212 PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC LIFE. 



an ox, which he had treasured up, with great care, as it was ob- 

 tained from a deep excavation on the side of a hill of sandstone, 

 near Nottingham. As this sandstone belongs to the more ancient of 

 the secondary strata, the red sandstone and marl, (see Chap. XI.) 

 and as the bone was placed deep under the surface, and the work- 

 men declared there was no fisssure or opening near to where the 

 bone was found, the specimen was regarded as affording a remarka- 

 ble exception to a general law in geology. Knowing from the struc- 

 ture of the rock, that it is, almost every where, intersected by deep 

 vertical fissures, I was persuaded that the true position of the bone, 

 had not been correctly stated by the workmen ; and, on carefully 

 examining the cave, a deep fissure, extending to the surface, was 

 discovered, close to the situation where the bone was found. There 

 can be no doubt that the bone had fallen into this fissure, and was 

 thus introduced into a lower stratum of sand rock. 



When we consider the violent convulsions and overturnings to 

 which the crust of the globe has been subjected, it is truly surprising 

 that remains of the higher orders of animals, if they had previously 

 existed, should not have been frequently buried in the lower ancient 

 strata. Perhaps the bones of small terrestrial animals in the calca- 

 reous slate of Stonesfield may have been carried thither, during the 

 tertiary epoch, by subterranean streams of water ; as such under- 

 ground streams and rivers are of frequent occurrence in many lime- 

 stone countries. 



In the long ages of change and disturbance, during which the solid 

 surface of our planet was approaching to its present state, we may 

 reasonably believe that the earth was not fitted to be the residence 

 of man and the higher order of animals. Even those geologists 

 who deny the progressive development of organic life, admit that 

 man is a recent inhabitant of the globe ; but if, as they maintain, the 

 essential conditions of the earth have been the same as at present, 

 during an indefinite series of ages ; if the same causes have always 

 been in operation, without any increased intensity of action ; if the 

 earth, from the remotest imaginable epoch, had islands and contin- 

 ents, rivers and seas, enjoying a similar temperature to the present, 

 though placed in different latitudes : if such, I repeat, were, from 

 the remotest epoch, the condition of the globe, no assignable reason 

 €an be imagined why it might not have been inhabited by man. If 

 only such changes as we at present observe were then taking place, 

 or even supposing them to be more extensive in their operation, yet 

 the human race might still have flourished in 



" Some safe retreat in depth of woods embraced, 

 "Some happy island in the watery waste." 



But the more ancient strata present evidence of such overwhelming 

 •changes and mighty convulsions, elevating mountain ranges, breaking 

 the solid crust of the globe, and scattering the fragments in every 



