diff options
Diffstat (limited to '42741-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42741-0.txt | 10958 |
1 files changed, 10958 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42741-0.txt b/42741-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df9394c --- /dev/null +++ b/42741-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10958 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42741 *** + +The Story of the Earth and Man. + + +By J. W. DAWSON + + + + + DIAGRAM OF THE EARTH'S HISTORY. + + -------------------------------------------------------- + ANIMALS ROCK FORMATIONS PLANTS + -------------------------------------------------------- + + Age N Modern Age + of E T Post-pliocene of + Man O i Pliocene Angiosperms + (Upper Z m Pliocene and + Strata) O e Miocene Plants + and I Eocene + Mammals C + + -------------------------------------------------------- + M + Age E Cretaceous Age + S T of + of O i Jurassic Cycads + Z m and + Reptiles O e Triassic Pines + I + C + -------------------------------------------------------- + + Permian Age of + Age of P + Amphibians A Carboniferous Acrogens + and Fishes L T + Æ i Erian or and + ------ O m + Z e Devonian Gymnosperms + Age of O + Mollusks I Silurian ------ + Corals C + and Siluro- Age + Crustaceans Cambrian + of + Cambrian + Algæ + Huronian? + + ------------------------------------------------------ + + Age of E Laurentian Plants + Protozoa O T + Z i not + O m + I e determinable + C + +Harper & Brothers New York. + + + + + +THE STORY + + +OF + + +THE EARTH AND MAN, + + +BY + + +J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.K.S., F.G.S., + +PRINCIPAL AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, AUTHOR +OF "ARCHAIA," "ACADIAN GEOLOGY," ETC. + + + NEW YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + FRANKLIN SQUARE + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The science of the earth as illustrated by geological research, is one +of the noblest outgrowths of our modern intellectual life. +Constituting the sum of all the natural sciences in their application +to the history of our world, it affords a very wide and varied scope +for mental activity, and deals with some of the grandest problems of +space and time and of organic existence. It invites us to be present +at the origin of things, and to enter into the very workshop of the +Creator. It has, besides, most important and intimate connection with +the industrial arts and with the material resources at the disposal of +man. Its educational value, as a means of cultivating the powers of +observing and reasoning, and of accustoming the mind to deal with +large and intricate questions, can scarcely be overrated. + +But fully to serve these high ends, the study of geology must be based +on a thorough knowledge of the subjects which constitute its +elementary data. It must be divested as far as possible of merely +local colouring, and of the prejudices of specialists. It must be +emancipated from the control of the bald metaphysical speculations so +rife in our time, and above all it must be delivered from that +materialistic infidelity, which, by robbing nature of the spiritual +element, and of its presiding Divinity, makes science dry, barren, and +repulsive, diminishes its educational value, and even renders it less +efficient for purposes of practical research. + +That the want of these preliminary conditions mars much of the popular +science of our day is too evident; and I confess that the wish to +attempt something better, and thereby to revive the interest in +geological study, to attract attention to its educational value, and +to remove the misapprehensions which exist in some quarters respecting +it, were principal reasons which induced me to undertake the series of +papers for the _Leisure Hour_, which are reproduced, with some +amendments and extension, in the present work. How far I have +succeeded, I must leave to the intelligent and, I trust, indulgent +reader to decide. In any case I have presented this many-sided subject +in the aspect in which it appears to a geologist whose studies have +led him to compare with each other the two great continental areas +which are the classic ground of the science, and who retains his faith +in those unseen realities of which the history of the earth itself is +but one of the shadows projected on the field of time. + +To geologists who may glance at the following pages, I would say +that, amidst much that is familiar, they will find here and there some +facts which may be new to them, as well as some original suggestions +and conclusions as to the relations of things, which though stated in +familiar terms, I have not advanced without due consideration of a +wide range of facts, To the general reader I have endeavoured to +present the more important results of geological investigation +divested of technical difficulties, yet with a careful regard to +accuracy of statement, and in such a manner as to invite to the +farther and more precise study of the subject in nature, and in works +which enter into technical details. I have endeavoured as far as +possible to mention the authors of important discoveries; but it is +impossible in a work of this kind to quote authority for every +statement, while the omission of much important matter relating to the +topics discussed is also unavoidable. Shortcomings in these respects +must be remedied by the reader himself, with the aid of systematic +text-books. Those who may desire any farther explanation of the +occasional allusions to the record of creation in Genesis, will find +this in my previously published volume entitled "Archaia." + + J. W. D, + + McGill College, Montreal, + _January, 1873_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + + Chapter I.--The Genesis Of The Earth. + + Uniformity and Progress.--Internal Heat.--Nebular + Theory.--Probable Condition of the Primitive World 1 + + + Chapter II.--The Eozoic Ages. + + The Laurentian Rocks.--Their Character and + Distribution.--The Conditions of their Deposition.--Their + Metamorphism.--Eozoon Canadense.--Laurentian Vegetation 17 + + + Chapter III.--The Primordial or Cambrian Age. + + Connection of the Laurentian and Primordial.--Animals + of the Primordial Seas.--Lingula, Trilobites, Oldhamia, + etc.--The terms Cambrian and Silurian.--Statistics of + Primordial Life 36 + + + Chapter IV.--The Silurian Ages. + + Geography of the Continental Plateaus.--Life of the + Silurian.--Reign of Invertebrates.--Corals, Crinoids, + Mollusks, Crustaceans.--The First Vertebrates. + Silurian Fishes.--Land Plants 56 + + + Chapter V.--The Devonian or Erian Age. + + Physical Character of the Age.--Difference of Deposits in + Marginal and Continental Areas.--Specialisation of + Physical Geography.--Corals, Crustaceans, Fishes, + Insects, Plants 81 + + Chapter VI.--The Carboniferous Age. + + Perfection of Palæozoic Life.--Carboniferous + Geography.--Colours of Sediments.--Vegetation.--Origin + of Coal.--Land Life.--Reptiles, Land Snails, Millipedes, + etc.--Oceanic Life 109 + + + Chapter VII.--The Permian Age. + + Movements of the Land.--Plication of the Crust.--Chemical + Conditions of Dolomite, etc.--Geographical + Results of Permian Movements.--Life of the Period. + Summary of Palæozoic History 160 + + + Chapter VIII.--The Mesozoic Ages. + + Characters of the Trias.--Summary of Changes in the + Triassic and Cretaceous Periods.--Changes of the + Continental Plateaus.--Relative Duration of the + Palæozoic and Mesozoic.--Mesozoic Forests.--Land + Animals.--The reign of Reptiles.--Early Mammals + and Birds 188 + + + Chapter IX.--The Mesozoic Ages (continued). + + Animals of the Sea.--Great Sea Lizards, Fishes, + Cephalopods, etc.--Chalk and its History.--Tabular + View of the Mesozoic Ages 211 + + + Chapter X.--The Neozoic Ages. + + Physical Changes at the end of Mesozoic.--Subdivisions + of the Neozoic.--Great Eocene Seas.--Land Animals + and Plants. Life of the Miocene.--Reign of Mammals 235 + + + Chapter XI.--The Neozoic Ages (_continued_). + + Later Vegetation.--The Animals of the Pliocene Period. + Approach of the Glacial Period.--Character of the + Post-pliocene or Glacial 258 + + + Chapter XII.--Close of the Post-pliocene, and Advent or Man. + + Connection of Geological and Human History.--The Post-glacial + Period.--Its Relations to the Pre-Historic Human + Period.--Elevation of Post-Pliocene Land.--Introduction of + Man.--Subsidence and Re-elevation.--Calculations as to + Time.--Tabular View of the Neozoic Ages 282 + + + Chapter XIII.--Advent Of Man (_continued_). + + Relations of Post-pliocene and Modern Animals.--Cavern + Deposits.--Kent's Cave.--General Remarks. 299 + + + Chapter XIV.--Primitive Man. + + Theory of Evolution as applied to Man.--Its Demands.--Its + Deficiencies.--Fallacious Character of Arguments of + Derivationists. Hypothesis of Creation.--Its Demands + and Advantages 316 + + + Chapter XV.--Primitive Man (_continued_). + + Geological Conditions of Man's Introduction.--His Modern + Date.--His Isolated Position.--His Higher + Powers.--Pictures of Primitive Man according to Evolution + and Creation.--General Conclusion 350 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + + Ideal Sections Illustrating the Genesis or the Earth 8 + + America In The Laurentian Period 18 + + Eozoon Canadense 24 + + Life in the Primordial Age 40 + + Organic Limestone of the Silurian 63 + + Life in the Silurian 66 + + Life in the Devonian 88 + + Vegetation of the Devonian 103 + + Carboniferous Plants 126 + + Oldest Land Snails 139 + + Carboniferous Reptiles 146 + + Foldings of the Crust in the Permian Period 162 + + Curves of Elevation and Depression 179 + + Culmination of Types of Palæozoic Animals 183 + + Land Animals of the Mesozoic 194 + + Aquatic Animals of the Mesozoic 219 + + Foraminiferal Rock-builders 243 + + Miocene Mammals 253 + + Britain in the Post-pliocene 301 + + + + +THE STORY OF THE EARTH AND MAN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE GENESIS OF THE EARTH. + + +The title of this work is intended to indicate precisely its nature. +It consists of rough, broad sketches of the aspects of successive +stages in the earth's history, as disclosed by geology, and as they +present themselves to observers at the present time. The last +qualification is absolutely necessary, when dealing with a science +whose goal to-day will be its starting point to-morrow, and in whose +view every geological picture must have its light and shaded portions, +its clear foreground and its dim distance, varying according to the +lights cast on them by the progress of investigation, and according to +the standpoint of the observer. In such pictures results only can be +given, not the processes by which they have been obtained; and with +all possible gradations of light and distance, it may be that the +artist will bring into too distinct outline facts still only dimly +perceived, or will give too little prominence to others which, should +appear in bold relief. He must in this judge for himself; and if the +writer's impressions do not precisely correspond with those of others, +he trusts that they will allow something for difference of vision and +point of view. + +The difficulty above referred to perhaps rises to its maximum in the +present chapter. For how can any one paint chaos, or give form and +filling to the formless void? Perhaps no word-picture of this period +of the first phase of mundane history can ever equal the two negative +touches of the inspired penman--"without form and void"--a world +destitute of all its present order, and destitute of all that gives it +life and animation. This it was, and not a complete and finished +earth, that sprang at first from its Creator's hand; and we must +inquire in this first chapter what information science gives as to any +such condition of the earth. + +In the first place, the geological history of the earth plainly +intimates a beginning, by utterly negativing the idea that "all things +continue as they were from the creation of the world." It traces back +to their origin not only the animals and plants which at present live, +but also their predecessors, through successive dynasties emerging in +long procession from the depths of a primitive antiquity. Not only so; +it assigns to their relative ages all the rocks of the earth's crust, +and all the plains and mountains built up of them. Thus, as we go back +in geological time, we leave behind us, one by one, all the things +with which we are familiar, and the inevitable conclusion gains on us +that we must be approaching a beginning, though this may be veiled +from us in clouds and thick darkness. How is it, then, that there are +"Uniformitarians" in geology, and that it has been said that our +science shows no traces of a beginning, no indications of an end? The +question deserves consideration; but the answer is not difficult. In +all the lapse of geological time there has been an absolute uniformity +of natural law. The same grand machinery of force and matter has been +in use throughout all the ages, working out the great plan. Yet the +plan has been progressive and advancing, nevertheless. The uniformity +has been in the methods, the results have presented a wondrous +diversity and development. Again, geology, in its oldest periods, +fails to reach the beginning of things. It shows us how course after +course of the building has been laid, and how it has grown to +completeness, but it contains as yet no record of the laying of the +foundation-stones, still less of the quarry whence they were dug. +Still the constant progress which we have seen points to a beginning +which we have not seen; and the very uniformity of the process by +which the edifice has been erected, implies a time when it had not +been begun, and when its stones were still reposing in their native +quarry. + +What, then, is the oldest condition of the earth actually shown to us +by geology,--that which prevailed in the Eozoic or Laurentian period, +when the oldest rocks known, those constituting the foundation-stones +of our present continents, were formed and laid in their places? With +regard to physical conditions, it was a time when our existing +continents were yet in the bosom of the waters, when the ocean was +almost universal, yet when sediments were being deposited in it as at +present, while there were also volcanic foci, vomiting forth molten +matter from the earth's hidden interior. Then, as now, the great +physical agencies of water and fire were contending with one another +for the mastery, doing and undoing, building up and breaking down. But +is this all? Has the earth no earlier history? that it must have had, +we may infer from many indications; but as to the nature of these +earlier states, we can learn from conjecture and inference merely, and +must have recourse to other witnesses then those rocky monuments which +are the sure guides of the geologist. + +One fact bearing on these questions which has long excited attention, +is the observed increase in temperature in descending into deep mines, +and in the water of deep artesian wells--an increase which may be +stated in round numbers at one degree of heat of the centigrade +thermometer for every 100 feet of depth from the surface. These +observations apply of course to a very inconsiderable depth, and we +have no certainty that this rate continues for any great distance +towards the centre of the earth. If, however, We regard it as +indicating the actual law of increase of temperature, it would result +that the whole crust of the earth is a mere shell covering a molten +mass of rocky matter. Thus a very slight step of imagination would +carry us back to a time when this slender crust had not yet formed, +and the earth rolled through space an incandescent globe, with all its +water and other vaporisable matters in a gaseous state. Astronomical +calculation has, however, shown that the earth, in its relation to the +other heavenly bodies, obeys the laws of a rigid ball, and not of a +fluid globe. Hence it has been inferred that its actual crust must be +very thick, perhaps not less then 2,500 miles, and that its fluid +portion must therefore be of smaller dimensions then has been inferred +from the observed increase of temperature. Further, it seems to have +been rendered probable, from the density of rocky matter in the solid +and liquid states, that a molten globe would solidify at the centre as +well as at the surface, and consequently that the earth must not only +have a solid crust of great thickness, but also a solid nucleus, and +that any liquid portions must be of the nature of a sheet or of +detached masses intervening between these. On the other hand, it has +recently been maintained that the calculations which are supposed to +have established the great thickness of the crust, on the ground that +the earth does not change its form in obedience to the attraction of +the sun and moon, are based on a misconception, and that a molten +globe with a thin crust would attain to such a state of equilibrium in +this respect as not to be distinguishable from a solid planet. This +view has been maintained by the French physicist, Delaunay, and for +some time it made geologists suppose that, after all, the earth's +crust may be very thin. Sir William Thomson, however, and Archdeacon +Pratt, have ably maintained the previous opinion, based on Hopkins' +calculations; and it is now believed that we may rest upon this as +representing the most probable condition of the interior of the earth +at present. Another fact bearing on this point is the form of the +earth, which is now actually a spheroid of rotation; that is, of such +a shape as would result from the action of gravity and centrifugal +force in the motion of a huge liquid drop rotating in the manner in +which the earth rotates. Of course it may be said that the earth may +have been made in that shape to fit it for its rotation; but science +prefers to suppose that the form is the result of the forces acting on +it. This consideration would of course corroborate the deductions from +that just mentioned. Again, if we examine a map showing the +distribution of volcanoes upon the earth, and trace these along the +volcanic belt of Western America and Eastern Asia, and in the Pacific +Islands, and in the isolated volcanic regions in other parts of the +world; and if we add to these the multitude of volcanoes now extinct, +we shall be convinced that the sources of internal heat, of which +these are the vents, must be present almost everywhere under the +earth's crust. Lastly, if we consider the elevations and depressions +which large portions of the crust of the earth have undergone in +geological time, and the actual crumpling and folding of the crust +visible in great mountain chains, we arrive at a similar conclusion, +and also become convinced that the crust has been not too thick to +admit of extensive fractures, flexures, and foldings. There are, +however, it must be admitted, theories of volcanic action, strongly +supported by the chemical nature of the materials ejected by modern +volcanoes, which would refer all their phenomena to the softening, +under the continued influence of heat and water, of materials within +the crust of the earth rather then under it.[A] Still, the phenomena +of volcanic action, and of elevation and subsidence, would, under any +explanation, suppose intense heat, and therefore probably an original +incandescent condition. + +[A] Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, in Silliman'a Journal, 1870. + +La Place long ago based a theory of the originally gaseous condition +of the solar system on the relation of the planets to each other, and +to the sun, on their planes of revolution, the direction of their +revolution, and that of their satellites. On these grounds he inferred +that the solar system had been formed out of a nebulous mass by the +mutual attraction of its parts. This view was further strengthened by +the discovery of nebulae, which it might be supposed were undergoing +the same processes by which the solar system was produced. This +nebular theory, as it was called, was long very popular. It was +subsequently supposed to be damaged by the fact that some of the +nebulæ which had been regarded as systems in progress of formation +were found by improved telescopes to be really clusters of stars, and +it was inferred that the others might be of like character. The +spectroscope has, however, more recently shown that some nebulæ are +actually gaseous; and it has even been attempted to demonstrate that +they are probably undergoing change fitting them to become systems. +This has served to revive the nebular hypothesis, which has been +further strengthened by the known fact that the sun is still an +incandescent globe surrounded by an immense luminous envelope of +vapours rising from its nucleus and condensing at its surface. On the +other hand, while the sun may be supposed, from its great magnitude, +to remain intensely heated, and while it will not be appreciably less +powerful for myriads of years, the moon seems to be a body which has +had time to complete the whole history of geological change, and to +become a dry, dead, and withered world, a type of what our earth would +in process of time actually become. + +[Illustration: _Figs. 1 to 5._--_Ideal sections illustrating the +Genesis of the Earth._ + +Fig. 1. A vaporous world. + +Fig. 2. A world with a central fluid nucleus (_b_) and a photosphere +(_a_). + +Fig. 3. The photosphere darkened, and a solid crust (_c_) and solid +nucleus (_d_) formed. + +Fig. 4. Water (_e_) deposited on the crust, forming a universal ocean. + +Fig. 5. The crust crumpled by shrinkage, land elevated, and the water +occupying the intervening depressions. + +The figures are all of uniform size; but the circle (A) shows th +diameter of the globe when in the state of fig. 1, and that marked (B) +its diameter when in the state of fig. 5. In all the figures (_a_) +represents vapour or air; (_b_) liquid rock; (_c_) solid rock as a +crust; (_d_) solid nucleus; (_e_) water.] + +Such considerations lead to the conclusion that the former watery +condition of our planet was not its first state, and that we must +trace it back to a previous reign of fire. The reasons which can be +adduced in support of this are no doubt somewhat vague, and may in +their details be variously interpreted; but at present we have no +other interpretation to give of that chaos, formless and void, that +state in which "nor aught nor nought existed," which the sacred +writings and the traditions and poetry of ancient nations concur with +modern science in indicating as the primitive state of the earth. + +Let our first picture, then, be that of a vaporous mass, representing +our now solid planet spread out over a space nearly two thousand times +greater in diameter then that which it now occupies, and whirling in +its annual round about the still vaporous centre of our system, in +which at an earlier period the earth had been but an exterior layer, +or ring of vapour. The atoms that now constitute the most solid rocks +are in this state as tenuous as air, kept apart by the expansive force +of heat, which prevents not only their mechanical union, but also +their chemical combination. But within the mass, slowly and silently, +the force of gravitation is compressing the particles in its giant +hand, and gathering the denser toward the centre, while heat is given +forth on all sides from the condensing mass into the voids of space +without. Little by little the denser and less volatile matters collect +in the centre as a fluid molten globe, the nucleus of the future +planet; and in this nucleus the elements, obeying their chemical +affinities hitherto latent, are arranging themselves in compounds +which are to constitute the future rocks. At the same time, in the +exterior of the vaporous envelope, matters cooled by radiation into +the space without, are combining with each other, and are being +precipitated in earthy rain or snow into the seething mass within, +where they are either again vaporised and sent to the surface or +absorbed in the increasing nucleus. As this process advances, a new +brilliancy is given to the faint shining of the nebulous matter by the +incandescence of these solid particles in the upper layers of its +atmosphere, a condition which at this moment, on a greater scale, is +that of the sun; in the case of the earth, so much smaller in volume, +and farther from the centre of the system, it came on earlier, and has +long since passed away. This was the glorious starlike condition of +our globe: in a physical point of view, its most perfect and beautiful +state, when, if there were astronomers with telescopes in the stars, +they might have seen our now dull earth flash forth--a brilliant white +star secondary to the sun. + +But in process of time this passes away. All the more solid and less +volatile substances are condensed and precipitated; and now the +atmosphere, still vast in bulk, and dark and misty in texture, +contains only the water, chlorine, carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, and +other more volatile substances; and as these gather in dense clouds at +the outer surface, and pour in fierce corrosive rains upon the heated +nucleus, combining with its materials, or flashing again into vapour, +darkness dense and gross settles upon the vaporous deep, and continues +for long ages, until the atmosphere is finally cleared of its acid +vapours and its superfluous waters.[B] In the meantime, radiation, and +the heat abstracted from the liquid nucleus by the showers of +condensing material from the atmosphere, have so far cooled its +surface that a crust of slag or cinder forms upon it. Broken again and +again by the heavings of the ocean of fire, it at length sets +permanently, and receives upon its bare and blistered surface the +ever-increasing aqueous and acid rain thrown down from the +atmosphere, at first sending it all hissing and steaming back, but at +length allowing it to remain a universal boiling ocean. Then began the +reign of the waters, and the dominion of fire was confined to the +abysses within the solid crust. Under the primeval ocean were formed +the first stratified rocks, from the substances precipitated from its +waters, which must have been loaded with solid matter. We must not +imagine this primeval ocean like our own blue sea, clear and +transparent, but filled with earthy and saline matters, thick and +turbid, until these were permitted to settle to the bottom and form +the first sediments. The several changes above referred to are +represented in diagrammatic form in figs. 1 to 4. + +[B] Hunt, "Chemistry of the Primeval Earth," _Silliman's Journal_, 1858. + +In the meantime all is not at rest in the interior of the new-formed +earth. Under the crust vast oceans of molten rock may still remain, +but a solid interior nucleus is being crystallised in the centre, and +the whole interior globe is gradually shrinking. At length this +process advances so far that the exterior crust, like a sheet of ice +from below which the water has subsided, is left unsupported; and with +terrible earthquake-throes it sinks downward, wrinkling up into huge +folds, between which are vast sunken areas into which the waters +subside, while from the intervening ridges the earth's pent-up fires +belch forth ashes and molten rocks. (Fig. 5.) So arose the first dry +land:-- + + "The mountains huge appear + Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave + Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky, + So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low + Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep, + Capacious bed of waters." + +The cloud was its garment, it was swathed in thick darkness, and +presented but a rugged pile of rocky precipices; yet well might the +"morning stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout with joy," +when its foundations were settled and its corner-stone laid, for then +were inaugurated the changes which were to lead to the introduction of +life on the earth, and to all the future development of the +continents. + +Physical geographers have taught us that the great continents, whether +we regard their coasts or their mountain chains, are built up on lines +which run north-east and south-west, and north-west and south-east; +and it is also observed that these lines are great circles of the +earth tangent to the polar circle. Further, we find, as a result of +geological investigation, that these lines determined the deposition +and the elevation of the oldest rocks known to us. Hence it is fair to +infer that these were the original directions of the first lines of +fracture and upheaval. Whether these lines were originally drawn by +the influence of of the seasons on the cooling globe, or by the +currents of its molten interior, or of the superficial ocean, they +bespeak a most uniform and equable texture for the crust, and a +definite law of fracture and upheaval; and they have modified all the +subsequent action of the ocean as a depositor of sediment, and of the +internal heat as a cause of alteration and movement of rocks. Against +these earliest belts of land the ocean first chafed and foamed. Along +their margins marine denudation first commenced, and the oceanic +currents first deposited banks of sediment; and along these first +lines have the volcanic orifices of all periods been most plentiful, +and elevatory movements most powerfully felt. + +We must not suppose that the changes thus shortly sketched were rapid +and convulsive. They must have required periods of enormous duration, +all of which had elapsed before the beginning of geological time, +properly so called. From Sir William Thomson's calculations, it would +appear that the time which has elapsed from the first formation of a +solid crust on the earth to the modern period may have been from +seventy to one hundred millions of years, and the whole time from the +vaporous condition of the solar system to the present, must of course +have been still greater then even this enormous series of ages. Such a +lapse of time is truly almost inconceivable, but it is only a few days +to Him with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years +as one day. How many and strange pictures does this series of +processes call up! First, the uniform vaporous nebula. Then the +formation of a liquid nucleus, and a brilliant photosphere without. +Then the congealing of a solid crust under dark atmospheric vapours, +and the raining down of acid and watery showers. Then the universal +ocean, its waves rolling unobstructed around the globe, and its +currents following without hindrance the leading of heat and of the +earth's rotation. Then the rupture of the crust and the emergence of +the nuclei of continents. + +Some persons seem to think that by these long processes of creative +work we exclude the Creator, and would reduce the universe into a mere +fortuitous concourse of atoms. To put it in more modern phrase, "given +a quantity of detached fragments cast into space, then mutual +gravitation and the collision of the fragments would give us the +spangled heavens." But we have still to ask the old question, "Whence +the atoms?" and we have to ask it with all the added weight of our +modern chemistry, so marvellous in its revelations of the original +differences of matter and their varied powers of combination. We have +to ask, What is gravitation itself, unless a mode of action of +Almighty power? We have to ask for the origin of of thousands of +correlations, binding together the past and the future in that orderly +chain of causes and effects which constitutes the plan of the +creation. If it pleased God to create in the beginning an earth +"formless and void" and to elaborate from this all that has since +existed, who are we, to say that the plan was not the best? Nor would +it detract from our view of the creative wisdom and power if we were +to hold that in ages to come the sun may experience the same change +that has befallen the earth, and may become "black as sackcloth of +hair," preparatory perhaps, to changes which may make him also the +abode of life; or if the earth, cooling still further, should, like +our satellite the moon, absorb all its waters and gases into its +bosom, and become bare, dry, and parched, until there shall be "no +more sea" how do we know but that then there shall be no more need of +the sun, because a better light may be provided? Or that there may not +be a new baptism of fire in store for the earth, whereby, being melted +with fervent heat, it may renew its youth in the fresh and heavenly +loveliness of a new heaven and a new earth, free from all the evils +and imperfections of the present? God is not slack in these things, as +some men count slackness; but His ways are not like our ways. He has +eternity wherein to do His work, and takes His own time for each of +His operations. The Divine wisdom, personified by a sacred writer, may +well in this exalt his own office:-- + + "Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way, + Before His work of old. + I was set up from everlasting, + From the beginning, or ever the earth was. + When there were no deeps, T was brought forth; + When there were no fountains abounding in water. + Before the mountains were settled, + Before the hills, was I brought forth: + While as yet He had not made the earth, + Nor the plains, nor the higher part of the habitable world, + When He gave the sea His decree, + that her waters should not pass His limits; + When He determined the foundations of the earth." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE EOZOIC AGES. + + +The dominion of heat has passed away; the excess of water has been +precipitated from the atmosphere, and now covers the earth as a +universal ocean. The crust has folded itself into long ridges, the bed +of the waters has subsided into its place, and the sea for the first +time begins to rave against the shores of the newly elevated land, +while the rain, washing the bare surfaces of rocky ridges, carries its +contribution of the slowly wasting rocks back into the waters whence +they were raised, forming, with the material worn from the crust by +the surf, the first oceanic sediments. Do we know any of these +earliest aqueous beds, or are they all hidden from view beneath newer +deposits, or have they been themselves worn away and destroyed by +denuding agencies? Whether we know the earliest formed sediments is, +and may always remain, uncertain; but we do know certain very ancient +rocks which may be at least their immediate successors. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--The Laurentian nucleus of the American +continent.] + +Deepest and oldest of all the rocks we are acquainted with in the +crust of the earth, are certain beds much altered and metamorphosed, +baked by the joint action of heat and heated moisture--rocks once +called Azoic, as containing no traces of life, but for which I have +elsewhere proposed the name "Eozoic," or those that afford the traces +of the earliest known living beings. These rocks are the Laurentian +Series of Sir William Logan, so named from the Laurentide hills, north +of the River St. Lawrence, which are composed of these ancient beds, +and where they are more largely exposed then in any other region. It +may seem at first sight strange that any of these ancient rocks should +be found at the surface of the earth; but this is a necessary result +of the mode of formation of the continents. The oldest rocks, thrown +up in places into high ridges, have either not been again brought +under the waters, or have lost by denudation the sediments once +resting on them; and being of a hard and resisting nature, still +remain; and often rise into hills of considerable elevation, showing +as it were portions of the skeleton of the earth protruding through +its superficial covering. Such rocks stretch along the north side of +the St. Lawrence river from Labrador to Lake Superior, and thence +northwardly to an unknown distance, constituting a wild and rugged +district often rising into hills 4000 feet high, and in the deep gorge +of the Saguenay forming cliffs 1,500 feet in sheer height from the +water's edge. South of this great ridge, the isolated mass of the +Adirondack Mountains rises to the height of 6,000 feet, rivalling the +newer, though still very ancient, chain of the White Mountains. Along +the eastern coast of North America, a lower ridge of Laurentian rock, +only appearing here and there from under the overlying sediments, is +seen in Newfoundland, in New Brunswick, possibly in Nova Scotia, and +perhaps farther south in Massachusetts, and as far as Maryland. In the +old world, rocks of this age do not, so far as known, appear so +extensively. They have been recognised in Norway and Sweden, in the +Hebrides, and in Bavaria, and may, no doubt, be yet discerned in other +localities. Still, the grandest and most instructive development of +these rocks is in North America; and it is there that we may best +investigate their nature, and endeavour to restore the conditions in +which they were deposited. It has been already stated that the oldest +wrinkles of the crust of the globe take the direction of great circles +of the earth tangent to the polar circle, forming north-east and +south-west, and north-west and south-east lines. To such lines are the +great exposures of Laurentian rock conformed, as may be well seen from +the map of North America (fig. 6), taken from Dana, with some +additions. The great angular Laurentian belt is evidently the nucleus +of the continent, and consists of two broad bands or ridges meeting in +the region of the great lakes. The remaining exposures are parallel to +these, and appear to indicate a subordinate coast-line of +comparatively little elevation. It is known that these Laurentian +exposures constitute the oldest part of the continent, a part which +was land before any of the rocks of the shaded portion of the map were +deposited in the bed of the ocean--all this shaded portion being +composed of rocks of various geological ages resting on the older +Laurentian. It is further to be observed that the beds occurring in +the Laurentian bands are crumpled and folded in a most remarkable +manner, and that these folds were impressed upon them before the +deposition of the rocks next in geological age. + +What then are these oldest rocks deposited by the sea--the first-born +of the reign of the waters? They are very different in their external +aspect from the silt and mud, the sand and gravel, and the shell and +coral rocks of the modern sea, or of the more recent geological +formations. Yet the difference is one in condition rather then +composition. The members of this ancient aristocracy of the rocks are +made of the same clay with their fellows, but have been subjected to a +refining and crystallizing process which has greatly changed their +condition. They have been, as geologists say, metamorphosed; and are +to ordinary rocks what a china vase is to the lump of clay from which +it has been made. Deeply buried in the earth under newer sediments, +they have been baked, until sandstones, gravels, and clays came out +bright and crystalline, as gneiss, mica-schist, hornblende-schist, and +quartzite--all hard crystalline rocks showing at first sight no +resemblance to their original material, except in the regularly +stratified or bedded arrangement which serves to distinguish them from +igneous or volcanic rocks. In like manner certain finer, calcareous +sediments have been changed into Labrador feldspar, sometimes gay with +a beautiful play of colour, and what were once common limestones +appear as crystalline marble. If the evidence of such metamorphoses is +asked for, this is twofold. In the first place, these rocks are +similar in structure to more modern beds which have been partially +metamorphosed, and in which the transition from the unaltered to the +altered state can be observed. Secondly, there are limited areas in +the Laurentian itself, in which the metamorphism has been so imperfect +as to permit traces of the original character of the rocks to remain. +It seems also quite certain, and this is a most important point for +our sketch, that the Laurentian ocean was not universal, but that +there were already elevated portions of the crust capable of yielding +sediment to the sea. + +In North America these Laurentian rocks attain to an enormous +thickness. This has been estimated by Sir W. E. Logan at 30,000 feet, +so that the beds would, if piled on each other horizontally, be as +high as the highest mountains on earth. They appear to consist of two +great series, the Lower and Upper Laurentian. Even if we suppose that +in the earlier stages of the world's history erosion and deposition +were somewhat more rapid then at present, the formation of such +deposits, probably more widely spread then any that succeeded them, +must have required an enormous length of time. + +Geologists long looked in vain for evidences of life in the Laurentian +period; but just as astronomers' have suspected the existence of +unknown planets from the perturbations due to their attraction, +geologists have guessed that there must have been some living things +on earth even at this early time. Dana and Sterry Hunt especially have +committed themselves to such speculations. The reasons for this belief +may be stated thus: (1.) In later formations limestone is usually an +organic rock, produced by the accumulation of shells, corals, and +similar calcareous organisms in the sea, and there are enormous +limestones in the Laurentian, constituting regular beds. (2.) In +later formations coaly matter is an organic substance, derived from +vegetables, and there are large quantities of Laurentian carbon in the +form of graphite. (3.) In later formations deposits of iron ores are +almost always connected with the deoxidising influence of organic +matters as an efficient cause of their accumulation, and the +Laurentian contains immense deposits of iron ore, occurring in layers +in the manner of later deposits of these minerals. (4.) The limestone, +carbon, and iron of the Laurentian exist in association with the other +beds in the same manner as in the later formations in which they are +known to be organic. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--_Eozoon Canadense._ Dawson. + +The oldest known animal. Portion of skeleton, two-thirds natural size, +(_a_) Tabulated cell-wall, magnified, (_b_) Portion of canal system, +magnified.] + +In addition to this inferential evidence, however, one well-marked +animal fossil has at length been found in the Laurentian of Canada, +Eozoon Canadense, (fig. 7), a gigantic representative of one of the +lowest forms of animal life, which the writer had the honour of naming +and describing in 1865--its name of "Dawn-animal" having reference to +its great antiquity and possible connection with the dawn of life on +our planet. In the modern seas, among the multitude of low forms of +life with which they swarm, occur some in which the animal matter is a +mere jelly, almost without distinct parts or organs, yet +unquestionably endowed with life of an animal character. Some of these +creatures, the Foraminifera, have the power of secreting at the +surface of their bodies a calcareous shell, often divided into +numerous chambers, communicating with each other, and with the water +without, by pores or orifices through which, the animal can extend +soft and delicate prolongations of its gelatinous body, which, when +stretched out into the water, serve for arms and legs. In modern times +these creatures, though extremely abundant in the ocean, are usually +small, often microscopic; but in a fossil state there are others of +somewhat larger size, though few equaling the Eozoon, which seems to +been a sessile creature, resting on the bottom of the sea, and +covering its gelatinous body with a thin crust of carbonate of lime or +limestone, adding to this, as it grew in size, crust after crust, +attached to each other by numerous partitions, and perforated with +pores for the emission of gelatinous filaments. This continued growth +of gelatinous animal matter and carbonate of lime went on from age to +age, accumulating great beds of limestone, in some of which the entire +form and most minute structures of the creature are preserved, while +in other cases the organisms have been broken up, and the limestones +are a mere congeries of their fragments. It is a remarkable instance +of the permanence of fossils, that in these ancient organisms the +minutest pores through which the semi-fluid matter of these humble +animals passed, have been preserved in the most delicate perfection. +The existence of such creatures supposes that of other organisms, +probably microscopic plants, on which they could feed. No traces of +these have been observed, though the great quantity of carbon in the +beds probably implies the existence of larger sea-weeds. No other form +of animal has yet been distinctly recognized in the Laurentian +limestones, but there are fragments of calcareous matter which may +have belonged to organisms distinct from Eozoon. Of life on the +Laurentian land we know nothing, unless the great beds of iron ore +already referred to may be taken as a proof of land vegetation.[C] + +[C] It is proper to state here that some geologists and naturalists +still doubt the organic nature of Eozoon. Their objections however, so +far as stated publicly, have been shown to depend on misapprehension +as to the structures observed and their state of preservation; and +specimens recently found in comparatively unaltered rocks have +indicated the true character of those more altered by metamorphism. + +To an observer in the Laurentian period, the earth would have +presented an almost boundless ocean, its waters, perhaps, still warmed +with the internal heat, and sending up copious exhalations to be +condensed in thick clouds and precipitated in rain. Here and there +might be seen chains of rocky islands, many of them volcanic, or +ranges of bleak hills, perhaps clothed with vegetation the forms of +which are unknown to us. In the bottom of the sea, while sand and mud +and gravel were being deposited in successive layers in some portions +of the ocean floor, in others great reefs of Eozoon were growing up in +the manner of reefs of coral. If we can imagine the modern Pacific, +with its volcanic islands and reefs of coral, to be deprived of all +other forms of life, 'we should have a somewhat accurate picture of +the Eozoic time as it appears to us now. I say as it appears to us +now; for we do not know what new discoveries remain to be made. More +especially the immense deposits of carbon and iron in the Laurentian +would seem to bespeak a profusion of plant life in the sea or on the +land, or both, second to that of no other period that succeeded, +except that of the great coal formation. Perhaps no remnant of this +primitive vegetation exists retaining its form or structure; but we +may hope for better things, and cherish the expectation that some +fortunate discovery may still reveal to us the forms of the vegetation +of the Laurentian time. + +It is remarkable that the humbly organized living things which built +up the Laurentian limestones have continued to exist unchanged, save +in dimensions, up to modern times; and here and there throughout the +geological series we find beds of Foraminiferous limestone, similar, +except in the species of Foraminifera composing them, to that of the +Laurentian. It is true that other kinds of creatures, the coral +animals more particularly, have been introduced, and have proved +equally efficient builders of limestones; but in the deeper parts of +the sea the Foraminifera continue to assert their pre-eminence in this +respect, and the dredge reveals in the depths of our modern oceans +beds of calcareous matter which may be regarded as identical in origin +with the limestones formed in the period which is to us the dawn of +organic life. + +Many inquiries suggest themselves to the zoologist in connection with +the life of the Laurentian period. Was Eozoon the first creature in +which the wondrous forces of animal life were manifested, when, in +obedience to the Divine fiat, the waters first "swarmed with +swarmers," as the terse and expressive language of the Mosaic record +phrases it? If so, in contemplating this organism we are in the +presence of one of the greatest of natural wonders--brought nearer +then in any other case to the actual workshop of the Almighty Maker. +Still we cannot affirm that other creatures even more humble may not +have preceded Eozoon, since such humble organisms are known in the +present world. Attempts have often been made, and very recently have +been renewed with much affirmation of success, to prove that such low +forms of life may originate spontaneously from their materials in the +waters; but so far these attempts merely prove that the invisible +germs of the lower animals and plants exist everywhere, and that they +have marvellous powers of resisting extreme heat and other injurious +influences. We need not, therefore, be surprised if even lower forms +then Eozoon may have preceded that creature, or if some of these may +be found, like the organisms said to live in modern boiling springs, +to have had the power of existing even at a time when the ocean may +have been almost in a state of ebullition. Another problem is that of +means of subsistence for the Eozoic Foraminifera. A similar problem +exists in the case of the modern ocean, in whose depths live +multitudes of creatures, where, so far as we know, vegetable matter, +ordinarily the basis of life, cannot exist in a living condition. It +is probable, however, from the researches of Dr. Wyville Thompson, +that this is to be accounted for by the abundance of life at the +surface and in the shallower parts of the sea, and by the consequent +diffusion through the water of organic matter in an extremely tenuous +state, but yet sufficient to nourish these creatures. The same may +have been the case in the Eozoic sea, where, judging from the vast +amount of residual carbon, there must have been abundance of organic +matter, either growing at the bottom, or falling upon it from the +surface; and as the Eozoon limestones are usually free from such +material, we may assume that the animal life in them was sufficient to +consume the vegetable pabulum. On the other hand, as detached +specimens of Eozoon occur in graphitic limestones, we suppose that in +some cases the vegetable matter was in excess of the animal, and this +may have been either because of its too great exuberance, or because +the water was locally too shallow to permit Eozoon and similar +creatures to nourish. These details we must for the present fill up +conjecturally; bu the progress of discovery may give us further light +as to the precise conditions of the beginning of life in the "great +and wide sea wherein are moving things innumerable" and which is as +much a wonder now as in the days of the author of the "Hymn of +Creation"[D] in regard to the life that swarms in all its breadth and +depth, the vast variety of that life, and its low and simple types, of +which we can affirm little else then that they move. + +[D] Psalm civ. + +The enormous accumulations of sediment on the still thin crust of the +earth in the Laurentian period--accumulations probably arranged in +lines parallel to the directions of disturbance already +indicated--weighed down the surface, and caused great masses of the +sediment to come within the influence of the heated interior nucleus. +Thus, extensive metamorphism took place, and at length the tension +becoming too great to be any longer maintained, a second great +collapse occurred, crumpling and disturbing the crust, and throwing up +vast masses of the Laurentian itself, probably into lofty +mountains--many of which still remain of considerable height, though +they have been subjected to erosion throughout all the extent of +subsequent geological time. + +The Eozoic age, whose history we have thus shortly sketched, is +fertile in material of thought for the geologist and the naturalist. +Until the labours of Murchison, Sedgwick, Hall, and Barrande had +developed the vast thickness and organic richness of the Silurian and +Cambrian rocks, no geologist had any idea of the extent to which life +had reached backward in time. But when this new and primitive world of +Siluria was unveiled, men felt assured that they had now at last +reached to the beginnings of life. The argument on this side of the +Question was thus put by one of the most thoughtful of English +geologists, Professor Phillips: "It is ascertained that in passing +downwards through the lower Palæozoic strata, the forms of life grow +fewer and fewer, until in the lowest Cambrian rocks they vanish +entirely. In the thick series of these strata in the Longmynd, hardly +any traces of life occur, yet these strata are of such a kind as might +be expected to yield them.... The materials are fine-grained or +arenaceous, with or without mica, in laminae or beds quite distinct, +and of various thicknesses, by no means unlikely to retain +impressions of a delicate nature, such as those left by graptolites, +or mollusks, or annulose crawlers. Indeed, one or two such traces are +supposed to have been recognised, so that the almost total absence of +the traces of life in this enormous series is best understood by the +supposition that in these parts of the sea little or no life existed. +But the same remark of the excessive rarity of life in the lower +deposits is made in North America, in Norway, and in Bohemia, +countries well searched for this very purpose, so that all our +observations lead to the conviction that the lowest of all the strata +are quite deficient of organic remains. The absence is general--it +appears due to a general cause. Is it not probable that during these +very early periods the ocean and its sediments were nearly devoid of +plants and animals, and in the earliest time of all, which is +represented by sediments, quite deprived of such?" These words were +written ten years ago, and about the same time were published in +America those anticipations of the probability of life in the +Laurentian already referred to, and Lyell was protesting against the +name Primordial, on the ground that it implied that we had reached the +beginning of life, when this was not proved. Yet there were elements +of truth in both views. It is true now, as then, that the Primordial +seems to be a morning hour of life, having, as we shall see in our +next paper, unmistakable signs about it of that approach to the +beginning to which Phillips refers. It is also true that it is not so +early a morning hour as one who has not risen with the dawn might +suppose, since with its apparently small beginnings of life it is +almost as far removed from the Eozoon reefs of the early Laurentian on +the one hand, as it is from the modern period on the other. The dawn +of life seems to have been a very slow and protracted process, and it +may have required as long a time between the first appearance of +Eozoon and the first of those primordial Trilobites which the next +period will introduce to our notice, as between these and the advent +of Adam. Perhaps no lesson is more instructive then this as to the +length of the working days of the Almighty. + +Another lesson lies ready for us in these same facts. Theoretically, +plants should have preceded animals; and this also is the assertion of +the first chapter of Genesis; but the oldest fossil certainly known to +us is an animal. What if there were still earlier plants, whose +remains are still to be discovered? For my own part, I can see no +reason to despair of the discovery of an _Eophytic_ period preceding +the Eozoic; perhaps preceding it through ages of duration to us almost +immeasurable, though still within the possible time of the existence +of the crust of the earth. It is even possible that in a warm and +humid condition of the atmosphere, before it had been caused "to rain +upon the earth" and when dense "mists ascended from the earth and +watered the whole surface of the ground,"[E] vegetation may have +attained to a profusion and grandeur unequalled in the periods whose +flora is known to us. + +[E] Genesis ii. 5. For a description of this Eophytic period of +Genesis, see the Author's "Archaia," pp. 160 _et seq._ + +But while Eozoon thus preaches of progress and of development, it has +a tale to tell of unity and sameness Just as Eozoon lived in the +Laurentian sea, and was preserved for us by the infiltration of its +canals with siliceous mineral matters, so its successors and +representatives have gone on through all the ages accumulating +limestone in the sea bottom. To-day they are as active as they were +then, and are being fossilised in the same way. The English chalk and +the chalky modern mud of the Atlantic sea-bed, are precisely similar +in origin to the Eozoic limestones. There is also a strange +parallelism in the fact that in the modern seas Foraminifera can live +under conditions of deprivation of light and vital air, and of +enormous pressure, under which few organisms of greater complexity +could exist, and that in like manner Eozoon could live in seas which +were perhaps as yet unfit for most other forms of life. + +It has been attempted to press the Eozoic Foraminifers into the +service of those theories of evolution which would deduce the animals +of one geological period by descent with modification from those of +another; but it must be confessed that Eozoon proves somewhat +intractable in this connection. In the first place, the creature is +the grandest of his class, both in form and structure; and if, on the +hypothesis of derivation, it has required the whole lapse of +geological time to disintegrate Eozoon into Orbulina, Globigerina, +and other comparatively simple Foraminifers of the modern seas, it may +have taken as long, probably much longer, to develop Eozoon from such +simple forms in antecedent periods. Time fails for such a process. +Again, the deep sea has been the abode of Foraminifers from the first. +In this deep sea they have continued to live without improvement, and +with little material change. How little likely is it that in less +congenial abodes they could have improved into higher grades of being; +especially since we know that the result in actual fact of any such +struggle for existence is merely the production of depauperated +Foraminifers? Further, there is no link of connection known to us +between Eozoon and any of the animals of the succeeding Primordial, +which are nearly all essentially new types, vastly more different from +Eozoon then it is from many modern creatures. Any such connection is +altogether imaginary and unsupported by proof. The laws of creation +actually illustrated by this primeval animal are only these: First, +that there has been a progress in creation from few, low, and +generalised types of life to more numerous, higher, and more +specialised types; and secondly, that every type, low or high, was +introduced at first in its best and highest form, and was, as a type, +subject to degeneracy, and to partial or total replacement by higher +types subsequently introduced. I do not mean that we could learn all +this from Eozoon alone; but that, rightly considered, it illustrates +these laws, which we gather from the subsequent progress of the +creative work. As to the mystery of the origin of living beings from +dead matter, or any changes which they may have undergone after their +creation, it is absolutely silent. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PRIMORDIAL, OR CAMBRIAN AGE. + + +Between the time when _Eozoon Canadense_ flourished in the seas of the +Laurentian period, and the age which we have been in the habit of +calling Primordial, or Cambrian, a great gap evidently exists in our +knowledge of the succession of life on both of the continents, +representing a vast lapse of time, in which the beds of the Upper +Laurentian were deposited, and in which the Laurentian sediments were +altered, contorted, and upheaved, before another immense series of +beds, the Huronian, or Lower Cambrian, was formed in the bottom of the +sea. Eozoon and its companions occur in the Lower Laurentian. The +Upper Laurentian has afforded no evidence of life; and even those +conditions from which we could infer life are absent. The Lowest +Cambrian, as we shall see, presents only a few traces of living +beings. Still, the physical history of this interval must have been +most important. The wide level bottom of the Laurentian sea was broken +up and thrown into those bold ridges which were to constitute the +nuclei of the existing continents. Along the borders of these new-made +lands intense volcanic eruptions broke forth, producing great +quantities of lava and scoriæ and huge beds of conglomerate and +volcanic ash, which are characteristic features of the older Cambrian +in both hemispheres. Such conditions, undoubtedly not favourable to +life, seem to have prevailed, and extended their influence very +widely, so that the sediments of this period are among the most barren +in fossils of any in the crust of the earth. If any quiet undisturbed +spots existed in which the Lower Laurentian life could be continued +and extended in preparation for the next period, we have yet +discovered few of them. The experience of other geological periods +would, however, entitle us to look for such oases in the Lower +Cambrian desert, and to expect to find there some connecting links +between the life of the Eozoic and the very dissimilar fauna of the +Primordial. + +The western hemisphere, where the Laurentian is so well represented, +is especially unproductive in fossils of the immediately succeeding +period. The only known exception is the occurrence of Eozoon and of +apparent casts of worm-burrows in rocks at Madoc in Canada, overlying +the Laurentian, and believed to be of Huronian age, and certain +obscure fossils of uncertain affinities, recently detected by Mr. +Billings, in rocks supposed to be of this age, in Newfoundland. Here, +however, the European series comes in to give us some small help. +Gümbel has described in Bavaria a great series of gneissic rocks +corresponding to the Laurentian, or at least to the lower part of it; +above these are what he calls the Hercynian mica-slate and primitive +clay-slate, in the latter of which he finds a peculiar species of +Eozoon, which he names _Eozoon Bavaricum_. In England also the +Longmynd groups of rocks in Shropshire and in Wales appears to be the +immediate successor to the Upper Laurentian; and it has afforded some +obscure "worm-burrows" or, perhaps, casts of sponges or fucoids, with +a small shell of the genus _Lingulella_, and also fragments of +crustaceans (_Palæeopyge_). The "Fucoid Sandstones" of Sweden, +believed to be of similar age, afford traces of marine plants and +burrows of worms, while the Harlech beds of Wales have afforded to Mr. +Hicks a considerable number of fossil animals, not very dissimilar +from those of the Upper Cambrian. If these rocks are really the next +in order to the Eozoic, they show a marked advance in life immediately +on the commencement of the Primordial period. In Ireland, the curious +Oldhamia, noticed below, appears to occur in rocks equally old. As we +ascend, however, into the Middle and Upper parts of the Cambrian, the +Menevian and Lingula flag-beds of Britain, and their equivalents in +Bohemia and Scandinavia, and the Acadian and Potsdam groups of +America, we find a rich and increasing abundance of animal remains, +constituting the first Primordial fauna of Barrande. + +The rocks of the Primordial are principally sandy and argillaceous, +forming flags and slates, without thick limestones, and often through +great thicknesses, very destitute of organic remains, but presenting +some layers, especially in their upward extension, crowded with +fossils. These are no longer mere Protozoa, but include +representatives of all the great groups of animals which yet exist, +except the vertebrates. We shall not attempt any systematic +classification of these; but, casting our dredge and tow-net into the +Primordial sea, examine what we collect, rather in the order of +relative abundance then of classification. + +Over great breadths of the sea bottom we find vast numbers of little +bivalve shells of the form and size of a finger-nail, fastened by +fleshy peduncles imbedded in the sand or mud; and thus anchored, +collecting their food by a pair of fringed arms from the minute +animals and plants which swarm in the surrounding waters. These are +the _Lingulæ_, from the abundance of which some of the Primordial beds +have received in England and Wales the name of Lingula flags. In +America, in like manner, in some beds near St. John, New Brunswick, +the valves of these shells are so abundant as to constitute at least +half of the material of the bed; and alike in Europe and America, +Lingula and allied forms are among the most abundant Primordial +fossils. The Lingulæ are usually reckoned to belong to the great +sub-kingdom of mollusks, which includes all the bivalve and univalve +shell-fish, and several other groups of creatures; but an able +American naturalist, Mr. Morse, has recently shown that they have many +points of resemblance to the worms; and thus, perhaps, constitute one +of those curious old-fashioned "comprehensive" types, as they have +been called, which present resemblances to groups of creatures, in +more modern times quite distinct from each other. He has also found +that the modern Lingulæ are very tenacious of life, and capable of +suiting themselves to different circumstances, a fact which, perhaps, +has some connection with their long persistence in geological time. +They are in any case members of the group of lamp-shells, creatures +specially numerous and important in the earlier geological ages. + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--LIFE IN THE PRIMORDIAL SEA. + +On the bottom are seen, proceeding from left to right, _Oldhamia +antiqua_, _Lingulæ_, _Arenicolæ_, _Oldhamia radiata_, _Paradoxides_, +_Histioderma_, _Agnostus_, _Oldhamia radiata_, _Algæ_, and _Lingulæ_. +In the water are _Hymenocaris_, different species of _Trilobites_, and +_Pteropods_.] + +The Lingulæ are especially interesting as examples of a type of beings +continued almost from the dawn of life until now; for their shells, as +they exist in the Primordial, are scarcely distinguishable from those +of members of the genus which still live. While other tribes of +animals have run through a great number of different forms, these +little creatures remain the same. Another interesting point is a most +curious chemical relation of the Lingula, with reference to the +material of its shell. The shells of mollusks generally, and even of +the ordinary lamp-shells, are hardened by common limestone or +carbonate of lime: the rarer substance, phosphate of lime, is in +general restricted to the formation of the bones of the higher +animals. In the case of the latter, this relation depends apparently +on the fact that the albuminous substances on which animals are +chiefly nourished require for their formation the presence of +phosphates in the plant. Hence the animal naturally obtains phosphate +of lime or bone-earth with its food, and its system is related to this +chemical fact in such wise that phosphate of lime is a most +appropriate and suitable material for its teeth and bones. Now, in the +case of the lower animals of the sea, their food, not being of the +nature of the richer land plants, but consisting mainly of minute algæ +and of animals which prey on these, furnishes, not phosphate of lime, +but carbonate. An exception to this occurs in the case of certain +animals of low grade, sponges, etc., which, feeding on minute plants +with siliceous cell-walls, assimilate the flinty matter and form a +siliceous skeleton. But this is an exception of downward tendency, in +which these animals approach to plants of low grade. The exception in +the case of Lingulæ is in the other direction. It gives to these +humble creatures the same material for their hard parts which is +usually restricted to animals of much higher rank. The purpose of this +arrangement, whether in relation to the cause of the deviation from +the ordinary rule or its utility to the animal itself, remains +unknown. It has, however, been ascertained by Dr. Hunt, who first +observed the fact in the case of the Primordial Lingulæ, that their +modern successors coincide with them, and differ from their +contemporaries among the mollusks in the same particular. This may +seem a trifling matter, but it shows in this early period the +origination of the difference still existing in the materials of which +animals construct their skeletons, and also the wonderful persistence +of the Lingulæ, through all the geological ages, in the material of +their shells. This is the more remarkable, in connection with our own +very slender acquaintance with the phenomenon, in relation either to +its efficient or final causes. + +Before leaving the Lingulæ, I may mention that Mr. Morse informs me +that living specimens, when detached from their moorings, can creep +like worms, leaving long furrows on the sand, and that they can also +construct sand-tubes wherein to shelter themselves. This shows that +some of the abundant "worm burrows" of the Primordial may have been +the work of these curious little shell-fishes, as well as, perhaps, +some of the markings which have been described under the name of +_Eophyton_, and have been supposed, I think incorrectly, to be remains +of land plants. + +In addition to Lingula we may obtain, though rarely, lamp-shells of +another type, that of the Orthids, These have the valves hinged along +a straight line, in the middle of which is a notch for the peduncle, +and the valves are often marked with ribs or striae. The Orthids were +content with limestone for their shells, and apparently lived in the +same circumstances with the Lingulæ; and in the period succeeding the +Primordial they became far more abundant. Yet they perished at an +early stage of the world's progress, and have no representatives in +the modern seas. + +In many parts of the Primordial ocean the muddy bottom swarmed with +crustaceans, relatives of our shrimps and lobsters, but of a form +which differs so much from these modern shell-fishes that the +question of their affinities has long been an unsettled one with +zoologists. Hundreds of species are known, some almost microscopic in +size, others a foot in length. All are provided with a broad flat +horseshoe-shaped head-plate, which, judging from its form and a +comparison with the modern king-crabs or horseshoe-crabs, must have +been intended as a sort of mud-plough to enable them to excavate +burrows or hide themselves in the slimy ooze of the ocean bed. On the +sides of this buckler are placed the prominent eyes, furnished with +many separate lenses, on precisely the same plan with those of modern +crustaceans and insects, and testifying, as Buckland long ago pointed +out, to the identity of the action of light in the ancient and the +modern seas. The body was composed of numerous segments, each divided +transversely into three lobes, whence they have received the name of +_Trilobites_, and the whole articulated, so that the creature could +roll itself into a ball, like the modern slaters or wood-lice, which +are not very distant relatives of these old crustaceans.