Rev. Sydney Smith in defence of it. We can enjoy the ingenuity of Mr Combe, and a few more of the phrenologists, and, nevertheless, we can smile to see Phrenology knocked on the head by Sir William Hamilton, Mr Jeffrey, or any other worthy antagonist. So we can take up the Westminster Review just as if it were the Quarterly, and the Quarterly just as if it were the Westminster; and we can be as much pleased with Mr Bowring as we are with Mr Lockhart, provided they both support their own theories and opinions with an equal share of intellectual acumen. A Memoir of Barbara Ewing. By her Husband, Greville Ewing. Glasgow. George Gallie. 1829. IT is with considerable reluctance that we notice this volume; and, had we not promised to speak of every work of any consequence that issues from the Scottish press, we should certainly have passed it over in silence. We believe it to have been written with proper intentions; but we can say little either for the good taste or delicacy of feeling which led to its publication. The late Mrs Ewing, in every sense of the word, belonged to private life, and, we doubt not, possessed virtues The first article in the present Number of the Westwhich endeared her to her friends, and her domestic minster is an elaborate review of Sir Walter Scott's circle. Why this veil should be drawn aside after her "Tales of a Grandfather." The writer enters into a death, and an account of her birth, parentage, and edu-minute investigation of Sir Walter's sentiments regardcation, habits, and dispositions, be written by her hus- ing the House of Stuart, and endeavours to convict him band, and sold for three-and-sixpence, we confess our of many inaccuracies and fallacies. This is a point selves at a loss to discover. We do not like this trum- which has been long mooted, and will never be settled peting of the dead; and far less do we like it, coming to the satisfaction of all parties. There is one objection, from the Reverend Greville Ewing. It seems to us, that however, made to the "Tales," which we ventured to a widowed husband should feel that there was some- state some months ago, and which, we are not displeathing too sacred in his grief to have it made a common sed to see, is completely coincided in by the present topic of conversation at every tea-table and gossiping Reviewer. "An historical work," he observes, "com. visit. We may be wrong, (for Mr Ewing has more ex- posed for the instruction of youth, should, above all perience in these matters than we have,) but if a "Me- things, be careful to point out what is commendable, moir" of his third wife was to be written, we do not and what reprehensible, in the actions recorded. The think that he was the person who should have done it. work, in this respect, falls far short of the character of We pass over the literary and religious merits of the a good instrument of education. Censure and comvolume, though we think there is much to object to in mendation are often not dealt out at all, or are not adethe insinuations and attacks it contains against the Es- quately explicit; and sympathy is wanting with the intablished Church of Scotland; and we forbear to en-terests, the characters, and the principles, with which it quire whether it is of much importance for the public to know that Mrs Ewing "was blest with a pious nurse, who, being a widow, continued with her during the whole of her childhood," or that, when she lived in the vicinity of Auldkirk, "she procured visits from itinerant and congregational preachers,"- -or that it was "a mutual comfort to her and her husband that, during their married life, they were seldom separated, though she never grudged his absence when it was occasioned by calls of evangelical duty," or that "she zealously engaged in a sale of ladies' work in Glasgow, in aid of the funds of the Glasgow City Mission, and superintended one of the tables at that sale;". -we pass over these things, and content ourselves with expressing a hope, that, if this book turns out a good speculation, Mr Ewing will also give to the world the "Memoirs" of two other ladies, who must have been equally dear to him, and both of whom, no less than the lady to whom he dedicates the present volume, he is "soon to meet in a deathless world." The Westminster Review, No. XX. is for the good of mankind that every man should sympathize." This, we suspect, is the great and leading blemish of all Sir Walter's controversial writings, or rather of those writings which should have been controversial, but which are not so. The second article is a long one in defence of the Hamiltonian system. That this system, which professes to do so much, has made so little progress, is one of the chief arguments against it, and one which speaks more powerfully than the most laboured disquisition ever written. The third article is an amusing piece of gossip and light reading, concerning the Court of Napoleon, condensed from three or four French works on the subject. The fourth is a political puff of a novel called "The Anglo-Irish of the Nineteenth Century," and the author is christened by no less a title than the "Hibernian Sir Walter Scott."-The fifth is a short essay on Banking, taking the Letters of Malachi Malagrowther for its text. We plead guilty to not having read it. The sixth is an overhawling of an article in No. XCVI. of the Edinburgh Review, which, it is maintained, under a show of defence, was an invidious attack on Mr Bentham-the magnus Apollo of the Westminster Review. We shall leave the gentlemen to fight out their own quarrel.