lands of the earth, at the period of the deluge; and he must, either from inclination, or from the position of its axis, falls therefore, probably have considered the Mosaic account of to the ground by its own weight."

"all the hills, upon the whole earth, being covered," as a We may here remark, that this groundless hypothesis was mere piece of Eastern allegory. Such "irruptions of the proposed by Buffon, as we have already had occasion to notice. sea," as he had in view in the above remark, must have been The various mastodons, hippopotami, rhinoceri, &c., considered as only partial convulsions, and producing such must have inhabited the same countries and the same dispartial effects as he there alludes to. Had he believed in a tricts, as the fossil elephants, since we find their bones in general aqueous covering over the whole globe, for the space of the same situations, and in the same condition. One cannot several months, and had he then considered the laws of nature, imagine any cause which would have destroyed the one and acting, in this flood of waters, on the floating bodies of the spared the other. And yet the first, most certainly, no longer animal world, by tides and CURRENTS, this able naturalist and exist, as we shall show in subsequent chapters." philosopher could not but have perceived, that it was ONLY by "The elephant is the existing animal which most resemsuch means, that so "equal a dispersion" of animal remains bles the mastodon; and may serve as the principle object of could possibly have been effected. comparison. In short, I call mastodon, quadrupeds of the After some other equally unsatisfactory reasoning, Cuvier size and form of the elephant, having, like him, a trunk, and expresses his idea of the impossibility of entire carcasses having long tusks; the feet of the same structure; and, in a word, been transported to such distances by violence. only differing in an essential manner in the molar teeth, which, instead of being formed of transversal laminæ, had a simple crown, and were furnished with tubercles or rounded points, more or less numerous, and more or less prominent. "Our continents do not now nourish any animals of this exact kind; although the upper strata contain the bones of three or four different varieties.”—Ossemens Fossiles, vol. i. chap. ii. p. 205.

"It is true," says he," that in such a case, the bones would have been unworn by friction; but then they would have remained together, and not been found so scattered as they now often are.

"Every thing then renders it extremely probable, that the elephants to which these fossil bones belonged, inhabited the countries where we now find their remains. They were there scattered, as the bones of horses and of other animals now are, over our own lands, the carcasses of which are found in our fields."*

Such are the ideas of Baron Cuvier on the subject of the fossil elephant: and as it may be truly said, that the whole question of fossil remains, and, consequently, many of the "But, whatever that cause was, it must have been a SUD- most important and fundamental points in geology in geneDEN ONE. The bones, so perfectly preserved in the plains of ral, turn upon the true and consistent history of those eleSiberia, could only have been so from the effect of cold. If phants now found in northern latitudes, it cannot be considered this cold had only come on by degrees and slowly, the bones, irrelevant to our purpose, to have gone, at considerable length, and especially the softer parts, would have had time to be- into the opinions of some of the great leaders of science on come decomposed, like those we now find in our fields." so fundamental a subject. To all who have considered, The remark cannot here be omitted, how contradictory is with an unprejudiced mind, the course and tendency of the the reasoning of the baron in this place. He first considers, arguments which have been urged, in opposition to these that the bones of the animals must have been scattered over generally received theories on the subject of tropical producthe country, like those of our domestic cattle, in the present tions in polar regions, it must appear unnecessary, in this day; and ought to have been "decomposed, like those we place, to proceed further with the subject. It has been now find in our fields;" and then proceeds to show, that clearly shown, that no elephant could possibly find subsisthey are not decomposed, but preserved entire by a sudden tence in those inclement and barren regions at the present convulsion, and excessive low temperature. We seldom time. It is equally clear, that had a SUDDEN change of temfind, in our own times, and in our inland counties, the bones perature, with an irruption of the sea, overwhelmed and of cattle covered with OYSTERS, or other sea animals. But frozen up the animal productions of the antediluvian world, if we suppose a bone, or an entire animal, to remain for a in what are now the polar regions, we must equally have few weeks, subject to the action of the tides and of the discovered, in the ice which has preserved them, a perfect currents, we should not be surprised at finding upon it, what and entire series of the vegetable productions, amongst every piece of floating wreck is generally covered with. which, it is admitted, they must have lived, and without which "It would have been especially impossible for the carcase there is no conceivable way of accounting for the supply of seen and described by Mr. Adams, to have preserved its flesh food necessary for such vast numbers of gigantic animals. and its skin ENTIRE, if it had not been IMMEDIATELY enveloped When we add to this incontrovertible point, the consistent in the ICE in which it was found." We must here pause and natural method by which those animal bodies might have one moment in our perusal of Cuvier's argument, to consider been transported, by an agent in the common laws of nature, what effect would have been produced by this SUDDEN forma- to which the waters of the earth have been subjected by the tion of an icy bed, on the woods and jungles through which Creator, for a great and benificent purpose, we cannot retain this shaggy monster must naturally have been wandering, a doubt as to the actual means by which those larger animals when embraced and sealed up by so SUDDEN a disaster. The were conveyed to their icy beds in the polar regions; and same element which had so preservative an effect upon his having arrived at this conclusion, with respect to those now unwieldy carcase, must have entirely decomposed or evapo- found within the arctic circle, we have every right to judge, rated the vegetable productions on which he fed ; as they are by the same line of reasoning, concerning all other tropical no where to be found in any part of the frozen regions, even productions in unnatural climates, on every part of the surpreserved in icc. face of the earth; and, consequently, that the globe has "Thus," continues he, "the hypothesis of a gradual undergone no material change in its position, nor in its temcooling of the globe, or of a slow variation of its temperature, perature, since the creation. Our inquiries have, it is to be hoped, led us to a consistent

