passages which we shall extract, will supply a sufficient Joy to the Christian-trouble to the Mooridea of the author's style and abilities. In chivalric Shame to the crescent-glory to the cross !" descriptions, Mr Sillery is always very happy; take for example the following spirited passage, with which the We are not quite sure that even in “ Marmion," second canto opens :

many passages will be found more spirit-stirring, and

accurately descriptive, than that which we subjoin : How dark are those woods in the solitudes where the spreading chestnuts grow!

Beneath the Baron's banner broad How green are the oaks o'ershading the brooks that

A thousand knights had fain meand'ring through them flow!

Fought for the lovely cross of God, How gloomy and still the pines on the hill, scarce wa

In Palestine and Spain. ving a leaf to the breeze!

And, sooth it was a goodly sight But how bright is the glance of shield and lance all glit

To see them on their steeds; tering between the trees !

With blazing shields, cuirasses bright, Ride forth! Ride forth! from the gloomy north, ride

Gold, steel, and silver weeds forth from the dismal wood;

With nodding plumes and lances long, Each lofty lance, advance! advance! and shield with

And scarfs of every die; thy cross of blood.

Silk penoncels on spear-heads strong, They come from between the elms green, a dashing and

Like rainbows of the sky; clashing tier;

Bold crests above their helmets set, All sheathed in steel, from head to heel, a hundred

Rich arms upon their shields; knights appear!

The red cross and the griffon lit By the coronet in his helmet set, by the lofty plumes he

On gold and silver fields. bears,

While battle-axe or martel hung

Beside each saddle bow; By the cross on the field of his burnish'd shield, and cuirass of gold he wears,

And ponderous falchion clash'd and rung By the gauntlets bright of silver white, in which his

With jewell’d hilt below. lance is grasp'd,

To see the silver spurs on heel, By the baldrick fair, with jewels rare, and brilliant

The fretted casque on head ;. cuisses clasp'd,

The chargers barded all in steel, By falchion emboss'd, and cuirass cross'd, with crimson

For war and tilting bred. bands on gold,

Their housings with escutcheons, too,

Emblazon'd every one ; By yellow spur, and ermine fur, with cognisance unrollid,

Red, green, and sable, pink and blue, By beaver barr'd, I by knightly guard, by stately bearing

All burning in the sun. bold,

With chamfrons bright, And by milk-white steed, I read, I read, that this is a

And plumage white,

And hoots like arrows springing, baron of old. He comes from the chase, with lance and mace, from

And arching manes hunting the wolf in his den,

And golden reins, With him from the heights a hundred knights are wind

And bells of silver ringing. ing down the glen

Of all those gallant warriors brave,

Alonzo was the bravest ; Through thicket and brake, by river and lake, and under the rocky steep,

Of all those knights who bore a glaive,

Alonzo was the gravest. Their chargers of black all follow the track that leads to the verge of the deep

And why?--the bloom of youth was bright Their steeds are prancing, plumes are dancing, helmets

And fair upon his cheek; glancing bright,

His lip was red-his brow was white While sabres are gleaming, armour beaming, and pen

His arm was never weaknons streaming white.

Weak! 'twas the strongest in the fight,

The boldest at the siege ; It is not too much to say of the following graphic

While all the virtues of a knight

Adorn'd our hero liege. sketch of a knightly feast in Baron Vallery's castle, And, O! how bless'd 'bove all mankind, that it has an Homeric air :

Is he, through life, in every part,

Whose armour is his honest mind, Not Haerlem's organ, with its awful peals,

And simple truth his dearest art; Roaring through twice ten thousand tubes at once,

Noble in aspect, good at heart, Could equal the loud sounds of clashing bells,

To all deceit and evil blind, Horns, trumpets, shalms, and ringing atabals,

Whose greatest joy is to impart Psalteries and timbrels, monochords and pipes,

Friendship to those who little find.Cymbals, tambours, bugles, and kettle-drums,

But love can tame the boldest soul, Harps, rotes, crowds, lutes, guitars, and dulcimers,

