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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[January, 



or having metailoidal bases forming other mineral compounds, or con- 

 tending with each other, continue for a very long period in their un- 

 combined state. In these vast chemical changes, in this conflict of the 

 elements and elementary compounds, is it to be wondered at, that a 

 great and intense heat is produced, and that this heat existing within 

 bodies of a most inflammable nature, shculd very often increase to the 

 heat of combustion. Once called into action, its duration must depend 

 upon the nature of the material by which it is surrounded, combustion 

 being produced, it will be carried on so long as the causes of action 

 continue to exist, or beds of inflammable matter continue the supply 

 of fuel. Again, these virgin soils, besides the nncombmed minerals, 

 abound with vast accumulations of animal oils, alrsady mineralized 

 as bitumens, or in union with the alkaline earths entering into the 

 condition of rock, stone, and other ponderable substances. This ma- 

 terial, attacked by the chlorides, oxygen, Sc, is likewise the subject 

 of incessant change, and sulphurous acid in particular is generated in 

 nbundance, the vast quantities of sulphur in the inner beds of the 

 eartli being demonstrated by its evolution from all the great volcanoes, 

 and its continued evolution is a very decisive proof that combustion 

 is going on in the bituminous beds and animalized rocks, the skeletons 

 or cinders of the latter being ejected as pumice and ashes. 



Removed from the immediate vicinity or far above the waters, the 

 virgin soil presents to the view one vast chaotic mass of fossil bodies 

 and their comminuted particles, and the progress of change from this 

 chaotic state depends entirely upon the local and general affections 

 which govern and direct them ; thus some formations undergo an al- 

 most immediate transformation, while others, protected from atmos- 

 pheric and aqueous influences, remain for ages in an unchanged «tite. 

 The organic remains of oceanic animals are at all times variably dis- 

 posed in localities, and the nature and qualities of each stratum de- 

 pends on the nature and qualities of the bodies of which it is com- 

 posed, or by which it is surrounded. In the British strata we see this 

 truth illustrated to an amazing extent, extensive districts being co- 

 vered with fossil exuviee, variously changed, but evidently the pro- 

 ducts of the same era, some of them hermetically sealed for many 

 ages past from atmospheric influences, exhibit the same state of 

 nature as when deposited in this their resting place, others exposed 

 to percolating fluids have become silicified or metalline, and in this 

 state, although the organic form and configuration of the body is pre- 

 served, as previously observed, they most truly and strictly belong to 

 the mineral kingdom; all silicates are in fact mineral bodies, and all 

 petrifactions belong to the mineral kingdom, the act of petrifi 

 being the act of silicification and consequent change of the organic 

 body; thus the silicified ammonite is a mineral body — in its natural 

 state alone can it be considered as a fossil. 



The organic remains of oceanic animals and plants are at all times 

 variably disposed in localities, and the nature at.d qualities of strata, 

 necessarily depend on the nature and qualities of the separate or 

 conjoint species of which they are composed, and the after combina- 

 tions of matter with matter. The primary qualities of beds are 

 rarely preserved unchanged for any very prolonged period of time; 

 for exposed to atmospheric influence, or communicated or generated 

 chemical action, the matters in union undergo a partial or complete 

 change in their disposition and qualities, and many new substances 

 are produced: thus the oceanic fossils under peculiar aspects soon 

 loose their identity of character and composition, particularly when 

 exposed to the changing influences of climate, to percolating waters, 

 the intrusion of mineral bodies, the oxygenic action of the atmos- 

 phere, or to volcanic action; and when terrestrial matters blend those 

 which are exclusively oceanic, the modifications of forms and sub- 

 stances become still more numerous and diversified. Uninterrupted 

 by disturbing causes, there is a general simplicity in the arrangement 

 of oceanic iossil beds within and above the waters, by which we are 

 enabled to ascend without difficulty from effects manifest to the pri- 

 mary causes thereof; the cord structure, the vast bed of oysters, 

 the hills composed wholly of particular species, cirrhipedes, the 

 calcareous bed consisting of calcareous matter uniting with the 

 exuviffi of marine bodies, the marl or chalk-like substance covering 

 immense areas of the earth and abounding with fossil shells and 

 fishes, all speak an intelligible language of causes long extinct or at 

 present existing, and of changes common to the several peculiar for- 

 mations, changes evidently brought about by causes as evidently ex- 

 isting or previously in operation. 



Every coral built reef undergoes changes common to all, depending 

 upon climate and association; from the living it gradually and peace- 

 meal enters into the fossil state, and from thence its further transition 

 is slow or rapid according to these laws : sometimes its transition into 

 limestone rock keeps pace with its rapidity of growth, at other times 

 the, bodies and comminuted particles of bodies undergo changes in a 

 manner independent of each other ; thus, for instance, the oceanic hills 



which form the boundaries of upper Egypt, exhibit an almost endless 

 diversity in the change of their constituent parts : thus some of the fossil 

 shell fish are converted into soft chalk, others present various stages of 

 silicification, otherwise termed petrifaction, others decompose, and 

 united together, are know as marble, porphyry, &c; the like changes 

 are observable in all newly created islands and portions of continents. 



