ON THE STUDY OF 



water according to that of the other, no doubt 

 can be entertained of the globe having been 

 visited by an universal deluge; or, to use the 

 sublime language of scripture " all the waters 

 of the great deep were broken up, and the flood 

 gates of heaven were opened ;" by which the 

 upper formations of the earth were changed, their 

 materials thrown and mixed together in chaotic 

 confusion ; until the waters gradually receding, 

 those materials, with the animals and vegetables 

 previously destroyed by the catastrophe, were 

 finally settled and deposited in the order in 

 which we now find them. 



The study of geology is, therefore, of great 

 interest and importance, since it teaches us the 

 particular situations in which all the useful mine- 

 rals are to be found ; it makes us acquainted 

 with the external formation and internal struc- 

 ture of the earth we inhabit ; and by examining 

 its contents, it affords us the most satisfactory 

 confirmation of that very extraordinary event, 

 which forms the basis of our eternal expectations, 

 and from which our faith derives one of its prin- 

 cipal supports. 



The next subject in order of natural history is 

 the vegetable kingdom ; the study of which has 

 been denominated botany. 



Botany, in the common acceptation of the term, 

 has been confined to a classification and arrange- 

 ment of vegetable productions from some dis- 