As many a gallant heart has proved; Which fill'd the ball, and roll'd along the dome,

And need we add, to crown the whole, Shaking the fretted work and drapery,

The young, the brave Alonzo loved. Like thunder flowing into harmony. White plumes are dancing round the burthen'd board, In a different strain, but one of much power and One hundred knights, all cased in polish'd steel, Like iron pillars, on whose capitals

beauty, for so young an author, is the following passage: Wave ostrich feathers, at the banquet quaff

The Psalmist, when he gazed upon the sky, The ruby wine, and carve with gloves of steel- And saw those boundless, countless worlds on high, Round flows the wine, and louder grows the mirth. Exclaim'd,-“ O God! what is the son of man, - The feast is o'er--the sewers remove the load

That thou shouldst deign to visit him?" But then The laugh increases-silver goblets ring

He had not known the microscopic ken; Fruits of all kinds are piled upon the board.

He had not thought that every leaf is rite “ Flagons,” the Baron cries ;-"Cup-bearers, here, With teeming worlds of happiness and life; Fill up these goblets ! Tell the cellarer

That every wave which o'er the ocean rolls, We want more wine. Come, minstrels, sweep your Above, below, between the distant poles; harps."

Bears not a drop without its world. Ah! yes, " A toast ! a toast!" the gallant warriors shout : A busy world of being and of bliss! “ Long may the griffon on the banner spear

Wondering, we know that every grain of sand, Of Vallery wave upon her lofty towers

Which paves the sea and strews the fertile land,

May harbour in it tribes of every kind,

A Glance at some of the Beauties and Sublimities of Joyful, and vain, and busy as the mind ;

Switzerland; with Excursive Remarks on the va. That e'en the air itself, so pure and blue, Swarms with innumerable insects too;

rious Objects of Interest presented during a Tour And that may lie beyond the ken of man,

through its Picturesque Scenery. By John MurBeyond the best assisted eye to scan,

ray, F.S.A., F.L.S., &c. &c. London. Longman A universe, within so small a spot,

and Co. Edinburgh. Lizars. 12mo. Pp. 282. As to elude his every power of thought.

1829. 'Tis this redeems man from his littleness,

The author of this work, which has just issued from From insignificance to power; 'tis this That shows him he is not the least of all,

the Edinburgh press, is enuitled, from the specimen of

his abilities before us, to take an honourable place among Though, in the sight of those bright spheres, so small. Last, noblest attribute, the soul! the soul

the scientific travellers of the day. Mr Murray has alRaises mankind at once above the whole;

ready appeared before the public as a scientific author, Above the sun, above creation even,

in his treatises on the “ Light and Luminous Matter O glorious thought, to rank with souls in Heaven!

of the Glow-worm," and his “ Manual of Experiments

in Chemical Science," which have been received with We are much pleased with the delicacy and simpli- applause. His Lectures, too, at the Surrey Institution, city of the following song, which might, we think, be we know to have been characterized by that perspicuity very successfully set to music:

and conciseness, which are best calculated to ensure sucThe rose that blushes bright to-day,

cess as a teacher. Willingly, therefore, do we introduce May wither on the morrow;

Mr Murray to ur readers in the work before us; and The bird that tunes its,merry lay,

we think we shall be able to favour them with a May change its notes to sorrow.

“ glance at some beauties" of it, as well as of Switzer. The beaming eye, which smiles in light,

land. May cease the cheek adorning;

Switzerland, which, like our own country, is the The heart that dearly loves to-night,

“ land of mountain and of flood," possesses, for the man May falter in the morning.

of science and the scholar, no common attractions. Its Ah! no-ah! no, The heart can alter never ;

stupendous mountains, covered with eternal snows-its Its ceaseless flame still burns the same,

icy glaciers, reflecting the sun's rays with a bewildering Forever and forever.

brilliancy,--its fertile valleys, its magnificent lakes, its

lofty woods, and its bird-nest-like towns, present a The sweetest flowers but bloom to die,

tout ensemble totally different from that of any other The loveliest rose inust wither;

Continental country; and the only wonder is, that it The lark forget its summer sky,

never produced a poet. The bee forsake the heather.

