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diff --git a/7116-0.txt b/7116-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0926ff8 --- /dev/null +++ b/7116-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8029 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, +by Robert Chambers + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation + + +Author: Robert Chambers + + + +Release Date: August 2, 2014 [eBook #7116] +[This file was first posted on March 11, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VESTIGES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF +CREATION*** + + +Transcribed from the 1844 John Churchill edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + VESTIGES + OF + THE NATURAL HISTORY + OF + CREATION. + + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + + JOHN CHURCHILL, PRINCES STREET, SOHO. + + M DCCC XLIV. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE +The Bodies of Space—Their arrangements and formation 1 +Constituent materials of the Earth and of the other Bodies 27 +of Space +The Earth formed—Era of the Primary Rocks 44 +Commencement of Organic Life—Sea Plants, Corals, etc. 54 +Era of the Old Red Sandstone—Fishes abundant. 66 +Secondary Rocks. Era of the Carboniferous Formation.—Land 76 +formed—Commencement of Land Plants +Era of the New Red Sandstone—Terrestrial Zoology commences 94 +with Reptiles—First traces of Birds +Era of the Oolite—Commencement of Mammalia 105 +Era of the Cretaceous Formation 116 +Era of the Tertiary Formation—Mammalia abundant 125 +Era of the Superficial Formations—Commencement of present 134 +Species +General Considerations respecting the Origin of the 145 +Animated Tribes +Particular Considerations respecting the Origin of the 165 +Animated Tribes +Hypothesis of the Development of the Vegetable and Animal 191 +Kingdoms +Macleay System of Animated Nature—This System considered in 236 +connexion with the Progress of Organic Creation, and as +indicating the natural status of Man +Early History of Mankind 277 +Mental Constitution of Animals 324 +Purpose and General Condition of the Animated Creation 361 +Note Conclusory 387 + + + + +THE BODIES OF SPACE, +THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION. + + +IT is familiar knowledge that the earth which we inhabit is a globe of +somewhat less than 8000 miles in diameter, being one of a series of +eleven which revolve at different distances around the sun, and some of +which have satellites in like manner revolving around them. The sun, +planets, and satellites, with the less intelligible orbs termed comets, +are comprehensively called the solar system, and if we take as the +uttermost bounds of this system the orbit of Uranus (though the comets +actually have a wider range), we shall find that it occupies a portion of +space not less than three thousand six hundred millions of miles in +extent. The mind fails to form an exact notion of a portion of space so +immense; but some faint idea of it may be obtained from the fact, that, +if the swiftest race-horse ever known had begun to traverse it, at full +speed, at the time of the birth of Moses, he would only as yet have +accomplished half his journey. + +It has long been concluded amongst astronomers, that the stars, though +they only appear to our eyes as brilliant points, are all to be +considered as suns, representing so many solar systems, each bearing a +general resemblance to our own. The stars have a brilliancy and apparent +magnitude which we may safely presume to be in proportion to their actual +size and the distance at which they are placed from us. Attempts have +been made to ascertain the distance of some of the stars by calculations +founded on parallax, it being previously understood that, if a parallax +of so much as one second, or the 3600th of a degree, could be ascertained +in any one instance, the distance might be assumed in that instance as +not less than 19,200 millions of miles! In the case of the most +brilliant star, Sirius, even this minute parallax could not be found; +from which of course it was to be inferred that the distance of that star +is something beyond the vast distance which has been stated. In some +others, on which the experiment has been tried, no sensible parallax +could be detected; from which the same inference was to be made in their +case. But a sensible parallax of about one second has been ascertained +in the case of the double star, α α, of the constellation of the Centaur, +{3} and one of the third of that amount for the double star, 61 Cygni; +which gave reason to presume that the distance of the former might be +about twenty thousand millions of miles, and the latter of much greater +amount. If we suppose that similar intervals exist between all the +stars, we shall readily see that the space occupied by even the +comparatively small number visible to the naked eye, must be vast beyond +all powers of conception. + +The number visible to the eye is about three thousand; but when a +telescope of small power is directed to the heavens, a great number more +come into view, and the number is ever increased in proportion to the +increased power of the instrument. In one place, where they are more +thickly sown than elsewhere, Sir William Herschel reckoned that fifty +thousand passed over a field of view two degrees in breadth in a single +hour. It was first surmised by the ancient philosopher, Democritus, that +the faintly white zone which spans the sky under the name of the Milky +Way, might be only a dense collection of stars too remote to be +distinguished. This conjecture has been verified by the instruments of +modern astronomers, and some speculations of a most remarkable kind have +been formed in connexion with it. By the joint labours of the two +Herschels, the sky has been “gauged” in all directions by the telescope, +so as to ascertain the conditions of different parts with respect to the +frequency of the stars. The result has been a conviction that, as the +planets are parts of solar systems, so are solar systems parts of what +may be called astral systems—that is, systems composed of a multitude of +stars, bearing a certain relation to each other. The astral system to +which we belong, is conceived to be of an oblong, flattish form, with a +space wholly or comparatively vacant in the centre, while the extremity +in one direction parts into two. The stars are most thickly sown in the +outer parts of this vast ring, and these constitute the Milky Way. Our +sun is believed to be placed in the southern portion of the ring, near +its inner edge, so that we are presented with many more stars, and see +the Milky Way much more clearly, in that direction, than towards the +north, in which line our eye has to traverse the vacant central space. +Nor is this all. Sir William Herschel, so early as 1783, detected a +motion in our solar system with respect to the stars, and announced that +it was tending towards the star λ, in the constellation Hercules. This +has been generally verified by recent and more exact calculations, {5} +which fix on a point in Hercules, near the star 143 of the 17th hour, +according to Piozzi’s catalogue, as that towards which our sun is +proceeding. It is, therefore, receding from the inner edge of the ring. +Motions of this kind, through such vast regions of space, must be long in +producing any change sensible to the inhabitants of our planet, and it is +not easy to grasp their general character; but grounds have nevertheless +been found for supposing that not only our sun, but the other suns of the +system pursue a wavy course round the ring _from west to east_, crossing +and recrossing the middle of the annular circle. “Some stars will depart +more, others less, from either side of the circumference of equilibrium, +according to the places in which they are situated, and according to the +direction and the velocity with which they are put in motion. Our sun is +probably one of those which depart furthest from it, and descend furthest +into the empty space within the ring.” {6} According to this view, a +time may come when we shall be much more in the thick of the stars of our +astral system than we are now, and have of course much more brilliant +nocturnal skies; but it may be countless ages before the eyes which are +to see this added resplendence shall exist. + +The evidence of the existence of other astral systems besides our own is +much more decided than might be expected, when we consider that the +nearest of them must needs be placed at a mighty interval beyond our own. +The elder Herschel, directing his wonderful tube towards the _sides_ of +our system, where stars are planted most rarely, and raising the powers +of the instrument to the required pitch, was enabled with awe-struck mind +to see suspended in the vast empyrean astral systems, or, as he called +them, firmaments, resembling our own. Like light cloudlets to a certain +power of the telescope, they resolved themselves, under a greater power, +into stars, though these generally seemed no larger than the finest +particles of diamond dust. The general forms of these systems are +various; but one at least has been detected as bearing a striking +resemblance to the supposed form of our own. The distances are also +various, as proved by the different degrees of telescopic power necessary +to bring them into view. The farthest observed by the astronomer were +estimated by him as thirty-five thousand times more remote than Sirius, +supposing its distance to be about twenty thousand millions of miles. It +would thus appear, that not only does gravitation keep our earth in its +place in the solar system, and the solar system in its place in our +astral system, but it also may be presumed to have the mightier duty of +preserving a local arrangement between that astral system and an +immensity of others, through which the imagination is left to wander on +and on without limit or stay, save that which is given by its inability +to grasp the unbounded. + +The two Herschels have in succession made some other most remarkable +observations on the regions of space. They have found within the limits +of our astral system, and generally in its outer fields, a great number +of objects which, from their foggy appearance, are called _nebulæ_; some +of vast extent and irregular figure, as that in the sword of Orion, which +is visible to the naked eye; others of shape more defined; others, again, +in which small bright nuclei appear here and there over the surface. +Between this last form and another class of objects, which appear as +clusters of nuclei with nebulous matter around each nucleus, there is but +a step in what appears a chain of related things. Then, again, our +astral space shews what are called nebulous stars,—namely, luminous +spherical objects, bright in the centre and dull towards the extremities. +These appear to be only an advanced condition of the class of objects +above described. Finally, nebulous stars exist in every stage of +concentration, down to that state in which we see only a common star with +a slight _bur_ around it. It may be presumed that all these are but +stages in a progress, just as if, seeing a child, a boy, a youth, a +middle-aged, and an old man together, we might presume that the whole +were only variations of one being. Are we to suppose that we have got a +glimpse of the process through which a sun goes between its original +condition, as a mass of diffused nebulous matter, and its full-formed +state as a compact body? We shall see how far such an idea is supported +by other things known with regard to the occupants of space, and the laws +of matter. + +A superficial view of the astronomy of the solar system gives us only the +idea of a vast luminous body (the sun) in the centre, and a few smaller, +though various sized bodies, revolving at different distances around it; +some of these, again, having smaller planets (satellites) revolving +around them. There are, however, some general features of the solar +system, which, when a profounder attention makes us acquainted with them, +strike the mind very forcibly. + +It is, in the first place, remarkable, that the planets all move nearly +_in one plane_, corresponding with the centre of the sun’s body. Next, +it is not less remarkable that the motion of the sun on its axis, those +of the planets around the sun, and the satellites around their primaries, +{9} and the motions of all on their axes, are _in one direction_—namely, +from west to east. Had all these matters been left to accident, the +chances against the uniformity which we find would have been, though +calculable, inconceivably great. Laplace states them at four millions of +millions to one. It is thus powerfully impressed on us, that the +uniformity of the motions, as well as their general adjustment to one +plane, must have been a consequence of some cause acting throughout the +whole system. + +Some of the other relations of the bodies are not less remarkable. The +primary planets shew a progressive increase of bulk and diminution of +density, from the one nearest to the sun to that which is most distant. +With respect to density alone, we find, taking water as a measure and +counting it as one, that Saturn is 13/32, or less than half; Jupiter, 1 +1/24; Mars, 3 2/7; Earth, 4 1/2; Venus, 5 11/15; Mercury 9 9/10, or about +the weight of lead. Then the distances are curiously relative. It has +been found that if we place the following line of numbers,— + + 0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192, + +and add 4 to each, we shall have a series denoting the respective +distances of the planets from the sun. It will stand thus— + +4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 +Merc. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. + +It will be observed that the first row of figures goes on from the second +on the left hand in a succession of duplications, or multiplications by +2. Surely there is here a most surprising proof of the unity which I am +claiming for the solar system. It was remarked when this curious +relation was first detected, that there was a want of a planet +corresponding to 28; the difficulty was afterwards considered as in a +great measure overcome, by the discovery of four small planets revolving +at nearly one mean distance from the sun, between Mars and Jupiter. The +distances bear an equally interesting mathematical relation to the times +of the revolutions round the sun. It has been found that, with respect +to any two planets, the squares of the times of revolution are to each +other in the same proportion as the cubes of their mean distances,—a most +surprising result, for the discovery of which the world was indebted to +the illustrious Kepler. Sir John Herschel truly observes—“When we +contemplate the constituents of the planetary system from the point of +view which this relation affords us, it is no longer mere analogy which +strikes us, no longer a general resemblance among them, as individuals +independent of each other, and circulating about the sun, each according +to its own peculiar nature, and connected with it by its own peculiar +tie. The resemblance is now perceived to be a true _family likeness_; +they are bound up in one chain—interwoven in one web of mutual relation +and harmonious agreement, subjected to one pervading influence which +extends from the centre to the farthest limits of that great system, of +which all of them, the Earth included, must henceforth be regarded as +members.” {12} + +Connecting what has been observed of the series of nebulous stars with +this wonderful relationship seen to exist among the constituents of our +system, and further taking advantage of the light afforded by the +ascertained laws of matter, modern astronomers have suggested the +following hypothesis of the formation of that system. + +Of nebulous matter in its original state we know too little to enable us +to suggest how nuclei should be established in it. But, supposing that, +from a peculiarity in its constitution, nuclei are formed, we know very +well how, by virtue of the law of gravitation, the process of an +aggregation of the neighbouring matter to those nuclei should proceed, +until masses more or less solid should become detached from the rest. It +is a well-known law in physics that, when fluid matter collects towards +or meets in a centre, it establishes a rotatory motion. See minor +results of this law in the whirlwind and the whirlpool—nay, on so humble +a scale as the water sinking through the aperture of a funnel. It thus +becomes certain that when we arrive at the stage of a nebulous star, we +have a rotation on an axis commenced. + +Now, mechanical philosophy informs us that, the instant a mass begins to +rotate, there is generated a tendency to fling off its outer portions—in +other words, the law of centrifugal force begins to operate. There are, +then, two forces acting in opposition to each other, the one attracting +_to_, the other throwing _from_, the centre. While these remain exactly +counterpoised, the mass necessarily continues entire; but the least +excess of the centrifugal over the attractive force would be attended +with the effect of separating the mass and its outer parts. These outer +parts would, then, be left as a ring round the central body, which ring +would continue to revolve with the velocity possessed by the central mass +at the moment of separation, but not necessarily participating in any +changes afterwards undergone by that body. This is a process which might +be repeated as soon as a new excess arose in the centrifugal over the +attractive forces working in the parent mass. It might, indeed, continue +to be repeated, until the mass attained the ultimate limits of the +condensation which its constitution imposed upon it. From what cause +might arise the periodical occurrence of an excess of the centrifugal +force? If we suppose the agglomeration of a nebulous mass to be a +process attended by refrigeration or cooling, which many facts render +likely, we can easily understand why the outer parts, hardening under +this process, might, by virtue of the greater solidity thence acquired, +begin to present some resistance to the attractive force. As the +solidification proceeded, this resistance would become greater, though +there would still be a tendency to adhere. Meanwhile, the condensation +of the central mass would be going on, tending to produce a separation +from what may now be termed the _solidifying crust_. During the +contention between the attractions of these two bodies, or parts of one +body, there would probably be a ring of attenuation between the mass and +its crust. At length, when the central mass had reached a certain stage +in its advance towards solidification, a separation would take place, and +the crust would become a detached ring. It is clear, of course, that +some law presiding over the refrigeration of heated gaseous bodies would +determine the stages at which rings were thus formed and detached. We do +not know any such law, but what we have seen assures us it is one +observing and reducible to mathematical formulæ. + +If these rings consisted of matter nearly uniform throughout, they would +probably continue each in its original form; but there are many chances +against their being uniform in constitution. The unavoidable effects of +irregularity in their constitution would be to cause them to gather +towards centres of superior solidity, by which the annular form would, of +course, be destroyed. The ring would, in short, break into several +masses, the largest of which would be likely to attract the lesser into +itself. The whole mass would then necessarily settle into a spherical +form by virtue of the law of gravitation; in short, would then become a +planet revolving round the sun. Its rotatory motion would, of course, +continue, and satellites might then be thrown off in turn from its body +in exactly the same way as the primary planets had been thrown off from +the sun. The rule, if I can be allowed so to call it, receives a +striking support from what appear to be its exceptions. While there are +many chances against the matter of the rings being sufficiently equable +to remain in the annular form till they were consolidated, it might +nevertheless be otherwise in some instances; that is to say, the +equableness might, in those instances, be sufficiently great. Such was +probably the case with the two rings around the body of Saturn, which +remain a living picture of the arrangement, if not the condition, in +which all the planetary masses at one time stood. It may also be +admitted that, when a ring broke up, it was possible that the fragments +might spherify separately. Such seems to be the actual history of the +ring between Jupiter and Mars, in whose place we now find four planets +much beneath the smallest of the rest in size, and moving nearly at the +same distance from the sun, though in orbits so elliptical, and of such +different planes, that they keep apart. + +It has been seen that there are mathematical proportions in the relative +distances and revolutions of the planets of our system. It has also been +suggested that the periods in the condensation of the nebulous mass, at +which rings were disengaged, must have depended on some particular crises +in the condition of that mass, in connexion with the laws of centrifugal +force and attraction. M. Compte, of Paris, has made some approach to the +verification of the hypothesis, by calculating what ought to have been +the rotation of the solar mass at the successive times when its surface +extended to the various planetary orbits. He ascertained that _that +rotation corresponded in every case with the actual sidereal revolution +of the planets_, _and that the rotation of the primary planets in like +manner corresponded with the orbitual periods of the secondaries_. The +process by which he arrived at this conclusion is not to be readily +comprehended by the unlearned; but those who are otherwise, allow that it +is a powerful support to the present hypothesis of the formation of the +globes of space. {17} + +The nebular hypothesis, as it has been called, obtains a remarkable +support in what would at first seem to militate against it—the existence +in our firmament of several thousands of solar systems, in which there +are more than one sun. These are called double and triple stars. Some +double stars, upon which careful observations have been made, are found +to have a regular revolutionary motion round each other in ellipses. +This kind of solar system has also been observed in what appears to be +its rudimental state, for there are examples of nebulous stars containing +two and three nuclei in near association. At a certain point in the +confluence of the matter of these nebulous stars, they would all become +involved in a common revolutionary motion, linked inextricably with each +other, though it might be at sufficient distances to allow of each +distinct centre having afterwards its attendant planets. We have seen +that the law which causes rotation in the single solar masses, is exactly +the same which produces the familiar phenomenon of a small whirlpool or +dimple in the surface of a stream. Such dimples are not always single. +Upon the face of a river where there are various contending currents, it +may often be observed that two or more dimples are formed near each other +with more or less regularity. These fantastic eddies, which the musing +poet will sometimes watch abstractedly for an hour, little thinking of +the law which produces and connects them, are an illustration of the +wonders of binary and ternary solar systems. + +The nebular hypothesis is, indeed, supported by so many ascertained +features of the celestial scenery, and by so many calculations of exact +science, that it is impossible for a candid mind to refrain from giving +it a cordial reception, if not to repose full reliance upon it, even +without seeking for it support of any other kind. Some other support I +trust yet to bring to it; but in the meantime, assuming its truth, let us +see what idea it gives of the constitution of what we term the universe, +of the development of its various parts, and of its original condition. + +Reverting to a former illustration—if we could suppose a number of +persons of various ages presented to the inspection of an intelligent +being newly introduced into the world, we cannot doubt that he would soon +become convinced that men had once been boys, that boys had once been +infants, and, finally, that all had been brought into the world in +exactly the same circumstances. Precisely thus, seeing in our astral +system many thousands of worlds in all stages of formation, from the most +rudimental to that immediately preceding the present condition of those +we deem perfect, it is unavoidable to conclude that all the perfect have +gone through the various stages which we see in the rudimental. This +leads us at once to the conclusion that the whole of our firmament was at +one time a diffused mass of nebulous matter, extending through the space +which it still occupies. So also, of course, must have been the other +astral systems. Indeed, we must presume the whole to have been +originally in one connected mass, the astral systems being only the first +division into parts, and solar systems the second. + +The first idea which all this impresses upon us is, that the formation of +bodies in space is _still and at present in progress_. We live at a time +when many have been formed, and many are still forming. Our own solar +system is to be regarded as completed, supposing its perfection to +consist in the formation of a series of planets, for there are +mathematical reasons for concluding that Mercury is the nearest planet to +the sun, which can, according to the laws of the system, exist. But +there are other solar systems within our astral system, which are as yet +in a less advanced state, and even some quantities of nebulous matter +which have scarcely begun to advance towards the stellar form. On the +other hand, there are vast numbers of stars which have all the appearance +of being fully formed systems, if we are to judge from the complete and +definite appearance which they present to our vision through the +telescope. We have no means of judging of the seniority of systems; but +it is reasonable to suppose that, among the many, some are older than +ours. There is, indeed, one piece of evidence for the probability of the +comparative youth of our system, altogether apart from human traditions +and the geognostic appearances of the surface of our planet. This +consists in a thin nebulous matter, which is diffused around the sun to +nearly the orbit of Mercury, of a very oblately spheroidal shape. This +matter, which sometimes appears to our naked eyes, at sunset, in the form +of a cone projecting upwards in the line of the sun’s path, and which +bears the name of the Zodiacal Light, has been thought a residuum or last +remnant of the concentrating matter of our system, and thus may be +supposed to indicate the comparative recentness of the principal events +of our cosmogony. Supposing the surmise and inference to be correct, and +they may be held as so far supported by more familiar evidence, we might +with the more confidence speak of our system as not amongst the elder +born of Heaven, but one whose various phenomena, physical and moral, as +yet lay undeveloped, while myriads of others were fully fashioned and in +complete arrangement. Thus, in the sublime chronology to which we are +directing our inquiries, we first find ourselves called upon to consider +the globe which we inhabit as a child of the sun, elder than Venus and +her younger brother Mercury, but posterior in date of birth to Mars, +Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus; next to regard our whole system as probably +of recent formation in comparison with many of the stars of our +firmament. We must, however, be on our guard against supposing the earth +as a recent globe in our ordinary conceptions of time. From evidence +afterwards to be adduced, it will be seen that it cannot be presumed to +be less than many hundreds of centuries old. How much older Uranus may +be no one can tell, much less how more aged may be many of the stars of +our firmament, or the stars of other firmaments than ours. + +Another and more important consideration arises from the hypothesis; +namely, as to the means by which the grand process is conducted. The +nebulous matter collects around nuclei by virtue of the law of +attraction. The agglomeration brings into operation another physical +law, by force of which the separate masses of matter are either made to +rotate singly, or, in addition to that single motion, are set into a +coupled revolution in ellipses. Next centrifugal force comes into play, +flinging off portions of the rotating masses, which become spheres by +virtue of the same law of attraction, and are held in orbits of +revolution round the central body by means of a composition between the +centrifugal and gravitating forces. All, we see, is done by certain laws +of matter, so that it becomes a question of extreme interest, what are +such laws? All that can yet be said, in answer, is, that we see certain +natural events proceeding in an invariable order under certain +conditions, and thence infer the existence of some fundamental +arrangement which, for the bringing about of these events, has a force +and certainty of action similar to, but more precise and unerring than +those arrangements which human society makes for its own benefit, and +calls laws. It is remarkable of physical laws, that we see them +operating on every kind of scale as to magnitude, with the same +regularity and perseverance. The tear that falls from childhood’s cheek +is globular, through the efficacy of that same law of mutual attraction +of particles which made the sun and planets round. The rapidity of +Mercury is quicker than that of Saturn, for the same reason that, when we +wheel a ball round by a string and make the string wind up round our +fingers, the ball always flies quicker and quicker as the string is +shortened. Two eddies in a stream, as has been stated, fall into a +mutual revolution at the distance of a couple of inches, through the same +cause which makes a pair of suns link in mutual revolution at the +distance of millions of miles. There is, we might say, a sublime +simplicity in this indifference of the grand regulations to the vastness +or minuteness of the field of their operation. Their being uniform, too, +throughout space, as far as we can scan it, and their being so unfailing +in their tendency to operate, so that only the proper conditions are +presented, afford to our minds matter for the gravest consideration. Nor +should it escape our careful notice that the regulations on which all the +laws of matter operate, are established on a rigidly accurate +mathematical basis. Proportions of numbers and geometrical figures rest +at the bottom of the whole. All these considerations, when the mind is +thoroughly prepared for them, tend to raise our ideas with respect to the +character of physical laws, even though we do not go a single step +further in the investigation. But it is impossible for an intelligent +mind to stop there. We advance from law to the cause of law, and ask, +What is that? Whence have come all these beautiful regulations? Here +science leaves us, but only to conclude, from other grounds, that there +is a First Cause to which all others are secondary and ministrative, a +primitive almighty will, of which these laws are merely the mandates. +That great Being, who shall say where is his dwelling-place, or what his +history! Man pauses breathless at the contemplation of a subject so much +above his finite faculties, and only can wonder and adore! + + + + +CONSTITUENT MATERIALS OF THE EARTH +AND OF THE OTHER BODIES OF SPACE. + + +THE nebular hypothesis almost necessarily supposes matter to have +originally formed one mass. We have seen that the same physical laws +preside over the whole. Are we also to presume that the constitution of +the whole was uniform?—that is to say, that the whole consisted of +similar elements. It seems difficult to avoid coming to this conclusion, +at least under the qualification that, possibly, various bodies, under +peculiar circumstances attending their formation, may contain elements +which are wanting, and lack some which are present in others, or that +some may entirely consist of elements in which others are entirely +deficient. + +What are elements? This is a term applied by the chemist to a certain +limited number of substances, (fifty-four or fifty-five are ascertained,) +which, in their combinations, form all the matters of every kind present +in and about our globe. They are called elements, or simple substances, +because it has hitherto been found impossible to reduce them into others, +wherefore they are presumed to be the primary bases of all matters. It +has, indeed, been surmised that these so-called elements are only +modifications of a primordial form of matter, brought about under certain +conditions; but if this should prove to be the case, it would little +affect the view which we are taking of cosmical arrangements. Analogy +would lead us to conclude that the combinations of the primordial matter, +forming our so-called elements, are as universal or as liable to take +place everywhere as are the laws of gravitation and centrifugal force. +We must therefore presume that the gases, the metals, the earths, and +other simple substances, (besides whatever more of which we have no +acquaintance,) exist or are liable to come into existence under proper +conditions, as well in the astral system, which is thirty-five thousand +times more distant than Sirius, as within the bounds of our own solar +system or our own globe. + +Matter, whether it consist of about fifty-five ingredients, or only one, +is liable to infinite varieties of condition under different +circumstances, or, to speak more philosophically, under different laws. +As a familiar illustration, water, when subjected to a temperature under +32° Fahrenheit, becomes ice; raise the temperature to 212°, and it +becomes steam, occupying a vast deal more space than it formerly did. +The gases, when subjected to pressure, become liquids; for example, +carbonic acid gas, when subjected to a weight equal to a column of water +1230 feet high, at a temperature of 32°, takes this form: the other gases +require various amounts of pressure for this transformation, but all +appear to be liable to it when the pressure proper in each case is +administered. Heat is a power greatly concerned in regulating the volume +and other conditions of matter. A chemist can reckon with considerable +precision what additional amount of heat would be required to vaporise +all the water of our globe; how much more to disengage the oxygen which +is diffused in nearly a proportion of one-half throughout its solids; +and, finally, how much more would be required to cause the whole to +become vaporiform, which we may consider as equivalent to its being +restored to its original nebulous state. He can calculate with equal +certainty what would be the effect of a considerable diminution of the +earth’s temperature—what changes would take place in each of its +component substances, and how much the whole would shrink in bulk. + +The earth and all its various substances have at present a certain volume +in consequence of the temperature which actually exists. When, then, we +find that its matter and that of the associate planets was at one time +diffused throughout the whole space, now circumscribed by the orbit of +Uranus, we cannot doubt, after what we know of the power of heat, that +the nebulous form of matter was attended by the condition of a very high +temperature. The nebulous matter of space, previously to the formation +of stellar and planetary bodies, must have been a universal Fire Mist, an +idea which we can scarcely comprehend, though the reasons for arriving at +it seem irresistible. The formation of systems out of this matter +implies a change of some kind with regard to the condition of the heat. +Had this power continued to act with its full original repulsive energy, +the process of agglomeration by attraction could not have gone on. We do +not know enough of the laws of heat to enable us to surmise how the +necessary change in this respect was brought about, but we can trace some +of the steps and consequences of the process. Uranus would be formed at +the time when the heat of our system’s matter was at the greatest, Saturn +at the next, and so on. Now this tallies perfectly with the exceeding +diffuseness of the matter of those elder planets, Saturn being not more +dense or heavy than the substance cork. It may be that a sufficiency of +heat still remains in those planets to make up for their distance from +the sun, and the consequent smallness of the heat which they derive from +his rays. And it may equally be, since Mercury is twice the density of +the earth, that its matter exists under a degree of cold for which that +planet’s large enjoyment of the sun’s rays is no more than a +compensation. Thus there may be upon the whole a nearly equal experience +of heat amongst all these children of the sun. Where, meanwhile, is the +heat once diffused through the system over and above what remains in the +planets? May we not rationally presume it to have gone to constitute +that luminous envelope of the sun, in which his warmth-giving power is +now held to reside? It could not be destroyed—it cannot be supposed to +have gone off into space—it must have simply been reserved to constitute, +at the last, a means of sustaining the many operations of which the +planets were destined to be the theatre. + +The tendency of the whole of the preceding considerations is to bring the +conviction that our globe is a specimen of all the similarly-placed +bodies of space, as respects