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its calcareous beds. He left for his successor, the location of the separate members of the formations, and their characters, based on the stricter rules laid down by geology for their classification. He was succeeded by Mr. Tuomey, who brought with him ample credentials as a geologist. This gentleman, for three years, was diligently and ably occupied in the prosecution of his tasks. The result of his labors is comprised in the neatly printed quarto before us. One word, en passant, in regard to the Legislative Committee on the publication. They coolly decreed that the plates of fossils-so all-important to the geologistwere not essential to the volume. "The part of Hamlet left out by particular request." The simple statement of this fact, in, Mr. Tuomey's preface, is about the severest sarcasm which he could have uttered. It is evident that the "Special Committee " were not very deep in tertiary geology; and we trust, that, in some future session of our Assembly, a more scientific, and a less economical spirit, will possess our lawgivers, persuading them to publish in a supplement the suppressed plates-not so much to illustrate the book, as to acquit the State of a decision which was wholly due to the doubtful sagacity of a Committee. The subject is one which might well call for a special recommendation from our present enlightened Executive.

Geology has hitherto occupied but a doubtful position in South-Carolina. This sublime study has fallen under the ban of the most idle prejudice, and of a superstition that might have been tolerated in the days of Galileo's persecutors. But the friends of the study have reason to hope that the scales have fallen, in some measure, from the popular sight. Certain lights of truth, burning however dimly yet, have penetrated the general mind, and opened the way for future seeing. It was a step gained, from darkness into daylight, when, after long denials and disappointments, the advocates of popular know'edge succeeded in procuring the appropriation for the survey. There is some reason to hope that the publication of the able report of Mr. Tuomey, will still farther help this progress, even without the fossil plates; though it will not be easy to convey to any but geologists the value and importance of these illustrations. The classification of the several formations, and of the several beds which are grouped to compose them, being based on their fossil organic contents, it is of

the first importance to present accurate figures of them to illustrate careful descriptions. A single impression on the eye, by a well-executed lithograph, is worth a dozen verbal descriptions. In tertiary geology, the knowledge of the various deposits is scattered throughout our scientific journals; and we had hoped, as South-Carolina presents these beds extensively for the labors of the geologist, that, in this work, we should have had a valuable text-book on the subject. But we must not dwell on this disappointment. There is still enough to interest us in the volume, and provoke discussion and inquiry.

Mr. Tuomey prefaces his work with a carefully condensed summary of our present knowledge of descriptive geology, and with clear and useful illustrations of important definitions for the novice in science. But, giving our readers due credit for a knowledge of the general principles of this interesting study, we will not dwell on his excellent recapitulation. His valuable chapter on the new science of palæontology should have our notice now, but that the subject is one of sufficient interest and importance to demand an article for itself. We defer this part of the work for a future period; and are the more ready to do this, in the hope of adding largely to its scientific interest by numerous developments, which have been made since the survey of Mr. Tuomey was completed. It may not be amiss, however, to state, that his chapter gives us a classification of the animal kingdom, with the characters of the several classes and orders of animals and plants, and their relation. to geology. The fossil remains of genera and species, being characteristic of geological epochs, are now made the basis of the arrangement of the strata into groups called formations; and the great discovery of the laws of the organization of the bony frame-work of animals, laid down by Cuvier, has established the foundation of this classification on an enduring basis. So extensive have been the contributions of paleontology to our present knowledge of existing genera and species, that it is now even proposed to arrange anew the animal kingdom, on the facts and data brought out by its researches. We refer to Mr. Tuomey's chapter on paleontology for a very suitable outline of this important study;* and will, for the present, dismiss the

* The student who desires something more on the subject of paleontology, will find his wants supplied by the able elementary treatise, in four octavo volumes, by Professor Pictet of Geneva.

subject, having made a single extract, from the close of the chapter, on the "consistency of modern geology with the Mosaic account of the creation."

"When geologists first announced the fact that deposits of great thickness, abounding in the remains of animals that once lived, existed in the earth's crust, and that all this could not be explained on the supposition that the age of the earth was only 6000 years, geology was considered for a while as opposed to the Bible.

"Time was when astronomy stood in the same relation, and although it is now known that it is the motion of the earth, and not that of the sun that produces the phenomena of day and night; yet, no one thinks the authority of the Scriptures lessened, or has his belief disturbed by this-and for the simple reason that he knows that the Bible was intended to be a code of moral and religious laws, and not a text-book of astronomy. And this science is now properly regarded as the handmaid of religion, in expanding and ennobling the mind, by elevated views of the Creator's works.

"It is not to be supposed that Moses, in the account he gives of the creation, intended a system of chronology. His great object seems to be, to impress his readers with the fundamental truths that the world was not eternal, but the work of the Almighty, and that man, like the rest, had a beginning; in a word, to shew them how, and not when, the world was made.

"It must be borne in mind, that the question is not between the facts of geology and the credibility of the Mosaic account of the creation, but between those facts and the literal interpretation of that account.

