Detrital Theory of Geology. 319 



carbonized atmosphere, yet, such an extreme hypothesis 

 bein^ admitted, the utter valuelessness of it is apparent when 

 the amount of carbon contained in lime and magnesia, in the 

 form of carbonates, is borne in mind, which in itself can 

 scarcely be much less, if any, when each are isolated, than 

 that contained in the coal measure. Added to which is the 

 present amount of carbon contained in the atmosphere, and 

 in vegetable and animal products all over the world. And 

 when all these are considered, the failure in granite to supply 

 carbon is most complete. 



Having now dismissed the subject of supply and demand 

 between granite and the sedimentary rocks, a friend to the 

 detrital theory would say, " All that has been said about 

 granite sounds very well, but how about the organic 

 remains ? " For if there be one fact more certain than 

 another with respect to stratification being the result of the 

 slow wasting and deposition in the sea, or land-locked lakes, 

 of the debris of one order or system of creation with its 

 necessarily accompanying soil or rock, slowly consolidated 

 by pressure and mutual attraction of its particles, surely that 

 fact is, that every stratum has its own peculiar organic 

 remains. Thus, Mr. Page, in his " Advanced Text-Book," 

 which gives an excellent summary of the present state of 

 geology, describes the theoretical aspect of the science : 

 " By examining, noting, and comparing, as indicated in the 

 preceding paragraphs, the geologist finds that the strata 

 composing the earth's crust can be arranged in series ; that 

 one set or series always underlies, and is succeeded by, a 

 different set ; and that each series contains the remains of certain 

 plants and animals not to be found in any other series." 



It is quite true that in the transition between one stratum 

 and the next in order above it, the same organic orders and 

 families will be found, and here and there as with the 

 Terebratulze, Products, the Ammonites and Encrinites, 



