Essay on the Theory of the Earth by Georges Cuvier (1827)

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Essay on the Theory of the Earth
Georges Cuvier

BY M. Cuvier,
PERPETUAL SECRETARY OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE, PROFESSOR AND
ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, WITH
MIJYERdLOGICdL NOTES,
AND AN ACCOUNT OF CUVIER'S GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES,
BY PROFESSOR JAMESON.
TO WHICH ARE NOW ADDERS, ^ ?"',*; I
OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
GEOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA;
ILLUSTRATED
BY THE DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS ORGANIC REMAINS,
FOUND IN THAT PART OF THE WORLD.
BY SAMUEL L. MITCHILL,
Eotan. Mineral, et Zoolog. in Univere, Nov. Eborac. Prof. &c. &c.
PUBLISHED BY KIRK & MERCEIN,
KO. 22 WALL-STREET.
Priutd by W. A.Merceih, ^o. 93 Geid-Street.
18*8.
.
EARTH SCIENCE^1
".." **. .* Southern District of New-York, s,
*
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the sixteenth day of February, in the fortysecond
year of the Independence of the United States of America, Kirk & Mercein,
of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof
they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit ;
"
Essay on the Theory of the Earth. By M. Cuvier, Perpetual Secretary of the
French Institute, Professor and Administrator of the Museum of Natural History,
&c. &c. With Mineralogical Notes, and an Account of Cuvier's Geological Discoveries,
by Professor Jameson. To which are now added, Observations on the
Geology of North America ; illustrated by the Description of various Organic Remains,
found in that part of the world. By Samuel L. Mitchill, Botan. Mineral, et
Zoolog. in Umrers. Nov. Eborac. Prof. &c. &c."
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JAMES DILL,
Clerk of the Southern District of Now-York.
.
PREFACE.
THE attention of naturalists was early directed
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, entirely a modern study ; for even
so early as the time of Leibnitz, we find that
philosopher drawing and describing fossil bones.
After this period it continued to interest individuals,
and engage the particular attention of
societies and academies. The Royal Society
of London, by the Memoirs of Sloane, Collinson
? Lister, Derham, Baker, Grew, Hunter, Jacobs,
Plott, Camper, and many others, afforded
satisfactory proofs of the importance attached
M807C6
.
VI PREFACE.
to this branch of natural history by philosophers
in England ; and the : Memoirs of M.
Graydon, in the Transactions of the Royal Irish
Academy, show 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 Holluian,
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 Science
of Petersburg!! ; of Geoffroi, Buffon, Daubenton,
Faujas, St. Fond, and others of the old
French Academy of Sciences ; of A^sturc and
Riviere, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of
Montpellier ; of Collini, of the Academia Theodoro-
Palatina, at Manheim, $c. But the geognostical
relations of the rocks in which these
organic remains are contained were but ill understood,
until Werner pointed out the mode
of investigating them. His interesting and important
views* were circulated from Freyberg,
* See Note L.
.
PREFACE. Vli
by the writings and conversations of his pupils,
and have contributed materially to the advancement
of this branch of natural history in Germany,
France, and also in Great Britain. Petrifactions
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
distribution, 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 up numerous
and uncommonly curious views of nature
in the mineral kingdom: it shows him the
commencement of the formation of organic
beings, it points out the gradual succession in
the formation of animals, from the almost primseval
coral near the primitive strata, through
all the wonderful variety of form and structure
.
V1U PREFACE.
observed in shells, fishes, amphibious animals,
and birds, to the perfect quadruped of the alluvial
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 is a whole system of animals in a fossil
state different from the present. Even the
physiologist, in the various forms, connexions,
and relations of the parts of those animals, obtains
new facts for his descriptions 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 learning and sagacity. In
.
PREFACE. IX
our time, Cuvier, the celebrated Professor of
Natural History in Paris, has eminently distinguished
himself by his numerous discoveries,
accurate descriptions, and rational views in this
subject. His work on Fossil Organic Remains,
of which we have given an account in the following
Illustrations, will always remain a monument
worthy of its author.
The Essay on the Theory of the Earth, now
translated, is the introductory part of 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
2
.
X PREFACE.
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 La Mark, 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 climate, 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 shows 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 present existing species. This
very interesting discussion naturally leads our
author to state the proofs of the recent population
of the world; of the comparatively
.
