Britain is not a particularly fortunate comparison. Goldsmith somewhere tells us, that even in his day he reckoned up, in less than the compass of half a year, (on the authority of contemporary periodicals,) twenty-five great men, twenty very great men, and seventeen very extraordinary men: and he complains that a poet stringing up trite or weak sentiments in rhyme, and a pedant digesting his common-place book into a folio, were sharers in this critical glory. We fear that in this matter 'the thing that hath been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done' hereafter.

After all, undue adulation is an evil whch eventually works its own cure. One of the best of English prose writers has well and truly said, that in relation to the merits of candidates for literary favor, the public, collectively considered, is sometimes mistaken, but to make amends, it is never mistaken long. 'A performance, indeed, may be forced for a time into reputation, but, destitute of real merit, it soon sinks. Time, the touchstone of what is truly valuable, will soon discover the fraud.' This is solemn verity. Where lives the critic who could write down Washington Irving? — and what concentrated or reverberated puffing could elevate the novels (heaven save the mark!) or verses of the author of 'The Wilderness' and 'The Antediluvians' to a respectable or continuous notoriety? Let then the American author who it may chance shall hereafter (for such things have been, and if we read aright the literary signs of the times, are likely to be again,) grow lofty and dictatorial, from forced and temporary success, weigh well the penalty which attends the occupancy - however gained of an undeserved and consequently 'bad eminence.'

LITERARY RECORD.

DICK'S 'MENTAL ILLUMINATION.' - A valuable donation to the American public will be found in a volume recently issued by MESSRS. Key and Biddle, Philadelphia, on the mental illumination and moral improvement of mankind; or, an inquiry into the means by which a general diffusion of knowledge and moral principle may be promoted. The work is by THOMAS DICK, L L. D., author of several volumes which have acquired much celebrity. In the present work, the writer has exhibited a brief outline of the whole series of instruction requisite for man -'considered as an intelligent moral agent destined to immortality' from the earliest dawn of reason to the period of manhood. From the expansive nature of the project, the work is necessarily but an outline; yet the following imperfect synopsis of the contents will afford some idea of the extent of topic embraced: Present state of education in different countries; strictures on the mode in which education has generally been conducted; hints in reference to a comprehensive and improved system of education; on infant schools; on schools for young persons, from five or six, to fourteen years of age; method of teaching, and the departments of knowledge which should be taught in every seminary; moral and religious instruction; sabbath schools; schools for young persons, from fourteen to twenty, and upward; of the qualification of teachers; of the practicability and utility of establishing seminaries for intellectual and universal education; principles of a national system of education; its maxims, or first principles; mechanics' institution; and miscellaneous hints in reference to the diffusion of knowledge, and the improvement of society. Entirely destitute of that dry and frigid style which sometimes characterizes books of a similar description, this work will commend itself to general regard not more from its excellent matter than its attractive manner. It is illustrated with several wood cuts.

'CORRECTED PROOFS.'-RUSSELL, SHATTUCK AND WILLIAMS, Boston, have published a work under this title, by H. HASTINGS WELD, Esq. It is composed of articles which have been well received in a separate form, and which will doubtless meet with equal if not greater favor, now that they are gathered together.

THE NAVAL MAGAZINE. We take pleasure in announcing the first number of a Magazine thus entitled, which is to appear once in two months, under the editorial supervision of Rev. C. S. STEWART, M. A., whose 'Voyages and Travels' have made favorably known to the reading public of England and America. Mr. Stewart is to be aided in his labors by an able advisory committee, among whom we remark the names of Coм. RIDGLEY and LIEUTENANT SLIDELL. The work will be issued under the auspices of the Naval Lyceum, a flourishing institution established at Brooklyn in 1833. The aid of literary gentlemen, in the service and elsewhere, is solicited, in furnishing original papers on 'subjects directly or collaterally connected with the elucidation and diffusion of nautical and general science, and professional knowledge, whether in reference to astronomy and navigation, the construction, stowage, and equipment of ships, either for the naval or merchant service, or to their police and discipline;' articles in polite literature, and essays upon the moral, physical and exact sciences, in their various relations, will also be acceptable, and will form a portion of the contents of the work. The Naval Magazine is executed in a superior manner, upon a large clear type, and fine white paper. There is no lack of talent in the American navy, and that of the right description for such a journal. We confidently anticipate, therefore, its complete success.

BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS. Messrs. KEY AND BIDDLE, Philadelphia, have issued four or five works, of great utility to schools and families, which we shall briefly designate: HISTORY OF Greece. Pinnock's improved edition of Goldsmith's History of Greece, abridged for the use of schools, deserves the same praise which we recently awarded to the History of Rome, by the same author. The work has been revised, corrected, and much enlarged by the addition of many new chapters and useful notes, together with questions for examination at the end of each section. The concluding chapters contain some account of Grecian literature and philosophy, calculated to excite in the youthful student a desire for a more intimate acquaintance with those works. The volume is illustrated with thirty-two tolerable (and barely) engravings on wood.

