758 GENEEAL CONCLUSIONS. 



covered in 1849 in the brown coal of Laasan in Silesia. It was found 

 in a nearly perpendicular position, and measured more than 32 feet in 

 circumference. Sixteen vast roots ran out almost at right angles from 

 the base of the trunk, of which about four feet stood up perfect in 

 form, but stripped of bark. Unfortunately the interior of the stem was 

 almost entirely filled with structureless brown coal, so that only two 

 cross sections could be obtained from the outer parts, one sixteen inches, 

 the other three feet six inches broad. In the first section Goeppert 

 counted 700, in the second 1300 rings of wood, so that for the half- 

 diameter of 5|- feet, at least 2200 rings must have existed. As there 

 is every reason to believe that the rings were formed in earlier ages 

 just as the annual zones ^re now, this tree would be from 2200 

 to 2500 years old. Exogenous stems in lignite are often of great 

 size and age. In a trunk near Bonn, Nbggerath counted 792 

 annual rings. In the turf bogs of the Somme, at Yseux near 

 Abbeville, a trunk of an Oak-tree has been found above 14 feet in 

 diameter. 



We have thus seen that the vegetation of the globe is represented 

 by numerous distinct floras connected with the different periods of 

 its history, and that the farther back we go the more are the plants 

 different from those of the present day. There can be no doubt that 

 there have been successive deposits of stratified rocks, and successive 

 creations of living beings. We see that animals and plants have 

 gone through their different phases of existence, and that their remains 

 in aU stages of growth and decay have been embedded in rocks super- 

 imposed upon each other in regular succession. It is impossible to 

 conceive that these were the result of changes produced within the 

 limits of a few days. Considering the depth of stratification, and the 

 condition and nature of the Kving beings found in the strata at various 

 depths, we must conclude (unless our senses are mocked by the pheno- 

 mena presented to our view) that vast periods have elapsed since the 

 Creator in the beginning created the heavens and the earth. How 

 far it may be possible in the future to correlate the history of the 

 earth inscribed on its rocky tablets and deciphered by the geologist, 

 and that short narrative which forms the introduction to the Sacred 

 Volume, it is difficult to say. At present there are no satisfactory 

 materials for such a correlation ; but one thing is certain, that both 

 Revelation and Geology testify with one voice to the work of a Divine 

 Creator. 



When we find animals and plants of forms unknown at the pre- 

 sent day, in all conditions as regards development, we read a lesson 

 in regard to the history of the earth's former state as conclusive as that 

 which is derived from the Nineveh relics (independent of Eevelation) 

 in regard to the history of the human race. There is no want of har- 

 mony between Scripture and geology. The Word and the Works of 



