Principles of Geology, Or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and Its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology, Volume 2D. Appleton, 1874 - Evolution |
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Africa alluded America ancient animals and plants appears archipelago Atlantic Azores beds birds breed Calabria Calanna causes century changes climate coast common cone continued crater Darwin deposits depth distance distinct earth earth's crust earthquake elevation Etna Europe existence extinct fauna feet fissures fossil genera geographical geological geologist globe gradually Graham Island ground heat height Iceland inhabitants insects islands Java Journ Kaimenis lakes Lamarck land lava Madeira Malay Archipelago mammalia manner marine mass miles Miocene mountain Natural Selection naturalists observed ocean organic origin of species peculiar period Phil Pliocene Porto Santo produced Puzzuoli quadrupeds races regions remains remarkable rise river rocks sand scoriæ seeds seen Serapis shells shock shore soil solid sometimes strata stream subsidence subterranean Sumbawa supposed surface temperature terrestrial tion trees upheaval Val del Bove valley variation varieties vegetable volcanic cone waves whole wild
Popular passages
Page 442 - ... so thick the aery crowd swarmed and were straitened ; till, the signal given, behold a wonder ! they but now who seemed in bigness to surpass earth's giant sons, now less than smallest dwarfs in narrow room throng numberless...
Page 148 - ... swallowed up, with all the people on it, who had fled thither for safety, and had reason to think themselves out of danger in such a place: at the same time a great number of boats and small vessels, anchored near it, (all likewise full of people, who had retired thither for the same purpose,) were all swallowed up, as in a whirlpool, and never more appeared.
Page 280 - The explanation is not difficult. The food most congenial to this species, and on which it thrives best, is abundantly distributed over a very extensive region, offering such differences of soil and climate, that in one part or another of the area the supply never fails. The bird is capable of a very rapid and long-continued flight, so that it can pass without fatigue over the whole of the district it inhabits, and as soon as the supply of food begins to fail in one place is able to discover a fresh...
Page 505 - Thus, in Mar forest, in Aberdeenshire, large trunks of Scotch fir, which had fallen from age and decay, were soon immured in peat formed partly out of their perishing leaves and branches, and in part from the growth of other plants.
Page 145 - It is estimated that an extent of ground, of the mountain itself and its immediate environs, fifteen miles long and full six broad, was by this commotion swallowed up in the bowels of the earth.
Page 619 - To assume that the evidence of the beginning, or end, of so vast a scheme lies within the reach of our philosophical inquiries, or even of our speculations, appears to be inconsistent with a just estimate of the relations which subsist between the finite powers of man and the attributes of an infinite and eternal Being.
Page 558 - ... these, when they happen to be enveloped in a matrix capable of protecting them from chemical changes, much information of historical interest will remain inscribed, and endure for periods as indefinite as have the delicate markings of zoophytes or lapidified plants in some of the ancient secondary rocks. In almost every large ship, moreover, there are some precious stones set in seals, and other articles of use and ornament composed of the hardest substances in nature, on which letters and various...
Page 510 - At the battle of Solway, in the time of Henry VIII. (1542), when the Scotch army, commanded by Oliver Sinclair, was routed, an unfortunate troop of horse, driven by their fears, plunged into this morass, which instantly closed upon them. The tale was traditional, * See above, p.
Page 255 - The camelopard was not gifted with a long flexible neck because it was destined to live in the interior of Africa, where the soil was arid and devoid of herbage ; but, being reduced by the nature of that country to support itself on the foliage of lofty trees, it contracted a habit of stretching itself up to reach the high boughs, until its fore legs became longer than the hinder, and its neck so elongated, that it could raise its head to the height of twenty feet above the ground.
Page 3 - ... present us with one of the most delightful and characteristic scenes in Europe. They afford every variety of height and size, and are arranged in beautiful and picturesque groups. However uniform they may appear when seen from the sea, or the plains below, nothing can be more diversified than their shape when we look from above into their craters, one side of which is generally broken down. There are, indeed, few objects in nature more picturesque than a wooded volcanic crater.