4 



GEOLOGY DISTINCT FEOM COSMOGONY. 



[Ch. I. 



bogs and estuary deposits, afford an insight into the rude arts 

 and manners of a prehistoric race, to whom the use of metals 

 was unknown, while flint implements of a much ruder type 

 point to a still earlier period, when man coexisted in Europe 

 with many quadrupeds long since extinct. This class of me- 

 morials yields to no other in authenticity, but it constitutes a 

 small part only of the resources on which the historian relies, 



form 



command 



must 



* ■ 



obtain a full and connected account of any series of events 

 beyond the reach of history. But the testimony of geological 

 monuments, if frequently imperfect, possesses at least the ad- 



orn 



We may be deceived in the inferences which we draw, in the 



mistake 



omena 



1 the daily course of nature ; but our 

 liability to err is confined to the interpretation, and, if this be 

 correct, our information is certain. 



It was long before the distinct nature and legitimate ob- 

 jects of geology were fully recognised, and it was at first con- 

 founded with many other branches of enquiry, just as the 



y, and mythology were ill-defined in 

 the infancy of civilisation. Even in Werner's time, or at the 

 close of the eighteenth century, geology appears to have been 

 regarded as little other than a subordinate department of mi- 

 neralogy ; and Desmarest included it under the head of 



But the most common and serions 



limits 



Physical Geography. 



source of confusion arose from the notion, tnat it was wie 



business of geology to discover the mode in which the earth 



some 



em 



Nature 



more 



Hutton 



first who endeavoured to draw a strong line of demarcation 

 between his favourite science and cosmogony, for he declared 

 that geology was in nowise concerned < with questions as to 



the origin of things.' , 



An attempt will be made in the sequel of this work to de- 



ri» that ^eolocrv differs as widely from cosmogony, as 



monstr 





• * 





