Eatoii's Geology. ^- 87 



this affinity of languages, but who is ignorant of the Hebrew. 

 He must be endowed with impudence, to pretend to teach it, 

 and credulous people must be found to employ him. Let him 

 possess a Hebrew bible, without an arranged alphabet. In his 

 attempt to make out the order of the alphabet, such an indi- 

 vidual, relying upon approximating resemblances, and ignorant 

 of the elementary principles of graphic language, will proceed 

 altogether by guess, and where the resemblances are doubtful, 

 will make frequent mistakes — placing n, before m, S, before R, 

 &c. &c., and knowing there are twenty-four letters in the Eng- 

 lish tongue, and ignorant that there are not so many by one-third, 

 in the older languages, he will think the varying forms of the 

 same letter, are different letters, and will swell the number of 

 the letters of the oriental alphabet, to that of his vernacular 

 tongue. This Mr. Eaton has done for geology. Unacquainted 

 with the European types, except through the most deceptive of 

 all things, hand specimens ; and thinking all the rocks in Europe 

 were probably to be found in the State of New York, he has not 

 only put rocks out of their place in the series, but has swelled 

 his imaginary column by introducing the lias, in a country where 

 the whole oolitic system is wanting ; and this, where there v/as 

 not the least approximation, either in mineral structure, or or- 

 ganic remains. It is greatly to be regretted it is so, but this is 

 the truth. When it is considered that Mr. Eaton boasts of having 

 taught such a defective system — to say nothing of his universally 

 rejected nomenclature — to seven thousand pupils, it is by no 

 means a harsh thing to say of him, that " he has injured a cause 

 he seems to be zealous in, and has abused the rare opportunities 

 he has had of doing good." But these glaring demerits, though 

 often the subject of conversation among scientific men, were 

 indulgently overlooked ; it was hoped experience would have 

 its usual effect. This was a vain hope; the appearance of 

 " the geological text-book," made further forbearance almost 

 criminal. 



As this answer to the attack upon Mr. Eaton's reviewer, will 

 probably be looked into, by those who would seem not to have 

 read the article in the N. A. Review, or to have seen its refer- 

 ences in vain, the writer of the article " Geology" reluctantly, 

 and in his own defence, once more cites a few passages, from the 

 Review, and the " Geological Text-book." 



