424 CONSISTENCY OF GEOLOGY WITH eACRED HISTORY. 



strict accordance with those sacred records which reveal the moral 

 obhgations and destiny of the human race. 



With these observations I conclude this volume ; entreating the in- 

 dulgence of the geologist for much prolixity on subjects with which 

 he was already familiar, but which without such detail would have 

 presented but little interest to many; and assuring the general reader 

 who may feel desirous of further information, that the more he be- 

 comes acquainted with the nature and objects of geological enquiries, 

 the more he will find them to possess in an eminent degree the charms 

 and advantages which are so eloquently described by Sir John Her- 

 schel, as being inseparably connected with the study of every branch 

 of natural philosophy. " To the natural philosopher there is no nat- 

 ural object unimportant or trifling. From the least of nature's works 

 he may learn the greatest lessons. The fall of an apple to the ground 

 may raise his thoughts to the laws which govern the revolutions of the 

 planets in their orbits ; or the situation of a pebble may afford him 

 evidence of the state of the globe he inhabits, myriads of ages ago, 

 before his species became its denizens. Accustomed to trace the 

 operation of general causes, and the exemplification of general laws, 

 where the uninformed and unenquiring eye perceives neither novelty 

 nor beauty, he walks in the midst of wonders : every object which 

 falls in his way elucidates some principle, affords some instruction, 

 and impresses him with a sense of harmony and order ; while the ob- 

 servation of the calm, energetic regularity of nature, the immense 

 scale of her operations, and the certainty with which her ends are at- 

 tained, tends, irresistibly, to tranquillize and re-assure the mind, and 

 render it less accessible to repining, selfish and turbulent emotions. 

 And this it does, not by debasing our nature into weak compliances 

 and abject submission to circumstances, but by filling us, as from an 

 inward spring, with a sense of nobleness and power which enables us 

 to rise superior to them ; by showing us our strength and innate dig- 

 nity, and by calling upon us for the exercise of those powers and 

 faculties by which we are susceptible of the comprehension of so 

 much greatness, and which form, as it were, a link between ourselves 

 and the best and noblest benefactors of our species, with whom we 

 hold communion in thoughts, and participate in discoveries, which 

 have raised them above their fellow-mortals, and brought them nearer 

 to their Creator."* 



* Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, p. 14-17. 



