Discourses Biological and Geological: EssaysMacmillan, 1894 - 388 pages |
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Page 1
... land which breasts them , the scarped faces of the high cliffs are often wholly formed of the same material . Northward , the chalk may be followed as far as Yorkshire ; on the south coast it appears abruptly in the picturesque western ...
... land which breasts them , the scarped faces of the high cliffs are often wholly formed of the same material . Northward , the chalk may be followed as far as Yorkshire ; on the south coast it appears abruptly in the picturesque western ...
Page 12
... land . It is a prodigious plain - one of the widest and most even plains in the world . If the sea were drained off , you might drive a waggon all the way from Valentia , on the west coast of Ireland , to Trinity Bay , in Newfoundland ...
... land . It is a prodigious plain - one of the widest and most even plains in the world . If the sea were drained off , you might drive a waggon all the way from Valentia , on the west coast of Ireland , to Trinity Bay , in Newfoundland ...
Page 16
... land , and the Rockall banks . Dr. Wallich ascertained that the sea - bottom at this point consisted of the ordinary Globi- gerina ooze , and that the stomachs of the star - fishes were full of Giobigerina . This discovery removes all ...
... land , and the Rockall banks . Dr. Wallich ascertained that the sea - bottom at this point consisted of the ordinary Globi- gerina ooze , and that the stomachs of the star - fishes were full of Giobigerina . This discovery removes all ...
Page 20
... land , at present occupied by the chalk , was once at the bottom of the sea , as we have for any matter of history whatever ; while there is no justification for any other belief . No less certain it is that the time during which the ...
... land , at present occupied by the chalk , was once at the bottom of the sea , as we have for any matter of history whatever ; while there is no justification for any other belief . No less certain it is that the time during which the ...
Page 26
... land , before the timber trees could grow upon it . As the bolls of some of these trees are from two to three feet in diameter , it is no less clear that the dry land thus formed remained in the same condition for long ages . And not ...
... land , before the timber trees could grow upon it . As the bolls of some of these trees are from two to three feet in diameter , it is no less clear that the dry land thus formed remained in the same condition for long ages . And not ...
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Common terms and phrases
Abiogenesis accumulation Anchitherium ancient animals appear Arctogæal 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.