264 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



which it is almost disheartening to think upon. Although the palseo- 

 zoic fauna and flora, are assuredly portions of the same unique system 

 of organized nature, with the assemblages of creatures of after-date in 

 time, they exhibit differences in detail so great that, on superficial 

 consideration, we might almost be inclined to regard them as belonging 

 to some other world than our own. These differences are such as at 

 present set all our calculations respecting the climatal conditions of the 

 primeval (palaeozoic) epochs at defiance. But that these oldest of 

 creations were linked with those that came after, and those amidst 

 which we live, is evident in the number of generic types common to 

 all, and expressed yet more strongly in the presence of straggling 

 representatives of types of life, characteristically palaeozoic, among 

 the very lowermost strata of the secondary period. All analogy 

 teaches us, however, that there is a graduation of one geological 

 period into another ; and every day's advance in research goes to 

 confirm this belief. The facts to which we have alluded indicate 

 evidences of such a graduation of palaeozoic into secondary. But the 

 stages of that graduation, the intermediate formations, have not yet 

 been discovered. Calculating from the amount of blank in the series 

 of organized types, there must have been a vast interval of time inter- 

 vening between the Permian and Triasic epochs, during which, doubt- 

 less, sediments were being deposited in seas, sea-beds upheaved, 

 animals and plants flourishing, generations and generations, nay more, 

 creations and creations, appearing, succeeding and disappearing ; and 

 yet of all these universal accumulations and organized assemblages, 

 there has not been as yet a fragment found. 



" They are but ill-discoverers," wrote Lord Bacon, " that think 

 there is no land when they can see nothing but sea." Columbus had 

 fewer signs to warrant his belief in a new continent than we have to 

 indicate an unexplored and as yet unseen geological world. Such 

 signs cannot be dissipated by any appeal to the series of strata already 

 investigated. If we jot out on the map of the world those portions 

 which have been sufficiently examined, at once palaeontologically and 

 geologically, the space covered by our ink makes but a poor show. Our 

 hope lies in the rapidly advancing progress of comparative geology, 

 especially through the aid and sure operations of organized surveys. 

 All over Europe such surveys are in progress, or about to commence, 

 sanctioned as they ought to be by governments of every shade of 

 opinion. Some three or four years ago, it was publicly declared that 

 the geology of England was completed ; a plausible announcement, 

 since almost every corner has been subjected to the tramp and ham- 

 mers of geologists. Yet, if we are not greatly mistaken, even the 

 geology of England has much still to be done. It is ably sketched out ; 

 portions of it have been developed with skill and ability ; but by far 

 the greater part will yield a luxuriant harvest of discovery to those 

 able and willing to enter upon the task. The nearer we come to 

 geologizing by square miles or leagues, the more interesting will be 

 the results of our labors, and the economical value of geological 

 researches depends mainly upon such works. Westminster 

 1852. 



