of the Eastern Coast of England; 8(C. 331 



the most irresistible corroborative fact insisted upon, was the 

 complete identity of these exuviae with " those of the testaceous 

 moUuscae of the German Ocean." This fact was too momen- 

 tous to pass without investigation. The result is unfavourable 

 to the hypothesis which hmges upon it, and then such an in- 

 quiry is deprecated as too minute ; — the eye of Science is too 

 microscopic, and the discrepancies it discovers are " of no 

 account in determining the character and antiquity of any 

 formation." Natural History is appealed to, as supplying the 

 proofs of an alleged fact : but as the volume of Nature is not 

 sealed, the page is again opened, the reading is extended, and 

 we then perceive truths which conduct to far other conclu- 

 sions, Let the testimony which has been summoned, be ap- 

 plied, not in part, but to its real extent: let the evidence be 

 taken in its absolute amount, as the scrutiny of science rigidly 

 demands. If that species of evidence be as estimable as prac- 

 tical observers have declared, the process of collecting it must 

 not be despised. If we would draw inferences from the con- 

 sideration of natural pha2nomena, we are not at liberty to re- 

 fuse the salutary application of those tests by which, in the 

 physical sciences, any theory must stand or fall. 



I will not do such injustice to Mr. Robberds as to suppose 

 (p. 252, 253) that he upholds the exploded doctrines against 

 the extension of knowledge on account of its occasional mis- 

 application ; — the liberality of his mind is too widely known 

 to give rise for a single moment to such a conclusion. I am 

 quite disposed to agree with him, that investigations into sub- 

 ordinate detail have, in some cases, been pursued to an un- 

 necessary and almost trifling minuteness, until the primary 

 object of pursuit has been lost sight of, and that there may be 

 in these instances a tendency to overrate the value of such de- 

 tails. We might go further, and assert that the progress of 

 science and its legitimate objects are not facilitated by the 

 prevailing disposition to create endless subdivisions, to per- 

 ceive petty distinctions, and to bestow new names ; by all which 

 Our elementary books are increased in bulk and crowded with 

 interminable varieties and synonyms, through whose mazes 

 the perplexed student is doomed to wander. These are in- 

 conveniences from which few branches of natural philosophy 

 are exempt. 



But let us not, on the other hand, underrate the aid whicli 

 geology derives I'rom the collateral sciences. The cultivation 

 of any one dej^artment leads insensibly and unexpectedly to 

 the development of another, and the truths which tlie sciences 

 establish cannot with safety be rejected or defied. By the 

 2 U 2 free 



