Book contents
- Frontmatter
- TO THE READER
- Contents
- LIST OF WOOD-CUTS
- STROMNESS AND ITS ASTEROLEPIS.—THE LAKE OF STENNIS
- THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
- THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE ASTEROLEPIS.—ITS FAMILY
- CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER VERTEBRATA.—ITS APPARENT PRINCIPLE
- THE ASTEROLEPIS.—ITS STRUCTURE, BULK, AND ASPECT
- FISHES OF THE SILURIAN ROCKS, UPPER AND LOWER.—THEIR RECENT HISTORY, ORDER, AND SIZE
- HIGH STANDING OF THE PLACOIDS.—OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED
- THE PLACOID BRAIN.—EMBRYOTIC CHARACTERISTICS NOT NECESSARILY OF A LOW ORDER
- THE PROGRESS OF DEGRADATION.—ITS HISTORY
- EVIDENCE OF THE SILURIAN MOLLUSCS.—OF THE FOSSIL FLORA.—ANCIENT TREE
- SUPERPOSITION NOT PARENTAL RELATION.—THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE
- LAMARCKIAN HYPOTHESIS OF THE ORIGIN OF PLANTS.—ITS CONSEQUENCES
- THE TWO FLORAS, MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL.—BEARING OF THE EXPERIENCE ARGUMENT
- THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS IN ITS EMBRYOTIC STATE.—OLDER THAN ITS ALLEGED FOUNDATIONS
- FINAL CAUSES.—THEIR BEARING ON GEOLOGIC HISTORY.—CONCLUSION
THE TWO FLORAS, MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL.—BEARING OF THE EXPERIENCE ARGUMENT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- TO THE READER
- Contents
- LIST OF WOOD-CUTS
- STROMNESS AND ITS ASTEROLEPIS.—THE LAKE OF STENNIS
- THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
- THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE ASTEROLEPIS.—ITS FAMILY
- CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER VERTEBRATA.—ITS APPARENT PRINCIPLE
- THE ASTEROLEPIS.—ITS STRUCTURE, BULK, AND ASPECT
- FISHES OF THE SILURIAN ROCKS, UPPER AND LOWER.—THEIR RECENT HISTORY, ORDER, AND SIZE
- HIGH STANDING OF THE PLACOIDS.—OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED
- THE PLACOID BRAIN.—EMBRYOTIC CHARACTERISTICS NOT NECESSARILY OF A LOW ORDER
- THE PROGRESS OF DEGRADATION.—ITS HISTORY
- EVIDENCE OF THE SILURIAN MOLLUSCS.—OF THE FOSSIL FLORA.—ANCIENT TREE
- SUPERPOSITION NOT PARENTAL RELATION.—THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE
- LAMARCKIAN HYPOTHESIS OF THE ORIGIN OF PLANTS.—ITS CONSEQUENCES
- THE TWO FLORAS, MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL.—BEARING OF THE EXPERIENCE ARGUMENT
- THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS IN ITS EMBRYOTIC STATE.—OLDER THAN ITS ALLEGED FOUNDATIONS
- FINAL CAUSES.—THEIR BEARING ON GEOLOGIC HISTORY.—CONCLUSION
Summary
Is the reader acquainted with the graphic verse, and scarce less graphic prose, in which Crabbe describes the appearances presented by a terrestrial vegetation affected by the waters of the sea? In both passages, as in all his purely descriptive writings, there is a solidity of truthful observation exhibited, which triumphs over their general homeliness of vein.
“On either side
Is level fen, a prospect wild and wide,
With dykes on either hand, by ocean self-supplied.
Far on the right the distant sea is seen,
And salt the springs that feed the marsh between;
Beneath an ancient bridge the straitened flood
Rolls through its sloping banks of slimy mud;
Near it a sunken boat resists the tide,
That frets and hurries to the opposing side;
The rushes sharp, that on the borders grow,
Bend their brown florets to the stream below,
Impure in all its course, in all its progress slow.
Here a grave Flora scarcely deigns to bloom,
Nor wears a rosy blush, nor sheds perfume.
The few dull flowers that o'er the place are spread,
Partake the nature of their fenny bed;
Here on its wiry stem, in rigid bloom,
Grows the salt lavender, that lacks perfume;
Here the dwarf sallows creep, the septfoil harsh,
And the soft slimy mallow of the marsh.
Low on the ear the distant billows sound,
And just in view appears their stony bound.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Footprints of the CreatorOr, the Asterolepis of Stromness, pp. 238 - 252Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1849