The Testimony of the Rocks Part 19

"A most melancholy event, arising out of the following circ.u.mstances, occurred yesterday in the shop of Mr. Thomson, gunmaker. In the beginning of July, last year, Mr. Hugh Miller bought a six-shot revolving chamber pistol, size of ball ninety-two to the pound, from the late firm of Messrs. Alexander Thomson & Son, gunmakers, 16 Union Place.

A few days after, he called and said he thought it a little stiff in its workings, and got it made to revolve more readily. The pistol has not been seen by Mr. Thomson since then; but in his absence a few minutes at dinner yesterday, Professor Miller called about twenty minutes from two, and asked Mr. Thomson's foreman how many of the six shots had been fired. He added, 'Mind, it is loaded.' The foreman, instead of removing the breech or chamber to examine it, bad incautiously turned the pistol entire towards his own person, and lifting up the hammer with his fingers, while he counted the remaining loaded chambers, he must have slipped his fingers while the pistol was turned to his own head. It exploded, and the ball lodging in the angle of his right eye, he fell back a lifeless corpse. The pistol is a bolted one, which permits of being carried loaded with perfect safety. Having been wet internally, rust may have stopped the action of the bolt. It is a singular fact that Hugh Miller dropped the pistol into the bath, where it remained for several hours. This may account for the apparent incaution of Mr.

Thomson's foreman."

[3] See _ante_, p. 9.

[4] The horizontal lines in this diagram indicate the divisions of the various geologic systems; the vertical lines the sweep of the various cla.s.ses or sub-cla.s.ses of plants across the geologic scale, with, so far as has yet been ascertained, the place of their first appearance in creation; while the double line of type below shows in what degree the order of their occurrence agrees with the arrangement of the botanist.

The single point of difference indicated by the diagram between the order of occurrence and that of arrangement, viz., the transposition of the gymnogenous and monocotyledonous cla.s.ses, must be regarded as purely provisional. It is definitely ascertained that the Lower Old Red Sandstone has its coniferous wood, but not yet definitely ascertained that it has its true monocotyledonous plants; though indications are not awanting that the latter were introduced upon the scene at least as early as the pines or araucarians; and the chance discovery of some fossil in a sufficiently good state of keeping to determine the point may, of course, at once retranspose the transposition, and bring into complete correspondence the geologic and botanic arrangements.

[5] The horizontal lines of the diagram here indicate, as in Fig. 1, the divisions of the several geologic systems; the vertical lines represent the leading divisions and cla.s.ses of animals, and, as shown by the formations in which their earliest known remains occur, the probable period of their first appearance in creation; while the double line of text below exhibits the complete correspondence which obtains between their occurrence, in nature and the Cuvierian arrangement. The line representative of the Radiata ought perhaps to have been elevated a little higher than either of its two neighbors.

[6] Fig. 14, Neuropteris Los.h.i.+. Fig. 15, Neuropteris gigantea. Fig. 16, Neuropteris ac.u.minata. Fig. 17, Sphenopteris affinis. Fig. 18, Pecopteris heterophylla. Fig. 19, Sphenopteris dilitata.

[7] Fig. 21, _r a_, Rachis, greatly thickened towards its base by numerous aerial roots, shot downwards to the soil, and which closely cover the stem.

[8] Fig. 22, _m_, Cellular tissue of the centre of rachis; _d_, similar tissue of the circ.u.mference; _f_, _v_, darkly-colored woody fibres of great strength, the "internal b.u.t.tresses" of the ill.u.s.tration; _e_, the outer cortical portion formed by the bases of the leaves.

[9] Fig. 23, Branching stem, with bark and leaves. Fig. 24. Extremity of branch. Fig. 25, Extremity of another branch, with indication of cone-like receptacle of spores or seed.

[10] No true fossil palms have yet been detected in the great Oolitic and Wealden systems, though they certainly occur in the Carboniferous and Permian rocks, and are comparatively common in the earlier and middle Tertiary formations. Much cannot be founded on merely negative evidence; but it would be certainly a curious circ.u.mstance should it be found that this graceful family, first ushered into being some time in the later Palaeozoic periods, was withdrawn from creation during the Middle ages of the earth's history, to be again introduced in greatly more than the earlier proportions during the Tertiary and recent periods.

[11] Leaf of a tree allied to the maple.

[12] Leaf of a tree allied to the elm.

[13] Here, as in the former diagrams (Figs. 1 and 4), the horizontal lines represent the divisions of the great geologic systems; while the vertical lines indicate the sweep of the several orders of fishes across the scale, and the periods, so far as has yet been determined, of their first occurrence in creation.

