192 Rev. J. B. Reade on Organic Remains 



gigantic remains of Tilgate Forest ; but accurately to follow 

 out the workings of an Omnipotent agent, and to explore what 

 may be justly termed the secret things in the kingdom of na- 

 ture, puts into requisition the talent of our ablest opticians. 

 Were any proof of this assertion necessary, it Mould more 

 than suffice to refer, on the one hand, to the thousands of mi- 

 croscopic bodies which Mr. Lonsdale has discovered in chalk, 

 or to the infinitely greater number of far more minute forms 

 which Prof. Ehrenberg has discovered in the siliceous earths ; 

 and, on the other hand, to bear in mind that the results of 

 the latter distinguished philosopher have set at rest the many 

 unsatisfactory theories respecting the formation of the siliceous 

 nodules of the chalk, and have naturally led to the conjecture, 

 that, " as the formless cement in the semiopal of Bilin has 

 been derived from the decomposition of animal remains, so 

 also even those parts of chalk flints in which no organic struc- 

 ture can be recognised may nevertheless have constituted a 

 part of microscopic animalcules." 



A series of microscopic observations upon the ashes of plants 

 which were commenced in the spring of 1837, led me, by steps 

 heretofore stated in a communication to the British Associa- 

 tion*, to examine into the condition of silica generally; and 

 I not only can bear testimony to the accuracy of Prof. Ehren- 

 berg's conclusion, that to a very great extent the organic re- 

 mains of Infusoria swell the amount of solid matter of the 

 crust of the earth, but I am able also to prove by careful ex- 

 periments, that in plants certainly, and therefore probably in 

 animals, the living principle is endowed with the power of ela- 

 borating out of their proper nutriment the solid materials or 

 frame-work of their support. And hence the origin, and in 

 the present day the increase both of silica and lime. 



With respect to the agency of animalcules secreting carbo- 

 nate of lime, it may be observed, that a thin transparent sec- 

 tion of the Sussex marble shows in the most satisfactory man- 

 ner, that the mouths of the Paludina, instead of being filled up 

 with indurated marl, as was once supposed, abound with the 

 remains of Cyprides, and that, in point of fact, the entire mass 

 of the marble is nothing more than an aggregation of these 

 * Seventh Report. Trausactiona of the Sections, p. 103. 



