690 



GEOLOGY. 



that wasteth at noon-day," has repeatedly visited the globe in modern eras, making havoc 

 with the animal races, like the fatal murrain which Virgil describes as depopulating the 

 Alps. But a case more in point has presented itself to the eye of the sailor, in shoals of 

 the finny tribes haddock, cod, ling, and whiting floating dead upon the surface of 

 the sea, apparently smitten at the same moment by some inexplicable destroying agent. 

 " On Friday, the 4th of December, 1789, the ship Brothers, Captain Stewart, arrived at 

 Leith from Archangel, who reported, that on the coast of Lapland and Norway, he sailed 

 many leagues through immense quantities of dead haddocks. He spoke several English 

 ships, who reported the same fact. It is certain that haddock, which was the fish in 

 greatest abundance in the Edinburgh market, has scarcely been seen there these three 

 years." This statement occurs in one of the letters addressed to Sir John Sinclair, and it 

 records an example of death, and of the deposition of organic forms at the bottom of the 

 existing seas, upon as broad a scale, and in an analogous manner, to that which the long, 

 dry, and elevated rock formations in question disclose. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



N the history of the earth, as inscribed 

 in its various rock-formations a " scroll 

 written within and without," the scene re- 

 peatedly shifts in a very striking manner, 

 and a new aspect is given, as we advance, 

 to the condition of terrestrial nature. No- 

 where is this revelation of fresh existence 

 more apparent than in passing from the old 

 red sandstone to the carboniferous system. 

 The former discloses to us a vast ocean swarming with 

 organic life with vertebrated fishes, mollusca, and sea- 

 weed, the waters alternately reposing and flowing in 

 strong currents ; but extensive tracts of fertile soil, covered 

 with a vegetation as luxuriant as that now found along 

 the banks of the South American rivers, in connection with 

 an abundance of oceanic organisms, is the state of our 

 planet unfolded by the great coal deposits, the most im- 

 portant, and among the most interesting, contents of its 

 crust. There is no ancient condition of the earth that is 

 now contributing so essentially to human happiness and 

 national wealth ; for when we have enumerated a supply 

 of zinc and copper, roofing-slates, and building or paving stones, we have mentioned 

 the chief direct obligations we owe to the older formations. It is from the carboni- 

 ferous system that we derive the most valuable metals of commerce lead and iron, 

 with the vegetable matter that enlivens our hearths, aids in preparing our food, yields 

 the gas that lights our streets, and is an essential agent in the production of that steam- 

 power, upon which manufactures, and locomotion by land and sea, to a large extent 



F, compact carbonate of iron. 

 H and P, stems of vegetables. 

 S, coal veins. 



