Proceedings. 35 



whilst two-fifths of the globe were thus being alternately 

 raised and depressed, the remaining three-fifths must have 

 been similarly affected ; the deepest seas thus finally 

 balancing the loftiest elevations, and producing the equi- 

 librium of the earth's crust which we now observe. 



But further. In the countless ages that have passed 

 away since the commencement of the earth's consolidation, 

 aqueous rocks, many miles in vertical thickness, have been 

 deposited. These rocks contain the remains of the successive 

 forms of life that have tenanted both land and sea during 

 these successive epochs. According to the modern theory 

 under discussion, if these great oceans were then such as they 

 are now, representative strata corresponding to the now 

 known vertical series seen on the land must underlie the 

 present ocean beds. The oceans under which the known 

 strata were formed must have opened into these larger and 

 supposed persistent ones ; and though accumulations may 

 have taken place in the latter more slowly than elsewhere, 

 they cannot have been absent. In like manner organic 

 remains must exist in them. How far they became sufficiently 

 shallow to be the home of our terrestrial plants and shore- 

 loving animals may be a question. But just as our modern 

 sharks and huge Cetaceans now traverse the deepest oceans, 

 so the huge Saurians and primeval Cephalopods must have 

 done the same. In like manner the innumerable Foraminifera, 

 which flourish chiefly, if not wholly, near the surface of the 

 sea, exist independent of depth. We know that they lived in 

 primeval time, and doubtless under the same conditions as 

 now. We have proof in the Nummulitic beds, which in 

 some places accumulated to a thickness of several thousand 

 feet, that such was the case, just as the Foraminiferous ooze, 

 or that which is a Foraminiferous residuum, can now be 

 found in most parts of our deep oceans. These few 

 fundamental facts suggest that, whilst lofty mountains and 

 seas of corresponding depths may, and probably did, always 



