Bibliography. 199 



even with all the support derived from an expensive education ; or without 

 admiring the ability with which this unassisted observer first succeeded 

 in putting together the dislocated fragments of the very singular fish, 

 called Pterichthys, by Agassiz, long before that creature was first un- 

 derstood. Look again to the clear and general view which this author 

 takes of the greatest of Scottish deposits, and how well he conveys to 

 unpracticed readers a true idea of its position, importance and divisions, 

 and you will agree with me, that in Mr. Hugh Miller we have to hail 

 the accession to geological writers, of a man highly qualified to advance 

 the science. Few persons, and too often least of all those who are, if I 

 may so speak, professed geologists, succeed in imparting to others, who 

 have not studied the science, a clear conception of their views. In this 

 respect the character of Mr. Miller's work is admirable, for it portrays 

 the means by which the author acquired his knowledge, and from its 

 persuasive manner, is worth to a beginner, a thousand didactic trea- 

 tises." Professor Buckland, before the British Association, said, that 

 " he had never been so much astonished by the powers of any man as 

 he had been by the geological descriptions of Mr. Miller. That won- 

 derful man described these objects with a felicity which made him 

 ashamed of the comparative meagreness and poverty of his own de- 

 scriptions, which had cost him hours and days of labor. He would 

 give his left hand to possess such powers of description as Mr. Miller, 

 and if it pleased Providence to spare his useful life, he, if any one, 

 would certainly render the science attractive and popular, and do eqyal 

 service to theology and geology." 



In our turn we take leave to add, that this admirable work, the pro- 

 duction of a man who obtained his geological knowledge while work- 

 ing, day by day, as a laborer in a quarry of the old red sandstone in the 

 northeast part of Scotland, evinces talent of the highest order, a deep 

 and healthful moral feeling, a perfect command of the finest language, 

 and a beautiful union of philosophy and poetry. No geologist can 

 peruse this volume without instruction and delight. It affords an admi- 

 rable synopsis of the formations between the granitic schists and the 

 coal measui'es, and indeed embraces an enlarged and highly philosoph- 

 ical view of the science, and of its relation to the Creator. 



The splendid labors of Mr. Owen, and of Dr. Mantell, on paleon- 

 tology, are duly appreciated by Mr. Murchison, as are the researches 

 of Sir Philip Egerton, Mr. Strickland, Mr. Trimmer, and others. 



We have not space even to name the deserved notices which are be- 

 stowed on continental geology — the grand geological map and descrip- 

 tive volumes of France, and the Paleontology of D'Orbigny ; the new 

 works of the veteran Humboldt ; the labors of the Prussian, Russian, 

 Belgian, German, Swiss, and Italian schools ; the local societies and 