Mr Murray very properly omits detailing any thing The truest friends that ever met,

connected with his journey from Paris to Geneva, Met only to be parted;

as that has been described a thousand times, and freThe happiest love that glows, may yet

quently, too, by individuals who never saw either of Be cross'd and broken-hearted. Ah! yes ah! yes,

those cities. “For me, the scenery of France," says The brightest eye may languish;

Mr Murray, somewhat ungallantly towards la Belle The gentlest breast find only

rest

France, " is void of charms; destitute alike of the pea. Beyond a world of anguish.

sant's hamlet, and the mansions of the great, neither

pretty pleasure grounds decorate the landscape, nor The only other passage we can quote, expresses, in a beauteous semblance of a flock at rest,' is seen. The pleasing and spirited manner, our author's attachment fields of France are naked and cheerless, and the woods to the lyre and intellectual pursuits—an attachment are mantled in more than forest gloom, while the vil. which we hope he will carry with him through life, for lages we pass through are of litle interest." In like vita sine literis mors est:

manner, our author has declined saying almost any thing From heaven to earth, from earth to sky,

of Geneva, but from the little which he does say, wc From east to west, and pole to pole,

extract the following passage :
O'er woods that wave, and waves that roll,

GENEVA.
The mind can soar, the Muse can fly.

6. On Monday we perambulated the city, which cer. Yes, yes, the mind is ever free,

tainly has very little, as a city, to recommend it. It To climb the mount, or span the sea :

is characterised by much active industry within doors, And, freer still, the Muse can find

the savans and mechaniciens being pent up in their In every flight another mind.

closets and ateliers, and very little gaiety pervades Be dumb the tongue, the eye be blind, The limbs in iron fetters bind;

the promenades. Some parts of the town are sufficiently Be perish'd hope, be wrung the breast,

picturesque ; the overhanging roofs, for which it is reThe forehead hot, the frame opprest;

inarkable, are, however, too lofty to screen the pedesThe heart be wounded, cross'd, and torn, trian from the rain, especially if accompanied by a high The man, of every friend forlorn,

wind, and form no shade from the sun. In darkness and captivity;

ment of the streets is bad, and their irregularity is a Yet still the mind, the mind is free!

considerable drawback from the internal appearance. From heaven to earth, from earth to sky,

The pavement of the inclined plane in the Hotel de From east to west, and pole to pole,

Ville, by which we gain the arduous ascent that conO'er woods that wave, and waves that roll,

ducts to the Passport Office, is a curiosity of its kind, The Fancy and the Muse can fly.

and perhaps unique. The city is tolerably well fenced In conclusion, we have no hesitation in saying that in with walls within walls, draw and suspension bridges, we know of few young men of one or two-and-twenty, and gates; while stakes and chains secure from surprise (and Mr Sillery is no more,) who have made so suc. on the part of the lake. The small canton of Geneva, cessful an appeal to the public, or one which should be though in the vicinity of the Great Alpine chain and the more speedily recognised and encouraged, whether we mountains of the Jura, includes no mountains. The regard the intrinsic excellence of this his first effort, or name of the city and canton has been traced by the etythe promise it holds out of still higher things yet to mologists to a Celtic origin; Gen, a sally-port or exit, come.

and av, a river, probably because the Rhone here leaves

The pave

6

CALVIN AND CALVINISM.

