ioo The Founders of Geology LECT. 



that the existing dry land was in large measure formed 

 of strata that had once been laid down on the floor of the 

 sea, like the sandstones, marls and limestones with which 

 he was familiar. Rising from underneath these strata, the 

 older and inclined rocks of the mountains appeared to him 

 as the relics of a more ancient continent, which had in like 

 manner been built up of marine sediments. He believed 

 that the tilted, highly -inclined positions of these rocks 

 were due to their having tumbled down into the hollow 

 interior of the earth. 



Fuchsel, with singular sagacity, not only interpreted 

 the origin of individual strata, but divined that a con- 

 tinuous series of strata of the same composition constitutes 

 a formation, or the record of a certain epoch in the history 

 of the globe, thus anticipating a doctrine which afterwards 

 took a prominent place in the system of Werner. All 

 these sediments were originally deposited horizontally. 

 Where they have been placed in inclined positions, 

 the alteration was, in his opinion, to be attributed to 

 some subsequent disturbance, such as the effects of earth- 

 quakes or oscillations of the ground. To earthquakes also 

 he assigned the production of the rents which, being filled 

 from above, now form veins in the rocks. It was his 

 opinion that the earthy passage-beds between formations 

 marked intervening periods of disturbance. 



The Muschelkalk in Fuchsel's district forms the highest 

 of the Secondary formations, and is succeeded by the 

 various alluvial deposits. These youngest accumulations, 

 containing only terrestrial remains, were looked upon by 

 him as having arisen from the action of a great deluge. 



This singularly shrewd observer deserves further to be 



