354 
MR. LYELL’s theory 
Channel. It is in alluvial deposits of this kind that 
the remains of man first ajypear : human skeletons, 
and the rude instruments of a half-civilised race, 
are found associated with the bones of animals 
which still inhabit this country, and in some in- 
stances intermixed with the osseous remains of a 
few species that appear to have been extirpated by 
man. 
Such are the results which a review of the geo- 
logical phenomena of the south-east of England 
offers to our consideration. We have evidence of 
great physical mutations of the surface of the earth, 
— of vast changes in the temperature of the cli- 
mate ; and we perceive that these revolutions were 
accompanied by a corresponding alteration in the 
forms of organic life : these are general conclusions, 
which cannot be disputed, although the laws that 
governed these co-existing phenomena may be con- 
cealed from our view. It is, however, obvious, 
that the great changes which have taken place in 
the relative proportion of the land and water, must 
have materially influenced the temperature of the 
climate, and consequently the geographical distri- 
bution of animals and vegetables. Mr. Lyell has 
treated this question in a very luminous and ad- 
mirable manner, and has shown that there is every 
reason to conclude that since the commencement 
of the tertiary period, the dry land in the northern 
hemisphere has been increasing ; not only because 
it is now greatly in excess beyond the average 
proportion which land generally bears to water on 
our planet, but because a comparison of the second- 
ary and tertiary strata affords indications through- 
