others; nay, that there are some of them apt to operate on their minds with peculiar force. Of these, intellectual pride is perhaps the most prevailing as it is the most seductive. To the humbling tendency of the essential truths of the Christian revelation we need do no more than allude. The account it gives of our fallen and enfeebled condition, our innate aversion to what is good, our keen relish of evil, our dependence on foreign aid for our highest blessings, goes to crucify our vanity. And then there is one announcement distinctly made in its pages, at which the pride of unsanctified genius is apt to take fire. It is this. Throughout the Bible moral greatness is uniformly spoken of as infinitely more valuable than mere intellectual greatness. The notice is often pressed upon us, that it is not the gifts, but the graces, a man possesses that stamp him as one of the nobility of heaven; that the varied powers of Newton, Locke, Milton, and Hall, might meet in one man, and present to the world a specimen of intellectual grandeur such as it has never yet beheld; and that, after all, in the arithmetic of the skies, the man might be nothing in comparison of her of whom the pious Cowper sung:

'She knows, and knows no more, her Bible true;
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew;
And in that charter reads, with sparkling eyes,
Her title to a treasure in the skies.'

This thought is humbling in the extreme to him who plumes himself on his genius and attainments. The other truths of Christianity apart, the admission of this implies a mortification to which it is difficult to submit. The man thinks of his achievements, and how prone is he to spurn the thought that, notwithstanding these, he shall be viewed as inferior to that other man who has with him no community of intellect or feeling. He has written books which charm the men of his own age, and which he believes will engage the attention of posterity. He has earned that name that makes an epitaph. He has enlarged and enriched the empire of science. He feels at home in regions of inquiry to which those with whom he is brought into contact cannot approach. He possesses, on a large scale, that knowledge which on all hands is spoken of as a boon of peerless price, compared with which rank, power, and riches are said to be baubles. So the man reasons with himself; and need we wonder that, as the result of such reasoning, he is led to reject and treat with disdain a system which denounces his towering pride, and rates all his gifts and acquirements as vanity unless they be consecrated to the glory of the Giver?

Another and we believe a most prolific source of doubt and unbelief, among minds of a high order, is what, in the absence of a better term, we may call intellectual audacity. It is somewhat akin to intellectual pride, though it differs from it too. The arm of the giant may be broken by attempting that which is beyond its might, while he of feebler power, and less daring in consequence, retains his energies unimpaired. Let the reader observe the bearing of this on the point we are discussing. On every path of inquiry which Christianity opens up, we arrive at a point where farther speculation is fruitless, where we must sit down meekly and reverentially, and wait for the disclosures to be made to us, when we shall no longer see through a glass darkly.' If we try to cross this point, this sacred boundary-line, darkness and difficulty will attend every step of the investigation. But into this error men, especially of strong imagination, are prone to fall. Let it not be supposed that this is a proof of their mental strength or acuteness. To know where to stop in any intellectual pursuit-to know, in fact, the extent of our own powers, and their legitimate sphere, is one of the highest attainments. In this lay the glory, as well as the safety, of men like Newton, Locke, and Bacon. They knew what it was vain in them to attempt. They knew when to have dreamed of advancing a step farther would have been the wildest arrogance. They recognised and submitted to the condition imposed on mind in its present state. They knew how far the torch of sacred truth flung light on their path here. They were alive

to this, that there was a point where the finite mind was lost in the depths and mazes of infinity; a point from beyond which that voice comes, the voice of Him whom no man hath scen or can see: Hitherto shalt thou come but no farther.' Alas! that forgetfulness here should have been so common, and so productive of unbelief among many whose own minds were striking proofs of those very truths they dared to gainsay!

Then it will not be denied that the possession of shining powers is no guarantee against vicious indulgence. The most exuberant gifts are not incompatible with the most debasing pursuits. One might almost imagine that those whose thoughts wander through eternity,' whose tastes and acquisitions are so envied by the rest of mankind, would be exempted from every thing low and grovelling. How long, alas! the catalogue of names which rebukes such a supposition, and attests that the deepest moral depravity may be found in alliance with the richest genius! We need not quote these here: they are fresh in the recollection of every reader. But vice, by whomsoever indulged, tends to unbelief. Our wishes have a powerful influence in moulding our opinions, and when men act as if the verities of Christianity were all exploded, they soon begin to wish it were the case, and their wish is the pathway to a settled conviction that it is so.

