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THE GEOLOGIST. 



Scriptural Geology." He had for many years endeavoured to reconcile 

 the commonly-received geological theories with the Scriptural account of 

 the creation of the world, and it was only after repeatedly returning to the 

 subject that he had come to a simple view, which he believed was alike in 

 accordance with observed facts and Scriptural record. He considered that 

 the modern theories as to the formation of the earth involved many im- 

 probabilities. With the exception of pumice-stone, which might be pro- 

 duced by the local spontaneous combustion of some of the productions of 

 the earth, occasioned by heat, friction, or chemical change, all things ap- 

 peared to have originally been in a watery state. Even now rocks were 

 so moist that a current of air driven through them at once became satu- 

 rated ; and the soft moist nature of rocks was further proved by the stria- 

 tions which were exhibited wherever the continuity of rocks had been dis- 

 located. There were no remains of surfaces like that which covered now the 

 earth ; no beds of rivers ; and as to the so-called denudation, rocks thou- 

 sands of feet, nay, even miles in depth, would be wanting to account for 

 the present alluvial deposit. Immense blocks of the denuded rocks would 

 have remained. The pebbles and boulders were insufficient to account for 

 what had disappeared ; besides, a striking relationship existed between the 



I)ebbles and the underlying and adjacent strata. These pebbles, he be- 

 ieved, did not drift by glaciers, but were formed on the spot. The Scrip- 

 tural account of the creation led him to suppose that water was the first 

 element; that following the creation of light, which was. the first day's 

 work, expansion commenced ; force had thus begun, and with the light 

 apparently came chemical action, electricity, magnetism, heat, motion, and 

 the like. Parts aggregated and repelled, until what we call the firmament 

 was made. The waters then divided, part went above, and part went be- 

 low, the latter being called the earth. Scripture also told them that every 

 plant of the field and herb of the earth was in the earth before it grew, 

 and this would account for fossil remains in whatever part of the structure 

 of the earth they might be found. He considered that the earth was now in 

 the same state as it existed after the dividing of the waters, and the stria- 

 tions on surface-rocks were the result of ordinary friction when in a soft 

 state, when the waters divided. When the earth was cut into, there was 

 a freshness about it which showed that it had seldom been disturbed in 

 prehistoric times, and which refuted the notion that the world was any 

 older than the period assigned by Scripture. The paper did not meet with 

 a very flattering reception, but the author " knew of old what it was to ex- 

 press sentiments that were contrary to those commonly received as the 

 fashion of the day." 



Geological Society of Dublin. — Jan. 13. — Professor J. B. Jukes, 

 F.R.S., in the chair. 1. "An Attempt to calculate the Duration of Time 

 involved in Geological Epochs." By the Rev. Professor Haughton. — 

 Geologists having got into the habit of speaking of long periods of time 

 with extreme vagueness, he thought it a point of interest to consider how 

 long animals could have existed on the globe. If we admit that the earth 

 has cooled down from a gaseous condition to its present solid consistence, 

 it is evident that organic beings could not have existed on the earth until 

 it assumed some degree of solidity. Most geologists were acquainted with 

 the ingenious proof, which we owe to Arago, that the earth has not cooled 

 half a degree (Fahrenheit) since the time of Joseph. His proof is founded 

 on the fact of Joseph's having received from Jacob, in the present sent to 

 him to Egypt, some fruit which still grows in Palestine, and which will 

 not bear a climate differing in any way from that of Palestine at the pre- 



