Essay on the Theory of the Earth. Translated ... by Robert Kerr ... With mineralogical notes, and an account of Cuvier's geological discoveries, by Professor Jameson

Front matter

ESSAY ON THE THEORY OF THE EARTH ■' K 1-,'T ! I'.\ I . .8!.:i"'8|j. .,;. ■■|lf, [p.\Yg;k>- 8" !■■■-. ESSAY ON THE THEORY OF THE EARTH. By BARON G. CUVIER, PERPETUAL SECRETARY OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE, PROFESSOR AND ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, £ e. 8rc. WITH GEOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, nv PROFESSOR JAMESON. FIFTH EDITION, TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST FRENCH EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS BV THE AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH ; AND T. CADELL, STRAND, LONDON. MDCCCXXVII- Printed by P. Neill.

Preface

TO THE FIFTH EDITION. Geology, now deservedly one of the most popular and attractive of the physical sciences, was, not many years ago, held in little estimation ; and even at present, there are not wanting some who do not hesitate to maintain, that it is a mere tissue of ill observed phenomena, and of hypotheses of boundless extravagance. The work of Cu vier now laid before the public, contains in itself not only a complete answer to these ignorant imputations, but also demonstrates the accuracy, extent, and importance of many of the facts and reasonings of this de- VI l'HEFACE. lightful branch of Natural History. Can it be maintained of a science, which requires for its successful prosecution an intimate ac quaintance with Chemistry, Natural Philo sophy and Astronomy, — with the details and views of Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy, and which connects these different depart ments of knowledge in a most interesting and striking manner, — that it is of no va lue ?

Can it be maintained of Geology, which discloses to us the history of the first origin of organic beings, and traces their gradual developement from the monade to man himself, — which enumerates and de scribes the changes that plants, animals, and minerals — the atmosphere, and the waters of the globe — have undergone from the earliest geological periods up to our own time, and which even instructs us in the earliest history of the human species, — that it offers no gratification to the philosopher ? Can even those who estimate the value of science, not by intellectual desires, but by practical ad-

PREFACE.

. VII vantages, deny the importance of Geology, certainly one of the foundations of agriculture, and which enables us to search out materials for numberless important economi cal purposes ? Geology took its rise in the Academy of Freyberg, with the illustrious Werner, to whom we owe its present interesting condition. This being the case, we ought not, (as is at present too much the practice), amidst the numerous discoveries in the mineral king dom which have been made since the system of investigation of that great interpreter of nature was made known, forget the master, and arrogate all to ourselves. In this Island, Geology first took firm root in the north : in Edinburgh the Wernerian geognostical views and method of investigation, combined with the theory of Hutton, the experiments and speculations of Hall, the illustrations of Playfair, and the labours of the Royal and Wernerian Natural History Societies, expreface.

VIII cited a spirit of inquiry which rapidly spread throughout the Empire ; and now Great Bri tain presents to the scientific world a scene of geological acuteness, activity, and enter prise, not surpassed in any other country. On the Continent the writings of Cuvier, distinguished equally by purity and beauty of style, and profound learning, have proved eminently useful in aiding the progress of Geology. In this country Cuvier was first made known as a geologist by the publication of the present essay, which, from its unexam pled popularity, has made his name as fami liar to us as that of the most distinguished of our own writers. ROBERT JAMESON. College Museum, Edinburgh, 25th November 1826.

ADVERTISEMENT.

TO FOURTH EDITION. This Fourth Edition of the celebrated Essay on the Theory of the Earth, con tains, besides many additional facts and statements in regard to the Natural History of the Earth, also learned discussions by Cuvier, on the newness of the present con tinents, as confirmed by the history of nations ; and on the proofs regarding the antiquity of nations alleged to be contained in their astronomical and other monuments. ROBERT JAMESON. College Museum, Edinburgh, 2d April 1822. Fossil organic remains are the relics of a primeval world long since gone past, proclaiming with a loud voice the instability of earthly affairs, and impressing upon the minds of those who seriously consider them, sentiments of piety and feelings of devotion. If the antiquary digs from among the ruins of Herculaneum a piece of ancient money, a vase, or a statue, we rejoice with him, in finding the mode of life, the manners and arts of an ancient people, placed before our eyes : If he finds an old record, illustrative of the history of his country, however limited in extent that country may be, we are grateful to him for the particle of knowledge he has added to our store; but it, among the ruins of the common country of the human race, we linger at the great sepulchre of animated beings destroyed by the hand of fate, who can look upon it without sentiments of piety !

