366 Analyses of Books. [Nov. 



with lava emitted from a burning mountain. No Huttonian will 

 give up the notion that this globe had no beginning, and will 

 have no end; that the level of the mountains is gradually sink- 

 ing ; that the rivers, and the rain, and the weather, are gradually 

 washing them down, and earryino- them into the sea ; that they 

 will be again hardened and elevated by a subterranean heat; and 

 that granite, greenstone, and basalt, are the newest rocks upon 

 the face of the earth. All the attempts made by contemporary 

 writers to shake the faith of Deluc in the doctrine of the subsi- 

 dence of strata, in consequence of the great cavities originally 

 existing in the internal parts of the earth, were unavailing. We 

 may safely predict that this will be always the case nine times 

 out of ten whenever attempts are made to improve a science by 

 altering the opinions generally received by the learned of the 

 age. When Harvey demonstrated the circulation of the blood, 

 his opinion, it was remarked, was not embraced by a single 

 medical man beyond the age of 40. How many years elapsed 

 before the Newtonian theory of gravitation, now so firmly esta- 

 blished, made its way even into the Academy of Sciences, a 

 body of men who have always boasted not a little of their libera- 

 lity ! Mr. Cavendish continued an advocate for the existence of 

 phlogiston to the end of his life ; at least he never publicly 

 admitted the contrary doctrine, and chose rather to relinquish 

 his chemical investigations than to acknowledge that the 

 opinions which he had supported were erroneous. Were it 

 not that it would have an invidious appearance, it would be 

 easy to point nut some very recent and striking instances of the 

 same line of conduct. 



These examples are more than sufficient to show that we have 

 but little chance of altering the opinions of those who have been 

 long devoted to the study of any particular science, and that the 

 effect of new books and new views is almost wholly confined to 

 those who are only starting into the arena of science, or at least 

 have not set themselves up as masters and teachers. There is a 

 pride of consistency which has a greater effect upon the minds 

 of most men than they are willing to acknowledge, and which 

 is generally sufficient to prevent those who have openly advo- 

 cated an opinion, or set of opinions, from afterwards giving them 

 up. Books of science, therefore, ought always to be written in 

 such a way that they may be understood by readers though they 

 are not so much conversant with the subject as the writers 

 themselves. This I consider as a mistake into which our author 

 has inadvertently fallen. He seems to take it for granted that 

 his readers are acquainted with all the subjects of discussion 

 which have occupied the attention of geologists, with the various 

 sects into which the proficients in this fascinating science have 

 been divided, and with the different views which each leader, or 

 would be leader, of a sect has advanced. This has prevented 

 that rigid attention to arrangement which is always of so much 



