THE 
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 
No. XIII.—JULY 1865. 
GEOLOGICAL PROGRESS. 
No. I. 
PPPoE completion of the first year’s existence of the GEOLOGI- 
cAL MaGazine affords another opportunity of commenting 
on some of the leading subjects of discussion amongst geologists. 
In the first of these articles,* an attempt was made to give, in 
a few paragraphs, the essential features of the grand results 
at which geologists had arrived, and the changes which had 
consequently occurred in regard to the objects as well as the 
methods of geological enquiry. The second article ¢ was 
necessarily more special in its object, and was entitled ‘On 
some Points in Geology as seen to-day.’ That title is equally 
applicable to these pages; but, as we hope to publish many 
similar notices, at more frequent intervals than heretofore, we 
have preferred to give it a distinctive heading, which will be 
continued throughout the series. These records of progress 
are designed to furnish our readers with a concise summary, 
explanatory and critical, of the topics occupying the attention 
of the geological world; they will not always be written by 
the same author, but we shall at all times endeavour to avoid 
the Advocate, and obtain the Judge. 
Our fundamental difficulty lies in the meaning of the term 
‘progress’ as applied to Geology. Our knowledge increases 
by degrees with reference to the geological structure of differ- 
ent countries, near and distant, and thus it is true we have one 
kind of progress easily defined ; but, in the more alluring paths 
of Theoretical Geology, unless we reverse the usual practice 
by considering every new hypothesis to be true until it is 
disproved, it is impossible to say what is progress and what is 
not: for geologists are remarkably stubborn and pugnacious ; 
* Gzot. Mac., Vol. I. p.1. t Geox. Mae., Vol. II. p. 1. 
VOL. II.—NO. XIII. U 
