GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 101 



in form, but stripped of bark. Unfortunately the interior of 

 the stem was ahnost entirely filled with structureless brown 

 coal, so that only two cross sections could be obtained from 

 the outer parts, one sixteen inches, the other three feet six 

 inches broad. In the first section Goeppert counted 700, in 

 the second 1300 rings of wood, so that for the half-diameter 

 of 5 J feet, at least 2200 rings must have existed. As there 

 is every reason to believe that the rings were formed in earlier 

 ages just as the annual zones are now, this tree would be 

 from 2200 to 2500 years old. Exogenous stems in lignite 

 are often of great size and age. In a trunk near Bonn, 

 Noggerath counted 792 annual rings. In the turf bogs of 

 the Somme, at Yseux near Abbeville, a trunk of an oak-tree 

 has been found above 14 feet in diameter. 



>Ye have thus seen that the vegetation of the globe is 

 represented by numerous distinct floras connected with the 

 different periods of its history, and that the farther back we 

 go, the more are the plants diff'erent from those of the present 

 day. There can be no doubt that there have been successive 

 deposits of stratified rocks, and successive creations of living 

 beings. We see that animals and plants have gone through 

 their different phases of existence, and that their remains in 

 all stages of growth and decay have been imbedded in rocks 

 superimposed upon each other in regular succession. It is im- 

 possible to conceive that these were the result of changes pro- 

 duced within the limits of a few days. Considering the depth 

 of stratification, and the condition and nature of the living 

 beings found in the strata at Various depths, we must conclude 

 (unless our senses are mocked by the phenomena presented 

 to our view) that vast periods have elapsed since the Creator 

 in the beginning created the heavens and the earth. How 

 far it may be possible in the future to correlate the history of 

 the earth inscribed on its rocky tablets and deciphered by the 

 geologist, and that short narrative which forms the introduc- 



