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might be deemed one of the most distinct formations ; and yet 
we have seen that at its junction with the upper shale, there is a 
gradual transition of the one into the other, the clay growing 
chalky, and the chalk clayey. Similar appearances occur at the 
junction of other members of the series ; and even where there 
isa distinct line of separation, the evenness of that line is a proof, 
that the inferior member has not lain so long uncovered by its 
successor, as to allow the hand of time, or accidental causes, to 
produce inequalities in its surface. —Besides, the contents of the 
strata do not accord with the formation system. If each member 
of the series was formed so leisurely, and if its animals expired 
on the spots which they occupy, why are almost all the larger 
petrifactions, particularly the large marine animals, so mangled 
and broken; often parted into a thousand pieces, and their frag- 
ments scattered in all directions?—Again, if the strata were 
formed in the way supposed, why do we find in so many of them, 
both low and high, masses or fragments of petrified wood? Why 
is there wood in the alum shale, the ironstone, and the oolite, as 
well as in the coal’ and sandstone strata? Had each world its 
own trees, as well as its own animals? Where are the soils in 
which the successive races of vegetables grew? And why are the 
plants and the shells, the trees and the fishes, of these numerous 
creations, blended together ?—On the whole, the formation sy- 
stem may please the imagination, and give scope to the fancy, 
but it will not stand the test of an appeal to facts. 
«The basaltic dyke bears such strong marks of having been 
composed of fused matter, thrust upwards through a fissure in the 
strata, by volcanic agency, or something akin to it, that we may 
reasonably presume, that such agency may have been employed 
in raising the strata out of the ocean in which they were depo- 
sited.—Some may think, that we should have placed this obser- 
vation among our conjectures, rather than among facts and in- 
ferences: but the appearances of igneous origin presented by our 
whinstone dyke, and other similar dykes, are so strong, as nearly 
to reduce the matter to absolute certainty *. Had the fissure oc- 
cupied by the whin dyke been filled from above, as some suppose, 
whence were the materials derived? There are no strata above 
* The Rev. A. Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor, Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, examined the rocks of this coast a few months ago, and having paid 
particular attention to our basaltic dyke, and to some trap dykes near New- 
castle, andin High Teesdale, was fully convinced, that the evidence for their 
igneous origin appears quite complete. Near Caldron Snout, he found the 
limestone, where it comes in contact with the trap, converted into a gra- 
nular mass, in which you lose all trace of organic remains; but gradually 
recovering its usual texture at the distance of a few feet. The coal shale, 
under the same circumstances, is so indurated as to resemble a piece of 
Lydian stone. ~ i 
capable 