I have been informed by Colonel Sykes, than whom we can have and natural conclusion on the whole question of fossil reno higher authority on such a subject, from his long residence in the mains; and we thus find, that in adopting the system of East, and the great attention and ability which he has displayed on geology, grounded on the Inspired History, and so strongly every subject connected with science, that, as far as his observation supported by the evidence of physical facts, instead of those goes, it may be looked upon as a striking and extraordinary fact,

that in the forests of India, peopled as they are by thousands of ani philosophical theories, founded on physical facts, but rejecting mals of every size, and of which there must naturally be a consider-the evidence of Scripture; the current of the narrative runs able annual destruction as well as increase, the bones, or other re-smoothly along, and our minds feel satisfied, and at rest, inmains of the dead, are scarcely ever to be seen. We cannot, indeed, stead of being constantly suspended in doubt and uncertainty. wonder that this should be the case, when we consider the laws of If we come to the conclusion, that all the present dry lands nature, by which so just a balance is at all times kept up. In so hot of the earth were formerly the bed of the antediluvian sea, a climate as that of the tropics, the decay of the softer parts must be and that Britain was no exception to this, (as is evident from most rapid; and in order to obviate the bad consequences which

would attend this natural course, we find myriads of the insect tribe the appearances every where visible around us,) it must at all times ready to remove what the birds and beasts of prey can-follow as a corollary, that all the fossil remains of quadrunot readily consume. A large animal body, therefore, would almost peds, whether in our upper soils, or in the upper strata of entirely disappear in the course of a few days; and even the bones rock, over the whole earth, must have been lodged in their must soon become decomposed under the powerful action of so hot present situations by the waters of that destructive deluge, of an atmosphere. It is almost proverbial even in our own woods, well which we have now been treating.* stocked as they are with hares and other game, how seldom we discover any indication of natural death. In the animal world, in every climate, each individual becomes the prey of his fellow, for "dust we are, and unto dust we soon return."

* Since writing the above, one of the most remarkable works of our times has appeared, in which we find the following passage:—

SUPPLEMENTARY PART TO CHAPTER XI.

The stone in this immense quarry is of very white and pure-grained quality, and is the same which we find forming the roof of the coal beds in many of the Lothian collieries. Since entering upon the subject of the Geology of Scrip- It is every where, more or less, marked with impressions of ture, the evidences in support of the general principles, leaves and stems, which are, in this case, however, far from which have been explained in the foregoing chapters, have the coal seams, but the latter of which invariably present a so crowded upon my observation, that I have experienced thin surrounding mass of the purest jewel coal, generally some difficulty in confining myself within those limits which about a quarter of an inch round the bark; the whole of the I had previously laid down, in order to bring my work within rest of the interior being filled with the same mineral in which the compass of one single volume. In a late journey which it is embedded. These fossil stems are called, by the miners, I have had occasion to make throughout a great part of the coal pipes, ignorant as they are of their real nature. This longitudinal extent of the kingdom, I have found, in every small portion of the purest coal, serves to give us consideradirection, the most complete corroborative proofs of the solid ble insight into the nature of the larger beds of this fossil foundation on which the Scripture system is constructed. production, which are evidently the consequence of great Amongst many of these proofs, I cannot resist the present pressure, and some chemical process, connected with the opportunity, of giving some short account of a few of the nature of the wood itself, with which, however, we have, as most remarkable; the particular importance of which must yet, no acquaintance. In 1830, a second and more remarkaat once be acknowledged by every candid student in this ble fossil tree was exposed to view in this quarry; and exinteresting science. I allude particularly to the subject of cited, from its particular position, a degree of interest which entire fossil trees, frequently, of late, discovered in the coal no other vegetable fossil could before lay claim to. Its total strata; and to that of the foot-marks of animals distinctly length was upwards of 60 feet; and at angle of about 10 deimprinted upon the sand when in a soft state, and discovered grees, it intersected 10 or 12 different strata of the sand-stone. on the upper surface of the strata in several free-stone quarries. Its diameter at the top was about seven inches; and it had The instances of entire fossil stems of trees, and nume- become flattened by pressure near its base, in such a manner rous smaller plants, have long been remarked in the coal as to measure five feet, in its greater, and two feet in its lesser formations in various countries; and have, also, been noticed diameter. There were no branches, nor marks of them on in the former part of this work. But the stems of the larger its bark; nor were there any roots, although the lower part plants have, hitherto, in general, been observed to lie in the formed a species of bulb. As in the former specimen, the same direction as the strata themselves; and, consequently, bark had been converted into a thin coat of the purest and they could afford us little or no indication of the period at finest coal; and the whole, as it lay exposed in the quarry, which they were embedded, or of the time necessary for presented the appearance of charred wood, forming a striking their having become surrounded by their present mineral contrast in colour with the white stone in which it lay. envelope. Late observations, however, have thrown a new Before making any remarks upon the important evidence and vivid light upon this hitherto obscure subject. Trees, depending on this fossil, I shall describe some other instances, of very considerable size, have been found, placed in a posi- which have come within my knowledge, of trees standing in tion perpendicular to the direction of the beds or strata, and an upright or slightly sloping position, and intersecting a intersecting many of these, of various kinds and thickness. great variety of strata.

