6^4 Organic Remains of a Former IVorld. 
of the laity affords a melancholy proof 
that, in tl)is state of imperfection, even 
the most generous passions of men often 
introduce causes of corruption in the 
formation of the most beneticial systems 
of polity. The secular traffic, which 
sometimes perverts the institutions of 
the church, offers a serious ground of 
complaint, and a proper object of re¬ 
form. Tliis private patronage ought to 
be. placed in the hands of die bishops, 
v.ho are the best qualified t() investigate 
and to reward the merits of the clergy, 
and w’ho are the most interested in the 
prosperity of the church, and the honor 
of our holy religion. But, as private 
property should not be violated, a sum 
of money sliould be voted by Pai liament, 
and a fund appropriated for the purchase 
of livings, the presentation of which 
should be vested in the natural guardians 
of the church. Periiaps a certain pro¬ 
portion might be taken from the pro¬ 
duce of the yearly tenths, increased in 
a ratio, which has been already sug¬ 
gested, and employed in the gradual 
completion of a plan, w’hich would be 
more beneficial to the fundamental in- 
Jerests of the country than the most 
successful, political, or financial, ope- 
lation. 
Organic Remains of a Former World. 
AN 
J^xaminatiGn of the Mineralised Remains 
OF THE 
VEGETABLES and ANIMALS 
OF THE 
ANTEDILUVIAN TVORL D., 
GENERALLY TERMED 
EXTRANEOUS FOSSILS. 
By JAMES PARKINSON; 
IN THREE VOLS, 
Third Volume ; contahung the Foss}/ Star^- 
fshy Echinif Shells, Insects, Am^h'wia, 
Mammalia, <Sfc. 
jThe public are deeply indebted to the in- 
• dustiy and research ot Mr. Parkinson, 
for the investigation of a subject that 
has never ceased to excite curiosity, but 
about which only vague ideas and much 
perplexity have hitherto existed. The 
present volume closes Mr. Parkinson’s 
enquiries, and is not the least interesting 
■ of the series, because it exhibits on many 
points his general deductions, and tends 
to establish 'theories which rnay serve to 
airect future observation. In extracting from 
jiii text v.'s render^ however, but imperfect 
justice to Mr. Parkinson, who has en¬ 
riched his work with the most beautiful 
collection of engravings, colored after 
nature, that we remember to have seea 
in any book on these subjects. J 
F03SIT, CROCODILES, 
f I '^HESE fossils were collected in the 
A neighbourhood of Honfleuf, by the 
Abbe Baclielet, an assiduous naturalist 
at Rouen, and were sent, by orders of 
the prefect of the department, to the 
^^Iuseum of Natural History! Similar 
fossils are also obtained at Havre. Tliey 
were found in a bed of hard limestone, 
ot a bluish grey color, wiiicb becomes 
neajly black when wet, and which is 
found along the shore on both sides of 
the mouth of tlie Seine, being in some 
places covered by the sea, and in others 
above its level, even at high water. 
Remains of crocodiles have also been 
found in other parts of France; as, at 
Angers and IMans, Some of these re¬ 
mains seem to show, that at least one 
of the fossil species above noticed is 
also found in other parts of France be¬ 
sides Honfleur and Ilavre. 
The remains of crocodiles have been 
also found in different parts of England; 
but particularly on the coast of Dor¬ 
setshire, and of Yorkshire, near Whiu 
by; in the neighhourhoad of Bath; and 
near Newark, in Nottinghamshire. 
Somersetshire, particularly in the 
neighbourhood of Bath, the cliffs on 
the Dorsetshire, or Southern, coast, and 
on the Yorkshire, or Northern, coast, 
are the places in this island in which 
the remains of the animals of this tribe 
have been chiefly found. The matrix in 
which they are found is in general si¬ 
milar to that which has been already 
mentioned as containing the fossils of 
Honfleur and Ilavre, — a bine limestone, 
becoming almost black when wetted. 
This description, exactly agrees with the 
limestone of Channoutli, Lime, &C. in 
Dorsetshire, on the opposite coast to 
that of France, on which Havre and 
Honfleur are siiuated. At Whitby and 
Scarborongl), where these fossils are 
also found, the stone is indeed some¬ 
what darker than in the former places; 
but nb difference is observable which 
can be regarded as offering any forcible 
opposition to the probability of the 
original identity of this stratum, which 
is observed on the Northern coast of 
France, on the opposite Southern En¬ 
glish coast, and at the opposite Northern 
extremity of the island. Some of these 
remains 
