CONTENTS. ORIGINAL PAPERS. Account of the Unrolling of an Egyptian Mummy, with Incidental Notices of the Manners, Customs, and Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. By J. T. Pettigrew, F.R.S., F.S.A., &c. VI. Gases.-Chlorine VII. Gases.-Hydrogen The Progress and State of Science in Belgium Report on the Progress and actual State of Geology, and the Sciences connected VII. Solar Time.-Sidereal Time VIII. The Divisions of Time.-True Time.-Mean Time IX. The Elliptical Form of the Earth's Orbit.-Kepler's Laws Prevention of Explosion in Steam-Boilers. Analysis and Cursory Examination of a Report made in consequence of an Inquiry into the Causes and Means of Prevention of the Explosion of Steam-Boilers; recently trans- mitted to the Government of the United States, by the Franklin Insti- On the Rough Diagrams representative of Spherical Figures Discourse on some Advances which the Mathematical Sciences have made in France since 1830. By the Baron Charles Dupin 257 The Great Earthquake in Chili, in 1835. By Alexander Caldcleugh, Esq., Volcanic Eruption in the Bay of Fonseca, on the Western Coast of Central Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise. Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology. By William Buckland, D.D., &c. The Philosophy of the Hour-Glass Recent Information on the Prevention and Detection of Secret and Accidental Poisoning; particularly with Arsenic Questions for Solution relating to Meteorology, Hydrography, and the Art of 306 337 346 371 381 On the Means of Drawing up Sea-water from great Depths, and of ascertaining in what proportion the two principal constituents Marine Currents. On the Cause of Currents Sea of Weeds The Nautical Almanac; Connaissance des Tems; Astronomisches Jahr- buch (Berlin); Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes; British An- ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS. 209 THE MAGAZINE OF POPULAR SCIENCE, AND. JOURNAL OF THE USEFUL ARTS. A POPULAR COURSE OF GEOLOGY. INTRODUCTION. SIR JOHN HERSCHEL has said that Geology, in the magnitude and sublimity of the objects of which it treats, ranks in the scale of the sciences, next to Astronomy; to which we may add, that it will ever be more generally cultivated, because a knowledge of it is more easily attainable. It may be successfully pursued without that severe preparatory discipline of mathematical study which is required of the votaries of astronomy, before they can advance even to the threshold of her temple. In making this assertion, we by no means deny the dependence of geology on the other sciences; we admit, on the contrary, that he who would be a perfectly accomplished geologist, ought to be familiar with the whole circle of them. He ought to be thoroughly versed in mathematics and general physics, in order that he may know what are, and what are not, sound data on which to found his inferences-he ought to be skilled in mineralogy, that he may know the proximate constituents of rocks. Of the general results of chemistry he must not be ignorant, and he will find it great advantage to be expert in chemical analysis. The organic remains entombed in the strata, will make constant demands upon him for a knowledge of zoology in all its branches, and in particular he ought to possess such an intimate acquaintance with those nice distinctions which constitute specific differences in conchology, as of itself requires the study of a whole life, and such a profound knowledge of comparative osteology, as enabled Cuvier, from the examination of detached bones, to remodel the entire skeletons of animals of unknown genera: such is the harmony of proportion, the adaptation of means to ends, and of parts to uses, which the wisdom of the Creator has manifested in the structure of organic bodies. The geologist ought moreover to be a botanist of the highest order, and in the most extensive sense of the term. He ought to be able not merely to refer a plant to its place in some artificial system, by counting its stamina, a process which he will rarely, if ever, have an opportunity of applying to the fossil vegetation of former worlds,-he ought to be able, from the examination of a stem, a leaf, or a seed-vessel, to determine the natural group to which the plant belongs, and by pointing out its habits, to throw light on the circumstances under which the stratum containing it was deposited. He ought, moreover, to be a good draughtsman, and a skilful practical surveyor. Acquirements so varied and extensive as these are attainable by few, and yet much may be done in geology with a very limited proficiency in these branches of knowledge. Without a very profound acquaintance with any of them we may master VOL. II. 7 B |