Notice of Dr. MantelVs Medals of Creation. 107 



available and delightful ; for the observer will " walk in the 

 midst of wonders in circumstances where the uninformed and 

 uninquiring eye can perceive neither novelty nor beauty."* 



In his introduction, the author explains the object of the sci- 

 ence of geology, and quotes Sir J. F. W. Herschel's remarks, 

 that "geology, in the magnitude and sublimity of the objects of 

 which it treats, undoubtedly ranks next to astronomy in the 

 scale of the sciences." And again, speaking of the studies of 

 natural science, that " the highest worldly prosperity, so far from 

 being incompatible with them, supplies additional advantages 

 for their pursuit ; they may be alike enjoyed in the intervals of 

 the most active business, while the calm and dispassionate inter- 

 est with which they fill the mind, renders them a most delight- 

 ful retreat from the agitations and business of the world, and 

 from the conflict of passions, prejudices, and interests, in which 

 the man of business finds himself continually involved." 



The author alludes to the incredulity which existed in England, 

 even so late as a century ago, when it was doubted whether fossil 

 shells were really shells, and it was seriously believed that subter- 

 ranean spirits, jealous of man's intrusion into their dark domains, 

 broke the augurs of the miners ; but it is fair also to say, that Dr. 

 Martin Lester, who died one hundred and thirty two years ago, 

 having been physician to Q,ueen Anne, published a valuable 

 work on fossil shells, describing them as real animal productions; 

 he was also well acquainted with the chalk and with the other 

 strata of the south of England. The author presents, in limine^ 

 the following conclusions, startling to uninstructed minds, but 

 admitted by all geologists, — "that the sea and land are continu- 

 ally changing places ; that what is now dry land was once the 

 bottom of the deep ; and that the bed of the present ocean will, 

 in its turn, be elevated above the water and become dry land ; 

 that all the solid materials of the globe have been in a softened, 

 fluid, or gaseous state ; and that the remains of countless myriads 

 of animals and plants are not only entombed in the rocks and 

 mountains, but that every grain of sand and every particle of 

 dust wafted by the wind, may teem with the relics of beings 

 that lived and died in periods long antecedent to the creation of 

 the human race." 



* Sir John F. W. Herschel's Discourse, Nat. Philos., p. 15. 



