miles in diameter at its base, and some hundreds of feet in elevation, but it would still be the loftiest of Sicilian mountains, studded with other cones, which would be recalled, as it were, into existence by the removal of the rocks under which they are now buried. There seems nothing in the deep sections of the Val del Bove to indicate, that the lava currents of remote periods were greater in volume than those of modern times; and there are abundant proofs that the countless beds of solid rock and scoria were accumulated, as now, in succession." In addition to these two great agents of water and fire, the further prosecution of which we leave to the research of the reader, the geologist connects his system together by many subtle and refined links, which though apparently of secondary importance, when standing by themselves, yet tend in a surprising manner to its fulness and perfection. Thus in regard to vegetation, he has strong reasons, from an infinite variety of evidences, to infer, that the climate of the North of Europe, in its mean temperature, "must once have resembled that which is now experienced within the tropics." Remains and impressions of plants, deeply sunk in the earth, are found in northern regions, which, from their position and abundance, must have grown on or near the spots where they are discovered; and which from their nature and luxuriance could only have flourished in a climate analogous to that which we understand by a tropical one. The same idea is also gained from an examination of the shells, which are found imbedded in the temperate countries of Europe.

The two instances give mutual countenance and strength to each other. "Many," writes Lyell, "are common to the Sub-appenine hills, to the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean. Those in the fossil state and their living analogues from the tropics correspond in size; whereas the individuals of the same species from the Mediterranean are dwarfish and degenerate, and stunted in their growth, for want of conditions which the Indian ocean still supplies." How shall these changes be reconciled, except by yielding to the notion of a gradual alteration of climate during the lapse of ages, from an extreme antiquity?

However effected, whether by an increased inclination of the earth's axis; or by the agency of ordinary causes on its surface -the rise of vast forests, and immense tracts of morass across the entire belt of the northern hemisphere causes which, even within the last two thousand years, gave such excessive severity to the German winters, and which operate at the present day in those countries of North America, which are nominally placed within the temperate zone, whether singly or by the union of the two, we must still, in common reason, make large demands upon antiquity to reconcile them with the facts revealed.

It seems. to us, however, that sufficient stress has been laid on the evidences of the science to give an outline of the system. We hasten to the conclusions which have been thence drawn, in respect to an anterior state of the earth we now inhabit. The same reasons which have prevented us from attaching much importance to the objections of divines,

who have not given their close attention to the study of geology, in that they cannot by possibility be fair judges of the controversy also hinders us from arranging the opinions of those, by the side of the geologists, who are favourable to their views. It is sufficient to show by the testimony of one, the powers of whose mind will be disputed by no party, that the inferences of science are not incompatible with the Bible. Bishop Sumner in his "Records of Creation,—1st Appendix,” states, "According to that (the Mosaic) history, we are bound to admit that only one general destruction or revolution of the globe has taken place, since the period of that creation, which Moses records, and of which Adam and Eve were the first inhabitants. The certainty of one event of that kind would appear from the discoveries of geologers, even were it not declared by the sacred historian. But we are not called upon to deny the possible existence of previous worlds, from the wreck of which our globe was organized, and the ruins of which are now furnishing matter to our curiosity. The belief of their existence is indeed consistent with rational probability, and somewhat confirmed by the discoveries of astronomy, as to the plurality of worlds."

In this feeling Conybeare, in his Introduction to the "Outlines of Geology," says, "It has been objected to the authority of the Sacred record, that it does not allow a sufficient period for the successive deposition of the secondary strata, containing as they do, the remains of successive races of animals, which appear to have lived and died where they are

now found, while the deposits in which they are buried were gradually accumulating.

"Before proceeding to consider the force of this objection, we are first desirous of recalling to our readers, that the great subject to which Revelation relates, is the Providential history of man; the antiquity of the human race is therefore an essential feature of that Revelation; but the questions, whether any other state of our planet preceded that in which it became the habitation of intellectual and moral agents, and if so, what convulsions may have happened to it during that state, are points with which it has no direct connection; a perfect knowledge of these could have furnished no topics calculated either to awaken the slumbering, or to reassure the penitent, conscience."*

Buckland, independent of very strong testimony in his previous works, feels authorized to use this language in his "Bridgewater Treatise."

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Geology has already proved by physical evidence, that the surface of the globe has not existed in its actual state from eternity; but has advanced through a series of creative operations, succeeding one another at long and definite intervals of time; that all the actual combinations of matter have had a prior existence in some other state; and that the ultimate atoms of the material elements through whatever changes they may have passed, are, and ever have been, governed by laws, as regular and uniform, as those which hold the planets in their course."†

* Conybeare and Phillips. London.

+ Page 11.

A few pages onwards, he writes, "The fact that a large proportion of these-(lower strata)-remains belong to extinct genera, and almost all of them to extinct species, that lived and multiplied and died. on or near the spots where they are now found, shows that the strata in which they occur were deposited slowly and gradually, during long periods of time, and at widely distant intervals. These extinct animals and vegetables could therefore have formed no part of the Creation with which we are immediately connected."

M'Culloch, by a process of reasoning and investigation, which is too extended and diffuse for quotation, imagines that he has discovered traces of four prior worlds in the strata which have already been examined. "Thus," he exclaims," have I traced a world, the fourth, at least, in order backwards from the present; how much more distant from this, I shall inquire hereafter, that I may give the reader a resting-place for that which requires reflection. But at this point all evidence fails."

Without binding down the mind to the entire accuracy of his deductions, the boldness of the statement, put forth as it is in the sight and under the correction of such numbers of men, well versed in the science,—of itself indicates the grandeur and variety of the monuments developed by the study; and the folly of those who oppose the system without being well acquainted with its details. It must strike the least conversant with the tone and mental energy of scientific men of the present day, that assertions of this broad and decisive character would