REPORT ON GEOLOGY. 
409 
I think, be termed the true dynamics of geology, with far more 
justice than that appellation has been applied to other branches 
of our science. I w r ould so denominate the general considera¬ 
tion of the forces which appear to have been the agents in dis¬ 
locating and elevating our strata ; whether in the earlier geolo¬ 
gical disturbances, or in the actual phenomena of volcanoes and 
earthquakes. We have already seen how much Von Buch has 
contributed, of the most important generalizations, to our know¬ 
ledge of actual volcanic phenomena; and Elie de Beaumont 
has been nearly the first to call attention to anything like gene¬ 
ralized views with regard to geological elevations. But still it 
is but a very small portion indeed of the totality of these pliae- 
nomena, which have yet been brought under our cognisance. 
Indeed, the more general science which includes this, our know¬ 
ledge of the physical geography of the different regions of our 
planet, is still in its infancy; but, as it shall advance, is it too 
much to anticipate the most important conclusions, when we 
shall be able to speak of the periods of elevation of the Him- 
malaya, the Andes, and the American Rocky Mountains, with 
as much evidence as we now do of the Pyrenees and Alps ? 
When we shall have a generalized view of the principal distur¬ 
bances of the great continents, may we not hope to enter, * 
with a prospect of satisfactory solution, on the great problem of 
the elevation of those continents, and the determination of their 
general forms, on the consideration of the forces which have pro¬ 
duced these effects, and even on the dynamical investigation of 
the laws which those forces appear to have followed ? There is 
one source of analogy which has always appeared to me as likely 
to throw illustration on this subject, and which I yet almost 
hesitate to allude to, lest I should incur the charge of indulging 
speculations altogether rash and visionary. However, I would 
premise the observation, that w T e must surely in no respect con¬ 
sider our planet as an isolated body in nature; it is one only of 
the general planetary system, and every fair presumption of ana¬ 
logy favours the supposition, that similar general causes have 
acted in all the members of that system. Now one of these mem¬ 
bers, our own satellite, is placed sufficiently near us to enable 
our telescopic observations to distinguish accurately the general 
outlines of its mountain chains, and other similar features of its 
physical geography. We have been able to discern even the 
eruption of volcanoes; and any one who has viewed its surface 
through a telescope, must be struck with the exact identity of 
the forms which he there contemplates with the maps and 
descriptions of the volcanic districts of our own globe. If we 
recall Von Buch’s account, already referred to, of crateriform 