-The seventh article is a laborious and important one on the abuses existing in many of the public offices in which the Public Records of the country are preserved, and an account of the manner in which those abuses operate to retard historiTHIS is a good Number of the Westminster Review, cal research, and to impede the course of justice. The as Reviews go, in these degenerate days. Be it recol-eighth article is a flippant and very inconclusive one, lected, that, though steering clear ourselves of all political bias, we, nevertheless, assume the privilege of admiring talent wherever we meet with it" from Indus to the Pole"-no matter under what garb it may appear. We think Shiel and O'Connell two of the cleverest men which the clever country of Ireland has produced; but we are not on that account prepared to deny that Lord Eldon is a great statesman, or that the author of "The Breaking-in on the Constitution," in Blackwood's Magazine, is an able writer.. We are perhaps disposed to believe the Hamiltonian system a system of humbug; but, at the same time, we should never desire to see a better article in the Edinburgh Review, than that of the April 1829. Edinburgh. The Monthly Magazine, No. XL. April 1829. London. Whittaker. (although the author writes as if he were an oracle of the first magnitude,) on the important subject of Dry Rot. -The ninth is a tolerably unintelligible account of a very unintelligible book, "The Misfortunes of Elphin." The tenth is a clever exposure of the absurdities of the Disabilities and Privations affecting the Jews in England. The remaining articles, all of which are interesting, are upon the Law of Literary Property and Patents,the Newspaper Press of London,-Poor Humphrey's Calendar, the Expeditions to the North Pole, the system of Political Police in France, and the Case of the Forty-Shilling Freeholders. There is thus a great variety of subjects discussed; and, on the whole, an exceedingly creditable display of talent in the Twentieth Number of the Westminster Review. The Monthly Magazine is one of the stanchest periodicals in the metropolis for the glorious Constitution of 1688, and has, like old Eldon, battled to the very last gasp. The present Number contains, among other things, a short but bitter attack on the Cabinet, a dozen members of which the Monthly could see "kicked out,' (to use its own words,) without the slightest compunction. On poor Peel they are particularly severe; they say," Our hearts shrink at the mention of the apostate. Scorn has no word deep enough for the emotion which his very name stirs in us. He is undone; if he were to live for a thousand years, he can never wash away the name his apostacy has earned to him. The best thing for him to do, is to fly from public life, and make his peace with Heaven; for, by his country, he will be called the Apostate during his existence, and it will be the only title on his grave!" Doctors differ, and so do Magazines and politicians. Mr Peel, we doubt not, is an honourable man,"So are they all, all honourable men.' As a curious fact connected with this Magazine, we may mention, that the Printers, Publishers, Proprietors, Editors, &c., sent a petition to Parliament against all concessions to our Roman Catholic brethren. The Monthly, in its Original Tales and Sketches, comes nearer Blackwood than any other Magazine we know. Their "Affairs in General" are sometimes very good, and the Review department is conducted, on the whole, with spirit and impartiality. lated from the Edinburgh prompt-books. On the whole, we can safely recommend the work to all those persons who like to get for a sixpence that for which they would elsewhere pay several shillings. The Book of Health; a Compendium of Domestic Medicine, deduced from the experience of the most eminent modern Practitioners. London. Vizetelly, Branston, & Co. 1829. DR ARMSTRONG has said, that "It would be highly advantageous to the public, and likewise to the best part of the medical profession, if the predispositions and occasions of disease were made a portion of the educa tion of every gentleman." We are inclined to agree with the Doctor; and are even disposed to go a step farther, and to think, with the celebrated Howard, that it would, in most cases, be best were every man to be his own physician. He would commit blunders, to be sure, now and then; but he would never have to swallow a whole materia medica, or go through a course of operations, that make the flesh creep but to think of. Here is a plain sensible book, called "The Book of Health," containing simple remedies for all known discases, which any body, with a head larger than a pin, may understand at once, and have the immediate satisfaction of curing himself, without being a guinea out of pocket. We do not know the price of the "Book of Health;" but it cannot exceed five shillings; and the first time we are afflicted with apoplexy, asthma, catarrh, diabetis, dropsy, inflammation, jaundice, palsy, theumatism, syncope, typhus, vertigo, or any of the other "ills that flesh is heir to," we intend trying whether, Huie's British Drama. Edinburgh. Stirling and with its assistance, we may not save the doctor's fee. If Kenney. 