254 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



ishable while they remain in the situation in which Na- 

 ture deposits them," proceeds to cite numerous instances 

 in which one crop of plants has disappeared on a change 

 of conditions, and another, of different nature, has prompt- 

 ly assumed its place, originating evidently from seeds pre- 

 existing for ages in the soil. He says, " Earth brought up 

 from wells or other excavations soon produces a harvest 

 of plants often very unlike those of the local flora." He 

 goes so far as to express the opinion that earth ejected 

 from considerable depths by a certain earthquake convul- 

 sion, to which reference is made, and which soon became 

 covered with vegetation "never observed in that region 

 before," must have brought with it the seeds from which 

 the novel vegetation sprang, under " the influence of air 

 and sun, from depths where a previous convulsion had 

 buried them ages before." 



From such facts as those which have been cited, it seems 

 to be proven that the seeds of plants may retain their vi- 

 tality in the soil and subsoil at least for quite a number 

 of years. The facts show that the germs exist in places 

 where we have no knowledge of their introduction, and in 

 places where they could not probably have been introduced 

 during the human epoch. Whence come the germs of that 

 vegetation which is every where springing up in situations 

 to which recent seeds could not have been distributed ? 

 This question has agitated the mind of many an inquirer 

 who would have shrunk from the solution which I venture 

 to offer. Let us examine the facts. 



The vegetation which characterized the close of the Ter- 

 tiary Epoch was probably nearly identical with that exist- 

 ing at the present day under the same climatic conditions. 

 Even in the older Tertiary Lignites we have, according to 

 the investigations of Lesquereux and Newberry, the re- 

 mains of plants belonging to the following American gen- 



