A complete history of Illinois, from 1673 to 1873 : embracing the physical features of the country; its early explorations; aboriginal inhabitants; French and British occupation; conquest by Virginia; territorial condition and the subsequent civil, military and political events of the state

Front matter

m

The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant rii

COMPLETE

Table Of Contents

XXVI. ORGANIZATION OB' THE STATE GOVERNMENT.

Administration of Gov- Bond; Our Northei-n Boundary; First Constitutional Convention and something of the instrument framed ; Gov. Bond ; Lieut.-Gov. Menard; Meeting of the Legislature and election of State Officers; First Supreme Court; Hard Times and First State. Baak; Organization of Courts. 395

XXVII. ADMINISTRATION OF GOV COLES.

Preface

AltliOLigli Illinois, whose grassy plains have been styled the Eden of the new world, contains the oldest permanent settlements in the Yalley of the Mississippi, and in her strides to empire is destined to become the first State of the Union, her history has been strangely neglected. Fragments have been written at different times but only of detached periods and embracing but a small part of the two centuries, which ha^e elapsed since the first explorations. To supply this deficiency and furnish a history commensurate with her present advancement in power and civilization is the object of the present workj whether it has been accomplished remains to be seen.

Not having taken any part in the shifting and instructive drama enacted by those who have directed the affairs of State, no rankling jealousies have been engendered to distort conclusions ; no undue predelections to warp the judgement. Measures have been estimated by their results ; men by their public acts. While no disposition has existed to assail any one, it must be remembered that none are faultless, and to speak well of all is the worst of detraction, for it places the good and the bad on a common level.

A principal aim has been to render the the work complete. A large amount of matter has been inserted never before published in connection with the history of the State 5 yet important facts, though familiar, have always been preferred to new ones of minor significance. The main consideration, however, has been to render it truthful. In the wide field which has been gleaned, every available source of information has been carefully consulted, and it is believed a degree of accuracy has been secured, which will compare favorably with that of other similar efforts. Still there will always be room for improvement, and any corrections which may be offered by parries who have witnessed, or been connected with events described, will be thankfully received and inserted in future editions of the work, the object being to make it a complete repository of reliable facts for the general reader, the politician, the lawyer, and all who may wish to become acquainted with the history of our noble State.

To the many in different parts of the State, who have furnished information, or aided us by valuable suggestions, we return our thanks, especially to Messrs. Eummel and Harlow, Secretaries of State, for the use of public documents, and to the proprietors of the State Journal and State Register^ for access to their valuable files.

SPEiNGriELD, Dec. 19th, 1873.

Chapter I. GEOLOGY OF ILLII^OIS

On the geological strnctiire of a coimtiy depend the pursuits of its inhabitants and the genius of its civilization. Agriculture is the outgrowth of a fertile soil; mining results from mineral resources; and from navigable waters spring navies and commerce. Every great branch of industry requires, for its successful development, the cultivation of kindred arts and sciences. Phases of hfe and modes of thought are thus induced, which give to dift'erent commuiuties and states characters as various as the diverse rocks that underlie them. In like manner it may be sho^^l that their moral and intellectual qualities depend on matei'ial conditions. \ATiere the soil and subjacent rocks are i^rofuse in the bestowal of wealth, man is indolent and effeminate ; where etfort is required to live, he becomes enlightened and virtuous; and where, on the sands of the desert, labor is unable to prociu^e the necessaries and comforts of life, he lives a savage. The civilization of states and nations is, then,, to a great extent, but the reflection of physical conditions, and hence the propriety of introducing their civil, political and military history Avith a sketch of the geological substructure from which they originate.

Geology traces the history of the earth back through successive stages of development to its rudimental condition in a state of fusion. Sxieculative astronomy extends it beyond this to a gaseous state, in which it and the other bodies of the solar system constituted a nebulous mass, without form and motion. When, in the jirocess of development, motion was commimicated to the chaotic matter, huge fragments were detached from its circumference, which formed the primary planets. These retaining the rotary motion of the sun, or central mass, in tiu-n threw off other and smaller fragments, thus forming the secondary planets, as in the case of the moon which attends the earth. All these bodies are similar in form, have a similar motion on their axes, move substantially in a common plain and in the same dii-ection, the residt of the projectile force which detached them from the parent mass. These facts are strong evidence that the sun, and the planetary system that revolves around it, were originally a common mass, and became separated in a gaseous state, as the want of cohesion among the particles would then favor the dissevering force. From the loss of heat they next passed into a fluid or plastic state, the point in the history of the earth where it comes within the range of geological investigation.

