48 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



there alternations in their appearance ; or, in other 

 words, do the first reappear a second time, and 

 do the others then disappear ? Have these ani- 

 mals and plants all lived in the places where their 

 remains are found, or have they been transported 

 thither from other places ? Do they all live at 

 the present day in some part of the earth, or have 

 they been partially or totally destroyed ? Is there 

 any constant connection between the antiquity of 

 the strata and the resemblance, or non-resem- 

 blance, of the fossils contained in them to the 

 animals and plants which now exist ? Is there 

 any connexion, in regard to climate, between 

 the fossils and such living beings as resemble 

 them most ? May it be concluded, that the 

 transportation of these living beings, if such a 

 thing ever happened, has taken place from north 

 to south, or from east to west ; or were they irre- 

 gularly scattered and mingled together ; and can 

 the epochs of these transportations be determined 

 by the characters which they have impressed up- 

 on the strata ? 



What can be said regarding the causes of the 

 existing state of the globe, if no reply can be 

 made to these questions, if there be no sufficient 

 grounds to determine the choice between an- 

 swering in the affirmative or negative ? It is 

 but too true, that, for a long time, none of these 

 points was satisfactorily determined ; and scarce- 

 ly even would geologists seem to have had any 