the Leman lake. The eagle on the escutcheon of the with hands, the Alpine horn sounds long and loud and city arms indicates its having been an imperial city; shrill, . Good night,' repeated by other horns ; while a and it is believed the key was an adjunct of Pope Mar- thousand “good nights arc reverberated around, and tin V., in the year 1418. The motto on the scroll, the curtain of heaven closes on the shepherds and their “Ex tenebris lux," appears to have existed anterior to the flocks.”_Pp. 218-19. light of the Reformation. The number of inhabitants

THE DESTRUCTION OF GOLDAU. may now be estimated at about 22,000 ; but it appears, « This terrible catastrophe occurred on the 2d Sepby a census in 1789, to been 26,148. In this tember 1806, by the fall of the Rossberg, which rese, moral city, it is computed that every twelfth birth is il. originally, 3516 feet above the level of the sea, This legitimate. The number of people engaged in clock mountain has also been called Russberg or Spitzbühls. and watch-making and jewellery may be safely rated at The eventful morning appears to have been ushered in 3000. In years favourable to these stiple manufac. with rain, which continued until noon; and, during the tures 75,000 ounces of gold are employed, which is almost entire day, the heavens were sad and sombre, as if in equally divided between watches and jewellery. The anticipation of the event about to ensue. About two daily supply of silver is about 134 ounces. Pearls form P.M., the forests and orchards, which compassed the an article of considerable value in the jewellery, and Rossberg, appeared convulsed, as if shaken by the inhave been rated at no less a sum than 1200 francs daily. visible hand of Omnipotence ; and occasional fragments 70,000 watches are annually made, only one-twelfth of of rock were observed to fall. About an hour after, which are in silver. More than tifty distinct branches the villages of Goldau, Lowertz, Rother, and Kusenare comprised in the various departments, and each work- gen, were overwhelmed ; and a once smiling valley, man, on the average, earns about three shillings a-day." where 600 peaceful shepherds and their families dwelt, -Pp. 4–6.

with their flocks and herds feeding on the plains beside It is impossible for us to accompany Mr Murray in them, was covered with the rocky wreck of fell desola. his journey to explore the Valley of Chamouni, and the tion and ruin, which circumscribed a square league. It other interesting features of Swisg scenery, and we shall

was a dread picture of destruction. Thus, in one awful rather proceed to make a few desultory extracts from moment, was an Arcadian vale turned into a Gehinnon his volume.

valley of shrieking. In the ruin, were involved two At Geneva, we bave the following notice of

churches, 111 houses, 200 granaries and stables, more

than 400 persons, and at least 325 head of cattle. This the projecting window of which Calvin addressed the of the Rhigi on this side, by elevating the plain at its “We observed in our perambulations, the house from fearful accumulation of the wreck of the Rossberg formed

a new mountain, and diminished the apparent altitude populace, and altogether it recalled to our minds the base. Strangers, whom curiosity had led toward the house of Joun Knox, in the Canongate of Edinburgh. Rhigsberg, were unfortunately overwhelmed, as well as In Geneva, however, we regret to say, the name of Cal- the inhabitants of the plain. vin is almost unknown among the majority of its inha. bitants. I asked a respectable-looking person to tell me place between a child and her nurse, buried aniong the

“ A melancholy colloquy is stated to have taken where I could find out the house where the celebrated rocks, and separated from each other by them. "Come,' Calvin once lived; he was sorry, however, he said, to confess that he did not know whom I meant, for he had ment," said the girl, in reply, will soon be passed; we

said the child, .do take me away.'-The day of Judg. not heard the name of the gentleman before. " The ecclesiastical court of Geneva is managed some

shall then find ourselves in heaven, and be for ever hapwhat like that of the Church of Scotland, and candidates py:'. A gentleman, of the name of Dettingen, had a for the ministry go through an almost similar course of pretty house on the side of the hill; at the moment when

the waters of the lake of Lowertz rose, there were in his study and examination. The title proposan applies to the individual when he enters the priesthood ; but when of these was five years old, and the other nineteen, the

house a female servant and two of his daughters; one he is set apart to the charge of a parish, he then assumes latter dumb. She was the only one saved. tho epithet pasteur. The oldest pastor of the city