[14] Some of these _dragons_ of the Secondary ages were of very considerable size. The wings of a Pterodactyle of the Chalk, in the possession of Mr. Bowerbank, must have had a spread of about eighteen feet; those of a recently discovered Pterodactyle of the Greensand, a spread of not less than twenty-seven feet. The _Lammer-geyer_ of the Alps has an extent of wing of but from ten to eleven feet; while that of the great Condor of the Andes, the largest of flying birds, does not exceed twelve feet.

[15] _a_, Palaeotherium magnum. _b_, Palaeotherium minus. _c_, Anoplotherium commune.

[16] It will be seen that there is no attempt made in this lecture to represent the great Palaeozoic division as characterized _throughout its entire extent_ by a luxuriant flora. It is, on the contrary, expressly stated here, that the "plants of its earlier and terminal formations (_i.e._ those of the Silurian, Old Red, and Permian Systems) were _few and small_," and that "it was _only during the protracted eons of the carboniferous period that they received their amazing development, unequalled in any previous or succeeding time_." Being thus express in my limitation, I think I have just cause of complaint against any one who represents me us unfairly laboring, in this very composition, to make it be believed that the _whole_ Palaeozoic period was characterized by a gorgeous flora; and as thus sophistically generalizing in the first instance, in order to make a fallacious use of the generalization in the second, with the intention of misleading non-geologic readers. Such, however, as may be seen from the following extracts from the "Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science at Philadelphia," is the charge preferred against me by a citizen of the United States.

"Mr. William Parker Foulke asked the attention of the Society to a lecture by Mr. Hugh Miller, recently republished in the United States under the t.i.tle of 'The Two Records, Mosaic and Geological,' and made some remarks upon the importance of maintaining a careful scrutiny of the logic of the natural sciences.... Mr. Miller teaches that, in the attempt to reconcile the two 'records,' there are only three periods to be accounted for by the geologist, viz. 'the period of _plants_; the period of _great sea monsters and creeping things_; and the period of _cattle and beasts of the earth_;' and that the first of these periods is represented by the rocks grouped under the term _Palaeozoic_, and is distinguished from the _Secondary_ and _Tertiary_ chiefly by its gorgeous flora; and that the geological evidence is so complete as to be patent to all, that the first great period of organized being was, as described in the Mosaic record, peculiarly a period of herbs and trees, yielding seed after their kind. The general reader, not familiar with the details of geological arrangement, could not fail to infer from such a statement, used for such a purpose, that the Palaeozoic rocks are regarded by geologists as forming one group representative of one period, which can properly be said to be distinguished as a _whole_ by its gorgeous flora; and that it is properly so distinguished _for the argument in question_. It was familiar to the Academy, as well as to Mr.

Miller, that from the _carboniferous_ rocks downward (backward in order of time), there have been discriminated a large number of periods, differing from one another in mineral and in organic remains; and that the proportion of the _carboniferous_ era to the whole series is small, whether we regard the thickness of its deposits or its conjectural chronology. It in only of this _carboniferous_ era, _the latest of this series_, that the author's remarks could be true; and even of this, if taken for the entire surface of the earth, it could not be truly a.s.serted that 'the evidence is so complete as to be patent to all,' that the quant.i.ty of its vegetable products distinguishes it from the earth's surface during the era in which we live. To confound by implication all this periods termed Palaeozoic, so as to apply to them as a whole what could be true, if at all, only of the _carboniferous_ period, is a fallacious use of a generalization _made for a purpose_, and upon a principle not properly available for the writer's argument," &c. So far the "Proceedings" of the Academy.

This, surely, is very much the reverse of fair. I, however, refer the matter, without note or comment (so far at least as it involves the question whether Mr. Foulke has not, in the face of the most express statement on my part, wholly misrepresented me), to the judgment of candid and intelligent readers on both sides of the Atlantic.

I know not that I should recognize Mr. Foulke as ent.i.tled, after such a display, to be dealt with simply as the member of a learned society who differs from me on a scientific question; nor does his reference to the "carboniferous era" as "the _latest_ of the" Palaeozoic "series," and his apparent unacquaintance with that Permian period, in reality the terminal one of the division during which the Palaeozoic forms seem to have gradually died away, in order to give place to those of the Secondary division, inspire any very high respect for his acquirements as a geologist. Waiving, however, the legitimacy of his claim, I may be permitted to repeat, for the further information of the non-geological reader, that the _carboniferous_ formations, _wherever they have yet been detected_, justify, in the amazing abundance of their carbonized vegetable organisms, the name which they bear. Mr. Foulke, in three short sentences, uses the terms "carboniferous era," "carboniferous rocks," "carboniferous period," four several times; and these terms are derived from the predominating amount of carbon (elaborated of old by the plants of the period) which occurs in its several formations. The very language which he has to employ is of itself a confirmation of the statement which he challenges. For so "patent" is this _carboniferous_ character of the system, that it has given to it its universally accepted designation,--the verbal sign by which it is represented wherever it is known. Mr. F. states, that "if taken for the entire surface of the earth," it cannot be truly a.s.serted that the carboniferous flora preponderated over that of the present time, or, at least, that its preponderance could not be regarded as "patent to all,"

