156 Notice and Review of the Reliquiae Diluvianae. 
con a passage, as if in opposition to geology, wherein. it is 
stated, that ‘ there is nothing in the History of the Crea- 
tion, to invalidate the fact, that the mass of the earth was 
created—confusa—confusedly or undistinguishably, in one 
moment of time ; but that six days were assigned for dis- 
posing and adjusting it :—so that the matter itself seems 
to have been, as it were, a work off hand ; but the intro- 
duction of its form, bears the style of a law or a decree.” 
Now we believe this is in perfect accordance with the 
views of most geologists. ‘They suppose that all the ma- 
terials of the globe were brought into existence in a mo- 
ment, by ‘‘ the creative fiat of Almighty God,” and that six 
days were employed in the arrangement of this mass, which 
some denominate chaotic : and because some understand 
these six days to be longer than six literal days, are they, 
therefore, to be considered atheists or even infidels ? 
But what if Mr. Penn has succeeded in tearing away 
what he assumes as the root of mineral geology ? We do 
believe that he has mistaken a mere branch for a root: or 
if it be a root, it is not the main one. Its loss will not in- 
jure the trunk at all. Geologists of the present day do 
not feel much alarmed for their science, though the root. 
of Werner’s and Hutton’s hypotheses be eradicated, so 
long as the root of geology remains: so long as the leading. 
facts, in regard to the reiative position, disruption, inclina- 
tion and imbedded fossils of rocks, remain untouched. 
We think, indeed, that any one who will examine rocks, 
riot merely in books, but in their native beds, will inevita- 
bly conclude that they must once have been in a state of 
fluidity. But he might reject such a supposition and still 
not be an outcast from the science, nor forfeit the com- 
munion of the brotherhood. 
Alarmed as this writer is, when geologists demand time 
for the formation of the primitive rocks, he is not afraid te 
allow the period from the creation to the deluge for the 
deposition of the secondary rocks. Much as he cries out 
against hypothesis, he contends that the earth was origin- 
ally a perfect sphere, covered over with water, and that 
its shell was broken up, or grooved, “ by the violent ac- 
tion of mechanical agencies,” so as to form the sea and 
the dry land ; and that, at the deluge, these hollows were 
elevated and the coutinents sunk, by the operation of earth- 