[F] The limbs +of Trilobites were long unknown, and it was even doubted whether they +had any; but recent discoveries have shown that they had a series of +flat limbs useful both for swimming and creeping. The Trilobites, +under many specific and generic forms, range from the Primordial to +the Carboniferous rocks, but are altogether wanting in the more recent +formations and in the modern seas. The Trilobites lived on muddy +bottoms, and their remains are extremely abundant in shaly and slaty +beds, though found also in limestone and sandstone. In the latter they +have left most curious traces of their presence in the trails which +they have produced. Some of the most ancient sandstones have their +surfaces covered with rows of punctured impressions (_Protichnites_, +first footprints), others have strange series of transverse grooves +with longitudinal ones at the side (_Climactichnites_, ladder +footprints); others are oval burrows, marked with transverse lines and +a ridge along the middle (_Rusichnites_, wrinkle footprints). All of +these so nearly resemble the trails and tracks of modern king-crabs +that there can be little doubt as to their origin. Many curious +striated grooves and bifid marks, found on the surfaces of Primordial +beds, and which have been described as plants, are probably only the +marks of the oral organs or feet of these and similar creatures, which +passed their lives in grubbing for food in the soft, slimy ooze, +though they could, no doubt, like the modern king-crabs, swim when +necessary. Some still more shrimp-like creatures, Hymenocaris, which +are found with them, certainly had this power. + +[F] Woodward has recently suggested affinities of Trilobites with the +Isopods or equal-footed crustaceans, on the evidence of a remarkable +specimen with remains of feet described by Billings. + +A lower type of annulose or ringed animal then that of the Trilobites, +is that of the worms. These creatures cannot be preserved in a fossil +state, except in the case of those which inhabit calcareous tubes: +but the marks which their jointed bodies and numerous side-bristles +leave on the sand and mud may, when buried under succeeding sediments, +remain; and extensive surfaces of very old rocks are marked in this +way, either with cylindrical burrows or curious trails with side +scratches looking like pinnate leaves. These constitute the genus +_Crusiana_, while others of more ordinary form belong to the genus +_Arenicolites_, so named from the common Arenicola, or lobworm, whose +burrows they are supposed to resemble. Markings referable to seaweed +also occur in the Primordial rocks, and also some grotesque and almost +inexplicable organisms known as _Oldhamia_, which have been chiefly +found in the Primordial of Ireland. One of the most common forms +consists of a series of apparently jointed threads disposed in +fan-like clusters on a central stem (_Oldhamia antiqua_). Another has +a wider and simpler fan-like arrangement of filaments. These have been +claimed by botanists as algæ, and have been regarded by zoologists as +minute Zoophytes, while some more sceptical have supposed that they +may be mere inorganic wrinklings of the beds. This last view does not, +however, seem tenable. They are, perhaps, the predecessors of the +curious _Graptolites_, which we shall have to represent in the +Silurian. + +Singularly enough, Foraminifera, the characteristic fossils of the +Laurentian, have been little recognised in the Primordial, nor are +there any limestones known so massive as those of the former series. +There are, however, a number of remarkable organisms, which have +usually been described as sponges, but are more probably partly of the +nature of sponges and partly of that of Foraminifera. Of this kind are +some of the singular conical fossils described by Billings as +_Archæocyathus_, and found in the Primordial limestone of Labrador. +They are hollow within, with radiating pores and plates, calcareous in +some, and in others with siliceous spicules like those of modern +sponges. Some of them are several inches in diameter, and they must +have grown rooted in muddy bottoms, in the manner of some of the +deep-sea sponges of modern times. One species at least of these +creatures was a true Foraminifer, allied, though somewhat distantly, +to Eozoon. In some parts of the Primordial sandstones, curious +funnel-shaped casts in sand occur, sometimes marked with spiral lines. +The name _Histioderma_ has been given to some of these, and they have +been regarded as mouths of worm-burrows. Others of larger size have +been compared to inverted stumps of trees. If they were produced by +worms, some of these must have been of gigantic size, but Billings has +recently suggested that they may be casts of sponges that lived like +some modern species imbedded in the sand. In accordance with this view +I have represented these curious objects in the engraving, On the +whole, the life of these oldest Palæozoic rocks is not very abundant; +but there are probably representatives of three of the great +subdivisions of animals or, as some would reckon them, of four the +Protozoa, the Radiata (Coelenterata), the Mollusca, and the Annulosa. +And it is most interesting thus to find in these very old rocks the +modern subdivisions of animals already represented, and these by types +some of them nearly allied to existing inhabitants of the seas I have +endeavoured in the engraving to represent some of the leading forms of +marine life in this ancient period. + +Perhaps one of the most interesting discoveries in these rocks is that +of rain-marks and shrinkage-cracks, in some of the very oldest +beds--those of the Longmynd in Shropshire. On the modern muddy beach +any ordinary observer is familiar with the cracks produced by the +action of the sun and air on the dried surfaces left by the tides. +Such cracks, covered by the waters of a succeeding tide, may be buried +in newer silt, and once preserved in this way are imperishable. In +like manner, the pits left by passing showers of rain on the mud +recently left bare by the tide may, when the mud has dried, become +sufficiently firm to be preserved. In this way we have rain-marks of +various geological ages; but the oldest known are those of the +Longmynd, where they are associated both with ripple-marks and +shrinkage-cracks. We thus have evidence of the action of tides, of +sun, and of rain, in these ancient periods just as in the present day. +Were there no land animals to prowl along the low tidal flats in +search of food? Were there no herbs or trees to drink in the rains and +flourish in the sunshine? If there were, no bone or footprint on the +shore, or drifted leaf or branch, has yet revealed their existence to +the eyes of geologists The beds of the Primordial age exist in +England, in Bohemia, in Sweden and Norway, and also in North America. +They appear to have been deposited along the shores of the old +Laurentian continent, and probably some of them indicate very deep +water. The Primordial rocks are in many parts of the world altered and +hardened. They have often assumed a slaty structure, and their +bedding, and the fossils which they contain, are both affected by +this. The usual view entertained as to what is called slaty structure +is, that it depends on pressure, acting on more or less compressible +material in some direction usually different from that of the bedding. +Such pressure has the effect of arranging all the flat particles as +scales of mica, etc. in planes parallel to the compressing surface. +Hence, if much material of this kind is present in the sediment, the +whole rock assumes a fissile character causing it to split readily +into thin plates. That such yielding to pressure has actually taken +place is seen very distinctly in microscopic sections of some slaty +rocks, which often show not only a laminated structure, but an actual +crumpling on a small scale, causing them to assume almost the aspect +of woody fibre. Such rocks often remind a casual observer of decaying +trunks of trees, and sections of them under the microscope show the +most minute and delicate crumpling. It is also proved by the condition +of the fossils the beds contain. These are often distorted, so that +some of them are lengthened and others shortened, and if specimens +were selected with, that view, it would be quite easy to suppose that +those lengthened by distortion are of different species from those +distorted so as to be shortened. Slaty cleavage and distortion are +not, however, confined to Primordial rocks, but occur in altered +sediments of various ages. + +The Primordial sediments must have at one time been very widely +distributed, and must have filled up many of the inequalities produced +by the rending and contortion of the Laurentian beds. Their thicker +and more massive portions are, however, necessarily along the borders +of the Laurentian continents, and as they in their turn were raised up +into land, they became exposed to the denuding action first of the +sea, and afterwards of the rain and rivers, and were so extensively +wasted away that only in a few regions do large areas of them remain +visible. That of Bohemia has afforded to Barrande a great number of +most interesting fossils. The rocks of St. David's in Wales, those of +Shropshire in England, and those of Wicklow in Ireland are also of +great interest; and next to these in importance are, perhaps, the +Huronian and Acadian groups of North America, in which continent--as +for example in Nova Scotia and in some parts of New England--there are +extensive areas of old metamorphic rocks whose age has not been +determined by fossils, but which may belong to this period. + +The question of division lines of formations is one much agitated in +the case of the Cambrian rocks. Whether certain beds are to be called +Cambrian or Silurian has been a point greatly controverted; and the +terms Primordial and Primordial Silurian have been used as means to +avoid the raising of this difficulty. Many of our division lines in +geology are arbitrary and conventional, and this may be the case with +that between the Primordial and Silurian, the one age graduating into +the other. There appears to be, however, the best reason to recognise +a distinct Cambrian period, preceding the two great periods, those of +the second and third faunas of Barrande, to which the term Silurian is +usually applied. On the other hand, in so far as our knowledge extends +at present, a strongly marked line of separation exists between the +Laurentian and Primordial, the latter resting on the edges of the +former, which seems then to have been as much altered as now. Still a +break of this kind may be, perhaps must be, merely local; and may vary +in amount. Thus, in some places we find rocks of Silurian and later +ages resting directly on the Laurentian, without the intervention of +the Primordial. In any case, where a line of coast is steadily +sinking, each succeeding deposit will overlap that which went before; +and this seems to have been the case with the Laurentian shore when +the Primordial and Silurian were being deposited. Hence over large +spaces the Primordial is absent, being probably buried up, except +where exposed by denudation at the margin of the two formations. + +This occurs in several parts of Canada, while the Laurentian rocks +have evidently been subjected to metamorphism and long-continued +weathering before the Lower Silurian were deposited; and in some +cases the latter rest on weather-worn and pitted surfaces, and are +filled with angular bits of the underlying rock, as well as with +drift-shells which have been cast on these old Laurentian shores; +while in other cases the Silurian rests on smooth water-worn +Laurentian rocks, and is filled at the junction with well-rounded +pebbles and grains of sand which have evidently been subjected to a +more thorough attrition then those of the present beach. With respect +to the line of division between the Primordial and the next succeeding +rocks, it will be seen that important movements of the continents +occurred at the close of the Cambrian, and in some places the Cambrian +rocks have been much disturbed before the deposition of the Lower +Silurian. + +Seated on some ancient promontory of the Laurentian, and looking over +the plain which, in the Primordial and Lower Silurian periods was the +sea, I have often wished for some shred of vegetable matter to tell +what lived on that land when the Primordial surf beat upon its shore, +and washed up the Trilobites and Brachiopods of those old seas; but no +rock has yet taken up its parable to reveal the secret, and the +Primordial is vocal only with the old story: "And God said, Let the +waters swarm with swarming living things, and it was so." So our +picture of the period may represent a sea-bottom swarming with animals +of low grade, some sessile, some locomotive; and we may merely suppose +a distant shore with vegetation dimly seen, and active volcanoes; but +a shore on which no foot of naturalist has yet trod to scan its +productions. Very different estimates have been formed of the amount +of life in this period, according to the position given to its latest +limit. Taking some of the more modern views of this subject, we might +have included among the Primordial animals many additional creatures, +which we prefer noticing in the Silurian, since it may at least be +affirmed that their head-quarters were in that age, even if they had a +beginning in the Primordial. It may be interesting here, however, to +note the actual amount of life known to us in this period, taken in +its largest scope. In doing this, I shall take advantage of an +interesting table given by Dr. Bigsby,[G] and representing the state +of knowledge in 1868, and shall group the species in such a manner as +to indicate the relative abundance of distinct types of structure. We +find then-- + + Plants (all, or nearly all, supposed to be + sea-weeds, and some, probably, mere tracks + or trails of animals) 22 species. + + Sponges, and similar creatures 27 " + + Corals and their allies 6 " + + Starfishes and their allies 4 " + + Worms 29 " + + Trilobites and other crustaceans 442 " + + Lamp-shells and other molluscoids 193 " + + Common bivalve mollusks 12 " + + Common univalve mollusks and their allies 172 " + + Higher mollusks, nautili, cuttle-fishes, etc. 65 " + --- + In all 972 " + +[G] "Thesaurus Siluricus." + +Now in this enumeration we observe, in the first place, a +representation of all the lower or invertebrate groups of the waters. +We have next the remarkable fact that the Radiata of Cuvier, the +lowest and most plant-like of the marine animals, are comparatively +slenderly represented, yet that there are examples of their higher as +well as of their lower forms. We have the further fact that the +crustaceans, the highest marine animals of the annulose type, are +predominant in the waters; and that in the mollusks the highest and +lowest groups are most plentiful, the middle less so. The whole number +of species is small, and this may arise either from our having here +reached an early period in the history of life, or from our +information being defective. Both are probably true. Still, of the +animals known, we cannot say that the proportions of the different +kinds depend on defective knowledge. There is no reason, for example, +why corals should not have been preserved as well as Trilobites, or +why Brachiopods should have been preserved rather then ordinary +bivalves. The proportions, therefore, it may be more safe to reason +from then the aggregate. In looking at these proportions, and +comparing them with those of modern seas, we are struck with the great +number of species representing some types either now extinct or +comparatively rare: the Trilobites and Brachiopods more particularly. +We are astonished at the enormous preponderance of these two groups, +and especially of the Trilobites. Further, we observe that while some +forms, like Lingula and Nautilus, have persisted down to modern +times, others, like the Trilobites and Orthids, perished very early. +In all this we can dimly perceive a fitness of living things to +physical conditions, a tendency to utilise each type to the limit of +its capacities for modification, and then to abandon it for something +higher; a tendency of low types to appear first, but to appear in +their highest perfection and variety; a sudden apparition of totally +diverse plans of structure subserving similar ends simultaneously with +each other, as for instance those of the Mollusk and the Crustacean; +the appearance of optical and mechanical contrivances, as for example +the compound eyes of the Trilobite and the swimming float of the +Orthoceras, in all their perfection at first, just as they continue to +this day in creatures of similar grade. That these and other similar +things point to a uniform and far-reaching plan, no rational mind can +doubt; and if the world had stopped short in the Primordial period, +and attained to no further development, this would have been +abundantly apparent; though it shines forth more and more +conspicuously in each succeeding page of the stony record. How far +such unity and diversity can be explained by the modern philosophy of +a necessary and material evolution out of mere death and physical +forces, and how far it requires the intervention of a Creative mind, +are questions which we may well leave with the thoughtful reader, till +we have traced this history somewhat further. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE LOWER AND UPPER SILURIAN AGES. + + +By English geologists, the great series of formations which succeeds +to the Cambrian is usually included under the name Silurian System, +first proposed by Sir Roderick Murchison. It certainly, however, +consists of two distinct groups, holding the second and third faunas +of Barrande. The older of the two, usually called the Lower Silurian, +is the Upper Cambrian of Sedgwick, and may properly be called the +_Siluro-Cambrian_. The newer is the true Silurian, or Silurian +proper--the Upper Silurian of Murchison. We shall in this chapter, for +convenience, consider both in connection, using occasionally the term +Lower Silurian as equivalent to Siluro-Cambrian. The Silurian presents +us with a definite physical geography, for the northern hemisphere at +least; and this physical geography is a key to the life conditions of +the time. The North American continent, from its great unbroken area, +affords, as usual, the best means of appreciating this. In this period +the northern currents, acting perhaps in harmony with old Laurentian +outcrops, had deposited in the sea two long submarine ridges, running +to the southward from the extreme ends of the Laurentian nucleus, and +constituting the foundations of the present ridges of the Rocky +Mountains and the Alleghanies. Between these the extensive triangular +area now constituting the greater part of North America, was a shallow +oceanic plateau, sheltered from the cold polar currents by the +Laurentian land on the north, and separated by the ridges already +mentioned from the Atlantic and Pacific. It was on this great plateau +of warm and sheltered ocean that what we call the Silurian fauna +lived; while of the creatures that inhabited the depths of the great +bounding oceans, whose abysses must have been far deeper and at a much +lower temperature, we know little. During the long Silurian periods, +it is true, the great American plateau underwent many revolutions, +sometimes being more deeply submerged, and having clear water tenanted +by vast numbers of corals and shell-fishes, at others rising so as to +become shallow and to receive deposits of sand and mud; but it was +always distinct from the oceanic area without. In Europe, in like +manner, there seems to have been a great internal plateau bounded by +the embryo hills of Western Europe on the west, and harbouring a very +similar assemblage of creatures to those existing in America. + +Further, during these long periods there were great changes, from a +fauna of somewhat primordial type up to a new order of things in the +Upper Silurian, tending toward the novelties which were introduced in +the succeeding Devonian and Carboniferous. We may, in the first place, +sketch these changes as they occurred on the two great continental +plateaus, noting as we proceed such hints as can be obtained with +reference to the more extensive oceanic spaces. + +Before the beginning of the age, both plateaus seem to have been +invaded by sandy and muddy sediments charged at some periods and +places with magnesian limestone; and these circumstances were not +favourable to the existence or preservation of organic remains. Such +are the Potsdam and Calciferous beds of America and the Tremadoc and +Llandeilo beds of England. The Potsdam and Tremadoc are by their +fossils included in the Cambrian, and may at least be regarded as +transition groups. It is further to be observed, in the case of these +beds, that if we begin at the west side of Europe and proceed +easterly, or at the east side of America and proceed westerly, they +become progressively thinner, the greater amount of material being +deposited at the edges of the future continents; just as on the sides +of a muddy tideway the flats are higher, and the more coarse sediment +deposited near the margin of the channel, and fine mud is deposited at +a greater distance and in thinner beds. The cause, however, on the +great scale of the Atlantic, was somewhat different, ancient ridges +determining the border of the channel. This statement holds good not +only of these older beds, but of the whole of the Silurian, and of the +succeeding Devonian and Carboniferous, all deposited on these same +plateaus. Thus, in the case of the Silurian in England and Wales, the +whole series is more then 20,000 feet thick, but in Russia, it is +less then 1,000 feet. In the eastern part of America the thickness is +estimated at quite as great an amount as in Europe, while in the +region of the Mississippi the Silurian rocks are scarcely thicker then +in Russia, and consist in great part of limestones and fine sediments, +the sandstones and conglomerates thinning out rapidly eastward of the +Appalachian Mountains. + +In both plateaus the earlier period of coarse accumulations was +succeeded by one in which was clear water depositing little earthy +sediment, and this usually fine; and in which the sea swarmed with +animal life, from the _débris_ of which enormous beds of limestone +were formed the Trenton limestone of America and the Bala limestone of +Europe. The fossils of this part of the series open up to us the +head-quarters of Lower Silurian life, the second great fauna of +Barrande, that of the Upper Cambrian of Sedgwick; and in America more +especially, the Trenton and its associated limestones can be traced +over forty degrees of longitude; and throughout the whole of this +space its principal beds are composed entirely of comminuted corals, +shells, and crinoids, and studded with organisms of the same kinds +still retaining their forms. Out of these seas, in the European area, +arose in places volcanic islets, like those of the modern Pacific. + +In the next succeeding era the clear waters became again invaded with +muddy and sandy sediments, in various alternations, and with +occasional bands of limestone, constituting the Caradoc beds of +Britain and the Utica and Hudson River groups of America. During the +deposition of these, the abounding life of the Siluro-Cambrian +plateaus died away, and a middle group of sandstones and shales, the +Oneida and Medina of America and the Mayhill of England, form the base +of the Upper Silurian. + +But what was taking place meanwhile in the oceanic areas separating +our plateaus? These were identical with the basins of the Atlantic and +Pacific, which already existed in this period as depressions of the +earth's crust, perhaps not so deep as at present. As to the deposits +in their deeper portions we know nothing; but on the margin of the +Atlantic area are some rocks which give us at least a little +information. + +In the later part of the Cambrian period the enormous thickness of the +Quebec group of North America appears to represent a broad stripe of +deep water parallel to the eastern edge of the American plateau, and +in which an immense thickness of beds of sand and mud was deposited +with very few fossils, except in particular beds, and these of a more +primordial aspect then those of the plateau itself. These rocks no +doubt represent the margin of a deep Atlantic area, over which cold +currents destructive of life were constantly passing, and in which +great quantities of sand and mud, swept from the icy regions of the +North, were continually being laid. The researches of Dr. Carpenter +and Dr. Wyville Thomson show us that there are at present cold areas +in the deeper parts of the Atlantic, on the European side, as we have +long known that they exist at less depths on the American side; and +these same researches, with the soundings on the American banks, show +that sand and gravel may be deposited not merely on shallows, but in +the depths of the ocean, provided that these depths are pervaded by +cold and heavy currents capable of eroding the bottom, and of moving +coarse material. The Quebec group in Canada and the United States, and +the metalliferous Lower Silurian rocks of Nova Scotia and +Newfoundland, destitute of great marine limestones and coral reefs, +evidently represent deep and cold-water areas on the border of the +Atlantic plateau. + +At a later period, the beginning of the Upper Silurian, the richly +fossiliferous and exceptional deposits of the Island of Anticosti, +formed in the deep hollow of the Gulf of St. Laurence, show that when +the plateau had become shallowed up by deposition and elevation, and +converted into desolate sand-banks, the area of abundant life was +transferred to the still deep Atlantic basin and its bordering bays, +in which the forms of Lower Silurian life continued to exist until +they were mixed up with those of the Upper Silurian. + +If we turn now to these latter rocks, and inquire as to their +conditions on our two great plateaus, we shall find a repetition of +changes similar to those which occurred in the times preceding. The +sandy shallows of the earlier part of this period give place to wide +oceanic areas similar to those of the Lower Silurian; In these we find +vast and thick coral and shell limestones, the Wenlock of England and +Niagara of America, as rich in life as the limestones of the Lower +Silurian, and with the generic and family forms similar, but the +species for the most part different. In America these limestones were +followed by a singularly shallow condition of the plateau, in which +the surface was so raised as at times to be converted into separate +salt lakes in which beds of salt were deposited. On both plateaus +there were alternations of oceanic and shallow conditions, under which +the Lower Helderberg and Ludlow beds, the closing members of the +Silurian, were laid down. Of the Atlantic beds of this period we know +little, except that the great limestones appear to be wanting, and to +be replaced by sandy and muddy deposits, in some parts at least of the +margins of the area. In some portions also of the plateaus and their +margins, extensive volcanic outbursts seem to have occurred; so that +the American plateau presented, at least in parts, the aspect of a +coral sea with archipelagos of volcanic islands, the ejections from +which became mixed with the aqueous deposits forming around them. + +Having thus traced the interesting series of geographical conditions +indicated by the Silurian series, we may next take our station on one +of the submerged plateaus, and inquire as to the new forms of life now +introduced to our notice; and in doing so shall include the life of +both the Lower and Upper Silurian. + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Fragment of Lower Silurian Limestone, sliced +and magnified ten diameters, showing the manner in which it is made up +of fragments of corals, crinoids, and shells. (From a paper oil the +Microscopic Structure of Canadian limestone, "Canadian Naturalist.")] + +First, we may remark the vast abundance and variety of corals. The +polyps, close relatives of the common sea-anemone of our coasts, which +build up our modern coral reefs, were represented in the Silurian seas +by a great number of allied yet different forms, equally effectual in +the great work of secreting carbonate of lime in stony masses, and +therefore in the building-up of continents. Let us note some of the +differences. In the first place, whereas our modern coral-workers can +show us but the topmost pinnacles of their creations, peeping above +the surface of the sea in coral reefs and islands, the work of the +coral animals of the Silurian has been finished, by these limestones +being covered with masses of new sediment consolidated into hard rock, +and raised out of the sea to constitute a part of the dry land. In +the Silurian limestones we thus have, not merely the coral reefs, but +the wide beds of comminuted coral, mixed with the remains of other +animals, which are necessarily accumulated in the ocean bed around the +reefs and islands. Further, these beds, which we might find loose and +unconsolidated in the modern sea, have their fragments closely +cemented together in the old limestones. The nature of this difference +can be well seen by comparing a fragment of modern coral or shell +limestone from Bermuda, with a similar fragment of the Trenton +limestone, both being sliced for examination under the microscope. The +old limestone is black or greyish, the modern one is nearly white, +because in the former the organic matter in the animal fragments has +been carbonised or converted into coaly and bituminous matter. The old +limestone is much more dense and compact, partly because its materials +have been more closely compressed by superincumbent weight, but +chiefly because calcareous matter in solution in water has penetrated +all the interstices, and filled them up with a deposit of crystalline +limestone. In examining a slice, however, under the microscope, it +will be seen that the fragments of corals and other organisms are as +distinct and well preserved as in the crumbling modern rock, except +that they are perfectly imbedded in a paste of clear transparent +limestone, or rather calcareous spar, infiltrated between them. I have +examined great numbers of slices of these limestones, ever with new +wonder at the packing of the organic fragments which they present. The +hard marble-like limestones used for building in the Silurian +districts of Europe and America, are thus in most cases consolidated +masses of organic fragments. + +In the next place, the animals themselves must have differed somewhat +from their modern successors. This we gather from the structure of +their stony cells, which present points of difference indicating +corresponding difference of detail in the soft parts. Zoologists thus +separate the rugose or wrinkled corals and the tabulate or floored +corals of the Silurian from those of the modern seas. The former must +have been more like the ordinary coral animals; the latter were very +peculiar, more especially in the close union of the cells, and in the +transverse floors which they were in the habit of building across +these cells as they grew in height. They presented, however, all the +forms of our modern corals. Some were rounded and massive in form, +others delicate and branching. Some were solitary or detached, others +aggregative in communities. Some had the individual animals large and +probably showy, others had them of microscopic size. Perhaps the most +remarkable of all is the American _Beatricea_,[H] which grew like a +great trunk of a tree twenty feet or more in height, its solitary +animal at the top like a pillar-saint, though no doubt more +appropriate and comfortable; and multitudes of delicate and encrusting +corals clinging like mosses or lichens to its sides. This creature +belongs to the very middle of the Silurian, and must have lived in +great depths, undisturbed by swell or breakers, and sheltering vast +multitudes of other creatures in its stony colonnades. + +[H] First described by Mr. Billings. It has been regarded as a plant, +and as a cephalopod shell; but I believe it was a coral allied to +_Cystiphyllum_. + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--LIFE IN THE SILURIAN AGE. + +On the bottom are seen, proceeding from left to right, Corals +(_Stenopora_ and _Beatricea_) and a Gasteropod; _Orthoceras_; Coral +(_Patria_); Crinoids, _Lingulæ_, and Cystideans; a _Trilobite_ and +_Cyrtolites_. In the water is a large _Pterygotus_, and under it a +_Trinucleus_. Further on, are Cephalopods, a Heteropod, and Fishes. +At the surface, _Phyllograptus_, _Graptolithus_, and _Bellerophon_. +On the Land, _Lepidodendron_, _Psilophyton_, and _Prototaxites_.] + +Lastly, the Silurian corals nourished in latitudes more boreal then +their modern representatives. In both hemispheres as far north as +Silurian limestones have been traced, well-developed corals have been +found. On the great plateaus sheltered by Laurentian ridges to the +north, and exposed to the sun and to the warmer currents of the +equatorial regions, they nourished most grandly and luxuriantly: but +they lived also north of the Laurentian bands in the Arctic Sea +basins, though probably in the shallower and more sheltered parts. +Undoubtedly the geographical arrangements of the Silurian period +contributed to this. We have already seen how peculiarly adapted to an +exuberant marine life were the submerged continents of the period; and +there was probably little Arctic land producing icebergs to chill the +seas. The great Arctic currents, which then as now flowed powerfully +toward the equator, must have clung to the deeper parts of the ocean +basins, while the return waters from the equator would spread +themselves widely over the surface; so that wherever the Arctic Seas +presented areas a little elevated out of the cold water bottom, there +might be suitable abodes for coral animals. It has been supposed that +in the Silurian period the sea might have derived some appreciable +heat from the crust of the earth below, and astronomical conditions +have been suggested as tending to produce changes of climate; but it +is evident that whatever weight may be due to these causes, the +observed geographical conditions are sufficient to account for the +facts of the case. It is also to be observed, that we cannot safely +infer the requirements as to temperature of Silurian coral animals +from those of the tenants of the modern ocean. In the modern seas many +forms of life thrive best and grow to the greatest size in the colder +seas; and in the later tertiary period there were elephants and +rhinoceroses sufficiently hardy to endure the rigours of an Arctic +climate. So there may have been in the Silurian seas corals of much +less delicate constitution then those now living. + +Next to the corals we may place the crinoids, or +stone-lilies--creatures abounding throughout the Silurian seas, and +realizing a new creative idea, to be expanded in subsequent geological +time into all the multifarious types of star-fishes and sea-urchins. A +typical crinoid, such as the _Glyptocrinus_ of the Lower Silurian, +consists of a flexible jointed stem, sometimes several feet in length, +composed of short cylindrical discs, curiously articulated together, a +box-like body on top made up of polygonal pieces attached to each +other at the edges, and five radiating jointed arms furnished with +branches and branchlets, or fringes, all articulated and capable of +being flexed in any direction. Such a creature has more the aspect of +a flower then of an animal; yet it is really an animal, and subsists +by collecting with its arms and drifting into its mouth minute +creatures floating in the water. Another group, less typical, but +abundantly represented in the Silurian seas, is that of the +Cystideans, in which the body is sack-like, and the arms few and +sometimes attached to the body. They resemble the young or larvæ of +crinoids. In the modern seas the crinoids are extremely few, though +dredging in very deep water has recently added to the number of known +species; but in the Silurian period they had their birth, and attained +to a number and perfection not afterwards surpassed. Perhaps the +stone-lilies of the Upper Silurian rocks of Dudley, in England, are +the most beautiful of Palæozoic animals. Judging from the immense +quantities of their remains in some limestones, wide areas of the sea +bottom must have been crowded with their long stalks and flower-like +bodies, presenting vast submarine fields of these stony water-lilies. + +Passing over many tribes of mollusks, continued or extended from the +Primordial--and merely remarking that the lamp-shells and the ordinary +bivalve and univalve shell-fishes are all represented largely, more +especially the former group, in the Silurian--we come to the highest +of the Mollusca, represented in our seas by the cuttle-fishes and +nautili, creatures which, like the crinoids, may be said to have had +their birth in the Silurian, and to have there attained to some of +their grandest forms. The modern pearly nautilus shell, well known in +every museum, is beautifully coiled in a disc-like form, and when +sliced longitudinally shows a series of partitions dividing it into +chambers, air-tight, and serving as a float to render the body of the +creature independent of the force of gravity. As the animal grows it +retracts its body toward the front of the shell, and forms new +partitions, so that the buoyancy of the float always corresponds with +the weight of the animal; while by the expansion and contraction of +the body and removal of water from a tube or syphon which traverses +the chambers, or the injection of additional water, slight differences +can be effected, rendering the creature a very little lighter or +heavier then the medium in which it swims. Thus practically delivered +from the encumbrance of weight, and furnished with long flexible arms +provided with suckers, with great eyes and a horny beak, the nautilus +becomes one of the tyrants of the deep, creeping on the bottom or +swimming on the surface at will, and everywhere preying on whatever +animals it can master. Fortunately for us, as well as for the more +feeble inhabitants of the sea, the nautili are not of great size, +though some of their allies, the cuttle-fishes, which, however, +want the floating apparatus, are sufficiently powerful to be +formidable to man. In the Silurian period, however, there were +not only nautili like ours, but a peculiar kind of straight +nautilus--the _Orthoceratites_--which sometimes attained to gigantic +size. The shells of these creatures may be compared to those of nautili +straightened out, the chambers being placed in a direct line in front +of each other. A great number of species have been discovered, many +quite insignificant in size, but others as much as twelve feet in +length and a foot in diameter at the larger end. Indeed, accounts have +been given of individuals of much larger growth. These large +_Orthoceratites_ were the most powerful marine animals known to us in +the Silurian, and must have been in those days the tyrants of the +seas.[I] + +[I] Zoologists will observe that I have, in the illustrations given +the Orthoceras the arms rather of a cuttle-fish then of a nautilus. +The form of the outer chamber of the shell, I think, warrants this +view of the structure of the animal, which must have been formed on a +very comprehensive type. + +Among the crustaceans, or soft shell-fishes of the Silurian, we meet +with the _Trilobites_, continued from the Primordial in great and +increasing force, and represented by many and beautiful species; while +an allied group of shell-fishes of low organization but gigantic size, +the _Eurypterids_, characteristic of the Upper Silurian, were provided +with powerful limbs, long flexible bodies, and great eyes in the front +of the head, and were sometimes several feet in length. Instead of +being mud grovellers, like the Trilobites and modern king-crabs, these +_Eurypterids_ must have been swimmers, careering rapidly through the +water, and probably active and predaceous. There were also great +multitudes of those little crustaceans which are inclosed in two horny +or shelly valves like a bivalve shell-fish, and the remains of which +sometimes fill certain beds of Silurian shale and limestone. + +No remains found in the Silurian rocks have been more fertile sources +of discussion then the so-called _Graptolites_, or written stones--a +name given long ago by Linnæus, in allusion to the resemblance of some +species having rows of cells on one side, to minute lines of writing. +These little bodies usually appear as black coaly stains on the +surface of the rock, showing a slender stem or stalk, with a row of +little projecting cells at one side, or two rows, one on each side. +The more perfect specimens show that, in many of the species at least, +these fragments were branches of a complex organism spreading from a +centre; and at this centre there is sometimes perceived a sort of +membrane connecting the bases of the branches, and for which various +uses have been conjectured. The branches themselves vary much in +different species. They may be simple or divided, narrow, or broad and +leaf-like, with one row of cells, or two rows of cells. Hence arise +generic distinctions into single and double graptolites, leaf and tree +graptolites, net graptolites, and so on. But while it is easy to +recognise these organisms, and to classify them in species and genera, +it is not so easy to say what their affinities are with modern things. +They are exclusively Silurian, disappearing altogether at the close of +this period, and, so far as we know, not succeeded by any similar +creatures serving to connect them with modern forms. Hence the most +various conjectures as to their nature. They have been supposed to be +plants, and have been successively referred to most of the great +divisions of the lower animals. Most recently they have been regarded +by Hall, Nicholson,[J] and others, who have studied them most +attentively, as zoophytes or hydroids allied to the Sertularise, or +tooth-corallines and sea-fir-corallines of our coasts, to the +cell-bearing branches of which their fragments bear a very close +resemblance. In this case, each of the little cells or teeth at the +sides of the fibres must have been the abode of a little polyp, +stretching out its tentacles into the water, and enjoying a common +support and nutrition with the other polyps ranged with it. Still the +mode of life of the community of branching stems is uncertain. In some +species there is a little radicle or spike at the base of the main +stem, which may have been a means of attachment. In others the hollow +central disk has been conjectured to have served as a float. Occurring +as the specimens do usually in shales and slates, which must have been +muddy beds, they could not have been attached to stones or rocks, and +they must have lived in clear water, either seated on the surface of +the mud, attached to sea-weeds, or floating freely by means of hollow +disks filled with air. After much thought on their structure and mode +of occurrence, I am inclined to believe that in their younger stages +they were attached, but by a very slender thread; that at a more +advanced stage they became free, and acquiring a central membranous +disk filled with air, floated by means of this at the surface, their +long branches trailing in the waters below. They would thus be, with +reference to their mode of life, though not to the details of their +structure, prototypes of the modern Portuguese man-of-war, which now +drifts so gaily over the surface of the warmer seas. I have +represented them in this attitude; but in case I should be mistaken, +the reader may imagine it possible that they may be adhering to the +lower surface of floating tangle. The head-quarters of the Graptolites +seem to be in the upper part of the Cambrian, and in the +Siluro-Cambrian, and they are widely distributed in Europe, in +America, and in Australia. This very wide distribution of the species +is probably connected with their floating and oceanic habits. + +[J] See also an able paper by Carruthers, in the _Geological +Magazine_, vol. v., p. 64. + +Lastly, just as the Silurian period was passing away, we find a new +thing in the earth--vertebrate animals, represented by several species +of shark-like fishes, which came in here as forerunners of the dynasty +of the vertebrates, which from that day to this have been the masters +of the world. These earliest vertebrates are especially interesting as +the first known examples of a plan of structure which culminates only +in man himself. They appear to have had cartilaginous skeletons; and +in this and their shagreen-like skin, strong bony spines, and +trenchant teeth, to have much resembled our modern sharks, or rather +the dog-fishes, for they were of small size. One genus (_Pteraspis_), +apparently the oldest of the whole, belongs, however, to a tribe of +mailed fishes allied to some of those of the old red sandstone. In +both cases the groups of fishes representing the first known +appearance of the vertebrates were allied to tribes of somewhat high +organization in that class; and they asserted their claims to +dominancy by being predaceous and carnivorous creatures, which must +have rendered themselves formidable to their invertebrate +contemporaries. Coprolites, or fossil masses of excrement, which are +found with them, indicate that they chased and devoured orthoceratites +and sea-snails of various kinds, and snapped Lingulæ and crinoids from +their stalks; and we can well imagine that these creatures, when once +introduced, found themselves in rich pasture and increased +accordingly. Space prevents us from following further our pictures of +the animal life of the great Silurian era, the monuments of which were +first discovered by two of England's greatest geologists, Murchison +and Sedgwick. How imperfect such a notice must be, may be learned from +the fact that Dr. Bigsby, in his "Thesaurus Siluricus" in 1868, +catalogues 8,897 Silurian species, of which only 972 are known in the +Primordial. + +Our illustration, carefully studied, may do more to present to the +reader the teeming swarms of the Silurian seas then our word-picture, +and it includes many animal forms not mentioned above, more especially +the curved and nautilus-like cuttle-fishes, those singular molluscous +swimmers by fin or float known to zoologists as violet-snails, +winged-snails or pteropods, and carinarias; and which, under various +forms, have existed from the Silurian to the present time. The old +_Lingulæ_ are also there as well as in the Primordial, while the fishes +and the land vegetation belong, as far as we yet know, exclusively to +the Upper Silurian, and point forward to the succeeding Devonian. We +know as yet no Silurian animal that lived on the land or breathed air. +But our knowledge of land plants, though very meagre, is important. +Without regarding such obscure and uncertain forms as the _Eophyton_ +of Sweden, Hooker, Page, and Barrande have noticed, in the Upper +Silurian, plants allied to the Lycopods or club-mosses. I have found +in the same deposits another group of plants allied to Lycopods and +pill-worts (Psilophyton), and fragments of wood representing the +curious and primitive type of pine-like trees known as _Prototaxites_. +These are probably only a small instalment of Silurian land plants, +such as a voyager might find floating in the sea on his approach to +some unknown shore, which had not yet risen above his horizon. Time +and careful search will, no doubt, add largely to our knowledge. + +In the Silurian, as in the Cambrian, the head-quarters of animal life +were in the sea. Perhaps there was no animal life on the land; but +here our knowledge may be at fault. It is, however, interesting to +observe the continued operation of the creative fiat, "Let the waters +swarm with swarmers" which, beginning to be obeyed in the Eozoic age, +passes down through all the periods of geological time to the "moving +things innumerable" of the modern ocean. Can we infer anything further +as to the laws of creation from these Silurian multitudes of living +things? One thing we can see plainly, that the life of the Silurian is +closely related to that of the Cambrian. The same generic and ordinal +forms are continued. Even some species may be identical. Does this +indicate direct genetic connection, or only like conditions in the +external world correlated with likeness in the organic world? It +indicates both. First, it is in the highest degree probable that many +of the animals of the Lower Silurian are descendants of those of the +Cambrian. Sometimes these descendants may be absolutely unchanged. +Sometimes they may appear as distinct varieties. Sometimes they may +have been regarded as distinct though allied species. The continuance +in this manner of allied forms of life is necessarily related to the +continuance of somewhat similar conditions of existence, while changes +in type imply changed external conditions. But is this all? I think +not; for there are forms of life in the Silurian which cannot be +traced to the Cambrian, and which relate to new and even prospective +conditions, which the unaided powers of the animals of the earlier +period could not have provided for. These new forms require the +intervention of a higher power, capable of correlating the physical +and organic conditions of one period with those of succeeding periods. +Whatever powers may be attributed to natural selection or to any other +conceivable cause of merely genetic evolution, surely prophetic gifts +cannot be claimed for it; and the life of all these geological periods +is full of mute prophecies to be read only in the light of subsequent +fulfilments. + +The fishes of the Upper Silurian are such a prophecy. They can claim +no parentage in the older rocks, and they appear at once as kings of +their class. With reference to the Silurian itself, they are of little +consequence; and in the midst of its gigantic forms of invertebrate +life they seem almost misplaced. But they predict the coming Devonian, +and that long and varied reign of vertebrate life which culminates in +man himself. No such prophetic ideas are represented by the giant +crustaceans and cuttle-fishes and swarming graptolites. They had +already attained their maximum, and were destined to a speedy and +final grave in the Silurian, or to be perpetuated only in decaying +families whose poverty is rendered more conspicuous by the contrast +with the better days gone by. The law of creation provided for new +types, and at once for the elevation and degradation of them when +introduced; and all this with reference to the physical conditions not +of the present only but of the future. Such facts, which cannot be +ignored save by the wilfully blind, are beyond the reach of any merely +material philosophy. + +The little that we know of Silurian plants is as eloquent of plan and +creation as that which we can learn of animals. I saw not long ago a +series of genealogies in geological time reduced to tabular form by +that ingenious but imaginative physiologist, Haeckel. In one of these +appeared the imaginary derivation of the higher plants from Algæ or +sea-weeds. Nothing could more curiously contradict actual facts. Algæ +were apparently in the Silurian neither more nor less elevated then in +the modern seas, and those forms of vegetable life which may seem to +bridge over the space between them and the land plants in the modern +period, are wanting in the older geological periods, while land plants +seem to start at once into being in the guise of club-mosses, a group +by no means of low standing. Our oldest land plants thus represent one +of the highest types of that cryptogamous series to which they belong, +and moreover are better developed examples of that type then those now +existing. We may say, if we please, that all the connecting links have +been lost; but this is begging the whole question, since no thing 'but +the existence of such links could render the hypothesis of derivation +possible. Further, the occurrence of any number of successive yet +distinct species would not be the kind of chain required, or rather +would not be a chain at all. + +Yet in some respects development is obvious in creation. Old forms of +life are often embryonic, or resemble the young of modern animals, but +enlarged and exaggerated, as if they had overgrown themselves and had +prematurely become adult. Old forms are often generalized, or less +specific in their adaptations then those of modern times. There is +less division of labour among them. Old forms sometimes not only rise +to the higher places in their groups, but usurp attributes which in +later times are restricted to their betters. Old forms are often +gigantic in size in comparison with their modern successors, which, if +they could look back on their predecessors, might say, "There were +giants in those days." Some old forms have gone onward in successive +stages of elevation by a regular and constant gradation. Others have +remained as they were through all the ages, Some have no equals in +their groups in modern days. All these things speak of order, but of +order along with development, and this development not evolution; +unless by this term we understand the emergence into material facts of +the plans of the creative mind. These plans we may hope in some degree +to understand, though we may not be able to comprehend the mode of +action of creative power any more then the mode in which our own +thought and will act upon the machinery of our own nerves. Still, the +power is not the less real, that we are ignorant of its mode of +operation. The wind bloweth whither it listeth, and we feel its +strength, though we may not be able to calculate the wind of to-morrow +or the winds of last year. So is the Spirit of God when it breathes +into animals the breath of life, or the Almighty word when it says, +"Let the waters bring forth." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DEVONIAN AGE. + + +Paradoxical as it may appear, this period of geological history has +been held as of little account, and has even been by some geologists +regarded as scarcely a distinct age, just because it was one of the +most striking and important of the whole. The Devonian was an age of +change and transition, in both physical and organic existence; and an +age which introduced, in the Northern hemisphere at least, more varied +conditions of land and water and climate then had previously existed. +Hence, over large areas of our continents, its deposits are irregular +and locally diverse; and the duration and importance of the period are +to be measured rather by the changes and alterations of previous +formations, and the ejection of masses of molten rock from beneath, +then by a series of fossiliferous deposits. Nevertheless, in some +regions in North America and Eastern Europe, the formations of this +era are of vast extent and volume, those of North America being +estimated at the enormous thickness of 15,000 feet, while they are +spread over areas of almost continental breadth. + +At the close of the Upper Silurian, the vast continental plateaus of +the northern hemisphere were almost wholly submerged. No previous +marine limestone spreads more widely then that of the Upper Silurian, +and in no previous period have we much less evidence of the existence +of dry land; yet before the end of the period we observe, in a few +fragments of land plants scattered here and there in the marine +limestones--evidence that islands rose amid the waste of waters. As it +is said that the sailors of Columbus saw the first indications of the +still unseen Western Continent in drift canes, and fragments of trees +floating in mid ocean, so the voyager through the Silurian seas finds +his approach to the verdant shores of the Devonian presaged by a few +drift plants borne from shores yet below the horizon. The small +remains of land in the Upper Silurian were apparently limited to +certain clusters of islands in the north-eastern part of America and +north-western part of Europe, with perhaps some in the intervening +Atlantic On these limited surfaces grew the first land plants +certainly known to us--herbs and trees allied to the modern +club-mosses, and perhaps forests of trees allied to the pines, though +of humbler type; and this wide Upper Silurian sea, with archipelagos +of wooded islands, may have continued for a long time. But with the +beginning of the Devonian, indications of an unstable condition of the +earth's crust began to develop themselves. New lands were upheaved; +great shallow, muddy, and sandy flats were deposited around them the +domains of corals and sea-weeds were contracted and on banks, and in +shallows and estuaries, there swarmed shoals of fishes of many +species, and some of them of most remarkable organization. On the +margins of these waters stretched vast swamps, covered with a rank +vegetation. + +But the period was one of powerful igneous activity. Volcanoes poured +out their molten rocks over sea and land, and injected huge dykes of +trap into the newly-formed beds. The land was shaken with earthquake +throes, and was subject to many upheavals and subsidences. Violent +waves desolated the coasts, throwing sand and gravel over the flats, +and tearing up newly-deposited beds; and poisonous exhalations, or +sudden changes of level, often proved fatal to immense shoals of +fishes. This was the time of the Lower Devonian, and it is marked, +both in the old world and the new, by extensive deposits of sandstones +and conglomerates. + +But the changes going on at the surface were only symptomatic of those +occurring beneath. The immense accumulations of Silurian sediment had +by this time so overweighted certain portions of the crust, that great +quantities of aqueous sediment had been pressed downward into the +heated bowels of the earth, and were undergoing, under an enormous +weight of superincumbent material, a process of baking and +semi-fusion. This process was of course extremely active along the +margins of the old Silurian plateaus, and led to great elevation of +land, while in the more central parts of the plateaus the oceanic +conditions still continued; and in the Middle Devonian, in America at +least, one of the most remarkable and interesting coral limestones in +the world--the corniferous limestone--was deposited. In process of +time, however, these clear waters became shallow, and were invaded by +muddy sediments; and in the Upper Devonian the swampy flats and muddy +shallows return in full force, and in some degree anticipate the still +greater areas of this kind which existed in the succeeding Coal +formation. + +Such is a brief sketch of the Devonian, or, as it may be better called +in America, from the vast development of its beds on the south side of +Lake Erie, the _Erian_ formation. In America the marine beds of the +Devonian were deposited on the same great continental plateau which +supported the seas of the Upper and Lower Silurian, and the beds were +thicker towards the east and thinned towards the west, as in the case +of the older series. But in the Devonian there was much, land in the +north-east of America; and on the eastern margin of this land, as in +Gaspé and New Brunswick, the deposits throughout the whole period were +sandstones and shales, without the great coral limestones of the +central plateau. Something of the same kind occurred in Europe, where, +however, the area of Devonian sea was smaller. There the fossiliferous +limestones of the Middle Devonian in Devon, in the Eifel district, in +France and in Russia, represent the great corniferous limestone of +America; while the sandstones of South Wales, of Ireland, and of +Scotland, resemble the local conditions of Gaspé and New Brunswick, +and belonged to a similar area in the north-west of Europe, in which +shallow water and land conditions prevailed during the whole of the +Devonian, and which was perhaps connected with the corresponding +region in Eastern America by a North Atlantic archipelago, now +submerged. This whole subject is so important to the knowledge of the +Devonian, and of geology in general, that I may be pardoned for +introducing it here in a tabular form, taking the European series from +Etheridge's excellent and exhaustive paper in the "Journal of the +Geological Society." + +DEVONIAN OF ERIAN. + + DIVISIONS. CENTRAL AREAS. + + Devon. Rhen. Prussia. New York. + + {Pilton group:-- Clymenia, Cypridina, Chemung and Portage. + { Brown calcareous etc. Shales, Sandstones + Upper { shales, brown and limestones, and and shales. + { yellow sandstone. sandstones. Plants and marine + { Land plants and Plants and marine shells. + { marine shells. shells. + + {Ilfracombe group:-- Eifel limestone, Hamilton shales, + { Grey and red Calceola shales, and Corniferous + Middle { sandstones and etc. or cherty + { flags, calcareous Corals, shells, limestone. + { slates and etc. Many corals and + { limestones, with shells, also + { corals, etc. plants. + + {Lynton group:-- Coblentz and Schoharie and + { Bed and purple Wissenbach shales, Caudagalli grits. + Lower { sandstones. Marine Rhenish greywacke, Oriskany + { shells, etc. Spinier sandstones. + { sandstone. Marine shells. + { Marine shells. + + DIVISIONS. MARGINAL AREAS. + + Scotland. Ireland. Gaspé and New Brunswick. + + {Yellow and red Yellow and red Red and grey + { sandstones. sandstones, etc. sandstones, grits + Upper {Fishes and plants. Plants, fishes, and shales, and + { etc. conglomerates of + { Gaspé and Mispeck. + { Plants. + + {Red shales and Grits and Grey and Red + { sandstones, and sandstones of sandstones, and + Middle { conglomerates. Dingle. grey and dark + {Caithness flags. shales. Gaspé + {Fishes and plants. and St. John. + { Many plants and + { fishes. + + {Flagstones, shales Glengariff grits, Sandstone and + { and conglomerates. etc. conglomerate. + Lower {Fishes and plants. Gaspé and St. + { John. + { Plants and fishes. + +A glance at this table suffices to show that when we read Hugh +Miller's graphic descriptions of the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, +with its numerous and wonderful fishes, we have before us a formation +altogether distinct from that of Devonshire or the Eifel. But the one +represents the shallow, and the other the deeper seas of the same +period. We learn this by careful tracing of the beds to their junction +with, corresponding series, and by the occasional occurrence of the +characteristic fishes of the Scottish strata in the English and German +beds. In like manner a geologist who explores the Gaspé sandstones or +the New Brunswick shales has under his consideration a group of beds +very dissimilar from that which he would have to study on the shores +of Lake Erie. But here again identity of relations to the Silurian +below and the carboniferous above, shows the contemporaneousness of +the beds, and this is confirmed by the occurrence in both series of +some of the same plants and shells and fishes. + +It will further be observed that it is in the middle that the greatest +difference occurs. Sand and mud and pebble-banks were almost universal +over our two great continental plateaus in the Older and Newer +Devonian. But in the Middle there were in some places deeper waters +with coral reefs, in others shallow flats and swamps rich in +vegetation. Herein we see the greater variety and richness of the +Devonian. Had we lived in that age, we should not have seen great +continents like those that now exist, but we could have roamed over +lovely islands with breezy hills and dense lowland jungles, and we +could have sailed over blue coral seas, glowing below with all the +fanciful forms and brilliant colours of polyp life, and filled with +active and beautiful fishes. Especially did all these conditions +culminate in the Middle Devonian, when what are now the continental +areas of the northern hemisphere must have much resembled the present +insular and oceanic regions of the South Pacific. + +Out of the rich and varied life of the Devonian I may select for +illustration its corals, its crustaceans, its fishes, its plants, and +its insects. + +[Illustration: Fig. 11.--CORALS, FISHES, AND CRUSTACEANS OF THE +DEVONIAN + +In the foreground are Corals of the genera _Favosites_, _Michelina_, +_Phillipsatrea_, _Zaphrentis_, _Blothrophyllum_, and _Syringopora_, +and the seaweed Spirephyton; also Fishes of the genera _Cephalaspis_ +and _Pterichthys_. Above are _Pterygotus_ and _Dinichtys_, with Fishes +of the genera _Diplacanthus_, _Osteolepis_, _Holoptychius_, +_Pteraspis_, _Coccosteus_, etc. The distant land had _Lepidodendra_, +Pines and Tree-ferns.] + +The central limestones of the Devonian may be regarded as the +head-quarters of the peculiar types of coral characteristic of the +Palæozoic age. Here they were not only vastly numerous, but present +some of their grandest and also their most peculiar forms. Edwards and +Haime, in their "Monograph of British Fossil Corals" in 1854, +enumerate one hundred and fifty well-ascertained species, and the +number has since been largely increased; I have no doubt that my +friend Dr. Bigsby, in his forth-coming "Thesaurus Devonicus," will +more then double it. In the Devonian limestones of England, as for +instance at Torquay, the specimens, though abundant and well preserved +as to their internal structure, are too firmly imbedded in the rock to +show their external forms. In the Devonian of the continent of Europe +much finer specimens occur; but, perhaps, in no part of the world is +there so clear an exhibition of them as in the Devonian limestones of +the United States and Canada. Sir Charles Lyell thus expresses his +admiration of the exposure of these corals, which he saw at the falls +of the Ohio, near Louisville. He says, "Although the water was not at +its lowest, I saw a grand display of what may be termed an ancient +coral-reef, formed by zoophytes which flourished in a sea of earlier +date then the Carboniferous period. The ledges of horizontal +limestone, over which the water flows, belong to the Devonian group, +and the softer parts of the stone have decomposed and wasted away, so +that the harder calcareous corals stand out in relief. Many branches +of these zoophytes project from their erect stems precisely as if they +were living. Among other species I observed large masses, not less +then five feet in diameter, of _Favosites Gothlandica_, with its +beautiful honeycomb structure well displayed. There was also the +cup-shaped _Cyathophyllum_, and the delicate network of _Fenestella_, +and that elegant and well-known European species of fossil, the chain +coral, _Catenipora escharoides_, with a profusion of others which it +would be tedious to all but the geologist to enumerate. Although +hundreds of fine specimens have been detached from these rocks to +enrich the museums of Europe and America, another crop is constantly +working its way out under the action of the stream, and of the sun and +rain in the warm season when the channel is laid dry."[K] These +limestones have been estimated to extend, as an almost continuous +coral reef, over the enormous area of five hundred thousand square +miles of the now dry and inland surface of the great American +continental plateau. The limestones described by Sir Charles are known +in the Western States as the "Cliff limestone." In the State of New +York and in Western Canada the "Corniferous limestone," so called from +the masses of hornstone, like the flint of the English chalk, +contained in it, presents still more remarkable features. The corals +which it contains have been replaced by the siliceous or flinty +matter in such a manner that, when the surrounding limestone weathers +away, they remain projecting in relief in all the beauty of their +original forms. Not only so, but on the surface of the country they +remain as hard siliceous stones, and may be found in ploughing the +soil and in stone fences and roadside heaps, so that tons of them +could often be collected over a very limited space. When only partly +disengaged from the matrix, the process may be completed by immersing +them in a dilute acid. The beauty of these specimens when thus +prepared is very great not at all inferior to that of modern corals, +which they often much resemble in general form, though differing in +details of structure. One of the most common forms is that of the +_Favosites_, or honeycomb coral, presenting regular hexagonal cells +with transverse floors or tabulæ. Of these there are several species, +usually flat or massive in form; but one species, _F. polymorpha_, +branches out like the modern stag-horn corals. Another curious form, +_Michelina_, looks exactly like a mass of the papery cells of the +great American hornet in a petrified state, and the convex floors +simulate the covers of the cells, so that it is quite common to find +them called fossil wasps' nests. Some of the largest belong to the +genus _Phillipsastrea_ or _Smithia_, which Hugh Miller has +immortalized by comparing its crowded stars, with confluent rays, to +the once-popular calico pattern known as "Lane's net"--a singular +instance of the accidental concurrence of a natural and artificial +design. Another very common type is that of the conical _Zaphrentis_, +with a deep cut at top to lodge the body of the animal, whose +radiating chambers are faithfully represented by it's delicate +lamellæ. Perhaps the most delicate of the whole is the _Syringopora_, +with its cylindrical worm-like pipes bound together by transverse +processes, and which sometimes can be dissolved out in all its fragile +perfection by the action of an acid on a mass of Corniferous limestone +filled with these corals in a silicified state. + +[K] "Travels in North America." second series. + +These Devonian corals, like those of the Silurian, belong to the great +extinct groups of Tabulate and Rugose corals; groups which present, on +the one hand, points of resemblance to the ordinary coral animals of +the modern seas, and, on the other, to those somewhat exceptional +corals, the Millepores, which are produced by another kind of polyp, +the Hydroids. Some of them obviously combine properties belonging to +both, as, for example, the radiating partitions with the arrangement +of the parts in multiples of four, the horizontal floors, and the +external solid wall; and this fact countenances the conclusion that in +these old corals we have a group of high and complex organization, +combining properties now divided between two great groups of animals, +neither of them probably, either in their stony skeletons or the soft +parts of the animal, of as high organization as their Paleozoic +predecessors. This sort of disintegration of composite types, or +dissolution of old partnerships, seems to have been no unusual +occurrence in the history of life.[L] + +[L] Verril has suggested that the Tabulata may be divided into two +groups, one referable to Actinoids, the other to Hydroids. + +If the Devonian witnessed the culmination of the Palæozoic corals, its +later stages saw the final decadence of the great dynasty of the +Trilobites. Of these creatures there are in the Devonian some large +and ornate species, remarkable for their spines and tubercles; as if +in this, the latter day of their dominion, they had fallen into habits +of luxurious decoration unknown to their sterner predecessors, and at +the same time had found it necessary to surround their now disputed +privileges with new safeguards of defensive armour. Not improbably the +decadence of the Trilobites may have been connected with the +introduction of the numerous and formidable fishes of the period. + +But while the venerable race of the Trilobites was preparing to fight +its last and unsuccessful battle, another and scarcely less ancient +tribe of crustaceans, the Eurypterids, already strong in the Silurian, +was armed with new and formidable powers. The _Pterygotus anglicus_, +which should have been named _scoticus_, since its head-quarters are +in Scotland, was in point of size the greatest of known crustaceans, +recent or fossil. According to Mr. Henry Woodward, who has published +an admirable description and figures of the creature in the +Palæontographical Society's Memoirs, it must have been six feet in +length, and nearly two feet in breadth. Its antennæ were, unlike the +harmless feelers of modern Crustacea, armed with powerful claws. Two +great eyes stood in the front of the head, and two smaller ones on the +top. It had four pairs of great serrated jaws, the largest as wide as +a man's hand. At the sides were a pair of powerful paddles, capable of +urging it swiftly through the water as it pursued its prey; and when +attacked by any predaceous fish, it could strike the water with its +broad tail, terminated by a great flat "telson," and retreat backward +with the rapidity of an arrow. Woodward says it must have been the +"shark of the Devonian seas;" rather, it was the great champion of the +more ancient family of the lobsters, set to arrest, if possible, the +encroachments of the coming sharks. + +The Trilobites and Eurypterids constitute a hard case for the +derivationists. Unlike those Melchisedeks, the fishes of the Silurian, +which are without father or mother, the Devonian crustaceans may boast +of their descent, but they have no descendants. No distinct link +connects them with any modern crustaceans except the Limuli, or +horse-shoe crabs; and here the connection is most puzzling, for while +there seems some intelligible resemblance between the adult +Eurypterids and the horse-shoe, or king-crabs, the latter, in their +younger state, rather resemble Trilobites, as Dr. Packard has recently +shown. Thus the two great tribes of Eurypterids and Trilobites have +united in the small modern group of king-crabs, while on the other +hand, there are points of resemblance, as already stated, between +Trilobites and Isopods, and the king-crabs had already begun to exist, +since one species is now known in the Upper Silurian. So puzzling are +these various relationships, that one naturalist of the derivationist +school has recently attempted to solve the difficulty by suggesting +that the Trilobites are allied to the spiders! Thus nature sports with +our theories, showing us in some cases, as in the corals and fishes, +partnerships split up into individuals, and in others distinct lines +of being converging and becoming lost in one slender thread. Barrande, +the great palæontologist of Bohemia, has recently, in an elaborate +memoir on the Trilobites, traced these and other points through all +their structures and their whole succession in geological time thereby +elaborating a most powerful inductive argument against the theory of +evolution, and concluding that, so far from the history of these +creatures favouring such a theory, it seems as if expressly contrived +to exclude its possibility. + +But, while the gigantic Eurypterids and ornate Trilobites of the +Devonian were rapidly approaching their end, a few despised little +crustaceans,--represented by the _Amphipeltis_ of New Brunswick and +_Kampecaris_ of Scotland,--were obscurely laying the foundation of a +new line of beings, that of the Stomapods, destined to culminate in +the Squillas and their allies, which, however different in structure, +are practically the Eurypterids of the modern ocean. So change the +dynasties of men and animals. + + "Thou takest away their breath, they die, + They return to their dust; + Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, + They are created; + Thou renewest the form of the earth." + +The reign of fishes began in the Upper Silurian, for in the rocks of +this age, more especially in England, several species have been found. +They occur, however, only in the newer beds of this formation, and are +not of large size, nor very abundant. It is to be observed that, in so +far as the fragments discovered can be interpreted, they indicate the +existence already of two distinct types of fishes, the Ganoids, or +gar-fishes, protected with bony plates and scales, and the Placoids, +or shark-like fishes; and that in the existing world these fishes are +regarded as occupying a high place in their class. Further, these two +groups of fishes are those which throughout a large portion of +geological time continue to prevail to the exclusion of other types, +the ordinary bony fishes having been introduced only in comparatively +recent periods. With the Devonian, however, there comes a vast +increase to the finny armies; and so characteristic are these that the +Devonian has been called the age of fishes _par excellence_, and we +must try, with the help of our illustration, to paint these old +inhabitants of the waters as distinctly as we can. Among the most +ancient and curious of these fishes are those singular forms covered +with broad plates, of which the _Pteraspis_ of the Upper Silurian is +the herald, and which are represented in the Lower Devonian by several +distinct genera. Of these, one of the most curious is the +_Cephalaspis_, or buckler-head, distinguished by its broad flat head, +rounded in front and prolonged at the sides into two great spines, +which project far beyond the sides of the comparatively slender body. +This fish, it may be mentioned, is the type of a family highly +characteristic of the Lower Devonian, as well as of the Upper +Silurian, and all of which are provided with large plate-like cephalic +coverings, sometimes with a long snout in front, and, in so far as is +known, a comparatively weak body and tail. They were all probably +ground-living creatures, feeding on worms and shell-fishes, and +"rooting" for these in the mud, or burrowing therein for their safety. +In these respects they have a most curious analogy to the Trilobites, +which in habits they must have greatly resembled, though belonging by +their structure to an entirely different and much higher class. So +close is this resemblance, that their head-shields used to be mistaken +for those of Trilobites. The case is one of those curious analogies +which often occur in nature, and which must always be distinguished +from the true affinities which rest on structural resemblances. +Another group of small fishes, likewise cuirassed in bony armour of +plates, may be represented by the _Pterichthys_, with its two strong +bony fins at the sides, which may have served for swimming, but +probably also for defence, and for creeping on or shovelling up the +mud at the bottom of the sea. But, besides the Ganoids which were +armed in plated cuirasses, there were others, active and voracious, +clad in shining enamelled scales, like the bony pikes of the American +rivers and the _Polypterus_ of the Nile. Some of these, like the +_Diplacanthus_, or "double-spine" were of small size, and chiefly +remarkable for their sharp defensive bony spines. Others, like +_Holoptychius_ (wrinkled-scale) and _Osteolepis_ (bone-scale), were +strongly built, and sometimes of great size. One Russian species of +_Asterolepis_ (star-scale) is supposed to have been twenty feet in +length, and furnished with strong and trenchant teeth in two rows. +These great fishes afford a good reason for the spines and +armour-plates of the contemporary trilobites and smaller fishes. Just +as man has been endeavouring to invent armour impenetrable to shot, +for soldiers and for ships, and, on the other hand, shot and shells +that can penetrate any armoury so nature has always presented the +spectacle of the most perfect defensive apparatus matched with the +most perfect weapons for destruction. In the class of fishes, no age +of the world is more eminent in these respects then the Devonian.[M] +In addition to these fishes, there were others, represented +principally by their strong bony spines, which must have been allied +to some of the families of modern sharks, most of them, however, +probably to that comparatively harmless tribe which, furnished with +flat teeth, prey upon shell-fishes. There are other fishes difficult +to place in our systems of classification; and among these an eminent +example is the huge _Dinichthys_ of Newberry, from the Hamilton group +of Ohio. The head of this creature is more then three feet long and +eighteen inches broad, with the bones extraordinarily strong and +massive. In the upper jaw, in addition to strong teeth, there were in +front two huge sabre-shaped tusks or incisors, each nearly a foot +long; and corresponding to these in the massive lower jaw were two +closely joined conical tusks, fitting between those of the upper jaw. +No other fish presents so frightful an apparatus for destruction; and +if, as is probable, this was attached to a powerful body, perhaps +thirty feet in length, and capable of rapid motion through the water, +we cannot imagine any creature so strong or so well armed as to cope +with the mighty _Dinichthys_. + +[M] Many of these were discovered and successfully displayed and +described by Hugh Miller, and are graphically portrayed in his +celebrated work on the "Old Red Sandstone," published in 1841. + +The difference between the fishes of the Devonian and those of the +modern seas is well marked by the fact that, while the ordinary bony +fishes now amount to probably 9,000 species, and the ganoid fishes to +less then thirty, the finny tribes of the Devonian are predominantly +ganoids, and none of the ordinary type are known. To what is this +related, with reference to conditions of existence? Two explanations, +different yet mutually connected, may be suggested. One is that armour +was especially useful in the Devonian as a means of defence from the +larger predaceous species, and the gigantic crustaceans of the period. +that this was the case may be inferred from the conditions of +existence of some modern ganoids. The common bony pike of Canada +(_Lepidosteus_), frequenting shallow and stagnant waters, seems to be +especially exposed to injury from its enemies. Consequently, while it +is rare to find an ordinary fish showing any traces of wounds, a large +proportion of the specimens of the bony pike which I have examined +have scars on their scales, indicating injuries which they have +experienced, and which possibly, to fishes not so well armed, might +have proved fatal. Again, in the modern Amia, or mud-fish, in the bony +pike and _Polypterus_, there is an extremely large air-bladder, amply +supplied with blood-vessels, and even divided into cells or chambers, +and communicating with the mouth by an "air-duct." This organ is +unquestionably in function a lung, and enables the animal to dispense +in some degree with the use of its gills, which of course depend for +their supply of vital air on the small quantity of oxygen dissolved in +the water. Hence, by the power of partially breathing air, these +fishes can live in stagnant and badly aerated waters, where other +fishes would perish. In the case of the _Amia_, the grunting noises +which it utters, its habit of frequenting the muddy creeks of swamps, +and its possession of gill-cleaners, correspond with this view. It is +possible that the Devonian fishes possessed this semi-reptilian +respiration; and if so, they would be better adapted then other fishes +to live in water contaminated with organic matter in a state of decay, +or in waters rich in carbonic acid or deficient in oxygen. Possibly +the palæozoic waters, as well as the palæozoic atmosphere, were less +rich in pure oxygen then those of the present world; and it is certain +that, in many of the beds in which the smaller Devonian fishes abound, +there was so much decaying vegetable matter as to make it probable +that the water was unfit for the ordinary fishes. Thus, though at +first sight the possession of external armour and means to respire +air, in the case of these peculiar fishes, may seem to have no direct +connection with each other, their obvious correlation in some modern +ganoids may have had its parallel on a more extensive scale among +their ancient relatives. Just as the modern gar-fish, by virtue of its +lungs, can live in stagnant shallows and hunt frogs, but on that +account needs strong armour to defend it against the foes that assail +it in such places; so in the Devonian the capacity to inhabit +unaërated water and defensive plates and scales may have been alike +necessary, especially to the feebler tribes of fishes. We shall find +that in the succeeding carboniferous period there is equally good +evidence of this. + +We have reserved little space for the Devonian plants and insects; but +we may notice both in a walk through a Devonian forest, in which we +may include the vegetation of the several subordinate periods into +which this great era was divisible. The Devonian woods were probably, +like those of the succeeding carboniferous period, dense and dark, +composed of but few species of plants, and these somewhat monotonous +in appearance, and spreading out into broad swampy jungles, +encroaching on the shallow bays and estuaries. Landing on one of these +flats, we may first cast our eyes over a wide expanse, covered with +what at a distance we might regard as reeds or rushes. But on a near +approach they appear very different; rising in slender, graceful +stems, they fork again and again, and their thin branches are sparsely +covered with minute needle-like leaves, while the young shoots curl +over in graceful tresses, and the older are covered with little oval +fruits, or spore-cases; for these plants are cryptogamous, or +flowerless. This singular vegetation stretches for miles along the +muddy flats, and rises to a height of two or three feet from a knotted +mass of cylindrical roots or root-stocks, twining like snakes through +and over the soil. This plant may, according as we are influenced by +its fruit or structure, be regarded as allied to the modern +club-mosses or the modern pill-worts. It is _Psilophyton_, in every +country one of the most characteristic plants of the period, though, +when imperfectly preserved, often relegated by careless and unskilled +observers to the all-engulfing group of fucoids. A little further +inland we see a grove of graceful trees, forking like _Psilophyton_, +but of grander dimensions, and with the branches covered with linear +leaves, and sometimes terminated by cones. These are _Lepidodendra_, +gigantic club-mosses, which were developed to still greater +dimensions in the coal period. Near these we may see a still more +curious tree, more erect in its growth, with rounded and somewhat +rigid leaves and cones of different form, and with huge cable-like +roots, penetrating the mud, and pitted with the marks of long +rootlets. This is _Cyclostigma_, a plant near to the _Lepidodendron_, +but distinct, and peculiar to the Devonian. Some of its species attain +to the dimensions of considerable trees; others are small and shrubby. +Another small tree, somewhat like the others, but with very long +shaggy leaves, and its bark curiously marked with regular +diamond-shaped scars, is the _Leptophleum_. All these plants are +probably allied to our modern club-mosses, which are, however, also +represented by some low and creeping species cleaving to the ground. A +little further, and we reach a dense clump of _Sigillariæ_, with tall +sparsely forking stems, and ribbed with ridges holding rows of +leaf-scars a group of plants which we shall have further occasion to +notice in the coal formation; and here is an extensive jungle of +_Calamites_, gigantic and overgrown mares'-tails, allies of the modern +equisetums. + +[Illustration: Fig. 12.