IS47.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



159 



of Hesiod, was in all probability nothing more tlian a record of the 

 belief generally prevailing among the contemporaries of the writer. 

 At all events, there is not one word in tlie accounts which assumes to 

 them a higher character. But however this may be, one thing is 

 certain — that the Mosaic account would be inconsistent with itself if 

 interpreted literally. The sun was not created till the third "day;" 

 therefore, during the previous days, there were no means of marking 

 the period of twentv-four hours — the interval between sunrise and 

 sunrise, or sunset and sunset. We are, therefore, forced to a 

 conclusion which no sophistry can elude, — that here, as elsewhere in 

 Hebrew, the day is an indefinite period or epoch. Lastly, be it re- 

 membered, that if the Biblical student reject the conclusions of geo- 

 logy, he must do that for which in many cases he is not prepared — 

 extend his scruples to astronomy also; both sciences are equally at 

 variance with the Mosaic cosmogony. 



Of Professor Ansted's jjncietit IVorld the established reputation 

 of the author renders a critical examination unnecessary. The prin- 

 cipal object of this work is to present to the uninitiated reader a 

 series of pictures or descriptive representations of the appearance 

 of the earth at ditTerent periods of its transition, from the chaotic 

 condition, to that in which it became duly prepared for the habitation 

 of man. With this object in view, Professor Ansted has generally 

 confined himself to the statement of the results of observation, and 

 has frequently deemed it unnecessary to detail the steps leading to 

 those results. In a work intended, not to prove the science of geo- 

 logy, but simply to lay before those who are about entering upon its 

 study, a general description (an outline chart, as it were) of the route 

 they are to take, the minuteness of logical induction would be tedious 

 and unnecessary. 



The great merit of the work is its fidelity and vividness of de- 

 scription. The wonderful story of creation is not told as an old 

 story ; but the reader is put in the position of an actual observer of 

 the phenomena, and is transported to the very scene and time of 

 their occurrence. This method of realising the results of science is 

 beneficial to the student, by the strong impression it makes upon his 

 memory; it is profitable, also, to the more advanced in knowledge. 

 The advantage of clearly tracing out the results and actual applica- 

 tions of science can only be duly estimated by those who have expe- 

 rienced the benefit of this kind of study. The remark applies to 

 both the inductive and exact sciences. The philosopher who con- 

 tents himself with understanding a particular " law," and the method 

 of proving it, is content with knowing half a subject. He must de- 

 velope the consequences of the law under all the variations of cir- 

 cumstances to wliich it can be applied — in other words, he must trans- 

 1 ite it into familiar, untechnical language — before he can be said to 

 have appiehended the whole of its meaning. 



Although the work before us displays geology in a new light — not 

 as a description of the fossils of a museum, but as the natural history 

 cf animated beings, — although the dust of ages is wiped away from 

 these records of the pre-idamite world, we are not to suppose th.it 

 the author has given license to his imagination at tlij expense of sci- 

 entific accuracy. He exhibits the ancient inhabitants of the earth as 

 living creatures, exhibits their form and size, their habits and manner 

 of living, their relations to coeval animals, their means of securing 

 their prey, and of resisting or eluding hostile attacks, — but nothing is 

 represented or described without authority. These .Sketches of 

 Creation are not fanciful sketches. On the contrary, they are drawn 

 with scrupulous adherence to known facts, and in many cases, are 

 even left somewhat obscure, because more precise representations of 

 the subjects could not be given without the hazard, at least, of in- 

 accuracy. 



The opponents of geology are uniformly ignorant of its facts; 

 but those whose jjrejudices are not too strong, nor intellects too weak, 

 to allow them to learn truth, may acquire the rudiments of the sci- 

 ence pleasantly enough from the present treatise. It is sufficiently 

 precise and methodical for a lecture room, and yet far more entertain- 

 ing than nine-tenths of the new novels. The author has practised an 

 innocent artifice — a pious fraud — upon his readers. While they seek 

 mere amusement, they are being instructed. Correctives of error 

 and wholesome truths are administered as pleasantly, and swallowed 

 as unsuspectingly, as the dosed cakes given to fractious childnai, who 

 resist medicine in its more palpable form — the unconscious victims 

 fancy they are indulged, while in reality they are being physicked. 