PREFACE. Xi
modern origin of its present surface ; of the
deluge, and the subsequent renewal of human
society.
In order to render this Essay more complete
and satisfactory, I have illustrated the whole
with an extensive series of observations, and
have arranged them in such a manner that they
will be readily accessible, not only to the naturalist,
but also to the general reader.
Since the publication of the former edition
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 \yant of
room forces us to omit. But we cannot allow
the present opportunity to pass, without briefly
describing that remarkable fossil animal already
noticed in a very cursory manner in page
266, as we are now enabled to present the
English reader with a representation of it from
a drawing of Sommerring, in the Denkschriften
.
Xil PREFACE.
der Koniglichen Academic der Wissenschaften
zu Munchen, for 1811 and 181&, which has just
reached this country.
The fossil animal there represented was
found many years ago in the limestone quarries
of Aechstedt, and described by the late Collini
in the 5th volume of the Actorum Academic
Theodoro-Palatinse. He considered it as an
extraordinary species of fish. Cuvier, from an
inspection of the plate of Collini, was of opinion
that it was an amphibious animal; Blumenbach
was inclined to view it as a webbfooted
bird ; and now Sommerring has ascertained,
from an actual inspection of the specimen
itself, that its characters are very different
from those of birds, amphibious animals, or
fishes, but agree with those of animals of the
class mammalia ; in this opinion coinciding with
that advanced by a sagacious and profound
naturalist, Hermann. It is named by Sommerring
ornithocephalus antiquus, from the resemblance
of its head to that of a bird.
.
PREFACE. Xlll
It appears to form one of a series of animals
intermediate between the class mammalia and
class aves. In the scale of nature, its place appears
to be between flying quadrupeds and
birds, Und certainly it has a more close resemblance
to birds than the famed ornithorynchus,or
duck-billed quadruped of New Holland. The
skeleton represented in the plate is about 10
inches 4 lines long, and appears somewhat
compressed and distorted, owing to the contraction
and pressure of the limestone in which
it is contained. Sommerring is of opinion that
it is a flying quadruped analogous to the bat ;
and of all the families of the genus, most nearly
allied to that named pteropus. It differs from
the pteropi, however, in having four toes in
place of five ; and in the circumstance of one
only of the toes of the fore feet being elongated,
whereas in the pteropi, four of the toes
are elongated, one only being short.
The cranium is uncommonly small, the orbits
of enormous magnitude, and the jaws longer
than the body, and provided with sharp and
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XIV PREFACE.
slightly bent teeth. The neck is the length of
the body, and, like that of most mammiferous
animals, composed of seven vertebrae. There
are four legs, on each leg four toes, and all of
them provided with claws. In the fore legs
one of the toes is very much elongated, the
other three are short ; the hinder legs are also
of considerable length, and provided with toes,
which are longer than those upon the fore feet.
There are no tarsal bones, only metatarsal
bones and claws; the tarsal bones appear to
have been of a softer nature, and may have
been destroyed. There is a distinct tail.
The head, in its general form, very much
resembles that of birds of the genus scolopax
of Linnaeus. From the magnitude of the orbits,
it would seem that this animal must have had
very large eyes. The small, sharp, and slightly
bent teeth, and wide mouth, would intimate
that the animal did not live on plants, but rather
on large insects, which it would be enabled
to catch while on the wing. The great thickness
and length of the toe of the fore foot, show
.
XVlll CONTENTS.
