"Peculiar Difficulties" of Geology
Geology has its peculiar difficulties, from which all other sciences are exempt. Questions in chemistry may be settled in the laboratory by experiment. Mathematical and philosophical questions may be discussed, while the materials for discussion are ready furnished by our own intellectual reflections. Plants, animals and minerals, may be arranged in the museum, and all questions relating to their intrinsic principles may be discussed with facility. But the relative positions, the shades of difference, the peculiar complexions, whether continuous or in subordinate beds, are subjects of enquiry in settling the character of rocks, which can be judged of while they are in situ only.
Notes:
Other sciences have clear demarcations and methods of experimentation, while Geology is more muddled. I think the author overestimates the certainty of species classification.
Folksonomies: geology
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Science (0.750054): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
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Geology (0.672337): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
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A geological and agricultural survey of the district adjoining the Erie canal in the state of New York