PROGRESS OF PHYSICAL GEOLOGY. 653 



of cold and heat : they grow and decay on account 

 of the sun and the revolution of the stars, and thus 

 the parts of the earth acquire different power, so 

 that for a certain time they remain moist, and then 

 become dry and old: and then other places are 

 revivified, and become partially watery." We are, I 

 conceive, doing no injustice to such speculations by 

 classing them among fanciful geological opinions. 



We must also, I conceive, range in the same 

 division another class of writers of much more 

 modern times ; I mean those who have framed 

 their geology by interpretations of Scripture. I 

 have already endeavoured to show that such an 

 attempt is a perversion of the purpose of a divine 

 communication, and cannot lead to any physical 

 truth. I do not here speak of geological specula- 

 tions in which the Mosaic account of the deluge has 

 been referred to; for whatever errours may have 

 been committed on that subject, it would be as 

 absurd to disregard the most ancient historical 

 record, in attempting to trace back the history of 

 the earth, as it would be, gratuitously to reject any 

 other source of information. But the interpreta- 

 tions of the account of the creation have gone 

 further beyond the limits of sound philosophy : and 

 when we look at the arbitrary and fantastical inven- 

 tions by which a few phrases of the writings of 

 Moses have been moulded into complete systems, 

 we cannot doubt that these interpretations belong 

 to the present Section. 