"It is acknowledged, on all hands, that the deposition of strata of rocks, six or seven miles in thickness, containing organic remains, must have occupied, according to all the laws governing matter, an immense. ly great period of time. It was usual, at one time, to refer the phenomenon of the distribution of organic remains in these rocks to the Deluge; but, no one, who has ever examined a fossiliferous deposit for five minutes, can hold such an opinion. The manner in which fossil shells are imbedded, shows most conclusively that the animals to which they belonged lived and died where we find them, and they could not have been disturbed by the waters of a deluge.

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"There are, I believe, those who suppose that the world is not the result of a long-continued series of events, but that it was created at once, and as we find it. Such an opinion can only be held in direct violation of all natural laws and analogies, and by forfeiting all the arguments and principles of natural theology. For, if, when we examine the curiously organized eyes of the trilobite, embedded in the older rocks, we are not allowed to infer adaptation to light, and other external objects; why, then, Paley's 'watch' presents no evidences of design, and the arguments drawn from it are worthless.

"The interpretation of the Mosaic narrative of the creation, that is most in accordance with the discoveries of geology, is that which supposes the 'beginning' mentioned in the first verse, to be a time immeasurably distant from the 'first day' mentioned in the fifth verse, and that in the interval between this 'beginning' and the 'first day,' all the phenomena of geology were brought about, and that the subsequent days refer to the present state of the earth's surface, and to the creation of existing races of animals and plants. This is the view taken by many geologists, and by those divines who have examined both sides of the question.

"This interpretation was not first proposed by geologists. Some of the fathers of the church separated the 'beginning' from the days of creation; and the notation of Luther's Bible goes to show that he supposed the creation to commence with the third verse of the Mosaic narrative.

"Others suppose that the days of the Mosaic narrative are to be understood figuratively, for periods of time of indefinite length. But, whatever view be taken of this subject, no one need attempt to press geology into any irreligious service. No science can be more worthy of the attention of the christian student, for none can lead him more directly to the Creator as the First Cause. It takes him back to the time when neither man, nor beast, nor bird, nor creeping thing, nor plant, existed; and when even the oldest rocks had a less permanent form. In a word, it shews him that all, save the Almighty, had a beginning that He alone is eternal.”**

Mr. Tuomey commences his report with the remark that, it has been common to designate that portion of

* These are the views of the most eminent geologists and divines of the present day, and among all denominations of christians. We may mention the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, the Rev. Dr. Buckland, and Rev. Prof. Sedgewick; the late Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the Rev. J. Blunt, in his "Family Expositor of the Pentateuch; the pious Bishop Sumner, the Rev. W. V. Harcourt, (in 1839,) Pres. of the British Association; and many others abroad, whose names could be given. In our country, the Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, the Rev. Dr. Durbin, and the Rev. E. Peabody, of Maine, have_published similar views; many others are known who entertain them. There is nothing in the Scriptures inconsistent with the idea that our world is the wreck of a former one; or, that thousands of ages were occupied in its present arrangement, by the actions of those laws laid down "in the beginning" by its Great Creator. Such a view is calculated to exalt our ideas of the immensity of creation, and of the Great and Wise Being "who is in all and over all, and governs all."

Professor Durbin very justly remarks:

"A succession of creative acts, whose commencement runs back almost parallel with eternity, and will extend forward almost ad infinitum, seems to comport best with the eternal, immense and immutable activity, energy and goodness of the Divine Being."

South-Carolina above the falls of the rivers, as the granite region, yet, granite proper forms, comparatively, but a very small portion of the entire surface.

The granite nowhere spreads out to any extent, nor does it rise to any great elevation. It is most visible along the northern boundary of the tertiary beds, extending from Horse creek, on the Savannah, to the Congaree, and occasionally showing itself in Kershaw, Lancaster and Chesterfield. In Newberry District a coarse feldsparthic granite is found, which rises into a conspicuous hill, lifting the slates on either side, and giving them a N. and S. dip. It passes into a fine-grained rock, of uniform color, which splits readily and is dressed with ease. Its extent has only been traced five or six miles. He mentions localities of this rock in Laurens, Union, Spartanburg, York and Pickens, and that it is extensively distributed through all the upper districts, underlying slates and other of the older rocks. The granite in the neighborhood. of Columbia is very compact, close-grained and beautiful, and loses nothing in comparison with the gate pillars of the capitol (of South-Carolina) imported from Quincy.

Gold is found in this rock, and the decomposition of its feldspar, in certain localities, gives a fine porcelain clay.

Basaltic or trap rocks. Trap dykes extend largely through the upper districts, particularly Chester, and may be traced from Virginia, through Georgia, as far as the Coosa river, in Alabama, which is their south-eastern boundary. The direction is uniform, varying between 150 and 35° east of north, and but slightly inclined from vertical. Mr. Tuomey's observations induce him to class sienite as intrusive, and, in its relations to other rocks, as similar to trap. He mentions it as occurring in Abbeville, Pickens, York, Lexington, Union and Fairfield.

Eurite is found in veins in several of the districts. Magnetic iron ore is the only mineral found in the trap. In the eurite we have scen garnets, but they are quite small.

Metamorphic rocks. Of these gneiss is most developed in South-Carolina, forming a vast plain, extending from the mountains to the middle of the State, causing, with a few exceptions, all the obstructions in the rivers.

"The thick outcropping edges of the gneiss may be traced across the State, from the Savannah to Broad river, by the natural dams which

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