History of the inductive sciences, from the earliest to the present time

by William Whewell

WHEN the structure and arrangement which men observed in the materials of the earth instigated them to speculate concerning the past changes and revolutions by which such results had been produced, they at first supposed themselves sufficiently able to judge what would be the effects of any of the obvious agents of change, as water or volcanic fire. It did not at once occur to them to suspect, that their common and extemporaneous judgment on such points was far from sufficient for sound knowledge;—they did not foresee that they must create a special science, whose object should be to estimate the general laws and effects of assumed causes, before they could pronounce whether such causes had actually produced the particular facts which their survey of the earth had disclosed to them.

Yet the analogy of the progress of knowledge on other subjects points out very clearly the necessity of such a science. When phenomenal astronomy had arrived at a high point of completeness, by the labors of ages, and especially by the discovery of Kepler’s laws, astronomers were vehemently desirous of knowing the causes of these motions; and sanguine men, such as Kepler, readily conjectured that the motions were the effects of certain virtues and influences, by which the heavenly bodies acted upon each other. But it did not at first occur to him and his fellow-speculators, that they had not ascertained what motions the influences of one body upon another could produce: and that, therefore, they were not prepared to judge whether such causes as they spoke of, did really regulate the motions of the planets. Yet such was found to be the necessary course of sound inference. Men needed a science of motion, in order to arrive at a science of the [543] heavenly motions: they could not advance in the study of the Mechanics of the heavens, till they had learned the Mechanics of terrestrial bodies. And thus they were, in such speculations, at a stand for nearly a century, from the time of Kepler to the time of Newton, while the science of Mechanics was formed by Galileo and his successors. Till that task was executed, all the attempts to assign the causes of cosmical phenomena were fanciful guesses and vague assertions; after that was done, they became demonstrations. The science of Dynamics enabled philosophers to pass securely and completely from Phenomenal Astronomy to Physical Astronomy.

In like manner, in order that we may advance from Phenomenal Geology to Physical Geology, we need a science of Geological Dynamics;—that is, a science which shall investigate and determine the laws and consequences of the known causes of changes such as those which Geology considers:—and which shall do this, not in an occasional, imperfect, and unconnected manner, but by systematic, complete, and conclusive methods;—shall, in short, be a Science, and not a promiscuous assemblage of desultory essays.

The necessity of such a study, as a distinct branch of geology, is perhaps hardly yet formally recognized, although the researches which belong to it have, of late years, assumed a much more methodical and scientific character than they before possessed. Mr. Lyell’s work (Principles of Geology), in particular, has eminently contributed to place Geological Dynamics in its proper prominent position. Of the four books of his Treatise, the second and third are upon this division of the subject; the second book treating of aqueous and igneous causes of change, and the third, of changes in the organic world.

There is no difficulty in separating this auxiliary geological science from theoretical Geology itself, in which we apply our principles to the explanation of the actual facts of the earth’s surface. The former, if perfected, would be a demonstrative science dealing with general cases; the latter is an ætiological view having reference to special facts; the one attempts to determine what always must be under given conditions; the other is satisfied with knowing what is and has been, and why it has been; the first study has a strong resemblance to Mechanics, the other to philosophical Archæology.

Since this portion of science is still so new, it is scarcely possible to give any historical account of its progress, or any complete survey of its shape and component parts. I can only attempt a few notices, [544] which may enable us in some measure to judge to what point this division of our subject is tending.

We may remark, in this as in former cases, that since we have here to consider the formation and progress of a science, we must treat as unimportant preludes to its history, the detached and casual observations of the effects of causes of change which we find in older writers. It is only when we come to systematic collections of information, such as may afford the means of drawing general conclusions; or to rigorous deductions from known laws of nature;—that we can recognise the separate existence of geological dynamics, as a path of scientific research.

The following may perhaps suffice, for the present, as a sketch of the subjects of which this science treats:—the aqueous causes of change, or those in which water adds to, takes from, or transfers, the materials of the land:—the igneous causes; volcanoes, and, closely connected with them, earthquakes, and the forces by which they are produced;—the calculations which determine, on physical principles, the effects of assumed mechanical causes acting upon large portions of the crust of the earth;—the effect of the forces, whatever they be, which produce the crystalline texture of rocks, their fissile structure, and the separation of materials, of which we see the results in metalliferous veins. Again, the estimation of the results of changes of temperature in the earth, whether operating by pressure, expansion, or in any other way;—the effects of assumed changes in the superficial condition, extent, and elevation, of terrestrial continents upon the climates of the earth;—the effect of assumed cosmical changes upon the temperature of this planet;—and researches of the same nature as these.

These researches are concerned with the causes of change in the inorganic world; but the subject requires no less that we should investigate the causes which may modify the forms and conditions of organic things; and in the large sense in which we have to use the phrase, we may include researches on such subjects also as parts of Geological Dynamics; although, in truth, this department of physiology has been cultivated, as it well deserves to be, independently of its bearing upon geological theories. The great problem which offers itself here, in reference to Geology, is, to examine the value of any hypotheses by which it may be attempted to explain the succession of different races of animals and plants in different strata; and though it may be difficult, in this inquiry, to arrive at any positive result, we [545] may at least be able to show the improbability of some conjectures which have been propounded.

I shall now give a very brief account of some of the attempts made in these various departments of this province of our knowledge; and in the present chapter, of Inorganic Changes.