THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



433 



scarcely sensible chanses." " What shall we 

 eay," he continues, ol the death of the now (bssil 

 horse? Did those plains fail in pasture, vvhicli 

 alterwards were overrun by ihoupands and tens o( 

 thousands of the successors of the Iresh slocU in- 

 troduced' with the Spanit>h colonist'?" "One is 

 tempted," he continues, "to believe in such sim- 

 ple relations as variations of climate and lood, or 

 iniroduciion of enemies, or the increased number 

 of other species, as tire cause of the succession of 

 races. But it may be asked whether ii is proba- 

 ble thai any such cause could have been in aciion 

 during the same epoch over the whole northern 

 hemisphere, so as to destroy the eleplms primoge- 

 71US on the shores of Spain, on the plains of Sibe- 

 ria, and in nortiiern America; and in like man- 

 ner the 60s urus, over a range of scarcely less ex- 

 tent ? Did such changes put a period to the iiie 

 of the mashxlon augusiidens and of the horse, 

 both in Europe and on the eastern slope of the 

 Cordillera in southern America? If they did, 

 they must have been changes common to the 

 whole world ; sucii as a gradual refrigeration, 

 whether from modification of physical geography, 

 or from central cooling. But in this assumpiion, 

 we have lo struggle with tlie difficulty that these 

 supposed change?, alihoutrh scarcely sufficient to 

 aHect molluscous animals either in Europe or 

 South America, yet destroyed many quadrupeds in 

 regions now characterised by Irigid, temperate and 

 warm climates." The elephas primogenus is thus 

 circumstanced, having been found in Yorkshire ; 

 and now associated (says Lyell) with recent BhelU 

 in Siberia and in the warm regions of lat. 3P, in 

 JSorth America. 



The law of the succession of typ^s, although 

 subject to some remarkable exceptions, must pos- 

 sess the highest interest to every philosophical na- 

 turalist. Some of the animals we have been de- 

 scribing appear to have been created with peculiar 

 kinds of organization, suited to particular eras; 

 and it does not seem extraordinary that their ex- 

 tinction, more than their creation, should exclu- 

 sively depend on the nature (altered by physical 

 changes) of their country. But as to the horse, 

 lor instance, h's constitution appears suited to 

 every climate ; and we cannot account for their 

 species being destroyed throughout the whole of 

 the two continenib' of America, unless the change 

 was much more considerable than we imagine it 

 to have been. 



It would seem, from what has been stated, that 

 certain rac-. s of living beings and plants, suitable 

 to peculiar conditions of the earth, were created, 

 and when those s^atee became no longer lavora- 

 ble for the continuance of such types or organiza- 

 tion, according to the natural laws by which the 

 conditions of tlieir races were determined, they 

 disappeared, and were succeeded by new Ibrnis. 



The reader will observe, in the geological mu- 

 tations we have briefly alluded to, that one simple 

 inundation, one general catastrophe, is not suffi- 

 cient 16 account lor the phenomena we have de- 

 scribed, since many alternate changes of heat and 

 cold must have taken place to have produced 

 these alieraiions on the earth's siirlace. 



Mr. W, D. Saull, F. G. S., is the only wriier 

 who has accounted lor those changes in a satis- 

 lactory manner. This gentleman confines himself 

 principally to the strata of England, in his illustra- 

 tions ; but it will be seen that they easily solve 

 Vol. X.— 55 



all the difficulties that Darwin alludes to respect- 

 ing these changes in tlie American continents, 



Mr. Saull's elucidations proceed regularly from a 

 fundamental principle as a basis, that the granite 

 is the most ancient stratum, lor on this all the 

 other beds are succet-sively deposited ; and he is 

 confirmed in this opinion by observations made in 

 different parts of the earib, which tend to prove 

 that such is the case. For not only in both Ame- 

 ricas, but specimen* have recently been brought 

 Irom Australia, which exactly resemble the gra- 

 nites found in Devonehire, in Scotland, &c. 



Having established a basis, he then proceeds to 

 chemical analysis, which proves that this rock is 

 composed of quartz, mica, and felspar, in the lat- 

 ter of which only is contained a small quantity of 

 calcareous matter, probably not more than two or 

 three per cent. ; but that this is the germ, as it 

 were, of production, of the shell, the fibre, and, 

 ultimately, the bone, fiesh, and food, so necessary 

 for the support of organized beings when they 

 come to be developed on the surlace of our planet. 



He then arrives at this conclusion, — that, by 

 the action of water and the atmosphere, this hard, 

 substance is pulverized and decomposed, and in 

 that state — when the circumstances are favorable, 

 viz., under a tropical climate, and also saline wa- 

 ters — corallines would germinate Irom the root 

 or basis before-mentioned : these being reduced 

 to powder by the action of the element in which 

 they grew, would in their turn, reproduce more, 

 and thus the lertilizing principle would continue 

 progressing ; and so it is fijund on analszation of 

 all the primary rocks, which exhibit a gradual in- 

 creise of this necessary material in the ascending 

 order. 



Now, as this material is found to terminate 

 spontaneously, as it were, in hot clim:ites only, 

 the author deduces some original conclusions, 

 which are of great value and importance, with re- 

 ference to the effects on our planet. 



Isi. That matter and motion are universal, and 

 that nothing whatever can be completely passive 

 or at rest. 



2d. That the revo'ulion of a planetary body on 

 its axis, and in its orbit round the sim as a pri- 

 mary body, being universal also, definite efTects 

 are thereby produced. 



3d. That these eff'eclG are, d priori., light dif- 

 fused, which light being atomical, although im- 

 measurably minute, the excitation of the atoms 

 being greatest where the recipient body revolves 

 most rapidly, or traverses the greater medium 

 in space, namely, the equatorial (laris ; hence it 

 Ibllowe, as a necessary consequence, that the 

 greater heat will be diffused on its central or equa- 

 torial zones,, gradually decreasing towards both 

 poles, where the motion of course is slower. 



4ih. 'i'hat all parts ol the earth's surface partake 

 of the genial influence (so to speak) in regular 

 successive order, requiring immense periods of 

 time to -accomplish it ; and that our planet ie, 

 therefore, constantly and universally progressing, 

 with relierence to beings exislini: on its surlace. 



5th. That the elevation and depression of the 

 oceanic waters in both hemispheres arc also re- 

 gular and constant, and most probably the effect 

 of motion, although it may be distinct and sub- 

 ject to other laws than the changes of climate 

 before alluded to, 



6th. From these facts the conclusion naturally 