its constituent matter and the physical and +chemical laws governing it, with only this qualification, that there are +_possibly_ shades of variation with respect to the component materials, +and _undoubtedly_ with respect to the conditions under which the laws +operate, and consequently the effects which they produce. Thus, there +may be substances here which are not in some other bodies, and substances +here solid may be elsewhere liquid or vaporiform. We are the more +entitled to draw such conclusions, seeing that there is nothing at all +singular or special in the astronomical situation of the earth. It takes +its place third in a series of planets, which series is only one of +numberless other systems forming one group. It is strikingly—if I may +use such an expression—a member of a democracy. Hence, we cannot suppose +that there is any peculiarity about it which does not probably attach to +multitudes of other bodies—in fact, to all that are analogous to it in +respect of cosmical arrangements. + +It therefore becomes a point of great interest—what are the materials of +this specimen? What is the constitutional character of this object, +which may be said to be a sample, presented to our immediate observation, +of those crowds of worlds which seem to us as the particles of the desert +sand-cloud in number, and to whose profusion there are no conceivable +local limits? + +The solids, liquids, and aeriform fluids of our globe are all, as has +been stated, reducible into fifty-five substances hitherto called +elementary. Six are gases; oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen being the +chief. Forty-two are metals, of which eleven are remarkable as +composing, in combination with oxygen, certain earths, as magnesia, lime, +alumin. The remaining six, including carbon, silicon, sulphur, have not +any general appellation. + +The gas oxygen is considered as by far the most abundant substance in our +globe. It constitutes a fifth part of our atmosphere, a third part of +water, and a large proportion of every kind of rock in the crust of the +earth. Hydrogen, which forms two-thirds of water, and enters into some +mineral substances, is perhaps next. Nitrogen, of which the atmosphere +is four-fifths composed, must be considered as an abundant substance. +The metal silicium, which unites with oxygen in nearly equal parts to +form silica, the basis of nearly a half of the rocks in the earth’s +crust, is, of course, an important ingredient. Aluminium, the metallic +basis of alumin, a large material in many rocks, is another abundant +elementary substance. So, also, is carbon a small ingredient in the +atmosphere, but the chief constituent of animal and vegetable substances, +and of all fossils which ever were in the latter condition, amongst which +coal takes a conspicuous place. The familiarly-known metals, as iron, +tin, lead, silver, gold, are elements of comparatively small magnitude in +that exterior part of the earth’s body which we are able to investigate. + +It is remarkable of the simple substances that they are generally in some +compound form. Thus, oxygen and nitrogen, though in union they form the +aerial envelope of the globe, are never found separate in nature. Carbon +is pure only in the diamond. And the metallic bases of the earths, +though the chemist can disengage them, may well be supposed unlikely to +remain long uncombined, seeing that contact with moisture makes them +burn. Combination and re-combination are principles largely pervading +nature. There are few rocks, for example, that are not composed of at +least two varieties of matter, each of which is again a compound of +elementary substances. What is still more wonderful with respect to this +principle of combination, all the elementary substances observe certain +mathematical proportions in their unions. One volume of them unites with +one, two, three, or more volumes of another, any extra quantity being +sure to be left over, if such there should be. It is hence supposed that +matter is composed of infinitely minute particles or atoms, each of which +belonging to any one substance, can only (through the operation of some +as yet hidden law) associate with a certain number of the atoms of any +other. There are also strange predilections amongst substances for each +other’s company. One will remain combined in solution with another, till +a third is added, when it will abandon the former and attach itself to +the latter. A fourth being added, the third will perhaps leave the +first, and join the new comer. + +Such is an outline of the information which chemistry gives us regarding +the constituent materials of our globe. How infinitely is the knowledge +increased in interest, when we consider the probability of such being the +materials of the whole of the bodies of space, and the laws under which +these everywhere combine, subject only to local and accidental +variations! + +In considering the cosmogenic arrangements of our globe, our attention is +called in a special degree to the moon. + +In the nebular hypothesis, satellites are considered as masses thrown off +from their primaries, exactly as the primaries had previously been from +the sun. The orbit of any satellite is also to be regarded as marking +the bounds of the mass of the primary at the time when that satellite was +thrown off; its speed likewise denotes the rapidity of the rotatory +motion of the primary at that particular juncture. For example, the +outermost of the four satellites of Jupiter revolves round his body at +the distance of 1,180,582 miles, shewing that the planet was once +3,675,501 miles in circumference, instead of being, as now, only 89,170 +miles in diameter. This large mass took rather more than sixteen days +six hours and a half (the present revolutionary period of the outermost +satellite) to rotate on its axis. The innermost satellite must have been +formed when the planet was reduced to a circumference of 309,075 miles, +and rotated in about forty-two hours and a half. + +From similar inferences, we find that the mass of the earth, at a certain +point of time after it was thrown off from the sun, was no less than +482,000 miles in diameter, being sixty times what it has since shrunk to. +At that time, the mass must have taken rather more than twenty-nine and a +half days to rotate, (being the revolutionary period of the moon,) +instead of as now, rather less than twenty-four hours. + +The time intervening between the formation of the moon and the earth’s +diminution to its present size, was probably one of those vast sums in +which astronomy deals so largely, but which the mind altogether fails to +grasp. + +The observations made upon the surface of the moon by telescopes, tend +strongly to support the hypothesis as to all the bodies of space being +composed of similar matters, subject to certain variations. It does not +appear that our satellite is provided with that gaseous envelope which, +on earth, performs so many important functions. Neither is there any +appearance of water upon the surface; yet that surface is, like that of +our globe, marked by inequalities and the appearance of volcanic +operations. These inequalities and volcanic operations are upon a scale +far greater than any which now exist upon the earth’s surface. Although, +from the greater force of gravitation upon its exterior, the mountains, +other circumstances being equal, might have been expected to be much +smaller than ours, they are, in many instances, equal in height to nearly +the highest of our Andes. They are generally of extreme steepness, and +sharp of outline, a peculiarity which might be looked for in a planet +deficient in water and atmosphere, seeing that these are the agents which +wear down ruggedness on the surface of our earth. The volcanic +operations are on a stupendous scale. They are the cause of the bright +spots of the moon, while the want of them is what distinguishes the +duller portions, usually but erroneously called _seas_. In some parts, +bright volcanic matter, besides covering one large patch, radiates out in +long streams, which appear studded with subordinate _foci_ of the same +kind of energy. Other objects of a most remarkable character are ring +mountains, mounts like those of the craters of earthly volcanoes, +surrounded immediately by vast and profound circular pits, hollowed under +the general surface, these again being surrounded by a circular wall of +mountain, rising far above the central one, and in the inside of which +are terraces about the same height as the inner eminence. The well-known +bright spot in the south-east quarter, called by astronomers _Tycho_, and +which can be readily distinguished by the naked eye, is one of these +ring-mountains. There is one of 200 miles in diameter, with a pit 22,000 +feet deep; that is, twice the height of Ætna. It is remarkable, that the +maps given by Humboldt of a volcanic district in South America, and one +illustrative of the formerly volcanic district of Auvergne, in France, +present features strikingly like many parts of the moon’s surface, as +seen through a good glass. + +These characteristics of the moon forbid the idea that it can be at +present a theatre of life like the earth, and almost seem to declare that +it never can become so. But we must not rashly draw any such +conclusions. The moon may be only in an earlier stage of the progress +through which the earth has already gone. The elements which seem +wanting may be only in combinations different in those which exist here, +and may yet be developed as we here find them. Seas may yet fill the +profound hollows of the surface; an atmosphere may spread over the whole. +Should these events take place, meteorological phenomena, and all the +phenomena of organic life, will commence, and the moon, like the earth, +will become a green and inhabited world. + +It is unavoidably held as a strong proof in favour of any hypothesis, +when all the relative phenomena are in harmony with it. This is +eminently the case with the nebulous hypothesis, for here the associated +facts cannot be explained on any other supposition. We have seen reason +to conclude that the primary condition of matter was that of a diffused +mass, in which the component molecules were probably kept apart through +the efficacy of heat; that portions of this agglomerated into suns, which +threw off planets; that these planets were at first very much diffused, +but gradually contracted by cooling to their present dimensions. Now, as +to our own globe, there is a remarkable proof of its having been in a +fluid state at the time when it was finally solidifying, in the fact of +its being bulged at the equator, the very form which a soft revolving +body takes, and must inevitably take, under the influence of centrifugal +force. This bulging makes the equatorial exceed the polar diameter as +230 to 229, which has been demonstrated to be precisely the departure +from a correct sphere which might be predicated from a knowledge of the +amount of the mass and the rate of rotation. There is an almost equally +distinct memorial of the original high temperature of the materials, in +the store of heat which still exists in the interior. The immediate +surface of the earth, be it observed, exhibits only the temperature which +might be expected to be imparted to such materials, by the heat of the +sun. There is a point, very short way down, but varying in different +climes, where all effect from the sun’s rays ceases. Then, however, +commences a temperature from an entirely different cause, one which +evidently has its source in the interior of the earth, and which +regularly increases as we descend to greater and greater depths, the rate +of increment being about one degree Fahrenheit for every sixty feet; and +of this high temperature there are other evidences, in the phenomena of +volcanoes and thermal springs, as well as in what is ascertained with +regard to the density of the entire mass of the earth. This, it will be +remembered, is four and a half times the weight of water; but the actual +weight of the principal solid substances composing the outer crust is as +two and a half times the weight of water; and this, we know, if the globe +were solid and cold, should increase vastly towards the centre, water +acquiring the density of quicksilver at 362 miles below the surface, and +other things in proportion, and these densities becoming much greater at +greater depths; so that the entire mass of a cool globe should be of a +gravity infinitely exceeding four and a half times the weight of water. +The only alternative supposition is, that the central materials are +greatly expanded or diffused by some means; and by what means could they +be so expanded but by heat? Indeed, the existence of this central heat, +a residuum of that which kept all matter in a vaporiform chaos at first, +is amongst the most solid discoveries of modern science, {42} and the +support which it gives to Herschel’s explanation of the formation of +worlds is most important. We shall hereafter see what appear to be +traces of an operation of this heat upon the surface of the earth in very +remote times; an effect, however, which has long passed entirely away. +The central heat has, for ages, reached a fixed point, at which it will +probably remain for ever, as the non-conducting quality of the cool crust +absolutely prevents it from suffering any diminution. + + + + +THE EARTH FORMED—ERA OF THE +PRIMARY ROCKS. + + +ALTHOUGH the earth has not been actually penetrated to a greater depth +than three thousand feet, the nature of its substance can, in many +instances, be inferred for the depth of many miles by other means of +observation. We see a mountain composed of a particular substance, with +strata, or beds of other rock, lying against its sloped sides; we, of +course, infer that the substance of the mountain dips away under the +strata which we see lying against it. Suppose that we walk away from the +mountain across the turned up edges of the stratified rocks, and that for +many miles we continue to pass over other stratified rocks, all disposed +in the same way, till by and bye we come to a place where we begin to +cross the opposite edges of the same beds; after which we pass over these +rocks all in reverse order till we come to another extensive mountain +composed of similar material to the first, and shelving away under the +strata in the same way. We should then infer that the stratified rocks +occupied a basin formed by the rock of these two mountains, and by +calculating the thickness right through these strata, could be able to +say to what depth the rock of the mountain extended below. By such +means, the kind of rock existing many miles below the surface can often +be inferred with considerable confidence. + +The interior of the globe has now been inspected in this way in many +places, and a tolerably distinct notion of its general arrangements has +consequently been arrived at. It appears that the basis rock of the +earth, as it may be called, is of hard texture, and crystalline in its +constitution. Of this rock, granite may be said to be the type, though +it runs into many varieties. Over this, except in the comparatively few +places where it projects above the general level in mountains, other +rocks are disposed in sheets or strata, with the appearance of having +been deposited originally from water; but these last rocks have nowhere +been allowed to rest in their original arrangement. Uneasy movements +from below have broken them up in great inclined masses, while in many +cases there has been projected through the rents rocky matter more or +less resembling the great inferior crystalline mass. This rocky matter +must have been in a state of fusion from heat at the time of its +projection, for it is often found to have run into and filled up lateral +chinks in these rents. There are even instances where it has been rent +again, and a newer melted matter of the same character sent through the +opening. Finally, in the crust as thus arranged there are, in many +places, chinks containing veins of metal. Thus, there is first a great +inferior mass, composed of crystalline rock, and probably resting +immediately on the fused and expanded matter of the interior: next, +layers or strata of aqueous origin; next, irregular masses of melted +inferior rock that have been sent up volcanically and confusedly at +various times amongst the aqueous rocks, breaking up these into masses, +and tossing them out of their original levels. This is an outline of the +arrangements of the crust of the earth, as far as we can observe it. It +is, at first sight, a most confused scene; but after some careful +observation, we readily detect in it a regularity and order from which +much instruction in the history of our globe is to be derived. + +The deposition of the aqueous rocks, and the projection of the volcanic, +have unquestionably taken place since the settlement of the earth in its +present form. They are indeed of an order of events which we see going +on, under the agency of more or less intelligible causes, even down to +the present day. We may therefore consider them generally as +comparatively recent transactions. Abstracting them from the +investigations before us, we arrive at the idea of the earth in its first +condition as a globe of its present size—namely, as a mass, externally at +least, consisting of the crystalline kind of rock, with the waters of the +present seas and the present atmosphere around it, though these were +probably in considerably different conditions, both as to temperature and +their constituent materials, from what they now are. We are thus to +presume that that crystalline texture of rock which we see exemplified in +granite is the condition into which the great bulk of the solids of our +earth were agglomerated directly from the nebulous or vaporiform state. +It is a condition eminently of combination, for such rock is invariably +composed of two or more of four substances—silica, mica, quartz, and +hornblende—which associate in it in the form of grains or crystals, and +which are themselves each composed of a group of the simple or elementary +substances. + +Judging from the results and from still remaining conditions, we must +suppose that the heat retained in the interior of the globe was more +intense, or had greater freedom to act, in some places than in others. +These became the scenes of volcanic operations, and in time marked their +situations by the extrusion of traps and basalts from below—namely, rocks +composed of the crystalline matter fused by intense heat, and developed +on the surface in various conditions, according to the particular +circumstances under which it was sent up; some, for example, being thrown +up under water, and some in the open air, which conditions are found to +have made considerable difference in its texture and appearance. The +great stores of subterranean heat also served an important purpose in the +formation of the aqueous