1829. THIS is a neat and correct edition, now in the course of being published, of the most popular acted dramas. It was originally projected by the individual whose name it bears, and from whom it was purchased some time since, by Messrs Stirling & Kenney, who rightly calculated upon its speedily superseding other more spurious editions. They employed, as their editor, Mr Hislop, who, till recently, was editor of one of the Edinburgh weekly newspapers, and whose acquaintance with dramatic matters and judicious criticisms on the stage, well fitted him for the task. Thirteen numbers have already made their appearance, and others are to follow in quick succession. To each play are affixed "Remarks" by the editor-brief, sententious, and spirited-describing the character of the play, with a short account of its author, and of any remarkable incidents which may have occurred during its representation. An engraved frontispiece is also given to each number; but, although this is a very common practice, it is not one of which we can at all approve. The frontispiece to a play that is sold for so low a price as sixpence, must always be of the most inferior description. So far from bringing any particular scene more vividly before us, it merely spoils the pleasure which our imagination might have enjoyed, if left to picture for itself the personal appearance of the characters. In taking up the numbers before us at random, we find that Juliet has a snub nose of the most awkward description,-that Richard III. is evidently labouring under a severe attack of colic, that Justice Woodcock is a caricature of the Laird of Cockpen,-and that Captain Macheath is an uglier and more dissipatedlooking rascal than either Burke or Hare. When we bind the work into volumes, we shall most assuredly tear out the embellishments; for we do not choose to have our conceptions of the immortal creations of poetry thus vulgarised. We may remark, that this is the only edition of the theatre that contains our popular national dramas, which, we understand, have been carefully col we die, the Edinburgh Literary Journal must inevitably stop, and the reputation of the Book of Health" will be ruined; but this is a frightful consummation, which we do not anticipate. Vol. I. The Library of Entertaining Knowledge. THIS is another of those cheap and useful works which at present swarm throughout the country. It is published under the superintendence of the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge, a very praisewor thy and excellent institution, ranking among its members Henry Brougham, Lord John Russell, Sir James Mackintosh, Henry Hallam, Francis Jeffrey, Captain Basil Hall, and many other eminent literary and scientific characters. The part now before us is very handsomely printed, of the size and shape of an elegant pocket volume, which will extend to upwards of four hundred pages, and will sell for four shillings. It contains a number of engravings, executed with much spirit and fidelity; and the interesting subject to which it relates is treated of in a popular and pleasing style. We understand that two other volumes are in preparation, one of which is to be entitled, "The Love of Knowledge overcoming the Difficulties of its Pursuit; illustrated by Notices of celebrated Persons;" and the other, "A History and Description of Substances used in the Arts." A Part is to be published every month; and if it proceeds as it has commenced, we wish the work all success. The Dublin Juvenile Magazine; or Literary_and Religious Miscellany. No. I. April 1829. Dublin. William Curry, Jun. & Co. THIS is a neatly printed, and very engaging-looking little work. It is adapted for all classes, but designed more especially for the youthful part of the Irish population. It combines literary amusement with religious instruction; and, without being particularly brilliant, is pleasing and judicious. Political allusions are avoided, and there is nothing violent or unchristian in the tone of its contents. We should think it will meet with a fair share of encouragement, especially in the sister Isle. SCIENCE. THE FORMATION AND HISTORY OF THE EARTH. A New System of Geology, in which the Great Revolutions of the Earth and Animated Nature, are reconciled at once to Modern Science and Sacred History. By Andrew Ure, M.D. F.R.S. Professor of Physics and Lecturer on Chemistry in the Andersonian University. London. Longman & Co. 1829. Pp. 621. THE principle of curiosity in man is the origin of all that he knows beyond the truths of Revelation. And, while it could never have discovered these, its judicious exercise builds around his faith ramparts that resist the insidious encroachments of a scepticism, which assumes that portion of wisdom's attributes, that consists in doubting, without being able to nurture the noblest of its characteristics-Belief. It thus repels, too, the more painful and pitiable hesitations and fears, which most readily infect minds whose fineness of temperament exposes them to the alternations of confidence and despair. Curiosity, or a desire to know, is the parent of belief in Natural and the builder of the firmest bulwarks around Revealed Religion. It has soared sunward, counted the stars of the firmament-extended to us the boundaries of creation calculated the density of other planets and measured that of our own. The meanest thing that crawls examines with its earliest developed instinct, the habitation where it is placed. Man has meditated on the structure of his-the Earth-since the