To these prevailing causes of scepticism among gifted men others might be added. These, however, sufficiently account for the mournful fact we have been adverting to, and show that it casts no suspicion whatever on the Scriptures as a communication from Heaven to mankind!

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN GALT.

JoHN GALT was born at Irvine, in Ayrshire, on May 2, 1779. His father belonged to the merchant service in the naval profession, and was captain of a West Indiaman. He was a man of excellent dispositions, but of easy nature, and moderate ability. If genius is to be considered as hereditary, it would appear that Galt owed this to his mother, who was a very singular person, shrewd, observant, full of humour, keenly alive to the ridiculous, and quaintly original in her powers of expression-the last of which constitutes a marked peculiarity in Galt's works relating to Scottish life.

When young, Galt was of a feeble, or rather sensitive, constitution. His earliest instructions in reading were given at home. Though he showed indications of a clear and tenacious memory, yet his early aptitude for acquirement was not great; indeed, during his whole time at school, he was rather considered below par than otherwise. While yet a child, he became passionately fond of flowers; but this latterly gave way to a preference for trees and shrubs. From his natural delicacy, he avoided the more bustling exercises of boys of his age, and was fond of lounging in bed, surrounded by all sorts of ballad and story books. When out of doors, and not with his flowers, he ferreted out the society of some old women versed in tale and legend, who lived in the close or alley behind his grandmother's house, and used to take great delight in their marvellous narrations. Owing to his rapid growth and consequent tenderness, it was deemed unadvisable to send young Galt, at the first, to a public school, and he received private lessons from a teacher in the evenings. When in his eighth year, he was sent to the grammarschool at Irvine, which he entered the same year that the present Lord President Boyle left it; and among his schoolfellows was Eckford, who afterwards distinguished himself as the grand architect and builder of the American navy. Shortly after, the family removed to Greenock, where Galt was again placed at school, and received instruction in penmanship and arithmetic, mathematics and French.

Galt gave early indications of a propensity for rhym

In 1824 commenced Galt's connexion with the Canada Company-a circumstance which brought him still more prominently before the public. It was in the interval between his first and second visits to Canada that the Omen' was composed. The narrative of this delicately beautiful tale is sufficiently melancholy in its tone, and dipped in the hues of earthquake and eclipse;' but it received, no doubt, an additional tinge of gloom from the death, at this time, of his mother, to whom he had been always most tenderly attached. On hearing that a sudden stroke of paralysis had deprived her of speech, he hurried down to Scotland to see her once more. For days she had been apparently insensible to all around; but when she heard his voice in the room where she lay, the powers of nature made a last wild rally, and after a fond ineffectual attempt to address him, the tears flowed down her aged cheeks-nor did she ever afterwards show any signs of recognition.

While at Quebec, in the beginning of 1827, he was induced to cross the St Lawrence when the ice was breaking up. 'We had eight rowers,' he writes, in the boat, or rather canoe we laid ourselves down in the bottom, and were launched like a shuttle in the loom down the glass brae' of the shore. The boatmen then began to sing their hum-drum songs; away we went-when a vast sheet of ice, some acres wide, caught us; in a moment out leapt the men-drew the boat on the ice-hauled us over, and launched us in the water on the other side-in they were again, and again at their paddling and singing. This was repeated three times before we landed.' On returning, they had a narrow escape. Their boat was caught in a loose mass of ice, and carried six or seven miles down the river-the thermometer being more than 10 deg. below zero, and darkness setting in. While at Quebec, he also wrote a farce, hitting off the humours of the place; it was performed by an amateur company, and was applauded to the echo.

