l88i.] 
Geology as a Science and an Art. 
457 
he formed for himself an hypothesis. At all events he set 
to work and carefully analysed the crystals, and found as an 
actual facft that they were nearly pure lead. Taking for 
granted, then, the uniformity of Nature, Pattinson saw that 
what had taken place by an accident in his laboratory could 
be reproduced of set purpose on a large scale in a metallur- 
gical process ; and by the process he thus devised, which is 
called after him Pattinson’s process, thousands of tons oi 
lead are now being treated every year. This discovery of 
Pattinson’s affords us, as it seems to me, a good example of 
the employment of the scientific method. 
And, now, after so long an introduction, an introduction, 
however, not unnecessary, I come to my more immediate 
subject — Geology as a Science and an Art. First, what is 
its aim as a science ? Secondly, what arts depend upon the 
body of doctrine which it establishes ? Asa science geology 
occupies rather a peculiar position. If we separate it from 
that which is now called physiography, but which is also 
called the science of physical geography, it becomes a 
purely historical science. Hence it has been said that 
geology is the physical geography of the past, and physical 
geography is the geology of the present. To understand 
what geology is, then, we must understand what physical 
geography is. Unfortunately physical geography, as set 
forth in many of the older text-books not yet out of use, is a 
queer jumble of fragmentary information. We all know the 
celebrated definition of a man of culture as one who knows 
something about everything and everything about some- 
thing. I think the books on physical geography, of which 
I speak, may be defined as containing a little about every- 
thing and everything about nothing. But if we take 
physical geography in the relation to geology above indi- 
cated, we must define it as the science which treats of those 
causes now in operation, which modify the crust of the 
earth. Then geology becomes the application of the know- 
ledge thus gained to the past history of the earth under the 
altered conditions indicated by a study of such portions of 
the earth’s crust as come within our reach. For such 
study mineralogy and petrology afford some of the requisite 
data. 
There is another branch of science which, in one of its 
aspedts, is an integral part of geology, and, in another of its 
aspedts, is a portion of the science of biology. I refer to 
Palaeontology. Palaeontology is the study of ancient life 
forms. It gives fadts concerning the creatures which once 
lived on the earth’s surface, which fadts may be interpreted 
VOL. III. (THIRD SERIES). 2 H 
