Lign. 2:—Fossil Turban Echinus, with its spines; in limestone.
(See 'Medals of Creation', p. 340.)
FOSSIL SHELLS IN CHALK.
Lign. 3:—Shell with spines, imbedded in Chalk; from Lewes.
(See 'Medals of Creation,' 1 p. 390.)
To avoid confusion, we will reverse the order of our inquiry, and first contemplate the formation of the flint in its native rock. The Chalk, that beautiful white stone, which (as an American friend, who saw it for the first time, observed), is so like an artificial production, abounds in marine shells and corals, and in the remains of fishes, crabs, lobsters, and reptiles, all of which differ essentially from living species; although a few of the corals and shells resemble, in some particulars, certain kinds that inhabit the seas of hot climates. These remains are found in so perfect a state—the shells with all their spines and delicate processes ([Lign. 3]), and the fishes with their teeth ([Lign. 4]), scales, and fins, entire—that no doubt can be entertained of the animals having been surrounded by the chalk while living in their native sea, and that many of them were entombed in their stony sepulchres suddenly, when the rock was in the state of mud, or like liquid plaster of Paris.[E]