450 OS THE GEOLOGY OF THE 



the Valley of the Po, we find a marked distinction. Besides 

 the remains of the animals just mentioned, with those of the 

 Hippopotamus, the Urns, and the Elk, Brocchi has enumera- 

 ted 284 different shells, many of which are either the inhabi- 

 tants of distant oceans, or whose prototypes are altogether un- 

 known ; while all the marine fossil remains of Nice mav be 

 found in a recent state in the adjoining sea. 



Brocchi, I find, is inclined to dispute the fact of the shells of 

 St Hospice being really fossil, as stated by M. Bisso, in his short 

 but interesting memoir on that peninsula, and is inclined to con- 

 sider this spot as the bottom of some former sea. No one, I think, 

 will dispute the last position ; but with respect to the shells bein^ 

 really fossil, in a geological point of view, that must, as I have 

 already stated, depend upon the acceptation of the term : for, 

 here we trace these marine remains, no doubt deposited atverv 

 different epochs, from a state in which they have undergone 

 very little alteration, to that of being reduced to an impalpable 

 powder ; and, finally, we find them imbedded in the solid rock, 

 and even in this situation retaining a great degree of colour, 

 and the pearly lustre among those to which it is peculiar. 



In the bone brescia, we certainly find the remains of land 

 animals no longer existing in Europe : still the state of the 

 marine organic remains shews, that the changes which have so 

 strangely affected other countries, do not appear to have ope- 

 rated on this ; and they likewise prove, in the most incontes- 

 tible manner, the great alteration which has taken place on the 

 relative position of the sea and land. How this alteration has 

 been brought about, I shall not pretend to discuss : it is an 

 investigation somewhat analogous to that of the original for- 

 mation of the Globe, or, as it is more modestly termed, the 

 Crust of the Earth, not very likely to be rewarded by any satis- 

 factory 



