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shown, enormous, but it would almost appear as if 

 Nature, in her unfathomable wisdom, had foreseen 

 the wanton and reckless waste of which man in his 

 ignorance would be guilty ; and just as she has 

 displayed this foresight and wisdom in storing up 

 for him, in the remains of a bygone vegetable world, 

 treasures hidden in the bosom of the earth, in order 

 that he may find them only when extreme need 

 would compel him to seek for them, when the 

 consequences of the recklessness with which he 

 wantonly destroyed forests of timber without re- 

 planting part of it would awaken him to a sense of 

 his misdoings, and would begin to make him careful 

 of what was left so Nature has evinced the same 

 wisdom and forethought in preserving the remains 

 of a bygone animal world, and in the fossil bones of 

 antediluvian animals we find partially the means to 

 repair the lamentable waste which we have noticed. 

 Immense strata of petrified bones have been 

 discovered of late in Europe, and are said to exist 

 also in India in the Sewalik Range, the Nerbudda 

 Valley, and somewhere near Umballa. Nature, in 

 providing these stores, lays it in our power to return 

 to the soil part of the phosphoric acid which has 

 been so wantonly wasted, and these remains of a 

 bygone animal generation will serve to restore the 

 fertility of our fields, and provide for the wants of 

 an increasing population. But the existence of 

 these stores does not justify us in disregarding the 