“ There is detailed a still more wonderful instance of takes the title doyen ; and the president over the weekly the interference of Providence in the case of an infant convocation or assembly of pasteurs, which meet, as in of two years old, belonging to persons named Metter, the Presbyteries of the Church of Scotland to regulate who, though seemingly swallowed up with the cottage ecclesiastical affairs, is called, as in Scotland, modera- | in which it lay, was ultimately found calmly asleep on tor, though in the latter the Presbytery is monthly."

its mattress, on a mass of rubbish at some distance. In Pp. 175-6.

minutely examining all the circumstantial details of this The two following passages are powerful and graphic : remarkable instance of preservation, we find ourselves THE ALPINE HORN.

as utterly at a loss to account for it as Dr Zay seems to “ There was a wild romance in its notes, which was have been. The cottage had a solid roof, the windows characteristic, in a very high degree, of all around. This were too small to permit the passage of the mattress, instrument is about eight feet long, and its farther ex- the door was locked, and the wooden walls and rafters tremity rests on the ground. It is used among these were dashed to pieces. The infant, when taken up, mountains, not merely for the herdsman's call, but as an smiled. The parents were absent from the village dainvocation for the solemnities of religion. As soon as ring the catastrophe, and, on their return, had the hapthe sun has shed his last ray on the snowy summit of piness to receive their infant uninjured. the loftiest ridge, the Alpine shepherd, from some ele- “ The effect on the minds of the survivors seems to vated point, trumpets forth, "Praise GOD THE LORD!' have been that of stupor and total abstraction. They while the echoes in the caves of the everlasting hills, thought that the final day of doom had arrived, and that roused from their slumbers at the sacred name of God, the fall of the Rossberg would be promptly followed by repeat, ' PRAISE GOD THE LORD! Distant horns on that of the Rhigi, and other mountains around; and lower plains now catch the watch-word, and distant indeed it seemed almost to realize the Apocalyptic vi. mountains ring again with the solemn sound, ' PRAISE sion of the Day of Judgment, “ when the wicked shall GOD THE LORD!' and other echoes bounding from say unto the mountains and to the hills, Fall on us, and other rocks, reply, .GOD THE LORD!' A solemn pause hide us from the wrath of the Lamb." It appears, succeeds ; with uncovered head, and on the bended knee, from undoubted authority, that this is not the only cathe shepherd's prayer ascends on high. At the close of tastrophe which the annals of the Rossberg have to rethis evening sacrifice, offered in the temple not made cord; as a former village, named Rother, was destroyed

a

by a fall from the same mountain, but the date is not bably in the state of sulphuret of iron. When exposed well ascertained : 180,000 francs were contributed to- to the air, these get covered with a snowy efflorescence, ward the relief of the unhappy few who survived.". just as happens to some of the argillaceous slates of our Pp. 240_4.

Coal Measures. This was finely exemplified in the We must now take leave of Mr Murray's work, in waste coal-workings that form the Hurlet alum mines, which he appears to advantage, both as a traveller and near Glasgow. But certainly the most characteristic a man of science. Ia the first character, he is modest feature of this submedial formation, is the impressions and observant ; in the latter, ingenious and learned. We of fish, indicating most clearly the dreadful turmoil have heard that Mr Murray is a candidate for the Che- which presided at its origin. In some places, they are mistry Chair in the intended King's College, London, found in a constrained posture, suggesting the idea that and we shall be glad to learn that he has proved suc- they had actually perished in boiling water ! cessful.

