REVIEWS. 



70 



the same condition ; and when, by cooling, the outer crust had forme d 

 every part of that crust must have been (at least, as to thickness) in the 

 same condition. Upon this crust the internal molten fluid exerted an ex- 

 pansive force (bow it acquired this force is not stated) by which ' certain 

 parts of it were pushed up,' while at the same time, or afterwards, certain 

 other parts ' suffered a corresponding depression.' Is this consistent, 

 that the same expansive force should push up and pull down — be at once 

 propelling and tractile ? And why, seeing the physical necessity of uni- 

 formity of condition of the whole, all the crust should not fare alike, is 

 hard to conceive ; and still harder is it to conceive that a piece of crust 

 once up should go down again, or once down should go up again. Yet 

 these alternate up-risings and down-sinkings, this game of geological see- 

 saw, was not played out till twenty-eight or twenty-nine alternations had 

 been gone through. But it must be admitted that though all parts of the 

 crust had equal claim to rise or fall, yet the apparent want of fair play 

 was, in the long run, equitably compensated ; every part had its innings, 

 and the very ground which the reader now occupies has bobbed up and 

 down at least eight-and-twenty times ! Such is the doctrine in all the 

 books." " Observe, too, in the foregoing detail of operations, the sort of 

 co-partnery in the w r ork between God and Nature — the ingenious division 

 of labour. The Creator supplies the raw material already in a molten 

 state ; Nature then takes it in hand, and shapes it and cools it, so as to fit 

 the waters that surround it for marine tribes, which Deity forthwith sup- 

 plies. Nature again steps in, and by upheavals presents to Omnipotence 

 some dry land, 'compatible with the existence' of land-organisms, with 

 which it is of course speedily furnished ; and so on, as narrated above." 



Now, in this comment, although there is much that is defective, some 

 things not true, some apparently suppressed, and others exaggerated or 

 caricatured, yet it really does hit well home, and the " internal heat doc- 

 trine " and " the cooling-down theory " receive rather severe handling. 



The upheaval of one part of the earth's crust while another is depressed, 

 and all elevations and down-throws of such masses, are readily accounted 

 for by the contraction of the solid earth-shell over the internal fluid mass ; 

 but although one may " show cause why " such events or such phenomena 

 might or could have happened, no one can handle these theories as weapons 

 of defence against an acute antagonist without feeling their want of sharp- 

 ness and temper. They may be correct, but it is certain they want proof 

 and substantiation ; and so long as geologists are content with fanciful hy- 

 potheses and illogical deductions, so long will they fail to wield those pon- 

 derous and irresistible arguments which this grand science is well able to 

 furnish. This quotation will suffice to show that although Mr. Young's 

 arguments may not be convincing, there is ' : food for reflection " in his 

 writings. 



His book is a small one, and cheap ; the matter, probable as well as im- 

 probable, lively, interesting, dogmatic, speculative, argumentative, and 

 clever ; and is well worth perusal, although Ave do not think Mr. Young 

 brings the subject a bit nearer a settlement than his predecessors have 

 done, or than his followers are likely to do in our time. The more works 

 of this kind, the better for the cause of truth. Each puts forward the 

 boldest and most telling points of his opponents ; and if he fail to demolish 

 them, he helps his enemy's cause instead of his own, and readers get enlight- 

 ened by the failure as surely as by the success. 



