408 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
whether the appearances presented in the mineral conditions and ])hysical 
aspects of the rock-strata, to wliicli they thus a])i)ly them, arc snch as to indicate 
their havinf^ been formed under like or under dis-similar conditions ; while our 
correspondent contents himself with a broad and unsubstantiated denial of all 
fact and fiction, and teUs us it is quite as easy to suppose one thing as another, 
a conclusion it requires no great amount of logic to arrive at. Neither is there 
any logic whatever in his association of the length of the days of creation, as 
written in the Mosaic account, with the periods of time rcqun'cd by geologists 
for the development of the earth to its present conditions. Tlie length of 
time the great rock-masses have taken in their formation, the length of time 
the earth has existed are the loj^lcal deductions from very exact and scrupu- 
lously examined data — data and deductions which have passed through the 
most violent and persecuting opposition, nnrivaUed only by the memorable at- 
tack upon the scientific truth developed by that foremost of astronomers, 
Galileo. Geology presents us in its statements on this topic with accurately 
logical deductions, but luiguists and theologists have not presented us with the 
like exact and logical hiterpretations of Holy W^rit. Geologists are labouring 
incessantly in the acquirement of i\c\y information, and have so far laboured in- 
comparably more earnestly and incessantly to ell'ect a reconciliation of these 
passages referred to than theologists tliemselves ; and whenever the thorough 
harmony is effected, probability certaixdy points to the side of geologists as the 
aecomplishers. 
Our correspondent is again at fault as to the extent of territory examined by 
geologists. He ignores the great geological sui'veys which England, America, 
Holland, and other countries have established. He forgets liow Englishmen, 
Erenchmen, Americans, and tlie citizens of every great and civilized countiy 
roam and travel over far-oif lauds, and bring Ijack to us volumes of information 
long before the roUiug tide of civilization reaches the shores of the remote lands 
they have explored. If every incli of ground is not probed to the quick, at least 
the general ostensible features of very vast extents of territory are as fully 
known as to satisfy the keen scientific observer that no great modification of 
his general deductions are required. Every new region pciietrated by the ad- 
venturous explorer adds to the consolidation of the previous deductions, and 
confirms instead of shaking into doubtfidness. 
In taking up his third pouit, oru- correspondent is far away indeed from a 
right comprehension of geological teaching. No one must thinlc by the mere 
reading of one or two geological treatises that he can, as geology stands at 
tliis i)rescnt tune as a progressive science, arrive at a proper estimation or 
knowledge of that vast and stupendous science. It is perhaps_ only by the 
labour of a life-time, and under the divine blessing of a powerful intellect, that 
any man can become a thorough geologist. More intricate and labyrintliine 
even than astronomy is the science with which he has to deal. Time, the great 
feature of the one, is as boundless as space, the great feature of the other ; and 
the knowledge of the phcnoineua of the depths below the surface of our globe 
is as dilBcult of acquirement as the penetration of the vision into the reabns of 
Hie outer worlds around us. Astronomy must be limited by the capabilities of 
tiie telescope and the vibrations of the pendulum ; but Geology is the physical 
history of our mother-earth from the first-days of its birth unto the end of tune 
— it is a great volume which no man's life will suffice for the reading. 
It is the difficulty often, so numerous are the ramifications of the data forming 
Ihc groundwork upon which- geological statements are made, of stating such 
ground-work concisely and explicitly that gives in many cases the appearance 
(jf illogical wTitiug;'and without going through the details of our corres- 
})ondent'b third and eoueluding portions of his communication, it will be easy 
for our rcadei-s to perceive liow the raih lixnlion, in time, of the geological 
