The Cornstone Formation and its Organisms.--Dwarf
Vegetation.--_Cephalaspides._--Huge Lobster.--Habitats of
the existing Crustacea.--No unapt representation of the
Deposit of Balruddery, furnished by a land-locked Bay in the
neighborhood of Cromarty.--Vast Space occupied by the Geological
Formations.--Contrasted with the half-formed Deposits which
represent the existing Creation.--Inference.--The formation of the
_Holoptychius_.--Probable origin of its Siliceous Limestone.--Marked
increase in the Bulk of the Existences of the System.--Conjectural
Cause.--The Coal Measures.--The Limestone of Burdie House Conclusion.
The curtain rises, and the scene is new. The myriads of the lower
formation have disappeared, and we are surrounded, on an upper
platform, by the existences of a later creation. There is sea all
around, as before; and we find beneath a dark-colored, muddy bottom,
thickly covered by a dwarf vegetation. The circumstances diner little
from those in which the ichthyolite beds of the preceding period were
deposited; but forms of life, essentially different, career through
the green depths, or creep over the ooze. Shoals of _Cephalaspides_,
with their broad, arrow-like heads, and their slender, angular
bodies, feathered with fins, sweep past like clouds of crossbow
bolts in an ancient battle. We see the distant gleam of scales, but
the forms are indistinct and dim: we can merely ascertain that the
fins are elevated by spines of various shape and pattern; that of
some the coats glitter with enamel; and that others--the sharks of
this ancient period--bristle over with minute thorny points. A huge
crustacean, of uncouth proportions, stalks over the weedy bottom, or
burrows in the hollows of the banks.
Let us attempt bringing our knowledge of the present to bear upon
the past. The larger crustaceæ of the British seas abound most on
iron-bound coasts, where they find sheltering places in the deeper
fissures of sea-cliffs covered up by kelp and tangle, or under the
lower edges of detached boulders, that rest unequally on uneven
platforms of rock, amid forests of the rough-stemmed cuvy. We may
traverse sandy or muddy shores for miles together, without rinding
a single crab, unless a belt of pebbles lines the upper zone of
beach, where the forked and serrated fuci first appear, or a few
weed-covered fragments of rock here and there occur in groups on
the lower zones. In this formation, however, the bottom must have
been formed of mingled sand and mud, and yet the crustacea were
abundant. How account for the fact? There is, in most instances, an
interesting conformity between the character of the ancient rocks, in
which we find groups of peculiar fossils, and the habitats of those
existences of the present creation which these fossils most resemble.
The fisherman casts his nets in a central hollow of the Moray Frith,
about thirty fathoms in depth, and draws them up foul with masses of
a fetid mud, charged with multitudes of that curious purple-colored
zoophyte the sea-pen, invariably an inhabitant of such recesses. The
graptolite of the most ancient fossiliferous rocks, an existence
of unequivocally the same type, occurs in greatest abundance in a
finely-levigated mudstone, for it, too, was a dweller in the mud. In
like manner, we may find the ancient Modiola of the Lias in habitats
analogous to those of its modern representative the muscle, and
the encrinite of the Mountain Limestone fast rooted to its rocky
platform, just as we may see the Helianthoida and Ascidioida of our
seas fixed to their boulders and rocky skerries. But is not analogy
at fault in the present instance? Quite the reverse. Mark how
thickly these carbonaceous impressions cover the muddy-colored and
fissile sandstones of the formation, giving evidence of an abundant
vegetation. We may learn from these obscure markings, that the
place in which they grew could have been no unfit habitat for the
crustaceous tribes.
There is a little, land-locked bay on the southern shore of the
Frith of Cromarty, effectually screened from the easterly winds by
the promontory on which the town is built, and but little affected
by those of any other quarter, from the proximity of the neighboring
shores. The bottom, at low ebb, presents a level plain of sand, so
thickly covered by the green grass-weed of our more sheltered sandy
bays and estuaries, that it presents almost the appearance of a
meadow. The roots penetrate the sand to the depth of nearly a foot,
binding it firmly together; and as they have grown and decayed in
it for centuries, it has acquired, from the disseminated particles
of vegetable matter, a deep leaden tint, more nearly approaching to
black than even the dark gray mudstones of Balruddery. Nor is this
the only effect: the intertwisted fibres impart to it such coherence,
that, where scooped out into pools, the edges stand up perpendicular
from the water, like banks of clay; and where these are hollowed
into cave-like recesses,--and there are few of them that are not so
hollowed,--the recesses remain unbroken and unfilled for years. The
weeds have imparted to the sand a character different from its own,
and have rendered it a suitable habitat for numerous tribes, which,
in other circumstances, would have found no shelter in it. Now, among
these we find in abundance the larger crustaceans of our coasts.
The brown edible crab harbors in the hollows beside the pools;
occasionally we may find in them an overgrown lobster, studded with
parasitical shells and zoöphytes--proof that the creature, having
attained its full size, has ceased to cast its plated covering.
Crustaceans of the smaller varieties abound. Hermit crabs traverse
the pools, or creep among the weed; the dark green and the dingy,
hump-backed crabs occur nearly as frequently; the radiata cover the
banks by thousands. We find occasionally the remains of dead fish
left by the retreating tide; but the living are much more numerous
than the dead; for the sand-eel has suffered the water to retire,
and yet remained behind in its burrow; and the viviparous blenny
and common gunnel still shelter beside their fuci-covered masses
of rock. Imagine the bottom of this little bay covered up by thick
beds of sand and gravel, and the whole consolidated into stone, and
we have in it all the conditions of the deposit of Balruddery--a
mud-colored, arenaceous deposit, abounding in vegetable impressions,
and enclosing numerous remains of crustaceans, fish, and radiata, as
its characteristic organisms of the animal kingdom. There would be
but one circumstance of difference: the little bay abounds in shells;
whereas no shells have yet been found in the mudstones of Balruddery,
or the gray sandstones of the same formation, which in Forfar, Fife,
and Moray shires represent the Cornstone division of the system.
Ages and centuries passed, but who can sum up their number? In
England, the depth of this middle formation greatly exceeds that of
any of the other two; in Scotland, it is much less amply developed;
but in either country it must represent periods of scarce conceivable
extent. I have listened to the controversies of opposite schools
of geologists, who, from the earth's strata, extract registers
of the earth's age of an amount amazingly different. One class,
regarding the geological field as if under the influence of those
principles of perspective which give to the cottage in front more
than the bulk and altitude of the mountain behind, would assign
to the present scene of things its thousands of years, but to all
the extinct periods united merely their few centuries; while with
their opponents, the remoter periods stretch out far into the bygone
eternity, and the present scene seems but a narrow strip running
along the foreground. Both classes appeal to facts; and, leaving them
to their disputes, I have gone out to examine and judge for myself.
The better to compare the present with the past, I have regarded the
existing scene merely as a _formation_--not as superficies, but as
depth; and have sought to ascertain the extent to which, in different
localities, and under different circumstances, it has overlaid the
surface.
The slopes of an ancient forest incline towards a river that flows
sluggishly onwards through a deep alluvial plain, once an extensive
lake. A recent landslip has opened up one of the hanging thickets.
Uprooted trees, mingled with bushes, lie at the foot of the slope,
half buried in broken masses of turf; and we see above a section of
the soil, from the line of vegetation to the bare rock. There is an
under belt of clay, and an upper belt of gravel, neither of which
contains any thing organic; and overtopping the whole we may see
a dark-colored bar of mould, barely a foot in thickness, studded
with stumps and interlaced with roots. Mark that narrow bar: it is
the geological representative of six thousand years. A stony bar
of similar appearance runs through the strata of the Wealden: it,
too, has its dingy color, its stumps, and its interlacing roots;
but it forms only a very inconsiderable portion of one of the least
considerable of all the formations; and yet who shall venture to say
that it does not represent a period as extended as that represented
by the dark bar in the ancient forest, seeing there is not a
circumstance of difference between them?
We descend to the river side. The incessant action of the current has
worn a deep channel through the leaden-colored silt; the banks stand
up perpendicularly over the water, and downwards, for twenty feet
together,--for such is the depth of the deposit,--we may trace layer
after layer of reeds, and flags, and fragments of driftwood, and find
here and there a few fresh-water shells of the existing species. In
this locality, six thousand years are represented by twenty feet.
The depth of the various fossiliferous formations united is at least
fifteen hundred times as great.
We pursue our walk, and pass through a morass. Three tiers of forest
trees appear in the section laid open by the stream, the one above
the other. Overlying these there is a congeries of the remains of
aquatic plants, which must have grown and decayed on the spot for
many ages after the soil had so changed that trees could be produced
by it no longer; and over the whole there occur layers of mosses,
that must have found root on the surface after the waters had been
drained away by the deepening channel of the river. The six thousand
years are here represented by that morass, its three succeeding
forests, its beds of aquatic vegetation, its bands of moss, and the
thin stratum of soil which overlies the whole. Well, but it forms,
notwithstanding, only the mere beginning of a formation. Pile up
twenty such morasses, the one over the other; separate them by a
hundred such bands of alluvial silt as we have just examined a little
higher up the stream; throw in some forty or fifty thick beds of sand
to swell the amount; and the whole together will but barely equal the
Coal Measures, one of many formations.
