OF THE ORGANIC FOSSILS. 447 



evidently modern origin : we have only to inquire 

 respecting the presence of the bones. In Guernsey 

 there is a fissure in which a rock of this nature is now 

 forming ; and the animal remains are snails, with the 

 skeletons of mice and weasels, united by calcareous 

 matter. There are facts in natural history, which 

 show that animals seek concealed places to die in, arid 

 that predatory animals conceal themselves in such re- 

 treats : the caverns to be immediately examined are 

 striking examples of the same kind. If this be not 

 the solution, I know of no rational one that can be 

 offered. And the further geological conclusion is, 

 that these rocks may be of any date posterior to the 

 disclosure of the strata in which they occur, while that 

 can only be conjectured through zoology, though sel- 

 dom even thus. The organic rock of Guernsey, now 

 forming, is in gneiss : the antiquity of a rock deter- 

 mines nothing as to that of a fissure. 



And this is all : the question might be dismissed, if 

 I were not compelled to notice theories which are still 

 misleading geologists ; as is my perpetually disagree^ 

 able duty. I have just shown it not to be true that 

 they are not formed at the present day, as Cuvier has 

 said : and there is not the least reason for concluding, as 

 he has also done, that they must all be more modern 

 than the antient alluvia containing animal remains. 

 In individual comparisons, this may be the fact : the 

 zoologist is generalizing from single instances in his 

 own department, and in support of some hypothesis. 

 They may be found as antient as the most antient or- 

 ganic alluvia : and this is probably the case with that of 

 Corsica. And no geological relations can be effec- 

 tually deduced from these bones, because, in almost 

 all cases, this must be negative evidence. It has also 

 been said, that the same bones were never found in 



