316 GEOLOGY. 



formation. But the most decided proof of these 

 fossils being the remains of another world, and of a 

 distinct creation, is their containing the relics of a 

 tribe of enormous marine animals : quadrupeds pos- 

 sessing the blended structure of fish and lizard, viz. 

 the ichthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, &c., no traces of 

 these having been discovered in any preceding strata. 



The fossil remains throughout the succeeding 

 higher formations of oolite, green sand, chalk, and 

 clay, show new genera both of saurian and testaceous 

 animals, among the former crocodiles, monitors, &c., 

 and among the latter numerous turbinated and tur- 

 retted kinds. 



But when we follow on the surface of the vast 

 mass of upper clay, the traces of diluvian torrents, 

 and the desolation that accompanied the last grand 

 catastrophe which the planet appears to have sus- 

 tained, we then find the remains of another creation, 

 the terrestrial quadrupeds, a new order of animals, 

 differing in almost every respect from those that pre- 

 ceded them, and of which not a single bone is to be 

 found in any of the prior formations. In this grand 

 mutation only some species of quadrupeds (such as 

 the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus) were 

 entirely removed, while other genera of quadrupeds 

 (the mastodon, palseotherium, and anoplotherium) 

 were completely annihilated throughout all their 

 species. 



These changes in the state of the planet, and this 

 partial destruction of quadrupeds, appear to have 

 been succeeded by the creation of man, and such 

 other animals as were fit inhabitants of the earth un- 

 der its existing condition. 



Subsequently the Mosaic deluge took place, but 

 without any great subversive violence,* such as 



* A different opinion is expressed elsewhere. See " Deluge. 

 See also " Surface of the Earth before the Deluge," 



