379 
coin, nummulites, and this name is retained by us. Now these rocks were 
then, and are now, full of these nummulite formations. They can be traced 
from the land of Egypt as far .as India and China, and westward as far as 
the south, of Britain, covering full 98° of longitude, east and west When 
we examine the structure of these creatures, we find the shell very ex- 
quisitely chambered, and the organization very elaborate and complex 
ihey were once, without the shadow of a doubt, living creatures. The 
diagrams here presented show their organization and formation under very 
powerful magnifying power. Under what condition were they alive, and 
under what are similar creatures alive now ? — for though there is nothin^ 
f° w ldei ! tlCal Wltb tbese nummulites, yet there are many species like 
them that exist now, no doubt under the same conditions as they did 
rhere is no doubt they were . sea-living things, and approach closely to all 
those organizations which live m the sea ; therefore there must be more than 
a probability that they were once marine inhabitants ; and if so it is 
reasonable to suppose that other marine remains would be also found ’in the 
same rocks. What are the facts ? Dacier has described four hundred ; he 
gives four hundred descriptions all identical with marine creatures now 
existing. 
Put the case to yourselves. Suppose in walking on the paths in St. James’s 
and Kegents Park, you see on the ground certain little shells— such, for 
instance, as cockle shells. You would say at once the walks were gravelled 
with sea-gravel, because the marine remains you notice in the sand are the 
fossds of creatures that lived only in the sea, and therefore, beyond dispute, 
the gravel with which they are associated must have come from the sea. This 
is very simple, plain, and perfectly valid. Now apply this plain common- 
sense reasoning to the point , in question : if these betray marine origin, so 
descript ; lons „ of organizations of sea habitants afford 
thlS ,, nui 5 mull J lc limestone has been deposited from the 
ottom ofthesea ^therefore that this deposit was formed at the bottom of 
there *> r e before the Nile valley was formed, and raised by subter- 
nn ll!° rces ’ land °I Egypt , was down at bottom of the sea, and existed 
wnnl,? I f th .°V; sa 1 nd but ab that epoch which by slow accumulation 
a “ ass ° f “ num mulitic ” rock, spreading as it 
Mnrp ? amp S,, to Chma - How many years? Thirty thousand? 
More the time which this process occupied was an enormous period. And 
thZ thp aS f W T ®P mcident ^ Hie history of this earth, -no more 
than the shadow, of a cloud passing over the history of the world. These 
nri traceable . m . En gjand at Bagshot and elsewhere, contain the same 
fnCSK m tie 7 al | ey of ! he N lle - N ow what is the simp] e deduction ? 
find M m 1S P? untr y towards the west, towards Swanage, and there you 
find vast chalk ridges, and these other beds [pointing to a diagram! all rest 
conteifm, CMk f t ‘T °? the bosom of that are°thes J e roc£ 
containing the nummulites,” and others, where we find great diversities of 
M^^zations— forms of crocodile life, nautila, &c., like those now found in 
allAfiV, seas ’~~ the S reat majority different from those which now exist, but 
all o f the same, genus — sea-inhabiting creatures. 
Ts h ? 1S Cllalk ’ wbich lies below the “nummulitic” formation ? 
of Which w! h . meanm ? - 1S it nothing but a mere nondescript substance, 
scom “ a , CC °r‘ ? . Here 18 a P* ece > — 1 Put it under a micro! 
P ’ a “ d w hat do I see ? That it is one mass of organisms, or fragments 
of separate organizations. Now, what is the orioin of all this ? We can 
fo^tLtranhv'ThP h™ 7 ft? ag °’ when tbe wor l d b «*me impatient 
and f e , sea ' bottom of great Atlantic Ocean was surveyed, 
of 1 500 Zi If h 1 S . OTVey wa f ver ^ ^markable. Products from depths 
f ev nmd f lit Se f‘ “\ me ; th , e stuff which ™ brought up resembled 
*= y mud, or chalk when dry ; and when inspected under the microscope, it 
