tlie Appearance of Man on the Earth. 49 



ishell, so as to prevent the mud from entering. The matter 

 which occupies the other divisions of this latter chamber is, 

 owing to the decay of the animal, highly bituminous. 



Soil. If we now consider, that all the mountain strata, formed 

 at a time when billions of animals might easily be buried in 

 their substance, are filled with their remains, we may justly 

 regard these strata as the large cemeteries or burying-grounds 

 of antiquity, if we be allowed to use such an expression. The 

 greater portion of the crust of our globe is formed by these 

 strata. Let us, for instance, examine the mountains of Swit- 

 zerland and of our own country. In the Jura mountains of 

 Switzerland the strata rise to a height of from 4000 to 5000 

 feet above the sea ; they continue their course through Swa- 

 bia and a part of Bavaria, as far as Saxe-Coburg, reappearing 

 in the north of Germany between the Weser and the Hartz 

 mountains. Similar strata are found in Swabia and the 

 northern parts of Germany, and amongst them the red sand- 

 stone formations occur in considerable masses. 



Suppose the surface of all these strata to be decomposed by 

 the action of the atmosphere, and to be converted into earth, 

 what will be the result \ We obtain a mould or soil impreg- 

 nated with primordial manure. All those animal and vege- 

 table substances, which have been imbedded in these moun- 

 tain strata during the period of their formation, are there still, 

 existing, in a mineralised condition, under the form of bitu- 

 men ; for not a particle of matter can be lost. Since the Crea« 

 tion, there has not been lost one single grain of sand, nor one 

 single drop of water. There is only motion in a circle, — one 

 metamorphosis succeeding another. It follows, therefore, that 

 all those mountain strata, which abound with the remains of 

 animals and vegetables, furnish a species of rich soil. Plants 

 and fruit-trees thrive and give nourishment to man and beasts, 

 at the expense of these remains and of this primordial manure. 

 We return to the fields, through the medium of manure, what 

 we gather from them at the various seasons. Again a motion 

 in a circle. 



Nature, in order to distribute the fertile mould over the 

 country, and to carry it even to the lower plains and sandy 

 deserts, has raised into a vertical position the strata so often 



VOL. XXXVII. NO. LXXIII. ^JULY 1844. D 