One of the first that attracted particular notice in the North, In a colliery, near Dalkeith, which I lately inspected, I was found in Cragleith free-stone quarry, in 1826, where the found a stem of nearly two feet in diameter, proceeding out different visible strata exist to the extent of 160 feet in depth; of the floor of the coal seam, passing through the coal itself, and upwards of 60 feet more are known to lie below, which and entering the roof above. In the floor, and in the roof, it have not yet seen the light of day. was petrified, whilst, in passing through the coal stratum, it had become one mass of pure coal, and its shape was with diffi"It appears, from the marine shells found on the tops of the high-culty distinguished. How far its top or roots extended could est mountains, and in almost every part of the globe, that immense not be ascertained; but it is probable that it was of much continents have been elevated above the ocean, which must have in-greater length than met the eye.

gulfed others.

"Such a catastrophe would be occasioned by a variation in the In Cullelo sand-stone quarry, near Aberdour, in Fife, numposition of the axis of rotation on the surface of the earth; for the bers of trees are found, supposed to be of the palm-tribe, and seas would leave some portions of the globe, and would overwhelm often intersecting the strata in the rock.

others. But theory proves, that neither nutation, precession, nor any In Killingworth colliery, north of Newcastle, there are of the disturbing forces which affect the system, have the smallest in- many large fossil trees discovered in the coal strata, and they fluence on the axis of rotation, which maintains a permanent position frequently have some indication of roots. One of these is on the surface, if the earth be not disturbed in its rotation by some foreign cause, as the collision of a comet, which may have happened particularly described and figured by Mr. Wood, in the Transin the immensity of time." The able authoress then proceeds to actions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland. show how little influence the sea would have, even in such a case, Its roots rested in the shale, immediately above the coal bed, upon the general equilibrium; and concludes thus," It thus ap- and its stem pierced 10 or 12 different strata. pears, that a great change in the position of the axis is incompatible with the law of equilibrium; therefore, the geological phenomena forth, in Northumberland, a tree, of 70 feet in length, and In Wideopen free-stone quarry, near the house at Gos(of fossils) must be ascribed to an internal cause. Thus, amidst the lying across the strata, was lately discovered in a petrified

mighty revolutions which have swept innumerable races of

orga

nized beings from the earth, which have elevated plains, and buried state.

mountains in the ocean, the rotation of the earth, and the position of In Jarrow colliery, also, similar plants are found in conthe axis on its surface, have undergone but slight variations."-Me-siderable abundance; and in the Gosforth pit, down which I chanism of the Heavens, by Mrs. Somerville. lately went, (a depth of 190 fathoms in one shaft, being the

"the lunar theory teaches us, that the internal strata, as well as the coal stratum to be entirely composed, in many places, of Upon the above passage, the Quarterly Review has remarked, that deepest now in the kingdom,) I found the roof of the main external outline of our globe, are elliptical; their centres being co

incident, and their axis identical with that of the surface; a state of trunks of trees, lying in every direction, and of very conthings incompatible with any subsequent accommodation of the sur-siderable size.*

face, to a new and different state of rotation from that which deter- From all these instances, (and many others might be quomined the original distribution of the component matter."-Quar-ted if it were necessary,) we cannot but perceive, that our terly Review, No. xciv. p. 552.

