36 EXPLANATIONS. 



pointing, give entirely opposite views of the first 

 fossiliferous formation. Mr. Murchison says, " No 

 trace of a vertebrated animal has been found in 

 the lower Silurian rocks." Mr. Lyell says, " The 

 fact that, with the earliest type of organization, 

 we meet with vertebrated animals, true fish, so far 

 fi*om being explained away since I affirmed it in 

 my book, is confirmed and extended by fresh evi- 

 dence." The very latest affirmation we have on 

 this point fi-om Mr. Murchison — an afikmation 

 made after examining Silurian rocks in Russia, 

 where they are presented in vast extent — contains 

 these words : " The absence of even the lowest of 

 the vertebrata in the inferior Silurian rocks, — an 

 absence which is total, so far as can be inferred 

 from the researches of geologists in all parts of 

 the world, — gives them a true Protozoic cha- 

 racter."* These extracts speak for themselves. 

 The only thing calling for further remark, is the 

 surprising circumstance of this con'espondence 

 having been brought before a learned society, as 

 wholly and nothing else but a condemnation of 

 the Vestiges !\ 



* Abstract of paper by Mr. Murchison, Report of British 

 Association of 1844, page 54. 



f See Examination of the theory contained in Vestiges of 



