" SIR,

"Giesvahr, 11th Aug. 1824.

"Your esteemed favour dated London, May 1st, duly «reached us on the 30th of June; in conformity to which, I had two "experiments made to ascend the top of the Westernmost Stappen, in "order to ascertain, whether there were really any remains of whale "bones, as reported by people who are still in existence, and willing to "make affidavit that, no further back than 30 years, they saw there the "remains of the vertebræ of a whale-fish. In the first experiment that

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was made, we could not dig deeper than four inches in the ground; in consequence of the ground being frozen. The second, was more for"tunate; we dug to the depth of three feet, when we found the two "specimens which accompany the present; the rest, were so deteriorated "by lying under the ground so long, that they crumbled when touched. "The pebbles or small stones, which also accompany this, were in the soil "where the bones were deposited; as well as some of the earth, and "two pieces of the solid rock which were broken off. On the summit, "there was no mould or clay to be found. The height from high-water "mark to where these remains of whale-bones were found, is about eight"hundred feet. A further examination of this matter could not be "made. I had wished to superintend this myself, but was prevented "by illness.

The specimens above mentioned, were forwarded for England; Mr. Crowe, of Hammerfest, accompanying them from Tromsöe in Finmark. Unfortunately, during a tremendous gale on the night of the 24th of December, he was totally shipwrecked on the Norway coast, when crossing the Polar circle, and near the Island of Træenen; the crew escaping only with their lives.

Further measures, however, have been taken, to insure the success of the research; instructions having been sent out by Captain Brooke to collect fresh specimens from the Stappen Rock, as also others from the summits of the N. Fugelöe, and of Sandhorn. Mr. Crowe's long experience in the northern seas, enabled him to ascertain by inspection, that the specimens, which have unfortunately been lost, were really bone of whale.

NOTES.

NOTE [IV.]

On the Numerous Revolutions of M. Le Baron CuVIER.

THE ultimate ground of the plurality of revolutions of the globe propounded by M. Cuvier, which constitutes the basis of his geology, is declared in the second volume of his Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles; where he treats, in conjunction with M. Brogniart, of the animal remains discovered in the soils of Paris. He there finds gypsum and certain other soils separating, and alternating with, soils which he recognises to be of marine or salt-water formation; but he affirms, that the gypsum and those other soils are of fresh-water formation; and from thence he concludes, definitively, that there must have been as many revolutions of the earth as he can detect evidences of these two distinct and alternating formations.

But, what is M. Cuvier's certain proof that gypsum is a soil of fresh-water formation, and not of salt-water like the marine limestone on which it immediately lies1? It is, that a few fresh-water shells have been found in it" en bien

1 "Le terrain gypseur est placé immédiatement au-dessus du calcaire "marin, et il n'est pas possible de douter de cette superposition." Ossemens Fossiles, tom. ii. p. 278.

"From these facts M. Brogniart inferred, that these beds de"monstrated the repeated alternations of sea and of fresh water on the same tract. But, whilst forming these opinions, M. Brogniart found "it necessary to admit that the formation of gypsum might also have

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petite quantité," says M. D'Aubuisson1. M. Cuvier admits, that they are very rare;" but he adds" one single such shell, if not accompanied with sea-shells, would suffice "to demonstrate the truth of the opinion of Lamanon and "some other naturalists, who had already thought, before us, that the gypsa of Montmartre and of the other hills "of the basin of Paris, had crystallised themselves in LAKES OF FRESH-WATER." Hence M. Cuvier lays down the position; "that it is in these fresh-water lakes that the gypsa of Paris have formed themselves ;" and he observes," This stone, formed in fresh-water, which was almost overlooked by, or unknown to, geologists, appears to us one of the newest results of our researches"

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Brogniart and

"taken place both in fresh and salt water. "Cuvier had founded their opinion of the fresh-water origin of the แ upper beds of gypsum, chiefly on the presence of a shell found in the ""gypsum, which appeared to be a Cyclostoma, and was supposed to be "a fresh-water shell. Of these shells two only were found in the 66 gypsum; one of which, in the possession of Brogniart, had its mouth "unluckily concealed; but the other, in the possession of Faujas "St. Fond, as fortunately, had it displayed so as to shew that it "agreed with Cyclostoma mumia of Lamarck, who had only named it "so provisionally, since, from its thickness, he had supposed it to be a "sea-shell. M. Brard hence concludes, that the fresh-water origin of gypsum does not derive any support from this shell."-PARKINSON, Foss. Org. Rem. p. 255, and 259.

