Practical Geology and Mineralogy: With Instructions for the Qualitative Analysis of MineralsJ.W. Parker, 1841 - 519 pages |
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abundant acid afford animals appears argillaceous augite basalt beds blow-pipe calcareous Cambrian carbonate of lime carboniferous limestone carboniferous system chalk characters chlorite clay coal field coal measures coast colour compact composition conglomerates consists containing cretaceous crystalline crystals deposits dikes district earth elevation England epoch extending extinct feet felspar formation fossiliferous fossils fracture fragments genera geological geologists gneiss granite gravel greenstone grit heat Hills hornblende igneous rocks island lava lias lower Lustre magnesian limestone marine marls masses metallic mica mica schist miles millstone grit mineral Murchison occurs old red sandstone oolitic organic remains oxide of iron oxygen poikilitic porphyry portion potassa precipitate primary produced quartz sand schist seams sedimentary shale shells silica Silurian slate soda sometimes species specific gravity stone strata stratified rocks structure substances sulphate sulphuret sulphuric surface tertiary thickness unstratified upper varieties veins volcanic Wales wealden yields
Popular passages
Page 41 - I do not now maintain, I think it right, as one of my last acts before I quit this Chair, thus publicly to read my recantation. We ought, indeed, to have paused before we first adopted the diluvian theory, and referred all our old superficial gravel to the action of the Mosaic flood.
Page 41 - Our errors were, however, natural, and of the same kind which led many excellent observers of a former century to refer all the secondary formations of geology to the Noachian deluge.
Page 335 - Wash, that great triangular area commences which extends over the eastern and southern counties, bounded on the east and south by the sea, and on the west by a line drawn from Hunstanton Cliffs, in Norfolk, to Abbotsbury, on the coast of Dorsetshire.
Page 38 - It should be borne in mind,' says Dr Buckland, 'that the object of the account was, not to state in what manner, but by whom the world was made." Every one must see that this is an unfounded assertion inasmuch as the greater part of the narrative consists in a minute and orderly description of the manner in which things were made.
Page 42 - We ought, indeed, to have paused, before we first adopted the diluvial theory, and referred all our old superficial gravel to the action of the Mosaic flood. For of man, and the works of his hands, we have not yet found a single trace among the remnants of a former world entombed in these ancient deposits.
Page 91 - Weigh the denser body and the compound mass, separately, both in water and out of it ; then find how much each loses in water, by subtracting its weight in water from its weight in air ; and subtract the less of these remainders from the greater. Then say, As the last remainder, Is to the weight of the light body in air, So is the specific gravity of water, To the specific gravity of the body.
Page 303 - In external form these animals somewhat resemble our modern bats and vampires : most of them had the nose elongated, like the snout of a crocodile, and armed with conical teeth. Their eyes were of enormous size, apparently enabling them to fly by night. From their wings projected fingers, terminated by long hooks, like the curved claw on the thumb of the bat. These must have formed a powerful paw, wherewith the animal was enabled to creep or climb, or suspend itself from trees. It...
Page 8 - The same proofs of organic changes are afforded by the study of fossil botany. The formations containing vegetable remains may be arranged, according to Professor Henslow, in four groups, representing epochs, during any one of which no very marked difference is observable in the general character of the vegetation; but between any two of these groups the change is striking and decided, most of the genera being different, and none of the species alike. The character of the fossil vegetation of the...
Page 44 - ... that as the rise and fall of the waters of the Mosaic deluge are described to have been gradual, and of short duration, they would have produced comparatively little change on the surface of the country they overflowed. The large preponderance of extinct species among the animals we find in caves, and in superficial deposits of diluvium, and the non-discovery of human bones along with them, afford other strong reasons for referring these species to a period anterior to the creation of man. This...
Page 296 - Cuvier drew his figures of the recent Sepia with ink extracted from its own body. I have drawings of the remains of extinct species prepared also with their own ink ; with this fossil ink I might record the fact, and explain the causes of its wonderful preservation. I might register the proofs of instantaneous death detected in these ink-bags, for they contain the fluid which the living sepia emits in the moment of alarm...