362 MacCulloch's System of Geology. 



ever may have been the errors of these two theories, which as- 

 sumed the names of their respective authors, it cannot be de- 

 nied that, independently of any light they may have indivi- 

 dually thrown upon the creative processes of nature, their in- 

 fluence on men's minds was highly important. The doctrine 

 of consolidation by heat and pressure, and that of universal 

 formations, were brought to their respective tests of experiment 

 and observation ; the former was confirmed as far, perhaps far- 

 ther, than could have been expected, under factitious circum- 

 stances ; whilst the other was shown to have originated in its ut- 

 most generality in the narrow views of the ingenious but untra- 

 velled projector of it ; and thus men became habituated to the 

 wholesome practice of using well their hands and eyes before 

 they began to speculate upon the subject. 



The acrimony which the Huttonian and Wernerian con- 

 troversy excited, produced a reaction, and geologists resolv- 

 ed for a time to banish hypotheses and to endeavour to view 

 nature as she was, untinted by the medium through which 

 theorists are too willing to view the objects of their research. 

 This most important stage in the history of geology, and the 

 true bearings of which have not, we think, been sufficiently 

 adverted to, has been so ably sketched in an admirable re- 

 view of Mr LyelPs " Principles" in a contemporary periodi- 

 cal work, * that we shall make no apology for quoting it. 

 We have no hesitation in referring for the paternity of the ar- 

 ticle to the banks of the Cam. 



" Notwithstanding that the labour and industry of our geo- 

 logical observers have been such as men seldom bestow, except 

 for the purpose of proving or confirming some favouriteopinion, 

 their self-denial and temperance in abstaining from theory-mak- 

 ing have been quite as eminent as their diligence in collecting 

 materials. To any one acquainted with the recent original pro- 

 ductions of our geological literature, this must have occurred 

 as a very curious characteristic. Nothing can be more copious 

 or communicative than these publications, so far as details are 

 concerned. To describe, to circumscribe, to subdivide the 

 strata of particular localities ; to class, distinguish, restore the 

 animal remains discovered; to identify distant rocks in the 

 minutest circumstances; these and similar subjects have been 



* British Critic, Jan. 1831. 



