172 J. L. LOBLF.Y — THE STUDY OF GEOLOGY. 



"fossils," is Palscontolofjy, from UaKaios, ancient, oura, beings, 

 and \oyos, a description. Palaeontology means therefore the studi/ 

 of ancient life. The department of Geology which classifies the 

 beds of rocks according to their relative position or superposition, 

 and the indications of their fossils, is called Stratigraphical Geology. 

 The department which embraces the consideration of the properties 

 and composition of rock-forming materials, or minerals, is Minera- 

 logy ; and the laws which are observed during these studies, and 

 the causes which are found to have produced and to produce 

 geological phenomena, are called the Piinciples of Geology. But 

 though Geology leaves several departments of a complete study of 

 the earth to other sciences, it accepts aid from all, and one great 

 advantage of its study is, that knowledge derived from the study 

 of any other of the sciences can be made good use of in geological 

 investigations. To Geology, indeed, all the sciences may bring 

 their contributions of knowledge to aid in the correct reading of 

 " the great stone book of Nature." 



Before speaking on the advantages of a study of Geology, I will 

 pass on to a necessarily very brief recapitulation of the progressive 

 steps made by the human mind towards the attainment of that 

 position which our science has now reached. I will not occupy 

 your attention with the ancient Oriental and Egyptian cosmogonies, 

 though they are very interesting and contain many germs of truth ; 

 and I will stop but for a moment to remind you of the wonderful 

 knowledge of the principles of Geology possessed by Pythagoras, 

 and given to the world by Ovid in the 15th Book of his ' Meta- 

 morphoses.' Aristotle followed in the safe footsteps of Pythagoras, 

 and taught that the present order of things is the result of forces 

 of nature such as now exist, operating during the past in the same 

 way as they are seen to be working in our own epoch. Strabo, 

 too, taught that the land rose and fell, and that Avhat was now dry 

 land was once the bed of the sea, and wrote: "It is proper to 

 derive our explanations from things which are obvious," thus 

 indorsing the Pythagorean philosophy. 



After the commencement of the Christian era, however, we do 

 not find a teacher of geological truth for many centuries ; and 

 scarcely a spark of light on this subject comes to us through the 

 gloom of the dark ages. It is, indeed, wonderful to look back 

 throiigh the long vista of two thousand years and see brightly 

 shining the lights of the ancient world, while nearer to us, and 

 where we might have expected light, nothing but darkness exists. 

 But in the sixteenth century, that age of the awakening of the 

 human intellect, and in Italy, that land of greatness, Leonardo 

 Da Vinci, the famous painter, disputed the supposed astrological 

 origin of fossils, taught that they were the real remains of what 

 had been living creatures, and perceived their true meaning, as 

 well as the teaching of the rounded pebbles. 



The origin of fossils, or the organic remains found in rocks, was 

 long a subject of dispute, and gave rise to a multitude of absurd 

 theories, some of which are very amusing; but the general 



