Progress of Geology, • 449 



In looking at the mass of valuable information contained in 

 the Transactions of the Geological Society/, at the many other 

 illustrative works, of high estimation, which have appeared 

 during the last ten or twenty years, and at the space which 

 this science now occupies in our leading periodicals, we per- 

 ceive proofs of the increasing number of observers, the im- 

 mense variety of the objects under consideration, the skill 

 which has been exercised in their developement, and the 

 emulation excited to explore the vast series which yet remain. 

 In the midst of apparent confusion there arises abundant evi- 

 dence to show that order prevails, and that certain rules and 

 principles have every where influenced the distribution of the 

 phenomena we are attempting to investigate. This observ- 

 ation is not new, neither is thfe result wholly unexpected. 



Eighteen years ago it was said, " if the face of the earth 

 were divided into districts, and accurately described, we have 

 no doubt that, from the comparison of these descriptions, the 

 true theory of the earth would spontaneously emerge without 

 any effort of genius or invention. It would appear as an in- 

 controvertible principle, about which, all men, the moment 

 that the facts were stated to them, must of necessity agree. 

 Instead of a hundred different theories, about which they dis- 

 pute with never ending sophistry, there would be a few general 

 maxims, in which all men of sense and information would 

 uniformly acquiesce." The period anticipated by the reviewer 

 is still, probably, very remote. So vast an era presents an 

 almost inexhaustible field to occupy the researches of geolo- 

 gists yet to come. We possess at best but the rudiments of 

 geological surveys of the principal portion of Europe. In 

 France and Germany, the examination has been limited to 

 particular spots, while large districts have been almost over- 

 looked. Of all countries Great Britain has been most 

 minutely investigated, and its ablest naturalists, having accom- 

 plished so much at home, are widely extending their researches 

 to remote countries. 



It would be invidious, even were it compatible with the plan 

 of the present essay, to particularise the contributions to this 

 department of natural science, in England, since the publi- 

 cation of the first geological map. A second map, nearly of 

 the size of Mr. Smith's, made its appearance shortly after, 

 chiefly through the exertions of Mr. Greenough ; and some 

 valuable corrections and additional details, contributed by 

 that gentleman and by contemporary geologists, were therein 

 introduced. The adaptation of the colours which distinguish 

 the strata, and define their boundaries with great precision, 

 exhibits much judgment, and is not the least of its improve- 



