Geology

“ Geology deals with the rocks of the earth’s crust. It learns from their composition and structure how the rocks were made and how they have been modified. It ascertains how they have been brought to their present places and wrought to their various topographic forms, such as hills and valleys, plains and mountains. It studies the vestiges which the rocks preserve of ancient organisms which once inhabited our planet. Geology is the history of the earth and its inhabitants, as read in the rocks of the earth’s crust. ”

“ But while thus culling freely from the dominions of other sciences, geology claims as its peculiar territory the rocky framework of the globe. In the materials composing that framework, their composition and arrangement, the processes of their formation, the changes which they have undergone, and the terrestrial revolutions to which they bear witness, lie the main data of geological history. It is the task of the geologist to group these elements in such a way that they may be made to yield up their evidence as to the march of events in the evolution of the planet. ”

“ In other places he draws attention to the class of facts which have been the basis of the modern science of geology,—such as the mark of rivers slowly wearing away their banks,—of walls on the sea-shore mouldering from the long-continued effects of the exhalations from the sea,—of the fall of great rocks from the mountains under the wear and tear of ages. ”

“ Geology, or the natural history of the earth, as a planet revolving in space round a central orb of light and heat, surrounded by an atmosphere, and partially or wholly begirt by water, includes all the phenomena produced on the land, in the sea, and within the mass of the globe, by the operation of those mechanical, chemical, electrical, and vital forces, which are termed natural agencies, from the earliest epoch of which monuments remain, down to the present hour. ”

“ Geology, as will be seen from the preceding details, is among the most comprehensive of the sciences. It invades the province of every one of them, and lays them all under contribution while following out its own peculiar researches. A dry description of rocks, in their simple mineral qualities, does not limit or exhaust its ample resources. Botany, zoology, meteorology—a part, in short, of every branch of natural history, as well as chemistry, physics, and astronomy, are severally enlisted in its service, and all give interest and importance to its discursive investigations. ”

“ The great object of the geologist is, by studying the geological formations in regular order, from the oldest up to the newest, to work out, in their proper sequence, the events which constitute the earth’s history; and dynamical and structural geology are merely introductory chapters, the alphabet, as it were, which must be learned before we are prepared to read understandingly the grand story of the geological record. ”

“ Persons born since the commencement of the present century remember geology in its prescientific condition, and will recal with a thoughtful smile the detached fact, the isolated mineral specimen, or remarkable local formation, which first drew their attention to the subject. ”

“ The study of Geology, in the narrow acceptation of the word, is confined to the investigation of the materials which compose this terrestrial globe;—in its more extended signification, it relates, also, to the examination of the different layers or strata of society, as they are to be met with in the world. ”

“ For thirty years Geology has been gradually establishing, by evidence the fulness and accuracy of which are truly amazing, the regularity in the sequence of the geological formations, and distinguishing, with ever-increasing precision, the specific differences of the animals and plants contained in these accumulations of past ages. ”

“ and, as in this respect, Geology has shared the fate of other infant sciences, in being for a while considered hostile to revealed religion; so like them, when fully understood, it will be found a potent and consistent auxiliary to it, exalting our conviction of the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of the Creators. ”

“ The study of geology, the skilled inspection of the various strata of the land—the rocks, sand, clay, chalk, conglomerates—proves that the materials of the continents have been chiefly deposited at the bottom of the sea, and raised to their present position by the chemical or mechanical agencies which are constantly at work in the vast laboratory of nature. ”

“ One of the strongest pieces of evidence bearing on evolution that is furnished by any department of knowledge is that furnished by geology. It is the evidence of the rocks. Geology is, among other things, a history of the earth. ”

“ The science of geology, for example, has perfectly definite aims which are not attained by the photographic reproduction, however copious or admirable, of rock strata and erosion effects, of talus slopes and detritus, of shifts, faults, dykes and lava-flow—though an acquaintance with all these things is essential to the prosecution of its general undertaking. ”

“ Another branch of physiographical geology which could only come into existence after most of the other departments of the science had made large progress, deals with the evolution of the framework of each country and of the several continents and oceans of the globe. ”

“ The principles of physical geology come first; the several chapters are arranged in what is believed to be a natural order, appropriate to the greatest part of our country, so that from a simple beginning a logical sequence of topics leads through the whole subject. The historical view of the science comes second, with many specific illustrations of the physical processes previously studied, but now set forth as part of the story of the earth, with its many changes of aspect and its succession of inhabitants. ”

“ GEOLOGY, METALLURGY, AND METEOROLOGY Geology is essentially a nineteenth century product. Fossils, minerals, rocks, and rock strata had attracted more or less attention from the earliest times. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans had books dealing with such subjects, and Greek philosophers, like Aristotle, lectured upon them. But it was only in the last century that geology was placed upon a scientific basis and began to make progress. ”

“ THE favour with which geology has been received into the circle of modern science, is mainly attributable to its all-pervading and expanded harmony with other branches of study, with popular sources of intellectual enjoyment, and important commercial and agricultural applications. ”

“ Each of these facts carries us back to a period immeasurably anterior to the creation of man, as the epoch when the sedimentary deposits commenced. There are no facts in geology which point to a different conclusion. It is of the utmost importance to the geological student to familiarize himself with this principle. It will assist him in comprehending the greatness of geological changes, and in applying other principles in explanation of geological phenomena. ”

“ The subjects I first propose to consider have no general name, and are not easily grouped under a single descriptive heading; but they may be compared with that recent development of a sister science which has been termed surface-geology or Earth-sculpture. In the older geological works we learnt much about strata, and rocks, and fossils, their superposition, contortions, chemical constitution, and affinities, with some general notions of how they were formed in the remote past ”

“ The detailed study of the work now being done by rain and rivers, underground water, waves and currents, the atmosphere, glaciers, changes of temperature, gravity, organic agencies and all other forces and activities operative on the surface of the earth has taught geologists how to interpret the rocks formed in ages long past. It is by the interpretation of the recorded results of the past, in the light of the processes now taking place, that the science of geology has grown up. ”