Although I cannot subscribe to the doctrine which dictated the previous notions of the formation of strata in general, have latter part of the above remark, nor to the idea of Mrs. Somerville, been of the most erroneous description; for when we look at that the collision of a comet "may have happened in the immensity a lofty cliff of sand-stone rock, without any embedded fossil, of time," although, we thus have acknowledged proof against the we at once conceive to ourselves the vast length of time which probability of any such collision, which is, therefore, quite uncalled we had been taught, by geology, to assign, for so extensive for; we must hail, with pleasure, the step that has thus been gained and gradual a formation. But such an example as the Craigby the admission of so able an authority. The theory of a change

in the axis of the earth, which was only engendered for the purpose

of accounting for tropical productions, in polar latitudes, is, there- * I cannot here omit remarking, that in Jarrow colliery, the muscle fore, for ever destroyed; and we thus arrive at the same point by beds or strata, containing sea shells, are very abundant." I saw some various different roads. specimens of these shells in the museum at Newcastle; they exactly After this concession, that the phenomena of geology must have resemble those muscles found in the blue clay, reposing on the chalk originated in a cause not external to our earth, we may hope, that at Pegwell, in Kent.

the true internal cause will, ere long, be equally admitted. One I also find, that in some of the coal pits in Scotland, (and that of other such departure from the usual theories of the deluge and the the Drum, near Dalkeith, was particularly mentioned,) sea shells, union which is every day approaching, between Philosophy and as large as oysters, are frequently found in the roof of the coal straScripture, will be at length completed." tum, as if they had been stuck into clay from below.

leith fossil tree exhibits, must serve at once to show, that in

With regard to the fine fossil tree, we can have no sort of stead of thousands or millions of years, for such deposits of doubt of its having been embedded, together with all the sand-stone rock, but a very short time indeed must have been other vegetable matter found in the quarry of Craigleith, in occupied in the formation of the whole of this quarry; and, the course of a few days, or, perhaps, of a few tides; a conconsequently, of the whole coal formation which rests jecture for which we shall presently find that there are the below it. The tree could not possibly have remained strongest possible grounds. And as this free-stone formation, in a reclining posture, if only held by a few of the stra- of at least 220 feet in depth, is of precisely the same nature ta near its base. Nor could it have been long exposed with as that which forms the roof of many of the coal beds in that its top protruding in air or in water; a few passing waves, neighbourhood, and containing the very same fossil vegetaor, at most, a few days of the agitated and turbid waters ble productions, we come at once to the strongest evidence, of the deluge, must have been sufficient for the formation both as to the nature and the period of the whole contents of of the whole bed in which it is now found, and which we are the coal basins; and, also, of the very great rapidity with apt to look upon as of vast extent. In the same manner we which they must have been deposited." are instructed by those fossil stems, which pass through a

All these facts tend, in the strongest manner, to confirm coal bed from the floor, into the strata above, to a great height. the opinions I have before, and at greater length, expressed; These are only further indications and proofs of the truth of that the coal beds were formed at the period of the deluge, what I have before stated, that the formation of coal, under by successive deposits of great vegetable masses, which must every circumstance, must be attributed to the progressive

sinking and covering up of the diluvial vegetable ruin at the system of Nature has been regular, and has proceeded in the same period of the flood; and that this invaluable fossil production, course for millions of years, we can in no way account, in a system in its present state, has been the result of prodigious pressure so comparatively trifling an era as the days of the Romans. of such indefinite extent, for the origin and growth of peat, within

on the one hand, and of chemical action on the other.

"The antlers," says he, "of large and full grown stags, are We cannot, for a moment, doubt that all the beds through amongst the most common and conspicuous remains of animals in which these stems now pass, were once in a soft or semi-peat. Bones of the ox, hog, horse, sheep, and other herbivorous anifluid state, like the sands upon the sea shore, about the eb-mals, also, occur; and in Ireland, and the Isle of Man, skeletons of bing of the tide. The whole strata, however horizontal they a gigantic elk; but no remains have been met with belonging to must once have been, have since become more or less derang-those extinct quadrupeds, of which the living congeners inhabit ed, not by elevation, but by depression; and upon this principle hyana, and tiger, though these are so common in superficial deposits warmer latitudes, such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, alone I have already explained the origin and cause of the of silt, mud, sand, or stalactite, in various localities throughout slips, dykes, and troubles, so well known in all mining coun- Great Britain."-Vol. ii. p. 218. tries. We now account, in a natural and consistent manner, Now, it must be evident to every one, that if England, and the for a large proportion of all the upper soils and strata with rest of Europe, where peat is now found in such abundance, (and which the surface of the present earth is covered. Let us only containing the remains of animals preserved in the complete manner suppose, for a moment, a greater number of these fossil stems waters, and were covered with forests and wilds, suited to the shelter peculiar to this substance,) were formerly in existence above the acting, as they do, as measures, cast into various parts of the and nourishment of elephants, and other large quadrupeds, now deluvial strata, one above another. If a series of twelve or confined to the tropics, there can be no conceivable reason why peat fourteen solid beds of sand-stone, and other strata of the coal should not have been, as it now is, in constant progress; nor is it formation, were formed in the short space of time necessary consistent with analogy and facts, that such animals as are said to to support one tree of sixty or seventy feet long, in a reclining have been so abundant in these supposed forests, should not occaposture, we have a full right to carry our ideas much further sionally have been found in such situations. In this dilemma we on the same scale. Our notions of lacustrine quiet deposits, accounted for by its author, who, accordingly, proceeds as follows: naturally look for the means by which so great an inconsistency is in an immense period of years, must be for ever laid aside "Their absence seems to imply, that they had ceased to live before with regard to the coal fields. The presence of sea shells, in the atmosphere of this part of the world acquired that cold and hueven a few of the coal strata, is sufficient for the total destruc-mid character which favours the growth of peat." Why they tion of this long received theory. And if we are forced to "ceased to live," we have no reason given, nor can we conceive any give up this proof of the great antiquity of the globe, we must disappearance could not have arisen from cold, because we are told reason that would agree with the rest of Mr. Lyell's theory. Their naturally enter upon that more consistent and well defined by this author, in another part of his work, when treating of the system presented to our contemplation in the geology of fossils of the polar regions, that the greater part of the elephants Scripture. We thus attain, by these vegetable evidences, the lived in Siberia, after it had become subject to intense cold, which is same strong ground we had already taken up, by the testimo-confirmed, amongst other reasons, by the state of the ivory," &c.* ny of animal fossil bodies, on every part of the earth's surface. This "intense cold" could not have existed in Siberia, when inhabiEvery thing is consistent and agreeable to history, instead of ted by elephants, without its influence being also extended, as in our being contradictory in all its parts, and directly opposed to consequently, these countries must have, even then, enjoyed preciseown times, over Russia, Germany, Sweden, and England; and what the sacred narrative so plainly lays before us. ly "that cold and humid character which favours the growth of

