FLORA. 198 
SECTION V.—PALAEONTOLOGICAL BOTANY. 
By the study of débris of vegetation found preserved 
from ancient times in peat bogs, much may be learned in 
regard to the state of the earth and the climate, in the 
place of their production, at the time of their growth; 
and thus may much be learned in regard to the state of 
the earth in these localities in times long preceding what 
is called the historic period, or that in regard to which we 
have notices, more or less explicit, preserved in historical 
records, and it may be long anterior to the times in which 
these records were made, and to earlier times to which these 
records may allude; and by the study of fossil plants 
much may in like manner be learned in regard to the 
state of the world in even pre-adamic times, in times 
much more remote from the present than the so-called 
tertiary and post-tertiary periods of the geologist. By the 
study of these we may be carried back to what may seem 
to be the beginning of the creation of the organic struc- * 
tures, vegetable and animal, with which the earth is now 
clothed and peopled. 
Through including within the range of our observation 
and study the outlying islands of Nova Zembla and the 
lands beyond, we have been introduced to a region which, 
according to the rules of study in palaeoutology, has been 
—or, if it be required of us to speak more guardedly—may 
have been that first site of vegetation upon the earth, from 
which it went forth to multiply and replenish the earth as 
man went forth from his first home to fulfil what was his 
mission in the providence of God; and the facts upon 
which this conclusion is based will be found well deserving 
of consideration. 
Large and valuable collections of fossils found in the 
Polar regions have been made. These have been studied 
with much care and attention by students of fossil plants, 
and pre-eminently by Dr Oswald Heer, Professor of 
12) 
