72 Introduction to Geology. 



elusions which they afford from time to time, even to the most 

 cautious observer, have nothing vague or arbitrary in their 

 nature. Finally, by the careful investigation of these events, 

 which approach, as it were, to the history of our own race, we 

 may hope to be able to discover some traces of more ancient 

 events and their causes; if, after so many abortive attempts 

 already made on the same subject, we may yet flatter ourselves 

 with that hope." 



From the commencement of his investigation, the observer 

 is struck with the numerous proofs of the altered state of our 

 globe, and with the extensive distribution of the fossil remains. 

 Not in one particular spot, not in one region, not in one quarter 

 of the globe alone: but wherever the strata have been explored; 

 in the greatest subterranean depths, in the bowels of moun- 

 tains, in situations far remote from the sea, and on heights 

 vastly above its level, these wonderful relics are deposited. 

 In almost every part of the world, the same phenomena are 

 exhibited, constituting durable monuments to mark the revolu- 

 tions upon our planet. As the enquiry proceeds, it is perceived 

 that the species of fossil animals, and even many genera, differ 

 totally from the animals that now inhabit the earth. In the 

 order of fossil Testacea, appertaining to the English form- 

 ations, more than 1300 species have been named and described 

 by Messrs. Sowerby and other naturalists ; but it is probable 

 that at least nine tenths differ materially from the recent 

 species. On the Continent, M. Lamarck has produced a list, 

 and specified the distinguishing characters of about 720 spe- 

 cies of fossil shells. Messrs. Cuvier and Brongniart enumerate 

 more than 600 species of marine shells in the calcaire grossier 

 of the environs of Paris, by far the greater number of which 

 are unknown in a recent state. 



By means of the fossils in this order of rocks, we are fur- 

 nished with unanswerable evidence of the antiquity of our 

 globe, and we can form some vague notions of the vast series 

 of years which must have elapsed during the formation of such 

 a multitude of deposits, and even of the subordinate parts of 

 any one formation ; for instance, those of the London clay, 

 or calcaire grossier. These were evidently deposited slowly, 

 and in a tranquil sea, since the fossils are found in regular 

 beds, and in perfect preservation. It also appears that, after 

 some species were deposited, they wholly disappeared, and 

 gave place to others. All these facts indicate a long series of 

 generations of marine animals. 



Now, in comparing these phenomena with what takes place 

 in our seas, it does not appear that any similar depositions, to 

 any material amount, are proceeding. 



