Omphalos Part 3

III.

THE WITNESS FOR THE MACRO-CHRONOLOGY.

(CONTINUED.)

"Always distrust very plain cases: beware lest a snake suddenly start out upon you, in the shape of some concealed and utterly unexpected difficulty."--WARREN: _Law Studies_.

We have hitherto been considering the strata as if they had remained permanent when once deposited, subject to no change, save the successive superposition of other strata upon them. But this is very far from being true. Enormous displacements, upheavings, contortions, and fractures, are observed in the strata, which tell of mighty forces having been at work upon them after their formation. The explanation of these phenomena is due to the internal heat, which ever and anon seems to concentrate its action on some special point, seeking and finding vent for itself by some alteration in the already consolidated crust.

Sometimes, the mode of action has been the transmission of undulations through the crust, producing earthquakes, cracking and forcing apart strata already petrified, and bending and variously contorting those that have but partially become solid. Sometimes, the fiery impulse is sufficiently concentrated to break through the superinc.u.mbent materials, forcing a pa.s.sage for the molten and incandescent rock, which then flows forth from the surface, penetrates into the cracks and fissures of the fractured strata, and frequently spreads into the hollows and over the summits of the latest formations.

It is owing to such causes as these, that we find the rocky layers so often inclined at various angles to the horizon, instead of being parallel to it, as they would be of course deposited; occasionally standing quite perpendicularly, and even to a small extent reversed. The outcropping of formations, the long lines of cliff running across a country in parallel series, ("crag and tail,") the dipping of strata from some central point or ridge, and the non-correspondence between the bottom of one stratum and the top of the underlying one,--are all phenomena of this sort of powerful action, which has been more or less energetic at all periods.

After the deposit of the Old Red Sandstone, the internal fire appears to have enjoyed a lull of its energy, if not a complete cessation, until the Coal Measures were complete. Then the long tranquility was again broken, and concussions so extensive and violent ensued, that hardly a single square mile of country can anywhere be found which is not full of fractured and contorted strata, the record of subterranean movements, which mostly occurred between the Carboniferous and the Premian deposits.

The effects of these convulsions were manifest in the changed relations of land and sea, existing continents and islands being dislocated, severed, and swallowed up, while others were elevated from the depths of the previous ocean.

It was from the wave-worn materials thus obtained from pre-existing strata, that the New Red Sandstone was consolidated. It consists chiefly of sand and mud, with few organic remains; and the hiatus thus found, in animals and vegetables, seems to be almost a complete one between the organisms of the preceding and the succeeding periods.

The most interesting traces of the earth's tenants during the New Red formation, consist of foot-tracks impressed by the progress of animals along the yielding mud between the ranges of high and low tide. They afford a remarkable example (not, I think, sufficiently dwelt on) of the extreme rapidity with which deposits were consolidated; since the tracks must have been made, and the material consolidated, during the few hours, _at most_, that intervened between the recess and the reflux of the tide; since, if the mud had not so soon become solid, the flow of the sea would have instantly obliterated such marks, as it does now on our sh.o.r.es.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LABYRINTHODON PACHYGNATHUS.]

The princ.i.p.al animal, whose foot-prints have been identified, was an enormous Frog (_Labyrinthodon_), as big as a hippopotamus, but apparently allied, in its serried teeth, and in the bony plates with which it was covered, to the Crocodiles, which were its a.s.sociates.

It is curious that marks in the same material have chronicled the serpentine trail of a Sea-worm, the scratchings of a Crab, the ripple of the wavelets, and even the drops of a pa.s.sing shower; the last revealing, by their margins, the direction of the wind by which the slanting rain was driven.

If the Tria.s.sic formations display but little evidence of organic existence, the lack is supplied by the abundance of such records, which is contained in the Oolitic system, and specially in its lowest component,--the Lias. Animals now existed in profusion, but of species which were for the most part peculiar. The coral-making Polypes existed not (or very rarely) in the seas of that age, but lime was secreted by an unusual number of Crinoid Echinoderms, which seem to have fringed the rocks and floating pieces of timber, much as Barnacles do now.

