Discourses Biological and Geological: EssaysMacmillan, 1894 - 388 pages |
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Page 4
... conclusions of physical science rest . A great chapter of the history of the world is written in the chalk . Few passages in the history of man can be supported by such an overwhelm- ing mass of direct and indirect evidence as that ...
... conclusions of physical science rest . A great chapter of the history of the world is written in the chalk . Few passages in the history of man can be supported by such an overwhelm- ing mass of direct and indirect evidence as that ...
Page 16
... conclusion that the chalk itself is the dried mud of an ancient deep sea . In working over the soundings collected by Captain Dayman , I was surprised to find that many of what I have called the " granules " of that mud were not , as ...
... conclusion that the chalk itself is the dried mud of an ancient deep sea . In working over the soundings collected by Captain Dayman , I was surprised to find that many of what I have called the " granules " of that mud were not , as ...
Page 18
... conclusion to which all positive testimony tends , receives the like negative justification from the fact that no other hypothesis has a shadow of foundation . It may be worth while briefly to consider a few of these collateral proofs ...
... conclusion to which all positive testimony tends , receives the like negative justification from the fact that no other hypothesis has a shadow of foundation . It may be worth while briefly to consider a few of these collateral proofs ...
Page 33
... conclusions which they force upon the mind . But the mind is so constituted that it does not willingly rest in facts and immediate causes , but seeks always after a knowledge of the remoter links in the chain of causation . Taking the ...
... conclusions which they force upon the mind . But the mind is so constituted that it does not willingly rest in facts and immediate causes , but seeks always after a knowledge of the remoter links in the chain of causation . Taking the ...
Page 49
... conclusion that the waters in which it was formed were devoid of animal in- habitants , inasmuch as they might have been only too deep for habitation . The new line of investigation thus opened by the French naturalists was followed up ...
... conclusion that the waters in which it was formed were devoid of animal in- habitants , inasmuch as they might have been only too deep for habitation . The new line of investigation thus opened by the French naturalists was followed up ...
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Common terms and phrases
Abiogenesis accumulation Anchitherium ancient animals appear Arctog¿al Atlantic body bottom calcareous carbonic acid Carboniferous Carnivora causes Cetacea chalk cilium coal contains creatures cretaceous deep sea deposit depths Devonian Diatoms distribution doctrine doubt dredge dry land earth Eocene evidence existence fact fathoms fauna fermentation fish fluid Foraminifera formation forms fossil genera geological speculation geologists germs give rise globe Globigerina ooze gradually Heteromita Hipparion hypothesis knowledge known less living lobster Mammalia mammals matter Mediterranean Mesozoic microscope Miocene Miocene epoch modern modification monad naturalist nature observed ocean organisms oxygen paleontology particles Pébrine peculiar period physical plants present day protoplasm proved Radiolaria red clay regions remains rocks scientific sea-bottom shells silicious Silurian similar species sporangia spores structure substance sugar suppose surface tertiary things tion Torula trawl Triassic types Ungulata Uniformitarianism vegetable whole Wyville Thomson Xenogenesis yeast zoology zoospores
Popular passages
Page 14 - Globigerince, with the granules which have been mentioned, and some few other calcareous shells ; but a small percentage of the chalky mud — perhaps at most some five per cent, of it — is of a different nature, and consists of shells and skeletons composed of silex, or pure flint. These silicious bodies belong partly to the lowly vegetable organisms which are called Diatomaceoe, and partly to the minute, and extremely simple, animals, termed Radiolaria. It...
Page 13 - Globigerince of every size, from the smallest to the largest, are associated together in the Atlantic mud, and the chambers of many are filled by a soft animal matter. This soft substance is, in fact, the remains of the creature to which the Globigerina shell, or rather skeleton, owes its existence — and which is an animal of the simplest imaginable description. It is, in fact, a mere particle of living jelly, without defined...
Page 22 - This is a kind of shell-fish, with a shell composed of two pieces, of which, as in the oyster, one is fixed and the other free. " The upper valve is almost invariably wanting, though occasionally found in a perfect state of preservation in the white chalk at some distance. In this case, we see clearly that the sea-urchin first lived from youth to age, then died and lost its spines, which were carried away. Then the young Crania adhered to the bared shell, grew and perished in its turn; after which,...
Page 32 - Indians. Crocodiles of modern type appear ; bony fishes, many of them very similar to existing species, almost supplant the forms of fish which predominate in more ancient seas ; and many kinds of living shell-fish first become known to us in the chalk.
Page 244 - But the great tragedy of Science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact...
Page 6 - Or, to take a more familiar example, the fur on the inside of a teakettle is carbonate of lime, and, for anything chemistry tells us to the contrary, the chalk might be a kind of gigantic fur upon the bottom of the earth-kettle, which is kept pretty hot below.