discovered in Gristhorpe Bay^ Yorkshire. 315 



that, in similar circumstances, both disappointment and loss may 

 be avoided by attending to the situation of the strata in which 

 certain minerals, coal for example, make their appearance. Tens 

 of thousands of pounds have been hopelessly wasted in the vain 

 expectation of finding coal in the coaly grit, and the deluded ad- 

 venturer lured on to ruin by the ignis Jatuus of these insignifi- 

 cant carbonaceous seams accompanied by fossil vegetable re- 

 mains, resembling, in many respects, those which actually over- 

 spread the true coal-field. 



Many of the futile attempts in mining will be done away by 

 the diffusion of sound geological principles, since an acquaint- 

 ance with the strata will afford a tolerably correct notion as to 

 what ores, if indeed any, lie underneath. 



Even in arts evidently less closely allied, as in that of plant- 

 ing, will the science of geology be useful. The subsoil is often 

 of far more importance to the growth of particular classes of 

 trees than the mere soil ; and this can only be learned by an 

 accurate knowledge of the nature and bearings of the rocky 

 strata. 



Had geology conferred no other benefit upon society than this, 

 of guiding the miner in the true and right path to his subterra- 

 nean treasures, and warning the enthusiastic speculator from 

 pursuing a fleeting shadow, it would have been entitled to a 

 place among those sciences which demand the attention and re- 

 spect of mankind. But of a far higher character is the strong 

 confirming light which it reflects upon the historical records of 

 Holy Writ, which tell of a sudden and universal flow of waters 

 overwhelming the whole surface of the earth. 



Geology demonstrates, by many irrefragable marks, every 

 where to be seen, that a mighty inundation has actually passed 

 over all lands, apparently from north to south, at no very re- 

 mote period, and covering the more sohd beds of rock with a 

 varied deposition of clay and sand, intermingled with rounded 

 pieces of stone detached from masses at vast distances, and of 

 a very different nature from any in the immediate vicinity. 

 . In the diluvial deposits, for instance, of the coast of York- 

 shire, may be found the granites of Cumberland and Scotland, 

 particularly that of Shap Fell ; the boti^oidal magnesian lime- 

 stone of Sunderland ; metalliferous limestone, with galena, com- 