It cannot be doubted that the revolution which caused

the vast accumulation of remains found at Monte-Bolca, The History of Scotland. By Patrick Fraser Tytler, must have been sudden, and that they were speedily co

Esq. F.R.S.E. and F.A.S. Vol. II. Edinburgh! vered after death, by the mineral deposit in which they William Tait. 1829. 8vo.

are now buried; for one of these fossil fish, now in the The first volume of this learned, and, we may safely Blochins, had not time, before it died, to let go another

galleries of the French museum, belonging to the genus say, national work, appeared last year, and will be continued at intervals

till completed in six volumes. Me fish which it was in the act of swallowing in our cli. Tytler stands so deservedly high in the literary world, eminent feature of the work, when any fish, (and espe

mates, it is added, with that acuteness which is a pre. that no congratulations of ours are necessary on the suc. cessful manner in which he is carrying on his labours. mer, it remains at the bottom of the water, for two or

cially one furnished with an air bladder,) dies in sum. The second volume contains the history of the reign of three days ; it then rises to the surface before it becomes David II., who succeeded Robert Bruce, and includes tainted, and falls to the bottom to rise no more, till pu. an Historical Enquiry into the Ancient State and Man- trefaction disunites its constituent parts. Hence, if ners of Scotland; under which is comprehended the most complete details of the General Appearance of the some days had elapsed between the death of the blochius, Country, -Distinct Races in Scotland, - Ancient Parlia- it would have mounted to the surface, and thus havé

above described, and its getting impacted in the strata, ment of Scotland,„Early Commerce and Navigation - been separated from the fish, which it was swallowing, State of the Early Scottish Church, -Sports and Amuse when arrested by the fatal catastrophe. ments of the People, &c. &c. Of all these subjects, the most ample, and hitherto unknown, illustrations are dies of others that had been newly swallowed, so quick.

Fish found in the same locality, too, contain the bogiven ; and we are confident that the talent and research ly had they been killed. Fish are also found in more which the volume indicates will add materially to Mr Tytler's literary reputation. We mention this work thus recent rocks than Transitions, and zoophytes are seen in briefly at present merely to show, that we are not slum delightfully given by the Doctor, but we can only refer to,

limestone. Every locality and circumstance of these is bering at our post; and we shall, in an early number, not follow him. These are sub-medial. The medial, present our readers with a much longer review, when we shall take the opportunity of discussing, likewise, the main-spring of the manufacturing prosperity of Britain.

or carboniferous strata, comprise the coal measures the contents of the first volume, published last year.

“ There are three different substances to which the

name of coal has been given :-). Lignite or fossilized SCIENCE.

wood, in some places, retaining its texture very disTHE FORMATION AND HISTORY OF THE EARTH. tinctly, and passing by a series of gradations from this

state to that of jet. 2. Anthracite or stone coal, a sub. A New System of Geology, in which the Great Revo- stance destitute of bitumen, occurs on the Continent, in

lutions of the Earth and Animated Nature, are reo mica-slate and other primitive rocks. In the transition conciled at once to Modern Science and Sacred slates of Derbyshire, anthracite also occurs. Carbona. History. By Andrew Ure, M.D. F.R.S. Professor ceous matters of this kind can never be profitably work. of Physics and Lecturer on Chemistry in the Ander- ed, so as to become objects of statistical interest. 3. sonian University. London. Longman & Co. 1829. The proper coal measures, called the Independent Coal Pp. 621.

Formation, by Werner, from its occurring in insulated (Second Notice.)