The statement admits of so many different meanings, that I know not whether I shall succeed in replying to the special meaning intended by Mr. Foulke. There are no doubt carboniferous deposits on the earth's surface still unknown to the geologist, the evidence of which on the point must be regarded, in consequence, not as "patent to all," but as _nil_. They are witnesses absent from court, whose testimony has not yet been tendered. But equally certain it is, I repeat, that wherever carboniferous formations _have_ been discovered and examined, they have been found to bear the unique characteristic to which the system owes its name,--they have been found charged with the carbon, existing usually as great beds of coal, which was elaborated of old by its unrivalled flora from the elements. And as this evidence is certain and positive, no one would be ent.i.tled to set off against it, as of equal weight, the merely negative evidence of some one or two deposits of the carboniferous age that did not bear the carboniferous character, even were such known to exist; far less is anyone ent.i.tled to set off against it the _possibly_ negative evidence of deposits of the carboniferous age not yet discovered nor examined; for that would be simply to set off against good positive evidence, what is no evidence at all. It would be to set off the _possible_ evidence of the absent witnesses, not yet precognosced in the case, against the express declarations of the witnesses already examined, and strong on the positive side.

Surely an American, before appealing, in a question of this kind, to the bare possibility of the existence somewhere or other of barely negative evidence, ought to have bethought him of the very extraordinary positive evidence furnished by the carboniferous deposits of his own great country. The coal fields of Britain and the European continent had been wrought for ages ere those of North America were known, and for ages more after it had been but ascertained that the New, like the Old World, has its Coal Measures. And during the latter period the _argument_ of Mr. Foulke might have been employed, just as now, and some member of a learned society might have urged that, though the coal fields of Europe bore evidence to the former existence of a singularly luxuriant flora, beyond comparison more vast than the European one of the present day, the same could not be predicated of the American coal fields, whose carbonized remains _might_ be found representative of a flora which had been at least not more largely developed than that existing American flora to which the great western forests belong. Now, however, the time for any such argument has gone by; the American coal fields have been carefully explored; and what is the result? The geologist has come to know, that even the mighty forests of America are inconsiderable, compared with its deposits of coal; nay, that all its forests gathered into one heap would fail to furnish the materials of a single coal seam equal to that of Pittsburg; and that centuries after all its thick woods shall have disappeared before the axe, and it shall have come to present the comparatively bare, unwooded aspect of the long civilized countries of Southern Europe, it will continue to derive the elements of its commercial greatness, and the cheerful blaze of its many millions of domestic hearths, from the unprecedentedly luxurious flora of the old carboniferous ages. Truly, very wonderful are the coal fields of Northern America! If geologists inferred, as they well might, that the extinct flora which had originated the European coal vastly outrivalled in luxuriance that of the existing time, what shall be said of that flora of the same age which originated the coal deposits of Nova Scotia and the United States,--deposits _twenty times as great_ as all those of all Europe put together!

[17] Such is also the view taken by the author of a recently published work, "The Genesis of the Earth and of Man." "Christian philosophers have been compelled to acknowledge," says this writer, "that the Mosaic account of creation is only reconcileable with demonstrated facts, by its being regarded as a record of _appearances_; and if so, to vindicate the truth of G.o.d, we must consider it, so far as the acts are concerned, as the relation of a revelation to the _sight_, which was sufficient for all its purposes, rather than as one in words; though the words are perfectly true as describing the revelation itself, and the revelation is equally true as showing man the princ.i.p.al phenomena which he would have seen had it been possible for him to be a witness of the events.

Further, if we view the narrative as the description of a series of visions, while we find it to be perfectly reconcileable with the statement in other parts of Scripture, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, we remove, with other difficulties, the only strong objection to the opinion of those who regard the 'six days' as periods of undeflnable duration, and who may even believe that we are now in the 'seventh day,'--the day of rest or of cessation from the work of creation. Certainly, 'the day of G.o.d,' and 'the day of the Lord,' and the 'thousand two hundred and threescore days,' of the Revelation of St.

John, and the 'seventy weeks' in the Prophecy of Daniel, are not to be understood in their primary and natural senses," &c., &c.

[18] "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."

[19] Forbes and Hanley enumerate one hundred and sixty bivalves, and two hundred and thirty-two univalves,--in all three hundred and ninety-two species, as the only known sh.e.l.l-bearing molluscs of the existing British seas.

[20] Principles of Zoology: touching the Structure, Development, Distribution, and Natural Arrangement of the Races of Animals, living and extinct. With numerous Ill.u.s.trations. For the Use of Schools and Colleges. Part I., "Comparative Physiology." By Louis Aga.s.siz and Augustus A. Gould. Boston: Gould & Lincoln.

