54 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



FROM MB. BAKEWELL. 



HAMPSTEAD, September 24, 1833. 

 ..... WITH respect to Mr. Witham's discoveries I was 



not well assured of their correctness when my account of 

 vegetable fossils passed through the press. Admitting that 

 trees occur in the coal strata, their appearance is so rare, 

 and the number of species or individuals so small, compared 

 with the other fossil species, that they may be regarded as 

 exceptions ; still, however, it is an interesting fact, as show 

 ing that even in early geological epochs the condition of 

 some parts of our planet bore a resemblance to the present 

 one. But this again makes it more extraordinary that the 

 animal remains should be wanting. For if there were land 

 with trees somewhat like the present, where are the animals 

 that inhabited this land ? Up to the present time no re 

 mains of terrestrial mammalia have been found in the 

 secondary strata, except the little creatures at Stonesfield. 

 Now if the sea has not been dredged as Mr. Lyell boasts, 

 yet the beds of ancient seas have been repeatedly laid dry, 

 and are exposed to our observation, and surely some re 

 mains would have been found, but none have been ; and I 

 think it very unfair to argue that we don't know but what 

 they may be found, and therefore we may conclude that 

 perfect terrestrial mammalia did abound in the secondary 

 epoch, when the ancient world was in every way as perfect 

 as the present one. When such remains are found in 

 strata below chalk, it will be time to change our views on 

 the subject. My fourth edition has had a more courteous 

 reception at its birth than the third. Professors Buckland 

 and Sedgwick, both sent me their congratulations and ap 

 probation, and Professor Jameson, who was formerly much 

 offended by my attacks on the Wernerian system, wrote to 

 my publishers saying that he considered it one of the best 

 English books on geology. Professor Buckland also told 

 a gentleman whom I knew, that it was decidedly the book 



