194 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



FROM DR. MANTELL. , 



BRIGHTON, June 18, 1834. 



YOUR admirable letter on the harmony between 



geology and the Mosaic records, has been read with great 

 delight and satisfaction by many of our intelligent clergy- 

 men, who felt unsettled in their opinions upon these sub- 

 jects. Can it be obtained apart from the volume ? If it 

 can I shall order some, for many of my friends are anxious 

 to possess it. Your paper on the explosion of steamboats 

 was of great interest to a friend of mine here, Mr. Ri- 

 cardo, (brother of the late celebrated David Ricardo, the 

 political economist,) who is deeply interested in such sub- 

 jects. The volume and atlas on the Geology of Massachu- 

 setts, reflect great credit on the author, and on the enlight- 

 ened government who patronized the undertaking 



Lyell is off to Norway and Sweden, to examine into the 

 proofs afforded of the gradual elevation of these countries, 

 which is supposed to be still going on. Murchison is off to 

 Wales, to complete his grand geological survey of a part 

 of that principality, which he intends to publish in a sep- 

 arate work, and I have no doubt it will be one of great 

 value and interest, for he has time, talents, and fortune, at 

 his command. 



Buckland is employed on his Bridgewater Essay, (or at 

 least will be, so soon as the Oxford fooleries are over; 

 think of the Duke of Wellington being the Chancellor 

 of our first University, there is no hope for mankind 

 while the brute qualities of a mere soldier claim the highest 

 rewards of learning /) which is to be out in August, the 



plates will be numerous and beautiful The box 



will contain the copy of Mr. Hawkins's work, the portrait 

 of the " inventor " of the Iguanodon, as my friend Horace 

 Smith facetiously terms me, and a few scraps of miscel- 

 laneous scribblings of mine, and some fossils. 



