Some Salient Points in the Science of the Earth

CHAPTER XVIII.. Man in Nature 481

Man in Nature 481

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

Cape Trinity on the Saguenay Frontispiece

Folding of the Earth's Crust To face 9

Cambro-Silurian Sponges " 39

Map of the North Atlantic " 57

Nature-print of Eozoon " 95

Laurentian Hills, Lower St. Lawrence 100

Section from Petite Nation Seigniory to St. Jerome 101

The Laurentian Nucleus of the American Continent 103

Attitude of Limestone at St. Pierre 109

Weathered Eozoon and Canals To face 112

" " " 113

Group of Canals in Eozoon 115

Amœba and Actinophrys 119

Minute Foraminiferal Forms 123

Section of a Nummulite 127

Portion of Shell of Calcarina 128

Weathered Eozoon with Oscular tubes To face 135

Diagram showing different States of Fossilization of a Cell of a Tabulate Coral 139

Slice of Crystalline Lower Silurian Limestone 141

Walls of Eozoon penetrated with Canals 141

Joint of a Crinoid 145

Shell from a Silurian Limestone, Wales 146

Casts of Canals of Eozoon in Serpentine 147

Canals of Eozoon 147

Primordial Trilobites To face 169

Primitive Fishes " 184

Devonian Forest " 201

Coal Section in Nova Scotia 233

Skeleton of Hylonomus Lyelli To face 257

Footprints of Hylopus Logani " 260

Humerus and Jaws of Dendrerpeton " 272

Reptiliferous Tree " 276

Microsaurian, restored " 278

Dolichosoma longissimum, restored " 286

Pupa and Conulus " 288

Millipedes and Insect " 296

Footprints of Limulus " 311

Rusichnites Grenvillensis " 322

Restoration of Protospongia tetranema " 329

Giant Net-sponge " 336

Boulder Beach, Little Metis " 345

Palæogeography of North America " 383

Distribution of Animals in Time " 401

Tuckerman's Ravine and Mount Washington " 425

Pre-historic Skulls " 459

Primitive Sculpture " 481

TABLE OF GEOLOGICAL HISTORY.

Non-Geological readers will find in the following table a condensed explanation of the more important technical terms used in the following pages. The order is from older to newer.

GREATER SYSTEMS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS. PERIODS. FORMATIONS.

Archæan or Eozoic

Pre-Laurentian Laurentian Protozoa Protophyta

Palæozoic

Huronian { Crustaceans Algæ Cambrian { Molluscs Cryptogamous Cambro-Silurian { Worms and Silurian { Corals, etc, Gymnospermous Devonian Fishes Plants. Carboniferous Amphibians Permian

Mesozoic

Triassic { Reptiles Pines and Jurassic { Birds Cycads Cretaceous { Earliest Mammals. Trees of modern types.

Kainozoic or Tertiary

Eocene Higher Mammals Miocene of extinct forms Pliocene Recent Mammals Modern Plants, Pleistocene and Modern Man.

Ordovician of Lapworth.

Salopian of Lapworth.

THE STARTING-POINT.

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

PROF. ROBERT JAMESON,

Of the University of Edinburgh, my first Teacher in Geology,

whose Lectures I attended, and whose kind Advice and

Guidance I enjoyed, in the Winter of 1840-1841.

Headlands and Spurs--Popular Papers on Leading Topics--Revisiting Old Localities--Dedications--General Scope of the Work

CHAPTER I.. _the Starting-Point._

THE STARTING-POINT.

An explorer trudging along some line of coast, or traversing some mountain region, may now and then reach a projecting headland, or bold mountain spur, which may enable him to command a wide view of shore and sea, or of hill and valley, before and behind. On such a salient point he may sit down, note-book and glass in hand, and endeavour to correlate the observations made on the ground he has traversed, and may strain his eyes forward in order to anticipate the features of the track in advance. Such are the salient points in a scientific pilgrimage of more than half a century, to which I desire to invite the attention of the readers of these papers. In doing so, I do not propose to refer, except incidentally, to subjects which I have already discussed in books accessible to general readers, but rather to those which are imbedded in little accessible transactions, or scientific periodicals, or which have fallen out of print. I cannot therefore pretend to place the reader on all the salient points of geological science, or even on all of those I have myself reached, but merely to lead him to some of the viewing-places which I have found particularly instructive to myself.