basins. This great carbonaceous deposit is interposed We now proceed, in Book II., from the primordial between the mountain limestone and old red sandstone world, but still, in the antediluvian period, to the re. below, and the saliferous or newer red sandstone above. view of what are called SECONDARY FORMATIONS, or Coal is a peculiar compound of carbon, hydrogen, and those which present remains of once living beings, oxygen, in which the first principle greatly predomi. previously, however, considering what are expressively nates. A little azote is also generally present. Some called TRANSITION Rocks, which are mineral masses coals, when distilled at a red heat, afford a considerable that denote the passage betwecn the upright primitive, quantity of bitumen or tar ; others, such as blind coal, and the horizontal secondary strata,-between those of afford none, and burn without fame. By a series of inorganic and organic evidence; because, in the course experiments on peat and various lignites their gradual of the consolidation and re-union of their parts, a few progress of bituminization was ascertained. By the apof the organic forms with which the sea was beginning plication of heat, under compression, to jet, it seems to to teem, falling into their crevices, became imbedded in fuse into a substance like true coal. The incipient their substance ;-- and what is termed SuB and SUPER stage seems therefore the work of water, the final one, of MEDIAL STRATA, in which England is so rich_in re- fire. Whether these two agents have been conjoined by ference to the TERTIARY, or upper formations, the nature in her great coal formations, is altogether uncerchief of which intermediate strata, geologically speak. tain, and must be left to future enquiry. Certainly ing, is certainly GREYWACKE, although to us those that hypothesis which traces the change to water alone, strata called THE COAL MEASURES, are by far the is the preferable. The coal districts exhibit no unequi. most important. That sometimes has a schistose texture vocal tokens of igneous agency, except where they are approaching to primitive clay slate, and amongst it is traversed by whindykes. One is led to infer that the found alum-slate, which is merely an argillaceous schist, coal-basins have been originally lakes liable to alternate impregnated with carbon and sulphur ; the latter pro- inundations; whence the alternate deposits of vegetable

matter, clay, and sand, afterwards converted into coal, The strata above chalk, or the TERTIARY rocks, con. shale, and sandstone, under great superincumbent press- sist of various beds of sand, clay (London and plastic,) ure, possibly of the ocean.”

marl, and imperfectly consolidated limestone. That callWhile thus treating of a subject so deeply interesting ed London clay forms one of the chief of the superior to manufacturing Britain, with a fulness and condensa- strata. It holds-as on the Isle of Sheppey, &c. some tion seldom before attempted, no collateral information' extraordinary remains of fruits, now exclusively of troescapes our author's research. Thus, it is remarked in- pical growth, and of an extinct species of cocoa nut, cidentally :

figured in this work, &c. It occasions, however, a dense Clay iron-stone, in beds or courses of nodules, is and barren soil, productive round the metropolis only common in the coal-fields, yielding on an average about by excessive working. 30 per cent of metal. Indispensable as this is to all A clear summary of what had preceded, in respect to the arts which bring comfort to man, with what provi. the Tertiary strata, which, near the supermedial in dential kindness is its ore here associated with its flux England, amounts to about a mile in depth, is very proand fuel, the limestone and the coal, whose combined perly wound up by an abstract of Cuvier and Brog. action alone can make it useful! Most justly, there- niari's Memoir on that singular tract of country, called fore, does Mr Conybeare say, that it can hardly be the Paris Basin-celebrated for a remarkable alterna. considered as recurring unnecessarily to final causes, if tion of fresh water and marine strata. We wish we could we conceive that this distribution of the rude materials follow our author through this most interesting portion of the earth was determined with a view to the con- of his work, but must content ourselves with a very brief venience of its inhabitants.'

outline. 66 The inclination of the strata which the basin shape The chalk forms the bottom of the basin, or gulf, bestows on the coal measures, is an arrangement most within which are deposited the several formations of the beneficial to man. Thus the successive seams rise on Paris district. Ere this antique chalk floor was covered its edges to the surface or near it; and thereby disclose by these mineral strata, its surface must have exhibited the mineral treasures concealed beneath, which would hollows and prominences, in the form of valleys, hills, otherwise have rested invisible and unknown. By the and terraces. These inequalities are still indicated by sloping position, many of the beds are not only brought the islets and promontories of chalk, which rise up within the reach of the miner, but the whole become through the new formations in certain points. Hence more easily worked and drained. There is one device, the excavations made in these upper beds reach the chalk however, i

