology,” p. 122. + +The most celebrated of these bone-caves are those of Gailenreuth, in +Franconia; of Nabenstein, and of Brumberg, in the same country; the +caves on the banks of the Meuse, near Liège, of which the late Dr. +Schmerling examined forty; of Yorkshire, Devonshire, Somersetshire, and +Derbyshire, in England; also several in Sicily, at Palermo, and +Syracuse; in France at Hérault, in the Cévennes, and Franche Comté; and +in the New World, in Kentucky and Virginia. + +The _ossiferous breccia_ differs from the bone-caves only in form. The +most remarkable of them are seen at Cette, Antibes, and Nice, on the +shores of Italy; and in the isles of Corsica, Malta, and Sardinia. + +[Illustration: Fig. 194.--Grotto des Demoiselles, Hérault.] + +Nearly the same bones are found in the _breccia_ which we find in the +caves; the chief difference being that fossils of the Ruminants are +there in greater abundance. The proportions of bones to the fragments of +stone and cement vary considerably in different localities. In the +_breccia_ of Cagliari, where the remains of Ruminants are less abundant +than at Gibraltar and Nice, the bones, which are those of the small +Rodents, are, so to speak, more abundant than the mud in which they are +embedded. We find, there, also, three or four species of Birds which +belong to Thrushes and Larks. In the _breccia_ at Nice the remains of +some great Carnivora are found, among which are recognised two species +of Lion and Panther. In the Grotto di San-Ciro, in the Monte Griffone, +about six miles from Palermo, in Sicily, Dr. Falconer collected remains +of two species of Hippopotamus and bones of _Elephas antiquus_, Bos, +Stag, Pig, Bear, Dog, and a large _Felis_, some of which indicated a +Pliocene age. Like many others, this cave contains a thick mass of +bone-breccia on its floor, the bones of which have long been known, and +were formerly supposed to be those of giants; while Prof. Ferrara +suggested that the Elephants’ bones were due to the Carthaginian +elephants imported into Sicily for purposes of sport.[105] + + [105] _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, 1859. + +But the _breccia_ is not confined to Europe. We meet with it in all +parts of the globe; and recent discoveries in Australia indicate a +formation corresponding exactly to the _ossiferous breccia_ of the +Mediterranean, in which an ochreous-reddish cement binds together +fragments of rocks and bones, among which we find four species of +Kangaroos. + +[Illustration: Fig. 195.--Beloptera Sepioidea.] + + +GLACIAL PERIOD. + +The two cataclysms, of which we have spoken, surprised Europe at the +moment of the development of an important creation. The whole scope of +animated Nature, the evolution of animals, was suddenly arrested in that +part of our hemisphere over which these gigantic convulsions spread, +followed by the brief but sudden submersion of entire continents. +Organic life had scarcely recovered from the violent shock, when a +second, and perhaps severer blow assailed it. The northern and central +parts of Europe, the vast countries which extend from Scandinavia to the +Mediterranean and the Danube, were visited by a period of sudden and +severe cold: the temperature of the polar regions seized them. The +plains of Europe, but now ornamented by the luxurious vegetation +developed by the heat of a burning climate, the boundless pastures on +which herds of great Elephants, the active Horse, the robust +Hippopotamus, and great Carnivorous animals grazed and roamed, became +covered with a mantle of ice and snow. + +To what cause are we to attribute a phenomenon so unforeseen, and +exercising itself with such intensity? In the present state of our +knowledge no certain explanation of the event can be given. Did the +central planet, the sun, which was long supposed to distribute light and +heat to the earth, lose during this period its calorific powers? This +explanation is insufficient, since at this period the solar heat is not +supposed to have greatly influenced the earth’s temperature. Were the +marine currents, such as the _Gulf Stream_, which carries the Atlantic +Ocean towards the north and west of Europe, warming and raising its +temperature, suddenly turned in the contrary direction? No such +hypothesis is sufficient to explain either the cataclysms or the glacial +phenomena; and we need not hesitate to confess our ignorance of this +strange, this mysterious, episode in the history of the globe. + +There have been attempts, and very ingenious ones too, to explain these +phenomena, of which we shall give a brief summary, without committing +ourselves to any further opinion, using for that purpose the information +contained in M. Ch. Martins’ excellent work. “The most violent +convulsions of the solid and liquid elements,” says this able writer, +“appear to have been themselves only the effects due to a cause much +more powerful than the mere expansion of the pyrosphere; and it is +necessary to recur, in order to explain them, to some new and bolder +hypothesis than has yet been hazarded. Some philosophers have belief in +an astronomical revolution which may have overtaken our globe in the +first age of its formation, and have modified its position in relation +to the sun. They admit that the poles have not always been as they are +now, and that some terrible shock displaced them, changing at the same +time the inclination of the axis of the rotation of the earth.” This +hypothesis, which is nearly the same as that propounded by the Danish +geologist, Klee, has been ably developed by M. de Boucheporn. According +to this writer, many multiplied shocks, caused by the violent contact of +the earth with comets, produced the elevation of mountains, the +displacement of seas, and perturbations of climate--phenomena which he +ascribes to the sudden disturbance of the parallelism of the axis of +rotation. The antediluvian equator, according to him, makes a right +angle with the existing equator. + +“Quite recently,” adds M. Martins, “a learned French mathematician, M. +J. Adhémar, has taken up the same idea; but, dismissing the more +problematical elements of the concussion with comets as untenable, he +seeks to explain the deluges by the laws of gravitation and celestial +mechanics, and his theory has been supported by very competent writers. +It is this: We know that our planet is influenced by two essential +movements--one of rotation on its axis, which it accomplishes in +twenty-four hours; the other of translation, which it accomplishes in a +little more than 365¼ days. But besides these great and perceptible +movements, the earth has a third, and even a fourth movement, with one +of which we need not occupy ourselves; it is that designated _nutation_ +by astronomers. It changes periodically, but within very restricted +limits, the inclination of the terrestrial axis to the plane of the +ecliptic by a slight oscillation, the duration of which is only eighteen +hours, and its influence upon the relative length of day and night +almost inappreciable. The other movement is that on which M. Adhémar’s +theory is founded. + +“We know that the curve described by the earth in its annual revolution +round the sun is not a circle, but an ellipse; that is, a slightly +elongated circle, sometimes called a circle of two centres, one of which +is occupied by the sun. This curve is called the ecliptic. We know, +also, that, in its movement of translation, the earth preserves such a +position that its axis of rotation is intercepted, at its centre, by the +plane of the ecliptic. But in place of being perpendicular, or at right +angles with this plane, it crosses it obliquely in such a manner as to +form on one side an angle of one-fourth, and on the other an angle of +three-fourths of a right angle. This inclination is only altered in an +insignificant degree by the movement of _nutation_. I need scarcely add +that the earth, in its annual revolution, occupies periodically four +principal positions on the ecliptic, which mark the limits of the four +seasons. When its centre is at the extremity most remote from the sun, +or _aphelion_, it is the summer solstice for the northern hemisphere. +When its centre is at the other extremity, or _perihelion_, the same +hemisphere is at the winter solstice. The two intermediate points mark +the equinoxes of spring and autumn. The great circle of separation of +light and shade passes, then, precisely through the poles, the day and +night are equal, and the line of intersection of the plane of the +equator and that of the ecliptic make part of the vector ray from the +centre of the sun to the centre of the earth--what we call the +_equinoctial line_. + +“Thus placed, it is evident that if the terrestrial axis remained always +parallel to itself, the equinoctial line would always pass through the +same point on the surface of the globe. But it is not absolutely thus. +The parallelism of the axis of the earth is changed slowly, very slowly, +by a movement which Arago ingeniously compares to the varying +inclination of a top when about to cease spinning. This movement has the +effect of making the equinoctial points on the surface of the earth +retrograde towards the east from year to year, in such a manner that at +the end of 25,800 years according to some astronomers, but 21,000 years +according to Adhémar, the equinoctial point has literally made a circuit +of the globe, and has returned to the same position which it occupied at +the beginning of this immense period, which has been called the ‘_great +year_.’ It is this retrograde evolution, in which the terrestrial axis +describes round its own centre that revolution round a double conic +surface, which is known as the _precession of the equinoxes_. It was +observed 2,000 years ago by Hipparchus; its cause was discovered by +Newton; and its complete evolution explained by D’Alembert and Laplace. + +“Now, we know that the consequence of the inclination of the terrestrial +axis with the plane of the ecliptic is-- + +“1. That the seasons are inverse to the two hemispheres--that is to +say, the northern hemisphere enjoys its spring and summer, while the +southern hemisphere passes through autumn and winter. + +“2. When the earth approaches nearest to the sun, our hemisphere has its +autumn and winter; and the regions near the pole, receiving none of the +solar rays, are plunged into darkness, approaching that of night, during +six months of the year. + +“3. When the earth is most distant from the sun, when much the greater +half of the ecliptic intervenes between it and the focus of light and +heat, the pole, being then turned towards this focus, constantly +receives its rays, and the rest of the northern hemisphere enjoys its +long days of spring and summer. + +“Bearing in mind that, in going from the equinox of spring to the +autumnal equinox of our hemisphere, the earth traverses a much longer +curve than it does on its return; bearing in mind, also, the accelerated +movement it experiences in its approach to the sun from the attraction, +which increases in inverse proportion to the square of its distance, we +arrive at the conclusion that our summer should be longer and our winter +shorter than the summer and winter of our antipodes; and this is +_actually_ the case by about eight days. + +“I say _actually_, because, if we now look at the effects of the +precession of the equinoxes, we shall see that in a time equal to half +of the _grand year_, whether it be 12,900 or 10,500 years, the +conditions will be reversed; the terrestrial axis, and consequently the +poles, will have accomplished the half of their bi-conical revolution +round the centre of the earth. It will then be the northern hemisphere +which will have the summers shorter and the winters longer, and the +southern hemisphere exactly the reverse. In the year 1248 before the +Christian era, according to M. Adhémar, the north pole attained its +maximum summer duration. Since then--that is to say for the last 3,112 +years--it has begun to decrease, and this will continue to the year 7388 +of our era before it attains its maximum winter duration. + +“But the reader may ask, fatigued perhaps by these abstract +considerations, What is there here in common with the deluges? + +“The _grand year_ is here divided, for each hemisphere, into two great +seasons, which De Jouvencel calls the great summer and winter, which +will each, according to M. Adhémar, be 10,500 years. + +“During the whole of this period one of the poles has constantly had +shorter winters and longer summers than the other. It follows that the +pole which experiences the long winter undergoes a gradual and +continuous cooling, in consequence of which the quantities of ice and +snow, which melt during the summer, are more than compensated by those +which are again produced in the winter. The ice and snow go on +accumulating from year to year, and finish at the end of the period by +forming, at the coldest pole, a sort of crust or cap, vast, thick, and +heavy enough to modify the spheroidal form of the earth. This +modification, as a necessary consequence, produces a notable +displacement of the centre of gravity, or--for it amounts to the same +thing--of the centre of attraction, round which all the watery masses +tend to restore it. The south pole, as we have seen, finished its _great +winter_ in 1248 B.C. The accumulated ice then added itself to the snow, +and the snow to the ice, at the south pole, towards which the watery +masses all tended until they covered nearly the whole of the southern +hemisphere. But since that date of 1248, our _great winter_ has been in +progress. Our pole, in its turn, goes on getting cooler continually; ice +is being heaped upon snow, and snow upon ice, and in 7,388 years the +centre of gravity of the earth will return to its normal position, which +is the geometrical centre of the spheroid. Following the immutable laws +of central attraction, the southern waters accruing from the melted ice +and snow of the south pole will return to invade and overwhelm once more +the continents of the northern hemisphere, giving rise to new +continents, in all probability, in the southern hemisphere.” + +Such is a brief statement of the hypothesis which Adhémar has very +ingeniously worked out. How far it explains the mysterious phenomena +which we have under consideration we shall not attempt to say, our +concern being with the effects. Does the evidence of upward and downward +movements of the surface in Tertiary times explain the great change? For +if the cooling which preceded and succeeded the two European deluges +still remains an unsolved problem, its effects are perfectly +appreciable. The intense cold which visited the northern and central +parts of Europe resulted in the annihilation of organic life in those +countries. All the watercourses, the rivers and streams, the seas and +lakes, were frozen. As Agassiz says in his first work on “Glaciers”: “A +vast mantle of ice and snow covered the plains, the valleys, and the +seas. All the springs were dried up; the rivers ceased to flow. To the +movements of a numerous and animated creation succeeded the silence of +death.” Great numbers of animals perished from cold. The Elephant and +Rhinoceros perished by thousands in the midst of their grazing grounds, +which became transformed into fields of ice and snow. It is then that +these two species disappeared, and seem to have been effaced from +creation. Other animals were overwhelmed, without their race having been +always entirely annihilated. The sun, which lately lighted up the +verdant plains, as it dawned upon these frozen steppes, was only saluted +by the whistling of the north winds, and the horrible rending of the +crevasses, which opened up on all sides under the heat of its rays, +acting upon the immense glacier which formed the sepulchre of many +animated beings. + +How can we accept the idea that the plains, but yesterday smiling and +fertile, were formerly covered, and that for a very long period, with an +immense sheet of ice and snow? To satisfy the reader that the proof of +this can be established on sufficient evidence, it is necessary to +direct his attention to certain parts of Europe. It is essential to +visit, at least in idea, a country where _glacial phenomena_ still +exist, and to prove that the phenomena, now confined to those countries, +were spread, during geological times, over spaces infinitely vaster. We +shall choose for our illustration, and as an example, the glaciers of +the Alps. We shall show that the glaciers of Switzerland and Savoy have +not always been restricted to their present limits; that they are, so to +speak, only miniature resemblances of the gigantic glaciers of times +past; and that they formerly extended over all the great plains which +extend from the foot of the chain of the Alps. + +To establish these proofs we must enter upon some consideration of +existing glaciers, upon their mode of formation, and their peculiar +phenomena. + +The snow which, during the whole year, falls upon the mountains, does +not melt, but maintains its solid state, when the elevation exceeds the +height of 9,000 feet or thereabouts. Where the snow accumulates to a +great thickness, in the valleys, or in the deep fissures in the ground, +it hardens under the influence of the pressure resulting from the +incumbent weight. But it always happens that a certain quantity of +water, resulting from the momentary thawing of the superficial portions, +traverses its substance, and this forms a crystalline mass of ice, with +a granular structure, which the Swiss naturalists designate _névé_. From +the successive melting and freezing caused by the heat by day and the +cold by night, and the infiltration of air and water into its +interstices, the _névé_ is slowly transformed into a homogeneous azure +mass of ice, full of an infinite number of little air-bubbles--this was +what was formerly called _glace bulleuse_ (bubble-ice). Finally, these +masses, becoming completely frozen, water replaces the bubbles of air. +Then the transformation is complete; the ice is homogeneous, and +presents those beautiful azure tints so much admired by the tourist who +traverses the magnificent glaciers of Switzerland and Savoy. + +Such is the origin of, and such is the mode in which the glaciers of +the Alps are formed. An important property of glaciers remains to be +pointed out. They have a general movement of translation in the +direction of their slope, under the influence of which they make a +certain yearly progress downward, according to the angle of the slope. +The glacier of the Aar, for example, advances at the rate of about 250 +feet each year. + +Under the joint influence of the slope, the weight of the frozen mass, +and the melting of the parts which touch the earth, the glacier thus +always tends downwards; but from the effects of a more genial +temperature, the lower extremity melting rapidly, has a tendency to +recede. It is the difference between these two actions which constitutes +the real progressive movement of the glacier. + +The friction exercised by the glacier upon the bottom and sides of the +valley, ought necessarily to leave its traces on the rocks with which it +may happen to be in contact. Over all the places where a glacier has +passed, in fact, we remark that the rocks are polished, levelled, +rounded, and, as it is termed, _moutonnées_. These rocks present, +besides, striations or scratches, running in the direction of the motion +of the glacier, which have been produced by hard and angular fragments +of stones imbedded in the ice, and which leave their marks on the +hardest rocks under the irresistible pressure of the heavy-descending +mass of ice. In a work of great merit, which we have before quoted, M. +Charles Martins explains the physical mechanism by which granite rocks +borne onwards in the progressive movements of a glacier, have scratched, +scored, and rounded the softer rocks which the glacier has encountered +in its descent. “The friction,” says M. Martins, “which the glacier +exercises upon the bottom and upon the walls, is too considerable not to +leave its traces upon the rocks with which it may be in contact; but its +action varies according to the mineralogical nature of the rocks, and +the configuration of the ground they cover. If we penetrate between the +soil and the bottom of the glacier, taking advantage of the ice-caverns +which sometimes open at its edge or extremity, we creep over a bed of +pebbles and fine sand saturated with water. If we remove this bed, we +soon perceive that the underlying rock is levelled, polished, ground +down by friction, and covered with rectilinear striæ, resembling +sometimes small grooves, more frequently perfectly straight scratches, +as though they had been produced by means of a graver, or even a very +fine needle. The mechanism by which these striæ have been produced is +that which industry employs to polish stones and metals. We rub the +metallic surface with a fine powder called _emery_, until we give it a +brilliancy which proceeds from the reflection of the light from an +infinity of minute striæ. The bed of pebbles and mud, interposed between +the glacier and the subjacent rock, here represents the emery. The rock +is the metallic surface, and the mass of the glacier which presses on +and displaces the mud in its descent towards the plain, represents the +hand of the polisher. These striæ always follow the direction of the +glacier; but as it is sometimes subject to small lateral deviations, the +striæ sometimes cross, forming very small angles with one another. If we +examine the rocks by the side of a glacier, we find similar striæ +engraved on them where they have been in contact with the frozen mass. I +have often broken the ice where it thus pressed upon the rock, and have +found under it polished surfaces, covered with striations. The pebbles +and grains of sand which had engraved them were still encased in the +ice, fixed like the diamond of the glazier at the end of the instrument +with which he marks his glass. + +“The sharpness and depth of the striæ or scratches depend on many +circumstances: if the rock acted upon is calcareous, and the emery is +represented by pebbles and sand derived from harder rocks, such as +gneiss, granite, or protogine, the scratches are very marked. This we +can verify at the foot of the glaciers of Rosenlaui, and of the +Grindenwald in the Canton of Berne. On the contrary, if the rock is +gneissic, granitic, or serpentinous, that is to say, very hard, the +scratches will be less deep and less marked, as may be seen in the +glaciers of the Aar, of Zermatt, and Chamounix. The polish will be the +same in both cases, and it is often as perfect as in marble polished for +architectural purposes. + +“The scratches engraved upon the rocks which confine these glaciers are +generally horizontal or parallel to the surface. Sometimes, owing to the +contractions of the valley, these striæ are nearly vertical. This, +however, need not surprise us. Forced onwards by the superincumbent +weight, the glacier squeezes itself through the narrow part, its bulk +expanding upwards, in which case the flanks of the mountain which barred +its passage are marked vertically. This is admirably seen near the +Châlets of Stieregg, a narrow defile which the lower glacier of the +Grindenwald has to clear before it discharges itself into the valley of +the same name. Upon the right bank of the glacier the scratches are +inclined at an angle of 45° to the horizon. Upon the left bank the +glacier rises sometimes quite up to the neighbouring forest, carrying +with it great clods of earth charged with rhododendrons and clumps of +alder, birches, and firs. The more tender or foliated rocks were broken +up and demolished by the prodigious force of the glacier; the harder +rocks offered more resistance, but their surface is planed down, +polished, and striated, testifying to the enormous pressure which they +had to undergo. In the same manner the glacier of the Aar, at the foot +of the promontory on which M. Agassiz’ tent was erected, is polished to +a great height, and on the face, turned towards the upper part of the +valley, I have observed scratches inclined 64°. The ice, erect against +this escarpment, seemed to wish to scale it, but the granite rock held +fast, and the glacier was compelled to pass round it slowly. + +“In recapitulation, the considerable pressure of a glacier, joined to +its movement of progression, acts at once upon the bottom and flanks of +the valley which it traverses: it polishes all the rocks which may be +too hard to be demolished by it, and frequently impresses upon them a +peculiar and characteristic form. In destroying all the asperities and +inequalities of these rocks, it levels their surfaces and rounds them on +the sides pointing up the stream, whilst in the opposite direction, or +down the stream, they sometimes preserve their abrupt, unequal, and +rugged surface. We must comprehend, in short, that the force of the +glacier acts principally on the side which is towards the circle whence +it descends, in the same way that the piles of a bridge are more damaged +up-stream, than down, by the icebergs which the river brings down during +the winter. Seen from a distance, a group of rocks thus rounded and +polished reminds us of the appearance of a flock of sheep: hence the +name _roches moutonnées_ given them by the Swiss naturalists.” + +Another phenomenon which plays an important part in existing glaciers, +and in those, also, which formerly covered Switzerland, is found in the +fragments of rock, often of enormous size, which have been transported +and deposited during their movement of progression. + +The peaks of the Alps are exposed to continual degradations. Formed of +granitic rocks--rocks eminently alterable under the action of air and +water, they become disintegrated and often fall in fragments more or +less voluminous. “The masses of snow,” continues Martins, “which hang +upon the Alps during winter, the rain which infiltrates between their +beds during summer, the sudden action of torrents of water, and more +slowly, but yet more powerfully, the chemical affinities, degrade, +disintegrate, and decompose the hardest rocks. The débris thus produced +falls from the summits into the circles occupied by the glaciers with a +great crash, accompanied by frightful noises and great clouds of dust. +Even in the middle of summer I have seen these avalanches of stone +precipitated from the highest ridges of the Schreckhorn, forming upon +the immaculate snow a long black train, consisting of enormous blocks +and an immense number of smaller fragments. In the spring a rapid +thawing of the winter snows often causes accidental torrents of extreme +violence. If the melting is slow, water insinuates itself into the +smallest fissures of the rocks, freezes there, and rends asunder the +most refractory masses. The blocks detached from the mountains are +sometimes of gigantic dimensions: we have found them sixty feet in +length, and those measuring thirty feet each way are by no means rare in +the Alps.”