14 



USES OF 



pheres ; while the very exterior surface of the earth was 

 scarcely considered. 



Such was the general state of geological science at the 

 Buckland. ^^^^ score of years in the present century. Since 



Geology ex- that time Buckland, aided by the veteran Cuvier, has com- 



tended to ' y •> 



detritus. manded the whole geological phalanx to leave for a while the 

 deep abodes of rocks, and to examine " the open caverns and 

 the furrowed earth." He has led out before us, from the cave 

 Antidilu- of Kirkdale, the antidiluvial mastodon, chased and gnawed by 



vial remains hundreds of hyenas. He has shewn us the torrid abodes of 

 the river horse and the elephant to have been in the latitudes 

 of Caladonia and Scythia. The deluge no longer rests on the 

 authority of written evidence. He points to records as dura- 

 ble as the earth, and far less changeable. The study of or- 

 ganized beings has become the most essential qualification 

 for the study of geology ; for their relics are the more sure 

 guides to truth. 



Reforma- g^t in the midst of these splendid discoveries, which over- 



tion requir- ... . , , , 



ed in rock whelm the strongest imagmation with wonder and amazement, 

 some reformation seems to be required ; even among those 

 rocks where Lehman and Werner begun their labors. This 

 humble task has occupied many a weary hour of several 

 Americans, who feel zealous in the cause of their own indi- 

 genous geology. And we have a Morton, a Cooper, and a 

 few others, among us, who are pursuing the course marked 

 out by Cuvier and Buckland. 



