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ditions, and to specific purposes in the economy of nature, are presented, as those which arise at every step in the examination of animal structures. And in this extensive and still more ancient department of creation, illustrations equally characteristic, and evidences equally satisfactory are furnished, of the operation of the Divine Hand by which it has been governed. These results are the more important, as changes similar to those which have affected organic life in the animal creation, are proved to have occurred in the characteristic features of the vegetation which clothed the ancient globe. The study of the fossil vegetable world supplies also, much of the information we possess, in reference to the early conditions the globe ;—it is, in fact, from the fossil remains of plants, almost exclusively, that we derive the history of periods less remote than those conditions of the globe when its surface did not support organic life, but, nevertheless, anterior to the existence of some classes of animals upon the land.

We find then, that by the study of organic remains, Geology has been enabled to demonstrate facts, which must otherwise have for ever remained unknown to man, and shrouded in the obscurity of primeval time; to restore, at this distant period, the first and successive inhabitants of the ancient globe; to enlarge and illustrate natural history, and to extend its province into an elder world-a range accessible to these researches alone; to reconstruct animals which have not only ceased to exist on the

terrestrial surface, but which, by their anatomical character, and complete difference from any existing members of creation, surpass in many cases, the creations of fable or imagination; to ascertain, by comparison of these surprising relics with existing types, where any such remain, the relation of ancient systems to the present system of organic life; and, passing from discovery to inference, to prove that they were as fully adapted to terrestrial conditions, as we know the present inhabitants of the globe to be; and finally, therefore, to announce the existence in an earlier world, of the same harmony of design, and unity of purpose that pervade existing creation.

CHAPTER XI.

The study of the Mineral Structure of the Globe recommended, as furnishing additional evidences of beneficent adaptation and design.

As remarked by Professor Phillips, "the magnificent spectacle which the phenomena of the terrestrial structure present to our contemplation, must impress upon even the most casual observer, a sentiment of respect for the sublime objects of geological inquiry." And upon an attentive observation of that structure, its varied phenomena are found indeed to

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supply an endless source of interest and instruction, whether we view them with reference to their mineral characters, their general arrangement, their endless diversity, the external features to which they are related, or the internal treasures of varied kinds, which the strata of the earth enclose. In the lofty elevation of the mountain, the bold escarpment of cliff, the undulating surface of the plain, the alternation of hill and dale, and the general distribution of land and water on the terrestrial surface, from all which features Geology discloses the ancient history of the globe, and announces the nature and character of the events by which it has been affected from periods of remote antiquity, we are presented also with most striking instances of designed adaptation, of relation between the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, and of their mutual subserviency to the welfare of mankind. For it is not only the province of the geologist to trace, through these monuments of nature, the series of events which they commemorate, but to shew that the revolutions through which the surface of the globe has advanced to its present condition, and has become stored with all its animal, vegetable, and mineral forms, and "made fit for the residence of man," have ever been directed by presiding Wisdom and Beneficence, with a view to the benefit of the inhabitants of the globe.

Upon investigating the fabric of our planet, so far as we are enabled to ascertain its structure, (for though science has opened to our contemplation the

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boundless range, and distant regions of universal space, it has not shewn the structure of our own planet beyond a few miles in depth,) we find that by far the greater portion of its surface is occupied by rocks which were deposited in water, and occur in the form of strata, more or less approaching to a horizontal position, those strata succeeding each other in a certain order, possessing very different degrees of antiquity, a great extent of continuity over the globe, and enclosing myriads of fossil remains of plants and animals, for the most part distinct from those of the present day, though formed on the same general principles. We further find that "this system of stratified rocks extends to a variable depth, and that below it and amongst it occurs a set of rocks which are not stratified, and do not contain organic remains, but consist of such minerals, and occur in such circumstances, as to be clearly the result of igneous agency.

We likewise trace in the structure and arrangement of these stratified deposits, and the formations derived from them and the older unstratified and igneous rocks, the most impressive testimony of their adaptation to the economy of animal and vegetable life. The igneous rocks are the repositories of valuable minerals and metals, of ores, and other substances which immediately contribute to the welfare of mankind, and they are so collocated and distributed as to render these treasures the most accessible to human industry, and the most condu

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cive to ultimate purposes in the economy of nature. Being the least productive of a fertile soil, they chiefly form the mountain districts of the globe, and they thus contribute to the formation of derivative strata adapted to the support of vegetable life. Another "valuable contrivance in the structure of the earth," observes the Rev. Professor Buckland, “is, that nearly all its materials are such as to afford, by their decomposition, a soil fit for the support of vegetable life, and that they are calculated to undergo, and have undergone, a superficial decomposition. Here," continues the Rev. Professor, "is an instance of relation between the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, and of the adaptation of the one to the other, which always implies design in the surest manner; for had not the surface of the earth been thus prepared for their reception, where would have been the use of all that admirable system of organization bestowed upon the vegetable world?" Nor does the general disposition of the masses of stratified and other rocks with reference to their mineral character and relative capability of contributing to those purposes, afford a less convincing proof of superintending design. In all the monuments of the great operations of nature which the geologist is thus enabled to trace, this grand system of mutual relation and prospective adaptation is exhibited a system by which the globe has been adapted to each successive condition of its inhabitants, and has gradually attained the features which

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