282 Mr. Robberds on the former Level of the German Occaiif 



grottos, and even used for building. So also on the other 

 hand, the exuviae which they contain bear so perfect a resem- 

 blance to the httoral shells which now abountl in the neigh- 

 bouring ocean, that they may be regarded as necessary links 

 in the series of marine spoils — connecting those which attest 

 the last previous operations of the sea with those which are 

 daily left on its present shores by the ebbing tide. 



In the list which I gave of these shells, I did not pretend 

 to enter into minute scientific details; I only enumerated those, 

 which are sufficiently abundant to render probable the actual 

 abode of the living animals, where their remains are still to be 

 seen. Single specimens of rare or extinct tribes occupy the 

 most conspicuous and important places in the cabinets of the 

 curious and the transactions of learned societies ; but they are 

 of no account in determining the character and antiquity of 

 any formation, in which they may have been accidentally as- 

 sociated with multitudes of the commonest and most recent 

 species. The microscopic eye of science often dwells so in- 

 tenth' upon trifles, that it magnifies them into undue conse- 

 quence; and their proportions thus unnaturally enlarged, 

 engross the whole field of view, excluding all the ordinary facts 

 and constantly recurring phsenomena, from which alone just 

 and comprehensive ideas of physical truths can be derived. 

 Hence it is that a few extraneous substances, dislodged from 

 an earlier stratum, and fortuitously washed down to the side 

 of the valley of the Yare, are triumphantl)^ appealed to in sup- 

 port of a theory, which is not in accordance with all the pre- 

 vailing and most decidedly marked features of the district. 

 The tooth of a Mastodon has been discovered atAVhitlingham! 

 Pi'odigious ! This wonderful grinder therefore is an " abso- 

 lute proof" that all the myriads upon myriads of Buccina, 

 Tellina;, Cardia, Mytili, Turbines littorei, 3,-c. whose exuviaj 

 line the basin of this valley, were coeval with the Mastodon, 

 the Palseotherium, and all the lost races of quadrupeds, which 

 perished in the last great convulsion experienced by the earth. 

 It is far from my wish to treat with levity or ridicule the in- 

 dustrious researches of scientific men ; but who can always 

 suppress the rising smile at their complacent self-delusions, or 

 never demonstrate, but with composed gravity, the haud sequi- 

 tur of their inconclusive reasonings upon petty and misplaced 

 facts? Nor would I be thought to under-rate the importance, 

 either of our national, or of our provincial museums : — to those 

 who use them intelligently and carefully, they are funds of 

 valuable information ; but I cannot too earnestly point out the 

 necessity for great prudence in selecting, and still greater 



caution 