Among the Mollusca now began to appear the inhabitants of those very elegant sh.e.l.ls, the _Ammonites_, allied to the Nautilus of our Southern seas, which may be considered as the lingering representative of those swarms of sh.e.l.led Cephalopoda. They were accompanied by their near relations, the _Belemnites_, more resembling a Cuttle, with a long internal, pointed sh.e.l.l.

Fishes, chiefly belonging to a curiously armed tribe of Sharks, together with some enclosed in bony-mail like pavement, were present in the shallows, where the Lias was probably deposited.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SNAKE-NECKED MARINE LIZARDS.

_Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus_ and _P. macrocephalus_.]

But the most characteristic animals were great marine Reptiles, of strange and uncouth forms, to which the present world presents us no known a.n.a.logy. One of these was the _Ichthyosaurus_, which closely resembled a porpoise in form, but thirty or forty feet in length, with a vertical fish-like tail, and two pairs of paddles; a mouth set with stout crocodilian teeth, and enormous eyes. Another form was that of the _Plesiosaurus_, scarcely less in size than its fellow, which in the outline of its body it resembled: it was distinguished, however, by an extraordinary length of neck, slender and swan-like, consisting of thirty or forty vertebrae.

It adds to the interest of these great marine Reptiles, that around their fossil skeletons are preserved pellets of excrement (known as Coprolites) containing fragments of bone, teeth, and scales of fishes, which clearly reveal the nature of their food. In some instances, the stomach and intestines of these great carnivorous creatures, filled with half-digested food, have left indubitable traces of their presence _in situ_.

Again, the geography of the Globe changed. New lands arose from the sea, and old lands partially or wholly sank. The German Ocean, and part of Western Europe, of our maps, were a great group of islands. The Oolitic formation was deposited. The general character of the organization of this period differed little from that of the Lias. New forms of plants, such as _Cycadeae_, were abundant, with, considerable numbers of Corals, Encrinites, Sea-urchins and Mollusks. Macrurous Crustacea, much like those of our times (but essentially different in species), inhabited the sea, and some Beetles and Flies represented the Insects of the land. The Fishes and Marine Reptiles were pretty much the same with those of the Lias, though they received some important additions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MEGALOSAURUS BUCKLANDI.]

It is, however, among the terrestrial Vertebrata that we must look for the characteristic organisms of this age. And these are, still, Reptiles. The huge _Megalosaurus_, with a body as big as an elephant's, stood high on his legs, and stretched open a pair of gaping jaws, set with jagged teeth. The _Pterodactyles_ flew about,--carnivorous lizards, with the body and wings of bats,[33] except that the membrane was stretched upon the enormously developed little finger;--creatures, perhaps, the most unlike to anything familiar to us, of all fossil forms. And, in the marshy margins of the great river valley which formed the Wealden of our South-eastern districts, the giant _Iguanodon_, and his fellow, the _Hylaeosaurus_, waged their peaceful warfare on the succulent plants that became their unresisting prey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BAT-LIZARDS.

_Pterodactylus cra.s.sirostris_, and _P. brevirostris_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HYLaeOSAURUS ARMATUS.]

The circle of animal life was completed in this epoch, thus far, that every cla.s.s was represented by some one or more of its const.i.tuent species. No fossil skeletons of Birds have, indeed, been found so low as the Oolite, but numerous foot-prints of some of the Grallatores are found in a sandstone of this period; and in the Stonesfield slate, which is contemporary with it, a genus of Mammalia has been discovered,--a small Marsupial, allied to the Opossums of America.

The duration of the Oolitic period must have been considerable. "The lias sea-bottom was succeeded first by a sandy, and then by a calcareous deposit, and the animals were modified accordingly." The deposit of carbonate of lime, which took place under circ.u.mstances that caused it to attract around its nodules the organic particles, whence the name _oolite_ (egg-stone) is derived, was not continuous, but repeated at intervals. The sh.e.l.ls of Mollusks were developed in great abundance, and acc.u.mulations of these formed thick bands, which consolidated into layers of sh.e.l.l-limestone. Three hundred feet of strata, largely composed of organic remains, were formed before the clay was deposited which made the Stonesfield and contemporaneous slates.

Once more the dry land sank, probably by slow successive subsidences, and the sea flowed many fathoms deep above the great European archipelago. And upon its quiet bottom settled down, first a few sandy and clayey beds, and then the great layer of the Chalk.