It is not here the statues of Polycletus that we admire, but the admirable monuments of the workmanship of Nature, taken from the ruins of the great Herculeum overwhelmed by the ocean that we look upon with feelings of the deepest wonder and devotion.

PREFACE.

TO THE THIRD EDITION. The attention of naturalists was early di rected to the investigation of the fossil organic remains so generally and abundantly distributed throughout the strata of which the crust of the Earth is composed. It is not, as some writers now imagine, en tirely a modern study ; for even so early as the time of Leibnitz, we find that philoso pher drawing and describing fossil bones. After this period it continued to interest individuals, and engage the particular at tention of societies and academies. The Royal Society of London, by the Memoirs

PREFACE.

TO THE of Sloane, Collinson, Lister, Derham, Baker, Grew, Hunter, Jacobs, Plott, Camper, and many others, afforded satisfactory proofs of the importance attached to this branch of Natural History by philosophers in Eng land ; and the Memoirs of M. Graydon, in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Acade my, shew that it was not entirely neglected in Ireland. On the continent of Europe the natural history of petrifactions was also much studied, as appears from the Memoirs of Hollman, Beckman, and Blumenbach, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Gottingen ; — of Gmelin, Pallas, Herrmann, Chappe, in the Memoirs of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Petersburg ; — of Geoffroi, Buffon, Daubenton, Faujas St Fond, and others of the old French Acade my of Sciences ; — of Astruc and Riviere, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Mont pellier ; — of Collini of the Academia Theo doro-Palatina, at Manheim, &c. But the geognostical relations of the rocks in which THIRD EDITION.

XIII these organic remains are contained were but ill understood, until Werner pointed out the mode of investigating them. His in teresting and important views were circu lated from Freyberg, by the writings and conversations of his pupils, and have con tributed materially to the advancement of this branch of Natural History in Germany, France, and also in Great Britain. Pe trifactions are no longer viewed as objects of mere curiosity, as things isolated and unrelated to the rocks of which the crust of the Earth is composed ; on the contrary, they are now considered as one of the most important features in the strata of all regions of the earth. By the regularity and determinate nature of their distribu tion, they afford characters which assist us in discriminating not only single beds, but also whole formations of rocks ; and in this respect they are highly interesting to the geognostical inquirer. To the geologist this beautiful branch of Natural History opens

PREFACE.

TO THE up numerous and uncommonly curious views of nature in the mineral kingdom : it shews him the commencement of the formation of organic beings, — it points out the gradual succession in the formation of animals, from the almost primeval coral near the primitive strata, through all the wonder ful variety of form and structure observed in shells, fishes, amphibious animals, and birds, to the perfect quadruped of the al luvial land ; and it makes him acquainted with a geographical and physical distribution of organic beings in the strata of the globe, very different from what is observed to hold in the present state of the organic world. The zoologist views with wonder and amazement those hosts of fossil animals, sometimes so similar to the present living species, at other times so far removed from them in form and structure.

He compares the fossil orders, genera and species, with those now inhabiting the earth's surface, or living in its waters, and discovers that there THIRD EDITION. XV is a whole system of animals in a fossil state different from the present. Even the physiologist, in the various forms, connections, and relations of the parts of those animals, obtains new facts for his descrip tions and reasonings. Such, then, being the nature of this branch of Natural History, it is not surprising that, when once understood, it should have many and zealous cultivators, and occupy the talents of men of learn ing and sagacity. In our time, Cuvier, the celebrated Professor of Natural History in Paris, has eminently distinguished himself by his numerous discoveries, accurate de scriptions, and rational views, on this sub ject.

His great work on Fossil Organic Re mains, of which a new edition is now in pro gress, is the most splendid contribution to Natural History furnished by any individual of this age. The Essay on the Theory of the Earth, now translated, is the introductory part of

PREFACE.

TO THE XVI the great work of Cuvier. The subject of the deluge forms a principal object of this elegant discourse. After describing the principal results at which the theory of the earth, in his opinion, has arrived, he next mentions the various relations which connect the history of the fossil bones of land animals with these results ; explains the principles on which is founded the art of ascertaining these bones, or, in other words, of discovering a genus, and of distinguishing a species, by a single fragment of bone : and gives a rapid sketch of the results to which his researches lead, of the new genera and species which these have been the means of discovering, and of the different formations in which they are contained. Some naturalists, as Lamarck, having maintained that the present existing races of quadrupeds are mere modifications or varieties of those ancient races which we now find in a fossil state, modifications which may have been produced by change of cli- THIRD EDITION.

