MAOKIE — ON THE BOTTOM-ROCKS. 
185 
generation dispnted about 
the plastic virtues of the 
eartli, and fancied that in 
fossils they saw the sports 
of nature or the germs 
of future beings. But 
modern geologists, acting 
on the principle of ob- 
serving the actual pheno- 
mena going on around us, 
— of studying and noting 
the things which are, and 
of referring the pheno- 
mena of the past to this 
standard, — have acquired ft 
a power and lucidity of rea- !>' 
Boning unrivalled among o 
the speculative sciences, o 
The shales, schists, sand- ^ 
stones, and conglomerates en 
are the ooze, sand, and ^ 
beaches of the primeval 
seas, and, denoting a shal- ^ 
low line of coast, in them- § 
selves present the first in- 
dication of the proximity 
of dry laud. By this rea- 
soning we learn more ; — 
that these primeval strands 
were flat and level shores, 
from which the tide re- 
ceded, for the sun's warm 
rays bearing down upon 
them baked and fissured 
the slimy ooze ; and innu- 
merable impressions of 
these " sun-cracks " still 
traverse the surfaces of 
Co 
Ratlinghope 