But the marine deposits of the present creation have been, perhaps,
accumulating more rapidly than those of our lakes, forests, or
rivers? Yes, unquestionably, in friths and estuaries, in the
neighborhood of streams that drain vast tracts of country, and roll
down the soil and clay swept by the winter rains from thousands of
hill-sides; but what is there to lead to the formation of sudden
deposits in those profounder depths of the sea, in which the water
retains its blue transparency all the year round, let the waves rise
as they may? And do we not know that, along many of our shores, the
process of accumulation is well nigh as slow as on the land itself?
The existing creation is represented in the little land-locked bay,
where the crustacea harbor so thickly, by a deposit hardly three
feet in thickness. In a more exposed locality, on the opposite side
of the promontory, it finds its representative in a deposit of
barely nine inches. It is surely the present scene of things that
is in its infancy! Into how slender a bulk have the organisms of
six thousand years been compressed! History tells us of populous
nations, now extinct, that flourished for ages: do we not find their
remains crowded into a few streets of sepulchres? 'Tis but a thin
layer of soil that covers the ancient plain of Marathon. I have
stood on Bannockburn, and seen no trace of the battle. In what lower
stratum shall we set ourselves to discover the skeletons of the
wolves and bears that once infested our forests? Where shall we find
accumulations of the remains of the wild bisons and gigantic elks,
their contemporaries? They must have existed for but comparatively
a short period, or they would surely have left more marked traces
behind them.
When we appeal to the historians, we hear much of a remote antiquity
in the history of man: a more than twilight gloom pervades the
earlier periods; and the distances are exaggerated, as objects appear
large in a fog. We measure, too, by a minute scale. There is a tacit
reference to the threescore and ten years of human life; and its term
of a day appears long to the ephemera. We turn from the historians
to the prophets, and find the dissimilarity of style indicating a
different speaker. Ezekiel's measuring-reed is graduated into cubits
of the temple. The vast periods of the short-lived historian dwindled
down into weeks and days. Seventy weeks indicated to Daniel, in the
first year of Darius, the time of the Messiah's coming. Three years
and a half limit the term of the Mohammedan delusion. Seventeen
years have not yet gone by since Adam first arose from the mould;
nor has the race, as such, attained to the maturity of even early
manhood. But while prophecy sums up merely weeks and days, when it
refers to the past, it looks forward into the future, and speaks of
a thousand years. Are scales of unequally graduated parts ever used
in measuring different portions of the same map or section--scales so
very unequally graduated, that, while the parts in some places expand
to the natural size, they are in others more than three hundred times
diminished? If not,--for what save inextricable confusion would
result from their use,--how avoid the conclusion, that the typical
scale employed in the same book by the same prophet represents
similar quantities by corresponding parts, whether applied to times
of outrage, delusion, and calamity, or set off against that long and
happy period in which the spirit of evil shall be bound in chains
and darkness, and the kingdom of Christ shall have come? And if such
be the case--if each single year of the thousand years of the future
represents a term as extended as each single year of the seventeen
years of the past--if the present scene of things be thus merely in
its beginning--should we at all wonder to find that the formation
which represents it has laid down merely its few first strata?
The curtain again rises. A last day had at length come to the
period of the middle formation; and in an ocean roughened by waves,
and agitated by currents, like the ocean which flowed over the
conglomerate base of the system, we find new races of existences. We
may mark the clumsy bulk of the _Holoptychius_ conspicuous in the
group; the shark family have their representatives as before; a new
variety of the _Pterichthys_ spreads out its spear-like wings at
every alarm, like its predecessors of the lower formation; shoals
of fish of a type more common, but still unnamed and undescribed,
sport amid the eddies; and we may see attached to the rocks below
substances of uncouth form and doubtful structure, with which the
oryctologist has still to acquaint himself. The depositions of this
upper ocean are of a mixed character: the beds are less uniform and
continuous than at a greater depth. In some places they consist
exclusively of sandstone, in others of conglomerate; and yet the
sandstone and conglomerate seem, from their frequent occurrence
on the same platform, to have been formed simultaneously. The
transporting and depositing agents must have become more partial in
their action than during the earlier period. They had their foci
of strength and their circumferences of comparative weakness; and
while the heavier pebbles which composed the conglomerate were in
the course of being deposited in the foci, the lighter sand which
composes the sandstone was settling in those outer skirts by which
the foci were surrounded. At this stage, too, there are unequivocal
marks, in the northern localities, of extensive denudation. The older
strata are cut away in some places to a considerable depth, and newer
strata of the same formation deposited unconformably over them. There
must have been partial upheavings and depressions, corresponding
with the partial character of the depositions; and, as a necessary
consequence, frequent shiftings of currents. The ocean, too, seems
to have lessened its general depth, and the bottom to have lain more
exposed to the influence of the waves. And hence one cause, added
to the porous nature of the matrix, and the diffused oxide, of the
detached, and, if I may so express myself, churchyard character of
its organisms.
Above the blended conglomerates and sandstones of this band a
deposition of lime took place. Thermal springs, charged with
calcareous matter slightly mixed with silex, seem to have abounded,
during the period which it represents, over widely-extended areas;
and hence, probably, its origin. An increase of heat from beneath,
through some new activity imparted to the Plutonic agencies, would
be of itself sufficient to account for the formation. I have
resided in a district in which almost every spring was charged with
calcareous earth; but in cisterns or draw-wells, or the utensils
in which the housewife stored up for use the water which these
supplied, no deposition took place. With boilers and tea-kettles,
however, the case was different. The agency of heat was brought to
operate upon these; and their sides and bottoms were covered, in
consequence, with a thick crust of lime. Now, we have but to apply
the simple principles on which such phenomena occur, to account
for widely-spread precipitates of the same earth by either springs
or seas, which at a lower temperature would have been active in
the formation of mechanical deposits alone. The temperature sunk
gradually to its former state; the purely chemical deposit ceased;
the waters became populous as before with animals of the same
character and appearance as those of the upper conglomerate; and
layer after layer of yellow sandstone, to the depth of several
hundred feet, were formed as the period passed. With this upper
deposit the system terminated.
Though fish still remained the lords of creation, and fish of
apparently no superior order to those with which the vertebrata
began at least three formations earlier, they had mightily advanced
in one striking particular. If their organization was in no degree
more perfect than at first, their bulk at least had become immensely
more great. The period had gone by in which a mediocrity of dimension
characterized the existences of the ancient oceans, and fish armed
offensively and defensively with scales and teeth scarcely inferior
in size to the scales and teeth of the gavial or the alligator,
sprung into existence. It must have been a large jaw and a large
head that contained, doubtless among many others, a tooth an inch
in diameter at the base. I may remark, in the passing, that most
of the teeth found in the several formations of the system are not
instruments of mastication, but, like those in most of the existing
fish, mere hooks for penetrating slippery substances, and thus
holding them fast. The rude angler who first fashioned a crooked
bone, or a bit of native silver or copper, into a hook, might have
found his invention anticipated in the jaws of the first fish he
drew ashore by its means; and we find the hook structure as complete
in the earlier ichthyolites of the Old Red Sandstone as in the
fish that exist now. The evidence of the geologist is of necessity
circumstantial evidence, and he need look for none other; but it is
interesting to observe how directly the separate facts bear, in many
examples, on one and the same point. The hooked and slender teeth
tell exactly the same story with the undigested scales in the fœcal
remains alluded to in an early chapter.
In what could this increase in bulk have originated? Is there a high
but yet comparatively medium temperature in which animals attain
their greatest size, and corresponding gradations of descent on
both sides, whether we increase the heat until we reach the point
at which life can no longer exist, or diminish it until we arrive
at the same result from intensity of cold? The line of existence
bisects on both sides the line of extinction. May it not probably
form a curve, descending equally from an elevated centre to the
points of bisection on the level of death? But whatever may have
been the cause, the change furnishes another instance of analogy
between the progress of individuals and of orders. The shark and
the sword-fish begin to exist as little creatures of a span in
length; they expand into monsters whose bodies equal in hugeness
the trunks of ancient oaks; and thus has it been with the order to
which they belong. The teeth, spines, and palatal bones of the fish
of the Upper Ludlow Rocks are of almost microscopic minuteness; an
invariable mediocrity of dimension characterizes the ichthyolites
of the Lower Old Red Sandstone; a marked increase in size takes
place among the existences of the middle formation; in the upper the
bulky _Holoptychius_ appears; the close of the system ushers in the
still bulkier Megalichthys; and low in the Coal Measures we find the
ponderous bones, buckler-like scales, and enormous teeth of another
and immensely more gigantic _Holoptychius_--a creature pronounced
by Agassiz the largest of all osseous fish.[BF] We begin with an
age of dwarfs--we end with an age of giants. The march of Nature
is an onward and an ascending march; the stages are slow, but the
tread is stately; and to Him who has commanded, and who overlooks
it, a thousand years are as but a single day, and a single day as a
thousand years.[BG]
[Footnote BF: There have been fish scales found in Burdie House
five inches in length, by rather more than four in breadth. Of the
gigantic _Holoptychius_ of this deposit we have still much to learn.
The fragment of a jaw, in the possession of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, which belonged to an individual of the species, is 18½
inches in length; and it is furnished with teeth, one of which, from
base to point, measures five inches, and another four and a half.]
[Footnote BG: See, on this subject, the introductory note to the
present edition, and note p. 154.]
We have entered the Coal Measures. For seven formations
together--from the Lower Silurian to the Upper Old Red Sandstone--our
course has lain over oceans without a visible shore, though, like
Columbus, in his voyage of discovery, we have now and then found a
little floating weed, to indicate the approaching coast. The water
is fast shallowing. Yonder passes a broken branch, with the leaves
still unwithered; and there floats a tuft of fern. Land, from the
mast-head! land! land!--a low shore, thickly covered with vegetation.
