"It is revolting to reason," says Mr. Granville Penn, nd, therefore, to true philosophy, to observe how strenusly physical science, though expatiating on the won s of creation, has labored to exclude the Creator from details of His own works, straining every nerve of innuity to ascribe them all to secondary causes; and with at undisguised relief of thought, it exchanges the idea God for that of nature." So far as we know, all writers who have brought geoical phenomena to contradict the common reading of Scriptures, have reasoned on general circumstances appearances, rather than on particular facts. Whether s has arisen from a tenderness towards the Scriptures, nected with a desire to keep such glaring facts as exist m the knowledge of the world, for its moral good, we not pretend to know. But we do not hesitate to be. re, that no one has yet published a single geological ct, which, when fairly and candidly examined, would the opinion of sound judgment and discretion, be found stand in the light of such proof, against the common ding of Genesis, as would be required to invalidate foundation of any well grounded opinion, commonly eived among men. Inferences from organic strata. Concerning the strata taining shells, although their appearance proves nong with respect to the period at which they were form(any further than that this must have been since the ation of the living remains which they contain,) or the e occupied in their formations; still, from certain cirnstances, we may fairly draw several conclusions conning them. Thus, the fact that they contain shells, -ws that they were formed under water; and since one ies of strata rest upon another, this proves that the lowseries were formed first. The shells, and the stratified acture of these rocks, also indicate that the matter of ich they are composed was deposited from water. As a matter of hypothesis, we may infer also, that the rer strata of these rocks were formed during the time en the earth was passing from a state of chaos, to that re perfect condition which it assumed, during, and Comparative Estimate, vol. i. p. 117. after th reason quent them t matter multip were suppos and fa parts o throw at the contai time, convul well s a by whi might No of lan the sh upon gathe shown Genes nothi forme to bel W whic the p cation of the whic miles strata ratio less tirel e creation of animals; for, at that period, there is to believe that the agitation of the waters conseupon the changes which took place, would cause transport and deposite large quantities of loose from one place to another. Meantime the rapidly lying creatures of the water, which undoubtedly ›riginally created in all parts of the sea, might be ed to have been swept along with the turbid waters, len to the bottom with their deposites. Nearly all of the earth show that the present dry land has been up from the bottom of the sea; but evidently not same time, and the fact that these elevated strata 1 shells, shows that this land was under water at the nd perhaps long after the creation of animals. The sions by which these strata were elevated, may be upposed to have occasioned movements in the water, ich depositions of great depth, containing shells, have been made in a short period. geologist can prove at what epoch these elevations d took place. Some have supposed, indeed, that ells they contain were formed while "darkness was the face of the deep," and before "the waters were red together into one place." But this, as we have , supposes a creation anterior to that detailed in sis; and, therefore, as the strata themselves contain g which contradicts the hypothesis, that they were d after the creation of animals, it is most reasonable ieve that this was the case. 66 th respect to the great number of different strata some formations present, no practical geologists of esent day, would ever propose to offer them as indis of absolute time. Dr. Macculloch, in his account Western Isles," has described a tract of country, , says he, "may be considered as exceeding twenty on a line taken transversely to the bearings of the ; and throughout this space, computing from enumes taken at different places, there are probably not han 40,000 strata." This great number is owing en- to displacements occasioned, probably, by subterraconvulsions. "It is probable," says the author, t this tract consisted once of a series of horizontal ■, of, perhaps, four substances only; and that, in conence of numerous displacements, they have assumed 1: which ther DAYS OF CREATION. These four substances are quartz rock, v present." a-slate, chlorite-slate, and hornblende-slate. เ "Ge n another part of his work, the same author says, This is considered a sufficient reply, with respect to Limestone formations. But if, as many have supposed, estone is an animal product, the vast masses of this k, which occur in most countries, are much the strongproofs which the earth exhibits of her antiquity. The est limestone, however, exhibits no marks of organic gin, but is arranged among primitive rocks, as may be by the tabular arrangement in the preceding volume. s the secondary limestone only which contains shells, it cannot be denied, that, in some instances, considere beds of this species, appear to be almost entirely comed of these remains. But there is much difference in respect, in different formations which are