While in this condition it became flattened at the poles, a form due to its diui-nal rotation and the mobility of its particles. At a

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

furtlier reduction of temperature its melted disk was transformed into a crust of igneous rock. A great many facts render it almost certain that tlie vast nucleus within this envelophig crust is still an incandescent mass. Compared with its enormous bulk, the external covering is of only lilmy thickness, the ratio of the two being as the pulp and peel of an orange. In tliis world-crucible are held in solution the 61 elementary substances, which, variously combining, produce the great variety of forms, energies and modes of being, Avhicli diversify and enliven terrestrial nature. From the same souice the precious metals have been forced into the fissures of the superincumbent rocks, whither the miner descends and brings tlieni to the surface. Volcanoes are outlets for the tremendous forces generated in these deep-seated fires. As an evidence of their ern}3tive i^ower, Vesuvius sometunes throws jets of lava, resembling columns of tlame, 10,000 feet in hight. The amount of lava ejected at a single eruption from one of the volcanoes of Iceland, has been estimated at 40,000,000,000 tons, a quantity sufficient to cover a large city with a mountain as high as the tallest Alps. By the process of congelation, which has never ceased, the rocky crust which rests on this internal sea of fire, is now supposed to be from thirty to fortj' miles ui thickness. The outer or upiiei' portion of it was the most universal geological formation, and constituted the floors of the primitive oceans. The rocks composing it are designated mistratified, because they occur in irregular masses, and igneous from having originally been melted by intense heat. The vast cycle of time extending through their formation and reaching down to the introduction of hfe on the globe, constitutes the Azoic age. The earth's siu-face, consisting of arid wastes and boiling waters, and its atmosphere reeldng Avith poisonous gases, were Avholly incompatible ANdth the existence of plants and animals. By the continued radiation of heat the nucleus within the hardened crust contracted, and the latter, to adapt itself to the dimimshed bulk, folded into huge corrugations, forming the primitive mountain chains and the first land that appeared aboA^e the face of the Avaters. The uphea\"al of these vast plications AA^as attended Avith depressions in other i>arts of the surface constituting the A'alleys and basins of the original riA^ers and oceans. Through the agency of Avater the uplifted masses were dismtegrated and the resulting sediment swept uito the extended depressions. Here it settled in parallel layers and constitutes the stratified rocks. In some localities these are entirely wanting, in others many miles in depth, Avhile their aA^erage thickness is supiiosed to be from six to eight miles.

The plain, separating the stratified from the unstratified rocks, runs parallel Avith the oldest part of the earth's crust. When solidification commenced it was the smiace, and as induration adA anced toAvard the Centre the crust thickened by increments on the inside, and, therefore, the most recently formed igneous rocks are the farthest below the surface. Stratification commenced at the same plain and extended in an upward direction, and hence the most recent deposits are nearest the surface, when not displaced by disturbing causes.

" In the silent depths of the stratified rocks are the former creations of plants and animals, AAdiich liA'^ed and died during the slow, dragi>inff centuries of their formation. These fossil remains are

GEOLOGrT.

fragments of history, \\iiicli enable the geologist to extend his reseaiches far back into the realms of the past, and not only determine their former modes of life, but stndy the contemporaneous history of their rocky beds, and group them into systems. The fossiliferous rocks are not only of great thickness but frequently their entire structiu'e is an aggregation of cemented shells, so numerous that mOlions of them occur in a single cubic foot. Such has been the profusion of life that the great limestone formations of the globe consist mostly of animal remains, cemented by the infusion of mineral matter. A large part of the soil s^iread over the earth's siuface has been elaborated in animal organisms. First, as nourishment, it enters the structure of plants and forms vegetable tissue. Passing thence as food into the animal, it becomes endowed with life, and when death occurs it retiu^ns to the soil and imparts to it additional elements of fertility. Tbe different systems of stratified rocks, as determined by their organic remains, are usually denominated Ages or Systems.