" In the province of South Australia," says Mr. Binney, "a vast 

 fossil formation extends from about 13'}° 15' of longitude, with an 

 imperfectly known width towards 14 1 2 , the western boundary of the 

 province; and from about 32 J 40' of latitude to at least the latitude 

 of the sea mouth of the Murray. Its greatest elevation may be stated 

 at 400 feet above the level of the sea : its upper strata are beds of 

 three or four feet in thickness, composed entirely of common oysters 

 and oyster shells, not broken or exhibiting marks of attrition. Below 

 there are much deeper beds of mixed coral, echini, pectens, spirals, 

 and other small marine shells, generally much broken and deposited 

 in sand, limestone, and sometimes splenite, alternating, with beds of 

 saml without shells. At the base of these, or beneath them, are ves- 

 tages of fishes, teeth, and nautili, of four and five inches in diameter. 



The recent discoveries which have taken place in the United 

 States prove the amazing extent of fossil productions, beds of coals 

 covering a vast extent of the superficial strata, bituminized limestones 

 saturated perse with animal oil, beds of fossil organic remains still 

 retaining their primary disposition of parts, and sliales, marls, and 

 clays evidencing by their character and composition their organic 

 origin. "Near Newark," says Dr. Silliman, " the whole valley is one 

 vast cemetery of animal and vegetable remains. A Petroleum oil 

 urll has lately been discovered while boring for salt water near Buck- 

 Nil e, Kentucky, after penetrating through solid rock upwards of 200 

 feet thick, a fountain of pure oil was struck. The coal beds in Ohio 

 State extend over a space of 12.0J0 square miles." "The rocks in 

 the western States, below the coal formation, have evidently," says 

 Dr. Lock, " been deposited in the bed of a deep primitive ocean, and 

 consist of alternations mostly in thin layers varying from one inch to 

 twenty-four inches. The crystalline strata are mostly carbonate of 

 lime, the sedimentary strata are mostly in the lower portions clay 

 and marl, and in the upper portions clay and sandstune, in the supe- 

 rior portions lime, clay, and sand form an arenaceous limestone — all of 

 them contain fossil remains. The arrangement of the rocks, beginning 

 from the bottom, is, 1, blue limestone; 2, clay; 3, flinty limestone; 

 •1, clay marl; 5, cliff* limestone; t>, black bituminous slate; 7, Waveriy 

 sandstone, the whole depth 186S feet. The blue limestone region is 

 SOO feet above low water mark of the Ohio : the limestone is some- 

 times ^00 feet in thickness. In Indiana the black bituminous siate is 

 above lou feet thick ; there is also a vast bituminous coal formation, 

 the whole of the beds being evidently oceanic or of oceanic and ter- 

 restrial deposits, with beds of salt forming the lowest strata, rising in 

 their line upwards of 3000 feet. The brine springs of New York are 

 llngly numerous, and the gypsum deposits are exceedingly ex- 

 tensive. On digging the Erie Canal, at the depth of 42 feet were 

 found several hundred living shell fish, species of mussel; living toads 

 have also been found in millstone grit. 



Of the fossil formations of Europe and portions of Asia, much has 

 recently been written by geologists, to which we refer for information, 

 concerning their extent, and the important part they perform in the 

 economy of nature in forming strati and crystalline rocks— the phe- 

 nomena of the deserts to which tlie following chapter will be devoted, 

 are almost exclusively oceanic. 



The gradual development of life as genera, orders and species, is 

 inferred by philosophers of the present day, from tlie known fact, 

 that the lower we pursue our researches into the bowels of the earth 

 the less we observe traces of organic bodies, and the more simple are 

 the orders, genera, and species, both in their qualities and properties: 

 this is the truth as far as observation is concerned ; but men err 

 greatly when they assert that organic matter entirely disappears at a 

 certain depth. It is true that the animal frame-work can no longer be 

 distinguished after we have descended a certain depth: but, it is 

 equally true, that whatever may be the nature of the lower strata, 

 whether it be sand disintegrated, or united as sandstone, lime, or lime- 

 stone, granite, or any other compact body, all and erery portion of such 

 strata is composed of, and proceeds from organic bodies. The philo- 

 sopher overlooks or otherwise is ignorant of the fact that vegetable 

 earth produced in the decomposition of vegetable and animal bodies, 

 retains no traces within its bulk of aggregate of thuse bodies, death 

 levels all distinction, confounding ten thousand organic bodies in one 

 undistinguished ruin. Every atomic particle, every proximate pun- 

 ciple and compound body, all that is cognizant to the senses of man — 

 all proceed from the elementary compounds, air and water — all enter 

 the mineral kingdom when life has departed. 



M. 



