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25 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
"You have not allowed for the wind, Hubert," said Locksley, in "Ivanhoe;" "or that had been a better shot." I remember, when I was in Newfoundland, some five-and-twenty years ago, the disastrous wreck of the brig Elizabeth , which belonged to the firm in which I was a clerk. The master had made a good observation the day before, which had determined his latitude some miles north of Cape St. Francis. A thick fog coming on, he sailed boldly by compass, knowing that, according to his latitude, he c
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I
I
Evidence of the Senses often delusive—Deductions of Reason fallible—Essentials sometimes overlooked—Discrepancy between Scripture and Geological Conclusions—Painful Dilemma—Efforts to escape from it—Supremacy of Truth—Various Attempts at Reconciliation—Denouncers—Opinions of Brown—Blackwood— Macbrair—Ure—Penn—Young—Cockburn—Miller—Sedgwick—Turner—Sumner— Chalmers—Harris—Gray—Conybeare—Hitchcock—Pye Smith—"Protoplast"—Babbage—Powell—"Vestiges"—Amplitude of Choice Page 1 -29...
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II.
II.
A Court of Inquiry—The Witnesses—Testimony of One—Strata of Thames Tunnel—of Hertfordshire—of Yorkshire—of the Globe—Granite—Granitic Strata—Organic Remains—Silurian System—Corals—Trilobites—Mollusks—Devonian System—Old Red Sandstone—Its Formation—Fishes—Carboniferous System—Coral Limestone—Millstone Grit—Coal—Predominance of Carbonic Acid—Extent and Thickness of Coal-Fields—Formation of Coal—Conjecture as to its Age—Antediluvian Theory untenable—Sauroid Fishes—Earliest Reptiles—Footprints of Fr
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III.
III.
Disturbances of Strata—Internal Heat—Changes of Land and Sea—New Red Sandstone—Footprints—Labyrinthodon—Lias Formation—Crinoids—Ammonites—Belemnites—Fishes—Marine Reptiles—Ichthyosaur—Plesiosaur—European Archipelago—Oolitic Formation—Cycads—Megalosaur—Bat-Lizards—Iguanodon—Hylæosaur—Earliest Mammal—Chalk Formation—Infusoria—Diatomaceæ—Their Minuteness and Numbers—Chambered Cephalopods—Mosasaur—End of Secondary Formations—Convulsions—Basalt—Uprearing of Mountain Chains—London Clay—Plants and Anim
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IV.
IV.
Grandeur of the Evidence—Proposed Line of Objection—It is but circumstantial—Example of Confusion of Thought—Analysis of the Reasoning—-Dependent on the exhaustive Power of Observation—Relation of Precedence and Sequence—Of Cause and Effect—Force of my Position. 102 -109...
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V.
V.
The Creation of Matter—The Persistence of Species. 110 -112...
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VI.
VI.
The Course of Nature a Circle—Illustrations—Scarlet Runner—Lady-fern— Hawkmoth—Plumularia—Cow—Universality of the Law—Creation an Irruption into a Circle—False Witness to Past Processes—Prochronism and Diachronism—Phenomena illusory—Recapitulation 113 -126...
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VII.
VII.
Ideal Tour on Creation-Day—Chronological Investigations—Queried Age of a Tree-fern—Data for the Inquiry—Development of the Leaves—Leaf-scars—Report—Its manifest Error—Selaginella—Bamboo— Couch-grass—Screw-pine—Pashiuba—Sugar Palm—Areca—Rattan—Agave— Traveller's Tree—Butterfly Flower—Orchis—Gladiolus—Grass-tree—White Lily—Testudinaria—Caffer-Bread—Fig—Banyan—Euphorbia—Tulip-tree—Bignonia—Loranthus—Prickly Pear—Mangrove—Silk-cotton-tree—Locust-tree—Restriction of the Inquiry—Uniform Testimony to U
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VIII.
VIII.
Resumption of the Examination—Sea Pen—Millepore—Madrepore—Organ-pipe— Medusa—Sea-urchin—Feather-star—Tapeworm—Serpula—Terebella—White-ant— Goliath-beetle—Gnat—Case-fly—Melicerta—Julus—Buprestis—Shore-crab— Barnacle—Lepralia—Botryllus—Clavagella—Prickly Venus—Scorpion Stromb—Tiger Cowry—Thorny Murex—Pearly Nautilus—Cuttlefish 182 -239...
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IX.
IX.
Examination of the Vertebrata—Sword-fish—Gilt-head—Laminæ of Scales—Shark—Arrangement of Teeth—Their Structure—Tree-frog— Metamorphosis—Rattlesnake—Crocodile—Tortoise—Laminæ of Plates—Skull of Cassowary—Peacock—Humming-bird—Trogon—Structure and Growth of Feathers—Whalebone of Whale—Horn of Ibex—Horn of Stag—Teeth of Horse—Of Babiroussa—Of Hippopotamus—Tusk of Elephant—Molars of Elephant 240 -273...
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X.
X.
Examination of Primal Man—Blood—Its Formation—Its Oxygenation— Nails—Hair—Bones—Teeth—All formed by successive Processes—Stature—Thyroid Cartilage—Beard—Development of Teeth—Proportion of Bloods—Condition of Skeleton—Navel—False Conclusion 274 -291...
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XI.
XI.
Assumption of adult Development at Creation—Its Reasonableness—The Position waived—Assumption of the Germ-Hypothesis—Double Cocoa-nut—Coral Tree—Tulip—Earth-pea—Mangrove—Medusa—Connexion of Germs with Parent—In Echinoderms—In Annelids—In Insects—Egg of Butterfly—Of Nut Weevil—Of Bots—Of Ichneumon—Of Pill Chafer—Of Gall-fly—Of Lace-fly—Of Spider—Of Gipsy Moth—Of Coccus—Of Saw-fly—Of Cockroach—Of Dirt-dauber—Metamorphosis of Star-fish—Eggs attached to Brachionus—Viviparous Progeny of Rotifer—Of As
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XII.
