Geology 



his system he had never travelled beyond Saxony or 

 its immediate neighbourhood. 



He believed that the Earth had once been sur- 

 rounded by an ocean which overtopped the mountains, 

 and that the solid rocks of his "formations" were 

 deposited in a definite order as chemical precipitates 

 from its waters. Of these precipitates basalt was one, 

 and thus arose the Wernerian School of "Neptunists" 

 as they were called in contradistinction to the Vulcanists, 

 who supported the view that basalt was a product of 

 volcanic activity. 



Werner adopted the idea that volcanoes were due 

 to the combustion of subterranean beds of coal, and 

 that they were mere accidental occurrences of recent 

 date. 



It will be seen that the great Werner, though he 

 prided himself upon having nothing to do with theories, 

 was himself promulgating one of the wildest theories 

 and the least supported by fact that has appeared in the 

 pages of geological literature. 



The great controversy, however, served to awaken 

 in men's minds the need for further knowledge, and 

 brought home to workers more closely than ever before 

 the necessity for careful personal observation and for 

 geological travel. 



Mention is made in Chapter IV. of the work of 

 James Hutton and of William Smith, who, more 

 than any others, have contributed to the groundwork 

 of modern Geology, and whose work has finally 

 dissipated the older type of speculations regarding 

 the Earth and its origin. 



The writer is largely indebted to a work of Sir 



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