ORGANIC R01AINS. 295 





CHAPTER XII. 



^Organic Remains. 



<* 



"And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon 

 All this, and cast a wide and tender light, 

 Which softened down the hoar austerity 

 Of rugged desolation, and fill'd up, 

 As 'twere, anew, the gaps of centuries." 



Byron. 



IN the preceding chapters we have, though somewhat imper- 

 fectly, given a sketch of the great causes of change now in ope- 

 ration on our globe, and we have shown that the earth's surface 

 has been, and still is, subject to perpetual mutations. What was 

 once dry land is now the bed of the ocean, and what is now 

 the bed of the sea will one day be elevated land. We have also 

 seen that the crust or superficial covering of the globe is com- 

 posed of strata succeeding each other in a well determined and 

 regular order, and the remains of countless myriads of animals 

 are entombed in them, which lived and died at periods long ante- 

 cedent to the creation of the human race, nay, more than this, 

 that almost every grain of sand and particle of dust wafted by the 

 wind, teems with organized matter. We have lying before us 

 specimens of whitish earth which to the unassisted eye appears 

 but light chalky powder ; w have but to wet a little of it and place 

 it under the microscope and a thousand perfect forms are visi- 

 ble. From the midst of a lump of chalk we have extracted a 

 nodule of flint, and by the hammer have chipped off several thin 

 slices ; one of these is now under the microscope by us, and we 

 distinctly recognize two beautiful species of infusoria, as perfect 

 and well defined as though now alive, and yet, these little beings 

 have been entombed for myriads of years. What mighty changes 

 have come over the face of our globe since the flinty sea encom- 



