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PLAN OF THE FALLS OF THE ZAMBESI, CENTRAL AFRICA, THROUGH A FISSURE NOT

MADE BY RUNNING WATER.

Frontispiece.

SCEPTICISM IN GEOLOGY

AND

THE REASONS FOR IT

AN ASSEMBLAGE OF FACTS FROM NATURE OPPOSED TO
THE THEORY OF "CAUSES NOW IN ACTION,"

AND REFUTING IT.

BY

VERIFIER euiden.

"Ama nesciri."-THOS. A-KEMPIS.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

1878

[The right of translation is reserved.]

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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

IT has been alleged by some of the critics who have noticed Scepticism in Geology, that many of the objections raised by it against existing Systems are already adopted and supported by the more advanced geologists of the day. If this be the case, these new lights have penetrated but a short way into the general darkness, else why are the fallacious assumptions and old errors still enounced by professors in lecture-rooms, and taught in Manuals and School Primers? The chief aim of this volume is not to discuss doubtful questions but to settle them, if possible, for ever; in fact, to separate what is true from what is false. Surely it is a work worthy of such learned societies as the Geological of London and the British Association to aid in removing this reproach from an uncertain science, and to ascertain by observations and experiments in various parts of the world the extent and limits of Atmospheric and River Erosion, the real nature, tendency, and effects, whether permanent or not, of Earthquake shocks, the present Rise of Land in any part of the world,

the actual formation of Chalk in deep sea bottoms, etc. The time has surely come for competent scientific observers, with minds free from prejudice or hypothesis, to test and try these natural phenomena in the Bay of Naples or in the Baltic, in S. America, New Zealand, on the borders of glaciers, gorges and waterfalls, where nature may be caught in the act. The duties of these agents should be to observe and record facts, leaving others to draw conclusions; let them undertake to settle the results.

The following wise words should serve as a stimulus for this further exertion in the cause of truth.

"Men of science, to render themselves worthy of the licence given them in what they communicate to the world, should carefully distinguish between truths which are definitely established by unquestionable proof, and ideas which are as yet mere problems or opinions.

"Facts should be taught; conjecture, if communicated at all to those still studying the rudiments, should be mentioned as conjecture. Were a different method pursued science would run the risk of being misled, and, moreover, might fall into disrepute and have its freedom curtailed by those in power."1

1 Professor van Virchow's Freedom of Science, 1877.

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