indentations made by rain-drops and worms | where a cast of the interior of the shell is left during the brief interval that it remained soft in the centre of a cavity, as shown at b, while after the water left it completely preserved by the substance of the shell itself, which was of this subsequent induration of the materials. the form shown at a, has been dissolved away The mass thus becomes so compact and so- by the water penetrating through the mass, lidified that when another deposit of mud is leaving the empty space denoted by the dark laid over it by the next tide, the two layers re- shade around the cast below. main in a measure distinct, and can afterward be separated. Portions of this harder mud can, in certain places, be taken up and divided into distinct layers, in some of which the indentations made by the rain and by insects are perfectly preserved; and even the direction from which the drops of rain came, as driven by the wind, is shown by the greater accumulation of the material on the side of the depression toward which the drops were impelled.

We are often surprised to learn, in the course of our general reading, that naturalists claim the power to determine the order and genus, and even the species, of an unknown animal from the inspection of a very small specimen of the skeleton preserved in a fossil statesometimes, perhaps, only a single bone, and that not unfrequently a tooth. The indications furnished by the teeth depend, it seems, in a great measure, on the endless variety of When these hardened masses of mud are the convolutions of the enamel, which are still, thus divided into layers the impressions them- however, constant in their general characterselves are, of course, brought to view on one istics in the same animal, and closely resemside of the cleft, and casts of them in relief ap-bling each other in animals allied in structure. pear on the other side, as is seen in the en- The specimens represented in the engravings graving of the fossil specimen, the arrow show-on page 594 give a general idea of these coning the direction of the wind as denoted by the volutions, and of the differences observed in the form of the depressions, and a and b showing general character of them. the tracks of worms.

It is the study of a lifetime to become fully acquainted with this subject in its details; but the necessary amount of study by many naturalists has been devoted to it, and the results which have been attained are received with confidence by all who are properly qualified to judge of the evidence by which the truth of them is sustained.

It seems that, in respect to the fossil remains of organized bodies existing in the strata of the earth, there are several forms, or, rather, there are several modes by which the proofs of the existence of the animals and plants they represent have been preserved. In some cases the shells or other parts of the organization are preserved substantially without any change, having only lost a small portion of their vegetable or animal matter. In others the whole substance of the plant or animal itself has disappeared by being dissolved and conveyed away, leaving only an impression of its form as a proof of its former existence. In yet other cases the substance extracted is exactly replaced, particle by particle, as the original is removed, by mineral matter, by which means a true petrifac-long-continued motions in portions of the earth's tion is produced.

In other cases still the substance of the shell and that of the animal within have been removed by different processes and at different times, so that a cast of either may be left without the other, as in the engraving, where, in Fig. 5, a represents a cast in clay of the interior of what was once the shell b; and in Fig. 6,

In respect to the question whether the more remarkable effects now observable upon the earth's surface have been produced by sudden and violent action, or by slow and even in many cases imperceptible movements continued for long periods of time, a great many striking phenomena have been observed in late years confirming the views of Lyell and others in respect to the possibility of such slow and

crust, and to the actual occurrence of them in certain cases at the present day. Some of these appearances, though known to a limited extent before, excited little attention, and the significance of them was not observed. Among these a striking instance is furnished by the phenomenon of what is called creeping in mines. This creeping, as it is called, consists of a very

Pleurotomaria anglica,
and cast. Lias.

slow movement in the rocky strata cut into and traversed by mining operations when the previous equilibrium of pressure between the different portions of the mass is disturbed by the excavations. An example of this phenomenon is seen in the engraving on page 594, which represents a section of a portion of a coal mine near Newcastle, in England, and shows two seams of coal-a thicker one above and a thinner one below. The black blocks seen above are portions of the seam of coal in that stratum left to support the superincumbent mass of a

Fig. 12.

Siliceous-sandstone.
Shale

Shale eighteen yards thick.

SECTION OF CARBONIFEROUS STRATA AT WALLSEND, NEWCASTLE, SHOWING "CREEPS." (J. BUDDLE, ESQ.)

Horizontal length of section, 174 feet. The upper seam, or main coal, here worked out, was 630 feet below the surface.

underneath, by means of other excavations in though called the "Student's Elements of Gedifferent places along the line of the gallery, theology," is really well adapted to the purposes of the general reader who feels any interest in increasing his information in respect to this class of subjects.

upward movement can be traced in the thinner
seam of coal below, as shown, much too geomet-
rically, however, in the style of the drawing at
e, f, g, and h.
The displacement in this partic-
ular case was traced to a depth of one hundred
and fifty feet below the lower stratum of coal.
It grew, however, continually less, and at last
became imperceptible.

