SEQUEL TO SYSTEMATIC GEOLOGY. 525 



'arge physiological as well as physical principles, which added incom- 

 parably to its dignity and charm. 



In tracing the reception and diffusion of doctrines such as those of 

 Smith and Cuvier, we ought not to omit to notice more especially the 

 formation and history of the Geological Society of London, just men- 

 tioned. It was established in 1807, with a view to multiply and 

 record observations, and patiently to await the result of some future 

 period ; that is, its founders resolved to apply themselves to Descrip- 

 tive Geology, thinking the time not come for that theoretical geology 

 which had then long fired the controversial ardor of Neptunists and 

 Plutonists. The first volume of the Transactions of this society was 

 published in 1811. The greater part of the contents of this volume * 

 avor of the notions of the Wernerian school ; and there are papers 

 on some of the districts in England most rich in fossils, which Mr. 

 Conybeare says, well exhibit the low state of secondary geology at 

 that period. But a paper by Mr. Parkinson refers to the discoveries 

 both of Smith and of Cuvier ; and in the next volume, Mr. Webste? 

 gives an account of the Isle of Wight, following the admirable mode? 

 of Cuvier and Brono-niart's account of the Paris basin. " If we com- 



O 



pare this memoir of Mr. Webster with the preceding one .of Dr. 

 Berger (also of the Isle of Wight), they at once show themselves to 

 belong to two very distinct eras of science ; and it is difficult to 

 believe that the interval which elapsed between their respective publi- 

 cation was only three or four years." 3 



Among the events belonging to the diffusion of sound geological 

 views in this country, we may notice the publication of a little volume 

 entitled, The Geology of England and Wales, by Mr. Conybeare and 

 Mr. Phillips, in 1821; an event far more important than, from the 

 modest form and character of the work, it might at first sight appear. 

 By describing in detail the geological structure and circumstances of 

 England (at least as far downwards as the coal), it enabled a very 

 wide class of readers to understand and verify the classifications which 

 geology had then very recently established ; while the extensive know- 

 ledge and philosophical spirit of Mr. Conybeare rendered it, under the 

 guise of a topographical enumeration, in reality a profound and in- 

 structive scientific treatise. The vast impulse which it gave to the 

 study of sound descriptive geology was felt and acknowledged in other 

 countries, as well as in Britain. 



* Conybeare. Report. Brit. Assoc p. 372. 3 Conybeare, Rtport, p. S72. 



