provinces of tertiary. 
99 
must have been of prodigious extent; and 
the inquiry is naturally suggested, what has 
become of the submerged trunks? have 
they yielded to total decay, or are they 
undergoing mineralization for future use 
There is no similarity between the pro¬ 
ductions of the amber and those of the coal 
measures, now existing in the same lati¬ 
tudes. A vast amount of change had passed 
upon the earth between the two periods. 
These crystal vases, thus holding in im¬ 
perishable perfection the delicate organi¬ 
zation of plants long since passed from the 
stage of life, are the depositaries of historic 
fragments of extinct races. The record 
testifies concerning them, that they were 
planned by the same Artificer, and were 
constructed on the same general rules, as 
their representatives of the present day. 
The whole of the strata superior to the 
chalk disclose local deposits, varying in the 
kinds of animals and plants found in them. In 
some places success!v^e series of such beds 
shew the long continued action of geolog¬ 
ical changes. The climate, and the range of 
animal and vegetable life, though different 