I feel it scarcely necessary here to remark upon the singu-peat." lar notion entertained, by some, of these fossil trees having "Some naturalists," says Cuvier, "reckon much on the thousands grown in the sandy or argillaceous strata in which they now of ages which they accumulate with a dash of their pen; but, in such happen to lie. This mistake arises, like most of the other matters, we cannot venture to judge of what might be produced in a erroneous notions in geology, in the constant idea that we are does produce." long time, except by multiplying, in idea, what a shorter period

now living upon the antediluvian dry lands; an idea which We have never yet had any geological account of the extensive we have already found it necessary entirely to lay aside. Had peat mosses which ought to have existed in the "antediluvian the trees grown where we now find them, their roots must forests of Yorkshire,” and in the rest of Europe; nor can we readihave been fixed on a different material from that which now ly believe that elephants and rhinoceri, could have inhabited such covers the stems; and we must have discovered, which has forests, or passed over such swamps, without having been occasionalnever yet been done, some indication of a former soil, suitedy buried in the peat, and preserved in the same manner as cattle are to the nourishment of so rich a vegetation.*

in our own times.

There can, perhaps, be no stronger ground taken up for the support of the Geology of Scripture, or for the destruction of the theory

* In a lately published work of Mr. Lyell, to which allusion has, of indefinite periods, than the argument arising from the nature and more than once, been made, and in which that able writer takes a extent of peat moss; and, by doubling the short period, admitted by very luminous view of the secondary causes in constant action on Mr. Lyell, or, obtaining from his abundance, so trifling a boon as a the surface of the earth, we find a very striking (though altogether couple of thousand years more than he has already freely given us, unintentional) argument against the generally received theory, of we can perfectly account for its comparatively recent formation, as the fossil remains of tropical quadrupeds now found in our upper well as for the total absence of tropical animals and plants. Peat is, soils and strata having belonged to animals formerly naturalized to as Mr. Lyell has well explained, a recent formation, in constant proour climates, and inhabiting our "antediluvian forests." This ar- gress in certain favourable situations and circumstances. It is, in gument is found in his account of the formation and extent of peat short, of post-diluvian growth, and contains only such animal or mosses in the North of Europe, in the course of which, this author vegetable remains as are natural to our European climates. The clearly shows, "that a considerable portion of the European peat beds of "silt, mud, sand, and stalactite," in which tropical organic bogs are evidently not more ancient than the age of Julius Cæsar;"* remains are mixed up with those of temperate latitudes, are equally an admission we could scarcely have looked for, from a writer, superficial; but they owe their formation to a different period, and whose whole theory is founded on "the economy of Nature," hav- to a different cause. They are diluvial formations; and as they owe ing been "uniform," and the laws, which direct the changes on the their origin to that destructive period, we cannot wonder that they earth, having "remained invariably the same:" for, as a great part should contain proofs of the indiscriminate organic ruin, which of his work is occupied in endeavouring to show that the present naturally resulted from that preternatural judgment.

*Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 214.

* Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 3.

have been matted together, and floating on the waters at that the act of being destroyed; or, (if the foot-marks were made, eventful time; and that the contents of all the basins of geolo- as appears most probable, on the decline of the deluge,) when gists, whether containing coal, or not, must have also become all had already perished? To this we reply, that we have here deposited at the same period; the whole of these moist forma the most positive evidence, that all had not yet perished when tions being stratified according to the common laws in constant these sandy formations were being so rapidly deposited. At action in the ocean; and, on the depression of the waters into whatever period of the deluge this deposit took place, we see, their new bed, becoming, in many places, deranged by de- that at least a few individuals, of the animal world, were pression, and, subsequently, hardened into the stony masses lingering out a miserable existence, perhaps preserved for now exhibited to our admiring view. weeks or months upon these same vegetable islands which

I now come to the second subject on which I proposed we have seen were being deposited in the immediate neighmaking a few observations in this place; and which presents bourhood, and now exhibited in the form of coal. If the aniperhaps, one of the most difficult problems in the whole ex-mals in question were of the tortoise or turtle tribe, as has tent of our geological inquiries. been generally conjectured, and, consequently, of an amphibi

I allude to the fossil foot-marks, if I may so call them, of ous nature, we can have the less difficulty in finding a solution animals, which have, in a few instances, been distinctly dis- for this interesting problem; for, in considering the fossil recovered on the surface of the strata, in sand-stone quarries. mains of the natural inhabitants of the sea, we have before I am not aware of more than two known instances of this found it probable, that by no means a general destruction took remarkable fact. The first occurred in a red sand-stone on place amongst this extensive class at the period of the deluge. Corncockle muir, in Dumfrieshire; and the second, in the same The impressions I have had an opportunity of seeing are free-stone quarry of Craiglieth, where the large fossil tree of various degrees of freshness; but none of them have the was discovered in 1830. I do not happen to have read or appearance of a longer time than would occur between one heard, what are the opinions of philosophers on this remark- ebb tide, and the following flow. If an animal pass along a able subject; but I cannot help thinking, that the evidences fresh sand bed, on the present shores, the impression of his to be found in Craigleith quarry, with respect to the above-steps soon becomes less sharp, as the moisture is evaporated mentioned fossil trees, will serve as a ground for the most from the drying sands.

probable conjecture with respect to the true nature of those These fossil foot-marks have all the appearances exhibited on a recent sand bank. They, in some instances, indicate a

animal foot-marks on the diluvial sands.

These impressions, of which some of the originals, as well short and shuffling gait, with the feet pressing outwards, and as casts in stucco, are to be found in various collections, in-are such as we can suppose an amphibious animal to produce. dicate a small animal, having a foot about the size of that of Had the marks occurred in clay, instead of in sand, we can a fox. There appears to be considerable variety in the size, suppose the air to have completely hardened the impression, but as to the identity of conformation in every case, I have not so as to have preserved it a long time before being covered yet had an opportunity of correctly ascertaining the facts. up. But such is not the case; and we can, therefore, have no Trials have been made, by making a variety of animals walk manner of doubt that they were occasioned by some animal over sand, or moist clay; and I have been informed, that it coming ashore on a sand bank left dry by the tide; and that was the opinion of Sir Everard Home, that the impression the returning waters, heavily charged as they must have been, of the track of the tortoise was the nearest to those hitherto with diluvial sediments, immediately covered up the former found in the quarries. strata, and thus preserved entire those most interesting and solitary indications of a still living antediluvian race.

As I am entirely ignorant of the locality of Corncockle Muir, I shall confine myself to those impressions found in the Craigleith free-stone, and of which casts have been placed in the Museum of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

We find in this same quarry of Craigleith, another remarkable evidence of the truth of what has now been stated. For it has been remarked, by the intelligent individual who has In endeavouring to solve this geological mystery, we must the management of these valuable works, that, on the upper bear in mind two positive facts, with which we are made ac-surface of the whole quarry, wherever it has been covered up, quainted by the evidence of the fossil trees above described: and protected by the mixed diluvial soils and rounded stones, first, that the whole formation of the rock, in which both are now so general on the surface of the earth, the upper stratum found, must have been very rapid; and, secondly, that there is marked with grooves or scratches, generally lying in a S. W. is no conceivable means, within the common laws of nature, direction, and, evidently, attributable to the impression of with which we are acquainted, by which such rapid forma- gravelly substances hurried along by the currents, about the tion could take place at the present time. termination of the flood. Similar grooves have long since

