Nor will the closest inspection of a formation give
any any 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | us any 1872 |
idea of the
time time 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
length of time 1872 |
which its deposition
has has 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | may have 1872 |
consumed. Many instances could be given of beds only a few feet in thickness, representing formations,
elsewhere elsewhere 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
which are elsewhere 1872 |
thousands of feet in thickness, and which must have required an enormous period for their accumulation; yet no one ignorant of this fact would have
suspected suspected 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | even suspected 1872 |
the vast lapse of time represented by the thinner formation. Many cases could be given of the lower beds of a formation having been upraised, denuded, submerged, and then re-covered by the upper beds of the same formation,— facts, showing what wide, yet easily overlooked, intervals have occurred in its accumulation. In other cases we have the plainest evidence in great fossilised trees, still standing upright as they grew, of many long intervals of time and changes of level during the process of deposition, which would
never even never even 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | not 1872 |
have been
suspected, suspected, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | sus- pected, 1872 |
had not the trees
chanced to have chanced to have 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
OMIT 1872 |
been preserved:
thus thus 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 | thus, 1859 |
Messrs. Messrs. 1859 1860 1861 | Sir C. 1866 1869 1872 |
Lyell and
Dawson Dawson 1859 1860 1861 | Dr. Dawson 1866 1869 1872 |
found carboniferous beds 1400 feet thick in Nova Scotia, with ancient root-bearing strata, one above the
other, other, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | other 1872 |
at no less than sixty-eight different levels. Hence, when the same species
occur occur 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | occurs 1872 |
at the bottom, middle, and top of a formation, the probability is that
they have they have 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | it has 1872 |
not lived on the same spot during the whole period of deposition, but
have have 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | has 1872 |
disappeared and reappeared, perhaps many times, during the same geological period.
So that if such species So that if such species 1859 1860 1861 |
So that, if such species 1866 1869 |
Consequently if it 1872 |
were to undergo a considerable amount of modification during
any any 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
the deposition of any 1872 |
one geological
period, period, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | formation, 1872 |
a section would not
probably probably 1859 1860 1861 1866 | probably 1869 1872 |
include all the fine intermediate gradations which must on
my my 1859 1860 1861 1866 | our 1869 1872 |
theory have
existed existed 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | existed, 1872 |
between them, between them, 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 | between them, 1872 |
but abrupt, though perhaps
....... 1861 1866 1869 1872 | very 1859 1860 |
slight, changes of form. |