The Lanrentian System or Age m the lowest, and therefore the oldest, of the stratified series. From the effects of great heat it has assumed, to some extent, the character of the igneous rocks below, but still retains its original lines of stratification. A principal effect of the gTeat heat to which its rocks were exposed is erystalization. Crystals are frequently formed bj^ art, but the most beautiful specimens are the products of nature's laboratories, deep-seated in the crust of the earth. The Laiu-entian system was formerly supposed to be destitute of organic remains, but recent investigations have lead to the discovery of animals so low in the scale of organization as to be regarded as the first appeai"- ance of sentient existence. Tliis discoA^ery, as it extends the origin of life backward through 30,000 feet of strata, ftiay be regarded as one of the most important advances made in American geology. Its supposed beginnmg, in a considerable degree of advancement in the Siliu'ian system, was regarded by geologists as too abrupt to correspond with the gradual development of types in subsequent .strata. The discovery, however, of these incipient forms in the Laureutian beds, renders the descending scale of life complete, and verifies the conjectures of physicists that in its earliest dawn it should commence with the most simple organisms.

The Huronian System^ like the one that precedes it, and on which it rests, is highly crystalline. Although fossils have not been found in it, yet from its position the inference is they once existed, and if they do not now, the great transforming power of heat has caused their obliteration. This, and the subjacent system, extend from Labrador southwesterly to the great lakes, and thence northwesterly toward the Arctic Ocean. They derive their names from the St. LaT^Tence and Lake Hiu-on, on the banks of which are found their principal outcrops. Their emergence from the ocean was the bu'tli of the ^N'ortli American continent. One face of the uphft looked toward the Atlantic, and the other toward the Pacific, thus prefiguring the iiiture shores of this great di-\ision of the globe, of which they are the germ. Erui^tive forces have not operated with sufficient power to bring them to the surface in Illinois, and therefore the vast stores of mineral wealth, which they contain in other places, if they exist here, are too deep below the smface to be made available.

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

The Silurian Age, compared with the more stable formations of subsequent times, was one of commotion, in which fire and water phiyed a conspicuous part. Earthqualves and volcanoes furrowed the yielding- crust with ridges, and threw up islands whose crag'gy summits, here and there, stood like sentinels above the miu'ky deep which dashed against their shores. The present diversities of climate did not exist, as the temperatm-e was mostly due to the escape of internal heat, which was the same over every part of the surface. As the radiation of heat in future ages declined, the sun became the controlling power, and zones of climate appeared as the result of solar domination. Uniform thermal conditions imparted a corresponding character to vegetable and animal life, and one universal fauna and flora extended from the equator to the poles. . These hardy marine tji^es consisted of Eadiates, Mollusks and Articulates, three of the foiu- sub-kingdoms of animal life. Seaweed, which served as food for the animals, was the only plant of which any traces remain. Diu-iug the Silurian age North America, like its inhabitants, was mostly submarine, as proved by wave-lines on the emerging lands. There lay along the eastern border of the continent an extended ridge, which served as a breakwater to the waves of the Atlantic. The region of the Alleghanies was subject to great elevations and depressions, and the latter largely preponderating, caused the deposit of some twelve thousand feet of strata. Although mostly under water, there was added to the original nucleus of the continent formations now found in New York, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Niagara limestone, a Silurian formation, is found over a large extent of country in northern Illinois, beyond the hmits of the coal-fields. It is a compact grayish stone, susceptible of a high polish, and at Athens and Joliet is extensively quarried for building purposes, and shipped to different parts of the State. The new Capitol is being; erected of this material. The Galena limestone, another Silurian deposit, is interesting, from the fact that it contains the lead and zinc ores of the State. St. Peters sandstone belongs also to the same system. Besides outcropping in a number of other localities, it appears in the bluffs of the Illinois, where it forms the islandlike plateau known as Starved Rock. In some localities, beingcomposed almost entirely of silica and nearly free from coloring matter, it is the best material in the West for the manufacture of glass.

