Uniformity in Geological Change 



dated by ingenious conjectures. Even the 

 mystery which invested the subject was said to 

 constitute one of its principal charms, affording, 

 as it did, full scope to the fancy to indulge in a 

 boundless field of speculation. 



The course directly opposed to this method of 

 philosophizing consists in an earnest and patient 

 enquiry, how far geological appearances are re- 

 concilable with the effect of changes now in 

 progress, or which may be in progress in regions 

 inaccessible to us, but of which the reality is 

 attested by volcanoes and subterranean move- 

 ments. It also endeavours to estimate the 

 aggregate result of ordinary operations multi- 

 plied by time, and cherishes a sanguine hope 

 that the resources to be derived from observa- 

 tion and experiment, or from the study of Nature 

 such as she now is, are very far from being ex- 

 hausted. For this reason all theories are re- 

 jected which involve the assumption of sudden 

 and violent catastrophes and revolutions of the 

 whole earth, and its inhabitants theories which 

 are restrained by no reference to existing analo- 

 gies, and in which a desire is manifested to cut, 

 rather than patiently to untie, the Gordian 

 knot. 



We have now, at least, the advantage of 

 knowing, from experience, that an opposite 

 method has always put geologists on the road 

 that leads to truth. suggesting views which, 

 although imperfect at first, have been found 

 capable of improvement, until at last adopted 

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