The National Register.
London, England, 1817-07-28 00:00:00

,Lt., str.

PRICE 941

Outlines of lieulogy.-14 W. T. I rani*,
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This work is the result of Lectures err.e. by the

Author in the Theatre of the Royal fustitutinu. As Se.
cretaryof the Royal Society, much was expected &tan, an&
much was fulfilled, by the Learned Lecturt,. Yitr t;le
tention of a mixed auditory. The science isofitscif pece-
hely rinteresting, and it has been trca'ed m such a man.
net, as to excite the ardour of further research with the
certainty of reaping expected satisfaction, which we
conceive to be the first object of every Lecturer, for
the minuter details of any science cannot be expected
in Lectures. His examination of the the/ries t.f
net, Leibnitz, and others, will awaken an int 4 r..
study and compare them, and to seek the enlightened
advantes which modern days have added to their
suggestions. The strata in various parts of the globe's
encrusting its opacity, and that of our own ishml,
compared and examined ; the various 1. ittls
with the consequent aspects and associations, allotiul
formations, and fossil remains, decomposit ions and decoys,
vokanoes, &c. arc but the mere outlines of the deeper
delineations which the Learned Secretary embraced in
these popular Lectures. A plate is prefixed giving a go.
tient' view of the succession of the strata in Engliutd,
commencing with the blue clay of London, and passing
westward to the Land's-End chalk, sand st.nie, &c.
Another section-, commencing with the foal strata and
limestone, resting upon slate awl granite in C umberland,
and proceeding downward to Herts, and the secondary
hills of the southern counties ; also the lias, oulite
sand-stone and chalk upon which the blue clay of
Middlesex is deposited, and of which the valley of the
Themes principally consist; erc. &c.
••licolocy, oar Auu,or as a hranclrof inductive
science, is of modern date j for thmigh the attention of men
has Imre been turned to a theory of the earth, the forma-
lion of ,ach a theory is incionostiole with any bat an ad-
vanced state of physical knowledge. There appear indeed
few studies of more dulicutty, twee in which the siihject is
snore complex, eppesrancea sn di%eritied and sea ttPri'd ;
and where the caoses that have opei ated are so remote from
the spite. e of Oletillilry ObM•rfatiOn."

We cannot avoid adding, that the author Las dune
his pact towards clearing these difficulties and point-
ing the track most probable to bring the student through
his course—
•• Io the south of Fssekand the chalk is covered with gravel
anti clay, the history of which is extremely cork" on ac.
count of the fossils which they contain, anti the evidence they
gibed of repeated inundatiotwor salt anti treble water upon tl:e
sante spot. There are two celebrated concavities tilled with
such materials, u Melt have been called the London and the i-,e
of Wight Basins. The ton ace is bounded by the chalk hills
pi (weeding front Wilts to the south of the Kentish coast in one
direction, and to the northern point of the Norfolk coast in
another t and it is open to the ocean upon the Essex, Suflulk,
and Norfolk coasts, which thaw sections of its contests." p.
144.

in the mouth of November, 1016,a cavern was discover-
ed in the Limestone Rocks near Plymouth, by Mr. Whitby,
in which' were found the bones of the Rhinoceros imbedded
in clay, in a very high state of perfection ; they were sent to
Sir Joseph Ranks, is whose possession I saw them. If this
ca vernhas noontlel, and if the bones, assuppesed by Mr. Whit-
by, were really contained in at law 'iodide of clay, buried in
the solid rock, many of our geological titer riVS must he sub-
verted ; this however is extremely unlikely and the cavern
title,' will clay, will probably be fotandet much more recent
date than the mate in which it occurs." p. 115.
" In June 1811 a volcano was discovered in the sea off St.
Nlichael, and it formed one blend, about a mile in circuits.
ference." p. 110.
in the concluding lecture, he pays a just tribute to
the skill of Sir I lutaphry Davy.
" If there be any part of natural knowledge calculated,
(says our author in conclusion,) to awaken in us the most
protound sense of the excellence and perfection of Nattire's
works, it is surely iu the subjects that 1 eve now been befit'.
us. That person is little to he tuned w ho, beholding the ins.
tnensity of the universe, and marking the majestic simplicity
In %%latch its oprial ions arc conducted, loes not feel awast u-
eil to a higher species of &tin:, and admitted to a nearerra-
teiroorse with the author of nature. In short, it is inipossibie
to put•no kilns% tedse without mingling with it the best scot-
!mlts oh devotion, or to perceive the laws of nature a iihout
at the &mit: time dist ussine the hand of the Lawgiver. 'f hes
in every are and country the evidences of religion louse ad-
vanced with the progress of tree philosophy ; and Science
kilo she falser a mot:oment to herself, at the time erects
au altar to the Deity."

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Louis XVIII. when he was infi..rined that the Du-
chess of Berri had been delivered of a female child, is
said to have exclaimed, with a sigh—" This is what I
ought to have expected !"—lna similar mood, James
V. of Scotland, when informed of the birth of his ugly.
child, the unthrtunate Queen Mary, remarked to the
bv-standors, that the Crown had come into the fa no' s .•
with *female; and pathetically-R.41,11A "It will go f
with a woman also." The King, who wus then on
death-bed, espited shortly aftt.r. N 4
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