Huge trees, of wonderful form, stand out far into the water. There
seems no intervening beach. A thick hedge of reeds, tall as the
masts of pinnaces, runs along the deeper bays, like water-flags at
the edge of a lake. A river of vast volume comes rolling from the
interior, darkening the water for leagues with its slime and mud,
and bearing with it, to the open sea, reeds, and fern, and cones of
the pine, and immense floats of leaves, and now and then some bulky
tree, undermined and uprooted by the current. We near the coast, and
now enter the opening of the stream. A scarce penetrable phalanx of
reeds, that attain to the height and well nigh the bulk of forest
trees, is ranged on either hand. The bright and glossy stems seem
rodded like Gothic columns; the pointed leaves stand out green at
every joint, tier above tier, each tier resembling a coronal wreath
or an ancient crown, with the rays turned outwards; and we see a-top
what may be either large spikes or catkins. What strange forms of
vegetable life appear in the forest behind! Can that be a club-moss
that raises its slender height for more than fifty feet from the
soil? Or can these tall, palm-like trees be actually ferns, and these
spreading branches mere fronds? And then these gigantic reeds!--are
they not mere varieties of the common horse-tail of our bogs and
morasses, magnified some sixty or a hundred times? Have we arrived
at some such country as the continent visited by Gulliver, in which
he found thickets of weeds and grass tall as woods of twenty years'
growth, and lost himself amid a forest of corn, fifty feet in height?
The lesser vegetation of our own country, reeds, mosses, and ferns,
seems here as if viewed through a microscope: the dwarfs have sprung
up into giants, and yet there appears to be no proportional increase
in size among what are unequivocally its trees. Yonder is a group of
what seem to be pines--tall and bulky, 'tis true, but neither taller
nor bulkier than the pines of Norway and America; and the club-moss
behind shoots up its green, hairy arms, loaded with what seems
catkins above their topmost cones. But what monster of the vegetable
world comes floating down the stream--now circling round in the
eddies, now dancing on the ripple, now shooting down the rapid? It
resembles a gigantic star-fish, or an immense coach-wheel, divested
of the rim. There is a green, dome-like mass in the centre, that
corresponds to the nave of the wheel, or the body of the star-fish;
and the boughs shoot out horizontally on every side, like spokes from
the nave, or rays from the central body. The diameter considerably
exceeds forty feet; the branches, originally of a deep green, are
assuming the golden tinge of decay; the cylindrical and hollow leaves
stand out thick on every side, like prickles of the wild rose on the
red, fleshy, lance-like shoots of a year's growth, that will be
covered, two seasons hence, with flowers and fruit. That strangely
formed organism presents no existing type among all the numerous
families of the vegetable kingdom. There is an amazing luxuriance of
growth all around us. Scarce can the current make way through the
thickets of aquatic plants that rise thick from the muddy bottom;
and though the sunshine falls bright on the upper boughs of the
tangled forest beyond, not a ray penetrates the more than twilight
gloom that broods over the marshy platform below. The rank steam of
decaying vegetation forms a thick blue haze, that partially obscures
the underwood; deadly lakes of carbonic acid gas have accumulated in
the hollows; there is silence all around, uninterrupted save by the
sudden splash of some reptile fish that has risen to the surface in
pursuit of its prey, or when a sudden breeze stirs the hot air, and
shakes the fronds of the giant ferns or the catkins of the reeds.
The wide continent before us is a continent devoid of animal life,
save that its pools and rivers abound in fish and mollusca, and that
millions and tens of millions of the infusory tribes swarm in the
bogs and marshes. Here and there, too, an insect of strange form
flutters among the leaves. It is more than probable that no creature
furnished with lungs of the more perfect construction could have
breathed the atmosphere of this early period, and have lived.
Doubts have been entertained whether the limestone of Burdie House
belongs to the Upper Old Red Sandstone or to the inferior Coal
Measures. And the fact may yet come to be quoted as a very direct
proof of the ignorance which obtained regarding the fossils of
the older formation, at a time when the organisms of most of the
other formations, both above and below it, had been carefully
explored. The Limestone of Burdie House is unequivocally and
most characteristically a Coal Measure limestone. It abounds in
vegetable remains of terrestrial or lacustrine growth, and these,
too, the vegetables common to the Coal Measures--ferns, reeds, and
club-mosses. One can scarce detach a fragment from the mass, that has
not its leaflet or seed-cone enclosed, and in a state of such perfect
preservation, that there can be no possibility of mistaking its
character. If in reality a marine deposit, it must have been formed
in the immediate neighborhood of a land covered with vegetation. The
dove set loose by Noah bore not back with it a less equivocal sign
that the waters had abated. Now, in the Upper Old Red Sandstone none
of these plants occur. The deposit is exclusively an ocean deposit,
and the remains in Scotland, until we arrive at its inferior and
middle formations, are exclusively animal remains. Its upper member,
"the yellow sandstone," says Dr. Anderson, of Newburgh, "does not
exhibit a single particle of carbonaceous matter--no trace or film
of a branch having been detected in it, though, if such in reality
existed, there are not wanting opportunities of obtaining specimens
in some one of the twenty or thirty quarries which have been opened
in the county of Fife in this deposit alone." No two bordering
formations in the geological scale have their boundaries better
defined by the character of their fossils than the Old Red Sandstone
and the Coal Measures.
We pursue our history no further. Its after course is comparatively
well known. The huge sauroid fish was succeeded by the equally
huge reptile--the reptile by the bird--the bird by the marsupial
quadruped; and at length, after races higher in the scale of instinct
had taken precedence in succession, the one of the other, the
sagacious elephant appeared, as the lord of that latest creation
which immediately preceded our own. How natural does the thought
seem which suggested itself to the profound mind of Cuvier, when
indulging in a similar review! Has the last scene in the series
arisen, or has Deity expended his infinitude of resource, and reached
the ultimate stage of progression at which perfection can arrive? The
philosopher hesitated, and then decided in the negative, for he was
too intimately acquainted with the works of the Omnipotent Creator to
think of limiting his power; and he could, therefore, anticipate a
coming period in which man would have to resign his post of honor to
some nobler and wiser creature--the monarch of a better and happier
world. How well it is, to be permitted to indulge in the expansion
of Cuvier's thought, without sharing in the melancholy of Cuvier's
feeling--to be enabled to look forward to the coming of a new heaven
and a new earth, not in terror, but in hope--to be encouraged to
believe in the system of unending progression, but to entertain no
fear of the degradation or deposition of man! The adorable Monarch of
the future, with all its unsummed perfection, has already passed into
the heavens, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, and Enoch and
Elias are there with him--fit representatives of that dominant race,
which no other race shall ever supplant or succeed, and to whose
onward and upward march the deep echoes of eternity shall never cease
to respond.
ICHTHYOLITES OF THE OLD RED SANDSTONE.
FROM
AGASSIZ'S "POISSONS FOSSILES."
∵ The synonymes here--now supplanted, however--with the names of a
few doubtful or fictitious species, are given in _Italics_;--the
former opposite the names ultimately adopted, the latter immediately
under the names of the determined species.
Acanthodes pusillus.
Actinolepis tuberculatus.
Asterolepis Asmusii.--Syn. _Chelonichthys Asmusii_.
" apicalis.
" granulata.
" Hœninghausii.
" Malcolmsoni.
" minor.--Syn. _Chelonichthys minor_.
" ornata.
" speciosa.
" _concatenatus_.
" _depressus_.
Bothriolepis favosa.--Syn. _Glyptosteus favosus_.
" ornata " " _reticulatus_
Byssacanthus arcuatus.
" crenulatus.
" lævis.
Cephalaspis Lewisii.
" Lloydii.
" Lyellii.
" rostratus.
Cheiracanthus microlepidotus.
" minor.
" Murchisoni.
Cheirolepis Cummingiæ.
" Traillii.
" Uragus.
" _splendens_.
" _unilateralis_.
Chelyophorus pustulatus.
" Verneuilii.
Cladodus simplex.
Climatius reticulatus.
Coccosteus cuspidatus.
" decipiens.--Syn. _latus_.
" maximus.
" oblongus.
Cosmacanthus Malcolmsoni.
Cricodus incurvus.--Syn. _Dendrodus incurvus_.
Ctenacanthus ornatus.
" serrulatus.
Ctenodus Keyserlingii.
" marginalis.
" parvulus.
" Worthii.
" _radiatus_.
" _serratus_.
Ctenoptychius priscus.
Dendrodus latus.
" minor.
" sigmoides.
" strigatus.
" tenuistriatus.
Diplacanthus crassispinus.
" longispinus.
" striatulus.
" striatus.
Diplopterus affinis.
Diplopterus borealis.--Syn. _Agassizii_.
" macrocephalus.
Dipterus macrolepidotus.
" _arenaceus_.
" _brachypygopterus_.
" _macropygopterus_.
" _Valenciennesii_.
Glyptolepis elegans.
" leptopterus.
" microlepidotus.
Glyptopomus minor.--Syn. _Platygnathus minor_.
Haplacanthus marginalis.
Holoptychius Andersoni.
" Flemingii.
" giganteus.
" Murchisoni.
" nobilissimus.
" Omaliusii.
Homacanthus arcuatus.
Homothorax Flemingii.
Lamnodus biporcatus.--Syn. _Dendrodus biporcatus_.
" hastatus.--Syn. _Panderi. Dendrodus hastatus, compressus_.