considered he same age. In the oolitic group of Western Europe, Ils are very abundant, while in the Italian, Alpine, and cian limestones, which represent the same series, very organic remains are found. It may be difficult to ount satisfactorily for this disparity, if these rocks e formed at the same time and of the same materials. Possibly, however, the Italian limestones were formed he mouths of ancient rivers, whose waters passing ough primitive limestone countries, brought down caleous matter, which being deposited in a shallow sea, ht embrace the shells there growing. At the same System of Geology, vol. i. p. 93. + Vol. ii. p. 60. time we formed in deposites Beds o difficulty of organ without was in c Quarterl instead forming. The i these for cessity ha their rem have live they form But th nature of masses T them of coming very for been sw ferent f they live is no rea of hills, that in s these tes in anoth widely Wherea cinity, these s and mu formed lieving the pu ancest Bes have countr may suppose, that the European limestones were deep water, out of the reach of such calcareous and, therefore, consists entirely of shells. of shells formed by sea currents. But the great on this subject, is to conceive how such vast beds ic limestone could have been formed of shells, requiring millions of years for their growth. It onsideration of this subject that the Editor of the y Review, vol. xlii., (1829,) declares that the earth, f being millions of years, was millions of ages in dea of geologists, who require so much time for mations, appears to be, that the shells must of neave grown and perished in the exact places where mains are now found, and that one generation must ed on the remains of the other, in succession, until med the masses which we now see. here is not the slightest probability, from the very f the case, that this was the mode in which these were formed. For, in many instances, we find considerable thickness in the centre; gradually bethin towards the edges, and of small extent; the m a mass of shells would have assumed had they rept together by currents of the sea, and quite dif rom that which would have been produced had ed and died on each other. In the latter case, there ason why these masses should ever assume the form but, on the contrary, we should naturally suppose similar climates, and under the same circumstances, stacea would increase as rapidly in one place as her, and thus that the strata they formed would be extended, and every where of the same thickness. is, we find that beds of shells, in the same viare often entirely insulated. Besides, many of hells are known to be such as burrow in the sand d, and unless we suppose that these masses were by currents, we are under the necessity of bethat such species forsook their natural haunts, for pose of living and dying on the remains of their rs. des, we know from the reports of naval men, who een employed in surveying sea coasts in various es. that beds of shells are constantly forming at the ottom of the ocean, by the agency of the currents, and ometimes at the depth of several thousand feet. In the strait of Gibraltar, Capt. Smyth found shells at ne depth of 950 fathoms, carried thither probably from omparatively shallow parts, by the strong current which ows through that channel. Capt. Vidal detected on the past of Ireland large quantities of shells, at depths varyng from forty-five to 190 fathoms; and also in the same egion a bed of fish bones extending two miles along the ottom of the sea, in eighty and ninety fathoms of water. Analogous formations," says Mr. Lyell, “are in proress in the submarine tracts extending from the Shetland slands to the north of Ireland, wherever sounding can be rocured. A continuous deposite of sand and mud, replete with broken and entire shells, echini, &c., has been traced or upwards of twenty miles to the eastward of the Fabe Islands, usually at the depth of from forty to 100 fathms. In one part of this tract, fish bones occur in exaordinary profusion, so that the lead cannot be drawn up without some vertebræ being attached. This 'bone bed,' s it is called by the surveyors, is three miles and a half in ength." The sea, undoubtedly, is almost every where forming eds of shells by its currents in the same manner, and which in the course of a few centuries at longest, might easonably be supposed to form stratified organic rocks, of undreds of feet in thickness, cemented by the sedimentary hatter of rivers, with which the sea abounds on every past. How, then, does it become necessary to allow ages f time for these formations. The objection that has been brought against the theory f accumulation by currents, in the fact that many or most f the shells still retain their sharpest angles and most elicate parts uninjured, will be found of little weight, when he circumstances are considered. All shells will swim in water of sufficient depth, even fter the animal has perished; and, under water of moerate depth, most species will float to great distances without the slightest injury. In several extinct species, hich are found in the greatest abundance in limestone, he specific gravity of the shell was so near that of water, * Vol. iii. p. 295. Vast that all istences we mu origina rapidity Wit believe history employ moving we sha tures a fore no As t waters are the confin water of liv shells |