rocks. These rocks might, according to Sir John +Herschel, become subject to heat in the following manner:—While the +surface of a particular mass of rock forms the bed of the sea, the heat +is kept at a certain distance from that surface by the contact of the +water; philosophically speaking, it radiates away the heat into the sea, +and (to resort to common language) is cooled a good way down. But when +new sediment settles at the bottom of that sea, the heat rises up to what +was formerly the surface; and when a second quantity of sediment is laid +down, it continues to rise through the first of the deposits, which then +becomes subjected to those changes which heat is calculated to produce. +This process is precisely the same as that of putting additional coats +upon our own bodies; when, of course, the internal heat rises through +each coat in succession, and the third (supposing there is a fourth above +it) becomes as warm as perhaps the first originally was. + +In speaking of sedimentary rocks, we may be said to be anticipating. It +is necessary, first, to shew how such rocks were formed, or how +stratification commenced. + +Geology tells us as plainly as possible, that the original crystalline +mass was not a perfectly smooth ball, with air and water playing round +it. There were vast irregularities in the surface,—irregularities +trifling, perhaps, compared with the whole bulk of the globe, but +assuredly vast in comparison with any which now exist upon it. These +irregularities might be occasioned by inequalities in the cooling of the +substance, or by accidental and local sluggishness of the materials, or +by local effects of the concentrated internal heat. From whatever cause +they arose, there they were—enormous granitic mountains, interspersed +with seas which sunk to a depth equally profound, and by which, perhaps, +the mountains were wholly or partially covered. Now, it is a fact of +which the very first principles of geology assure us, that the solids of +the globe cannot for a moment be exposed to water, or to the atmosphere, +without becoming liable to change. They instantly begin to wear down. +This operation, we may be assured, proceeded with as much certainty in +the earliest ages of our earth’s history, as it does now, but upon a much +more magnificent scale. There is the clearest evidence that the seas of +those days were not in some instances less than a hundred miles in depth, +however much more. The sub-aqueous mountains must necessarily have been +of at least equal magnitude. The system of disintegration consequent +upon such conditions would be enormous. The matters worn off, being +carried into the neighbouring depths, and there deposited, became the +components of the earliest stratified rocks, the first series of which is +the _Gneiss and Mica Slate System_, or series, examples of which are +exposed to view in the Highlands of Scotland and in the West of England. +The vast thickness of these beds, in some instances, is what attests the +profoundness of the primeval oceans in which they were formed; the +Pensylvanian grawacke, a member of the next highest series, is not less +than a hundred miles in direct thickness. We have also evidence that the +earliest strata were formed in the presence of a stronger degree of heat +than what operated in subsequent stages of the world, for the laminæ of +the gneiss and of the mica and chlorite schists are contorted in a way +which could only be the result of a very high temperature. It appears as +if the seas in which these deposits were formed, had been in the troubled +state of a caldron of water nearly at boiling heat. Such a condition +would probably add not a little to the disintegrating power of the ocean. + +The earliest stratified rocks contain no matters which are not to be +found in the primitive granite. They are the same in material, but only +changed into new forms and combinations; hence they have been called by +Mr. Lyell, metamorphic rocks. But how comes it that some of them are +composed almost exclusively of one of the materials of granite; the mica +schists, for example, of mica—the quartz rocks, of quartz, &c.? For this +there are both chemical and mechanical causes. Suppose that a river has +a certain quantity of material to carry down, it is evident that it will +soonest drop the larger particles, and carry the lightest farthest on. +To such a cause is it owing that some of the materials of the worn-down +granite have settled in one place and some in another. {52} Again, some +of these materials must be presumed to have been in a state of chemical +solution in the primeval seas. It would be, of course, in conformity +with chemical laws, that certain of these materials would be precipitated +singly, or in modified combinations, to the bottom, so as to form rocks +by themselves. + +The rocks hitherto spoken of contain none of those petrified remains of +vegetables and animals which abound so much in subsequently formed rocks, +and tell so wondrous a tale of the past history of our globe. They +simply contain, as has been said, mineral materials derived from the +primitive mass, and which appear to have been formed into strata in seas +of vast depth. The absence from these rocks of all traces of vegetable +and animal life, joined to a consideration of the excessive temperature +which seems to have prevailed in their epoch, has led to the inference +that no plants or animals of any kind then existed. A few geologists +have indeed endeavoured to shew that the absence of organic remains is no +proof of the globe having been then unfruitful or uninhabited, as the +heat to which these rocks have been subjected at the time of their +solidification, might have obliterated any remains of either plants or +animals which were included in them. But this is only an hypothesis of +negation; and it certainly seems very unlikely that a degree of heat +sufficient to obliterate the remains of plants or animals when dead, +would ever allow of their coming into or continuing in existence. + + + + +COMMENCEMENT OF ORGANIC LIFE— +SEA PLANTS, CORALS, ETC. + + +WE can scarcely be said to have passed out of these rocks, when we begin +to find new conditions in the earth. It is here to be observed that the +subsequent rocks are formed, in a great measure, of matters derived from +the substance of those which went before, but contain also beds of +limestone, which is to no small extent composed of an ingredient which +has not hitherto appeared. Limestone is a carbonate of lime, a secondary +compound, of which one of the ingredients, carbonic acid gas, presents +the element _carbon_, a perfect novelty in our progress. Whence this +substance? The question is the more interesting, from our knowing that +carbon is the main ingredient in organic things. There is reason to +believe that its primeval condition was that of a gas, confined in the +interior of the earth, and diffused in the atmosphere. The atmosphere +still contains about a two-thousandth part of carbonic acid gas, forming +the grand store from which the substance of each year’s crop of herbage +and grain is derived, passing from herbage and grain into animal +substance, and from animals again rendered back to the atmosphere in +their expired breath, so that its amount is never impaired. Knowing +this, when we hear of carbon beginning to appear in the ascending series +of rocks, we are unavoidably led to consider it as marking a time of some +importance in the earth’s history, a new era of natural conditions, one +in which organic life has probably played a part. + +It is not easy to suppose that, at this period, carbon was adopted +directly in its gaseous form into rocks; for, if so, why should it not +have been taken into earlier ones also? But we know that plants take it +in, and transform it into substance; and we also know that there are +classes of animals (marine polypes) which are capable of appropriating +it, in connexion with lime, (carbonate of lime,) from the waters of the +ocean, provided it be there in solution; and this substance do these +animals deposit in masses (coral reefs) equal in extent to many strata. +It has even been suggested, on strong grounds of probability, that a +class of limestone beds are simply these reefs subjected to subsequent +heat and pressure. + +The appearance, then, of limestone beds in the early part of the +stratified series, may be presumed to be connected with the fact of the +commencement of organic life upon our planet, and, indeed, a consequent +and a symptom of it. + +It may not be out of place here to remark, that carbon is presumed to +exist largely in the interior of the earth, from the fact of such +considerable quantities of it issuing at this day, in the form of +carbonic acid gas, from fissures and springs. The primeval and +subsequent history of this element is worthy of much attention, and we +shall have to revert to it as a matter greatly concerning our subject. +Delabeche estimates the quantity of carbonic acid gas locked up in every +cubic yard of limestone, at 16,000 cubic feet. The quantity locked up in +coal, in which it forms from 64 to 75 per cent., must also be enormous. +If all this were disengaged in a gaseous form, the constitution of the +atmosphere would undergo a change, of which the first effect would be the +extinction of life in all land animals. But a large proportion of it +must have at one time been in the atmosphere. The atmosphere would then, +of course, be incapable of supporting life in land animals. It is +important, however, to observe that such an atmosphere would not be +inconsistent with a luxuriant land vegetation; for experiment has proved +that plants will flourish in air containing _one-twelfth_ of this gas, or +166 times more than the present charge of our atmosphere. The results +which we observe are perfectly consistent with, and may be said to +presuppose an atmosphere highly charged with this gas, from about the +close of the primary non-fossiliferous rocks to the termination of the +carboniferous series, for there we see vast deposits (coal) containing +carbon as a large ingredient, while at the same time the leaves of the +_Stone Book_ present no record of the contemporaneous existence of land +animals. + +The hypothesis of the connexion of the first limestone beds with the +commencement of organic life upon our planet is supported by the fact, +that in these beds we find the first remains of the bodies of animated +creatures. My hypothesis may indeed be unsound; but, whether or not, it +is clear, taking organic remains as upon the whole a faithful chronicle, +that the deposition of these limestone beds was coeval with the existence +of the earliest, or all but the earliest, living creatures upon earth. + +And what were those creatures? It might well be with a kind of awe that +the uninstructed inquirer would wait for an answer to this question. But +nature is simpler than man’s wit would make her, and behold, the +interrogation only brings before us the unpretending forms of various +zoophytes and polypes, together with a few single and double-valved +shell-fish (mollusks), all of them creatures of the sea. It is rather +surprising to find these before any vegetable forms, considering that +vegetables appear to us as forming the necessary first link in the chain +of nutrition; but it is probable that there were sea plants, and also +some simpler forms of animal life, before this period, although of too +slight a substance to leave any fossil trace of their existence. + +The exact point in the ascending stratified series at which the first +traces of organic life are to be found is not clearly determined. Dr. +M’Culloch states that he found fossil orthocerata (a kind of shell-fish) +so early as the gneiss tract of Loch Eribol, in Sutherland; but Messrs. +Sedgwick and Murchison, on a subsequent search, could not verify the +discovery. It has also been stated, that the gneiss and mica tract of +Bohemia contains some seams of grawacke, in which are organic remains; +but British geologists have not as yet attached much importance to this +statement. We have to look a little higher in the series for indubitable +traces of organic life. + +Above the gneiss and mica slate system, or group of strata, is the _Clay +Slate and Grawacke Slate System_; that is to say, it is higher in the +_order of supraposition_, though very often it rests immediately on the +primitive granite. The sub-groups of this system are in the following +succession upwards:—1, hornblende slate; 2, chiastolite slate; 3, clay +slate; 4, Snowdon rocks, (grawacke and conglomerates;) 5, Bala limestone; +6, Plynlymmon rocks, (grawacke and grawacke slates, with beds of +conglomerates.) This system is largely developed in the west and north +of England, and it has been well examined, partly because some of the +slate beds are extensively quarried for domestic purposes. If we +overlook the dubious statements respecting Sutherland and Bohemia, we +have in this “system” the first appearances of life upon our planet. The +animal remains are chiefly confined to the slate beds, those named from +Bala, in Wales, being the most prolific. _Zoophyta_, _polyparia_, +_crinoidea_, _conchifera_, and _crustacea_, {60} are the orders of the +animal kingdom thus found in the earliest of earth’s sepulchres. The +_orders_ are distinguished without difficulty, from the general +characters of the creatures whose remains are found; but it is only in +this general character that they bear a general resemblance to any +creatures now existing. When we come to consider specific characters, we +see that a difference exists—that, in short, the species and even genera +are no longer represented upon earth. More than this, it will be found +that the earliest species comparatively soon gave place to others, and +that they are not represented even in the next higher group of rocks. +One important remark has been made, that a comparatively small variety of +species is found in the older rocks, although of some particular ones the +remains are very abundant; as, for instance, of a species of asaphus, +which is found between the laminæ of some of the slate rocks of Wales, +and the corresponding rocks of Normandy and Germany in enormous +quantities. + +Ascending to the next group of rocks, we find the traces of life become +more abundant, the number of species extended, and important additions +made in certain vestiges of fuci, or sea-plants, and of fishes. This +group of rocks has been called by English geologists, the _Silurian +System_, because largely developed at the surface of a district of +western England, formerly occupied by a people whom the Roman historians +call Silures. It is a series of sandstones, limestones, and beds of +shale (hardened mud), which are classed in the following sub-groups, +beginning with the undermost:—1, Llandillo rocks, (darkish calcareous +flagstones;) 2 and 3, two groups called Caradoc rocks; 4, Wenlock shale; +5, Wenlock limestone; 6, Lower Ludlow rocks, (shales and limestones;) 7, +Aymestry limestone; 8, Upper Ludlow rocks, (shales and limestone, chiefly +micaceous.) From the lowest beds upwards, there are polypiaria, though +most prevalent in the Wenlock limestone; conchifera, a vast number of +genera, but all of the order brachiopoda, (including terebratula, +pentamerus, spirifer, orthis, leptæna;) mollusca, of several orders and +many genera, (including turritella, orthoceras, nautilus, bellerophon;) +crustacea, all of them trilobites, (including trinucleus, asaphus, +calamene.) A little above the Llandillo rocks, there have been +discovered certain convoluted forms, which are now established as +annelids, or sea-worms, a tribe of creatures still existing, (nereidina +and serpulina,) and which may often be found beneath stones on a +sea-beach. One of these, figured by Mr. Murchison, is furnished with +feet in vast numbers all along its body, like a centipede. The +occurrence of annelids is important, on account of their character and +status in the animal kingdom. They are red-blooded and hermaphrodite, +and form a link of connexion between the annulosa (white-blooded worms) +and a humble class of the vertebrata. {62} The Wenlock limestone is most +remarkable amongst all the rocks of the Silurian system, for organic +remains. Many slabs of it are wholly composed of corals, shells, and +trilobites, held together by shale. It contains many genera of crinoidea +and polypiaria, and it is thought that some beds of it are wholly the +production of the latter creatures, or are, in other words, coral reefs +transformed by heat and pressure into rocks. Remains of fishes, of a +very minute size, have been detected by Mr. Philips in the Aymestry +limestone, being apparently the first examples of vertebrated animals +which breathed upon our planet. In the upper Ludlow rocks, remains of +six genera of fish have been for a longer period known; they belong to +the order of cartilaginous fishes, an order of mean organization and +ferocious habits, of which the shark and sturgeon are living specimens. +“Some were furnished with long palates, and squat, firmly-based teeth, +well adapted for crushing the strong-cased zoophytes and shells of the +period, fragments of which occur in the fœcal remains; some with teeth +that, like the fossil sharks of the later formations, resemble lines of +miniature pyramids, larger and smaller alternating; some with teeth +sharp, thin, and so deeply serrated, that every individual tooth +resembles a row of poniards set up against the walls of an armory; and +these last, says Agassiz, furnished with weapons so murderous, must have +been the pirates of the period. Some had their fins guarded with long +spines, hooked like the beak of an eagle; some with spines of straighter +and more slender form, and ribbed and furrowed longitudinally like +columns; some were shielded by an armour of bony points, and some thickly +covered with glistening scales.” {64} + +The traces of fuci in this system are all but sufficient to allow of a +distinction of genera. In some parts of North America, extensive though +thin beds of them have been found. A distinguished French geologist, M. +Brogniart, has shewn that all existing marine plants are classifiable +with regard to the zones of climate; some being fitted for the torrid +zone, some for the temperate, some for the frigid. And he establishes +that the fuci of these early rocks speak of a torrid climate, although +they may be found in what are now temperate regions; he also states that +those of the higher rocks betoken, as we ascend, a gradually diminishing +temperature. + +We thus early begin to find proofs of the general uniformity of organic +life over the surface of the earth, at the time when each particular +system of rocks was formed. Species identical with the remains in the +Wenlock limestone occur in the corresponding class of rocks in the Eifel, +and partially in the Harz, Norway, Russia, and Brittany. The situations +of the remains in Russia are fifteen hundred miles from the