" sulcatus.
Narcodes pustilifer.
Naulas sulcatus.
Odontacanthus crenatus.--Syn. _Ctenoptychius crenatus_.
" heterodon.
Onchus heterogyrus.
" semistriatus.
" sublævis.
Osteolepis arenatus.
" macrolepidotus
" major.
" microlepidotus.
" _intermedius_.
" _nanus_.
Pamphractus Andersoni.
Pamphractus hydrophilus.--Syn. _Pterichthys hydrophilius_.
Parexus rccurvus.
Phyllolepis concentricus.
Placothorax paradoxus.
Platygnathus Jamesoni.
" paucidens.
Polyphractus platycephalus.
Psammosteus arenatus.--Syn. _Placosteus arenatus_.
" mæandrinus. " " _mæandrinus_.
" paradoxus. " _Psammolepis paradoxus_.
" undulatus. " _Placosteus undulatus_.
Pterichthys arenatus.
" cancriformis.
" cornutus.
" major.
" Milleri.
" latus.
" oblongus.
" productus.
" testudinarius.
Ptychacanthus dubius.
Stagonolepis Robertsoni.
THE END.
ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"Nothing which has transpired in the scientific world during the past
year, seems to have escaped the attention of the industrious editors.
We do not hesitate to pronounce the work a highly valuable one to the
man of Science."--_Boston Journal._
"This is a highly valuable work. We have here brought together in a
volume of moderate size, all the leading discoveries and inventions
which have distinguished the past year. Like the hand on the
dial-plate, 'it marks the progress of the age.' The plan has our
wannest wishes for its eminent success."--_Christian Times._
"A most acceptable volume."--_Transcript._
"The work will prove of unusual interest and value."--_Traveller._
"We have in our possession the ledger of progress for 1849,
exhibiting to us in a condensed form, the operations of the world in
some of the highest business transactions. To say that its execution
has been worthy of its aim is praise sufficient."--_Springfield
Republican._
"To the artist, the artisan, the man of letters, it is indispensable,
and the general reader will find in its pages much valuable material
which he may look for elsewhere in vain."--_Boston Herald._
"We commend it as a standard book of reference and general
information, by those who are so fortunate as to possess
it."--_Saturday Rambler._
"A body of useful knowledge, indispensable to every man who
desires to keep up with the progress of modern discovery and
invention."--_Boston Courier._
"Must be a most acceptable volume to every one, and greatly
facilitate the diffusion of useful knowledge."--_Zion's Herald._
"A most valuable and interesting popular work of science and
art."--_Washington National Intelligencer._
"A rich collection of facts, and one which will be eagerly read.
The amount of information contained within its pages is very
large."--_Evening Gazette._
"Such a key to the progress and facts of scientific discovery will be
everywhere welcomed."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._
"A most valuable, complete, and comprehensive summary of the existing
facts of science; it is replete with interest, and ought to have a
place in every well appointed library."--_Worcester Spy._
"We commend it to all who wish what has just been found out; to all
who would like to discover something themselves, and would be glad
to know how: and to all who think they have invented something, and
are desirous to know whether any one else has been before hand with
them."--_Puritan Recorder._
"This is one of the most valuable works which the press has brought
forth during the present year. A greater amount of useful and
valuable information cannot be obtained from any book of the same
size within our knowledge."--Washington Union.
"This important volume will prove one of the most acceptable to our
community that has appeared for a long time."--_Providence Journal._
"This is a neat volume and a useful one. Such a book has
long been wanted in America. It should receive a wide-spread
patronage."--_Scientific American, New York._
"It meets a want long felt, both among men of science and the people.
No one who feels any interest in the intellectual progress of the
age, no mechanic or artisan, who aspires to excel in his vocation,
can afford to be without it. A very copious and accurate index gives
one all needed aid in his inquiries."--_Phil. Christian Chronicle._
"One of the most useful books of the day. Every page of it contains
some useful in formation, and there will be no waste of time in its
study."--Norfolk Democrat.
"It is precisely such a work as will be hailed with pleasure by the
multitude of intelligent readers who desire to have, at the close
of each year, a properly digested record of its progress in useful
knowledge. The project of the editors is an excellent one, and de
serves and will command success."--_North American, Philadelphia._
"Truly a most valuable volume."--_Charleston (S.C.) Courier._
"There are few works of the season whose appearance we have noticed
with more sincere satisfaction than this admirable manual. The
exceeding interest of the subjects to which it is devoted, as well as
the remarkably thorough, patient and judicious manner in which they
are handled by its skilful editors, entitle it to a warm reception by
all the friends of solid and useful learning."--_New York Tribune._
FOOT-PRINTS OF THE CREATOR;
-- OR --
THE ASTEROLEPIS OF STROMNESS.
BY HUGH MILLER.
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS.
FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION.--WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR
BY LOUIS AGASSIZ.
"In its purely geological character, the 'Foot-prints' is not
surpassed by any modern work of the same class. In this volume,
Mr. Miller discusses the development hypothesis, or the hypothesis
of natural law, as maintained by Lamarck, and by the author of the
4 Vestiges of Creation,' and has subjected it, in its geological
aspect, to the most rigorous examination. He has stripped even of its
semblance of truth, and restored to the Creator, as governor cf the
universe, that power and those functions which he was supposed to
have resigned at its birth. * * * The earth has still to surrender
mighty secrets,--and great revelations are yet to issue from
sepulchres of stone. It is from the vaults to which ancient life
has been consigned that the history of the dawn of life is to be
composed."--_North British Review._
"Scientific knowledge equally remarkable for comprehensiveness
and accuracy; a style at all times singularly clear, vivid, and
powerful, ranging at will, and without effort, from the most natural
and graceful simplicity, through the playful, the graphic, and the
vigorous, to the impressive eloquence of great thoughts greatly
expressed; reasoning at once comprehensive in scope, strong in
grasp, and pointedly direct in application,--these qualities combine
to render the 'Foot-prints' one of the most perfect refutations
of error, and defences of truth, that ever exact science has
produced."--_Free Church Magazine._
Dr. Buckland, at a meeting of the British Association, said he had
never been so much astonished in his life, by the powers of any
man, as he had been by the geological descriptions of Mr. Miller.
That wonderful man described these objects with a facility which
made him ashamed of the comparative meagerness and poverty of his
own descriptions in the "Bridgewater Treatise," which had cost him
hours and days of labor. He would give his left hand to possess such
powers of description as this man; and if it pleased Providence to
spare his useful life, he, if any one, would certainly render science
attractive and popular, and do equal service to theology and geology.
"The style of this work is most singularly clear and vivid, rising
at times to eloquence, and always impressing the reader with the
idea that he is brought in contact with great thoughts. Where it is
necessary, there are engravings to illustrate the geological remains.
The whole work forms one of the best defences of Truth that science
can produce."--_Albany State Register._
"The 'Foot-Prints of the Creator' is not only a good but a great
book. All who have read the 'Vestiges of Creation' should study the
'Foot-Prints of the Creator.' This volume is especially worthy the
attention of those who are so fearful of the skeptical tendencies
of natural science. We expect this volume will meet with a very
extensive sale. It should be placed in every Sabbath School Library,
and at every Christian fireside."--_Boston Traveller._
"Mr. Miller's style is remarkably pleasing; his mode of popularising
geological knowledge unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled; and the deep
vein of reverence for Divine Revelation pervading all, adds interest
and value to the volume."--_New York Com. Advertiser._
"The publishers have again covered themselves with honor, by giving
to the American public, with the Author's permission, an elegant
reprint of a foreign work of science. We earnestly bespeak for this
work a wide and free circulation, among all who love science much and
religion more."--_Puritan Recorder._
"The book indicates a mind of rare gifts and attainments, and
exhibits the workings of poetic genius in admirable harmony with
the generalizations of philosophy. It is, withal pervaded by a
spirit of devout reverence and child-like humility, such as all men
delight to behold in the interpreter of nature. We are persuaded
that no intelligent render will go through the chapters of the
author without being instructed and delighted with the views they
contain."--_Providence Journal._
"Hugh Miller is a Scotch geologist, who, within a few years, has not
Only added largely to the facts of science, but has stepped at once
among the leading scientific writers of the age, by his wonderfully
clear, accurate, and elegant geological works. Mr. Miller, taking the
newly-discovered Asterolepis for his text, has produced an answer
to the 'Vestiges of Creation,' a work which has been more widely
circulated, perhaps, than any other professedly scientific book ever
printed. Mr. Miller (and there is no doubt of this) completely upsets
his opponent--exposing his incompetency, ignorance, and sophistry,
with a clearness, ease, and elegance that are both astonishing and
delightful. Throughout the entire geologic portion, the reasoning is
markedly close, shrewd, and intelligible--the facts are evidently at
the finger's end of the author--and the most unwilling, cautious, and
antagonistic reader is compelled to yield his thorough assent to the
argument."--_Boston Post._
GOULD AND LINCOLN, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.
