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The Principles of Geology Explained, and Viewed in Their Relation to Natural and Revealed Religion
The Principles of Geology Explained and Viewed in Their Relation to Natural and Revealed Religion Author:David King General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1850 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: 1. Newer pliocene, -- i. e. Newer of the ' more recent' Tertiary strata, [from TAe/njv, pleirni, more, and jca/voj, cainos, recent.] The period of this group has been called ' the epoch of gigantic mammalia.' -- In this ' period, immediately preceding the existence of man, the earth teemed with large herhirerous animals, which roamed through the primeval forests unmolested, save by beasts of prey.' -- Mantell. 'Its remains are principally those of animals related to the elephant, as the mammoth, mastodon, etc., and to various species of hippopotamus, rhinoceros, horse, ox, deer, and many of extinct genera; while, in caverns and fissures of rocks, the skeletons of tigers, boars, hyenas, and other carniverous animals, are inbedded.' -- Ibid. The teeth of elephants, collected on the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk alone, according to Mr Woodward, have belonged to 500 individuals. 2. Older pliocene, -- i. e. Older of the 'more recent' Tertiary strata. To this group belongs a deposit called the ' crag.' In the eastern part of the county of Suffolk, it is seen in its most characteristic form. In part of Suffolk, it consists of two masses, -- the upper of which has been called red crag, and the lower coral crag. The two are exceedingly distinguishable in mineral composition and fossils, and geologists have felt some difficulty in accounting for the difference. 3. Miocene, -- i. e. 'Less recent' than Nos. 1 and 2, [from /A£juv, meion, less, and xaivog, cainos, recent.] The Tertiary deposits of England are limited to the Eocene, and the older and newer Pliocenes, -- the Miocene being wanting.' -- Lyell. 4. ...« less