Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1836-11-25

water TrCaiises." whirh will b. publish, d
in few days, The public ,tu>, w,ll do M
VI" Justice To suspend their opinion of TIE
chn'gc against me TIL they shall have seen
that book"
One farther passage from the admiral
correspondent Of The Standard. by whom
the above charge is made, viii afford our
readers n complete view and explicit IN.
derstanding oi the accusation aud the dc.
| fence. aud moreover contains an argument
| m lisel'. which without having seen Dr..
| Buck lands book Is worth oil the uncertain
~ cu'a'lun aud the Grouping IN the dark
wh'ch i'um all our i"rncr cSpefirt &C IN all
geological works, W" vr,v much apprehcnL
VII b. found To- characicrizc even the
| learned professors lucubfatlons.
"lf snch (uamcly the desire of a new in
ierpreiarIoa Of scrIpiure) be Tie spirit in
winch the long. looked for, and the long
since.rev,ewed Brdgcwatcr Treatise has
been written. cl"thed as it cerlninlv must
b. by the brilliant talents Of It's author. n
had been much better that It had never
been undertaken. Almost every one sees
la, geology is not yet sufficiently ripe for
so standard a work as this ought to be-
The discoveries of every year serve To
chasten theories of former years and mo-
one can yet ioresee The full cons, QUE nee.
which must follow from the new and IN.
looked for discovery as tn the cunnexlnn
of electricity with mineral structure. which
was for the fret time made known to SCI.
ehce at the late BRISTOL meeting. II is
therefore the more alarming TO thousands
nj n IN nj IF hultpuar, IN ho Mad q
| God 10 find the commencement of innopn-
| ton thus Counenanced, as u were. by The
church aud we can readily understand
The loud applause which Dr.. Buck stands
| annoUnc. m,li' drew iurth from the mum
bers who have had no scruples. when they
| found 81 ,tnp"r'ani convert had al lrnal h
| openly subscribed TO the laiuudnar,an
principles of interpretation which geology
has long inoucaed."
Such. indeed. would be our first, and. or
II appears to IA, such is the common sense
answer, aud mos, satisfactory one i,
seems to be. I" the dItficulllrs which are
suggest by these geological discoveries -
namely. that III lis present shape. geolnoy
IN 10 degree Whatever possesses thai
principle of certainty. and that system oi
fixed and Undenlabe axloms ard post u lat p
| which entities It To the va me Of SCIENCE :
that 1t Is yet IN fact. but Il succession oi
floalIrg theories, and tina, even within our
own experience. 10 the last ,hluv wears
We have seen theory after theory give way
to us successor. We remcmbrr ~ Our
own very early lir. that very strong pub,
lie SENSATION was excited bv the publication
| IT volume of travels 10 Iialv. bv Nor
folk gentleman of the name of BrIstrd, in
winch he mani Inned that an Italian Able
whom he bad encountered on his travels,
had discovered certain strata of lava with
strata OF vegetable earth bet ween each. IN
some plain near Mounl VeSuvlu-, and that
II had been ascertaIned that it required u
psrl"d OF ~ 600 year, to convert n strata
"f lava mi" n stratum OF vegetable earth j.;
he suggested that the world must neceSsa
have been OF an earlier date than r.cord,d
~ the Ao'ac account. In the recenilv
published cGiinn of Crukcr's b swell
Life ct Johnson" it will be seen thai Tins
observation of BriSied's was mentioned to
Hr. johnson. aud Tint the answer Of tins
acute rra>oucr was, "SIr. all this, the
number at years which /, will require 10
c"nvrrt stratum q: lava into vegetable
earth, must depend upon the position Of
me stratum, anc upon circumstances and
acc''e"'S "' temperature occasional cn'
| 'ure, earthquakes. &c. winch admit of no
ca'rn'a'i"n' ana II Is me most unreasonable
OF al "hreaS"nab'' things I" call III qn"s.
non me most ancient records at mankind,
anu 'h'ow a''de me c"hc"r''ht 'eStim"hie>
~ history. ,or 'ahcles and theories resting
upon such basis We quote from mem
"fv' on' ,he ABOVE VIII be found The sub
stance "' 'ne efea, rea.nlrfs reply Aud
what was ,he 'esni Why. that IN about
~ years Afterwards when DR. Watson pub
'''hfd MS Apology tor The Bible" IN an,
sw'r |" 'he 'mp'e''eS OF Palne, he took &C.
CASIO" I" '"uch np"n h's objection OF Bus
IT," as an example 81 me '"v"'''''S which
every age was producing, and every age III
VS. ,n'" "'ss'Pa''"@ 10 'hc wines; Tor The
ma','' was no sooner '%a'n'"'d' SAID Dr.
"a'so" ho" hcr series o. ten" Twelve