M. De Candolle 07i Fossil Vegetables. 99 



in the vegetable, as it has been supposed to exist in the animal 

 kingdom. The only difference, as it appears to me, is, that the 

 great divisions of the vegetable kingdom have always had re- 

 presentatives, whilst the vertebrates, for example, appear to be 

 wholly wanting in the more ancient periods. But this difference 

 may not excite much astonishment, when we think on the im- 

 mense distance which separates the inferior from the superior 

 animals, and the comparative homogeneous character of the great 

 classes of vegetables. 



Some philosophers have thrown out the idea, that organised 

 fossil beings, served as a kind of compliment to beings now exist- 

 ing, in filling up the gaps which may be remarked between cer- 

 tain classes, and in giving a complete symmetry to a table of af- 

 finities which is now irregular. But this bold hypothesis does 

 not require our examination ; for if the present period is 

 a perfectioning of former organized beings, one might with 

 quite as much reason, and drawing support from a probability 

 grounded on the past, regard these present organized beings as 

 a stepping-stone for yet future improvement. So that if that 

 which is here assumed to have often happened, were again to 

 be repeated, all the existing species would one day be placed 

 lower, as to other species, and some would be in a higher state 

 of organization, so that the entire whole would be superior to the 

 whole of that which had previously existed. This is the hypo- 

 thesis which this analogy would indicate, and in matters of this 

 nature, suppositions founded on what has already happened, 

 should unquestionably be the least hazardous which can be made. 



VI. On some Consequences which result from the Study ok 

 Fossil Vegetables. 



The study of fossils generally leads to important consequences, 

 as it regards the history of our globe. It belongs to the geolo- 

 gist more especially to examine them ; whilst, at the same time, 

 the deductions drawn from fossil vegetables, are connected with 

 considerations which are purely botanical, and hence some of 

 them may be pointed out here. 



The physical conditions in which a locality must have existed, 

 arc often better indicated by fossil vegetables than by fossil ani- 

 mals. Wc cannot have much doubt respecting the history of a 