There are two other characteristics of Lyell's writings which are worthy of special commendation.

1. The extreme moderation and reserve with which he expresses his opinions, the caution We have many other examples of the prog- with which he interprets the significance of the ress of change taking place at a very slow rate facts that he presents, and the strictness with on the earth's surface in a totally different man- which he brings his inferences within, and more ner from the one above described, but which, if than within, the limits which the premises long enough continued, must necessarily result would seem to justify. If the facts in a certain in producing such effects as were formerly as- case prove pretty positively to the mind of the cribed to great and violent and sudden convul- reader that a particular result always happens, sions. In various parts of the world, for ex- he says they seem to prove that it generally hapample, and especially in certain portions of our pens. If a certain stratum never contains fosWestern country, rivers are found to flow, for sils of a particular kind, he says none are yet long distances sometimes, at the bottom of nar-known to have been found. If the operation row but deep chasms, the sides being precipi- of a cause fails entirely to produce the effect tous and formed of solid rock. These chasms have all the appearance of gigantic fissures; and many have been the speculations and the surmises in respect to the nature and violence of the disrupting forces which must have acted, in some remote period, to produce such disruptions.

And yet we have in the case of the Niagara the gradual formation of a ravine, in many essential respects strictly analogous to these, and all by a natural action so gentle and slow that the constant and uninterrupted continuation of the process does not disturb at all the avocations of the inhabitants upon the banks, nor attract the special attention of any but scientific observers. The fall itself of the water attracts attention enough, it is true, but the progress which it makes in accomplishing the vast work which it has undertaken, of cutting a deep and precipitously walled channel from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, through two or three hundred feet of solid rock-a work which it has already half accomplished, and which it is regularly prosecuting at the rate of a certain number of feet in a century-is understood or thought of by very few.

In

The writings of Lyell, besides the influence which they have exerted upon the progress of science by the vast contributions which they have made to the general stock of geological knowledge in possession of the reading world, and the new aspects in which the great phenomena of nature are presented by him, are marked by some special characteristics, to which a great deal of their influence is owing. the first place, they are remarkable for the clearness, lucidness, and precision with which every thing is stated and explained, and for a certain picturesqueness in the aspects in which the various phenomena are presented to the reader, and their significance brought to view, which have greatly contributed to their popularity and influence. This particular work, for example,

that would naturally be expected from it-as, for instance, no extension of the delta of solid land at the mouth of a river, as often happenshe says no appreciable extension has been produced in modern times. And so throughout. A great many writers and public speakers seem to think they make their cases stronger by forcing their premises to sustain the greatest weight in the way of conclusion that they will possibly bear; whereas, in fact, by this policy they only themselves give their opponents the opportunity to damage the whole effect of their reasoning by attacking the excess-like besiegers who make a breach easily in walls and bulwarks by directing their attack to an exposed portion that overhangs the foundation, if such an opportunity is afforded them. Lyell leaves no such points exposed. The consequence is that the positions taken in his writings have been found to be impregnable. Although the facts which he has collected and brought to view, taken in connection with the aspects in which he has presented them, and the inferences which he has deduced from them, have exerted a very powerful influence in producing the most fundamental changes of opinion in the scientific world, the writings through which the work has been done have been the object of very few direct attacks, and have awakened very little angry disputation.

2. But besides the caution and moderation with which Lyell advances his own views and opinions, this writer, in connection with Darwin, and with some others who seem to be following in their steps, are founding, as it were, almost a new school of scientific discussion, in respect to the fairness, the honesty, and the courteousness with which the opinions and reasonings of their antagonists are treated-a school governed by a principle exactly the reverse of that which has hitherto prevailed almost exclusively in all human discussions. For it seems to have been hitherto generally understood among men that the way most effectually

to combat one's opponent is to make the worst | ures in Congress, or a Democrat those of the of his opinions and arguments; to give them Republicans, on the principle of making the the most unfavorable interpretation that they best instead of the worst of them, he would will bear, so as to make the views themselves lose his next election. It is certain that if a and those who entertain them appear odious or theological writer were to deal on that princicontemptible. This style of discussion has pre-ple with what he deemed error, his work would vailed to a great extent over all the debatable be regarded not as an example of the most grounds upon which contests have been and sure and effectual mode of advancing the right, still are going on among mankind-the theo- but as tampering with and encouraging the logical, the medical, the political, and the sci- wrong. entific. What caricatures of the evangelical views of the orthodox, so called, are given by Unitarians-only to be equaled by the corresponding exaggerations and distortions of Unitarian views by evangelical writers. In the same manner any simple-minded man, on reading the speeches or the editorial articles on either side of the political questions of the day, would come to the conclusion that the struggle between the parties in political contests was nothing more nor less than a contest between honest men and rogues.

