ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE REMAINS. 103 
in another. Of the whole crust of the earth, it would appear in 
the present state of our own knowledge, that no portion has ex- 
perienced so many vicissitudes, heen the theatre of so may revo- 
lutions, and presents as their effect so long a series of formations, 
as that which in England, France, and Germany, has been the 
most accurately examined. Still, the following conclusions, 
drawn from the appearances presented by the strata of England 
respecting the condition of that island whilst the changes of which 
its present form and aspect were the result, were proceeding, hold 
good to some extent for the whole surface of the earth. 
1. It is probable that after the consolidation of the primitive 
rocks, the water bore a much larger relative proportion than it 
now does to the land. The remains that are found in the transi- 
tion strata belong without any exception to such animals ss in- 
habit the sea. 
2. At the end of this period another succeeded, during which 
its surface was occupied by extensive marshes, the waters having 
retired from those situations which had before remained 
constantly covered. In this state of things it was that the 
coal beds were deposited. The proof of such a condition 
of the earth is found in the nature of the vegetable remains 
which are imbedded in the coal strata. They appear to hive 
belonged to plants resembling the arborescent ferns and reeds 
of tropical climates, and to have been fitted therefore to flourish 
on marshy ground and in a meagre soil. A person who has seen 
the Palmetto, or Cabbage-tree, growing along the southern shores 
of North Carolina, will have a tolerably correct idea of what their 
appearance may have been. It was at this remote era therefore, 
that the magazine was prepared, and the whole stock of materials 
laid in, which now keeps the manufactures of England in activity. 
3. After the formation of the coal strata, the waters again over- 
flowed that country; and at no great distance of time, a period suc- 
ceeded, during which it seems to have been almost throughout, 
a waste desert, without a plant or an animal existing upon its sur- 
face. Now it was that the new red sandstone, with its beds of 
fossil salt and gypsum, was deposited. 
4. Shell fish were afterwards formed in greater numbers, and 
some oviparous, amphibious quadrupeds, such as tortoises, lizards, 
and crocodiles, were created, and as the earth was now fitted tobe 
the habitation of such creatures, it must have been as now, terra- 
queous ; but as some have supposed, with the land barely rising 
above the level of the sea. 
5. Subsequently, the mountains were thrown up and the ex- 
isting continents emerged from the deep ; and the dry land hav- 
ing become extensive with respect to the sea, was peopled with 
birds and quadrupeds fitted to inhabit it. 
,6. Last of all, as we are informed by Moses, and as the ob- 
servations of geologists warrant us in believing, MAN, the no- 
blest of God's works, was created ; to adore, love, and serve his 
