292 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



ranks with those who have put forward new ideas rather than those 

 who have extended geographic boundaries." 



In 1829 there appeared the tirst American, from the third English, 



edition of Bakewell's Introduction to Geology. This was edited by 



Silliman, and was accompanied by the hitter's Outline of the Course 



of Geological Lectures given in Yale College. The 



First American ,. , • • ^ ,. t,i- 



Edition of Bakeweirs reason for the reprint, as given by Frolessor Silliman 



Geology, 1829. . , i i • i ' i i , i 



in the preface, was that he might place in the hands of 

 his classes a comprehensive treatise on geology which the} 7 "would be 

 willing to read and able to understand. 11 ■ The lecture notes, which 

 merit our attention here, comprised 126 pages and may be reviewed 

 in some detail as illustrating the character of instruction given at that 

 time. 



Silliman announced himself as being neither a Wernerian nor Hut- 

 tonian, but simply a student of facts. The classification was, how- 

 ever, largely Wernerian, though he says: "It is one of convenience 

 merely, and therefore there is no hesitation in deviating from it, or 

 in substituting other views, when they appear preferable. 11 The dis- 

 coveries of geology he regarded as consistent with the biblical account, 

 and "respecting the deluge, there can be but one opinion * * * 

 geology fully confirms the scripture history of that event. 11 



The earth, he conceived, as at an early stage covered superficially by 

 a watery abyss, containing in solution acids and alkalies such as would 

 augment its solvent powers. He regarded the solubility of all the 

 existing elements forming the crust of the globe as clearly and actu- 

 al^ demonstrated, but found a serious difficulty in attributing to the 

 quantity of waters that now exist * * * sufficient power to sus- 

 pend all the materials of those rocks that bear marks of deposition from 

 a state of chemical solution. Among other possibilities he, however, 

 seriously considered that of a portion of the then existing waters hav- 

 ing " been received into cavities of the earth, to await a future call to 

 deluge the surface anew." From this solution the primitive rocks — 

 granite, gneiss, mica, slate, and some of the limestones — were regarded 

 as having been deposited, the author thus far following Werner. 



The question as to the origin of mountains and of the continents 

 was, with him, a vexed one. "Some imagine that entire mountain 

 ranges and even entire continents have been raised by the force of 

 subterranean fire," and he saw no inconsistency in admitting that both 

 igneous and aqueous agencies might have been active in their produc- 

 tion. But, as to the source of the materials from which they were 

 formed, he felt by no means clear. If supplied from regions imme- 



" According to Hall (Transactions of the American Association of Geologists, 1840- 

 42). Vanuxem was the first to point out the similarity of some of the western forma- 

 tions with those. of New York, identifying the lower rocks of Ohio, Kentucky, and 

 Tennessee with the Trenton limestone. 