In the course of the view I have formerly taken of the ac-been remarked, especially by the late Sir James Hall, whose tion of the deluge, and its effects upon the "earth that now is," active and intelligent mind has suggested so many original I had an opportunity of explaining what the appearances and acute remarks on the phenomena of nature, as well as in must probably have been, both on the rise and on the decline the wide field of scientific research. As we have already found of the destructive waters. I have shown, that as the position that the action of currents is at all times most powerful in the of the globe, during this awful judgment, remained precisely ocean, and must have occasioned many wonderful effects at the same as it was before, and as it ever since has been, the ef- the period now in question, we cannot be surprised, on the fects of the sun, and of the moon, as exhibited in the tides, discovery of such self-evident proofs; nor can we avoid being must have remained in equal, if not in greater force, than at struck with admiration at the consistent and remarkable manother times. This action of the tides must have been parti- ner in which all these evidences concur towards the same cularly powerful on the gradual decline of the diluvial waters, points, exhibited in the Inspired History. It is to this eventat a time when the new lands, in a soft state, began first to ful period, and to it alone, that we must also look for a soluappear above the surface; and, in process of time, to be, for tion of the great question with respect to the valleys of the a short space, periodically left dry by the ebbing tide, in the earth's surface, about which so many remarkable theories same manner as the sandy or muddy shoals on our own, or have been, from time to time, brought forth. We can now plainly perceive what, in these philosophical theories, has Now, in the present course of things upon the earth, the never been made clear to the intelligence, that the rounded footsteps of any animal, passing over the smooth sands on the forms of our hills, and the easy rotundity of our secondary ebb tide, could not long resist even the gentlest action of the slopes, must all have been occasioned by the action of the rewaves, because the waters of the ocean, in their natural state, tiring waters upon the soft and recent deposits. We now are so nearly pure, and free from sediment, that the progress plainly perceive why our mountain lowland valleys are of secondary formations is so slow as to be almost impercepti- much longer and more extensive than the action of their runble to our view. But, at the awful period of which we are ning streams could possibly have occasioned, even in MILnow treating, the case must have been totally different. The LIONS of years.

on the Dutch coast.

waters of the whole sea must then have been, as we have be- We now also find a natural and consistent reason for many fore shown, heavily charged with their preternatural burden; deep sections of sandy and calcareous rocks by rapid streams, and every successive tide must, consequently, have deposited on every part of the earth's surface. We find the strata of some additional beds upon the growing earth. In this man- one side so exactly corresponding with those of the other, ner alone can we account for the rapid deposition of the trees that no doubt can exist as to their once having formed one we have just been considering; and, in this same manner united deposit, through which we have, hitherto, supposed alone can we also account for the preservation of those ani- the rivers must have taken unlimited periods, to work their mal foot-marks now discovered between the strata. deepened beds. We cannot now wonder if we found a diffiBut it will naturally be asked, where was the animal to culty in making these phenomena correspond with the exist come from, at a time when the whole living kingdom was in ing laws of nature; for they differ in a manner so material Vol. II.-N

from every thing now observed in action in the world, that no not feel surprised, that, in some instances, elephants with human ingenuity could possibly clear up the difficulty. No-hair, should be found to exist. For the common Asiatic elething short of that Divine Inspiration in the Sacred Scripture phant cannot be regarded with any attention, without our History, which has been vouchsafed to us, for the most bene- perceiving that, on almost every part of his bare hide, there ficient ends, could ever have enlightened our benighted minds, is an indication of hair, such as we see on some species of which, in rejecting this powerful evidence, have hitherto the dog from Turkey, or of the hog from China;* and we wandered in a maze of inextricable obscurity. Let it not be may, therefore, safely conclude that, as in both these familiar urged for the future, as has hitherto so often been done in our instances, the clothing, natural to most other animals, is only philosophical schools, that Scripture was graciously bestowed wanting in the case of the elephant, from the warmth of the upon us only for moral, and not for scientific purposes. If we climates to which he is, for the most part, confined. This make a humble and proper use of the indications on many natural clothing, however, which circumstances alone have, philosophical inquiries, which are presented to us in the In- in general, caused him to lay aside, is immediately called into spired Writings, however slight they may appear, we cannot action, when a cooler temperature requires its presence. An but confess, that every word of Scripture has been written elephant does not continue long in our temperate climates for our learning," and that no part of it has, consequently, without this provision being more or less developed; and we been given us in vain. have, at this moment, in London, most decided instances of From the indications derived from this inspired source this incipient roughness, in the two elephants belonging to alone, could we have attained the conclusions to which the the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park. above phenomena consistently lead us:—

First, that coal is an undoubted vegetable production. Secondly, That it became embedded at a much more recent period, and in a much more rapid manner, than we have hither-markable parts of it; and though the work I am about to to thought.

Thirdly, That it was an aqueous deposit.

Fourthly, That that aqueous medium was MARINE, and not LACUSTRINE; and,

The recent discovery of this zoological fact, in a country which has so long been occupied by numbers of our countrymen, may, perhaps, be looked upon as one of the most requote has now been for several years before the public, I do not any where find that this new and interesting variety of the elephant has met with that attention to which it may certainly lay claim. That it bears in a most remarkable Fifthly, That one or more beds, in many secondary strata, manner, on the great questions in geology, must be apparent were formed with intervening ebb tides on the decline of the to all who have attended to the line of reasoning so recently diluvial waters; and, consequently, that the theories of geo-explained. For it must be evident, that if the common elelogy, which advocate unlimited periods for the age of the phants, of the hottest climates, without hair, were floated by earth, are not only contrary to our reason, but entirely opposed the currents from a tropical to a frozen region, and were to those leading beacons which Scripture holds out for our guidance and instruction.