--VEGETATION OF THE DEVONIAN. + +To the left are _Calamites_; next to these, _Leptophleum_; in the +centre are _Lepidodendron_, _Sigillaria_, and a Pine. Below are +_Psilophyton_, _Cordaites_, Ferns, and _Asterophyllites_.] + +Amidst these trees, every open glade is filled with delicate ferns of +marvellous grace and beauty; and here and there a tree-fern rears its +head, crowned with its spreading and graceful leaves, and its trunk +clad with a shaggy mass of aërial roots--an old botanical device, used +in these ancient times, as well as now, to strengthen and protect the +stems of trees not fitted for lateral expansion. Beyond this mass of +vegetation, and rising on the slopes of the distant hills, we see +great trees that look like pines. We cannot approach them more nearly; +but here on the margin of a creek we see some drift-trunks, that have +doubtless been carried down by a land flood. One of them is certainly +a pine, in form and structure of its wood very like those now living +in the southern hemisphere; it is a _Dadoxylon_. Another is different, +its sides rough and gnarled, and marked with huge irregular ridges; +its wood loose, porous, and stringy, more like the bark of modern +pines, yet having rings of growth and a true bark of its own, and +sending forth large branches and roots. It is the strange and +mysterious _Prototaxites_, one of the wonders of the Devonian land, +and whose leaves and fruits would be worth their weight in gold in our +museums, could we only procure them. A solitary fragment further +indicates that in the yet unpenetrated solitudes of the Devonian +forests there may be other trees more like our ordinary familiar +friends of the modern woods; but of these we know as yet but little. +What inhabitants have these forests? All that we yet know are a few +large insects, relatives of our modern May-flies, flitting with broad +veined wings over the stagnant waters in which their worm-like larvæ +dwell, and one species at least assuming one of the properties of the +grasshopper tribe, and enlivening the otherwise silent groves with a +cricket-like chirp, the oldest music of living things that geology as +yet reveals to us; and this, not by the hearing of the sound itself, +but by the poor remains of the instrument attached to a remnant of a +wing from the Devonian shales of New Brunswick. + +A remarkable illustration of the abundance of certain plants in the +Devonian, and also of the slow and gradual accumulation of some of its +beds, is furnished by layers of fossil spore-cases, or the minute sacs +which contain the microscopic germs of club-mosses and similar plants. +In the American forests, in spring, the yellow pollen-grains of +spruces and pines sometimes drift away in such quantities in the +breeze that they fall in dense showers, popularly called showers of +sulphur; and this vegetable sulphur, falling in lakes and ponds, is +drifted to the shore in great sheets and swathes. The same thing +appears to have occurred in the Devonian, not with the pollen of +flowering plants, but with the similar light spores and spore-cases of +species of Lepidodendron and allied trees. In a bed of shale, at +Kettle Point, Lake Huron, from 12 to 14 feet thick, not only are the +surfaces of the beds dotted over with minute round spore-cases, but, +on making a section for the microscope, the substance of each layer is +seen to be filled with them; and still more minute bodies, probably +the escaped spores, are seen to fill up their interstices. The +quantity of these minute bodies is so great that the shale is +combustible, and burns with much flame. A bed of this nature must have +been formed in shallow and still water, on the margin of an extensive +jungle or forest; and as the spore-cases are similar to those of the +Lepidodendra of the coal-measures, the trees were probably of this +kind. Year after year, as the spores became ripe, they were wafted +away, and fell in vast quantities into the water, to be mixed with the +fine mud there accumulating. When we come to the coal period, we shall +see that such beds of spore-cases occur there also, and that they have +even been supposed to be mainly instrumental in the accumulation of +certain beds of coal. Their importance in this respect may have been +exaggerated, but the fact of their occurrence in immense quantities in +certain coals and shales is indisputable. + +This is but a slender sketch of the Devonian forests: but we shall +find many of the same forms of plants in the carboniferous period +which succeeds. With one thought we may close. We are prone to ask for +reasons and uses for things, but sometimes we cannot be satisfied. Of +what use were the Devonian forests? They did not, like those of the +coal formation, accumulate rich beds of coal for the use of man. +Except possibly a few insects, we know no animals that subsisted on +their produce, nor was there any rational being to admire their +beauty. Their use, except as helping us in these last days to complete +the order of the vegetable kingdom as it has existed in geological +time, is a mystery. We can but fall back on that ascription of praise +to Him "who liveth for ever and ever," on the part of the heavenly +elders who cast down their crowns before the throne and say, "Thou art +worthy, Lord, to receive the glory, and the honour, and the might; +because Thou didst create all things, and by reason of _Thy will_ they +are and were created." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE CARBONIFEROUS AGE. + + +That age of the world's history which, from its richness in +accumulations of vegetable matter destined to be converted into coal, +has been named the Carboniferous, is in relation to living beings the +most complete and noble of the Palæozoic periods. In it those varied +arrangements of land and water which had been increasing in perfection +in the previous periods, attained to their highest development. In it +the forms of animal and plant life that had been becoming more +numerous and varied from the Eozoic onward, culminated. The Permian +which succeeded was but the decadence of the Carboniferous, +preparatory to the introduction of a new order of things. Thus the +Carboniferous was to the previous periods what the Modern is to the +preceding Tertiary and Mesozoic ages the summation and completion of +them all, and the embodiment of their highest excellence. If the +world's history had closed with the Carboniferous, a naturalist, +knowing nothing further, would have been obliged to admit that it had +already fulfilled all the promise of its earlier years. It is +important to remember this, since we shall find ourselves entering on +an entirely new scene in the Mesozoic period, and since this +character of the Carboniferous, as well as its varied conditions and +products, may excuse us for dwelling on it a little longer then on the +others, On the other hand, the immense economic importance of the coal +formation, and the interesting points connected with it, have made the +Carboniferous more familiar to general readers then most other +geological periods, so that we may select points less common and +well-known for illustration. Popular expositions of geology are, +however, generally so one-sided and so distorted by the prevalent +straining after effect, that the true aspect of this age is perhaps +not much better known then that of others less frequently described. + +Let us first consider the Carboniferous geography of the northern +hemisphere; and in doing so we may begin with a fact concerning the +preceding age. One of the most remarkable features of the Newer +Devonian is the immense quantity of red rocks, particularly red +sandstones, contained in it. Red sandstones, it is true, occur in +older formations, but comparatively rarely; their great head-quarters, +both in Europe and America, in so far as the Palæozoic is concerned, +are in the Upper Devonian. Now red sandstone is an infallible mark of +rapid deposition, and therefore of active physical change. If we +examine the grains of sand in a red sandstone, we shall find that they +are stained or coated, externally, with the peroxide of iron, or iron +rust; and that this coating, with perhaps a portion of the same +substance in the intervening cement, is the cause of the colour. In +finer sandstones and red clays the same condition exists, though less +distinctly perceptible. Consequently, if red sands and clays are long +abraded or scoured in water, or are subjected to any chemical agent +capable of dissolving the iron, they cease to be red, and resume their +natural grey or white colour. Now in nature, in addition to mechanical +abrasion, there is a chemical cause most potent in bleaching red +rocks, namely, the presence of vegetable or animal matter in a state +of decay. Without entering into chemical details, we may content +ourselves with the fact that organic matter decaying in contact with +peroxide of iron tends to take oxygen from it, and then to dissolve it +in the state of protoxide, while the oxygen set free aids the decay. +Carrying this fact with us, we may next affirm that iron is so +plentiful in the crust of the earth that nearly all sands and clays +when first produced from the weathering of rocks are stained with it, +and that when this weathering takes place in the air, the iron is +always in the state of peroxide. More especially does this apply to +the greater number of igneous or volcanic rocks, which nearly always +weather brown or red. Now premising that the original condition of +sediment is that of being reddened with iron, and that it may lose +this by abrasion, or by the action of organic matter, it follows that +when sand has been produced by decay of rocks in the air, and when it +is rapidly washed into the sea and deposited there, red beds will +result. For instance, in the Bay of Fundy, whose rapid tides cut away +the red rocks of its shores and deposit their materials quickly, red +mud and sand constitute the modern deposit. On the other hand, when +the red Band and mud are long washed about, their red matter may +disappear; and when the deposition is slow and accompanied with the +presence of organic matter, the red colour is not only removed, but is +replaced by the dark tints due to carbon. Thus, in the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, where red rocks similar to those of the Bay of Fundy are +being more slowly wasted, and deposited in the presence of sea-weeds +and other vegetable substances, the resulting sands and clays are +white and grey or blackened in colour. An intermediate condition is +sometimes observed, in which red beds are stained with grey spots and +lines, where sea-weeds or land-plants have rested on them. I have +specimens of Devonian red shale with the forms of fern leaves, the +substance of which has entirely perished, traced most delicately upon +them in greenish marks. + +It follows from these facts that extensive and thick deposits of red +beds evidence sub-aërial decay of rocks, followed by comparatively +rapid deposition in water, and that such red rocks will usually +contain few fossils, not only because of their rapid deposition, but +because the few organic fragments deposited with them will probably +have been destroyed by the chemical action of the superabundant oxide +of iron, which, so to speak, "iron-moulds" them, just as stains of +iron eat holes out of linen. Now when Sir Roderick Murchison tells us +of 10,000 feet in thickness of red iron-stained rocks in the old red +sandstone of England, we can see in this the evidence of rapid aqueous +deposition, going on for a very long time, and baring vast areas of +former land surface. Consequently we have proof of changes of level +and immense and rapid denudation--a conclusion further confirmed by +the apparent unconformity of different members of the series to each +other in some parts of the British Islands, the lower beds having been +tilted up before the newer were deposited. Such was the state of +affairs very generally at the close of the Devonian, and it appears to +have been accompanied with some degree of subsidence of the land, +succeeded by re-elevation at the beginning of the Carboniferous, when +many and perhaps large islands and chains of islands were raised out +of the sea, along whose margins there were extensive volcanic +eruptions, evidenced by the dykes of trap traversing the Devonian, and +the beds of old lava interstratified in the lower part of the +Carboniferous, where also the occurrence of thick beds of conglomerate +or pebble-rock indicates the tempestuous action of the sea. + +But a careful study of the Lower Carboniferous beds, where their +margins rest upon the islands of older rocks, shows great varieties in +these old shores. In some places there were shingly beaches; in +others, extensive sand-banks; in others, swampy flats clothed with +vegetation, and sometimes bearing peaty beds, still preserved as small +seams of coal. The bays and creeks swarmed with, fishes. A few +sluggish reptiles crept along the muddy or sandy shores, and out +sea-ward were great banks and reefs of coral and shells in the clear +blue sea. The whole aspect of nature, taken in a general view, in the +Older Carboniferous period, must have much resembled that at present +seen among the islands of the southern hemisphere. And the plants and +animals, though different, were more like those of the modern South +Pacific then any others now living. + +As the age wore on, the continents were slowly lifted out of the +water, and the great continental plateaus were changed from coral seas +into swampy flats or low uplands, studded in many places with shallow +lakes, and penetrated with numerous creeks and sluggish streams. In +the eastern continent these land surfaces prevailed extensively, more +especially in the west; and in America they spread both eastward and +westward from the Appalachian ridge, until only a long north and south +Mediterranean, running parallel to the Rocky Mountains, remained of +the former wide internal ocean. On this new and low land, comparable +with the "Sylvas" of the South American continent, flourished the +wondrous vegetation of the Coal period, and were introduced the new +land animals, whose presence distinguishes the close of the Palæozoic. + +After a vast lapse of time, in which only slow and gradual subsidence +occurred, a more rapid settlement of the continental areas brought the +greater part of the once fertile plains of the coal formation again +under the waters; and shifting sand-banks and muddy tides engulfed and +buried the remains of the old forests, and heaped on them a mass of +sediment, which, like the weights of a botanical press, flattened and +compressed the vegetable _débris_ preserved in the leaves of the coal +formation strata. Then came on that strange and terrible Permian +period, which, like the more modern boulder-formation, marked the +death of one age and the birth of another. + +The succession just sketched is the normal one; but the terms in which +it has been described show that it cannot be universal. There are many +places in which the whole thickness of the Carboniferous is filled +with fossils of the land, and of estuaries and creeks. There are +places, on the other hand, where the deep sea appears to have +continued during the whole period. In America this is seen on the +grandest scale in the absence of the marine members along the western +slopes of the Appalachians, and the almost exclusive prevalence of +marine beds in the far west, where the great Carboniferous +Mediterranean of America spread itself, and continued uninterruptedly +into the succeeding Permian period. + +In our survey of the Carboniferous age, though there are peculiarities +in the life of its older, middle, and newer divisions, we may take the +great coal measures of the middle portion as the type of the land life +of the period, and the great limestones of the lower portion as that +of the marine life; and as the former is in this period by far the +most important, we may begin with it. Before doing so, however, to +prevent misapprehension, it is necessary to remind the reader that the +Flora of the Middle Coal Period is but one of a succession of related +floras that reach from the Upper Silurian to the Permian. The meagre +flora of club-mosses and their allies in the Upper Silurian and Lower +Devonian was succeeded by a comparatively rich and varied assemblage +of plants in the Middle Devonian. The Upper Devonian was a period of +decadence, and in the Lower Carboniferous we have another feeble +beginning, presenting features somewhat different from those of the +Upper Devonian. This was the time of the Culm of Germany, the Tweedian +formation of the North of England and South of Scotland, and the Lower +Coal formation of Nova Scotia. It was a period eminently rich in +Lepidodendra. It was followed by the magnificent flora of the Middle +Coal formation, and then there was a time of decadence in the Upper +Coal formation and only a slight revival in the Permian. + +In the present condition of our civilization, coal is the most +important product which the bowels of the earth afford to man. And +though there are productive beds of coal in most of the later +geological formations, down to the peats of the modern period, which +are only unconsolidated coals, yet the coal of the Carboniferous age +is the earliest valuable coal in point of time, and by far the most +important in point of quantity. Mineral coal may be defined to be +vegetable matter which has been buried in the strata of the earth's +crust, and there subjected to certain chemical and mechanical changes. +The proof of its vegetable origin will grow upon us as we proceed. The +chemical changes which it has undergone are not very material. Wood or +bark, taken as an example of ordinary vegetable matter, consists of +carbon or charcoal, with the gases hydrogen and oxygen. Coal has +merely parted with a portion of these ingredients in the course of a +slow and imperfect putrefaction, so that it comes to have much less +oxygen and considerably less hydrogen then wood, and it has been +blackened by the disengagement of a quantity of free carbon. The more +bituminous flaming coals have a larger amount of residual hydrogen. In +the anthracite coals the process of carbonisation has proceeded +further, and little remains but charcoal in a dense and compact form. +In cannel coals, and in certain bituminous shales, on the contrary, +the process seems to have taken place entirely under water, by which +putrefaction has been modified, so that a larger proportion then usual +of hydrogen has been retained. The mechanical change which the coal +has experienced consists in the flattening and hardening effect of the +immense pressure of thousands of feet of superincumbent rock, which +has crashed together the cell-walls of the vegetable matter, and +reduced what was originally a pulpy mass of cellular tissue to the +condition of a hard laminated rock. To understand this, perhaps the +simplest way is to compare under the microscope a transverse section +of recent pine-wood with a similar section of a pine trunk compressed +into brown coal or jet. In the one the tissue appears as a series of +meshes with thin woody walls and comparatively wide cavities for the +transmission of the sap. In the other the walls of the cells have been +forced into direct contact, and in some cases have altogether lost +their separate forms, and have been consolidated into a perfectly +compact structureless mass. + +With regard to its mode of occurrence, coal is found in beds ranging +in vertical thickness from less then an inch to more then thirty feet, +and of wide horizontal extent. Many such beds usually occur in the +thickness of the coal formation, or "coal measures," as the miners +call it, separated from each other by beds of sandstone and compressed +clay or shale. Very often the coal occurs in groups of several beds, +somewhat close to each other and separated from other groups by +"barren measures" of considerable thickness. In examining a bed of +coal, where it is exposed in a cutting or shore cliff, we nearly +always find that the bed below it, or the "underclay," as it is termed +by miners, is a sort of fossil soil, filled with roots and rootlets. +On this rests the coal, which, when we examine it closely, is found to +consist of successive thin layers of hard coal of different qualities +as to lustre and purity, and with intervening laminae of a dusty +fibrous substance, like charcoal, called "mother coal" by miners, and +sometimes mineral charcoal. Thin partings of dark shale also occur, +and these usually present marks and impressions of the stems and +leaves of plants. Above the coal is its "roof" of hardened clay or +sandstone, and this generally holds great quantities of remains of +plants, and sometimes large stumps of trees with their bark converted +into coal, and the hollow once occupied with wood filled with +sandstone, while their roots spread over the surface of the coal. Such +fossil forests of erect stumps are also found at various levels in the +coal measures, resting directly on under-clays without any coals. A +bed of coal would thus appear to be a fossil bog or swamp. + +This much being premised about the general nature of the sooty blocks +which fill our coal-scuttles, we may now transport ourselves into the +forests and bogs of the coal formation, and make acquaintance with +this old vegetation, while it still waved its foliage in the breeze +and drank in the sunshine and showers. We are in the midst of one of +those great low plains formed by the elevation of the former sea bed. +The sun pours down its fervent rays upon us, and the atmosphere, being +loaded with vapour, and probably more rich in carbonic acid then that +of the present world, the heat is as it were accumulated and kept near +the surface, producing a close and stifling atmosphere like that of a +tropical swamp. This damp and oppressive air is, however, most +favourable to the growth of the strange and grotesque trees which +tower over our heads, and to the millions of delicate ferns and +club-mosses, not unlike those of our modern woods, which carpet the +ground. Around us for hundreds of miles spreads a dense and monotonous +forest, with here and there open spaces occupied by ponds and sluggish +streams, whose edges are bordered with immense savannahs of reed-like +plants, springing from the wet and boggy soil. Everything bespeaks a +rank exuberance of vegetable growth; and if we were to dig downward +into the soil, we should find a thick bed of vegetable mould +evidencing the prevalence of such conditions for ages. But the time +will come when this immense flat will meet with the fate which in +modern times befell a large district at the mouth of the Indus. +Quietly, or with earthquake shocks, it will sink under the waters; +fishes and mollusks will swarm where trees grew, beds of sand and mud +will be deposited by the water, inclosing and preserving the remains +of the vegetation, and in some places surrounding and imbedding the +still erect trunks of trees. Many feet of such deposits may be formed, +and our forest surface, with its rich bed of vegetable mould, has been +covered up and is in process of transformation into coal; while in +course of time the shallow waters being filled up with deposit, or a +slight re-elevation occurring, a new forest exactly like the last will +flourish on the same spot. Such changes would be far beyond the +compass of the life even of a Methuselah; but had we lived in the Coal +period, we might have seen all stages of these processes +contemporaneously in different parts of either of the great +continents. + +But let us consider the actual forms of vegetation presented to us in +the Coal period, as we can restore them from the fragments preserved +to us in the beds of sandstone and shale, and as we would have seen +them in our imaginary excursion through the Carboniferous forests. To +do this we must first glance slightly at the great subdivisions of +modern plants, which we may arrange in such a way as to give an easy +means for comparison of the aspects of the vegetable kingdom in +ancient and modern times. In doing this I shall avail myself of an +extract from a previous publication of my own on this subject. + +"The modern flora of the earth admits of a grand twofold division into +the _Phænogamous_, or flowering and seed-bearing plants, and the +_Cryptogamous_, or flowerless and spore-bearing plants. In the former +series, we have, first, those higher plants which start in life with +two seed-leaves, and have stems with distinct bark, wood, and +pith--the _Exogens_; secondly, those similar plants which begin life +with one seed-leaf only, and have no distinction of bark, wood, and +pith, in the stem--the _Endogens_; and, thirdly, a peculiar group +starting with two or several seed-leaves, and having a stem with bark, +wood, and pith, but with very imperfect flowers, and wood of much +simpler structure then either of the others--the _Gymnosperms_. To the +first of these groups or classes belong most of the ordinary trees of +temperate climates. To the second belong the palms and allied trees +found in tropical climates. To the third belong the pines and cycads. +In the second or Cryptogamous series we have also three classes,--(1.) +The _Acrogens_, or ferns and club-mosses, with stems having true +vessels marked on the sides with cross-bars--the Scalariform vessels. +(2.) The _Anophytes_, or mosses and their allies, with stems and +leaves, but no vessels. (3.) The _Thallophytes_, or lichens, fungi, +sea-weeds, etc., without true stems and leaves. + +"In the existing climates of the earth we find these classes of plants +variously distributed as to relative numbers. In some, pines +predominate. In others, palms and tree-ferns form a considerable part +of the forest vegetation. In others, the ordinary exogenous trees +predominate, almost to the exclusion of others. In some Arctic and +Alpine regions, mosses and lichens prevail. In the Coal period we have +found none of the higher Exogens, though one species is known in the +Devonian, and only a few obscure indications of the presence of +Endogens; but Gymnosperms abound, and are highly characteristic. On +the other hand, we have no mosses or lichens, and very few algæ, but a +great number of ferns and Lycopodiaceæ or club-mosses. Thus the coal +formation period is botanically a meeting-place of the lower +Phænogams and the higher Cryptogams, and presents many forms which, +when imperfectly known, have puzzled botanists in regard to their +position in one or other series. In the present world, the flora most +akin to that of the Coal period is that of moist and warm islands in +the southern hemisphere. It is not properly a tropical flora, nor is +it the flora of a cold region, but rather indicative of a moist and +equable climate. In accordance with this is the fact that the equable +but not warm climate of the southern hemisphere at present (which is +owing principally to its small extent of land) enables sub-tropical +plants to extend into high latitudes. In the Coal period this +uniformity was evidently still more marked, since we find similar +plants extending from regions within the Arctic circle to others near +to the tropics. Still we must bear in mind that we may often be +mistaken in reasoning as to the temperature required by extinct +species of plants differing from those now in existence. Further, we +must not assume that the climatal conditions of the northern +hemisphere were in the Coal period at all similar to those which now +prevail. As Sir Charles Lyell has argued, a less amount of land in the +higher latitudes would greatly modify climates, and there is every +reason to believe that in the Coal period there was less land then +now. It has been shown by Tyndall that a very small additional amount +of carbonic acid in the atmosphere would, by obstructing the radiation +of heat from the earth, produce almost the effect of a glass roof or +conservatory, extending over the whole world. There is much in the +structure of the leaves of the coal plants, as well as in the vast +amount of carbon which they accumulated in the form of coal, and the +characteristics of the animal life of the period, to indicate, on +independent grounds, that the Carboniferous atmosphere differed from +that of the present world in this way, or in the presence of more +carbonic acid--a substance now existing in the very minute proportion +of one-thousandth of the whole by weight, a quantity adapted to the +present requirements of vegetable and animal life, but probably not to +those of the Coal period." + +Returning from this digression to the forests of the Coal period, we +may first notice that which is the most conspicuous and abundant tree +in the swampy levels--the Sigillaria or seal-tree, so called from the +stamp-like marks left by the fall of its leaves--a plant which has +caused much discussion as to its affinities. Some regard it as a +gymnosperm, others as a cryptogam. Most probably we have under this +name trees allied in part to both groups, and which, when better +known, may bridge over the interval between them. These trees present +tall pillar-like trunks, often ribbed vertically with raised bands, +and marked with rows of scars left by the fallen leaves. They are +sometimes branchless, or divide at top into a few thick limbs, covered +with long rigid grass-like foliage. On their branches they bear long +slender spikes of fruit, and we may conjecture that quantities of +nut-like seeds scattered over the ground around their trunks are +their produce. If we approach one of these trees closely, more +especially a young specimen not yet furrowed by age, we are amazed to +observe the accurate regularity and curious forms of the leaf-scars, +and the regular ribbing, so very different from that of our ordinary +forest trees. If we cut into its stem, we are still further astonished +at its singular structure. Externally it has a firm and hard rind. +Within this is a great thickness of soft cellular inner bark, +traversed by large bundles of tough fibres. In the centre is a core or +axis of woody matter very slender in proportion to the thickness of +the trunk, and still further reduced in strength by a large cellular +pith. Thus a great stem four or five feet in diameter is little else +then a mass of cellular tissue, altogether unfit to form a mast or +beam, but excellently adapted, when flattened and carbonised, to blaze +upon our winter hearth as a flake of coal. The roots of these trees +were perhaps more singular then their stems; spreading widely in the +soft soil by regular bifurcation, they ran out in long snake-like +cords, studded all over with thick cylindrical rootlets, which spread +from them in every direction. They resembled in form, and probably in +function, those cable-like root-stocks of the pond-lilies which run +through the slime of lakes, but the structure of the rootlets was +precisely that of those of some modern Cycads. It was long before +these singular roots were known to belong to a tree. They were +supposed to be the branches of some creeping aquatic plant, and +botanists objected to the idea of their being roots; but at length +their connection with Sigillaria was observed simultaneously by Mr. +Binney, in Lancashire, and by Mr. Richard Brown, in Cape Breton, and +it has been confirmed by many subsequently observed facts. This +connection, when once established, further explained the reason of the +almost universal occurrence of Stigmaria, as these roots were called, +under the coal beds; while trunks of the same plants were the most +abundant fossils of their partings and roofs. The growth of successive +generations of Sigillariæ was, in fact, found to be the principal +cause of the accumulation of a bed of coal. Two species form the +central figures in our illustration. + +[Illustration: Fig. 13.--GROUP OF CARBONIFEROUS PLANTS, RESTORED FROM +ACTUAL SPECIMENS. + + (_a_) Calamites (type of _C. Suckovii_). (_b_) Lepidofloios, or + Ulodendron. (_c_) Sigillaria (type of _S. reniformis_). + (_d_) (type of _S. elegans_). (_e_) Lepidodendron (type of + _L. corrugatum_). (_f_) Megaphyton (type of _M. magnificum_). + (_g_) Cordaites, or Pychnophyllum (type of _C. borassifolia_).] + +Along with the trees last mentioned, we observe others of a more +graceful and branching form, the successors of those Lepidodendra +already noticed in the Devonian, and which still abound in the +Carboniferous, and attain to larger dimensions then their older +relations, though they are certainly more abundant and characteristic +in the lower portions of the carboniferous. Relatives, as already +stated, of our modern club-mosses, now represented only by +comparatively insignificant species, they constitute the culmination +of that type, which thus had attained its acme very long ago, though +it still continues to exist under depauperated forms. They all +branched by bifurcation, sometimes into the most graceful and delicate +sprays. They had narrow slender leaves, placed in close spirals on the +branches. They bore their spores in scaly cones. Their roots were +similar to Stigmaria in general appearance, though differing in +details. In the coal period there were several generic forms of these +plants, all attaining to the dimensions of trees. Like the Sigillariæ, +they contributed to the materials of the coal; and one mode of this +has recently attracted some attention. It is the accumulation of their +spores and spore-cases already referred to in speaking of the +Devonian, and which was in the Carboniferous so considerable as to +constitute an important feature locally in some beds of coal. A +similar modern accumulation of spore-cases of tree-ferns occurs in +Tasmania; but both in the Modern and the Carboniferous, such beds are +exceptional; though wherever spore-cases exist as a considerable +constituent of coal, from their composition they give to it a highly +bituminous character, an effect, however, which is equally produced by +the hard scales supporting the spores, and by the outer epidermal +tissues of plants when these predominate in the coal, more especially +by the thick corky outer bark of Sigillaria. In short, the corky +substance of bark and similar vegetable tissues, from its highly +carbonaceous character, its indestructibility, and its difficult +permeability by water carrying mineral matter in solution, is the best +of all materials for the production of coal; and the microscope shows +that of this the principal part of the coal is actually composed. + +In the wide, open forest glades, tree-ferns almost precisely similar +to those of the modern tropics reared their leafy crowns. But among +them was one peculiar type, in which the fronds were borne in pairs +on opposite sides of the stem, leaving when they fell two rows of +large horseshoe-shaped scars marking the sides of the trunk. +Botanists, who have been puzzled with these plants almost as much as +with the Stigmaria, have supposed these scars to be marks of branches, +of cones, and even of aërial roots; but specimens in my collection +prove conclusively that the stem of this genus was a great caudex made +up of the bases of two rows of huge leaves cemented together probably +by intervening cellular tissue. As in the Devonian and in modern +times, the stems of the tree-ferns of the Carboniferous strengthened +themselves by immense bundles of cord-like aërial roots, which look +like enormous fossil brooms, and are known under the name Psaronius. + +We have only time to glance at the vast brakes of tall Calamites which +fringe the Sigillaria woods, and stretch far sea-ward over tidal +flats. They were allied to modern Mares' Tails or Equisetums, but were +of gigantic size, and much more woody structure of stem. The Calamites +grew on wet mud and sand-flats, and also in swamps; and they appear to +have been especially adapted to take root in and clothe and mat +together soft sludgy material recently deposited or in process of +deposition. When the seed or spore of a Calamite had taken root, it +probably produced a little low whorl of leaves surrounding one small +joint, from which another and another, widening in size, arose, +producing a cylindrical stem, tapering to a point below. To +strengthen the unstable base, the lower joints, especially if the mud +had been accumulating around the plant, shot out long roots instead of +leaves, while secondary stems grew out of the sides at the surface of +the soil, and in time there was a stool of Calamites, with tufts of +long roots stretching downwards, like an immense brush, into the mud. +When Calamites thus grew on inundated flats, they would, by causing +the water to stagnate, promote the elevation of the surface by new +deposits, so that their stems gradually became buried; but this only +favoured their growth, for they continually pushed out new stems, +while the old buried ones shot out bundles of roots instead of regular +whorls of leaves. + +The Calamites, growing in vast fields along the margins of the +Sigillaria forests, must have greatly protected these from the effects +of inundations, and by collecting the mud brought down by streams in +times of flood, must have done much to prevent the intrusion of earthy +deposits among the vegetable matter. Their chief office, therefore, as +coal-producers, seems to have been to form for the Sigillaria forests +those reedy fringes which, when inundations took place, would exclude +mud, and prevent that mixture of earthy matter in the coal which would +have rendered it too impure for use. Quantities of fragments of their +stems can, however, be detected by the microscope in most coals. + +The modern Mares' Tails have thin-walled hollow stems, and some of the +gigantic calamites of the coal resembled them in this. But others, to +which the name _Calamodendron_, or Reed-tree, has been given, had +stems with thick woody walls of a remarkable structure, which, while +similar in plan to that of the Mares' Tails, was much more perfect in +its development. Professor Williamson has shown that there were forms +intervening between these extremes; and thus in the calamites and +calamodendrons we have another example of the exaltation in ancient +times of a type now of humble structure; or, in other words, of a +comprehensive type, low in the modern world, but in older periods +taking to itself by anticipation the properties afterward confined to +higher forms. The gigantic club-mosses of the Coal period constitute a +similar example, and it is very curious that both of these types have +been degraded in the modern world, though retaining precisely their +general aspect, while the tree-ferns contemporary with them in the +Palæozoic still survive in all their original grandeur. + +Barely in the swampy flats, perhaps more frequently in the uplands, +grew great pines of several kinds; trees capable of doing as good +service for planks and beams as many of their modern successors, but +which lived before their time, and do not appear even to have aided +much in the formation of coal. These pines of the Coal-period seem to +have closely resembled some species still living in the southern +hemisphere; and, like the ferns, they present to us a vegetable type +which has endured through vast periods of time almost unchanged. +Indeed, in the Middle Devonian we have pines almost as closely +resembling those of the Modern world as do those of the Coal period. +It is in accordance with this long duration of the ferns and pines, +that they are plants now of world-wide distribution--suited to all +climates and stations. Capacity to exist under varied conditions is +near akin to capacity to survive cosmical changes. A botanist in the +strange and monstrous woods which we have tried to describe, would +probably have found many curious things among the smaller herbaceous +plants, and might have gathered several precursors of the modern +Exogens and Endogens which have not been preserved to us as fossils, +or are known only as obscure fragments. But incomplete though our +picture necessarily is, and obscured by the dust of time, it may serve +in some degree to render green to our eyes those truly primeval +forests which treasured up for our long winter nights the Palæozoic +sunshine, and established for us those storehouses of heat-giving +material which work our engines and propel our ships and carriages. +Truly they lived not in vain, both as realizing for us a type of +vegetation which otherwise we could not have imagined, and as +preparing the most important of all the substrata of our modern arts +and manufactures. In this last regard even the vegetable waste of the +old coal swamps was most precious to us, as the means of producing the +clay iron ores of the coal measures. I may close this notice of the +Carboniferous forests with a suggestive extract from a paper by +Professor Huxley in the _Contemporary Review_:-- + +"Nature is never in a hurry, and seems to have had always before her +eyes the adage, 'Keep a thing long enough, and you will find a use for +it.' She has kept her beds of coal for millions of years without being +able to find much use for them; she has sent them down beneath the +sea, and the sea-beasts could make nothing of them: she has raised +them up into dry land and laid the black veins bare, and still for +ages and ages there was no living thing on the face of the earth that +could see any sort of value in them; and it was only the other day, so +to speak, that she turned a new creature oat of her workshop, who by +degrees acquired sufficient wits to make a fire, and then to discover +that the black rock would burn. + +"I suppose that nineteen hundred years ago, when Julius Cæsar was good +enough to deal with Britain as we have dealt with New Zealand, the +primeval Briton, blue with cold and woad, may have known that the +strange black stone, of which he found lumps here and there in his +wanderings, would burn, and so help to warm his body and cook his +food. Saxon, Dane, and Norman swarmed into the land. The English +people grew into a powerful nation, and Nature still waited for a +return for the capital she had invested in the ancient club-mosses. +The eighteenth century arrived, and with it James Watt. The brain of +that man was the spore out of which was developed the steam-engine, +and all the prodigious trees and branches of modern industry which +have grown out of this. But coal is as much an essential condition of +this growth and development as carbonic acid is for that of a +club-moss. Wanting the coal, we could not have smelted the iron needed +to make our engines, nor have worked our engines when we had got them. +But take away the engines, and the great towns of Yorkshire and +Lancashire vanish like a dream. Manufactures give place to agriculture +and pasture, and not ten men could live where now ten thousand are +amply supported. + +"Thus all this abundant wealth of money and of vivid life is Nature's +investment in club-mosses and the like so long ago. But what becomes +of the coal which is burnt in yielding the interest? Heat comes out of +it, light comes out of it, and if we could gather together all that +goes up the chimney and all that remains in the grate of a +thoroughly-burnt coal fire, we should find ourselves in possession of +a quantity of carbonic acid, water, ammonia, and mineral matters, +exactly equal in weight to the coal. But these are the very matters +with which Nature supplied the club-moss which made the coal. She is +paid back principal and interest at the same time; and she straightway +invests the carbonic acid, the water, and the ammonia in new forms of +life, feeding with them the plants that now live. Thrifty Nature! +surely no prodigal, but most notable of housekeepers!" + +All this is true and admirably put. Its one weak point is the poetical +personification of Nature as an efficient planner of the whole. Such +an imaginary goddess is a mere superstition, unknown alike to science +and theology. Surely it is more rational to hold that the mind which +can utilize the coal and understand the manner of its formation, is +itself made in the image and likeness of the Supreme Creative Spirit, +in whom we live and move and have our being, who knows the end from +the beginning, whose power is the origin of natural forces, whose +wisdom is the source of laws and correlations of laws, and whose great +plan is apparent alike in the order of nature of the Palæozoic world +and of the modern world, as well as in the relation of these to each +other. + +In the Carboniferous, as in the Devonian age, insects existed, and in +greater numbers. The winged insects of the period, so far as known, +belong to three of the nine or ten orders into which modern insects +are usually divided. Conspicuous among them are representatives of our +well-known domestic pests the cockroaches, which thus belong +geologically to a very old family. The Carboniferous roaches had not +the advantage of haunting our larders, but they had abundance of +vegetable food in the rank forests of their time, and no doubt lived +much as the numerous wild out-of-door species of this family now do. +It is, however, a curious fact that a group of insects created so long +ago, should prove themselves capable of the kind of domestication to +which these creatures attain in our modern days; and that, had we +lived even so far back as the coal period, we might have been liable +to the attacks of this particular kind of pest. Another group, +represented by many species in the coal forests, was that of the +May-flies and shad-flies, or ephemeras, which spend their earlier days +under water, feeding on vegetable matter, and affording food to many +fresh-water fishes--a use which they no doubt served in the coal +period also. Some of them were giants in their way, being probably +seven inches in expanse of wing, and their larvæ must have been choice +morsels to the ganoid fishes, and would have afforded abundant bait +had there been anglers in those days. Another group of insects was +that of the weevils, a family of beetles, whose grubs must have found +plenty of nuts and fruits to devour, without attracting the wrathful +attentions of any gardener or orchardist. + +A curious and exceptional little group of creatures in the present +world is that of the galley-worms or millipedes; wingless, +many-jointed, and many-footed crawlers, resembling worms, but more +allied to insects. These animals seem to have swarmed in the coal +forests, and perhaps attained their maximum numbers and importance in +this period, though they still remain, a relic of an ancient +comprehensive type. I have myself found specimens referred by Mr. +Scudder, a most competent entomologist, to two genera and five +species, in a few decayed fossil stumps in Nova Scotia, and several +others have been discovered in other parts of the world. It is not +wonderful that animals like these, feeding on decayed vegetable +matter, should have flourished in the luxuriant Sigillaria swamps. A +few species of scorpions and spiders, very like those of the modern +world, have been found in the coal measures, both in Europe and +America; so that while we know of no enemy of the Devonian insects +except the fishes, we know in addition to these in the Carboniferous +the spiders and their allies, and the smaller reptiles or batrachians +to be noticed in the sequel. With reference to the latter, it is a +curious fact that one of the first fragments of a winged insect found +in the coal-fields of America was a part of a head and some other +remains contained in the coprolites or excrementitious matter of one +of the smaller fossil reptiles. It is perhaps equally interesting that +this head shows one of the compound facetted eyes as perfectly +developed as those of any modern Neuropter, a group of insects +remarkable even in the present world for their large and complex +organs of vision. We may pause here to note that, just as in the +Primordial we already have the Trilobites presenting all the +modifications of which the type is susceptible, so in the +Carboniferous we have in the case of the terrestrial articulates a +similar fact--highly specialised forms like the beetles, the spiders, +and the scorpions, already existing along with comprehensive forms +like the millipedes. Let us formulate the law of creation which the +Primordial trilobites, the Devonian fishes, and the Carboniferous +club-mosses and insects have taught us: it is, that every new type +rapidly attains its maximum of development in magnitude and variety of +forms, and then remains stationary, or even retrogrades, in +subsequent ages. We may connect this with other laws in the sequel. + +In the coal measures we also meet, for the first time in our ascending +progress, the land snails so familiar now in every part of the world, +and which are represented by two little species found in the coal +formation of Nova Scotia. The figures of these must speak for +themselves; but the fact of their occurrence here and the mode of +their preservation require some detailed mention. The great province +of the Mollusks we have carried with us since we met with the Lingulæ +in the Primordial, but all its members have been aquatic, and probably +marine. For the first time, in the Carboniferous period, snails emerge +from the waters, and walk upon the ground and breathe air; for, like +the modern land snails, these creatures no doubt had air-sacks instead +of gills. They come suddenly upon us--two species at once, and these +representing two distinct forms of the snail tribe, the elongated and +the rounded. They were very numerous. In the beds where they occur, +probably thousands of specimens, more or less perfect, could be +collected. Were they the first-born of land snails? It would be rash +to affirm this, more especially since in all the coal-fields of the +world no specimens have been found except at one locality in Nova +Scotia;[N] and in all the succeeding beds we meet with no more till we +have reached a comparatively modern time. Yet it is very unlikely +that these creatures were in the coal period limited to one country, +and that, after that period, they dropped out of existence for long +ages, and then reappeared. Still it may have been so. + +[N] Bradley has recently announced the discovery of other species in +the coal-field of Illinois. + +THE TWO OLDEST LAND SNAILS. + +[Illustration: Fig. 14.--_Pupa Vetusta_, Dawson. + + (_a_) Natural size, (_b_) Enlarged, (_c_) Apex, enlarged, + (_d_) Sculpture, magnified.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--_Conulus Priscus_, Carpenter. + + (_a_) Specimen enlarged, (_b_) Sculpture, magnified.] + +There are cases of geographical limitation quite as curious now. Here +again another peculiarity meets us. If these are really the oldest +land snails, it is curious that they are so small,--so much inferior +to many of their modern successors even in the same latitudes. The +climate of the coal period must have suited them, and there was plenty +of vegetable food, though perhaps not the richest or most tender. +There is no excuse for them in their outward circumstances. Why, then, +unlike so many other creatures, do they enter on existence in this +poor and sneaking way. We must here for their benefit modify in two +ways the statement broadly made in a previous chapter, that new types +come in under forms of great magnitude. First, we often have, in +advance of the main inroad of a new horde of animals, a few +insignificant stragglers as a sort of prelude to the rest--precursors +intimating beforehand what is to follow. We shall find this to be the +case with the little reptiles of the coal, and the little mammals of +the Trias, preceding the greater forms which subsequently set in. +Secondly, this seems to be more applicable in the case of land animals +then in the case of those of the waters. To the waters was the fiat to +bring forth living things issued. They have always kept to themselves +the most gigantic forms of life; and it seems as if new forms of life +entering on the land had to begin in a small way and took more time to +culminate. + +The circumstances in which the first specimens of Carboniferous snails +and gally-worms were found are so peculiar and so characteristic of +the coal formation, that I must pause here to notice them, and to make +of them an introduction to the next group of creatures we have to +consider. In the coal formation in all parts of the world it is not +unusual, as stated already in a previous page, to find erect trees or +stumps of trees, usually Sigillariæ, standing where they grew; and +where the beds are exposed in coast cliffs, or road cuttings, or +mines, these fossil trees can be extracted from the matrix and +examined. They usually consist of an outer cylinder of coal +representing the outer bark, while the space within, once occupied by +the inner bark and wood, is filled with sandstone, sometimes roughly +arranged in layers, the lowest of which is usually mixed with coaly +matter or mineral charcoal derived from the fallen remains of the +decayed wood, a kind of deposit which affords to the fossil botanist +one of the best modes of investigating the tissues of these trees. +These fossil stumps are not uncommon in the roofs of the coal-seams. +In some places they are known to the miners as "coal pipes," and are +dreaded by them in consequence of the accidents which occur from their +suddenly falling after the coal which supported them has been removed. +An old friend and helper of mine in Carboniferous explorations had a +lively remembrance of the fact that one of these old trees, falling +into the mine in which he was working, had crushed his leg and given +him a limp for life; and if he had been a few inches nearer to it +would have broken his back. + +The manner in which such trees become fossilized may be explained as +follows:--Imagine a forest of Sigillariæ growing on a low flat. This +becomes submerged by subsidence or inundation, the soil is buried +under several feet of sand or mud, and the trees killed by this agency +stand up as bare and lifeless trunks. The waters subside, and the +trees rapidly decay, the larvæ of wood-boring insects perhaps aiding +in the process, as they now do in the American woods. The dense coaly +outer bark alone resists decomposition, and stands as a hollow +cylinder until prostrated by the wind or by the waters of another +inundation, while perhaps a second forest or jungle has sprung up on +the new surface. When it falls, the part buried in the soil becomes an +open hole, with a heap of shreds of wood and bark in the bottom. Such +a place becomes a fit retreat for gally-worms and land-snails; and +reptiles pursuing such animals, or pursued by their own enemies, or +heedlessly scrambling among the fallen trunks, may easily fall into +such holes and remain as prisoners. I remember to have observed, when +a boy, a row of post-holes dug across a pasture-field and left open +for a few days, and that in almost every hole one or two toads were +prisoners. This was the fate which must have often befallen the +smaller reptiles of the coal forests in the natural post-holes left by +the decay of the Sigillariæ. Yet it may be readily understood that the +combination of circumstances which would effect this result must have +been rare, and consequently this curious fact has been as yet observed +only in the coal formation of Nova Scotia; and in it only in one +locality, and in this in one only out of more then sixty beds in +which erect trees have been found. But these hollow trees must be +filled up in order to preserve their contents; and as inundation and +subsequent decay have been the grave-diggers for the reptiles, so +inundations filled up their graves with sand, to be subsequently +hardened into sandstone, burying up at the same time the newer +vegetation which had grown upon the former surface. The idea that +something interesting might be found in these erect stumps, first +occurred to Sir C. Lyell and the writer while exploring the beautiful +coast cliffs of Western Nova Scotia in 1851; and it was in examining +the fragments scattered on the beach that we found the bones of the +first Carboniferous reptile discovered in America, and the shell of +the oldest known land snail. + +These were not, however, the earliest known instances of Carboniferous +reptiles. In 1841, Sir William Logan found footprints of a reptile at +Horton Bluff, in Nova Scotia, in rocks of Lower Carboniferous age. In +1844, Von Dechen found reptilian bones in the coal-field of Saarbruck; +and in the same year Dr. King found reptilian footprints in the +Carboniferous of Pennsylvania. Like Robinson Crusoe on his desert +island, we saw the footprints before we knew the animals that produced +them; and the fact that there were marks on a slab of shale or +sandstone that must have been made by an animal walking on feet, was +as clear and startling a revelation of the advent of a new and higher +form of life, as were the footprints of Man Friday. Within the thirty +years since the discovery of the first slab of footprints, the +knowledge of coal formation reptiles has grown apace. I can scarcely +at present sum up exactly the number of species, but may estimate it +at thirty-five at least. I must, however, here crave pardon of some of +my friends for the use of the word reptile. In my younger days frogs +and toads and newts used to be reptiles; now we are told that they are +more like fishes, and ought to be called Batrachians or Amphibians, +whereas reptiles are a higher type, more akin to birds then to these +lower and more grovelling creatures. The truth is, that the old class +Reptilia bridges over the space between the fishes and the birds, and +it is in some degree a matter of taste whether we make a strong line +at the two ends of it alone, or add another line in the middle. I +object to the latter course, however, in the period of the world's +history of which I am now writing, since I am sure that there were +animals in those days which were batrachians in some points and true +reptiles in others; while there are some of them in regard to which it +is quite uncertain whether they are nearer to the one group or the +other. Although, therefore, naturalists, with the added light and +penetration which they obtain by striding on to the Mesozoic and +Modern periods, may despise my old-fashioned grovellers among the mire +of the coal-swamps, I shall, for convenience, persist in calling them +reptiles in a general way, and shall bring out whatever claims I can +to justify this title for some of them at least. + +Perhaps the most fish-like of the whole are the curious creatures from +the coal measures of Saarbruck, first found by Yon Dechen, and which +constitute the genus _Archegosaurus_. Their large heads, short necks, +supports for permanent gills, feeble limbs, and long tails for +swimming, show that they were aquatic creatures presenting many points +of resemblance to the ganoid fishes with which they must have +associated; still they were higher then these in possessing lungs and +true feet, though perhaps better adapted for swimming then even for +creeping. + +From these creatures the other coal reptiles diverge, and ascend along +two lines of progress, the one leading to gigantic crocodile-like +animals provided with powerful jaws and teeth, and probably haunting +the margins of the waters and preying on fishes; the other leading to +small and delicate lizard-like species, with well-developed limbs, +large ribs, and ornate horny scales and spines, living on land and +feeding on insects and similar creatures. + +[Illustration: Fig. 16.--RESTORATIONS OF BAPHETES, DENDRERPETON. +HYLONOMUS, AND HYLERPETON, WITH CARBONIFEROUS PLANTS IN THE DISTANCE.] + +In the first direction we have a considerable number of species found +in the Jarrow coal-field in Ireland, and described by Professor +Huxley. Some of them were like snakes in their general form, others +more like lizards. Still higher stand such animals as _Baphetes_ and +_Eosaurus_ from the Nova Scotia coal-field and _Anthracosaurus_ from +that of Scotland. The style and habits of these creatures it is easy +to understand, however much haggling the comparative anatomists may +make over their bones. They were animals of various size, ranging +from a foot to at least ten feet in length, the body generally +lizard-like in form, with stout limbs and a flattened tail useful in +swimming. Their heads were flat, stout, and massive, with large teeth, +strengthened by the insertion and convolution of plates of enamel. The +fore limbs were probably larger then the hind limbs, the better to +enable them to raise themselves out of the water. The belly was +strengthened by bony plates and closely imbricated scales, to resist, +perhaps, the attacks of fishes from beneath, and to enable them +without injury to drag their heavy bodies over trunks of trees and +brushwood, whether in the water or on the land. Their general aspect +and mode of life were therefore by no means unlike those of modern +alligators; and in the vast swamps of the coal measures, full of ponds +and sluggish streams swarming with fish, such creatures must have +found a most suitable habitat, and probably existed in great numbers, +basking on the muddy banks, surging through the waters, and filling +the air with their bellowings. The most curious point about these +creatures is, that while rigid anatomy regards them as allied in +structure more to frogs and toads and newts then to true lizards, it +is obvious to common sense that they were practically crocodiles; and +even anatomy must admit that their great ribs and breastplates, and +powerful teeth and limbs, indicate a respiration, circulation, and +general vitality, quite as high as those of the proper reptiles. +Hence, it happens that very different views are stated as to their +affinities; questions into which we need not now enter, satisfied with +the knowledge of the general appearance and mode of life of these +harbingers of the reptilian life of the succeeding geological periods. + +In the other direction, we find several animals of small size but +better developed limbs, leading to a group of graceful little +creatures, quite as perplexing with regard to affinities as those +first mentioned, but tending towards the smaller lizards of the +modern world. At the top of these I may place the genus _Hylonomus_ +from hollow fossil trees of Nova Scotia, of which two species are +represented as restored in our illustration. In these restorations I +have adhered as faithfully as possible to the proportions of parts as +seen in my specimens. Imagine a little animal six or seven inches +long, with small short head, not so flat as those of most lizards, but +with a raised fore-head, giving it an aspect of some intelligence. Its +general form is that of a lizard, but with the hind feet somewhat +large, to aid it in leaping and standing erect, and long and flexible +toes. Its belly is covered with bony scales, its sides with bright and +probably coloured scale armour of horny consistency, and its neck and +back adorned with horny crests, tubercles, and pendants. It runs, +leaps, and glides through the herbage of the coal forests, intent on +the pursuit of snails and insects, its eye glancing and its bright +scales shining in the sun. This is a picture of the best known species +of Hylonomus drawn from the life. Yet the anatomist, when he examines +the imperfectly-ossified joints of its backbone, and the double joint +at the back of its skull, will tell you that it is after all little +better then a mere newt, an ass in a lion's skin, a jackdaw with +borrowed feathers, and that it has no right to have fine scales, or to +be able to run on the land. It may be so; but I may plead in its +behalf, that in the old coal times, when reptiles with properly-made +skeletons had not been created, the next best animals may have been +entitled to wear their clothes and to assume their functions as well. +In short, functionally or officially, our ancient batrachians were +reptiles; in point of rank, as measured by type of skeleton, they +belonged to a lower grade. To this view of the case I think most +naturalists will agree, and they will also admit that the progress of +our views has been in this direction, since the first discovery of +Carboniferous air-breathing vertebrates. In evidence of this I may +quote from Professor Huxley's description of his recently found +species,[O] After noticing the prevalent views that the coal reptiles +were of low organization, he says: "Discoveries in the Nova Scotia +coal-fields first shook this view, which ceased to be tenable when the +great _Anthracosaurus_ of the Scotch coal-field was found to have +well-ossified biconcave vertebrae." + +[O] _Geological Magazine_, vol. iii. + +The present writer may, however, be suspected of a tendency to extend +forms of life backward in time, since it has fallen to his lot to be +concerned in this process of stretching backward in several cases. He +has named and described the oldest known animal. He has described the +oldest true exogen, and the oldest known pine-tree. He was concerned +in the discovery of the oldest known land snails, and found the oldest +millipedes. He has just described the oldest bituminous bed composed +of spore-cases, and he claims that his genus Hylonomus includes the +oldest animals which have a fair claim to be considered reptiles. +Still this discovery of old things comes rather of fortune and careful +search then of a desire to innovate; and a distinction should be drawn +between that kind of novelty which consists in the development of new +truths, and that which consists in the invention of new fancies, or +the revival of old ones. There is too much of this last at present; +and it would be a more promising line of work for our younger +naturalists, if they would patiently and honestly question nature, +instead of trying to extort astounding revelations by throwing her on +the rack of their own imaginations. + +We may pause here a moment to contemplate the greatness of the fact we +have been studying the introduction into our world of the earliest +known vertebrate animals which could open their nostrils and literally +"breathe the breath of life." All previous animals that we know, +except a few Devonian insects, had respired in the water by means of +gills or similar apparatus, Now we not only have the little land +snails, with their imperfect substitutes for lungs, but animals which +must have been able to draw in the vital air into capacious chambered +lungs, and with this power must have enjoyed a far higher and more +active style of vitality; and must have possessed the faculty of +uttering truly vocal sounds. What wondrous possibilities unknown to +these creatures, perhaps only dimly perceived by such rational +intelligences as may have watched the growth of our young world, were +implied in these gifts. It is one of the remarkable points in the +history of creation in Genesis, that this step of the creative work is +emphatically marked. Of all the creatures we have noticed up to this +point, it is stated that God said, "Let the waters bring them +forth"--but it is said that "God created" great reptiles +(_tanninim_).[P] No doubt these "great tanninim" culminate in the +succeeding Mesozoic age, but their first introduction dates as far +back as the Carboniferous; and this introduction was emphatically a +creation, as being the commencement of a new feature among living +beings. What further differences may be implied in the formulæ, "Let +the waters produce" and "God created," we do not know; very probably +he who wrote the words did not fully know. But if we could give a +scientific expression to this difference, and specify the cases to +which its terms apply, we might be able to solve one of the most vexed +questions of biology. + +[P] Not "whales," as in our version. + +Let us observe, however, that even here, where, if anywhere, we have +actual creation, especial pains are taken to bridge over the gap, and +to prevent any appearance of discontinuity in the work. The ganoid +fishes of the coal period very probably had, like their modern +congeners, well-developed air-bladders, serving to some extent, though +very imperfectly, as lungs. The humbler and more aquatic reptiles of +the period retained the gills, and also some of the other features of +the fishes; so that, like some modern creatures of their class, they +stood, as to respiration, on two stools, and seemed unwilling +altogether to commit themselves to the new mode of life in the +uncongenial element of air. Even the larger and more lizard-like of +the coal reptiles may--though this we do not certainly know, and in +some cases there are reasons for doubting it--have passed the earliest +stage of their lives in the water as gilled tadpoles, in the manner of +our modern frogs. Thus at the very point where one of the greatest +advances of animal life has its origin, we have no sudden stop, but an +inclined plane; and yet, as I have elsewhere endeavoured to show by +arguments which cannot be repeated here,[Q] we have not a shadow of +reason to conclude that, in the coal period, fishes were transmuted +into reptiles. + +[Q] "Air-breathers of the Coal Period," p. 77. + +But the reader may be wearied with our long sojourn in the +pestilential atmosphere of the coal swamps, and in the company of +their low-browed and squalid inhabitants. Let us turn for a little to +the sea, and notice the animal life of the great coral reefs and shell +beds preserved for us in the Carboniferous limestone. Before doing so, +one point merits attention. The coal formation for the first time +distinctly presents to us the now familiar differences in the +inhabitants of the open sea and those of creeks, estuaries and lakes. +Such distinctions are unknown to us in the Silurian. There all is sea. +They begin to appear in the Devonian, in the shallow fish-banks and +the Anodon-like bivalves found with fossil plants. In the coal period +they become very manifest. The animals found in the shales with the +coal are all, even the aquatic ones, distinct from those of the open +seas of the period. Some of them may have lived in salt or brackish +water, but not in the open sea. They are creatures of still and +shallow waters. It is true that in some coal-fields marine beds occur +in the coal measures with their characteristic fossils, but these are +quite distinct from the usual animal remains of the coal-fields, and +mark occasional overflows of the sea, owing to subsidence of the land. +It is important to notice this geographical difference, marking the +greater specialisation and division of labour, if we may so speak, +that was in the process of introduction. + +The sea of the Carboniferous period presented in the main similar +great groups of animals to those of the Devonian, represented however +by different species. We may notice merely some of the salient points +of resemblance or difference. The old types of corals continue in +great force; but it is their last time, for they rapidly decay in the +succeeding Permian and disappear. The Crinoids are as numerous and +beautiful as in any other period, and here for the first time we meet +with the new and higher type of the sea-urchin, in large and beautiful +species. One curious group, that of the _Pentremites_, a sort of +larval form, is known here alone. Among the lamp-shells we may note, +as peculiarly and abundantly Carboniferous, those with one valve very +convex and the other very concave and anchored in the mud by long +spines instead of a peduncle attached to stones and rocks.[R] There +are many beautiful shells allied to modern scallops, and not a few +sea-snails of various sorts. The grand _Orthoceratites_ of the +Silurian diminish in size preparatory to their disappearance in the +Permian, and the more modern type of _Nautilus_ and its allies becomes +prevalent. Among the Crustaceans we may notice the appearance of the +_Limulus_, or king-crab, of which the single little species described +by Woodward from the Upper Silurian may be regarded as merely a +prophecy. It is curious that the Carboniferous king-crabs are very +small, apparently another case of a new form appearing in humble +guise; but as the young of modern king-crabs haunt creeks and swampy +flats, while the adults live in the sea, it may be that only the young +of the Carboniferous species are yet known to us, the specimens found +being mostly in beds likely to be frequented by the young rather then +by the full-grown individuals. + +[R] The Productidæ. + +The old order of the Trilobites, which has accompanied us from +Primordial times, here fails us, and a few depauperated species alone +remain, the sole survivors of their ancient race--small, unornamented, +and feeble representatives of a once numerous and influential tribe. +How strange that a group of creatures so numerous and apparently so +well adapted to conditions of existence which still continue in the +sea, should thus die out, while the little bivalved crustaceans, which +began life almost as far back and lived on the same sea-floors with +the Trilobites, should still abound in all our seas; and while the +king-crabs, of precisely similar habits with the Trilobites, should +apparently begin to prosper. Equally strange is the fate of the great +swimming Eurypterids which we saw in the Devonian. They also continue, +but in diminished force, in the Carboniferous, and there lay down for +ever their well-jointed cuirasses and formidable weapons, while a few +little shrimp-like creatures, their contemporaries, form the small +point of the wedge of our great tribes of squillas and crabs and +lobsters. Some years ago the late lamented palæontologist, Salter, a +man who scarcely leaves his equal in his department, in conjunction +with Mr. Henry Woodward, prepared a sort of genealogical chart of the +Crustacea on which these facts are exhibited. Some new species have +since been discovered, and a little additional light about affinities +has been obtained; but taken as it stands, the history of the +Crustacea as there shown in one glance, has in it more teaching on the +philosophy of creation then I have been able to find in many ponderous +quartos of tenfold its pretensions. Had Salter been enabled, with the +aid of other specialists like Woodward, to complete similar charts of +other classes of invertebrate animals, scientific palaeontology in +England would have been further advanced then it is likely to be in +the next ten years. + +To return to our Trilobites: one of the most remarkable points in +their history is their appearance in full force in the Primordial. In +these rocks we have some of the largest in size--some species of +Paradoxides being nearly two feet long, and some of the very smallest. +We have some with the most numerous joints, others with the fewest; +some with very large tails, others with very small; some with no +ornamentation, others very ornate; some with large eyes, others with +none that have been made out, though it is scarcely probable that they +were wholly blind. They increased in numbers and variety through the +Silurian and Devonian, and then suddenly drop off at the end of the +Lower Carboniferous. Throughout their whole term of existence they +kept rigidly to that type of the mud-plough which the king-crab still +retains, and which renders the anterior extremity so different from +that of the ordinary Crustacea. They constitute one of the few cases +in which we seem to see before us the whole history of an animal type; +and the more we look into that history, the more do we wonder at their +inscrutable introduction, the unity and variety mingled in their +progress, and their strange and apparently untimely end. I have +already referred (page 95) to the use which Barrande makes of this as +an argument against theories of evolution; but must refer to his work +for the details. + +One word more I must say before leaving their graves. I have reason to +believe that they were not only the diggers of the burrows, and of +the ladder-tracks and pitted tracks[S] of the Silurian and +Primordial, but that with the strokes of their rounded or spinous +tails, the digging of their snouts, and the hoe-work of their hard +upper lips, or Hypostomes, they made nearly all those strange marks in +the Primordial mud which have been referred to fucoids, and even to +higher plants. The Trilobites worked over all the mud bottoms of the +Primordial, even in places where no remains of them occur, and the +peculiarities of the markings which they left are to be explained only +by a consideration of the structures of individual species. + +[S] _Climactichnites_ and _Protichnites_. + +I had almost lost sight of the fishes of the Carboniferous period, but +after saying so much of those of the Devonian, it would be unfair to +leave their successors altogether unnoticed. In the Carboniferous we +lose those broad-snouted plate-covered species that form so +conspicuous a feature in the Devonian; and whatever its meaning, it is +surely no accident that these mud-burrowing fishes should decay along +with those crustacean mud-burrowers, the Trilobites. But swarms of +fishes remain, confined, as in the Devonian, wholly to the two orders +of the Gar-fishes (_Ganoids_) and the sharks (_Placoids_). In the +former we have a multitude of small and beautiful species haunting the +creeks and ponds of the coal swamps, and leaving vast quantities of +their remains in the shaly and even coaly beds formed in such places. +Such were the pretty, graceful fishes of the genera _Palæoniscus_ and +_Amblypterus_. Pursuing and feeding on these were larger ganoids, +armed with strong bony scales, and formidable conical or sharp-edged +teeth. Of these were _Rhizodus_ and _Acrolepis_. There were besides +multitudes of sharks whose remains consist almost wholly of their +teeth and spines, their cartilaginous skeletons having perished. One +group was allied to the few species of modern sharks whose mouths are +paved with flat teeth for crushing shells. These were the most +abundant sharks of the Carboniferous--slow and greedy monsters, +haunting shell banks and coral reefs, and grinding remorselessly all +the shell-fishes that came in their way. There were also sharks +furnished with sharp and trenchant teeth, which must have been the +foes of the smaller mailed fishes, pursuing them into creeks and muddy +shallows; and if we may judge from the quantity of their remains in +some of these places, sometimes perishing in their eager efforts. On +the whole, the fishes of the Carboniferous were, in regard to their +general type, a continuation of those of the Devonian, but the sharks +and the scaly ganoids were relatively more numerous. They differed +from our modern fishes in the absence of the ordinary horny-scaled +type to which all our more common fishes belong, and in the prevalence +of that style of tail which has been termed "heterocercal," in which +the continuation of the backbone forms the upper lobe of the tail, a +style which, if we may judge from modern examples, gives more power of +upward and downward movement, and is especially suitable to fishes +which search for food only at the bottom, or only above the surface of +the waters. + +Most reluctantly I must here leave one of the most remarkable periods +of the world's history, and reserve to our next chapter the summation +of the history of the older world of life in its concluding stage, the +Permian. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PERMIAN AGE AND CLOSE OF THE PALÆOZOIC. + + +The immense swamps and low forest-clad plains which occupied the +continental areas of the Northern Hemisphere, and which we now know +extended also into the regions south of the equator, appear at the +close of the Carboniferous age to have again sunk beneath the waves, +or to have relapsed into the condition of sand and gravel banks; for a +great thickness of such deposits rests on the coal measures and +constitutes the upper coal formation, the upper "barren measures" of +the coal-miners. There is something grand in the idea of this +subsidence of a world of animal and vegetable life beneath the waters. +The process was very slow, so slow that at first vegetable growth and +deposition of silt kept pace with it; and this is the reason of the +immense series of deposits, in some places nearly 15,000 feet thick, +which inclose or rest upon the coal beds; but at length it became more +rapid, so that forests and their inhabitants perished, and the wild +surf drifted sand and pebbles over their former abodes. So the +Carboniferous world, like that of Noah, being overflowed with water, +perished. But it was not a wicked world drowned for its sins, but +merely an old and necessarily preliminary system, which had fully +served its purpose; and, like the stubble of last year, must be +turned under by the plough that it may make way for a new verdure. The +plough passed over it, and the winter of the Permian came, and then +the spring of a new age. + +The Permian and the succeeding Triassic are somewhat chilly and +desolate periods of the earth's history. The one is the twilight of +the Palæozoic day, the other is the dawn of the Mesozoic. Yet to the +philosophical geologist no ages excel them in interest. They are times +of transition, when old dynasties and races pass away and are replaced +by new and vigorous successors, founding new empires and introducing +new modes of life and action. + +Three great leading points merit our attention in entering on the +Permian age. The first is the earth-movements of the period. The +second is the resulting mineral characteristics of the deposits +formed. The third is the aspect of the animal and vegetable life of +this age in their relation more especially to those which preceded. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF FOLDINGS OF THE CRUST IN THE PERMIAN PERIOD. +(The vertical scale of heights and depressions exaggerated more then +six times.) The lower figure shows a portion of folded strata in the +Appalachians--after Rogers.] + +With respect to the first point above named, the earth's crust was +subjected in the Permian period to some of the grandest movements +which have occurred in the whole course of geologic time, and we can +fix the limits of these, in Europe and America at least, with some +distinctness. If we examine the Permian rocks in England and Germany, +we shall find that everywhere they lie on the upturned edges of the +preceding Carboniferous beds. In other words, the latter have been +thrown into a series of folds, and the tops of these folds have been +more or less worn away before the Permian beds were placed on them. +But if we pass on to the eastward, in the great plain between the +Volga and the Ural mountains, where, in the "ancient kingdom of Perm," +the greatest known area of these rocks is found, an area equal in +extent to twice that of France, and which Sir R. I. Murchison, who +first proposed the name, took as the typical district, we find, on the +contrary, that the Permian and Carboniferous are conformable to one +another. If now we cross the Atlantic and inquire how the case stands +in America, we shall find it precisely the same. Here the great +succession of earth-waves constituting the Appalachian Mountains rises +abruptly at the eastern edge of the continent, and becomes flatter and +flatter, until, in the broad plains west of the Mississippi, the +Permian beds appear, as in Russia, resting upon the Carboniferous so +quietly that it is not always easy to draw a line of separation +between them. As Dana has remarked, we find at the western side of +Europe and the eastern side of America, great disturbances +inaugurating the Permian period; and in the interior of both, in the +plains between the Volga and the Ural in one, and between the +Mississippi and Rocky Mountains in the other, an entire absence of +these disturbances. The main difference is, that in eastern America +the whole Carboniferous areas have apparently been so raised up that +no Permian was deposited on them, while in Europe considerable patches +of the disturbed areas became or remained submerged. Another American +geologist has largely illustrated the fact that the movements which +threw up the Appalachian folds were strongest to the eastward, and +that the ridges of rock are steepest on their west sides, the force +which caused them acting from the direction of the sea. It seems as if +the Atlantic area had wanted elbow-room, and had crushed up the edges +of the continents next to it. In other words, in the lapse of the +Palæozoic ages the nucleus of the earth had shrunk away from its +coating of rocky layers, which again collapsed into great wrinkles. + +Such a process may seem difficult of comprehension. To understand it +we must bear in mind some of its conditions. First, the amount of this +wrinkling was extremely small relatively to the mass of the earth. In +the diagram on page 162 it is greatly exaggerated, yet is seen to be +quite insignificant, however gigantic in comparison with microscopic +weaklings like ourselves. Secondly, it was probably extremely slow. +Beds of solid rock cannot be suddenly bent into great folds without +breaking, and the abruptness of some of the folds may be seen from our +figure, copied from Rogers (page 162), of some of the foldings of the +Appalachian Mountains. Thirdly, the older rocks below the +Carboniferous and the Devonian must have been in a softened and +plastic state, and so capable of filling up the vacancies left by the +bending of the hard crust above. In evidence of this, we have in the +Lower Permian immense volcanic ejections--lavas and other molten +rocks spewed out to the surface from the softened and molten masses +below. Fourthly, the basin of the Atlantic must have been sufficiently +strong to resist the immense lateral pressure, so that the yielding +was all concentrated on the weaker parts of the crust near the old +fractures at the margins of the great continents. In these places +also, as we have seen in previous papers, the greatest thickness of +deposits had been formed; so that there was great downward pressure, +and probably, also, greater softening of the lower part of the crust. +Fifthly, as suggested in a previous chapter, the folding of the +earth's crust may have resulted from the continued shrinkage of its +interior in consequence of cooling, leading after long intervals to +collapse of the surface. Astronomers have, however, suggested another +cause. The earth bulges at the equator, and is flattened at the poles +in consequence of, or in connection with, the swiftness of its +rotation; but it has been shown that the rotation of the earth is +being very gradually lessened by the attraction of the moon.[T] Pierce +has recently brought forward the idea[U] that this diminution of +rotation, by causing the crust to subside in the equatorial regions +and expand in the polar, might produce the movements observed; and +which, according to Lesley, have amounted in the whole course of +geological time to about two per cent, of the diameter of our globe. +We thus have two causes, either of which seems sufficient to produce +the effect. + +[T] Sir William Thomson, who quotes Adams and Delaunay. + +[U] "Nature," February, 1871. + +Viewed in this way, the great disturbances at the close of the +Palæozoic period constitute one of the most instructive examples in +the whole history of the earth of that process of collapse to which +the crust was subject after long intervals, and of which no equally +great instance occurs except at the close of the Laurentian and the +close of the Mesozoic. The mineral peculiarities of the Permian are +also accounted for by the above considerations. Let us now notice some +of these. In nearly all parts of the world the Permian presents thick +beds of red sandstone and conglomerate as marked ingredients. These, +as we have already seen, are indications of rapid deposition +accompanying changes of level. In the Permian, as elsewhere, these +beds are accompanied by volcanic rocks, indicating the subterranean +causes of the disturbances. Again, these rocks are chiefly abundant in +those regions, like Western Europe, where the physical changes were at +a maximum. Another remarkable feature of the Permian rocks is the +occurrence of great beds of magnesian limestone, or dolomite. In +England, the thick yellow magnesian limestone, the outcrop of which +crosses in nearly a straight line through Durham, Yorkshire, and +Nottingham, marks the edge of a great Permian sea extending far to the +eastward. In the marls and sandstones of the Permian period there is +also much gypsum. Now, chemistry shows us that magnesian limestones +and gypsums are likely to be deposited where sea water, which always +contains salts of magnesia, is evaporating in limited or circumscribed +areas into which carbonate of lime and carbonate of soda are being +carried by streams from the land or springs from below;[V] and it is +also to be observed that solutions of sulphuric acid, and probably +also of sulphate of magnesia, are characteristic products of igneous +activity. Hence we find in various geological periods magnesian +limestones occurring as a deposit in limited shallow sea basins, and +also in connection with volcanic breccias. Now these were obviously +the new Permian conditions of what had once been the wide flat areas +of the Carboniferous period. Still further, we find in Europe, as +characteristic of this period, beds impregnated with metallic salts, +especially of copper. Of this kind are very markedly the copper slates +of Thuringia. Such beds are not, any more then magnesian limestones, +limited to this age; but they are eminently characteristic of it. To +produce them it is required that water should bring forth from the +earth's crust large quantities of metallic salts, and that these +should come into contact with vegetable matters in limited submerged +areas, so that sulphates of the metals should be deoxidized into +sulphides. A somewhat different chemical process, as already +explained, was very active in the coal period, and was connected with +the production of its iron ores; but, in the Permian, profound and +extensive fractures opened up the way to the deep seats of copper and +other metals, to enrich the copper slate and its associated beds. It +is also to be observed that the alkaline springs and waters which +contain carbonate of soda, very frequently hold various metallic +salts; so that where, owing to the action of such waters, magnesian +limestone is being deposited, we may expect also to find various +metallic ores. + +[V] Hunt, "Silliman's Journal," 1859 and 1863. + +Let us sum up shortly this history. We have foldings of the earth's +crust, causing volcanic action and producing limited and shallow +sea-basins, and at the same time causing the evolution of alkaline and +metalliferous springs. The union of these mechanical and chemical +causes explains at once the conglomerates, the red sandstones, the +trap rocks, the magnesian limestones, the gypsum, and the +metalliferous beds of the Permian. The same considerations explain the +occurrence of similar deposits in various other ages of the earth's +history; though, perhaps, in none of these were they so general over +the Northern Hemisphere as in the Permian. + +From the size of the stones in some of the Permian conglomerates, and +their scratched surfaces, it has been supposed that there were in this +period, on the margins of the continents, mountains sufficiently high +to have snow-clad summits, and to send down glaciers, bearing rocks +and stones to the sea, on which may have floated, as now in the North +Atlantic, huge icebergs.[W] This would be quite in accordance with +the great elevation of land which we know actually occurred; and the +existence of snow-clad mountains along with volcanoes would be a union +of fire and frost of which we still have examples in some parts of the +earth's surface, and this in proximity to forms of vegetable life very +similar to those which we know existed in the Permian. + +[W] Ramsay has ably illustrated this in the Permian conglomerates of +England. + +With the exception of a few small and worthless beds in Russia, the +Permian is not known to contain any coal. The great swamps of the coal +period had disappeared. In part they were raised up into rugged +mountains. In part they were sunken into shallow sea areas. Thus, +while there was much dry land, there was little opportunity for coal +production, or for the existence of those rank forests which had +accumulated so much vegetable matter in the Carboniferous age. In like +manner the fauna of the Permian waters is poor. According to +Murchison, the Permian limestones of Europe have afforded little more +then one-third as many species of fossils as the older Carboniferous. +The fossils themselves also have a stunted and depauperated aspect, +indicating conditions of existence unfavourable to them. This is +curiously seen in contrasting Davidson's beautiful illustrations of +the British Lamp-shells of the Permian and Carboniferous periods. +Another illustrative fact is the exceptionally small size of the +fossils even in limestones of the Carboniferous period when these are +associated with gypsum, red sandstones, and magnesian minerals; as, +for instance, those of some parts of Nova Scotia. In truth, the +peculiar chemical conditions conducive to the production of magnesian +limestones and gypsum are not favourable to animal life, though no +doubt compatible with its existence. Hence the rich fauna of the +Carboniferous seas died out in the Permian, and was not renewed; and +the Atlantic areas of the period are unknown to us. They were, +however, probably very deep and abrupt in slope, and not rich in life. +This would be especially the case if they were desolated by cold +ice-laden currents. + +During the Permian period there was in each of our continental areas a +somewhat extensive inland sea. That of Western America was a northward +extension of the Gulf of Mexico. That of Eastern Europe was a +northward extension of the Euxine and Caspian. In both, the deposits +formed were very similar--magnesian limestones, sandstones, +conglomerates, marls, and gypsums. In both, these alternate in such a +way as to show that there were frequent oscillations of level, +producing alternately shallow and deep waters. In both, the animal +remains are of similar species, in many instances even identical. But +in the areas intervening between these sea basins and the Atlantic the +conditions were somewhat different. In Europe the land was interrupted +by considerable water areas, not lakes, but inland sea basins; +sometimes probably connected with the open sea, sometimes isolated. In +these were, deposited the magnesian limestone and its associated beds +in England, and the Zechstein and Rotheliegende with their associates +in Germany. In America the case was different. In all that immense +area which extends from the Atlantic to the plains east of the +Mississippi, we know no Permian rocks, unless a portion of those +reckoned as Upper Carboniferous, or Permo-carboniferous in Northern +Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, should be included in this +group. If such existed, they may possibly be covered up in some places +by more modern deposits, or may have been swept away by denudation in +the intervening ages; but even in these cases we should expect to find +some visible remains of them. Their entire absence would seem to +indicate that a vast, and in many parts rugged and elevated, continent +represented North America in the Permian period. Yet if so, that great +continent is an absolute blank to us. We know nothing of the animals +or plants which may have lived on it, nor do we even know with +certainty that it had active volcanoes, or snow-clad mountains sending +down glaciers. + +Our picture of the Permian World has not been inviting, yet in many +respects it was a world more like that in which we live then was any +previous one. It certainly presented more of variety and grand +physical features then any of the previous ages; and we might have +expected that on its wide and varied continents some new and higher +forms of life would have been introduced. But it seems rather to have +been intended to blot out the old Palæozoic life, as an arrangement +which had been fully tried and served its end, preparatory to a new +beginning in the succeeding age. + +Still the Permian has some life features of its own, and we must now +turn to these. The first is the occurrence here, not only of the +representatives of the great Batrachians of the coal period, but of +true reptiles, acknowledged to be such by all naturalists. The animals +of the genus _Protorosaurus_, found in rocks of this age both in +England and Germany, were highly-organised lizards, having socketed +teeth like those of crocodiles, and well-developed limbs, with long +tails, perhaps adapted for swimming. They have, however, biconcave +vertebræ like the lizard-like animals of the coal already mentioned, +which, indeed, in their general form and appearance, they must have +very closely resembled. The Protorosaurs were not of great size; but +they must have been creatures of more stately gait then their +Carboniferous predecessors, and they serve to connect them with the +new and greater reptiles of the next period. + +Another interesting feature of the Permian is its flora, which, in so +far as known, is closely related to that of the coal period, though +the species are regarded as different; some of the forms, however, +being so similar as to be possibly identical. In a picture of the +Permian flora we should perhaps place in the foreground the +tree-ferns, which seem to have been very abundant, and furnished with +dense clusters of aërial roots to enable them to withstand the storms +of this boisterous age. The tree-ferns, now so plentiful in the +southern hemisphere, should be regarded as one of the permanent +vegetable institutions of our world--those of the far-back Lower +Devonian, and of all intervening ages up to the present day, having +been very much alike. The great reed-like Calamites have had a +different fate. In their grander forms they make their last appearance +in the Permian, where they culminate in great ribbed stems, sometimes +nearly a foot in diameter, and probably of immense height. The brakes +of these huge mares'-tails which overspread the lower levels of the +Permian in Europe, would have been to us what the hayfields of +Brobdingnag were to Gulliver. The Lepidodendra also swarmed, though in +diminished force; but the great Sigillariæ of the coal are absent, or +only doubtfully present. Another feature of the Permian woods was the +presence of many pine-trees different in aspect from those of the coal +period. Some of these are remarkable for their slender and delicate +branches and foliage.[X] Others have more dense and scaly leaves, and +thick short cones.[Y] Both of these styles of pines are regarded as +distinct, on the one hand, from those of the coal formation, and on +the other from those of the succeeding Trias. I have shown, however, +many years ago, that in the upper coal formation of America there are +branches of pine-trees very similar to Walchia, and, on the other +hand, the Permian pines are not very remote in form and structure from +some of their modern relations. The pines of the first of the +above-mentioned types (Walchia) may indeed be regarded as allies of +the modern Araucarian pines of the southern hemisphere, and of the +old conifers of the Carboniferous. Those of the second type (Ulmannia) +may be referred to the same group with the magnificent Sequoias or +Redwoods of California. + +[X] Walchia. + +[Y] Ulmannia. + +It is a curious indication of the doubts which sometimes rest on +fossil botany, that some of the branches of these Permian pines, when +imperfectly preserved, have been described as sea-weeds, while others +have been regarded as club-mosses. It is true, however, that the +resemblance of some of them to the latter class of plants is very +great; and were there no older pines, we might be pardoned for +imagining in the Permian a transition from club-mosses to pines. +Unfortunately, however, we have pines nearly as far back in geological +time as we have club-mosses; and, in so far as we know, no more like +the latter then are the pines of the Permian, so that this connection +fails us. In all probability the Permian forests are much less +perfectly known to us then those of the coal period, so that we can +scarcely make comparisons. It appears certain, however, that the +Permian plants are much more closely related to the coal plants then +to those of the next succeeding epoch, and that they are not so much a +transition from the one to the other as the finishing of the older +period to make way for the newer. + +But we must reserve some space for a few remarks on the progress and +termination of the Palæozoic as a whole, and on the place which it +occupies in the world's history. These remarks we may group around the +central question, What is the meaning or value of an age or period in +the history of the earth, as these terms are understood by geologists? +In most geological books terms referring to time are employed very +loosely. Period, epoch, age, system, series, formation, and similar +terms, are used or abused in a manner which only the indefiniteness of +our conceptions can excuse. + +A great American geologist[Z] has made an attempt to remedy this by +attaching definite values to such words as those above mentioned. In +his system the greater divisions of the history were "Times:" thus the +Eozoic was a time and the Palæozoic was a time. The larger divisions +of the times are "Ages:" thus the Lower and Upper Silurian, the +Devonian, and the Carboniferous are ages, which are equivalent in the +main to what English geologists call Systems of Formations. Ages, +again, may be divided into "Periods:" thus, in the Upper Silurian, the +Ludlow of England, or Lower Helderberg of America, would constitute a +period. These periods may again be divided into "Epochs," which are +equivalent to what English geologists call Formations, a term +referring not directly to the time elapsed, but to the work done in +it. Now this mode of regarding geological time introduces many +thoughts as to the nature of our chronology and matters relating to +it. A "time" in geology is an extremely long time, and the Palæozoic +was perhaps the longest of the whole. By the close of the Palæozoic +nine-tenths of all the rocks we know in the earth's crust were +formed. At least this is the case if we reckon mere thickness. For +aught that we know, the Eozoic time may have accumulated as much rock +as the Palæozoic; but leaving this out of the question, the rocks of +the Palæozoic are vastly thicker then those of the Mesozoic and +Cainozoic united. Thus the earth's history seems to have dragged +slowly in its earlier stages, or to have become accelerated in its +latter times. To place it in another point of view, life changes were +greater relatively to merely physical changes in the later then in the +earlier times. + +[Z] Dana. + +The same law seems to have obtained within the Palæozoic time itself. +Its older periods, as the Cambrian and Lower Silurian, present immense +thicknesses of rock with little changes in life. Its later periods, +the Carboniferous and Permian, have greater life-revolution relatively +to less thickness of deposits. This again was evidently related to the +growing complexity and variety of geographical conditions, which went +on increasing all the way up to the Permian, when they attained their +maximum for the Palæozoic time. + +Again, each age was signalized, over the two great continental +plateaus, by a like series of elevations and depressions. We may +regard the Siluro-Cambrian, the Silurian, the Devonian, the +Carboniferous, and Permian, as each of them a distinct age. Each of +these began with physical disturbances and coarse shallow-water +deposits. In each this was succeeded by subsidence and by a sea area +tenanted by corals and shell-fishes. In each case this was followed by +a re-elevation, leading to a second but slow and partial subsidence, +to be followed by the great re-elevation preparatory to the next +period. Thus we have throughout the Palæozoic a series of cycles of +physical change which we may liken to gigantic pulsations of the thick +hide of mother earth. The final catastrophe of the Permian collapse +was quite different in kind from these pulsations as well as much +greater in degree. The Cambrian or Primordial does not apparently +present a perfect cycle of this kind, perhaps because in that early +period the continental plateaus were not yet definitely formed, and +thus its beds are rather portions of the general oceanic deposit. In +this respect it is analogous in geological relations to the chalk +formation of a later age, though very different in material. The +Cambrian may, however, yet vindicate its claim to be regarded as a +definite cycle: and the recent discoveries of Hicks in North Wales, +have proved the existence of a rich marine fauna far down in the lower +part of this system. It is also to be observed that the peculiar +character of the Cambrian, as an oceanic bottom rather then a +continental plateau, has formed an important element in the +difficulties in establishing it as a distinct group; just as a similar +difficulty in the case of the chalk has led to a recent controversy +about the continuance of the conditions of that period into modern +times. + +But in each of the great successive heaves or pulsations of the +Palæozoic earth, there was a growing balance in favour of the land as +compared with the water. In each successive movement more and more +elevated land was thrown up, until the Permian flexures finally fixed +the forms of our continents. This may be made evident to the eye in a +series of curves, as in the following diagram, in which I have +endeavoured to show the recurrence of similar conditions in each of +the great periods of the Palæozoic, and thus their equivalency to each +other as cycles of the earth's history. + +There is thus in these great continental changes a law of recurrence +and a law of progress; but as to the efficient causes of the phenomena +we have as yet little information. It seems that original fractures +and shrinkages of the crust were concerned in forming the continental +areas at first. Once formed, unequal burdening of the earth's still +plastic mass by deposits of sediment in the waters, and unequal +expansion by the heating and crystallization of immense thicknesses of +the sediment, may have done the rest; but the results are surprisingly +regular to be produced by such causes. We shall also find that similar +cycles can be observed in the geological ages which succeeded the +Palæozoic. Geologists have hitherto for the most part been content to +assign these movements to causes purely terrestrial; but it is +difficult to avoid the suspicion that the succession of geological +cycles must have depended on some recurring astronomical force tending +to cause the weaker parts of the earth's crust alternately to rise and +subside at regular intervals of time. Herschel, Adhémar, and more +recently Croll, have directed attention to astronomical cycles +supposed to have important influences on the temperature of the earth. +Whether these or other changes may have acted on the equilibrium of +its crust is a question well worthy of attention, as its solution +might give us an astronomical measure of geological time. This +question, however, the geologist must refer to the astronomer. + +[Illustration: CURVES SHOWING THE SUCCESSIVE ELEVATIONS AND +DEPRESSIONS OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, IN SEVERAL CYCLES OF THE +PALÆOZOIC TIME.] + +There are two notes of caution which must here be given to the reader. +First, it is not intended to apply the doctrine of continental +oscillations to the great oceanic areas. Whether they became shallower +or deeper, their conditions would be different from those which +occurred in the great shallow plateaus, and these conditions are +little known to us. Further, throughout the Palæozoic period, the +oscillations do not seem to have been sufficient to reverse the +positions of the oceans and continents. Secondly, it is not meant to +affirm that the great Permian plications were so widespread in their +effects as to produce a universal destruction of life. On the +contrary, after they had occurred, remnants of the Carboniferous fauna +still flourished even on the surfaces of the continents, and possibly +the inhabitants of the deep ocean were little affected by these great +movements. True it is that the life of the Palæozoic terminates with +the Permian, but not by a great and cataclysmic overthrow. + +We know something at least of the general laws of continental +oscillations during the Palæozoic. Do we know anything of law in the +case of life? The question raises so many and diverse considerations +that it seems vain to treat it in the end of a chapter; still we must +try to outline it with at least a few touches. + +First, then, the life of the Palæozoic was remarkable, as compared with +that of the present world, in presenting a great prevalence of animals +and plants of synthetic types, as they are called by Agassiz that is, +of creatures comprehending in one the properties of several groups +which were to exist as distinct in the future. Such types are also +sometimes called embryonic, because the young of animals and plants +often show these comprehensive features. Such types were the old +corals, presenting points of alliance with two distinct groups now +widely separated; the old Trilobites, half king-crabs and half +Isopods; the Amphibians of the coal, part fish, part newt, and part +crocodile; the Sigillariæ, part club-mosses and part pines; the +Orthoceratites, half nautili and half cuttle-fishes. I proposed, in +the illustration in a former article, to give a restoration of one of +the curious creatures last mentioned, the Orthoceratites; but on +attempting this, with the idea that, as usually supposed, they were +straight Nautili, it appeared that the narrow aperture, the small +outer chamber, the thin outer wall, often apparently only membranous, +and the large siphuncle, would scarcely admit of this; and I finished +by representing it as something like a modern squid; perhaps wrongly, +but it was evidently somewhere between them and the Nautili. + +Secondly, these synthetic types often belonged to the upper part of a +lower group, or to the lower part of an upper group. Hence in one +point of view they may be regarded as of high grade, in another as of +low grade, and they are often large in size or in vegetative +development.[AA] From this law have arisen many controversies about +the grade and classification of the Palæozoic animals and plants. + +[AA] It seems, indeed, as if the new synthetic forms intermediate +between great groups were often large in size, while the new special +types came in as small species. There are some remarkable cases of +this in the plant world; though here we have such examples as the +pines and tree-ferns continuing almost unchanged from an early +Palæozoic period until now. + +Thirdly, extinctions of species occur in every great oscillation of +the continental areas, but some species reappear after such +oscillations, and the same genus often recurs under new specific +forms. Families and orders, such as those of the Trilobites and +Orthoceratites, appear to have a grand and gradual culmination and +decadence extending over several successive periods, or even over the +whole stretch of the Palæozoic time. Toward the close of the +Palæozoic, while all the species disappear, some whole families and +orders are altogether dropped, and, being chiefly synthetic groups, +are replaced by more specialised types, some of which, however, make +small beginnings alongside of the more general types which are passing +away. Our diagram (page 183) illustrates these points. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE ADVANCE, CULMINATION, AND DECADENCE +OF SOME OF THE LEADING TYPES OF PALÆOZOIC LIFE.] + +Fourthly, the progress in animal life in the Palæozoic related chiefly +to the lower or invertebrate tribes, and to the two lower classes of +the vertebrates. The oldest animal known to us is not only a creature +of the simplest structure, but also a representative of that great and +on the whole low type of animal life, in which the parts are arranged +around a central axis, and not on that plan of bilateral symmetry +which constitutes one great leading distinction of the higher animals. +With the Cambrian, bilateral animals abound and belong to two very +distinct lines of progress--the one, the Mollusks, showing the +nutritive organs more fully developed--the other, the Articulates, +having the organs of sense and of locomotion more fully organized. +These three great types shared the world among them throughout the +earlier Palæozoic time, and only in its later ages began to be +dominated by the higher types of fishes and reptiles. In so far as we +know, it remained for the Mesozoic to introduce the birds and mammals. +In plant life the changes were less marked, though here also there is +progress--land plants appear to begin, not with the lowest forms, but +with the highest types of the lower of the two great series into which +the vegetable kingdom is divided. From this they rapidly rise to a +full development of the lowest type of the flowering plants, the pines +and their allies, and there the progress ceases; for the known +representatives of the higher plants are extremely few and apparently +of little importance. + +Fifthly, in general the history tells of a continued series of +alternate victories and defeats of the species that had their birth on +the land and in the shallow waters, and those which were born in the +ocean depths, The former spread themselves widely after every +upheaval, and then by every subsidence were driven back to their +mountain fastnesses. The latter perished from the continental plateaus +at every upheaval, but climbed again in new hordes and reoccupied the +ground after every subsidence. But just as in human history every +victory or defeat urges on the progress of events, and develops the +great plan of God's providence in the elevation of man; so here every +succeeding change brings in new and higher actors on the stage, and +the scheme of creation moves on in a grand and steady progress towards +the more varied and elevated life of the Modern World. + +But, after all, how little do we know of these laws, which are only +beginning to dawn on the minds of naturalists; and which the +imperfections of our classification and nomenclature, and the defects +in our knowledge of fossil species, render very dim and uncertain. All +that appears settled is the existence of a definite plan, working over +long ages, and connected with the most remarkable correlation of +physical and organic change: going on with regular march throughout +the Palæozoic, and then brought to a close to make room for another +great succession. This following Mesozoic time must next engage our +attention. + +We may close for the present with presenting to the eye in tabular +form the periods over which we have passed. The table on page 187, and +the diagram (page 179), mutually illustrate each other; and it will +be seen that each age constitutes cycle, similar in its leading +features to the other cycles, while each is distinguished by some +important fact in relation to the introduction of living beings. In +this table I have, with Mr. Hull,[AB] for simplicity, arranged the +formations of each age under three periods--an older, middle, and +newer. Of these, however, the last or newest is in each case so +important and varied as to merit division into two, in the manner +which I have suggested in previous publications for the Palæozoic +rocks of North America.[AC] Under each period I have endeavoured to +give some characteristic example from Europe and America, except +where, as in the case of the coal formation, the same names are used +on both continents. Such a table as this, it must be observed, is only +tentative, and may admit of important modifications. The Laurentian +more especially may admit of division into several ages; and a +separate age may be found to intervene between it and the Cambrian. +The reader will please observe that this table refers to the changes +on the continental plateaus; and that on both of these each age was +introduced with shallow water and usually coarse deposits, succeeded +by deeper water and finer beds, usually limestones, and these by a +mixed formation returning to the shallow water and coarse deposits of +the older period of the age. This last kind of deposition culminates +in the great swamps of the coal formation. + +[AB] "Quarterly Journal of Science," July, 1869. + +[AC] "Acadian Geology," p. 137. + +CONDENSED TABULAR VIEW OF THE AGES AND PERIODS OF THE PALÆOZOIC AND +EOZOIC. + + Key to Symbols + + ### Tabulate and Rugose Corals, abundant. + *** Age of Algæ. + === Age of Acrogens and Gymnosperms. + +++ And God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly + the swarming living creatures." + --- And God created great reptiles. + + + TIMES. + AGES. PERIODS. ANIMALS AND PLANTS. + + PALÆOZOIC + + { {Newer. Red Sandstones, # + { Rauchwacke, etc. # Beginning = - + {Permian {Middle. Zechstein, or # of Age = - + { Magnesian Limestone. # of Reptiles. = - + { {Older. Conglomerates, etc., # = - + { Rotheliegendes. # = - + { # = - + { {N. Coal Formation. # = - + {Carboniferous {M. Carboniferous Limestone. # Age of = - + { {O. Lower Coal Measures and # Batrachians. = + { Conglomerates. # = + { # = + { {N. Upper Old Red, Chemung. # = + {Devonian {M. Eifel and Corniferous # = + { { Limestones. # Age of Fishes. = + { or Erian {O. Lower Old Red, Oriskany # = + { { Sandstone. # = + + { # + + { {N. Ludlow, Lower Helderberg. # + + {Upper Silurian {M. Wenlock and Niagara # + + { { Limestones. # Age of + + { {O. Mayhill, etc., Oneida # Mollusks. + + { { Conglomerates. # + + { # + + { {N. Caradoc, Hudson R. # + + {Lower Silurian {M. Bala and Trenton # + + { or { Limestones. # * + + {Siluro-Cambrian {O. Llandielo, etc., Chazy. # * + + { # * + + { {N. Lingula Flags, etc., * + + { { Potsdam Sandstone. * + + { { {Acadian, etc.? Age of * + + {Cambrian {M. (Uncertain){ Crustaceans. * + + { { {Menevian? * + + { {O. Longmynd, Huronian? + + + + EOZOIC + + + + { {N. Anorthosite Gneiss, etc. + + {Laurentian {M. Eozoon Limestones, etc. Age of + + { {O. Lower Gneiss. Protozoa. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MESOZOIC AGES. + + +Physically, the transition from the Permian to the Trias is easy. In +the domain of life a great gulf lies between; and the geologist whose +mind is filled with the forms of the Palæozoic period, on rising into +the next succeeding beds, feels himself a sort of Rip Van Winkle, who +has slept a hundred years and awakes in a new world. The geography of +our continents seems indeed to have changed little from the time of +the Permian to that next succeeding group which all geologists +recognise as the beginning of the Mesozoic or Middle Age of the +world's history, the Triassic period. Where best developed, as in +Germany, it gives us the usual threefold series, conglomerates and +sandstones below, a shelly limestone in the middle, and sandstones and +marls above. Curiously enough, the Germans, recognising this +tripartite character here more distinctly then in their other +formations, named this the _Trias_ or triple group, a name which it +still retains, though as we have seen it is by no means the earliest +of the triple groups of strata. In England, where the middle limestone +is absent, it is a "New Red Sandstone," and the same name may be +appropriately extended to Eastern America, where bright red sandstones +are a characteristic feature. In the Trias, as in the Permian, the +continents of the northern hemisphere presented large land areas, and +there were lagoons and landlocked seas in which gypsum, magnesian +limestones, and rock salt were thrown down, a very eminent example of +which is afforded by the great salt deposits of Cheshire. There were +also tremendous outbursts of igneous activity along the margins of the +continents, more especially in Eastern America. But with all this +there was a rich land flora and a wonderful exuberance of new animal +life on the land; and in places there were even swamps in which pure +and valuable beds of coal, comparable with those of the old coal +formation, were deposited. + +The triple division of the Trias as a cycle of the earth's history, +and its local imperfection, are well seen in the European development +of the group, thus:-- + + German Series. French Series. English Series. + + Keuper, Sandstone and } Marnes Irisées {Saliferous and gypseous + Shale } { Shales and Sandstones. + + Muschelkalk, Limestone} Calcaire Coquillier {Wanting. + and Dolomite } + + Bunter, Sandstone and } Grès bigarré {Sandstone and + Conglomerate } { Conglomerate. + +The Trias is succeeded by a great and complex system of formations, +usually known as the Jurassic, from its admirable development and +exposure in the range of the Jura; but which the English geologists +often name the "Oolitic," from the occurrence in it of beds of Oolite +or roe-stone. This rock, of which the beautiful cream-coloured +limestone of Bath is an illustration, consists of an infinity of +little spheres, like seeds or the roe of a fish. Under the microscope +these are seen to present concentric layers, each with a radiating +fibrous: structure, and often to have a minute grain of sand or +fragment of shell in the centre. They are, in short, miniature +concretions, produced by the aggregation of the calcareous matter +around centres, by a process of molecular attraction to which fine +sediments, and especially those containing much lime, are very prone. +This style of limestone is very abundant in the Jurassic system, but +it is not confined to it. I have seen very perfect Oolites in the +Silurian and the Carboniferous. The Jurassic series, as developed in +England, may be divided into three triplets or cycles of beds, in the +following way: + + {Purbeck Beds. + Upper Jurassic {Portland Limestone. + {Portland Sand. + + {Kimmeridge Clay, etc. + Middle Jurassic {Coral Rag, Limestone. + {Lower Calcareous Grit, Oxford Clay, etc. + + {Cornbrash and Forest Marble. + Lower Jurassic[AD] {Great and inferior Oolite, Limestone. + {Lias Clays and Limestones. + +[AD] This last group is very complex, and might perhaps admit of sub +division, locally at least, into subordinate cycles. + +These rocks occupy a large space in England, as the names above given +will serve to show; and they are also largely distributed over the +continent of Europe and Asia which had evidently three great and +long-continued dips under water, indicated by the three great +limestones. In America the case was different. The Jurassic has not +been distinctly recognised in any part of the eastern coast of that +continent, which then perhaps extended farther into the Atlantic then +it does at present; so that no marine beds were formed on its eastern +border. But in the west, along the base of the Rocky Mountains and +also in the Arctic area, there were Jurassic seas of large extent, +swarming with characteristic animals. At the close of the Jurassic +period our continents seem to have been even more extensive then at +present. In England and the neighbouring parts of the continent of +Europe, according to Lyell, the fresh-water and estuarine beds known +as the Wealden have been traced 320 miles from west to east, and 200 +miles from north-west to south-east, and their thickness in one part +of this area is estimated at no less then 2,000 feet. Such a deposit +is comparable in extent with the deltas of such great rivers as the +Niger or even the Mississippi, and implies the existence of a +continent much more extensive and more uniform in drainage then Europe +as it at present exists. Lyell even speculates on the possible +existence of an Atlantic continent west of Europe. America also at +this time had, as already stated, attained to even more then its +present extension eastwards. Thus this later Jurassic period was the +culmination of the Mesozoic, the period of its most perfect +continental development, corresponding in this to the Carboniferous in +the Palæozoic. + +The next or closing period of this great Mesozoic time brought a +wondrous change. In the Cretaceous period, so called from the vast +deposits of chalk by which it is characterized, the continents sunk as +they had never sunk before, so that vast spaces of the great +continental plateaus were brought down, for the first time since the +Laurentian, to the condition of abyssal depths, tenanted by such +creatures as live in the deepest recesses of our modern oceans. This +great depression affected Europe more severely then America; the +depression of the latter being not only less, but somewhat later in +date. In Europe, at the period of greatest submergence, the hills of +Scandinavia and of Britain, and the Urals, perhaps alone stood out of +the sea. The Alps and their related mountains, and even the Himalayas, +were not yet born, for they have on their high summits deep-sea beds +of the Cretaceous and even of later date. In America, the Appalachians +and the old Laurentian ranges remained above water; but the Rocky +Mountains and the Andes were in great part submerged, and a great +Cretaceous sea extended from the Appalachians westward to the Pacific, +and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, opening probably to the North +into the Arctic Ocean. + +This great depression must have been of very long continuance, since +in Western Europe it sufficed for the production of nearly 1,000 feet +in thickness of chalk, a rock which, being composed almost entirely of +microscopic shells, is, as we shall see in the sequel, necessarily of +extremely slow growth. If we regard the Cretaceous group as one of our +great ages or cycles, it seems to be incomplete. The sandstones and +clays known as the Greensand and Gault constitute its lower or +shallow-water member. The chalk is its middle or deep-sea member, but +the upper shallow-water member is missing, or only very locally and +imperfectly developed. And the oldest of the succeeding Tertiary +deposits, which indicate much less continuous marine conditions, rest +on the chalk, as if the great and deep sea of the Cretaceous age had +been suddenly upheaved into land. This abrupt termination of the last +cycle of the Mesozoic is obviously the reason of the otherwise +inexplicable fact that the prevalent life of the period ceases at the +top of the chalk, and is exchanged immediately and without any +transition for the very different fauna of the Tertiary. This further +accords with the fact that the Cretaceous subsidence ended in another +great crumpling of the crust, like that which distinguished the +Permian. By this the Mesozoic time was terminated and the Cainozoic +inaugurated; while the Rocky Mountains, the Andes, the Alps, and the +Himalayas, rose to importance as great mountain ranges, and the +continents were again braced up to retain a condition of comparative +equilibrium during that later period of the earth's chronology to +which we ourselves belong. + +[Illustration: LIFE ON LAND IN THE MESOZOIC PERIOD. + +In the foreground are a Pine, Cycads, and a Pandanus; also small +Mammals, an herbivorous Dinosaur, and a Labyrinthodont. In the +distance are other Dinosaurs and Crocodiles. In the air are birds +(_Archæopterux_) and Pterodactyls. + +Was the length of the Mesozoic time equal to that of the Palæozoic? +Measured by recurring cycles it was. In the latter period we find five +great cycles, from the Lower Silurian to the Permian inclusive. So in +the Mesozoic we have five also, from the Trias to the Cretaceous +inclusive. We have a right to reckon these cycles as ages or great +years of the earth; and so reckoning them, the Mesozoic time may have +been as long as the Palæozoic. But if we take another criterion the +result will be different. The thickness of the deposits in the +Palæozoic as compared with the Mesozoic, where these are severally +best developed, may be estimated as at least four or five to one; so +that if we suppose the beds to have been formed with equal rapidity in +the two great periods, then the older of the two was between four and +five times as long as the latter, which would indeed be only a little +greater then one of the separate ages of the Palæozoic. Either, +therefore, the deposits took place with greater rapidity in the +Palæozoic, or that period was by much the longer of the two. This it +will be observed, is only another aspect of the great laws of +geological sequence referred to in our last paper. + +Let us look into this question a little more minutely. If the several +pulsations of our continents depended upon any regularly recurring +astronomical or terrestrial change, then they must represent, at least +approximately, equal portions of time, and this, if proved, would +settle the question in favour of an equal duration of these two great +eras of the earth's history. But as we cannot yet prove this, we may +consider what light we can derive from the nature of the rocks +produced. These may be roughly classified as of two kinds: First, the +beds of sediment, sand, clay, etc., accumulated by the slow chemical +decay of rocks and the mechanical agency of water. Secondly, the beds +formed by accumulation of the harder and less perishable parts of +living beings, of which the limestones are the chief. With reference +to the first of these kinds of deposit, the action of the atmosphere +and rains on rocks in the earlier times might have been somewhat more +powerful if there was more carbonic acid in the atmosphere, that +substance being the most efficient agent in the chemical decay of +rocks. It might have been somewhat more powerful if there was a +greater rainfall. It must, on the other hand, have been lessened by +the apparently more equable temperature which then prevailed. These +differences might perhaps nearly balance one another. Then the rocks +of the older time were quite as intractable as those of the newer, and +they were probably neither so high nor so extensive. Further, the dips +and emergences of the great continental plateaus were equally numerous +in the two great periods, though they were probably, with the +exception of the latest one of each, more complete in the older +period. In so far, then, as deposition of sediment is concerned, these +considerations would scarcely lead us to infer that it was more rapid +in the Palæozoic. But the Palæozoic sediments may be estimated in the +aggregate at about 50,000 feet in thickness, while those of the +Mesozoic scarcely reach 8,000. We might, therefore, infer that the +Palæozoic period was perhaps five or six times as long as the +Mesozoic. + +If we take the second class of rocks, the limestones, and suppose +these to have been accumulated by the slow growth of corals, shells, +etc., in the sea, we might, at first sight, suppose that Palæozoic +animals would not grow or accumulate limestone faster then their +Mesozoic successors. We must, however, consider here the probability +that the older oceans contained more lime in solution then those which +now exist, and that the equable temperature and extensive submerged +plateaus gave very favourable conditions for the lower animals of the +sea, so that it would perhaps be fair to allow a somewhat more rapid +rate of growth of limestone for the Palæozoic. Now the actual +proportions of limestone may be roughly stated at 13,000 feet in the +Palæozoic, and 3,000 feet in the Mesozoic, which would give a +proportion of about four and a quarter to one; and as a foot of +limestone may be supposed on the average to require five times as long +for its formation as a foot of sediment, this would give an even +greater absolute excess in favour of the Palæozoic on the evidence of +the limestones an excess probably far too great to be accounted for by +any more favourable conditions for the secretion of carbonate of lime +by marine animals. + +The data for such calculations are very uncertain, and three elements +of additional uncertainty closely related to each other must also be +noticed. The first is the unknown length of the intervals in which no +deposition whatever may have been taking place over the areas open to +our investigation. The second is the varying amounts in which material +once deposited may have been swept away by water. The third is the +amount of difference that may have resulted from the progressive +change of the geographical features of our continents. These +uncertainties would all tend to diminish our estimate of the relative +length of the Mesozoic. Lastly, the changes that have taken place in +living beings, though a good measure of the lapse of time, cannot be +taken as a criterion here, since there is much reason to believe that +more rapid changes of physical conditions act as an inducing cause of +rapid changes of life. + +On the whole, then, taking such facts as we have, and making large +deductions for the several causes tending to exaggerate our conception +of Palæozoic time, we can scarcely doubt that the Palæozoic may have +been three times as long as the Mesozoic. If so, the continental +pulsations, and the changes in animal and vegetable life, must have +gone on with accelerated rapidity in the later period,--a conclusion +to which we shall again have occasion to refer when we arrive at the +consideration of the Tertiary or Neozoic time, and the age of man, and +the probable duration of the order of things under which we live. + +I have given this preliminary sketch of the whole Mesozoic time, +because we cannot here, as in the Palæozoic, take up each age +separately; and now we must try to picture to ourselves the life and +action of these ages. In doing so we may look at, first, the plant +life of this period; second, animal life on the land; and third, +animal life in the waters and in the ocean depths. + +The Mesozoic shores were clothed with an abundant flora, which changed +considerably in its form during the lapse of this long time; but yet +it has a character of its own distinct from that of the previous +Palæozoic and the succeeding Tertiary. Perhaps no feature of this +period is more characteristic then the great abundance of those +singular plants, the cycads, which in the modern flora are placed near +to the pines, but in their appearance and habit more resemble palms, +and which in the modern world are chiefly found in the tropical and +warm temperate zones of Asia and America. No plants certainly of this +order occur in the Carboniferous, where their nearest allies are +perhaps some of the Sigillariæ; and in the modern time the cycads are +not so abundant, nor do they occur at all in climates where their +predecessors appear to have abounded. In the quarries of the island of +Portland, we have a remarkable evidence of this in beds with numerous +stems of cycads still _in situ_ in the soil in which they grew, and +associated with stumps of pines which seem to have flourished along +with them. In further illustration of this point, I may refer to the +fact that Carruthers, in a recent paper, catalogues twenty-five +British species belonging to eight genera--a fact which markedly +characterizes the British flora of the Mesozoic period. These plants +will therefore occupy a prominent place in our restoration of the +Mesozoic landscape, and we should give especial prominence to the +beautiful species _Williamsonia gigas_, discovered by the eminent +botanist whose name it bears, and restored in his paper on the plant +in the "Linnæan Transactions." These plants, with pines and gigantic +equisetums, prevailed greatly in the earlier Mesozoic flora, but as +the time wore on, various kinds of endogens, resembling the palms and +the screw-pines of the tropical islands, were introduced, and toward +its close some representatives of the exogens very like our ordinary +trees. Among these we find for the first time in our upward progress +in the history of the earth, species of our familiar oaks, figs, and +walnut, along with some trees now confined to Australia and the Cape +of Good Hope, as the banksias and "silver-trees," and their allies. In +America a large number of the genera of the modern trees are present, +and even some of those now peculiar to America, as the tulip-trees and +sweet-gums. These forests of the later Mesozoic must therefore have +been as gay with flowers and as beautiful in foliage as those of the +modern world, and there is evidence that they swarmed with insect +life. Further, the Mesozoic plants produced in some places beds of +coal comparable in value and thickness to those of the old coal +formation. Of this kind are the coal beds of Brora in Sutherlandshire, +those of Richmond in Virginia, and Deep River in N. Carolina, those of +Vancouver's Island, and a large part of those of China. To the same +age have been referred some at least of the coal beds of Australia and +India. So important are these beds in China, that had geology +originated in that country, the Mesozoic might have been our age of +coal. + +If the forests of the Mesozoic present a great advance over those of +the Palæozoic, so do the animals of the land, which now embrace all +the great types of vertebrate life. Some of these creatures have left +strange evidence of their existence in their footprints on the sand +and clay, now cemented into beds of hard rock excavated by the +quarryman. If we had landed on some wide muddy Mesozoic shore, we +might have found it marked in all directions with animal footprints. +Some of these are shaped much like a human hand. The creature that +made this mark was a gigantic successor of the crocodilian newts or +labyrinthodonts of the Carboniferous, and this type seems to have +attained its maximum in this period, where one species, _Labyrinthodon +giganteus_, had great teeth three or four inches in length, and +presenting in their cross section the most complicated foldings of +enamel imaginable. But we may see on the shores still more remarkable +footprints. They indicate biped and three-toed animals of gigantic +size, with a stride perhaps six feet in length. Were they enormous +birds? If so, the birds of this age must have been giants which would +dwarf even our ostriches. But as we walk along the shore we see many +other impressions, some of them much smaller and different in form. +Some, again, very similar in other respects, have four toes; and, more +wonderful still, in tracing up some of the tracks, we find that here +and there the creature has put down on the ground a sort of +four-fingered hand, while some of these animals seem to have trailed +long tails behind them. What were these portentous creatures--bird, +beast, or reptile? The answer has been given to us by their bones, as +studied by Yon Meyer and Owen, and more recently by Huxley and Cope. +We thus have brought before us the _Dinosaurs_--the terrible +Saurians--of the Mesozoic age, the noblest of the Tanninim of old. +These creatures constitute numerous genera and species, some of +gigantic size, others comparatively small;--some harmless browsers on +plants, others terrible renders of living flesh; but all remarkable +for presenting a higher type of reptile organization then any now +existing, and approaching in some respects to the birds and in others +to the mammalia. Let us take one example of each of the principal +groups. And first marches before us the _Iguanodon_ or his relation +_Hadrosaurus_--a gigantic biped, twenty feet or more in height, with +enormous legs shaped like those of an ostrich, but of elephantine +thickness. It strides along, not by leaps like a kangaroo, but with +slow and stately tread, occasionally resting, and supporting itself on +the tripod formed by its hind limbs and a huge tail, like the inverted +trunk of a tree. The upper part of its body becomes small and slender, +and its head, of diminutive size and mild aspect, is furnished with +teeth for munching the leaves and fruits of trees, which it can easily +reach with its small fore-limbs, or hands, as it walks through the +woods. The outward appearance of these creatures we do not certainly +know. It is not likely that they had bony plates like crocodiles, but +they may have shone resplendent in horny scale armour of varied hues. +But another and more dreadful form rises before us. It is +_Megalosaurus_ or perhaps _Lælaps_. Here we have a creature of equally +gigantic size and biped habits; but it is much more agile, and runs +with great swiftness or advances by huge leaps, and its feet and hands +are armed with strong curved claws; while its mouth has a formidable +armature of sharp-edged and pointed teeth. It is a type of a group of +biped bird-like lizards, the most terrible and formidable of rapacious +animals that the earth has ever seen. Some of these creatures, in +their short deep jaws and heads, resembled the great carnivorous +mammals of modern times, while all in the structure of their limbs had +a strange and grotesque resemblance to the birds. Nearly all +naturalists regard them as reptiles; but in their circulation and +respiration they must have approached to the mammalia, and their +general habit of body recalls that of the kangaroos. They were no +doubt oviparous; and this, with their biped habit, seems to explain +the strong resemblance of their hind quarters to those of birds. Had +we seen the eagle-clawed Lælaps rushing on his prey; throwing his huge +bulk perhaps thirty feet through the air, and crushing to the earth +under his gigantic talons some feebler Hadrosaur, we should have +shudderingly preferred the companionship of modern wolves and tigers +to that of those savage and gigantic monsters of the Mesozoic. + +We must not leave the great land-lizards of the reptilian age, without +some notice of that Goliath of the race which, by a singular misnomer, +has received the appellation of _Ceteosaurus_ or "Whale-Saurian." It +was first introduced to naturalists by the discovery of a few enormous +vertebrae in the English Oolite; and as these in size and form seemed +best to fit an aquatic creature, it was named in accordance with this +view. But subsequent discoveries have shown that, incredible though +this at first appeared, the animal had limbs fitted for walking on the +land. Professor Phillips has been most successful in collecting and +restoring the remains of Ceteosaurus, and devotes to its history a +long and interesting section of his "Geology of Oxford." The size of +the animal may be estimated, from the fact that its thigh-bone is +sixty-four inches long, and thick in proportion. From this and other +fragments of the skeleton, we learn that this huge monster must have +stood ten feet high when on all fours, and that its length, could not +have been less then fifty feet; perhaps much more. From a single +tooth, which has been found, it seems to have been herbivorous; and it +was probably a sort of reptilian Hippopotamus, living on the rich +herbage by the sides of streams and marshes, and perhaps sometimes +taking to the water, where the strokes of its powerful tail would +enable it to move more rapidly then on the land. In structure, it +seems to have been a composite creature, resembling in many points the +contemporary Dinosaurs; but in others, approaching to the crocodiles +and the lizards. + +But the wonders of Mesozoic reptiles are not yet exhausted. While +noticing numerous crocodiles and lizard: like creatures, and several +kinds of tortoises, we are startled by what seems a flight of great +bats, wheeling and screaming overhead, pouncing on smaller creatures +of their own kind, as hawks seize sparrows and partridges, and perhaps +diving into the sea for fish. These were the Pterodactyles, the +reptile bats of the Mesozoic. They fly by means of a membrane +stretched on a monstrously enlarged little finger, while the other +fingers of the fore limb are left free to be used as hands or feet. To +move these wings, they had large breast-muscles like those of birds. +In their general structure, they were lizards, but no doubt of far +higher organization then any animals of this order now living; and in +accordance with this, the interior of their skull shows that they must +have had a brain comparable with that of birds, which, they rivalled +in energy and intelligence. Some of them were larger then the largest +modern birds of prey, others were like pigeons and snipes in size. +Specimens in the Cambridge Museum indicate one species twenty feet in +the expanse of its wings. Cope has recently described an equally +gigantic species from the Mesozoic of Western America, and fragments +of much larger species are said to exist.[AE] Imagine such a creature, +a flying dragon, with vast skinny wings, its body, perhaps, covered +with scales, both wings and feet armed with strong claws, and with +long jaws furnished with sharp teeth. Nothing can be conceived more +strange and frightful. Some of them had the hind limbs long, like +wading birds. Some had short, legs, adapted perhaps for perching. They +could probably fold up their wings, and walk on all fours. Their +skeleton, like that of birds, was very light, yet strong; and the +hollow bones have pores, which show that, as in birds, air could be +introduced into them from the lungs. This proves a circulation +resembling that of birds, and warm blood. Indeed, in many respects, +these creatures bridge over the space between the birds and the +reptiles. "That they lived," says Seeley, "exclusively upon land or in +the air is improbable, considering the circumstances under which their +remains are found. It is likely that they haunted the sea-shores; and +while sometimes rowing themselves over the water with their powerful +wings, used the wing membrane, as does the bat, to encloses the prey +and bring it to the mouth. The large Pterodactyles probably pursued a +more substantial prey then dragon-flies. Their teeth were well suited +for fish; but probably fowl and small mammal, and even fruits, made a +variety in their food. As the lord of the cliff, it may be supposed to +have taken toll of all animals that could be conquered with tooth and +nail. From its brain, it might be regarded as an intelligent animal. +The jaws present indications of having been sheathed with a horny +covering, and some species show a rugose anterior termination of the +snout, suggestive of fleshy lips like those of the bat, and which may +have been similarly used to stretch and clean the wing-membrane." + +[AE] Seeley: "_Ornithosauria._" + +Here, however, perched on the trees, we see true birds. At least they +have beaks, and are clothed with feathers. But they have very strange +wings, the feathers all secondaries, without any large quills, and +several fingers with claws at the angle of the wing, so that though +less useful as wings, they served the double purpose of wing and hand. +More strange still, the tail was long and flexible, like that of a +lizard, with the feathers arranged in rows along its sides. If the +lizards of this strange and uncertain time had wings like bats, the +birds had tails and hands like lizards. This was in short the special +age of reptiles, when animals of that class usurped the powers which +rightfully belonged to creatures yet in their nonage, the true birds +and mammals of our modern days, while the birds were compelled to +assume some reptilian traits. + +Yet, strange to say, representatives of the higher creatures destined +to inherit the earth at a later date actually existed. Toward the +close of the Mesozoic we find birds approaching to those of our own +day, and almost at the beginning of the time there were small mammals, +remains of which are found both in the earlier and later formations of +the Mesozoic, but which never seem to have thriven; at least so far as +the introduction of large and important species is concerned. +Traversing the Mesozoic woods, we might see here and there little +hairy creatures, which would strike a naturalist as allies of the +modern bandicoots, kangaroo rats, and myrmecobius of Australia; and +closer study would confirm this impression, though showing differences +of detail. In their teeth, their size, and general form, and probably +in their pouched or marsupial reproduction, these animals were early +representatives of the smaller quadrupeds of the Austral continent, +creatures which are not only small but of low organisation in their +class. + +One of these mammals, known to us only by its teeth, and well named +_Microlestes_, the "little thief" sneaks into existence, so to speak, +in the Trias of Europe, while another very similar, _Dromatherium_, +appears in rocks of similar age in America; and this is the small +beginning of the great class Mammalia, destined in its quadrupedal +forms to culminate in the elephants and their contemporaries in the +Tertiary period. Who that saw them trodden under foot lay the +reptile aristocracy of the Mesozoic could have divined their destiny? +But, notwithstanding the struggle for existence, the weakest does not +always "go to the wall." The weak things of this world are often +chosen to confound those that are mighty; and the little quadrupeds of +the Mesozoic are an allegory. They may typify the true, the good, and +the hopeful, mildly and humbly asserting themselves in the world that +now is, in the presence of the dragon monsters of pride and violence, +which in the days to come they will overthrow. Physically the Mesozoic +has passed away, but still exists morally in an age of evil reptiles, +whose end is as certain as that of the great Dinosaurs of the old +world. + +The Mesozoic mammals are among the most interesting fossils known to +us. In a recent memoir by Professor Owen, thirty-three species are +indicated--all, or nearly all, Marsupial--all small--all closely +allied to modern Australian animals; some herbivorous, some probably +carnivorous. Owen informs us that these animals are not merely +marsupials, but marsupials of low grade, a point in which, however, +Huxley differs somewhat in opinion. They are at least not lower then +some that still exist, and not so low as those lowest of mammals in +Modern Australia, the duck-billed platypus and the echidna. Owen +further supposes that they were possibly the first mammals, and not +only the predecessors but the progenitors of the modern marsupials. If +so, we have the singular fact that they not only did not improve +throughout the vast Mesozoic time, but that they have been in the +progress of subsequent geological ages expelled out of the great +eastern continent, and, with the exception of the American opossums, +banished, like convicts, to Australia. Yet, notwithstanding their +multiplied travels and long experiences, they have made little +advance. It thus seems that the Mesozoic mammals were, from the +evolutionist point of view, a decided failure, and the work of +introducing mammals had to be done over again in the Tertiary; and +then, as we shall find, in a very different way. If nothing more, +however, the Mesozoic mammals were a mute prophecy of a better time, a +protest that the age of reptiles was an imperfect age, and that better +things were in store for the world. Moses seems to have been more +hopeful of them then Owen or even Huxley would have been. He says that +God "created" the great Tanninim, the Dinosaurs and their allies, but +only "made" the mammals of the following creative day; so that when +Microlestes and his companions quietly and unnoticed presented +themselves in the Mesozoic, they would appear in some way to have +obviated, in the case of the tertiary mammals, the necessity of a +repetition of the greater intervention implied in the word "create." +How that was effected none of us know; but, perhaps, we may know +hereafter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MESOZOIC AGES (_continued_). + + +The waters of the Mesozoic period present features quite as remarkable +as the land. In our survey of their teeming multitudes, we indeed +scarcely know where to begin or whither to turn. Let us look first at +the higher or more noble inhabitants of the waters. And here, just as +in the case of the greater animals of the land, the Mesozoic was +emphatically an age of reptiles. In the modern world the highest +animals the sea are mammals, and these belong to three great and +somewhat diverse groups. The first is that of the seals and their +allies, the walruses, sea-lions, etc. The second is that of the whales +and dolphins and porpoises. The third is that of the manatees, or +dugongs. All these creatures breathe air, and bring forth their young +alive, and nourish them with milk. Yet they all live habitually or +constantly in the water. Between these aquatic mammals and the fishes, +we have some aquatic reptiles as the turtles, and a few sea-snakes and +sea-lizards, and crocodiles; but the number of these is comparatively +small, and in the more temperate latitudes there are scarcely any of +them. + +All this was different in the Mesozoic. In so far as we know, there +were no representatives of the seals and whales and their allies, but +there were vast numbers of marine reptiles, and many of these of +gigantic size. Britain at present does not possess one large reptile, +and no marine reptile whatever. In the Mesozoic, in addition to the +great Dinosaurs and Pterodactyls of the land, it had at least fifty or +sixty species of aquatic reptiles, besides many turtles. Some of these +were comparable in size with our modern whales, and armed with +tremendous powers of destruction. America is not relatively rich in +remains of Mesozoic Saurians, yet while the existing fauna of the +temperate parts of North America is nearly destitute of aquatic +reptiles, with the exception of the turtles, it can boast, according +to Cope's lists, about fifty Mesozoic species, many of them of +gigantic size, and the number of known species is increasing every +year When it is taken in connection with these statistics, that while +we know all the modern species, we know but a small percentage of the +fossils, the discrepancy becomes still more startling. Further, from +the number of specimens and fragments found, it is obvious that these +great aquatic saurians were by no means rare; and that some of the +species at least must have been very abundant. Could we have taken our +post on the Mesozoic shore, or sailed over its waters, we should have +found ourselves in the midst of swarms of these strange, often +hideous, and always grotesque creatures. + +Let us consider for a little some of the more conspicuous forms, +referring to our illustration for their portraits. Every text-book +figures the well-known types of the genera _Ichthyosaurus_ and +_Plesiosaurus_; we need scarcely, therefore, dwell on them, except to +state that the catalogues of British fossils include eleven species of +the former genus and eighteen of the latter, We may, however, notice +some of the less familiar points of comparison of the two genera. Both +were aquatic, and probably marine. Both swam by means of paddles; both +were carnivorous, and probably fed principally upon fishes; both were +proper reptiles, and breathed air, and had large and capacious lungs. +Yet with these points in common, no two animals could have been more +different in detail. The Ichthyosaurus had an enormous head, with +powerful jaws, furnished with numerous and strong teeth. Its great +eyes, strengthened by a circle of bony plates, exceeded in dimensions, +and probably in power of vision under water, those of any other +animal, recent or fossil. Its neck was short, its trunk massive, with +paddles or swimming limbs of comparatively small size, and a long +tail, probably furnished with a caudal fin or paddle for propulsion +through the water. The Plesiosaur, on the other hand, had a small and +delicate head, with slender teeth and small eyes. Its neck, of great +length and with numerous joints, resembled the body of a serpent. Its +trunk, short, compact, and inflexible, was furnished with large and +strong paddles, and its tail was too short to be of any service except +for steering. Compared with the Ichthyosaur, it was what the giraffe +is to the rhinoceros, or the swan to the porpoise. Two fishermen so +variously and differently fitted for their work it would be difficult +to imagine. But these differences were obviously related to +corresponding differences in food and habit. The Ichthyosaur was +fitted to struggle with the waves of the stormy sea, to roll therein +like modern whales and grampuses, to seize and devour great fishes, +and to dive for them into the depths; and its great armour-plated eyes +must have been well adapted for vision in the deeper waters. The +Plesiosaur, on the contrary, was fitted for comparatively still and +shallow waters; swimming near the surface with its graceful neck +curving aloft, it could dart at the smaller fishes on the surface, or +stretch its long neck downward in search of those near the bottom. The +Ichthyosaurs rolled like porpoises in the surf of the Liassic coral +reefs and the waves beyond; the Plesiosaurs careered gracefully in the +quiet waters within. Both had their beginning at the same time in the +earlier Mesozoic, and both found a common and final grave in its later +sediments. Some of the species were of very moderate size, but there +were Ichthyosaurs twenty five feet long, and Plesiosaurs at least +eighteen feet in length. + +Another strange and monstrous group of creatures, the Elasmosaurs and +their allies, combined the long neck of Plesiosaurs with the swimming +tail of Ichthyosaurs, the latter enormously elongated, so that these +Creatures were sometimes fifty feet in length, and whale-like in the +dimensions of their bodies. It is curious that these composite +creatures belong to a later period of the Mesozoic then the typical +Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs, as if the characters at one time +separated in these genera had united in their successors. + +One of the relatives of the Plesiosaurs, the Pliosaur, of which genus +several species of great size are known perhaps realized in the +highest degree possible the idea of a huge marine predaceous reptile. +The head in some of the species was eight feet in length, armed with +conical teeth a foot long. The neck was not only long, but massive and +powerful, the paddles, four in number, were six or seven feet in +length and must have urged the vast bulk of the animal, perhaps forty +feet in extent, through the water with prodigious speed. The capacious +chest and great ribs show a powerful heart and lungs. Imagine such a +creature raising its huge head twelve feet or more out of water, and +rushing after its prey, impelled with perhaps the most powerful oars +ever possessed by any animal. We may be thankful that such monsters, +more terrible then even the fabled sea-serpent, are unknown in our +days. Buckland, I think, at one time indulged in the _jeu d'esprit_ of +supposing an Ichthyosaur lecturing on the human skull. "You will at +once perceive," said the lecturer, "that the skull before us belonged +to one of the lower orders of animals. The teeth are very +insignificant, the power of the jaws trifling, and altogether it seems +wonderful how the creature could have procured food." We cannot retort +on the Ichthyosaur and his contemporaries, for we can see that they +were admirably fitted for the work they had in hand; but we can see +that had man been so unfortunate as to have lived in their days, he +might have been anything but the lord of creation. + +But there were sea-serpents as well as other monsters in the Mesozoic +seas. Many years ago the Lower Cretaceous beds of St. Peter's Mount, +near Maestricht, afforded a skull three feet in length, of massive +proportions, and furnished with strong conical teeth, to which the +name _Mosasaurus Camperi_ was given. The skull and other parts of the +skeleton found with it, were held to indicate a large aquatic reptile, +but its precise position in its class was long a subject of dispute. +Faujas held it to be a crocodile; Camper, Cuvier, and Owen regarded it +as a gigantic lizard. More recently, additional specimens, especially +those found in the Cretaceous formations of North America, have thrown +new light upon its structure, and have shown it to present a singular +combination of the character of serpents, lizards, and of the great +sea saurians already referred to. Some parts of the head and the +articulation of the jaws, in important points resemble those of +serpents, while in other respects the head is that of a gigantic +lizard. The body and tail are greatly lengthened out, having more then +a hundred vertebral joints, and in one of the larger species attaining +the length of eighty feet. The trunk itself is much elongated, and +with ribs like those of a snake. There are no walking feet, but a pair +of fins or paddles like those of Ichthyosaurus. Cope, who has +described these great creatures as they occur in the Cretaceous of the +United States, thus sketches the Mosasaur: "It was a long and slender +reptile, with a pair of powerful paddles in front, a moderately long +neck, and flat pointed head. The very long tail was flat and deep, +like that of a great eel, forming a powerful propeller. The arches of +the vertebral column were more extensively interlocked then in any +other reptiles except the snakes. In the related genus _Clidastes_ +this structure is as fully developed as in the serpents, so that we +can picture to ourselves its well-known consequences; their rapid +progress through the water by lateral undulations, their lithe motions +on the land, the rapid stroke, the ready coil, or the elevation of the +head and vertebral column, literally a living pillar, towering above +the waves or the thickets of the shore swamps." As in serpents, the +mouth was wide in its gape, and the lower jaw capable of a certain +separation from the skull to admit of swallowing large prey. Besides +this the lower jaw had an additional peculiarity, seen in some snakes, +namely, a joint in the middle of the jaw enabling its sides to expand, +so that the food might be swallowed "between the branches of the jaw." +Perhaps no creatures more fully realize in their enormous length and +terrible powers the great Tanninim (the stretched-out or extended +reptiles) of the fifth day of the Mosaic record, then the Mosasaurus +and Elasmosaurus. When Mr. Cope showed me, a few years ago, a nearly +complete skeleton of Elasmosaurus, which for want of space he had +stretched on a gallery along two sides of a large room, I could not +help suggesting to him that the name of the creature should be +_Teinosaurus_[AF] instead of that which he had given. Marsh has +recently ascertained that the Mosasaurs were covered in part at least +with bony scales. + +[AF] Heb. _Tanan_; Gr. _Teino_, _Tanuo_; Sansc. _Tanu_; Lat. +_Tendo_.