sea-water, others of fresh-water; these two classes are "moreover found mingled together in the same strata, as, "for example, in the sandstone of Pierrelaie. 66 66 66 66 66 The soils of Avignon, Mayence, &c. have offered some new examples of a similar mixture. Besides, M. Beudant has proved, by a series of skilful and ingenious experiments, that in a very short space of time, many fresh-water mollusca can be habituated to live in "water gradually salted till it acquires the saltness of the sea; and also, that many sea mollusca can, by a diminu"tion of saltness equally gradual and progressive, be "accustomed to live in fresh-water1; and in fact, mol"lusca of both these classes have been found living promiscuously together in seas moderately salt, as the "Baltic 2. MM. Beudant and Marcel de Serres have "also discovered shells which are in a manner intermediate, such as the paludines which habitually live in brackish water, and which are sometimes found with "sea-shells and sometimes with fresh-water shells. These new data, introduced into the solution of geological questions, ought necessarily to occasion changes or modifications in the consequences to be deduced; and we cannot Now conclude, because a mineral stratum may con"tain some fresh-water shells, that it has been formed in "fresh-water, even though the shells should not have been "the effect of accidental transport; especially, if it is 66 66 66 66 "inclosed between two strata which other circumstances "indicate to have been formed in the bosom of the sea3.— "With respect to the soils of the environs of Paris, where "we see an alternation and even a mixture of beings of "both classes; this is one of those particular cases for the 1 Journal de Physique, tom. lxxxiii. 2 Ibid. tom. lxxxviii. 66 66 "solution of which we have not sufficient data1.—Without engaging ourselves in any hypothesis upon the origin, existence, epocha, and disappearance of the reservoirs of fresh-water which may have produced these soils, we "shall conclude with M. Brogniart, (to whom we are unquestionably indebted for having apprehended this question in its true point of view,)—that there exist soils, formed before historic times, which, instead of inclosing marine productions, contain, in general, only ter“restrial and fresh-water productions; and this difference "will in most cases furnish the geologist with an excel"lent characteristic for distinguishing and characterising "these formations." Thus, he takes the simple fact of the phenomenon, stripped of all hypothetical accretions; but he had first taken the precaution to give the following wise admonitions: "This determination, as I have already "remarked, must be made with judgment; and I shall again call to recollection these considerations: 1. That "remnants of fresh-water or land shells have often been carried down by the rivers into the seas, and must thereIfore be found in the deposits formed in their bed. "2. That some species of fresh-water shells sometimes "enter into the seas, and live in them near the shores. "3. That it is very difficult to determine whether a fossil “shell belonged to the sea or to fresh-water, especially if it pertains to a species which has become extinct." 66 Mr. Greenough, had already warily questioned the capacity of natural history to pronounce dogmatically of Traité de Géognosie, p. 426.-Cuvier remarks, vers l'extrémité "du faubourg (St. Denis), lorsqu'on creuse un peu profondément, on << rencontre ou la formation gypseuse, ou le gypse lui-même, ou les marnes "marines que nous venons d'indiquer, et qui représentent la forma❝tion marine." Ossemens Fossiles, tom. ii. p. 386. 2 Ibid. tom. ii. P. 434. Ibid. p. 435. 4 Ibid. p. 434. antediluvian shells, whether they pertained to fresh-water or to salt-water; and, if it has not that capacity, then there is an entire end to the testimony ascribed to the shells found in the gypsum. But, neither would M. Cuvier's conclusion be secure even if they were certainly freshwater shells, and in any numbers; for, as I have ventured to observe in the Comparative Estimate" in the sub"sidence of the primitive continents, the contents of all "river-beds and lakes must have been absorbed by the sea; "and it is impossible to fix a limit to the transport of "such light and buoyant articles as shells, in so turbulent " and active a state of the ocean." The saline origin of the gypsum, would annul all their testimony. 