390 CONSISTENCY OF GEOLOGY WITH SACRED HISTORY. 



in other fields. Still, when we remember that geology, as a regular 

 science, is, in every country of Europe, of recent origin ; and that, 

 in the United States, most of its early cultivators are still on the 

 stage, we have great reason to take courage and work on. 



On the present occasion, we will annex some remarks on the nature 

 of geological evidence, and its consistency with sacred history, making 

 use of some portions of the " Outline.''^ 



Statement of the subject. 



By some, this discussion may perhaps be now regarded as obso- 

 lete. In the minds of well instructed geologists, this is probably, to 

 a great extent, true. Still, the Vindiciag Geologicae and the Reliquiae 

 Diluvianae of Professor Buckland, the Preliminary Discourse to Man- 

 tell's first volume on the Geology of Sussex, that of Philhps in his 

 Geology of Yorkshire, that of Conybeare and Phillips in their Outline 

 of the Geology of England and Wales, some of the lectures of Cu- 

 vier, and, of late, the Geology of Dr. Ure, the Mosaic and Mineral 

 Geology of Penn and of Higgins, besides the distinct work of Chau- 

 bard, "Offrant la concordance des faits historiques avec les faits geo- 

 logiques," and various others of earlier date, sufficiently prove, that 

 the subject is not quite at rest in Europe. 



In this country, the cultivation of scientific geology is of so recent 

 a date, that many of our most intelligent and well educated people 

 are strangers even to its elements; are unacquainted with its amazing 

 store of facts, and are startled, when any other geological epochs are 

 spoken of than the creation and the deluge, recorded in the penta- 

 teuch. But, it is beyond a doubt, that there are innumerable and de- 

 cisive proofs of successive revolutions, and of a gradual progress in 

 the course of geological events, implying, on the whole, a regular 

 order in the formation of the crust of the planet, interrupted by oc- 

 casional disorder and convulsion. These events necessarily imply 

 much time, and cannot be referred, exclusively, to any course of dilu- 

 vial action. It is impossible, for instance, upon any sound principles 

 of philosophical reasoning, to refer to this cause, the extensive, vari- 

 ous and interesting class of facts, relating chiefly to the consolidated 

 rocks composed of water-worn ruins and fragments, and to those con- 

 taining organized remains, in a mineralized state, entombed in the firm 

 strata and mountains. This is a vast field of observation and instruc- 

 tion, and it is less known, even to the greater number of intellectual 

 persons, than almost any department of knowledge. None but geo- 

 logists study it with diligence, and none who have not made themselves 