FOOT-PRINTS OF THE CREATOR.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"This is a very rich and valuable book. It is rich in the treasures
of scientific knowledge, which are interwoven in an argument,
remarkably clear, in a style graceful, vigorous, graphic, and
of great power--rendering it a most perfect refutation of the
atheistical error propagated in the work entitled, the 'Vestiges of
Creation.'"--_Philad. Christian Observer._
"Around the name of Hugh Miller already gathers the halo of a most
pure and grateful fame. Receiving his geological education among the
rocks of the quarry, where he labored for fifteen years; writing in
a style of peculiar simplicity and elegance, and devoting the exact
knowledge derived from walking in the Creator's 'foot-prints' to
the cause of true religion, the proudest devotees of science have
taken pleasure in doing him honor, have delighted to listen to his
teachings, and rejoiced to aid in their promulgation."--_Springfield
Republican._
"This is one of the most remarkable and deeply profound works of the
present age. The author's name will not be soon forgotten, in the
scientific world,--and his productions will not fail to be read and
admired, wherever true science is promulgated. He is most remarkably
clear, concise, and powerful, in his arguments; profound in his
researches, and conclusive in his reasoning."--_New York Farmer and
Mechanic._
"There is poetry and philosophy combined in this work. The author
had a mind which revelled, so to speak, in the beauties and wonders
of science. From a child, almost, he delighted in the works of
nature.... He has gone from one step to another, till now he is
justly esteemed as among the great Geologists of the world. It is
a book in which the man of science will delight, but it is also
one which the general reader will peruse with instruction and
satisfaction."--_Baltimore Patriot._
"The publishers are entitled to the thanks, not only of scientific
men but of christians, in this country, for presenting this work to
the American public."--_Christian Secretary._
"A remarkable work by a remarkable man. Mr. Miller is self-made, and
has elevated himself, by the force of his genius, from the position
of an ordinary laborer in a stone quarry, to that of one of the
first Geologists of the age. For careful investigation, accuracy,
fullness, and beauty of description, combined with a proper estimate
of the true claims of science, and a high reverence for sacred
things, he is not surpassed by any writer on natural science at the
present day. All who have taken any interest in the discussion of
geological topics, and 'particularly their connection with the Sacred
Writings, will read this volume with admiration and advantage. Its
subject, spirit, style, and manner of publication, all commend it;
and it is destined to an extensive circulation. It is one of the
noblest and most admirable contributions lately made to Science and
Christianity."--_Christian Herald._
"Within a few days, this enterprising house has re-published one of
the most charming scientific works of 'modern times--a work which,
from the simple love of truth which pervades it, its clearness,
authenticity, and wonderful revelations, may be called a work of
genius, as appropriately as a fine poem. It is entitled 'Foot-Prints
of the Creator.'"--_Willis' Rome Journal._
"A work so beautifully written, filled with such curious, new, and
interesting facts, and breathing in every page the purest philosophy
and Christianity, could scarcely meet with adequate praise, in
a limited space. It should be added to the library of every
one."--_Washington Union._
"We have never read a work of the kind with so much interest. Its
statements of fact and its descriptions are remarkably clear. From
minute particulars it leads us on to broad views of the creation;
and the earth becomes the witness of a succession of miracles, as
wonderful as any recorded in the Scriptures."--_Christian Register._
"This splendid work should be read by every man in our land. We
recommend the study of this science to our young men; let them
approach it with open, and not unfaithful breasts,--for amid our
mountains, grand and tall, our boundless plains, and flowing
rivers, vast and virgin fields for exploration yet present
themselves."--_Scientific American._
"This is one of the most able and learned works which has ever been
issued from the American press. The North British Review says 'That
in its geological character it is not surpassed by any modern work of
the same class.' The style of the work is clear, rich, and strong;
its statements of truth are plain and accurate, and its arguments
are presented with masterly force. Its author, Hugh Miller, is a
man of very superior talents and attainments."--_New York Christian
Messenger._
"The author resembles Burns, in the freshness, and vigor, and
enthusiasm of genius; and had he ventured into the realm of poetry,
the greatest of Scottish bards might have welcomed his company.
We hope the volume may be widely circulated, especially among
intelligent Christians.... This work is written in a bold and
eloquent style, and though penetrating to the inner shrine of the
Geological temple, and necessarily dealing with hard words and harder
things, it will secure many readers."--_Christian Chronicle._
GOULD AND LINCOLN, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.
THE OLD RED SANDSTONE;
OR
NEW WALKS IN AN OLD FIELD.
BY HUGH MILLER,
FROM THE FOURTH LONDON EDITION--ILLUSTRATED
A writer, in noticing Mr. Miller's "First Impressions of England and
the People," in the New Englander, of May, 1850, commences by saying,
"We presume it is not necessary formally to introduce Hugh Miller to
our readers; the author of 'The Old Red Sandstone' placed himself,
by that production, which was first, among the most successful
geologists, and the best writers of the age. We well remember with
what mingled emotion and delight we first read that work. Rarely
has a more remarkable book come from the press.... For, besides the
important contributions which it makes to the science of Geology,
it is written in a style which places the author at once among the
most accomplished writers of the age.... He proves himself to be
in prose what Burns has been in poetry. We are not extravagant in
saying that there is no geologist living who, in the descriptions of
the phenomena of the science, has united such accuracy of statement
with so much poetic beauty of expression. What Dr. Buckland said was
not a mere compliment, that 'he had never been so much astonished in
his life, by the powers of any man, as he had been by the geological
descriptions of Mr. Miller. That wonderful man described these
objects with a felicity which made him ashamed of the comparative
meagerness and poverty of his own descriptions, in the Bridgewater
Treatise, which had cost him hours and days of labor.' For our own
part we do not hesitate to place Mr. Miller in the front rank of
English prose writers. Without mannerism, without those extravagances
which give a factitious reputation to so many writers of the day,
his style has a classic purity and elegance, which remind one of
Goldsmith and Irving, while there is an ease and a naturalness in the
illustrations of the imagination, which belong only to men of true
genius."
"The excellent and lively work of our meritorious, self-taught
countryman, Mr. Miller, is as admirable for the clearness of its
descriptions, and the sweetness of its composition, as for the purity
and gracefulness which pervade it."--_Edinburgh Review._
"A geological work, small in size, unpretending in spirit and manner;
its contents, the conscientious narration of fact; its style, the
beautiful simplicity of truth; and altogether possessing, for a
rational reader, an interest superior to that of a novel."--_Dr. J.
Pye Smith._
"This admirable work evinces talent of the highest order, a deep and
healthful moral feeling, a perfect command of the finest language,
and a beautiful union of philosophy and poetry. No geologist can
peruse this volume without instruction and delight."--_Silliman's
American Journal of Science._
"Mr. Miller's exceedingly interesting book on this formation is
just the sort of work to render any subject popular. It is written
in a remarkably pleasing style, and contains a wonderful amount of
information."--_Westminster Review._
"In Mr. Miller's charming little work will be found a very graphic
description of the Old Red fishes. I know not of a more fascinating
volume on any branch of British geology."--_Mantell's Medals of
Creation._
Sir Roderick Murchison, giving an account of the investigations
of Mr. Miller, spoke in the highest terms of his perseverance and
ingenuity as a geologist. With no other advantages than a common
education, by a careful use of his means, he had been able to give
himself an excellent education, and to elevate himself to a position
which any man, in any sphere of life, might well envy. He had seen
some of his papers on geology, written in a style so beautiful and
poetical as to throw plain geologists, like himself, in the shade.
GOULD AND LINCOLN, PUBLISHERS. BOSTON.
THE POETRY OF SCIENCE;
OR, STUDIES OF THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF NATURE
BY ROBERT HUNT,
AUTHOR OF "PANTHEA," "RESEARCHES ON LIGHT," ETC.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"We know of no work upon science which is so well calculated to lift
the mind from the admiration of the wondrous works of creation to the
belief in, and worship of, a First Great Cause. * * * One of the most
readable epitomes of the present state and progress of science we
have perused."--_Morning Herald, London._
"The design of Mr. Hunt's volume is striking and good. The subject is
very well dealt with, and the object very well attained; it displays
a fund of knowledge, and is the work of an eloquent and earnest
man."--_The Examiner, London._
"This book richly deserves the attention of the public. Its object,
as may be surmised from the title, is to paint the poetical aspect
of science, or rather to show that the deeper one investigates
the mysteries of nature--whether in the formation of a continent,
in the orbit of a star, or in the color of a flower--the more
awakened will be his wonder and his veneration, and the more call
will there be upon his highest powers of the intellect and the
imagination."--_Boston Post._
"It was once supposed that poetry and science were natural antipodes;
and lo! they now are united in loving bonds. Mr. Hunt has certainly
demonstrated that the divinest poetry lies hidden in the depths of
science, and needs but a master spirit to evoke it in shapes of
beauty."--_Christian Chronicle._
"It may be read with interest, by the lovers of nature and of
science."--_N. Y. Tribune._
"It is written in a style not unworthy of the grandeur of the
subject."--_N. Y. Eve. Post._
"The author, while adhering to true science, has set forth its
truths in an exceedingly captivating style."--_New York Commercial
Advertiser._
"We are heartily glad to see this interesting work re-published in
America. It is a book that is a book."--_Scientific American._
"From the arcana of science especially, has the author gleaned
what may be properly termed her poetry, which will make the
book one of the most interesting character to the intelligent
reader."--_Christian Herald._
"It is really a scientific treatise, fitted to instruct and enlarge
the mind of the reader, but at the same time it invests the subjects
it describes with the radiance of the imagination, and with the
charming association of poetry. The book well deserves the title it
bears, and is a beautiful illustration of the poetic interest that
belongs to many of the discussions of the science."--_Providence
Journal._
"It is one of the most readable, interesting, and instructive works
of the kind, that we have ever seen."--_Philadelphia Christian
Observer._
14 In this admirable production, Mr. Hunt offers a beautiful
epitome of the physical phenomena of Nature, in which, from their
ultimate facts, he leads his reader by inductive processes, to the
contemplation of vast eternal truths. Though full of information, the
facts cited in his pages are not collected solely because they are
such, but with true philosophical acumen, to build up the edifice;
and if curious or rare, they are selected merely to strengthen the
position in which they are placed."--_Washington Union._
"We anticipate a wide circulation for it in this country."--_Albany
State Register._
"The scientific compass of the volume is large, and its execution is
exceedingly fine and interesting."--_Zion's Herald._
"We noticed this eloquent work, while it was in the course of
publication. It is now out in beautiful style, and makes with the
notes, which are full and as valuable as the text, a volume of
nearly four hundred pases. The publishers could not have done the
poets of the land a better service, than by thus supplying them with
exhaustless materials, collected from all branches of science, and
admirably arranged for their more substantial structure."--_Watchman
and Reflector._
"Here we have an illustration of the true and beautiful, and how that
they are always one. The mysterious laws of nature, and the phenomena
by which they are manifested, are brought before the reader in a way
that enchants and improves. There is poetry in science, as no one may
deny, after he reads this book."--_Baltimore Patriot._
GOULD AND LINCOLN, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON.