Galt now set out to survey the colony, traversing a wide extent of country, much of which was a wilderness, and meeting in his progress, at the Falls of Niagara, Captain Basil Hall, then returning from his tour in the southern states. Galt's most important official act in Canada was his founding the now flourishing town of Guelph, the site of which was then covered with primeval forests. Galt's outline of the proceeding is striking. The sun had just set. 'Intimating that the main body of the men were not to come, we walked to the brow of the neighbouring rising ground, and Mr Prior having shown the site selected for the town, a large maple-tree was chosen; on which, taking an axe from one of the woodmen, I struck the first stroke. To me, at least, the moment was impressive-and the silence of the woods, that echoed to the sound, was as the sigh of the solemn genius of the wilderness departing for ever.- -The doctor followed me; then, if I recollect correctly, Mr Prior and the woodmen finished the work. The tree fell with a crash of accumulating thunder, as if ancient nature were alarmed at the entrance of social man into her innocent solitudes, with his sorrows, his follies, and his crimes.'

No site could have been better chosen, and nothing could exceed the prosperity of the infant township; yet with the rise of Guelph, a series of vexations-shall we not call them persecutions ?-commenced against its distinguished founder, which but ill requited him for his unwearied exertions in behalf of the colony. From the moment that he set foot in Canada, it became evident that an underhand opposition was at work against him.

It is now universally agreed by all competent judges in the matter, that the dissatisfaction of the Canadian Company with Galt's management was without a shadow of a plea, except that he did not wring money from the settlement fast enough, which, in plain fact, would have been totally to prevent its ever rising into prosperity. That he was ungratefully dealt with, has long since been conceded on all hands. Would that the conviction had come in time!

Galt's recall was sufficiently disastrous to his fortunes. Application was made to him for the immediate settlement of whatever debts he owed-especially by Dr Valpy of Reading. The doctor was an old personal acquaintance, and Galt counted on some leniency on his part; an arrest was his answer.-Galt was now past middle life, yet all his previous herculean exertions had hitherto proved unavailing even to land him on the shores of competency. Depressed, but still determined to battle on with his fate, he now set himself doggedly to support himself and family by his writings. So much did he feel the change in his situation, that he would not even renew any acquaintance with former associates, unless some friendly demonstrations were made on their part. Under these feelings it was that Lawrie Todd' was produced—a work in every way highly characteristic of its author. Such was his zeal and industry at this time, and so prolific and versatile his genius, that in the next six months he produced as many volumes. Through the kindness of Lockhart, the editorship of the 'Courier' was now offered to him. He accepted; but he had never taken an interest in politics; he could not enter into the arena heartily; and, after a short trial, he gave it up.

In the summer of 1830, his health began to fail. Shortly before leaving Canada, he had one day stumbled, receiving a severe shock on the spine from the root of a tree. Excepting the pain of the moment, he felt no injury at the time; but on his return to London, symptoms of a nervous disease appeared, and a touch of paralysis followed. He was fully sensible of his impaired strength. 'I could no longer equivocate to myself,' he said, 'that the afternoon of life was come, and the hour striking.'

It was at this time that his 'Life of Byron' appeared -a work which became extensively popular. It treated its subject fearlessly and uncompromisingly, yet without the slightest acerbity. Nevertheless, its author was furiously assailed by the press-Moore and Hobhouse joining in, or rather heading, the attack-but quite ineffectively, except in so far as they gave annoyance to the biographer, already suffering severely from ill health. In the spring of 1832, Galt's complaints grew more aggravated; he was now much shattered. Instead of the once powerful frame,' says his friend Delta, 'which seemed destined to support the weight of a century, before me sat the drooping figure of one old before his time, crippled in his movements, and evidently but half resigned to this premature curtailment of his mental and bodily exertions.' His sons were all gone to Canada now, and

he missed them sadly; his parting with Alexander, the youngest, seems to have affected him deeply.

Late in the spring of 1834, Galt came down to Edinburgh, took lodgings in Hill Street, and remained there two months. He then proceeded to Greenock, where he had fixed to take up his residence. For some time after removing thither, he frequently took airings in an open carriage; but as his illness increased, this became impracticable. He bore his sufferings with great firmness and patience, and, as the close drew nigh, with remarkable placidity. Mrs Galt was ever beside him; and he was cheered by the affectionate attentions of his only sister, Mrs Macfie, who made her house his home.Galt breathed his last on the 11th April, 1839; and his remains lie interred in the family grave, within the new burying-ground of Greenock.

