which is at our command. For this reason we must not expect
to obtain a full and connected account of any series of events beyond
the reach of history. But the testimony of geological monuments, if
frequently imperfect, possesses at least the advantage of being free
from all intentional misrepresentation. We may be deceived in the
inferences which we draw, in the same manner as we often mistake the
nature and import of phenomena observed in the daily course of nature;
but our liability to err is confined to the interpretation, and, if this
be correct, our information is certain.

It was long before the distinct nature and legitimate objects of geology
were fully recognized, and it was at first confounded with many other
branches of inquiry, just as the limits of history, poetry, and
mythology were ill-defined in the infancy of civilization. Even in
Werner's time, or at the close of the eighteenth century, geology
appears to have been regarded as little other than a subordinate
department of mineralogy; and Desmarest included it under the head of
Physical Geography. But the most common and serious source of confusion
arose from the notion, that it was the business of geology to discover
the mode in which the earth originated, or, as some imagined, to study
the effects of those cosmological causes which were employed by the
Author of Nature to bring this planet out of a nascent and chaotic state
into a more perfect and habitable condition. Hutton was the first who
endeavored to draw a strong line of demarcation between his favorite
science and cosmogony, for he declared that geology was in nowise
concerned "with questions as to the origin of things."

An attempt will be made in the sequel of this work to demonstrate that
geology differs as widely from cosmogony, as speculations concerning the
mode of the first creation of man differ from history. But, before
entering more at large on this controverted question, it will be
desirable to trace the progress of opinion on this topic, from the
earliest ages to the commencement of the present century.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY.

Oriental Cosmogony--Hymns of the Vedas--Institutes of
Menu--Doctrine of the successive destruction and renovation of
the world--Origin of this doctrine--Common to the
Egyptians--Adopted by the Greeks--System of Pythagoras--Of
Aristotle--Dogmas concerning the extinction and reproduction