or THE ORGANIC FOSSILS. 4017 



tfurs to remember that no philosophy will endure 

 which is not founded on truth. Enough. 



Of the general Division and Nature of organic 

 Fossils. 



The great and obvious divisions are into marine and 

 terrestrial, since these materially concern the history 

 of the earth as explained by these bodies. But, under 

 the same reference, the last must be separated into 

 aquatic and terrene. As organic bodies, they are 

 divided into animals and vegetables ; the latter being 

 rare among the marine, and confined chiefly to the 

 terrestrial deposits : the former being both marine 

 and terrestrial, and, in the latter division, terrene and 

 aquatic. 



The Lithophytes, or corals, among the marine 

 fossils, form the basis of strata of high antiquity ; 

 having Originally perhaps resembled the coral islands 

 of our own day. That they should be mixed with 

 other shells, we can easily understand ; and, when 

 found independent, they may belong to alluvial ma- 

 rine deposits, or be derived from demolished rocks. 

 The testaceous animals constitute a much larger di- 

 vision, as their produce in rock also far exceeds that 

 of the former ; and thus also do they occupy a much 

 greater range among the strata. The crustaceous 

 animals are comparatively rare, in quantity and in 

 variety. This is explicable, partly by retrospective in- 

 ferences derived from their present known rarity, 

 and partly by the tenderness of their structure. And 

 this last fact explains the still greater rarity of the 

 fishes, of which the hard parts are often the only ones 

 preserved. If the cetaceous fishes are also rare, we 

 must recollect that they are so as living animals : and, 

 of these and the last, it may be remarked that they 