THE EARTH AND MAN:
_Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography, in its Relation to the
History of Mankind._
By Arnold Guyot, Prof. Phys. Geo. & Hist., Neuchatel.
_Translated from the French_, by Prof. C. C. Felton.--_With
Illustrations._
12mo. Price $1.25.
"Those who have been accustomed to regard Geography as a merely
descriptive branch of learning, drier than the remainder biscuit
after a voyage, will be delighted to find this hitherto unattractive
pursuit converted info a science, the principles of which are
definite and the results conclusive; a science that embraces the
investigation of natural laws and interprets their mode of operation;
which professes to discover in the rudest forms and apparently
confused arrangement of the materials composing the planets' crust, a
new manifestation of the wisdom which has filled the earth with its
riches. * * * To the reader we shall owe no apology, if we have said
enough to excite his curiosity and to persuade him to look to the
book itself for further instruction."--_North American Review._
"The grand idea of the work is happily expressed by the author, where
he calls it the geographical march of history. * * * The man of
science will hail it as a beautiful generalization from the facts of
observation. The Christian, who trusts in a merciful Providence, will
draw courage from it, and hope yet more earnestly for the redemption
of the most degraded portions of mankind. Faith, science, learning,
poetry, taste, in a word, genius, have liberally contributed to the
production of the work under review. Sometimes we feel as if we were
studying a treatise on the exact sciences; at others, it strikes the
ear like an epic poem. Now it reads like history, and now it sounds
like prophecy. It will find readers in whatever language it may be
published; and in the elegant English dress which it has received
from the accomplished pen of the translator, it will not fail to
interest, instruct and inspire.
We congratulate the lovers of history and of physical geography, as
well as all those who are interested in the growth and expansion of
our common education, that Prof. Guyot contemplates the publication
of a series of elementary works on Physical Geography, in which these
two great branches of study which God has so closely joined together,
will not, we trust, be put asunder."--_Christian Examiner._
"A copy of this volume reached us at too late an hour for an
extended notice. The work is one of high merit, exhibiting a wide
range of knowledge, great research, and a philosophical spirit of
investigation. Its perusal will well repay the most learned in such
subjects, and give new views to all, of man's relation to the globe
he inhabits."--_Silliman's Journal, July, 1849._
"These lectures form one of the most valuable contributions to
geographical science that has ever been published in this country.
They invest the study of geography with an interest which will, we
doubt not, surprise and delight many. They will open an entire new
world to most readers, and will be found an invaluable aid to the
teacher and student of geography."--_Evening Traveller._
"We venture to pronounce this one of the most interesting and
instructive books which have come from the American press for many
a month. The science of which it treats is comparatively of recent
origin, but it is of great importance, not only on Recount of its
connections with other branches of knowledge, but for its bearing
upon many of the interests of society. In these lectures it is
relieved of statistical details, and presented only in its grandest
features. It thus not only places before us most instructive facts
relating to the condition of the earth, but also awakens within us a
stronger sympathy with the beings that inhabit it, and a profounder
reverence for the beneficent Creator who formed it, and of whose
character it is a manifestation and expression. They abound with the
richest interest and instruction to every intelligent reader, and
especially fitted to awaken enthusiasm and delight in all who are
devoted to the study either of natural science or the history of
mankind."--_Providence Journal._
"Geography is here presented under a new and attractive phase;
it is no longer v dry description of the features of the earth's
surface. The influence of soil scenery and climate upon character,
has not yet received the consideration due to it from historians and
philosophers. In the volume before us the profound investigations of
Humboldt, Ritter and others, in Physical Geography, are presented in
a popular form, and with the clearness and vivacity so characteristic
of French treatises on science. The work should be introduced into
our higher schools."--_The Independent, New York._
"Geography is here made to assume a dignity, not heretofore attached
to it. The knowledge communicated in these Lectures is curious,
unexpected, absorbing."--_Christian Mirror, Portland._
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEOLOGICAL SCIENCE.
BY JOHN HARRIS, D.D.
I. THE PRE-ADAMITE EARTH.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"At As we have examined every page of this work, and put forth our
best efforts to understand the full import of its varied and rich
details, the resistless impression has come over our spirits, that
the respected author has been assisted from on high in his laborious,
but successful undertaking. May it please God yet to aid and uphold
him, to complete his whole design; for we can now see, if we mistake
not, that there is great unity as well as originality and beauty in
the object which he is aiming to accomplish. If we do not greatly
mistake, this long looked for volume, will create and sustain a
deep impression in the more intellectual circles of the religious
world."--_London Evangelical Magazine._
"The man who finds his element among great thoughts, and is not
afraid to push into the remoter regions of abstract truth, be he
philosopher or theologian, or both, will read it over and over, and
will find his intellect quickened, as if from being in contact with a
new and glorious creation."--_Albany Argus._
"Dr. Harris states in a lucid, succinct, and often highly eloquent
manner, all the leading facts of geology, and their beautiful harmony
with the teachings of Scripture. As a work of paleontology in its
relation to Scripture, it will be one of the most complete and
popular extant. It evinces great research, clear and rigid reasoning,
and a style more condensed and beautiful than is usually found in a
work so profound. It will be an invaluable contribution to Biblical
Science."--_New York Evangelist._
"He is a sound logician and lucid reasoner, getting nearer to the
groundwork of a subject generally supposed to have very uncertain
data, than any other writer within our knowledge."--_New York Com.
Advertiser._
"The elements of things, the laws of organic nature, and those
especially that lie at the foundation of the divine relations to man,
are here dwelt upon in a masterly manner."--_Christian Reflector,
Boston._
II. MAN PRIMEVAL;
OR THE CONSTITUTION AND PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF THE HUMAN BEING.
WITH A FINE PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"It surpasses in interest its predecessor. It is an able attempt
to carry out the author's grand conception. His purpose is to
unfold, as far as possible, the successive steps by which God is
accomplishing his purpose to manifest His All-sufficiency. * * *
The reader is led along a pathway, abounding with rich and valuable
thought, going on from the author's opening propositions to their
complete demonstration. To students of mental and moral science, it
will be a valuable contribution, and will assuredly secure their
attention."--_Christian Chronicle, Philadelphia._
"It is eminently philosophical, and at the same time glowing and
eloquent. It cannot fail to have a wide circle of readers, or to
repay richly the hours which are given to its pages."--_New York
Recorder._
"The reputation of the author of this volume is co-extensive with
the English language. The work before us manifests much learning and
metaphysical acumen. Its great recommendation is, its power to cause
the reader to think and reflect."--_Boston Recorder._
"Reverently recognizing the Bible as the fountain and exponent of
truth, he is as independent and fearless as he is original and
forcible; and he adds to these qualities consummate skill in argument
and elegance of diction."--_N. Y. Com. Advertiser._
"His copious and beautiful illustrations of the successive laws
of the Divine Manifestation, have yielded us inexpressible
delight."--_London Eclectic Review._
"The distribution and arrangement of thought in this volume, are
such as to afford ample scope for the author's remarkable powers of
analysis and illustration. In looking with a keen and searching eye
at the principles which regulate the conduct of God towards man, as
the intelligent inhabitant of this lower world, Dr. Harris has laid
down for himself three distinct, but connected views of the Divine
procedure: First, The End aimed at by God; Second, the Reasons for
the employment of it. In a very masterly way does our author grapple
with almost every difficulty, and perplexing subject which comes
within the range of his proposed inquiry into the constitution and
condition of Man Primeval."--_London Evangelical History._
III. THE FAMILY;
ITS CONSTITUTION, PROBATION AND HISTORY.
[IN PREPARATION.]
CLASSICAL STUDIES.
ESSAYS ON
ANCIENT LITERATURE AND ART.
_With the Biography and Correspondence of Eminent Philologists._
By Barnas Sears, President of Newton Theol. Institution, B. B.
Edwards, Prof. Andover Theol. Seminary, and C. C. Felton, Prof.
Harvard University. 12mo. Price $1.25.
SECOND THOUSAND.
