The application of
botanical and zoological evidence to determine the relative age of rocks --
this chronometry of the earth's surface, which was already present to the
lofty mind of Hooke -- indicates one of the most glorious epochs of modern
geognosy, which has finally, on the Continent at least, been emancipated
from the sway of Semitic doctrines. Palaeontological investigations have
imparted a vivifying breath of grace and diversity to the science of the
solid structure of the earth.
The fossiliferous strata contain, entombed within them, the floras and
faunas of by-gone ages. We ascend the stream of time, as in our study of
the relations of superposition we descend deeper and deeper through the
different strata, in which lies revealed before us a past world of animal
and vegetable life. Far-extending disturbances, the elevation of great
mountain chains, whose relative ages we are able to define, attest the
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destruction of ancient and the manifestation of recent organisms. A few of
these older structures have remained in the midst of more recent species.
Owing to the limited nature of our knowledge of existence, and from the
figurative terms by which we seek to hide our ignorance, we apply the
appellation 'recent structure' to the historical henomena of transition
manifested in the organisms as well as in the forms of primitive seas and of
elevated lands.
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