It will be observed, that Hutton refers to fire as well as water for the production of our present rocks; the former consolidating, hardening, and elevating; the latter collecting and depositing the strata '.

Both these systems have had able defenders in the persons of Mr. PLAYFAIR and Mr. KIRWAN; the former in his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory,' and the latter in his Geological Essays.' To these works, therefore, we refer the inquisitive reader, as well as to Mr. BRANDE's excellent Outlines of Geology', in which will be found a fair and impartial examination of the two systems. The opinion of Mr. Brande inclines to Plutonism, though, as he properly observes, he would not be deemed assentient to every clause of the Huttonian doctrines. Several of these, indeed, are considered to militate against the Scriptures; and the theory of WERNER, as illustrated by Mr. KIRWAN, has been found most conformable to the Mosaic account of the creation.

It appears then (says Mr. Brande) that the terrestrial changes going on around us, both rapid and gradual, are subservient to the most beneficial effects, and that, by operations apparently destructive, nature renovates her powers: from the decay of animated beings we have elsewhere deduced similar conclusions, and in inanimate nature we now read the same great and exalted truths; we learn that the Author of Nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves the ele

1 Brande's Outlines of Geology, p. 20.

ments of their own destruction, but that His works are preserved in unchangeable perfection, and, as it were, in eternal youth.

Ere the rising Sun

Shone o'er the deep, or 'mid the vault of night
The Moon her silver lamp suspended; ere

The vales with springs were watered, or with groves
Of oak or pine the antient hills were crowned;
Then the Great Spirit, whom his works adore,
Within his own deep essence viewed the forms,
The forms eternal of created things:

The radiant Sun; the Moon's nocturnal lamp;
The mountains and the streams; the ample stores
Of earth, of heaven, of Nature. From the first,
On that full scene his love divine he fixed,
His admiration. Till, in time complete,
What he admired and loved his vital power
Unfolded into being. Hence the breath
Of life informing each organic frame;

Hence the green earth, and wild resounding waves;
Hence light and shade, alternate; warmth and cold;
And bright autumnal skies, and vernal showers,
And all the fair variety of things.

AKENSIDE:

If there be any part of natural knowledge calculated to awaken in us the most profound sense of the excellence and perfection of Nature's works, it is surely in the subjects that have now been before us. That person is little to be envied who, beholding the immensity of the universe, and marking the majestic simplicity by which its operations are conducted, does not feel awakened to a higher species of being, and admitted into nearer in

tercourse with the Author of Nature. In short, it is impossible to pursue knowledge without mingling with it the best sentiments of devotion, or to perceive the laws of Nature without, at the same time, discerning the hand of the Lawgiver. Thus, in every age and country, the evidences of religion have advanced with the progress of true philosophy; and science, while she raises a monument to herself, at the same time erects an altar to the DEITY.'

While difficulties which were supposed to render the Deluge impossible have been removed by the investigations of modern geologists, many facts have been at the same time brought to light, showing the possibility, and even certainty, of that mighty inundation. In every valley and mountain, support for revelation has been found. Marine shells have been discovered in situations so elevated, and under circumstances so remarkable, as to prove that they were left there by a flood extending over the whole globe; and what confirms this conclusion is, that shells peculiar to different shores and climates very distant from each other have been found in promiscuous heaps; plainly showing that they could have been brought together only by an extensive inundation. The bones of the elephant, and the rhinoceros, have been found, in a multitude of instances, far distant from the regions in which they were found to live, and where, from the nature of the climate, they could never exist in the living state and between the climates which they might have inhabited, and the places in which they are now found, too many moun

tains intervene, to suppose them carried thither by any other means than that of a general deluge.

Whether we excavate the plains, penetrate into the caverns of mountains, or scale their rugged sides, every where the spoils of organized bodies are buried in those beds which form the external coat of our earth. Banks of slate contain fish, and beds of coal display impressions of vegetables, at elevations or at depths equally astonishing. Here beds of shells, extending for many miles under ground, cover others which contain only vegetables :-there the bodies of fish are placed above land animals, and they, in their turn, are covered by strata or layers, containing the remains of plants and shells. Torrents of lava, and heaps of pumice-stone, the products of subterraneous fire, mingle, in other places, with the inhabitants of the ocean.

The internal constitution of the earth is but little known; our investigations are at the best but superficial. We know nothing but of what appears on, or above, or of what is brought to light by the descent of the miner beneath, the general level of its surface; but the miner rarely descends more than 1500 feet, which is little more than 3dth part of the diameter of the earth. The globe has often been said to resemble in shape an orange; in allusion to that resemblance, we may therefore say, that we know nothing but of the outer rind. The upper crust or surface is found to be composed of different strata, or beds placed one above the other. These strata or layers are very much mixed, and their direction, matter, thickness,

and relative position, vary considerably in different places. These strata are divided into seven classes. (1.) Black earth is composed of putrified vegetable and animal substances. It contains many salts, and much inflammable matter. This is what is commonly called mould. (2.) Clay is more compact than black earth, and retains water longer on its surface. (3.) Sandy earth is hard, light, and dry; it neither retains water, nor is dissolved in it. It is the worst kind of earth, though some kinds of plants may grow in it. (4.) Marle is softer, more mealy, less hard, and attracts moisture better. (5.) Bog, or moss earth, contains a vitriolic salt, which is too acid for plants. (6.) Chalk is dry, hard, and brittle; notwithstanding, a few plants can thrive in it. (7.) Scabrous or stony earth. The smoothest stones, however bare of earth, are at least covered with moss, which is a mere vegetable production; and birch is known to grow between stones, and in the clefts of rocks, and grows also to a considerable height.

The surface of the globe, considered with relation to its inequalities, is divided into highland, lowland, and the bottom of the sea. I. Highland, comprises (1.) Alpine land, composed of mountain groups, or series of mountain chains; (2.) Mountain chains, formed by a series of those still more simple inequalities called, (3.) Mountains: in the former are considered their length, height, form, and connexion; the parts of the latter are the foot, the acclivity, and the summit. `II. Lowland, comprises those exten