Reply to some observations in Dr. Fleming's 'Remarks on the distribution of British animals' / [William Buckland].

  • Buckland, William, 1784-1856
Date:
[1825?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reply to some observations in Dr. Fleming's 'Remarks on the distribution of British animals' / [William Buckland]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    X 1 HJI. BIWWWIW s heply ho Dr Fleming's Remarks- am I aware, that the imputation of ignorance of modern botany, can be fairly laid to such illustrious names as those of Sternberg, Schlotheim, Brongniart and Rhode, from whose labours the sub¬ ject of fossil botany is now receiving illustrations; and with respect to the history of the formation of peat-bogs, sand, and marl-beds, which Dr Fleming specifies as points which have hitherto been too much neglected by geologists, I need only appeal to the accurate and able observations of Professor Jameson and Dr Macculloch, —'to the copious, and, on these subjects, most judicious pages of Deluc,—to the voluminous folios of the Irish Bog Reports,— and to the numerous papers that occur in the Philosophical Trans¬ actions,—to she\v, that the history of peat, sand, and marl, which Dr Fleming states 44 to have been neglected as too recent for in¬ quiry or speculation,” has received its due share of attention from the most eminent writers that have yet occupied themselves with the study of the physical structure of the Earth. With respect to the matters at issue between Dr Fleming and myself, as it appears to me that his objections arise chiefly from a mistaken or imperfect view of the facts on which his arguments are founded, I beg to submit to his consideration, and that of the readers of your Journal, the following points, on which I consider his ideas to be erroneous; forbearing to enter into the arguments he has derived from them, since, if the facts are mis¬ conceived, his conclusions will, of course, follow the fate of the premises from which they are deduced. 1. Dr Fleming objects, that the distinctions I have drawn be¬ tween Post-diluvian and Diluvian deposits,—or, in other words, between local deposits, which can be referred to existing causes, and those more extensive collections of water-worn detritus, which have resulted from some single, and transient, and uni¬ versal inundation of the surface of our planet,— are not suffi¬ ciently established. And, 2. He thinks the remains of animals that occur in what I con¬ sider the deposits of this inundation, may be referred to genera and species that have gradually perished by local accidents, or been extirpated by man. voit seule donner un caractere de demonstration a mes resultats sur cette creation ancienne.—Cuvier, Iiecherches si(r les Ossemens Fossiles, Discours Freliminane,