SACRED HISTORY. - 'Outlines of Sacred History; from the creation of the world to the destruction of Jerusalem. With questions for examination. Intended for the use of schools and families.' Some two hundred and sixty well-printed pages are here devoted to a valuable summary of Sacred History, intended to suit the wants and wishes of youth, without being unworthy the notice of persons of a maturer age. The author has, we think, judiciously confined himself simply to the narration of the facts in that great scheme of Providence which unites the history of man's creation with that of his redemption,' leaving to others the task of stating the doctrines of which these facts form the foundation. The present edition, which is enlarged and improved, contains wood-cuts illustrative of the text.

HISTORY OF THE DELUGE. — The nature of this little book is sufficiently expressed in its title: 'Sacred History of the Deluge illustrated; and corroborated by tradition, mythology, and geology. Adapted to courses of Scripture study in colleges and higher seminaries, and to general use.' The author is FRANCIS FELLOWES, A. M. Of the introductory essay on the study of the Scriptures, as a part of liberal education, by the Rev. CHAUNCEY COLTON, we have heretofore spoken in these pages.

THE ZODIAC, a monthly periodical published at Albany, to which we have heretofore favorably referred, seems to be steadily gaining in general esteem. Its publishers are enabled, from its increased success, to offer liberal premiums for articles in prose and verse. The work is conducted with ability, and has earned its popularity.

PROFESSIONAL YEARS OF BISHOP HOBART.—It is our intention in a subsequent number to devote to this recent and interesting volume that needful time and space which we cannot now command. The Professional Years' is a sequel to the 'Early Years' of this loved and gifted prelate, and is from the pen of a ripe scholar and able writer — JOHN MCVICKAR, D. D., — in all respects an appropriate biographer of such an ecclesiastic and man as was Bishop HOBART. If the publication of the 'Closing Years' is to depend alone upon the favorable reception of the work before us, the author will, we confidently predict, be ere long called upon to redeem his tacit pledge to the public.

FRANCIS' TRANSLATION OF HORACE. - These volumes make numbers eighteen and nineteen of Harpers' Classical Family Library, and contain a translation of Horace which, by common consent, is allowed to be the best in the English language, together with many imitations and translations of particular odes and satires, by different eminent individuals. Although the peculiar charm of Horace evaporates more in the translation than that of almost any other author, it has been preserved to a certain extent in the imitations and free versions to which we have referred, and we think the work of Francis much improved by their insertion. The enterprise of the BROTHERS HARPER, in thus supplying the community with useful works at an extremely low rate, cannot be too much lauded.

POPERY. Mr. JOHN S. TAYLOR has published 'Thoughts on Popery: by Rev. WILLIAM NEVINS, D.D., late pastor of a church in Baltimore.' A glance through the book shows us that it is written with spirit, and that the author has taken the advice of the apostle, and 'used all plainness of speech' in the discussion of his various divisions of subject matter.

COX ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL.-C. C. P. CROSBY, Clinton Hall, has published in a neat volume 'Outlines of Lectures on the Book of Daniel. By the Rev. F. A. Cox, D. D., LL. D.' It is the first American edition of a work which has acquired reputation in England, but which we have not as yet found leisure to peruse.

BULWER'S WORKS. - 'Paul Clifford' forms the fourth number of HARPERS' new and enlarged edition of Bulwer's novels. Its externals and typography are of the same excellence which has characterized the precedent volumes of the series. We cannot say as much for the engravings, which are blurred and indistinct.

AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS ABROAD.— - DR. RUSCHENBERGER, author of 'Three years in the Pacific,' who sailed eleven months since from the United States in the sloop-ofwar Peacock, (from which vessel, until recently, no intelligence had been received,) was at Bombay on the 24th of October, on the eve of pursuing his voyage. He has commenced a second work for the press, to embrace the events of his present interesting expedition. We hope soon to be enabled to present our readers with some of his promised sketches. PROFESSOR LONGFELLOW has passed the winter at Heidelberg, on the Neckar. Indisposition, and domestic affliction in the loss of his amiable and accomplished lady, at Rotterdam, have prevented his appearance in our pages since leaving America. From these gentlemen, as well as from Mr BROOKS, and our correspondent G. W. GREENE, ESQ., now in Italy, we have good reason to anticipate valuable as well as seasonable aid. Many of our readers will be gratified to learn, that we have the like prospect in regard to the Rev. Dr. HAWKS, who has but recently sailed for Europe.

THE KNICKERBOCKER.

VOL. VII.

MAY, 1836.

