170 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



Jameson, professor of natural history in the same uni- 

 versity, in 1808 contemptuously ignores the work of Hut- 

 ton and Playfair in what he calls the "monstrosities 

 known under the name of Theories of the Earth. " In a 

 couple of pages he confuses and dismisses the whole sub- 

 ject of deformation. He states : 7 



"It is therefore a fact, that all inclined strata, with a very 

 few exceptions, have been formed so originally, and do not owe 

 their inclination to a subsequent change. 



When we examine the structure of a mountain, we must be 

 careful that our observations be not too micrological, otherwise 

 we shall undoubtedly fail in acquiring a distinct conception of 

 it. This will appear evident when we reflect that the geognostic 

 features of Nature are almost all on the great scale. In no case 

 is this rule to be more strictly followed than in the examination 

 of the stratified structure. 



By not attending to this mode of examination, geognosts 

 have fallen into numberless errors, and have frequently given 

 to extensive tracts of country a most irregular and confused 

 structure. Speculators building on these errors have repre- 

 sented the whole crust of the globe as an irregular and unseemly 

 mass. It is indeed surprising, that men possessed of any knowl- 

 edge of the beautiful harmony that prevails in the structure of 

 organic beings could for a moment believe it possible, that the 

 great fabric of the globe itself, that magnificent display of 

 Omnipotence, should be destitute of all regularity in its struc- 

 ture, and be nothing more than a heap of ruins." 



This was the attitude of a leader of British opinion 

 toward the subject of deformational geology from which 

 the infant science had to recover before progress could be 

 made. The early maps were essentially mineralogical 

 and lithological. The order of superposition and the 

 consequent sequence of age was regarded as settled by 

 Werner in Germany and not requiring investigation in 

 America. The early examples of structure were sections 

 drawn with exaggerated vertical scales and those of 

 Maclure do not show detail. 



Recognition of Appalachian Structures. 



Following the founding of the Journal in 1818 there is 

 observable a growth in the quality and detail of geologi- 

 cal mapping. Dr. Aiken, professor of natural philosophy 



