26 THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. 1. 



intent and persevering study of them ; for such is the 

 consummate perfection of all the works of the Creator, 

 that every inquirer will discover a surpassing worth, and 

 grace, and dignity, in that especial department of know- 

 ledge to which he may peculiarly devote his attention. 

 Whatever walk of philosojDhy he may enter, that will 

 appear to him the path which is the most enriched by 

 all that is fitted to captivate the intellect, and to excite 

 the imagination. Yet before we can attain that elevation 

 from which we may look down upon and comprehend the 

 mysteries of the natural world, our way must be steep and 

 toilsome, and we must learn to read the records of creation 

 in a strange language. But when this knowledge is once 

 acquired, it becomes a mighty instrument of thought, by 

 which we are enabled to link together the phenomena of 

 past and present times, and obtain a domination over many 

 parts of the natural world, by comprehending some of the 

 laws by which the Creator has ordained that the actions of 

 material things shall be governed. 



In the whole circle of the sciences, there is none that 

 more strikingly illustrates the force and truth of these 

 remarks than Geology ; none which offers to its votaries 

 rewards so rich, so wondrous and inexhaustible. In the 

 shapeless pebble that we tread upon, in the rude mass of 

 rock or clay, the uninstructed eye would in vain seek for 

 novelty or beauty ; like the adventurer in Eastern fable, 

 the inquirer finds the cavern closed to his entrance, and the 

 rock refusing to give up the treasures entombed within its 

 stony sepulchre, till the talisman is obtained that can dissolve 

 the enchantment, and unfold the marvellous secrets which 

 have so long lain hidden. 



2. Nature of geology. — To the mind that is unac- 

 quainted with the nature and results of geological inquiries, 

 and which has been led to believe that the globe we inhabit 

 is in the state in which it was first created, and that with 