--Ges. Lex. + +[Illustration: LIFE IN THE MESOZOIC PERIOD. + +Aquatic Reptiles and Cephalopods. _Reptiles._--Plesiosaur and +Osteopygis, Ichthyosaur, Teliosaur, Plesiosaur, Elasmosaur, Mosasaur +(in order of the heads from left to right).--_Cephalopods._--Ammonite, +Crioceras, Belemnites, Baculites, and Ammonites (in order from left to +right). The Reptiles after Hawkins and Cope's Restorations.] + +These animals may serve as specimens of the reptilian giants of the +Mesozoic seas; but before leaving them we must at least invite +attention to the remarkable fact that they were contemporary with +species which represent the more common aquatic reptiles of the modern +world. In other words, the monsters which we have described existed +over and above a far more abundant population of crocodiles and +turtles then the modern waters can boast. The crocodiles were +represented both in Europe and America by numerous and large species, +most of them with long snouts like the modern Gavials, a few with +broad heads like those of the alligators. The turtles again presented +not only many species, but most of the aquatic subdivisions of the +group known in modern times, as for instance the Emydes or ordinary +fresh-water forms, the snapping turtles, and the soft-shelled turtles. +Cope says that the Cretaceous of New Jersey alone affords twenty +species, one of them a snapping turtle six feet in length. Owen +records above a dozen large species from the Upper Mesozoic of +England, and dates the first appearance of the turtles in England +about the time of the Portland stone, or in the upper half of the +Mesozoic; but footprints supposed to be those of turtles are found as +far back as the Trias. Perhaps no type of modern reptiles is more +curiously specialized then these animals, yet we thus find them +contemporaneous with many generalized types, and entering into +existence perhaps as soon as they. The turtles did not culminate in +the Mesozoic, but go on to be represented by more numerous and larger +species in the Tertiary and Modern. In the case of the crocodiles, +while they attained perhaps a maximum toward the end of the Mesozoic, +it was in a peculiar form. The crocodiles of this old time had +vertebrae with a hollow at each end like the fishes, or with a +projection in the front. At the end of the Mesozoic this was changed, +and they assumed a better-knit back, with joints having a ball behind +and a socket in front. In the Cretaceous age, species having these two +kinds of backbone were contemporaneous. Perhaps this improvement in +the crocodilian back had something to do with the persistence of this +type after so many others of the sea-lizards of the Mesozoic had +passed away. + +Of the fishes of the Mesozoic we need only say that they were very +abundant, and consisted of sharks and ganoids of various types, until +near the close of the period, when the ordinary horny-scaled fishes, +such as abound in our present seas, appear to have been introduced. +One curious point of difference is that the unequally lobed tail of +the Palæozoic fishes is dropped in the case of the greater part of the +ganoids, and replaced by the squarely-cut tail prevalent in modern +times. + +In the sub-kingdom of the Mollusca many important revolutions +occurred. Among the lamp-shells a little _Leptaena_, no bigger then a +pea, is the last and depauperated representative of a great Palæozoic +family. Another, that of the Spirifers, still shows a few species in +the Lower Mesozoic. Others, like Rhynchonella, and Terebratula, +continue through the period, and extend into the Modern. Passing over +the ordinary bivalves and sea-snails, which in the main conform to +those of our own time, we find perhaps the most wonderful changes +among the relatives of the cuttle-fishes and Nautili. As far back as +the Silurian we find the giant Orthoceratites contemporary with +Nautili, very like those of the present ocean. With the close +of the Palæozoic, however, the Orthoceratites and their allies +disappear, while the Nautili continue, and are reinforced by +multitudes of new forms of spiral chambered shells, some of them +more wonderful and beautiful then any of those which either preceded +or followed them. Supreme among these is the great group of the +_Ammonites_,--beautifully spiral shells, thin and pearly like the +Nautilus, and chambered like it, so as to serve as a float, but far +more elaborately constructed, inasmuch as the chambers were not simply +curved, but crimped and convoluted, so as to give the outer wall much +more effectual support. This outer wall, too, was worked into +ornamental ribs and bands, which not only gave it exquisite beauty, +but contributed to combine strength to resist pressure with the +lightness necessary to a float. In some of these points it is true the +Gyroceras and Goniatites of the Palæozoic partially anticipated them, +but much less perfectly. The animals which inhabited these shells must +have been similar to that of Nautilus, but somewhat different in the +proportion of parts. They must have had the same power of rising and +sinking in the water, but the mechanical construction of their shells +was so much more perfect relatively to this end, that they were +probably more active and locomotive then the Nautili. They must have +swarmed in the Mesozoic seas, some beds of limestone and shale being +filled with them; and as many as eight hundred species of this family +are believed to be known, including, however, such forms as the +_Baculites_ or straight Ammonites, bearing to them perhaps a relation +similar to that of Orthoceras to Nautilus. Further, some of the +Ammonites are of gigantic size, one species being three feet in +diameter, while others are very minute. The whole family of +Ammonitids, which begins to be in force in the Trias, disappears at +the end of the Mesozoic, so that this may be called the special age +of Ammonites as well as of reptiles. + +Further, this time was likewise distinguished by the introduction of +true cuttle-fishes, the most remarkable of which were those furnished +with the internal supports or "bones," known as _Belemnites_, from a +fancied resemblance to javelins or thunder-bolts, a comparison at +least as baseless as that often made in England of the Ammonites to +fossil snakes. The shell of the Belemnite is a most curious structure. +Its usual general shape is a pointed cylinder or elongated cone. At +top it has a deep cavity for the reception of certain of the viscera +of the animal. Below this is a conical series of chambers, the +Phragmacone; and the lower half of the shell is composed of a solid +shelly mass or guard, which, in its structure of radiating fibres and +concentric layers, resembles a stalactite, or a petrified piece of +exogenous wood. This structure was an internal shell or support like +those of the modern cuttle-fishes; but it is difficult to account for +its peculiarities, so much more complex then in any existing species. +The most rational supposition seems to be that it was intended to +serve the triple purpose of a support, a float, and a sinker. Unlike +the shell of a Nautilus, if thrown into the water it would no doubt +have, sunk, and with the pointed end first. Consequently, it was not a +float simply, but a float and sinker combined, and its effect must +have been to keep the animal at the bottom, with its head upward. The +Belemnite was therefore an exceptional cuttle-fish, intended to stand +erect on the sea-bottom and probably to dart upward in search of its +prey; for the suckers and hooks with which its arms were furnished +show that, like other cuttle-fishes, it was carnivorous and +predaceous. The guard may have been less ponderous when recent then in +the fossil specimens, and in some species it was of small size or +slender, and in others it was hollow. Possibly, also, the soft tissues +of the animal were not dense, and it may have had swimming fins at the +sides. In any case they must have been active creatures, and no doubt +could dart backward by expelling water from their gill chamber, while +we know that they had ink-bags, provided with that wonderfully divided +pigment, inimitable by art, with which the modern Sepia darkens the +water to shelter itself from its enemies. The Belemnites must have +swarmed in the Mesozoic seas; and as squids and cuttles now afford +choice morsels to the larger fishes, so did the Belemnites in their +day. There is evidence that even the great sea-lizards did not disdain +to feed on them. We can imagine a great shoal of these creatures +darting up and down, seizing with their ten hooked arms their finny or +crustacean prey. In an instant a great fish or saurian darts down +among them; they blacken the water with a thick cloud of inky +secretion and disperse on all sides, while their enemy, blindly +seizing a few mouthfuls, returns sullenly to the surface. A great +number of species of Belemnites and allied animals have been +described; but it is probable that in naming them too little regard +has been paid to distinctions of age and sex. The Belemnites were for +the most part small creatures; but there is evidence that there +existed with them some larger and more formidable cuttles; and it is +worthy of note that, in several of these, the arms, as in the +Belemnites, were furnished with hooks as well as suckers, an +exceptional arrangement in their modern allies. It is probable that +while the four-gilled or shell-bearing cuttles culminated in size and +perfection in the Ammonitids of the Mesozoic, the modern cuttles of +the two-gilled and shell-less type are grander in dimensions then +their Mesozoic predecessors. It is, however, not a little singular +that a group so peculiar and apparently so well provided with means, +both of offence and defence, as the Belemnites, should come in and go +out with the Mesozoic, and that the Nautiloid group, after attaining +to the magnitude and complexity of the great Ammonites, should retreat +to a few species of diminutive and simply-constructed Nautili; and in +doing so should return to one of the old types dating as far back as +the older Palæozoic, and continuing unchanged through all the +intervening time. + +The Crustaceans of the Mesozoic had lost all the antique peculiarities +of the older time, and had so much of the aspect of those of the +present day, that an ordinary observer, if he could be shown a +quantity of Jurassic or Cretaceous crabs, lobsters, and shrimps, would +not readily recognise the difference, which did not exceed what occurs +in distant geographical regions in the present day. The same remark +may be made as to the corals of the Mesozoic; and with some +limitations, as to the star-fishes and sea-urchins, which latter are +especially numerous and varied in the Cretaceous age. In short, all +the invertebrate forms of life, and the fishes and reptiles among the +vertebrates, had already attained their maximum elevation in the +Mesozoic; and some of them have subsequently sunk considerably in +absolute as well as relative importance. + +In the course of the Mesozoic, as indicated in the last chapter, there +had been several great depressions and re-elevations of the +Continental Areas. But these had been of the same quiet and partial +character with those of the Palæozoic, and it was not until the close +of the Mesozoic time, in the Cretaceous age, that a great and +exceptional subsidence involved for a long period the areas of our +present continents in a submergence wider and deeper then any that had +previously occurred since the dry land first rose out of the waters. + +Every one knows the great chalk beds which appear in the south of +England, and which have given its name to the latest age of the +Mesozoic. This great deposit of light-coloured and usually soft +calcareous matter attains in some places to the enormous thickness of +1,000 feet. Nor is it limited in extent. According to Lyell, its +European distribution is from Ireland to the Crimea, a distance of +1,140 geographical miles; and from the south of France to Sweden, a +distance of 840 geographical miles. Similar rocks, though not in all +cases of the precise nature of chalk, occur extensively in Asia and in +Africa, and also in North and South America. + +But what is chalk? It was, though one of the most familiar, one of the +most inscrutable of rocks, until the microscope revealed its +structure. The softer varieties, gently grated or kneaded down in +water, or the harder varieties cut in thin slices, show a congeries of +microscopic chambered shells belonging to the humble and simple group +of Protozoa. These shells and their fragments constitute the material +of the ordinary chalk. With these are numerous spicules of sponges and +silicious cell-walls of the minute one-celled plants called Diatoms. +Further, the flinty matter of these organisms has by the law of +molecular attraction been collected into concretions, which are the +flints of the chalk. Such a rock is necessarily oceanic; but more then +this, it is abyssal. Laborious dredging has shown that similar matter +is now being formed only in the deep bed of the ocean, whither no sand +or mud is drifted from the land, and where the countless hosts of +microscopic shell-bearing protozoa continually drop their little +skeletons on the bottom, slowly accumulating a chalky mud or slime. +that such a rock should occur over vast areas of the continental +plateaus, that both in Europe and America it should be found to cover +the tops of hills several thousand feet high, and that its thickness +should amount to several hundreds of feet, are facts which evidence a +revolution more stupendous perhaps then that at the close of the +Palæozoic. For the first time since the Laurentian, the great +continental plateaus changed places with the abysses of the ocean, and +the successors of the Laurentian Eozoon again reigned on surfaces +which through the whole lapse of Palæozoic and Mesozoic time had been +separated more or less from that deep ocean out of which they rose at +first. This great Cretaceous subsidence was different from the +disturbances of the Permian age. There was at first no crumpling of +the crust, but merely a slow and long-continued sinking of the land +areas, followed, however, by crumpling of the most stupendous +character, which led at the close of the Cretaceous and in the earlier +Tertiary to the formation of what are now the greatest mountain chains +in the world. As examples may be mentioned the Himalaya, the Andes, +and the Alps, on all which the deep-sea beds of the Cretaceous are +seen at great elevations. In Europe this depression was almost +universal, only very limited areas remaining out of water. In America +a large tract remained above water in the region of the Appalachians. +This gives us some clue to the phenomena. The great Permian collapse +led to the crumpling-up of the Appalachians and the Urals, and the +older hills of Western Europe. The Cretaceous collapse led to the +crumpling of the great N.W. and S.E. chain of the Rocky Mountains and +Andes, and to that of the east and west chains of the south of Asia +and Europe. The cause was probably in both cases the same; but the +crust gave way in a different part, and owing to this there was a +greater amount of submergence of our familiar continental plateaus in +the Cretaceous then in the Permian. + +Another remarkable indication of the nature of the Cretaceous +subsidence, is the occurrence of beds filled with grains of the +mineral Glauconite or "green-sand." These grains are not properly +sand, but little concretions, which form in the bottom of the deep +sea, often filling and taking casts of the interior and fine tubes of +Foraminiferal shells. Now this Glauconite, a hydrous silicate of iron +and potash, is akin to similar materials found filling the pores of +fossils in Silurian beds. It is also akin to the Serpentine filling +the pores of Eozoon in the Laurentian. Such materials are formed only +in the deeper parts of the ocean, and apparently most abundantly where +currents of warm water are flowing at the surface, as in the area of +the Gulf Stream. Thus, not only in the prevalence of Foraminifera, but +in the formation of hydrous silicates, does the Cretaceous recall the +Laurentian. Such materials had no doubt been forming, and such animals +living in the ocean depths, all through the intervening ages, but with +the exception of a few and merely local instances, we know nothing of +them, till the great subsidence and re-elevation of the Cretaceous +again allows them to ascend to the continental plateaus, and again +introduces us to this branch of the world-making process. + +The attention recently drawn to these facts by the researches of Dr. +Carpenter and others, and especially the similarity in mineral +character and organic remains of some of the deposits now forming in +the Atlantic and those of the chalk, have caused it to be affirmed +that in the bed of the Atlantic these conditions of life and deposit +have continued from the Cretaceous up to the present time, or as it +has been expressed, that "we are still living in the Cretaceous +epoch." Now, this is true or false just as we apply the statement. We +have seen that the distinction between abyssal areas, continental +oceanic plateaus, and land surfaces has extended through the whole +lapse of geological time. In this broad sense we may be said to be +still living in the Laurentian epoch. In other words, the whole plan +of the earth's development is one and the same, and each class of +general condition once introduced is permanent somewhere. But in +another important sense we are not living in the Cretaceous epoch; +otherwise the present site of London would be a thousand fathoms deep +in the ocean; the Ichthyosaurs and Ammonites would be disporting +themselves in the water, and the huge Dinosaurs and strange +Pterodactyls living on the land. The Italian peasant is still in many +important points living in the period of the old Roman Empire. The +Arab of the desert remains in the Patriarchal period, and there are +some tribes not yet beyond the primitive age of stone. But the world +moves, nevertheless, and the era of Victoria is not that of the +Plantagenets or of Julius Cæsar. So while we may admit that certain of +the conditions of the Cretaceous seas still prevail in the bed of the +present ocean, we must maintain that nearly all else is changed, and +that the very existence of the partial similarity is of itself the +most conclusive proof of the general want of resemblance, and of the +thorough character of the changes which have occurred. + +The duration of the Cretaceous subsidence must have been very great. +We do not know the rate at which the Foraminifera accumulate +calcareous mud. In some places, where currents heap up their shells, +they may be gathered rapidly; but on the average of the ocean bed, +afoot of such material must indicate the lapse of ages very long when +compared with those of modern history. We need not wonder, therefore, +that while some forms of deep-sea Cretaceous life, especially of the +lower grades, seem to have continued to our time, the inhabitants of +the shallow waters and the land have perished; and that the Neozoic or +Tertiary period introduces us to a new world of living beings. I say +we need not wonder; yet there is no reason why we should expect this +as a necessary consequence. As the Cretaceous deluge rose over the +continents of the Mesozoic, the great sea saurians might have +followed. Those of the land might have retreated to the tracts still +remaining out of water, and when the dry land again appeared in the +earlier Tertiary, they might again have replenished the earth, and we +might thus have truly been living in the Reptilian age up to this day. +But it was not so. The old world again perished, and the dawn of the +Tertiary shows to us at once the dynasties of the Mammalian age, which +was to culminate in the introduction of man. With the great Cretaceous +subsidence the curtain falls upon the age of reptiles, and when it +rises again, after the vast interval occupied in the deposition of the +green-sand and chalk, the scene has entirely changed. There are new +mountains and new plains, forests of different type, and animals such +as no previous age had seen. + +How strange and inexplicable is this perishing of types in the +geological ages! Some we could well spare. We would not wish to have +our coasts infested by terrible sea saurians, or our forests by +carnivorous Dinosaurs. Yet why should these tyrants of creation so +utterly disappear without waiting for us to make war on them? Other +types we mourn. How glorious would the hundreds of species of +Ammonites have shone in the cases of our museums, had they still +lived! What images of beauty would they have afforded to the poets who +have made so much of the comparatively humble Nautilus! How perfectly, +too, were they furnished with all those mechanical appliances for +their ocean life, which are bestowed only with a niggardly hand on +their successors! Nature gives us no explanation of the mystery. + + "From scarped cliff and quarried stone, + She cries--'A thousand types are gone.'" + +But why or how one was taken and another left she is silent, and I +believe must continue to be so, because the causes, whether efficient +or final, are beyond her sphere. If we wish for a full explanation, we +must leave Nature, and ascend to the higher domain of the Spiritual. + +CONDENSED TABULAR VIEW OF THE AGES AND PERIODS OF THE MESOZOIC. + + Key to Symbols + + ### Duration of Ammonites and Belemnites. + === Ages of Cycads and Pines. + --- Beginning of Age of Angiospermous Exogens. + +++ "And God created great reptiles, and every living moving + thing which the waters brought forth abundantly, and every + flying creature after its kind." + + Time. + Ages. Periods. Animals and Plants. + + MESOZOIC. + + Cretaceous {Newer.{Maestricht beds; Fox Hill # - + + { {and Pierre Groups of # - + + { {Western America; Greensand # - + + { {of New Jersey. # - + + { # - + + {Middle.{Chalk; Benton and Dakota # Close of - + + { {Groups of Western America. # Reptilian - + + { # Ages. - + + {Older.{Lower Greensand and Gault; # - + + { {Lower Clays of New Jersey # + + { {and Alabama. # + + # + + Upper {N. Purbeck Beds. }Jurassic # Culmination + + Jurassic {M. Portland Limestone. } Beds of # of + + {O. Portland Sandstone. }Nebraska # Reptilian + + } and # Ages. + + Middle {N. Kimmeridge Clay, etc.}Colorado.# = + + Jurassic {M. Coralline Limestone. } # = + + {O. Calcareous Grit & } # = + + { Oxford Clay. } # = + + # = + + Lower {N. Cornbrash & Forest } Lower # = + + Jurassic { Marble. }Jurassic # = + + {M. Great & Inferior } of # = + + { Oolites., etc. } Utah, # = + + {O. Lias Clay and }Nevada, # = + + { Limestone. } etc. = + + = + + {N. Keuper {Upper Triassic Appearance of = + + { Sandstone, {Sandstones of Mammals = + + { etc. {Prince Edward I., and = + + {M. Muschelkalk.{Connecticut, etc. Birds. + + Triassic { + + {O. Bunter {Lower Triassic Beginning of + + { Sandstone. {Sandstones of Reptilian + + { {Prince Edward I., Ages. + + { {Connecticut, etc. + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE NEOZOIC AGES. + + +Between the Mesozoic and the next succeeding time which may be known +as the Neozoic or Tertiary,[AG] there is in the arrangements of most +geologists a great break in the succession of life; and undoubtedly +the widespread and deep subsidence of the Cretaceous, followed by the +elevation of land on a great scale at the beginning of the next +period, is a physical cause sufficient to account for vast life +changes. Yet we must not forget to consider that even in the +Cretaceous itself there were new features beginning to appear. Let us +note in this way, in the first place, the introduction of the familiar +generic forms of exogenous trees. Next we may mention the decided +prevalence of the modern types of coral animals and of a great number +of modern generic forms of mollusks. Then we have the establishment of +the modern tribes of lobsters and crabs, and the appearance of nearly +all the orders of insects. Among vertebrates, the ordinary fishes are +now introduced. Modern orders of reptiles, as the crocodiles and +chelonians, had already appeared, and the first mammals. Henceforth +the progress of organic nature lies chiefly in the dropping of many +Mesozoic forms and in the introduction of the higher tribes of mammals +and of man. + +[AG] The former name is related to Palæozoic and Mesozoic, the latter +to the older terms Primary and Secondary. For the sake of euphony we +shall use both. The term Neozoic was proposed by Edward Forbes for the +Mesozoic and Cainozoic combined; but I use it here as a more +euphonious and accurate term for the Cainozoic alone. + +It is further to be observed that the new things introduced in the +later Mesozoic came in little by little in the progress of the period, +and anticipated the great physical changes occurring at its close. On +the other hand, while many family and even generic types pass over +from the Mesozoic to the earlier Tertiary, very few species do so. It +would seem, therefore, as if changes of species were more strictly +subordinate to physical revolutions then were changes of genera and +orders--these last overriding under different specific forms many +minor vicissitudes, and only in part being overwhelmed in the grander +revolutions of the earth. + +Both in Europe and America there is evidence of great changes of level +at the beginning of the Tertiary. In the west of Europe beds often of +shallow-water or even fresh-water origin fill the hollows in the bent +Cretaceous strata. This is manifestly the case with the formations of +the London and Paris basins, contemporaneous but detached deposits of +the Tertiary age, lying in depressions of the chalk. Still this does +not imply much want of conformity, and according to the best explorers +of those Alpine regions in which both the Mesozoic and Tertiary beds +have been thrown up to great elevations, they are in the main +conformable to one another. Something of the same kind occurs in +America. On the Atlantic coast the marine beds of the Older Tertiary +cover the Cretaceous, and little elevation seems to have occurred +Farther west the elevation increases, and in the upper part of the +valley of the Mississippi it amounts to 1700 feet. Still farther west, +in the region of the Rocky Mountains, there is evidence of elevation +to the extent of as much as 7000 feet. Throughout all these regions +scarcely any disturbance of the old Cretaceous sea-bottom seems to +have occurred until after the deposition of the older Tertiary, so +that there was first a slow and general elevation of the Cretaceous +ocean bottom, succeeded by gigantic folds and fractures, and extensive +extravasations of the bowels of the earth in molten rocks, in the +course of the succeeding Tertiary age. These great physical changes +inaugurated the new and higher life of the Tertiary, just as the +similar changes in the Permian did that of the Mesozoic. + +The beginning of these movements consisted of a great and gradual +elevation of the northern parts of both the Old and New Continents out +of the sea, whereby a much greater land surface was produced, and such +changes of depth and direction of currents in the ocean as must have +very much modified the conditions of marine life. The effect of all +these changes in the aggregate was to cause a more varied and variable +climate, and to convert vast areas previously tenanted by marine +animals into the abodes of animals and plants of the land, and of +estuaries, lakes, and shallow waters. Still, however, very large +areas now continental were under the sea. As the Tertiary period +advanced, these latter areas were elevated, and in many cases were +folded up into high mountains. This produced further changes of +climate and habitat of animals, and finally brought our continents +into all the variety of surface which they now present, and which fits +them so well for the habitation of the higher animals and of man. + +The thoughtful reader will observe that it follows from the above +statements that the partial distribution and diversity in different +localities which apply to the deposits of such ages as the Permian and +the Trias apply also to the earlier Tertiary; and as the continents, +notwithstanding some dips under water, have retained their present +forms since the beginning of the Tertiary, it follows that these beds +are more definitely related to existing geographical conditions then +are those of the older periods, and that the more extensive marine +deposits of the Tertiary are, to a great extent, unknown to us. This +has naturally led to some difficulty in the classification of Neozoic +deposits--those of some of the Tertiary ages being very patchy and +irregular, while others spread very widely. In consequence of this, +Sir Charles Lyell, to whom we owe very much of our definite knowledge +of this period, has proposed a subdivision based on the percentage of +recent and fossil animals. In other words, he takes it for granted +that a deposit which contains more numerous species of animals still +living then another, may be judged on that account to be more recent. +Such a mode of estimation is, no doubt, to some extent arbitrary; but +in the main, when it can be tested by the superposition of deposits, +it has proved itself reliable. Further, it brings before us this +remarkable fact, that while in the older periods all the animals whose +remains we find are extinct as species, so soon as we enter on the +Neozoic we find some which still continue to our time--at first only a +very few, but in later and later beds in gradually increasing +percentage, till the fossil and extinct wholly disappear in the recent +and living. + +The Lyellian classification of the Tertiary will therefore stand as in +the following table, bearing in mind that the percentage of fossils is +taken from marine forms, and mainly from mollusks, and that the system +has in some cases been modified by stratigraphical evidence:-- + + { Post-pliocene, including that which immediately + { precedes the Modern. In this the shells, etc., + { are recent, the Mammalia in part extinct. + { + { Pliocene, or more recent age. In this the + { majority of shells found are recent in the + Tertiary, or { upper beds. In the lower beds the extinct + Neozoic Time. { become predominant. + { + { Miocene, or less recent. In this the large + { majority of shells found are extinct. + { + { Eocene, the dawn of the recent. In this only + { a few recent shells occur. + +If we attempt to divide the Tertiary time into ages corresponding to +those of the older times, we are met by the difficulty that as the +continents have retained their present forms and characters to a great +extent throughout this time, we fail to find those evidences of +long-continued submergences of the whole continental plateaus, or very +large portions of them, which we have found so very valuable in the +Palæozoic and Mesozoic. In the Eocene, however, we shall discover one +very instructive case in the great Nummulitic Limestone. In the +Miocene and Pliocene the oscillations seem to have been slight and +partial. In the Post-pliocene we have the great subsidence of the +glacial drift; but that seems to have been a comparatively rapid dip, +though of long duration when measured by human history; not allowing +time for the formation of great limestones, but only of fossiliferous +sands and clays, which require comparatively short time for their +deposition If then we ask as to the duration of the Neozoic, I answer +that we have not a definite measure of its ages, if it had any; and +that it is possible that the Neozoic may have as yet had but one age, +which closed with the great drift period, and that we are now only in +the beginning of its second age. Some geologists, impressed with this +comparative shortness of the Tertiary, connect it with Mesozoic, +grouping both together. This, however, is obviously unnatural. The +Mesozoic time certainly terminated with the Cretaceous, and what +follows belongs to a distinct aeon. + +But we must now try to paint the character of this new and peculiar +time; and this may perhaps be best done in the following sketches: 1. +The seas of the Eocene. 2. Mammals from the Eocene to the Modern. 3. +Tertiary floras. 4. The Glacial period. 5. The Advent of Man. + +The great elevation of the continents which closed the Cretaceous was +followed by a partial and unequal subsidence, affecting principally +the more southern parts of the land of the northern hemisphere. Thus, +a wide sea area stretched across all the south of Europe and Asia, and +separated the northern part of North America from what of land existed +in the southern hemisphere. This is the age of the great Nummulitic +Limestones of Europe, Africa, and Asia, and the Orbitoidal Limestones +of North America. The names are derived from the prevalence of certain +forms of those humble shell-bearing protozoa which we first met with +in the Laurentian, and which we have found to be instrumental in +building up the chalk, the _Foraminifera_ of zoologists. (Fig. p. +243.) But in the Eocene the species of the chalk were replaced by +certain broad flat forms, the appearance of which is expressed by the +term nummulite, or money-stone; the rock appearing to be made up of +fossils, somewhat resembling shillings, sixpences, or three-penny +pieces, according to the size of the shells, each of which includes a +vast number of small concentric chambers, which during life were +filled with the soft jelly of the animal. The nummulite limestone was +undoubtedly oceanic, and the other shells contained in it are marine +species. After what we have already seen we do not need this +limestone to convince us of the continent-building powers of the +oceanic protozoa; but the distribution of these limestones, and the +elevation which they attain, furnish the most striking proofs that we +can imagine of the changes which the earth's crust has undergone in +times geologically modern, and also of the extreme newness of man and +his works. Large portions of those countries which constitute the +earliest seats of man in Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and Western +and Southern Asia, are built upon the old nummulitic sea-bottom. The +Egyptians and many other ancient nations quarried it for their oldest +buildings. In some of these regions it attains a thickness of several +thousand feet, evidencing a lapse of time in its accumulation equal to +that implied in the chalk itself. In the Swiss Alps it reaches a +height above the sea of 10,000 feet, and it enters largely into the +structure of the Carpathians and Pyrenees. In Thibet it has been +observed at an elevation of 16,500 feet above the sea. Thus we learn +that at a time no more geologically remote then the Eocene Tertiary, +lands now of this great elevation were in the bottom of the deep sea; +and this not merely for a little time, but during a time sufficient +for the slow accumulation of hundreds of feet of rock, made up of the +shells of successive generations of animals. If geology presented to +us no other revelation then this one fact, it would alone constitute +one of the most stupendous pictures in physical geography which could +be presented to the imagination. I beg leave here to present to the +reader a little illustration of the limestone-making Foraminifera of +the Cretaceous and Eocene seas. In the middle above is a nummulite of +the natural size. Below is another, sliced to show its internal +chambers. At one side is a magnified section of the common building +stone of Paris, the milioline limestone of the Eocene, so called from +its immense abundance of microscopic shells of the genus Miliolina. At +the other side is a magnified section of one of the harder varieties +of chalk, ground so thin as to become transparent,[AH] and mounted in +Canada balsam. It shows many microscopic chambered shells of +Foraminifera. These may serve as illustrations of the functions of +these humble inhabitants of the sea as accumulators of calcareous +matter. It is further interesting to remark that some of the beds of +nummulitic limestone are so completely filled with these shells, that +we might from detached specimens suppose that they belonged to +sea-bottoms whereon no other form of life was present. Yet some beds +of this age are remarkably rich in other fossils. Lyell states that as +many as six hundred species of shells have been found in the principal +limestone of the Paris basin alone; and the lower Eocene beds afford +remains of fishes, of reptiles, of birds, and of mammals. Among the +latter are the bones of gigantic whales, of which one of the most +remarkable is the Zeuglodon of Alabama, a creature sometimes seventy +feet in length, and which replaces in the Tertiary the great +Elasmosaurs and Ichthyosaurs of the Mesozoic, marking the advent, even +in the sea, of the age of Mammals as distinguished from the age of +Reptiles. + +[AH] As for instance that of the Giant's Causeway, Antrim. + +[Illustration: FORAMINIFERAL ROCK-BUILDERS. + +A. Nummulites lævigata--Eocene. + +B. The same, showing chambered interior. + +C. Milioline limestone, magnified--Eocene, Paris. + +D. Hard Chalk, section magnified--Cretaceous.] + +This fact leads us naturally to consider in the second place the +mammalia, and other land animals of the Tertiary. At the beginning of +the period we meet with that higher group of mammals, not pouched, +which now prevails. Among the oldest of these Tertiary beasts are +_Coryphodon_, an animal related to the Modern Tapirs, and _Arctocyon_, +a creature related to the bears and racoons. These animals represent +respectively the Pachyderms, or thick-skinned mammals, and the +ordinary Carnivora. Contemporary with or shortly succeeding these, +were species representing the Rodents, or gnawing animals, and many +other creatures of the group Pachydermata, allied to the Modern Tapirs +and Hogs, as well as several additional carnivorous quadrupeds. Thus +at the very beginning of the Tertiary period we enter on the age of +mammals, It may be well, however, to take these animals somewhat in +chronological order. + +If the old Egyptian, by quarrying the nummulite limestone, bore +unconscious testimony to the recent origin of man (whose remains are +wholly absent from the Tertiary deposits), so did the ancient Britons +and Gauls, when they laid the first rude foundations of future +capitals on the banks of the themes and of the Seine. Both cities lie +in basins of Eocene Tertiary, occupying hollows in the chalk. Under +London there is principally a thick bed of clay, the "London clay" +attaining a thickness of five hundred feet. This bed is obviously +marine, containing numerous species of sea shells; but it must have +been deposited near land, as it also holds many fossil fruits and +other remains of plants to which we shall refer in the sequel, and the +bones of several species of large animals. Among these the old +reptiles of the Mesozoic are represented by the vertebrae of a +supposed "sea snake" (Palæophis) thirteen feet long, and species of +crocodile allied both to the alligators and the gavials. But besides +these there are bones of several animals allied to the hog and tapir, +and also a species of opossum, These remains must be drift carcases +from neighbouring shores, and they show first the elevation of the +old deep-sea bottom represented by the chalk, so that part of it +became dry land; next, the peopling of that land by tribes of animals +and plants unknown to the Mesozoic; and lastly, that a warm climate +must have existed, enabling England at this time to support many types +of animals and plants now proper to intertropical regions. As Lyell +well remarks, it is most interesting to observe that these beds belong +to the beginning of the Tertiary, that they are older then those great +nummulite limestones to which we have referred, and that they are +older then the principal mountain chains of Europe and Asia. They show +that no sooner was the Cretaceous sea dried from off the new land, +then there were abundance of animals and plants ready to occupy it, +and these not the survivors of the flora and fauna of the Wealden, but +a new creation. The mention of the deposit last named places this in a +striking light. We have seen that the Wealden beds, under the chalk, +represent a Mesozoic estuary, and in it we have the remains of the +animals and plants of the land that then was. The great Cretaceous +subsidence intervened, and in the London clay we have an estuary of +the Eocene. But if we pass through the galleries of a museum where +these formations are represented, though we know that both existed in +the same locality under a warm climate, we see that they belong to two +different worlds, the one to that of the Dinosaurs, the Ammonites, the +Cycads, and the minute Marsupials of the Mesozoic, the other to that +of the Pachyderms, the Palms, and the Nautili of the Tertiary. + +The London clay is lower Eocene; but in the beds of the Isle of Wight +and neighbouring parts of the South of England, we have the middle and +upper members of the series. They are not, however, so largely +developed as in the Paris basin, where, resting on the equivalent of +the London clay, we have a thick marine limestone, the Calcaire +Grossier, abounding in marine remains, and in some beds composed of +shells of foraminifera. The sea in which this limestone was deposited, +a portion no doubt of the great Atlantic area of the period, became +shallow, so that beds of sand succeeded those of limestone, and +finally it was dried up into lake basins, in which gypsum, magnesian +sediments, and siliceous limestone were deposited. These lakes or +ponds must at some period have resembled the American "salt-licks," +and were no doubt resorted to by animals from all the surrounding +country in search of the saline mud and water which they afforded. +Hence in some marly beds intervening between the layers of gypsum, +numerous footprints occur, exactly like those already noticed in the +Trias. Had there been a Nimrod in those days to watch with bow or +boomerang by the muddy shore, he would have seen herds of heavy +short-legged and three-hoofed monsters (Palæotherium), with large +heads and long snouts, probably scantily covered with sleek hair, and +closely resembling the Modern Tapirs of South America and India, +laboriously wading through the mud, and grunting with indolent delight +as they rolled themselves in the cool saline slime. Others more light +and graceful, combining some features of the antelope with those of +the Tapir (Anoplotherium) ran in herds over the drier ridges, or +sometimes timidly approached the treacherous clay, tempted by the +saline waters. Other creatures representing the Modern Damans or +Conies--"feeble folk" which, with the aspect of hares, have the +structure of Pachyderms--were also present. Creatures of these types +constituted the great majority of the animals of the Parisian Eocene +lakes; but there were also Carnivorous animals allied to the hyæna, +the wolf, and the opossum, which prowled along the shores by night to +seize unwary wanderers, or to prey on the carcases of animals mired in +the sloughs. Wading birds equal in size to the ostrich also stalked +through the shallows, and tortoises crawled over the mud. + +Lyell mentions the discovery of some bones of one of these gigantic +birds (Gastornis) in a bed of the rolled chalk flints which form the +base of the Paris series, resting immediately on the chalk; one of the +first inhabitants perhaps to people some island of chalk just emerged +from the waters, and under which lay the bones of the mighty +Dinosaurs, and in which were embedded those of sea birds that had +ranged, like the albatross and petrel, over the wide expanse of the +Cretaceous ocean. These waders, however, like the tortoises and +crocodiles and small marsupial mammals, form a link of connection in +type at least between the Eocene and the Cretaceous, for bones of +wading birds have been found in the Greensands indicating their +existence before the close of the Mesozoic. + +The researches of Baron Cuvier in the bones collected in the quarries +of Montmartre were regarded as an astonishing triumph of comparative +anatomy; and familiar as we now are with similar and yet more +difficult achievements, we can yet afford to regard with admiration +the work of the great French naturalist as it is recorded in its +collected form in his "Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles," +published in 1812. His clear and philosophical views as to the plan +perceptible in nature, his admirable powers of classification, his +acute perception of the correlation of parts in animals, his nice +discrimination of the resemblances and differences of fossil and +recent structures, and of the uses of these,--all mark him as one of +the greatest minds ever devoted to the study of natural science. It is +obvious, that had his intellect been occupied by the evolutionist +metaphysics which pass for natural science with too many in our day, +he would have effected comparatively little; and instead of the +magnificent museum in the "Règne Animal" and the "Ossemens Fossiles," +we might have had wearisome speculations on the derivation of species. +It is reason for profound thankfulness that it was not so; and also +that so many great observers and thinkers of our day, like Sedgwick, +Murchison, Lyell, Owen, Dana, and Agassiz, have been allowed to work +out their researches almost to completion before the advent of those +poisoned streams and mephitic vapours which threaten the intellectual +obscuration of those who should be their successors. + +If we pass from the Eocene to the Miocene, still confining ourselves +mainly to mammalian life, we find three remarkable points of +difference--(1) Whereas the Eocene mammals are remarkable for +adherence to one general type, viz., that group of pachyderms most +regular and complete in its dentition, we now find a great number of +more specialised and peculiar forms; (2) We find in the latter period +a far greater proportion of large carnivorous animals; (3) We find +much greater variety of mammals then either in the Eocene or the +Modern, and a remarkable abundance of species of gigantic size. The +Miocene is thus apparently the culminating age of the mammalia, in so +far as physical development is concerned; and this, as we shall find, +accords with its remarkably genial climate and exuberant vegetation. + +In Europe, the beds of this age present, for the first time, examples +of the monkeys, represented by two generic types, both of them +apparently related to the modern long-armed species, or Gibbons. Among +carnivorous animals we have cat-like creatures, one of which is the +terrible _Machairodus_, distinguished from all modern animals of its +group by the long sabre-shaped canines of its upper jaw, fitting it to +pull down and destroy those large pachyderms which could have easily +shaken off a lion or a tiger. Here also we have the elephants, +represented by several species now extinct; the mastodon, a great, +coarsely-built, hog-like elephant, some species of which had tusks +both in the upper and lower jaw; the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and +the horse, all of extinct species. We have also giraffes, stags, and +antelopes, the first ruminants known to us, and a great variety of +smaller and less noteworthy creatures. Here also, for the first time, +we find the curious and exceptional group of Edentates, represented by +a large ant-eater. Of all the animals of the European Miocene, the +most wonderful and unlike any modern beast, is the Dinotherium, found +in the Miocene of Epplesheim in Germany; and described by Kaup. Some +doubt rests on the form and affinities of the animal; but we may +reasonably take it, as restored by its describer, and currently +reproduced in popular books, to have been a quadruped of somewhat +elephantine form. Some years ago, however, a huge haunch bone, +supposed to belong to this creature, was discovered in the South of +France; and from this it was inferred that the Dinothere may have been +a marsupial or pouched animal, perhaps allied in form and habits to +the kangaroos. The skull is three feet four inches in length; and when +provided with its soft parts, including a snout or trunk in front, it +must have been at least five or six feet long. Such a head, if it +belonged to a quadruped of ordinary proportions, must represent an +animal as large in proportion to our elephant as an elephant to an ox. +But its size is not its most remarkable feature. It has two large +tusks firmly implanted in strong bony sockets; but they are attached +to the end of the lower jaw and point downward at right angles to it, +so that the lower jaw forms a sort of double-pointed pickaxe of great +size and strength. This might have been used as a weapon; or, if the +creature was aquatic, as a grappling iron to hold by the bank, or by +floating timber; but more probably it was a grubbing-hoe for digging +up roots or loosening the bases of trees which the animal might +afterward pull down to devour them. However this may be, the creature +laboured under the mechanical disadvantage of having to lift an +immense weight in the process of mastication, and of being unable to +bring its mouth to the ground, or to bite or grasp anything with the +front of its jaws. To make up for this, it had muscles of enormous +power on the sides of the head attached to great projecting processes; +and it had a thick but flexible proboscis, to place in its mouth the +food grubbed up by its tusks. Taken altogether, the Dinothere is +perhaps the most remarkable of mammals, fossil or recent; and if the +rest of its frame were as extraordinary as its skull, we have probably +as yet but a faint conception of its peculiarities. We may apply to +it, with added force, the admiring ejaculation of Job, when he +describes the strength of the hippopotamus, "He is the chief of the +ways of God. He who made him, gave him his sword." + +[Illustration: MIOCENE MAMMALS OF THE EASTERN CONTINENT. + +In the foreground _Elephas_, _Ganesa_, _Hydracotherium_, +_Dinotherium_, _Machairodus_, _Mastodon longirostris_. In the middle +distance, _Apes_, two _Anoplotheres_, _Palæotherium_, _Xiphodon_, and +_Sivatherium_. Sequoias and Fan Palm in the background.] + +In Asia, the Siwalik hills afforded to Falconer and Cautley one of the +most remarkable exhibitions of Miocene animals in the world. These +hills form a ridge subordinate to the Himalayan chain; and rise to a +height of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. In the Miocene period, they were sandy +and pebbly shores and banks lying at the foot of the then infant +Himalayas, which, with the table-lands to the north, probably formed a +somewhat narrow east and west continental mass or large island. As a +mere example of the marvellous fauna which inhabited this Miocene +land, it has afforded remains of seven species of elephants, +mastodons, and allied animals; one of them, the _E. Ganesa_, with +tusks ten feet and a half long, and twenty-six inches in circumference +at the base. Besides these there are five species of rhinoceros, three +of horse and allied animals, four or more of hippopotamus, and species +of camel, giraffe, antelope, sheep, ox, and many other genera, as well +as numerous large and formidable beasts of prey. There is also an +ostrich; and, among other reptiles, a tortoise having a shell twelve +feet in length, and this huge roof must have covered an animal +eighteen feet long and seven feet high. Among the more remarkable of +the Siwalik animals is the _Sivatherium_, a gigantic four-horned +antelope or deer, supposed to have been of elephantine size, and of +great power and swiftness; and to have presented features connecting +the ruminants and pachyderms. Our restoration of this creature is to +some extent conjectural; and a remarkably artistic, and probably more +accurate, restoration of the animal has recently been published by +Dr. Murie, in the Geological Magazine. We justly regard the Mammalian +fauna of modern India as one of the noblest in the world; but it is +paltry in comparison with that of the much more limited Miocene India; +even if we suppose, contrary to all probability, that we know most of +the animals of the latter. But if we consider the likelihood that we +do not yet know a tenth of the Miocene animals, the contrast becomes +vastly greater. + +Miocene America is scarcely behind the Old World in the development of +its land animals. From one locality in Nebraska, Leidy described in +1852 fifteen species of large quadrupeds; and the number has since +been considerably increased. Among these are species of Rhinoceros, +Palæotherium, and Machairodus; and one animal, the Titanotherium, +allied to the European Anoplothere, is said to have attained a length +of eighteen feet and a height of nine, its jaws alone being five feet +long. + +In the illustration, I have grouped some of the characteristic +Mammalian forms of the Miocene, as we can restore them from their +scattered bones, more or less conjecturally; but could we have seen +them march before us in all their majesty, like the Edenic animals +before Adam, I feel persuaded that our impressions of this wonderful +age would have far exceeded anything that we can derive either from +words or illustrations. I insist on this the more that the Miocene +happens to be very slenderly represented in Britain; and scarcely at +all in north-eastern America; and hence has not impressed the +imagination of the English race so strongly as its importance +justifies. + +The next succeeding period, that of the Pliocene, continues the +conditions of the last, but with signs of decadence. Many of the old +gigantic pachyderms have disappeared; and in their stead some familiar +modern genera were introduced. The Pliocene was terminated by the cold +or glacial period, in which a remarkable lowering of temperature +occurred over all the northern hemisphere, accompanied, at least in a +portion of the time, by a very general and great subsidence, which +laid all the lower parts of our continents under water. This +terminated much of the life of the Pliocene, and replaced it with +boreal and Arctic forms, some of them, like the great hairy Siberian +mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros, fit successors of the gigantic +Miocene fauna. How it happened that such creatures were continued +during the Post-pliocene cold, we cannot understand till we have the +Tertiary vegetation before us. It must suffice now to say, that as the +temperature was modified, and the land rose, and the Modern period was +inaugurated, these animals passed away, and those of the present time +remained. + +Perhaps the most remarkable fact connected with this change, is that +stated by Pictet, that all the modern European mammals are direct +descendants of Post-pliocene species; but that in the Post-pliocene +they were associated with many other species; and these, often of +great dimensions, now extinct. In other words, the time from the +Pliocene to the Modern, has been a time of diminution of species, +while that from the Eocene to the Miocene was a time of rapid +introduction of new species. Thus the Tertiary fauna culminated in the +Miocene. Yet, strange though this may appear, Man himself, the latest +and noblest of all, would seem to have been a product of the later +stages of the time of decadence. I propose, however, to return to the +animals immediately preceding man and his contemporaries, after we +have noticed the Tertiary flora and the Glacial period. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE NEOZOIC AGES (_continued_). + + +Plant-life in the Tertiary approaches very nearly to that of the +Modern World, in so far as its leading types are concerned; but in its +distribution geographically it was wonderfully different from that +with which we are at present familiar. For example, in the Isle of +Sheppey, at the mouth of the themes, are beds of "London clay," fall +of fossil nuts; and these, instead of being hazel nuts and acorns, +belong to palms allied to species now found in the Philippine Islands +and Bengal, while with them are numerous cone-like fruits belonging to +the Proteaceæ (banksias, silver-trees, wagenbooms, etc.), a group of +trees now confined to Australia and South Africa, but which in the +Northern Hemisphere had already, as stated in a previous paper, made +their appearance in the Cretaceous, and were abundant in the Eocene. +The state of preservation of these fruits shows that they were not +drifted far; and in some beds in Hampshire, also of Eocene age, the +leaves of similar plants occur along with species of fig, cinnamon, +and other forms equally Australian or Indian. In America, especially +in the west, there are thick and widely-distributed beds of lignite or +imperfect coal of the Eocene period; but the plants found in the +American Eocene are more like those of the European Miocene or the +Modern American flora, a fact to which we must revert immediately. + +In Europe, while the Eocene plants resemble those of Australia, when +we ascend into the Miocene they resemble those of America, though +still retaining some of the Australian forms. In the leaf-beds of the +Isle of Mull,--where beds of vegetable mould and leaves were covered +up with the erupted matter of a volcano belonging to a great series of +such eruptions which produced the basaltic cliffs of Antrim and of +Staffa,--and at Bovey, in Devonshire, where Miocene plants have +accumulated in many thick beds of lignite, the prevailing plants are +sequoias or red-woods, vines, figs, cinnamons, etc. In the sandstones +at the base of the Alps similar plants and also palms of American +types occur. In the Upper Miocene beds of Oeningen in the Rhine +valley, nearly five hundred species of plants have been found, and +include such familiar forms as the maples, plane-trees, cypress, elm, +and sweet-gum, more American, however, then European in their aspect. +It thus appears that the Miocene flora of Europe resembles that of +America at pre sent, while the Eocene flora of Europe resembles that +of Australia, and the Eocene flora of America, as well as the modern, +resembles the Miocene of Europe. In other words, the changes of the +flora have been more rapid in Europe then in America and probably +slowest of all in Australia. The Eastern Continent has thus taken the +lead in rapidity of change in the Tertiary period, and it has done so +in animals as well as in plants. + +The following description of the flora of Bovey is given, with slight +alteration, in the words of Dr. Heer, in his memoir on that district. +The woods that covered the slopes consisted mainly of a huge pine-tree +(sequoia), whose figure resembled in all probability its +highly-admired cousin, the giant Wellingtonia of California. The leafy +trees of most frequent occurrence were the cinnamon and an evergreen +oak like those now seen in Mexico. The evergreen figs, the custard +apples, and allies of the Cape jasmine, were rarer. The trees were +festooned with vines, beside which the prickly rotang palm twined its +snake-like form. In the shade of the forest throve numerous ferns, one +species of which formed trees of imposing grandeur, and there were +masses of under-wood belonging to various species of Nyssa, like the +tupelos and sour-gums of North America. This is a true picture, based +on actual facts, of the vegetation of England in the Miocene age. + +But all the other wonders of the Miocene flora are thrown into the +shade by the discoveries of plants of this age which have recently +been made in Greenland, a region now bound up in what we poetically +call eternal ice, but which in the Miocene was a fair and verdant +land, rejoicing in a mild climate and rich vegetation. The beds +containing these specimens occur in various places in North Greenland; +and the principal locality, Atane-Kerdluk, is in lat. 70 N. and at an +elevation of more then a thousand feet above the sea. The plants occur +abundantly in sandstone and clay beds, and the manner in which +delicate leaves and fruits are preserved shows that they have not been +far water-borne, a conclusion which is confirmed by the occurrence of +beds of lignite of considerable thickness, and which are evidently +peaty accumulations containing trunks of trees. The collections made +have enabled Heer to catalogue 137 species, all of them of forms +proper to temperate, or even warm regions, and mostly American in +character. As many as forty-six of the species already referred to as +occurring at Bovey Tracey and Oeningen occur also in the Greenland +beds. Among the plants are many species of pines, some of them of +large size; and the beeches, oaks, planes, poplars, maples, walnuts, +limes, magnolias, and vines are apparently as well represented as in +the warm temperate zone of America at the present day. This wonderful +flora was not a merely local phenomenon, for similar plants are found +in Spitzbergen in lat. 78° 56'. It is to be further observed, that +while the general characters of these ancient Arctic plants imply a +large amount of summer heat and light, the evergreens equally imply a +mild winter. Further, though animal remains are not found with these +plants, it is probable that so rich a supply of vegetable food was not +unutilised, and that we shall some time find that there was an Arctic +fauna corresponding to the Arctic flora. How such a climate could +exist in Greenland and Spitzbergen is still a mystery. It has, +however, been suggested that this effect might result from the +concurrence of such astronomical conditions in connection with the +eccentricity of the earth's orbit as would give the greatest amount of +warmth in the Northern Hemisphere with such distribution of land and +water as would give the least amount of cold northern land and the +most favourable arrangement of the warm surface currents of the +ocean.