Notes from "principles of geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth's surface, by reference to causes now in operation"
- 1. Principles of Geology, Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation Sir Charles Lyell, Gérard Paul Deshayes John Murray Get it on Google Play This document is overwritten when you make changes in Play Books. You should make a copy of this document before you edit it. 7 notes/highlights • 1 bookmark Created by Jennifer Wall – Last synced October 18, 2016 Chapter Geology is the science which investigates the successive changes that have taken, place in the organic and inorganic kingdoms of nature ; it enquires into the causes of these changes, and the influence which they have exerted in modify ing the surface and external structure of our planet. July 23, 2016 1
- 2. When we study history, we obtain a more pro found insight into human nature, by instituting a comparison between the present and former states of society. July 23, 2016 1 October 18, 2016 2 Yet the com mercial prosperity, and numerical strength of a nation, may now be mainly dependant on the local distribution of fuel determined by that ancient state of things. October 18, 2016 2 Geology is intimately related to almost all the physical sciences, as is history to the moral. An historian should, if possible, be at once profoundly acquainted with ethics, politics, jurisprudence, the military art, theology ; in a word, with all branches of knowledge, whereby any insight into human affairs, or into the moral and intellectual nature of man, can be ob tained. It July 23, 2016 2 It would be no less desirable that a geologist should be well versed in chemistry, natural philosophy, mineralogy, October 18, 2016 2 zoology, comparative anatomy, botany ; in short, in every 3
- 3. science relating to organic and inorganic nature. October 18, 2016 With these accomplishments the historian and geologist would rarely fail to draw correct and philosophical conclusions from the various monuments transmitted to them of former occurrences. They would know to what combination of causes analogous effects were referrible, and they would often be enabled to supply by inference, information concerning many events unrecorded in the defective archives of former ages. But the brief duration of human life, and our limited powers, are so far from per mitting us to aspire to such extensive acquisitions, that excel lence even in one department is within the reach of few, and those individuals most effectually promote the general progress, who concentrate their thoughts on a limited portion of the field of inquiry. As it is necessary that the historian and the cultivators of moral or political science should reciprocally aid each other, so the geologist and those who study natural his tory or physics stand in equal need of mutual assistance. October 18, 2016 3