177 



FOSSILS. 



Continued from page 125. 



When I last addressed the readers of the " Museum," 

 I gave an imperfect account of the fossils of this 

 neighbourhood ; in which, I confined myself to the 

 bare enumeration and classification of facts. This 

 subject however, of itself, unconnected with the con- 

 siderations which should accompany it, is nearly 

 void both of interest, and utility. When I came to 

 direct my attention to these points, and to study the 

 opinions advanced by learned authors of theories of 

 the Earth, and when 1 came to collect and compare 

 the facts adduced in support of these ; I perceived 

 that I had involved myself in a subject of the utmost 

 difficulty — a subject fraught with intricacy, and 

 encumbered with seeming contradictions and dis- 

 crepancies ; a subject of which we might well observe 

 " Quot homines tot sententise." In presuming, there- 

 fore, to trust myself with enquiry in which I have 

 found it impracticable to form any conclusions 

 besides those which are self-evident ; it will be re- 

 quisite to advance circumspectly, and to take facts 

 for our guides. Philosophers, like other men, differ 

 vastly in their ideas ; and we may fear that, some- 

 times, it is for this reason that the human mind, 

 whilst engaged in speculating amongst a multiplicity 

 of facts and opinions, is apt to be led away to wrong 

 deductions by attaching an undue importance to 

 circumstances which, though of really slight conse- 

 quence, exert an influence on the mind, and to neglect 

 others deserving the deepest consideration. So that, 

 in this investigation, I am not without fear but that 

 I may fall into serious errors : the mind is quickly 

 abstracted, and, whilst in full determination to write 

 cautiously, this or that idea obtrudes itself, alluring 

 by its novelty and apparent consistency, and, blind- 

 ing its victim to a more correct course, leads him by 

 its own route to misconception and prejudice. Phi- 

 losophers also, in my opinion, have erred greatly in 

 VOL. VI.— 1835. Y 