[106] + + [106] _Revue des Deux Mondes_, p. 925; March 1, 1847. + +Thus, the action of aqueous infiltrations followed by frost, the +chemical decomposition which granite undergoes under the influence of a +moist atmosphere, degrade and disintegrate the rocks which constitute +the mountains enclosing the glacier. Blocks, sometimes of very +considerable dimensions, often fall at the foot of these mountains on to +the surface of the glacier. Were it immovable the débris would +accumulate at its base, and would form there a mass of ruins heaped up +without order. But the slow progression, the continuous displacement of +the glacier, lead, in the distribution of these blocks, to a certain +kind of arrangement: the blocks falling upon its surface participate in +its movement, and advance with it. But other downfalls take place daily, +and the new débris following the first, the whole form a line along the +outer edge of the glacier. These regular trains of rocks bear the name +of “_moraines_.” When the rocks fall from two mountains, and on each +edge of the glacier, and two parallel lines of débris are formed, they +are called _lateral moraines_. There are also _median moraines_, which +are formed when two glaciers are confluent, in such a manner that the +_lateral moraine_, on the right of the one, trends towards the left-hand +one of the other. Finally, those moraines are _frontal_, or _terminal_, +which repose, not upon the glacier, but at its point of termination in +the valleys, and which are due to the accumulation of blocks fallen from +the terminal escarpments of glaciers there arrested by some obstacle. In +PLATE XXXI. we have represented an actual Swiss glacier, in which are +united the physical and geological peculiarities belonging to these +enormous masses of frozen water: the moraines here are _lateral_, that +is to say, formed of a double line of débris. + +[Illustration: XXXI.--Glaciers of Switzerland.] + +Transported slowly on the surface of the glacier, all the blocks from +the mountain preserve their original forms unaltered; the sharpness of +their edges is never altered by their gentle transport and almost +imperceptible motion. Atmospheric agency only can affect or destroy +these rocks when formed of hard resisting material. They then remain +nearly of the same form and volume they had when they fell on the +surface of the glacier; but it is otherwise with blocks and fragments +enclosed between the rock and the glacier, whether it be at the bottom +or between the glacier and its lateral walls. Some of these, under the +powerful and continuous action of this gigantic grinding process, will +be reduced to an impalpable mud, others are worn into facets, while +others are rounded, presenting a multitude of scratches crossing each +other in all directions. These scratched pebbles are of great importance +in studying the extent of ancient glaciers; they testify, on the spot, +to the existence of pre-existing glaciers which shaped, ground, and +striated the pebbles, which water does not; on the contrary, in the +latter, they become polished and rounded, and even natural striations +are effaced. + +Thus, huge blocks transported to great distances from their true +geological beds, that is, _erratic blocks_, to use the proper technical +term, rounded (_moutonnées_), polished, and scratched surfaces, +_moraines_; finally, pebbles, ground, polished, rounded, or worn into +smooth surfaces, are all physical effects of glaciers in motion, and +their presence alone affords sufficient proof to the naturalist that a +glacier formerly existed in the locality where he finds them. The reader +will now comprehend how it is possible to recognise, in our days, the +existence of ancient glaciers in different parts of the world. Above +all, wherever we may find both _erratic blocks_ and _moraines_, and +observe, at the same time, indications of rocks having been polished and +striated in the same direction, we may pronounce with certainty as to +the existence of a glacier during geological times. Let us take some +instances. + +At Pravolta, in the Alps, going towards _Monte Santo-Primo_, upon a +calcareous rock, we find the mass of granite represented in Fig. 196. +This erratic block exists, with thousands of others, on the slopes of +the mountain. It is about fifty feet long, nearly forty feet broad, and +five-and-twenty in height; and all its edges and angles are perfect. +Some parallel striæ occur along the neighbouring rocks. All this clearly +demonstrates that a glacier existed, in former times, in this part of +the Alps, where none appear at the present time. It is a glacier, then, +which has transported and deposited here this enormous block, weighing +nearly 2,000 tons. + +In the Jura Mountains, on the hill of Fourvières, a limestone eminence +at Lyons, blocks of granite are found, evidently derived from the Alps, +and transported there by the Swiss glaciers. The particular mode of +transport is represented theoretically in Fig. 197. A represents, for +example, the summit of the Alps, B the Jura Mountains, or the hill of +Fourvières, at Lyons. At the glacial period, the glacier A B C extended +from the Alps to the mountain B. The granitic débris, which was detached +from the summit of the Alpine mountains, fell on the surface of the +glacier. The movement of progression of this glacier transported these +blocks as far as the summit B. At a later period the temperature of the +globe was raised, and when the ice had melted, the blocks, D E, were +quietly deposited on the spots where they are now found, without having +sustained the slightest shock or injury in this singular mode of +transport. + +[Illustration: Fig. 196.--Erratic Blocks in the Alps.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 197.--Transported blocks.] + +Every day traces, more or less recognisable, are found on the Alps of +ancient glaciers far distant from their existing limits. Heaps of +débris, of all sizes, comprehending blocks with sharp-pointed angles, +are found in the Swiss plains and valleys. _Blocs perchés_ (Perched +blocks), as in PL. XXXI., are often seen perched upon points of the Alps +situated far above existing glaciers, or dispersed over the plain which +separates the Alps from the Jura, or even preserving an incredible +equilibrium, when their great mass is taken into consideration, at +considerable heights on the eastern flank of this chain of mountains. It +is by the aid of these indications that the geologist has been able to +trace to extremely remote distances signs of the former existence of the +ancient glaciers of the Alps, to follow them in their course, and fix +their point of origin, and where they terminated. Thus the humble Mount +Sion, a gently-swelling hill situated to the north of Geneva, was the +point at which three great ancient glaciers had their confluence--the +glacier of the Rhône, which filled all the basin of Lake Leman, or Lake +of Geneva; that of the Isère, which issued from the Annecy and Bourget +Lakes; and that of the Arve, which had its source in the valley of +Chamounix, all converged at this point. According to M. G. de Mortillet, +who has carefully studied this geological question, the extent and +situation of these ancient glaciers of the Alps were as follows:--Upon +its northern flank the _glacier of the Rhine_ occupied all the basin of +Lake Constance, and extended to the borders of Germany; that of the +_Linth_, which was arrested at the extremity of the Lake of Zurich--this +city is built upon its terminal moraine--that of the _Reus_, which +covered the lake of the four cantons with blocks torn from the peaks of +Saint-Gothard;--that of the _Aar_, the last moraines of which crown the +hills in the environs of Berne;--those of the _Arve_ and the _Isère_, +which, as we have said, debouched from Lake Annecy and Lake Bourget +respectively;--that of the _Rhône_, the most important of all. It is +this glacier which has deposited upon the flanks of the Jura, at the +height of 3,400 feet above the level of the sea, the great _erratic +blocks_ already described. This mighty glacier of the Rhône had its +origin in all the lateral valleys formed by the two parallel chains of +the Valais. It filled all the Valais, and extended into the plain, lying +between the Alps and the Jura, from Fort de L’Écluse, near the fall of +the Rhône, up to the neighbourhood of Aarau. + +The fragments of rocks transported by the ice-sea which occupied all the +Swiss plain follow, in northerly direction, the course of the valley of +the Rhine. On the other hand, the glacier of the Rhône, after reaching +the plain of Switzerland, turned off obliquely towards the south, +received the glacier of the Arve, then that of the Isère, passed between +the Jura and the mountains of the Grande-Chartreuse, spread over La +Bresse, then nearly all Dauphiny, and terminated in the neighbourhood of +Lyons. + +Upon the southern flank of the Alps, the ancient glaciers, according to +M. de Mortillet’s map, occupied all the great valleys from that of the +Dora, on the west, to that of the Tagliamento, on the east. “The glacier +of the _Dora_” says de Mortillet, whose text we greatly abridge, +“debouched into the valley of the Po, close to Turin. That of the +_Dora-Baltéa_ entered the plain of Ivréa, where it has left a +magnificent semicircle of hills, which formed its terminal moraine. That +of the _Toce_ discharged itself into Lake Maggiore, against the glacier +of the Tessin, and then threw itself into the valley of Lake Orta, at +the southern extremity of which its terminal moraines were situated. +That of the Tessin filled the basin of Lake Maggiore, and established +itself between Lugano and Varèse. That of the _Adda_ filled the basin of +Lake Como, and established itself between Mendrizio and Lecco, thus +describing a vast semicircle. That of the _Oglio_ terminated a little +beyond Lake Iseo. That of the _Adige_, finding no passage through the +narrow valley of Roveredo, where the valley became very narrow, took +another course, and filled the immense valley of the Lake of Garda. At +Novi it has left a magnificent moraine, of which Dante speaks in his +‘Inferno.’ That of the _Brenta_ extended over the plain of that commune. +The _Drave_ and the _Tagliamento_ had also their glaciers. Finally, +glaciers occupied all the valleys of the Austrian and Bavarian +Alps.”[107] + + [107] “Carte des Anciens Glaciers des Alpes,” pp. 8-10. (1860.) + +Similar traces of the existence of ancient glaciers occur in many other +European countries. In the Pyrenees, in Corsica, the Vosges, the Jura, +&c., extensive ranges of country have been covered, in geological +times, by these vast plains of ice. The glacier of the Moselle was the +most considerable of the glaciers of the Vosges, receiving numerous +affluents; its lowest frontal moraine, which is situated below +Remiremont, could not be less than a mile and a quarter in length. + +But the phenomenon of the glacial extension which we have examined in +the Alps was not confined to Central Europe. The same traces of their +ancient existence are observed in all the north of Europe, in Russia, +Iceland, Norway, Prussia, the British Islands, part of Germany, in the +north, and even in some parts of the south, of Spain. In England, +_erratic_ blocks of granite are found which were derived from the +mountains of Norway. It is evident that these blocks were borne by a +glacier which extended from the north pole to England. In this manner +they crossed the Baltic and the North Seas. In Prussia similar traces +are observable. + +Thus, during the Quaternary epoch, glaciers which are now limited to the +Polar regions, or to mountainous countries of considerable altitude, +extended very far beyond their present known limits; and, taken in +connection with the deluge of the north, and the vast amount of organic +life which they destroyed, they form, perhaps, the most striking and +mysterious of all geological phenomena. + +M. Edouard Collomb, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of ancient +glaciers, furnishes the following note explanatory of a map of Ancient +Glaciers which he has prepared:-- + +“The area occupied by the ancient Quaternary glaciers may be divided +into two orographical regions:--1. The region of the north, from lat. +52° or 55° up to the North Pole. 2. The region of Central Europe and +part of the south. + +“The region of the north which has been covered by the ancient glaciers +comprehends all the Scandinavian peninsula, Sweden, Norway, and a part +of Western Russia, extending from the Niemen on the north in a curve +which passed near the sources of the Dnieper and the Volga, and thence +took a direction towards the shores of the glacial ocean. This region +comprehends Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, the isles dependent on them, +and, finally, a great part of England. + +“This region is bounded, on all its sides, by a wide zone from 2° to 5° +in breadth, over which is recognised the existence of erratic blocks of +the north: it includes the middle region of Russia in Europe, Poland, a +part of Prussia, and Denmark; losing itself in Holland on the Zuider +Zee, it cut into the northern part of England, and we find a shred of it +in France, upon the borders of the Cotentin. + +“The ancient glaciers of Central Europe consisted, first, of the grand +masses of the Alps. Stretching to the west and to the north, they +extended to the valley of the Rhône as far as Lyons, then crossing the +summit-level of the Jura, they passed near Basle, covering Lake +Constance, and stretching beyond into Bavaria and Austria. Upon the +southern slopes of the Alps, they turned round the summit of the +Adriatic, passed near to Udinet, covered Peschiera, Solferino, Como, +Varèse, and Ivréa, extended to near Turin, and terminated in the valley +of the Stura, near the Col de Tenda. + +“In the Pyrenees, the ancient glaciers have occupied all the principal +valleys of this chain, both on the French and Spanish sides, especially +the valleys of the centre, which comprehend those of Luchon, Aude, +Baréges, Cauterets, and Ossun. In the Cantabrian chain, an extension of +the Pyrenees, the existence of ancient glaciers has also been +recognised. + +“In the Vosges and the Black Forest they covered all the southern parts +of these mountains. In the Vosges, the principal traces are found in the +valleys of Saint-Amarin, Giromagny, Munster, the Moselle, &c. + +“In the Carpathians and the Caucasus the existence of ancient glaciers +of great extent has also been observed. + +“In the Sierra Nevada, in the south of Spain, mountains upwards of +11,000 feet high, the valleys which descend from the Picacho de Veleta +and Mulhacen have been covered with ancient glaciers during the +Quaternary epoch.” + +There is no reason to doubt that at this epoch all the British islands, +at least all north of the Thames, were covered by glaciers in their +higher parts. “Those,” says Professor Ramsay, “who know the Highlands of +Scotland, will remember that, though the weather has had a powerful +influence upon them, rendering them in places rugged, jagged, and +cliffy, yet, notwithstanding, their general outlines are often +remarkably rounded and flowing; and when the valleys are examined in +detail, you find in their bottoms and on the sides of the hills that the +mammillated structure prevails. This rounded form is known, by those who +study glaciers, by the name of _roches moutonnées_, given to them by the +Swiss writers. These mammillated forms are exceedingly common in many +British valleys, and not only so, but the very same kind of grooving and +striation, so characteristic of the rocks in the Swiss valleys, also +marks those of the Highlands of Scotland, of Cumberland, and Wales. +Considering all these things, geologists, led by Agassiz some five or +six and twenty years ago, have by degrees come to the conclusion, that a +very large part of our island was, during the glacial period, covered, +or nearly covered, with a thick coating of ice in the same way that the +north of Greenland is at present; and that by the long-continued +grinding power of a great glacier, or set of glaciers nearly universal +over the northern half of our country, and the high ground of Wales, the +whole surface became moulded by ice.” + +Whoever traverses England, observing its features with attention, will +remark in certain places traces of the action of ice in this era. Some +of the mountains present on one side a naked rock, and on the other a +gentle slope, smiling and verdant, giving a character more or less +abrupt, bold, and striking, to the landscape. Considerable portions of +dry land were formerly covered by a bluish clay, which contained many +fragments of rock or “boulders” torn from the old Cumbrian mountains; +from the Pennine chain; from the moraines of the north of England; and +from the Chalk hills--hence called “boulder” clay--present themselves +here and there, broken, worn, and ground up by the action of water and +ice. These erratic blocks or “boulders” have clearly been detached from +the parent rock by violence, and often transported to considerable +distances. They have been carried, not only across plains, but over the +tops of mountains; some of them being found 130 miles from the parent +rocks. We even find, as already hinted, some rocks of which no +prototypes have been found nearer than Norway. There is, then, little +room for doubting the fact of an extensive system of glaciers having +covered the land, although the proofs have only been gathered +laboriously and by slow degrees in a long series of years. In 1840 +Agassiz visited Scotland, and his eye, accustomed to glaciers in his +native mountains, speedily detected their signs. Dr. Buckland became a +zealous advocate of the same views. North Wales was soon recognised as +an independent centre of a system which radiated from lofty Snowdon, +through seven valleys, carrying with them large stones and grooving the +rocks in their passage. In the pass of Llanberis there are all the +common proofs of the valley having been filled with glacier ice. “When +the country was under water,” says Professor Ramsay, “the drift was +deposited which more or less filled up many of the Welsh valleys. When +the land had risen again to a considerable height, the glaciers +increased in size: although they never reached the immense magnitude +which they attained in the earlier portion of the icy epoch. Still they +became so large that such a valley as the Pass of Llanberis was a second +time occupied by ice, which ploughed out the drift that more or less +covered the valley. By degrees, however, as we approach nearer our own +days, the climate slowly ameliorated, and the glaciers began to decline, +till, growing less and less, they crept up and up; and here and there, +as they died away, they left their terminal and lateral moraines still +as well defined in some cases as moraines in lands where glaciers now +exist. Frequently, too, masses of stone, that floated on the surface of +the ice, were left perched upon the rounded _roches moutonnées_, in a +manner somewhat puzzling to those who are not geologists. + +“In short, they were let down upon the surface of these rocks so quietly +and so softly, that there they will lie, until an earthquake shakes them +down, or until the wasting of the rock on which they rest precipitates +them to a lower level.” + +It was the opinion of Agassiz, after visiting Scotland, that the +Grampians had been covered by a vast thickness of ice, whence erratic +blocks had been dispersed in all directions as from a centre; other +geologists after a time adopted the opinion--Mr. Robert Chambers going +so far as to maintain, in 1848, that Scotland had been at one time +moulded by ice. Mr. T. F. Jamieson followed in the same track, adducing +many new facts to prove that the Grampians once sent down glaciers in +all directions towards the sea. “The glacial grooves,” he says, “radiate +outward from the central heights towards all points of the compass, +although they do not strictly conform to the actual shape and contour of +the minor valleys and ridges.” But the most interesting part of Mr. +Jamieson’s investigations is undoubtedly the ingenious manner in which +he has worked out Agassiz’ assertion that Glenroy, whose remarkable +“_Parallel Roads_” have puzzled so many investigators, was once the +basin of a frozen lake. + +Glenroy is one of the many romantic glens of Lochaber, at the head of +the Spey, near to the Great Glen, or the valley of the Caledonian Canal, +which stretches obliquely across the country in a northwesterly +direction from Loch Linnhè to Loch Ness, leaving Loch Arkaig, Loch Aich, +Glen Garry, and many a highland loch besides, on the left, and Glen +Spean, in which Loch Treig, running due north and south, has its mouth, +on the south. Glenroy opens into it from the north, while Glen Gluoy +opens into the Great Glen opposite Loch Arkaig. Mr. Jamieson commenced +his investigations at the mouth of Loch Arkaig, which is about a mile +from the lake itself. Here he found the gneiss ground down as if by ice +coming from the east. On the hill, north of the lake, the gneiss, though +much worn and weathered, still exhibited well-marked striæ, directed up +and down the valley. Other markings showed that the Glen Arkaig glacier +not only blocked up Glen Gluoy, but the mouth of Glen Spean, which lies +two miles or so north of it on the opposite side. + +At Brackletter, on the south side of Glen Spean, near its junction with +Glen Lochy, glacial scores pointing more nearly due west, but slightly +inclining to the north, were observed, as if caused by the pressure of +ice from Glen Lui. The south side of Glen Spean, from its mouth to Loch +Treig, is bounded by lofty hills--an extension of Ben Nevis, the highest +of these peaks exceeding 3,000 feet. Numerous gullies intersect their +flanks, and the largest of these, Corry N’Eoin, presents a series of +rocky amphitheatres, or rather large caldrons, whose walls have been +ground down by long-continued glacial action: the quartz-veins are all +shorn down to the level of the gneiss, and streaked with fine scratches, +pointing down the hollows and far up the rocks on either side. During +all these operations the great valley was probably filled up with ice, +which would close Glen Gluoy and Glen Spean, and might also close the +lowest of the lines in Glenroy. But how about the middle and upper +lines? + +A glacier crossing from Loch Treig, and protruding across Glen Spean, +would cut off Glens Glaibu and Makoul, when the water in Glenroy could +only escape over the Col into Strathspey, when the first level would be +marked. + +Now let the Glen Treig glacier shrink a little, so as to let out water +to the level of the second line by the outline at Makoul, and the theory +is complete. When the first and greatest glacier gave way, Glenroy would +be nearly in its present state. + +The glacier, on issuing from the gorge at the end of Loch Treig, would +dilate immensely, the right flank spreading over a rough expanse of +syenite, the neighbouring hills being mica-schists, with veins of +porphyry. Now the syenite breaks into large cuboidal blocks of immense +size. These have been swept before the advancing glacier along with +other débris, and deposited in a semicircle of mounds having a sweep of +several miles, forming circular bands which mark the edges of the +glacier as it shrunk from time to time under the influence of a milder +climate. + +This moraine, which was all that was wanting to complete the theory laid +down by Agassiz, is found on the pony-road leading from the mouth of +Loch Treig towards Badenoch. A mile or so brings the traveller to the +summit-level of the road, and beyond the hill a low moor stretches away +to the bottom of the plain. Here, slanting across the slope of the hill +towards Loch Treig, two lines of moraine stretch across the road. At +first they consist of mica-schists and bits of porphyry, but blocks of +syenite soon become intermingled. Outside these are older hillocks, +rising in some places sixty and seventy feet high, forming narrow +steep-sided mounds, with blocks fourteen feet in length sticking out of +the surface, mixed with fragments of mica-schist and gneiss. The inner +moraine consists, almost wholly, of large blocks of syenite, five, ten, +fifteen, and five-and-twenty feet long. + +[Illustration: Fig. 198.