Traité de Géognosie, tom. ii. p. 410.

"Une seule suffiroit, quand elle n'est point accompagnée de "coquilles marines, pour démontrer la vérité de l'opinion de Lamanon "et de quelques autres naturalistes, qui, déjà avant nous, avoient pensé que les gypses de Montmartre et des autres collines du bassin de Paris, Ossemens Fossiles, sont cristalisées dans DES LACS D'EAU DOUCE."

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tom. ii. p. 281.

3 "C'est dans ces lacs que se sont formés nos gypses." Ib. p. 233. "Cette pierre, formée dans l'eau douce, qui étoit presqu'oubliée ou "inconnue des géologistes, nous paroît un des résultats les plus neufs de nos recherches." Ib. ib.

The evidence of the fresh-water shell, we will consider hereafter; at present, let us attend to this alleged opinion of Lamanon, and to the geological character of gypsum.

"With respect to the soils of the environs of Paris" (says the cautious and sagacious M. D'Aubuisson, who has no theory to establish in the question,) "where we "see an alternation and even a mixture of beings of both "classes (sea-shells, and fresh-water shells); this is one "of those particular cases, for the solution of which we "have not sufficient data. I shall confine myself to the

calling to recollection, that Lamanon, one of the un"fortunate companions of la Peyrouse, taking into con"sideration the nature of the animals contained in the gypseous formation of Paris, regarded it as having deposited itself in a GREAT LAKE which THE SEA had left upon the continent at the time of its retreat; the water of "which LOST ITS SALTNESS, by little and little, through "the continual affluence of fresh-waters1.”

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How differently is this opinion of Lamanon qualified, as it relates to the origin of gypsum, when thus stated at length, from what it appears to be, in the curtailed form just before quoted from M. Cuvier? By that curtailment, all relation of gypsum to salt-water is put out of sight; and the mind, instead of being enabled to form its own rational

1 "Je me bornerai seulement à rappeler, que Lamanon, un des in"fortunés compagnons de la Peyrouse, prenant en considération la "nature des animaux renfermés dans la formation gypseuse de Paris, ❝la regardait comme s'étant déposée dans un GRAND LẠC que LA MER avait "laissé sur le continent lors de sa retraite, et dont l'eau avait perdu peuà-peu sa SALURE par l'affluence continuelle des eaux douces." Traité de Géognosie, tom. ii. p. 426.

This full statement will also serve to rectify that of M. Humboldt, where he says: "The gypsum with bones of Montmartre, which Karsten "considered as analogous to the saliferous gypsum of zechstein, had been "considered by Lamanon and M. Voight (1790) as a deposite from fresh-water." Superp. of Rocks, p. 384.

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deductions, is necessarily seduced into the previous conclusions of the hypothetist. Let us therefore consider the geological character of gypsum.

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Gypsum," says M. D'Aubuisson, " is almost always accompanied by rock-salt in secondary soils, as well as "in those of which we have already spoken; and it is extremely rare, to find any masses of the latter mineral "which are not accompanied by gypsum: these two rocks "are intimately allied by geognostic relation1, and we "shall treat of them in conjunction.-We shall distinguish

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only two formations; that of the gypsum of Alpine "limestone, and that of the gypsum of second sand-stone ; and we shall moreover remark, that these are not so "much different formations, as remarkable members of "the two formations already described "."

"There arise out of the great gypsum districts of this formation, salt-springs more or less numerous, and more or less rich in salt; an incontestable proof that "these soils contain salt. But, that which is remarkable is, that this mineral is not found there in a visible form, the mass is only impregnated with it. It is thus, that in Thuringia, notwithstanding the numerous subter"6 ranean works which traverse the soil in every direction, "the discovery of a few grains or veins of salt by the miners, is mentioned as a phenomenon; and yet, in all "this country, according to the report of M. Charpentier (the elder), all the springs are more or less salt, and some to such a degree as to give occasion to several important salt-works. We think that we may refer to the

"

This position, is thoroughly confirmed by M. Humboldt's statistical statements. Superp. of Rocks, p. 311-323.

Traité de Géognosie, tom. ii. p. 386, 389.