54 MFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



FROM MR. BAKEWELL. 



HAMPSTEAD, September 24, 1833. 



TViTH respect to Mr. Witham's discoveries I was 



not well assured of their correctness when my account of 

 Is passed through the press. Admitting that 



i. tear in the coal strata, their appearance is so rare, 

 and the number of species or individuals so small, compared 

 with the other fossil species, that they may be regarded as 



tions ; still, however, it is an interesting fact, as show- 

 ing that even in early geological epochs the condition of 

 some parts of our planet bore a resemblance to the present 

 one. But this again makes it more extraordinary that the 

 animal remains should be wanting. For if there were land 

 with trees somewhat like the present, where are the animals 

 that inhabited this land? Up to the present time no re- 

 mains of terrestrial mammalia have been found in the 



tlary strata, except the little creatures at Stonesfield. 

 : has not been dredged as Mr. Lyell boasts, 

 yet tin- beds of ancient seas have been repeatedly laid dry, 

 and an- exposed to our observation, and surely some re- 

 mains would have been found, but none have been ; and I 

 think it very unfair to argue that we don't know but what 

 they may be found, and therefore we may conclude that 

 pert'eet terrestrial mammalia did abound in the secondary 

 epot -li. Vvhen the ancient world was in every way as perfect 

 as the present one. When such remains are found in 

 l>elo\v ehalk, it will be time to change our views on 

 My fourth edition has had a more courteous 



:i"ii at its birth than the third. Professors Buckland 

 and Si-dgwiek. both sent me their congratulations and ap- 

 probation, and Professor .Jameson, who was formerly much 



led by my attacks on the Wernerian system, wrote to 



uhlishers saying that he considered it one of the best 



I on geology. Professor Buckland also told 



a gentleman whom I knew, that it was decidedly the book 