[AI] + +[AI] Croll and Lyell. + +Before leaving these Miocene plants, I must refer to a paragraph which +Dr. Heer has thought it necessary to insert in his memoir on the +Greenland flora, and which curiously illustrates the feebleness of +what with some men passes for science. He says: "In conclusion, I beg +to offer a few remarks on the amount of certainty in identification +which the determination of fossil plants is able to afford us. We know +that the flowers, fruits, and seeds are more important as +characteristics then the leaves. There are many genera of which the +leaves are variable, and consequently would be likely to lead us +astray if we trusted in them alone. However, many characters of the +form and venation of leaves are well-known to be characteristic of +certain genera, and can therefore afford us characters of great value +for their recognition." In a similar apologetic style he proceeds +through several sentences to plead the cause of his Greenland leaves. +that he should have to do so is strange, unless indeed the botany +known to those for whom he writes is no more then that which a +school-girl learns in her few lessons in dissecting a buttercup or +daisy. It is easy for scientific triflers to exhibit collections of +plants in which species of different genera and families are so +similar in their leaves that a careless observer would mistake one for +the other, or to get up composite leaves in part of one species and in +part of another, and yet seeming the same, and in this way to +underrate the labours of painstaking observers like Heer. But it is +nevertheless true that in any of these leaves, not only are there good +characters by which they can be recognised, but that a single +breathing pore, or a single hair, or a few cells, or a bit of +epidermis not larger then a pin's head, should enable any one who +understands his business to see as great differences as a merely +superficial botanist would see between the flower of a ranunculus and +that of a strawberry. Heer himself, and the same applies to all other +competent students of fossil plants, has almost invariably found his +determinations from mere fragments of leaves confirmed when more +characteristic parts were afterwards discovered. It is high time, in +the interests of geology, that botanists should learn that constancy +and correlation of parts are laws in the plant as well as in the +animal; and this they can learn only by working more diligently with +the microscope. I would, however, go further then this, and maintain +that, in regard to some of the most important geological conclusions +to be derived from fossils, even the leaves of plants are vastly more +valuable then the hard parts of animals. For instance, the bones of +elephants and rhinoceroses found in Greenland would not prove a warm +climate; because the creatures might have been protected from cold +with hair like that of the musk-sheep, and they might have had +facilities for annual migrations like the bisons. The occurrence of +bones of reindeer in France does not prove that its climate was like +that of Lapland; but only that it was wooded, and that the animals +could rove at will to the hills and to the coast. But, on the other +hand, the remains of an evergreen oak in Greenland constitute absolute +proof of a warm and equable climate; and the occurrence of leaves of +the dwarf birch in France constitutes a proof of a cool climate, worth +more then that which can be derived from the bones of millions of +reindeer and musk-sheep. Still further, in all those greater and more +difficult questions of geology which relate to the emergence and +submergence of land areas, and to the geographical conditions of past +geological periods, the evidence of plants, especially when rooted in +place, is of far more value then that of animals, though it has yet +been very little used. + +This digression prepares the way for the question: Was the Miocene +period on the whole a better age of the world then that in which we +live? In some respects it was. Obviously there was in the Northern +Hemisphere a vast surface of land under a mild and equable climate, +and clothed with a rich and varied vegetation. Had we lived in the +Miocene, we might have sat under our vine and fig-tree equally in +Greenland and Spitzbergen and in those more southern climes to which +this privilege is now restricted. We might have enjoyed a great +variety of rich and nutritive fruits, and, if sufficiently muscular, +and able to cope with the gigantic mammals of the period, we might +have engaged in either the life of the hunter or that of the +agriculturist under advantages which we do not now possess. On the +whole, the Miocene presents to us in these respects the perfection of +the Neozoic time, and its culmination in so far as the nobler forms of +brute animals and of plants are concerned. Had men existed in those +days, however, they should have been, in order to suit the conditions +surrounding them, a race of giants; and they would probably have felt +the want of many of those more modern species belonging to the flora +and fauna of Europe and Western Asia on which man has so much depended +for his civilization. Some reasons have been adduced for the belief +that in the Miocene and Eocene there were intervals of cold climate; +but the evidence of this may be merely local and exceptional, and does +not interfere with the broad characteristics of the age as sketched +above. + +The warm climate and rich vegetation of the Miocene extended far into +the Pliocene, with characters very similar to those already stated; +but as the Pliocene age went on, cold and frost settled down upon the +Northern Hemisphere, and a remarkable change took place in its +vegetable productions. For example, in the somewhat celebrated +"forest bed" of Cromer, in Norfolk, which is regarded as Newer +Pliocene, we have lost all the foreign and warm-climate plants of the +Miocene, and find the familiar Scotch firs and other plants of the +Modern British flora. The animals, however, retain their former types; +for two species of elephant, a hippopotamus, and a rhinoceros are +found in connection with these plants. This is another evidence, in +addition to those above referred to, that plants are better +thermometers to indicate geological and climatal change then animals. +This Pliocene refrigeration appears to have gone on increasing into +the next or Post-pliocene age, and attained its maximum in the Glacial +period, when, as many geologists think, our continents were, even in +the temperate latitudes, covered with a sheet of ice like that which +now clothes Greenland. Then occurred a very general subsidence, in +which they were submerged under the waters of a cold icy sea, tenanted +by marine animals now belonging to boreal and arctic regions. After +this last great plunge-bath they rose to constitute the dry land of +man and his contemporaries. Let us close this part of the subject with +one striking illustration from Heer's memoir on Bovey Tracey. At this +place, above the great series of clays and lignites containing the +Miocene plants already described, is a thick covering of clay, gravel, +and stones, evidently of much later date. This also contains some +plants; but instead of the figs, and cinnamons, and evergreen oaks, +they are the petty dwarf birch of Scandinavia and the Highland hills, +and three willows, one of them the little Arctic and Alpine creeping +willow. Thus we have in the south of England a transition in the +course of the Pliocene period, from a climate much milder then that of +Modern England to one almost Arctic in its character. + +Our next topic for consideration is one of the most vexed questions +among geologists, the Glacial period which immediately preceded the +Advent of Man. In treating of this it will be safest first to sketch the +actual appearances which present themselves, and then to draw such +pictures as we can of the conditions which they represent. The most +recent and superficial covering of the earth's crust is usually composed +of rock material more or less ground up and weathered. This may, with +reference to its geological character and origin, be considered as of +three kinds. It may be merely the rock weathered and decomposed to a +certain extent _in situ_; or it may be alluvial matter carried or +deposited by existing streams or tides, or by the rains; or, lastly, it +may be material evidencing the operation of causes not now in action. +This last constitutes what has been called drift or diluvial detritus, +and is that with which we have now to do. Such drift, then, is very +widely distributed on our continents in the higher latitudes. In the +Northern Hemisphere it extends from the Arctic regions to about 50° of +north latitude in Europe, and as low as 40° in North America; and it +occurs south of similar parallels in the Southern Hemisphere. Farther +towards the equator then the latitudes indicated, we do not find the +proper drift deposits, but merely weathered rocks or alluvia, or old sea +bottoms raised up. This limitation of the drift, at the very outset +gives it the character of a deposit in some way connected with the Polar +cold. Besides this, the general transport of stones and other material +in the northern regions has been to the south; hence in the Northern +Hemisphere this deposit may be called the _Northern_ Drift. + +If now we take a typical locality of this formation, such, for +instance, as we may find in Scotland, or Scandinavia, or Canada, we +shall find it to consist of three members, as follows:-- + + 3. Superficial Sands or Gravels. + + 2. Stratified Clays. + + 1. Till or Boulder Clay. + +This arrangement may locally be more complicated, or it may be +deficient in one of its members. The boulder clay may, for example, be +underlaid by stratified sand or gravel, or even by peaty deposits; it +may be intermixed with layers of clay or sand; the stratified clay or +the boulder clay may be absent, or may be uncovered by any upper +member. Still we may take the typical series as above stated, and +inquire as to its characters and teaching. + +The lower member, or boulder clay, is a very remarkable kind of +deposit, consisting of a paste which may graduate from tough clay to +loose sand, and which holds large angular and rounded stones or +boulders confusedly intermixed; these stones may be either from the +rocks found in the immediate vicinity of their present position, or at +great distances. This mass is usually destitute of any lamination or +subordinate stratification, whence it is often called _Unstratified_ +Drift, and is of very variable thickness, often occurring in very +thick beds in valleys, and being comparatively thin or absent on +intervening hills. Further, if we examine the stones contained in the +boulder clay, we shall find that they are often scratched or striated +and grooved; and when we remove the clay from the rock surfaces on +which it rests, we find these in like manner striated, grooved and +polished. These phenomena, viz., of polished and striated rocks and +stones, are similar to those produced by those great sliding masses of +ice, the glaciers of Alpine regions, which in a small way and in +narrow and elevated valleys, act on the rocks and stones in this +manner, though they cannot form deposits precisely analogous to the +boulder clay, owing to the wasting away of much of the finer material +by the torrents, and the heaping of the coarser detritus in ridges +and piles. Further, we have in Greenland a continental mass, with +all its valleys thus filled with slowly-moving ice, and from this +there drift off immense ice-islands, which continue at least the +mud-and-stone-depositing process, and possibly also the grinding +process, over the sea bottom. So far all geologists are agreed; but +here they diverge into two schools. One of these, then of the Glacier +theorists, holds that the boulder clay is the product of land-ice; and +this requires the supposition that at the time when it was deposited +the whole of our continents north of 40° or 50° was in the condition +of Greenland at present. This is, however, a hypothesis so +inconvenient, not to say improbable, that many hesitate to accept it, +and prefer to believe that in the so-called Glacial period the land +was submerged, and that icebergs then as now drifted from the north in +obedience to the Arctic currents, and produced the effects observed. +It would be tedious to go into all the arguments of the advocates of +glaciers and icebergs, and I shall not attempt this, more especially +as the only way to decide the question is to observe carefully the +facts in every particular locality, and inquire as to the conclusions +fairly deducible. With the view of aiding such a solution, however, I +may state a few general principles applicable to the appearances +observed. We may then suppose that boulder clay may be formed in three +ways. (1) It may be deposited on land, as what is called the bottom +moraine of a land glacier. (2) It may be deposited in the sea when +such a glacier ends on the coast. (3) It may be deposited by the +melting or grounding on muddy bottoms of the iceberg masses floated +off from the end of such a glacier. It is altogether likely, from the +observations recently made in Greenland, that in that country such a +deposit is being formed in all these ways. In like manner, the +ancient boulder clay may have been formed in one or more of these ways +in any given locality where it occurs, though it may be difficult in +many instances to indicate the precise mode. There are, however, +certain criteria which may be applied to the determination of its +origin, and I may state a few of these, which are the results of my +own experience. (1) Where the boulder clay contains marine shells, or +rounded stones which if exposed to the air would have been cracked to +pieces, decomposed, or oxidized, it must have been formed under water. +Where the conditions are the reverse of these, it may have been formed +on land. (2) When the striations and transport of materials do not +conform to the levels of the country, and take that direction, usually +N.E. and S.W., which the Arctic current would take if the country were +submerged, the probability is that it was deposited in the sea. Where, +however, the striation and transport take the course of existing +valleys, more especially in hilly regions, the contrary may be +inferred. (3) Where most of the material, more especially the large +stones, has been carried to great distances from its original site, +especially over plains or up slopes, it has probably been sea-borne. +Where it is mostly local, local ice-action may be inferred. Other +criteria may be stated, but these are sufficient for our present +purpose. Their application in every special case I do not presume to +make; but I am convinced that when applied to those regions in Eastern +America with which I am familiar, they necessitate the conclusion +that in the period of extreme refrigeration, the greater part of the +land was under water, and such hills and mountains as remained were +little Greenlands, covered with ice and sending down glaciers to the +sea. In hilly and broken regions, therefore, and especially at +considerable elevations, we find indications of _glacier_ action; on +the great plains, on the contrary, the indications are those of +_marine_ glaciation and transport. This last statement, I believe, +applies to the mountains and plains of Europe and Asia as well as of +America. + +This view requires not only the supposition of great refrigeration, +but of a great subsidence of the land in the temperate latitudes, with +large residual islands and hills in the Arctic regions. That such +subsidence actually took place is proved, not only by the frequent +occurrence of marine shells in the boulder clay itself, but also by +the occurrence of stratified marine clays filled with shells, often of +deep-water species, immediately over that deposit. Further, the +shells, and also occasional land plants found in these beds, indicate +a cold climate and much cold fresh water pouring into the sea from +melting ice and snow. In Canada these marine clays have been traced up +to elevations of 600 feet, and in Great Britain deposits of this kind +occur on one of the mountains of Wales at the height of 1300 feet +above the level of the sea. Nor is it to be supposed that this level +marks the extreme height of the Post-pliocene waters, for drift +material not explicable by glaciers, and evidences of marine erosion, +occur at still higher levels, and it is natural that on high and +exposed points fewer remains of fossiliferous beds should be left then +in plains and valleys. + +At the present day the coasts of Britain and other parts of Western +Europe enjoy an exceptionally warm temperature, owing to the warm +currents of the Atlantic being thrown on them, and the warm and moist +Atlantic air flowing over them, under the influence of the prevailing +westerly winds. These advantages are not possessed by the eastern +coast of North America, nor by some deep channels in the sea, along +which the cold northern currents flow under the warmer water. Hence +these last-mentioned localities are inhabited by boreal shells much +farther south then such species extend on the coasts and banks of +Great Britain. In the Glacial period this exceptional advantage was +lost, and while the American seas, as judged by their marine animals, +were somewhat colder then at present, the British seas were +proportionally much more cooled down. No doubt, however, there were +warmer and colder areas, determined by depth and prevailing currents, +and as these changed their position in elevation and subsidence of the +land, alternations and even mixtures of the inhabitants of cold and +warm water resulted, which have often been very puzzling to +geologists. + +I have taken the series of drift deposits seen in Britain and in +Canada as typical, and the previous discussion has had reference to +them. But it would be unfair not to inform the reader that this +succession of deposits after all belongs to the margins of our +continents rather then to their great central areas. This is the case +at least in North America, where in the region of the great lakes the +oldest glaciated surfaces are overlaid by thick beds of stratified +clay, without marine fossils, and often without either stones or +boulders, though these sometimes occur, especially toward the north. +The clay, however, contains drifted fragments of coniferous trees. +Above this clay are sand and gravel, and the principal deposit of +travelled stones and boulders rests on these. I cannot affirm that a +similar succession occurs on the great inland plains of Europe and +Asia: but I think it probable that to some extent it does. The +explanation of this inland drift by the advocates of a great +continental glacier is as follows: (1) In the Pliocene period the +continents were higher then at present, and many deep valleys, since +filled up, were cut in them. (2) In the Post-pliocene these elevated +continents became covered with ice, by the movement of which the +valleys were deepened and the surfaces striated. (3) This ice-period +was followed by a depression and submergence, in which the clays were +deposited, filling up old channels, and much changing the levels of +the land. Lastly, as the land rose again from this submergence, sand +and gravel were deposited, and boulders scattered over the surface by +floating ice. + +The advocates of floating ice as distinguished from a continental +glacier, merely dispense with the latter, and affirm that the +striation under the clay, as well as that connected with the later +boulders, is the effect of floating bergs. The occurrence of so much +drift wood in the clay favours their view, as it is more likely that +there would be islands clothed with trees in the sea, then that these +should exist immediately after the country had been mantled in ice. +The want of marine shells is a difficulty in either view, but may be +accounted for by the rapid deposition of the clay and the slow +spreading of marine animals over a submerged continent under +unfavourable conditions of climate. + +In any case the reader will please observe that theorists must account +for both the interior and marginal forms of these deposits. Let us +tabulate the facts and the modes of accounting for them. + + ------------------------------------+------------------------------------ + FACTS OBSERVED. | THEORETICAL VIEWS. + -------------------+----------------+------------------------------------ + Inland Plains. | Marginal Areas.|Glacial Theories.| Floating Ice + | | | Theories. + ===================+================+==================================== + Terraces. | Terraces and | Emergence of Modern Land.[AJ] + | Raised Beaches.| + -------------------+----------------+------------------------------------ + Travelled Boulders |Sand and Gravel,| + and Glaciated |with Sea Shells | + Stones and Rocks |and Boulders. | Shallow Sea and Floating Ice. + Stratified Sand | | + and Gravel. | | + -------------------+----------------+------------------------------------ + Stratified Clay |Stratified Clay | Deep Sea and Floating Ice. + with Drift Wood, |with Sea Shells.+----------------+------------------- + and a few Stones. |Boulder Clay |Submergence of |Much floating Ice + and Boulders. |with or without |the land. Great |and local Glaciers. + Striated Rocks. |Sea Shells. |continental |Submergence of + |Striated Rocks. |mantle of Ice. |Pliocene Land. + -------------------+----------------+----------------+------------------- + Old channels, |Old channels, |Erosion by |Erosion by + indicating a higher|etc., indicating|continental |atmospheric + level of the land. |previous dry |Glacier. |agencies and + |land. | |accumulation of + | | |decomposed rock. + -------------------+----------------+----------------+------------------- + +[AJ] The phenomena of this period, with reference to rainfall, melting +snows, and valley deposits, must be noticed in the next chapter. + +This table will suffice at least to reduce the great glacier +controversy to its narrowest limits, when we have added the one +further consideration that glaciers are the parents of icebergs, and +that the question is not of one or the other exclusively, but of the +relative predominance of the one or the other in certain given times +and places. Both theories admit a great Post-pliocene subsidence. The +abettors of glaciers can urge the elevation of the surface, the +supposed powers of glaciers as eroding agents, and the transport of +boulders. Those whose theoretical views lean to floating ice, believe +that they can equally account for these phenomena, and can urge in +support of their theory the occurrence of drift wood in the inland +clay and boulder clay, and of sea-shells in the marginal clay and +boulder clay, and the atmospheric decomposition of rock in the +Pliocene period, as a source of the material of the clays, while to +similar causes they can attribute the erosion of the deep valleys +piled with the Post-pliocene deposits. They can also maintain that the +general direction of striation and drift implies the action of sea +currents, while they appeal to local glaciers to account for special +cases of glaciated rocks at the higher levels. + +How long our continental plateaus remained under the icy seas of the +Glacial period we do not know. Relatively to human chronology, it was +no doubt a long time; but short in comparison with those older +subsidences in which the great Palæozoic limestones were produced. At +length, however, the change came. Slowly and gradually, or by +intermittent lifts, the land rose: and as it did so, shallow-water +sands and gravels were deposited on the surface of the deep-sea clays, +and the sides of the hills were cut into inland cliffs and terraces, +marking the stages of recession of the waters. At length, when the +process was complete, our present continents stood forth in their +existing proportions ready for the occupancy of man. + +The picture which these changes present to the imagination is one of +the most extraordinary in all geological history. We have been +familiar with the idea of worlds drowned in water, and the primeval +incandescent earth shows us the possibility of our globe being melted +with fervent heat; but here we have a world apparently frozen out +destroyed by cold, or doubly destroyed by ice and water. Let us +endeavour to realise this revolution, as it may have occurred in any +of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, thickly peopled +with the magnificent animals that had come down from the grand old +Miocene time. Gradually the warm and equable temperature gives place +to cold winters and chilly wet summers. The more tender animals die +out, and the less hardy plants begin to be winter-killed, or to fail +to perfect their fruits. As the forests are thus decimated, other and +hardier species replace those which disappear. The animals which have +had to confine themselves to sheltered spots, or which have perished +through cold or want of food, are replaced by others migrating from +the mountains, or from colder regions. Some, perhaps, in the course +of generations, become dwarfed in stature, and covered with more +shaggy fur. Permanent snow at length appears upon the hill-tops, and +glaciers plough their way downward, devastating the forests, +encroaching on the fertile plains, and at length reaching the heads of +the bays and fiords. While snow and ice are thus encroaching from +above, the land is subsiding, and the sea is advancing upon it, while +great icebergs drifting on the coasts still further reduce the +temperature. Torrents and avalanches from the hills carry mud and +gravel over the plains. Peat bogs accumulate in the hollows. Glaciers +heap up confused masses of moraine, and the advancing sea piles up +stones and shingle to be imbedded in mud on its further advance, while +boreal marine animals invade the now submerged plains. At length the +ice and water meet everywhere, or leave only a few green strips where +hardy Arctic plants still survive, and a few well-clad animals manage +to protract their existence. Perhaps even these are overwhelmed, and +the curtain of the Glacial winter falls over the fair scenery of the +Pliocene. In every locality thus invaded by an apparently perpetual +winter, some species of laud animals must have perished. Others may +have migrated to more genial climes, others under depauperated and +hardy varietal forms may have continued successfully to struggle for +existence. The general result must have been greatly to diminish the +nobler forms of life, and to encourage only those fitted for the most +rigorous climates and least productive soils. + +Could we have visited the world in this dreary period, and have +witnessed the decadence and death of that brilliant and magnificent +flora and fauna which we have traced upward from the Eocene, we might +well have despaired of the earth's destinies, and have fancied it the +sport of some malignant demon; or have supposed that in the contest +between the powers of destruction and those of renovation the former +had finally gained the victory. We must observe, however, that the +suffering in such a process is less then we might suppose. So long as +animals could exist, they would continue to enjoy life. The conditions +unfavourable to them would be equally or more so to their natural +enemies. Only the last survivors would meet with what might be +regarded as a tragical end. As one description of animal became +extinct, another was prepared to occupy its room. If elephants and +rhinoceroses perished from the land, countless herds of walruses and +seals took their places. If gay insects died and disappeared, +shell-fishes and sea-stars were their successors. + +Thus in nature there is life even in death, and constant enjoyment +even when old systems are passing away. But could we have survived the +Glacial period, we should have seen a reason for its apparently +wholesale destruction. Out of that chaos came at length an Eden; and +just as the Permian prepared the way for the Mesozoic, so the glaciers +and icebergs of the Post-pliocene were the ploughshare of God +preparing the earth for the time when, with a flora and fauna more +beautiful and useful, if less magnificent then that of the Tertiary, +it became as the garden of the Lord, fitted for the reception of His +image and likeness, immortal and intelligent Man. We need not, +however, with one modern school of philosophy, regard man himself as +but a descendant of Miocene apes, scourged into reason and humanity by +the struggle for existence in the Glacial period. We may be content to +consider him as a son of God, and to study in the succeeding chapters +that renewal of the Post-pliocene world which preceded and heralded +his advent. + +In the meantime, our illustration,[AK] borrowed in part from the +magnificent representation of the Post-pliocene fauna of England, by +the great restorer of extinct animals, Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, may +serve to give some idea of the grand and massive forms of animal life +which, even in the higher latitudes, survived the Post-pliocene cold, +and only decayed and disappeared under that amelioration of physical +conditions which marks the introduction of the human period. + +[AK] Page 301. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CLOSE OF THE POST-PLIOCENE, AND ADVENT OF MAN. + + +_In_ closing these sketches it may seem unsatisfactory not to link the +geological ages with the modern period in which we live; yet, perhaps, +nothing is more complicated or encompassed with greater difficulties +or uncertainties. The geologist, emerging from the study of the older +monuments of the earth's history, and working with the methods of +physical science, here meets face to face the archæologist and +historian, who have been tracing back in the opposite direction, and +with very different appliances, the stream of human history and +tradition. In such circumstances conflicts may occur, or at least the +two paths of inquiry may refuse to connect themselves without +concessions unpleasant to the pursuers of one or both. Further, it is +just at this meeting-place that the dim candle of traditional lore is +almost burnt out in the hand of the antiquary, and that the geologist +finds his monumental evidence becoming more scanty and less distinct. +We cannot hope as yet to dispel all the shadows that haunt this +obscure domain, but can at least point out some of the paths which +traverse it. In attempting this, we may first classify the time +involved as follows: (1) The earlier Post-pliocene period of geology +may be called the _Glacial_ era. It is that of a cold climate, +accompanied by glaciation and boulder deposits. (2) The later +_Post-pliocene_ may be called the Post-glacial era. It is that of +re-elevation of the continents and restoration of a mild temperature. +It connects itself with the pre-historic period of the archæologist, +inasmuch as remains of man and his works are apparently included in +the same deposits which hold the bones of Post-glacial animals. (3) +The _Modern_ era is that of secular human history. + +It may be stated with certainty that the Pliocene period of geology +affords no trace of human remains or implements; and the same may I +think be affirmed of the period of glaciation and subsidence which +constitutes the earlier Post-pliocene. With the rise of the land out +of the Glacial sea indications of man are believed to appear, along +with remains of several mammalian species now his contemporaries. +Archæology and geology thus meet somewhere in the pre-historic period +of the former, and in the Post-glacial of the latter. Wherever, +therefore, human history extends farthest back, and geological +formations of the most modern periods exist and have been explored, we +may expect best to define their junctions. Unfortunately it happens +that our information on these points is still very incomplete and +locally limited. In many extensive regions, like America and +Australia, while the geological record is somewhat complete, the +historic record extends back at most a few centuries, and the +pre-historic monuments are of uncertain date. In other countries, as +in Western Asia and Egypt, where the historic record extends very far +back, the geology is less perfectly known. At the present moment, +therefore, the main battle-field of these controversies is in Western +Europe, where, though history scarce extends farther back then the +time of the Roman Republic, the geologic record is very complete, and +has been explored with some thoroughness. It is obvious, however, that +we thus have to face the question at a point where the pre-historic +gap is necessarily very wide. + +Taking England as an example, all before the Roman invasion is +pre-historic, and with regard to this pre-historic period the evidence +that we can obtain is chiefly of a geological character. The +pre-historic men are essentially fossils. We know of them merely what +can be learned from their bones and implements embedded in the soil or +in the earth of the caverns in which some of them sheltered +themselves. For the origin and date of these deposits the antiquary +must go to the geologist, and he imitates the geologist in arranging +his human fossils under such names as the "Paleolithic," or period of +rude stone implements; the "Neolithic" or period of polished stone +implements; the Bronze Period, and the Iron Period; though inasmuch as +higher and lower states of the arts seem always to have coexisted, and +the time involved is comparatively short, these periods are of far +less value then those of geology. In Britain the age of iron is in the +main historic. That of bronze goes back to the times of early +Phoenician trade with the south of England. That of stone, while +locally extending far into the succeeding ages, reaches back into an +unknown antiquity, and is, as we shall see in the sequel, probably +divided into two by a great physical change, though not in the abrupt +and arbitrary way sometimes assumed by those who base their +classification solely on the rude or polished character of stone +implements. We must not forget, however, that in Western Asia the ages +of bronze and iron may have begun two thousand years at least earlier +then in Britain, and that in some parts of America the Palaeolithic +age of chipped stone implements still continues. We must also bear in +mind that when the archæologist appeals to the geologist for aid, he +thereby leaves that kind of investigation in which dates are settled +by years, for that in which they are marked merely by successive +physical and organic changes. + +Turning, then, to our familiar geological methods, and confining +ourselves mainly to the Northern Hemisphere and to Western Europe, two +pictures present themselves to us: (!) The physical changes preceding +the advent of man; (2) The decadence of the land animals of the +Post-pliocene age, and the appearance of those of the modern. + +In the last chapter I had to introduce the reader to a great and +terrible revolution, whereby the old Pliocene continents, with all +their wealth of animals and plants, became sealed up in a mantle of +Greenland ice, or, slowly sinking beneath the level of the sea, were +transformed into an ocean-bottom over which icebergs bore their +freight of clay and boulders. We also saw that as the Post-pliocene +age advanced, the latter condition prevailed, until the waters stood +more then a thousand feet deep over the plains of Europe. In this +great glacial submergence, which closed the earlier Post-pliocene +period, and over vast areas of the Northern Hemisphere, terminated the +existence of many of the noblest forms of life, it is believed that +man had no share. We have, at least as yet, no record of his presence. + +Out of these waters the land again rose slowly and intermittently, so +that the receding waves worked even out of hard rocks ranges of coast +cliff which the further elevation converted into inland terraces, and +that the clay and stones deposited by the Glacial waters were in many +places worked over and rearranged by the tides and waves of the +shallowing sea before they were permanently raised up to undergo the +action of the rains and streams, while long banks of sand and gravel +were stretched across plains and the mouths of valleys, constituting +"kames," or "eskers," only to be distinguished from moraines of +glaciers by the stratified arrangement of their materials. + +Further, as the land rose, its surface was greatly and rapidly +modified by rains and streams. There is the amplest evidence, both in +Europe and America, that at this time the erosion by these means was +enormous in comparison with anything we now experience. The rainfall +must have been excessive, the volume of water in the streams very +great; and the facilities for cutting channels in the old Pliocene +valleys, filled to the brim with mud and boulder-clay, were +unprecedented. While the area of the land was still limited, much of +it would be high and broken, and it would have all the dampness of an +insular climate. As it rose in height, plains which had, while under +the sea, been loaded with the _débris_ swept from the land, would be +raised up to experience river erosion. It was the spring-time of the +Glacial era, a spring eminent for its melting snows, its rains, and +its river floods.[AL] To an observer living at this time it would have +seemed as if the slow process of moulding the continents was being +pushed forward with unexampled rapidity. The valleys were ploughed out +and cleansed, the plains levelled and overspread with beds of +alluvium, giving new features of beauty and utility to the land, and +preparing the way for the life of the Modern period, as if to make up +for the time which had been lost in the dreary Glacial age. It will +readily be understood how puzzling these deposits have been to +geologists, especially to those who fail to present to their minds the +true conditions of the period; and how difficult it is to separate the +river alluvia of this age from the deposits in the seas and estuaries, +and these again from the older Glacial beds. Further, in not a few +instances the animals of a cold climate must have lived in close +proximity to those which belonged to ameliorated conditions, and the +fossils of the older Post-pliocene must often, in the process of +sorting by water, have been mixed with those of the newer. + +[AL] Mr. Tylor has well designated this period as the Pluvial age. +_Journal of the Geological Society_, 1870. + +Many years ago the brilliant and penetrating intellect of Edward +Forbes was directed to the question of the maximum extent of the later +Post-pliocene or Post-glacial land; and his investigations into the +distribution of the European flora, in connection with the phenomena +of submerged terrestrial surfaces, led to the belief that the land had +risen until it was both higher and more extensive then at present. At +the time of greatest elevation, England was joined to the continent of +Europe by a level plain, and a similar plain connected Ireland with +its sister islands. Over these plains the plants constituting the +"Germanic" flora spread themselves into the area of the British +Islands, and herds of mammoth, rhinoceros, and Irish elk wandered and +extended their range from east to west. The deductions of Forbes have +been confirmed and extended by others; and it can scarcely be doubted +that in the Post-glacial era, the land regained fully the extent which +it had possessed in the time of the Pliocene. In these circumstances +the loftier hills might still reach the limits of perpetual snow, but +their glaciers would no longer descend to the sea. What are now the +beds of shallow seas would be vast wooded plains, drained by +magnificent rivers, whose main courses are now submerged, and only +their branches remain as separate and distinct streams, The cold but +equable climate of the Post-pliocene would now be exchanged for warm +summers, alternating with sharp winters, whose severity would be +mitigated by the dense forest covering, which would also contribute to +the due supply of moisture, preventing the surface from being burnt +into arid plains. + +It seems not improbable that it was when the continents had attained +to their greatest extension and when animal and vegetable life had +again over-spread the new land to its utmost limits, that man was +introduced on the eastern continent, and with him several mammalian +species, not known in the Pliocene period, and some of which, as the +sheep, the goat, the ox, and the dog, have ever since been his +companions and humble allies. These, at least in the west of Europe, +were the "Palaeolithic" men, the makers of the oldest flint +implements; and armed with these, they had to assert the mastery of +man over broader lands then we now possess, and over many species of +great animals now extinct. In thus writing, I assume the accuracy of +the inferences from the occurrence of worked stones with the bones of +post-glacial animals, which must have lived during the condition of +our continents above referred to. If these inferences are well +founded, not only did man exist at this time, but man not even +varietally distinct from modern European races. But if man really +appeared in Europe in the Post-glacial era, he was destined to be +exposed to one great natural vicissitude before his permanent +establishment in the world. The land had reached its maximum +elevation, but its foundations, "standing in the water and out of the +water," were not yet securely settled, and it had to take one more +plunge-bath before attaining its modern fixity. This seems to have +been a comparatively rapid subsidence and re-elevation, leaving but +slender traces of its occurrence, but changing to some extent the +levels of the continents, and failing to restore them fully to their +former elevation, so that large areas of the lower grounds still +remained under the sea. If, as the greater number of geologists now +believe, man was then on the earth, it is not impossible that this +constituted the deluge recorded in that remarkable "log book" of +Noah preserved to us in Genesis, and of which the memory remains +in the traditions of most ancient nations. This is at least the +geological deluge which separates the Post-glacial period from the +Modern, and the earlier from the later pre-historic period of the +archæologists.[AM] + +[AM] I have long thought that the narrative in Gen. vii. and viii. can +be understood only on the supposition that it is a contemporary +journal or log of an eye-witness incorporated by the author of Genesis +in his work. The dates of the rising and fall of the water, the note +of soundings over the hill-tops when the maximum was attained, and +many other details, as well as the whole tone of the narrative, seem +to require this supposition, which also removes all the difficulties +of interpretation which have been so much felt. + +Very important questions of time are involved in this idea of +Post-glacial man, and much will depend, in the solution of these, on +the views which we adopt as to the rate of subsidence and elevation of +the land. If, with the majority of British geologists, we hold that it +is to be measured by those slow movements now in progress, the time +required will be long. If, with most Continental and some American +geologists, we believe in paroxysmal movements of elevation and +depression, it may be much reduced. We have seen in the progress of +our inquiries that the movements of the continents seem to have +occurred with accelerated rapidity in the more modern periods. We have +also seen that these movements might depend on the slow contraction of +the earth's crust due to cooling, but that the effects of this +contraction might manifest themselves only at intervals. We have +further seen that the gradual retardation of the rotation of the earth +furnishes a cause capable of producing elevation and subsidence of the +land, and that this also might be manifested at longer or shorter +intervals, according to the strength and resisting power of the crust. +Under the influence of this retardation, so long as the crust of the +earth did not give way, the waters would be driven toward the poles, +and the northern land would be submerged; but so soon as the tension +became so great as to rupture the solid shell, the equatorial regions +would collapse, and the northern land would again be raised. The +subsidence would be gradual, the elevation paroxysmal, and perhaps +intermittent. Let us suppose that this was what occurred in the +Glacial period, and that the land had attained to its maximum +elevation. This might not prove to be permanent; the new balance of +the crust might be liable to local or general disturbance in a minor +degree, leading to subsidence and partial re-elevation, following the +great Post-glacial elevation. There is, therefore, nothing +unreasonable in that view which makes the subsidence and re-elevation +at the close of the Post-glacial period somewhat abrupt, at least when +compared with some more ancient movements. + +But what is the evidence of the deposits formed at this period? Here +we meet with results most diverse and contradictory, but I think there +can be little doubt that on this kind of evidence the time required +for the Post-glacial period has been greatly exaggerated, especially +by those geologists who refuse to receive such views as to subsidence +and elevation as those above stated. The calculations of long time +based on the gravels of the Somme, on the cone of the Tinière, on the +peat bogs of France and Denmark, on certain cavern deposits, have all +been shown to be more or less at fault; and possibly none of these +reach further back then the six or seven thousand years which, +according to Dr. Andrews, have elapsed since the close of the +boulder-clay deposits in America.[AN] I am aware that such a statement +will be regarded with surprise by many in England, where even the +popular literature has been penetrated with the idea of a duration of +the human period immensely long in comparison with what used to be the +popular belief; but I feel convinced that the scientific pendulum must +swing backward in this direction nearer to its old position. Let us +look at a few of the facts. Much use has been made of the "cone" or +delta of the Tinière on the eastern side of the Lake of Geneva, as an +illustration of the duration of the Modern period. This little stream +has deposited at its mouth a mass of _débris_ carried down from the +hills. This being cut through by a railway, is found to contain Roman +remains to a depth of four feet, bronze implements to a depth of ten +feet, stone implements at a depth of nineteen feet. The deposit ceased +about three hundred years ago, and calculating 1300 to 1500 years for +the Roman period, we should have 7000 to 10,000 years as the age of +the cone. But before the formation of the present cone, another had +been formed twelve times as large. Thus for the two cones together, a +duration of more then 90,000 years is claimed. It appears, however, +that this calculation has been made irrespective of two essential +elements in the question. No allowance has been made for the fact that +the inner layers of a cone are necessarily smaller then the outer; +nor for the further fact that the older cone belongs to a distinct +time (the pluvial age already referred to), when the rainfall was much +larger, and the transporting power of the torrent great in proportion. +Making allowance for these conditions, the age of the newer cone, that +holding human remains, falls between 4000 and 5000 years. The peat bed +of Abbeville, in the north of France, has grown at the rate of one and +a half to two inches in a century. Being twenty-six feet in thickness, +the time occupied in its growth must have amounted to 20,000 years; +and yet it is probably newer then some of the gravels on the same +river containing flint implements. But the composition of the +Abbeville peat shows that it's a forest peat, and the erect stems +preserved in it prove that in the first instance it must have grown at +the rate of about three feet in a century, and after the destruction +of the forest its rate of increase down to the present time diminished +rapidly almost to nothing. Its age is thus reduced to perhaps less +then 4000 years. In 1865 I had an opportunity to examine the now +celebrated gravels of St. Acheul, on the Somme, by some supposed to go +back to a very ancient period. With the papers of Prestwich and other +able observers in my hand, I could conclude merely that the +undisturbed gravels were older then the Roman period, but how much +older only detailed topographical surveys could prove; and that taking +into account the probabilities of a different level of the land, a +wooded condition of the country, a greater rainfall, and a glacial +filling of the Somme valley with clay and stones subsequently cut out +by running water the gravels could scarcely be older then the +Abbeville peat. To have published such views in England would have +been simply to have delivered myself into the hands of the +Philistines. I therefore contented myself with recording my opinion in +Canada. Tylor[AO] and Andrews[AP] have, however, I think, subsequently +shown that my impressions were correct. In like manner, I fail to +perceive, and I think all American geologists acquainted with the +pre-historic monuments of the western continent must agree with me, +any evidence of great antiquity in the caves of Belgium and England, +the kitchen-middens of Denmark, the rock-shelters of France, the lake +habitations of Switzerland. At the same time, I would disclaim all +attempt to resolve their dates into precise terms of years. I may +merely add, that the elaborate and careful observations of Dr. Andrews +on the raised beaches of Lake Michigan, observations of a much more +precise character then any which, in so far as I know, have been made +of such deposits in Europe, enable him to calculate the time which has +elapsed since North America rose out of the waters of the Glacial +period as between 5500 and 7500 years. This fixes at least the +possible duration of the human period in North America, though I +believe there are other lines of evidence which, would reduce the +residence of man in America to a much shorter time. Longer periods +have, it is true, been deduced from the delta of the Mississippi and +the gorge of Niagara; but the deposits of the former have been found +by Hilgard to be in great part marine, and the excavation of the +latter began at a period probably long Anterior to the advent of man. + +[AN] "Transactions, Chicago Academy," 1871. + +[AO] "Journal of Geological Society," vol. xxv. + +[AP] "Silliman's Journal," 1868. + +But another question remains. From the similarities existing in the +animals and plants of regions in the southern hemisphere now widely +separated by the ocean, it has been inferred that Post-pliocene land +of great extent existed there; and that on this land men may have +lived before the continents of the northern hemisphere were ready for +them. It has even been supposed that, inasmuch as the flora and fauna +of Australia have an aspect like that of the Eocene Tertiary, and very +low forms of man exist in that part of the world, these low races are +the oldest of all, and may date from Tertiary times. Positive evidence +of this, however, there is none. These races have no monuments; nor, +so far as known, have they left their remains in Post-pliocene +deposits. It depends on the assumptions that the ruder races of men +are the oldest; and that man has no greater migratory powers then +other animals. The first is probably false, as being contrary to +history; and also to the testimony of palaeontology with reference to +the laws of creation. The second is certainly false; for we know that +man has managed to associate himself with every existing fauna and +flora, even in modern times; and that the most modern races have +pitched their tents amid tree-ferns and Proteaceæ, and have hunted +kangaroos and emus. Further, when we consider that the productions of +the southern hemisphere are not only more antique then those of the +northern, but, on the whole, less suited for the comfortable +subsistence of man and the animals most useful to him; and that the +Post-pliocene animals of the southern hemisphere were of similar types +with their modern successors, we are the less inclined to believe that +these regions would be selected as the cradle of the human race. + +CONDENSED TABULAR VIEW OF THE AGES AND PERIODS OF THE NEOZOIC. + + Key to Symbols + + ### Recent species of Aquatic Invertebrates. Teleostian Fishes and + Squaloid sharks prevail. + --- Ages of Angiosperms and Plants. + === "And God said--let the land bring forth herbivorous beasts and + carnivorous beasts, after their kinds; and it was so." + +++ "And God created man in His own image." + + + Time. + Ages. Periods. Animals and Plants. + + NEOZOIC OR CAINOZOIC. + + {Newer. Still future (?) Age of + + Modern {Middle. Historic. Man + + {Older. Pre-historic. + + + + {N. Post-Glacial gravels and cave # + + { deposits. Saxicava sand and # + + Post- { terraces (America). # + + Pliocene {M. Marine Clays. Leda clays. Erie # - + + { clay (America). # - + + {O. Glacial Drift. Boulder clay # - + + { (America). # - + + # - + + {N. Norwich crag; Sicilian and # - + { Val d'Arno beds. # - + Pliocene {M. ____________ Sumter group (America). # - + {O. Red and Coralline crag; Sub-appenine # - = + { beds. # - = + # - = + {N. Faluns of Loraine; Upper Molasse; # - = + { Siwalik beds; Oeningen plant beds. # - = + { York-town beds (America). # - = + Miocene {M. ____________ # - = + {O. Upper Paris beds; Hempstead and Bovey # - = + { beds; Lower Molasse. Nebraska beds # - = + { (West America). # Mammals. - = + # - = + {N. Gypseous series, Paris. Vicksburg # - = + { group (America). # = + Eocene {M. Calcaire Grossier, Bagshot and Alum # = + { Bay beds. Jackson group (America). = + {O. Argile Plastique; London clay. = + { Claiborne group (America). = + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CLOSE OF THE POST-PLIOCENE, AND ADVENT OF MAN. (_Continued._) + + +Turning from these difficult questions of time, we may now look at the +assemblage of land-animals presented by the Post-glacial period. Here, +for the first time in the great series of continental elevations and +depressions, we find the newly-emerging land peopled with familiar +forms. Nearly all the modern European animals have left their bones in +the clays, gravels, and cavern deposits which belong to this period; +but with them are others either not now found within the limits of +temperate Europe, or altogether extinct. Thus the remarkable fact +comes out, that the uprising land was peopled at first with a more +abundant fauna then that which it now sustains, and that many species, +and among these some of the largest and most powerful, have been +weeded out, either before the advent of man or in the changes which +immediately succeeded that event. That in the Post-glacial period so +many noble animal species should have been overthrown in the struggle +for existence, without leaving any successors, at least in Europe, is +one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of life on our +planet. + +According to. Pictet,[AQ] the Post-glacial beds of Europe afford +ninety-eight species of mammals, of which fifty-seven still live +there, the remainder being either locally or wholly extinct. According +to Mr. Boyd Dawkins,[AR] in Great Britain about twelve Pliocene +species survived the Glacial period, and reappeared in the British +Islands in the Post-glacial. To these were added forty-one species +making in all fifty-three, whose remains are found in the gravels and +caves of the latter period. Of these, in the Modern period +twenty-eight, or rather more then one-half, survive, fourteen are +wholly extinct, and eleven are locally extinct. + +[AQ] Palæontologie. + +[AR] "Journal of Geological Society," and Palæontographical Society's +publications. + +[Illustration: BRITAIN IN THE POST-PLIOCENE AGE. Musk-sheep, +Hippopotamus, Machairodus, Mammoth, Wooly Rhinoceros, Long-fronted Ox, +and Irish stag. The animals are taken from Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins's +picture, "Struggles of Life among British Animals of the Antediluvian +Times." London: 1853. The landscape is that of the later part of the +cold Post-pliocene period.] + +Among the extinct beasts, were some of very remarkable character. +There were two or more species of elephant, which seem in this age to +have overspread, in vast herds, all the plains of Northern Europe and +Asia; and one of which we know, from the perfect specimen found +embedded in the frozen soil of Siberia, lived till a very modern +period; and was clothed with long hair and fur, fitting it for a cold +climate. There were also three or four species of rhinoceros, one of +which at least (the _R. Tichorhinus_) was clad with wool like the great +Siberian mammoth. With these was a huge hippopotamus (_H. major_), whose +head-quarters would, however, seem to have been farther south then +England, or which perhaps inhabited chiefly the swamps along the large +rivers running through areas now under the sea. The occurrence of such +an animal shows an abundant vegetation, and a climate so mild, that +the rivers were not covered with heavy ice in winter; for the +supposition that this old hippopotamus was a migratory animal seems +very unlikely. Another animal of this time, was the magnificent deer, +known as the Irish elk; and which perhaps had its principal abode on +the great plain which is now the Irish Sea. The terrible machairodus, +or cymetar-toothed tiger, was continued from the Pliocene; and in +addition to species of bear still living, there was a species of +gigantic size, probably now extinct, the cave bear. Evidences are +accumulating, to show that all or nearly all these survived until the +human period. + +If we turn now to those animals which are only locally extinct, we +meet with some strange, and at first sight puzzling anomalies. Some of +these are creatures now limited to climates much colder then that of +Britain. Others now belong to warmer climates. Conspicuous among the +former are the musk-sheep, the elk, the reindeer, the glutton, and the +lemming. Among the latter, we see the panther, the lion, and the Cape +hyena. That animals now so widely separated as the musk-sheep of +Arctic America and the hyena of South Africa, could ever have +inhabited the same forests, seems a dream of the wildest fancy. Yet it +is not difficult to find a probable solution of the mystery. In North +America, at the present day, the puma, or American lion, comes up to +the same latitudes with the caribou, or reindeer, and moose; and in +Asia, the tiger extends its migrations into the abodes of boreal +animals in the plains of Siberia. Even in Europe, within the historic +period, the reindeer inhabited the forests of Germany; and the lion +extended its range nearly as far northward. The explanation lies in +the co-existence of a densely wooded country with a temperate climate; +the forests affording to southern animals shelter from the cold or +winter; and equally to the northern animals protection from the heat +of summer. Hence our wonder at this association of animals of diverse +habitudes as to climate, is merely a prejudice arising from the +present exceptional condition of Europe. Still it is possible that +changes unfavourable to some of these animals, were in progress before +the arrival of man, with his clearings and forest fires and other +disturbing agencies. Even in America, the megalonyx, or gigantic +sloth, the mammoth, the mastodon, the fossil horse, and many other +creatures, disappeared before the Modern period; and on both +continents the great Post-glacial subsidence or deluge may have swept +away some of the species. Such a supposition seems necessary to +account for the phenomena of the gravel and cave deposits of England, +and Cope has recently suggested it in explanation of similar +storehouses of fossil animals in America.[AS] + +[AS] Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, April 1871. + +Among the many pictures which this fertile subject calls up, perhaps +none is more curious then that presented by the Post-glacial cavern +deposits. We may close our survey of this period with the exploration +of one of these strange repositories; and may select Kent's Hole at +Torquay, so carefully excavated and illumined with the magnesium light +of scientific inquiry by Mr. Pengelly and a committee of the British +Association. + +The somewhat extensive and ramifying cavern of Kent's Hole is an +irregular excavation, evidently due partly to fissures in limestone +rock, and partly to the erosive action of water enlarging such +fissures into chambers and galleries. At what time it was originally +cut we do not know, but it must have existed as a cavern at the close +of the Pliocene or beginning of the Post-pliocene period, since which +time it has been receiving a series of deposits which have quite +filled up some of its smaller branches. + +First and lowest, according to Mr. Pengelly, is a "breccia" or mass of +broken and rounded stones, with hardened red clay filling the +interstices. Most of the stones are of the rock which forms the roof +and walls of the cave, but many, especially the rounded ones, are from +more distant parts of the surrounding country. In this mass, the depth +of which is unknown, are numerous bones, all of one kind of animal, +the cave bear, a creature which seems to have lived in Western Europe +from the close of the Pliocene down to the modern period. It must have +been one of the earliest and most permanent tenants of Kent's Hole at +a time when its lower chambers were still filled with water. Next +above the breccia is a floor of "stalagmite" or stony carbonate of +lime, deposited from the drippings of the roof, and in some places +three feet thick. This also contains bones of the cave bear, deposited +when there was less access of water to the cavern. Mr. Pengelly infers +the existence of man at this time from a single flint flake and a +single flint chip found in these beds; but mere flakes and chips of +flint are too often natural to warrant such a conclusion. After the +old stalagmite floor above mentioned was formed, the cave again +received deposits of muddy water and stones; but now a change occurs +in the remains embedded. This stony clay, or "cave earth" has yielded +an immense quantity of teeth and bones, including those of the +elephant, rhinoceros, horse, hyena, cave bear, reindeer, and Irish +elk. With these were found weapons of chipped flint, and harpoons, +needles, and bodkins of bone, precisely similar to those of the North +American Indians and other rude races. The "cave earth" is four feet +or more in thickness, It is not stratified, and contains many fallen +fragments of rock, rounded stones, and broken pieces of stalagmite. It +also has patches of the excrement of hyenas, which the explorers +suppose to indicate the temporary residence of these animals; and in +one spot, near the top, is a limited layer of burnt wood, with remains +which indicate the cooking and eating of repasts of animal food by +man. It is clear that when this bed was formed the cavern was liable +to be inundated with muddy water, carrying stones and other heavy +objects, and breaking up in places the old stalagmite floor. One of +the most puzzling features, especially to those who take an +exclusively uniformitarian view, is, that the entrance of water-borne +mud and stones implies a level of the bottom of the water in the +neighbouring valleys of about 100 feet above its present height. The +cave earth is covered by a second crust of stalagmite, less dense and +thick then that below, and containing only a few bones, which are of +the same general character with those below, but include a fragment of +a human jaw with teeth. Evidently, when this stalagmite was formed, +the influx of water-borne materials had ceased, or nearly so; but +whether the animals previously occupying the country still continued +in it, or only accidental bones, etc., were introduced into the cave +or lifted from the bed below, does not appear. + +The next bed marks a new change. It is a layer of black mould from +three to ten inches thick. Its microscopic structure does not seem to +have been examined; but it is probably a forest soil, introduced by +growth, by water, by wind, and by ingress of animals, at a time when +the cave was nearly in its present state, and the surrounding country +densely wooded. This bed contains bones of animals, all of them +modern, and works of art ranging from the old British times before the +Roman invasion up to the porter-bottles and dropped halfpence of +modern visitors. Lastly, in and upon the black mould are many fallen +blocks from the roof of the cave. + +There can be no doubt that this cave and the neighbouring one of +Brixham have done very much to impress the minds of British geologists +with ideas of the great antiquity of man, and they have, more then any +other Post-glacial monuments, shown the persistence of some animals +now extinct up to the human age. Of precise data for determining time, +they have, however, given nothing. The only measures which seed to +have been applied, namely, the rate of growth of stalagmite and the +rate of erosion of the neighbouring valleys, are, from the very +sequence of the deposits, obviously worthless; and the only apparently +available constant measure, namely, the fall of blocks from the roof, +seems not yet to have been applied. We are therefore quite uncertain +as to the number of centuries involved in the filling of this cave, +and must remain so until a surer system of calculation is adopted. We +may, however, attempt to sketch the series of events which it +indicates. + +The animals found in Kent's Hole are all "Post-glacial." They +therefore inhabited the country after it rose from the great Glacial +submergence. Perhaps the first colonists of the coasts of Devonshire +in this period were the cave bears, migrating on floating ice, and +subsisting, like the Arctic bear, and the black bears of Anticosti, on +fish, and on the garbage cast up by the sea. They found Kent's Hole a +sea-side cavern, with perhaps some of its galleries still full of +water, and filling with, breccia, with which the bones of dead bears +became mixed. As the land rose, these creatures for the most part +betook themselves to lower levels, and in process of time the cavern +stood upon a hill-side, perhaps several hundreds of feet above the +sea; and the mountain torrents, their beds not yet emptied of glacial +detritus, washed into it stones and mud and carcases of animals of +many species which had now swarmed across the plains elevated out of +the sea, and multiplied in the land. This was the time of the cave +earth; and before its deposit was completed, though how long before, a +confused and often-disturbed bed of this kind cannot tell, man himself +seems to have been added to the inhabitants of the British land. In +pursuit of game he sometimes ascended the valleys beyond the cavern, +or even penetrated into its outer chambers; or perhaps there were even +in those days rude and savage hill-men, inhabiting the forests and +warring with the more cultivated denizens of plains below, which are +now deep under the waters. Their weapons, lost in hunting, or buried +in the flesh of wounded animals which crept to the streams to assuage +their thirst, are those found in the cave earth. The absence of human +bones may merely show that the mighty hunters of those days were too +hardy, athletic, and intelligent, often to perish from accidental +causes, and that they did not use this cavern for a place of burial. +But the land again subsided. The valley of that now nameless river, of +which the Rhine the themes, and the Severn may have alike been +tributaries, disappeared under the sea; and some tribe, driven from +the lower lands, took refuge in this cave, now again near the +encroaching waves, and left there the remains of their last repasts +ere they were driven farther inland or engulfed in the waters. For a +time the cavern may have been wholly submerged, and the charcoal of +the extinguished fires became covered with its thin coating of clay. +But ere long it re-emerged to form part of an island, long barren and +desolate; and the valleys having been cut deeper by the receding +waters, it no longer received muddy deposits, and the crust formed by +drippings from its roof contained only bones and pebbles washed by +rains or occasional land floods from its own clay deposits. Finally, +the modern forests overspread the land, and were tenanted by the +modern animals. Man returned to use the cavern again as a place of +refuge or habitation, and to leave there the relics contained in the +black earth. This seems at present the only intelligible history of +this curious cave and others resembling it; though, when we consider +the imperfection of the results obtained even by a large amount of +labour, and the difficult and confused character of the deposits in +this and similar caves, too much value should not be attached to such +histories, which may at any time be contradicted or modified by new +facts or different explanations of those already known. The time +involved depends very much, as already stated, on the question whether +we regard the Post-glacial subsidence and re-elevation as somewhat +sudden, or as occupying long ages at the slow rate at which some +parts of our continents are now rising or sinking.[AT] + +[AT] Another element in this is also the question raised by Dawkins, +Geikie, and others as to subdivisions of the Post-glacial period and +intermissions of the Glacial cold. After careful consideration of +these views, however, I cannot consider them as of much importance. + +Such are the glimpses, obscure though stimulating to the imagination, +which geology can give of the circumstances attending the appearance +of man in Western Europe. How far we are from being able to account +for his origin, or to give its circumstances and relative dates for +the whole world, the reader will readily understand. Still it is +something to know that there is an intelligible meeting-place of the +later geological ages and the age of man, and that it is one inviting +to many and hopeful researches. It is curious also to find that the +few monuments disinterred by geology, the antediluvian record of Holy +Scripture, and the golden age of heathen tradition, seem alike to +point to similar physical conditions, and to that simple state of the +arts of life in which "gold and wampum and flint stones"[AU] +constituted the chief material treasures of the earliest tribes of +men. They also point to the immeasurable elevation, then as now, of +man over his brute rivals for the dominion of the earth. To the +naturalist this subject opens up most inviting yet most difficult +paths of research, to be entered on with caution and reverence, +rather then in the bold and dashing spirit of many modern attempts. +The Christian, on his part, may feel satisfied that the scattered +monumental relics of the caves and gravels will tell no story very +different from that which he has long believed on other evidence, nor +anything inconsistent with those views of man's heavenly origin and +destiny which have been the most precious inheritance of the greatest +and best minds of every age, from that early pre-historic period when +men, "palaeolithic" men, no doubt, began to "invoke the name of +Jehovah," the coming Saviour, down to those times when life and +immortality are brought to light, for all who will see, by the Saviour +already come. + +[AU] So I read the "gold, bedolah, and shoham" of the description of +Eden in Genesis ii.--the oldest literary record of the stone age. + +In completing this series of pictures, I wish emphatically to insist +on the imperfection of the sketches which I have been able to present, +and which are less, in comparison with the grand march of the creative +work, even as now imperfectly known to science, then the roughest +pencilling of a child when compared with a finished picture. If they +have any popular value, it will be in presenting such a broad general +view of a great subject as may induce further study to fill up the +details. If they have any scientific value, it will be in removing the +minds of British students for a little from the too exclusive study of +their own limited marginal area, which has been to them too much the +"celestial empire" around which all other countries must be arranged, +and in divesting the subject of the special colouring given to it by +certain prominent cliques and parties. + +Geology as a science is at present in a peculiar and somewhat +exceptional state. Under the influence of a few men of commanding +genius belonging to the generation now passing away, it has made so +gigantic conquests that its armies have broken up into bands of +specialists, little better then scientific banditti, liable to be +beaten in detail, and prone to commit outrages on common sense and +good taste, which bring their otherwise good cause into disrepute. The +leaders of these bands are, many of them, good soldiers, but few of +them fitted to be general officers, and none of them able to reunite +our scattered detachments. We need larger minds, of broader culture +and wider sympathies, to organise and rule the lands which we have +subdued, and to lead on to further conquests. + +In the present state of natural science in Britain, this evil is +perhaps to be remedied only by providing a wider and deeper culture +for our young men. Few of our present workers have enjoyed that +thorough training in mental as well as physical science, which is +necessary to enable men even of great powers to take large and lofty +views of the scheme of nature. Hence we often find men who are fair +workers in limited departments, reasoning most illogically, taking +narrow and local views, elevating the exception into the rule, led +away by baseless metaphysical subtleties, quarrelling with men who +look at their specialties from a different point of view, and even +striving and plotting for the advancement of their own hobbies. Such +defects certainly mar much of the scientific work now being done. In +the more advanced walks of scientific research, they are to some +extent neutralised by that free discussion which true science always +fosters; though even here they sometimes vexatiously arrest the +progress of truth, or open floodgates of error which it may require +much labour to close. But in public lectures and popular publications +they run riot, and are stimulated by the mistaken opposition of +narrow-minded good men, by the love of the new and sensational, and by +the rivalry of men struggling for place and position. To launch a +clever and startling fallacy which will float for a week and stir up a +hard fight, seems almost as great a triumph as the discovery of an +important fact or law; and the honest student is distracted with the +multitude of doctrines, and hustled aside by the crowd of ambitious +groundlings. + +The only remedy in the case is a higher and more general scientific +education; and yet I do not wonder that many good men object to this, +simply because of the difficulty of finding honest and competent +teachers, themselves well grounded in their subjects, and free from +that too common insanity of specialists and half-educated men, which +impels them to run amuck at everything that does not depend on their +own methods of research. This is a difficulty which can be met in our +time only by the general good sense and right feeling of the +community taking a firm hold of the matter, and insisting on the +organization and extension of the higher scientific education, as well +as that of a more elementary character, under the management of able +and sane men. Yet even if not so counteracted, present follies will +pass away, and a new and better state of natural science will arise in +the future, by its own internal development. Science cannot long +successfully isolate itself from God. Its life lies in the fact that +it is the exponent of the plans and works of the great Creative Will. +It must, in spite of itself, serve His purposes, by dispelling +blighting ignorance and superstition, by lighting the way to +successive triumphs of human skill over the powers of nature, and by +guarding men from the evils that flow from infringement of natural +laws. And it cannot fail, as it approaches nearer to the boundaries of +that which may be known by finite minds, to be humbled by the +contemplation of the infinite, and to recognise therein that +intelligence of which the human mind is but the image and shadow. + +It may be that theologians also are needed who shall be fit to take +the place of Moses to our generation, in teaching it again the very +elements of natural theology; but let them not look upon science as a +cold and godless demon, holding forth to the world a poisoned cup +cunningly compounded of truth and falsehood; but rather as the natural +ally and associate of the gospel of salvation. The matter is so put in +one of those visions which close the canon of revelation, when the +prophet sees a mighty angel having the "everlasting gospel to preach;" +but he begins his proclamation by calling on men to "worship Him _that +made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters_." Men +must know God as the Creator even before they seek Him as a benefactor +and redeemer. Thus religion must go hand in hand with all true and +honest science. In this way only may we look forward to a time when a +more exact and large-minded science shall be in perfect accord with a +more pure and spiritual Christianity, when the natural and the +spiritual shall be seen to be the necessary complements of each other, +and when we shall hear no more of reconciliations between science and +theology, because there will be no quarrels to reconcile. Already, +even in the present chaos of scientific and religious opinion, +indications can be seen by the observant, that the Divine Spirit of +order is breathing on the mass, and will evolve from it new and +beautiful worlds of mental and spiritual existence. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PRIMITIVE MAN. CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO MODERN THEORIES AS TO HIS +ORIGIN. + + +The geological record, as we have been reading it, introduces us to +primitive man, but gives us no distinct information as to his origin. +Tradition and revelation have, it is true, their solutions of the +mystery, but there are, and always have been, many who will not take +these on trust, but must grope for themselves with the taper of +science or philosophy into the dark caverns whence issue the springs +of humanity. In former times it was philosophic speculation alone +which lent its dim and uncertain light to these bold inquirers; but in +our day the new and startling discoveries in physics, chemistry, and +biology have flashed up with an unexpected brilliancy, and have at +least served to dazzle the eyes and encourage the hopes of the +curious, and to lead to explorations more bold and systematic then any +previously undertaken. Thus has been born amongst us, or rather +renewed, for it is a very old thing, that evolutionist philosophy, +which has been well characterised as the "baldest of all the +philosophies which have sprung up in our world," and which solves the +question of human origin by the assumption that human nature exists +potentially in mere inorganic matter, and that a chain of spontaneous +derivation connects incandescent molecules or star-dust with the +world, and with man himself. + +This evolutionist doctrine is itself one of the strangest phenomena of +humanity. It existed, and most naturally, in the oldest philosophy and +poetry, in connection with the crudest and most uncritical, attempts +of the human mind to grasp the system of nature; but that in our day a +system destitute of any shadow of proof, and supported merely by vague +analogies and figures of speech, and by the arbitrary and artificial +coherence of its own parts, should be accepted as a philosophy, and +should find able adherents to string upon its thread of hypotheses our +vast and weighty stores of knowledge, is surpassingly strange. It +seems to indicate that the accumulated facts of our age have gone +altogether beyond its capacity for generalisation; and but for the +vigour which one sees everywhere, it might be taken as an indication +that the human mind has fallen into a state of senility, and in its +dotage mistakes for science the imaginations which were the dreams of +its youth. + +In many respects these speculations are important and worthy of the +attention of thinking men. They seek to revolutionise the religious +beliefs of the world, and if accepted would destroy most of the +existing theology and philosophy. They indicate tendencies among +scientific thinkers, which, though probably temporary, must, before +they disappear, descend to lower strata, and reproduce themselves in +grosser forms, and with most serious effects on the whole structure +of society. With one class of minds they constitute a sort of +religion, which so far satisfies the craving for truths higher then +those which relate to immediate wants and pleasures. With another and +perhaps larger class, they are accepted as affording a welcome +deliverance from all scruples of conscience and fears of a hereafter. +In the domain of science evolutionism has like tendencies. It reduces +the position of man, who becomes a descendant of inferior animals, and +a mere term in a series whose end is unknown. It removes from the +study of nature the ideas of final cause and purpose; and the +evolutionist, instead of regarding the world as a work of consummate +plan, skill, and adjustment, approaches nature as he would a chaos of +fallen rocks, which may present forms of castles and grotesque +profiles of men and animals, but they are all fortuitous and without +significance. It obliterates the fine perception of differences from +the mind of the naturalist, and resolves all the complicated relations +of living things into some simple idea of descent with modification. +It thus destroys the possibility of a philosophical classification, +reducing all things to a mere series, and leads to a rapid decay in +systematic zoology and botany, which is already very manifest among +the disciples of Spencer and Darwin in England. The effect of this +will be, if it proceeds further, in a great degree to destroy the +educational value and popular interest attaching to these sciences, +and to throw them down at the feet of a system of debased +metaphysics. As redeeming features in all this, are the careful study +of varietal forms, and the inquiries as to the limits of species, +which have sprung from these discussions, and the harvest of which +will be reaped by the true naturalists of the future. + +Thus these theories as to the origin of men and animals and plants are +full of present significance, and may be studied with profit by all; +and in no part of their applications more usefully then in that which +relates to man. Let us then inquire,--1. What is implied in the idea of +evolution as applied to man? 2. What is implied in the idea of +creation? 3. How these several views accord with what we actually know +as the result of scientific investigation? The first and second of +these questions may well occupy the whole of this chapter, and we +shall be able merely to glance at their leading aspects. In doing so, +it may be well first to place before us in general terms the several +alternatives which evolutionists offer, as to the mode in which the +honour of an origin from apes or ape-like animals can be granted to +us, along with the opposite view as to the independent origin of man +which have been maintained either on scientific or scriptural grounds. + +All the evolutionist theories of the origin of man depend primarily on +the possibility of his having been produced from some of the animals +more closely allied to him, by the causes now in operation which lead +to varietal forms, or by similar causes which have been in operation; +and some attach more and others less weight to certain of these +causes, or gratuitously suppose others not actually known. Of such +causes of change some are internal and others external to the +organism. With respect to the former, one school assumes an innate +tendency in every species to change in the course of time.[AV] Another +believes in exceptional births, either in the course of ordinary +generation or by the mode of parthenogenesis.[AW] Another refers to +the known facts of reproductive accelleration or retardation observed +in some humble creatures.[AX] New forms arising in any of these ways +or fortuitously, may, it is supposed, be perpetuated and increased and +further improved by favouring external circumstances and the effort of +the organism to avail itself of these,[AY] or by the struggle for +existence and the survival of the fittest.