Creatures of very minute size and low grades of organization were now playing a very important part. A large portion of the lime that was deposited, in the form of a pure carbonate, was doubtless supplied by the Coral structures, which, were exceedingly numerous; the polypidoms being gnawed down by strong-jawed fishes that fed upon the Zoophytes.

_Foraminifera_ also were abundant, and contributed to the supply.

Nodules of flint exist in the Chalk, sometimes scattered, sometimes arranged in bands. Two sources are indicated for this substance. One is Sponge, the most common kinds of which are composed of skeletons of siliceous spicula; and these can be discerned with the microscope in the interior of the chalk-flints. But millions upon millions of Infusoria swam through the waters, and many of these were encased in siliceous loricae, while the rocks and sea-weeds were fringed with as incalculably numerous examples of siliceous _Diatomaceae_, whose elegant forms are recognisable without difficulty throughout the Chalk. The inconceivable abundance of these forms may be ill.u.s.trated by the often-cited fact, that whole strata of solid rock appear to be so exclusively composed of their solid remains, that a cube of one-tenth of an inch is computed by Ehrenberg to contain five hundred millions of individuals.

The increase of these organisms is very rapid, and their duration proportionately short; but allowing for this, what period would elapse before the successive generations of ent.i.ties, of which forty-one thousand millions are required to make a cubic inch, would have acc.u.mulated into solid strata fourteen feet in thickness?

Without pausing to examine the whole Cretaceous fauna, we may observe that the Mollusca with chambered sh.e.l.ls--the Ammonites and their allies--were developed in singular variety and profusion during this period, after which they suddenly disappeared from the ocean. The Fishes present little that is remarkable; of Birds, few, and of Mammals, no remains exist; and the Reptiles, while not absolutely extinct, are few and rare. One great marine form, however, the _Mosasaurus_, was added to their number.

At length the sea ceased to deposit chalk, and its bed appears to have been slowly elevated, until all the animals that had inhabited the waters of that formation were destroyed; so that their race and generation perished.[34] The grand epoch of Secondary Formations was closed.

It was followed by an extensive disruption of the then existing strata, and by changes and modifications so great as to alter the whole face of nature. "It would appear that a long period of time elapsed before newer beds were thrown down, since the chalky mud not only had time to harden into chalk, but the surface of the chalk itself was much rubbed and worn." During this protracted period, eruptions of molten rock occurred of enormous extent, producing the Basaltic formation which covers the Chalk in the north of Ireland, and in some of the Hebrides. In the south of Europe the Pyrenees were elevated, and the Apennines and Carpathians were pushed to a greater alt.i.tude than before, if they were not then formed. The Alps and the Caucasus also experienced a series of upward movements, continuing through a considerable range of the Tertiary epoch.

The rich collections of vegetable remains--chiefly fruits and seeds--that have been made from the London Clay, show that the earliest land of this period was clothed with a great abundance and variety of plants; and these are of such alliances as would now require a tropical climate. Many species of Palms, Screw-pines, Gourds, _Piperaceae_, _Mimoseae_, and other _Leguminosae_, _Malvaceae_, and _Coniferae_, dropped their woody pods and fruits where now these pages are written; and the animals manifest no less interesting an approximation to existing forms than the plants. The Zoophytes, the Echinoderms, the Foraminifera, the Worms, the Crustacea, the Mollusca, the Fishes and the Reptiles of the Eocene beds, exhibit a great preponderance of agreement with those that now exist, _so far as genus is concerned_, though the _species_ are still almost wholly distinct. The approximation is particularly marked in the Molluscous sub-kingdom, by the almost entire disappearance of the hitherto swarming Brachiopod and Cephalopod forms, and the progressive subst.i.tution for them of the _Conchifera_ and _Gastropoda_, which had, however, throughout the Secondary epoch, been gradually coming forward to their present predominance in nature.

Among the Fishes, the Placoid type was diminished in number; and those that were produced were mostly Sharks and Rays, of modern genera; but the chief difference was the paucity of those mailed forms (Ganoids), which were so abundant during the Oolitic period. On the other hand, the Ctenoid and Cycloid forms, which had begun to make their appearance in small numbers in the Chalk, are well represented. In both this deficiency and this plenitude, there is a very decided approach to existing conditions; for the Ganoids are almost unknown with us, while the last-named two orders are abundant. Representatives of our Perches, Maigres, Mackerels, Blennies, Herrings, and Cods, were numerous; _distinct, however, from the present species_. But not a single member of the great Salmon family was yet introduced.

