Geological Society. 469 



had thus divined the true cause of the phenomena in dispute, that 

 great man shrunk from the prosecution of experiments which might 

 prove the truth of his hypothesis, being persuaded that the immensity 

 of natural objects was far beyond the reach of man's imitation. It 

 was reserved for Hall to have the glory of demonstrating the truth of 

 the doctrine of his friend ; — " the conjectures of genius," as he tells 

 us, "at length ceased to appear extravagant 3 the mist which ob- 

 scured the objects being dissipated by degrees, they appeared in their 

 true colours, and a distant prospect opened to his view of scenes be- 

 fore unsuspected." To his ardent mind the realization, upon the 

 surface of the earth, of that which had occurred below the deep abyss 

 of the ocean, was not a hopeless effort, and he commenced a series 

 of experiments which occupied a long period of his life,- — were con- 

 ducted with undaunted perseverance, and with a surprising fertility of 

 invention, until he completely triumphed in fusing earthy carbonate 

 of lime under vast pressure, producing from it a pure and crystalline 

 marble. In establishing this fact, he turned the weapons of his oppo- 

 nents against themselves, and paved the way for the reception, 

 among all the philosophers of Europe, of the leading doctrines which 

 he advocated. 



The gradual decay attendant upon advanced age, had prepared us 

 in some measure for the other losses we have sustained ; but Cuvier 

 has been snatched from us when his comprehensive intellect was in 

 its fullest vigour, and without any of those warnings by which both 

 body and mind, are wont to announce that their mortal race is nearly 

 run. 



The death of such a man has called forth deep lamentations from 

 every land upon whose children the rays of science have shed their 

 light, and the eulogies poured forth in his honour are heard in al- 

 most every language of the civilized globe. How are we to limit our 

 praise of one whose ample mind was matched only by the benevolence 

 of his heart, and whose whole life was passed in unremitting exertions 

 to enlarge the domain of science by blending it with civil polity, and 

 by infusing it into the principles of education ? With an almost in- 

 credible knowledge of the structure and functions of every part of 

 organic nature, he possessed a power above that of every other man 

 of emancipating himself from mere details, and of ascending to lofty 

 generalizations, which were ever recommended by him with all the 

 charms of eloquence ; so that in his hands natural history became 

 adorned, for the first time, with the highest attributes of pure philo- 

 sophy. To him we owe the most important of the laws which have 

 regulated the distribution of the animal kingdom, and by the applica- 

 tion of which we have been made to comprehend many of the muta- 

 tions of the surface of our planet. He it was who, removing from 

 geology the incumbrance of errors and conceits heaped on it by cos- 

 mogonists, contributed more than any individual of this century to 

 raise it to the place which it is assuming amongst the exacter sciences. 

 Unlike our precursors, we no longer have to wade through the 

 doubts and perplexities which retarded their acquaintance with the 

 lost types of creation j to his skill we arc indebted for a knowledge of 



