Principles of geology, Volume 1 |
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ages ancient Apennines appear arctic ation Auvergne bones calcareous carbonic carbonic acid carboniferous causes century chains chalk changes climate continued corals creation crust currents delta deluge deposits depth distance district doctrine dry land earth earthquakes elevation Eocene epoch Europe existing extinct feet flood formations former fossil fossil shells fossiliferous geographical geologists geology glaciers globe gneiss gradual granite gravel Gulf of Bothnia heat height igneous infer inhabitants islands Journ lakes latitudes lava limestone marine mass matter Mediterranean miles mineral modern mountains nature northern observed ocean oolitic opinion Orcia organic remains origin parallel period petrifactions phenomena present quadrupeds quantity regions revolutions rise rivers rocks sand sediment sedimentary Siberia southern hemisphere species springs Stonesfield Strabo strata stream subterranean successive supposed surface temperature terrestrial tertiary testacea theory tion travertin tropical tufa valley vegetable volcanic
Popular passages
Page 230 - A thousand men, that fishes gnaw'd upon; Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea...
Page 96 - ... in the planetary motions, where geometry has carried the eye so far both into the future and the past, we discover no mark either of the commencement or the termination of the present order.
Page 120 - They immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the powers of life, during a period of one hundred and eighty-seven years. At the end of that time, the slaves of Adolius, to whom...
Page 96 - Author of nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves the elements of their own destruction. He has not permitted in His works any symptom of infancy or of old age, or any sign by which we may estimate either their future or their past duration. He may put an end, as he no doubt gave a beginning, to the present system at some determinate period of time ; but we may rest assured that this great catastrophe will not be brought about by the laws...
Page 404 - I have found by experiment," says Sir Humphry Davy, " that the water taken from the most tranquil part of the lake, even after being agitated and exposed to the air, contained in solution more than its own volume of carbonic acid gas, with a very small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen.
Page 1 - GEOLOGY is the science which investigates the successive changes that have taken place in the organic and inorganic kingdoms of nature : it inquires into the causes of these changes, and the influence which they have exerted in modifying the surface and external structure of our planet.
Page 247 - ... on the proofs of the low antiquity of our species, for it is not controverted by any experienced geologist : indeed, the real difficulty consists in tracing back the signs of man's existence on the earth, to that comparatively modern period, when species, now his contemporaries, began to predominate. If there be a difference of opinion respecting the occurrence in certain deposits of the remains of man and his works, it is always in reference to strata confessedly of the most modern order ; and...
Page 322 - ... is ; in other words, they employed themselves in conjecturing what might have been the course of nature at a remote period, rather than in the investigation of what was the course of nature in their own times. It appeared to them more philosophical to speculate on the possibilities of the past, than patiently to explore the realities of the present, and having invented theories under the influence of such maxims, they were consistently unwilling to test their validity by the criterion of their...
Page 18 - These general propositions are then confirmed by a series of examples, all derived from natural appearances, except the first, which refers to the golden age giving place to the age of iron. The illustrations are thus consecutively adduced. 1. Solid land has been converted into sea. 2. Sea has been changed into land. Marine shells lie far distant from the deep, and the anchor has been found on the summit of hills. 3. Valleys have been excavated by running water, and floods have washed down hills...
Page 56 - He knew the seat of Paradise, Could tell in what degree it lies, And, as he was disposed, could prove it Below the moon, or else above it...