290 Geology. — On the Crust of the Earth* " ' 



patiently accompany us in the — to ourselves — not most grateful 

 task, of going over, as it w^ere, the horn-book of geology. This 

 task, however, we cheerfully enter upon, and shall persevere in 

 it, urged by the general advantage we hope to accomplish. — 

 Having no fancies of our own to cherish, no theory to support 

 which is not raised upon principles of universal application, no 

 duty to perform but that of placing facts in an intelligent man- 

 ner before our readers, we shall hope that by the accumulation 

 of one simple fact upon another, and by the connexion of results 

 satisfactorily deduced from those admitted facts, we may raise 

 such accumulated evidences from nature, that their concentrated 

 light will at length beam with splendour upon the higher phe- 

 nomena of our science ; and that our earth, which to some, per- • 

 haps, appears an incongruous assemblage of inexplicable diffi- 

 culties, and the study of it a hopeless and repelling pursuit, may 

 at length be recognized as a temple of nature, not less remark- 

 able for the magnitude of its dimensions, than for the order, the 

 design, and harmony of its parts ; and these manifesting a con- 

 stant physical adaptation to the loftiest moral ends. We trust 

 that the subject, treated as we here propose, unincumbered 

 with any speculative views, will be acceptable to all, and 

 that our more learned readers, whilst elementary principles are 

 engaging our attention, will find some compensation in the higher 

 branches of geology of other parts of our Journal. 



Geology, — which is derived from two Greek words, meaning the 

 science of the earth, — in its most comprehensive sense, means the 

 study of nature, and of all natural objects ; whether those recent 

 ones belonging to the present order of nature, or those fossil ones, 

 belonging to more remote periods ; and which are supposed to 

 have preceded the creation of man, because no vestige of the 

 existence of our race has been found co-eval with them. And 

 since all the forms in nature present themselves to us, either in 

 organic or inorganic bodies, — meaning bodies which have the 

 faculty of continuing their kinds, and those which have not ; — 

 it is evident that geology stands in relation with all the physical 

 sciences, and that the geologist who is diligent and faithful in 

 the practical line of his pursuit, must necessarily become ac- 

 quainted with mineralogy, zoology, and botany; since the first 

 comprehends all inorganic bodies, and the two last all organic 

 bodies. By many the term geology is understood in a more 



