Geology (from the Ancient Greek γῆ, gē, i.e. "earth" and -λoγία, -logia, i.e. "study of, discourse") is an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Geology can also refer to the study of the solid features of any terrestrial planet or natural satellite, (such as Mars or the Moon).
The past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now. No powers are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted except those of which we know the principle.
James Hutton, Theory of the Earth. (Paper, published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1785).
The increasing number of factors playing a role in the various complexes of natural phenomena are the origin of new, so-called emergent, laws and characteristics. Based on this principle of emergence, a hierarchy of sciences can be distinguished: physics-chemistry-geology-biology-psychology.
Josiah Gilbert Holland, in Rev. S. Pollock Linn Golden Gleams of Thought from the Words of Leading Orators, Divines, Philosophers, Statesmen and Poets, A.C. McClurg & Company, 1881, p. 280.