[AZ] + +[AV] Parsons, Owen. + +[AW] Mivart, Ferris. + +[AX] Hyatt and Cope. + +[AY] Lamarck, etc. + +[AZ] Darwin, etc. + +On the other hand, those who believe in the independent origin of man +admit the above causes as adequate only to produce mere varieties, +liable to return into the original stock. They may either hold that +man has appeared as a product of special and miraculous creation, or +that he has been created mediately by the operation of forces also +concerned in the production of other animals, but the precise nature +of which is still unknown to us; or lastly, they may hold what seems +to be the view favoured by the book of Genesis, that his bodily form +is a product of mediate creation and his spiritual nature a direct +emanation from his Creator. + +The discussion of all these rival theories would occupy volumes, and +to follow them into details would require investigations which have +already bewildered many minds of some scientific culture. Further, it +is the belief of the writer that this plunging into multitudes of +details has been fruitful of error, and that it will be a better +course to endeavour to reach the root of the matter by looking at the +foundations of the general doctrine of evolution itself, and then +contrasting it with its rival. + +Taking, then, this broad view of the subject, two great leading +alternatives are presented to us. Either man is an independent product +of the will of a Higher Intelligence, acting directly or through the +laws and materials of his own institution and production, or he has +been produced by an unconscious evolution from lower things. It is +true that many evolutionists, either unwilling to offend, or not +perceiving the logical consequences of their own hypothesis, endeavour +to steer a middle course, and to maintain that the Creator has +proceeded by way of evolution. But the bare, hard logic of Spencer, +the greatest English authority on evolution, leaves no place for this +compromise, and shows that the theory, carried out to its legitimate +consequences, excludes the knowledge of a Creator and the possibility +of His work. We have, therefore, to choose between evolution and +creation; bearing in mind, however, that there may be a place in +nature for evolution, properly limited, as well as for other things, +and that the idea of creation by no means excludes law and second +causes. + +Limiting ourselves in the first place to theories of evolution, and to +these as explaining the origin of species of living beings, and +especially of man, we naturally first inquire as to the basis on which +they are founded. Now no one pretends that they rest on facts actually +observed, for no one has ever observed the production of even one +species. Nor do they even rest, like the deductions of theoretical +geology, on the extension into past time of causes of change now seen +to be in action. Their probability depends entirely on their capacity +to account hypothetically for certain relations of living creatures to +each other, and to the world without; and the strongest point of the +arguments of their advocates is the accumulation of cases of such +relations supposed to be accounted for. Such being the kind of +argument with which we have to deal, we may first inquire what we are +required to believe as conditions of the action of evolution, and +secondly, to what extent it actually does explain the phenomena. + +In the first place, as evolutionists, we are required to assume +certain forces, or materials, or both, with which evolution shall +begin. Darwin, in his Origin of Species, went so far as to assume the +existence of a few of the simpler types of animals; but this view, of +course, was only a temporary resting-place for his theory. Others +assume a primitive protoplasm, or physical basis of life, and +arbitrarily assigning to this substance properties now divided between +organised and unorganised, and between dead and living matter, find no +difficulty in deducing all plants and animals from it. Still, even +this cannot have been the ultimate material. It must have been evolved +from something. We are thus brought back to certain molecules of +star-dust, or certain conflicting forces, which must have had +self-existence, and must have potentially included all subsequent +creatures. Otherwise, if with Spencer we hold that God is "unknowable" +and creation "unthinkable," we are left suspended on nothing over a +bottomless void, and must adopt as the initial proposition of our +philosophy, that all things were made out of nothing, and by nothing; +unless we prefer to doubt whether anything exists, and to push the +doctrine of relativity to the unscientific extreme of believing that +we can study the relations of things non-existent or unknown. So we +must allow the evolutionist some small capital to start with; +observing, however, that self-existent matter in a state of endless +evolution is something of which we cannot possibly have any definite +conception. + +Being granted thus much, the evolutionist next proceeds to demand that +we shall also believe in the indefinite variability of material +things, and shall set aside all idea that there is any difference in +kind between the different substances which we know. They must all be +mutually convertible, or at least derivable from some primitive +material. It is true that this is contrary to experience. The chemist +holds that matter is of different kinds, that one element cannot be +converted into another; and he would probably smile if told that, even +in the lapse of enormous periods of time, limestone could be evolved +out of silica. He may think that this is very different from the idea +that a snail can be evolved from an oyster, or a bird from a reptile. +But the zoologist will inform him that species of animals are only +variable within certain limits, and are not transmutable, in so far as +experience and experiment are concerned. They have their allotropic +forms, but cannot be changed into one another. + +But if we grant this second demand, the evolutionist has a third in +store for us. We must also admit that by some inevitable necessity the +changes of things must in the main take place in one direction, from +the more simple to the more complex, from the lower to the higher. At +first sight this seems not only to follow from the previous +assumptions, but to accord with observation. Do not all living things +rise from a simpler to a more complex state? has not the history of +the earth displayed a gradually increasing elevation and complexity? +But, on the other hand, the complex organism becoming mature, resolves +itself again into the simple germ, and finally is dissolved into its +constituent elements. The complex returns into the simple, and what we +see is not an evolution, but a revolution. In like manner, in +geological time, the tendency seems to be ever to disintegration and +decay. This we see everywhere, and find that elevation occurs only by +the introduction of new species in a way which is not obvious, and +which may rather imply the intervention of a cause from without; so +that here also we are required to admit as a general principle what is +contrary to experience. + +If, however, we grant the evolutionist these postulates, we must next +allow him to take the facts of botany and zoology out of their +ordinary connection, and thread them like a string of beads, as +Herbert Spencer has done in his "Biology," on the threefold cord thus +fashioned. This done, we next find, as might have been expected, +certain gaps or breaks which require to be cunningly filled with +artificial material, in order to give an appearance of continuity to +the whole. + +The first of these gaps which we notice is that between dead and +living matter. It is easy to fill this with such a term as protoplasm, +which includes matter both dead and living, and so to ignore this +distinction; but practically we do not yet know as a possible thing +the elevation of matter, without the agency of a previous living +organism, from that plane in which it is subject merely to physical +force, and is unorganised, to that where it becomes organised, and +lives. Under that strange hypothesis of the origin of life from +meteors, with which Sir William Thomson closed his address at a late +meeting of the British Association, there was concealed a cutting +sarcasm which the evolutionists felt. It reminded them that the men +who evolve all things from physical forces do not yet know how these +forces can produce the phenomena of life even in its humblest forms. +It is true that the scientific world has been again and again startled +by the announcement of the production of some of the lowest forms of +life, either from dead organic matter, or from merely mineral +substances; but in every case heretofore the effort has proved as vain +as the analogies attempted to be set up between the formation of +crystals and that of organized tissues are fallacious. + +A second gap is that which separates vegetable and animal life. These +are necessarily the converse of each other, the one deoxidizes and +accumulates, the other oxidizes and expends. Only in reproduction or +decay does the plant simulate the action of the animal, and the animal +never in its simplest forms assumes the functions of the plant. Those +obscure cases in the humbler spheres of animal and vegetable life +which have been supposed to show a union of the two kingdoms, +disappear on investigation. This gap can, I believe, be filled up only +by an appeal to our ignorance. There may be, or may have been, some +simple creature unknown to us, on the extreme verge of the plant +kingdom, that was capable of passing the limit and becoming an animal. +But no proof of this exists. It is true that the primitive germs of +many kinds of humble plants and animals are so much alike, that much +confusion has arisen in tracing their development. It is also true +that some of these creatures can subsist under very dissimilar +conditions, and in very diverse states, and that under the specious +name of Biology,[BA] we sometimes find a mass of these confusions, +inaccurate observations and varietal differences made to do duty for +scientific facts. But all this does not invalidate the grand primary +distinction between the animal and the plant, which should be +thoroughly taught and illustrated to all young naturalists, as one of +the best antidotes to the fallacies of the evolutionist school. + +[BA] It is doubtful whether men who deny the existence of vital force +have a right to call their science "Biology," any more then atheists +have to call their doctrine "Theology;" and it is certain that the +assumption of a science of Biology as distinct from Phytology and +Zoology, or including both, is of the nature of a "pious fraud" on the +part of the more enlightened evolutionists. The objections stated in +the text, to what have been called Archebiosis and Heterogenesis seem +perfectly applicable, in so far as I can judge from a friendly review +by Wallace, to the mass of heterogeneous material accumulated by Dr. +Bastian in his recent volumes. The conclusions of this writer, would +also, if established, involve evolution in a fatal _embarras des +richesses_, by the hourly production during all geological time, of +millions of new forms all capable of indefinite development. + +A third is that between any species of animal or plant and any other +species. It was this gap, and this only, which Darwin undertook to +fill up by his great work on the origin of species, but, +notwithstanding the immense amount of material thus expended, it yawns +as wide as ever, since it must be admitted that no case has been +ascertained in which an individual of one species has transgressed the +limits between it and other species. However extensive the varieties +produced by artificial breeding, the essential characters of the +species remain, and even its minor characters may be reproduced, while +the barriers established in nature between species by the laws of +their reproduction, seem to be absolute. + +With regard to species, however, it must be observed that naturalists +are not agreed as to what constitutes a species. Many so-called +species are probably races, or varieties, and one benefit of these +inquiries has been to direct attention to the proper discrimination of +species from varieties among animals and plants. The loose +discrimination of species, and the tendency to multiply names, have +done much to promote evolutionist views; but the researches of the +evolutionists themselves have shown that we must abandon transmutation +of true species as a thing of the present; and if we imagine it to +have occurred, must refer it to the past. + +Another gap is that between the nature of the animal and the +self-conscious, reasoning, moral nature of man. We not only have no +proof that any animal can, by any force in itself, or by any merely +physical influences from without, rise to such a condition; but the +thing is in the highest degree improbable. It is easy to affirm, with +the grosser materialists, that thought is a secretion of brain, as +bile is of the liver; but a moment's thought shows that no real +analogy obtains between the cases. We may vaguely suppose, with +Darwin, that the continual exercise of such powers as animals possess, +may have developed those of man. But our experience of animals shows +that their intelligence differs essentially from that of man, being a +closed circle ever returning into itself, while that of man is +progressive, inventive, and accumulative, and can no more be +correlated with that of the animal then the vital phenomena of the +animal with those of the plant. Nor can the gap between the higher +religious and moral sentiments of man, and the instinctive affections +of the brutes, be filled up with that miserable ape imagined by +Lubbock, which, crossed in love, or pining with cold and hunger, +conceived, for the first time in its poor addled pate, "the dread of +evil to come," and so became the father of theology. This conception, +which Darwin gravely adopts, would be most ludicrous, but for the +frightful picture which it gives of the aspect in which religion +appears to the mind of the evolutionist. + +The reader will now readily perceive that the simplicity and +completeness of the evolutionist theory entirely disappear when we +consider the unproved assumptions on which it is based, and its +failure to connect with each other some of the most important facts in +nature: that, in short, it is not in any true sense a philosophy, but +merely an arbitrary arrangement of facts in accordance with a number +of unproved hypotheses. Such philosophies, "falsely so called," have +existed ever since man began to reason on nature, and this last of +them is one of the weakest and most pernicious of the whole. Let the +reader take up either of Darwin's great books, or Spencer's "Biology," +and merely ask himself as he reads each paragraph, "What is assumed +here and what is proved?" and he will find the whole fabric melt away +like a vision. He will find, however, one difference between these +writers. Darwin always states facts carefully and accurately, and when +he comes to a difficulty tries to meet it fairly. Spencer often +exaggerates or extenuates with reference to his facts, and uses the +arts of the dialectician where argument fails. + +Many naturalists who should know better are puzzled with the great +array of facts presented by evolutionists; and while their better +judgment causes them to doubt as to the possibility of the structures +which they study being produced by such blind and material processes, +are forced to admit that there must surely be something in a theory so +confidently asserted, supported by so great names, and by such an +imposing array of relations which it can explain. They would be +relieved from their weak concessions were they to study carefully a +few of the instances adduced, and to consider how easy it is by a +little ingenuity to group undoubted facts around a false theory. I +could wish to present here illustrations of this, which abound in +every part of the works I have referred to, but space will not permit. +One or two must suffice. The first may be taken from one of the +strong points often dwelt on by Spencer in his "Biology."[BB] + +[BB] "Principles of Biology," § 118. + +"But the experiences which most clearly illustrate to us the process +of general evolution are our experiences of special evolution, +repeated in every plant and animal. Each organism exhibits, within a +short space of time, a series of changes which, when supposed to +occupy a period indefinitely great and to go on in various ways +instead of one, may give us a tolerably clear conception of organic +evolution in general. In an individual development we have compressed +into a comparatively infinitesimal space a series of metamorphoses +equally vast with those which the hypothesis of evolution assumes to +have taken place during those unmeasurable epochs that the earth's +crust tells us of. A tree differs from a seed immeasurably in every +respect--in bulk, in structure, in colour, in form, in specific +gravity, in chemical composition: differs so greatly that no visible +resemblance of any kind can be pointed out between them. Yet is the +one changed in the course of a few years into the other; changed so +gradually that at no moment can it be said, 'Now the seed ceases to be +and the tree exists.' What can be more widely contrasted then a +newly-born child and the small gelatinous spherule constituting the +human ovum? The infant is so complex in structure that a cyclopædia +is needed to describe its constituent parts. The germinal vesicle is +so simple that it may be defined in a line.... If a single cell under +appropriate conditions becomes a man in the space of a few years, +there can surely be no difficulty in understanding how, under +appropriate conditions, a cell may in the course of untold millions of +years give origin to the human race." + +"It is true that many minds are so unfurnished with those experiences +of nature, out of which this conception is built, that they find +difficulty in forming it.... To such the hypothesis that by any series +of changes a protozoan should ever give origin to a mammal seems +grotesque--as grotesque as did Galileo's assertion of the earth's +movement seem to the Aristoteleans; or as grotesque as the assertion +of the earth's sphericity seems now to the New Zealanders." + +I quote the above as a specimen of evolutionist reasoning from the +hand of a master, and as referring to one of the corner-stones of this +strange philosophy. I may remark with respect to it, in the first +place, that it assumes those "conditions" of evolution to which I have +already referred. In the second place, it is full of inaccurate +statements of fact, all in a direction tending to favour the +hypothesis. For example, a tree does not differ "immeasurably" from a +seed, especially if the seed is of the same species of tree, for the +principal parts of the tree and its principal chemical constituents +already exist and can be detected in the seed, and unless it were so, +the development of the tree from the seed could not take place. +Besides, the seed itself is not a thing self-existent or fortuitous. +The production of a seed without a previous tree of the same kind is +quite as difficult to suppose as the production of a tree without a +previous seed containing its living embryo. In the third place, the +whole argument is one of analogy. The germ becomes a mature animal, +passing through many intermediate stages, therefore the animal may +have descended from some creature which when mature was as simple as +the germ. The value of such an analogy depends altogether on the +similarity of the "conditions" which, in such a case, are really the +efficient causes at work. The germ of a mammal becomes developed by +the nourishment supplied from the system of a parent, which itself +produced the germ, and into whose likeness the young animal is +destined to grow. These are the "appropriate conditions" of its +development. But when our author assumes from this other "appropriate +conditions," by which an organism, which on the hypothesis is not a +germ but a mature animal, shall be developed into the likeness, of +something different from its parent, he oversteps the bounds of +legitimate analogy. Further, the reproduction of the animal, as +observed, is a closed series, beginning at the embryo and returning +thither again; the evolution attempted to be established is a +progressive series going on from one stage to another. A reproductive +circle once established obeys certain definite laws, but its origin, +or how it can leave its orbit and revolve in some other, we cannot +explain without the introduction of some new efficient cause. The one +term of the analogy is a revolution, and the other is an evolution. +The revolution within the circle of the reproduction of the species +gives no evidence that at some point the body will fly off at a +tangent, and does not even inform us whether it is making progress in +space. Even if it is so making progress, its orbit of revolution may +remain the same. But it may be said the reproduction of the species is +not in a circle but in a spiral. Within the limit of experience it is +not so, since, however it may undulate, it always returns into itself. +But supposing it to be a spiral, it may ascend or descend, or expand +and contract; but this does not connect it with other similar spirals, +the separate origin of which is to be separately accounted for. + +I have quoted the latter part of the passage because it is +characteristic of evolutionists to decry the intelligence of those who +differ from them. Now it is fair to admit that it requires some +intelligence and some knowledge of nature to produce or even to +understand such analogies as those of Mr. Spencer and his followers, +but it is no less true that a deeper insight into the study of nature +may not only enable us to understand these analogies, but to detect +their fallacies. I am sorry to say, however, that at present the +hypothesis of evolution is giving so strong a colouring to much of +popular and even academic teaching, more especially in the easy and +flippant conversion of the facts of embryology into instances of +evolution on the plan of the above extract, that the Spencerians may +not long have to complain of want of faith and appreciation on the +part of the improved apes whom they are kind enough to instruct as to +their lowly origin. + +The mention of "appropriate conditions" in the above extract reminds +me of another fatal objection to evolution which its advocates +continually overlook. An animal or plant advancing from maturity to +the adult state is in every stage of its progress a complete and +symmetrical organism, correlated in all its parts and adapted to +surrounding conditions. Suppose it to become modified in any way, to +ever so small an extent, the whole of these relations are disturbed. +If the modification is internal and spontaneous, there is no guarantee +that it will suit the vastly numerous external agencies to which the +creature is subjected. If it is produced by agencies from without, +there is no guarantee that it will accord with the internal relations +of the parts modified. The probabilities are incalculably great +against the occurrence of many such disturbances without the breaking +up altogether of the nice adjustment of parts and conditions. This is +no doubt one reason of the extinction of so many species in geological +time, and also of the strong tendency of every species to spring back +to its normal condition when in any way artificially caused to vary. +It is also connected with the otherwise mysterious law of the constant +transmission of all the characters of the parent. + +Spencer and Darwin occasionally see this difficulty, though they +habitually neglect it in their reasonings. Spencer even tries to turn +one part of it to account as follows:-- + +"Suppose the head of a mammal to become very much more weighty--what +must be the indirect results? The muscles of the neck are put to +greater exertions; and the vertebræ have to bear additional tensions +and pressures caused both by the increased weight of the head and the +stronger contraction of muscles that support and move the head." He +goes on to say that the processes of the vertebrae will have augmented +strains put upon them, the thoracic region and fore limbs will have to +be enlarged, and even the hind limbs may require modification to +facilitate locomotion. He concludes: "Any one who compares the outline +of the bison with that of its congener, the ox, will clearly see how +profoundly a heavier head affects the entire osseous and muscular +system." + +We need not stop to mention the usual inaccuracies as to facts in this +paragraph, as, for example, the support of the head being attributed +to muscles alone, without reference to the strong elastic ligament of +the neck. We may first notice the assumption that an animal can +acquire a head "very much more weighty" then that which it had before, +a very improbable supposition, whether as a monstrous birth Dr as an +effect of external conditions after birth. But suppose this to have +occurred, and what is even less likely, that the very much heavier +head is an advantage in some way, what guarantee can evolution give +us that the number of other modifications required would take place +simultaneously with this acquisition! It would be easy to show that +this would depend on the concurrence of hundreds of other conditions +within and without the animal, all of which must co-operate to produce +the desired effect, if indeed they could produce this effect even by +their conjoint action, a power which the writer, it will be observed, +quietly assumes, as well as the probability of the initial change in +the head. Finally, the naivete with which it is assumed that the bison +and the ox are examples of such an evolution, would be refreshing in +these artificial days, if instances of it did not occur in almost +every page of the writings of evolutionists. + +It would only weary the reader to follow evolution any further into +details, especially as my object in this chapter is to show that +generally, and as a theory of nature and of man, it has no good +foundation; but we should not leave the subject without noting +precisely the derivation of man according to this theory; and for this +purpose I may quote Darwin's summary of his conclusions on the +subject.[BC] + +[BC] "Descent of Man," part ii., ch. 21. + +"Man," says Mr. Darwin, "is descended from a hairy quadruped, +furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its +habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World. This creature, if its +whole structure had been examined by a naturalist, would have been +classed amongst the quadrumana, as surely as would the common, and +still more ancient, progenitor of the Old and New World monkeys. The +quadrumana and all the higher mammals are probably derived from an +ancient marsupial animal; and this, through a long line of diversified +forms, either from some reptile-like or some amphibian-like creature, +and this again from some fish-like animal. In the dim obscurity of the +past we can see that the early progenitor of all the vertebrata must +have been an aquatic animal, provided with branchiæ, with the two +sexes united in the same individual, and with the most important +organs of the body (such as the brain and heart) imperfectly +developed. This animal seems to have been more like the larvæ of our +existing marine Ascidians then any other form known." + +The author of this passage, in condescension to our weakness of faith, +takes us no further back then to an Ascidian, or "sea-squirt," the +resemblance, however, of which to a vertebrate animal is merely +analogical, and, though a very curious case of analogy, altogether +temporary and belonging to the young state of the creature, without +affecting its adult state or its real affinities with other mollusks. +In order, however, to get the Ascidian itself, he must assume all the +"conditions" already referred to in the previous part of this article, +and fill most of the gaps. He has, however, in the "Origin of Species" +and "Descent of Man," attempted merely to fill one of the breaks in +the evolutionary series, that between distinct species, leaving us to +receive all the rest on mere faith. Even in respect to the question +of species, in all the long chain between the Ascidian and the man, he +has not certainly established one link; and in the very last change, +that from the ape-like ancestor, he equally fails to satisfy us as to +matters so trivial as the loss of the hair, which, on the hypothesis, +clothed the pre-human back, and on matters so weighty as the dawn of +human reason and conscience. + +We thus see that evolution as an hypothesis has no basis in experience +or in scientific fact, and that its imagined series of transmutations +has breaks which cannot be filled. We have now to consider how it +stands with the belief that man has been created by a higher power. +Against this supposition the evolutionists try to create a prejudice +in two ways. First, they maintain with Herbert Spencer that the +hypothesis of creation is inconceivable, or, as they say, +"unthinkable;" an assertion which, when examined, proves to mean only +that we do not know perfectly the details of such an operation, an +objection equally fatal to the origin either of matter or life, on the +hypothesis of evolution. Secondly, they always refer to creation as if +it must be a special miracle, in the sense of a contravention of or +departure from ordinary natural laws; but this is an assumption +utterly without proof, since creation may be as much according to law +as evolution, though in either case the precise laws involved may be +very imperfectly known. + +How absurd, they say, to imagine an animal created at once, fully +formed, by a special miracle, instead of supposing it to be slowly +elaborated through, countless ages of evolution. To Darwin the +doctrine of creation is but "a curious illustration of the blindness +of preconceived opinion." "These authors," he says, "seem no more +startled at a miraculous act of creation then at an ordinary birth; +but do they really believe that at innumerable periods in the earth's +history, certain elemental atoms have been commanded suddenly to flash +into living tissues?" Darwin, with all his philosophic fairness, +sometimes becomes almost Spencerian in his looseness of expression; +and in the above extract, the terms "miraculous," "innumerable," +"elemental atoms," "suddenly," and "flash," all express ideas in no +respect necessary to the work of creation. Those who have no faith in +evolution as a cause of the production of species, may well ask in +return how the evolutionist can prove that creation must be +instantaneous, that it must follow no law, that it must produce an +animal fully formed, that it must be miraculous. In short, it is a +portion of the policy of evolutionists to endeavour to tie down their +opponents to a purely gratuitous and ignorant view of creation, and +then to attack them in that position. + +What, then, is the actual statement of the theory of creation as it +may be held by a modern man of science? Simply this; that all things +have been produced by the Supreme Creative Will, acting either +directly or through the agency of the forces and materials of His own +production. + +This theory does not necessarily affirm that creation is miraculous, +in the sense of being contrary to or subversive of law; law and order +are as applicable to creation as to any other process. It does not +contradict the idea of successive creations. There is no necessity +that the process should be instantaneous and without progression. It +does not imply that all kinds of creation are alike. There may be +higher and lower kinds. It does not exclude the idea of similarity or +dissimilarity of plan and function as to the products of creation. +Distinct products of creation may be either similar to each other in +different degrees, or dissimilar. It does not even exclude evolution +or derivation to a certain extent: anything once created may, if +sufficiently flexible and elastic, be evolved or involved in various +ways. Indeed, creation and derivation may, rightly understood, be +complementary to each other. Created things, unless absolutely +unchangeable, must be more or less modified by influences from within +and from without, and derivation or evolution may account for certain +subordinate changes of things already made. Man, for example, may be a +product of creation, yet his creation may have been in perfect harmony +with those laws of procedure which the Creator has set for His own +operations. He may have been preceded by other creations of things +more or less similar or dissimilar. He may have been created by the +same processes with some or all of these, or by different means. His +body may have been created in one way, his soul in another. He may, +nay, in all probability would be, part of a plan of which some parts +would approach very near to him in structure or functions. After his +creation, spontaneous culture and outward circumstances may have +moulded him into varieties, and given him many different kinds of +speech and of habits. These points are so obvious to common sense that +it would be quite unnecessary to insist on them, were they not +habitually overlooked or misstated by evolutionists. + +The creation hypothesis is also free from some of the difficulties of +evolution. It avoids the absurdity of an eternal progression from the +less to the more complex. It provides in will, the only source of +power actually known to us by ordinary experience, an intelligible +origin of nature. It does not require us to contradict experience by +supposing that there are no differences of kind or essence in things. +It does not require us to assume, contrary to experience, an +invariable tendency to differentiate and improve. It does not exact +the bridging over of all gaps which may be found between the several +grades of beings which exist or have existed. + +Why, then, are so many men of science disposed to ignore altogether +this view of the matter? Mainly, I believe, because, from the training +of many of them, they are absolutely ignorant of the subject, and from +their habits of thought have come to regard physical force and the +laws regulating it as the one power in nature, and to relegate all +spiritual powers or forces, or, as they have been taught to regard +them, "supernatural" things, to the domain of the "unknowable." +Perhaps some portion of the difficulty may be got over by abandoning +altogether the word "supernatural," which has been much misused, and +by holding nature to represent the whole cosmos, and to include both +the _physical_ and the _spiritual_, both of them in the fullest sense +subject to law, but each to the law of its own special nature. I have +read somewhere a story of some ignorant orientals who were induced to +keep a steam-engine supplied with water by the fiction that it +contained a terrible _djin_, or demon, who, if allowed to become +thirsty, would break out and destroy them all. Had they been enabled +to discard this superstition, and to understand the force of steam, we +can readily imagine that they would now suppose they knew the whole +truth, and might believe that any one who taught them that the engine +was a product of intelligent design, was only taking them back to the +old doctrine of the thirsty demon of the boiler. This is, I think, at +present, the mental condition of many scientists with reference to +creation. + +Here we come to the first demand which the doctrine of creation makes +on us by way of premises. In order that there may be creation there +must be a primary Self-existent Spirit, whose will is supreme. The +evolutionist cannot refuse to admit this on as good ground as that on +which we hesitate to receive the postulates of his faith. It is no +real objection to say that a God can be known to us only partially, +and, with reference to His real essence, not at all; since, even if +we admit this, it is no more then can be said of matter and force. + +I am not about here to repeat any of the ordinary arguments for the +existence of a spiritual First Cause, and Creator of all things, but +it may be proper to show that this assumption is not inconsistent with +experience, or with the facts and principles of modern science. The +statement which I would make on this point shall be in the words of a +very old writer, not so well known as he should be to many who talk +volubly enough about antagonisms between science and Christianity: +"that which is known of God is manifest in them (in men), for God +manifested it unto them. For since the creation of the world His +invisible things, even His eternal power and divinity are plainly +seen, being perceived by means of things that are made."[BD] The +statement here is very precise. Certain things relating to God are +manifest within men's minds, and are proved by the evidence of His +works; these properties of God thus manifested being specially His +power or control of all forces, and His divinity or possession of a +nature higher then ours. The argument of the writer is that all +heathens know this; and, as a matter of fact, I believe it must be +admitted even by those most sceptical on such points, that some notion +of a divinity has been derived from nature by men of all nations and +tribes, if we except, perhaps, a few enlightened positivists of this +nineteenth century whom excess of light has made blind. "If the light +that is in man be darkness, how great is that darkness." But then this +notion of a God is a very old and primitive one, and Spencer takes +care to inform us that "first thoughts are either wholly out of +harmony with things, or in very incomplete harmony with them," and +consequently that old beliefs and generally diffused notions are +presumably wrong. + +[BD] Paul's Epistle to the Romans, chap i. + +Is it true, however, that the modern knowledge of nature tends to rob +it of a spiritual First Cause? One can conceive such a tendency, if +all our advances in knowledge had tended more and more to identify +force with matter in its grosser forms, and to remove more and more +from our mental view those powers which are not material; but the very +reverse of this is the case. Modern discovery has tended more and more +to attach importance to certain universally diffused media which do +not seem to be subject to the laws of ordinary matter, and to prove at +once the Protean character and indestructibility of forces, the +aggregate of which, as acting in the universe, gives us our nearest +approach to the conception of physical omnipotence. This is what so +many of our evolutionists mean when they indignantly disclaim +materialism. They know that there is a boundless energy beyond mere +matter, and of which matter seems the sport and toy. Could they +conceive of this energy as the expression of a personal will, they +would become theists. + +Man himself presents a microcosm of matter and force, raised to a +higher plane then that of the merely chemical and physical. In him we +find not merely that brain and nerve force which is common to him and +lower animals, and which exhibits one of the most marvellous energies +in nature, but we have the higher force of will and intellect, +enabling him to read the secrets of nature, to seize and combine and +utilize its laws like a god, and like a god to attain to the higher +discernment of good and evil. Nay, more, this power which resides +within man rules with omnipotent energy the material organism, driving +its nerve forces until cells and fibres are worn out and destroyed, +taxing muscles and tendons till they break, impelling its slave the +body even to that which will bring injury and death itself. Surely, +what we thus see in man must be the image and likeness of the Great +Spirit. We can escape from this conclusion only by one or other of two +assumptions, either of which is rather to be called a play upon words +then a scientific theory. We may, with a certain class of physicists +and physiologists, confine our attention wholly to the fire and the +steam, and overlook the engineer. We may assume that with protoplasm +and animal electricity, for example, we can dispense with life, and +not only with life but with spirit also. Yet he who regards vitality +as an unmeaning word; and yet speaks of "living protoplasm," and "dead +protoplasm," and affirms that between these two states, so different +in their phenomena, no chemical or physical difference exists, is +surely either laughing at us, or committing himself to what the Duke +of Argyll calls a philosophical bull; and he who shows us that +electrical discharges are concerned in muscular contraction, has just +as much proved that there is no need of life or spirit, as the +electrician who has explained the mysteries of the telegraph has shown +that there can be no need of an operator. Or we may, turning to the +opposite extreme, trust to the metaphysical fallacy of those who +affirm that neither matter, nor force, nor spirit, need concern them, +for that all are merely states of consciousness in ourselves. But what +of the conscious self this self which thinks, and which is in relation +with surroundings which it did not create, and which presumably did +not create it? and what is the unknown third term which must have been +the means of setting up these relations? Here again our blind guides +involve us in an absolute self-contradiction. + +Thus we are thrown back on the grand old truth that man, heathen and +savage, or Christian and scientific, opens his eyes on nature and +reads therein both the physical and the spiritual, and in connection +with both of these the power and divinity of an Almighty Creator. He +may at first have many wrong views both of God and of His works, but +as he penetrates further into the laws of matter and mind, he attains +more just conceptions of their relations to the Great Centre and +Source of all, and instead of being able to dispense with creation, he +hopes to be able at length to understand its laws and methods. If +unhappily he abandons this high ambition, and contents himself with +mere matter and physical force, he cannot rise to the highest +development either of science or philosophy. + +It may, however, be said that evolution may admit all this, and still +be held as a scientific doctrine in connection with a modified belief +in creation. The work of actual creation may have been limited to a +few elementary types, and evolution may have done the rest. +Evolutionists may still be theists. We have already seen that the +doctrine, as carried out to its logical consequences, excludes +creation and theism. It may, however, be shown that even in its more +modified forms, and when held by men who maintain that they are not +atheists, it is practically atheistic, because excluding the idea of +plan and design, and resolving all things into the action of +unintelligent forces. It is necessary to observe this, because it is +the half-way evolutionism which professes to have a Creator somewhere +behind it, that is most popular; though it is, if possible, more +unphilosophical then that which professes to set out from absolute and +eternal nonentity, or from self-existent star-dust containing all the +possibilities of the universe. + +Absolute atheists recognise in Darwinism, for example, a philosophy +which reduces all things to a "gradual summation of innumerable minute +and accidental material operations," and in this they are more logical +then those who seek to reconcile evolution with design. Huxley, in his +"lay sermons," referring to Paley's argument for design founded on the +structure of a watch, says that if the watch could be conceived to be +a product of a less perfect structure improved by natural selection, +it would then appear to be the "result of a method of trial and error +worked by unintelligent agents, as likely as of the direct application +of the means appropriate to that end, by an intelligent agent." This +is a bold and true assertion of the actual relation of even this +modified evolution to rational and practical theism, which requires +not merely this God "afar off," who has set the stone of nature +rolling and then turned His back upon it, but a present God, whose +will is the law of nature, now as in times past. The evolutionist is +really in a position of absolute antagonism to the idea of creation, +even when held with all due allowance for the variations of created +things within certain limits. + +Perhaps Paley's old illustration of the watch, as applied by Huxley, +may serve to show this as well as any other. If the imperfect watch, +useless as a time-keeper, is the work of the contriver, and the +perfection of it is the result of unintelligent agents working +fortuitously, then it is clear that creation and design have a small +and evanescent share in the construction of the fabric of nature. But +is it really so? Can we attribute the perfection of the watch to +"accidental material operations" any more then the first effort to +produce such an instrument? Paley himself long ago met this view of +the case, but his argument may be extended by the admissions and pleas +of the evolutionists themselves. For example, the watch is altogether +a mechanical thing, and this fact by no means implies that it could +not be made by an intelligent and spiritual designer, yet this +assumption that physical laws exclude creation and design turns up in +almost every page of the evolutionists. Paley has well shown that if +the watch contained within itself machinery for making other watches, +this would not militate against his argument. It would be so if it +could be proved that a piece of metal had spontaneously produced an +imperfect watch, and this a more perfect one, and so on; but this is +precisely what evolutionists still require to prove with respect both +to the watch and to man. On the other hand it is no argument for the +evolution of the watch that there may be different kinds of watches, +some more and others less perfect, and that ruder forms may have +preceded the more perfect. This is perfectly compatible with creation +and design. Evolutionists, however, generally fail to make this +distinction. Nor would it be any proof of the evolution of the watch +to find that, as Spencer would say, it was in perfect harmony with its +environment, as, for instance, that it kept time with the revolution +of the earth, and contained contrivances to regulate its motion under +different temperatures, unless it could be shown that the earth's +motion and the changes of temperature had been efficient causes of the +motion and the adjustments of the watch; otherwise the argument would +look altogether in the direction of design. Nor would it be fair to +shut up the argument of design to the idea that the watch must have +suddenly flashed into existence fully formed and in motion. It would +be quite as much a creation if slowly and laboriously made by the hand +of the artificer, or if more rapidly struck off by machinery; and if +the latter, it would not follow that the machine which produced the +watch was at all like the watch itself. It might have been something +very different. Finally, when Spencer tries to cut at the root of the +whole of this argument, by affirming that man has no more right to +reason from himself with regard to his Maker then a watch would have +to reason from its own mechanical structure and affirm the like of its +maker, he signally fails. If the watch had such power of reasoning, it +would be more then mechanical, and would be intelligent like its +maker; and in any case, if thus reasoning it came to the conclusion +that it was a result of "accidental material operations," it would be +altogether mistaken. Nor would it be nearer the truth if it held that +it was a product of spontaneous evolution from an imperfect and +comparatively useless watch that had been made millions of years +before. + +We have taken this illustration of the watch merely as given to us by +Huxley, and without in the least seeking to overlook the distinction +between a dead machine and a living organism; but the argument for +creation and design is quite as strong in the case of the latter, so +long as it cannot be proved by actual facts to be a product of +derivation from a distinct species. This has not been proved either in +the care of man or any other species; and so long as it has not, the +theory of creation and design is infinitely more rational and +scientific then that of evolution in any of its forms. + +But all this does not relieve us from the question, How can species be +created?--the same question put to Paul by the sceptics of the first +century with reference to the resurrection--"How are the dead raised, +and with what bodies do they come?" I do not wish to evade this +question, whether applied to man or to a microscopic animalcule, and I +would answer it with the following statements:-- + +1. The advocate of creation is in this matter in no worse position +then the evolutionist. This we have already shown, and I may refer +here to the fact that Darwin himself assumes at least one primitive +form of animal and plant life, and he is confessedly just as little +able to imagine this one act of creation as any other that may be +demanded of him. + +2. We are not bound to believe that all groups of individual animals, +which naturalists may call species, have been separate products of +creation. Man himself has by some naturalists been divided into +several species; but we may well be content to believe the creation of +one primitive form, and the production of existing races by variation. +Every zoologist and botanist who has studied any group of animals or +plants with care, knows that there are numerous related forms passing +into each other, which some naturalists might consider to be distinct +species, but which it is certainly not necessary to regard as +distinct products of creation. Every species is more or less +variable, and this variability may be developed by different causes. +Individuals exposed to unfavourable conditions will be stunted and +depauperated; those in more favourable circumstances may be improved +and enlarged. Important changes may thus take place without +transgressing the limits of the species, or preventing a return to its +typical forms; and the practice of confounding these more limited +changes with the wider structural and physiological differences which +separate true species is much to be deprecated. Animals which pass +through metamorphoses, or which, are developed through the +instrumentality of intermediate forms or "nurses"[BE] are not only +liable to be separated by mistake into distinct species, but they may, +tinder certain circumstances, attain to a premature maturity, or may +be fixed for a time or permanently in an immature condition. Further, +species, like individuals, probably have their infancy, maturity, and +decay in geological time, and may present differences in these several +stages. It is the remainder of true specific types left after all +these sources of error are removed, that creation has to account for; +and to arrive at this remainder, and to ascertain its nature and +amount, will require a vast expenditure of skilful and conscientious +labour. + +[BE] Mr. Mungo Ponton, in his book "The Beginning," has based a theory +of derivation on this peculiarity. + +3. Since animals and plants have been introduced upon our earth in +long succession throughout geologic time, and this in a somewhat +regular manner, we have a right to assume that their introduction has +been in accordance with a law or plan of creation, and that this may +have included the co-operation of many efficient causes, and may have +differed in its application to different cases. This is a very old +doctrine of theology, for it appears in the early chapters of Genesis. +There the first aquatic animals, and man, are said to have been +"created;" plants are said to have been "brought forth by the land;" +the mammalia are said to have been "made." In the more detailed +account of the introduction of man in the second chapter of the same +book, he is said to have been "formed of the dust of the ground;" and +in regard to his higher spiritual life, to have had this "breathed +into" him by God. These are very simple expressions, but they are very +precise and definite in the original, and they imply a diversity in +the creative work. Further, this is in accordance with the analogy of +modern science. How diverse are the modes of production and +development of animals and plants, though all under one general law; +and is it not likely that the modes of their first introduction on the +earth were equally diverse? + +4. Our knowledge of the conditions of the origination of species, is +so imperfect that we may possibly appear for some time to recede from, +rather then to approach to, a solution of the question. In the infancy +of chemistry, it was thought that chemical elements could be +transmuted into each other. The progress of knowledge removed this +explanation of their origin, and has as yet failed to substitute any +other in its place. It may be the same with organic species. The +attempt to account for them by derivation may prove fallacious, yet it +may be some time before we turn the corner, should this be possible, +and enter the path which actually leads up to their origin. + +Lastly, in these circumstances our wisest course is to take individual +species, and to inquire as to their history in time, and the probable +conditions of their introduction. Such investigations are now being +made by many quiet workers, whose labours are comparatively little +known, and many of whom are scarcely aware of the importance of what +they are doing toward a knowledge of, at least, the conditions of +creation, which is perhaps all that we can at present hope to reach. + +In the next chapter we shall try to sum up what is known as to man +himself, in the conditions of his first appearance on our earth, as +made known to us by scientific investigation, and explained on the +theory of creation as opposed to evolution. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +PRIMITIVE MAN. CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO MODERN THEORIES AS TO HIS +ORIGIN (continued). + + +In the previous chapter we have seen that, on general grounds, +evolution as applied to man is untenable; and that the theory of +creation is more rational and less liable to objection. We may now +consider how the geological and zoological conditions of man's advent +on the earth accord with evolution; and I think we shall find, as +might be expected, that they oppose great if not fatal difficulties to +this hypothesis. + +One of the first and most important facts with reference to the +appearance of man, is that he is a very recent animal, dating no +farther back in geological time then the Post-glacial period, at the +close of the Tertiary and beginning of the Modern era of geology. +Further, inasmuch as the oldest known remains of man occur along with +those of animals which still exist, and the majority of which are +probably not of older date, there is but slender probability that any +much older human remains will ever be found. Now this has a bearing on +the question of the derivation of man, which, though it has not +altogether escaped the attention of the evolutionists, has not met +with sufficient consideration. + +Perhaps the oldest; known human skull is that which has been termed +the "Engis" skull, from the cave of Engis, in Belgium. With reference +to this skull, Professor Huxley has candidly admitted that it may have +belonged to an individual of one of the existing faces of men. I have +a cast of it on the same shelf with the skulls of some Algonquin +Indians, from the aboriginal Hochelaga, which preceded Montreal; and +any one acquainted with cranial characters would readily admit that +the ancient Belgian may very well have been an American Indian; while +on the other hand his head is not very dissimilar from that of some +modern European races. This Belgian man is believed to have lived +before the mammoth and the cave bear had passed away, yet he does not +belong to an extinct species or even variety of man. + +Further, as stated in a previous chapter, Pictet catalogues +ninety-eight species of mammals which inhabited Europe in the +Post-glacial period. Of these fifty-seven still exist unchanged, and +the remainder have disappeared. Not one can be shown to have been +modified into a new form, though some of them have been obliged, by +changes of temperature and other conditions, to remove into distant +and now widely separated regions. Further, it would seem that all the +existing European mammals extended back in geological time at least as +far as man, so that since the Post-glacial period no new species have +been introduced in any way. Here we have a series of facts of the most +profound significance. Fifty-seven parallel lines of descent nave in +Europe run on along with man, from the Post-glacial period, without +change or material modification of any kind. Some of them extend +without change even farther back. Thus man and his companion-mammals +present a series of lines, not converging as if they pointed to some +common progenitor, but strictly parallel to each other. In other +words, if they are derived forms, their point of derivation from a +common type is pushed back infinitely in geological time. The absolute +duration of the human species does not affect this argument. If man +has existed only six or seven thousand years, still at the beginning +of his existence he was as distinct from lower animals as he is now, +and shows no signs of gradation into other forms. If he has really +endured since the great Glacial period, and is to be regarded as a +species of a hundred thousand years' continuance, still the fact is +the same, and is, if possible, less favourable to derivation. + +Similar facts meet us in other directions. I have for many years +occupied a little of my leisure in collecting the numerous species of +molluscs and other marine animals existing in a sub-fossil state in +the Post-pliocene clays of Canada, and comparing them with their +modern successors. I do not know how long these animals have lived. +Some of them certainly go far back into the Tertiary; and recent +computations would place even the Glacial age at a distance from us of +more then a thousand centuries. Yet after carefully studying about two +hundred species, and, of some of these, many hundreds of specimens, I +have arrived at the conclusion that they are absolutely unchanged. +Some of them, it is true, are variable shells, presenting as many and +great varieties as the human race itself; yet I find that in the +Post-pliocene even the varieties of each species were the same as now, +though the great changes of temperature and elevation which have +occurred, have removed many of them to distant places, and have made +them become locally extinct in regions over which they once spread. +Here again we have an absolute refusal, on the part of all these +animals, to admit that they are derived, or have tended to sport into +new species. This is also, it is to be observed, altogether +independent of that imperfection of the geological record of which so +much is made; since we have abundance of these shells in the +Post-pliocene beds, and in the modern seas, and no one doubts their +continued descent. To what does this point? Evidently to the +conclusion that all these species show no indication of derivation, or +tendency to improve, but move back in parallel lines to some unknown +creative origin. + +If it be objected to this conclusion that absence of derivation in the +Post-pliocene and Modern does not prove that it may not previously +have occurred, the answer is, that if the evolutionist admits that for +a very long period (and this the only one of which we have any certain +knowledge, and the only one which concerns man) derivation has been +suspended, he in effect abandons his position. It may, however, be +objected that what I have above affirmed of species may be affirmed of +varieties, which are admitted to be derived. For example, it may be +said that the negro variety of man has existed unchanged from the +earliest historic times. It is carious that those who so often urge +this argument as an evidence of the great antiquity of man, and the +slow development of races, do not see that it proves too much. If the +negro has been the same identical negro as far back as we can trace +him, then his origin must have been independent, and of the nature of +a creation, or else his duration as a negro must have been indefinite. +What it does prove is a fact equally obvious from the study of +Post-pliocene molluscs and other fossils, namely, that new species +tend rapidly to vary to the utmost extent of their possible limits, +and then to remain stationary for an indefinite time. Whether this +results from an innate yet limited power of expansion in the species, +or from the relations between it and external influences, it is a fact +inconsistent with the gradual evolution of new species. Hence we +conclude that the recent origin of man, as revealed by geology, is, in +connection with the above facts, an absolute bar to the doctrine of +derivation. + +A second datum furnished to this discussion by geology and zoology is +the negative one that no link of connection is known between man and +any preceding animal. If we gather his bones and his implements from +the ancient gravel-beds and cave-earths, we do not find them +associated with any creature near of kin, nor do we find any such +creature in those rich Tertiary beds which have yielded so great +harvests of mammalian bones. In the modern world we find nothing +nearer to him then such anthropoid apes as the orangs and gorillas. +But the apes, however nearly allied, cannot be the ancestors of man. +If at all related to him by descent, they are his brethren or cousins, +not his parents; for they must, on the evolutionist hypothesis, be +themselves the terminal ends of distinct lines of derivation from +previous forms. + +This difficulty is not removed by an appeal to the imperfection of the +geological record. So many animals contemporary with man are known, +both at the beginning of his geological history and in the present +world, that it would be more then marvellous if no very near relative +had ere this time been discovered at one extreme or the other, or at +some portion of the intervening ages. Further, all the animals +contemporary with man in the Post-glacial period, so far as is known, +are in the same case. Discoveries of this kind may, however, still be +made, and we may give the evolutionist the benefit of the possibility. +We may affirm, however, that in order to gain a substratum of fact for +his doctrine, he must find somewhere in the later Tertiary period +animals much nearer to man then are the present anthropoid apes. + +This demand I make advisedly--first, because the animals in question +must precede man in geological time; and secondly, because the apes, +even if they preceded man, instead of being contemporary with him, are +not near enough to fulfil the required conditions. What is the actual +fact with regard to these animals, so confidently affirmed to resemble +some not very remote ancestors of ours? Zoologically they are not +varieties of the same species with man they are not species of the +same genus, nor do they belong to genera of the same family, or even +to families of the same order. These animals are at least ordinally +distinct from us in those grades of groups in which naturalists +arrange animals. I am well aware that an attempt has been made to +group man, apes, and lemurs in one order of "Primates," and thus to +reduce their difference to the grade of the family; but as pat by its +latest and perhaps most able advocate, the attempt is a decided +failure. One has only to read the concluding chapter of Huxley's new +book on the anatomy of the vertebrates to be persuaded of this, more +especially if we can take into consideration, in addition to the many +differences indicated, others which exist but are not mentioned by the +author. Ordinal distinctions among animals are mainly dependent on +grade or rank, and are not to be broken down by obscure resemblances +of internal anatomy, having no relation to this point, but to +physiological features of very secondary importance. Man must, on all +grounds, rank much higher above the apes then they can do above any +other order of mammals. Even if we refuse to recognise all higher +grounds of classification, and condescend, with some great zoologists +of our time, to regard nature with the eyes of mere anatomists, or in +the same way that a brick-layer's apprentice may be supposed to regard +distinctions of architectural styles, we can arrive at no other +conclusion. Let us imagine an anatomist, himself neither a man nor a +monkey, but a being of some other grade, and altogether ignorant of +the higher ends and powers of our species, to contemplate merely the +skeleton of a man and that of an ape. He must necessarily deduce +therefrom an ordinal distinction, even on the one ground of the +correlations and modifications of structure implied in the erect +position. It would indeed be sufficient for this purpose to consider +merely the balancing of the skull on the neck, or the structure of the +foot, and the consequences fairly deducible from either of them. Nay, +were such imaginary anatomist a derivationist, and ignorant of the +geological date of his specimens, and as careless of the differences +in respect to brain as some of his human _confrères_, he might, +referring to the loss specialised condition of man's teeth and foot, +conclude, not that man is an improved ape, but that the ape is a +specialised and improved man. He would be obliged, however, even on +this hypothesis, to admit that there must be a host of missing links. +Nor would these be supplied by the study of the living races of men, +because these want even specific distinctness, and differ from the +apes essentially in those points on which an ordinal distinction can +be fairly based. + +This isolated position of man throughout the whole period of his +history, grows in importance the more that it is studied, and can +scarcely be the result of any accident of defective preservation of +intermediate forms. In the meantime, when taken in connection with, +the fact previously stated, that man is equally isolated when he first +appears on the stage, it deprives evolution, as applied to our +species, of any precise scientific basis, whether zoological or +geological. + +I do not attach any importance whatever, in this connection, to the +likeness in type or plan between man and other mammals. Evolutionists +are in the habit of taking for granted that this implies derivation, +and of reasoning as if the fact that the human skeleton is constructed +on the same principles as that of an ape or a dog, must have some +connection with a common ancestry of these animals. This is, however, +as is usual with them, begging the question. Creation, as well as +evolution, admits of similarity of plan. When Stephenson constructed a +locomotive, he availed himself of the principles and of many of the +contrivances of previous engines; but this does not imply that he took +a mine-engine, or a marine-engine, and converted it into a +railroad-engine. Type or plan, whether in nature or art, may imply +merely a mental evolution of ideas in the maker, not a derivation of +one object from another. + +But while man is related in his type of structure to the higher +animals, his contemporaries, it is undeniable that there are certain +points in which he constitutes a new type; and if this consideration +were properly weighed, I believe it would induce zoologists, +notwithstanding the proverbial humility of the true man of science, to +consider themselves much more widely separated from the brutes then +even by the ordinal distinction above referred to. I would state this +view of the matter thus:--It is in the lower animals a law that the +bodily frame is provided with all necessary means of defence and +attack, and with all necessary protection against external influences +and assailants. In a very few cases, we have partial exceptions to +this. A hermit-crab, for instance, has the hinder part of its body +unprotected; and has, instead of armour, the instinct of using the +cast-off shells of molluscs; yet even this animal has the usual strong +claws of a crustacean, for defence in front. There are only a very few +animals in which instinct thus takes the place of physical +contrivances for defence or attack, and in these we find merely the +usual unvarying instincts of the irrational animal. But in man, that +which is the rare exception in all other animals, becomes the rule. He +has no means of escape from danger, compared with those enjoyed by +other animals no defensive armour, no natural protection from cold or +heat, no effective weapons for attacking other animals. These +disabilities would make him the most helpless of creatures, especially +when taken in connection with his slow growth and long immaturity. His +safety and his dominion over other animals, are secured by entirely +new means, constituting a "new departure" in creation. Contrivance +and inventive power, enabling him to utilise the objects and forces of +nature, replace in him the material powers bestowed on lower animals. +Obviously the structure of the human being is related to this, and so +related to it as to place man in a different category altogether from +any other animal. + +This consideration makes the derivation of man from brutes difficult +to imagine. None of these latter appear even able to conceive or +understand the modes of life and action of man. They do not need to +attempt to emulate his powers, for they are themselves provided for in +a different manner. They have no progressive nature like that of man. +Their relations to things without are altogether limited to their +structures and instincts. Man's relations are limited only by his +powers of knowing and understanding. How then is it possible to +conceive of an animal which is, so to speak, a mere living machine, +parting with the physical contrivances necessary to its existence, and +assuming the new role of intelligence and free action? + +This becomes still more striking if we adopt the view usually taken by +evolutionists, that primitive man was a ferocious and carnivorous +creature, warring with and overcoming the powerful animals of the +Post-glacial period, and contending with the rigours of a severe +climate. This could certainly not be inferred from his structure, +interpreted by that of the lower animals, which would inevitably lead +to the conclusion that he must Lave been a harmless and frugivorous +creature, fitted to subsist only in the mildest climates, and where +exempt from the attacks of the more powerful carnivorous animals. No +one reasoning on the purely physical constitution of man, could infer +that he might be a creature more powerful and ferocious then the lion +or the tiger. + +It is also worthy of mention that the existence of primitive man as a +savage hunter is, in another point of view, absolutely opposed to the +Darwinian idea of his origin from a frugivorous ape. These creatures, +while comparatively inoffensive, conform to the general law of lower +animals in having strong jaws and powerful canines for defence, +hand-like feet to aid them in securing food, and escaping from their +enemies, and hairy clothing to protect them from cold and heat. On the +hypothesis of evolution we might conceive that if these creatures were +placed in some Eden of genial warmth, peace, and plenty, which +rendered those appliances unnecessary, they might gradually lose these +now valuable structures, from want of necessity, to use them. But, on +the contrary, if such creatures were obliged to contend against +powerful enemies, and to feed on flesh, all analogy would lead us to +believe that they would become in their structures more like +carnivorous beasts then men. On the other hand, the anthropoid apes, +in the circumstances in which we find them, are not only as +unprogressive as other animals, but little fitted to extend their +range, and less gifted with the power of adapting themselves to new +conditions then many other mammals less resembling man in external +form. + +On the Darwinian theory, such primitive men as geology reveals to us +would be more likely to have originated from bears then apes, and we +would be tempted to wish that man should become extinct, and that the +chance should be given to the mild chimpanzee or orang to produce by +natural selection an improved and less ferocious humanity for the +future. + +The only rational hypothesis of human origin in the present state of +our knowledge of this subject is, that man must have been produced +under some circumstances in which animal food was not necessary to +him, in which he was exempt from the attacks of the more formidable +animals, and in less need of protection from the inclemency of the +weather then is the case with any modern apes; and that his life as a +hunter and warrior began after he had by his knowledge and skill +secured to himself the means of subduing nature by force and cunning. +This implies that man was from the first a rational being, capable of +understanding nature, and it accords much more nearly with the old +story of Eden in the book of Genesis, then with any modern theories of +evolution. + +It is due to Mr. Wallace--who, next to Darwin, has been a leader among +English derivationists--to state that he perceives this difficulty. As +a believer in natural selection, however, it presents itself to his +mind in a peculiar form. He perceives that so soon as, by the process +of evolution, man became a rational creature, and acquired his social +sympathies, physical evolution must cease, and must be replaced by +invention, contrivance, and social organisation. This is at once +obvious and undeniable, and it follows that the natural selection +applicable to man, as man, must relate purely to his mental and moral +improvement. Wallace, however, fails to comprehend the full +significance of this feature of the case. Given, a man destitute of +clothing, he may never acquire such clothing by natural selection, +because he will provide an artificial substitute. He will evolve not +into a hairy animal, but into a weaver and a tailor. Given, a man +destitute of claws and fangs, he will not acquire these, but will +manufacture weapons. But then, on the hypothesis of derivation, this +is not what is given us as the raw material of man, but instead of +this a hairy ape. Admitting the power of natural selection, we might +understand how this ape could become more hairy, or acquire more +formidable weapons, as it became more exposed to cold, or more under +the necessity of using animal food; but that it should of itself leave +this natural line of development and enter on the entirely different +line of mental progress is not conceivable, except as a result of +creative intervention. + +Absolute materialists may make light of this difficulty, and may hold +that this would imply merely a change of brain; but even if we admit +this, they fail to show of what use such better brain would be to a +creature retaining the bodily form and instincts of the ape, or how +such better brain could be acquired. But evolutionists are not +necessarily absolute materialists, and Darwin himself labours to show +that the reasoning self-conscious mind, and even the moral sentiments +of man, might be evolved from rudiments of such powers, perceptible in +the lower animals. Here, however, he leaves the court of natural +science, properly so called, and summons us to appear before the +judgment-seat of philosophy; and as naturalists are often bad mental +philosophers, and philosophers have often small knowledge of nature, +some advantage results, in the first instance, to the doubtful cause +of evolution. Since, however, mental science makes much more of the +distinctions between the mind of man and the instinct of animals then +naturalists, accustomed to deal merely with the external organism, can +be expected to do, the derivationist, when his plea is fairly +understood, is quite as certain to lose his cause as when tried by +geology and zoology. He might indeed be left to be dealt with by +mental science on its own ground; and as our province is to look at +the matter from the standpoint of natural history, we might here close +our inquiry. It may, however, be proper to give some slight notion of +the width of the gulf to be passed when we suppose the mechanical, +unconscious, repetitive nature of the animal to pass over into the +condition of an intellectual and moral being. + +If we take, as the most favourable case for the evolutionist, the most +sagacious of the lower animals--the dog,--for example and compare it +with the least elevated condition of the human mind, as observed in +the child or the savage, we shall find that even here there is +something more then that "immense difference in degree" which Darwin +himself admits. Making every allowance for similarities in external +sense, in certain instinctive powers and appetites; and even in the +power of comparison, and in certain passions and affections; and +admitting, though we cannot be quite certain of this, that in these +man differs from animals only in degree; there remain other and more +important differences, amounting to the possession, on the part of +man, of powers not existing at all in animals. Of this kind are--first, +the faculty of reaching abstract and general truth, ind consequently +of reasoning, in the proper sense of the term; secondly, in connection +with this, the power of indefinite increase in knowledge, and in +deductions therefrom leading to practical results; thirdly, the power +of expressing thought in speech; fourthly, the power of arriving at +ideas of right and wrong, and thus becoming a responsible and free +agent. Lastly, we have the conception of higher spiritual +intelligence, of supreme power and divinity, and the consequent +feeling of religious obligation. These powers are evidently different +in kind, rather then in degree, from those of the brute, and cannot be +conceived to have arisen from the latter, more especially as one of +the distinctive characters of these is their purely cyclical, +repetitive, and unprogressive nature. + +Sir John Lubbock has, by a great accumulation of facts, or supposed +facts, bearing on the low mental condition of savages, endeavoured to +bridge over this chasm. It is obvious, however, from his own data, +that the rudest savages are enabled to subsist only by the exercise of +intellectual gifts far higher then those of animals; and that if these +gifts were removed from them, they would inevitably perish. It is +equally clear that even the lowest savages are moral agents; and that +not merely in their religious beliefs and conceptions of good and +evil, but also in their moral degradation, they show capacities not +possessed by the brutes. It is also true that most of these savages +are quite as little likely to be specimens of primitive man as are the +higher races; and that many of them have fallen to so low a level as +to be scarcely capable, of themselves, of rising to a condition of +culture and civilisation. Thus they are more likely to be degraded +races, in "the eddy and backwater of humanity" then examples of the +sources from whence it flowed. And here it must not be lost sight of, +that a being like man has capacities for degradation commensurate with +his capacities for improvement; and that at any point of his history +we may have to seek the analogues of primeval man, rather in the +average, then the extremes of the race. + +Before leaving this subject, it may be well to consider the fact, that +the occurrence of such a being as man in the last stages of the +world's history is, in itself, an argument for the existence of a +Supreme Creator. Man is himself an image and likeness of God; and the +fact that he can establish relations with nature around him, so as to +understand and control its powers, implies either that he has been +evolved as a soul of nature, by its own blind development, or that he +has originated in the action of a higher being related to man. The +former supposition has been above shown to be altogether improbable; +so that we are necessarily thrown back upon the latter. We must thus +regard man himself as the highest known work of a spiritual creator, +and must infer that he rightly uses his reason when he infers from +nature the power and divinity of God. + +The last point that I think necessary to bring forward here, is the +information which geology gives as to the locality of the introduction +of man. There can be no hesitation in affirming that to the temperate +regions of the old continent belongs the honour of being the cradle of +humanity. In these regions are the oldest historical monuments of our +race; here geology finds the most ancient remains of human beings; +here also seems to be the birthplace of the fauna and flora most +useful and congenial to man; and here he attains to his highest pitch +of mental and physical development. This, it is true, by no means +accords with the methods of the derivationists. On their theory we +should search for the origin of man rather in those regions where he +is most depauperated and degraded, and where his struggles for +existence are most severe. But it is surely absurd to affirm of any +species of animal or plant that it must have originated at the limits +of its range, where it can scarcely exist at all. On the contrary, +common sense as well as science requires us to believe that species +must have originated in those central parts of their distribution +where they enjoy the most favourable circumstances, and must have +extended themselves thence as far as external conditions would permit. +One of the most wretched varieties of the human race, and as near as +any to the brutes, is that which inhabits Tierra del Fuego, a country +which scarcely affords any of the means for the comfortable sustenance +of man. Would it not be absolutely impossible that man should have +originated in such a country? Is it not certain, en the contrary, that +the Fuegian is merely a degraded variety of the aboriginal American +race? Precisely the same argument applies to the Austral negro and the +Hottentot. They are all naturally the most aberrant varieties of man, +as being at the extreme range of his possible extension, and placed in +conditions unfavourable, either because of unsuitable climatal or +organic associations. It is true that the regions most favourable to +the anthropoid apes, and in which they may be presumed to have +originated, are by no means the most favourable to man; but this only +makes it the less likely that man could have been derived from such a +parentage. + +While, therefore, the geological date of the appearance of man, the +want of any link of connection between him and any preceding animal, +and his dissimilar bodily and mental constitution from any creatures +contemporary with him, render his derivation from apes or other +inferior animals in the highest degree improbable, the locality of his +probable origin confirms this conclusion in the strongest manner. It +also shows that man and the higher apes are not likely to have +originated in the same regions, or under the same conditions, and that +the conditions of human origin are rather the coincidence of suitable +climatal and organic surroundings then the occurrence of animals +closely related in structure to man. + +Changes of conditions in geological time will not meet this +difficulty. They might lead to migrations, as they have done in the +case of both plants and animals, but not to anything further. The +hyena, whose bones are found in the English caves, has been driven by +geological changes to South Africa, but he is still the same hyena. +The reindeer which once roamed in France is still the reindeer in +Lapland; and though under different geological conditions we might +imagine the creature to have originated in the south of Europe, a +country not now suitable to it, this would neither give reason to +believe that any animal now living in the south of Europe was its +progenitor, nor to doubt that it still remains unchanged in its new +habitat. Indeed, the absence of anything more then merely varietal +change in man and his companion-animals, in consequence of the +geological changes and migrations of the Modern period, furnishes, as +already stated, a strong if not conclusive argument against +derivation; which here, as elsewhere, only increases our actual +difficulties, while professing to extricate us from them. + + * * * * * + +The arguments in the preceding pages cover only a small portion of the +extensive field opened up by this subject. They relate, however, to +some of the prominent and important points, and I trust are sufficient +to show that, as applied to man, the theory of derivation merely +trifles with the great question of his origin, without approaching to +its solution. I may now, in conclusion, sketch the leading features of +primitive man, as he appears to us through the mist of the intervening +ages, and compare the picture with that presented by the oldest +historical records of our race. + +Two pictures of primeval man are in our time before the world. One +represents him as the pure and happy inhabitant of an Eden, free from +all the ills that have afflicted his descendants, and revelling in the +bliss of a golden age. This is the representation of Holy Scripture, +and it is also the dream of all the poetry and myth of the earlier +ages of the world. It is a beautiful picture, whether we regard it as +founded on historical fact, or derived from God Himself, or from the +yearnings of the higher spiritual nature of man. The other picture is +a joint product of modern philosophy and of antiquarian research. It +presents to us a coarse and filthy savage, repulsive in feature, gross +in habits, warring with his fellow-savages, and warring yet more +remorselessly with every living thing he could destroy, tearing +half-cooked flesh, and cracking marrow-bones with stone hammers, +sheltering himself in damp and smoky caves, with no eye heavenward, +and with only the first rude beginnings of the most important arts of +life. + +Both pictures may contain elements of truth, for man is a many-sided +monster, made up of things apparently incongruous, and presenting here +and there features out of which either picture may be composed. +Evolutionists, and especially those who believe in the struggle for +existence and natural selection, ignore altogether the evidence of the +golden age of humanity, and refer us to the rudest of modern savages +as the types of primitive man. Those who believe in a Divine origin +for our race, perhaps dwell too much on the higher spiritual features +of the Edenic state, to the exclusion of its more practical aspects, +and its relations to the condition of the more barbarous races. Let us +examine more closely both representations; and first, that of +creation. + +The Glacial period, with its snows and ice, had passed away, and the +world rejoiced in a spring-time of renewed verdure and beauty. Many +great and formidable beasts of the Tertiary time had disappeared in +the revolutions which had occurred, and the existing fauna of the +northern hemisphere had been established on the land. Then it was that +man was introduced by an act of creative power. In the preceding +changes a region of Western Asia had been prepared for his residence. +It was a table-land at the head waters of the rivers that flow into +the Euxine, the Caspian, and the Persian Gulf. Its climate was healthy +and bracing, with enough of variety to secure vigour, and not so +inclement as to exact any artificial provision for clothing or +shelter. Its flora afforded abundance of edible fruits, and was rich +in all the more beautiful forms of plant life; while its clear +streams, alluvial soil, and undulating surface, afforded every variety +of station and all that is beautiful in scenery. It was not infested +with the more powerful and predacious quadrupeds, and its geographical +relations were such as to render this exemption permanent. In this +paradise man found ample supplies of wholesome and nutritious food. +His requirements as to shelter were met by the leafy bowers he could +weave. The streams of Eden afforded gold which he could fashion for +use and ornament, pearly shells for vessels, and agate for his few and +simple cutting instruments. He required no clothing, and knew of no +use for it. His body was the perfection and archetype of the +vertebrate form, full of grace, vigour, and agility. His hands enabled +him to avail himself of all the products of nature for use and +pleasure, and to modify and adapt them according to his inclination. +His intelligence, along with his manual powers, allowed him to +ascertain the properties of things, to plan, invent, and apply in a +manner impossible to any other creature. His gift of speech enabled +him to imitate and reduce to systematic language the sounds of nature, +and to connect them with the thoughts arising in his own mind, and +thus to express their relations and significance. Above all, his Maker +had breathed into him a spiritual nature akin to His own, whereby he +became different from all other animals, and the very shadow and +likeness of God; capable of rising to abstractions and general +conceptions of truth and goodness, and of holding communion with his +Creator. This was man Edenic, the man of the golden age, as sketched +in the two short narratives of the earlier part of Genesis, which not +only conform to the general traditions of our race on the subject, but +bear to any naturalist who will read them in their original dress, +internal evidence of being contemporary, or very nearly so, with the +state of things to which they relate. + +"And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and +let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, +and over the herbivora, and over all the land.' And God blessed them, +and said unto them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and +subdue it.' + +"And the Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and +breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living +being. And the Lord God planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there +He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the +Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good +for food. