THE 



MONTHLY AMERICAN JOURNAL 



OF 



GEOLOGY 



AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 



Vol. I. Philadelphia, January, 1832. No. 7. 



GEOLOGY. No, 1.— ON THE CRUST OP THE EARTH. 



Having in the preceding numbers given our readers a rapid 

 sketch of the rise and progress of science, and of the causes 

 which have affected that progress at various periods of society, 

 we trust that the lesson to be derived from it may be deemed 

 useful to this young and prosperous country ; the citizens of 

 which have, for one of their most important duties, to act under 

 the behef, " that ?mtions, like individuals, are zveak in proportioji 

 as they are ignorant ; and that the memories of both are most ho- 

 noured, when they have advanced the arts and sciences.'^ 



We now commence the first number of the promised Essays 

 on Geology, and shall endeavour to redeem the pledge given in 

 our prospectus, " to treat the subject in an elementary manner, 

 divested of all unexplained technicalities; so that the great 

 principles, from which philosophical views of the arrangements 

 and operations of nature are drawn, may be lucidly brought 

 forward." 



We enter upon this duty with a desire to make our labours 

 instructive and amusing to all, and aware that we shall have to 

 attend to the wants of two classes of readers, the initiated, and 

 those who have even the elements of our science to acquire. 

 We shall have to throw ourselves upon the indulgence of the 

 first, the members of which must bear with us for awhile, if we 

 seek the simplest, and the surest means of accompHshing the 

 object we have in view — the general diffusion of the study 

 of nature. They will remember the time when they were, 

 as well as ourselves, ignorant of elementary principles, and will 



Vol. I.— 37 289 



