40 



FISHES ABUNDANT. 



the salmon. It is not premature to remark, how broadly 

 these facts seem to hint at a parity of law affecting the 

 progress of an individual foetus of one of the more perfect 

 animals. 



It is equally ascertained of the types of being prevalent in 

 the old red, as of those of the preceding system, that they 

 are uniform in the corresponding strata of distant parts 

 of the earth; for instance, Russia and North America. 



In the old red sandstone, the marine plants, of which 

 faint traces are observable in the Silurians, continue to 

 appear. It would see*n as if less change took place in 

 the vegetat ion than in the animals of those early seas ; 

 and for tins, as Mr. Miller has remarked, it is easy to 

 imagine reasons. For example, an infusion of lime into 

 the sea would destroy animal life, but be favorable to ve- 

 getation. 



As yet there were no land animals or plants, and for 

 this the presumable reason is, that no dry land as yet 

 existed. We are not left to make this inference solely 

 from the absence of land animals and plants ; in the ar- 

 rangement of the primary (stratified) rocks, we have fur- 

 ther evidence of it. That these rocks were formed in a 

 generally horizontal position, we are as well assured as 

 that they were formed at the bottom of seas. But 

 they are always found greatly inclined in position, tilted 

 up against the slopes of the granitic masses which are 

 beneath them in geological order, though often shooting 

 up to a higher point in the atmosphere. No doubt can be 

 entertained that these granitic masses, forming our prin- 

 cipal mountain ranges, have been protruded from below, 

 or, at least, thrust much further up, since the deposition, 

 of the primary rocks. The protrusion was what tilted up 

 the primary rocks ; and the inference is, of course, una- 

 voidable, that these mountains have risen chiefly, at least, 

 since the primary rocks were laid down. It is remarka- 

 ble that, while the primary rocks thus incline towards 

 granitic nuclei or axes, the strata higher in the series rest 

 against these again, generally at a less inclination or none 

 at all, showing that these strata were laid down after the 

 swelling mountain eminences had, by their protrusion, 

 tilted up the primary strata. And thus it may be said 

 an era of local upthrowing of the primitive and (perhaps) 

 central matter of our planet, is established as happen'jig 

 about the close of the primary strata, and beginning oi 



