In a cave, likewise, in the Mendip Hills, at Compton Bishop, (Reliqua Diluviana, p. 166 ), numerous bones of foxes were found, and fifteen skulls extracted. In an open fissure at Duncombe Park, (Ib. p. 54.), the bones of dogs, sheep, deer, goats, and hogs, have likewise been found lodged.

In addition to these facts, it may be added, that in the fissure of the gypsum at Köetritz, in Germany, described by Baron Schlotheim. a translation of whose paper on the subject has appeared in the Annals of Philosophy, vol. xxi. p. 17., the remains of man, and several recent European quadrupeds, and even the domestic cock, occur along with the remains of the extinct rhinoceros, hyæna, tiger, &c. "In Winter's gypsum quarry, human bones were discovered, at the depth of 26 feet from the surface, lying 8 feet below the bones of the rhinoceros, there also deposited."*

In the preceding statements, we witness British animals, in reference to the changes to which they are subject, capable of being arranged into three classes, the first including those species, the individuals of which are daily becoming scarcer, in consequence of the agency of man,-the second, those which man has succeeded in extirpating, but which still find an asylum in the more thinly peopled or less cultivated districts of Europe, while the third embraces those, which, though once natives of Britain and Europe, have ceased to exist in a living state on the earth. As connected with Britain, we may enumerate in the last class the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyæna, cave-bear, tyger, and elk. To what cause, then, are we to assign the extinction of these animals: To the extirpating effects of civilization, or to physical revolutions, over which man had no control?

Ja order to solve this important problem, it is necessary to keep steadily in view the following conditions, which have been determined:

1 The remains of these extinct animals occur in company with those which have been destroyed or extirpated by human.

* The human bones found at Köstritz, according to later accounts, are said to occur, not in the regular alluvial deposite containing remains of elephants, &c., but in an irregular and accidentai deposite of a comparatively modern date. This being the case, we do not yet possess any authentic instance of human remains occurring in those beds that contain bones of elephants, rhinoceroses, &c.-- Epit.

agency, and with such as still survive, and seem suited to the climate. Thus, the bones of the extinct elephant, rhinoceros, and cave-bear, occur along with those of the common bear, the wolf, the fox, and the horse.

2. The remains of these extinct animals are not found in any situation, such as caves, fissures, gravel and clay-beds, peat or marl, in which the relics of existing animals may not be placed, and have not been found.

3. The remains of extinct animals occur in situations, indicating the action of causes at the period of their burial, not now frequently in operation, as in thick beds of clay or gravel; and they likewise are found under circumstances, which prove, that no remarkable physical change was taking place at the time, nor has taken place at any subsequent period—as in beds of peat and marl. The same remark is equally applicable to the remains of recent and extirpated animals.

4. The extinct species have had a geographical distribution in Europe, similar to the recent and extirpated kinds with which their remains are intermingled. In considering the geographical distribution of animals preparatory to the investigation of their physical distribution, we should ever bear in mind the great changes man may have occasioned in the former. This will induce us to attach suitable importance to their fossil relics, as the indication of the extent of their former dispersion. But, when we find a great difference prevailing in physical distribution, between two animals referred to the same species, as the Siberian rhinoceros, and the recent African one, the skull of which was brought home by Mr Campbell, we should not infer identity but from close and extensive resemblances of structure.

5. The remains of these extinct animals occur only in the superficial strata, and in fresh-water gravel or clay, and may be viewed as connected with the last or modern epoch of the earth's history.

6. Man was an inhabitant of this country at the time these animals, now extinct, flourished, his bones and his instruments having been found in similar situations with their remains.

The natural history of these remains of extinct animals, denonstrates that opinion to be erroneous, which considers the deluge as having drowned these animals, while it formed the beds of gravel, clay and loam, in which they are now imbedded. If it drowned the hippopotamus, how did the ox and the

horse escape? Why this partial selection of its victims among the ancient inhabitants of the country? Professor Buckland, who has defended the opinion which ascribes the extinction of these animals to the deluge, classifies the alluvial strata into such as are diluvian, and such as are post-diluvian. But these organic remains occur, not only in the so-called diluvian clay, but in the acknowledged post-diluvian marl; and this flood, instead of consigning indiscriminately to a watery grave all the quadrupeds of Britain, selected as the objects of its destruction only such as in all ages must have been most eagerly sought after by the huntsman, and such as his efforts would, long before this period, have annihilated.

The whole circumstances of the case lead apparently to the conclusion, that the weapons of the huntsman completed the extinction of these animals, from the first ages the object of his persecution; though we can feel no hesitation in admitting, that murrains, severe seasons, and local inundations, may have accelerated their ruin.* The destructive influence of these circumstances, must, indeed, in all ages, have operated in checking the extension of particular species; nor has man himself been exempt from their ravages. But as his resources multiply with the progress of society, while those animals against which he contends, become more exposed to his attacks, man bas outlived these changes, along with those brute cotemporaties which have not been the special object of his persecution.

