VllL HUGH MILLER. 



Among the eminent students of tlie structure of the earth, 

 Mr Hugh Miller holds a lofty place, not merely from the dis- 

 covery of new and undescribed organisms in the Old Red 

 Sandstone, but from the accuracy and beauty of his descrip- 

 tions, the purity and elegance of his composition, and the 

 high tone of philosophy and religion which distinguishes all 

 his writings. Mr Miller is one of the few individuals in the 

 history of Scottish science who have raised themselves above 

 the labours of an humble profession, by the force of their 

 genius and the excellence of their character, to a compara- 

 tively high place in the social scale. Mr Telford, like Mr 

 Miller, followed the profession of a stone-mason, before his 

 industry and self-tuition qualified him for the higher func- 

 tions of an architect and an engineer. And Mr Watt and 

 Mr Kennie rose to wealth and fame without the aid of a 

 university education. But, distinguished as these individuals 

 were, none of them possessed those qualities of mind which 

 Mr Miller has exhibited in his writings ; and, with the ex- 

 ception of Bums, the uneducated genius which has done ho- 

 nour to Scotland during the last century has never displayed 

 that mental refinement, and classical taste, and intellectual 

 energy, which mark all the writings of our author. We wish 

 that we could have gratified our readers with an authentic, 

 and even detailed narrative of the previous history of so re- 

 markable a writer, and of the steps by which his knowledge 

 was acquired, and the difficulties which he encountered in 

 its pursuit ; but though this is not, to any great extent, in 

 our power, we shall at least be able, chiefly from Mr Miller's 

 own writings, to follow him throughout his geological career. 



Mr Miller was born at Cromarty, of humble but respectable 

 parents, whose history would have possessed no inconsiderable 

 interest, even if it had not derived one of a higher kind from 

 the genius and fortunes of their child. By the paternal side 

 he was descended from a race of seafaring people, whose fa- 



