308 Geological Phenomena explained 



in numerous instances a feeling of indignation, of which that 

 gentleman may be in ignorance. Should Mr. Stephens keep 

 his promise on his last wrapper (which, from past experience, 

 I much doubt)*, the third volumes of the work will be com- 

 pleted just thirteen months later than the time originally pro- 

 mised. Were it not for the tame submission of the public to 

 such impositions as these, we should have fewer of them : and 

 if this attempt to expose the system be of any advantage, my 

 purpose will be gained. 



I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

 Mai^ 26. J 831. A. H. Davis. 



Art. IV. An Attempt to explain the principal Phenomena of Geology 

 and Physical Geography, by the Precession of the Equinoxes and 

 the Earth's Figure as an oblate Spheroid. Presented to the 

 Geological Society of London by the Author, Sir John Byer- 

 LEY, Member of several learned Societies. 



Gentlemen, 



If we take a survey of the present state of the sciences 

 of geology and physical geography, we shall find that there 

 is scarcely a single phenomenon that is not the subject of 

 conflicting hypothesis ; even the rainbow has found an advo- 

 cate to bend it to the text of Moses. 



Such, indeed, is the unsettled state of opinion, that, from 

 the same data, one party infers our globe to have had an 

 igneous and another an aqueous origin. They will both, 

 perhaps, bestow the smile of pity on a theory which supposes 

 the earth in its origin to have been, in all essential points, the 

 same as at present, and simply modified through the succes- 

 sion of ages in its surface, to a certain depth, by the action of 

 constant astronomical causes. 



Such, however, gentlemen, is the doctrine I have the 

 honour to submit to your consideration. I have recourse to 

 no hypothesis for its support : the only data on which the 

 whole system is founded are two facts, established by universal 

 consent : the precession of the equinoxes, and the figure of 



* The fact has supported my doubt. No. 44., which appeared on the 

 1st instant, does not complete Haustellata ; but, as if the author were 

 resolved on trying how far he could impose on his supporters, although 

 the whole of the number (with the exception of a plate) belongs to the back 

 volumes, and ought to have been delivered gratis, it is as usual charged 

 five shilHngs. It remains to be seen, through how many more numbers 

 this third volume of Haustellata is to be scattered. 



