THE ' 



MONTHLY AMERICAN JOURNAL 



OF 



GEOLOGY 



AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 



Vol. I. Philadelphia, August, 1831. No. 2. 



AN EPITOME OF THE PROGRESS OF NATURAL SCIENCE * 



If, on opening the great subject to which we are about to 

 draw the attention of our readers, we begin with periods scarce- 

 ly within the historical records of our race, it is not with a view 

 to enter upon any controverted points in the history of mankind, 

 but in order to revive some recollections of the progress of the 

 human mind, that our readers may pursue with us, in a more 

 satisfactory manner, the history of the progress of natural science, 

 and more especially of Geology. 



Geological information, is very important to the study of the 

 antiquity of human society ; for opinions, which to a certain ex- 

 tent have been established, would by many be considered vague 

 and transitory, did not geology by its own monuments, which may 

 claim to be called indestructible, give substance to the traditions 

 of our earliest periods, and confirm the great event from which 

 they spring, and which we even find recorded in a volume, which 

 has been consecrated by the veneration of so many generations. 



The exaggerated accounts of the great antiquity of the Chi- 

 nese and Egyptians, which at one time were put forth with so 

 much confidence, and which were so much at variance with 

 chronology, have been reduced to insignificance, by the penetra- 

 tion and assiduity of minds more learned and faithful th^ those 

 which preceded them. The zodiacs, painted on the walls of the 



* It will not be expected that this rapid and imperfect sketch should contain 

 references to authorities. It would look pedantic to refer to ancient authorities, 

 when so many popular modern works are at hand, to enable the reader either to 

 pursue the events of these ancient periods more in detail, or to verify them. The 

 writer has mainly adopted the reasonings of Cuvier, and in many instances has 

 made them the basis of his paper. 



Vol. I.— 7 49 



