The Ready Apology Covers A Multitude Of

Oh, Most Magnificent And Noble Nature! Have I Not Worshipped Thee With Such A Love As Never Mortal Man Before Displayed? Adored Thee In Thy Majesty Of Visible Creation, And Searched Into Thy Hidden And Mysterious Ways As Poet, As Philosopher, As Sage?

The Three States Of The Caterpillar, Larva, And Butterfly Have, Since The Time Of The Greek Poets, Been Applied To Typify The Human Being,--its Terrestrial Form, Apparent Death, And Ultimate Celestial Destination.

The Ideal Life Is That Which Has Few Friends, But Many Acquaintances.

Geology, Perhaps More Than Any Other Department Of Natural Philosophy, Is A Science Of Contemplation. It Requires No Experience Or Complicated Apparatus, No Minute Processes Upon The Unknown Processes Of Matter. It Demands Only An Enquiring Mind And Senses Alive To The Facts Almost Everywhere Presented In Nature. And As It May Be Acquired Without Much Difficulty, So It May Be Improved Without Much Painful Exertion.

The Beginning Of Civilisation Is The Discovery Of Some Useful Arts, By Which Men Acquire Property, Comforts, Or Luxuries. The Necessity Or Desire Of Preserving Them Leads To Laws And Social Institutions. The Discovery Of Peculiar Arts Gives Superiority To Particular Nations ... To Subjugate Other Nations, Who Learn Their Arts, And Ultimately Adopt Their Manners;- So That In Reality The Origin As Well As The Progress And Improvement Of Civil Society Is Founded In Mechanical And Chemical Inventions.