--Parallel roads of Glenroy; from a sketch by +Professor J. Phillips.] + +The present aspect of Glenroy is that of an upper and lower glen opening +up from the larger Glen Spean. The head-waters of Lochaber gather in a +wild mountain tract, near the source of the Spey. The upper glen is an +oval valley, four miles long, by about one broad, bounded on each side +by high mountains, which throw off two streams dividing the mica-schist +from the gneissic systems; the former predominating on the west side, +and the latter on the east. The united streams flow to the south-west +for two miles, when the valley contracts to a rocky gorge which +separates the upper from the lower glen. Passing from the upper to the +lower glen, a line is observed to pass from near the junction of the two +streams, on a level with a flat rock at the gorge, and also with the +uppermost of the three lines of terraces in the lower glen. This line +girdles the sides of the hills right and left, with a seemingly higher +sweep, and is followed by two other perfectly parallel and continuous +lines till Glenroy expands into Glen Spean, which crosses its mouth and +enters the great glen a little south of Loch Lochy. At the point, +however, where Glenroy enters Glen Spean, the two upper terraces cease, +while the lower of the three appears on the north and south side of Glen +Spean, as far as the pass of Glen Muckal, and southward a little way up +the Gubban river and round the head of Loch Treig. + +In Scotland, and in Northern England and Wales, there is distinct +evidence that the Glacial Epoch commenced with an era of continental +ice, the land being but slightly lower than at present, and possibly at +the same level, during which period the Scottish hills received their +rounded outlines, and scratched and smoothed rock-surfaces; and the +plains and valleys became filled with the stiff clay, with angular +scratched stones, known as the “Till,” which deposit is believed by +Messrs. Geikie, Jamieson, and Croll to be a _moraine profonde_, the +product of a vast ice-sheet. + +In Wales, Professor Ramsay has described the whole of the valleys of the +Snowdonian range as filled with enormous glaciers, the level of the +surface of the ice filling the Pass of Llanberis, rising 500 feet above +the present watershed at Gorphwysfa. In the Lake District of Cumberland +and Westmorland, Mr. De Rance has shown that a vast series of glaciers, +or small ice-sheets, filled all the valleys, radiating out in all +directions from the larger mountains, which formed centres of +dispersion, the ice actually pushing over many of the lesser watersheds, +and scooping out the great rock-basins in which lie the lakes +Windermere, Ullswater, Thirlmere, Coniston Water, and Wastwater, the +bottoms of which are nearly all below the sea-level. The whole of this +district, he has shown, experienced a second glaciation, after the +period of great submergence, in which valley-glaciers scooped out the +marine drift, and left their _moraines_ in the Liza, Langdale, and +other valleys, and high up in the hills, as at Harrison’s Stickle, where +a tarn has been formed by a little _moraine_, acting as a dam, as shown +by Professor Hull. + +In Wales, also, valley-glaciers existed after the submergence beneath +the Glacial sea. Thus in Cwm-llafar, under the brow of Carnedd Dafydd, +and Carnedd Llewelyn, Professor Ramsay has shown that a narrow glacier, +about two miles in length, has ploughed out a long narrow hollow in the +drift (which “forms a succession of terraces, the result of marine +denudation, during pauses in the re-elevation of its submersion) to a +depth of more than 2,000 feet.”[108] + + [108] Professor Ramsay, “The Old Glaciers of North Wales.” Longman, + 1860. + +The proofs of this great submergence, succeeding the era of “land-ice,” +are constantly accumulating. Since 1863, when Professor Hull first +divided the thick glacial deposits of Eastern Lancashire and Cheshire +into an Upper Boulder Clay, and Lower Boulder Clay divided by a Middle +Sand and Gravel, the whole of which are of marine origin, these +subdivisions have been found to hold good, by himself and Mr. A. H. +Green, over 600 square miles of country around Manchester, Bolton, and +Congleton; by Mr. De Rance over another 600 square miles, around +Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool, Blackburn, and Lancaster, and also in the +low country lying between the Cumberland and Welsh mountains and the +sea. + +In Ireland, also, the same triplex arrangement appears to exist. +Professors Harkness and Hull have identified the “Limestone and Manure +Gravels” of the central plain, as referable to the “Middle Sand and +Gravel,” and the “Lower Boulder Clay” rests on a glaciated rock-surface +along the coasts of Antrim and Down, and is overlain by sand, which, in +1832, was discovered by Dr. Scouler to be shell-bearing. At Kingstown +the three deposits are seen resting on a moutonnéed surface of granite, +scored from the N.N.W. + +In Lancashire and on the coast of North Wales, between Llandudno and +Rhyl, Mr. De Rance has shown that these deposits often lie upon the +denuded and eroded surface of another clay, of older date, which he +believes to be the product of land-ice, the remnant of the _moraine +profonde_, and the equivalent of the Scotch “Till.” He also shows that +the Lower Boulder Clay never rises above an elevation of fifty or eighty +feet above the sea-level; and that the Middle Sand and Shingle rests +directly upon the rock, or on the surface of this old Till. + +Near Manchester the Lower Boulder Clay occasionally rests upon an old +bed of sand and gravel. It is extremely local, but its presence has been +recorded in several sections by Mr. Edward Binney, who was the first to +show, in 1842,[109] that the Lancashire Boulder Clays were formed in the +sea, and that the erratic pebbles and boulders, mainly derived from the +Cumberland Lake Districts, were brought south by means of floating ice. + + [109] In 1840 Dr. Buckland described the occurrence of boulders of + Criffel Granite between Shalbeck and Carlisle, and attributed + their position to the agency of ice floating across the Solway + Firth. + +Most of the erratic pebbles and boulders in the Lancashire clays are +more or less scratched and scored, many of them (though quite rounded) +in so many directions that Mr. De Rance believes the Cumberland and +Westmoreland hills to have been surrounded by an ice-belt, which, +occasionally thawing during summer or warm episodes, admitted “breaker +action” on the gradually subsiding coast, wearing the fragments of rocks +brought down by rivers or by glaciers into pebbles that, with the return +of the cold, became covered with the “ice-belt,” which, lifted by the +tides, rolled and dinted the pebbles one against another, and gradually +allowed them to be impressed into its mass, with which they eventually +floated away. + +The Middle Sands and Shingles in England have also afforded a great +number of shells of mollusca. At Macclesfield they have been described +by Messrs. Prestwich and Darbishire as occurring at an elevation of +1,100 to 1,200 feet above the level of the sea.[110] + + [110] Mr. Darbishire records seventy species from Macclesfield and + Moel Tryfaen, taken together, of which 6 are Arctic, and 18 are + not known in the Upper Crag. + +Among other proofs of glacial action and submersion in Wales may be +mentioned the case of Moel Tryfaen, a hill 1,400 feet high, lying to the +westward of Caernarvon Bay, and six or seven miles from Caernarvon. Mr. +Joshua Trimmer had observed stratified drift near the summit of this +mountain, from which he obtained some marine shells; but doubts were +entertained as to their age until 1863, when a deep and extensive +cutting was made in search of slates. In this cutting a stratified mass +of loose sand and gravel was laid open near the summit, thirty-five feet +thick, containing shells, some entire, but mostly in fragments. Sir +Charles Lyell examined the cutting, and obtained twenty species of +shells, and in the lower beds of the drift, “large heavy boulders of +far-transported rocks, glacially polished and scratched on more than one +side:” underneath the whole, the edges of vertical slates were exposed +to view, exhibiting “unequivocal marks of prolonged glaciation.” The +shells belonged to species still living in British or more northern +seas. + +From the gravels of the Severn Valley, described by Mr. Maw, thirty-five +forms of mollusca have been identified by Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys. In the +Shingle beds of Leyland, Euxton, Chorley, Preston, Lancaster, and +Blackpool,[111] Mr. De Rance has obtained nearly thirty species. + + [111] The typical species in West Lancashire are _Tellina Balthica_, + _Cardium edule_, _C. aculeatum_, _C. rusticum_, _Psammobia + ferroensis_, _Turritella terebra_. + +In Eastern Yorkshire, Mr. Searles V. Wood, Jun., has divided the glacial +deposits into “Purple Clay without Chalk,” “Purple Clay with Chalk,” and +“Chalky Clay,” the whole being later than his “Middle Glacial Sands and +Gravel,” which, in East Anglia, are overlain by the “Chalky Clay,” and +rest unconformably upon the “Contorted Drift” of Norfolk, the Cromer +Till, and the Forest Bed. His three Yorkshire clays are, however, +considered by most northern geologists to be the representatives of the +“Upper Boulder Clay” west of the Pennine Chain, the “Chalky Clay” having +been formed before the country had sufficiently subsided to allow the +sandstones and marls, furnishing the red colouring matter, to have +suffered denudation; while the “Purple Clay without Chalk, and with Shap +Granite,” was deposited when all the chalk was mainly beneath the sea, +and the granite from Shap Fell, which had been broken up by +breaker-action during the Middle Sand era, was floated across the passes +of the Pennine Chain and southwards and northwards. A solitary pebble of +Shap granite has been found by Mr. De Rance at Hoylake, in Cheshire; and +many of Criffel Granite, in that county, and on the coast of North +Wales, by Mr. Mackintosh, who has also traced the flow of this granite +in the low country lying north and south of the Cumberland mountains. + +At Bridlington, in Yorkshire, occurs a deposit at the base of the +“Purple Clay,” with a truly Arctic fauna. Out of seventy forms of +mollusca recorded by Mr. S. V. Wood, Jun., nineteen are unknown to the +Crag--of these thirteen are purely arctic, and two not known as living. + +Shells have been found in the Upper Boulder Clay of Lancashire, at +Hollingworth Reservoir, near Mottram, by Messrs. Binney, Bateman, and +Prestwich, at an elevation of 568 feet above the sea, consisting of +_Fusus Bamffius_, _Purpura lapillus_, _Turritilla terebra_, and _Cardium +edule_. The clay is described by Mr. Binney as sandy, and +brown-coloured, with pebbles of granite and greenstone, some rounded and +some angular. All the above shells, as well as _Tellina Balthica_, have +been found in the Upper Clay of Preston, Garstang, Blackpool, and +Llandudno, by Mr. De Rance, who has also found all the above species +(with the exception of _Fusus_), as well as _Psammobia ferroensis_, and +the siliceous spiculæ of marine sponges, in the Lower Boulder Clay of +West Lancashire. He has described the ordinary red Boulder Clay of +Lancashire as extending continuously through Cheshire and Staffordshire +into Warwickshire, gradually becoming less red and more chalky, +everywhere overlying intermittent sheets of “sands and shingle-beds,” +one of which is particularly well seen at Leamington and Warwick, where +it contains Pectens from the Crag, _Gryphæa_ from the Lias, and chalk +fossils and flints. The latter have also been found by Mr. Lucy in the +neighbourhood of Mount Sorrel, associated with bits of the Coral Rag of +Yorkshire. The gravels of Leicester, Market Harborough, and Lutterworth +were long ago described by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare as affording +“specimens of the organic remains of most of the Secondary Strata in +England.” + +The Rev. O. Fisher, F.G.S., has paid much attention to the superficial +covering usually described as “heading,” or “drift,” as well as to the +contour of the surface, in districts composed of the softer strata, and +has published his views in various papers in the _Journal of the +Geological Society_ and in the _Geological Magazine_. He thinks that the +contour of the surface cannot be ascribed entirely to the action of rain +and rivers, but that the changes in the ancient contour since produced +by those changes can be easily distinguished. He finds the covering beds +to consist of two members--a lower one, entirely destitute of organic +remains, and generally unstratified, which has often been forcibly +indented into the bed beneath it, sometimes exhibiting slickenside at +the junction. + +There is evidence of this lower member having been pushed or dragged +over the surface, from higher to lower levels, in a plastic condition; +on which account he has named it “The Trail.” + +The upper member of the covering beds consists of soil derived from the +lower one, by weathering. It contains, here and there, the remains of +the land-shells which lived in the locality at a period antecedent to +cultivation. It is “The Warp” of Mr. Trimmer. + +Neither of these accumulations occur on low flats, where the surface has +been modified since the recent period. They both alike pass below +high-water mark, and have been noticed beneath estuarine deposits. + +Mr. Fisher is of opinion that land-ice has been instrumental in forming +the contour of the surface, and that the trail is the remnant of its +_moraine profonde_. And he has given reasons[112] for believing that the +climate of those latitudes may have been sufficiently rigorous for that +result about 100,000 years ago. He attributes the formation of the +superficial covering of Warp to a period of much rainfall and severe +winter-frosts, after the ice-sheet had disappeared. + + [112] _Geological Magazine_, vol. iii., p. 483. + +The phenomena which so powerfully affected our hemisphere present +themselves, in a much grander manner, in the New World. The +glacier-system appears to have taken in America the same gigantic +proportions which other objects assume there. Nor is it necessary, in +order to explain the permanent existence of this icy mantle in temperate +climates, to infer the prevalence of any very extraordinary degree of +cold. On this subject M. Ch. Martins thus expresses himself: “The mean +temperature of Geneva is 9° 5 Cent. Upon the surrounding mountains the +limit of perpetual snow is found at 8,800 feet above the level of the +sea. The great glaciers of the valley of Chamounix descend 5,000 feet +below this line. Thus situated, let us suppose that the mean temperature +of Geneva was lowered only 4°, and the average became 5° 5; the decrease +of temperature with the height being 1° c. for every 600 feet, the limit +of perpetual snow would be lowered by 2,437 feet, and would be 6,363 +feet above the level of the sea. We can readily admit that the glaciers +of Chamounix would descend below this new limit, to an extent at least +equal to that which exists between their present limit and their lower +extremity. Now, in reality, the foot of these glaciers is 5,000 feet +above the ocean; with a climate 4° colder, it would be 2,437 feet lower; +that is to say, at the level of the Swiss plain. Thus, the lowering of +the line of perpetual snow to this extent would suffice to bring the +glacier of the Arve to the environs of Geneva.... Of the climate which +has favoured the prodigious development of glaciers we have a pretty +correct idea; it is that of Upsala, Stockholm, Christiana, and part of +North America, in the State of New York.... To diminish by four degrees +the mean temperature of a country in order to explain one of the +grandest revolutions of the globe, is to venture on an hypothesis not +bolder than geology has sometimes permitted to itself.”[113] + + [113] _Revue des Deux Mondes._ + +In proving that glaciers covered part of Europe during a certain period, +that they extended from the North Pole to Northern Italy and the Danube, +we have sufficiently established the reality of this _glacial period_, +which we must consider as a curious episode, as well as certain, in the +history of the earth. Such masses of ice could only have covered the +earth when the temperature of the air was lowered at least some degrees +below zero. But organic life is incompatible with such a temperature; +and to this cause must we attribute the disappearance of certain species +of animals and plants--in particular, the Rhinoceros and the +Elephant--which, before this sudden and extraordinary cooling of the +globe, appear to have limited themselves, in immense herds, to Northern +Europe, and chiefly to Siberia, where their remains have been found in +such prodigious quantities. Cuvier says, speaking of the bodies of the +quadrupeds which the ice had seized, and in which they have been +preserved, with their hair, flesh, and skin, up to our own times: “If +they had not been frozen as soon as killed, putrefaction would have +decomposed them; and, on the other hand, this eternal frost could not +have previously prevailed in the place where they died; for they could +not have lived in such a temperature. It was, therefore, at the same +instant when these animals perished that the country they inhabited was +rendered glacial. These events must have been sudden, instantaneous, and +without any gradation.”[114] + + [114] “Ossements fossiles. Discours sur les Révolutions du Globe.” + +[Illustration: Fig. 199.--Fissurella nembosa. + +(Living shell.)] + +How can we explain the _glacial period_? We have explained M. Adhémar’s +hypothesis, to which it may be objected that the cold of the glacial +period was so general throughout the Polar and temperate regions on both +sides of the equator, that mere local changes in the external +configuration of our planet and displacement of the centre of gravity +scarcely afford adequate causes for so great a revolution in +temperature. Sir Charles Lyell, speculating upon the suggestion of +Ritter and the discovery of marine shells spread far and wide over the +Sahara Desert by Messrs. Escher von der Linth, Desor, and Martins--which +seem to prove that the African Desert has been under water at a very +recent period--infers that the Desert of Sahara constituted formerly a +wide marine area, stretching several hundred miles north and south, and +east and west. “From this area,” he adds, “the south wind must formerly +have absorbed moisture, and must have been still further cooled and +saturated with aqueous vapour as it passed over the Mediterranean. When +at length it reached the Alps, and, striking them, was driven into the +higher and more rarefied regions of the atmosphere, it would part with +its watery burthen in the form of snow; so that the same aërial current +which, under the name of the Föhn, or Sirocco, now plays a leading part +with its hot and dry breath, sometimes, even in the depth of winter, in +melting the snow and checking the growth of glaciers, must, at the +period alluded to, have been the principal feeder of Alpine snow and +ice.”