100 



PEEJUDICES WHICH HAVE KETARDED. 



[Ch. V 



volcanic eruption, he tries to conceive what changes the 

 column of lava has produced, in its passage upwards, on the 

 intersected strata ; or what form the melted matter may as- 

 sume at great depths on cooling ; or what may be the extent 

 of the subterranean rivers and reservoirs of liquid matter far 

 beneath the surface. It should, therefore, be remembered, 



1m 



requires no ordinary share of discretion ; for we are precluded 

 from collating the corresponding parts of the system of things 

 as it exists now, and as it existed at former periods. If we 



were inhabitants of another element — if the great ocean were 



our domain, instead of the narrow limits of the land, onr 

 difficulties would be considerably lessened; while, on the 

 other hand, there can be little doubt, although the reader 

 may, perhaps, smile at the bare suggestion of such an idea, 

 that an amphibious being, who should possess our faculties, 

 would still more easily arrive at sound theoretical opinions 

 in geology, since he might behold, on the one hand, the de- 

 composition of rocks in the atmosphere, or the transportation 



matter 



mal and vegetable remains 



imbeddin 

 He mig 



tain, by direct observation, the action of a mountain torrent, 



might compare 



of volcanos poured out upon the land with those ejected be- 



in ar 



growth of the forest, and, on the other, that of the coral reef. 

 Yet, even with these advantages, he would be liable to fall 

 into the greatest errors, when endeavouring to reason on 

 rocks of subterranean origin. He would seek in vain, within 

 the sphere of his observation, for any direct analogy to the 



: formation 

 them, whei 



to 



some 



may 



■9 



as to suppose a being entirely confined to the ne ther world 



' dusky melancholy sprite,' like Umbriel, who could 



some 



' flit on sooty pinions to the central earth/ but who was never 

 permitted to ' sully the fair face of light, 5 and emerge into 