The Devonian Age is distinguished for the introduction of Vertebrates, or the fourth sub-kingdom of animal hfe and the beginning' of terrestrial vegetation. The latter appeared in two classes, the highest of the flowerless and the lowest of the flowering plants. The Lepidodendron, a noted instance of the former, was a majestic upland forest tree, which, during the coal period, grew to a hight of 80 feet, and had a base of more than 3 feet in diameter. Beautiful spiral flutings, coiling in opposite directions and crossingeach other at fixed angles, carved the trunks and branches into rhomboidal eminences, each of which was scarred with the mark of a falling leaf. At an altitude of GO feet it sent off" arms, each separating into branchlets covered with a needle-Hke foliage, destitute of flowers. It grew, not by internal or external accretions, as i^lants of the present day, but like the building of a monument, by additions to the top of its trunk. Mosses, rushes and other

GEOLOGY.

dimiuiitive flowerless plants are now the only surviving- representative of this cr>i)togamic vegetation, which so largely predominated in the early botany of the globe. Floral beauty and fragrance were not characteristic of the old Devonian woods: No bird existed to enliven their silent groves with song, no serpent to hiss m their fenny brakes, nor beast to piu'sue, with hideous yells, its panting' prey.

The vertebrates consisted of tishes, of which the Ganoids and Placoids were the principal groups. The former were the forerunners of the reptile, which in many resi)ects they closely resembled. They embraced a large number of species, many of which grew to a gigantic size*, but with the exception of the gar and sturgeon, they have no living representatives. The Placoids, structiu-ally formed for advancement, still remain among the highest tA'pes of the present seas. The shark, a noted instance, judging from its fossil remains, must have attained 100 feet in length. Both groups lived in the sea, and if any fresh water anim-cds existed their remains have either i)erished or not been found. So numerous were the inhabitants of the ocean, that the Devonian has been staled the age of fislies. In their anatomical structure was foreshadowed the organization of man; reptiles, birds and mammals being the intermediate gradations. The continental sea of the preceding age still covered the larger part of ]S^orth America, extending far northwest and opening south into the Gulf of Mexico. In its shallow basins were deposited sandstones, shales and limestones, which westerly attained a thickness of 500 feet, and in the region of the Alleghanies 1,500 feet. The great thickness of the latter deposits indicated oscillations, in ■v^hieh the do^\aiward movement exceeded the upward. Shallow waters, therefore, interspersed with reefs and islands, still occu- ])ied the sites of the Alleghanies and Eocky Mountains, w^hich now look down from above the clouds on the tinished continent. The St. Lawrence and the Hudson may have existed in miniature, but the area of land was too smaU. for rivers and other bodies of fresh water of considerable extent. In the distiu-bances closing the Devonian age additions were made to the surface in Iowa, '\Visconsin and Illinois. The two resulting formations in this State are the Devonian limestone and the Oriskany sandstone. There are outcrops of the former in the bluifs of the 3Iississippi, Eock and Illinois rivers. It contains a great A^ariety of fossils, and is used for building material and the manufacture of quicklime. The latter appears in Union, Alexander and Jackson counties, and is used to some extent in the manufactiu'6 of glass.

The Carboniferous Age opened with the deposition of 'widely extended marine formations. Added to the strata prcAdously deposited, the entire thickness in the region of the AUeghaiues, now partially elevated, amounted to 7 miles. Wide areas of permanent elevation occiui-ed between the 31th and 15th degTees of latitude, embracing most of the territory between the eastern continental border and the States of Kansas and ISTebraska. Farther westward, and resulting from the gradual emergence of the Pacific coast, was an interior sea whose shallow waters stUl flowed over the site of the Eocky Mountains. The ^vinter temperature near the poles was 00 degTees. A stagnant aud Stirling atmosphere rested upon the area now constituting the United States and British

America. Tlie McKenzie river, no^A- filled ^vitli icebergs, tlien flowed tlirongli verdant banks to a coral sea, liaviiig' the same temperature as the Gulf of Mexico at the present day. Tlie most prominent feature of the age was the formation of coal. Being carbonized vegetable tissue, the material furnished for this j)urpose was the vast forest accumulations peculiar to the peiiodi Vegetation, commencing in the previous age, had now attained an expansion which greatly exceeded the growth of prior or subsequent times. Invigorated by a warm, moist and ^vinterless climate, and an atmosphere surcharged with carbonic acid gas, vast jimgles spread over the marshy plains, and impenetrable forests covered the upland slopes and hights. The graceful lepidodendron, now fidly developed, was one of the principal coal pro<luciug plants-, subserving the same purpose and associated with it was the gigantic conifer, a member of the pine family. The ancient fern, another coal lilant, grew to a hight of 80 feet. Its trunk, regularly fretted with scars and destitute of branches, terminated in a crown of foliage rivaling that of the jjalm in profuseness and beauty. The sigillarid, however, as it contributed most largely to the production of coal, was the characteristic i^lant of the period. The trunk, which rose from 40 to GO feet high from its alternate fiutings and ribs, appeared like a clustered column. At an altitude of '25 or 30 feet it separated into branches, covered vsith a grass-like foliage intermingled with long catkins of obscirre flowers or strings of seed, arranged in whorls about a common stem. The structure of the trunk was peculiar. One, 5 feet in diameter, was surrounded with a bark 13 inches in thickness; within this was a cylinder of wood 12 inches in thickness, and at the center a pith 10 inches in diameter. Such a tree woidd be useless as timber, but the bark, of which they largely consisted, was impervious to mijieral solutions, and valuable for the production of coal. The calamites, growing with the sigillarids, covered with dense brakes the marshy fiats. Their hollow stems, marked vertically Avith tiutings and horizontally with joints, grew in clumi):j to a hight of 20 feet. Some species were branchless, while from the joints of other sprang branches, subdividing into whorls of branchlets.