[115] Nevertheless, we repeat, no explanation presents itself which +can be considered conclusive; and in science we should never be afraid +to say, _I do not know_. + + [115] Lyell’s “Elements of Geology,” p. 175. + + +CREATION OF MAN AND THE ASIATIC DELUGE. + +It was only after the glacial period, when the earth had resumed its +normal temperature, that man was created. Whence came he? + +He came from whence originated the first blade of grass which grew upon +the burning rocks of the Silurian seas; from whence proceeded the +different races of animals which have successively replaced each other +upon the globe, gradually, but unceasingly, rising in the scale of +perfection. He emanated from the supreme will of the Author of the +worlds which constitute the universe. + +The earth has passed through many phases since the time when--in the +words of the Sacred Record--“the earth was without form and void; and +darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon +the face of the waters.” We have considered all these phases; we have +seen the globe floating in space in a state of gaseous nebulosity, +condensing into liquidity, and beginning to solidify at the surface. We +have pictured the internal agitations, the disturbances, the partial +dislocations to which the earth has been subjected, almost without +interruption, while it could not, as yet, resist the force of the waves +of the fiery sea imprisoned within its fragile crust. We have seen this +envelope acquiring solidity, and the geological cataclysms losing their +intensity and frequency in proportion as this solid crust increased in +thickness. We have looked on, so to speak, while the work of organic +creation was proceeding. We have seen life making its appearance upon +the globe; and the first plants and animals springing into existence. We +have seen this organic creation multiplying, becoming more complex, and +constantly made more perfect with each advance in the progressive phases +of the history of the earth. We now arrive at the greatest event of this +history, at the crowning of the edifice, _si parva licet componere +magnis_. + +At the close of the Tertiary epoch, the continents and seas assumed the +respective limits which they now present. The disturbances of the +ground, the fractures of the earth’s crust, and the volcanic eruptions +which are the consequence of them, only occurred at rare intervals, +occasioning only local and restricted disasters. The rivers and their +affluents flowed between tranquil banks. Animated Nature is that of our +own days. An abundant vegetation, diversified by the existence of a +climate which has now been acquired, embellishes the earth. A multitude +of animals inhabit the waters, the dry land, and the air. Nevertheless, +creation has not yet achieved its greatest work--a being capable of +comprehending these marvels and of admiring the sublime work--a soul is +wanting to adore and give thanks to the Creator. + +God created man. + +What is man? + +We might say that man is an intelligent and moral being; but this would +give a very imperfect idea of his nature. Franklin says that man is one +that can make tools! This is to reproduce a portion of the first +proposition, while depreciating it. Aristotle calls man the “wise +being,” ζωον πολιτικον. Linnæus, in his “System of Nature,” after having +applied to man the epithet of wise (_homo sapiens_) writes after this +generic title these profound words: _Nosce te ipsum_. The French +naturalist and philosopher, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, says, “The +plant _lives_, the animal _lives and feels_, man _lives, feels, and +thinks_”--a sentiment which Voltaire had already expressed. “The Eternal +Maker,” says the philosopher of Ferney, “has given to man organisation, +sentiment, and intelligence; to the animals sentiment, and what we call +instinct; to vegetables organisation alone. His power then acts +continually upon these three kingdoms.” It is probably the animal which +is here depreciated. The animal on many occasions undoubtedly thinks, +reasons, deliberates with itself, and acts in virtue of a decision +maturely weighed; it is not then reduced to mere sensation. + +To define exactly the human being, we believe that it is necessary to +characterise the nature and extent of his intelligence. In certain cases +the intelligence of the animal approaches nearly to that of man, but the +latter is endowed with a certain faculty which belongs to him +exclusively; in creating him, God has added an entirely new step in the +ascending scale of animated beings. This faculty, peculiar to the human +race, is _abstraction_. We will say, then, that man is an _intelligent_ +being, gifted with the faculty of comprehending the _abstract_. + +It is by this faculty that man is raised to a pre-eminent degree of +material and moral power. By it he has subdued the earth to his empire, +and by it also his mind rises to the most sublime contemplations. Thanks +to this faculty, man has conceived the ideal, and realised poesy. He has +conceived the infinite, and created mathematics. Such is the +distinction which separates the human race so widely from the +animals--which makes him a creation apart and absolutely new upon the +globe. A being capable of comprehending the ideal and the infinite, of +creating poetry and algebra, such is man! To invent and understand this +formula-- + + (_a_ + _b_)² = _a_² + 2_ab_ + _b_², + +or the algebraic idea of negative quantities, this belongs to man. It is +the greatest privilege of the human being to express and comprehend +thoughts like the following: + + J’étais seul près des flots, par une nuit d’étoiles, + Pas un nuage aux cieux, sur les mers pas de voiles, + Mes yeux plongeaient plus loin que le monde réel, + Et les vents et les mers, et toute la nature + Semblaient interroger dans un confus murmure, + Les flots des mers, les feux du ciel. + + Et les étoiles d’or, légions infinies, + À voix haute, à voix basse, avec mille harmonies + Disaient, en inclinant leur couronne de feu; + Et les flots bleus, que rien ne gouverne et n’arrête: + Disaient, en recourbant l’écume de leur crête: + “C’est le Seigneur, le Seigneur Dieu!”* + +VICTOR HUGO, _les Orientales_. + + * * * * * + + * Alone with the waves, on a starry night, + My thoughts far away in the infinite; + On the sea not a sail, not a cloud in the sky, + And the wind and the waves with sweet lullaby + Seem to question in murmurs of mystery, + The fires of heaven, the waves of the sea. + + And the golden stars of the heavens rose higher, + Harmoniously blending their crowns of fire, + And the waves which no ruling hand may know, + ‘Midst a thousand murmurs, now high, now low, + Sing, while curving their foaming crests to the sea, + “It is the Lord God! It is He.” + +The “Mécanique Céleste” of Laplace, the “Principia” of Newton, Milton’s +“Paradise Lost,” the “Orientales” by Victor Hugo--are the fruits of the +_faculty of abstraction_. + +In the year 1800, a being, half savage, who lived in the woods, +clambered up the trees, slept upon dried leaves, and fled on the +approach of men, was brought to a physician named Pinel. Some +sportsmen had found him; he had no voice, and was devoid of +intelligence; he was known as the little savage of Aveyron. The Parisian +_savants_ for a long time disputed over this strange individual. Was it +an ape?--was it a wild man? + +[Illustration: XXXII.--Appearance of Man.] + +The learned Dr. Itard has published an interesting history of the savage +of Aveyron. “He would sometimes descend,” he writes, “into the garden of +the deaf and dumb, and seat himself upon the edge of the fountain, +preserving his balance by rocking himself to and fro; after a time his +body became quite still, and his face assumed an expression of profound +melancholy. He would remain thus for hours--regarding attentively the +surface of the water--upon which he would, from time to time, throw +blades of grass and dried leaves. At night, when the clear moonlight +penetrated into the chamber he occupied, he rarely failed to rise and +place himself at the window, where he would remain part of the night, +erect, motionless, his neck stretched out, his eyes fixed upon the +landscape lit up by the moon, lost in a sort of ecstasy of +contemplation.” This being was, undoubtedly, a man. No ape ever +exhibited such signs of intelligence, such dreamy manifestations, vague +conceptions of the ideal--in other words, that faculty of _abstraction_ +which belongs to humanity alone. In order worthily to introduce the new +inhabitant who comes to fill the earth with his presence--who brings +with him intelligence to comprehend, to admire, to subdue, and to rule +the creation (PL. XXXII.), we require nothing more than the grand and +simple language of Moses, whom Bossuet calls “the most ancient of +historians, the most sublime of philosophers, the wisest of +legislators.” Let us listen to the words of the inspired writer: “And +God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them +have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, +and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping +thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his _own_ +image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he +them.” + +“And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, _it was_ very +good.” + + * * * * * + +Volumes have been written upon the question of the unity of the human +race; that is, whether there were many centres of the creation of man, +or whether our race is derived solely from the Adam of Scripture. We +think, with many naturalists, that the stock of humanity is unique, and +that the different human races, the negroes, and the yellow race, are +only the result of the influence of climate upon organisation. We +consider the human race as having appeared for the first time (the mode +of his creation being veiled in Divine mystery, eternally impenetrable +to us) in the rich plains of Asia, on the smiling banks of the +Euphrates, as the traditions of the most ancient races teach us. It is +there, where Nature is so rich and vigorous, in the brilliant climate +and under the radiant sky of Asia, in the shade of its luxuriant masses +of verdure and its mild and perfumed atmosphere, that man loves to +represent to himself the father of his race as issuing from the hand of +his Creator. + +We are, it will be seen, far from sharing the opinion of those +naturalists who represent man, at the beginning of the existence of his +species, as a sort of ape, of hideous face, degraded mien, and covered +with hair, inhabiting caves like the bears and lions, and participating +in the brutal instincts of those savage animals.[116] There is no doubt +that early man passed through a period in which he had to contend for +his existence with ferocious beasts, and to live in a primitive state in +the woods or savannahs, where Providence had placed him. But this period +of probation came to an end, and man, an eminently social being, by +combining in groups, animated by the same interests and the same +desires, soon found means to intimidate the animals, to triumph over the +elements, to protect himself from the innumerable perils which +surrounded him, and to subdue to his rule the other inhabitants of the +earth. “The first men,” says Buffon, “witnesses of the convulsive +movements of the earth, still recent and frequent, having only the +mountains for refuge from the inundations; and often driven from this +asylum by volcanoes and earthquakes, which trembled under their feet; +uneducated, naked, and exposed to the elements, victims to the fury of +ferocious animals, whose prey they were certain to become; impressed +also with a common sentiment of gloomy terror, and urged by necessity, +would they not unite, first, to defend themselves by numbers, and then +to assist each other by working in concert, to make habitations and +arms? They began by shaping into the forms of hatchets these hard +flints, the Jade, and other stones, which were supposed to have been +formed by thunder and fallen from the clouds, but which are, +nevertheless, only the first examples of man’s art in a pure state of +Nature. He will soon draw fire from these same flints, by striking them +against each other; he will seize the flames of the burning volcano, or +profit by the fire of the red-hot lava to light his fire of brushwood in +the forest; and by the help of this powerful element he cleanses, +purifies, and renders wholesome the place he selects for his habitation. +With his hatchet of stone he chops wood, fells trees, shapes timber, and +puts it together, fashions instruments of warfare and the most necessary +tools and implements; and after having furnished themselves with clubs +and other weighty and defensive arms, did not these first men find means +to make lighter weapons to reach the swift-footed stag from afar? A +tendon of an animal, a fibre of the aloe-leaf, or the supple bark of +some ligneous plant, would serve as a cord to bring together the two +extremities of an elastic branch of yew, forming a bow; and small +flints, shaped to a point, arm the arrow. They will soon have snares, +rafts, and canoes; they will form themselves into communities composed +of a few families, or rather of relations sprung from the same family, +as is still the case with some savage tribes, who have their game, fish, +and fruits in common. But in all those countries whose area is limited +by water, or surrounded by high mountains, these small nations, becoming +too numerous, have been in time forced to parcel out the land between +them; and from that moment the earth has become the domain of man; he +has taken possession of it by his labour, he has cultivated it, and +attachment to the soil follows the very first act of possession; the +private interest makes part of the national interest; order, +civilisation, and laws succeed, and society acquires force and +consistency.”[117] We love to quote the sentiments of a great +writer--but how much more eloquent would the words of the naturalist +have been, if he had added to his own grand eloquence of language, the +knowledge which science has placed within reach of the writers of the +present time--- if he could have painted man in the early days of his +creation, in presence of the immense animal population which then +occupied the earth, and fighting with the wild beasts which filled the +forests of the ancient world! Man, comparatively very weak in +organisation, destitute of natural weapons of attack or defence, +incapable of rising into the air like the birds, or living under water +like the fishes and some reptiles, might seem doomed to speedy +destruction. But he was marked on the forehead with the Divine seal. +Thanks to the superior gift of an exceptional intelligence, this being, +in appearance so helpless, has by degrees swept the most ferocious of +its occupants from the earth, leaving those only who cater to his wants +or desires, or by whose aid he changes the primitive aspects of whole +continents. + + [116] It is told of a former distinguished and witty member of the + Geological Society that, having obtained possession of the rooms + on a certain day, when there was to be a general meeting, he + decorated its walls with a series of cartoons, in which the + parts of the members were strangely reversed. In one cartoon + Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri were occupied with the skeleton of + Homo sapiens; in another, a party of Crustaceans were occupied + with a cranium suspiciously like the same species; while in a + third, a party of Pterichthys were about to dine on a biped with + a suspicious resemblance to a certain well-conditioned F.G.S. of + the day. + + [117] “Époques de la Nature,” vol. xii., pp. 322-325. 18mo. Paris, + 1778. + + * * * * * + +The antiquity of man is a question which has largely engaged the +attention of geologists, and many ingenious arguments have been +hazarded, tending to prove that the human race and the great extinct +Mammalia were contemporaneous. The circumstances bearing on the question +are usually ranged under three series of facts: 1. The Cave-deposits; 2. +Peat and shell mounds; 3. Lacustrine habitations, or Lake dwellings. + +We have already briefly touched upon the Cave-deposits. In the Kirkdale +Cave no remains or other traces of man’s presence seem to have been +discovered. But in Kent’s Hole, an unequal deposit of loam and clay, +along with broken bones much gnawed, and the teeth of both extinct and +living Mammals, implements evidently fashioned by the human hand were +found in the following order: in the upper part of the clay, +artificially-shaped flints; on the clay rested a layer of stalagmite, in +which streaks of burnt charcoal occurred, and charred bones of existing +species of animals. Above the stalagmite a stone hatchet, or celt, made +of syenite, of more finished appearance, was met with, with articles of +bone, round pieces of blue slate and sandstone-grit, pieces of pottery, +a number of shells of the mussel, limpet, and oyster, and other remains, +Celtic, British, and Roman, of very early date; the lower deposits are +those with which we are here more particularly concerned. The Rev. J. +MacEnery, the gentleman who explored and described them, ascertained +that the flint-instruments occupied a uniform situation intermediate +between the stalagmite and the upper surface of the loam, forming a +connecting link between both; and his opinion was that the epoch of the +introduction of the knives must be dated antecedently to the formation +of the stalagmite, from the era of the quiescent settlement of the mud. +From this view it would follow that the cave was visited posteriorly to +the introduction and subsidence of the loam, and before the formation of +the new super-stratum of stalagmite, by men who entered the cave and +disturbed the original deposit. Although flints have been found in the +loam underlying the regular crust of stalagmite, mingled confusedly with +the bones, and unconnected with the evidence of the visits of man--such +as the excavation of ovens or pits--Dr. Buckland refused his belief to +the statement that the flint-implements were found beneath the +stalagmite, and always contended that they were the work of men of a +more recent period, who had broken up the sparry floor. The doctor +supposed that the ancient Britons had scooped out ovens in the +stalagmite, and that through them the knives got admission to the +underlying loam, and that in this confused state the several materials +were cemented together. + +In 1858 Dr. Falconer heard of the newly-discovered cave at Brixham, on +the opposite side of the bay to Torquay, and he took steps to prevent +any doubts being entertained with regard to its contents. This cave was +composed of several passages, with four entrances, formerly blocked up +with breccia and earthy matter; the main opening being ascertained by +Mr. Bristow to be seventy-eight feet above the valley, and ninety-five +feet above the sea, the cave itself being in some places eight feet +wide. The contents of the cave were covered with a layer of stalagmite, +from one to fifteen inches thick, on the top of which were found the +horns of a Reindeer; under the stalagmite came reddish loam or +cave-earth, with pebbles and some angular stones, from two to thirteen +feet thick, containing the bones of Elephants, Rhinoceros, Bears, +Hyænas, Felis, Reindeer, Horses, Oxen, and several Rodents; and, lastly, +a layer of gravel, and rounded pebbles without fossils, underlaid the +cave-earth and formed the lowest deposit. + +In these beds no human bones were found, but in almost every part of the +bone-bed were flint-knives, one of the most perfect being found thirteen +feet down in the bone-bed, at its lowest part. The most remarkable fact +in connection with this cave was the discovery of an entire left +hind-leg of the Cave-bear lying in close proximity to this knife; “not +washed in a fossil state out of an older alluvium, and swept afterwards +into this cave, so as to be mingled with the flint implements, but +having been introduced when clothed in its flesh.” The implement and the +Bear’s leg were evidently deposited about the same time, and it only +required some approximative estimate of the date of this deposit, to +settle the question of the antiquity of man, at least in an affirmative +sense. + +Mr. H. W. Bristow, who was sent by the Committee of the Royal Society to +make a plan and drawings of the Brixham Cave, found that its entrance +was situated at a height of ninety-five feet above the present level of +the sea. In his Report made to the Royal Society, in explanation of the +plan and sections, Mr. Bristow stated that, in all probability, at the +time the cave was formed, the land was at a lower level to the extent of +the observed distance of ninety-five feet, and that its mouth was then +situated at or near the level of the sea. + +The cave consisted of wide galleries or passages running in a north and +south direction, with minor lateral passages branching off nearly at +right angles to the main openings--- the whole cave being formed in the +joints, or natural divisional planes, of the rock. + +The mouth or entrance to the cave originated, in the first instance, in +an open joint or fissure in the Devonian limestone, which became widened +by water flowing backwards and forwards, and was partly enlarged by the +atmospheric water, which percolated through the cracks, fissures, and +open joints in the overlying rock. The pebbles, forming the lowest +deposit in the cave, were ordinary shingle or beach-gravel, washed in by +the waves and tides. The cave-earth was the residual part of the +limestone rock, after the calcareous portion had been dissolved and +carried away in solution; and the stalactite and stalagmite were derived +from the lime deposited from the percolating water. + +With regard to bone-caves generally, it would seem that, like other such +openings, they are most common in limestone rocks, where they have been +formed by water, which has dissolved and carried away the calcareous +ingredient of the rock. In the case of the Brixham cave, the mode of +action of the water could be clearly traced in two ways: first, in +widening out the principal passages by the rush of water backwards and +forwards from the sea; and, secondly, by the infiltration and +percolation of atmospheric water through the overlying rock. In both +cases the active agents in producing the cave had taken advantage of a +pre-existing fissure or crack, or an open joint, which they gradually +enlarged and widened out, until the opening received its final +proportions. + +The cave presented no appearance of ever having been inhabited by man; +or of having been the den of Hyænas or other animals, like Wookey Hole +in the Mendips, and some other bone-caves. The most probable supposition +is, that the hind quarter of the Bear and other bones which were found +in the cave-earth, had been washed into the cave by the sea, in which +they were floating about. + +We draw some inferences of the greatest interest and significance from +the Brixham cave and its contents. + +We learn that this country was, at one time, inhabited by animals which +are now extinct, and of whose existence we have not even a tradition; +that man, then ignorant of the use of metal, and little better than the +brutes, was the contemporary of the animals whose remains were found in +the cave, together with a rude flint-implement--the only kind of weapon +with which our savage ancestor defended himself against animals scarcely +wilder than himself. + +We also learn that after the cave had been formed and sealed up again, +as it were, together with all its contents, by the deposition of a solid +crust of stalagmite--an operation requiring a very great length of time +to effect--the Reindeer (_Cervus Tarandus_) was indigenous to this +country, as is proved by the occurrence of an antler of that animal +which was found lying upon, and partly imbedded in, the stalagmite +forming the roof or uppermost, that is, the latest formed, of the +cave-deposits. + +Lastly, we learn that, at the time the cave was formed, and while the +land was inhabited by man, that part of the country was lower by +ninety-five feet than it is now; and that this elevation has probably +been produced so slowly and so gradually, as to have been imperceptible +during the time it was taking place, which extended over a vast interval +of time, perhaps over thousands of years. + +Perhaps it may not be out of place here to describe the mode of +formation of bone-caves generally, and the causes which have produced +the appearances these now present. + +Caves in limestone rocks have two principal phases--one of formation, +and one of filling up. So long as the water which enters the cavities in +the course of formation, and carries off some of the calcareous matter +in solution, can find an easy exit, the cavity is continually enlarged; +but when, from various causes, the water only enters in small +quantities, and does not escape, or only finds its way out slowly, and +with difficulty, the lime, instead of being removed, is re-deposited on +the walls, roof, sides, and floor of the cavity, in the form of +stalactites and stalagmite, and the work of re-filling with solid +carbonate of lime then takes place. + +Encouraged by the Brixham discoveries, a congress of French and English +geologists met at Amiens, in order to consider certain evidence, on +which it was sought to establish as a fact that man and the Mammoth were +formerly contemporaries. + +The valley of the Somme, between Abbeville and Amiens, is occupied by +beds of peat, some twenty or thirty feet deep, resting on a thin bed of +clay which covers other beds, of sand and gravel, and itself rests on +white Chalk with flints. Bordering the valley, some hills rise with a +gentle slope to a height of 200 or 300 feet, and here and there, on +their summits, are patches of Tertiary sand and clay, with fossils, and +again more extensive layers of loam. The inference from this geological +structure is that the river, originally flowing through the Tertiary +formation, gradually cut its way through the various strata down to its +present level. From the depth of the peat, its lower part lies below the +sea-level, and it is supposed that a depression of the region has +occurred at some period: again, in land lying quite low on the +Abbeville side of the valley, but above the tidal level, marine shells +occur, which indicate an elevation of the region; again, about 100 feet +above the valley, on the right bank of the river, and on a sloping +surface, is the Moulin-Quignon, where shallow pits exhibit a floor of +chalk covered by gravel and sand, accompanied by gravel and marly chalk +and flints more or less worn, well-rounded Tertiary flints and pebbles, +and fragments of Tertiary sandstone. Such is the general description of +a locality which has acquired considerable celebrity in