52 tHE VVORLO. 



immensity of creation around him, that we are wont to look upon 

 the hills as everlasting ; and the ground whereon we tread, and 

 in the utmost confidence build houses, and proud works of art, as 

 unchangeable. We are so accustomed to behold the grand luminary 

 which gives light and warmth to the world, and cheers myriads 

 with its bright rays, rising and marking out the length of a day ; 

 we are so accustomed to plan ahead, and to contrive for years yet 

 to come, as though there was no possibility of a change ; we 

 are so accustomed to behold the fair orb of night, as she illumines 

 a quiet and sleeping earth, and so wont to gaze upon the ever- 

 twinkling and bright stars, that we long ago have ceased to think 

 of our earth as a minute orb, smaller by far than many of those 

 upon which we turn such careless eyes now. We rarely, if ever, 

 imagine that its present surface was once the bed of avast ocean ; 

 that its present crust has been caused to heave and swell like a 

 sheet spread out upon the waves, uplifted by internal fires, until 

 the strained surface has cracked open, and the flames, and molten 

 rock found egress. Careless from a thousand causes, we deem 

 ourselves, like the conceited w r ise men of old, as the only impor- 

 tant beings of the universe, and our habitation, as eternal, and 

 unchangeable. It is ihe peculiar province of Astronomy and 

 Geology, to free the mind from such superstitions, and to elevate 

 and ennoble it by loftier contemplations. The younger Herschel, 

 has truly remarked, " Geology, in the magnitude and sublimity 

 of the objects of which it treats, undoubtedly ranks next to 

 Astronomy in the scale of the sciences." 



Wo have, in the present volume, associated the two, as was 

 necessary in giving such a sketch of the earth as was planned, 

 and shall strive to interest as well as instruct the reader. Of 

 one thing we are most certainly convinced, and that is, there 

 is not a more interesting subject, to which we may devote our 

 attention. 