The vast acciunulation of vegetable matter from these and other carboniferous plants, either imbedded in the miry soil in Avhich it grew, or SAvept from adjaceiit elevations into shallow lakes, became coA^ered with sediment, and thus Avere transformed into coal. It has been estimated that 8 perpendicular feet of wood Avere required to make 1 foot of bituminous coal, and 12 to make 1 of anthracite. Some beds of the latter are 30 feet in thickness, and hence 360 feet of timber must liaA''e been consimied in their production. The process of its formation Avas exactly the same as practiced in the manufacture of charcoal, by burning Avood imder a covering of earth. Vegetable tissue consists mostly of carbon and oxygen, and decomposition must take place, either under water or some other imperAions coA^ering, to prevent the elements from forming {;arbonic acid gas, and thus escai>ing to the atmosphere. Conforming to these requirements, the immense vegetable growths formuig the coal-fields subsided with the surface on which they grcAV, and Avere buried beneath the succeeding deposits. ISToA'a Scotia has 7(3 different beds, and Illinois 12 ; and consequently, in these localities there were a.s many different fields of

GEOLOGY.

verdiu'e overwlielmed in tlie dirt-beds of the sea. Tims, long before the starry cycles had measured half the history of the unfolding continent, and when fii\st the expanding stream of life but dimly reflected the coming age of mind, this vast sui)ply of fuel Avas stored away in the rocky frame- work of the globe. Here it slmnbered till man made his appearance and dragged it from its rocky lairs. At liis bidding it renders the factory animate with humming spindles, driving shuttles, whirhng lathes, and clanking forges. Under his guidance the iron-horse, feeding upon its pitchy fragments, bounds with tireless tread over its far reaching track, draggmg after htm the i^roducts of distant marts and climes. Bj^ the skill of the one and the power of the other, the ocean steamer plows the deep in opposition to winds and waves, making its watery home a highway for the commerce of the world.

Prior to the formation of coal, so great wais the volume of carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere that only slow breathing and cold-blooded animals could exist. Consequent upon its conversion into coal, all the preceding species of plants and animals perished, and new forms came upon the stage of being with organizations adapted to the improved conditions. In the new economy, as at the i^resent time, stabiUty is maintained in the atmosphere by the reciprocal relations subsisting between it and the incoming types. The animal inspires oxygen and expii-es carbonic acid gas ; the vegetable inspires carbonic acid gas and expires 0x3 gen, thus preserving the equilibrium of this breathing medium. The coal-fields of Eiu'ope are estimated at 18,000 square miles, those of the United States at 150,000. The Alleghany coal-field contains 60,000 square miles, with an aggregate thickness of 120 feet. The Illinois and Missoiu-i 6'0,000 square mOes, and an aggregate thickness in some localities of 70 feet. Other fields occur in dilferent localities, of various thicknesses. In Illinois, three-fourths of the surface are underlaid by beds of coal, and the State consequently has a greater area than any other member of the Union. There are 12 different beds, the two most important of which are each from 0 to S feet in thickness. The entire carboniferous system, including the coalbeds and the intervening strata, in southern Illinois is 27,000 feet in thickness, and in the northern part only 500.

