434 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



follows, — (hat our planet is regularlj' changing it? 



position, en lyiasse, with reference to the centre of 

 the system, <he eun ; that is, although polar axps 

 will always exist, yet ihat their position cannot be 

 constant, but variable, producing those great 

 changes of position, and coneequentiy of tempe- 

 rature — requiring periods of time almost beyond 

 our calculations, but which, by asironomical in- 

 vestigation, will no douht uliimately be established. 



These are the principles on which Mr. SauH es- 

 tablishes his theory, and which he satislactorily 

 proves by examining the various sirata of the 

 earth. Through all the'primitive ro^ks, from the 

 granite up to the clay state inclusive, no organic 

 remains are found— hence their term protozoic, 

 that is, be:ore life ; but the calcareous matter has 

 gone on increasing, and in the next stage, in 

 what was heretofore called grauwacke, but now 

 the upper silurian, we find life first developed in a 

 few varieties of shell-fish only ; other beds inter- 

 vene, almost destitute of organic remains, suc- 

 ceeded by strata of great thickness, containing 

 corals in abundance, and exhibiting for the first 

 .time, their masses in the form and pattern as they 

 grew, with trilohites, orthroceratites, leptera, cya- 

 throcrinites, orphis, euomphalus, &c. Abundance 

 of other fossils are found in these beds, indicative 

 of a tropical climate and the preponderance of sa- 

 line waters. 



Above this appears tlie old red sandstone, in 

 some places upwards of 3000 feet thick, in which 

 are no corals and but few fishes and shells, which 

 he considers to be proof that a cold norihern cli- 

 mate then prevailed, and the structure of this 

 great formation shows it to be marine. 



Above the old red sandstone is the mountain 

 limestone, in which the abundance of what was 

 animated life strikes us with astonishment. We 

 discern, for the first time, the nautilus, with much 

 larger orthoceratites than before, accompanied 

 with epirifera, producta, bellerophon, crinoidea, 

 with an immense number of corals, of innumera- 

 ble varieties of species, and of the greatest beauty, 

 the clear indications of a very hot climate, and 

 also the prevalence of the oceanic waters. 



Next in the ascending order is the millstone 

 grit, the greater part of which is destitute of orga- 

 nic remains. Now, although this formation ap- 

 pears to be oceanic, yet there are many stems of 

 vegetables found in it, which most probably, by 

 Bome of the violent perturbations of the surface by 

 volcanic or igneous action, have been forced into 

 it, seeing that these stems of plants are all filled 

 up with sea sand. A limestone bed succeeds, in 

 which we trace scales, jaws, and teeth of many 

 species of reptile fish, with marine or fucoid plants, 

 which is considered by the author as a convincing 

 proof of the gradual increasing heat of the climate 

 during this period, and as preparing for the next 

 most important epoch, namely, that of the great 

 coal formation. Here it is evident that the oceanic 

 waters had receded from the northern hemisphere, 

 and the surface was covered with magnificent 

 plants, with palms, palmacites, shrubs and arbo- 

 rescent fern?, xvith reeds in places of thirty or forty 

 feet in height ! — and it appears the atmosphere 

 was replete with moisture as well as the surface 

 of the earih. Baron Humboldt considers Ihat at 

 this period our climate resembled the hottest part 

 of South America, wh-ence some of the tributa- 

 ries of the greatest river of the Amazons flows, 



which he graphically describes thus ; Fresh wa- 

 ter streams running in every direction ; vegetation 

 in places absolutely impenetrable ; the moist, hu- 

 mid atmosphere producing rapid decomposition of 

 the vegetation, and on the other hand forcing it 

 like a hot-bed, so that some shrubs grow more 

 than twenty feet high in one year : hence we na- 

 turally account for the vast quantity of bituminous 

 coal, which is clearly proved to be of vegetable 

 origin. 



After this period the saline waters appearto pre- 

 ponderate, since the stems of the plants, &c., are 

 all filled up with sea sand ; and the proofs appear 

 complete, that the temperature was gradually 

 growing colder, since, in the next beds, the fossils 

 are less numerous, but they clearly indicate their 

 marine origin. 



In the ascending order he now arrives at the 

 new red sand-stone, and this he finds almost a re- 

 petition of the old red so much below it. In its 

 sandy and frequently finely lamellaied structure 

 there is abundant proof of oceanic action and 

 deposition. There are but very i'ew fossils im- 

 bedded in it, yet small fossil fish are numerous 

 towards the upper part of this bed : pans of the 

 stems of trees are occasionally found, but they 

 are completely filled up with silica. Now, as 

 these could not have grown in the ocean, they 

 must have become imbedded in this mass by" 

 other circumstances, probably volcanic action. The 

 great masses of rock salt in this country are also 

 found in this formation, which is a complete proof 

 of its marine origin, and most probably ihose depo- 

 sitions and incrustations took place during the trra- 

 dual decrease of the oceanic waters. 



The author assumes that the temperature now 

 increased in warmth, since in the lias formation, 

 which sucreeds the new red sand-stone, the re- 

 mains of crocodiles, icihyosaurus, and plesiosau- 

 rus, are found for the first lime, with large nauti- 

 lus ; and ammonites of a great variety of species, 

 with a vast abundance of fishes covered with 

 scales, an infinite variety of shell fish, Crustacea 

 and testacea. Corals are also abundant in this 

 bed. 



Immediately above this, in the marlstone beds, 

 he traces the impressions of plants, most of which 

 resemble those of the southern tropics of the 

 present day. Again, a change, and the oceanic 

 waters preponderate. In the lower oolite the 

 fossils are principally marine, and perhaps these 

 lived under a colder clime ; but the fossd remains 

 are now so numerous and intermixed, that Mr, 

 Saull cannot discover those broad and well-mark- 

 ed lines of distinction which he has so clearly 

 pointed out heretofore. 



The coral rag exhibits an amazing growth of 

 corals, many of them of the species growing at 

 the present day in tro|)ical seas. In the upper 

 oolite he finds evidences of a warm climate, with 

 its corresponding fossils ; the most remarkable of 

 which are those resembling the zamia or cycade- 

 oidea of the present forests of Africa, with large 

 (bssil trees. Again, we arrive at fresh water and 

 mixed beds, in one of which, the Wealden, are 

 found the remains of the iguanodon, so admirably 

 described by Dr. Mantell. This amphibious rep- 

 tile must have been, when at full growth, not less 

 than eighty feet in length. Mr. SauH's museum 

 is rich in the number of bones it contains of this 

 most extraordinary being. There are vertebrae 



