Society, and in others published in Nicholson's Philosophical Magazine, 1812 and 1813.

A longer time, however, was required to fulfil his promise with respect to his geological travels, as it was necessary for that purpose to arrange the observations which were contained in his numerous journals. These observations were subsequently laid before the public in the following order :-" Geological Travels," in three volumes, published (by Rivingtons) in 1810 and 1811;—the first volume consisting of Travels in the north of Europe, containing observations on some parts of the coasts of the Baltic, and the North Sea;" and the two following volumes, comprising "Travels in England.” — “Geological Travels in some parts of France, Switzerland, and Germany." 2 vols. Rivingtons, 1813.

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The results of the long and laborious researches of this great and indefatigable geologist are thus embodied in numerous works, which, while they place him on a level with the most distinguished philosophers of the age, justly entitle him also to be ranked among the most zealous and powerful advocates of revealed religion.

SECTION I.

General object of the Work.

To point out the close connection to be traced between nature and Revelation, is the professed object of the present work. With this view, the author has demonstrated that an entire conformity exists between

the facts of geology and the history of the deluge, as contained in the sacred records, where we find that event described as having resulted from the destruction of ancient continents which the sea overwhelmed ;he has further shown that the antiquity of our continents is not greater than the Mosaic chronology ascribes to them from the flood;-and he has moreover satisfactorily manifested the striking exactness Iwith which the account of the successive formation of the globe as given in the narrative of the inspired writer, agrees with the discoveries of natural history, and the principles of sound philosophy.

With respect to the last point, De Luc says:"When well informed men shall come seriously to attend to the relation that subsists between the circumstances characteristic of each of the Mosaic' days,' and what has passed on our globe in the periods corresponding, proved by monuments open to every one's observation, they will acknowledge that nature herself pays homage to that sacred and sublime history"."

The author, however, desires it to be distinctly understood that he has not placed the correspondence between geology and the Book of Genesis among the proofs of his system: "I have explained it," he observes, "for the purpose of fixing more strongly the attention of my readers; but I have never recurred to it for the support either of the facts which I have brought forward, or for the conclusions which I have deduced from these facts; for this would have been a petitio principii. On this great point, truth has been my leading object; and as I have sought it by an

1 Letter IV. § 40.

attentive study of terrestrial phenomena, so I believe that my travels collectively will be found to contain it 1."

At no time did De Luc "bring forward the Scriptures as the foundation of geology," as has been erroneously maintained; but he pointed out the remarkable analogies subsisting between them, which have now been admitted by the most eminent naturalists. (See Sect. V.) It would thus appear that in their estimation geological science is sufficiently "furnished with facts" to enable us to discover and exhibit such analogies.

Of this harmonious agreement,-some striking instances of which will be brought together in these introductory observations, in their immediate connection with established points in geology, he could not fail to be a competent judge who had himself extended the limits of physical science, and had proved himself a highly successful experimentalist in various branches of natural philosophy.

Although the Scriptures were not given to man to instruct him in the principles of science, yet it is natural to compare the results of science with the scriptural declarations concerning the creation and deluge, now become the objects of science. Those who discountenance such comparisons, seem to manifest a distrust of the result, which derogates from the divine origin of the Scriptures. The God of Nature, and the God of Revelation, being the same, we need be under no apprehension lest the dictates of Revelation and

1 Travels in France, &c. vol. ii. p. 392.

2 See Quart. Rev. October, 1830.

the discoveries of science should not be found to harmonize.

It is important to state, in vindication of the author's claim to original views on the great subject of which he treats, that his "Lettres physiques et morales sur l'Histoire de la Terre et de l'Homme,"-a work, which has essentially contributed to rescue geological science. from the disgrace of visionary theories, to which succeeding geologists have been so greatly indebted for many important facts and observations, and which marked the commencement of a new era in the science, -were published as early as 1779,-in which year the first volume only of M. DE SAUSSURE'S "Voyages dans les Alpes" had appeared'.

Of the "Lettres physiques et morales," &c., there is an able analysis in the Monthly Review for 1780, Vol. lxii. p. 527, et seq. and Vol. lxiv. p. 481, et seq. "It bears," says the reviewer, "all the marks of a sagacious and experienced observer, a profound and original thinker, a sound logician, and a good man. It is filled with precious materials relative to the natural world, and the branch of philosophy of which that world is more peculiarly the object; and it exhibits rational, extensive, and noble views of the connection of Nature with its AUTHOR, and with the moral and religious system of the universe ...... Mr. de Luc, who has hitherto been only known as one of the first natural philosophers of our time, assumes here new aspects, still more interesting to humanity, namely, those of the moralist, the citizen, the friend of man,-who speaks the language of wisdom to the peasant, the artist, the legislator, and the sovereign, and appreciates with sensibility, truth and precision, the genuine sources of human felicity."

It is obvious that those who have considered De Saussure's "Voyages dans les Alpes," as having laid the foundation of sound geology, cannot have perused the important work in question. To the distinguished merits, indeed, of that celebrated naturalist all Europe has borne a just testimony; while few have

SECTION II.

Fundamental point in Geology established by the

author.

The following fundamental point in geology has been established by De Luc with undoubted success:

been so well enabled to appreciate, and none more anxious to acknowledge them than our author himself. But the geologist who has given the most detailed and accurate descriptions of various portions of Europe,-of Holland, the banks of the Elbe, the Weser, and the Rhine; of Westphalia, and lower Saxony ;-who, by accurate observations at the mouths of great rivers discharging themselves into the sea, has shown that the level of the ocean has not undergone any change since the last great revolution; who was the first to describe the interesting phenomenon of extinct volcanos, &c., has rendered as great services to geology as he who has described the region of the Alps. While further, he who, like De Luc, has been in a great degree successful in connecting existing phenomena with their causes, and has thus established the foundation of the physical history of the earth, has conferred still higher benefits upon science.

The great work in question is full of general views and conclusions, not, perhaps, on the series of formations from the primitive to the tertiary; but respecting other points fully as important, the operations, for instance, of the ancient sea upon its bed-the destruction of the great part of the strata of chalk, and the origin of the flints found in sands, (Lettres physiques, &c. vol. v. p. 116, and pp. 47, 48.); the analogy of marine bodies with the fossils which resemble them, ancient and modern volcanos,-a physical chronology,the structure of the mountains of the Hartz, &c. The theory of earthquakes likewise contained in that work is borne out by all the phenomena connected with volcanos. He had there stated, as he himself observes in the first volume of his Travels in France, that as earthquakes are not accompanied with exterior explosions, the fluid which produces them, and which shakes even the mountains,

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