It would have perhaps added somewhat to the interest of Professor 

 Ansted's work to the general reader, if the accounts of fossils had 

 been less detailed, and the information respecting the changes which 

 have taken place in the strata composing the earth's crust more 

 ample. When, however, we consider the knowledge which has been 

 wonderfully, but securely, attained from the fragmentary remains of 

 ancient animals, we can scarcely feel surprise that one of the most 



zealous students of palsontology should desire to confine attention to 

 its results. A striking instance does this new and wonderful study 

 present of the value of accumulated knowledge. By co-operation 

 and unanimity of purpose, by the willingness of each labourer to 

 pursue the task where bis predecessor leftefl", the steep rugged road 

 of knowledge has been made so smooth, and carried so far, that the 

 labours of individuals are almost insignificant compared with the 

 whole work accomplished. 



It is no ordinary contemplation to see creatures that perished ages 

 before history — our history — began, reanimated by this Promethean 

 flame of science which exhibits them moving freely on the face of 

 the earth that has so long bidden their remains. "Can these dry 

 bones live 1" For uncounted cycles of time, their sepulture has been 

 undisturbed. Earthquake, flood, tempest, and volcano's fire have 

 passed over, yet not ettaced, them. The rough hands of the miner 

 and the delver reveal these sacred hieroglyphics, and (he patient 

 researches of men of science expound them. The one exhibit the 

 world as the repository of the skeletons of nations : the other pene- 

 trate the mysteries of the great charnel-house, and unfold one page 

 more of that blazing scroll which records the benificence and power 

 manifested in the works of creation. The dry bones are dry no 

 more ; reclothed with flesh, renewed with life and strength, they add 

 yet another testimony to the potency of that voice which is "mighty 

 in operation," and the Vision of the Valley is fulfilled and interpreted 

 anew. 



Engineering Fidd-Noles of Parish and Railway Surveying and 

 Levelling. By H. J. Castle. London : Simpkin and Co., 1S47. 



This work, which we recently noticed, has already attained a 

 second edition, and which has been improved by adopting some of 

 the suggestions we gave in our review — one of theiu, adding sketches 

 to the ileld-book. 



T/ie Baronial and Ecclenianlical .Antiquities of Scotland Illustrated. 

 By A. W. Billings and W. Burn. Part 1. Quarterly. Edin- 

 burgh: Blackwood and Sons. 



If we may judge of the example before us, this work promises to 

 be one of great interest to the architect and the antiquarian. The 

 present part is illustrated by four well executed engravings of Glas- 

 gow Cathedral, which we see are from the drawings of Mr. Billings, 

 a gentleman well known to the Profession for his zeal in promoting 

 works on Gothic architecture. 



MR. WARNER'S INVENTION.— THE B.iLLOON "LONG RANGE." 



Ed- tracts from ttie Journal of the Proceedings of the Committee (Captain 



Chads, R.N., and Lt.-Col. Chalmgu, R.A.) appointed to inquire into 



Capt. Warner's Inventions, btj the Board of Ordnance. 



13th August, 1846. — Capt. Chads and Lt.-Col Chalmer repaired to the 



official residence of the lirst lord of the Treasury, where they met Lord J. 



Russell, the Marquis of Anglesey, Viscount Ingestre, and Capt. Warner, to 



settle preliminary instructions. 



" .Much conversation took place on the subject of the course of experi- 

 ments necessary to test the practicability of the ' Long Range.' Capt. War- 

 ner stated that he found it impossible to come to a proper understanding 

 vviUiout he was permitted to disclose a part of his secret, which he proposed 

 to do, and which was assented to by the committee, under the sanction and 

 caution contained in paragraph 8* of the master-general's instructions. 



" Capt. Warner then produced live drawings, showing that his mode of 

 operation is by means of an air-balloon. 



" The committee submitted to Capt. M'arner the following experiment, 

 retpiesting from him an estimate of the cost of carrying it out, viz., that he 

 should construct a balloon capable of carrying 45 projectiles; that he should 

 deposit 15 of these at 4 miles ; 15 at 4i miles ; and the remaining 15 at 5 

 miles." [At a suusequent meeting, held 10th Sept., it was agreed "that the 

 number of projectiles should be 30, instead of 45, and that each projectile 

 should weigh at least lOlh., and that 10 should be substituted for 15 at the 

 distances agreed upon ; and it was further agreed upon that Capt. Warner 

 should be in comrauuicalion with Lt-Col. Chalmer, with the view of select- 

 ing a spot suitable for the experiment, and that he wUl endeavour to be 

 ready in all respects by the first week in October."] 



* " The committee will very fully explain to Capt. Waruer that it is pot desired tbat 

 he should reveal his secret, or any part thereof; but i( in the course of proceedings he 

 should be desirous ot doing so, ttiat it must be in \vritiiiy, and he must cleariy under . 

 stand that this will not establish any claim on the government for remuneration."^ 



