AMERICA THE OLD WORLD. 
7 
lived in different localities, and pursued their 
investigations over regions where the geological 
phenomena were of an entirely opposite char- 
acter, — the one exhibiting the effect of volcanic 
eruptions, the other that of stratified deposits. 
It was the old story of the two knights on oppo- 
site sides of the shield, one swearing that it was 
made of gold, the other that it was made of sil- 
ver, and almost killing each other before they 
discovered that it was made of both. So prone 
are men to hug their theories and shut their eyes 
to any antagonistic facts, that it is related of 
Werner, the great leader of the Aqueous school, 
that he was actually on his way to see a geo- 
logical locality of especial interest, but, being 
told that it confirmed the views of his opponents, 
he turned round and went home again, refusing 
to see what might force him to change his opin- 
ions. If the rocks did not confirm his theory, so 
much the worse for the rocks, — he would none 
of them. At last it was found that the two great 
chemists, fire and water, had worked together in 
the vast laboratory of the globe, and since then 
scientific men had decided to work together also ; 
and if they still have a passage at arms occasion- 
ally over some doubtful point, yet the results of 
their investigations are ever drawing them nearer 
to each other, — since men who study truth, 
when they reach their goal, must always meet at 
last on common ground. 