Wenlock beds; +but at the distance of between six and seven thousand from those,—namely, +in the vale of Mississippi, the same species are discovered. Uniformity +in animal life over large geographical areas argues uniformity in the +conditions of animal life; and hence arise some curious inferences. +Species, in the same low class of animals, are now much more limited; for +instance, the Red Sea gives different polypiaria, zoophytes, and +shell-fish, from the Mediterranean. It is the opinion of M. Brogniart, +that the uniformity which existed in the primeval times can only be +attributed to the temperature arising from the internal heat, which had +yet, as he supposes, been sufficiently great to overpower the ordinary +meteorological influences, and spread a tropical clime all over the +globe. + + + + +ERA OF THE OLD RED SANDSTONE— +FISHES ABUNDANT. + + +WE advance to a new chapter in this marvellous history—the era of the +_Old Red Sandstone System_. This term has been recently applied to a +series of strata, of enormous thickness in the whole mass, largely +developed in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, and South Wales; +also in the counties of Fife, Forfar, Moray, Cromarty, and Caithness; and +in Russia and North America, if not in many other parts of the world. +The particular strata forming the system are somewhat different in +different countries; but there is a general character to the extent of +these being a mixture of flagstones, marly rocks, and sandstones, usually +of a laminous structure, with conglomerates. There is also a schist +shewing the presence of bitumen; a remarkable new ingredient, since it is +a vegetable production. In the conglomerates, of great extent and +thickness, which form, in at least one district, the basis or leading +feature of the system, inclosing water-worn fragments of quartz and other +rocks, we have evidence of the seas of that period having been subjected +to a violent and long-continued agitation, probably from volcanic causes. +The upper members of the series bear the appearance of having been +deposited in comparatively tranquil seas. The English specimens of this +system shew a remarkable freedom from those disturbances which result in +the interjection of trap; and they are thus defective in mineral ores. +In some parts of England the old red sandstone system has been stated as +10,000 feet in thickness. + +In this era, the forms of life which existed in the Silurian are +continued: we have the same orders of marine creatures, zoophyta, +polypiaria, conchifera, crustacea; but to these are added numerous +fishes, some of which are of most extraordinary and surprising forms. +Several of the strata are crowded with remains of fish, shewing that the +seas in which those beds were deposited had swarmed with that class of +inhabitants. The investigation of this system is recent; but already +{68} M. Agassiz has ascertained about twenty genera, and thrice the +number of species. And it is remarkable that the Silurian fishes are +here only represented in genera; the whole of the _species_ of that era +had already passed away. Even throughout the sub-groups of the system +itself, the species are changed; and these are phenomena observed +throughout all the subsequent systems or geological eras; apparently +arguing that, during the deposition of all the rocks, a gradual change of +physical conditions was constantly going on. A varying temperature, or +even a varying depth of sea, would at present be attended with similar +changes in marine life; and by analogy we are entitled to assume that +such variations in the ancient seas might be amongst the causes of that +constant change of genera and species in the inhabitants of those seas to +which the organic contents of the rocks bear witness. + +Some of the fossils of this system,—the cephalaspis, coccosteus, +pterichthys, holoptychius—are, in form and structure, entirely different +from any fishes now existing, only the sturgeon family having any trace +of affinity to them in any respect. They seem to form a sort of +connecting link between the crustacea and true fishes. + +The _cephalaspis_ may be considered as making the smallest advance from +the crustacean character; it very much resembles in form the asaphus of +lower formations, having a longish tail-like body inserted within the +cusp of a large crescent-shaped head, somewhat like a saddler’s +cutting-knife. The body is covered with strong plates of bone, +enamelled, and the head was protected on the upper side with one large +plate, as with a buckler—hence the name, implying _buckler-head_. A +range of small fins conveys the idea of its having been as weak in motion +as it is strong in structure. The _coccosteus_ may be said to mark the +next advance to fish creation. The outline of its body is of the form of +a short thick coffin, rounded, covered with strong bony plates, and +terminating in a long tail, which seems to have been the sole organ of +motion. It is very remarkable, that, while the tail establishes this +creature among the vertebrata and the fishes, its mouth has been opened +vertically, like those of the crustaceans, but which is contrary to the +mode of vertebrata generally. This seems a pretty strong mark of the +link character of the coccosteus between these two great departments of +the animal kingdom. The _pterichthys_ has also strong bony plates over +its body, arranged much like those of a tortoise, and has a long tail; +but its most remarkable feature, and that which has suggested its name, +is a pair of long and narrow wing-like appendages attached to the +shoulders, which the creature is supposed to have erected for its defence +when attacked by an enemy. + +The _holoptychius_ is of a flat oval form, furnished with fins, and +ending in a long tail; the whole body covered with strong plates which +overlap each other, and the head forming only a slight rounded projection +from the general figure. The specimens in the lower beds are not above +the size of a flounder; but in the higher strata, to judge by the size of +the scales or plates which have been found, the creature attained a +comparatively monstrous size. + +The other fishes of the system,—the osteolepis, glyptolepis, dipterus, +&c., are, in general outline, much like fishes still existing, but their +organization has, nevertheless, some striking peculiarities. They have +been entirely covered with bony scales or plates, enamelled externally; +their spines are tipped with bone, and, as one striking and unvarying +feature, the tail is only finned on the lower side. The internal +skeleton, of which no traces have been preserved, is presumed to have +been cartilaginous. They therefore unite the character of cartilaginous +fishes with a character peculiar to themselves, and in which we see +pretty clear vestiges of the pre-existent crustaceous form. + +With regard to the link character of these animals, some curious facts +are mentioned. It appears that in the imperfect condition of the +vertebral column, and the inferior situation of the mouth in the +pterichthys, coccosteus, &c., there is an analogy to the form of the +dorsal cord and position of the mouth in the embryo of perfect fishes. +The one-sided form of the tail in the osteolepis &c. finds a similar +analogy in the form of the tail in the embryo of the salmon. It is not +premature to remark how broadly these facts seem to hint at a parity of +law affecting the progress of general creation, and the progress of an +individual fœtus of one of the more perfect animals. + +It is equally ascertained of the types of being prevalent in the old red, +as of those of the preceding system, that they are uniform in the +corresponding strata of distant parts of the earth; for instance, Russia +and North America. + +In the old red sandstone, the marine plants, of which faint traces are +observable in the Silurians, continue to appear. It would seem as if +less change took place in the vegetation than in the animals of those +early seas; and for this, as Mr. Miller has remarked, it is easy to +imagine reasons. For example, an infusion of lime into the sea would +destroy animal life, but be favourable to vegetation. + +As yet there were no land animals or plants, and for this the presumable +reason is, that no dry land as yet existed. We are not left to make this +inference solely from the absence of land animals and plants; in the +arrangement of the primary (stratified) rocks, we have further evidence +of it. That these rocks were formed in a generally horizontal position, +we are as well assured as that they were formed at the bottom of seas. +But they are always found greatly inclined in position, tilted up against +the slopes of the granitic masses which are beneath them in geological +order, though often shooting up to a higher point in the atmosphere. No +doubt can be entertained that these granitic masses, forming our +principal mountain ranges, have been protruded from below, or, at least, +thrust much further up, _since_ the deposition of the primary rocks. The +protrusion was what tilted up the primary rocks; and the inference is, of +course, unavoidable, that these mountains have risen chiefly, at least, +since the primary rocks were laid down. It is remarkable that, while the +primary rocks thus incline towards granitic nuclei or axes, the strata +higher in the series rest against these again, generally at a less +inclination, or none at all, shewing that these strata were laid down +after the swelling mountain eminences had, by their protrusion, tilted up +the primary strata. And thus it may be said an era of local upthrowing +of the primitive and (perhaps) central matter of our planet, is +established as happening about the close of the primary strata, and +beginning of the next ensuing system. It may be called the _Era of the +Oldest Mountains_, or, more boldly, of the formation of the detached +portions of dry land over the hitherto watery surface of the globe—an +important part of the designs of Providence, for which the time was now +apparently come. It may be remarked, that volcanic disturbances and +protrusions of trap took place throughout the whole period of the +deposition of the primary rocks; but they were upon a comparatively +limited scale, and probably all took place under water. It was only now +that the central granitic masses of the great mountain ranges were thrown +up, carrying up with them broken edges of the primary strata; a process +which seems to have had this difference from the other, that it was the +effect of a more tremendous force exerted at a lower depth in the earth, +and generally acting in lines pervading a considerable portion of the +earth’s surface. We shall by-and-by see that the protrusion of some of +the mountain ranges was not completed, or did not stop, at that period. +There is no part of geological science more clear than that which refers +to the ages of mountains. It is as certain that the Grampian mountains +of Scotland are older than the Alps and Apennines, as it is that +civilization had visited Italy, and had enabled her to subdue the world, +while Scotland was the residence of “roving barbarians.” The Pyrenees, +Carpathians, and other ranges of continental Europe, are all younger than +the Grampians, or even the insignificant Mendip Hills of southern +England. Stratification tells this tale as plainly as Livy tells the +history of the Roman republic. It tells us—to use the words of Professor +Philips—that at the time when the Grampians sent streams and detritus to +straits where now the valleys of the Forth and Clyde meet, the greater +part of Europe was a wide ocean. + +The last three systems—called, in England, the Cumbrian, Silurian, and +Devonian, and collectively the palæozoic rocks, from their containing the +remains of the earliest inhabitants of the globe—are of vast thickness; +in England, not much less than 30,000 feet, or nearly six miles. In +other parts of the world, as we have seen, the earliest of these systems +alone is of much greater depth—arguing an enormous profundity in the +ocean in which they were formed. + + + + +SECONDARY ROCKS. +ERA OF THE CARBONIFEROUS FORMATION. +LAND FORMED. +COMMENCEMENT OF LAND PLANTS. + + +WE now enter upon a new great epoch in the history of our globe. There +was now dry land. As a consequence of this fact, there was fresh water, +for rain, instead of immediately returning to the sea, as formerly, was +now gathered in channels of the earth, and became springs, rivers, and +lakes. There was now a theatre for the existence of land plants and +animals, and it remains to be inquired if these accordingly were +produced. + +The Secondary Rocks, in which our further researches are to be +prosecuted, consist of a great and varied series, resting, generally +unconformably, against flanks of the upturned primary rocks, sometimes +themselves considerably inclined, at others, forming extensive basin-like +beds, nearly horizontal; in many places, much broken up and shifted by +disturbances from below. They have all been formed out of the materials +of the older rocks, by virtue of the wearing power of air and water, +which is still every day carrying down vast quantities of the elevated +matter of the globe into the sea. But the separate strata are each much +more distinct in the matter of its composition than might be expected. +Some are siliceous or arenaceous (sandstones), composed mainly of fine +grains from the quartz rocks—the most abundant of the primary strata. +Others are argillaceous—clays, shales, &c., chiefly derived, probably, +from the slate beds of the primary series. Others are calcareous, +derived from the early limestone. As a general feature, they are softer +and less crystalline than the primary rocks, as if they had endured less +of both heat and pressure than the senior formation. There are beds +(_coal_) formed solely of vegetable matter, and some others in which the +main ingredient is particles of iron, (_the iron black band_.) The +secondary rocks are quite as communicative with regard to their portion +of the earth’s history as the primitive were. + +The first, or lowest, group of the secondary rocks is called the +_Carboniferous Formation_, from the remarkable feature of its numerous +interspersed beds of coal. It commences with the beds of the _mountain +limestone_, which, in some situations, as in Derbyshire and Ireland, are +of great thickness, being alternated with chert (a siliceous sandstone), +sandstones, shales, and beds of coal, generally of the harder and less +bituminous kind (_anthracite_), the whole being covered in some places by +the millstone grit, a siliceous conglomerate composed of the detritus of +the primary rocks. The mountain limestone, attaining in England to a +depth of eight hundred yards, greatly exceeds in volume any of the +primary limestone beds, and shews an enormous addition of power to the +causes formerly suggested as having produced this substance. In fact, +remains of corals, crinoidea, and shells, are so abundant in it, as to +compose three-fourths of the mass in some parts. Above the mountain +limestone commence the more conspicuous _coal beds_, alternating with +sandstones, shales, beds of limestone, and ironstone. Coal is altogether +composed of the matter of a terrestrial vegetation, transmuted by +pressure. Some fresh-water shells have been found in it, but few of +marine origin, and no remains of those zoophytes and crinoidea so +abundant in the mountain limestone and other rocks. Coal beds exist in +Europe, Asia, and America, and have hitherto been esteemed as the most +valuable of mineral productions, from the important services which the +substance renders in manufactures and in domestic economy. It is to be +remarked, that there are some local variations in the arrangement of coal +beds. In France, they rest immediately on the granite and other primary +rocks, the intermediate strata not having been found at those places. In +America, the kind called anthracite occurs among the slate beds, and this +species also abounds more in the mountain limestone than with us. These +last circumstances only shew that different parts of the earth’s surface +did not all witness the same events of a certain fixed series exactly at +the same time. There had been an exhibition of dry land about the site +of America, a little earlier than in Europe. + +Some features of the condition of the earth during the deposition of the +carboniferous group, are made out with a clearness which must satisfy +most minds. First we are told of a time when carbonate of lime was +formed in vast abundance at the bottoms of profound seas, accompanied by +an unusually large population of corals and encrinites; while in some +parts of the earth there were patches of dry land, covered with a +luxuriant vegetation. Next we have a comparatively brief period of +volcanic disturbance, (when the conglomerate was formed.) Then the +causes favourable to the so abundant production of limestone, and the +large population of marine acrita, decline, and we find the masses of dry +land increase in number and extent, and begin to bear an amount of forest +vegetation, far exceeding that of the most sheltered tropical spots of +the present surface. The climate, even in the latitude of Baffin’s Bay, +was torrid, and perhaps the atmosphere contained a larger charge of +carbonic acid gas (the material of vegetation) than it now does. The +forests or thickets of the period, included no species of plants now +known upon earth. They mainly consisted of gigantic shrubs, which are +either not represented by any existing types, or are akin to kinds which +are now only found in small and lowly forms. That these forests grew +upon a Polynesia, or multitude of small islands, is considered probable, +from similar vegetation being now found in such situations within the +tropics. With regard to the circumstances under which the masses of +vegetable matter were transformed into successive coal strata, geologists +are divided. From examples seen at the present day, at the mouths of +such rivers as the Mississippi, which traverse extensive sylvan regions, +and from other circumstances to be adverted to, it is held likely by some +that the vegetable matter, the rubbish of decayed forests, was carried by +rivers into estuaries, and there accumulated in vast natural rafts, until +it sunk to the bottom, where an overlayer of sand or mud would prepare it +for becoming a stratum of coal. Others conceive that the vegetation +first went into the condition of a peat moss, that a sink in the level +then exposed it to be overrun by the sea, and covered with a layer of +sand or mud; that a subsequent uprise made the mud dry land, and fitted +it to bear a new forest, which afterwards, like its predecessor, became a +bed of peat; that, in short, by repetitions of this process, the +alternate layers of coal, sandstone, and shale, constituting the +carboniferous group, were formed. It is favourable to this last view +that marine fossils are