I 



-"— _^-J 



164 



GEOLOGY, 



[Sect. VI 



fall into intelligible order. He will in Ills mind see tl^e 

 beds first horizontally stretched out one over the other in 

 a fixed order, and he v.^ill then perceive that all the dis- 

 turbance has ariseii from a few nearly straight cracks, on 

 the edges of which the beds have been upturned, and 

 between which he will sometimes find great \w does of 

 once heat-softened, but now crystalline rocks. He will 

 find that large masses of strata have been removed and 

 denuded, that is ground down into pebbles and mud, and 

 long ago drifted away to form in some other area newer 



will now have a good idea of the ph^, Ji ^ 

 structure of his district ; and this much can be acquired 

 with much greater facility than he will at first readily 



strata. He 



1 



anticipate. 



In examining a district to make a section, many minor 

 points of detail will occur for observation, which can 

 hardly be specified ; such as the nature and cause of the 

 transitions and alterations of the different strata, the 



n . -^ 



source ot tne sediment and pebbles, the alterations in 

 chemical nature, either of the whole mass, or of parts, as 

 oncretions : the presence, and gi'ouping and state of 



^n c 



..? 



the fossil remains ; the depth and condition of the old 

 sea-bottom, when the beds were deposited, and an in- 

 finity of similar points. Probably the best method of 

 obtaining this power of observation, is to acquire the 

 habit of always seeking an explanation of every geologic^al 

 point met with ; for one mental query leads on to an- 

 otl- r\ and this will at the saiuw time give interest to his 

 researches, and will lead him to compare what is before 

 his eyes, with all that he has read of or seen. With his 

 increasing knowledge he will daily find his powers of 





f 



^ 



p 



Sect. 







bse 



.r 



cult 



am 

 the 



sec 



se 

 of 



in] 

 a) or 



■i-\*rt -\.^ 



otru 

 or£f 



mei 



■'-L /^ W^ 



:m 





ni 1 



■j* 'I 



part 



epoi 

 qua 



pCM 



i( 



ro| 



-i^-s.f' 



-j« 



