ON THE PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY. 397 
last century wrote, we find that the word Geology, or Geognosy, 
did not exist atthat time, the principal informationupon the forma- 
tion and constitution of our earth being contained in the articles, 
Basaltes, Earth, Fossils, Geography, Lithology, Marine Remains, 
Mineralogy, Mountain, Rocks, Stone and Volcano. 
The explanation of the formation of “stones” is in many 
instances exceedingly erroneous, and appears ludicrous to us; 
whilst the explanation of the nature and occurence of fossils is 
given quite correctly, although the theory of Tournefort, pro- 
posed in 1702 to the Royal Academy of France, that all stones, 
fossils included, were derived from liquid stone seeds, is gravely 
considered and rejected. 
The description of volcanoes, both active and extinct, is also 
given ina lucid manner; but the opinions as to the cause of 
Vulcanicity are sometimes very peculiar, including the theory of 
Dr. Lister : that they are originated by an inflammable mineral 
called Pyrites. 
The origin of Basalt (Basaltes) is correctly given, according 
to the researches of Desmarest in Auvergne, and Raspe in Ger- 
many, so that before Werner no erroneous views on that subject 
were held. 
But it is a most remarkable fact that there was not even an 
attempt made to give an explanation of strati-graphical Geology, 
and how the different rocks were formed, or to connect certain 
sets of fossils with certain rocks in which they occur ; so that in 
many respects we can claim that Geology is a child of the last 
hundred years. 
Abraham Gottlob Werner, the great teacher of the Freiberg 
Academy of Mining, may be considered one of the founders of 
modern Geology. In 1785 he delivered the first course of Geog- 
nosy, as distinct trom Mineralogy, and by his great knowledge 
of all matters connected with the latter science and mining, and 
his excellent method of teaching, he had an enormous influence 
upon the advancement of Geology. Therefore, as far as I am 
aware, the word Geognosy was first used two years after the last 
volume of Chambers’ Cyclopedia appeared. 
A great retrograde step was, however, made by Werner when 
he brought out his famous theory of the aqueous origin of basalt, 
usually named the theory of Neptunism. After the war between 
the Neptunists and the Plutonists (those who maintained the 
igneous origin of basalt) had been raging for some years, most 
of the disciples of Werner—acting as partisans, and instead of 
trying to elucidate the truth, were only bent upon making by all 
means in their power the cause advocated by them victorious— 
for a time managed to get the upper hand. Those scientific 
men, who knew from their own experience that Werner’s doc- 
trines on the subject were incorrect, preferred to retire from the 
contest, and refused to fight with the same unfair weapons. 
Of equal, if not of greater importance, are the labours of 
James Hutton, who, in 1788, published his “Theory of the 
Earth,” in which, for the first time, the complicated structure of 
