edifices and ornament our temples and palaces; and herb, plant, and tree have been converted either into a material to enrich the soil, or changed into a combustible mineral, to serve as a fuel in after-ages, when such a substance became indispensable to the necessities and luxuries of civilized man. Hence a new interest has been thrown around every grain of sand, and every blade of grass; and the pebble rejected by the Divine, as affording no evidence of design, becomes in the hands of the Geologist a striking proof of Infinite Wisdom.*

But ought we to rest content in the assumption that all these wonderful manifestations of Creative Intelligence were solely intended to contribute to our physical necessities and gratifications?-Say, rather, that this marvellous display of beauty, power, and goodness was designed to fill the soul with high and holy thoughts, to call forth the exercise of our intellectual powers, to excite in us those ardent and lofty aspirations after truth and knowledge, which elevate the mind above the sordid and petty concerns of life, and give us a foretaste of that high destiny which we are permitted to hope will be our portion hereafter!

50. CONCLUDING REMARKS.-Having thus endeavoured to interpret the natural records of the earth's physical history, and traced the succession of geological periods, each embracing indefinite ages of long duration, and the mutations in the organic kingdoms of nature coincident with the varying conditions of the lands and waters—mutations governed by laws with which we are but very imperfectly acquainted, let us finally contemplate the relations of our planet to the innumerable worlds around us. For, while Astronomy suggests that our solar system once existed as a diffused mass of vapour or nebulosity, which, passing through

* Paley. This remark alludes to the celebrated argument of this distinguished author, on a watch and a stone, in the first page of his Treatise on Natural Theology.

successive phases of condensation, at length separated into a central luminary with its attendant planets and satellites (see p. 41); she also instructs us, that this system is but an inconsiderable cluster of orbs in regard to the assemblage of stars to which it belongs, and of which the Milky-way is, as it were, a girdle, our system being placed in the outer and less stellular part of the zone.

*

But the astounding thought, that all our visible Universe is but an aggregation, a single group of suns and planets, which to the inhabitants of the remote regions that can be distinguished only by our telescopes would seem but a mere luminous spot, like one which lies near the outermost range of observation, and appears to be a fac-simile of our own, -impresses the mind with the most intense feelings of awe, of humility, and of adoration of that Supreme Being, to whom worlds, and suns, and systems are but as the sand on the sea-shore !

"Awake, my soul,

And meditate the wonder! Countless suns

Blaze round thee, leading forth their countless worlds!
Worlds in whose bosoms living things rejoice,

And drink the bliss of being from the fount

Of all-pervading Love! What mind can know,
What tongue can utter all their multitudes,
Thus numberless in numberless abodes ?

Known but to thee, blest Father! Thine they are,
Thy children, and thy care,—and none o'erlooked
Of Thee!"

WARE.

Again, when conducted by our investigations to the invisible Universe beneath us, the Milky-way and the Fixedstars of animal and vegetable life, which the microscope. reveals to us, we are alike overpowered by the contemplation of the minutest, as of the mightiest, of His works! And if, as an eminent philosopher has observed, our planetary

* See Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise.

system was gradually evolved from a primeval condition of matter, and contained within itself the elements of each subsequent change, still we know, that every physical phenomenon which has taken place, from first to last, has emanated from the immediate will of the Deity.

VALEDICTION.

With these remarks I take farewell of the reader who has accompanied me through this attempt to combine a general view of geological phenomena with a familiar exposition of the inductions by which the leading principles of the science have been established. And, if I have succeeded in explaining in a satisfactory manner how, by laborious and patient investigation, and the successful application of other branches of Natural Philosophy, the "Wonders of Geology" have been revealed,—if I have removed from but one intelligent mind any prejudice against scientific inquiries, which may have been excited by those who have neither the relish nor the capacity for philosophical pursuits,—if I have been so fortunate as to kindle in the hearts of others that intense desire for the acquisition of natural knowledge which I feel in my own,or have illumined the mental vision with that intellectual light which, once kindled, can never be extinguished, and which reveals to the soul the beauty, and wisdom, and harmony of the works of the Eternal, I shall indeed rejoice, for then my exertions will not have been in And, although my name may be soon forgotten, and all record of my labours be effaced, yet the influence of that knowledge, however feeble it may be, which has emanated from my researches, will endure for ever, and, by conducting to new and inexhaustible fields of inquiry, prove a neverfailing source of the most pure and elevated gratification.

vain.

For it is the peculiar charm and privilege of Naturai

Philosophy, that it

"Can so inform

The mind that is within us,-so impress
With quietness and beauty,—and so feed
With lofty thoughts,-that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of common life,
Can e'er prevail against us, or disturb

Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings!"

WORDSWORTH.

But transcendent as are the privileges which science confers, the true philosopher feels, with the deepest humiliation, that it is neither in the acquisition of knowledge, nor in the perception of the true and of the beautiful,—even were that perceptive knowledge exalted infinitely, that buman happiness can find a resting-place, or the cravings of the immortal mind be satisfied. Every step leads on the impatient inquirer to one beyond itself. "The nicest mechanical arrangement of the particles of matter does but compel us to contemplate those subtler agents by whose action magnetic relations and chemical affinities are next developed Exhaust their range, and still there is palpably beyond them the mystery of the vital powers. Follow that to its highest source, and yet we have but reached the first limits of those mightier energies, of reason, conscience, and volition, of which we feel within ourselves the living action. And here, where the darkness which may be felt presses most heavily upon the inquiring soul,-here in seeking to know the Cause of causes,―here alone can there be any repose for the immortal spirit. Only on HIM who made him, can Man rest at last the burden of his awful being!"

* Bishop Wilberforce. Sermon preached before the University of Oxford, June 27, 1847.

APPENDIX TO VOL. II.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

A. Page 883.-THE subject of the origin of Crystals, as indicated by the nature of their enclosed cavities, and as bearing on the formation of granite, is of so great an interest that the following abstract of Mr. Sorby's paper (read before the Geological Society, Dec. 2, 1857), "On some peculiarities in the Microscopical Structure of Crystals, applicable to the determination of the Aqueous or Igneous Origin of Minerals and Rocks," is here given.

In this paper the author showed, that, when artificial crystals are examined with the microscope, it is seen that they have often caught up and enclosed within their solid substance portions of the material surrounding them at the time when they were being formed. Thus, if they are produced by sublimation, small portions of air or vapour are caught up, so as to form apparently empty cavities; or if they are deposited from solution in water, small quantities of water are enclosed, so as to form fluid-cavities. In a similar manner, if crystals are formed from a state of igneous fusion, crystallizing out from a fused-stone solvent, portions of this fused stone become entangled, which, on cooling, remain in a glassy condition, or become stony, so as to produce what may be called glass- or stone-cavities. All these kinds of cavities can readily be seen with suitable magnifying powers, and distinguished from each other by various definite peculiarities. From these and other facts, the following conclusions were deduced :

1. Crystals containing only cavities with water were formed from solution.