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and +parted from thence, becoming four heads (of great rivers). The name of +the first is Pison, compassing the whole land of Chavila, where there +is gold, and the gold of that land is good; there is (also) pearl and +agate.... And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden +of Eden, to cultivate it and to take care of it." + +Before leaving this most ancient and most beautiful history, we may +say that it implies several things of much importance to our +conceptions of primeval man. It implies a centre of creation for man, +and a group of companion animals and plants, and an intention to +dispense in his case with any struggle for existence. It implies, +also, that man was not to be a lazy savage, but a care-taker and +utiliser, by his mind and his bodily labour, of the things given to +him; and it also implies an intelligent submission on his part to his +Maker, and spiritual appreciation of His plans and intentions. It +further implies that man was, in process of time, from Eden, to +colonise the earth, and subdue its wildness, so as to extend the +conditions of Eden widely over its surface. Lastly, a part of the +record not quoted above, but necessary to the consistency of the +story, implies that, in virtue of his spiritual nature, and on certain +conditions, man, though in bodily frame of the earth earthy, like the +other animals, was to be exempted from the common law of mortality +which had all along prevailed, and which continued to prevail, even +among the animals of Eden. Further, if man fell from this condition +into that of the savage of the age of stone, it must have been by the +obscuration of his spiritual nature under that which is merely +animal; in other words, by his ceasing to be spiritual and in +communion with God, and becoming practically a sensual materialist. +that this actually happened is asserted by the Scriptural story, but +its details would take us too far from our present subject. Let us now +turn to the other picture--that presented by the theory of struggle for +existence and derivation from lower animals. + +It introduces us first to an ape, akin perhaps to the modern orang or +gorilla, but unknown to us as yet by any actual remains. This +creature, after living for an indefinite time in the rich forests of +the Miocene and earlier Pliocene periods, was at length subjected to +the gradually increasing rigours of the Glacial age. Its vegetable +food and its leafy shelter failed it, and it learned to nestle among +such litter as it could collect in dens and caves, and to seize and +devour such weaker animals as it could overtake and master. At the +same time, its lower extremities, no longer used for climbing trees, +but for walking on the ground, gained in strength and size; its arms +diminished; and its development to maturity being delayed by the +intensity of the struggle for existence, its brain enlarged, it became +more cunning and sagacious, and even learned to use weapons of wood or +stone to destroy its victims. So it gradually grew into a fierce and +terrible creature, "neither beast nor human," combining the habits of +a bear and the agility of a monkey with some glimmerings of the +cunning and resources of a savage. + +When the Glacial period passed away, our nameless simian man, or +manlike ape, might naturally be supposed to revert to its original +condition, and to establish itself as of old in the new forests of the +Modern period. For some unknown reason, however, perhaps because it +had gone too far in the path of improvement to be able to turn back, +this reversion did not take place. On the contrary, the ameliorated +circumstances and wider range of the new continents enabled it still +further to improve. Ease and abundance perfected what struggle and +privation had begun; it added to the rude arts of the Glacial time; it +parted with the shaggy hair now unnecessary; its features became +softer; and it returned in part to vegetable food. Language sprang up +from the attempt to articulate natural sounds. Fire-making was +invented and new arts arose. At length the spiritual nature, +potentially present in the creature, was awakened by some access of +fear, or some grand and terrible physical phenomenon; the idea of a +higher intelligence was struck out, and the descendant of apes became +a superstitious and idolatrous savage. How much trouble and discussion +would have been saved, had he been aware of his humble origin, and +never entertained the vain imagination that he was a child of God, +rather then a mere product of physical evolution! It is, indeed, +curious, that at this point evolutionism, like theism, has its "fall +of man;" for surely the awakening of the religious sense, and of the +knowledge of good and evil, must on that theory be so designated, +since it subverted in the case of man the previous regular operation +of natural selection, and introduced all that debasing superstition, +priestly domination, and religious controversy which have been among +the chief curses of our race, and which are doubly accursed if, as the +evolutionist believes, they are not the ruins of something nobler and +holier, but the mere gratuitous, vain, and useless imaginings of a +creature who should have been content to eat and drink and die, +without hope or fear, like the brutes from which he sprang. + +These are at present our alternative sketches: the genesis of theism, +and the genesis of evolution. After the argument in previous pages, it +is unnecessary here to discuss their relative degrees of probability. +If we believe in a personal spiritual Creator, the first becomes easy +and natural, as it is also that which best accords with history and +tradition. If, on the contrary, we reject all these, and accept as +natural laws the postulates of the evolutionists which we have already +discussed, we may become believers in the latter. The only remaining +point is to inquire as to which explains best the actual facts of +humanity as we find them. This is a view of which much has been made +by evolutionists, and it therefore merits consideration. But it is too +extensive to be fully treated of here, and I must content myself with +a few illustrations of the failure of the theory of derivation to +explain some of the most important features presented by even the +ruder races of men. + +One of these is the belief in a future state of existence beyond this +life. This belongs purely to the spiritual nature of man. It is not +taught by physical nature, yet its existence is probably universal, +and it lies near the foundation of all religious beliefs. Lartet has +described to us the sepulchral cave of Aurignac, in which human +skeletons, believed to be of Post-glacial date, were associated with +remains of funeral feasts, and with indications of careful burial, and +with provisions laid up for the use of the dead. Lyell well remarks on +this, "If we have here before us, at the northern base of the +Pyrenees, a sepulchral vault with skeletons of human beings, consigned +by friends and relatives to their last resting-place if we have also +at the portal of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and within it +indications of viands destined for the use of the departed on their +way to a land of spirits; while among the funeral gifts are weapons +wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the cave-lion, +the cave bear, and woolly rhinoceros--we have at last succeeded in +tracing back the sacred rites of burial, and more interesting still, a +belief in a future state, to times long anterior to those of history +and tradition. Rude and superstitious as may have been the savage of +that remote era, he still deserved, by cherishing hopes of a +hereafter, the epithet of 'noble,' which Dryden gave to what he seems +to have pictured to himself as the primitive condition of our +race."[BF] + +[BF] "Antiquity of Man," p. 192 + +In like manner, in the vast American continent, all its long isolated +and widely separated tribes, many of them in a state of lowest +barbarism, and without any external ritual of religious worship, +believed in happy hunting-grounds in the spirit-land beyond the grave, +and the dead warrior was buried with his most useful weapons and +precious ornaments. + + "Bring here the last gifts; and with them + The last lament be said. + Let all that pleased and yet may please, + Be buried with the dead" + +was no unmeaning funeral song, but involved the sacrifice of the most +precious and prized objects, that the loved one might enter the new +and untried state provided for its needs. Even the babe, whose life is +usually accounted of so small value by savage tribes, was buried by +the careful mother with precious strings of wampum, that had cost more +months of patient labour then the days of its short life, that it +might purchase the fostering care of the inhabitants of that unknown +yet surely believed-in region of immortality. This + + "--wish that of the living whole + No life may fail beyond the grave, + Derives it not from what we have + The likest God within the soul?" + +Is it likely to have germinated in the brain of an ape? and if so, of +what possible use would it be in the struggle of a merely physical +existence? Is it not rather the remnant of a better spiritual life--a +remembrance of the tree of life that grew in the paradise of God, a +link of connection of the spiritual nature in man with, a higher +Divine Spirit above? Life and immortality, it is true, were brought to +light by Jesus Christ, but they existed as beliefs more or less +obscure from the first, and formed the basis for good and evil of the +religions of the world. Around this idea were gathered multitudes of +collateral beliefs and religious observances; feasts and festivals for +the dead; worship of dead heroes and ancestors; priestly intercessions +and sacrifices for the dead; costly rites of sepulture. Vain and +without foundation many of these have no doubt been, but they have +formed a universal and costly testimony to an instinct of immortality, +dimly glimmering even in the breast of the savage, and glowing with +higher brightness in the soul of the Christian, but separated by an +impassable gulf from anything derivable from a brute ancestry. + +The theistic picture of primeval man is in harmony with the fact that +men, as a whole, are, and always have been, believers in God. The +evolutionist picture is not. If man had from the first not merely a +physical and intellectual nature, but a spiritual nature as well, we +can understand how he came into relation with God, and how through all +his vagaries and corruptions he clings to this relation in one form or +another; but evolution affords no link of connection of this kind. It +holds God to be unknowable even to the cultivated intellect of +philosophy, and perceives no use in ideas with relation to Him which, +according to it must necessarily be fallacious, It leaves the theistic +notions of mankind without explanation, and it will not serve its +purpose to assert that some few and exceptional families of men have +no notion of a God. Even admitting this, and it is at best very +doubtful, it can form but a trifling exception to a general truth. + +It appears to me that this view of the case is very clearly put in the +Bible, and it is curiously illustrated by a recent critique of "Mr. +Darwin's Critics," by Professor Huxley in the _Contemporary Review_. Mr. +Mivart, himself a derivationist, but differing in some points from +Darwin, had affirmed, in the spirit rather of a Romish theologian then +of a Biblical student or philosopher, that "acts unaccompanied by +mental acts of conscious will" are "absolutely destitute of the most +incipient degree of goodness." Huxley well replies, "It is to my +understanding extremely hard to reconcile Mr. Mivart's dictum with +that noble summary of the whole duty of man, 'Thou shalt love the Lord +thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy +strength; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' According to +Mr. Mivart's definition, the man who loves God and his neighbour, and, +out of sheer love and affection for both, does all he can to please +them, is nevertheless destitute of a particle of real goodness." +Huxley's reply deserves to be pondered by certain moralists and +theologians whose doctrine savours of the leaven of the Pharisees, but +neither Huxley nor his opponent see the higher truth that in the love +of God we have a principle far nobler and more God-like and less +animal then that of mere duty. Man primeval, according to the doctrine +of Genesis, was, by simple love and communion with his God, placed in +the position of a spiritual being, a member of a higher family then +that of the animal. The "knowledge of good and evil" which he acquired +later, and on which is based the law of conscious duty, was a less +happy attainment, which placed him on a lower level then that of the +unconscious love and goodness of primal innocence. No doubt man's +sense of right and wrong is something above the attainment of animals, +and which could never have sprung from them; but still more is this +the case with his direct spiritual relation to God, which, whether it +rises to the inspiration of the prophet or the piety of the Christian, +or sinks to the rude superstition of the savage, can be no part of the +Adam of the dust but only of the breath of life breathed into him from +above. + +That man should love his fellow-man may not seem strange. Certain +social and gregarious and family instincts exist among the lower +animals, and Darwin very ably adduces these as akin to the similar +affections of man; yet even in the law of love of our neighbour, as +enforced by Christ's teaching, it is easy to see that we have +something beyond animal nature. But this becomes still more distinct +in the love of God. Man was the "shadow and likeness of God," says the +old record in Genesis--the shadow that clings to the substance and is +inseparable from it, the likeness that represents it visibly to the +eyes of men, and of the animals that man rules over. Primeval man +could "hear in the evening breeze the voice of God, walking to and fro +in the garden." What mere animal ever had or could attain to such an +experience? + +But if we turn from the Edenic picture of man in harmony with +Heaven--"owning a father, when he owned a God"--to man as the slave of +superstition; even in this terrible darkness of mistaken faith, of +which it may be said, + + "Fear mates her devils, and weak faith her gods, + Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust, + Whose attributes are rage, revenge, or lust," + +we see the ruins, at least, of that sublime love of God. The animal +clings to its young with a natural affection, as great as that of a +human mother for her child, but what animal ever thought of throwing +its progeny into the Ganges, or into the fires of Moloch's altar, for +the saving of its soul, or to obtain the favour or avoid the wrath of +God? No less in the vagaries of fetichism, ritualism, and idolatry, +and in the horrors of asceticism and human sacrifice, then in the +Edenic communion with and hearing of God, or in the joy of Christian +love, do we see, in however ruined or degraded condition, the higher +spiritual nature of man. + +This point leads to another distinction which, when properly viewed, +widens the gap between man and the animals, or at least destroys one +of the frail bridges of the evolutionists. Lubbock and others affect +to believe that the lowest savages of the modern world must be nearest +to the type of primeval man. I have already attempted to show the +fallacy of this. I may add here that in so holding they overlook a +fundamental distinction, well pointed out by the Duke of Argyll, +between the capacity of acquiring knowledge and knowledge actually +acquired, and between the possession of a higher rational nature and +the exercise of that nature in the pursuit of mechanical arts. In +other words, primeval man must not be held to have been "utterly +barbarous" because he was ignorant of mining or navigation, or of +sculpture and painting. He had in him the power to attain to these +things, but so long as he was not under necessity to exercise it, his +mind may have expended its powers in other and happier channels. As +well might it be affirmed that a delicately nurtured lady is an "utter +barbarian" because she cannot build her own house, or make her own +shoes. No doubt in such work she would be far more helpless then the +wife of the rudest savage, yet she is not on that account to be held +as an inferior being, or nearer to the animals. Our conception of an +angelic nature implies the absence of all our social institutions and +mechanical arts; but does this necessitate our regarding an angel as +an "utter barbarian"? In short, the whole notion of civilisation held +by Lubbock and those who think with him, is not only low and +degrading, but utterly and absurdly wrong; and of course it vitiates +all their conceptions of primeval man as well as of man's future +destiny. Further, the theistic idea implies that man was, without +exhausting toil, to regulate and control nature, to rule over the +animals, to cultivate the earth, to extend himself over it and subdue +it; and all this as compatible with moral innocence, and at the same +time with high intellectual and spiritual activity. + +There is, however, a still nicer and more beautiful distinction +involved in this, and included in the wonderful narrative in Genesis, +so simple yet so much more profound then our philosophies; and which +crops out in the same discussion of the critics of Darwin, to which I +have already referred. A writer in the _Quarterly Review_ had attempted +to distinguish human reason from the intelligence of animals, as +involving self-consciousness and reflection in our sensations and +perceptions. Huxley objects to this, instancing the mental action of a +greyhound when it sees and pursues a hare, as similar to that of the +gamekeeper when he lets slip the hound.[BG] + +[BG] _Contemporary Review_, November, 1871, p. 461. + +"As it is very necessary to keep up a clear distinction between these +two processes, let the one be called neurosis and the other psychosis. +When the gamekeeper was first trained to his work, every step in the +process of neurosis was accompanied by a corresponding step in that of +psychosis, or nearly so. He was conscious of seeing something, +conscious of making sure it was a hare, conscious of desiring to catch +it, and therefore to loose the greyhound at the right time, conscious +of the acts by which he let the dog out of the leash. But with +practice, though the various steps of the neurosis remain--for +otherwise the impression on the retina would not result in the loosing +of the dog--the great majority of the steps of the psychosis vanish, +and the loosing of the dog follows unconsciously, or, as we say, +without thinking about, upon the sight of the hare. No one will deny +that the series of acts which originally intervened between the +sensation and the letting go of the dog were, in the strictest sense, +intellectual and rational operations. Do they cease to be so when the +man ceases to be conscious of them? that depends upon what is the +essence and what the accident of these operations, which taken +together constitute ratiocination. Now, ratiocination is resolvable +into predication, and predication consists in marking, in some way, +the existence, the co-existence, the succession, the likeness and +unlikeness, of things or their ideas. Whatever does this, reasons; and +if a machine produces the effects of reason, I see no more ground for +denying to it the reasoning power because it is unconscious, then I +see for refusing to Mr. Babbage's engine the title of a calculating +machine on the same grounds." + +Here we have in the first place, the fact that an action, in the first +instance rational and complex, becomes by repetition simple and +instinctive. Does the man then sink to the level of the hound, or, +what is more to the purpose, does this in the least approach to +showing that the hound can rise to the level of the man? Certainly +not; for the man is the conscious planner and originator of a course +of action in which the instincts of the brute are made to take part, +and in which the readiness that he attains by habit only enables him +to dispense with certain processes of thought which were absolutely +necessary at first. The man and the beast co-operate, but they meet +each other from entirely different planes; the former from that of the +rational consideration of nature, the latter from that of the blind +pursuit of a mere physical instinct. The one, to use Mr. Huxley's +simile, is the conscious inventor of the calculating machine, the +other is the machine itself, and, though the machine can calculate, +this fact is the farthest possible from giving it the power of growing +into or producing its own inventor. But Moses, or the more ancient +authority from whom he quotes in Genesis, knew this better then either +of these modern combatants. His special distinctive mark of the +superiority of man is that he was to have dominion over the earth and +its animal inhabitants; and he represents this dominion as inaugurated +by man's examining and naming the animals of Eden, and finding among +them no "help meet" for him.[BH] Man was to find in them helps, but +helps under his control, and that not the control of brute force, but +of higher skill and of thought and even of love--a control still seen +in some degree in the relation of man to his faithful companion, the +dog. These old words of Genesis, simple though they are, place the +rational superiority of man on a stable basis, and imply a distinction +between him and the lower animals which cannot be shaken by the +sophistries of the evolutionists. + +[BH] Literally, "Corresponding," or "Similar," to him. + +The theistic picture further accords with the fact that the geological +time immediately preceding man's appearance was a time of decadence of +many of the grander forms of animal life, especially in that area of +the old continent where man was to appear. Whatever may be said of the +imperfection of the geological record, there can be no question of the +fact that the Miocene and earlier Pliocene were distinguished by the +prevalence of grand and gigantic forms of mammalian life, some of +which disappeared in or before the Glacial period, while others failed +after that period in the subsidence of the Post-glacial, or in +connection with its amelioration of climate. The Modern animals are +also, as explained above, a selection from the grander fauna of the +Post-glacial period. To speak for the moment in Darwinian language, +there was for the time an evident tendency to promote the survival of +the fittest, not in mere physical development, but in intelligence and +sagacity. A similar tendency existed even in the vegetable world, +replacing the flora of American aspect which had existed in the +Pliocene, with the richer and more useful flora of Europe and Western +Asia. This not obscurely indicates the preparing of a place for man, +and the removal out of his way of obstacles and hindrances. That these +changes had a relation to the advent of man, neither theist nor +evolutionist can doubt, and it may be that we shall some day find that +this relation implies the existence of a creative law intelligible by +us; but while we fail to perceive any link of direct causation between +the changes in the lower world, and the introduction of our race, we +cannot help seeing that correlation which implies a far-reaching plan, +and an intelligent design. + +Finally, the evolutionist picture wants some of the fairest lineaments +of humanity, and cheats us with a semblance of man without the +reality. Shave and paint your ape as you may, clothe him and set him +up upon his feet, still he fails greatly of the "human form divine;" +and so it is with him morally and spiritually as well. We have seen +that he wants the instinct of immortality, the love of God, the mental +and spiritual power of exercising dominion over the earth. The very +agency by which he is evolved is of itself subversive of all these +higher properties. The struggle for existence is essentially selfish, +and therefore degrading. Even in the lower animals, it is a false +assumption that its tendency is to elevate; for animals when driven to +the utmost verge of struggle for life, become depauperated and +degraded. The dog which spends its life in snarling contention with +its fellow-curs for insufficient food, will not be a noble specimen +of its race. God does not so treat His creatures. There is far more +truth to nature in the doctrine which represents him as listening to +the young ravens when they cry for food. But as applied to man, the +theory of the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest, +though the most popular phase of evolutionism at present, is nothing +less then the basest and most horrible of superstitions. It makes man +not merely carnal, but devilish. It takes his lowest appetites and +propensities, and makes them his God and creator. His higher +sentiments and aspirations, his self-denying philanthropy, his +enthusiasm for the good and true, all the struggles and sufferings of +heroes and martyrs, not to speak of that self-sacrifice which is the +foundation of Christianity, are in the view of the evolutionist mere +loss and waste, failure in the struggle of life. What does he give us +in exchange? An endless pedigree of bestial ancestors, without one +gleam of high or holy tradition to enliven the procession; and for the +future, the prospect that the poor mass of protoplasm which +constitutes the sum of our being, and which is the sole gain of an +indefinite struggle in the past, must soon be resolved again into +inferior animals or dead matter. That men of thought and culture +should advocate such a philosophy, argues either a strange mental +hallucination, or that the higher spiritual nature has been wholly +quenched within them. It is one of the saddest of many sad spectacles +that our age presents. Still these men deserve credit for their bold +pursuit of truth, or what seems to them to be truth; and they are, +after all, nobler sinners then those who would practically lower us to +the level of beasts by their negation even of intellectual life, or +who would reduce us to apes, by making us the mere performers of rites +and ceremonies, as a substitute for religion, or who would advise us +to hand over reason and conscience to the despotic authority of +fallible men dressed in strange garbs, and called by sacred names. The +world needs a philosophy and a Christianity of more robust mould, +which shall recognise, as the Bible does, at once body and soul and +spirit, at once the sovereignty of God and the liberty of man; and +which shall bring out into practical operation the great truth that +God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit +and in truth. Such a religion might walk in the sunlight of truth and +free discussion, hand in hand with science, education, liberty, and +material civilisation, and would speedily consign evolution to the +tomb which has already received so many superstitions and false +philosophies. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A + + Abbeville, Peat of, 294. + Acadian Group, 38. + Advent of Man, 286. + Agassiz on Synthetic Types, 181. + _Ammonitidæ_, 221. + Amphibians of the Coal Period, 144. + Andrews on the Post-pliocene, 293. + _Anthracosaurus_, 145. + Anticosti Formation, 61. + Antiquity of Man, 292. + _Archæocyathus_, 47. + Archebiosis, 327. + _Arenicolites_, 46. + _Asterolepis_, 98. + + B + + _Baculites_, 222. + Bala Limestone, 59. + _Baphetes_, 145. + Barrande on Primordial, 49. + Bastian on Lower forms of Life, 327. + _Beatricea_, 65. + Belemnites, 223. + Bigsby on Silurian Fauna, 75; + on Primordial Life, 52. + Billings on Archæocyathus, 46; + on Feet of Trilobites, 44. + Binney on Stigmaria, 127. + Biology as a term, 327. + Boulder Clay, 268. + Brachiopods, or Lamp-shells, 89. + Breccia of Caverns, 304. + Brown, Mr. K., on Stigmaria, 127. + + + C + + _Calamites_, 104, 129, 173. + Calcaire Grossier, 247. + Cambrian Age, 36; name defined, 49. + Caradoc Rocks, 60. + Carbonic Acid in Atmosphere, 123. + Carboniferous Age, 109; + Land Snails of the, 138; + Crustaceans of the, 154; + Insects of the, 135; + Corals of the, 153; + Plants of the, 120; + Fishes of the, 157; + Footprints in the, 143; + Geography of the, 110; + Reptiles of the, 143. + Carpenter on Cretaceous Sea, 230. + Carruthers on Graptolites, 72. + Cave Earth, 305. + Cavern Deposits, 304. + _Cephalaspis_, 97. + Cephalopods of Silurian, 69. + _Ceteosaurus_, 204; + Foraminifera in the, 227. + Chalk, Nature of, 227. + Chaos, 2. + _Climactichnites_, 45. + Coal, Origin of, 116; + of the Mesozoic, 201. + Colours of Rocks, 110. + Continental Plateaus, 57. + Continents, their Origin, 13. + _Conulus Prisons_, 139. + Cope on Dinosaurs, 202; + on Pterodactyl, 206; + on Mososaurus, 217; + on Caverns, 303. + Corals of the Silurian, 63; + agency of, in forming Limestone, 63, 89; + of the Devonian, 89; + of the Carboniferous, 153. + Corniferous Limestone, 96. + _Coryphodon_, 244. + Creation, Unity of, 33; + not by Evolution, 33; + laws of, 78, 150; + statement of as a theory, 340; + requirements of, 343; + how treated by Evolutionists, 339; + definition and explanation of, 340; + its probable conditions, 352. + Creator, evidence of a personal, 344, + Cretaceous Period, 192, 231; + Sea of the, 230. + Crinoids of the Silurian, 68. + Croll on the Post-pliocene, 262. + _Crusiana_, 45. + Crustaceans of the Primordial, 42; + of the Silurian, 71; + of the Mesozoic, 225. + Crust of the Earth, 5; + Folding of, 165. + Cuvier on Tertiary Mammals, 249. + Cystideans, 69. + + + D + + Dana on Geological Periods, 175. + Darwin, Nature of his Theory, 327; + his account of the Origin of Man, 337; + his statement of Descent of Man, 337. + Davidson on Brachiopods, 169. + Dawkins on Post-glacial Mammals, 300. + Delaunay on Solidity of the Earth, 6. + Deluge, the, 290. + Devonian, or Brian Age, 81; + Physical Condition of, 82; + Tabular View of, 85; + Corals of the, 89; + Fishes of the, 96; + Plants of the, 102; + Geography of the, 82; + Insects of the, 107. + _Dinichthys_, 99. + Dinosaurs, 202. + _Dromatherium_, 208. + Dudley, Fossils of, 69. + + + E + + Earth, its earliest state, 9; + Crust of the, 5; + folding of, 165; + gaseous state of, 9. + Edenic state of Man, 310, 376. + Edwards, Milne, on Devonian Corals, 89. + _Elasmosaurus_, 214. + Elephants, Fossil, 254, 300. + Elevation and Subsidence, 13, 29, 83, 165. + Enaliosaurs, 213. + "Engis" Skull, its characters, 357. + Eocene Seas, 241; + Foraminifera of the, 241; + Mammals of the, 247; + Plants of the, 238; + Footprints in the, 299. + _Eophyton_, 42. + _Eosaurus_, 145, + Eozoic Period, 17. + _Eozoon Bavaricum_, 38. + _Eozoon Canadense_, 20, 24. + Erian, or Devonian, 81; + Reason of the Name, 84; + Table of Erian Formations, 85; + Corals of the, 89; + Fishes of the, 96; + Plants of the, 102. + Eskers or Kames, 286. + Etheridge on Devonian, 85. + _Eurypterus_, 71, 115. + Evolution as applied to Eozoon, 33; + Primordial Animals, 55; + Silurian Animals, 77; + Trilobites, 94, 155; + Reptiles, 150; + Man, 319; + Its Character as a Theory, 320; + Its Difficulties, 322; + Its "Fall of Man," 382, + + + F + + Falconer on Indian Miocene, 252. + _Favosites_, 91. + Ferns of the Devonian, 96; + of the Carboniferous, 120. + Fishes, Ganoid, 99; + of the Silurian, 74; + of the Devonian, 96; + of the Carboniferous, 157. + Flora of the Silurian, 76; + of the Devonian, 102; + of the Carboniferous, 120; + of the Permian, 172; + of the Mesozoic, 199; + of the Eocene, 238; + of the Miocene, 259. + Footprints in the Carboniferous, 143; + in the Trias, 203; + in the Eocene, 297. + Foraminifera, Nature of, 24; + Laurentian, 25; + of the Chalk, 227; + of the Tertiary, 241. + Forbes on Post-glacial Land, 288. + Forests of the Devonian, 102; + of the Carboniferous, 120. + + + G + + Ganoid Fishes, 96, 99. + Gaseous state of the Earth, 9. + Genesis, Book of, its account of Chaos, 2; + of Creation of Land, 13; + of Palæozoic Animals, 187; + of Creation of Reptiles, 150; + of Creation of Mammals, 234, 298; + of the Deluge, 290; + of Creation of Man, 379; + of Eden, 379. + Genesis of the Earth, 1. + Geography of the Silurian, 57; + of the Devonian, 82; + of the Carboniferous, 110; + of the Permian, 163. + Geological Periods, 175, 195. + Glacial Period, 267, 278. + Glauconite, 229. + _Glyptoerinus_, 88. + Graptolites, 72. + Greenland, Miocene Flora of, 260. + Greensand, 229. + Gümbel on Bavarian Eozoon, 37. + + + H + + _Hadrosaurus_, 202. + Hall on Graptolites, 72; + Harlech Beds, 38. + Heer on Tertiary Plants, 261. + Helderberg Rocks, 62. + Hercynian Schists, 37. + Heterogenesis, 327. + Hicks on Primordial Fossils, 38. + Hilgard on Mississippi Delta, 296. + Hippopotamus, Fossil, 300. + _Histioderma_, 46. + Hopkins on Solidity of the Earth, 6. + Hudson River Group, 60. + Hull on Geological Periods, 186. + Hunt, Dr. T. S., on Volcanic Action, 7; + on Chemistry of Primeval Earth, 11; + on Lingulæ, 41. + Huronian Formation, 36. + Huxley on Coal, 132; + on Carboniferous Reptiles, 145; + on Dinosaurs, 202; + on Paley's Argument from Design, 348; + on Good and Evil, 349; + on Intuitive and Rational Actions, 391; + on tendency of Evolutionist views, 348. + _Hylonomus_, 148. + + + I + + Ice-action in Permian, 168; + in Post-pliocene, 270. + _Ichthyosaurus_, 213. + _Iguanodon_, 202. + Insects, Devonian, 107; + Carboniferous, 135. + Intelligence of Animals, Nature of, 328. + + + J + + Jurassic, subdivisions of, 190. + + + K + + Kames, 286. + Kaup on Dinotherium, 251. + Kent's Cavern, 304. + King-crabs of Carboniferous, 154. + King on Carboniferous Reptiles, 143. + + + L + + _Labyrinthodon_, 201, + Lælaps, 203. + Lamp-shells, 40. + Land-snails of Carboniferous, 138. + La Place's Nebular Theory, 7. + Laurentian Rocks, 18; + Life in the, 23; + Plants of the, 32. + _Lepidodendron_, 103, 106, 127. + _Leptophleum_, 104. + Limestone Corniferous, 96; + Nummulitic, 241; + Milioline, 243; + Silurian, 64; + Origin of, 27, 63, 89. + _Limulus_, 154. + _Lingulæ_, 39. + Lingula Flags, 38. + Logan, Sir W., on Laurentian Rocks, 18; + on Reptilian Footprints, 143. + London Clay, 247. + Longmynd Rocks, 38, 47. + Lower Helderberg Group, 62. + Ludlow Group, 62. + Lyell, Sir C., on Devonian Limestone, 89; + on Wealden, 191; + on Classification of the Tertiary, 238. + + + M + + _Machairodus_, 250. + Magnesian Limestones, 166. + Mammals of the Mesozoic, 208; + of the Eocene, 247; + of the Miocene, 250; + of the Pliocene, 256; + of the Post-glacial, 300. + Man, Advent of, 286. + Man, Antiquity of, 292; + History of, according to Theory of Creation, 377; + according to Evolution, 381; + widely different from Apes, 360; + a new type, 365; + Primitive, not a Savage, 367; + his Spiritual Nature, 384, 370, 387; + Locality of his Origin, 373; + Primeval, according to Creation, 377; + according to Evolution, 381. + Mayhill Sandstone, 60. + Medina Sandstone, 60. + _Megalosaurus_, 203. + Menevian Formation, 38. + Mesozoic Ages, 188; + subdivisions of, 189; + Flora of, 199; + Coal of, 201; + Crustaceans of the, 225; + Reptiles of the, 201, 212. + Metalliferous Rocks, 167. + Metamorphism, 21. + _Microlestes_, 208. + Milioline Limestones, 243. + Miller on Old Bed Sandstone, 86. + Millipedes, Fossil, 136. + Miocene Plants, 260; + Climate, 264; + Mammals of, 250. + Mississippi, Delta of the, 296. + Modern Period, 283. + _Mosasaurus_, 206. + Morse on Lingula, 39. + Murchison on the Silurian, 56. + + + N + + Nebular Theory, 7. + Neolithic Age, 284. + Neozoic Ages, 236; + divisions of, 239. + Newberry on Dinichthys, 99. + Nicholson on Graptolites, 72, + Nummulitic Limestones, 241. + + + O + + _Oldhamia_, 45. + Old Bed Sandstone, 86. + Oneida Conglomerate. 69. + _Orthoceratites_, 69, 154. + Oscillations of Continents, 179. + Owen on Dinosaurs, 202; + on Marsupials, 209. + + + P + + Palæolithic Age, 284, 289. + _Palæophis_, 245. + Palæozoic Life, 181; + diagram of, 186. + Paley on Design in Nature; his illustration of the watch, 349. + Peat of Abbeville, 294. + Pengelly on Kent's Hole, 304. + _Pentremites_, 153. + Periods, Geological, 195, 175. + Permian Age, 160; + Geography of the, 163; + Ice-action in the, 168; + Plants of the, 172; + Reptiles of the, 172. + Phillips on Dawn of Life, 30; + on Ceteosaurus, 204. + Pictet on Post-pliocene Mammals, 256; + on Post-glacial Animals, 357. + Pictures of Primeval Man, 376. + Pierce on Diminution of Earth's Rotation, 165. + Pines of the Devonian, 105; + of the Carboniferous, 131; + of the Permian, 173. + Placoid Fishes, 96. + Plants of the Laurentian, 32; + of the Silurian, 76; + of the Devonian, 102; + of the Carboniferous, 124; + of the Permian, 172; + of the Mesozoic, 199; + of the Tertiary 258; + classification of, 122. + Plateaus, Continental, 57. + _Plesiosaurus_, 215. + Pliocene, Climate of, 266; + Mammals of, 256. + _Pliosaurus_, 215. + Pluvial Period, 287. + Post-glacial Age, 283, 292. + Post-pliocene Period, 274; + cold, 278; + Ice-action in the, 270; + Subsidence, 279; + Elevation, 284; + Shells, evidence of, against Derivation, 358; + Mammals, evidence of, against Derivation, 357. + Potsdam Sandstone, 38. + Prestwich on St. Acheul, 294. + Primordial Age, 36; + Crustacean of the, 42. + _Protichnites_, 45. + _Protorosaurus_, 172. + _Prototaxites_, 76. + _Psilophyton_, 76, 103. + _Pteraspis_, 76. + _Pterichthys_, 98. + Pterodactyls, 206. + _Pterygotus_, 93. + _Pupa vetusta_, 139. + + + Q + + Quebec Group, 60. + + + R + + Rain-marks, 47. + Ramsay on Permian, 168. + Red Sandstones, their Origin, 110, 166. + Reptiles of the Carboniferous, 143; + of the Permian, 172; + of the Mesozoic, 201, 212. + Rhinoceros, Fossil, 300. + Rocks, Colours of, 110. + Rotation of the Earth, its Gradual Diminution, 165. + + + S + + Salter on Fossil Crustacea, 155. + Sedgwick on Cambrian, 56, 75. + Seeley on Pterodactyls, 206. + Shrinkage-cracks, 47. + _Sigillaria_, 104, 124. + Silurian Ages, 56; + Cephalopoda of the, 69; + Corals of the, 63; + Crinoids of the 68; + Crustaceans of the, 71; + Fishes of the, 74; + Plants of the, 76. + Siluro-Cambrian, use of the term, 56. + Slaty Structure, 48. + Solidity of the Earth, 6. + Somme, R., Gravels of, 292. + Species, Nature of the, 327; + how Created, 352. + Spencer, his Exposition of Evolution, 321, 331. + Spiritual Nature of Man, 384, 370, 387. + Spore-cases in Coals and Shales, 106. + Stalagmite of Caves, 305. + Striated Rock-surfaces, 269. + Stumps, Fossil of Carboniferous, 140. + Synthetic Types, 181. + + + T + + Table of Devonian Rocks, 85; + of Palæozoic Ages, 187; + of Mesozoic Ages, 234; + of Neozoic Ages, 298; + of Post-pliocene, 276. + Temperature of Interior of the Earth, 4. + Tertiary Period, 236; + Mammals of, 247, 250, 256; + classification of its Rocks, 238. + Thomson, Sir W., on Solidity of the Earth, 6. + Time, Geological Divisions of, 175. + Tinière, Cone of, 293. + Trenton Limestone, 59, 63. + Trias, Divisions of, 189; + Footprints in the, 203. + Trilobites, 43, 94, 154; + Feet of, 43. + Turtles of Mesozoic, 218. + Tylor on Pluvial Period, 287. + Tyndall on Carbonic Acid in Atmosphere, 123. + + + U + + Uniformitarianism in Geology, 8. + Utica Shale, 60. + + + V + + Volcanic Action, 7; + of Cambrian Age, 36; + of Silurian Age, 62; + of Devonian Age, 81, 83. + Von Dechen on Reptiles of Carboniferous, 143, 145. + Von Meyer on Dinosaurs, 202. + + + W + + _Walchia_, 173. + Wallace, his views on Inapplicability of Natural Selection to Man, 368. + Wealden, 191. + Wenlock Group, 62. + _Williamsonia gigas_, 200. + Williamson on Calamites, 181. + Woodward on Pterygotus, 93. + + + Z + + Zaphrentis 92. + + + + +VALUABLE AND INTERESTING WORKS + +FOR + +PUBLIC & PRIVATE LIBRARIES, + +PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. + + +[Illustration: pointing finger] For a full List of Books suitable for +Libraries published by HARPER & BROTHERS, see HARPER'S CATALOGUE, +which may be had gratuitously on application to the publishers +personally, or by letter enclosing Nine Cents in Postage stamps. + +[Illustration: pointing finger] HARPER & BROTHERS will send their +publications by mail, postage pre-paid, on receipt of the price. + + + MACAULAY'S ENGLAND. The History of England from the Accession of James + II. By Thomas Babington Macaulay. New Edition, from new Electrotype + Plates. 8vo, Cloth, with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, + 5 vols. in a Box, $10 00 per set. Sold only in Sets. Cheap Edition, + 5 vols. in a Box, 12mo, Cloth, $2 50; Sheep, $3 75. + + + MACAULAY'S MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. The Miscellaneous Works, of Lord + Macaulay. From New Electrotype Plates. In Five Volumes. 8vo, Cloth, + with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, in a Box, $10 00. Sold + only in Sets. + + + HUME'S ENGLAND. The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius + Cæsar to the Abdication of James II., 1688. By David Hume. New and + Elegant Library Edition, from new Electrotype Plates. 6 vols. in a + Box, 8vo, Cloth, with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, + $12 00. Sold only in Sets. Popular Edition, 6 vols. in a Box, 12mo, + Cloth, $3 00; Sheep, $4 50. + + + GIBBON'S ROME. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman + Empire. By Edward Gibbon. With Notes by Dean Milman, M. GUIZOT, + and Dr. William Smith. New Edition, from new Electrotype Plates. + 6 vols., 8vo, Cloth, with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, + $12 00. Sold only in Sets. Popular Edition, 6 vols. in a Box, + 12mo, Cloth, $3 00; Sheep, $4 50. + + + GEDDES'S HISTORY OF JOHN DE WITT. History of the Administration of + John De Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland. By James Geddes. Vol. + I.--1623-1654. With a Portrait. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. + + HILDRETH'S UNITED STATES. History of the United States. First Series: + From the Discovery of the Continent to the Organization of the + Government under the Federal Constitution. Second Series: From the + Adoption of the Federal Constitution to the End of the Sixteenth + Congress. By Richard Hildreth. Popular Edition, 6 vols. in a Box, + 8vo, Cloth, with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $12 00. + Sold only in Sets. + + + MOTLEY'S DUTCH REPUBLIC. The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. + By John Lothrop Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. With a Portrait of William + of Orange. Cheap Edition, 3 vols. in a Box, 8vo, Cloth, with Paper + Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $6 00. Sold only in Sets. + Original Library Edition, 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 50; Sheep, + $12 00; Half Calf, $1725. + + + MOTLEY'S UNITED NETHERLANDS. History of the United Netherlands: from + the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years' + Truce--1584-1609. With a full View of the English-Dutch Struggle + against Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish + Armada. By John Lothrop Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. Portraits. Cheap + Edition, 4 vols. in a Box, 8vo, Cloth, with Paper Labels, Uncut + Edges and Gilt Tops, $8 00. Sold only in Sets. Original Library + Edition, 4 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $14 00; Sheep, $16 00; Half Calf, + $23 00. + + + MOTLEY'S LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN OF BARNEVELD. The Life and Death of + John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland: with a View of the Primary + Causes and Movements of "The Thirty Years' War." By John Lothrop + Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. Cheap Edition, 2 vols. in a Box, + 8vo, Cloth, with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $4 00. + Sold only in Sets. Original Library Edition, 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, + $7 00; Sheep, $8 00; Half Calf, $11 50. + + + SKETCHES AND STUDIES IN SOUTHERN EUROPE. By John Addington Symonds. + In Two Volumes. Post 8vo, Cloth, $4 00. + + + SYMONDS'S GREEK POETS. Studies of the Greek Poets. By John Addington + Symonds. 2 vols., Square 16mo, Cloth, $3 50. + + + HUDSON'S HISTORY OF JOURNALISM. Journalism in the United States, from + 1690 to 1872. By Frederic Hudson. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Half Calf, + $7 25. + + TREVELYAN'S LIFE OF MACAULAY. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay. + By his Nephew, G. Otto Trevelyan, M.P. With Portrait on Steel. + Complete in 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $5 00; + Sheep, $6 00; Half Calf, $9 50. Popular Edition, two vols. in one, + 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. + + + TREVELYAN'S LIFE OF FOX. The Early History of Charles James Fox. By + George Otto Trevelyan. 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $2 50; + 4to, Paper, 20 cents. + + + BENJAMIN'S CONTEMPORARY ART. Contemporary Art in Europe. By S. G. W. + Benjamin. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. + + + BENJAMIN'S ART IN AMERICA. Art in America. By S. G. W. Benjamin. + Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00. + + + KINGLAKE'S CRIMEAN WAR. The Invasion of the Crimea: its Origin, and + an Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord Raglan. By + Alexander William Kinglake. With Maps and Plans. Four Volumes now + ready. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00 per vol. + + + LAMB'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Charles Lamb. Comprising his + Letters, Poems, Essays of Elia, Essays upon Shakspeare, Hogarth, + etc., and a Sketch of his Life, with the Final Memorials, by T. Noon + Talfourd. With Portrait. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00. + + + LOSSING'S FIELD-BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION. Pictorial Field-Book of the + Revolution; or, Illustrations by Pen and Pencil of the History, + Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for + Independence. By Benson J. Lossing. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $14 00; + Sheep or Roan, $15 00; Half Calf, $18 00. + + + LOSSING'S FIELD-BOOK OF THE WAR OF 1812. Pictorial Field-Book of the + War of 1812; or, Illustrations by Pen and Pencil of the History, + Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the last War for + American Independence. By Benson J. Lossing. With several hundred + Engravings on Wood by Lossing and Barritt, chiefly from Original + Sketches by the Author. 1088 pages, 8vo, Cloth, $7 00; Sheep, $8 50; + Roan, $9 00; Half Calf, $1000. + + + FORSTER'S LIFE OF DEAN SWIFT. The Early Life of Jonathan Swift + (1667-1711). By John Forster. With Portrait. 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges + and Gilt Tops, $2 50. + + LAWRENCE'S HISTORICAL STUDIES. Historical Studies. By Eugene Lawrence. + Containing the following Essays: The Bishops of Rome.--Leo and + Luther.--Loyola and the Jesuits.--Ecumenical Councils.--The + Vaudois.--The Huguenots.--The Church of Jerusalem.--Dominic and the + Inquisition.--The Conquest of Ireland.--The Greek Church. 8vo, + Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $3 00. + + + GREEN'S ENGLISH PEOPLE. History of the English People. By John Richard + Green, M.A. Four Volumes. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50 per volume. + + + SHORT'S NORTH AMERICANS OF ANTIQUITY. The North Americans of + Antiquity. Their Origin, Migrations, and Type of Civilization + Considered. By JOHN T. SHORT. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. + + + SQUIER'S PERU. Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land + of the Incas. By E. George Squier, M.A., F.S.A., late U. S. + Commissioner to Peru. With Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00. + + + BLAIKIE'S LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Dr. Livingstone: Memoir of his + Personal Life, from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence. By + W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D. With Portrait and Map. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. + + + MAURY'S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. The Physical Geography of the + Sea, and its Meteorology. By M. F. Maury, LL.D. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00. + + + SCHWEINFURTH'S HEART OF AFRICA. The Heart of Africa. Three Years' + Travels and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of the Centre of + Africa--from 1868 to 1871. By Dr. Georg Schweinfurth. Translated + by Ellen E. Frewer. With an Introduction by W. Winwood Reade. + Illustrated. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $8 00. + + + M'CLINTOCK & STRONG'S CYCLOPÆDIA. Cyclopedia of Biblical, + Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Prepared by the Rev. + John M'Clintock, D.D., and James Strong, S.T.D. 9 vols. now ready. + Royal 8vo. Price per vol., Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $6 00; Half Morocco, + $8 00. + + + SHAKSPEARE. The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare. With Corrections + and Notes. Engravings. 6 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $9 00. 2 vols., 8vo, + Cloth, $4 00; Sheep, $5 00. In one vol., 8vo, Sheep, $4 00. + + MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM: Lectures Delivered at the Royal + Institution of Great Britain in February and March, 1874. By R. + Bosworth Smith, M. A. With an Appendix containing Emanuel Deutsch's + Article on "Islam." 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + + + LIVINGSTONE'S SOUTH AFRICA. Missionary Travels and Researches in South + Africa: including a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in the + Interior of Africa, and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to + Loanda on the West Coast; thence across the Continent, down the + River Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean. By David Livingstone, LL.D., + D.C.L. With Portrait, Maps, and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $4 50; + Sheep, $5 00; Half Calf, $6 75. + + + LIVINGSTONE'S ZAMBESI. Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and + its Tributaries, and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and + Nyassa, 1858-1864. By David and Charles Livingstone. Map and + Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, $7 25. + + + LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. The Last Journals of David Livingstone, + in Central Africa, from 1865 to his Death. Continued by a Narrative + of his Last Moments and Sufferings, obtained from his Faithful + Servants Chuma and Susi. By Horace Waller, F.R.G.S., Rector of + Twywell, Northampton. With Portrait, Maps, and Illustrations. 8vo, + Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, $7 25. Cheap Popular Edition, + 8vo, Cloth, with Map and Illustrations, $2 50. + + + NORDHOFF'S COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES. The Communistic + Societies of the United States, from Personal Visit and Observation; + including Detailed Accounts of the Economists, Zoarites, Shakers, + the Amana, Oneida, Bethel, Aurora, Icarian, and other existing + Societies. With Particulars of their Religious Creeds and Practices, + their Social Theories and Life, Numbers, Industries, and Present + Condition. By Charles Nordhoff. Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00. + + + NORDHOFF'S CALIFORNIA. California: for Health, Pleasure, and + Residence. A Book for Travellers and Settlers. Illustrated. 8vo, + Cloth, $2 50. + + + NORDHOFF'S NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. Northern + California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands. By Charles Nordhoff. + Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. + + MOSHEIM'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, Ancient and Modern; in which the + Rise, Progress, and Variation of Church Power are considered in + their Connection with the State of Learning and Philosophy, and the + Political History of Europe during that Period. Translated, with + Notes, etc., by A. Maclaine, D.D. Continued to 1826, by C. Coote, + LL.D. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $4 00; Sheep, $5 00. + + + HARPER'S NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY. Literal Translations. + + The following volumes are now ready. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00 each. + + Cæsar.--Virgil.--Sallust.--Horace.--Cicero's Orations.--Cicero's + Offices, Etc.--Cicero On Oratory And Orators.--Tacitus (2 + vols.).--Terence.--Sophocles.--Juvenal.--Xenophon.--Homer's + Iliad.--Homer's Odyssey.--Herodotus.--Demosthenes (2 + Vols.).--Thucydides.--Æschylus.--Euripides (2 vols.).--Livy + (2 vols.).--Plato [Select Dialogues]. + + + VINCENT'S LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT. The Land of the White Elephant: + Sights and Scenes in Southeastern Asia. A Personal Narrative of + Travel and Adventure in Farther India, embracing the Countries of + Burma, Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin-China (1871-2). By Frank Vincent, + Jr. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. + + + GROTE'S HISTORY OF GREECE. 12 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $18 00; Sheep, + $22 80; Half Calf, $39 00. + + + RECLUS'S EARTH. The Earth: a Descriptive History of the Phenomena of + the Life of the Globe. By Élisée Reclus. With 234 Maps and + Illustrations, and 23 Page Maps printed in Colors. 8vo, Cloth, + $5 00. + + + RECLUS'S OCEAN. The Ocean, Atmosphere, and Life. Being the Second + Series of a Descriptive History of the Life of the Globe. By Élisée + Reclus. Profusely Illustrated with 250 Maps or Figures, and 27 Maps + printed in Colors. 8vo, Cloth, $6 00. + + + GRIFFIS'S JAPAN. The Mikado's Empire: Book I. History of Japan, from + 660 B.C. to 1872 A.D. Book II. Personal Experiences, Observations, + and Studies in Japan, 1870-1874. By William Elliot Griffis, A.M., + late of the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan. Copiously + Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $4 00; Half Calf, $6 25. + + BAKER'S ISMAILÏA. Ismailïa: a Narrative of the Expedition to Central + Africa for the Suppression of the Slave-trade, organized by Ismail, + Khedive of Egypt. By Sir Samuel White Baker, Pasha, F.R.S., F.R.G.S. + With Maps, Portraits, and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Half + Calf, $7 25. + + + SMILES'S HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS. The Huguenots: their Settlements, + Churches, and Industries in England and Ireland. By Samuel Smiles. + With an Appendix relating to the Huguenots in America. Crown 8vo, + Cloth, $2 00. + + + SMILES'S HUGUENOTS AFTER THE REVOCATION. The + + Huguenots in France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; with + a Visit to the Country of the Vaudois. By Samuel Smiles. Crown 8vo, + Cloth, $2 00. + + + SMILES'S LIFE OF THE STEPHENSONS. The Life of George Stephenson, and + of his Son, Robert Stephenson; comprising, also, a History of the + Invention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive. By Samuel + Smiles. With Steel Portraits and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, + $3 00. + + + NORTON'S STUDIES OF CHURCH-BUILDING. Historical Studies of + Church-Building in the Middle Ages. Venice, Siena, Florence. By + Charles Eliot Norton. 8vo, Cloth, $300. + + + ALISON'S HISTORY OF EUROPE. First Series: From the Commencement of the + French Revolution, in 1789, to the Restoration of the Bourbons in + 1815. [In addition to the Notes on Chapter LXXVI., which correct the + errors of the original work concerning the United States, a copious + Analytical Index has been appended to this American Edition.] Second + Series: From the Fall of Napoleon, in 1815, to the Accession of + Louis Napoleon, in 1852. 8 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $16 00; Sheep, $20 00; + Half Calf, $34 00. + + + SAMUEL JOHNSON: HIS WORDS AND HIS WAYS; what he Said, what he Did, and + what Men Thought and Spoke concerning him. Edited by E. T. Mason. + 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. + + + JOHNSON'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. With an + Essay on his Life and Genius, by A. Murphy. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, + $4 00; Sheep, $5 00; Half Calf, $850. + + SCHLIEMANN'S ILIOS. Ilios, the City and Country of the Trojans. A + Narrative of the Most Recent Discoveries and Researches made on the + Plain of Troy. With Illustrations representing nearly 2000 Types of + the Objects found in the Excavations of the Seven Cities on the Site + of Ilios. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. + Imperial 8vo, Illuminated Cloth, $12 00. + + + BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., including a + Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. By James Boswell. Edited by + J. W. Croker, LL.D., F.K.S. With a Portrait of Boswell. 2 vols., + 8vo, Cloth, $4 00; Sheep, $5 00; Half Calf, $8 50. + + + ADDISON'S COMPLETE WORKS. The Works of Joseph Addison, embracing the + whole of the _Spectator_. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $6 00; Sheep, $7 50; + Half Calf, $12 75. + + + BOURNE'S LOCKE. The Life of John Locke. By H. R. Fox Bourne. 2 vols., + 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $5 00. + + + ENGLISH CORRESPONDENCE. Four Centuries of English Letters. Selections + from the Correspondence of One Hundred and Fifty Writers from the + Period of the Paston Letters to the Present Day. Edited by + W. Baptiste Scoones. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. + + + THE STUDENT'S SERIES. Maps and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth. + + France.--Gibbon.--Greece.--Rome (By Liddell).--Old Testament + History.--New Testament History.--Strickland's Queens Of England + (Abridged).--Ancient History Of The East.--Hallam's Middle + Ages.--Hallam's Constitutional History of England.--Lyell's + Elements of Geology.--Merivale's General History of Rome.--Cox's + General History of Greece.--Classical Dictionary. $1 25 per + volume. + + Lewis's History of Germany.--Ecclesiastical History.--Hume's + England. $1 50 per volume. + + + CAMERON'S ACROSS AFRICA. Across Africa. By Verney Lovett Cameron. + Map and Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00. + + + BULWER'S MISCELLANEOUS PROSE WORKS. The Miscellaneous Prose Works of + Lord Lytton. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50. Also, in uniform style, + _Caxtoniana_. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. + + CARLYLE'S FREDERICK THE GREAT. History of Friedrich II., called + Frederick the Great. By Thomas Carlyle. Portraits, Maps, Plans, etc. + 6 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $12 00; Sheep, $14 40; Half Calf, $22 50. + + + CARLYLE'S FRENCH REVOLUTION. The French Revolution: a History. By + Thomas Carlyle. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50; Sheep, $4 30; Half + Calf, $7 00. + + + CARLYLE'S OLIVER CROMWELL. Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, + including the Supplement to the First Edition. With Elucidations. + By Thomas Carlyle. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50; Sheep, $4 30; + Half Calf, $7 00. + + + ABBOTT'S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. The French Revolution of + 1789, as viewed in the Light of Republican Institutions. By John S. + C. Abbott. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, + $7 25. + + + ABBOTT'S NAPOLEON. The History of Napoleon Bonaparte. By John S. C. + Abbott. Maps, Illustrations, and Portraits. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, + $10 00; Sheep, $11 00; Half Calf, $14 50. + + + ABBOTT'S NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. Napoleon at St. Helena; or, Anecdotes + and Conversations of the Emperor during the Years of his Captivity. + Collected from the Memorials of Las Casas, O'Meara, Montholon, + Antommarchi, and others. By J. S. C. Abbott. Illustrated. 8vo, + Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, $7 25. + + + ABBOTT'S FREDERICK THE GREAT. The History of Frederick the Second, + called Frederick the Great. By John S. C. Abbott. Illustrated. 8vo, + Cloth, $5 00; Half Calf, $7 25. + + + DRAPER'S CIVIL WAR. History of the American Civil War. By John W. + Draper, M.D., LL.D. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, Bevelled Edges, $10 50; + Sheep, $12 00; Half Calf, $17 25. + + + DRAPER'S INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE. A History of the + Intellectual Development of Europe. By John W. Draper, M.D., LL.D. + New Edition, Revised. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00; Half Calf, $6 50. + + + DRAPER'S AMERICAN CIVIL POLICY. Thoughts on the Future Civil Policy of + America. By John W. Draper, M.D., LL.D. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00; + Half Morocco, $3 75. + + McCARTHY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. A History of Our Own Times, from the + Accession of Queen Victoria to the General Election of 1880. By + Justin McCarthy. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2 50. + + + PERRY'S HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. A History of the English + Church, from the Accession of Henry VIII. to the Silencing of + Convocation. By G. G. Perry, M.A. With a Sketch of the History of + the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, by J. A. + Spencer, S.T.D. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. + + + ABBOTT'S DICTIONARY OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE. A Dictionary of Religious + Knowledge, for Popular and Professional Use; comprising full + Information on Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Subjects. + With nearly 1000 Maps and Illustrations. Edited by Lyman Abbott, + with the Co-operation of T. J. Conant, D.D. Royal 8vo, Cloth, $6 00; + Sheep, $7 00; Half Morocco, $8 50. + + + PARTON'S CARICATURE. Caricature and Other Comic Art, in All Times and + Many Lands. By James Parton. 203 Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, Uncut + Edges and Gilt Tops, $5 00; Half Calf, $7 25. + + + MAHAFFY'S GREEK LITERATURE. A History of Classical Greek Literature. + By J. P. Mahaffy. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $4 00. + + + DU CHAILLU'S EQUATORIAL AFRICA. Explorations and Adventures in + Equatorial Africa: with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the + People, and of the Chase of the Gorilla, Crocodile, Leopard, + Elephant, Hippopotamus, and other Animals. By P. B. Du Chaillu. + Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, $7 25. + + + DU CHAILLU'S ASHANGO LAND. A Journey to Ashango Land, and Further + Penetration into Equatorial Africa. By P. B. Du Chaillu. + Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Calf, $7 25. + + + DEXTER'S CONGREGATIONALISM. The Congregationalism of the Last Three + Hundred Years, as seen in its Literature: with Special Reference to + certain Recondite, Neglected, or Disputed Passages. With a + Bibliographical Appendix. By H. M. Dexter. Large 8vo, Cloth, $6 00. + + TROLLOPE'S CICERO. Life of Cicero. By Anthony Trollope. 12mo, Cloth. + + + BAYNE'S LESSONS FROM MY MASTERS. Lessons from My Masters: Carlyle, + Tennyson, and Ruskin. By Peter Bayne, M.A., LL.D. 12mo, Cloth, + $1 75. + + + STANLEY'S THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. Through the Dark Continent; or, + The Sources of the Nile, Around the Great Lakes of Equatorial + Africa, and Down the Livingstone River to the Atlantic Ocean. 149 + Illustrations and 10 Maps. By H. M. Stanley. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, + $10 00; Sheep, $12 00; Half Morocco, $15 00. + + + ENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS. Edited by John Morley. + + The following volumes are now ready. Others will follow. + + Johnson. By L. Stephen.--Gibbon. By J. C. Morison.--Scott. By R. H. + Hutton.--Shelley. By J. A. Symonds.--Goldsmith. By W. Black.--Hume. + By Professor Huxley.--Defoe. By W. Minto.--Burns. By Principal + Shairp.--Spenser. By R. W. Church.--Thackeray. By A. Trollope.--Burke. + By J. Morley.--Milton. By M. Pattison. Southey. By E. Dowden.--Chaucer. + By A. W. Ward.--Bunyan. By J. A. Froude.--Cowper. By G. Smith.--Pope. + By L. Stephen.--Byron. By J. Nichols.--Locke. By T. Fowler. Wordsworth. + By F. W. H. Myers. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents per volume. + + Hawthorne. By Henry James, Jr. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. + + + STRICKLAND'S (Miss) QUEENS OF SCOTLAND. Lives of the Queens of + Scotland and English Princesses connected with the Regal Succession + of Great Britain. By Agnes Strickland. 8 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $12 00; + Half Calf, $26 00. + + + BARTLETT'S FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE. From Egypt to Palestine: Through + Sinai, the Wilderness, and the South Country. Observations of a + Journey made with Special Reference to the History of the + Israelites. By S. C. Bartlett, D.D., LL.D. With Maps and + Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. + + CESNOLA'S CYPRUS. Cyprus: its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples. A + Narrative of Researches and Excavations during Ten Years' Residence + in that Island. By L. P. di Cesnola. With Portrait, Maps, and 400 + Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, Extra, Gilt Tops and Uncut Edges, $7 50. + + TENNYSON'S COMPLETE POEMS. The Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson. With + numerous Illustrations by Eminent Artists, and Three Characteristic + Portraits. 8vo, Paper, $1 00; Cloth, $1 50. + + + NEWCOMB'S ASTRONOMY. Popular Astronomy. By Simon Newcomb, LL.D. With + One Hundred and Twelve Engravings, and five Maps of the Stars. 8vo, + Cloth, $4 00: School Edition, 12mo, Cloth, $1 30. + + + VAN-LENNEP'S BIBLE LANDS. Bible Lands: their Modern Customs and + Manners Illustrative of Scripture. By Henry J. Van-Lennep, D.D. + 350 Engravings and 2 Colored Maps. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $6 00; + Half Morocco or Half Calf, $800. + + + HALLAM'S LITERATURE. Introduction to the Literature of Europe during + the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. By Henry + Hallam. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $4 00; Sheep, $5 00. + + + HALLAM'S MIDDLE AGES. View of the State of Europe during the Middle + Ages. By H. Hallam. 8vo, Cloth, $2 00; Sheep, $2 50. + + + HALLAM'S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. The Constitutional History + of England, from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George + II. By Henry Hallam. 8vo, Cloth, $2 00; Sheep, $2 50. + + + FLAMMARION'S ATMOSPHERE. The Atmosphere. Translated from the French of + Camille Flammarion. With 10 Chromo-Lithographs and 86 Woodcuts. + 8vo, Cloth, $6 00; Half Calf, $8 25. + + + ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. The Annual Record of Science + and Industry. Edited by Professor Spencer F. Baird, with the + Assistance of Eminent Men of Science. The Volumes for 1871, 1872, + 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878 are ready. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00 per + vol.; $15 00 per set. + + + PRIME'S POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and + Nations. With Tables of Factory and Artists' Marks, for the Use of + Collectors. By William C. Prime. LL.D. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, + Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $7 00; Half Calf, $9 25. (In a Box.) + + + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +All obvious typographical errors were corrected. On page 121, there is +an opening quote; but no closing one follows. Based on the text +("Returning from this digression...") on page 124, it was assumed that +the closing quote should have been at the end of the preceding +paragraph. Hyphenation and accents were standardized. However, some +hyphenated and separate word usage (for example, sea bottom(s) and +sea-bottom(s)) were retained due to their grammatic usage. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of the Earth and Man, by J. W. Dawson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42741 *** |