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preceding pages. But the congregation of so many of these bodies 

 in particular districts, as has been already noticed, particularly in 

 France, in Switzerland, and in this island, still more strongly proves 

 these to have been the identical parts where they lived. 



But should any doubt remain of the fossil zoophytes having inha- 

 bited the sea, in the identical places where they are now found, pene- 

 trated with and entombed in stone, those doubts must yield to the 

 still more convincing circumstances, which attend the fossil remains 

 of encrini and pentacrini. The marine origin of these animals, we 

 have seen, has been determined by the discovery of the recent re- 

 mains of two or three pentacrini in the Atlantic Ocean : and that 

 the fossil species must have had their existence where they are now 

 found, is plainly evinced, not only by the vast accumulations of 

 distinct species in particular districts ; but by several instances occur- 

 ring, particularly with the lily encrinite, where, notwithstanding the 

 extreme delicacy of their construction, even the more minute, and 

 more easily separable parts, have been repeatedly found, in their mine- 

 ralized state, preserved in almost their natural connection. 



In concluding the present volume, it seems necessary to remark, 

 that the circumstances observed whilst examining the several fossils 

 hitherto noticed, have appeared to be sufficient to warrant the follow- 

 ing conclusions. 



1st. That the water has rested for a considerable period over the 

 general surface of the earth. 



2nd. That the mineralized zoophytes found imbedded in dif- 

 ferent parts of the earth, and even in mountains of consider- 

 able height, have lived and died on those identical spots, which 

 in the former world constituted parts of the bottom of the 

 ocean. 



3rd. That in a previous state of this planet, many species of organ- 

 ized beings existed, which are not known to us, in a recent 



