DENSITY OF THE PLANETS. 



365 



laws of definite proportion, cannot be the same on Saturn as upon 

 the earth, and it is highly probable, that different senses would be 

 required to make these properties perceptible. If from the body of 

 Saturn, we turn our attention to the double ring by which it is sur- 

 rounded, we must admit a former condition of that planet, which can 

 never return by any known secondary causes in present operation. 

 Thus both geology and astronomy lead us to acknowledge a first 

 Almighty cause, and a commencement of the present order of things, 

 dependent upon his will. 



In offering the preceding remarks, I have not been influenced by 

 a desire to oppose the opinions of others, but to support what ap- 

 pears to me to be the truth. 



I shall now take leave of the reader in the words with which the 

 last edition was concluded. 



It may be right to advert to an enquiry that has frequently been 

 made — What advantage can be derived from the study of geology? 



The value of every science must ultimately rest on its utility : but 

 in making the estimate, we ought not to be guided, alone, by the 

 narrow view of immediate gain. The material universe appears des- 

 tined to answer two important purposes : the first of which is to pro- 

 vide for the physical wants of its various inhabitants. Now, in rela- 

 tion to this purpose, the science which teaches us the structure of the 

 earth, and where its mineral treasures may be found, can scarcely be 

 deemed devoid of utility, by a nation deriving so much of its com- 

 fort and wealth from its mineral resources. But, beside supplying 

 our physical wants, the external universe is destined to answer a no- 

 bler purpose ; its various objects appear intended to excite our curi- 

 osity, and stimulate our intellectual powers, to the discovery of those 

 laws by which the successive events we observe in nature are gov- 

 erned. Without this excitement, man would for ever remain the 

 mere creature of animal sensation, scarcely advanced above the 

 beasts of the forest ; and the universe would be to him a mute and 

 unmeaning succession of forms, sounds, and colours, without connec- 

 tion, order, or design. In those sciences which have attained the 

 highest degree of perfection, the skill of the Creator, and the ends 

 and uses of the different parts are most apparent. Geology has not 

 yet made sufficient progress to carry us far in this path of enquiry ; 

 but we see enough to discover, that the apparent disorder into which 

 the strata on the surface of the globe are thrown, and the inequalities 

 which it presents, are absolutely necessary to its habitable condition. 

 The distribution of its mineral treasures, and particularly of coal, to 

 the cold and temperate regions of the globe, is well deserving atten- 

 tion, and implies a prospective regard for the wants of civilized man : 

 but a cold-hearted philosophy, under the sanction of a quaint ex- 