The great Saurian Reptiles had entirely disappeared, and were quite unrepresented in the tertiary beds, except by a Crocodile or two, and a small Lizard. Turtles were, however, numerous, both of the marine and lacustrine kinds; and there is an interesting stranger, in the form of a large Serpent, allied to our Pythons, some twenty feet in length.

Birds and Mammals began now to a.s.sume their place on the land. The London Clay presents us with a little Vulture; and the Paris basin contains remnants of species representing the Raptores, the Rasores, the Grallatores, and the Natatores.

The Quadrupeds came in in some force; not developed from the lowest to the highest scale of organization; for the Monkey and the Bat occur in sands, certainly not later, if not earlier, than the London Clay, contemporaneously with the Rac.o.o.n, and before the existence of any Rodent or Cetacean. Some Carnivora, as the Wolf and the Fox, roamed the woods, but the character of the epoch was given by the Pachyderms.

These, however, were not the ma.s.sive colossi that browse in the African or Indian jungles of our days; no Elephant, no Rhinoceros, no Hippopotamus was as yet formed. But several kinds of Tapir wallowed in the mora.s.ses; and a goodly number of largish beasts, whose affinities were with the Pachydermata, while their a.n.a.logies were with the Ruminantia, served as subst.i.tutes for the latter order, which was wholly wanting. These interesting quadrupeds, forming the genus _Anoplotherium_, were remarkable for two peculiarities,--their feet were two-toed, and their teeth were ranged in a continuous series, without any interval between the incisors and the molars. They varied in size from that of an a.s.s to that of a hare.

The physical conditions of our earth, when it was tenanted by these creatures, is thus described:--"All the great plains of Europe, and the districts through which the princ.i.p.al rivers now run, were then submerged; in all probability, the land chiefly extended in a westerly direction, far out into the Atlantic, possibly trending to the south, and connecting the western sh.o.r.es of England with the volcanic islands off the west coast of Africa. The great mountain chains of Europe, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the mountains of Greece, the mountains of Bohemia, and the Carpathians, existed then only as chains of islands in an open sea. Elevatory movements, having an east and west direction, had, however, already commenced, and were producing important results, laying bare the Wealden district in the south-east of England.

The southern and central European district, and parts of western Asia, were the recipients of calcareous deposits (chiefly the skeletons of _Foraminifera_), forming the Apennine limestone; while numerous islands were gradually lifted above the sea, and fragments of disturbed and fractured rock were washed upon the neighbouring shallows or coast-lines, forming beds of gravel covering the Chalk. The beds of Nummulites and Miliolites, contemporaneous with those containing the Sheppey plants and the Paris quadrupeds, seem to indicate a deep sea at no great distance from sh.o.r.e, and render it probable that there were frequent alternations of elevation and depression, perhaps the result of disturbances acting in the direction already alluded to.

"The sh.o.r.es of the islands and main land were, however, occasionally low and swampy, rivers bringing down mud in what is now the south-east of England, and the neighbourhood of Brussels, but depositing extensive calcareous beds near Paris. Deep inlets of the sea, estuaries, and the s.h.i.+fting mouths of a river, were also affected by numerous alterations of level not sufficient to destroy, but powerful enough to modify, the animal and vegetable species then existing; and these movements were continued for a long time."[35]

After the elevation of the mountain summits of Europe above the sea, and while the same causes were still in operation, deposits were being made in the narrow intervening seas of the Archipelago, such as the present south of France, the valleys of the Rhine and Danube, the eastern districts of England and Portugal. These deposits were partly marine and partly lacustrine; the former consisting largely of loose sands, mingled with sh.e.l.ls and gravel. In Switzerland is a thick ma.s.s of conglomerate; and in the district around Mayence, there is a series of fresh-water limestones, and sandstones charged with organic remains.

The changes which took place during this comparatively recent epoch were not sudden, but gradual; the results of operations which were probably going on without intermission, and perhaps have not yet ceased.

The land was more and more upheaved, till at length, what had been an archipelago of islands became a continent, and Europe a.s.sumed the form which it bears on our maps.