hour that he became, in virtue of his capacity of intelligence, its master. The first root he extracted from its surface, the first grave he dug in its bosom, served to show him the diversified nature of the component parts of that floor upon which he stood; and the convulsions which it suffered, unveiled its deeper mysteries, and called forth his profounder thoughts. What was wonder, is now science; what was simple observation, is now GEOLOGY. This is the appropriate term which is attached to the study and knowledge of the nature of the earth, and the revolutions which its crust has undergone. It is not easy to magnify the importance, the dignity, or the striking and engrossing nature of investigations, which have for their aim a right understanding in regard to these objects, involving, as the conclusions deducible from them do, considerations of overwhelming moment questions of long-agitated curiosity and collateral points whose immediate practical utility is only secondary to their universal and enduring interest. Some of the most gigantic minds that have ever adorned the world, have been devoted to their elucidation. The process has been a slow, but, in being so, it has also been a philosophical one. For nearly the last century, it has been conducted in the right way: it has been inductively pursued. Facts and observations have been accumulated, till the archives of science are full of truths in relation to it. The time for generalization has at length arrived. The harvest has been for some time ready for the sickle. Scattered ears have been gathered, whose ripeness may have been too much presumed upon -but a labourer, armed, and robust, and ready for the toil, has now descended into the field, and we proceed to show how admirably he has achieved his glorious but gigantic task. We hail the publication of this book as friends to philosophy and to religion-we exult in it as Scotsmen. The production of such a work is an era in the history of science, if to use with effect the accumulations of previous observers be to imprint great truths in the history of intelligence. This will perhaps be called extravagant praise. At least it is not niggardly. We avouch it to be disinterested. We proceed to prove that it is deserved. The title is, in one sense, a happy and expressive one; but in another, it is not. As a system of Geology simply, it is too sober and excellent to be new, in the sense ordinarily attached to that term, since it proceeds upon known and indubitable data, and not on novel speculaand history of the shell of our globe, embracing an tion. But, as a masterly exposition of the formation account of the causes and progress of its revolutions, to illustrate which, every light which every science collateral to geology can afford has been brought, and collected into a series of mutually reflecting foci, and as proceeding from a desire to lay before the world a view of certain intrinsic sources of change in the constitution of the earth, which seem to have escaped the observation of philosophers, but which appear to be deducible from modern physical and geological discovery, and a wish to lead popular students of philosophy, to the moral and religious uses of their knowledge, it is, indeed, entitled to the credit of the term NEW, in its best and truest sense. Fittingly commencing with an introductory review of the opinions which have been entertained on the formation and revolutions of the Earth, from the time that the physical cosmogony of Greece consisted of little more than metaphysical speculations, the preliminary coup d'ail rapidly proceeds from the age of the sophists to the little less crude speculations of Dr Hutton and his disciples, and at once boldly and distinctly states the author's own creed, founded on results "eliminated from the physical researches of the present volume, displaying the primary developements of the material system, and the great revolutions of the earth, in such surprising harmony with the master touches of the Hebrew prophet, as to constitute-in his opinion-incontestable evidence of his being endued with a knowledge more than human; for he has indicated a style and sequence of natural phenomena, gainsaid or disowned by all human learning, till the profound and novel investigations of these latter days, have unveiled their truth." Such being his basis of, and animus to investigation, he fitly remarks, that the rhapsodies of fanaticism, and the bigoted subjugation of science to certain figurative expressions in Scripture, are alike to be shunned. Revelation was certainly not imparted to mankind, for the purpose of instructing them in any principles of philosophy, which reason can explore. When the phenomena of nature are described, it is always in popular language, corresponding to the informations of sense. Thus the sacred writers, in common with practical astronomers of every age, speak of the sun and stars as rising, setting, and moving, in the firmament, yet neither our astronomers, nor the Scriptures, are thereby supposed to pronounce a judgment on the actual motion or repose of these luminaries. In relation to geology, such a truly philosophical method of investigation is here of recent date, however much men have speculated regarding cosmogony since the earliest ages. It can scarcely be traced farther back than the appearance of Mr Smith's Mineralogical Map of England, and the foundation of the Geological