ISText to the immense deposits of coal, the Biu-lington, Keokuk and St. Louis limestones are the most important formations. They receive then- appellations from the cities whose names they bear — where their lithological characters were first studied — and in the vicinities of which they crop out in Illinois. The Burlington furnishes inexhaustible supplies of building stone and quicklime, but is mostly interesting on account of the immense number of interesting fossils which it contains. Along its northern outcrop Crinoids are found in a i^rofusion unequalled by that of any locaUty of similar extent in the world. Though untold ages have elapsed since their incarceration in the rocks, so perfect has been their preservation, their structiu-e can be determined with almost as much precision as if they had perished but yesterday. The Keokuk is extensively used for architectm-al jnu-poses, and furnished the material for the celebrated Mormon Temjile at Kauvoo, the new Post-office at Springfield, and the Custom Houses at Galena and Dubuque. It contains some of the most interesting crystals found in the State. These consist of hoUow spheres of

HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

quartz and clialcedony of various sizes, and lined on the inside wltli crystalets of different minerals. Tons of specimens have been taken from Hancock county and distributed over the United States and Europe, to ornament the cabinets of mineralogists. The St. Louis is almost piu-e carbonet of lime, and the best material in the State for the manufacture of quick-bme. It is largely quarried at Alton.

The Age of BejMles is distinguished for changes in the continental borders, which generally ran within theii' present limits. The sub-maruie outlines of the Bay of New York, and the course of the Hudson, indicate that the adjacent shores during the early part of this age were beyond their present bmits. Southward the sea hue ran within the present shore, the distance increasing from GO miles in Maryland to 100 in Georgia, and 200 in Alabama. The Texan giilf-shore, and that of the peninsula and State of Cabfornia, were parallel, and mostly within their present positions. These borders were fringed with deposits, while inland the trougli of the old continental sea was becoming more shallow. The altitude of the AUeghanies had nearly reached their present hight. The Eocky Mountains, in the transition from the close of the present to the beginning of the subsequent age, began slowly to emerge from the waters under which they had hitherto sbmibered. The Gulf of Mexico formed a deep bay extending to the mouth of the Oliio, and, protruding itself northwesterly, covered the region of the Eocky Mountains. It may have connected ^Yith the Ar(;tic Ocean, but observations have been too bmitedto trace it with certainty beyond the head waters of the Missouri and Yellow Stone. These are, therefore, among the more recently formed rivers, and cannot be compared with the primeval St. Lawrence and Hudson. The ]\Iississippi was a stream of not more than one-half its present length and volume, falling into the gidf not far from the site of Caii'o. The Ohio drained substantially the same region it does at the i)resent time. In the earlier part of the age the geographical distribution of fossils indicates a common temperature, from Behriug Strait in the Northern to that of Mageban m the Southern Hemisphere. In the latter part, hoAvever, a difference is perceptible, indicating also a difference of temperature and the commencement of climatic zones. This change, caused by the partial upheaval of mountain chains north of the Equator, and the decline of internal heat, marked a new era in the physical history of the globe. As the result, currents commenced flowing in the ocean ; the constant monotony of previous ages was broken by the pleasant diversities of changing seasons ; life was imparted to the atmosphere, and the breeze came forth laden with the breath of spring ; the tempest madly burst into being and began its work of destruction, and the trade-winds commenced blowing, but it was reserved for a future age to make them the common carriers of the ocean's commerce.

The j)rincipal formations of the age, none of which exist in Ilbnois, were sandstones, chalks and limestones, interstratified with deposits of salt and gypsum. Their absence can be explained either upon the supposition that the surface of the State was either above the waters in which they were deposited, or, having originally been deposited, they were subsequently swept away by denuding agencies. The former was perhaps the case, as no aqueous action could have operated 's\itli sufficient power to remove all traces of tlieir former existence. The characteristic plants of the coal age, now declining, were rejilaced by cycads and many new forms of conifers and ferns. The cycacl was intermediate in character, resembling the fern in the opening of its foliage, and the palm in its general habits. It was now in the full zenith of its expansion, wldle the fern was dying out and the conifer was yet to be developed. More than 100 angiosperms made their appearance, one-half of them closely allied to the trees of modern forests and the fruit trees of temperate regions. In the latter i^art of the age the palm, at present the most perfect type of the vegetable kingdom, was also introduced. New animal species made their apijearance, attended by the extinction of all pre-existing forms. Reptiles now reached their culmination, the earth, sea and air, each having its peculiar kind. Their fossil remains indicate a large number of both berbiverous and carniverous species, which in many instances attained a length of 60 feet.