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Petrifaction — Singular instances of incrustation — Clianges in Derby- 

 sliire — Petrifying springs in Persia — Their action described — The sub- 

 stance called Travestine— Sir Humphrey Davy's opinion respecting it — 

 Sudden changes of organized bodies into mineral matter — Nummu- 

 lites — Prodigious number of these creatures — Vast masses of micro- 

 scopic shells — Similar accumulations in deposits of fresh-water formation 

 — The Altain chain of mountains encloses marine shells — Immense bed 

 of fossil shells — Limestone rocks of Dove Dale— Floating swarms of ani- 

 mated beings — Quarries near Paris — Astonishing phenomena produced 

 from inconsiderable objects — The globe teems with fossils — The family 

 of the Ammonites — Position of the animal when living — Lightness and 

 strength alike required in the structure of these creatures — Remarkable 

 facts as to the depth of the ocean and the pressure of the waters — Mar- 

 vellous adaptation of the shell of the Ammonite to its circumstances — 

 The Belemnite — Fossil Ink of the Cuttle-fish — Its employment by the 

 artist — Pen of this creature — Its instant destruction and burial — Turri- 

 lites, etc. — Proof that innumerable beings have lived which are now 

 extinct — The wayward intellect of man — The word of God abideth for 

 ever 187 