connection with +the question of the antiquity of man. + +The Quaternary deposits of Moulin-Quignon and the peat-beds of the Somme +formerly furnished Cuvier with some of the fossils he described, and in +later times chipped flint-implements from the quarries and bogs came +into the possession of M. Boucher de Perthes; the statements were +received at first not without suspicion--especially on the part of +English geologists who were familiar with similar attempts on their own +credulity--that some at least of these were manufactured by the workmen +of the district. At length, the discovery of a human jaw and tooth in +the gravel-pits of St. Acheul, near Amiens, produced a rigorous +investigation into the facts, and it seems to have been established to +the satisfaction of Mr. Prestwich and his colleagues, that +flint-implements and the bones of extinct Mammalia are met with in the +same beds, and in situations indicating very great antiquity. In the +sloping and irregular deposits overlooking the Somme, the bones of +Elephants, Rhinoceros, with land and fresh-water shells of existing +species, are found mingled with flint-implements. Shells like those now +found in the neighbouring streams and hedge-rows, with the bones of +existing quadrupeds, have been obtained from the peat, with flint-tools +of more than usual finish, and together with them a few fragments of +human bones. Of these reliquiæ, the Celtic memorials lie below the +Gallo-Roman; above them, oaks, alders, and walnut trees occur, sometimes +rooted, but no succession of a new growth of trees appear. + +The theory of the St. Acheul beds is this: they were deposited by +fluviatile action, and are probably amongst the oldest deposits in which +human remains occur, older than the peat-beds of the Somme--but what is +their _real_ age? Before submitting to the reader the very imperfect +answer this question admits of, a glance at the previous discoveries, +which tended to give confirmation to the observations just narrated, may +be useful. + +Implements of stone and flint have been continually turning up during +the last century and a half in all parts of the world. In the +neighbourhood of Gray’s Inn Lane, in 1715, a flint spear-head was picked +up, and near it some Elephants’ bones. In the alluvium of the Wey, near +Guildford, a wedge-shaped flint-tool was found in the gravel and sand, +in which Elephants’ tusks were also found. Under the cliffs at +Whitstable an oval-shaped flint-tool was found in what had probably been +a fresh-water deposit, and in which bones of the Bear and Elephant were +also discovered. Between Herne Bay and Reculver five other flint-tools +have been found, and three more near the top of the cliff, all in +fresh-water gravel. In the valley of the Ouse, at Beddenham, in +Bedfordshire, flint-implements, like those of St. Acheul, mixed with the +bones of Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Hippopotamus, have been found, and +near them an oval and a spear-shaped implement. In the peat of Ireland +great numbers of such implements have been met with. But nowhere have +they been so systematically sought for and classified as in the +Scandinavian countries. + +The peat-deposits of those countries--of Denmark especially--are formed +in hollows and depressions, in the northern drift and Boulder clay, from +ten to thirty feet deep. The lower stratum, of two or three feet in +thickness, consists of _sphagnum_, over which lies another growth of +peat formed of aquatic and marsh plants. On the edge of the bogs trunks +of Scotch firs of large size are found--a tree which has not grown in +the Danish islands within historic times, and does not now thrive when +planted, although it was evidently indigenous within the human period, +since Steenstrup took with his own hands a flint-implement from beneath +the trunk of one. The sessile variety of the oak would appear to have +succeeded the fir, and is found at a higher level in the peat. Higher up +still, the common oak, _Quercus robur_, is found along with the birch, +hazel, and alder. The oak has in its turn been succeeded by the beech. + +Another source from which numerous relics of early humanity have been +taken is the midden-heaps (Kjökken-mödden) found along the Scandinavian +coast. These heaps consist of castaway shells mixed with bones of +quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, which reveal in some respects the habits +of the early races which inhabited the coast. Scattered through these +mounds are flint-knives, pieces of pottery, and ashes, but neither +bronze nor iron. The knives and hatchets are said to be a degree less +rude than those of older date found in the peat. Mounds corresponding to +these, Sir Charles Lyell tells us, occur along the American coast, from +Massachusetts and Georgia. The bones of the quadrupeds found in these +mounds correspond with those of existing species, or species which have +existed in historic times. + +By collecting, arranging, and comparing the flint and stone implements, +the Scandinavian naturalists have succeeded in establishing a +chronological succession of periods, which they designate--1. The Age of +Stone; 2. The Age of Bronze; 3. The Age of Iron. The first, or Stone +period, in Denmark, corresponded with the age of the Scotch fir, and, in +part, of the sessile oak. A considerable portion of the oak period +corresponded, however, with the age of _bronze_, swords made of that +metal having been found in the peat on the same level with the oak. The +_iron_ age coincides with the beech. Analogous instances, confirmatory +of these statements, occur in Yorkshire, and in the fens of +Lincolnshire. + +The traces left indicate that the aborigines went to sea in canoes +scooped out of a single tree, bringing back deep-sea fishes. Skulls +obtained from the peat and from tumuli, and believed to be +contemporaneous with the mounds, are small and round, with prominent +supra-orbital ridges, somewhat resembling the skulls of Laplanders. + +The third series of facts (_Lake-dwellings_, or _lacustrine +habitations_) consisted of the buildings on piles, in lakes, and once +common in Asia and Europe. They are first mentioned by Herodotus as +being used among the Thracians of Pæonia, in the mountain-lake Prasias, +where the natives lived in dwellings built on piles, and connected with +the shore by a narrow causeway, by which means they escaped the assaults +of Xerxes. Buildings of the same description occupied the Swiss lakes, +in the mud of which hundreds of implements, like those found in Denmark, +have been dredged up. In Zurich, Moosseedorf near Berne, and Lake +Constance, axes, celts, pottery, and canoes made out of single trees, +have been found; but of the human frame scarcely a trace has been +discovered. One skull dredged up at Meilen, in the Lake of Zurich, was +intermediate between the Lapp-like skull of the Danish tumuli and the +more recent European type. + +The age of the different formations in which these records of the human +race are found will probably ever remain a mystery. The evidence which +would make the implements formed by man contemporaneous with the Mammoth +and other great Mammalia would go a great way to prove that man was also +pre-glacial. Let us see how that argument stands. + +At the period when the upper Norwich Crag was deposited, the general +level of the British Isles is supposed to have been about 600 feet above +its present level, and so connected with the European continent as to +have received the elements of its fauna and flora from thence. + +By some great change, a period of depression occurred, in which all the +country north of the mouth of the Thames and the Bristol Channel was +placed much below the present level. Moel Tryfaen experienced a +submergence of at least 1,400 feet, during which it received the erratic +blocks and other marks, indicative of floating icebergs, which have been +described in a former chapter. The country was raised again to something +like its original level, and again occupied by plants, Molluscs, Fishes +and Reptiles, Birds, and Mammifera. Again subsidence takes place, and, +after several oscillations, the level remains as we now find it. The +estimated time required for these various changes is something enormous, +and might have extended the term to double the number of years. The unit +of the calculation is the upward rate of movement observed on the +Scandinavian coast; applied to the oscillation of the ancient coast of +Snowdonia, the figures represent 224,000 years for the several +oscillations of the glacial period. Adding the pre-glacial period, the +computation gives an additional 48,000 years. But, let us repeat, the +figures and data are somewhat hypothetical. + +With regard to the St. Acheul beds--said to be the most ancient +formation in which the productions of human hands have been found--they +are confessedly older than the peat-beds, and the time required for the +production of other peat-beds of equal thickness has been estimated at +7,000 years. The antiquity of the gravel-beds of St. Acheul may be +estimated on two grounds:--1. General elevation above the level of the +valley. 2. By estimating the animal-remains found in the gravel-beds, +and not in the peat. The first question implies the denudation of the +valley below the level of the gravel, or the elevation of the whole +plateau. Each of these operations would involve an incalculable time, +for want of data. In the second case, judging from the slow rate at +which quadrupeds have disappeared in historic times, the extinct Mammoth +and other great animals must have occupied many centuries in dying out, +for the notion that they died out suddenly from sharp and sudden +refrigeration, is not generally admitted. + +With regard to the three ages of stone, bronze, and iron, M. Morlot has +based some calculations upon the condition of the delta of Tinière, near +Villeneuve, which lead him to assign to the oldest, or stone period, an +age of 5,000 to 7,000 years, and to the bronze period from 3,000 to +4,000. We may, then, take leave of this subject with the avowal that, +while admitting the probability that an immense lapse of time would be +required for the operations described, we are, in a great measure, +without reliable data for estimating its actual extent. + +The opinion which places the creation of man on the banks of the +Euphrates in Central Asia is confirmed by an event of the highest +importance in the history of humanity, and by a crowd of concordant +traditions, preserved by different races of men, all tending to confirm +it. We speak of the Asiatic deluge. + +[Illustration: Fig. 200.--Mount Ararat.] + +The Asiatic deluge--of which sacred history has transmitted to us the +few particulars we know--was the result of the upheaval of a part of the +long chain of mountains which are a prolongation of the Caucasus. The +earth opening by one of the fissures made in its crust in course of +cooling, an eruption of volcanic matter escaped through the enormous +crater so produced. Volumes of watery vapour or steam accompanied the +lava discharged from the interior of the globe, which, being first +dissipated in clouds and afterwards condensing, descended, in torrents +of rain, and the plains were drowned with the volcanic mud. The +inundation of the plains over an extensive radius was the immediate +effect of this upheaval, and the formation of the volcanic cone of Mount +Ararat, with the vast plateau on which it rests, altogether 17,323 feet +above the sea, the permanent result. The event is graphically detailed +in the seventh chapter of Genesis. + +11. “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the +seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the +great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. + +12. “And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” + + * * * * * + +17. “And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters +increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. + +18. “And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the +earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. + +19. “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the +high hills, that _were_ under the whole heaven, were covered. + +20. “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains +were covered. + +21. “And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of +cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the +earth, and every man: + +22. “All in whose nostrils _was_ the breath of life, of all that _was_ +in the dry land, died. + +23. “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of +the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl +of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only +remained _alive_, and they that _were_ with him in the ark. + +24. “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” + +All the particulars of the Biblical narrative here recited are only to +be explained by the volcanic and muddy eruption which preceded the +formation of mount Ararat. The waters which produced the inundation of +these countries proceeded from a volcanic eruption accompanied by +enormous volumes of vapour, which in due course became condensed and +descended on the earth, inundating the extensive plains which now +stretch away from the foot of Ararat. The expression, “the earth,” or +“all the earth” as it is translated in the Vulgate, which might be +implied to mean the entire globe, is explained by Marcel de Serres, in a +learned book entitled “La Cosmogonie de Moïse,” and other philologists, +as being an inaccurate translation. He has proved that the Hebrew word +_haarets_, incorrectly translated “all the earth,” is often used in the +sense of _region_ or _country_, and that, in this instance, Moses used +it to express only the part of the globe which was then peopled, and not +its entire surface. In the same manner “_the mountains_” (rendered “_all +the mountains_” in the Vulgate), only implies all the mountains known to +Moses. Similarly, M. Glaire, in the “Christomathie Hébraïque,” which he +has placed at the end of his Grammar, quotes the passage in this sense: +“The waters were so prodigiously increased, that the highest mountains +of the vast horizon were covered by them;” thus restricting the +mountains covered by the inundation to those bounded by the horizon. + +Nothing occurs, therefore, in the description given by Moses, to hinder +us from seeing in the Asiatic deluge a means made use of by God to +chastise and punish the human race, then in the infancy of its +existence, and which had strayed from the path which he had marked out +for it. It seems to establish the countries lying at the foot of the +Caucasus as the cradle of the human race; and it seems to establish also +the upheaval of a chain of mountains, preceded by an eruption of +volcanic mud, which drowned vast territories entirely composed, in these +regions, of plains of great extent. Of this deluge many races besides +the Jews have preserved a tradition. Moses dates it from 1,500 to 1,800 +years before the epoch in which he wrote. Berosus, the Chaldean +historian, who wrote at Babylon in the time of Alexander, speaks of a +universal deluge, the date of which he places immediately before the +reign of Belus, the father of Ninus. + +The _Vedas_, or sacred books of the Hindus, supposed to have been +composed about the same time as Genesis, that is, about 3,300 years ago, +make out that the deluge occurred 1,500 years before their time. The +_Guebers_ speak of the same event as having occurred about the same +date. + +Confucius, the celebrated Chinese philosopher and lawgiver, born towards +the year 551 before Christ, begins his history of China by speaking of +the Emperor named Jas, whom he represents as making the waters flow +back, which, _being raised to the heavens_, washed the feet of the +highest mountains, covered the less elevated hills, and inundated the +plains. Thus the Biblical deluge (PLATE XXXIII.) is confirmed in many +respects; but it was local, like all phenomena of the kind, and was +the result of the upheaval of the mountains of western Asia. + +[Illustration: XXXIII.--The Asiatic Deluge.] + +A deluge, quite of modern date, conveys a tolerably exact idea of this +kind of phenomena. We recall the circumstances the better to comprehend +the true nature of the ravages the deluge inflicted upon some Asiatic +countries in the Quaternary period. At six days’ journey from the city +of Mexico there existed, in 1759, a fertile and well-cultivated +district, where grew abundance of rice, maize, and bananas. In the month +of June frightful earthquakes shook the ground, and were continued +unceasingly for two whole months. On the night of the 28th September the +earth was violently convulsed, and a region of many leagues in extent +was slowly raised until it attained a height of about 500 feet over a +surface of many square leagues. The earth undulated like the waves of +the sea in a tempest; thousands of small hills alternately rose and +fell, and, finally, an immense gulf opened, from which smoke, fire, +red-hot stones and ashes were violently discharged, and darted to +prodigious heights. Six mountains emerged from this gaping gulf; among +which the volcanic mountain Jorullo rises 2,890 feet above the ancient +plain, to the height of 4,265 feet above the sea. + +At the moment when the earthquake commenced the two rivers _Cuitimba_ +and _San Pedro_ flowed backwards, inundating all the plain now occupied +by Jorullo; but in the regions which continually rose, a gulf opened and +swallowed up the rivers. They reappeared to the west, but at a point +very distant from their former beds. + +This inundation reminds us on a small scale of the phenomena which +attended the deluge of Noah. + + * * * * * + +Besides the deposits resulting from the partial deluges which we have +described as occurring in Europe and Asia during the Quaternary epoch +there were produced in the same period many new formations resulting +from the deposition of _alluvia_ thrown down by seas and rivers. These +deposits are always few in number, and widely disseminated. Their +stratification is as regular as that of any which belong to preceding +periods; they are distinguished from those of the Tertiary epoch, with +which they are most likely to be confounded, by their situation, which +is very frequently upon the shores of the sea, and by the predominance +of shells of a species identical with those now living in the adjacent +seas. + +A marine formation of this kind, which, after constituting the coast of +Sicily, principally on the side of Girgenti, Syracuse, Catania, and +Palermo, occupies the centre of the island, where it rises to the +height of 3,000 feet, is amongst the most remarkable of the great +Quaternary European productions. It is chiefly formed of two great beds; +the lower a bluish argillaceous marl, the other a coarse but very +compact limestone, both containing shells analogous to those of the +present Mediterranean coast. The same formation is found in the +neighbouring islands, especially in Sardinia and Malta. The great sandy +deserts of Africa, as well as the argillo-arenaceous formation of the +steppes of Eastern Russia, and the fertile Tchornozem, or “_black +earth_” of its southern plains, have the same geological origin; so have +the Travertines of Tuscany, Naples, and Rome, and the Tufas, which are +an essential constituent of the Neapolitan soil. + +The pampas of South America--which consist of an argillaceous soil of a +deep reddish-brown colour, with horizontal beds of marly clay and +calcareous tufa, containing shells either actually living now in the +Atlantic, or identical with fresh-water shells of the country--ought +surely to be considered as a Quaternary deposit, of even greater extent +than the preceding. + +We are now approaching so near to our own age, that we can, as it were, +trace the hand of Nature in her works. Professor Ramsay shows, in the +Memoirs of the Government Geological Survey, that beds nearly a mile in +thickness have been removed by denudation from the summit of the Mendip +Hills, and that broad areas in South Wales and the neighbouring counties +have been denuded of their higher beds, the materials being transported +elsewhere to form newer strata. Now, no combination of causes has been +imagined which has not involved submersion during long periods, and +subsequent elevation for periods of longer or shorter duration. + +We can hardly walk any great distance along the coast, either of England +or Scotland, without remarking some flat terrace of unequal breadth, and +backed by a more or less steep escarpment--upon such a terrace many of +the towns along the coast are built. No geologist now doubts that this +fine platform, at the base of which is a deposit of loam or sandy +gravel, with marine shells, had been, at some period, the line of coast +against which the waves of the ocean once broke at high water. At that +period the sea rose twenty, and thirty, and some places a hundred feet +higher than it does now. The ancient sea-beaches in some places formed +terraces of sand and gravel, with littoral shells, some broken, others +entire, and corresponding with species in the seas below; in others they +form bold projecting promontories or deep bays. In an historical point +of view, this coast-line should be very ancient, though it may be only +of yesterday in a geological sense--its origin ascending far beyond +written tradition. The wall of Antoninus, raised by the Romans as a +protection from the attacks of the Caledonians, was built, in the +opinion of the best authorities, not in connection with the old, but +with the new coast-line. We may, then, conclude that in A.D. 140, when +the greater part of this wall was constructed, the zone of the ancient +coast-line had attained its present elevation above the actual level of +the sea. + +The same proofs of a general and gradual elevation of the country are +observable almost everywhere: in the estuary of the Clyde, canoes and +other works of art have been exhumed, and assigned to a recent period. +Near St. Austell, and at Carnon, in Cornwall, human skulls and other +relics have been met with beneath marine strata, in which the bones of +whales and still-existing species of land-quadrupeds were imbedded. But +in the countries where hard limestone rocks prevail, in the ancient +Peloponnesus, along the coast of Argolis and Arcadia, three and even +four ranges of ancient sea-cliffs are well preserved, which Messrs. +Boblaye and Verlet describe as rising one above the other, at different +distances from the present coast, sometimes to the height of 1,000 feet, +as if the upheaving force had been suspended for a time, leaving the +waves and currents to throw down and shape the successive ranges of +lofty cliffs. On the other hand, some well-known historical sites may be +adduced as affording evidence of the subsidence of the coast-line of the +Mediterranean in times comparatively modern. In the Bay of Baiæ, the +celebrated temple of Serapis, at Puzzuoli, near Naples, which was +originally built about 100 feet from the sea, and at or near its present +level, exhibits proofs of having gradually sunk nineteen feet, and of a +subsequent elevation of the ground on which the temple stands of nearly +the same amount. + +So, also, about half a mile along the sea-shore, and standing at some +distance from it, in the sea, there are the remains of buildings and +columns which bear the name of the Temples of the Nymphs and of Neptune. +The tops of these broken columns are now nearly on a level with the +surface of the water, which is about five feet deep. + +With respect to the littoral deposits of the Quaternary period, they are +of very limited extent, except in a few localities. They are found on +the western coast of Norway, and on the coasts of England. In France, an +extensive bed of Quaternary formation is seen on the shores of the +ancient Guienne, and on other parts of the coast, where it is sometimes +concealed by trees and shrubs, or by blown sand, as at Dax in the +Landes, where a steep bank may be traced about twelve miles inland, and +parallel with the present coast, which falls suddenly about fifty feet +from a higher platform of the land, to a lower one extending to the sea. +In making some excavations for the foundations of a building at Abesse, +in 1830, it was discovered that this fall consisted of drift-sand, +filling up a steep perpendicular cliff about fifty feet high, consisting +of a bed of Tertiary clay extending to the sea, a bed of limestone with +Tertiary shells and corals, and, at the summit, the Tertiary sand of the +Landes. The marine beds, together with the alluvium of the rivers, have +given rise to those deposits which occur more especially near the mouths +of rivers and watercourses. + +[Illustration: Fig. 201.