16 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. 



abounds ; vast regions of older secondary and transition strata are 

 occupied, more or less, by ruins of primary rocks, some of them of 

 vast size, while the primary countries themselves, and the transition 

 too, are marked by their own disjecta membra. We are precluded 

 by our limits from discussing the causes of their transportation, 

 whether by floods, ice floes, or other motive powers. It is almost 

 unnecessary to remark, that pebbles, gravel, and sand, are found, 

 as in other countries, transported and distributed, without doubt, by 

 the action of water. 



8. Beauty and interest of Geology as a Science. — In 

 relation to the beauty and interest of Geology as a science, we can 

 hardly, trust ourselves to write, since, within our prescribed limits, 

 we have no room, and there is little occasion to describe that which 

 our Author has, everywhere, treated with signal ability and elo- 

 quence. It may, however, serve to engage the attention of those 

 to whom geology is a terra incognita, if we, in this place, remark, 

 that no field of science presents more gratifying, astonishing, and 

 (but for the evidence) incredible results. It teaches us that man 

 has been but a few thousand years a tenant of this world; for 

 nothing which we discover in the structure of the earth, would lead 

 us to infer that he existed at a period more remote than that 

 assigned to him by the Scriptures. Had he been cotemporary with 

 the animals and plants of the early geological periods, we should 

 have found his remains, and his works, entombed along with them. 



This argument forcibly impressed the mind of Bishop Berkeley a 

 century ago, and the following beautiful passage is cited from him 

 by Mr. Lyell :* — " To any one who considers that, on digging into 

 the earth, such quantities of shells, and in some places bones and 

 horns of animals, are found sound and entire, after having lain 

 there, in all probability, some thousands of years, it would seem 

 probable that gems, medals, and implements in metal or stone, 

 might have lasted entire, buried under ground forty or fifty thou- 

 sand years, if the world had been so old. How comes it then to 

 pass that no remains are found, no antiquities of those numerous 

 ages preceding the Scripture accounts of time ; that no fragments 

 of buildings, no public monuments, no intaglios, cameos, statues, 

 basso-relievos, medals, inscriptions, utensils, or artificial works of any 

 kind, are ever discovered, which may bear testimony to the existence 



* Principles, 5th Ed., vol. iii. p. 255. 



