OP A FORMER WORLD. 49 



course of time, accumulated to the extent we find them de- 

 veloped in the various formations. 



The mineralogical character of the rocks, then, unques- 

 tionably prove their formation to have been slow, and con- 

 tinued over a period of time to us immeasurable. 



The third argument in favor of the antiquity of the 

 globe is drawn from the fossil contents of the strata. The 

 strata enumerated are more or less fossiliferous ; very few 

 of them are entirely destitute of organic remains. In the 

 older rocks we have fishes, shells, and plants : in the more 

 recent, shells in greater abundance, plants in large quan- 

 tities, and bones of quadrupeds and birds, are associated 

 with the impressions and skeletons of fishes. The pres- 

 ence of these remains and the nature of them, lead us to as- 

 sign a much longer period for the depositing of the rocks in 

 which they occur, than is generally allowed. 



There are fishes of all sizes and various ages ; and like 

 the fishes in the present seas, they must have acquired time 

 to arrive at maturity. The position in which they are fre- 

 quently found, when their stony matrix is opened, indi- 

 cates that they have sunk in the mud of the sea-bottom, and 

 been overlaid with newer sediment. This was the work of 

 time. And the time required for the depositing of one fish 

 formation, must be multiplied by the number of such for- 

 mations the crust of the earth contains. The same line of 

 argument is applicable to the fossil shells, plants, and 

 bones that are scattered so profusely throughout the strata. 



In carrying out this argument we must refer to the fact 

 that some- rocks of the series are entirely, or in great part, 

 composed of animal or vegetable remains. The coal is a 

 familiar illustration. That this rock is composed of vege- 

 table matter, is now universally acknowledged. In the 

 sandstone and shales that occur in the coal beds, many plants, 

 in fragments, are imbedded : but when the coal is examined 

 no doubt rests on the mind but that it is wholly composed 