--Shell of Planorbis corneus.] + + + + +EPILOGUE. + + +Having considered the past history of the globe, we may now be permitted +to bestow a glance upon the future which awaits it. + +Can the actual state of the earth be considered as definitive? The +revolutions which have fashioned its surface, and produced the Alps in +Europe, Mount Ararat in Asia, the Cordilleras in the New World--are they +to be the last? In a word, will the terrestrial sphere for ever preserve +the form under which we know it--as it has been, so to speak, impressed +on our memories by the maps of the geographers? + +It is difficult to reply with any confidence to this question; +nevertheless, our readers will not object to accompany us a step +further, while we express an opinion, founded on analogy and scientific +induction. + +What are the causes which have produced the present inequalities of the +globe--the mountain-ranges, continents, and waters? The primordial cause +is, as we have had frequent occasion to repeat, the cooling of the +earth, and the progressive solidification of the external crust, the +nucleus of which still remains in a fluid or viscous state. These have +produced the contortions, furrows, and fractures which have led to the +elevation of the great mountain-ranges and the depression of the great +valleys--which have caused some continents to emerge from the bed of +ocean and have submerged others. The secondary causes which have +contributed to the formation of a vast extent of dry land are due to the +sedimentary deposits, which have resulted in the creation of new +continents by filling up the basins of the ancient seas. + +Now these two causes, although in a minor degree, continue in operation +to the present day. The thickness of the terrestrial crust is only a +small fraction compared to that of the internal liquid mass. The +principal cause, then, of the great dislocations of the earth’s crust +is, so to speak, at our gates; it threatens us unceasingly. Of this the +earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which are still frequent in our +day, give us disastrous and incontestable proofs. On the other hand, our +seas are continually forming new land: the bed of the Baltic Sea, for +instance, is gradually rising, in consequence of the deposits which will +obviously fill up its area entirely in an interval of time which it +might not be impossible to calculate. + +It is, then, probable that the actual condition of the surface and the +respective limits of seas and continents have nothing fixed or definite +in them--that they are, on the contrary, open to great modifications in +the future. + +There is another problem much more difficult of solution than the +preceding, but for which neither induction nor analogy furnish us with +any certain data--viz., the perpetuity of our species. Is man doomed to +disappear from the earth some day, like all the races of animals which +preceded him, and prepared the way for his advent? Will a new _glacial +period_, analogous to that which, during the Quaternary period, was felt +so rigorously, again come round to put an end to his existence? Like the +Trilobites of the Silurian period, the great Reptiles of the Lias, the +Mastodons of the Tertiary, and the Megatheriums of the Quaternary epoch, +is the human species to be annihilated--to perish from the globe by a +simple natural extinction? Or must we believe that man, gifted with the +attribute of reason, marked, so to say, with the Divine seal, is to be +the ultimate and supreme term of creation? + +Science cannot pronounce upon these grave questions, which exceed the +competence, and extend beyond the circle of human reasoning. It is not +impossible that man should be only a step in the ascending and +progressive scale of animated beings. The Divine Power which has +lavished upon the earth life, sentiment, and thought; which has given +organisation to plants; to animals, motion, sensation, and intelligence; +to man, in addition to these multiple gifts, the faculty of reason, +doubled in value by the ideal--reserves to Himself perhaps in His wisdom +the privilege of creating alongside of man, or after him, a being still +more perfect. This new being, religion and modern poesy would present in +the ethereal and radiant type of the Christian angel, with moral +qualities whose nature and essence would escape our perceptions--of +which we could no more form a notion than one born blind could conceive +of colour, or the deaf and dumb of sound. _Erunt æquales angelis Dei._ +“They will be as the angels of God,” says Holy Scripture, speaking of +man raised to the life eternal. + +During the Metamorphic epoch the _mineral kingdom_ existed alone; the +rocks, silent and solitary, were all that was yet formed of the burning +earth. During the Primary epoch, the vegetable kingdom, newly created, +extended itself over the whole globe, which it soon covered from pole to +pole with an uninterrupted mass of verdure. During the Secondary and +Tertiary epochs, the vegetable and animal kingdoms divided the earth +between them. In the Quaternary epoch the _human kingdom_ appeared. Is +it in the future destinies of our planet to receive yet another lord? +And after the four kingdoms which now occupy it, is there to be a _new +kingdom_ created, the attributes of which can never be anything but an +impenetrable mystery, and which will differ from man in as great a +degree as man differs from the other animals, and plants from rocks? + +We must be contented with suggesting, without hoping to solve, this +formidable problem. It is a great mystery, which, according to the fine +expression of Pliny, “lies hidden in the majesty of Nature,” _latet in +majestate naturæ_; or (to speak more in the spirit of Christian +philosophy) it is known only to the Almighty Creator of the Universe. + + + + + TABLE + OF + BRITISH SEDIMENTARY AND FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA. + + BY H. W. BRISTOW. + + +[Illustration] + + + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | SUBDIVISIONS. | FOREIGN | ORIGIN. | COMMERCIAL | + | | | EQUIVALENTS.| | PRODUCTS. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Blown Sand. | | | Peat. | + | | Raised | | | Amber. | + | | Beaches. | Mud of the | | Gold, Dia- | + |POST | Alluvium. | Nile. | | monds, and | + |PLIOCENE. | Brick Earth. |Loess of the | Various. | other Gems | + | | River Gravel. | Rhine. | | derived | + | | Cave Deposits.| | | from the | + | | Glacial De- | | | older de- | + | | posits. | | | posits. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + |PLIOCENE. | Crags. |Sub-Apennine | Marine | Phosphatic | + | | | Strata. | | Nodules. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Leaf Beds and | Molasse. | | | + |MIOCENE. | Lignite. | Faluns of | and | Pipeclay. | + | | | Touraine. | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Upper Eocene. | Calcaire | Freshwater. | Sand, Brown | + | | Bagshot Beds. | Grossier. | | Coal, Pipe- | + |EOCENE. | London Clay. | Nummulitic | Estuarine | clay, Cement | + | | Reading Beds, | Limestones | and |Stone, Bricks,| + | | &c. |(European and| Marine. | and Pottery. | + | | | Asiatic). | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | White and |{Maestricht | | Flints from | + |UPPER | Grey Chalk. |{Beds. | | Up. Chalk. | + |CRETACEOUS. | Upper Green- |{Senonien | | Phosphate of | + | | sand. |{Turonien. | Marine and | Lime. | + | | Gault. }| | Freshwater | Iron Pyrites.| + |LOWER | Lower Green- }|Albien. | (Wealden). | Sandy Iron- | + |CRETACEOUS. | sand. }|Aptien. | | stones. | + | | Wealden Beds,}|Neocomian. | | Building | + | | &c. }| | | Stone. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + |UPPER |{Purbeck. | |Estuarine and | | + |OOLITIC. |{Portland and | | Marine. | | + | |{Kimeridge. | | | Coal, Jet, | + |MIDDLE | Coral Rag & | | | Iron Ores, | + |OOLITIC. | Oxford Clay. | | | Roofing | + | |{Cornbrash. | | | Slates, | + | |{Forest Marble | Jura | | Building | + | |{and Great | Formation. | Marine. | Stones, and | + |LOWER |{Oolite. | | | Flags. | + |OOLITIC. |{Stonesfield | | | Alum Shales. | + | |{Slate. | | | Hydraulic | + | |{Inferior | | | Limestones. | + | |{Oolite. | | | | + | | Lias. | | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Rhætic. | | | | + | | New Red Marl, | | | Gypsum. | + |KEUPER. | Sandstone, | Muschelkalk | Inland Seas. | Rock Salt. | + | | and Conglom- | absent in | | Building | + |BUNTER. | erate. | British | Salt Lakes. | Stones. | + | | Sandstone & | Isles. | | | + | | Pebble Beds. | | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Red Marls and | | | | + |MAGNESIAN | Magnesian | | | | + |LIMESTONE. | Limestone. | Zechstein. | | | + | | Red Marl, | Kupfer- | Marine. | Building | + |LOWER | Sandstone, | schiefer. | | Stones. | + |PERMIAN. | and Conglom- |Rothliegende.| | | + | | erate. | | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Coal Measures.| Carboni- | | Coal, Anthra-| + | | Millstone | ferien. | | cite. | + |CARBONIFER- | Grit. | | Terrestrial | Iron and Lead| + |OUS. | Yoredale | | and | Ores. | + | | Rocks. | | Marine. | Bldng. Stone,| + | | Mountain Lime-| | | Marble. | + | | stone. | | | Oil Springs. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | | | | Ornamental | + |DEVONIAN | Devonian | | | Marbles. | + |AND | Slates and | Eifel | Marine And | Serpentine & | + |OLD RED SAND-| Limestones. | Limestone. | Freshwater. | Slates. | + |STONE. | Old Red Sand- | | | Tin, Copper, | + | | stone, &c. | | | Lead, Silver | + | | | | | Ores, &c. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | {| Ludlow. | | | | + |UPPER SILU- {| Wenlock. | | | | + |RIAN. {| Upper | | | Roofing | + | {| Llandovery. | | | Slates. | + | |{Lower | | Marine. | Building | + | |{Llandovery. | | | Stones. | + |LOWER SILU- |{Bala and Cara-| | | Gold & other | + |RIAN. |{doc. | | | Metals. | + | |{Llandeilo. | | | | + | |{Lingula Flags.| Primordial | | | + | |{ | Zone. | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Harlech Grits.| | | Roofing | + |CAMBRIAN. | Llanberis | Huronian of | Marine. | Slates. | + | | Slates. | America. | | Gold & other | + | | | | | Metals. | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | Gneiss | | | | + | | of the Outer | Labradorite | | Serpentine. | + |LAURENTIAN. | Hebrides, and | Series in | Marine. | Graphite. | + | | N.W. Coast of | Canada. | | | + | | Scotland. | | | | + +-------------+---------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+ + | | + |METAMORPHIC ROCKS (_of all ages_):-- | + | Gneiss, Mica-schist, Quartzite, Talcose-schist, &c. (Serpentine | + | probably?) | + | | + |INTRUSIVE ROCKS (_of all ages_):-- | + | Lavas, Basalt, Trachyte, Pitchstone, &c. | + | Granite, Syenite, Greenstone, Felstone, Porphyrites, Melaphyres, | + | Mica-Traps, &c. &c. | + +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +EXTENSION OF THE PREVIOUS TABLE. + + + / / / / Blown Sand and Shingle. + | | | | Alluvium and River Deltas. + | | | | Burtle Beds of Somerset. + | | | RECENT AND | Clay, with Scrobicularia of Pagham, + | | | PRE- < Morecombe, &c. + | | | HISTORIC. | Submerged Forests of Bristol + | | | | Channel, &c. + | | | | Peat Bogs of Ireland and Peat Beds + | P | | \ of England. + | O | | + | S | | / Raised Beaches. + | T | | | / Cave Earth and Loam. + | | PLEIS- | | Cave Deposits< Stalagmite and Bone- + | T | TOCENE, | | \ breccia. + | E < OR < | River Gravels, Brick Earths, and + | R | QUATER- | Post < Freshwater Clays, with Mammalian + | T | NARY. | Glacial | Remains. + | I | | | Gravels of Bedford Levels, Salisbury, + | A | | | and other Old Valley Gravels and + | R | | | Alluvia. + | Y | | \ Tufa and Shell-marl. + | . | | + | | | / Kaimes or Kames of Scotland. + | | | | Eskers or Escars of Ireland. + | | | Glacial < Drift (Upper Boulder Clay or Till, + | | | | Marine Gravels, Lower Till and + A | | | | Moraines), Scotch and Welsh, + G | | | \ Loess of the Rhine, &c. + E | | | + | \ \ Pre-glacial Forest Bed of Norfolk Shore. + O | + F | / \ / \ _Norwich and_ + | | | | Mammaliferous | _Chillesford_ + M < | | | Crag > _Crag_ + A | | PLIOCENE. > Crag < Red Crag | (Newer + M | | | | / Pliocene). + M | | | | Coralline Crag (_Suffolk Crag_) + A | | / \ (Older Pliocene). + L | K | + S | A | / Leaf Bed of Mull. + . | I | MIOCENE. < Lignite of Antrim. + | N | \ Bovey Beds, with Lignite. + | O | + | Z | / / / Corbula Beds. \ F + | O | | | Hempstead < Upper \ Freshwater and | l + | I | | | Beds | Middle > Estuary | u + | O | | UPPER < \ Lower / Marls. | v S + | , | | EO- | | i e + | | | CENE. | Bembridge / Bembridge Marls. | o r + | O < | \ Beds \ „ Limestone. > - i + | R | | | M e + | | | / Osborne / St. Helen’s Sands. | a s + | T | | | Beds \ Nettlestone Grits. | r . + | E | E | | | i + | R | O | | / Upper \ | n + | T | C | | Headon < Middle > Headon Beds. | e + | I | E < MIDDLE< Beds \ Lower / / + | A | N | EO- | + | R | E | CENE. | / Upper Bagshot Sand. + | Y | . | | | Middle „ / Barton Clay. + | . | | | Bagshot < \ Bracklesham Beds. + | | | | Beds | Lower „ Sand and Pipeclay, + | | | \ \ with Plants. + | | | + | | | / / London Clay and Bognor Beds (Upper + | | | | | London Tertiaries). + | | | LOWER < London < Oldhaven Beds. \ + | | | EO- | Tertiaries | Woolwich and Reading Beds | + | | | CENE. | | (Plastic Clay). > Lower + \ \ \ \ \ Thanet Beds. / do. + + + / / C / / Upper Chalk, with Layers of Flint + | | R | | (Maestricht and Faxoe Beds). + | | E | Chalk. < Lower Chalk, without Flints. + | | U T | | Chalk Marl. + | | P A< \ Chloritic Marl. + | | P C | + | | E E | Upper Greensand (Fire-stone of + | | R O | Surrey, Malm-rock), &c. + | | U | + | C | S \ Gault. + | R | . + | E | L / / / / Folkestone Beds (Sand). + | T | O | | | Lower | Sandgate Beds (with Fullers’ + | A | W O | | | Green-< Earth). + | C < E R | | | sand. | Hythe Beds (with Kentish Rag and + | E | R | | N | | Bargate Stone). + | O | N | | e | \ Atherfield Clay. + | U | C E | | o | + | S | R O | W | c | / Weald Clay (with Sussex or Bethers- + | . | E C< e | o< \ den Marble and Horsham Stone). + | | T O | a | m | + | | A M | l< i | / Upper Tunbridge Wells \ + | | C I | d | a | | Sand. | Tunbridge + | | E A | e | n | Has- | Grinstead Clay. > Wells + | | O N | n | . | tings < Lower Tunbridge Wells | Beds. + | | U . | . | | Sands. | Sand. / + | | S | | | | Wadhurst Clay (with Iron Ore). + | | , | | | | Ashdown Sands. + | \ \ | \ \ Ashburnham Beds. + | | + | / / O / | Pur- / Upper (with Purbeck Marble).\ Pur- + | | | U O | | beck. < Middle. >beck + | | | P L | \ \ Lower (with Dirt Beds). / Beds. + | | | P I< + | | | E T | / Portland Stone. + | | | R E | Portland. < Portland Sand. + | | | . | | Kimeridge Clay (with Bituminous + | | | \ \ Shale). + | | | + | | | M O / Coralline / Upper Calcareous Grit. + M | | | I O | Oolite. < Coral Rag (with Iron Ore). + E | | | D L< \ Lower Calcareous Grit. + S | | | D I | + O | | O | L T | Oxford Clay. / Oxford Clay and + Z | | O | E E \ \ Kellaways Rock. + O | | L | . + I | | I | / / Cornbrash. + C | J | T | | Forest Marble. < Forest Marble and Bradford Clay + , | U | I | | \ (with Encrinites). + | R | C | | + O | A | < | / Great or Bath Oolite (with “Ful- + R< S | S | | | lers’ Earth” at base, in S. of + | S | E | | Great Oolite. < England). + S | I | R | | | Stonesfield Slate, near the base, + E | C< I | L | \ in part of S. of England. + C | | E | O | + O | S | S | W | / Upper Fullers’ Earth (Clay). + N | E | . | E | Fullers’ Earth.< Fullers’ Earth Rock (Limestone). + D | R | | R | \ Lower Fullers’ Earth (Clay). + A | I | | | + R | E | | O < / Northampton Sand (with Iron Ore, + Y | S | | O | | in N. Oxfordshire and S. + . | . | | L | | Northamptonshire). + | | | I | | Ragstone and Clypeus Bed.\ Chel- + | | | T | | Upper Freestone. | ten- + | | | E | Inferior < Oolite Marl. > ham + | | | . | Oolite. | Lower Freestone. | Sec- + | | | | | Pea Grit. / tions. + | | | | | (Colleyweston Slate, at the base + | | | | | of the Limestone, in Lincoln- + | | | | | shire). + | | \ | \ Sands. + | | AGE OF / | L / + | |REPTILES, | | i | Upper Lias. Clay and Shale. + | |OR SAURO-< | a < Middle Lias, or Marlstone (Rock Bed, with Iron + | | ZOIC | | s | Ore, Sand, &c.). + | \ EPOCH. \ \ . \ Lower Lias. Clay, Shale, and Limestone. + | + | / T / / / “White Lias,” Avicula contorta + | | R | | Rhætic, or < Beds, with Koessen Beds. + | | I | | Penarth Beds. | Bone Beds of Aust, &c. + | | A | | \ _St. Cassian and Hallstadt Beds._ + | | S | U T | + | P | , | P R | / Red variegated Marl and Upper + | O | | P I < | Keuper Sandstone (with Gypsum and + | I | O | E A | | Rock Salt). + | K | R | R S | Keuper. < Lower Keuper Sandstone and Marl + | I | | . | | (Waterstones). + | L | N | | | Dolomitic Conglomerate (of Keuper + | I | E | | | Age, Somerset, Gloucester, and S. + | T | W | \ \ Wales). + | I< < + | C | R | M T / + | | E | I R | + | S | D | D I < _Muschelkalk, absent in Britain._ + | E | | D A | + | R | S | L S | + | I | A | E . \ + | E | N | + | S | D | L T / + | . | S | O R | / Upper Red and Mottled Sandstone. + | | T | W I < Bunter. < Pebble Beds, Calcareous Con- + | | O | E A | | glomerate, and Breccia. + | | N | R S | \ Lower Red and Mottled Sandstone. + | | E | . \ + \ \ . \ + + + GERMANY. + / A / P /Upper, or / Upper Red Marl and Sandstone. \ + | G | E |Magnesian< Upper Magnesian Limestone. > Zechstein. + | E | R |Limestone | Lower Red Marl and Sandstone. | + | | M < Series. \ Lower Magnesian Limestone. / + | O | I | + | F | A |Lower, or / Red Marl, Sandstone, Breccia, Röthe-liegende, + | | N | Rothlie-< and Conglomerate. + | F | . \ gende. \ + | I | + |U S |C / ENGLAND. SCOTLAND. + |P H |A | + |P E |R A P | / Upper Coal Measures. \ + |E S |B G H | Coal | Middle Coal Measures. }| Upper Coal + |R , |O E Y | Measures.< Pennant Grit. } > Measures. + | |N T | | Lower Coal Measures. | + |P O |I O O | \ Gannister Beds. / + |A R< F F Z | + |L |E O | / Millstone Grit or \ Moor + |Æ I |R P I< \ Farewell Rock. / Rock. + |O C |O L C | + |Z H |U A | / Upper Limestone Shale \ Upper Limestones. + |O T |S N E | | (Yoredale Rocks). > Edge Coals Series. + |I H | T P | | Carboniferous Lime- | Lower Limestones. + |C Y |S S O | Carboni- | stone. / + |. O |E , C | ferous, | + | Z |R H | or < \ Sandstones, Shales, + | O |I O . | Mountain | Lower Limestone Shale. > and Burdie House + | I |E R | Limestone.| / Limestone. + | C |S | | + | |. \ \ + P | E | + A | P |OLD RED / Old Red / Upper Devonian or Barnstaple and Marwood Beds, + L | O | SAND- | Sand- | with Petherwin Limestone, in N. E. Cornwall. + Æ | C | STONE < stone, or< Middle Devonian or Ilfracombe Beds, with + O | H | AND |Devonian | Fossiliferous Limestones and Cornstones. + Z | . | DEVONI-| Beds. \ Lower Devonian, or Lynton Beds. + O | \ AN. \ + I | WALES AND CENTRAL LAKE DISTRICT. + C | ENGLAND. + , |L / / / Tilestones (Passage \ + |O A | | | Beds). | + O < W N | | | > Kirkby Moor + R |E D | | | / Upper Ludlow Beds (with | Flags. + |R | | U | Ludlow < Bone Bed). / + P | M | | P | Beds. | Aymestry Limestone. \ + R |P O | | P | \ Lower Ludlow Beds. | + I |A L | | E | > Bannisdale Beds. + M |L L | | R | / Wenlock Limestone. | + A |Æ U | | | | Wenlock Shale, Sand- | + R |O S | | S | | stone, and Flags. / + Y |Z C | | I < Wenlock < Woolhope Limestone and \ Coniston Grits + . |O S |S | L | Beds. | Shale. | and Flags. + |I , |I | U | | Denbighshire Grits, > Stockdale + |C |L | R | | Shales, Slates, and | Slates. + |. O |U | I | \ Flags. / + | R< R < A | + |A |I | N | Tarannon Shale (Pale Slates). + |G M |A | . | + |E A |N | | / Upper Llandovery Rocks. + | L |. | | Llando- | (May Hill Sandstone). + |O A | | | very < (Pentamerus Beds). + |F C | | | Beds. | + | O | | \ \ Lower Llandovery Rocks. + |C Z | | + |R O | | S / Caradoc, / Caradoc and Bala Beds. \ + |U I | | I | or Bala < (Sandstones often shelly,| Coniston Lime- + |S C | | L L | Beds. | with Bala Limestone, | stone, Bala + |T | | O U | \ Shale, and Slate). > (Limestone and + |A E | | W R | | Shale). + |C P | | E I< Llan- / Llandeilo Flags and | Skiddaw Slates. + |E O | | R A | deilo. < Limestone, &c. / + |A C | | N | \ Tremadoc Slates. + |N H | | . | + |S . | | | Lingula Lingula Flags. (Primordial Zone of + | \ \ \ Beds. Barrande). + | + | / / / Harlech Grits, &c. + | | | | Purple Slates and Grits (St. David’s). + | E |CAMBRIAN.< Cambrian.< Llanberis Grits and Slates. + | O | | | Longmynd Rocks. + | Z | | \ Red Sandstone and Conglomerate (Scotland). + | O < \ + | I | + | C | / Fundamental Gneiss of the Outer Hebrides + | . |LAURENTIAN. < and of the N. W. coast of Scotland, &c., + | | | containing the oldest known fossil, + \ \ \ _Eozoon Canadense_. + + + + +INDEX. + +⁂ ITALICS ARE WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Abbeville, 475. + „ Peat-beds and Flint-tools of, 476. + Abietinæ, 193. + Acacia, 318. + _Acanthodes_, 126. + Acephala of the Oolite, 246. + Acephalous or headless Molluscs, 288. + Acerites cretaceæ, 283. + Acrodus nobilis, 217. + Acrogens, 123. + Adams, Mr., discoveries of, 391. + Adapis, 325. + Adelsberg Cave, 430. + _Adeona folifera_, 247. + Adhémar’s Glacial Hypothesis, 436. + Adiantites, 120. + Agassiz on Glaciers, 439. + Age of Angiosperms, 300. + „ Formations, how ascertained, 5. + Ailsa Craig, 49. + Air Volcano at Turbaco, 61, 63. + Albien of D’Orbigny, 300. + Albite, 96. + Aleutian Isles, 70. + Algæ, 103, 114, 123, 309, 336. + Alkaline Waters of Plombières, 64. + Alleghany Mountains, 75. + Alluvial Deposits, 485. + Almites Frescii, 203. + Alps, upheaval of, 427. + Alveolites, 333. + Amber, 310, 316, 355. + Amblypterus, 146. + Amiens, Peat-beds of, 475. + _Ammonite, a perfect_, 260. + „ _restoration of an_, 216. + Ammonites, 11, 12, 207, 212, 214, 246. + „ _rostratus_, 292, 294. + „ _Turneri_, 215. + „ of Jurassic Period, 215. + „ rotundus, 263. + „ Herveyii, 246. + „ Danicus, 311. + Amorphozoa, 301. + Ancient Glaciers of the Rhine, Linth, and the Reus, 449. + Ancient Granite, 31. + Ancyloceras, 288. + _Andrias Scheuchzeri_, 368. + Angiosperms, Age of, 300. + „ Seeds, in a Seed-vessel, 283, 300. + Animal of the Ohio, 343. + „ of Paraguay, 401. + Annelides, 126. + Anning, Mary, 219, 225. + Annularia, 137, 154. + „ _orifolia_, 158. + Anodon, 120, 334. + Anomopteris, 193. + Anoplotherium, 319, 323. + „ _commune_, 323. + Anorthite, 96. + Antediluvian Glaciers, 449. + „ Man, 367. + Anthracite, 72. + Antiquity of Man, 469. + Antwerp Crag, 373. + Ape, 360. + Ape, First Appearance of, 349. + _Apiocrinites liliiformis_, 261. + „ _rotundus_, 261. + _Aploceras_, 146. + Aptien (Greensand of Apt) Fossils of Havre, of the Isle of Wight, 297. + Apuan Alps, 76. + _Arborescent Ferns_, 130. + Arbroath Paving-stone, 129. + Archæopteryx, 265. + _Archegosaurus minor_, 154, 158. + Arctocyon primævus, 332. + Arenicolites, 101. + Argile de Dives, 264. + „ plastique, 332. + Armentaceæ, 297. + Arran, Granite of, 38. + Artesian Wells, 16, 88. + Artificially-formed Coal, 164. + _Asaphus caudatus_, 103. + Ashburnham Sands, 286. + Ashdown Sands, 286. + Ashes, Showers of Volcanic, 58. + Asiatic Deluge, 423; caused by upheaval of Caucasian Range, 480. + Asplenium, 315. + Asteracanthus, 266. + Asterias lombricalis, 213. + Asterophyllites, 120, 154, 158, 173, 177. + „ _foliosa_, 157. + Atherfield Series of Rocks, 287. + Atlantis of Plato, 118, 281. + _Atrypa reticularis_, 127. + Auchenaspis, 129. + Aucolin, 299. + Augite, 44. + Auvergne, Mountains of, 62. + „ Acidulated Springs in, 64. + „ Extinct Volcanoes of, 51. + Aveyron Savage, 469. + Avicula, 189, 205, 252, 272. + „ contorta, 207. + „ contorta zone, 207. + Azores, New Islands formed in the, 70. + + Baculites, 289. + Bagshot Beds, 332. + Bajocien Formation, 249. + Bala Beds, 109. + Balæna of Monte Pulgnasco, 370. + Balænodon Lamanoni, 370. + Balistes, or Silurus, 218. + Baltic Sea filling up, 282, 490. + _Banksia_, 318. + Barmouth Sandstone, 101. + _Basalt in Prismatic Columns_, 47. + Basalt, 44. + „ Action of, upon Limestone, 72. + „ of Ireland, 48. + „ Prismatic Structure of, 49. + Basaltic Formations, 44. + „ Causeways, 48, 49. + „ _Plateau, theoretical view of_, 47. + „ Cavern of Staffa, 50. + Bat, 326, 338. + Bath Oolite, 243, 250. + Bathonian Formation, 