66 Such then being, on a close examination, the geological part of M. Cuvier's philosophy2, I think that I am perfectly supported and justified in the invidious but indispensably "Is the distinction between fresh-water and salt-water shells so "strongly marked that they cannot be confounded? The common test "is the thickness of the shell; but sea-shells are by no means uniformly "thick, as we see in the oyster, &c., nor those of lakes and rivers uni"formly thin. In a series of bulla, patella, pecten, pinna, argonaut, &c., "it is easy to find shells so delicate and fragile, as those which are "usually contained in rivers or lakes. I am not aware of any other cha"racter, by which a naturalist can distinguish à priori a fresh-water shell "from one inhabiting the sea." Geology, p. 303, 4. We are not to be dazzled out of our senses by Blainville, or "Cuvier, or Lacttark (says a strong-minded Critic); we never did and never will admit, that the whole science of Geology is contained in "M. Cuvier's Preface (i. e. his "Theory"). Our notions of Geo"logical Science are, we must own, somewhat different from M. Cuvier's; " and we select him for the observation, because there is a dangerous 66 weight in his name: - dangerous, at least, when in the wrong scale. "The science of Geology, is neither limited to the basin of Paris, nor to "the study of cockle-shells; it is one which yields neither in difficulty or "dignity, to any department of Natural History." Edinb. Review, vol. xxxvii. p. 59. 66 necessary service, of refusing to concede unconditionally to his eminence the same applause for his "reasoning on the early state of our planet," as for his " history of its fossil “ inhabitants1;” and of resisting his high and inadmissible pretension" of having so rigorously established the facts of "the ancient history of the globe, as to have made them be considered points so determinately fixed as to admit of no departure from them." And I shall, therefore, not scruple to repeat the observation which I have already expressed respecting that great and illustrious comparative anatomist: that, "it is not by endeavouring to deduce 66 66 geological theories from the fossil remains to which he "has devoted so much ability and zeal, that he will "serve the cause of true knowledge; it is, by applying his "anatomical skill and experience to discriminate between "the extinct and the preserved species, and thus to bring 66 66 3 us acquainted with those animal races which the Author of Creation thought fit to exclude from His renovated "earth 3." In this sublime pursuit, he is, and probably will remain for ever, unrivalled; and, standing upon so exalted and conspicuous a summit in this rich and extensive province of science, which he has, in a manner, conquered for himself, he need not consider his rightful dignity assailed, if his pretension to an equal authority in the province of geology is conditionally disputed; since his superior endowments are able to remove the objected condition, whenever he shall submit them to that Paramount Authority which alone can render his authority in geology legitimate. 1 See above, p. 356, note. 2 Theory, § 2. NOTE [V.] On the Recent Discovery of Fossil Human Remains, at Durfort and Kösritz. THE great question, concerning Human remains in a fossil state, stands now before the world under a new aspect; entirely different from that under which it stood at the period when M. Cuvier first published his celebrated Theory of the Earth, and even, at the period when the Chapter of the Comparative Estimate to which this Note has reference was first written. This new aspect, is to be dated from about the year 1820; when the Cavern of Durfort, and the Quarries of Kösritz, were first laid open for the instruction of Science. The important phenomena disclosed in those two repositories, have burst upon us so recently and so suddenly, that they have not as yet been duly estimated or contemplated; and consequently, the conclusions which they are constituted to yield, have not been adequately drawn out. Yet, a comparison of their respective phenomena, and a collation of these with the phenomena of the Cave of Kirkdale, must henceforth form the basis of that question; and, the light which these unite to impart, will illustrate all other cases which have hitherto been abandoned to the latitude of invention and hypothesis, from the total want of any adequate rule for determining their indications. The Cavern of Durfort, is wholly unnoticed in the chapter of the " Reliquia Diluviana" specially entitled "Human Remains in Caves;" it is equally unnoticed by the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviewers of that work; and, although the Quarries of Kösritz are therein ad |