The preceding remarks, offered on a very interesting department of the natural history of the earth, may serve to point out the rashness of those attempts which have been made to unite the speculations of geologists with the truths of Revelation. Without controversy, the works and the words of God must give consistent indications of his government, provided they be interpreted truly. The talent, sagacity, learning, and industry, occupied for ages with the Book of Revelation, have produced a mass of evidence, by which its moral authority has

Professor Link, without attempting any explanation of the manner in which the quadrupeds, whose remains are found in alluvial strata, have disappeared from off the face of the earth, maintains that we have no geological evidence for their destruction by a great flood, for he remarks, "We find remains of these extinct species in the same beds as those enclosing bones of living species; therefore, if the one set were destroyed by a universal deluge, the others must have suffered at the same period.-EDIT.

been established. But, unfortunately for the interpreters of the Book of Nature, they have been few in number, their field of observation too limited, and their prejudices too obvious, to permit any high value to be attached to their theoretical deductions; as the history of mineralogical science in Britain for the last twelve years abundantly testifies. It would be favourable to the progress of geology, were its cultivators more disposed to examine the structure of the earth, and the laws which regulate the physical distribution of its inhabitants, and less anxious to give currency to their conjectures, by endeavouring to identify them with deservedly popular truths. It would be equally favourable to the interests of Revelation, were the believer to reject such faithless auxiliaries, and, instead of exhibiting a morbid earnestness to derive support to his creed from sciences but remotely connected with his views, calmly to consider, that Geology never can, from its very nature, add the weight of a feather to the moral standard which he has embraced, or the anticipations of eternity in which he indulges, even should he fancy that it has succeeded in disclosing the dens of antediluvian hyænas, in exhibiting the skeleton of a rhinoceros drowned in the flood, or in discovering the decayed timbers of the ark. This indiscreet union of Geology and Revelation can scarcely fail to verify the censure of Bacon, by producing "Philosophia phantastica, Religio haretica."

ART. XXXIII.-On Plumbago, or Carburet of Iron, with an Account of the Mine at Borrowdale. By SAMUEL Parkes, F. L. S. &c. [Chem. Essays.]

PLUMBAGO, usually known by the very improper name of black-lead, occurs in some particular spots in most countries in the world. It is well known as the article of which pencils are made, and is found in various situations, such as in the

* From a remark of Sir John Pettus, I imagine black-lead pencils have not been in use more than 150 or 160 years. "Of late," says he, speaking of black-lead, "it is curiously formed into cases of deal, or cedar, and so sold as dry pencils, something more useful than pen and ink." Sir John Pettus's Fleta Minor, folio, London, 1686, article Lead.

midst of mountains, in beds of quartz, and in masses of calcareous earth. It generally occurs in kidney-form lumps of various dimensions from the size of a pea to pieces of some considerable weight. Its specific gravity is about twice that of water; though Dr Freind states it to be only 1.714, and Boyle 1.860. When pure, it consists of about ninety-five parts carbon and five of iron. Hence, as might be expected, it is as incombustible and indestructible as charcoal, unless heated with atmospheric air;* there is, however, considerable difficulty attending the analysis of this mineral, from certain causes which have been pointed out by Mr Brande.t Some kinds of plumbago are very impure. Vauquelin has given the analysis of a French specimen which contained only 23 per cent. of carbon, 2 of iron, 38 of silica, and 37 of alumina.

To the modern methods of analysis we are entirely indebted for a knowledge of the nature of this substance. Camden, our celebrated historian, calls it "a metallic earth, or hard glittering stone, used by painters to draw with. Whether," says he, "it be pnigitis or melanteria of Dioscorides, or ochre burnt black by the heat of the earth, I cannot determine. ‡

Boyle calls it "a mineral sui generis, approaching to a talc," and says that "it has nothing metallic in its nature." The ingenious Scheele was the first person who pointed out the real nature of this mineral. He showed that by burning it in a peculiar manner it might all be converted into carbonic acid gas, except a small residuum, which he found to be iron.§ The finest plumbago that has ever been discovered is procured from a mine at Borrowdale, about six miles from Keswick, and in the neighbourhood of the lofty mountain of Skiddaw. in the county of Cumberland. I know of no other mine which produces this mineral in a state fit for making good black-lead pencils: it is on account of its excellency therefore exported to all parts of the world. The superior quality of this article is indeed so generally allowed, that on the

*It is this property which renders plumbago one of the best substances in nature for the fabrication of those crucibles which are designed to resist the most intense heat.

Brande's Manual, vol. ii. p 121.

Gough's edition of Camden's Britannia, folio, vol. iii. p. 170.

Boyle's Works, vol v p 27.

Scheele's Chemical Essays, p. 243.

According to Dr Campbell, this mineral is used with great success by dyers in fixing blue colours, vol. ii. p. 38.