XVII mate, and other local circumstances, and since brought to the present great difference, by the operation of similar causes during a long succession of ages, — Cuvier shews that the difference between the fossil species and those which now exist, is bounded by certain limits; that these limits are a great deal more extensive than those which now distinguish the varieties of the same species, and consequently, that the extinct species of quadrupeds are not varieties of the presently existing species. This very interesting discussion naturally leads our author to state the proofs of the recent population of the world ; of the comparatively modern origin of its present surface ; of the deluge, and the subsequent renewal of human so ciety. In order to render this Essay more com plete and satisfactory, I have illustrated the whole with an extensive series of observa tions, and have arranged them in such a b

PREFACE.

. manner that they will be readily accessible, not only to the naturalist, but also to the general reader. Since the publication of the former edi tion of this Essay, many curious discoveries have been made in regard to fossil organic remains : — some of these are included in the Illustrations at the end of the Essay, others want of room forces us to omit. R. JAMESON College of Edinburgh, 19th April 1817. CONTENTS. Page Preliminary Observations, ------. - 1 Plan of the Essay, -.-------... 4 First Appearance of the Earth, -------- 6 First Proofs of Revolutions on the Surface of the Globe, - 6 Proofs that such Revolutions have been numerous, - - 10 Proofs that these Revolutions have been sudden, - - - 14 Proofs of the Occurrence of Revolutions before the Existence of Living Beings, .-------.16 Examination of the Causes which act at present on the Surface of the Globe, 23 Of Slips, or Falling Down of the Materials of Mountains, 25 Of Alluvial Formations, ---26 Of the Formation of Downs, ---------28 Of the Formation of Cliffs, or Steep Shores, - - - - 29 Depositions formed in Water, ---------30 Of Stalactites, _ ... 31 Of Lithophytes, 32 Of Incrustations, ------------32 Of Volcanoes, ..-----------34 Constant Astronomical Causes, --------36 Older Systems of Geologists, ---------38 XX CONTENTS.

Page More Recent Systems, Diversities of all the Systems, Causes of these Differences, --------- Nature and Condition of the Problem, 4" Progress of Mineral Geology, --------- 4y Importance of Fossil Remains in Geology, -J*1 High importance of the Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds, - - 53 Small probability of discovering new Species of large Quadrupeds, -------------- 5b Inquiry respecting the Fabulous Animals of the Ancients, 69 Difficulty of determining the Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds, 82 Principle by which this determination is effected, - - - 83 View of the general Results of these Researches, - - - 94 Relations of the Species of Fossil Animals, with the Strata in which they are found, ----------95 Proofs that the extinct Species of Quadrupeds are not Varieties of the presently existing Species, ----- 102 Proofs that there are no Fossil Human Bones, - - - - 114 Physical Proofs of the Newness of the present Continents, 121 Additions of Land by the action of Rivers, - - - - - 123 Progress of Downs, ------------ 133 Peat-mosses and Slips, ----------- 135 The History of Nations confirms the Newness of the Continents, ---. 137 The very remote Antiquity attributed to certain Nations is not supported by History, -------- 149 The Astronomical Monuments left by the Ancients do not bear the excessively remote Dates which have been attributed to them, - .- CONTENTS.

XXI Page Table of the Extent of the Zodaical Constellations, as they are designed upon our Globes, and of the Times required by the Colures to traverse them, - - - - - 212 Construction and Use of the Table, ------- 216 The Zodiac is far from bearing in itself a certain and excessively remote date, ---------- 230 Exaggerations relative to the Antiquity of certain Mining Operations, ------------- 238 General Conclusion relative to the Period of the last Revolution, -------------- 239 Further Researches to be made in Geology, ----- 240 Recapitulation of the Observations upon the Succession of the Tertiary Formations, --------- 243 Table of Geological Formations in the Order of their Superposition ; by M. A. de Humboldt, 249 Enumeration of the Fossil Animals recognized by the Author, 253 Ichthyosaurus, ------------ 255 Plesiosaurus, ------------ 256 Crocodile, 258 Megalosaurus, ------------ 259 Pterodactylus, ------------ 261 Iguanodon, ------------- 263 Mosasaurus, ------------ 264 Dolphin, ------------- ib.