Now Lyell and Darwin, and many other writers following the example which they have set, have introduced a style of discussion exactly the reverse of all this. This new method consists in making the best, and not the worst, of the positions and arguments of an opponent; in treating both the man himself personally and all that he says fairly, courteously, and respectfully; giving to the positions which they oppose the best, and not the worst, interpretation, and recognizing whatever of truth there may be in them, or whatever of argument there may be that deserves consideration. There is always a full acknowledgment of obligations to others for facts observed or arguments presented, and the change which they may have produced in the writer's own mind is spoken of, not reservedly, grudgingly, and obscurely, but in a frank, open, and cordial manner. Nothing is more common in these writings than such passages as these: "I formerly entertained the opinion that, etc., but certain facts and considerations presented by Mr. Blank in his, etc., have led me now to believe, etc." Or, "Mr. So-and-So advances the following objection to this view. There is a great deal of force in this objection, and I do not see how it can be entirely removed. Still, etc."

In a word, Lyell and Darwin are introducing into the scientific world what may be called the frank and good-natured style of discussion. It seems, however, from the many very sharp and cutting articles which we find in the English scientific journals, such as Nature, that there is great progress yet to be made before the work will be fully accomplished even in that field; and it is to be hoped that before that time shall arrive the same beneficent change will begin to be extended to other fields. Though so thoroughly, as it would appear, is public opinion perverted on this subject that it is much to be feared that if a Republican were to oppose Democratic principles and meas

However this may be, there can be no doubt that this mode of dealing with opposition and error has been most eminently successful in the hands of Lyell and Darwin. Probably in the history of science there has been no other instance in which so great changes have been produced in scientific opinion by the writings of any one man as have been brought about by each of these authors through the gentle, unassuming, and candid manner in which they have managed the discussion on their part of the truths and principles involved.

CAUGHT BY AN HEIRESS.

THERE

BY JUSTIN M'CARTHY.

HERE was quite a pleasant little thrill of excitement on board the Mississippi steamer Columbia, bound from New Orleans to St. Louis, as she lay at the quay of the former city (do they call it a quay at New Orleans, or a levee, or a crevasse, or what?) just before starting on her voyage. The passengers were

nearly all on board; the seemingly intermina-
ble process of rolling in casks of sugar and
bales of cotton by vociferous, awkward negroes
had really come to an end; but the captain
still stood on the quay, wharf, levee, crevasse,
or whatever it was, and the specified hour for
departure had long passed away.
The sun
had gone down-it was in the latter end of
April, before the fierce heats had set in to
make Canal Street a solitude and Carrollton a
howling wilderness-and the crew and the por-
ters did their work by the light of the demoniac-
looking little furnaces or braziers, filled with
blazing pine-wood, which were fixed at the
steamer's bows. Among the impatient passen-
gers the rumor was that the steamer was only
waiting now to take on board a young heiress,
of immense wealth and social dignity, who was
going up somewhere north, and thence to Eu-
rope.

Some few of the passengers professed to
know all about the matter. Their accounts,
of course, did not agree in many particulars;
but they all generally bore out one broad con-
clusion. The young heiress had only recently
become enriched. The death of a distant rela-
tive, who had amassed a huge fortune in South
America, had made her, quite unexpectedly,
an heiress. She had been brought up in a New
Orleans convent, her mother being dead. Her
father was traveling with her. Except as her
father he was quite
poor man, ruined in the
war. Was she pretty? every body asked. No-

body knew.

