254 
It unfolded to us the process by which the present structure 
of the earth was formed ; the order of its strata ; the alter- 
nate elevation and depression of land and sea; the causes 
which had moulded its surface into the various forms it now 
presents to us; the tremendous convulsions which (at least 
when they happened suddenly) must have been fatal to animal 
and vegetable life, but which experience has shown to be 
blessings to us, since it was by their means that our vast 
mineral treasures were brought within our reach ; and it exhi- 
bited to us, preserved as fossils, the framework of the bodies of 
the enormous creatures which inhabited the earth, and doubtless 
enjoyed their habitation, before it was fitted for man; and the 
prints of their footsteps on the primeval sand. But this 
Society aimed at applying science to uses more directly prac- 
tical; and addressing, as he was then doing, an audience 
composed partly of visiters, unacquainted, or imperfectly 
acquainted, with the precise objects and operations of the 
Society, (as he himself was till he read its reports within 
the last two days), he did not think he could do any thing 
better than state the impression which the perusal of those 
reports had made upon his mind. He found that the Society 
had three main objects. The first was to ascertain Geological 
facts connected with our own district. Every one must admit 
that facts are the only sound foundation of physical science ; 
but this, which is almost a truism with regard to physical 
science in general, has a peculiar significance with regard to 
Geology. In other physical sciences, when we have, by a 
sufficiently large induction, ascertained the existence of a 
general cause, we may, to a considerable extent, reason 
safely from cause to effect. Not so in Geology. There the 
regular operation of well-ascertained general causes was 
liable to so many interruptions from disturbing causes which 
were irregular in their operation, that the only safeguard 
against serious, and sometimes ruinous, mistakes, was to 
