SEA WEEDS, 
451 
terns of vegetation, on the earlier surfaces of our 
^arth, with those which actually prevail. Should 
result from this enquiry, that the families which 
*aake up our fossil Flora were formed on princi- 
ples, either identical w ith those that regulate the 
development of existing plants, or so closely 
allied to them, as to form connected parts of 
ane and the same great system of laws, for the 
Universal regulation of organic life, we shall 
add another link to the chain of arguments 
U'hich we extract from the interior of the Earth, 
Ui proof of the Unity of the Intelligence and of 
the Power, which have presided over the entire 
Construction of the material world. 
We have seen that the first remains of Animal 
life yet noticed are marine, and as the existence 
uf any kind of animals implies the prior, or at least 
the contemporaneous existence of Vegetables, to 
atford them sustenance, the presence of sea iveeds 
*U strata coeval with these most ancient animals, 
und their continuance onwards throughout all 
formations of marine origin, is a matter of a priori 
Pi'obability, which has been confirmed by the 
Results of actual observation. M. Adolphe Brong- 
*tiurt, in his admirable History of Fossil Vege- 
tables,* has shewn, that the existing submarine 
^^Setation seems to admit of three great divisions 
'''hich characterize, to a certain degree, the Plants 
the frigid, temperate, and torrid zones; and 
* Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles, 4f.o. Paris, 1828. 