Several on board were acquainted, more or less, with the father; not one ever professed to have seen the daughter.

world. He had very little money. His father and mother were dead. He had had forced upon him, through family influence, a consulWhile a general and keen anxiety was felt ship in one of the British possessions, and, not to see the heiress, the ladies were much more liking the utter absence of real work, he had eager on the subject than the gentlemen. Men actually flung up the appointment, declaring are very seldom curious about a woman whom himself disgusted with office-seeking, and vowthey have not seen; women are just the re-ing that he would live by his own brains and verse. The men on board the Columbia who felt exertions, or not live at all. He was a manly or professed the greatest desire to see the ex-young fellow, with a dash of the romantic in pected heiress were Colonel Sharpe, the Hon. him; and he had still a poetic reverence for a Captain Deedes (of England), and Phil Pem- woman, even though she wore high heels and broke. assumed the Grecian bend-which I take to be the severest test of a man's devotion to woman ever yet devised by fashion.

Colonel Sharpe thought something could be made out of the heiress or the father, somehow. Captain Deedes thought he might have a try for the girl and her "tin." Phil Pembroke was anxious to see what the mysterious young lady might be like. In the weary hours before the steamer's departure these three had been thrown together a good deal. Colonel Sharpe had won two bets of the Britisher, and played cards with him, but found that in the latter manly sport the Britisher could hold his own.

These three ought to be clearly described. Colonel Sharpe was a small, dark-haired man, with eyes that gleamed like jewels. He was handsomely, perhaps rather floridly, dressed; had an emerald in his shirt, and wore elegant glazed boots, small and dainty enough to have peeped beneath a petticoat. I should not care to have played billiards or euchre with Colonel Sharpe, who was almost always playing one or the other. It is doubtful whether the military authorities at Washington could have furnished any explanation as to how Mr. Sharpe came by his title of Colonel; and I don't suppose Jefferson Davis knew any At last three carriages rattle down to the thing more about the matter than General wharf. Several huge trunks and boxes and Grant. The manners of Colonel Sharpe to the valises are taken on board. Then comes an ladies on board were elaborately polite and elderly gentleman handing in two ladies, both chivalrous, with an ostentatious dash of tender-young, apparently; then a smart French damness in them. When he took off his hat and sel, evidently a lady's-maid; and then a colored bowed to a lady, there was an air of sentiment-man carrying a little dog in his arms. The laal confidence about the motion which seemed to dies have their veils down, and nobody can hint that it was an act of homage paid to her, make any thing of them. The whole party and her alone. Colonel Sharpe went up and passes in, and presently disappears, absorbed down the Mississippi very often, and played into state-rooms. At last the plank, or "stage," cards immensely all the way, and drank many, is hauled in, the gun is fired, and the steamer many sherry-cobblers and much Champagne begins slowly to make her way through crowdand brandy, and he was ready to offer you a ing craft of all kinds up the Mississippi. wager on any assertion whatever.

The elderly gentleman and the ladies did not appear that night, and there was considerable disappointment among the company in consequence.

The Hon. Capt. Deedes (whose regiment was now stationed in Toronto) was an English He was a handsome, florid man, younger son. Golonel Sharpe offered to bet drinks of thirty-five, with a neat brown mustache and that the taller lady was the heiress. Captain brown whiskers and shaven chin, and hair lav- Deedes would not bet, for he assumed, with a ishly oiled and carefully parted down the mid- yawn, that it must be so, seeing that the smalldle. He was specially remarkable for his un-er of the two had shown in passing a very pretalterable composure and impenetrable self-pos-ty foot and ankle; and girls with lots of money session. Nothing on earth or sea could dis- were almost always sure to be "beef to the turb him, or shake his calm faith in his own superiority and that of his class to all humanity outside. He was poor, as befits a younger son, and, like a true British aristocrat, he cared not . a farthing who knew it. He wanted to marry a woman with money; and he even frankly acknowledged that, given the money, he should not be very particular about the beauty or intellect of the woman.

Phil Pembroke was a handsome young American, who had gone creditably, not perhaps very splendidly, through his university course, and had not yet quite found out what to do with himself in life. He was a wonderfully slow young American in that way; for he was twenty-five years old, and yet had hardly begun the

heels." Phil Pembroke thought that as the taller girl passed him he had caught through her veil the gleam of two very bright eyes; and he hoped these belonged to the heiress, although, as he said, rather grimly, within himself, it didn't much matter to him; a woman with beauty and fortune would not be likely to give herself much concern for a poor devil like him.

The French waiting-maid and the colored man both were seen flitting about the saloon, and from this state-room to that, during the evening. Colonel Sharpe privately "interviewed" them both, and came back to his fellow-passengers triumphant with his news. The tall young lady was the heiress; she was im