242 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



dation upon which it mainly rests, we proceed, more in detail, to 

 consider some of the data upon which the doctrines are based, that 

 we may estimate the value of the author's positions, and determine 

 for ourselves how far they are entitled to belief. 



The first 44 pages is a preliminary cTiposition of the arrangements 

 of the universe of matter, in which he treats particularly of the 

 bodies in space-^of their formation^-of the depth to which the 

 earth has been penetrated^of its outer envelopes or coats, as the 

 primary rocks denominated granite, gniess, niica slate, etc. Thus 

 far, the doctrines of ihis work agree with those of the best informed 

 observers of the day, and may be passed over without comment. 

 The next section-, however, entitled " Commencement of organic 

 life — sea plants, corals," etc., demands a passing notice. The 

 position assumed in this section, is, that carbon appeared upon the 

 earth simultaneously with organic beings, as the following extracts 

 show, page 45 : " Limestone is a carbonate of lime, a secondary 

 compound of which one of the ingredients, carbonic acid gas, pre* 

 sents the element carbon^ a perfect novelty in our progress,:" 

 Again, page 46 : " It is not easy to suppose that at this period 

 carbon was adopted directly in its gaseous form into rocks ; for, if 

 so, why should it not have been taken into the ■earlier bodies alsor 



" Again, it is stated from Delabeche, that the quantity of carbo* 

 nic acid gas locked up in a cubic yard of limestone, is equal to 

 16,000 cubic feet---and the quantity locked up in coal is also enor- 

 mous — ^and it is supposed that if this enormous quantity was disen- 

 gaged, or set free, it would prOve destructive to animal life — but, 

 says our author, a large proportion of it must have been, at one 

 time, in the atmosphere. The results which we observe, are per- 

 fectly consistent with, and may be said to pre-suppose, an atmos- 

 phere highly charged with this gas, from about the close of the 

 primary non-fossil iferous rocks, to the termination of the carboni- 

 ferous series, for there we see vast deposits (coal) containing car- 

 bon as a large ingredient, while at the same time the leaves of the 

 Stone Book present no record of the contemporaneous existence of 

 land animals." 



Two important affirmations are made in the above passages ; 

 1st. That carbon and organic beings appeared simultaneously upon 

 the earth. 2d. That the atmosphere, during the period included 