For similar reasons it is inevitable that a certain personal element shall enter into these reminiscences, though this autobiographical feature will be kept as much in the background as possible. It is also to be anticipated that the same subject may appear more than once, but from different points of view, since it is often useful to contemplate certain features of the landscape from more than one place of observation.

To drop the figure, the reader will find in these papers, in a plain and popular form, yet it is hoped not in a superficial manner, some of the more important conclusions of a geological worker of the old school, who, while necessarily giving attention to certain specialties, has endeavoured to take a broad and comprehensive view of the making of the world in all its aspects.

The papers are of various dates; but in revising them for publication I have endeavoured, without materially changing their original form, to bring them up to the present time, and to state any corrections or changes of view that have commended themselves to me in the meantime. Such changes or modifications of view must of necessity occur to every geological worker. Sometimes, after long digging and hammering in some bed rich in fossils, and carrying home a bag laden with treasures, one has returned to the spot, and turned over the débris of previous excavation, with the result of finding something rare and valuable, before overlooked. Or, in carefully trimming and chiselling out the matrix of a new fossil, so as to uncover all its parts, unexpected and novel features may develop themselves. Thus, if we were right or partially right before, our new experience may still enable us to enlarge our views or to correct some misapprehensions. In that spirit I have endeavoured to revise these papers, and while I have been able to add confirmations of views long ago expressed, have been willing to accept corrections and modifications based on later discoveries.

In the somewhat extended span of work which has been allotted to me, I have made it my object to discover new facts, and to this end have spared no expenditure of time and labour; but I have felt that the results of discoveries in the works of God should not be confined to a coterie, but should be made public for the benefit of all. Hence I have gladly embraced any opportunities to popularise my results, whether in lectures, articles, popular books, or in the instruction of students, and this in a manner to give accurate knowledge, and perhaps to attract the attention of fellow-workers to points which they might overlook if presented merely in dry and technical papers. These objects I have in view in connection with the present collection of papers, and also the fact that my own pilgrimage is approaching its close, and that I desire to aid others who may chance to traverse the ground I have passed over, or who may be preparing to pass beyond the point I have reached.

To a naturalist of seventy years the greater part of life lies in the past, and in revising these papers I have necessarily had my thoughts directed to the memory of friends, teachers, guides, and companions in labour, who have passed away. I have therefore, as a slight token of loving and grateful remembrance dedicated these papers to the memory of men I have known and loved, and who, I feel, would sympathise with me in spirit, in the attempt, however feeble, to direct attention to the variety and majesty of those great works of the Creator which they themselves delighted to study.

Since the design of these papers excludes special details as to Canadian geology, or that of those old eastern countries to which I have given some attention, I must refer for them to other works, and shall append such reference of this kind as may be necessary. At the same time it will be observed that as my geological work has been concerned most largely with the oldest and newest rocks of the earth, and with the history of life rather than with rocks and minerals, there must necessarily be some preponderance in these directions, which might however, independently of personal considerations, be justified by the actual value of these lines of investigation, and by the special interest attaching to them in the present state of scientific discovery.

Having thus defined my starting-point, I would now with all respect and deference ask the reader to accompany me from point to point, and to examine for himself the objects which may appear either near, or in the dim uncertain distance, in illustration of what the world is, and how it became what it is. Perhaps, in doing so, he may be able to perceive much more than I have been able to discover; and if so, I shall rejoice, even if such further insight should correct or counteract some of my own impressions. It is not given to any one age or set of men to comprehend all the mysteries of nature, or to arrive at a point where it can be said, there is no need of farther exploration. Even in the longest journey of the most adventurous traveller there is an end of discovery, and, in the study of nature, cape rises beyond cape and mountain behind mountain interminably. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite, the temporal the eternal. We need not, however, on that account be agnostics, for it is still true that, within the scope of our narrow powers and opportunities, the Supreme Intelligence reveals to us in nature His power and divinity; and it is this, and this alone, that gives attraction and dignity to natural science.

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