326 
Scepticism in Geology . 
[June, 
existing surface of hill and valley ; such movement being 
“ unconnected with * causes now in aCtion,’ and in faCt inde- 
pendent of them.” He thinks that “ the mountain masses 
of the globe, the basins of lakes, the channels of rivers, the 
deep bed of the ocean, its narrow straits and wide gulfs, are 
the result of overthrow, rather than upheaval, of fissures 
and cracks in Earth’s surface caused by its contraction and 
shrinkage while the rocks were in the aCt of cooling down 
from the state of a molten mass, like a lava stream, solid 
above, yet resting on masses still pliant from heat, and 
movable below.” The leading outline of this theory of a 
primeval split-up of the crust of the globe does not, says 
“ Verifier,” originate with him, many geologists — chiefly of 
the foreign schools — having approximated to it. It will be 
observed that, in speaking of volcanic phenomena, he uses 
a simile which is strictly applicable to a living or growing 
body ; they are, he says, to the Earth what boils and pustules 
are to the human body. I find other writers indulging in 
language similarly suggestive of the truth of my view of 
creation. The idea that the Earth’s loss of heat from 
radiation has performed an important part in the changes 
which have taken place on its surface has been, and still 
continues to be, a favourite one with a certain class of both 
astronomers and geologists. It is, however, discountenanced 
by Sir Charles Lyell in his “ Principles.” “When we con- 
sider,” he says, “the discoveries recently made of the 
convertibility of one kind of force into another, and how 
light, heat, magnetism, electricity, and chemical affinity are 
intimately connected, we may well hesitate before we accept 
this theory of the constant diminution from age to age of a 
great source of dynamical and vital power.” In reply to an 
“ eminent physicist,” who ridicules the search for some 
renovating power by which the amount of heat may be 
made to continue unimpaired for millions of years, as like 
the dreams of one who hopes to discover a source of perpe- 
tual motion, he answers— “ But why should we despair of 
detecting proofs of such a regenerating and self-sustaining 
power in the works of a Divine Artificer ? What is the 
origin of the force which governs the motions of the hea- 
venly bodies ? It has been likened to the intellectual power 
of the human will, which initiates and directs all our mus- 
cular actions. To define its nature has hitherto baffled the 
efforts of the metaphysician and natural philosopher, but 
assuredly we are not yet so far advanced in our knowledge 
of the system of the universe as to entitle us to declare that 
a great dynamical force like that of heat is on the wane.” — 
Vol. i., p. 213, 10th ed.) 
