130 



THE GEOLOGIST, 



Source and Origin of all existence." The various theories and schemes of reconci- 

 liation of various writers are then reviewed, and the meanings of the terms 

 creation, days, earth, in the senses used are duly weighed ; but after a careful com- 

 parative analysis of the interpretations and modes of reconciliation as yet proposed, 

 with the concurrent geological facts, the author concludes that we must " regard 

 all attempts at the discovery of an adequate theoiy of reconciliation for the present 

 hopeless," and especially he regards as a barrier to an immediate settlement of a 

 satisfactory solution, the admitted ignorance of geologists as to the precise state 

 of the earth, immediately before the present creation. In leaving the subject thus 

 open, Mr. Gloag takes good ground in the expressed conviction that both the 

 geological facts, when fully demonstrated, and the scriptural declarations, when 

 properly interpreted, are founded on truth, and cannot possibly contradict each 

 other. "We need be under no apprehension," he properly says, "that true 

 science shaU ever be opposed to revelation. The Word of God is not contradicted, 

 but illustrated by his works. This has ever been the case in past ages ; and this 

 will ever be the case in ages to come. Scripture does not shrink from the strictest 

 scrutiny, nor is it at all afraid that any discovery of science shall either weaken its 

 evidence or contradict its statements." 



The author then passes on to reflections on the existence of death before sin, 

 the scientific view of the Deluge and the scriptiu-al statements in reference to it, 

 and then devotes the remaining portion of his eloquent little book to the illustra- 

 tion of the Divine benevolence as displayed in the pages of geological history. 



We rejoice in the production of such inexpensive works, when characterised by 

 the information and candour so especially marked in this, and we heartily wish 

 " The Primeval World" an extended circulation, from the belief that its pages 

 will nowhere be perused without pleasure, and by no one without advantage. 



Mr. Pattison's is a still smaller book than the one we have just reviewed, 

 but it is by no means its inferior in diction or matter, and is characterised by a 

 peculiar poetical vein of writing. The author tells us that it is not another 

 attempt to construct a scheme of reconciliation which shall satisfy all parties, nor 

 a new theory of mterpretation either of the earth or the Word of God ; but an 

 endeavour to consider both records together with equal reverence as being of equal 

 authority. ' ' Undoubtedly," he says in the Preface, " the minds of many good 

 men are uneasy at the suspicion of" a conflict between the testimonies, just as on 

 the eve of an important trial the young advocate is distressed by the prospect of 

 contrary evidence equally credible. But in both cases the open examination 

 removes, one by one, all the apparent discrepancies, and tmth comes out all the 

 more illustrious for the clouds wliich beset its course." 



Mr. Pattison opens his book in an easy flowing style, which is maintained 

 throughout. " From some eminence, ascended in the course of our autumnal 

 ramble, we see the green earth spread out before us as a map. Its aspect, colour, 

 composition, and arrangement, suggest design ; we ask, was it made for us ? — by 

 whom ?— and when 1 Memory brings to our recollection the ofterings made by 

 'mother earth' to om- material well-being, and we readily conclude, that the 

 requirements of man had somethmg to do with its origin and plan. The shrewdest 

 observers and most profound thinkers in all ages, who have investigated the con- 

 dition of the earth, have arrived at the universal conclusion that 'the hand that 

 made it is divine.' From the deepest mines and loftiest mountains, from primeval 

 rocks and alluvial plains, from liquid ocean and ambient air, the testimony springs 

 up, ' In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.' " 



From the cosmogony of the subject the author proceeds to a brief review of the 

 succession of strata forming the earth's crust, with the remains of former creations 

 entombed in them, and the value of those mineral masses to the necessities and 

 uses of mankind. Tbe arrangement of the rock-masses is then more minutely 

 dwelt with a view to show " the one property which belongs to all the varie- 

 ties of material, namely, utility to man. As civilisation advances, one and 

 another instance of this is discovered, and brought into practical demand in the 

 common life of the worid's population. We daily avail om'selves, in a thousand 

 ways, of the vast stores of nmieral matter laid up and prepared for this end 

 anudst the slow processes of anterior time." 



