HOW TO INQUIRE. 245 



arrive at Truth, our observations must be made with great 

 caution ; and even with the utmost care we must often 

 remain contented with mere description confessing, and 

 not ashamed to confess, that the facts observed are beyond 

 our explanation. To observe without being biased by pre- 

 conceived theory to describe accurately so that others may 

 reap the legitimate fruits of our observation to advance 

 our opinions with humility, where there is so much lia- 

 bility to error and to deal charitably towards the opinions 

 of others are duties, without the exercise of which no man 

 can be said to be imbued with the right spirit of geology. 

 It has been nobly said, that " to do justly, to love mercy, 

 and to walk humbly/' are the chief requirements of moral 

 duty: would the same spirit were ever reverently carried 

 into matters of scientific investigation! It was for the 

 want of these qualities that the early course of geology 

 was so much obstructed ; it is still for the neglect of their 

 exercise that so much contention prevails, and that humble 

 honest truth is so often over-ridden by bold-faced ignorance 

 and dogmatism. 



Guided by this spirit, and exercising it within her own 

 proper field, a glorious future lies before geology that 

 future being nothing short of a perfect history of our 

 planet. "We say, exercising it within her own proper field ; 

 for it cannot be denied that many, assuming to themselves 

 the character of geologists, indulge in speculations for 

 which the science is not fairly accountable. "Theories of 

 the Earth," " Vestiges of Creation," " Untieings of the 

 Geological Knot," " Pro- Adamite Sketches," and " Scrip- 

 tural Reconciliations," are ever crowding thick upon us 

 enough to destroy the reputation of any science not founded 

 on the sure and ample bases of Truth and Philosophy. 

 The day for a veritable theory of the World is yet far 

 distant ; let us content ourselves in the mean time by labour- 



