The Origin of the World According to Revelation and Science

by Sir John William Dawson

1. The widest and most important generalization of modern geology is that all the materials of the earth's crust, to the greatest depth that man can reach, either by actual excavation or inference from superficial arrangements, are of such a nature as to prove that they are not, in their present state, original portions of the earth's structure; but that they are the results of the operation, during long periods, of the causes of change—whether mechanical, chemical, or vital—now in operation, on the land, in the seas, and in the interior of the earth. For example, the most common rocks of our continents are conglomerates, sandstones, shales, and slates; all of which are made up of the débris of older rocks broken down into gravel, sand, or mud, and then re-cemented. To these we may add limestones, which have been made up by the accumulation of corals and shells, or by deposits from calcareous springs; coal, composed of vegetable matter; and granite, syenite, greenstone, and trap, which are molten rocks formed in the manner of modern lavas. So general has been this sorting, altering, and disturbance of the substance of the earth's crust, that, though we know its structure over large portions of our continents to the depth of several miles, the geologist can point to no instance of a truly primitive rock which can be affirmed to have remained unchanged and in situ since the beginning.

"All are aware that the solid parts of the earth consist of distinct substances, such as clay, chalk, sand, limestone, coal, slate, granite, and the like; but, previously to observation, it is commonly imagined that all had remained from the first in the state in which we now see them—that they were created in their present forms and in their present position. The geologist now comes to a different conclusion; discovering proofs that the external parts of the earth were not all produced in the beginning of things in the state in which we now behold them, nor in an instant of time. On the contrary, he can show that they have acquired their actual condition and configuration gradually and at successive periods, during each of which distinct races of living beings have flourished on the land and in the waters; the remains of these creatures lying buried in the crust of the earth." [140]

2. Having ascertained that the rocks of the earth have thus been produced by secondary causes, we next affirm, on the evidence of geology, that a distinct order of succession of these deposits can be ascertained; and though there are innumerable local variations in the nature of the rocks formed at the same period, yet there is, on the great scale, a regular sequence of formations over the whole earth. This succession is of the greatest importance in the case of aqueous rocks, or those formed in water; and it is evident that in the case of beds of sand, clay, etc., deposited in this way, the upper must be the more recent of any two layers. This simple principle, complicated in various ways by the fractures and disturbances to which the beds have been subjected, forms the basis of the succession of "formations" in geology as deduced from stratigraphical evidence.

3. This regular series of formations would be of little value as a history of the earth were it not that nearly all the aqueous rocks contain remains of the contemporary animals and plants. Ever since the earth began to be tenanted by organized beings, the various accumulations formed in the bottoms of seas and at the mouths of rivers have entombed remains of marine animals, more especially their harder parts, as shells, corals, and bones, and also fragments or entire specimens of land animals and plants. Hence, in any rock of aqueous formation, we may find fossil remains of the living creatures that existed in the waters in which that rock was accumulated or on the neighboring land. If in the process of building up the continents, the same locality constituted in succession a part of the bottom of the ocean, of an inland sea, of an estuary, and a lake, we should find in the fossil remains entombed in the deposits of that place evidences of these various conditions; and thus a somewhat curious history of local changes might be obtained. Geology affords more extensive disclosures of this nature. It shows that as we descend into the older formations we gradually lose sight of the existing animals and plants, and find the remains of others not now existing; and these, in turn, themselves disappear, and were preceded by others; so that the whole living population of the earth appears to have been several times renewed prior to the beginning of the present order of things. This seems farther to have occurred in a slow and gradual manner, not by successive great cataclysms or clearances of the surface of the earth, followed by wholesale renewal. This doctrine of geological uniformity is, however, to be understood as limited by the equally certain fact that there has been progress and advance, both in the inorganic arrangements of the earth's surface and in its organized inhabitants, and that there have, in geological as in historical times, been local cataclysms and convulsions, as those of earthquakes and volcanoes, often on a very extensive scale. Farther, there are good reasons to believe that there have been alternations of cold or glacial periods and of warm periods, of periods of subsidence and re-elevation, and of periods of greater and less activity of certain of the leading agents of geological change. But as to the extent of these differences and their bearing on the geological history, there is still much uncertainty and difference of opinion. [141]

In the sediment now accumulating in the bottom of the waters are being buried remains of the existing animals and plants. A geological formation is being produced, and it contains the skeletons and other solid parts of a vast variety of creatures belonging to all climates, and which have lived on land as well as in fresh and salt water. Let us now suppose that by a series of changes, sudden or gradual, all the present organized beings were swept away, and that, when the earth was renewed by the power of the Creator, a new race of intelligent beings could explore those parts of the former sea basins that had been elevated into land. They would find the remains of multitudes of creatures not existing in their time; and by the presence of these they could distinguish the deposits of the former period from those that belonged to their own. They could also compare these remains with the corresponding parts of creatures which were their own contemporaries, and could thus infer the circumstances in which they had lived, the modes of subsistence for which they had been adapted, and the changes in the distribution of land and water and other physical conditions which had occurred. This, then, is precisely the place which fossil organic remains occupy in modern geology, except that our present system of nature rests on the ruins, not of one previous system, but of several.