As an author, Galt was possessed of strong and original powers: he excelled in delineating Scottish character; and to his pages will posterity turn for a faithful record of the manners, habits of thought, and modes of expression prevalent in Scotland towards the latter end of last century. As a man, he was open and generous, sanguine in all his projects, unselfish in pecuniary matters; formed to lead, he was ever fond of leading; yet inspiring attachment in all with whom he became acquainted, and unaffected and sincere as his own Mica Balwhidder. In his official capacity, Canada, which is still managed on the system which he devised, will be an enduring monument to his genius.

GEOLOG Y.

CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS.-PRIMARY FORMATIONS.

THERE are two principles on which the classification of the rocks composing the crust of the earth may proceed. In the one they are regarded as mineral compounds, and arranged according to the similarity of their composition and physical properties. In the other, they are viewed as produced at successive periods, and classed according to their age. The latter is evidently best adapted to geology, considered as a history of the earth and of those revolutions it has undergone, and is now generally adopted in all cases where the relative age of the various formations can be determined. This, however, is not always the case, when the former must be chosen, and the rocks named simply as mineral compounds.

In the conclusion of our last paper on geology, we pointed out some remarkable distinctions in the structure and form of rocks. Some, we saw, were stratified, or divided into beds of great length and breadth compared to their thickness; others formed irregular masses of no determinate shape. This is the foundation of the first great division of rocks into stratified and unstratified; the former supposed to have been deposited from water, the latter to have been produced by igneous agency. Some rocks, it also appeared, were crystalline in their structure, others uncrystalline, and composed of fragments. Dividing the rocks on this principle, the classification is found nearly to correspond with the former; the igneous or massive rocks having in general a crystalline structure, the stratified being, on the other hand, mostly fragmentary. There is, however, a class of rocks participating in both characters, being stratified in form but crystalline in structure. These are supposed to have been originally strata consisting of fragments like the others, but to have been exposed to intense heat, which has altered their structure and arranged the materials of which they were composed in new forms. On this account they are named metamorphic rocks, as having been metamorphosed or changed in their forms.

Of these three classes, only the stratified rocks occur in a certain known chronological order. Having been deposited from water, at the bottom of lakes or the sea, the oldest or first formed beds are necessarily the lowest, and are covered successively by newer and newer strata.

Hence, where these rest on each other in an undisturbed position, there is no difficulty in discovering the order of time in which they were formed, and what is obscure in one place is often cleared up in another. But in the igneous rocks no such order is discoverable. They have been produced in every period, and exhibit few, if any, certain marks by which their relative age can be determined. This is also true of the metamorphic formations, which have been produced at various times, and from strata of very different ages. From their mode of formation, however, they are usually found in the lowest position, and covered by all the other strata which may be present, and hence have been named primitive or primary rocks by the Wernerians, and supposed to constitute part of the original structure of the globe.

These three classes of rocks are generally distinguished in all systems of geology. The varieties of the igneous and metamorphic rocks, to which particular names have been assigned, are also very nearly the same. More diversity prevails in the division and classification of the stratified rocks, almost every author altering the system of his predecessors to suit his own views. The arrangement of Werner, the celebrated German mineralogist, is still the best known, and, with a few modifications from recent discoveries, the most suitable for our purpose, and we shall consequently adopt it here. According to this, there are five divisions of stratified rocks. The first, or primary, corresponds to those classed above as metamorphic. The second division, or the transition rocks, includes the oldest unaltered beds, and was so named as forming a passage from ¦ the crystalline to the fragmentary formations. In these animal remains begin to appear, though in less profusion than in the third or secondary beds, which are also more truly fragmentary in structure. These are followed by the tertiary formations, with still more abundant remains of animals and vegetables, belonging also to species more closely allied to those now existing on the earth. The fifth and last class are the recent or alluvial formations, produced by causes now in actual operation on the globe. To these we shall successively advert, noticing, at the same time, the igneous rocks connected with them in nature. Though it might seem more scientific to have described the latter by themselves, yet this arrangement appears better adapted for popular illustration, and even for giving correct notions of the structure of the earth.

