the authorities referred to are Steno, Strabo, and an Arabian writer of the thirteenth century;-no notice being taken either of Hutton or Playfair; while a work of Needham, published in 1769, is copiously referred to;-a book, we will venture to say, with which very few geologists in England were acquainted. M. de Beaumont certainly would have referred to a production bearing so much more directly on his own theory of elevation, as that of Hutton, if it had been known to him.

We have thus sketched the history of geological speculation, from the first appearance of Hutton's Theory of the Earth' in 1788 to 1829. For proof of the continued advance of the Huttonian views during the last ten years, we may refer to numerous publications-the Geological Transactions and Proceedings of France, Germany, and England, the various works of M. Boué, and the Principles' and Elements' of Mr Lyell-all concurring to prove the almost daily progress of those doctrines; which, we think, can be ascribed only to the fact, that they are true.

The following, then, may be given as a fair summary of what we have endeavoured to establish in the preceding pages.-1. Steno in 1669, Moro in 1740, and Generelli, illustrating the latter, brought forward many just views, derived from Italy; which, having been published, must be considered as known to subsequent writers. Their works have, however, included also some very erroneous speculations; and the combined mass of sound theory and conjecture remained for years unproductive.-2. Dr Hutton, in 1788 and 1795, maintained that a theory of the earth should be confined to the explanation of the existing state of things, by the agency of known causes; and, either inventing or reviving the Plutonic doctrine, he removed many difficulties, by uniting the effect of compression with the agency of heat. He was thus enabled to explain the consolidation of the sedimentary rocks; to prove that there were no such things as primitive mountains; that the granitic and trappean masses were all of igneous origin; that they have broken through and invaded the sedimentary strata, at various times; and that this agency is an essential part in the constitution of the globe.-3. Within a few years, nevertheless, the opposite or Neptunian hypothesis had come almost universally to prevail. The writings of the Italians were neglected or forgotten. In France, the volcanic views of Desmarest were rejected, or imperfectly appreciated. In Germany, the Wernerian system reigned with despotic sway; a theory was there supreme, which asserted the existence of an original chaotic fluid the primitiveness of granite and the crystalline rocksthe former submersion under water of the entire globe; to all

which hypotheses was added the dogma, that, as compared with former times, the existing powers of nature, in the mineral kingdom, are now weak and declining.-4. The doctrine of Hutton, also, was at first little known, and coldly received; but, after the appearance of Playfair's Illustrations,' was generally diffused in England. Soon afterwards, the Geological Society was instituted; the stratigraphical tenets of Smith were published; multiplied enquiries were made into the relations of the English stratified groups, and new evidence was obtained in support of the Plutonic theory. In France, about the same period, the aquatic theory still retained its influencethe Huttonian was scarcely known-and Germany was still Wernerian. 5. But the Plutonic views began, about 1820, rapidly to gain ground on the Continent; and, from that period to the present day, new and more exact enquiries have been continually adding to the proofs of Hutton's principal doctrines ; while Cuvier, his contemporaries and successors, have produced new facts and results, in departments of enquiry almost unknown to Hutton, but harmonizing beautifully with his views-respecting the fossil contents of the strata-their relations to the existing forms of organized beings-the succession of fossil species-and the various analogies between several existing causes and those which operated during former conditions of the globe.

The remarkable facts with respect to Dr Hutton's doctrines, are, that while, as diffused by Playfair, they were producing profitable effects in this country, they had scarcely been announced in France, or were chiefly known there by obscure reflection from England,-and that now, when these same propositions are almost universally received, they are ascribed to authors long posterior to Hutton,-who did not even begin their enquiries, till several years after his theory was published, as it now remains.

We shall here close this enquiry, without attempting to return, by any forced recurrence, to the volume by which it has been suggested. But the connexion of the preceding history with Mr Lyell's works is by no means slight; and we have been anxious to annex to our first notice of an author of established popularity, a rectification of some erroneous impressions, which he has derived, from adopting, perhaps too readily, the views of preceding geologists. We are convinced that nobody will partake in our satisfaction more cordially than himself, if we shall have succeeded in proving that Dr Hutton was really the founder of the TRUE THEORY OF THE EARTH.

ART. VI. Narrative of the Voyages of H. M. S. Adventure and Beagle; detailing the various Incidents which occurred during their Examination of the Southern Shores of South America, and during the Beagle's Circumnavigation of the Globe. By Captains KING and FITZROY, R. N., and CHARLES DARWIN, Esq., Naturalist of the Beagle. 3 vols. 8vo. London: 1839.

