ever, guard ourselves against
too literal an interpretation of the word "contemporaneous,"
and we must bear in mind the enormously-prolonged periods of
time with which the geologist has to deal. When we say that two
groups of strata in different regions are "contemporaneous," we
simply mean that they were formed during the same geological
period, and perhaps at different stages of that period, and we
do not mean to imply that they were formed at precisely the same
instant of time.

A moment's consideration will show us that it is only in the former
sense that we can properly speak of strata being "contemporaneous;"
and that, in point of fact, beds containing the same fossils, if
occurring in widely distant areas, can hardly be "contemporaneous"
in any literal sense; but that the very identity of their fossils
is proof that they were deposited one after the other. If we find
strata containing identical fossils within the limits of a single
geographical region--say in Europe--then there is a reasonable
probability that these beds are strictly contemporaneous, in the
sense that they were deposited at the same time. There is a
reasonable probability of this, because there is no improbability
involved in the idea of an ocean occupying the whole area of
Europe, and peopled throughout by many of the same species of
marine animals. At the present day, for example, many identical
species of animals are found living on the western coasts of
Britain and the eastern coasts of North America, and beds now
in course of deposition off the shores of Ireland and the seaboard
of the state of New York would necessarily contain many of the
same fossils. Such beds would be both literally and geologically
contemporaneous; but the case is different if the distance between
the areas where the strata occur be greatly increased. We find,
for example, beds containing identical fossils (the Quebec or
Skiddaw beds) in Sweden, in the north of England, in Canada,
and in Australia. Now, if all these beds were contemporaneous,
in the literal sense of the term, we should have to suppose that
the ocean at one time extended uninterruptedly between all these
points, and was peopled throughout the vast area thus indicated
by many of the same animals. Nothing, however, that we see at
the present day would justify us in imagining an ocean of such
enormous extent, and at the same time so uniform in its depth,
temperature, and other conditions of marine life,