Cviil PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ful Creator has left nothing to chance. In the progression which 

 is exhibited as well in the combinations as in the successive in- 

 crements of organic beings, a simple formula may be discovered 

 which has regulated creation from the beginning to the present 

 day ; and I believe, as I have ever done, that the great whole of 

 organic creation has been produced, by the aid of ages indeed, but 

 uninterruptedly and from one single act." This is a remarkable 

 approximation to the theory of development ; for what does the pas- 

 sage imply, unless it means that those laws of periodic change which 

 have been imposed on individual existence should be also extended to 

 genera and species? Hereafter, I may refer again to this subject; 

 but at present let me simply add that, if we admit the absolute 

 difference as creations between the Tertiary and Cretaceous systems, 

 we cannot disunite the Tertiary from the existing creation, but must, 

 as I feel satisfied will ultimately be the case, see in the records of 

 Tertiary organic life only the evidence of an earlier epoch in the 

 history of the world we now live in. 



In reference to this subject. Dr. De la Harpe has published in 

 the * Bulletin de la Societe Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles,' a bro- 

 chure which he calls " Quelques Mots sur la flore tertiaire de I'An- 

 gleterre." Whilst Miocene strata have contributed a copious flora, 

 the Eocene have afforded few localities rich in vegetable fossils ; a 

 fact which M. De la Harpe explains by another, namely, that in Eu- 

 rope, during the Eocene period, lacustrine shore or land deposits were 

 of rare occurrence ; so that, whilst the marine vegetation of seas of the 

 Eocene period is tolerably known, that of its continents has as yet 

 been but imperfectly studied. As localities, where the Eocene flora 

 has been carefully studied, the author names the Isle of Sheppey, 

 Sotzka in Styria, Sagor in Carnioha, Haering in the Tyrol, and 

 Monte Promina in Dalmatia ; but of all of these, except the Isle of 

 Sheppey, he considers the Eocene origin to be doubtful, as a very 

 large number of their species have been found in various Miocene 

 deposits, more particularly in the lower beds of the Swiss Molasse. 

 M. De la Harpe, whilst in England, was enabled to examine some of 

 the best collections of Eocene vegetable fossils, such as those in the 

 possession of Mr. Bowerbank, Mr. Prestwich, and the Museum of 

 Practical Geology, and carefully went through them in reference to 

 the now generally recognized divisions of Lower, Middle, and Upper 

 Eocene ; and he remarks, after detailing the results obtained in each 

 division, that, " should he have succeeded in exciting in English 

 geologists a closer attention to this branch of Fossil Natural History, 

 and in dissipating the doubts which have been raised as to the 

 importance and certainty of its results, his end will have been gained." 

 I dwell upon this, as nothing can be more unsatisfactory than to 

 suppose that the world of plants should have been built up upon 

 other principles than the world of animals, and, I would venture to 

 suggest, more opposed to experience, as there is assuredly as strict 

 a limitation, perhaps even a stricter limitation in the regions of plants, 

 than in those of the lower animals. From the conditions of the ve- 

 getation, the author considers that the dry land of the Eocene epoch 



