The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-08-07
THE ANCIENT WORLD.

ms Is very instructive and interestin
, book bearing ample testimony 10 III
! knowledge, and to the judgment "a rare
quality among geOlogists) of its author.
Professor Ansted disclaims any attemI
beyond graphic statement Of the results q
geological inquiry; but says, that though hi
pages may not communicate argumentativ
proofs. YET actual observations alone are Ore
sented; "the conclusions which alone seen
rational will be narrated as history" III
adds, that his object in alluding to the serie
oil Investigations on which the science of re
OlOgy is founded, is rather to show how ia
there are supposed to exist materials for de
SCH ption and history, than 10 enter into an,
discussion or argument concerning these ma
terlals. In pursuance Of this intention, al
ter briefly pointing out the indication of sue
cesslve formations contained in the relativ,
positions Of strata as laid bare by geological
sections, and the historical monuments inn
bedded in each stratum in lossile form, h.
proceeds to pass in review the three grea
geological periods.
First, however, he casts rapid glance
over the era Of the azoic rocks. And there
is passage in this preliminary review which
eAcellently illustrates at once the vivid clear
ness with which the author teammates thos.
by-gone ages, and the sound and sober iudg.
ment which We have noticed as one OF the
characteristics of hi. mind.
"Thus do these lowest sedimentary stra.
ia, whose vast antiquity is in many cases m.
questionable, but which sometimes, like the
granite itself, have been elaborated a. later
periods, occupy q definite place among the
rocks Of which the earth crust is made up.
They mark, it would appear, a strange and
dark passage from that state which We have
considered chaotic, 10 a condition of more
regular and quiet deposit; they are. howev.
er, with reference to iOssiiierOus rocks, ozo.
&c. or liieless; and they are also as a class
almost as widely spread, and as distinctly
universal, as the granite rocks themselves.
At the end, therefore, Of this, our first peri
cd, we may suppose that there existed a
globe, whose surface exhibited alterations
Of land and water; the land having in some
places as distinctly stratifed aa appearance
as 1t has at present, and the thick masses OF
strata resting on huge bosses and peaks Of
granite and other igneous rock but all wa.
then bare and desolate; not moss nor a
lichen covered the naked skeleton Of thu
globe not a sea-weed Hoated in the broad
ocean; nst trace existed even Of the leas
highly organized animal or vegetable; eve
ny thing was still, and with the stiffness o.
absolute death. The earth was indeed pre-
pared, and the fiat of creation had gone forth
but there was as yet no inhahitant, and nc
being endowed with life had been introdu
ced to perform its part in the great myster,
of Creation.
"lt must, however, be distinctly under
stood that this view is strictly hypothetical
and is after all, only one means Of explain
ING certain phenomena. So far as il is al
illustration Of facts that have been observed
it has its value. and may be received provi
sionally; but, so far as il is merely theor,
of the earth, it is worth neither more nor les
than other different theories, many Of whicI
We're proposed by cosmogonists of ancien
date, and some have been put forth in on
own time BY persons who have as lttl
ground for theorizing.'
| The three great periods sketched by MI
Ansted, are substantially those which hav,
been established ny the researches of Sir r
J. Murchison. The ancient epoch he di
vides into four periods-the period of inver
tebrated animals, the period Of fishes, and tn
period marked by the presence of vegetable
and the first appearance Of reptiles. Tn
middle epoch is subdivided into the pero
of frog like, bird-like. and marine reptiles
the period Of gigantic land reptiles, Of flyin
reptiles, and Of the first appearance Of man
malta; and the period of the chalk and gree
sand. The modern epoch is also divided il
to three periods. In the first We have tn
Pachydems Of the Paris basin, and the az
paIently sub-uopical fruits and animals Q
the London and Hampshire basins; in tn
second, the large animals of the Middl
Rhine Valley, and the. mas,odon and eli
} plants found in various countries in tn
third, the gigantic Eliminating and other an
mails found in gravel, and the fossile inmate
Of caverns. Specimens Of the manner
which the living beings existed in each epocl
and Of the appearance Of inanimate na,uI
around them, are all our space admits OF
but these will sufficiently illustrate the pu
: pose and execution Of the work.
The seas Of the very earliest period fro,
which fossile natural mummies) have bee
r handed down to us, are thus described:
"No doubt the appearance Of these a,
! Gent seas would have appeared strange
: the eyes of the naturalist, could an inhab
tant Of the world in its present state ha,
become acquainted with The mysteries Of Il
oceans deep abysses at that time. Wi
, something Of resemblance in the reefs ar
! islands Of coral rising gradually to the W
] ter's edge, as the coral polyp toiled and /
; bored from day TO day and from year to yea
there would yet be much more Of different
q both in the shadows and depths Of the ocea1
u The former sometimes with sandy, but mo
frequently muddy bottom, would be pc
+ pied with countless myriads Of those unsigt
J. " animals, the trilobtcs, swimming near d
o surface of the water with their backs dow
y wards, looking out constantly, and sinkil
: at The slightest approach Of danger from B
II meath; while the remains Of successive &c
> erations Of these creatures, mixed with mi
}; and sand, would rapidly form beds sometim
y of great extent. From amongst such bet
'e or attached to the solid rock, would be see
% rising or leaning over on their short and sic
}; der stems, the simple forms Of the crinoi
a mr. stone- flowers. more beautiful, perhaps, q