In examining a district of primary rocks, like the Highlands of Scotland, or the similar parts of England and other countries, an arrangement of this kind is often seen. In the highest and central part of the district are granite mountains, enclosed by zones of gneiss, quartz rock, mica-slate, clay-slate, limestone, and other primary strata. It was at one time believed that these followed each other in the order now stated, but further investigation has shown that, though very common, this arrangement is by no means invariable. The order is not only reversed, but the rocks alternate or are mixed with each other in various ways.

The mineral characters of rocks, unless where they can be illustrated by specimens, are not very interesting, and we shall therefore avoid entering into details. Granite, as formerly stated, is a compound of quartz, felspar, and mica, sometimes also containing hornblende. Its varieties are very numerous, two, three, or all the four minerals above, being mixed in almost every degree of relative abundance; but that of quartz, felspar, and mica is by far the most common, and is that most usually understood by this name. Gneiss agrees with it in composition, in almost every respect, but is divided into beds or strata, and has often a slaty structure. Mica-slate consists of quartz and mica, arranged in distinct layers, and, consequently, divides into very thin beds, which are often curiously bent and contorted. Sometimes quartz is found alone, composing quartzite or quartz-rock. Clayslate is well known as the common roofing slate with which houses are covered. Limestone is not very abundant, but is remarkable as furnishing the various statuary and ornamental marbles of commerce, the former being pure

white, the latter various shades of grey, yellow, green, red, or black. With these rocks, other beds of less importance occasionally occur, which it is unnecessary to mention.

The manner in which these rocks have been formed has given rise to much controversy, and the theory of them stated above is only partially received. Werner supposed that the whole materials of this globe were originally dissolved in the waters of a primeval ocean, which gradually deposited the various substances it contained. First of all, the granite rocks were thrown down in vast beds extending over the whole globe. Then the gneiss followed, succeeded in turn by mica-slate, clay-slate, and the other primary formations, investing the earth in successive shells, almost like the coats of an onion. His opponents soon pointed out the inconsistency of this theory with facts, and the impossibility of finding a mass of water capable of dissolving these rocks, and his aqueous chaos is now almost forgotten. Some, however, seem inclined to put an igneous one in its place. They affirm that the solar system was originally a nebula, like one of those which astronomers still observe in the heavens. That it was then a mass of intensely heated vapour, which, cooling down, condensed and threw off the various planets which surround the sun; that the earth was then a fluid mass of molten rocks, and thus acquired its present form; continuing, however, to cool, first the granite rocks, and next the gneiss, with its associated beds, formed on the surface, whilst the interior, still retaining its heat and fluidity, produces earthquakes and volcanoes, with changes in the elevation of the land, and dislocations in the strata, by contracting as it cools still more. This theory is supported by many ingenious analogies in astronomy, but only its geological bearing can be here considered.

Dr James Hutton, a singular, eccentric, but profound philosopher, who lived in Edinburgh in the end of the last century, has the merit of proposing the true theory of these rocks. He considered that granite was an igneous production, similar to lava, but differing from this in consequence of having been formed in the interior of the earth, below other rocks, and not like the latter on the surface. He also thought that many of the peculiarities in the primary beds were owing to their being in contact with this rock, which had hardened them and given them their crystalline aspect. He had long looked for some confirmation of this opinion in nature, but geology then was little understood in Scotland, and no description of its rocks, or the places where they were found, existed. At last, when on a visit in Perthshire, he examined the phenomena of Glen Tilt, a wild romantic glen which runs down from the central mountains of the Grampians to the valley of the Garry at Blair-Athol. The hills on the south-east side of the Tilt consist of quartz rock, mixed near the bottom with limestone, whilst on the north-east are granite mountains. Here Hutton found what he had long looked for, veins of granite running into the strata above, and was so delighted with this confirmation of his speculations as to shout aloud for joy, so that his companions thought him out of his senses. Such junctions of granite with other rocks are now well known in many parts of this island, as on the coast of Cornwall in England, and between Aberdeen and Stonehaven in Scotland, where the Grampian mountains are cut off by the sea. In Glen Tilt the changes on the stratified rocks near the granite are very interesting, and fully confirm the Huttonian view of their origin. There seems little doubt that the marble, of green, yellow, white, or grey colours, quarried near the foot of this glen, is only a limestone altered by the vicinity of the igneous rocks. Even the fine white statuary marble of Carrara is now known to be a recent limestone changed by heat. The quarries lie in a wild desolate valley, at some distance from the town, on the western declivity of the Apennines; and the marble has probably been produced by the igneous agency elevating these mountains. In many other places, similar rocks, once believed to be the oldest on the earth,

