NOTES AND QUERIES. 



451 



perusal of geological ■UTitins^s as a principal mode of obtaining a knowledge of 

 tliis science, 1 appreliencl that you consider my observations somewhat 

 "bookish," to use a term sanctioned by Locke. As to the supposed difficulty 

 how rapidly precipitated rocks shoidd contain myriads of organic remams, I 

 never asserted that this need be supposed. The stratified rocks may have been 

 very rapidly formed, after which the earth may have undergone such revolutions 

 as to account for tlie various periods supposed, consequent upon the presence 

 of certain fossils and remains, and the individual appearance of these m various 

 strata. This would embrace the first five verses of the Mosaic narrative, and, 

 geologically, the so termed pre-adamite periods. There is no occasion to 

 imagine the first five and foRowing verses of the Mosaic narrative as describing 

 events immediately consecutive, as other writers have observed ; and it is 

 probable that the harmonv of the two records renders this necessary, in- 

 asmuch as the conjectiLi-al)le events of the Deluge caimot be supposed to 

 account for the fact of certaui fossils and remains being exclusively found in 

 certam strata. 



I tliink that you will now consider my former observations less unfavourably 

 than before. They certainly did want some explanation, wliich I have now en- 

 deavoured to furnish. There is certainly nothing, even in the humblest truths 

 of geology, to excite merriment ; nevertheless, absiu'd conclusions with regard 

 to this or any science deserve no more. — 1. A. Davies. — ^Ye print Mr. Davies 

 remarks in full, but without comment, having laid down a rigid rule, from 

 wliich in no case shall we depart, namely, of not entermg mto any controversial 

 communications. We abide by oui' former remarks. 



The Pb.e-Adamite xVges. — Sir, — I believe that geologists have not yet 

 decided how many distmct revolutions of animal existence the earth had seen 

 prior to the era of man. Now, inasmuch as we camiot say how many and 

 w^hat species of strata were simultaneously uppermost, I do not see how this 

 question can be decided. The various fossils found in the three great series of 

 rocks caimot, ui my opuiioii, decide the point, inasmuch as the various strata 

 npj^ermost at various times remam unknown. And as an inquiry analogous to, 

 and perhaps somewhat connected with this, the supposed knowledge of rocks 

 beyond the range of our experience should be noticed. We cannot, from the 

 nature of the case, say positively how rocks unseen by human eye are situated 

 with respect to one another, for which reason I cannot make much of the 

 various tlieoretieal sections of the earth's crust which geologists sometimes 

 ft-ame, and with which they, in my opinion, more mystify than enlighten their 

 readers. It is true that we may make probable conjectures concernmg these 

 matters, but absolute certainty is out of the question, until direct evidence has 

 been obtained ; wliich of coiu'se can never be the case. Yet we may be more 

 certaui with regard to other phenomena of unseen rocks. Granite, or the 

 granites, for example, may, from their obvious quantity, perhaps according to 

 appearance exceedui^ that of any other rock, and their possessing certaui 

 chemical aiid, especially as regards durability, mechanical principles, be regarded 

 as the oldest and lowest rocks, formmg the iimer side of the earth's crust; 

 and being, consequently, in direct connection with the matter of volcanos. — 

 I. A. Davies. — There is no reason to suppose that there have been any given 

 number of distmct revolutions of animal existence ; the changes have been 

 gradual and successive, without any general and total break. The arbitrary 

 divisions for scientific grouping must not be mistaken for real gaps in the order 

 of nature. 



OiiiGiN OF the Metamorphic Rocks. — Sir, — I think that the difficulty 

 respecting the origm of these rocks is considerably reduced upon the adoption 

 of an h^-potliesis, made use of by Dr. Lardiior, respecting their gradual precipi- 

 tation upon those of an igneous nature. By this it stands to reason that they 



