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In fact, it was nothing more than the summit of one of the coral formations, which rose only a few feet above the level of the water, and was, in stormy weather, all but invisible. Over this island the waves were breaking in the utmost fury, and our hearts sank within us as we saw that there was not a spot where we could thrust our little boat without its being dashed to pieces.
If these shells had been examined independently of the other collections, they would probably have been considered, from the characters of the two Terebratulae, and from the Spirifer, as oolitic; but considering that the first species, and according to Professor Forbes, the four first, are identical with those from Coquimbo, the two formations no doubt are the same, and may, as I have said, be provisionally called cretaceo-oolitic.
They had both been at the quarries before with their father, and Jem had a great deal to say about what he had heard then, and at other times, about the stones and rocks, the formations and strata; and he always ended with "That was what papa said, eh, Davie?" as though that was final, and there could be no dissent; and David said, "Yes, Jem," or, perhaps, only nodded his head gravely.
With the case of the Horses before us, justifying a belief in the production of new animal forms by modification of old ones, I see no escape from the necessity of seeking for these ancestors of the Ungulata beyond the limits of the Tertiary formations. I could as soon admit special creation, at once, as suppose that the Perissodactyles and Artiodactyles had no five-toed ancestors.
Then came the ready query: That since there is silver in these hills, why not also gold, seeing they frequently go together? Then it was found that the mineral formations in which this metal occurs are the crystalline primitive rocks; and with these the Lomond Hills were held to correspond.
There is also the most unequivocal evidence of relative age afforded by superposition, for the Devonian strata in the United States are seen to crop out from beneath the Carboniferous on the borders of Pennsylvania and New York, where both formations are of great thickness. The number of American Devonian plants has now been raised by Dr.
The soundings, which showed a rapid rise in the bottom as the Fram changed her position southward along the Barrier, are also a clear sign that land is close at hand. Finally, the formations of the Barrier appear to be the best proof. It could not rise to 1,100 feet which we measured as the rise from Framheim to a point about thirty-one miles to the south without subjacent land.
The distinction between these two formations is so strongly marked that it almost seems that a hard and fast line had, in places, been drawn between the productive and unproductive portions of Australia.
On the other hand, the Secondary and Tertiary formations of the northern shores and islands of the Mediterranean are generally characterised by the highly-inclined, flexured, and folded position of the strata.
One class of facts, however, namely, the sudden appearance of new and distinct forms of life in our geological formations supports at first sight the belief in abrupt development. But the value of this evidence depends entirely on the perfection of the geological record, in relation to periods remote in the history of the world.
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