364 MacCulloclfs System of Geology. 



of talent devoted to the rising science was embarked in this 

 one research. The superposition of rocks, theirconnection, sub- 

 divisions, and classification, were all studied by the new light 

 of fossil remains: the broken shell, or the mammoth's tusk, 

 which a century ago would have been referred to as a proof of 

 the deluge, (and in saying so it would have been considered 

 as the sum total of information which the fossils were calculat- 

 ed to afford,) is now regarded merely as an index to mark the 

 formation in which it is found, as occupying the place of a 

 given term in a known series of rocks, or rather a series of 

 synchronous deposits; and the knowledge thus obtained would 

 be regarded as amounting merely to the determination of the 

 structure of a given spot upon the surface of the globe, with- 

 out reference to any ulterior or speculative question. No- 

 thing, therefore, can be more distinct than the character of geo- 

 logy in the three periods we have sketched ; and it is worth 

 inquiry whether the science does not admit of a division of 

 objects equally distinct. We have had the cosmogonal or ear- 

 liest period, the middle one, or period of theoretical induction, 

 from observation and experiment more or less extended, and 

 the last, or age of purely descriptive geology. 



The course pursued has been precisely the reverse of that 

 which has obtained in the exact sciences. Men began with 

 the transcendental and advanced to the rudimentary. The 

 first geologists elaborated their systems in their closets, the 

 next race combined the facts of nature in the most philosophi- 

 cal manner that their abilities or opportunities permitted, and 

 deduced theories, legitimately so called ; the last do little more 

 than collate their note-books, — give a natural historical account 

 of what they see, — identify their shells and plants with Sowerby 

 and Brongniart, — and deposit their insulated facts in archives 

 which are to be the mines out of which a future and happier 

 race of philosophers are to draw conclusions and build hypo- 

 theses. If such be admitted to be a correct picture of the pre- 

 sent state of geology, we can only congratulate its future cul- 

 tivators upon having such indefatigable and disinterested pre- 

 decessors, who are willing themselves to go into eternal obli- 

 vion, provided the materials they have spent their lives in 

 quarrying are destined one day to form a portion of a great 

 and symmetrical edifice. This we know to be the view of some 