[21] _a_, Articulating surface of joint. _b_, Fragment of column, exhibiting laterally the tooth processes, so fitted into each other as to admit of flexure without risk of dislocation. The uppermost joint shows two lateral cavities for the articulation of auxiliary arms.

[22] Perhaps one strengthening principle more might be enumerated as occurring in this curious piece of mechanism. In the layer of the nether plate, the fibres, instead of being laid in parallel lines, like the threads in the moleskin of my ill.u.s.tration, seem to be _felted_ together,--an arrangement which must have added considerably to their coherency and powers of resistance.

[23] Fig. 102, Clymenia Sedwicki; Fig. 103, Gyroceras Eifelensis; Fig.

104, Cirrus Goldfussii.

[24] Berosus, Hieronymus, Mnaseas, Nicolaus, Manetho, Mochus, and Hestaeus.

[25] See Cory's "Ancient Fragments."

[26] As was common in Bible ill.u.s.trations published in our own country a century and a half ago, the old Greek artist has introduced into his medal two points of time. Two of the figures represent _Noe_ and his wife quitting the ark; while the other two exhibit them as seated within it. An English print of the death of Abel, now before me, which dates a little after the times of the Revolution, shows, on the same principle, the two brothers, represented by four figures,--two of these quietly offering up their respective sacrifices in the background, and the other two grappling in deadly warfare in front.

[27] "In preparing the 'Horae Biblicae Quotidianae,' he [Dr. Chalmers] had beside him, for use and reference, the Concordance, the Pictorial Bible, Poole's Synopsis, Henry's Commentary, and Robertson's Researches in Palestine. These const.i.tuted what he called his Biblical Library.

'There,' said he to a friend, pointing, as he spoke, to the above named volumes as they lay together on his library table, with a volume of the 'Quotidianae,' in which he had just been writing, lying open beside them,--'these are the books I use: all that is Biblical is there.'"--_Dr. Hanna's Preface to "Daily Scripture Readings."_

[28] The raven is said to live for more than a hundred years. I am, however, not prepared to say that it was the same pair of birds that used, year after year, to build on the same rock-shelf among the precipices of Navity, from the times of my great-grandfather's boyhood to those of my own.

[29] The following estimate of the air-breathing vertebrates (that of the "Physical Atlas," second edition, 1856) may be regarded as the latest. It will he seen that it does not include the cetacea or the seals:--

SPECIES.

Quadrumana 170 Marsupialia 123 Edentata 28 Pachydermata 39 Terrestrial Carnivora 514 Rodentia 604 Ruminantia 180 ---- 1658 Birds 6266 Reptiles 657 Turtles 8} Sea Snakes 7} 15 ---- 642

Great as is this number of animals, compared with those known a century ago, there are indications that the list is to be increased rather than diminished. Even by the latest European authorities the reindeer is represented as consisting of but a single species, common to the sub-arctic regions of both the Old and New Worlds; whereas in the "Canadian Naturalist" for 1856 I find it stated, on what seems to be competent authority, that America has its two species of reindeer, and that they both differ from the European species.

[30] If I do not introduce here the argument founded on the great age of certain gigantic trees, such as the Baobab of intertropical Africa, or the Taxodium of South America, it is not because I have any reason to challenge the estimates of Adamson or Candolle. The one tree may have lived its five thousand, the other its six thousand, years; but as the grounds have been disputed on which the calculations respecting their vast age have been founded, and as they cannot be reexamined anew by the reader, I wholly omit the evidence, in the general question, which they have been supposed to furnish.

[31] The following excellent remarks on the economy of miracle, by Chalmers, bear very directly on this subject:--"It is remarkable that G.o.d is sparing of miracles, and seems to prefer the ordinary processes of nature, if equally effectual for the accomplishment of his purposes.

He might have saved Noah and his family by miracles; but he is not prodigal of these, and so he appointed that an ark should be made to bear up the living cargo which was to be kept alive on the surface of the waters; and not only so, but he respects the laws of the animal physiology, as he did those of hydrostatics, in that he put them by pairs into the ark, male and female, to secure their transmission to after ages, and food was stored up to sustain them during their long confinement. In short, he dispenses with miracles when these are not requisite for the fulfilment of his ends; and he never dispenses with the ordinary means when these are fitted, and at the same time sufficient, for the occasion."--_Daily Scripture Readings_, vol. i. p.

10.

[32] For a brief but masterly view of these ancient cosmogonies, see the Rev. D. Macdonald's "Creation and the Fall." Edinburgh: Constable & Co.

[33]

1. The great surrounding oceans.

2. Caspian Sea.

3. River Phison.

4-4. Points of the Compa.s.s.

5. Mediterranean Sea.

6. Red Sea.

7-8. Persian Gulf, with the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

9. River Gihon.