Society of London. After the eloquent, but necessarily discursive introduction, we come to a systematic arrangement of the most precise kind: the work being separated into three great divisions, or books the first of which treats of the Primordial World, commencing with the general forms of matter, light, the atmosphere, and the primi tive structure of the terraqueous globe. In it we find that matter can assume but three distinct forms-the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous; and these depend upon the relation between attractive and repulsive powers. Intermediate or transitive forms are possible, but not of importance in this enquiry. The attractive force is that, which, under various modifications, gives origin to cohesion, gravitation, &c. Had it reigned alone in the terrestrial system, every thing would have been condensed into a motionless mass, in which water and air would have been as fixed as the solid rock. This, therefore, is the natural condition into which the attractive particles of matter spontaneously tend to come, and at which they do arrive, unless counteracted by the divellent force, called caloric or heat. Light and heat are the same; if light consist in certain vibratory affections of an elastic ethereous medium, so must heat. Dr Young believes that they may occur to us in two predicaments, the vibratory or permanent, and the undulatory or transient state. Newton was of the same opinion. That heat consists in such vibrations, seems to be demonstrated by a fine experiment made long ago, by Sir H. Davy; in which two pieces of ice were converted into water, by their mutual attrition, in an atmosphere at the freezing temperature. We may hence understand why both heat and light come to possess analogies with sound. Thus a magnetic steel bar, set a-ringing for some time, will be deprived of its magnetism as perfectly as if it had been heated red hot; and a charged electrical jar may be discharged equally by heat and by causing it to sound like a musical glass. Between heat and light, so intimate a relationship subsists, that they must be conceived as two modifications of the same fundamental agency. Thus, if any substance, even a stone, water, or air, be heated to a sufficient degree, it becomes luminous. These positions are then brought to bear upon the original formation and solidity of the globe; for when first the calorific energy was made to actuate the body of the earth, a mighty change would ensue. The central mass composed, most probably, of the metallic bases of the earths and alkalis, as volcanic phenomena seem to attest, would fuse; the exterior parts would oxidize into the crust of mineral strata, and the outermost coat of all, the fixed ice, would melt into the movable waters. Thus, if a mass of basalt be exposed to a high temperature, it will melt into a liquid glass, which, quickly cooled, remains a transparent and uniform vitreous body. Now, if this body be heated again for some time, but so moderately as not even to have its substance softened, it will become throughout its whole interior a congeries of regular crystals. earth. light three days prior to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. When, however, in the progress of research, we come to discover that Moses has described events in their just order of sequence, an order, which reason could never suggest to him, and which has lain concealed till our own days, even from the philosopher, we are then forced to conclude, that he was inspired with a knowledge truly divine. "Philosophy," says Frederick Schlegel," when studied superficially, leads to unbelief and atheism; but when properly understood, is sure to produce veneration for God, and to render faith in him the ruling principle of our life." These investigations are conclusive as to the undulatory theory of light, which is confirmed by the phenomenon of the dark bands produced in the beautiful experiment of the beam of light reflected from two mirrors slightly inclined to each other, and which seems of itself to be quite decisive against the emission of material particles from luminous bodies, for it is impossible that the accumulation and conden. sation of such particles, or that light added to light, should produce darkness. Yet such is the fact; for by an experiment made in Dr Ure's presence at Paris, it was proved, that on causing the fringes produced by the interference of two beams reflected from slightly inclined mirrors to fall on newly-prepared chloride of silver, they traced on it equidistant black lines, separated by white intervals. It was further proved, that the unequal action of the light at the different points of the space where the two beams are united, depends on their mutual influence; for, on withdrawing one of the beams, the chloride of silver assumed a uniform dark tint in the very same space in which lines alternately black and white were formed, when the two sunbeams arrived there simultaneously. Thus, then, even the dense forms of matter are pervaded by a luminiferous medium, by whose undulatory movements the phenomena of light are produced. To the creation of this marvellous essence, the Divine mandate, Let there be light, seems to refer. The next chapter, "On the Atmosphere," assumes the well-known facts, that its density diminishes with its distance from the earth, in the ratio of a geometrical to an arithmetical progression, and that its constituent