But not ice-clay. Anything
but that, as you will see. It belongs to a formation late
(geologically speaking), but somewhat older than those Disco Island
beds.
And what sort of fossils do we find in it?
In the first place, the shells, which are abundant, are tropical--
Nautili, Cones, and such like. And more, fruits and seeds are found
in it, especially at the Isle of Sheppey. And what are they? Fruits
of Nipa palms, a form only found now at river-mouths in Eastern India
and the Indian islands; Anona-seeds; gourd-seeds; Acacia fruits--all
tropical again; and Proteaceous plants too--of an Australian type.
Surely your common sense would hint to you, that this London clay
must be mud laid down off the mouth of a tropical river. But your
common sense would be all but certain of that, when you found, as you
would find, the teeth and bones of crocodiles and turtles, who come
to land, remember, to lay their eggs; the bones, too, of large
mammals, allied to the tapir of India and South America, and the
water-hog of the Cape. If all this does not mean that there was once
a tropic climate and a tropic river running into some sea or other
where London now stands, I must give up common sense and reason as
deceitful and useless faculties; and believe nothing, not even the
evidence of my own senses.
Pages:
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83