249. + Batrachian Reptiles of Pliocene, 358. + Baumann’s Hohl, 429. + Bay of Fundy, 159. + Beaver, Disappearance of, 184. + „ of Post-Pliocene Period, 379. + Beds of Coal, Formation of, 159. + Bees, 255. + _Belemnite restored_, 216. + „ of Liassic Period, 217. + Belemnites, 212, 215, 260. + „ _acutus_, 217. + Bellerophon, 108. + „ _costatus_, 145. + „ _hiulcus_, 145. + _Beloptera Sepioidea_, 181, 434. + Bembridge Series, 330, 332. + Ben Nevis, 90, 182. + Bernese Alps, 427. + _Beryx Lewesiensis_, 294. + Biblical Account of Noachian Deluge, 480. + Bidiastopora cervicornis, 246. + Bigsby, Dr. J. T., on Silurian Fauna and Flora, 104. + Binney, Edw., on Boulder Clay of Lancashire, 462. + _Bird of Solenhofen_, 265. + „ of Montmartre, 326. + Birds, First Appearance of, 193. + „ of Eocene Period, 326. + „ of Miocene Period, 369. + Bison primigenius, 399. + „ priscus, 399. + Bituminous Fountains, 60. + Black Down Beds, 310. + Boccaccio’s Giant, 284. + Bogs of Denmark, 477. + Bone-beds of Rhætic, or Penarth Series, 207. + Bone-breccias, 429. + Bone Caves, 429. + „ „ H. W. Bristow on formation of, 475. + _Bos_, 379, 414. + „ Pallasii, 399. + „ Primigenius, 184. + Bracheux Sands, 332. + Brachiopoda, 109. + „ Abundance of, in Devonian Period, 126. + „ in Upper Cretaceous Period, 300. + „ Reign of, 126. + Brachyphyllum, 249. + Bracklesham Beds, 332. + Bradford Clay, 250. + „ Encrinites, 252. + _Branch of Banksia_, 318. + „ _Eucalyptus_, 317. + Bray Head, 101. + Breccia, Ossiferous, 432. + Brecciated Limestone, 174, 176. + Bridlington Beds, 460. + Bristow, H. W., on Formation of Bone Caves, 475. + „ on Brixham Bone-cave, 473. + „ on Penarth or Rhætic Beds, 207. + British Islands at close of Jurassic Period, 274. + _British Strata_, Section of, 244. + „ Table of, 493-499. + Brixham Bone-cave, 473. + Brongniart, Ad., on Upper Cretaceous Fauna, 301. + Bronze Age, 478. + Brumberg Cavern, 432. + Buckland, Dr., on Kirkdale Cave, 380. + Buffon and Voltaire, 6. + „ on Man, 470. + „ on Fossils, 6. + Bunter Sandstone, 187. + Burrh Stone, 355. + Butterflies, 255. + + Caithness Flags, 128. + Calamary, 215, 259. + _Calamite restored_, 135. + Calamites, 134, 152, 177, 193, 202. + „ arenaceus, 194. + „ _cannæformis_, 154. + „ _Trunk of_, 136. + Calcaire de la Beauce, 355. + „ Grossier, 325, 332. + Calceola Sandalina, 127. + Calderas, 70. + _Calymene Blumenbachii_, 110. + Cambrian Period, 101. + „ Fauna, 101. + Camper, Pierre, on the Mosasaurus, 304. + „ „ „ Œningen Skeleton, 368. + Camptopteris crenata, 239. + Canstadt Excavations, 386, 396. + Cantal Group of Mountains, 43. + „ „ „ _a peak of_, 40. + Cape Wrath, Granite and Gneiss of, 32. + Capitosaurus, 190. + Caradoc Beds, 109. + Carboniferous Flora, 151. + „ „ compared with that of Islands in the Pacific, 151. + Carboniferous Limestone, 130, 140. + „ Period, 130. + „ Vegetation of, 130. + „ Climate of, 133. + „ Foraminifera of, 143, 146. + „ of France, 150. + „ Crustaceans of, 141. + „ Rocks, 149. + „ Seas, 146. + Cardiocarpon, 177. + Cardium Rhæticum, 207. + „ striatulum, 269. + Carpinites arenaceus, 283. + Carrara Marble, 65, 73, 76, 377. + _Caryophylla cyathus_, 356. + Causeways, Basaltic, 49. + Cave Bear, 395, 473. + „ Deposits, 468, 472. + „ Hyæna, 398. + „ Lion, 398. + Caverns, their Origin, 129. + Cellaria loriculata, 247. + Central Heat of the Earth, 15. + „ Increase of in Depth, 16. + Central France, Puys of, 51. + _Cephalaspis_, 125. + Cephalopoda, 108, 127, 215, 301. + Ceratites, 189. + _Ceratites nodosus_, 189. + Cerithium, 333, 334. + _Cerithium plicatum_, 350. + „ _telescopium_, 335. + Cervus megaceros, 184, 400. + Cestracion, 218. + Cetaceans of Pliocene Period, 369. + Cetiosaurus, 256, 265. + Chæropotamus, 325. + Chætetes, 146. + Chalk Formation, 275, 309. + „ _Foraminifera of_, 146. + Chalk Marl, 309. + „ White, 309. + „ _of Cattolica, Sicily_, 280. + „ _of Gravesend_, 278. + „ _of Isle of Moën_, 279. + „ _of Meudon_, 277. + Chara, 315. + Cheirotherium, 13, 21, 190. + Chemical Theory of the Earth, 15. + Chesil Bank, 270. + Chillesford Beds, 372. + Chimæra, 218. + Chloë, Isle of, 151. + Chondrites, 309. + Chorda-filum, 124. + Christiana Granite and Syenite, 38. + Cinder Bed of Purbeck, 272. + Cipoline Marble, 76. + Cirripedes, 260. + Clermont-Ferrand, 51. + Climate of the Coal Period, 151. + „ Permian Period, 174. + _Climatius_, 126. + Clinkstone, 43. + _Clymenia Sedgwickii_, 127. + Coal, 132. + „ Formation of, 159. + „ Origin of, 159. + „ Theories Respecting Formation of, 159. + „ _Stratification of Beds of_, 165. + „ Quantities annually raised in different Countries, 166. + „ Quantity of, in United Kingdom, 167. + Coal Measures, 130, 150. + „ Composition of, 164. + „ Extent of, 166. + „ Flora of, 150. + „ of Scotland, 167. + „ of South Wales, 167. + „ of Belgium, 167. + „ of France, 167. + „ Time of Formation, 132. + „ Composition of, 132. + _Coal Mines of Treuil_, 160. + _Coccosteus_, 125, 142. + Cœlacanthus, 175. + Composition of Air in Carboniferous Period, 133. + Comptonia, 283. + Confervæ of the Chalk, 309. + Conglomerates, 129. + Conifers of Jurassic Period, 249, 269. + „ of Cretaceous Period, 283. + „ of Eocene Period, 316. + „ of Miocene Period, 336. + „ of Pliocene Period, 358. + _Contortions of Coal Beds_, 167. + Conybeare’s Account of Plesiosaurus, 229. + Copper Slate, Fossils of, 177. + „ „ of Thuringia, 178. + Coprolites, Petrified Excrements of Antediluvian Animals, 12, 207, 373. + „ _of Ichthyosaurus, enclosing Bones_, 225. + „ _of Ichthyosaurus, showing Cast of Intestines_, 225. + „ Bed of Cambridge, 309. + Coral Rag, 243, 264, 301. + Coralline Crag, Corals of, 372. + Corals, 141, 205, 240, 247, 263, 266, 301. + Cornbrash, 243, 250, 252. + Cornstone, 129. + Cornwall, Granite of, 38. + Coryphodon, 332. + Cotham Marble, 208. + _Coupe, la, d’Ayzac_, 46, 47. + Crag, 372. + Creation of Man, 464. + „ „ Evidences of, 469. + „ World, Scriptural Account of, Defended, 18. + Credneria, 283, 297-300. + Crematopteris, 163. + Cretaceous Period, 275, 306. + „ Fauna of, 282, 285, 300. + „ Flora of, 282, 300. + „ Reptiles of, 285. + „ Fishes of, 285, 294. + Crinoidea, 127. + Crioceras, 288, 297. + „ _Duvallii_, 274. + Crocodile of Maestricht, 184, 303, 326. + Crocodilus Toliapicus, 326. + Croll, J., on Till, 457. + Crust of the Earth, Composition of, 96. + „ Thickness of, 87, 89. + „ Temperature of, 88. + Crustaceans, 107, 110, 141, 286. + „ Predominance of, in Lower Silurian Seas, 107. + „ Rarity of in Carboniferous Period, 141. + „ of Eocene Period, 326. + „ of Miocene Period, 350. + Cryptogamia, 187, 194, 203. + Crystalline Action, 71. + „ Limestone, 174, 176. + „ Rocks Defined, 28. + Cucumites, 315. + Cupanioides, 315. + _Cupressocrinus crassus_, 128. + Cuvier’s Account of Plesiosaurus, 233. + „ Account of Pterodactyle, 33. + „ on the Restoration of Extinct Animals, 7. + „ on the Destruction of Species, 381. + „ on the Mammoth, 396. + Cyathophyllum, 146. + Cycadeaceæ, 266. + Cycads, 239, 249, 270, 283. + _Cycas circinalis_, 168. + Cypress, 240, 249. + Cypris, 272. + „ fasciculata, 272. + „ _spinigera and C. Valdensis_, 298. + _Cyrtoceras depressum_, 176. + + Damara, 194. + Danian Beds, 309, 311. + Danish Peat Mosses and Kjökken Mödden, 477. + Dartmoor, Granite of, 36, 37, 79. + Darwin, C., on Coral Formations, 263. + „ Volcanoes of Quito, 55. + Daubeny on Basalt, 44. + Davidsonia Verneuilli, 127. + Dawkins, W. B., Discoverer of Microlestes, 207. + De la Beche on the Plesiosaurus, 229. + De Rance, C. E., on Glacial Deposits, 458. + Deer, 399. + Deluge confirmed by traditions of all Ancient Races, 482. + Denudation, 28. + Descartes, 15. + Destruction of Successive Creations, 184. + Devon and Cornwall, Granite of, 38. + Devonian Period, 119. + „ System, 170. + „ Flora, 120. + „ _Fishes_, 125. + Diameter of the Earth, 87. + Diceras Limestone, 265. + Dicotyledons, 182, 282. + Diluvium, 422, 423. + Dinornis, 134, 382. + _Dinornis_, 414, 417. + Dinotherium, 339, 356. + „ _restored_, 340. + Diorite, 35. + _Diplacanthus_, 126. + Dirt-bed, Fossils of, 271. + Dodo, 184. + Dolomite, 178. + Domite, 43. + Donati on Fossil Shells, 6. + Downs, North and South, 278. + Downton Sandstone, 112. + _Draco volans_, 238. + Draconidæ, 237. + Dragon Fly, 243, 255. + Dragons of Mythology, 237, 361. + Drifted Rocks, 27. + Drôme, the, 299. + Dryopithecus, 350, 353. + Dykes, 27. + + Early Geologists, 5. + Earth, Cooling of the, 80. + „ Theories of the Origin of the, 6. + „ _in a Gaseous State_, 81. + Earth’s Crust, Thickness of, 89. + „ Surface, Changes of, 3. + Earthy Limestone, 281. + Ebur Fossile, 386. + Echinoderms, 189, 213, 247, 261, 297, 300, 301, 326. + Edentates, 382, 400, 407. + Ehrenberg’s Microscopic Investigations, 277. + Electric Currents, Action of, 79. + Elephant of the Ohio, 343, 347. + Elephants, Fossil, 386. + Elephants’ Cemetery at Canstadt, 386. + Elephas meridionalis, 372. + „ primigenius, 347, 382, 383. + Emys, 265, 319. + Encrinites, 127, 173, 181, 196, 252. + „ Abundance of during Devonian Period, 120. + _Encrinus liliiformis_, 190, 261. + Entalophora cellarioides, 246. + Eocene Strata of France and England, 329. + Eocene, 314. + „ Period, 315. + „ Vegetation, 315. + „ Fauna, Seas, 319, 329. + „ Characters of, 330. + „ Table of Strata, 330. + Epilogue, 489. + Epiornis, 184, 382, 417. + Equiseta (Horse-tails), 134, 202, 203, 239, 315. + Erratic Blocks, 424. + „ _of the Alps_, 448. + _Eruption of Granite_, 92. + Eruptive Rocks, 4, 27, 30, 31. + „ Plutonic Eruptions, 31. + „ Volcanic „ 51. + _Eryon arctiformis_, 260. + Erymanthean Boar, 184. + Estimated Coal Measures of the World, 166. + Etheridge, R., on Devonian and Old Red Sandstone, 129. + Etna, Volcano of Mount, 56, 68. + _Eucalyptus_, 317. + Eunomia radiata, 247, 252. + Europe at Close of Cretaceous Period, 311. + „ „ Pliocene Period, 377. + European Deluge, 378, 422. + Eurypterus, 110. + „ _remipes_, 111. + _Exogyra conica_, 294, 311. + Expansion of the Earth at the Equator, 84. + Extinct Volcanoes of Auvergne, 51. + Eye of Ichthyosaurus, 220. + + Falconer, Dr., on Brixham Cave, 473. + Faluns, 355. + „ of Paris Basin, 356. + Fans, of Brecon, 128. + Fault, a Dislocation of Strata, 71. + Fauna, Definition of Term, 4. + „ Devonian, 129. + „ Neocomian, 287. + „ of Permian Period, 183. + „ of the Middle Oolite, 255. + „ of the Upper Oolite, 265. + „ of Cretaceous Period, 285, 294. + „ of Eocene Period, 319. + „ of Pliocene Period, 358. + „ of Miocene Period, 339. + Faxoe Beds, 309. + Felis spelæa, 398. + Felspar, composition of, 96. + Fenestrella retiformis, 175. + Ferns, 130, 134, 140, 176, 193, 239, 248, 282, 315. + Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, 49, 50. + Fisher, Rev. O., on Chillesford Clay, 372. + „ on Warp and Trail, 461. + Fishes, Silurian, 107. + „ Bones of, 112. + „ of Devonian Period, 125. + „ of Carboniferous Period, 146. + „ of Oolitic Seas, 266. + „ of Cretaceous Seas, 285, 294. + „ of Eocene Period, 326. + „ of Miocene Period, 339. + _Fissurella nembosa_, 463. + _Fissures near Locarno_, 57. + Flabellaria, 315, 329, 336. + „ Chamæropifolia, 288. + Flint-tools in peat-beds, 475. + Flints, 281. + Flora of Upper Cretaceous Period, 309. + „ of Devonian Period, 120. + „ of Cretaceous Period, 282. + „ of Tertiary Period, 313. + „ of Eocene Period, 329. + „ of Triassic Period, 194. + „ of Miocene Period, 326, 353, 381. + „ of Carboniferous Period, 135. + „ of Permian Period, 174, 183. + „ of Pliocene Period, 381. + „ of Upper Oolite Period, 266. + Fluvio-marine Crag, 372. + Foliation, Cause of, 77. + Footprints in Rocks, 121, 173, 190, 196, 269. + „ at Corncockle Moor, 13. + Foraminifera, 146, 313, 326. + „ _of the Chalk_, 146, 276, 286. + „ _of the Mountain Limestone_, 146. + Forbes (Professor Ed.) on the Pliocene Marine Fauna, 374. + Forest-bed of Norfolk, 372, 418. + Forest Marble, 243, 250, 252. + _Formation of Primitive Granite_, 90. + Fossil, Term Defined, 4. + „ Bones, 4, 5. + „ Uses of, 5. + „ Condition of, 11. + „ Footprints, 13. + „ Species, relations of, to existing Species, 11. + „ Ivory of Siberia, 388. + „ _Palms restored_, 284. + „ Shells, 4. + „ Fishes, 175. + „ Leeches, 217. + „ Licorn, 398. + „ Unicorn, 386. + Fossils of Permian Formation, 173. + „ of Keuper Formation, 201. + „ of Upper Oolite, 265. + „ of Neocomian Beds, 297. + „ of Orgonian Beds, 297. + „ of Aptien Beds, 297. + „ of the Glauconie, 300. + „ of Calcaire Grossier, 332. + „ of Muschelkalk, 189. + „ of New Red Sandstone, 187. + „ of Argile Plastique, 332. + Fournet on the Drôme, 299. + „ on Eruptions of Granite, &c., 36. + „ on Eruptions of Gas and Water, 64. + Fox of Œningen, 338. + _Fucoids_, 123. + Fuller’s Earth, 243, 250. + _Fusulina cylindrica_, 143. + Future of the Earth and Man considered, 489. + + Gabian, Bituminous Springs of, 60. + Gailenreuth, Caves of, 429, 430. + Galacynus Œningensis, 339. + Ganoid Fishes, 181, 217, 246. + Garonne Valley, 428. + Gastornis, 332. + Gault, 281, 300, 309. + Gavials of India, 259, 291. + Geikie, Prof., on Till, 457. + Gemerelli on Fossils, 6. + _Geological humus_, 271. + „ Inferences, Hypothetical Nature of, 3. + Geological Record, Complexity of, 30. + Geology, Objects of, 2, 3. + „ a Recent Science, 3. + „ its Influence on other Sciences, 3. + „ How to be Studied, 3. + Geosaurus, 256. + Geoteuthis, 259. + Gerilea protea, 318. + _Geysers of Iceland_, 16, 67. + Giants’ Causeways, 49. + „ „ _in the Ardèche_, 48. + „ Legends of, accounted for, 5. + Gigantology, 384. + Glacial Action during Permian Period, 174. + „ Deposits of Northern England and Wales, 457. + „ Period, 372, 378, 435. + „ Evidences of, 463. + „ Regions of Europe, 451. + „ Theory of Martins, 462. + Glacier System of Wales, 106. + „ Systems, 440. + Glaciers of Scotland, 454. + „ of Switzerland, 449. + „ of the British Isles, 457. + Glauconie, or Glauconite, 300. + Glaucous Chalk, 300, 310. + Glenroy, Parallel Roads of, 456. + Globe, Modification of Surface of, 26. + Glyptodon, the, 401. + Glyptolepis, 120. + Gneiss of Cape Wrath, 32. + „ Laurentian, 74. + „ Composition of, 96. + Goniatites, 127. + _Goniatites evolutus_, 145. + Goulet, Great and Little, 299. + Granite, 182. + „ Mineral Composition of, 32, 96. + „ How Formed, 33. + „ of St. Austell, 39. + „ of Christiana, 36. + „ of Dartmoor, 79. + „ of Cornwall and Devon, 36, 38. + „ Eruptions of, 90, 92, 98. + „ Stratified or Foliated, 97. + „ Qualities of, 32. + „ How Formed, 33. + „ _Veins of, at Cape Wrath_, 32. + _Granitic Eruptions_, 92. + Gran Seco, 410. + Graptolites, 107. + _Gravesend Chalk, under Microscope_, 278. + Great Animal of Maestricht, 304. + Great Oolite, 243, 250. + „ Reptiles of, 250. + Great Year, the, 436. + Green, A. H., on Glacial Deposits, 458. + Greensand, Upper and Lower, 275, 281, 297, 309. + Greenstone, 35. + Grès Bigarré, 37, 185. + Grès de Beauchamp, 333. + Grès des Vosges, 178. + Grotta del Cane, 64. + _Grotto des Demoiselles_, 433. + Grotto of Cheeses, Trèves, 50. + Gryphæa dilatata, 264. + „ virgula, 269. + „ _incurva_, 212. + Gulf Stream, 435. + Gymnogens, Plants with Naked Ovary, 152. + Gymnosperms, 193, 283, 300. + Gypseous Formation, 333. + Gypsum Quarries of Montmartre, Fossils in, 73, 325. + Gyroceras, 108. + + Haidingera speciosa, 194. + Hakea, 318. + Hallstadt Beds, 205. + _Halysites catenularius_, 113. + _Hamites_, 288, 297. + Hannibal’s Elephants, 387. + Harkness, Prof., on Glacial Deposits, 458. + Harlech Sandstones, 101. + Hastings Sands, 287. + Hawaii, Volcanoes of, 59, 69. + _Head of Cave-bear_, 398. + „ _of Cave-hyæna_, 399. + „ _of Mosasaurus Camperi_, 306. + „ _of Rhinoceros tichorhinus_, 360. + Headon Beds, 330, 332. + _Hemicosmites pyriformis_, 108. + Hennessey, on the Earth’s Crust, 89. + Hepaticas, 315. + _Herbaceous ferns_, 131. + Herbivora, Eocene, 325. + Heterocercal, 175. + Hippopotamus, 360, 379. + Hippurites, 301, 310. + Holl, Dr., on Malvern Rocks, 78. + Holoptychius, 154. + Homo diluvii testis, 367. + Homocercal, 175. + Hopkins, Evan, on Earth’s Antiquity, 20. + „ „ on Terrestrial Magnetism, 22. + „ W., Theory of Central Heat, 17. + „ „ on the Earth’s Crust, 88. + Horse, 379, 399, 417. + Horse-tails, 134, 202. + Hot Springs, 64. + Hughes, T. McK., Discovery of Glutton by, 431. + Hull, Prof., on Trias, 185. + „ on Glacial Deposits, 458. + Human Jaw, 472. + „ Period, 474. + Hunt, Rob., Electric Experiments of, 79. + „ Prof. Sterry, on Formation of Crystalline Schists, 96. + Hutton’s Theory of the Earth, 3. + Hyæna Spelæa, 398, 417. + „ _head of_, 399, 417. + Hyænodon, 396. + Hybodus, 217. + Hyera, Island of, 70. + Hylæosaurus, Lizard of the Woods, 205, 207, 225, 290. + Hymenoptera, 225. + + Iceland, Geysers of, 16, 65, 67. + „ Lava Streams in, 60. + „ Volcanoes of, 60, 67. + Ichthyodorulites, 217. + Ichthyosaurus, 218, 229, 255, 256. + Ichthyosaurus, Coprolites of, 12. + _Ichthyosaurus communis_, 218. + „ _platydon_, 219, 222. + Igneous Rocks, 31, 182. + Iguana, 293. + Iguanodon, 292. + „ Mantelli, 285. + „ _Teeth of_, 293. + _Illænus Barriensis_, 112. + Incandescence of the Globe, 17. + „ of the Sun, 17. + Indian Traditions of the Father of the Ox, 347. + Inferior Oolite, 249. + Infra-Lias, 209. + _Injected Veins of Granite_, 32. + Insects, 157, 225, 334. + „ of Coal-measures, 151. + „ of Oolites, 255, 266. + Iron Age, 478. + „ Ore in Coal-measures, 165. + „ „ in Orgonian Beds, 298. + _Ischadites Kœnigii_, 118. + Islands, Sudden Appearance of, 70. + Isle of Bones, 388. + „ Lächow, 388. + „ Portland, 270. + „ Purbeck, 271. + „ Wight Alligator, 326. + + Jamieson, T. F., on Glenroy, 454. + Jarrow Colliery, 139. + Java, Volcanic Mountains of, 67, 69. + „ Valley of Poison, 64. + _Jaw and Tooth of Megalosaurus_, 291. + „ _of Phascolotherium_, 245. + „ _of Thylacotherium_, 245. + Jet, 274. + Juglandites elegans, 283. + Jukes, J. B., on Devonian and Old Red Sandstone, 129. + Jura Mountains, 243, 273. + Jurassic Limestone, 243. + „ Distribution of, 272. + „ Reptiles of, 220. + „ Plants of the, 238. + „ Series, Distinguishing Features of, 215. + + Kangaroo, 245. + Kea, Mauna, 61, 69. + Kellaways Rock, 264. + Kent’s Hole, 380, 472. + Kentish Rag, 287. + Keuper, 199, 293. + „ Rock Salt in, 199, 204. + Kilauea, Volcano of, 56. + „ Eruption of, 69. + „ Crater of, 56, 59. + Kimeridge Clay, 19, 243, 266, 269. + King, Prof., on Permian System, 174. + Kirkdale Cave, 380, 398, 429. + Kjökken-Mödden, 477. + Koessen Beds, 208. + Kupfer Schiefer, 170. + + Labradorite, 44. + Labyrinthodon, 190. + „ _pachygnathus_, 12. + _Labyrinthodon restored_, 193. + La Coupe d’Ayzac, Crater of, 45. + Lacunosus laciniatus, 184. + Lacustrine Habitations, 472. + Ladies’ Fingers, 216. + Lake Dwellings, 472. + Lamellibranchs, 266. + Landscape Stone, 208. + Land-turtles, 190. + Laplace’s Theory of the Earth, 17, 80. + Lasmocyathus, 146. + Laurentian Formation in Britain, 10, 79. + „ Gneiss, 74. + Lava Formations, 39, 51, 59. + „ Streams of, 59. + Lecoq, on Triassic Vegetation, 194. + „ Keuper Flora, 202. + „ Cretaceous Flora, 282. + „ Tertiary Flora, 316. + „ Flora of Miocene Period, 336. + „ the Vegetation of Pliocene Period, 357. + Leibnitz’ Fossil Unicorn, 386. + Lepidodendra, 134, 138, 157, 173. + Lepidodendron carinatum, 134, 138. + „ _elegans_, 140. + „ _Sternbergii_, 139, 141. + „ _Sternbergii restored_, 142. + Lepidoptera, 255. + _Lepidostrobus variabilis_, 140. + Lepidotus, 266, 272. + „ gigas, 217. + Leptæna Murchisoni, 127. + _Le Puy, Chain of_, 51. + Lias, The, 211; + „ Lower, Upper, and Middle, 212. + Liassic Period, 211, 217. + „ Fauna, 213. + „ Flora, 239. + Libellula, 243. + Licorn Fossil, 386. + Life, First Appearance of, 99. + „ Abundance of, in Upper Silurian Times, 104. + Lignite, 337, 354. + Lima gigantea, 212. + „ striata, 189. + „ proboseilea, 246. + Limestone, 212. + „ of La Beauce, 355. + „ of Solenhofen, 243, 273. + „ Metamorphism of, 73, 75. + Limnæa, 272, 334. + Lingula, 107. + „ Credneri, 175. + „ Flags, 101, 107. + Lions with Curly Manes, 184. + Lipari Isles, 55, 68. + Lithographic Limestone of Solenhofen, 343. + _Lithostrotion_, 181. + „ _basaltiforme_, 145. + _Lituites cornu-arietis_, 108. + Lizard of the Meuse, 305. + Llanberis Slates, 101. + Llandeilo Flags, 109. + Llandovery Rocks, 107. + Loa, Mauna, 55. + _Locarno, Fissures of_, 57, 58. + Logan, Sir W., on Laurentian Gneiss of Canada, 10, 74. + Logan, Sir W., on Underclay of Coal Measures, 161. + Lomatophloyos crassicaule, 134, 138. + _Lonchopteris Bricii_, 134, 144. + London Clay, Flora of, 331. + Longmynd Hills, 101. + _Lonsdalea floriformis_, 145. + Lophiodon, 325, 333. + Lower Cretaceous Period, 286, 297. + „ Keuper Sandstone, 186, 204. + „ Neocomian, 297. + „ Lias, 212. + „ Silurian Rocks, 104. + „ Oolite Fauna, 244. + „ Oolite Rocks, 249. + „ Greensand, 281, 287. + Lucerne, The Giant of, 385. + Ludlow Bone-beds, 112. + „ Rocks, 111. + _Lupea pelagica_, 354. + Lycopodiaceæ, 134, 151. + Lycopods, 123, 134. + Lyell, Sir Charles, on Formation of Granite, 33, 36. + Lyell, Sir Charles, on the Upper Cretaceous Flora, 300. + Lyme Regis, 219, 225. + + Machairodus, 379. + „ _Tooth of_, 380. + Macrorhynchus, 265, 272. + Madrepores, 266. + Maestricht Quarries, 285. + „ Animal of, 302. + „ Beds, 303, 304, 309. + Magnesian Limestone, 170, 178. + Magnetism, Terrestrial, Evan Hopkins on, 22. + Malvern Hills, Dr. Holl on, 78. + Mammals, First Appearance of, 207, 244. + „ of Pliocene Period, 358. + Mammaliferous Crag, 372. + Mammiferous Didelphæ, 245. + Mammoth, 347. + „ of Ohio, 347. + „ of the Unstrut, 386. + „ Origin of Name, 388. + „ Siberian Accounts of, 387-395. + „ _restored_, 395. + „ _Skeleton of the_, 383, 394. + „ Teeth and Tusks of, 342. + „ Tooth of the, 384. + Man and Animals Compared, 465. + „ First Appearance of, 382. + „ Antiquity of, considered, 478. + „ Age of St. Acheul Beds, 479. + „ Morlot’s Calculation, 479. + Mantell’s, Dr., Discoveries, 290. + Marble, 74. + „ Carrara, 73, 76. + „ Cipoline, 76. + „ of France, 76. + Marbre de Flandres and M. de petit Granit, 150. + Mare’s-tail, 134. + Marl, 199. + Marl-slate, 160. + Marlstone of the Lias, 212. + Marsupial Mammals, 207, 245, 250, 263. + Martins, C., on Glaciers, 462. + Mastodon, 341, 356, 360. + „ its Discovery, 342. + „ Opinions of Naturalists, 343. + „ Difference from Mammoth, 341. + „ Molar Tooth of, 346. + „ Arvernensis, 372. + „ angustidens, 347. + „ _restored_, 345. + „ _Skeleton of_, 344. + „ _Skeleton of the Turin_, 359. + „ _Teeth of_, 341, 342. + Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, 56, 69. + Mazuyer’s Pretended Discovery, 348. + _Meandrina Dædalæa_, 251. + Mechanical Theory of the Earth, 15. + Megaceros Hibernicus, 184, 400. + Megalonyx, 371, 382, 400, 411. + Megalosaurus, 291. + „ _Jaw of_, 291. + „ _Tooth of_, 291, 380. + Megalichthys, 154. + Megatherium, 382, 401, 418. + „ _Pelvis of_, 407. + „ _Restored_, 409. + „ _Skeleton of_, 403. + „ „ _foreshortened_, 406. + Megatheroid Animals, Habits of, 413. + Mendip Hills, Denudation of, 28. + Mesopithecus, 339, 350. + „ _restored_, 349. + „ _Skeleton of_, 349. + _Metallic veins_, 91. + Metamorphic Rocks, 4, 71. + Metamorphism, Special and General, 65, 71, 74. + „ Action of, on Limestone, 71, 72, 75. + „ of Combustible Materials, 14, 72. + „ of Argillaceous Beds, 73. + „ Cause of, 78. + _Meudon Chalk under Microscope_, 277. + Mexican Deluge, 485. + Mezen, Le, Peak of, 44. + Mica, Composition of, 96. + Mica-schist, 77, 377. + Microdon, 266. + Microlestes, 207. + „ Discovery of teeth of by Mr. C. Moore, 208. + Middle Lias, 212. + „ Oolite, 255. + Miliola, 329. + Millepora alcicornis, 240. + Miller, Hugh, How he became a Geologist, 10. + „ First Lesson in Geology, 124. + Milliolites, 333. + Mimosa, 318. + Mineral Masses composing the Earth’s Crust, 27. + Mines, Greatest Depths of, 88. + Miocene, Meaning of, 314. + Miocene Period, 336. + „ Vegetation, 336, 339, 353, 381. + „ Fauna, 339, 350. + „ Volcanoes of, 51. + „ Foraminifera, 356. + „ Rocks of Greece, 339. + Moel Tryfaen, 459. + _Molar Teeth of Mastodon_, 346. + Molasse, or Soft Clay, 338, 355. + Mollusca, 245. + „ of Pliocene, 371. + „ of Eocene, 319. + „ of Miocene, 350. + „ of Crag, 373. + „ Gasteropodous, 266. + _Monitor Niloticus_, 305. + Monocotyledons, 151, 266. + Montmartre, Gypseous Series of, 333. + „ Cuvier on Fossils of, 7. + Mont Dore, 40, 43. + Moraines, 444. + Moro, Lazzaro, 6. + Mortillet on Glaciers, 449. + Mosaic Account of Creation, 24. + Mosasaurus, 285, 302, 305. + „ _Camperi_, 306. + Mosses, 336. + Moulin-Quignon, Chalk Beds of, 476. + _Mount Ararat_, 480. + „ Hecla, 67. + „ Idienne, 64. + „ Sion, 449. + Mountain Limestone, 149. + Mountains, First Appearance of, 90. + „ Chains, Formation of, 28. + Mud Volcanoes, 59. + „ of Italy, 60, 