proportions are, 79 and 21 of azote and oxygen, while in a thousand parts, one part of carbonic acid gas may be discovered; and in relation to these proportions, our author remarks, that "were the bulk of oxygen quadrupled, so that its quantity should equal that of the azote, a most noxious air called nitrous gas (deutoxide of azote) might result; a gas which, with an additional charge of oxygen, would condense into an ocean of aqua forThe infusion of this quickening energy seems dis- tis, or nitric acid. A slight modification of chemical tinctly indicated by the inspired historian of the earth. affinity would convert even our existing atmosphere "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the into the most corrosive of liquids; a result which the And the earth was without form and void; and Hon. Mr Cavendish many years ago produced, by meredarkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit ly transmitting electric explosions through a small porof God moved upon the face of the waters." This last tion of common air." Uniformity of temperament, howidea, has been, perhaps, more truly rendered by Milton, ever, could alone make this medium everywhere of in the expression, "dove-like sate brooding on the vast equal height, density, and elasticity; but that uniformabyss, and made it pregnant." In this sublime con- ity, from the alternation of earth and water on the ception, thus finely paraphrased, may we not, asks the surface of our globe, does not prevail. Hence a perpeauthor, recognise the impregnation of the torpid sphere, tual circulation is maintained; the colder air in our with elementary fire, that principle of all material acti- hemisphere flowing southward below, and the warmer vity? That our globe existed for long ages in a chaotic air northward above, and so tending to equalize the aerial state, is ingeniously confuted; and the question is asked, temperature over the globe. "Thus," Dr Ure concludes, “Why build a mansion in the wilderness of space, long" we perceive, that the mechanism ordained by Infinite ere tenants are prepared to occupy it ?" That it is no Wisdom, to divide the waters which are under the firmore than 6000 years old is confidently asserted, and mament, from the waters which are above the firmathat it assumed its primordial form within the period ment,' is inferior to none of those refined and beautiful stated in Holy Writ, is ably argued. adaptations which lie most obvious to human sight, in the kingdoms of life, or in the starry heavens. But for this delicate adjustment of conflicting elements, the clouds and concrete vapours would have obscured the sky, to an indefinite distance, concealing for ever the glorious orbs which circulate in celestial space." The second chapter is "On Light," and is a masterpiece of profound investigation; leading irresistibly to the conclusion, that had Moses written the record of creation, from the informations of sense or Egyptian learning, he would not have placed the creation of Having treated of the first forms of matter, as originally and as now acted upon by LIGHT and the ATMOSPHERE, we are naturally led to the investigation of THE PRIMEVAL LAND and OCEAN; and the strictly Geological portion of the book, some will infer, only here begins; but they are as much in error as they would be, were they to suppose that a physician, whose business is with the body of man, was wide of the right track of his investigations, in enquiring how external causes act upon that frame, and regulate the performance of its functions. Dr Ure is of opinion so far with Granville Penn, that the antediluvian world presented a greater surface of earth than the present aspect of the globe, but does not, like him, hold that the proportions were precisely the reverse of the present. They were more nearly equal. Now, they are relatively as 100 to 365 nearly; but the ocean was then consequently deeper, and the form of the earth was a regular spheroid, while it was enveloped in water, though there are, at this time, considerable irregularities on the surface of the earth, so that the spheroid which agrees best with the degrees measured in France, is one having an ellipticity of 1 in 152; nearly double of what may be accounted the mean ellipticity. These irregularities of shape consist in an unequal magnitude and density of the great mountain masses and table lands, now standing above the waters. These views, here laid down as a groundwork, are, towards the conclusion of the work, brought to bear with irresistible force upon the consideration of the altered temperature of the modern globe; but, with the author, we proceed to "the properties of water, and the creation of organic beings." Of the first of these he speaks in a passage of glowing, yet pure and lofty eloquence, which Buffon himself need not have shrunk from owning. In a similar strain, our author describes the instantaneous appearance of vegetable life on the third creative day; and takes that opportunity to put the geological conclusions at which he aims in a most forcible point of view, deducing his argument from the creation of a perfect plant, the type and parent of an indefinite series, which does not seem to have been made a stumbling. block by the Botanical student, as the first arrangement of the mineral strata has been by the Geologist. Yet the cases are strictly parallel. Dr Ure next proceeds to the creation of animals-fishes and