FLORA. 193 



SECTION V. PALAEONTOLOGICAL BOTANY. 



By the study of debris of vegetation found preserved 

 from ancient times in peat bogs, much may be learned in 

 regard to the state of the earth and the climate, in the 

 place of their production, at the time of their growth ; 

 and thus may much be learned in regard to the state of 

 the earth in these localities in times long preceding what 

 is called the historic period, or that in regard to which we 

 have notices, more or less explicit, preserved in historical 

 records, and it may be long anterior to the times in which 

 these records were made, and to earlier times to which these 

 records may allude; and by the study of fossil plants 

 much may in like manner be learned in regard to the 

 state of the world in even pre-adamic times, in times 

 much more remote from the present than the so-called 

 tertiary and post-tertiary periods of the geologist. By the 

 study of these we may be carried back to what may seem 

 to be the beginning of the creation of the organic struc- 

 tures, vegetable and animal, with which the earth is now 

 clothed and peopled. 



Through including within the range of our observation 

 and study the outlying islands of Nova Zembla and the 

 lands beyond, we have been introduced to a region which, 

 according to the rules of study in palaeontology, has been 

 or, if it be required of us to speak more guardedly may 

 have been that first site of vegetation upon the earth, from 

 which it went forth to multiply and replenish the earth as 

 man went forth from his first home to fulfil what was his 

 mission in the providence of God ; and the facts upon 

 which this conclusion is based will be found well deserving 

 of consideration. 



Large and valuable collections of fossils found in the 

 Polar regions have been made. These have been studied 

 with much care and attention by students of fossil plants, 

 and pre-eminently by Dr Oswald Heer, Professor of 



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