scarcely found in the body of the coal itself, +though abundant in the shale layers above and below it; also that in +several places erect stems of trees are found with their roots still +fixed in the shale beds, and crossing the sandstone beds at almost right +angles, shewing that these, at least, had not been drifted from their +original situations. On the other hand, it is not easy to admit such +repeated risings and sinkings of surface as would be required, on this +hypothesis, to form a series of coal strata. Perhaps we may most safely +rest at present with the supposition that coal has been formed under both +classes of circumstances, though in the latter only as an exception to +the former. + +Upwards of three hundred species of plants have been ascertained to exist +in the coal formation; but it is not necessary to suppose that the whole +contained in that system are now, or ever will be distinguished. +Experiments shew that some great classes of plants become decomposed in +water in a much less space of time than others, and it is remarkable that +those which decompose soonest, are of the classes found most rare, or not +at all, in the coal strata. It is consequently to be inferred that there +may have been grasses and mosses at this era, and many species of trees, +the remains of which had lost all trace of organic form before their +substance sunk into the mass of which coal was formed. In speaking, +therefore, of the vegetation of this period, we must bear in mind that it +may have comprehended forms of which we have no memorial. + +Supposing, nevertheless, that, in the main, the ascertained vegetation of +the coal system is that which grew at the time of its formation, it is +interesting to find that the terrestrial botany of our globe begins with +classes of comparatively simple forms and structure. In the ranks of the +vegetable kingdom, the lowest place is taken by plants of cellular +tissue, and which have no flowers, (_cryptogamia_,) as lichens, mosses, +fungi, ferns, sea-weeds. Above these stand plants of vascular tissue, +and bearing flowers, in which again there are two great subdivisions; +first, plants having one seed-lobe, (_monocotyledons_,) and in which the +new matter is added within, (_endogenous_,) of which the cane and palm +are examples; second, plants having two seed-lobes, (_dicotyledons_,) and +in which the new matter is added on the outside under the bark, +(_exogenous_,) of which the pine, elm, oak, and most of the British +forest-trees are examples; these subdivisions also ranking in the order +in which they are here stated. Now it is clear that a predominance of +these forms in succession marked the successive epochs developed by +fossil geology; the simple abounding first, and the complex afterwards. + +Two-thirds of the plants of the carboniferous era are of the cellular or +cryptogamic kind, a proportion which would probably be much increased if +we knew the whole Flora of that era. The ascertained dicotyledons, or +higher-class plants, are comparatively few in this formation; but it will +be found that they constantly increased as the globe grew older. + +The master-form or type of the era was the _fern_, or breckan, of which +about one hundred and thirty species have already been ascertained as +entering into the composition of coal. {84a} The fern is a plant which +thrives best in warm, shaded, and moist situations. In tropical +countries, where these conditions abound, there are many more species +than in temperate climes, and some of these are arborescent, or of a +tree-like size and luxuriance. {84b} The ferns of the coal strata have +been of this magnitude, and that without regard to the parts of the earth +where they are found. In the coal of Baffin’s Bay, of Newcastle, and of +the torrid zone alike, are the fossil ferns arborescent, shewing clearly +that, in that era, the present tropical temperature, or one even higher, +existed in very high latitudes. + +In the swamps and ditches of England there grows a plant called the +horse-tail (_equisetum_), having a succulent, erect, jointed stem, with +slender leaves, and a scaly catkin at the top. A second large section of +the plants of the carboniferous era were of this kind (_equisetaceæ_), +but, like the fern, reaching the magnitudes of trees. While existing +equiseta rarely exceed three feet in height, and the stems are generally +under half an inch in diameter, their kindred, entombed in the coal beds, +seem to have been generally fourteen or fifteen feet high, with stems +from six inches to a foot in thickness. Arborescent plants of this +family, like the arborescent ferns, now grow only in tropical countries, +and their being found in the coal beds in all latitudes is consequently +held as an additional proof, that at this era a warm climate was extended +much farther to the north than at present. It is to be remarked that +plants of this kind (forming two genera, the most abundant of which is +the _calamites_) are only represented on the present surface by plants of +the same _family_: the _species_ which flourished at this era gradually +lessen in number as we advance upwards in the series of rocks, and +disappear before we arrive at the tertiary formation. + +The club-moss family (_lycopodiaceæ_) are other plants of the present +surface, usually seen in a lowly and creeping form in temperate +latitudes, but presenting species which rise to a greater magnitude +within the tropics. Many specimens of this family are found in the coal +beds; it is thought they have contributed more to the substance of the +coal than any other family. But, like the ferns and equisetaceæ, they +rise to a prodigious magnitude. The lepidodendra (so the fossil genus is +called) have probably been from sixty-five to eighty feet in height, +having at their base a diameter of about three feet, while their leaves +measured twenty inches in length. In the forests of the coal era, the +lepidodendra would enjoy the rank of firs in our forests, affording shade +to the only less stately ferns and calamites. The internal structure of +the stem, and the character of the seed-vessels, shew them to have been a +link between single-lobed and double-lobed plants, a fact worthy of note, +as it favours the idea that, in vegetable, as well as animal creation, a +progress has been observed, in conformity with advancing conditions. It +is also curious to find a missing link of so much importance in a genus +of plants which has long ceased to have a living place upon earth. + +The other leading plants of the coal era are without representatives on +the present surface, and their characters are in general less clearly +ascertained. Amongst the most remarkable are—the _sigillaria_, of which +large stems are very abundant, shewing that the interior has been soft, +and the exterior fluted with separate leaves inserted in vertical rows +along the flutings—and the _stigmaria_, plants apparently calculated to +flourish in marshes or pools, having a short, thick, fleshy stem, with a +dome-shaped top, from which sprung branches of from twenty to thirty feet +long. Amongst monocotyledons were some palms, (_flabellaria_ and +_næggerathia_,) besides a few not distinctly assignable to any class. + +The dicotyledons of the coal are comparatively few, though on the present +surface they are the most numerous sub-class. Besides some of doubtful +affinity, (_annularia_, _asterophyllites_, &c.,) there were a few of the +pine family, which seem to have been the highest class of trees of this +era, and are only as yet found in isolated cases, and in sandstone beds. +The first discovered lay in the Craigleith quarry, near Edinburgh, and +consisted of a stem about two feet thick, and forty-seven feet in length. +Others have since been found, both in the same situation, and at +Newcastle. Leaves and fruit being wanting, an ingenious mode of +detecting the nature of these trees was hit upon by Mr. Witham of +Lartington. Taking thin polished cross slices of the stem, and +subjecting them to the microscope, he detected the structure of the wood +to be that of a cone-bearing tree, by the presence of certain +“reticulations” which distinguish that family, in addition to the usual +radiating and concentric lines. That particular tree was concluded to be +an araucaria, a species now found in Norfolk Island, in the South Sea, +and in a few other remote situations. The coniferæ of this era form the +dawn of dicotyledenous trees, of which they may be said to be the +simplest type, and to which, it has already been noticed, the +lepidodendra are a link from the monocotyledons. The concentric rings of +the Craigleith and other coniferæ of this era have been mentioned. It is +interesting to find in these a record of the changing seasons of those +early ages, when as yet there were no human beings to observe time or +tide. They are clearly traced; but it is observed that they are more +slightly marked than is the case with their family at the present day, as +if the changes of temperature had been within a narrower range. + +Such was the vegetation of the carbonigenous era, composed of forms at +the bottom of the botanical scale, flowerless, fruitless, but luxuriant +and abundant beyond what the most favoured spots on earth can now shew. +The rigidity of the leaves of its plants, and the absence of fleshy +fruits and farinaceous seeds, unfitted it to afford nutriment to animals; +and, monotonous in its forms, and destitute of brilliant colouring, its +sward probably unenlivened by any of the smaller flowering herbs, its +shades uncheered by the hum of insects, or the music of birds, it must +have been but a sombre scene to a human visitant. But neither man nor +any other animals were then in existence to look for such uses or such +beauties in this vegetation. It was serving other and equally important +ends, clearing (probably) the atmosphere of matter noxious to animal +life, and storing up mineral masses which were in long subsequent ages to +prove of the greatest service to the human race, even to the extent of +favouring the progress of its civilization. + +The animal remains of this era are not numerous, in comparison with those +which go before, or those which come after. The mountain limestone, +indeed, deposited at the commencement of it, abounds unusually in +polypiaria and crinoidea; but when we ascend to the coal-beds themselves, +the case is altered, and these marine remains altogether disappear. We +have then only a limited variety of conchifers and shell mollusks, with +fragments of a few species of fishes, and these are rarely or never found +in the coal seams, but in the shales alternating with them. Some of the +fishes are of a sauroid character, that is, partake of the nature of the +lizard, a genus of the reptilia, a land class of animals, so that we may +be said here to have the first approach to a kind of animals calculated +to breathe the atmosphere. Such is the Megalichthys Hibbertii, found by +Dr. Hibbert Ware, in a limestone bed of fresh-water origin, underneath +the coal at Burdiehouse, near Edinburgh. Others of the same kind have +been found in the coal measures in Yorkshire, and in the low coal shales +at Manchester. This is no more than might be expected, as collections of +fresh water now existed, and it is presumable that they would be peopled. +The chief other fishes of the coal era are named palæothrissum, +palæoniscus, diperdus. + +Coal strata are nearly confined to the group termed the carboniferous +formation. Thin beds are not unknown afterwards, but they occur only as +a rare exception. It is therefore thought that the most important of the +conditions which allowed of so abundant a terrestrial vegetation, had +ceased about the time when this formation was closed. The high +temperature was not one of the conditions which terminated, for there are +evidences of it afterwards; but probably the superabundance of carbonic +acid gas supposed to have existed during this era was expended before its +close. There can be little doubt that the infusion of a large dose of +this gas into the atmosphere at the present day would be attended by +precisely the same circumstances as in the time of the carboniferous +formation. Land animal life would not have a place on earth; vegetation +would be enormous; and coal strata would be formed from the vast +accumulations of woody matter, which would gather in every sea, near the +mouths of great rivers. On the exhaustion of the superabundance of +carbonic acid gas, the coal formation would cease, and the earth might +again become a suitable theatre of being for land animals. + +The termination of the carboniferous formation is marked by symptoms of +volcanic violence, which some geologists have considered to denote the +close of one system of things and the beginning of another. Coal beds +generally lie in basins, as if following the curve of the bottom of seas. +But there is no such basin which is not broken up into pieces, some of +which have been tossed up on edge, others allowed to sink, causing the +ends of strata to be in some instances many yards, and in a few several +hundred feet, removed from the corresponding ends of neighbouring +fragments. These are held to be results of volcanic movements below, the +operation of which is further seen in numerous upbursts and intrusions of +volcanic rock (trap). That these disturbances took place about the close +of the formation, and not later, is shewn in the fact of the next higher +group of strata being comparatively undisturbed. Other symptoms of this +time of violence are seen in the beds of conglomerate which occur amongst +the first strata above the coal. These, as usual, consist of fragments +of the elder rocks, more or less worn from being tumbled about in +agitated water, and laid down in a mud paste, afterwards hardened. +Volcanic disturbances break up the rocks; the pieces are worn in seas; +and a deposit of conglomerate is the consequence. Of porphyry, there are +some such pieces in the conglomerate of Devonshire, three or four tons in +weight. It is to be admitted for strict truth that, in some parts of +Europe, the carboniferous formation is followed by superior deposits, +without the appearance of such disturbances between their respective +periods; but apparently this case belongs to the class of exceptions +already noticed. {93} That disturbance was general, is supported by the +further and important fact of the destruction of many forms of organic +being previously flourishing, particularly of the vegetable kingdom. + + + + +ERA OF THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. +TERRESTRIAL ZOOLOGY COMMENCES +WITH REPTILES. +FIRST TRACES OF BIRDS. + + +THE next volume of the rock series refers to an era distinguished by an +event of no less importance than the commencement of land animals. The +_New Red Sandstone System_ is subdivided into groups, some of which are +wanting in some places; they are pretty fully developed in the north of +England, in the following ascending order:—1. Lower red sandstone; 2. +Magnesian limestone; 3. Red and white sandstones and conglomerate; 4. +Variegated marls. Between the third and fourth there is, in Germany, +another group, called the Muschelkalk, a word expressing a limestone full +of shells. + +The first group, containing the conglomerates already adverted to, seems +to have been produced during the time of disturbance which occurred so +generally after the carbonigenous era. This new era is distinguished by +a paucity of organic remains, as might partly be expected from the +appearances of disturbance, and the red tint of the rocks, the latter +being communicated by a solution of oxide of iron, a substance +unfavourable to animal life. + +The second group is a limestone with an infusion of magnesia. It is +developed less generally than some others, but occurs conspicuously in +England and Germany. Its place, above the red sandstone, shews the +recurrence of circumstances favourable to animal life, and we accordingly +find in it not only zoophytes, conchifera, and a few tribes of fish, but +some faint traces of land plants, and a new and startling appearance—a +reptile of saurian (lizard) character, analogous to the now existing +family called monitors. Remains of this creature are found in +cupriferous (copper-bearing) slate connected with the mountain limestone, +at Mansfield and Glucksbrunn, in Germany, which may be taken as evidence +that dry land existed in that age near those places. The magnesia +limestone is also remarkable as the last rock in which appears the +leptæna, or producta, a conchifer of numerous species which makes a +conspicuous appearance in all previous seas. It is likewise to be +observed, that the fishes of this age, to the genera of which the names +palæoniscus, catopterus, platysomus, &c., have been applied, vanish, and +henceforth appear no more. + +The third group, chiefly sandstones, variously coloured according to the +amount and nature of the metallic oxide infused into them, shews a +recurrence of agitation, and a consequent diminution of the amount of +animal life. In the upper part, however, of this group, there are +abundant symptoms of a revival of proper conditions for such life. There +are marl beds, the origin of which substance in decomposed shells is +obvious; and in Germany, though not in England, here occurs the +muschelkalk, containing numerous organic remains, (generally different +from those of the magnesian limestone,) and noted for the specimens of +land animals, which it is the first to present in any considerable +abundance to our notice. + +These animals are of the vertebrate sub-kingdom, but of its lowest class +next after fishes,—namely, reptiles,—a portion of the terrestrial tribes +whose imperfect respiratory system perhaps fitted them for enduring an +atmosphere not yet quite suitable for birds or mammifers. {97} The +specimens found in the muschelkalk are allied to the crocodile and lizard +tribes of the present day, but in the latter instance are upon a scale of +magnitude as much superior to present forms as the lepidodendron of the +coal era was superior to the dwarf club-mosses of our time. These +saurians also combine some peculiarities of structure of a most +extraordinary character. + +The animal to which the name _ichthyosaurus_ has been given, was as long +as a young whale, and it was fitted for living in the water, though +breathing the atmosphere. It had the vertebral column and general bodily +form of a fish, but to that were added the head and breast-bone of a +lizard, and the paddles of the whale tribes. The beak, moreover, was +that of a porpoise, and the teeth were those of a crocodile. It must +have been a most destructive creature to the fish of those early seas. + +The _plesiosaurus_ was of similar bulk, with a turtle-like body and +paddles, shewing that the sea was its element, but with a long +serpent-like neck, terminating in a saurian head, calculated to reach +prey at a considerable distance. These two animals, of which many +varieties have been discovered, constituting distinct species, are +supposed to have lived in the shallow borders of the seas of this and +subsequent formations, devouring immense quantities of the finny tribes. +It was at first thought that no creatures approaching them in character +now inhabit the earth; but latterly Mr. Darwin has discovered, in the +reptile-peopled Galapagos Islands, in the South Sea, a marine saurian +from three to four feet long. + +The _megalosaurus_ was an enormous lizard—a land creature, also +carnivorous. The _pterodactyle_ was another lizard, but furnished with +wings to pursue its prey in the air, and varying in size between a +cormorant and a snipe. Crocodiles abounded, and some of these were +herbivorous. Such was the iguanodon, a creature of the character of the +iguana of the Ganges, but reaching a hundred feet in length, or twenty +times that of its modern representative. + +There were also numerous _tortoises_, some of them reaching a great size; +and Professor Owen has found in Warwickshire some remains of an animal of +the batrachian order, {99} to which, from the peculiar form of the teeth, +he has given the name of labyrinthidon. Thus, three of Cuvier’s four +orders of reptilia (_sauria_, _chelonia_, and _batrachia_) are +represented in this formation, the serpent order (_ophidia_) being alone +wanting. + +The variegated marl beds which constitute the uppermost group of the +formation, present two additional genera of huge saurians,—the +phytosaurus and mastodonsaurus. + +It is in the upper beds of the red sandstone that beds of salt first +occur. These are sometimes of such thickness, that the mine from which +the material has been excavated looks like a lofty church. We see in the +present world no circumstances calculated to produce the formation of a +bed of rock salt; yet it is not difficult to understand how such strata +were formed in an age marked by ultra-tropical heat and frequent volcanic +disturbances. An estuary, cut off by an upthrow of trap, or a change of +level, and left to dry up under the heat of the sun, would quickly become +the bed of a dense layer of rock salt. A second shift of level, or some +other volcanic disturbance, connecting it again with the sea, would +expose this stratum to being covered over with a layer of sand or mud, +destined in time to form the next stratum of rock above it. + +The plants of this era are few and unobtrusive. Equiseta, calamites, +ferns, Voltzia, and a few of the other families found so abundantly in +the preceding formation, here present themselves, but in diminished size +and quantity. + +This seems to be the proper place to advert to certain memorials of a +peculiar and unexpected character respecting these early ages in the +sandstones. So low as the bottom of the carboniferous system, slabs are +found marked over a great extent of surface with that peculiar +corrugation or wrinkling which the receding tide leaves upon a sandy +beach when the sea is but slightly agitated; and not only are these +ripple-marks, as they are called, found on the surfaces, but casts of +them are found on the under sides of slabs lying above. The phenomena +suggests the time when the sand ultimately formed into these stone slabs, +was part of the beach of a sea of the carbonigenous era; when, left wavy +by one tide, it was covered over with a thin layer of fresh sand by the +next, and so on, precisely as such circumstances might be expected to +take place at the present day. Sandstone surfaces, ripple-marked, are +found throughout the subsequent formations: in those of the new red, at +more than one place in England, they further bear impressions of +rain-drops which have fallen upon them—the rain, of course, of the +inconceivably remote age in which the sandstones were formed. In the +Greensill sandstone, near Shrewsbury, it has even been possible to tell +from what direction the shower came which impressed the sandy surface, +the rims of the marks being somewhat raised on one side, exactly as might +be expected from a slanting shower falling at this day upon one of our +beaches. These facts have the same sort of interest as the season rings +of the Craigleith conifers, as speaking of a parity between some of the +familiar processes of nature in those early ages and our own. + +In the new red sandstone, impressions still more important in the +inferences to which they tend, have been observed,—namely, the footmarks +of various animals. In a quarry of this formation, at Corncockle Muir, +in Dumfriesshire, where the slabs incline at an angle of thirty-eight +degrees, the vestiges of an animal supposed to have been a tortoise are +distinctly traced up and down the slope, as if the creature had had +occasion to pass backwards and forwards in that direction only, possibly +in its daily visits to the sea. Some slabs similarly impressed, in the +Stourton quarries in Cheshire, are further marked with a shower of rain +which we know must have fallen _afterwards_, for its little hollows are +impressed in the footmarks also, though more slightly than on the rest of +the surface, the comparative hardness of a trodden place having +apparently prevented so deep an impression being made. At Hessberg, in +Saxony, the vestiges of four distinct animals have been traced, one of +them a web-footed animal of small size, considered as a congener of the +crocodile; another, whose footsteps having a resemblance to an impression +of a swelled human hand, has caused it to be named the _cheirotherium_. +The footsteps of the cheirotherium have been found also in the Stourton +quarries above mentioned. Professor Owen, who stands at the head of +comparative anatomy in the present day, has expressed his belief that +this last animal was the same batrachian of which he has found fragments +in the new red sandstone of Warwickshire. At Runcorn, near Manchester, +and elsewhere, have been discovered the tracks of an animal which Mr. +Owen calls the rynchosaurus, uniting with the body of a reptile the beak +and feet of a bird, and which clearly had been a _link_ between these two +classes. + +If geologists shall ultimately give their approbation to the inferences +made from a recent discovery in America, we shall have the addition of +perfect birds, though probably of a low type, to the animal forms of this +era. It is stated to be in quarries of this rock, in the valley of +Connecticut, that footprints have been found, apparently produced by +birds of the order grallæ, or waders. “The footsteps appear in regular +succession on the continuous track of an animal, in the act of walking or +running, with the right and left foot always in their relative places. +The distance of the intervals between each footstep on the same track is +occasionally varied, but to no greater amount than may be explained by +the bird having altered its pace. Many tracks of different individuals +and different species are often found crossing each other, and crowded, +like impressions of feet upon the shores of a muddy stream, where ducks +and geese resort.” {103} Some of these prints indicate small animals, +but others denote birds of what would now be an unusually large size. +One animal, having a foot fifteen inches in length, (one-half more than +that of the ostrich,) and a stride of from four to six feet, has been +appropriately entitled, _ornithichnites giganteus_. + + + + +ERA OF THE OOLITE. +COMMENCEMENT OF MAMMALIA. + + +THE chronicles of this period consist of a series of beds, mostly +calcareous, taking their general name (_Oolite System_) from a +conspicuous member of them—the oolite—a limestone composed of an +aggregation of small round grains or spherules, and so called from its +fancied resemblance to a cluster of eggs, or the roe of a fish. This +texture of stone is novel and striking. It is supposed to be of chemical +origin, each spherule being an aggregation of particles round a central +nucleus. The oolite system is largely developed in England, France, +Westphalia, and Northern Italy; it appears in Northern India and Africa, +and patches of it exist in Scotland, and in the vale of the Mississippi. +It may of course be yet discovered in many other parts of the world. + +The series, as shewn in the neighbourhood of Bath, is (beginning with the +lowest) as follows:—1. Lias, a set of strata variously composed of +limestone, clay, marl, and shale, clay being predominant; 2. Lower +oolitic formation, including, besides the great oolite bed of central +England, fullers’ earth beds, forest marble, and cornbrash; 3. Middle +oolitic formation, composed of two sub-groups, the Oxford clay and coral +rag, the latter being a mere layer of the works of the coral polype; 4. +Upper oolitic formation, including what are called Kimmeridge clay and +Portland oolite. In Yorkshire there is an additional group above the +lias, and in Sutherlandshire there is another group above that again. In +the wealds (moorlands) of Kent and Sussex, there is, in like manner, +above the fourth of the Bath series, another additional group, to which +the name of the _Wealden_ has been given, from its situation, and which, +composed of sandstones and clays, is subdivided into Purbeck beds, +Hastings sand, and Weald clay. + +There are no particular appearances of disturbance between the close of +the new red sandstone and the beginning of the oolite system, as far as +has been observed in England. Yet there is a great change in the +materials of the rocks of the two formations, shewing that while the +bottoms of the seas of the one period had been chiefly arenaceous, those +of the other were chiefly clayey and limy. And there is an equal +difference between the two periods in respect of both botany and zoology. +While the new red sandstone shews comparatively scanty traces of organic +creation, those in the oolite are extremely abundant, particularly in the +department of animals, and more particularly still of sea mollusca, +which, it has been observed, are always the more conspicuous in +proportion to the predominance of calcareous rocks. It is also +remarkable that the animals of the oolitic system are entirely different +in species from those of the preceding age, and that these species cease +before the next. In this system we likewise find that uniformity over +great space which has been remarked of the Faunas of earlier formations. +“In the equivalent deposits in the Himalaya Mountains, at Fernando Po, in +the region north of the Cape of Good Hope, and in the Run of Cutch, and +other parts of Hindostan, fossils have been discovered, which, as far as +English naturalists who have seen them can determine, are +undistinguishable from certain oolite and lias fossils of Europe.” {108a} + +The dry land of this age presented cycadeæ, “a beautiful class of plants +between the palms and conifers, having a tall, straight trunk, +terminating in a magnificent crown of foliage.” {108b} There were tree +ferns, but in smaller proportion than in former ages; also equisetaceæ, +lilia, and conifers. The vegetation was generally analogous to that of +the Cape of Good Hope and Australia, which seems to argue a climate (we +must remember, a universal climate) between the tropical and temperate. +It was, however, sufficiently luxuriant in some instances to produce thin +seams of coal, for such are found in the oolite formation of both +Yorkshire and Sutherland. The sea, as for ages before, contained algæ, +of which, however, only a few species have been preserved to our day. +The lower classes of the inhabitants of the ocean were unprecedentedly +abundant. The polypiaria were in such abundance as to form whole strata +of themselves. The crinoidea and echinites were also extremely numerous. +Shell mollusks, in hundreds of new species, occupied the bottoms of the +seas of those ages, while of the swimming shell-fish, ammonites and +belemnites, there were also many scores of varieties. The belemnite here +calls for some particular notice. It commences in the oolite, and +terminates in the next formation. It is an elongated, conical shell, +terminating in a point, and having, at the larger end, a cavity for the +residence of the animal, with a series of air-chambers below. The +animal, placed in the upper cavity, could raise or depress itself in the +water at pleasure by a pneumatic operation upon the entral air tube +pervading its shell. Its tentacula, sent abroad over the summit of the +shell, searched the sea for prey. The creature had an ink-bag, with +which it could muddle the water around it, to protect itself from more +powerful animals, and, strange to say, this has been found so well +preserved that an artist has used it in one instance as a paint, +wherewith to delineate the belemnite itself. + +The crustacea discovered in this formation are less numerous. There are +many fishes, some of which (_acrodus_, _psammodus_, &c.,) are presumed +from remains of their palatal bones, to have been of the gigantic +cartilaginous class, now represented by such as the cestraceon. It has +been considered by Professor Owen as worthy of notice, that, the +cestraceon being an inhabitant of the Australian seas, we have, in both +the botany and ichthyology of this period, an analogy to that continent. +The pycnodontes, (thick-toothed,) and lepidoides, (having thick scales,) +are other families described by M. Agassiz as extensively prevalent. In +the shallow waters of the oolitic formation, the ichthyosaurus, +plesiosaurus, and other huge saurian carnivora of the preceding age, +plied, in increased numbers, their destructive vocation. {110} To them +were added new genera, the cetiosaurus, mososaurus, and some others, all +of similar character and habits. + +Land reptiles abounded, including species of the pterodactyle of the +preceding age—tortoises, trionyces, crocodilians—and the pliosaurus, a +creature which appears to have formed a link between the plesiosaurus and +the crocodile. We know of at least six species of the flying saurian, +the pterodactyle, in this formation. + +Now, for the first time, we find remains of insects, an order of animals +not well calculated for fossil preservation, and which are therefore +amongst the rarest of the animal tribes found in rocks, though they are +the most numerous of all living families. A single libellula +(dragon-fly) was found in the Stonesfield slate, a member of the lower +oolitic group quarried near Oxford; and this was for several years the +only specimen known to exist so early; but now many species have been +found in a corresponding rock at Solenhofen, in Germany. It is +remarkable that the remains of insects are found most plentifully near +the remains of pterodactyles, to which undoubtedly they served as prey. + +The first glimpse of the highest class of the vertebrate +sub-kingdom—_mammalia_—is obtained from the Stonesfield slate, where +there has been found the jaw-bone of a quadruped evidently insectivorous, +and inferred, from peculiarities in the structure of that small fragment, +to have belonged to the marsupial family, (pouched animals). It may be +observed, although no specimens of so high a class of animals as mammalia +are found earlier, such may nevertheless have existed: the defect may be +in our not having found them; but, other things considered, the +probability is that heretofore there were no mammifers. It is an +interesting circumstance that the first mammifers found should have +belonged to the marsupialia, when the place of that order in the scale of +creation is considered. In the imperfect structure of their brain, +deficient in the organs connecting the two hemispheres—and in the mode of +gestation, which is only in small part uterine—this family is clearly a +link between the oviparous vertebrata (birds, reptiles, and fishes) and +the higher mammifers. This is further established by their possessing a +faint development of two canals passing from near the anus to the +external surface of the viscera, which are fully possessed in reptiles +and fishes, for the purpose of supplying aerated water to the blood +circulating in particular vessels, but which are unneeded by mammifers. +Such rudiments of organs in certain species which do not require them in +any degree, are common in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, but are +always most conspicuous in families approaching in character to those +classes to which the full organs are proper. This subject will be more +particularly adverted to in the sequel. + +The highest part of the oolitic formation presents some phenomena of an +unusual and interesting character, which demand special notice. +Immediately above the upper oolitic group in Buckinghamshire, in the +vicinity of Weymouth, and other situations, there is a thin stratum, +usually called by workmen the _dirt-bed_, which appears, from +incontestable evidence, to have been a soil, formed, like soils of the +present day, in the course of time, upon a surface which had previously +been the bottom of the sea. The dirt-bed contains exuviæ of tropical +trees, accumulated through time, as the forest shed its honours on the +spot where it grew, and became itself decayed. Near Weymouth there is a +piece of this stratum, in which stumps of trees remain rooted, mostly +erect or slightly inclined, and from one to three feet high; while trunks +of the same forest, also silicified, lie imbedded on the surface of the +soil in which they grew. + +Above this bed lie those which have been called the Wealden, from their +full development in the Weald of Sussex; and these as incontestably argue +that the dry land forming the dirt-bed had next afterwards become the +area of brackish estuaries, or lakes partially connected with the sea; +for the Wealden strata contain exuviæ of fresh-water tribes, besides +those of the great saurians and chelonia. The area of this estuary +comprehends the whole south-east province of England. A geologist thus +confidently narrates the subsequent events: “Much calcareous matter was +first deposited [in this estuary], and in it were entombed myriads of +shells, apparently analogous to those of the vivipara. Then came a thick +envelope of sand, sometimes interstratified with mud; and, finally, muddy +matter prevailed. The solid surface beneath the waters would appear to +have suffered a long continued and gradual depression, which was as +gradually filled, or nearly so, with transported matter; in the end, +however, after a depression of several hundred feet, the sea again +entered upon the area, not suddenly or violently—for the Wealden rocks +pass gradually into the superincumbent cretaceous series—but so quietly, +that the mud containing the remains of terrestrial and fresh-water +creatures was tranquilly covered up by sands replete with marine exuviæ.” +{114} A subsequent depression of the same area, to the depth of at least +three hundred fathoms, is believed to have taken place, to admit of the +deposition of the cretaceous beds lying above. + +From the scattered way in which remains of the larger terrestrial animals +occur in the