CRETACEOUS PERIOD.
This name is given to rocks occurring in various parts of the world, which contain well-marked and characteristic forms of animal and vegetal life, though the rocks themselves may be composed of very different minerals. Thus, the chalk-cliffs of England are so striking as to give her the name of Albion, while up to the present time no chalk has been found in America. The formation in New Jersey, etc., supposed to correspond to the Cretaceous of England, consists principally of marl, much used for fertilizing purposes. The apparently simple and generally unobserved phenomena of one's fireside are often really so complex that lives have been spent in investigating, volumes written in explaining them. The burning of a candle forms the subject of an interesting little book by the late Prof. Faraday; while Prof. Huxley observes, "The man who should know the true history of the bit of chalk which every carpenter carries about in his breeches-pocket, though ignorant of all other history, is likely to have a better conception of this wonderful universe, and of a man's relation to it, than the most learned student who is deep-read in the records of humanity and ignorant of those of Nature." It would be superfluous to attempt to show the justice of this profound remark, as those who care to follow the reasonings by which such a conclusion is reached can find them in the essay on a "Piece of Chalk," from which the above quotation is taken. While the Reptiles of the Cretaceous period still include huge creatures like the Hadrosaurus and Mososaurus, the Fishes and Plants are becoming more modern in their appearance. Bony Fishes first appearing in this period, among which are to be mentioned the Herring, Salmon, etc., and the vegetal kingdom being represented by modern trees, like the Palms, Oaks, and Poplars, accompanied by a marked decline in the Cycadae. With the
