U2 
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, -w hich 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 
wliat had disappeared ; besides, a striking relationship existed between the 
pebbles and the underlying and adjacent strata. These pebbles, he be- 
lieved, 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 \^ as 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 whicli 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 or Dublin. — Jan. 13. — Professor J. B. Jukes, 
F.K.S., in the chair. 1. "An Attempt to calculate the Duration of Time 
involved in Geological Epochs." By the Eev. 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- 