are found to have been formed at a period which, geologically considered, is very recent. Thus the mica-slate forming Mont Blanc, the monarch of European mountains, changes gradually into a rock newer than the coal strata round Edinburgh, and this giant hill is probably more recently formed than the diminutive Arthur Seat. There is thus, therefore, no ground for considering them as portions of the original structure of the globe, at least in their present condition.

These rocks are found, almost with the same characters, over nearly the whole earth, and from its lowest plains to the summits of its highest mountains. In Europe, they have been traced from Finland and the North Cape to the mountains of Spain and Greece, on the one hand, and, on the other, from the western isles of Scotland to the far distant Urals on the borders of Asia. Humboldt found them in the mountains of South America, and in the north of that continent they are seen encircling the great Canadian lakes and the still more vast basin of the Mississippi and Missouri. They form the extreme south of both the old and new continents in the Cape of Good Hope and Terra del Fuego. In Asia, they are not less dominant from Siberia and the Altai mountains to the lofty chain of the Himalaya. In our own island, they are most abundant in the north of Scotland; in England, only a few small patches being seen in Cumberland, the north of Wales, and Cornwall.

The character these rocks impress on the scenery is often very diverse, but in all a species of harsh rugged grandeur prevails. The granite in this country sometimes rises, as in Arran, into mountains of a sharp and serrated outline, with numerous projecting points and pinnacles, or, as in the central Grampians in Aberdeen and Inverness shires, forms lofty rounded hills. These often enclose, as in their bosom, a deep ravine or corry, with steep precipitous sides, dipping down into a dark blue lake. The sides and summits of these mountains are strewed with huge quadrangular blocks, built up as it were into lofty walls and ruins. Such masses form the Land's End, the most western point of Cornwall, and the Logan or rocking-stones of that district are granite blocks, worn into a roundish form, and nicely poised on one side. The gneiss is a far less picturesque rock, its hills are less lofty, more rounded and uniform, and, in Scotland at least, often hid by black moss and pools of brown stagnant water. The quartz rock forms rugged, bare, and often conical hills, of a dazzling white colour, as if covered by snow. The most romantic scenery, however, of the Scottish Highlands is found in the region where mica-slate prevails. The Trossachs, and Loch Katrine, Loch Earn, Loch Tay, and Killiecrankie, need only to be mentioned to confirm this encomium. But words cannot do justice to these scenes, nor point out those peculiarities in the aspect of each rock, and the scenery it forms, which yet are easily recognised by the experienced geologist. Each rock formation has its own peculiar character, arising from its nature and mode of decomposition, and is also favourable to the growth of certain plants and trees, which form as it were its appropriate clothing. There is a harmony prevailing throughout nature, and all its various kingdoms, which show it to be the work of infinite goodness and intelligence. Not only are the various parts of the material world beautifully adapted to each other, but also fitted to inspire the mind of man with those elevated emotions which constitute his truest and most lasting enjoyments.

But these rocks possess other recommendations, in the rich mines they contain and the valuable gems or precious stones found in them. In Scotland, mines are rare, probably because the country has never been thoroughly investigated; but precious stones are not altogether awanting. The rock-crystal of the Cairngorm mountains was at one time in great reputation as an ornamental stone; and the amethyst, topaz, and some others, more rarely occurred. Garnets of various sizes are common everywhere in the mica-slate, but are too abundant to have much value. In Brazil, this rock contains diamonds,