Notice of Dr. MantelVs Medals of Creation. 109 



of humility and dependence which a proper knowledge of the 

 works of the Eternal is calculated to inspire, so none can more 

 powerfully" encourage our aspirations after truth and wisdom. 

 Every walk we take offers subjects for permanent consideration, 

 and contemplating the innumerable proofs afforded us of the in- 

 cessant dissolution and renovation which are taking place around 

 us, we feel the force, the beauty of the exclamation of the poet — 



" 'My heart is awed within me when I think 

 Of the great miracle which still goes on 

 In silence round me — the perpetual worlc 

 Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed 

 Forever.' " 



We have chosen to allow the author to be his own expounder 

 of the design of his work, and have therefore quoted freely his 

 introductory remarks and those of the friends whose sentiments 

 he adopts. Among the authorities to which he refers, the fol- 

 lowing are conspicuous : 



1. Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, 2 vols. 8vo. 3. The 

 Elements of Geology, by Charles Lyell, Esq., second edition. 

 3. The Wonders, or a familiar Exposition of Geological Phe- 

 nomena, by Dr. Mantell. 4. Phillips' Mineralogy. 



All these works he considers as well known in England, and 

 easily accessible, and happily this is true here also, as all of them 

 have been republished in this country, as also Mr. Lyell's Prin- 

 ciples of Geology, and a greatly improved edition of Phillips' 

 Mineralogy by Mr. Alger, has recently appeared in Boston.* 



A glossary of terms is appended to the work, and technical 

 terms are explained in the text, but generally without citing the 

 original words, especially Latin or Greek, an omission which we 

 regret, as to the classical scholar nothing imparts so distinct and 

 vivid a conception of the import of a technical term as the pa- 

 rent word, and upon these hooks of the memory it is easy to 

 hang long trains of associated ideas. 



The divisions of the work are as follows. 



Part I. 



1. On the nature and arrangement of the British strata and 

 their fossil contents. 



* For a review of the last mentioned work, see -this Journal, Vol. xlyii, p. 333. 



