— 41 — 



vino- i-t tottering to it's fall. If Australia be incluflcd in Mr. 

 Darwin's notion of isolated points, wc slioulcl have been obb'ged 

 by liis inforining us of any other, ofiering more ostensible rea- 

 sons for putting forward the mysterious question for a solution. 

 If that country be not incladed in his said notion, then we 

 wöuld ask why it has not ? certainly it affords a somewhat broa- 

 der ground for the discussion, than does tlft doubtful distinc- 

 tion of species, between the land turtles and a lizard or so, 

 of the Gallapagos Islands, and those of the germs to be found 

 elsewhere, and here; we may farther observe, with reference to 

 the foresaid question, that malgré the outcry raised by bigotry, 

 cant, and interested hypocrisy, against the work entitled // Yes- 

 tiges of Creation," its main principle, points to a solution, 

 at once asreeable to facts, and to the most elevated ideas, 

 which the human intellect can conceive of the Creator's omr 

 niscience, in creating organizations , capable of being developed 

 iuto variations of forms, aptitudes and faciilties, harmonizing 

 with the development of the capacities of the land, the water 

 and the atmosphere, by successive geological changes. 



XXVIII. » Briefly lo recapitulate. In the first place, reefs are formeel 

 » around islands, or on the coasl of the raainland at that limited deplh 

 » at which the efficiënt classes of loophytes can live, and where the sea 

 » is shailow ; irregular palches may likev?ise be produced afterwards, from 

 » ihe effecls of a series of small stibsidences; encircling reefs, grand barriers, 

 »or lagoon islands , are raere inodificalions of one necessary result. Sc- 

 »condly, it can be shewn , on the above views, that the intertropical ocean 

 » throughout more than a hemisphere , may be divided inlo linear and pa- 

 «rallel bands, of which the al;ernate cues, have undergone wilhin a recent 

 « period the opposite inovemenls of elevalion and subsidence. Thiidly, 

 3> that the points of eruption , seem invariably to fall within areas subject 

 »lo propulsion from below. Fourthly , as the traveller who is an eye 

 » witness of some great and overwlielming earthquake, at one moment of 

 »time loses all former associations of the land being a type of solidity, 

 ^so will the geologist, if he believes in these oscillations of level , the 

 »deeply seated origin of whicii is betrayed by their forms and vast di- 

 sraensions, perhaps be more deeply impressed with the neverceasing mu- 

 »tability of this our world." 



Briefly to recapitulate. Reefs may and probably have been 

 commenced in great deptlis by the calcareous exuviae of all 



