i834.] RECAPITULATION. 251 



appear to have been formed under the sea, into which rivers 

 brought down the bodies of many animals ; of the greater 

 number of these, only the skeletons have been preserved, 

 but of others the perfect carcass. Now it is known, that in 

 the shallow sea on the arctic coast of America the bottom 

 freezes,* and does not thaw in spring so soon as the surface 

 of the land ; moreover at greater depths, where the bottom 

 of the sea does not freeze, the mud a few feet beneath the 

 top layer might remain even in summer below 32°, as is 

 the case on the land with the soil at the depth of a few feet. 

 At still greater depths, the temperature of the mud and 

 water would probably not be low enough to preserve the 

 flesh ; and hence, carcasses drifted beyond the shallow parts 

 near an arctic coast, would have only their skeletons 

 preserved : now in the extreme northern parts of Siberia 

 bones are infinitely numerous, so that even islets are said to 

 be almost composed of them ; t and those islets lie no less 

 than ten degrees of latitude north of the place where Pallas 

 found the frozen rhinoceros. On the other hand, a carcass 

 washed by a flood into a shallow part of the Arctic Sea, 

 would be preserved for an indefinite period, if it were soon 

 afterwards covered with mud, sufficiently thick to prevent 

 the heat of the summer-water penetrating to it ; and if, 

 when the sea-bottom was upraised into land, the covering 

 was sufficiently thick to prevent the heat of the summer air 

 and sun thawing and corrupting it. 



Recapitulation. — I will recapitulate the principal facts with 

 regard to the climate, ice-action, and organic productions 

 of the southern hemisphere transposing the places in 

 imagination to Europe, with which we are so much better 

 acquainted. Then, near Lisbon, the commonest sea-shells, 

 namely, three species of Oliva^ a Valuta^ and Terebra, would 

 have a tropical character. In the southern provinces of 

 France, magnificent forests, intwined by arborescent grasses 

 and with the trees loaded with parasitical plants, would 

 hide the face of the land. The puma and the jaguar would 

 haunt the Pyrenees. In the latitude of Mont Blanc, but 

 on an island as far westward as central North America, 

 tree-ferns and parasitical Orchidece would thrive amidst the 

 thick woods. Even as far north as central Denmark 

 humming-birds would be seen fluttering about delicat 

 flowers, and parrots feeding amidst the evergreen woods 



* Mesars. Dca«e and Simpson, in Geographical Journal, voL viii., pp 

 t CuvW (" Oa««man» FoaaiUa," torn, i., p. ij)i), from Billing:'* " Voy 



ai8, aa'. 

 oyaea." 