in the coal measures, which, to a superficial at very variable depths. Nor have the inequalities ang thinker, will appear a defect in the fabric, though it be relation with those of the actual surface of the land. essential to their usefulness; I allude to the dislocations On reconsidering these beds, from the chalk upwards, of the strata, usually called faults, because they seem de. we conceive first of all a sea depositing on its bottom an fects, or, at least, put the miner to fault in his search immense mass of chalk, and mollusca of peculiar spe. after the coal. These intersections, whether by slips or cies. This precipitation of the chalk, and of its attend. whindykes, act as valves to the porous seams, or as ant shells, suddenly stops ; the sea retires, waters of floodgates to arrest the diffusion of the subterranean another kind, very probably analogous to that of our springs. By these natural dams, the water which might fresh-water lakes, succeed, and all the hollows of the inundate the whole, or, at least, entirely submerge the marine formation are filled up with clays, debris of land richest deposits of the centre, is confined to a single com- vegetables, and of fresh-water shells. But soon another partment, from which it is in most cases practicable to sea, producing new inhabitants, nourishing a prodigious drain it. These - safeguards of mines are, therefore, quantity of testaceous mollusca, entirely different from not confided to coal basins, but are providentially disa those of the chalk, returns and covers the clay, its lig. tributed through every important mineral bed.” nites, and their shells, &c. By degrees the sea with.

From such considerations, he, with happy tact and draws, and the soil is again covered with lakes of fresh the great aim of the volume ever in view, illustrates and water. We are led to believe that no organized bodies confutes in anticipation similar apparent contradictions in lived at that period in this sea, or that their exuriæ have other aspects of nature. Between the medial and tertiary, been completely destroyed. Lastly, the sea withdraws as we have indicated, super-medial stratas, or the proper entirely, for the third time. Lakes or marshes of fresh Secondary Formation of Geology, come to be treated water take its place, and cover with the remains of their of.. These are of great interest, and the substances of inhabitants the tops of almost all the hills. which they consist are described in order and at length, Such are the chronometers with which Geology mea. which we cannot follow here, however tempting be the path. sures the progress of time. But that science itself must

It is singular, that among the supermedial strata, have a starting place, indicated by mightier phenomena chalk, which is so frequent in Europe, should not be than even these here described ; and that point is The found in America, Mr Maclure asserting positively GENERAL DELUGE, to the reality of which the belief that it does not exist on that continent; and except in of all nations and tribes bear concurrent, though inditwo or three spots of the Hebrides and Sutherland, a vidual, moral testimony, and of which each corner of chalk formation is equally scarce in Scotland. It often carth's now serrated and rugged surface exhibits physi. produces a certain barrenness in the superior soil ; but cal evidence. In the Third Book, we come to the second it is admirably remarked by Dr Ure, and we quote the great division of this work, where is treated the Deluge, passage as a specimen, extraordinary with most other and the causes of the antecedent revolutions of the earth, scientific writers, but not unusual with him, of how ad. and of organic beings. It is appropriately introduced by mirably general information and precise science may be the expression of Cuvier, and the conclusions of De Luc united, and made illustrative of, and aid in advancing, each and Dolomieu, that if there be any fact well established other. “ The chalk valleys, however, are often extremely in geology, it is this, that the surface of our globe has fertile ; of which the Kent and Surrey hop grounds, and suffered a great and sudden revolution, the period of the downs for pasturing sheep, afford examples. Beech which cannot be dated further back than five or six thou. is the tree best fitted for a chalky soil. The Chiltern sand years. This revolution has, on the one hand, in. hills in Oxfordshire were anciently covered with thick- gulfed, and caused to disappear, the countries formerly ets and woods of beech, which afforded harbour to ban- inhabited by men, and the animal species at present ditti. Hence the steward of the Chiltern hundreds, for best known; and, on the other, has laid bare the bot. merly an employment under the Crown, has become a tom of the last ocean, thus converting its channel into nominal office, which members of parliament take un. the now habitable earth. der a fiction of law, in order to vacate their seats.”, Striking proofs of this lie at the very threshold of in.