Outlines of Geology. 69 



of writers, that I always fancy should be most esteemed and en- 

 couraged : I am always for the builders who bring some addition 

 to our knowledge, or, at least, some new things to our thoughts." 

 But Locke's opinion upon such a subject, is not entitled to any 

 especial weight. I have perused Whiston's book, without being 

 able to find any particular merit in his speculations, and am 

 rather inclined to side with his opponents, in forming an estimate 

 of its value. 



About this time a central fire was resorted to for the purpose 

 of solving certain geological problems, by so many writers, that it 

 is difficult to say to whom the merit, if such it be, of the invention 

 belongs. To the views founded upon such a supposition, I shall 

 advert more fully in another lecture ; Beccher's P/ty^ica Subterrama 

 deserves especially to be consulted in reference to this subject. 



About the middle of the last century, geology began to assume a 

 more regular scientific aspect ; and among the earliest inquirers 

 of this period, Mitchell and Whitehurst deserve something more 

 than bare mention. The merits of the former writer have been 

 overlooked, principally, I presume, on account of the title of his 

 paper, which is in the Phil. Trans, for 1760, "On the Cause and 

 Phenomena of Earthquakes,'* a title under which we should not 

 perhaps look for geological, and still less for minute, practical 

 information. We are chiefly indebted to Dr. Fitton for bringing 

 him into notice, in an able article on English Geology, contained 

 in the Edinburgh Review for 1811. This very ingenious writer 

 describes the general appearances of the strata, points out their 

 analogies and dififerences, adverts to their inclination and dis- 

 turbance in mountainous districts, and to their horizontality in 

 flat countries ; and, having explained, with much minute and 

 practical perspicuity, the arrangement of the strata in England, 

 he exemplifies its universal application to the general structure of 

 the globe ; and ingeniously represents it in the following manner. 

 " Let a number of leaves of paper," he says, " of several different 

 colours, be pasted one on another ; then, bending them up together 

 into a ridge in the middle, conceive them to be reduced again to 

 a level surface by a plane so passing through them as to cut off 



