138 



UPHEAVAL AND SUBSIDENCE OF MOUNTAINS. [Ch. VII 



C* 



e 



and ask the botanist how many earthquakes and volcanic 

 eruptions might be expected, and how much the relative level 

 of land and sea might be altered, or how far the principal 

 deltas will encroach upon the ocean, or the sea-cliffs recede 

 from the present shores, before the species of European forest- 

 trees will die out, he would reply that such alterations in th. 

 inanimate world might be multiplied indefinitely before he 

 should have reason to anticipate, by reference to any known 

 data, that the existing species of trees in our forests would 

 disappear and give place to others. In a word, the movement 

 of the inorganic world is obvious and palpable, and might be 

 likened to the minute-hand of a clock, the progress of which 

 can be seen and heard, whereas the fluctuations of the living 

 creation are nearly invisible, and resemble the motion of the 

 hour-hand of a timepiece. It is only by watching it atten- 

 tively for some time, and comparing its relative position after 

 an interval, that we can prove the reality of its motion.* 



* See the Author's Anniversary Ad- vol. vi. p. 46, from which some of the 

 dress, Quart. Journ. Geol. Sue. 1850, above passages are extracted. 



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