10 OBJECTS AND ENDS OF 



and of the relations which they bear to the corre- 

 sponding beings which now inhabit the earth. But he 

 must not forget., at the same time, that Extinct Zoo- 

 logy and Botany do not constitute Geology; and, in 

 the study of the inhabitants of our earth, forget the 

 earth itself. The general bearings of these belong to 

 this science: but the objects belong to other depart- 

 ments of nature. 



An examination of the changes actually taking place 

 on the surface of the earth, and of those which have 

 formerly occurred, constitute another distinct branch 

 of the pursuits of a geologist. These include the 

 waste and degradation of mountains, and the conse- 

 quent results; together with the various causes by 

 which their materials have been thus transferred. 



The phenomena of volcanoes form the last division 

 of those pursuits which it is necessary to enumerate. 

 In these, whether living or extinct, his attention is 

 called to the appearances which their eruptions display, 

 and the consequences resulting from them ; to the 

 rocks which they have formed, and to the nature of 

 those which they have overwhelmed. Lastly, amid 

 all these facts, among these various objects and actions, 

 lie must seek for those analogies, and assign those 

 causes, on which all the appearances before him depend. 



On such a basis may a scheme of geological inves- 

 tigation be conceived; but we are not yet in a condi- 

 tion to form a regular one. 



Were all the facts and analogies that appertain to 

 Geology attained and proved, it would be easy to treat 

 the subject and its proofs in a systematic order. But 

 it would then be the science which we are as yet but 

 seeking. In this defect, however, it only partakes with 

 all the Natural sciences: whether exceeding them, or 

 otherwise, in that respect, I need not here inquire. 



