Cii. XIV.] 



tup: sequence of formations. 



325 



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vary. The student, instead of being* encouraged with the 

 hope of interpreting the enigmas presented to him in the 

 earth's structure,— instead of being prompted to undertake 

 laborious enquiries into the natural history of the organic 

 world and the complicated effects of the igneous and aqueous 

 causes now in operation, was taught to despond from the 



first. 



affirmed 



of an exact science, — the greater number of phenomena must 

 for ever remain inexplicable, or only be partially elucidated 

 by ingenious conjectures. Even the mystery which invested 

 the subject was said to constitute one of its principal charms, 

 affording, as it did, full scope to the fancy to indulge in a 

 boundless field of speculation. 



The course directly opposed to this method of philoso- 

 phising consists in an earnest and patient enquiry, how far 

 geological appearances are reconcilable with the effect of 



3S now in progress, or which may be in progress in 

 regions inaccessible to us, and of which the reality is attested 

 by volcanos and subterranean movements. It also endea- 

 vours to estimate the aggregate result of ordinary operations 

 multiplied by time, and cherishes a sanguine hope that the 

 resources to be derived from observation and experiment, or 

 from the study of Nature such as she now is, are very far from 

 beine- exhausted. For this reason all theories are rejected 



which involve the assumption of sudden and violent catas- 

 trophes and revolutions of the whole earth, and its inhabi- 

 tants,— theories which are restrained by no reference to exist - 



ing analogies, and in which a 



desire 



man 



to cu 



rather than patiently to untie, the Gordiau knot. 



We have now, at least, the advantage of knowing, from 

 experience, that an opposite method has always put geolo- 

 gists on the road that leads to truth,— suggesting views which, 

 although imperfect at first, have been found capable of im- 

 provement, until at last adopted by universal consent ; while 

 the method of speculating on a former distinct state of things 

 and causes, has led invariablv to a multitude of contradictory 

 systems, -winch, have been overthrown one after the other, 

 have been found incapable of modification, — and which have 

 often required to be precisely reversed. 