4. By the aid of the superposition of deposits and their organic remains, geology can divide the history of the earth into distinct periods. These periods are not separated by merely arbitrary boundaries, but to some extent mark important eras in the progress of our earth; though they usually pass into each other at their confines, and the nature of the evidence prevents us from ascertaining the precise length of the periods themselves, or the intervals in time which may separate the several monuments by which they are distinguished. The following table will serve to give an idea of the arrangement at present generally received, with some of the more important facts in the succession of animal and vegetable life, as connected with our present subject. It commences with the oldest periods known to geology, and gives in the animal and vegetable kingdoms the first appearance of each class, with a few notes of the subsequent history of the principal forms. It must, however, be borne in mind that farther discoveries may extend some classes farther back than we at present know them, and that a more detailed table, descending to orders and families, would give a more precise view of the succession of life. Farther, the several geological formations would admit of much subdivision, and are represented locally by various kinds and different thicknesses of sediment. [142]

TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUCCESSION OF GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS AND ORGANIC REMAINS.

PERIODS.	SYSTEMS OF FORMATIONS.	CLASSES OF ANIMALS.	PLANTS.
I. EOZOIC PERIOD.	Ancient Metamorphic rocks of Scandinavia, Canada, etc.	Eozoon and probably other Protozoa.	Graphite and Iron Ores representing Vegetable Matter.
II. PRIMARY OR PALÆOZOIC PERIOD.	Cambrian.	Radiata Hydrozoa, Echinodermata (Cystideans).	Algæ.
		Mollusca Brachiopoda, Lamellibranchiata,Gasteropoda, Cephalopoda (Bivalve and Univalve Shell-fishes).
		Articulata—Annelida, Crustacea (Worms andSoft Shell-fishes of the lower grades).
	Lower Silurian.	Radiata—Anthozoa (coral animals),Echinodermata (sea stars, etc.).	Algæ.
		Mollusca—Polyzoa, Tunicata.
		Other Mollusks and Articulates as before.
	Upper Silurian.	Radiates, Mollusks, and Articulates as before.	Acrogenous Land plants.
		Vertebrata—First Ganoid and Placoid Fishes.
	Erian or Devonian.	Articulata—Insects and higher Crustaceans.	Acrogens and Gymnosperms.
		Vertebrata—Fishes, Ganoid and Placoid.
	Carboniferous.	Mollusca—Pulmonata (Land Snails).	Acrogens, Gymnosperms, Endogens?
		Articulata—Myriapods, Arachnidans (Gallyworms, Spiders and Scorpions).
		Vertebrata—Batrachians or Amphibians prevalent.
	Permian.	Vertebrata—Lacertian or Lizard-like Reptiles.
III. SECONDARY OR MESOZOIC PERIOD.	Triassic.	Vertebrata—Higher Reptiles prevalent Marsupial Mammals.	Endogenous trees.
	Jurassic.	Vertebrata—Great prevalence of higher Reptiles; Fishes, homocerque; Earliest Birds.
	Cretaceous.	Vertebrata—Decadence of reign of Reptiles; Ordinary Bony Fishes.	Angiospermous Exogens.
IV. TERTIARY OR CAINOZOIC PERIOD.	Eocene.	Vertebrata Mammals prevalent, especially Pachyderms; Cycloid and Ctenoid Fishes prevalent.	Exogens prevalent.
		First living Invertebrates.	Some Modern Species appear.
	Miocene.	Living Invertebrates more numerous.
	Pliocene.	Living Invertebrates still more numerous.
V. POST-TERTIARY OR MODERN PERIOD.	Post-Pliocene.	First living Mammals.	Existing vegetation.
		Living Invertebrates prevalent.
	Post-Glacial and Recent.	Man and living Mammals.

The oldest fossil remains known are the Protozoa of the Laurentian rocks. In the succeeding Cambrian or Primordial rocks we find many extinct species of zoophytes, shell-fish, and crustaceans, and the algæ or sea-weeds. In the Palæozoic period as a whole, though numerous Batrachian or Amphibian reptiles existed toward its close, the higher orders of fishes seem to have been the dominant tribe of animals; and vegetation was nearly limited to cryptogams and gymnosperms. In the Mesozoic period, though small mammalia had been created, large terrestrial and marine reptiles were the ruling race, and fishes occupied a subordinate position; while, at the close, the higher orders of plants took a prominent place. In the Tertiary and Modern eras, the mammalia, with man, have assumed the highest or dominant position in nature.