No. 5.

GEOLOGY AND REVEALED RELIGION.*

THE Science of geology is emphatically a recent science, but one which, either in its scientific or theological bearings, has aroused the attention and awakened the interest of nearly the whole community. It is even now little more than half a century since the publication of Werner's New System of Mineralogy first announced to the world the outlines of a new theory of the earth' an announcement that called the minds of philosophers from the hypothetical field of speculation, and directed them to an examination of the rocks which compose the surface of the globe. Though Werner did not rise completely above the spirit of his age' a love of system making- and though he failed in his attempts to guess the causes which operated, and still continue to operate, producing such wonderful changes upon the surface of the globe-changes and revolutions, the evidence of which presents itself to the geologist in every step of his career, and at every turn of his pathyet he may justly claim, and posterity will award him, the honor of arresting the airy flights of fancy of prostrating the fictions of the imagination, on a subject possessed of such substantial realities as the rocks, the mountains, and the everlasting hills.' It is true that he did not discover the true theory of the earth, but it is no less certain, that he was a pioneer in the business of collecting, arranging, and digesting known facts, and that he led the van in making new observations on the same subject. He in fact created a new science - one that has advanced with unparalleled rapidity from infancy to manhood, which at every period of its history has enrolled among its advocates and supporters many of the brightest intellects the world ever saw, the extent of whose acquirements have only been equalled by the multitude and magnitude of their labors.

This science has two objects in view: first, to observe, examine, and collect all the facts relative to the present state of the globe-the position, actual and relative—the succession, order, and inclination of all the rocks which compose its surface- their mineralogical character and contents the remains, fossil and organic, which there lie en

1. The Connection between Geology and the Pentateuch: by THOMAS COOPER, M. D. Columbia, 1835.

2. The Consistency of the Discoveries of Modern Geology with the Sacred History of the Creation and the Deluge: by PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, of Yale College. 8vo. New-Haven, 1833.

3. Connection between Geology and the Mosaic history: by PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK. Biblical Repository, Nos. 18 and 20.

4. Critical examination of some passages in the first of Genesis, with remarks on the difficulties that attend some of the present modes of geological reasoning: by M. STUART. Biblical Repository, No. 21.

tombed; the changes it is now undergoing, or which it has undergone; together with the causes now operating upon and within it, causing or preventing such changes. And second, by reasoning, most purely inductive, to arrange and systematize the results of these examinations and observations, and from them to deduce such conclusions as they may warrant.

The former of these pursuits forms the scientific, the latter the theoretic branch of geology. The conclusions thus drawn should not be, as they often have been, confounded with the many crude conjectures, the many wild hypotheses that have been broached. These form no part of the science. They are the fictions of an unbridled fancy, or a wild enthusiasm ; and while the former are to be regarded as certainties, the latter are at most but probabilities. This difference will be best illustrated by an example. The former declares coal to be of vegetable origin, and compels us to believe that the period necessary for its formation must have been immensely long, while the latter undertakes to decide with certainty how long that period must have been. Now the first of these conclusions is to be set down as matter of fact, but the latter is to be regarded only as a curious speculation. It is by mistaking the true nature of the subject-by confounding fiction with fact that men, ignorant of the science, have been led to accuse geologists of holding opinions extravagant and absurd; and this confusion and misunderstanding are the less pardonable, inasmuch as the differences to which we allude are apparent on almost every page of every work of authority on the subject.

By reasoning in the same manner, theoretical geology has shown, that the materials which now compose the crust of the globe existed at some former period in a different or chaotic state - that fire and water have been the principal agents in reducing them to form and shape — that marine animals and plants existed for ages before land animals inhabited the globe — that land animals existed for a long period before the creation of man-that the surface of the globe has undergone numerous revolutions, which entombed the beings then inhabiting it, and raised the land from beneath the ocean and that the period of time necessary for this must have been indefinitely long.

To this point have we arrived by the most logical deductions-conclusions which no well-educated geologist will either doubt or deny ; and about which there is, among men of science, no dispute. No matter what their religion, here there is no difference. Christian and infidel, deist and atheist, on this subject think alike. But though there is this conformity of opinion among men of science, these conclusions are not permitted to go unassailed; and among their opponents, the latestperhaps the ablest — is Prof. Stuart, of Andover, in the article standing last in our list.

A few suggestions are here presented for the consideration of those who might be influenced by the article of the learned professor. It is not, however, to exculpate ourselves from the charge of contradicting the Mosaic record, that these remarks are here offered. We confidently rely upon the truths of revelation, and are no less persuaded of the infallibility of the evidence of nature. Geologists have simply taken the testimony of nature, as it is presented by Nature's God, and if there be any contradiction between that and the first of Genesis, the fault is not in them, nor yet in the science they delight in.