"The collection is a most attractive one, and would be acceptable in
any circumstances. The discourses, particularly those of Jacobs, are
written in words that burn. A general could not exhort his troops
with more energy and spirit, than are used by the German Professor
in stimulating the youth before him to labor in the acquisition of
classical learning. The biographical portions of the book, naturally
less exciting, no less tend to the same end."--_London Lit. Examiner,
by John Forster, Esq._
"This elegant book is worthy of a more extended notice than our
limits at present will permit us to give it. Great labor and care
have been bestowed upon its typographical execution, which does
honor to the American press. It is one of the rare beauties of
the page, that not a word is divided at the end of a line. The
mechanical part of the work, however, is its least praise. It is
unique in its character--standing alone among the innumerable books
of this book-making age. The authors well deserve the thanks of the
cultivated and disciplined portion of the community, for the service
which, by this publication, they have done to the cause of letters.
The book is of a high order, and worthy of the attentive perusal of
every scholar. It is a noble monument to the taste, and judgment,
and sound learning of the projectors, and will yield, we doubt
not, a rich harvest of fame to themselves, and of benefit to our
literature."--_Christian Review._
"It is refreshing, truly, to sit down with such a book as this. When
the press is teeming with the hasty works of authors and publishers,
it is a treat to take up a book that is an honor, at once, to the
arts and the literature of our country."--_New York Observer._
"This is truly an elegant volume, both in respect to its literary and
its mechanical execution. Its typographical appearance is an honor
to the American press; and with equal truth it may be said, that the
intrinsic character of the work is highly creditable to the age. It
is a novel work, and may be called a plea for classical learning. To
scholars it must be a treat 3 and to students we heartily commend
it."--_Boston Recorder._
"This volume is no common-place production. It is truly refreshing,
when we are obliged, from week to week, to look through the mass of
books which increases upon our table, many of which are extremely
attenuated in thought and jejune in style, to find something which
carries us back to the pure and invigorating influence of the master
minds of antiquity. The gentlemen who have produced this volume
deserve the cordial thanks of the literary world."--_New England
Puritan._
"We heartily welcome this book as admirably adapted to effect a
most noble and much desired result. We commend the work to general
attention, for we feel sure it must do much to awaken a zeal for
classical studies, as the surest means of attaining the refinement
and graceful dignity which should mark the strength of every
nation."--_New York Tribune._
"We make no classical pretensions, or we might say more about the
principal articles in this volume; but it needs no such pretensions
to commend, as we heartily do, a book so full of interest and
instruction as the present, for every reader who is at nil imbued
with a love of literature."--_Salem Gazette._
"This book will do good in our colleges. Every student will want a
copy, and many will be stimulated by its perusal to a more vigorous
and enthusiastic pursuit of that higher and more solid learning which
alone deserves to be called 4 classical.' The recent tendencies have
been to the neglect of this, and we rejoice in this timely effort of
minds so well qualified for such a work."--_Christian Reflector._
"The volume is, in every way, a beautiful affair of its kind, and we
hazard nothing in recommending it to the literary world."--_Christian
Secretary, Hartford._
"The design is a noble and generous one, and has been executed with
a taste and good sense, that do honor both to the writers and the
publishers."--_Prov. Journal._
CHAMBERS'S
CYCLOPÆDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
A SELECTION OF THE CHOICEST PRODUCTIONS OF ENGLISH AUTHORS, FROM
THE EARLIEST TO THE PRESENT TIME: CONNECTED BY A CRITICAL AND
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
EDITED BY ROBERT CHAMBERS.
ASSISTED BY ROBERT CARRUTHERS AND OTHER EMINENT GENTLEMEN.
_Complete in two imperial octavo volumes, of more than fourteen
hundred pages of double column letterpress, and upwards of three
hundred elegant illustrations._
_This valuable work has now become so generally known and
appreciated, that there need scarcely be any thing said in
commendation, except to those who have not yet seen it._
_The work embraces about One Thousand Authors, chronologically
arranged and classed as Poets, Historians, Dramatists, Philosophers,
Metaphysicians, Divines, etc., with choice selections from their
writings, connected by a Biographical, Historical, and Critical
Narrative; thus presenting a complete view of English Literature,
from the earliest to the present time. Let the reader open where he
will, he cannot fail to find matter for profit and delight, which,
for the most part, too, repeated perusals will only serve to make
him enjoy the more. We have indeed infinite riches in a little room.
No one, who has a taste for literature, should allow himself, for a
trifling consideration, to be without a work which throws so much
light upon the progress of the English language. The selections are
gems--a mass of valuable information in a condensed and elegant form._
EXTRACTS FROM COMMENDATORY NOTICES.
_From W. H. Prescott, Author of "Ferdinand and Isabella."_ "The plan
of the work is very judicious. * * * It will put the reader in the
proper point of view, for surveying the whole ground over which he is
travelling. * * * Such readers cannot fail to profit largely by the
labors of the critic who has the talent and taste to separate what is
really beautiful and worthy of their study from what is superfluous."
"I concur in the foregoing opinion of Mr. Prescott."--_Edward
Everett._
"It will be a useful and popular work, indispensable to the library
of a student of English literature."--_Francis Wayland._
"We hail with peculiar pleasure the appearance of this work, and more
especially its republication in this country at a price which places
it within the reach of a great number of readers."--_North American
Review._
"This is the most valuable and magnificent contribution to a sound
popular literature that this century has brought forth. It fills
a place which was before a blank. Without it, English literature,
to almost all of our countrymen, educated or uneducated, is an
imperfect, broken, disjointed mass. Much that is beautiful--the
most perfect and graceful portions, undoubtedly--was already
possessed; but it was not a whole. Every intelligent man, every
inquiring mind, every scholar, felt that the foundation was missing.
Chambers's Cyclopædia supplies this radical defect. It begins with
the beginning; and, step by step, gives to every one who has the
intellect or taste to enjoy it a view of English literature in
all its complete, beautiful, and perfect proportions."--_Onondaga
Democrat, N. Y._
"We hope that teachers will avail themselves of an early opportunity
to obtain a work so well calculated to impart useful knowledge, with
the pleasures and ornaments of the English classics. The work will
undoubtedly find a place in our district and other public libraries;
yet it should be the 'vade mecum' of every scholar."--_Teachers'
Advocate, Syracuse, N. Y._
"The work is finely conceived to meet a popular want, is full of
literary instruction, and is variously embellished with engravings
illustrative of English antiquities, history, and biography. Tire
typography throughout is beautiful."--_Christian Reflector._ Boston.
"The design has been well executed by the selection and concentration
of some of the best productions of English intellect, from the
earliest Anglo-Saxon writers down to those of the present day. No one
can give a glance at the work without being struck with its beauty
and cheapness."--_Boston Courier._
"We should be glad if any thing we can say would favor this design.
The elegance of the execution feasts the eye with beauty, and the
whole is suited to refine and elevate the taste. And we might ask,
who can fail to go back to its beginning, and trace his mother-tongue
from its rude infancy to its present maturity, elegance, and
richness?"--_Christian Mirror, Portland._
∵ The Publishers of the AMERICAN Edition of this valuable work desire
to state that, besides the numerous pictorial illustrations in the
English Edition, they have greatly enriched the work by the addition
of fine steel and mezzotint engravings of the heads of Shakspeare,
Addison, Byron; a full length portrait of Dr. Johnson, and a
beautiful scenic representation of Oliver Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson.
These important and elegant additions, together with superior paper
and binding, must give this a decided preference ever all other
editions.
FOR SCHOOL AND FAMILY LIBRARIES.
CHAMBERS'S MISCELLANY
OF USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE,
TEN VOLUMES, ELEGANTLY ILLUSTRATED.
The design of the Miscellany is to supply the increasing demand for
useful, instructive, and entertaining reading, and to bring all the
aids of literature to bear on _the cultivation of the feelings and
understanding of the people_--to impress correct views on important
moral and social questions--to furnish an unobtrusive friend and
guide, a lively fireside companion, as far as that object can be
attained through the instrumentality of books.
This work is confidently commended to Teachers, School Committees,
and all others interested in the formation of "School Libraries,"
as the very best work for this purpose. Its wide range of subjects,
presented in the most popular style, makes it exceedingly interesting
and instructive to all classes. The most flattering testimonials
from distinguished school teachers and others, expressing an earnest
desire to have it introduced into all school libraries, have been
received by the publishers.
_From George B. Emerson, Esq., Chairman of the Book Committee of
the Boston Schools._--"I have examined with a good deal of care
'Chambers's Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge,'
particularly with reference to its suitableness to form parts of a
library for young persons. It is, indeed, a library in itself, and
one of great value, containing very choice selections in history,
biography, natural history, poetry, art, physiology, elegant fiction,
and various departments of science, made with great taste and
judgment, and with the highest moral and philanthropic purpose. It
would be difficult to find any miscellany superior or even equal to
it; it richly deserves the epithets 'useful and entertaining,' and
I would recommend it very strongly, as extremely well adapted to
form parts of a library for the young, or of a social or circulating
library, in town or country."
_From the Rev. John O. Choules, D. D._--"I cannot resist the desire
which I feel to thank you for the valuable service which you have
rendered to the public by placing this admirable work within the
reach of all who have a desire to obtain knowledge. I am not
acquainted with any similar collection in the English language
that can compare with it for purposes of instruction or amusement.
I should rejoice to see that set of books in every house in our
country. I cannot think of any method by which a father can more
materially benefit his children than by surrounding them with good
books; and if these charming and attractive volumes can be placed in
the hands of the young, they will have their tastes formed for good
leading. I shall labor to see the Miscellany circulated among my
friends, and shall lose no opportunity to commend it every where."
