298 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



16. Of the organic bodies imbedded in our strata, some are in a 

 high state of preservation, others are greatly mutilated, compressed, 

 or otherwise injured ; and we have no evidence to prove, that any of 

 them ever lived on the spots where they are found. — It is contended 

 by not a few authors, that a great part of the animals and vegetables 

 which we find petrified, formerly lived where they are now imbedded; 

 because they are found in a high state of preservation, and some 

 of them, especially shell-fish, are found lying in that regular order 

 which we may suppose them to have had when alive. But appear- 

 ances of this kind, though not uncommon in our district, are not 

 suflScient to determine the point. The most remarkable instance of 

 the regular disposition of organic bodies in our strata, is that of the 

 petrified reeds near High Whitby, mentioned p. 184. Most of these 

 reeds stand erect, as if they had grown on the spot, with their roots 

 in the clay that is below their sandy matrix. It is most probable, that 

 they did grow in the clay; yet, may we not suppose, that the clay, 

 with the reeds in it, might be floated hither, at the formation of the 

 beds, accompanied with the sand, which lodging among the reeds, 

 became their matrix ? This idea is corroborated by two circumstan- 

 ces ; one of which is, the total absence of the upper part of the stalks, 

 which all terminate at the surface of the sandstone bed, as if they 

 had been broken off; and the other is, that their roots are almost all 

 bent, and bent in one direction, as if they had been dragged along 

 from some distance. The orderly position of some beds of shells 

 may be accounted for in a similar way ; or it might be effected by the 

 regularity of the successive waves that deposited the strata with their 

 contents. — Nor is the high state of preservation, in which many of 

 the shells are found, a proof that they have not suffered transporta- 

 tion. The most delicate shells might float round the globe without 

 being injured, provided they were entangled in any mucilaginous, 

 clayey, or soft matter, that might serve to defend them; and we have 