fowls being classed as the work of the 5th day by Moses, though apparently these two orders of animals have little or nothing in common, and hence some sciolists have sneered at the collocation of Moses. But the true naturalist admires the Scripture classification, because he perceives many fine analogies in it. Swimming and flying are, in truth, only the same act performed in different fluids. The effective instruments, organs, and movements, which produce or modify these acts, are similar, or at least analogous. The atmosphere is the ocean of the first; and the sea that of the second. But fishes enjoy their domain much more fully than birds; for they can traverse it in every direction-rise to the very surface, sink into the abyss, or repose themselves in any part of the fluid itself. The regular winds favour or modify the aerial voyages of birds; the currents of the ocean regulate in like manner the migration of its shoals. The instinct of generation, which can be satisfied only on coasts, constrains fish at each return of spring, to quit the deep ocean, and approach the shores. The females arrive first to deposit on the land-banks the burden of their spawn or eggs, and the males follow to fecundate them. Hence it is obvious, that fishes could not have animated the watery abyss, which circumfused the globe before the distinction of dry land and ocean existed. Thus we find the Mosaic statement strictly accordant with one of the most refined discoveries of Natural History. Wherever the land presents the greatest extent and variety of surface to the sea, there the fishes most abound. It is for this reason, that the great southern ocean is much more sparingly stocked with fish than our northern seas. Man was then created, and endowed with that principle which, we have shown, has led to the confirmation from induction of all that Revelation has told him of the origin of his earthly habitation, and its glorious garniture and habitants. We must now, however, leave the more flowery path of general observation, and accompany our author through some of the invaluable details of his profound and laborious work, although we cannot follow him through all the rare and varied lore he has brought to bear upon the conclusions which we shall shortly state. Multiplied observations have shown, that the crust of the earth is composed superficially, or to a moderate depth, of certain stratiform or schistose rocks, which, being devoid of organic remains, are termed Primitive. Chemical science demonstrates, that the crust of the earth consists mainly of six substances,-silica, or the matter of rock crystal, alumina, or pure clay, iron, lime, magnesia, and potash. Silica, in the crystalline form, is called quartz, and is a large constituent of the primitive mountains,-granite, gneiss, and mica-slate. Gneiss and mica-slate are nearly coextensive; they are arranged in planes usually parallel to each other, the mica-slate being, for the most part, uppermost. "But," observes the Doctor, with a felicity of style, that distinguishes the volume from the most of scientific works, "their wide-stretched foliated planes are seldom or never horizontal, or concentric with the curvature of the earth. They usually lie at highly inclined angles, like tables resting on their edges, in a nearly vertical position. In very many localities, vast irregular masses of granite are seen rising up through the schistose fields, as if these had been upheaved and dislocated by its protrusion, and were thrown like mantles round its shoulders and base. We, therefore, conclude that the primordial earth, as it lay beneath the circumfused abyss, was at first endowed with concentric coats of gneiss, mica-slate, and clay-slate, and with partial layers of semi-crystalline lime-stone; that at the recorded command of the Almighty, a general eruption and protrusion of the granitic, syenitic, porphyritic, and other unstratified rocks, took place, which broke up and elevated the schists into nearly vertical planes, similar to what now exist, leaving commensurate excavations for the basin of the sea." Quartz, felspar, and mica, blended in distinguishable crystalline grains, constitute granite. Quartz, felspar, and mica, in crystalline scales or spangles, constitute gneiss. The mica-slate formation consists of the mineral of that name; interspersed with masses of quartz. These form the three great primitive envelopes of the earth. These primitive rocks, pushed, as now, into visibibility in various parts of the world, are then described at length, and with an extent and variety of resources of information, and skill of arrangement, which make the detail as delightful as it is instructive; indeed, we find there ample, but not superfluous evidence" to prove that granite, porphyry, and syenite, is an erupted rock; the Atlas which has raised on its shoulders the gigantic ridges of gneiss and mica-schist, that constitute the mountain elevations of the globe; and that thus, by the expansive power of the internal agents already described, the crust of the earth acquired those irregularities of eminence and depression, that modified the geometrical spheroid around which the waters flowed, and gave it that distinction of dry land and sea, which fitted its surface to become the dwelling-place of organized beings." We must here stop for the present; but shall resume the consideration of this interesting work next Sa turday. |