"They contain an excellent selection of historical, scientific, and
miscellaneous articles in popular style, from the best writers of the
language. The work is elegantly printed and neatly illustrated, and
is sold very cheap."--_Independent Democrat, Concord, N. H._
"It is just the book to take up at the close of a busy day; and
especially will it shed a new charm over autumn and winter in-door
scenes."--_Christ. World, Boston._
"The information contained in this work is surprisingly great; and
for the fireside, and the young particularly, it cannot fail to prove
a most valuable and entertaining companion."--_New York Evangelist._
"We are glad to see an American issue of this publication, and
especially in so neat and convenient a form. It is an admirable
compilation, distinguished by the good taste which has been shown in
all the publications of the Messrs. Chambers. It unites the useful
and the entertaining."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._
"It is an admirable compilation, containing interesting memoirs and
historical sketches, which are useful, instructive, and entertaining.
Every head of a family should supply himself with a copy for the
benefit of his children."--_Corning Journal._
"The enterprising publishers deserve the thanks of every lover of
the beautiful and true, for the cheap and tasteful style in which
they have spread this truly valuable work before the American
people."--_People's Advocate, Pa._
"It is filled with subjects of interest, intended for the instruction
of the youthful mind, such as biography, history, anecdotes, natural
philosophy, &c."--_New Orleans Bee._
Valuable School Books.
=THE ELEMENTS OF MORAL SCIENCE.= By Francis Wayland, D.D. President
of Brown University, and Professor of Moral Philosophy. Fortieth
Thousand. 12mo. cloth. Price $1.25.
∵ This work has been extensively and favorably reviewed and adopted
as a class-book in most of the collegiate, theological, and
academical institutions of the country.
_From Rev. Wilbur Fisk, President of the Wesleyan University._
"I have examined it with great satisfaction and interest. The work
was greatly needed, and is well executed. Dr. Wayland deserves the
grateful acknowledgments and liberal patronage of the public. I need
say nothing further to express my high estimate of the work, than
that we shall immediately adopt it as a text-book in our university."
_From Hon. James Kent, late Chancellor of New York._
"The work has been read by me attentively and thoroughly, and I think
very highly of it. The author himself is one of the most estimable of
men, and I do not know of any ethical treatise, in which our duties
to God and to our fellow-men are laid down with more precision,
simplicity, clearness, energy, and truth."
"The work of Dr. Wayland has arisen gradually from the necessity of
correcting the false principles and fallacious reasonings of Paley.
It is a radical mistake, in the education of youth, to permit any
book to be used by students as a text-book, which contains erroneous
doctrines, especially when these are fundamental, and tend to vitiate
the whole system of morals. We have been greatly pleased with the
method which President Wayland has adopted; he goes back to the
simplest and most fundamental principles; and, in the statement of
his views, he unites perspicuity with conciseness and precision.
In all the author's leading fundamental principles we entirely
concur."--_Biblical Repository._
"This is a new work on morals, for academic use, and we welcome
it with much satisfaction. It is the result of several years'
reflection and experience in teaching, on the part of its justly
distinguished author; and if it is not perfectly what we could wish,
yet, in the most important respects, it supplies a want which has
been extensively felt. It is, we think, substantially sound in its
fundamental principles; and being comprehensive and elementary in its
plan, and adapted to the purposes of instruction, it will be gladly
adopted by those who have for a long time been dissatisfied with the
existing works of Paley."--_The Literary and Theological Review._
=MORAL SCIENCE, ABRIDGED,= by the Author, and adapted to the use of
Schools and Academies. Twenty-fifth Thousand. 18mo, half cloth. Price
25 cents.
The more effectually to meet the desire expressed for a cheap
edition, the present edition is issued at the reduced price of 25
cents per copy, and it is hoped thereby to extend the benefit of
moral instruction to all the youth of our land. Teachers and all
others engaged in the training of youth, are invited to examine this
work.
"Dr. Wayland has published an abridgment of his work, for the use of
schools. Of this step we can hardly speak too highly. It is more than
time that the study of moral philosophy should be introduced into
all our institutions of education. We are happy to see the way so
auspiciously opened for such an introduction. It has been not merely
abridged, but also re-written. We cannot but regard the labor as well
bestowed."--_North American Review._
"We speak that we do know, when we express our high estimate of Dr.
Wayland's ability in teaching Moral Philosophy, whether orally or by
the book. Having listened to his instructions, in this interesting
department, we can attest how lofty are the principles, how exact
and severe the argumentation, how appropriate and strong the
illustrations which characterize his system and enforce it on the
mind."--_The Christian Witness._
"The work of which this volume is an abridgment, is well known as one
of the best and most complete works on Moral Philosophy extant. The
author is well known as one of the most profound scholars of the age.
That the study of Moral Science, a science which teaches goodness,
should be a branch of education, not only in our colleges, but in our
schools and academies, we believe will not be denied. The abridgment
of this work seems to us admirably calculated for the purpose, and we
hope it will be extensively applied to the purposes for which it is
intended."--_The Mercantile Journal._
"We hail the abridgment as admirably adapted to supply the deficiency
which has long been felt in common school education,--the study of
moral obligation. Let the child early be taught the relations it
sustains to man and to its Maker, the first acquainting it with the
duties owed to society, the second with the duties owed to God, and
who can foretell how many a sad and disastrous overthrow of character
will be prevented, and how elevated and pure will be the sense of
integrity and virtue?"--_Evening Gazette._
Valuable School Books.
=ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY=, By Francis Wayland, D.D., President
of Brown University. Fifteenth Thousand. 12mo. cloth. Price $1.25
"His object has been to write a book, which any one who chooses
may understand. He has, therefore, labored to express the general
principles in the plainest manner possible, and to illustrate them
by cases with which every person is familiar. It has been to the
author a source of regret, that the course of discussion in the
following pages, has, unavoidably, led him over ground which has
frequently been the arena of political controversy. In all such
cases, he has endeavored to state what seemed to him to be truth,
without fear, favor, or affection. He is conscious to himself of no
bias towards any party whatever, and he thinks that he who will read
the whole work, will be convinced that he has been influenced by
none."--_Extract from the Preface._
=POLITICAL ECONOMY, ABRIDGED=, by the Author, and adapted to the use
of Schools and Academies. Seventh Thousand. 18mo. half morocco. Price
50 cents.
∵ The success which has attended the abridgment of "The Elements
of Moral Science" has induced the author to prepare an abridgment
of this work. In this case, as in the other, the work has been
wholly re-written, and an attempt has been made to adapt it to the
attainments of youth.
"The original work of the author, on Political Economy, has already
been noticed on our pages; and the present abridgment stands in no
need of a recommendation from us. We may be permitted, however, to
say, that both the rising and risen generations are deeply indebted
to Dr. Wayland, for the skill and power he has put forth to bring a
highly important subject distinctly before them, within such narrow
limits. Though 'abridged for the use of academies,' it deserves to
be introduced into every private family, and to be studied by every
man who has an interest in the wealth and prosperity of has country.
It is a subject little understood, even practically, by thousands,
and still less understood theoretically. It is to be hoped, this
will form a class-book, and be faithfully studied in our academics;
and that it will find its way into every family library; not there
to be shut up unread, but to afford rich material for thought and
discussion in the family circle. It is fitted to enlarge the mind, to
purify the judgment, to correct erroneous popular impressions, and
assist every man in forming opinions of public measures, which will
abide the test of time and experience."--_Boston Recorder._
"An abridgment of this clear, common sense work, designed for the
use of academies is just published. We rejoice to see such treatises
spreading among; the people; and we urge all who would be intelligent
freemen, to read them."--_New York Transcript._
"We can say, with safety, that the topics are well selected and
arranged; that the author's name is a guarantee for more than
usual excellence. We wish it an extensive circulation."--_New York
Observer._
"It is well adapted to high schools, and embraces the soundest system
of republican political economy of any treatise extant."--_Daily
Advocate._
=THOUGHTS= on the present Collegiate System in the United States. By
Francis Wayland, D.D. Price 60 cents.
"These Thoughts come from a source entitled to a very respectful
attention; and as the author goes over the whole ground of
collegiate education, criticising freely all the arrangements in
every department and in all their bearings, the book is very full of
matter. We hope it will prove the beginning of a thorough discussion."
=PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY=, Illustrated by forty plates, and
Selections from the notes of Dr. Paxton, with additional Notes,
original and selected, for this edition; with a vocabulary of
Scientific Terms. Edited by John Ware, M.D. 12mo. sheep. Price $1.25.
"The work before us is one which deserves rather to be studied than
merely read. Indeed, without diligent attention and study, neither
the excellences of it can be fully discovered, nor its advantages
realized. It is, therefore, gratifying to find it introduced, as
a text-book, into the colleges and literary institutions of our
country. The edition before us is superior to any we have seen, and,
we believe, superior to any that has yet been published."--_Spirit of
the Pilgrims._
"Perhaps no one of our author's works gives greater satisfaction to
all classes of readers, the young and the old, the ignorant and the
enlightened. Indeed, we recollect no book in which the arguments
for the existence and attributes of the Supreme Being, to be drawn
from his works are exhibited in a manner more attractive and more
convincing."--_Christian Examiner._
* * * * *
Transcriber Note
Two incidences of Ben Wevis (pp. 6 and 182) were changed to Ben
Nevis. Ben Wyvis on page 31 was left unchanged as there is a
peak with that name! Some minor typos were corrected. Duplicate
Advertisements from the front of the book were deleted!
To avoid splitting paragraphs by Plate images, text was moved. Due
to the length of some paragraphs and the footnotes they reference,
the following paragraphs were split to accommodate placement of their
footnotes nearer to their anchors.
Page Line
19 24
130 9
161 8
162 9
223 13