MONTHLY NOTICE. 



275 



MONTHL,Y NOTICE. 



September 1st. 1842. 



The late meeting of the British Association, the report of 

 which we conclude this month, has proved an exception to 

 the general lethargic character which has been attributed to 

 that body, in so far at least as concerns the geological 

 section. The communications, valuable in themselves, have 

 been enhanced in our estimation by the able remarks made 

 by several members of the committee, respecting the light 

 in which we ought to view the generalizations of geologists 

 founded on the present state of our knowledge of the earth's 

 structure; there was a beautiful simplicity yet wholesome 

 truth in Professor Sedgwick's remark that no " law'^ could 

 be said to exist in geological science — so often had pheno- 

 mena warranted (with every semblance of incontrovertible 

 proof,) the definition of certain geological agencies, which, 

 when least expected, had been disproved by other unforeseen 

 occurrences. Geology having always embraced much spe- 

 culative knowledge, lays claim to its present exalted station 

 as a branch of science solely on that ground, and as we find 

 that its most ardent followers acknowledge a truth, one 

 %vhich has always been cast in our teeth by those diffident as 

 to the value of the science — -we were naturally curious to 

 learn how it was that they ventured to hazard an opinion, 

 which if not well explained, would have afforded an addi- 

 tional reproof in the mouths of the opponents of geology. 



Professor Sedgwick implied, according to our own con- 

 struction of the expressions, nothing more, than that geology 

 should not hQ made a science of speculation, as the data which 

 we now possess, however extensive they may be in point of 

 number and accuracy, have not extended far enough com- 

 pared with the superficial area of the globe, to warrant any 

 generalizations — or such, to say the least, as should entail 



VOL. I. NO, IX, U 



