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tions of the late Mr. William Trimmer. This gentleman ascertained 
that the bones of the elephant, hippopotamus, 8c c. found at Kew, were 
imbedded beneath sandy gravel, on a bed of calcareous earth, 
from one foot to nine feet in thickness ; that these remains were not 
found in any parts to which this calcareous stratum did not extend ; 
and that a few feet of sandy gravel separated this bed from the stratum 
of blue clay. It appears, from the matter contained in the cavities of 
the Essex fossil bones, and from the colour of their substance, that 
they have lain in a similar bed. This also appears to have been the 
case with bones of the elephant and teeth of the rhinoceros, from 
Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. Hence it appears, that these 
animals lived on the dry land left by the departure of the waters which 
constituted the ocean, from which the clay stratum was deposited ; 
and that they were overwhelmed by the deposition from the waters 
which formed the gravel stratum. 
This deposition, which lies over the blue clay, is formed of strata, 
or of patches, of sandy gravel and sandy clay ; and at Walton 
and Harwich, in Essex, and in Suffolk and Norfolk, it contains nu- 
merous fossil shells, many of which are similar to those of the present 
day. With these fossil shells are also found fragments of fossil bones, 
which there is some reason for supposing may have belonged to the 
mammoth, or mastodon. Patches of roundish pebbles, doubtlessly 
formed at the bottom of a sea, exist in great quantities in extensive 
patches over this stratum of clay. 
Even from this slight and imperfect sketch, it appears, that the 
formation of the exterior part of this globe, and the creation of its 
several inhabitants, must have been the work of a vast length of time, 
and must have been effected at several distant periods. 
In the first of these periods, the granitic and other primary rocks 
were separated from the water.* That this separation took place, as 
is stated in the scriptural record, previous to the creation of vege- 
* Genesis i. 9. 
