Ch. VIIL] changes of nomenclature. 93 



crystalline and almost metamorphic aspect, and thus, on lithological 

 grounds, to deserve equally the name of transition. So remarkably was 

 this the case in the Swiss Alps, that certain rocks, which had for years 

 been regarded by some of the most skilful disciples of Werner to be tran- 

 sition, were at last acknowledged, when their relative position and fossils 

 were better understood, to belong to the newest of the secondary groups ; 

 nay, some of them have actually been discovered to be members of the 

 lower tertiary series ! If, under such circumstances, the name of transition 

 was retained, it is clear that it ought to have been applied without refer- 

 ence to the age of strata, and simply as expressive of a mineral peculiarity. 

 The continued appropriation of the term to formations of a given date, in- 

 duced geologists to go on believing that the ancient strata so designated 

 bore a less resemblance to the secondary than is really the case, and to 

 imagine that these last never pass, as they frequently do, into metamor- 

 phic rocks. 



The poet Waller, when lamenting over the antiquated style of Chaucer, 

 complains that — 



"We write in sand, our language grows, 



And, like the tide, our work o'erflows. 



But the reverse is true in geology ; for here it is our work which contin- 

 ually outgrows the language. The tide of observation advances with such 

 speed that improvements in theory outran the changes of nomenclature ; 

 and the attempt to inculcate new truths by words invented to express a 

 different or opposite opinion, tends constantly, by the force of association 

 to perpetuate error ; so that dogmas renounced by the reason still retain 

 a strong hold upon the imagination. 



In order to reconcile the old chronological views with the new doctrine 

 of the igneous origin of granite, the following hypothesis was substituted 

 for that of the Neptunists. Instead of beginning with an aqueous men- 

 struum or chaotic fluid, the materials of the present crust of the earth 

 were supposed to have been at first in a state of igneous fusion, until part 

 of the heat having been diffused into surrounding space, the surface of the 

 fluid consolidated, and formed a crust of granite. This covering of crys- 

 talline stone, which afterwards grew thicker and thicker as it cooled, was 

 so hot, at first, that no water could exist upon it ; but as the refrigeration 

 proceeded, the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere was condensed, and, fall- 

 ing in rain, gave rise to the first thermal ocean. So high was the tem- 

 perature of this boiling sea, that no aquatic beings could inhabit its waters, 

 and its deposits were not only devoid of fossils, but, like those of some 

 hot springs, were highly crystalline. Hence the origin of the primary or 

 crystalline strata, — gneiss, mica-schist, and the rest. 



Afterwards, when the granitic crust had been partially broken up, land 

 and mountains began to rise above the waters, and rains and torrents to 

 grind down rock, so that sediment was spread over the bottom of the 

 seas. Yet the heat still remaining in the solid supporting substances 

 was sufficient to increase the chemical action exerted by the water, al- 

 though not so intense as to prevent the introduction and increase of some 



