THE EARTH. 39 



have failed in attaining his principal aim, of esta- 

 blishing a theory, yet he has brought together 

 such a multitude of facts, relative to the history 

 of the earth, and the nature of its fossil produc- 

 tions, that curiosity finds ample compensation, 

 even while it feels the want of conviction. 



Before, therefore, I enter upon the description 

 of those parts of the earth, which seem more 

 naturally to fall within the subject, it will not be 

 improper to give a short history of those animal 

 productions that are found in such quantities, 

 either upon its surface, or at different depths be- 

 low it. They demand our curiosity, and, indeed, 

 there is nothing in natural history that has afford- 

 ed more scope for doubt, conjecture, and specu- 

 lation. Whatever depths of the earth we exa- 

 mine, or whatever distance within land we seek, 

 we most commonly find a number of fossil- 

 shells, which being compared with others from the 

 sea, of known kinds, are found to be exactly of 

 a similar shape and nature.* They are found at 

 the very bottom of quarries and mines, in the 

 retired and inmost parts of the most firm and 

 solid rocks, upon the tops of even the highest 

 hills and mountains, as well as in the valleys and 

 plains ; and this not in one country alone, but in 

 all places where there is any digging for marble, 

 chalk, or any other terrestrial matters, that are so 

 compact as to fence off the external injuries of 

 the air, and thus preserve these shells from decay. 



These marine substances, so commonly dif- 

 fused, and so generally to be met with, were for 



; Woodward's Essay towards a Natural History, p. 1C. 



