2 Principles of Geology. 
the lucid and attractive account of the Principles of Geology which 
we have already named, and which, notwithstanding differences of 
opinion on theoretical topics, will we presume, be decidedly accept- 
able to many persons who may not have access to the original work. 
Without committing ourselves to an agreement with the author on 
every point, we are free to say, that we know not of any sketch, 
comprised within the same limits, which may be studied by the gen- 
eral reader with more advantage, and even a learned geologist will 
find it a useful review of the outlines of his knowledge. 
Condensed view of the discoveries respecting the structure of the earth, 
which have produced the modern practical system of Geology. 
Extracted from Phillips’s Geology of Yorkshire. (1829.) 
TE most extensive subject which falls within the range of human 
acquirement, is the study of nature. To comprehend the phenome- 
na of the material world, and to illustrate the secret laws by which 
they are governed, requires the joint labor of many minds. To fa- 
cilitate this investigation, nature is conceived to be divided into dis- 
tinct sections, each of which gives title to a science. Geology is one 
of these, and its professed object is to develope the natural history of 
the earth. It aspires to learn the various materials of which our 
planet is composed, and to determine the manner, and, as far as 
secondary causes are concerned, the means of its construction. Min- 
eralogy, chemistry, botany, zoology, are all associated with geology ; 
their advancement keeps pace with its progress, and every discovery 
which rewards the cultivation of them, throws new light on the revo- 
lutions which have visited the earth. Even the astronomer, who 
employs himself in observing other planets and other systems, and 
the mathematician, who determines the forms and densities of sphe- 
roids, are fellow-laborers with the practical observer of the strata. 
f, then, so many delightful themes of human study are directly or 
indirectly connected with the earth, there is no need to assert the 
interest, it would hardly be possible to display all the advantage, 
which is to be expected from the study of geology. It must be ev- 
ident that not only our daily wants are supplied, and our comforts 
provided, by various productions which acknowledge the earth for 
their common parent, but that the charms of scenery, and all the loye- 
ly variety of hature, are so intimately dependent on peculiarities in 
_the structure of the earth, that no one can think uninteresting a sci- 
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