63. + Murchison, Sir R. I., Founder of Silurian System, 10, 102. + _Murex Turonensis_, 350. + Muschelkalk, 185, 188. + Mussels, 189. + Mylodon, 382, 400, 410, 413, 418. + „ _Lower Jaw of_, 412. + „ _restored_, 411. + Mytilus, 189. + + Nabenstein, Cavern of, 432. + Naïdaceæ, 266. + Nantwich Salt-works, 204. + Nasal Horn of Iguanodon, 292. + Natica, 189. + Nautilus, 215. + Nebular Theory of the Earth, 15. + Nenuphar, 316. + Neocomian Beds, 287, 297. + „ „ of France, 286, 287. + „ Formation, 286. + „ Fauna of, 287. + Neptunian Rocks, 30. + „ Theory, 6. + Nereites Cambriensis, 108. + Neuroptera, 250. + Neuropteris elegans, 194. + „ _gigantea_, 143, 176. + New Red Marl, 186. + „ Period, 185. + „ Sandstone, 185, 187. + „ Plants of, 193. + „ Colour of, 201. + „ Fauna of, 201. + New Zealand, Birds of, 184. + Newer Pliocene, 372. + „ „ of Alps, 377. + „ „ of Sicily, 374. + Nicol, Prof., on Ben Nevis, 90. + Nilssonia, 194, 239. + Nöggerathia, 177. + Norfolk Forest Bed, 372. + Northern Deluge, 424. + Norwich Crag, 372, 478. + Nothosaurus, 190, 196. + Nummulites, 313, 326, 333. + Nummulitic Formation, 334. + „ Limestone, 326. + Nympheaceæ, 315. + + Odontaspis, 294. + _Odontopteris Brardii_, 144. + „ Cycades, 212. + Œchmodus Buchii, 217. + Œningen Formation, 338. + „ Limestone, 367. + _Ogygia Guettardi_, 107. + Old Red Sandstone, 119. + „ „ Colour of, 120. + „ „ Period, Vegetation of, 120. + „ „ Fishes of, 124. + „ „ Rocks of, 128. + „ „ Conglomerate of, 129. + Older Pliocene, 372. + Oldhamia, 101. + Oldhaven Beds, 331. + Olivine, 44. + Oolite, 243, 272. + „ of Solenhofen, 273. + „ Upper, 243. + „ Lower, 243, 244. + „ Middle, 243. + „ Great, 243. + „ Conifers of, 249. + „ Rocks, 249. + Oolitic Fauna, 244. + „ Mollusca, 246. + „ Echinoderms, 247. + „ Insects, 255, 266. + „ Period, 243. + „ Flora of, 248, 249, 255, 266. + „ Mammals of, 255. + „ Reptiles of, 256. + „ Corals of, 247. + „ Zoophytes of, 247. + Ophiopsis, 246. + Opossum, 245. + Orgon Limestone, 297, 298, 299. + Ornithorhynchus, 223, 245. + Orthoceras, 141. + „ Disappearance of, 205. + „ _laterale_, 145. + Orthoceratites, 104. + Orthoclase, 33, 96, 418. + Orthopithecus, 418. + _Osmeroides Mantelli_, 294. + Ossiferous Beds of Sansan, 350. + „ Breccia, 2, 432. + Ostrea deltoidea, 269. + „ distorta, 272. + „ liassica, 207, 212. + „ _longirostris_, 350. + „ Marshii, 246. + „ virgula, 269. + _Otopteris acuminata_, 248. + „ _dubia_, 248. + „ _obtusa_, 248. + „ _cuneata_, 248. + Ovid a geologist, 6. + Owen, Prof., on Megatheroid Animals, 413. + „ on Plesiosaurus, 228. + Ox, 382, 399. + Oxford Clay, 243, 264. + Oysters, 175, 213. + + Pachyderms, 312, 319, 418. + Pachypteris microphylla, 255. + Palæocoma Furstembergii, 213. + Palæoniscus, 175. + Palæontology, the Study of Ancient Life, 5. + Palæontology Defined, 14. + _Palæophognos Gesneri_, 421. + Palæotherium, 319. + „ _magnum and P. minimum, Skeletons of_, 322. + „ _Skull of_, 321. + Palæoxyris Münsteri, 202. + Palæozoic Fishes, 173. + Palissy, Bernard, on Fossils, 5. + Pallas on the Siberian Rhinoceros, 361. + „ on the Siberian Mammoth, 386. + Palmacites, 315. + Palms, 282. + „ absence of, in Pliocene Period, 358. + „ of Tertiary Epoch, 336. + „ of Cretaceous Period, 283, 297. + „ _Fossil, restored_, 284. + Paludina, 272. + Pampean Formation, 411. + Pandanaceæ, The, 249. + Pandanus, 255. + Pappenheim, Lithographic Stone of, 273. + _Paradoxides Bohemicus_, 100. + _Parallel Roads of Glenroy_, 456. + Parian Marble, 76. + Paris Basin, Sir C. Lyell on, 329. + Parkfield Colliery, 159. + _Patella vulgata_, 205. + _Peaks of the Cantal Chain_, 40. + Pear Encrinite, 250. + Peat-deposits and Shell-mounds, 472. + Pecopteris, 120, 202, 252, 315. + „ _lonchitica_, 143. + Pecten, 201, 272. + „ _Jacobæus_, 371. + „ _orbicularis_, 202. + „ Valoniensis, 207. + Penarth Beds, 186, 205, 207. + Pennine Chain, 115. + _Pentacrinites Briareus_, 183, 214. + Perched Blocks, 449. + Permian Flora, 174. + „ Rocks, 177, 186. + „ Ocean, 180. + „ Period, 15, 170. + „ Fauna and Flora of, 183. + _Perna Mulleti_, 288. + Phascolotherium, 245, 255. + Philadelphia Museum, 346. + Phillips, Prof. J., on Rate of Formation of Coal, 132. + Phillips, Prof. J., on Thickness of Carboniferous Limestone, 130. + Phonolite, 43. + _Physa fontinalis_, 266. + Phytosaurus, 190. + Pic de Sancy, 41, 43. + Pimpinellites zizioides, 337. + Pinites, 239. + Pisolitic Limestone, 311. + Pithecus antiquus, 339, 350, 356. + Placodus gigas, 189. + Planorbis, 266, 272, 334. + „ _corneus_, 488. + Plants, First Appearance of, 99. + „ _of Devonian Period_, 123. + „ _of the Palæozoic Epoch_, 114. + Plastic Clay, 330. + Platemys, 255. + Platycrinus, 146. + Platysomus, 174. + Pleistocene Period, 378. + Plesiosaurus, 221, 226, 255. + „ Cramptoni, 230. + „ _Sternum of_, 228. + „ _Skull of_, 226. + „ _Skeleton of_, 229. + Pleuronectes, 326. + _Pleurotoma Babylonia_, 246. + Pleurotomaria conoidea, 246. + Pliocene, Meaning of, 314. + „ Period, 357. + „ Birds of, 369. + „ Series, 372. + „ Vegetation of, 357. + „ Fauna of, 359, 369. + „ Reptiles of, 367. + „ Mollusca of, 371. + Plombières, Alkaline Waters of, 64. + Plutonic Rocks, 31. + „ Theory, 6. + „ Eruptions, 31. + „ Ancient Granite, 31. + _Podophthalmus vigil_, 353. + Pœcilopleuron, 265. + Poikilitic Series, 199. + Polyphemus, Supposed Bones of, 384. + Polypodium, 315. + Polyps of Carboniferous Period, 141, 246, 255, 286, 301. + Polyzoa, 141, 143, 175, 307. + Pontgibaud Mines, 64. + Porphyritic Granite, 33. + Porphyry, 33, 37. + „ Definition of, 37. + „ Components of, 37. + Portland Isle, 270. + „ Dirt Bed, 271. + „ Sand, 243, 266. + „ Stone, 243, 269. + Posidonia, 189. + Post-pliocene Period, 378. + „ Animals of the, 382. + „ Birds of the, 417. + „ Carnivora of, 417. + „ Deposits in Britain, 417. + Post-Tertiary Epoch, 378. + Potamogeton, 315. + Pravolta, 447. + Pre-glacial deposits, 418. + Preissleria antiqua, 202. + Prestwich, J., on Glacial Deposits, 459. + PRIMARY EPOCH, 99. + „ „ Retrospective Glance at, 180. + „ „ Vegetation of, 182. + Proboscideans of Crag, 372. + Producta, 173, 175. + „ _horrida_, 149. + _Producta Martini_, 145, 205. + „ subaculeata, 127. + Protogine, 35. + Protopteris, 283. + Psammodus, 141. + Psaronius, 174. + _Psilophyton_, 123. + Pteraspis, 129. + _Pterichthys_, 125. + Pteroceras, 269. + Pterodactyles, 221, 233, 240, 243, 245. + „ _brevirostris_, 235. + „ _crassirostris_, 234, 256. + Pterophyllum, 239, 249, 255. + „ Jägeri, 202. + „ Münsteri, 202. + Pterygotus, 110. + „ _bilobatus_, 113. + Ptylopora, 146. + Purbeck Beds, 269, 271, 279. + „ Marble, 272. + „ Isle of, 271. + Puy-de-Dôme, 40, 43. + _Puy-de-Dôme, Extinct Volcanoes of_, 53. + Puys, Chain of, in Central France, 51. + Pycnodus, 190. + Pygopterus, 174. + + Quadersandstein, 211. + QUATERNARY EPOCH, 378. + „ „ Animals of, 382. + Quartz, 96. + Quartziferous Porphyry, 33. + Quartzite, 77. + + Rain, First Fall of, 95. + _Raindrops, Impressions of, in Rocks_, 14, 102, 173. + Raised Beaches, 488. + _Ramphorynchus_, 255, 259, 269. + Ramsay, A. C., on the Lower Oolite, 252. + „ „ on Formation of Keuper Marls, 201. + „ „ on Colour of Red Rocks, 101. + „ „ on Denudation, 28. + „ „ on Formation of Granite, 33. + „ „ on Glacial Deposits, 458. + Reading Beds, 330. + Recent or Historical Period, 378. + Re-construction of Fossil Animals from a Part, 7. + „ Difficulties Attendant on, 8. + Red Crag, 372. + Reindeer, 379. + _Relative Volume of the Earth_, 83. + _Remains of Plesiosaurus macrocephalus_, 229. + Reptiles, Prevalence of during Secondary Epoch, 201, 220. + „ „ during Cretaceous Period, 285. + „ „ during the Pliocene Period, 358, 366. + Rhætic Strata, 180, 205, 267. + Rhinoceros, 360. + „ Discovery of, Entire, in Siberia, 361, 379. + „ _Head of_, 360. + „ tichorhinus, 360, 428. + Rhombus minimus, 326. + _Rhyncholites_, 181. + Rio Chapura, Humidity of, 337. + Ripple-marks, 15. + „ on Sandstone, 173, 204, 252. + River, Great, of Cretaceous Period, 279. + Roc, 361. + Roches moutonnées, 443, 447. + Rock, in Geology, 28. + Rocks composing the Earth’s Crust, 27. + „ formed during the Carboniferous Limestone Period, 149. + „ Crystalline, 28. + Rock Salt, its Origin, 199. + „ Quantity produced in England, 304. + Rocking Stones, 35. + Rosso Antico, 37. + Rostellaria, 189. + Rothliegende, 170, 174. + Rudistes, 301. + Runn of Cutch, 200. + + Sables Inférieurs, 331. + „ Moyens, 333. + Saccharoid Limestone, Minerals of, 76. + St. Acheul Gravel Beds, 476. + St. Acheul Gravel Beds, probable Age of, 479. + St. Austell, Granite of, 39. + St. Cassian Beds, 205. + St. Christopher’s Tooth, 385. + Salamander of Œningen, 367. + Salicites, 283. + Saliferous or Keuper Period, 186, 199. + „ „ Fauna of, 201. + Saline Springs, 23. + Salses, 60. + Salt Mines, 199, 204. + Sandwich Islands, Volcanoes of, 56, 69. + Sargassites, 309. + Sargassum, 309. + Saurians, 187. + „ of Cretaceous Period, 285. + „ of Lias, 229. + Savoy Alps, 440. + Scandinavian Continent, Upheaval and Depression of, 282. + Scaphites, 288. + Scelidotherium, 406, 412. + „ _Skull of_, 413. + _Scheuchzer’s Salamander_, 367. + Schist, 77, 97. + Schistopleuron typus, 401. + „ „ _restored_, 402. + Schizaster, 326. + Scoriæ, Volcanic, 57. + Sea-Pen, Virgularia Patagonia, 263. + Sea Urchins, 205, 286. + SECONDARY EPOCH, 185. + _Section of a Volcano in Action_, 52. + Sectional Appearance of the Earth, 2. + Sedgwick, Prof. A., on Cambrian Rocks, 10. + „ on Granite of Devon and Cornwall, 39. + „ on Classification of Rocks, 102. + Sedimentary Rocks, 28. + Senonian Beds, 309, 310. + Septaria, 331. + Serpentine, 38. + Serpents of Tertiary Epoch, 379. + Serpulæ, 126, 272. + Shell Mounds, 478. + Shells, Marine, on Tops of Mountains, 5. + Sheppey, Isle of, 331. + „ „ Turtles of, 331. + Siberia, Fossil Elephants in, 387. + Sigillaria, 130, 136, 152, 157. + „ _lavigata_, 138. + „ _reniformis_, 157. + Silex meulier, 356. + Siliceous Limestone, 333. + Silurian Period, 102. + „ Divisions of, 109, 110. + „ Characteristics of, 103. + „ Fauna and Flora of, 104. + „ Fishes of, 107. + „ Mollusca of, 108. + „ _Plants_ of, 103. + „ System, 102. + Sivatherium, 365. + „ _restored_, 366. + Skaptár Jokul, 60. + _Skeleton of Ichthyosaurus_, 218. + „ _of Plesiosaurus_, 227. + _Skull of Plesiosaurus_, 226. + „ _Palæotherium magnum_, 321. + „ _Scelidotherium_, 413. + Skye, Basalt of Isle of, 49. + Smith, Dr. W., Labours of, 9. + Smilax, 202. + Solenhofen, Limestone of, 273. + Solfataras, 63. + Somma, Mount, 68. + Somme, River, Valley of, 475. + „ Peat-Beds of the, 475. + South America, Depression and Upheaval of, 21. + Spalacotherium, 265. + Sphenophyllum, 154, 269. + „ _restored_, 153. + Sphenophyllites, 136. + Sphenopteris, 136. + „ _artemisiæfolia_, 144. + Spirifera, 173, 175. + „ concentrica, 127. + „ undulata, 175. + Sphœrodus, 190. + _Staffa, Grotto of_, 50. + Stag, gigantic Forest, 379. + Stalactite, 430. + Stalagmite, 430. + Stellispongia variabilis, 205. + Stenosaurus, 265. + _Sternum and Pelvis of Plesiosaurus_, 228. + Stigmaria, 130, 137, 157, 162. + _Stigmaria_, 138. + Stone Age, The, 478. + Stone Lilies, 127. + Stonesfield Slate, 243, 245, 250, 252. + Strata, Disposition of, 2. + Stratification, Order of, 29. + „ _of Coal Beds_, 165. + Strephodus, 266. + Streptospondylus, 265. + Stringocephalus Burtini, 127. + Stromboli, Volcanic Island of, 55, 68. + _Strophalosia Morrisiana_, 176. + Struthionidæ, 193. + Submarine Volcanoes, 70. + Sub-Apennine Strata, 373. + Suffolk Crag, 372. + Sulphurous Streams from Mount Idienne, 64. + Sun-cracks, 102, 173. + Syenite, 34. + + Tæniopteris, 315. + Taxoceras, 289. + Taxodites, 239. + „ Münsterianus, 202. + Teeth of Mammoth, 384. + _Teeth of Iguanodon_, 293. + „ _Mastodon_, 346. + „ _Megalosaurus_, 291, 380. + „ _Machairodus_, 380. + Teleosaurus, 245, 256, 259. + „ cadomensis, 259. + Temperature of the Earth, Increase of as we descend, 2, 16, 87. + „ „ at Various Depths, 16. + „ „ of Deep Mines, 16, 88. + „ „ at the Centre, 16. + „ of Planetary Regions, 86. + „ uniform, in Carboniferous Period, 133. + „ Gradual Alteration of, during Tertiary Period, 313. + „ of Cretaceous Period, 283. + _Terebellaria ramosissima_, 184. + _Terebratula digona_, 246. + „ decussata, 252. + „ hastata, 141. + „ _deformis_, 290. + „ _subsella_, 266. + _Terebrirostra lyra_, 290. + Terrestrial Plants of Devonian Period, 120. + Tertiary Period, 312. + „ Vegetation of, 313. + „ Animals of, 312. + Tetragonolepis, 217. + Teutobocchus Rex, 348. + Thallogens, 123. + Thanet Beds, 330. + _Theoretical View of a Plateau_, 47. + Theories of the Earth, 15. + Theory, Hutton’s, 3. + „ Laplace’s, 17. + Thermal Springs, 23. + Thickness of the Earth’s Crust, 89. + Thomson, Sir William, on the Earth’s Crust, 89. + _Thylacotherium_, 245. + Tidal Wave, 22. + Tile Stones, 110. + Till Formation, 457. + Tortoises, 401. + Toxoceras, 289. + Toxodon, 412. + Trachyte, 39. + Trachytic Formations, 39. + Trail, 461. + Transition, or Primary Epoch, 99. + _Transported Blocks_, 449. + „ Rocks, 27. + Trapa natans, 315. + _Trappean Grotto, Staffa_, 47. + Travertin, 333. + Tree Ferns, 174, 240. + Tremadoc Slates, 109. + _Treuil, Coal Mine at_, 160. + Triassic Period, 185. + „ Flora, 187, 193, 202. + Trigonia, 12, 205. + „ _margaritacea_, 314. + _Trigonocarpum Nöggerathii_, 177. + Trilobites, 104, 107, 110, 126, 141, 181. + Trimmer, Joshua, on Moel Tryfaen, 459. + _Trinucleus Lloydii_, 129. + _Trionyx of Tertiary Period_, 326. + Trionyx, a Turtle, 319, 326, 329. + Tropical Vegetation, D’Orbigny on, 337. + _Trunk of Calamites_, 136. + „ _Sigillaria_, 136. + Tunbridge Wells Sand, 286. + Turbaco, Mud Volcanoes of, 61. + Turonian Series, 309, 310. + Turrilites, 289. + „ _communis_, 290. + „ _costatus_, 289. + _Turritella terebra_, 289. + Turtle, 187, 237, 272, 319, 326, 329, 331, 356. + Tyndall’s, Professor, Theory of Heat, 24. + + Uncites Gryphus, 127. + Under Clay, 161. + Unicornu Fossile, 386. + Unio, 266. + Upper Cretaceous, 300-306. + „ Greensand, 300, 309. + „ Oolite, 265. + „ Lias, 212, 273. + „ Lias Clay, 212. + „ Silurian Period, 110. + Ursus spelæus, 184, 395, 417. + „ _Head of_, 184. + + Vale of Wardour, 269. + Valley of Poison, 64. + Vallisneri on Marine Deposits of Italy, 6. + Variegated Sandstone, 187. + _Veins of Granite traversing Gneiss of Cape Wrath_, 32. + Velay, Chain of the, 43. + Vertebrata, First Appearance of, 107. + Vespertilio Parisiensis, 326. + Vesuvius, 56, 68. + „ _Existing Crater of_, 56. + Virgularia, 263. + Vivarais, Valley of, 47. + Volcanic Bombs, 59. + „ Ashes, 58. + „ Scoriæ, 57. + „ Eruptions, 57. + „ Formations, 51. + „ Islands, 55. + „ Rocks, 31, 39. + _Volcano in Action_, 52. + Volcanoes, 51. + „ Action of, 57, 63. + „ Active, 55, 67. + „ Mud, 60, 63. + „ Extinct, 63. + „ Sandwich Islands, 56. + „ Watery, 23, 59. + Voltaire and Buffon, 6. + Voltzia heterophylla, 194. + _Voltzia restored_, 195. + Vosges Mountains, 75. + „ „ Submergence of in Permian Period, 180. + + Wadhurst Clay, 286. + Walchia, 177. + „ _Schlotheimii_, 176. + Warp, 461. + Water, First Cradle of Life, 100. + Waterstones, 245. + Watery Volcanoes, 23, 59. + Weald Clay, 279, 281, 286, 298. + Wealden Beds, 279. + „ Shells, 281. + Wenlock Rocks, 110. + Whale of the Rue Dauphine, 370. + White Chalk, Berthier’s Analysis, 298. + White Lias, 208. + Wild Man of Aveyron, 469. + Williamsonia, 239. + Wood, Searles V., Junr., on Glacial Deposits, 460. + Wookey Hole, 474. + Woolwich and Reading Beds, 330. + Wright, Dr. Thos., on Penarth Beds, 209. + + Xiphodon, 320, 324, 329. + „ _gracile_, 324. + + Ysbrants Ides’ Account of Discovery of Frozen Mammoth, 389. + Yuccites, 194. + + Zamia, 249, 270. + „ Moreana, 255. + Zamites, 194, 239, 255, 297. + Zechstein, 170. + Zeolites, 44. + Ziphius, 370. + Zones of different density round the incandescent Earth, 85. + Zoophytes of Lias, 238. + „ Middle Oolite, 263. + „ of Carboniferous Period, 141. + _Zostera_, 123, 266. + + +THE END. + + + CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN, BELLE SAUVAGE WORKS, LONDON, E.C. + 773 + + + + +MESSRS. CASSELL, PETTER, & GALPIN + + +Publish, uniform with “The World before the Deluge,” _New and Cheaper +Editions_ of the following Works, containing all the Original +Illustrations, with the Text revised and corrected:-- + + _The Insect World._--A Popular Account of the Orders of Insects. + By LOUIS FIGUIER. Revised and Corrected by P. MARTIN DUNCAN, + M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Geology in King’s College, London. + With 576 Illustrations 7s. 6d. + + _The Vegetable World._--A History of Plants, with their + Botanical Descriptions and Peculiar Properties. With a Glossary + of Botanical Terms. By LOUIS FIGUIER. Revised and Corrected by + an eminent Botanist. With 470 Illustrations 7s. 6d. + + _The Ocean World._--A Descriptive History of the Sea and + its Inhabitants. By LOUIS FIGUIER. Revised and Corrected by + Professor E. PERCEVAL WRIGHT, M.D. With 427 + Illustrations 7s. 6d. + + _Reptiles and Birds._--By LOUIS FIGUIER. 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With FIFTY FULL-PAGE COLOURED + PLATES of Celebrated Prize Birds of Every Breed, recently + Painted from Life expressly for this Work, and with numerous + Woodcuts. + + +CASSELL, PETTER, & GALPIN, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON. + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: | + | | + | The original text has been maintained, including inconsistencies | + | in spelling, hyphenation, lay-out, formatting, etc. and in the use| + | of capitals, diacriticals and accents, except as described below | + | under Changes Made. Important inconsistencies include: Saarbruck/ | + | Saarbrück, Coalbrookdale/Coalbrook Dale, Roth-liegende/ | + | Rothliegende/Röthe-liegende, Westmorland/Westmoreland, blow-pipe/ | + | blowpipe, cuttle-fish/cuttlefish, frame-work/framework, | + | fresh-water/freshwater, Kupfer-schiefer/Kupferschiefer, | + | rain-drops/raindrops, re-construct/reconstruct (and related | + | words), Roth-todt-liegende/Rothe-todte-liegende, sub-divide/ | + | subdivide (and related words), tile-stones/tilestones, under-clay/| + | underclay, water-stones/waterstones, aërial/aerial, Baikal/Baïkal,| + | Ceteosaurus/Cetiosaurus, Colley Weston/Colleyweston, Cupanioides/ | + | Cupanioïdes, Hoffman/Hoffmann (this is apparently the same person,| + | it is not clear what the correct spelling should be); Kjökken- | + | Mödden/Kjökken Mödden/Kjökken-mödden, Mæstricht/Maestricht, | + | Néocomian/Neocomian, predaceous/predacious, proboscideans/ | + | proboscidians, and Tunguragua/Tunguraqua. | + | | + | There are slight differences in wording between the Table of | + | Contents, the Index and the text. Since the meaning is not | + | affected, this has not been standardised. | + | | + | Textual remarks: | + | - Page 109 (table): 12,060 should possibly be 12,000; | + | - Page 196 (table): Red and variegated sandstone (Collyhurst) ...:| + | there is a line missing in the original work that is not present| + | in other editions either. This line has been replaced by [...]; | + | - Page 212: The Lias, in England, is generally in three groups: | + | possibly there is a word (divided or similar) missing; | + | - Page 301: The invertebrate animals which characterise the | + | Cretaceous age are among: possibly there is a word missing at | + | the end of the sentence (others); | + | - Page 339: not one-fifth the size of Switzerland should possibly | + | be not one-fifth the size of Great Britain; | + | - Index: contrary to the remark at the top of the index, not all | + | italic entries refer to illustrations. | + | | + | Multi-page tables have been combined into single tables. | + | | + | Changes made to original text: | + | - Some obvious typographical errors (including punctuation) have | + | been corrected silently. | + | - Table of Contents: entries Eruptive Rocks and The Beginning have| + | been indented one level less as in the text; entry Metamorphic | + | Rocks has been indented one level less, in line with the other | + | headings printed in small capitals. | + | Page 11: Ancylyceras changed to Ancyloceras; | + | Page 34: has disappeared changed to have disappeared; Strasburg | + | changed to Strasbourg as elsewhere; | + | Page 36: Cevennes changed to Cévennes as elsewhere; | + | Page 37: bigarrè changed to bigarré; gres changed to grès as | + | elsewhere; porpyhries changed to porphyries; | + | Page 57: diameter) changed to diameter (bracket removed); | + | Page 152: on page 155 changed to on page 157; | + | Page 167: Liége changed to Liège; | + | Page 184: Cevennes changed to Cévennes as elsewhere; Rhone changed| + | to Rhône as elsewhere; | + | Page 194: Nilsonia changed to Nilssonia as elsewhere; | + | Page 206: Cevennes changed to Cévennes as elsewhere; | + | Page 213: Pentatrinus changed to Pentacrinus; | + | Page 225: Ichythyosaurus changed to Ichthyosaurus; | + | Page 239: Nilsonia changed to Nilssonia as elsewhere; | + | Page 240: Nilsonia changed to Nilssonia as elsewhere; | + | Page 247, caption fig 115: Polyzoa. changed to Polyzoa.) (bracket | + | added); | + | Page 248: O. cuneatea changed to O. cuneata; | + | Page 250: first footnote anchor missing, inserted in most likely | + | place; | + | Page 269: Gryphea changed to Gryphæa as elsewhere; | + | Page 305: represented in Fig. 146 changed to represented in Fig. | + | 145; | + | Page 316: Nymphæea changed to Nymphæa; | + | Page 319: πσχυς changed to παχυς; inférièure/inférièurs changed to| + | inférieure/inférieurs; | + | Page 329: Nymphæeas changed to Nymphæas; | + | Page 338: --astodon changed to Mastodon; | + | Page 341: Fig. 161 changed to Fig. 160; | + | Page 348: Rhone changed to Rhône as elsewhere; | + | Page 401: chaneled changed to channelled as elsewhere; Fig 186 | + | changed to Fig. 185; | + | Page 413: antedulivian changed to antediluvian; | + | Page 429: Bauman's changed to Baumann's; | + | Page 430: Gailenruth changed to Gailenreuth as elsehwere; | + | Page 452: Varese changed to Varèse; | + | Page 462: Upsal changed to Upsala; | + | Page 470, footnote 117: Epoques changed to Époques as elsewhere; | + | Page 479: Tiniêre changed to Tinière; | + | Page 502: Archeopterix changed to Archeopteryx as in text; | + | Bathonean changed to Bathonian as in text; cervicornus changed to | + | cervicornis as in text; | + | Page 503: second entry Carboniferous Flora aligned with Flora, | + | ditto marks added; | + | Page 504: ditto mark added under Man in Creation of Man for | + | clarity; Cerithium plicatum 250 changed to 350; Coccosteus 141 | + | changed to 142; Coupe d'Ayzac 45, 47 changed to 46, 47; | + | Page 505: Danien changed to Danian as in text; Duvalii changed to | + | Duvallii as in text (the modern spelling is Duvalii, Lyell used | + | Duvallii); | + | Page 508: tichorhynus changed to tichorhinus as in text; | + | Page 509: Igneous, Iguana and Iguanodon moved to proper place in | + | alphabetical order; Kellaway's changed to Kellaways as in text; | + | Lachow changed to Lächow as in text; lacumosus changed to | + | lacunosus as in text; Leptœna changed to Leptæna as in text; | + | Page 510: Limnea changed to Limnæa as in text; Lithostrotion | + | cornu-arietis changed to Lituites cornu-arietis; | + | Page 511: page numbers added after Mortillet on Glaciers and | + | Mosaic Account of Creation; page reference 737 changed to 73; | + | Page 512: Osmeroïdes changed to Osmeroides as in text; | + | Page 513: Pecopteris, page numbers placed in numerical order; | + | Fustembergii changed to Furstembergii as in text; second reference| + | to Otopteris acuminata removed; Pecten obicularis changed to | + | Pecten orbicularis as in text; | + | Page 514: Podophtalmus changed to Podophthalmus as in text; | + | Purbeck Beds: 27 changed to 279.; | + | Page 515: Reptiles, Prevalence of: two entries combined into one; | + | St. Cassian Beds moved to proper alphabetical order; tichorhynus | + | changed to tichorhinus as in text; entries on Sheppey Isle moved | + | to proper alphabetical order; | + | Page 516: Sphærodus changed to Sphœrodus and moved to proper | + | alphabetic place; Sun-Appenine changed to Sub-Apennine; | + | Terebellaria moved to proper place in alphabetical order. | + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The World Before the Deluge, by Louis Figuier + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE *** + +***** This file should be named 39723-0.txt or 39723-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/7/2/39723/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Harry Lamé and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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