THE HE day may perhaps arrive when the British navy will be thought to derive as valid a title to fame from its peaceful achievements, as from its triumphs in war. At all events, the historian may give vent to his admiration when he states that the ascendency maintained by England for so many centuries on the ocean, has been chiefly founded on and constantly directed to promote the arts of civilisation. The shores ravaged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier, have been surveyed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Vancouver, King, and Fitzroy, for the benefit of mankind. The career of the heroic bucaniers was, in their days, deemed one of honour; but the rights of humanity are now better understood; and it is no mean boast that England has known how to maintain the naval superiority acquired in former times, without derogating from the improved spirit of the present age. Still, there are many for whom victories and successful violence have superior charms; and possibly some one may ask, where shall we find Sir Francis Drake's equal now-a-days? We answer that the nautical skill, hardihood, and love of adventure of that worthy, are of extremely common occurrence, and are only restrained by peace, and the general prevalence of lawful authority, from rising into distinction. The reader of the Narrative now before us, cannot fail to be surprised at the number and energy of the English mariners, who, in their industrious pursuits, frequent the stormy shores of the southern extremity of the American continent. Besides, it must be remembered that a bucanier may be successful with a far less stock of seamanship and cool resolution than is required for the execution of a nautical survey in a tempestuous region; for he plays a game of chance; whereas the surveyor adheres deliberately to the most inhospitable shores, and makes himself familiar with dangers that he may teach others to avoid them.

The revolutions which liberated South America from the yoke

of Spain, and the consequent increase of our trade with Chili, and the other republics bordering on the Pacific Ocean, were probably among the motives which determined the Lords of the Admiralty, in 1825, to order that an accurate survey should be made of the southern coasts of the peninsula of South America, from the southern entrance of the river Plata, round to Chiloe. For this service were equipped, the Adventure of 330 tons burden, and the Beagle of 235 tons, rigged as a barque, and mounting six guns-an admirable little vessel, though belonging to the decried class of gun-brigs. The command of the former vessel and of the expedition was given to Captain Philip Parker King, already distinguished by his survey of New Holland ; and Captain Pringle Stokes was appointed to command the Beagle. On the 22d May 1826, the two vessels sailed from Plymouth; and on the 19th November following they left their anchorage at Monte Video, and steered southwards to commence the arduous labours of the survey. It would lead us far beyond our just limits, if we were to attempt to recount chronologically the proceedings of both this expedition and that of Captain Fitzroy which succeeded it. We shall endeavour, therefore, as far as possible, to blend their results together; and shall have recourse to Captain King's journal exclusively, for such preliminary matter only as is required for an introduction to the more copious Narrative of his successor.

The expedition entered the Straits of Magalhaens or Magellan on the 21st December, the midsummer of those regions. The first anchorage of the vessels was at Cape Possession; and a few days later, Port Famine, about forty leagues further in the strait, being reached, seemed to offer so many local advantages, that it was at once selected as the headquarters of the expedition. The mention of these two places necessarily brings to mind the melancholy issue of the attempt made by the Spaniards to colonize and fortify the shores of the Straits of Magalhaens. In 1579, an expedition was dispatched by the Viceroy of Peru, under the command of Pedro de Sarmiento, to pursue Drake, and to take the corsair dead or alive.' Sarmiento, thinking it likely that he might find his enemy lurking in the narrow passage through which he had made his way into the Pacific, entered the Straits of Magalhaens by the canal of S. Isidero-probably the Cockburn and Magdalen channels of our recent charts-which channels, there is reason to believe, were navigated by Ladrilleros in 1525. The imagination of Sarmiento appears to have been forcibly impressed by the unexpected luxuriance of vegetation found by him in the strait; at all events, he represented the

capabilities of the country in so favourable a light, and insisted so strongly on the facility with which the narrows in the strait might be fortified, so as completely to command the communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, that he at last gained the King of Spain over to his views. Preparations for an expedition to take possession of the Magellanic countries were begun in 1581. Two years later, Sarmiento sailed from Spain with a fleet of twenty-three vessels; but tempest and disaffection so thinned his retinue, that, when he at last entered the straits, in December 1584, he had with him but five ships, and little more than five hundred men. With these he commenced building a town, named Jesus; the site of which, according to Captain King, was between the first and second narrows of the strait; but the old navigators are, we believe, unanimous in supposing Sarmiento's first settlement to have been in the vicinity of Cape Possession; and we confess that, in such a case, tradition appears to us to be a weightier testimony than any appearances of local fitness.

In the

A settlement being thus made near the entrance of the strait, Sarmiento proceeded, with a hundred followers, about forty leagues further south along the shore, to a spot uniting the advantages of wood, water, and a good harbour, where he founded the town of San Felipe. He then embarked, in order to return to the settlement at Jesus; but was driven to sea by a storm, and compelled to shape his course to Rio de Janeiro. From that place he made several unsuccessful attempts to carry succours to the unhappy settlers in the strait; and then, to crown his misfortunes, he was captured by English privateers, while on his way to Spain to solicit aid from the court. mean time the wretched colonists were rapidly cut off by priva tion, disease, and the arrows of the natives. In 1587, the celebrated Cavendish, entering the Strait of Magalhaens, levelled to the ground the town of San Felipe; and, in reference to the fate of its inhabitants, gave to the adjacent harbour the name, which it still bears, of Port Famine. He took on board but one of the surviving remnant of Sarmiento's followers, thus cruelly deceiving the hopes of relief which had swelled the bosoms of all when his ships were first descried at a distance. The last of their number was rescued two years afterwards by Andrew Mericke.

This history of Sarmiento's enterprise gives rise to some curious reflections. It is extraordinary that, so late as 1582, the court of Spain should have been led to the practical adoption of the belief that the Straits of Magalhaens, in some places but a league and a-half wide, afforded the only navigable communica