CHAPTER XII.

there stranded, and sealed up, on the subsiding of the waters; all such as inhabited a cooler climate, even within the tropics, must also have been subjected to a similar mechanical power. But we are not to suppose, because a few fossil specimens may have been found with hair, that all the elephants, whose remains are embedded in the northern or temperate climates of the earth, were of this rough species. On the contrary, it may safely be looked upon as certain, that the number of bodies with hair, bore no greater proportion to those without, Elephants clothed with Hair and Wool.-Existing Instances of than we now find to exist in the living species. We have this Variety, even within the Tropics.-Probable Identity every reason to conclude, that the elephant is a native only between the Mammoth and the Asiatic Elephant.-Cuvier's of such climates as furnish, in luxuriance, the vegetable proTheory on this Subject inconsistent with Facts.-More Natu-ductions on which he feeds. They are no where found, in a ral Conclusions.-Erroneous Theories respecting Fossils.-natural state, in temperate latitudes; but only in those counThe Mastodon not confined to the Continents of America, as tries where the herbage may be termed gigantic, and where commonly supposed.-Instance of the great Mastodon in the jungles are so thick, that the animals may not only be England.-Form of the Tusks of the Mastodon.--Erroneous completely concealed from their enemies, but may also find Ideas on this subject. an easy and abundant subsistence. Such is the case, not only in the low and swampy plains of Hindostan, but, also,

Having now tried upon its own merits this interesting and in the districts of India, bordering on the mountains, where a important question, respecting the former history of the earth, higher elevation in the atmosphere counteracts, in some deby the presumptive evidence derived from the northern fossil gree, the powerful effects of the sun, and occasions a temremains; and having, by conclusive, though indirect proofs, perature, which, in India, is termed cold, though the thershown that the elephants, found in the ice of the Arctic re-mometer may rarely indicate the freezing point. gions, never could have been inhabitants of such high lati- The first, and, as yet, only notice we have of this shaggy tudes, but must, on the contrary, have all been drifted to their variety of the elephant, is to be found in the interesting jourpresent beds by the natural currents, which have, at all times, nal of Bishop Heber. It was in the course of that long tour prevailed in the ocean; and that these natives of tropical round the district over which his spiritual government exclimates never could have existed but in the latitudes intended, that the bishop arrived in the residency of Barielly, which we now find them naturalized, notwithstanding the a city situated in the plain, in the 28th degree of north latistartling fact of some individuals having been found entire, tude, and about 50 miles from the lower range of the Hymaand covered with a warm coat of hair and wool; I now pro-laya. It was at only one day's journey from Barielly, on his ceed to bring forward, what may truly be considered a positive way to the mountains, and while passing through the unand direct evidence of the correctness of those conclusions to wholesome forests and jungles of the plain, that he was which we have been led. For, as many of the theories of visited by a native border prince of that district, who invited geology may be distinctly traced to the remarkable fossil him to join in the hunting of a tiger, which had lately been animals, covered with a shaggy coat, which have already seen in that neighbourhood. It is in the short and animated been so fully described, it is a point of the very highest interest description of this hunt, that the bishop makes use of the and importance to geology, to find that the arguments, following terms: “The rajah was mounted on a little female grounded on this hairy covering, can no longer be of the elephant, hardly bigger than the Durham ox, and almost as smallest service in the support of such false and contradictory shaggy as a poodle. She was a native of the neighbouring opinions. For it has, within a few years, been indisputably woods, where they are generally, though not always, of a proved, that though neither the common Asiatic, nor the smaller size than those of Bengal and Chittagong." African elephant, requires, in general, such natural protec- Heber again mentions having met the same rajah, a few tion, owing to the heat of the climates which they most de-days afterwards, "on his little elephant;" and we cannot light in; yet that a variety of the species actually exists in peruse this concise, yet particular description of so casual a one district of Hindostan, in the immediate neighbourhood of circumstance, without perceiving, that, though he does not the Hymalaya range, having a thick and shaggy coat of hair; enter into details upon the subject of this rough-coated eleand being thus suited, by the common laws of nature, to become the inhabitants of a region comparatively cold.

When we consider the admirable manner in which animal as well as vegetable productions accommodate themselves to the particular temperature in which they are placed, we can

mates.

It is well known, that many of the hog tribe, especially those from China, have little or no hair, when first brought into our clionly, in the end, become covered with hair, but they also acquire a The laws of nature soon, however, take effect; and they not complete under-covering of wool, as is well known to all fly-fishers.