XII.
Uniformity of Results—Prochronism of Organic Nature—Phenomena inadequate to settle Chronology—Historic Testimony alone oracular—Familiar Illustration—Objections met—Analogy between an Organism and a World—Illustration from a Tree—Analogy between the Life of a Species and that of an Individual—History Divinely Projected—Grand Plan of Nature—Diachronic Existence not necessary—Deceptive Phenomena inseparable from Created Organisms—Illustrations abundant—Hypothesis of the Life-history of the Globe—S
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THE CAUSE.
THE CAUSE.
An eminent philosopher has observed that "nothing can be more common or frequent than to appeal to the evidence of the senses as the most unerring test of physical effects. It is by the organs of sense, and by these alone, that we can acquire any knowledge of the qualities of external objects, and of their mutual effects when brought to act one upon another, whether mechanically, physically, or chemically; and it might, therefore, not unreasonably be supposed, that what is called the evidence of
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THE WITNESS FOR THE MACRO-CHRONOLOGY.
THE WITNESS FOR THE MACRO-CHRONOLOGY.
"You shall well and truly try, and a true deliverance make,... and a true verdict give, according to the evidence."—( Jury Oath. ) A High Court of Inquiry has been sitting now for a good many years, whose object is to determine a chronological question of much interest. It is no less than the age of the globe on which we live. Counsel have been heard on both sides, and witnesses have been called, and most of the judges have considered that an overwhelming preponderance of testimony is in favour
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THE WITNESS FOR THE MACRO-CHRONOLOGY.
THE WITNESS FOR THE MACRO-CHRONOLOGY.
"Always distrust very plain cases: beware lest a snake suddenly start out upon you, in the shape of some concealed and utterly unexpected difficulty."— Warren : Law Studies . We have hitherto been considering the strata as if they had remained permanent when once deposited, subject to no change, save the successive superposition of other strata upon them. But this is very far from being true. Enormous displacements, upheavings, contortions, and fractures, are observed in the strata, which tell o
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THE CROSS-EXAMINATION.
THE CROSS-EXAMINATION.
"When the fact itself cannot be proved, that which comes nearest to the proof of the fact is the proof of the circumstances that necessarily and usually attend such facts; and these are called presumptions, and not proofs , for they stand instead of the proofs of the fact, till the contrary be proved."— Gilbert ; Law of Evidence. Such, then, is the evidence for the macro-chronology. I hope I have summed it up fairly; of course, many details I have been forbidden to adduce by want of space, but t
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POSTULATES.
POSTULATES.
"A little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity."— Bacon. As without some common ground it is impossible to reason, I shall take for granted the two following principles:— I. If any geologist take th
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LAWS.
LAWS.
"——τον τροχον της γενεσεως."— James iii. 6. The course of nature is a circle. I do not mean the plan of nature; I am not speaking of a circular arrangement of species, genera, families, and classes, as maintained by MacLeay, Swainson, and others. Their theories may be true, or they may be false; I decide nothing concerning them; I am not alluding to any plan of nature, but to its course , cursus ,—the way in which it runs on . This is a circle. Here is in my garden a scarlet runner. It is a slen
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PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding."— Job xxxviii. 4. Since every organism, considering it, throughout its generations, as an unit, has been created, or made to commence existence, it is manifest that it was created or made to commence existence at some moment of time. I will ask some kind geological reader to imagine that moment, and to accompany me in an ideal tour of inspection among the creatures, taking up each for examination at t
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PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
Leaving the vegetable kingdom, those organisms which, though beautiful indeed and instructive, are yet inanimate, let us seek others which are endowed with a higher style of life, a life which is distinguished by a measure of consciousness of the exterior world, and a perception of relations to it. Let us look for animals. We retrace our steps to the verge of the rippling sea, where the belt of umbrageous Mangroves fringes its margin. Beneath the arching roots of these are now reposing in the wa
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PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
"The organisation of the body at each epoch may be truly said to be the resultant of all the material changes which it has undergone during the preceding periods."— Dr. Carpenter; Human Physiology , p. 903. The Invertebrata then agree in one story, and that story is the same as what the plants had told us before. Let us try if the Vertebrate creatures bear them out. From this promontory we can look far down into the clear profundity of the still and smooth sea. What is that large object that pla
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PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
We have knocked at the doors of the vegetable world, asking our questions; then at those of the lower tribes of the brute creation, and now at those of the higher forms; and we have received but one answer,—varying, indeed, in terms, but essentially the same in meaning,—from all. And now we have one more application to make; we have, still in our ideal peregrination, to seek out the newly-created form of our first progenitor, the primal Head of the Human Race. And here we behold him; not like th
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PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
PARALLELS AND PRECEDENTS.
"Every cell, like every individual Plant or Animal, is the product of a previous organism of the same kind."—( Dr. Carpenter , Comp. Physiol. § 347.) In the preceding examples I have assumed that every organic entity was created in that stage of its being which constitutes the acme of its peculiar development; when all its faculties are in their highest perfection, and when it is best fitted to reproduce its own image. From the very nature of things I judge that this was the actual fact; [90] si
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THE CONCLUSION.
THE CONCLUSION.
"We have no experience in the creation of worlds." Chalmers. We have passed, in review before us the whole organic world: and the result is uniform; that no example can be selected from the vast vegetable kingdom, none from the vast animal kingdom, which did not at the instant of its creation present indubitable evidences of a previous history. This is not put forth as a hypothesis , but as a necessity ; I do not say that it was probably so, but that it was certainly so; not that it may have bee
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