$88 tfATlTRE AND CHARACTERS 



sense of the term ; as the peculiar vari- 

 which occur in one country, or over a cer- 

 tain extent of the surface, appear to have ?*o 

 existence in other remote places. 



In the same manner, uncertain as is the recur- 

 rence of the different members of the primary 

 class, as far as the orde^ of their relative arrange- 

 ment is concerned, every one of the members 

 seems to occur in the course of the series, in every 

 country. But, in the secondary, the nature, as 

 well as the order of arrangement of the remark- 

 able varieties, (which, for the purposes of geolo- 

 gical history, are distinctions of great moment,) 

 is very different indifferent situations; as if the 

 primary rocfks had every where been formed and 

 disposed according to a general law for the whole 

 globe, while the secondary were regulated by 

 rules constant only for one limited portion of the 

 surface. 



These questions are of great importance in 

 geological science, and open a wide field of inves- 

 tigation to its cultivators. This is not the place 

 to enquire further respecting them. It may only 

 be remarked, that the deficiencies of the secon- 



