108 Notice of Dr. MantelVs Medals of Creation. 



In regard to "the great benefits resulting from scientific pur- 

 suits in general, and of geology in particular, on the young and 

 inquiring mind," the author cites the following observations of 

 an able modern writer. 



" It is fearfully true, that nine tenths of the immorality which 

 pervades the better classes of society originates, in the first place, 

 from the want of a harmless and pleasing occupation to fill up 

 vacant time ; and as the study of the natural sciences is as in- 

 teresting as it is beneficial, it must necessarily exert a moral not 

 to say religious influence upon the character. He who is fond of 

 scientific pursuits will not enter into revelry, for artificial excite- 

 ments have for him no fascinations. The overflowing cup, the 

 unmeaning or dishonest game, cannot entice him. If any one 

 doubts the beneficial influence of these studies on the morals, I 

 will ask him to point out the immoral young man who is devo- 

 tedly fond of any branch of natural science ; I never knew such 

 an one. There may be such individuals — for religion only can 

 change the heart — but if there be, they are very rare exceptions; 

 and the loud clamor always raised against the man of science 

 who errs is a proof of the truth of my proposition — the enno- 

 bling study of God's works upon a well regulated mind. For- 

 tunate, indeed, is it for the youth of either sex, who early im- 

 bibes a taste for natural objects, and whose pursuits are not 

 thwarted by injudicious friends." 



The author adds in his own beautiful language, that " every 

 grain of sand, every particle of dust scattered in the wind, may 

 be composed of the petrified skeletons of beings so minute as 

 to elude our unassisted vision, yet were once teeming with life 

 and happiness, and possessed an organization as marvellous as 

 our own ] a science whose discoveries have realized the wildest 

 imaginings of the poet — whose realities far surpass in grandeur 

 and sublimity the most imposing fictions of romance ; a science 

 whose empire is the earth, the ocean, the atmosphere, the heav- 

 ens; whose speculations embrace all elements, all space, all 

 time ; objects the most minute, objects the most colossal, carry- 

 ing its researches into the smallest atom which the microscope 

 can render accessible to our visual organs, and comprehending 

 all the discoveries in the boundless regions above us which the 

 most powerful telescope can reveal." "None of the physical 

 sciences can more strongly impress on the mind that deep sense 