19. Of former Systems of Geology..................... ....... 57
20. Diversities of the Geological Systems, and their Causes 63
21. Statement of the Nature and Conditions of the Problem
to be solved........................ . ..................... 64
22. Of the Progress of Mineral Geology..................... 67
23. Of the Importance of Extraneous Fossils, or Petrifactions,
in Geology................. . ..................... 6-9
24. High importance of investigating the Fossil Remains of
Quadrupeds. ............................................ 71
25. Of the small Probability of discovering new Species of
the larger Quadrupeds................................ 74
26. Inquiry respecting the Fabulous Animals ofthe Ancients 85
27. Of the Difficulty of distinguishing the Fossil Bones of
Quadrupeds............................................. 97
28. Results of the Researches respecting the Fossil Bones
of (Quadrupeds ............. ..... ........ . ............. ... 109
29. Relations of the Species of Fossil Bones, with the Stra-
. ta in which they are found ......... . ................... Ill
-30. Proofs that the extinct Species of Quadrupeds are not
Varieties of the present existing Species ............ 118
31. Proofs of the recent Population of the World, and that
its present Surface is not of very ancient Formation 133
32. Proofs that there are no Human Bones in the Fossil
State ...................................................... 120
*32. Proofs from Traditions, of a great Catastrophe, and
subsequent Renewal of Human Society.............. 145
33. Proofs derived from several Miscellaneous Considerations
............................................. . ...... .. 161
34. Concluding Reflections .................. , ................. 165
SUPPLEMENT, being an Extract from the Researches of
M. de Prony, on the Hydraulic System of Italy ;
containing an Account of the Displacement of that
Part of the Coast of the Adriatic which is occupied
by the Mouths of the Po.................. , ........... 175
.
CONTENTS. XIX
MINERALOGICAL NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY PROFESSOR JAMESON.
PAGE
A. On the Subsidence of Strata 187
B. On Primitive Rocks 188
C. Crystallized Marbles resting on Shelly Strata 190
D.
Ro]led
Masses upon the Mountains of Jura..... ib,
E.
Salisbury Craigs *. 191
F. On the Alluvial Land of the Danish Islands in the Baltic,
and on the Coast of Sleswick.. ib.
GeestLand. 192
Marsch Lands 194
Great Rise of the Ocean 197
Frisian Colony ib.
Enclosing the Marsches 198
Uniting the Islands.... 199
Building of Dikes ., 202
G. On the Sand Flood 205
H. Action of the Sea upon Coasts..* 208
I. On Coral Islands 210
K. On the Diminution of the Waters of the Ocean 214
L. Werner's Views of the Natural History of Petrifactions 217
M. On the Distribution of Petrifactions in the Different
Classes of Rocks 219
TRANSITION ROCKS.
1. Transition Limestone , ib.
2. Greywacke , 220
3. Clay Slate ib.
4. Greywacke Slate ,,,,..,.,. * ,....., ib.
.
XX CONTENTS.
FLCETZ BOCKS.
PAGF
I. First Sandstone 221
II. First Floetz Limestone 222
1. Alpine Limestone ib.
.2. Bituminous Marl Slate ib.
3. Zechstein 223
4. Coal ib.
III. Second red or variegated Sandstone 224
IV. Second Floetz Limestone 225
V. Third Flcetz Limestone 226
VI. Chalk Formation 229
VII. Flcetz Trap Rocks 232
VIII. Newest Floetz Trap ib.
IX. Newest Floetz Formations 233
X. Alluvial Formations ib.
M. CUVIER'S GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES.
Mineralogy of Paris 238
I* . . . m .
.
^
'
Fossil Organic Remains described by Cuvier, arranged in a
Systematic Order.
CLASS. MAMMALIA.
ORDER. DIGITATA.
Family. Glires.
Genera. Cavia ..*.. 240
Mus ., ib.
Family. Ferae.
Genera. Ursus ........ 241
Cam's... 243
Felis ib.
Viverra,. ,,,,,,,...,,,,,.,,.....,.,. ib.
.
CONTENTS. XX1U
PAGE
Plastic Clay Formation 273
Marine Limestone Formation 274
First System of Strata ib.
Second System of Strata 275
Third System of Strata 276
Fourth System of Strata 277
Siliceous Limestone without Shells ib.
Gypsum Formation and Marine Marl 278
Sandstone and Sand without Shells 285
Upper Marine Sandstone and Sand ib.
Millstone without Shells 286
Flint and Siliceous Limestone 288
Alluvial 291
General Observations 292
MINERALOGY OF THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND.
1. Isle of Wight Basin 296
2. London Basin ib.
FORMATIONS.
Chalk 296
1. Lower Marine Formation, including the Sand and Plastic
Clay and the London or Blue Clay 297
2. Lower Fresh Water Formation 303
3. Upper Marine Formation 304
4. Upper Fresh Water Formation 307
5. Alluvial Formations 308
Formations above Chalk 311
Formations below Chalk 313
Letter from Mr. Marsden to Professor Jameson 316