Scientific Intelligence. — Nezv Publications. 401 



merates and describes the changes that plants, animals, and minerals, the at- 

 mosphere, and the waters of the globe, have undergone from theearliest geo- 

 logical periods up to our own time, and which even instructs us in the ear- 

 liest history of the human species, — that it offers no gratification to the phi- 

 losopher ? ' Can even those who estimate the value of science, not by intel- 

 lectual desires, but by practical advantages, deny the importance of Geology, 

 certainly one of the foundations of agriculture, and which enables us to search 

 out materials for numberless important economical purposes? 



Positive geology or geognosy, as Cuvier, in his life of Wer- 

 ner, remarks, originated with that remarkable man ; and all 

 that has been done towards unravelMng the structure of the 

 crust of the earth since his views were made known, has been in 

 harmony with them. The Editor remarks, 



" Geology took its rise in the Academy of Freyberg, with the illustrious 

 Werner, to whom we owe its present interesting condition. This being the 

 case, we ought not, (as is at present too much the practice), amidst the nu- 

 merous discoveries in the mineral kingdom which have been made since the 

 "system of investigation of that great interpreter of nature was made known, 

 forget the master, and arrogate all to ourselves. In this island, Geology first 

 took firm root in the north : in Edinburgh, the Wernerian geognostical views 

 and method of investigation, combined with the theory of Hutton; the expe- 

 riments and speculations of Hall; the illustrations oi Playfair ; and the la- 

 bours of the lloyal and Wernerian Natural History Societies, excited a spirit 

 of inquiry which rapidly spread throughout the empire ; and now Great Bri- 

 tain presents to the scientific world a scene of geological acuteness, activity/ 

 and enterprise, not surpassed in any other country." 



Independent of the numerous additions to the text of the Es- 

 say, the editor has added upwards of two hundred pages of 

 notes and illustrations on the following important topics. 



On the Subsidence of Strata. Deluge. Formation of Primitive Mountains. 

 The distribution of Boulder-Stones in Scotland, Holland, Germany, Switzer- 



land and America. 

 The Alluvial Sand of the Danish Islands in the Baltic, and on the coast of 



Sleswigh. 

 The Sand-Flood — Sand-Flood in Morayshire. Sand-Flood in the Hebrides, 



&c. Moving Sands of the African Deserts. 

 Action of the Sea upon Coasts. 

 The Growth of Coral Islands. 

 The Level of the Baltic. 

 Fossil Remains of the Human Species. 

 Account of the Displacement of that part of the Coast of the Adriatic which 



is occupied by the Mouths of the Po. 

 The Universal Deluge. 

 The Action of Running Waters. 



Connection of Geology with Agriculture and Planting. 

 Account of the Fossil Elk of Ireland. 

 Account of the Living Species of Elephant, and of the Extinct Specits of 



Elephant or Mammoth. 

 Account of the Caves in which Bones of Carnivorous Animals occur in great 



quantities. 

 Cave containing Bones at Adelsberg, in Carniola. 

 View of the Genera of Fossil Mammifera, Cetacea, Aves, Reptilia, and In. 



secta ; with their Geognostical Number and Distribution. 

 View of the Classes, Orders, or Families of Animals, occurring in a Living or 



Fossil state ; with their Geognostical Distribution. 