Wealden, and the intermixture of pebbles of the special +appearance of those worn in rivers, it is also inferred that the estuary +which once covered the south-east part of England was the mouth of a +river of that far-descending class of which the Mississippi and Amazon +are examples. What part of the earth’s surface presented the dry land +through which that and other similar rivers flowed, no one can tell for +certain. It has been surmised, that the particular one here spoken of +may have flowed from a point not nearer than the site of the present +Newfoundland. Professor Philips has suggested, from the analogy of the +mineral composition, that anciently elevated coal strata may have +composed the dry land from which the sandy matters of these strata were +washed. Such a deposit as the Wealden almost necessarily implies a +local, not a general condition; yet it has been thought that similar +strata and remains exist in the Pays de Bray, near Beauvais. This leads +to the supposition that there may have been, in that age, a series of +river-receiving estuaries along the border of some such great ocean as +the Atlantic, of which that of modern Sussex is only an example. + + + + +ERA OF THE CRETACEOUS FORMATION. + + +THE record of this period consists of a series of strata, in which chalk +beds make a conspicuous appearance, and which is therefore called the +cretaceous system or formation. In England, a long stripe, extending +from Yorkshire to Kent, presents the cretaceous beds upon the surface, +generally lying conformably upon the oolite, and in many instances rising +into bold escarpments towards the west. The celebrated cliffs of Dover +are of this formation. It extends into northern France, and thence +north-westward into Germany, whence it is traced into Scandinavia and +Russia. The same system exists in North America, and probably in other +parts of the earth not yet geologically investigated. Being a marine +deposit, it establishes that seas existed at the time of its formation on +the tracts occupied by it, while some of its organic remains prove that, +in the neighbourhood of those seas, there were tracts of dry land. + +The cretaceous formation in England presents beds chiefly sandy in the +lowest part, chiefly clayey in the middle, and chiefly of chalk in the +upper part, the chalk beds being never absent, which some of the lower +are in several places. In the vale of the Mississippi, again, the true +chalk is wholly, or all but wholly absent. In the south of England, the +lower beds are, (reckoning from the lowest upwards), 1. _Shankland_ or +_greensand_, “a triple alternation of sands and sandstones with clay;” 2. +Galt, “a stiff blue or black clay, abounding in shells, which frequently +possess a pearly lustre;” 3. _Hard_ chalk; 4. Chalk with flints; these +two last being generally white, but in some districts red, and in others +yellow. The whole are, in England, about 1200 feet thick, shewing the +considerable depths of the ocean in which the deposits were made. + +Chalk is a carbonate of lime, and the manner of its production in such +vast quantities was long a subject of speculation among geologists. Some +light seemed to be thrown upon the subject a few years ago, when it was +observed, that the detritus of coral reefs in the present tropical seas +gave a powder, undistinguishable, when dried, from ordinary chalk. It +then appeared likely that the chalk beds were the detritus of the corals +which were in the oceans of that era. Mr. Darwin, who made some curious +inquiries on this point, further suggested, that the matter might have +intermediately passed through the bodies of worms and fish, such as feed +on the corals of the present day, and in whose stomachs he has found +impure chalk. This, however, cannot be a full explanation of the +production of chalk, if we admit some more recent discoveries of +Professor Ehrenberg. That master of microscopic investigation announces, +that chalk is composed partly of “inorganic particles of irregular +elliptical structure and granular slaty disposition,” and partly of +shells of inconceivable minuteness, “varying from the one-twelfth to the +two hundred and eighty-eighth part of a line”—a cubic inch of the +substance containing above ten millions of them! The chalk of the north +of Europe contains, he says, a larger proportion of the inorganic matter; +that of the south, a larger proportion of the organic matter, being in +some instances almost entirely composed of it. He has been able to +classify many of these creatures, some of them being allied to the +nautili, nummuli, cyprides, &c. The shells of some are calcareous, of +others siliceous. M. Ehrenberg has likewise detected microscopic +sea-plants in the chalk. + +The distinctive feature of the uppermost chalk beds in England, is the +presence of flint nodules. These are generally disposed in layers +parallel to each other. It was readily presumed by geologists that these +masses were formed by a chemical aggregation of particles of silica, +originally held in solution in the mass of the chalk. But whence the +silica in a substance so different from it? Ehrenberg suggests that it +is composed of the siliceous coverings of a portion of the microscopic +creatures, whose shells he has in other instances detected in their +original condition. It is remarkable that the chalk _with_ flint abounds +in the north of Europe; that _without_ flints in the south; while in the +northern chalk siliceous animalcules are wanting, and in the southern +present in great quantities. The conclusion seems but natural, that in +the one case the siliceous exuviæ have been left in their original form; +in the other dissolved chemically, and aggregated on the common principle +of chemical affinity into nodules of flint, probably concentrating, in +every instance, upon a piece of decaying organic matter, as has been the +case with the nodules of ironstone in the earlier rocks, and the +spherules of the oolite. + +What is more remarkable, M. Ehrenberg has ascertained that at least +fifty-seven species of the microscopic animals of the chalk, being +infusoria and calcareous-shelled polythalamia, are still found living in +various parts of the earth. These species are the most abundant in the +rock. Singly they are the most unimportant of all animals, but in the +mass, forming as they do such enormous strata over a large part of the +earth’s surface, they have an importance greatly exceeding that of the +largest and noblest of the beasts of the field. Moreover, these species +have a peculiar interest, as the only specific types of that early age +which are reproduced in the present day. Species of sea mollusks, of +reptiles, and of mammifers, have been changed again and again, since the +cretaceous era; and it is not till a long subsequent age that we find the +first traces of any other of even the humblest species which now exist; +but here have these humble infusoria and polythalamia kept their place on +earth through all its revolutions since that time,—are we to say, safe in +their very humility, which might adapt them to a greater variety of +circumstances than most other animals, or are we required to look for +some other explanation of the phenomenon? + +All the ordinary and more observable orders of the inhabitants of the +sea, except the cetacea, have been found in the cretaceous +formation—zoophytes, radiaria, mollusks, crustacea, (in great variety of +species,) and fishes in smaller variety. In Europe, remains of the +marine saurians have been found; they may be presumed to have become +extinct in that part of the globe before this time, their place and +destructive office being perhaps supplied by cartilaginous fishes, of +which the teeth are found in great quantities. In America, however, +remains of the plesiosaurus have been discovered in this part of the +stratified series. The reptiles, too, so numerous in the two preceding +periods, appear to have now much diminished in numbers. One, entitled +the mosæsaurus, seems to have held an intermediate place between the +monitor and iguana, and to have been about twenty-five feet long, with a +tail calculated to assist it powerfully in swimming. Crocodiles and +turtles existed, and amongst the fishes were some of a saurian character. + +Fuci abounded in the seas of this era. Confervæ are found enclosed in +flints. Of terrestrial vegetation, as of terrestrial animals, the +specimens in the European area are comparatively rare, rendering it +probable that there was no dry land near. The remains are chiefly of +ferns, conifers, and cycadeæ, but in the two former cases we have only +cones and leaves. There have been discovered many pieces of wood, +containing holes drilled by the teredo, and thus shewing that they had +been long drifted about in the ocean before being entombed at the bottom. + +The series in America corresponding to this, entitled the ferruginous +sand formation, presents fossils generally identical with those of +Europe, not excepting the fragments of drilled wood; shewing that, in +this, as in earlier ages, there was a parity of conditions for animal +life over a vast tract of the earth’s surface. To European reptiles, the +American formation adds a gigantic one, styled the saurodon, from the +lizard-like character of its teeth. + +We have seen that footsteps of birds are considered to have been +discovered in America, in the new red sandstone. Some similar isolated +phenomena occur in the subsequent formations. Mr. Mantell discovered +some bones of birds, apparently waders, in the Wealden. The immediate +connexion of that set of birds with land, may account, of course, for +their containing a terrestrial organic relic, which the marine beds above +and below did not possess. In the slate of Glarus, in Switzerland, +corresponding to the English galt, in the chalk formation, the remains of +a bird have been found. From a chalk bed near Maidstone, have likewise +been extracted some remains of a bird, supposed to have been of the +long-winged swimmer family, and equal in size to the albatross. These, +it must be owned, are less strong traces of the birds than we possess of +the reptiles and other tribes; but it must be remembered, that the +evidence of fossils, as to the absence of any class of animals from a +certain period of the earth’s history, can never be considered as more +than negative. Animals, of which we find no remains in a particular +formation, may, nevertheless, have lived at the time, and it may have +only been from unfavourable circumstances that their remains have not +been preserved for our inspection. The single circumstance of their +being little liable to be carried down into seas, might be the cause of +their non-appearance in our quarries. There is at the same time a limit +to uncertainty on this point. We see, from what remains have been found +in the whole series, a clear progress throughout, from humble to superior +types of being. Hence we derive a light as to what animals may have +existed at particular times, which is in some measure independent of the +specialties of fossilology. The birds are below the mammalia in the +animal scale; and therefore they may be supposed to have existed about +the time of the new red sandstone and oolite, although we find but slight +traces of them in those formations, and, it may be said, till a +considerably later period. + + + + +ERA OF THE TERTIARY FORMATION.— +MAMMALIA ABUNDANT. + + +THE chalk-beds are the highest which extend over a considerable space; +but in hollows of these beds, comparatively limited in extent, there have +been formed series of strata—clays, limestones, marls, alternating—to +which the name of the _Tertiary Formation_ has been applied. London and +Paris alike rest on basins of this formation, and another such basin +extends from near Winchester, under Southampton, and re-appears in the +Isle of Wight. There is a patch, or fragment of the formation in one of +the Hebrides. A stripe of it extends along the east coast of North +America, from Massachusetts to Florida. It is also found in Sicily and +Italy, insensibly blended with formations still in progress. Though +comparatively a local formation, it is not of the less importance as a +record of the condition of the earth during a certain period. As in +other formations, it is marked, in the most distant localities, by +identity of organic remains. + +The hollows filled by the tertiary formation must be considered as the +beds of estuaries left at the conclusion of the cretaceous period. We +have seen that an estuary, either by the drifting up of its mouth, or a +change of level in that quarter, may be supposed to have become an inland +sheet of water, and that, by another change, of the reverse kind, it may +be supposed to have become an estuary again. Such changes the Paris +basin appears to have undergone oftener than once, for, first, we have +there a fresh-water formation of clay and limestone beds; then, a +marine-limestone formation; next, a second fresh water formation, in +which the material of the celebrated _plaster of Paris_ (gypsum) is +included; then, a second marine formation of sandy and limy beds; and +finally, a third series of fresh-water strata. Such alternations occur +in other examples of the tertiary formation likewise. + +The tertiary beds present all but an entirely new set of animals, and as +we ascend in the series, we find more and more of these identical with +species still existing upon earth, as if we had now reached the dawn of +the present state of the zoology of our planet. By the study of the +shells alone, Mr. Lyell has been enabled to divide the whole term into +four sub-periods, to which he has given names with reference to the +proportions which they respectively present of surviving species—first, +the eocene, (from ’ηως, the dawn; χαινος, recent;) second, the miocene, +(μειων, less;) third, older pliocene, (πλειων, more;) fourth, newer +pliocene. + + + +EOCENE SUB-PERIOD. + + +The eocene period presents, in three continental groups, 1238 species of +shells, of which forty-two, or 3.5 per cent, yet flourish. Some of these +are remarkable enough; but they all sink into insignificance beside the +mammalian remains which the lower eocene deposits of the Paris basin +present to us, shewing that the land had now become the theatre of an +extensive creation of the highest class of animals. Cuvier ascertained +about fifty species of these, all of them long since extinct. A +considerable number are _pachydermata_, {127} of a character +approximating to the South American tapir: the names, palæotherium, +anthracotherium, anoplotherium, lophiodon, &c., have been applied to them +with a consideration of more or less conspicuous peculiarities; but a +description of the first may give some general idea of the whole. It was +about the size of a horse, but more squat and clumsy, and with a heavier +head, and a lower jaw shorter than the upper; the feet, also, instead of +hooves, presented three large toes, rounded, and unprovided with claws. +These animals were all herbivorous. Amongst an immense number of others +are found many new reptiles, some of them adapted for fresh water; +species of birds allied to the sea-lark, curlew, quail, buzzard, owl, and +pelican; species allied to the dormouse and squirrel; also the opossum +and racoon; and species allied to the genette, fox, and wolf. + + + +MIOCENE SUB-PERIOD. + + +In the miocene sub-period, the shells give eighteen per cent. of existing +species, shewing a considerable advance from the preceding era, with +respect to the inhabitants of the sea. The advance in the land animals +is less marked, but yet considerable. The predominating forms are still +pachydermatous, and the tapir type continues to be conspicuous. One +animal of this kind, called the _dinotherium_, is supposed to have been +not less than eighteen feet long; it had a mole-like form of the +shoulder-blade, conferring the power of digging for food, and a couple of +tusks turning down from the lower jaw, by which it could have attached +itself, like the walrus, to a shore or bank, while its body floated in +the water. Dr. Buckland considers this and some similar miocene animals, +as adapted for a semi-aquatic life, in a region where lakes abounded. +Besides the tapirs, we have in this era animals allied to the glutton, +the bear, the dog, the horse, the hog, and lastly, several felinæ, +(creatures of which the lion is the type;) all of which are new forms, as +far as we know. There was also an abundance of marine mammalia, seals, +dolphins, lamantins, walruses, and whales, none of which had previously +appeared. + + + +PLIOCENE SUB-PERIOD. + + +The shells of the older pliocene give from thirty-five to fifty; those of +the newer, from ninety to ninety-five per cent. of existing species. The +pachydermata of the preceding era now disappear, and are replaced by +others belonging to still existing families—elephant, hippopotamus, +rhinoceros—though now extinct as species. Some of these are startling, +from their enormous magnitude. The great mastodon, whose remains are +found in abundance in America, was a species of elephant, judged, from +peculiarities of its teeth, to have lived on aquatic plants, and reaching +the height of twelve feet. The mammoth was another elephant, but +supposed to have survived till comparatively recent times, as a specimen, +in all respects entire, was found in 1801, preserved in ice, in Siberia. +We are more surprised by finding such gigantic proportions in an animal +called the megatherium, which ranks in an order now assuming much humbler +forms—the edentata—to which the sloth, ant-eater, and armadillo belong. +The megatherium had a skeleton of enormous solidity, with an armour-clad +body, and five toes, terminating in huge claws, wherewith to grasp the +branches, from which, like its existing congener, the sloth, it derived +its food. The megalonyx was a similar animal, only somewhat less than +the preceding. Finally, the pliocene gives us for the first time, oxen, +deer, camels, and other specimens of the _ruminantia_. + +Such is an outline of the fauna of the tertiary era, as ascertained by +the illustrious naturalists who first devoted their attention to it. It +will be observed that it brings us up to the felinæ, or carnivora, a +considerably elevated point in the animal scale, but still leaving a +blank for the quadrumana (monkeys) and for man, who collectively form, as +will be afterwards seen, the first group in that scale. It sometimes +happens, however, as we have seen, that a few rare traces of a particular +class of animals are in time found in formations originally thought to be +destitute of them, displaying as it were a dawn of that department of +creation. Such seems to be the case with at least the quadrumana. A +jaw-bone and tooth of an animal of this order, and belonging to the genus +macacus, were found in the London clay, (eocene,) at Kyson, near +Woodbridge, in 1839. Another jaw-bone, containing several teeth, +supposed to have belonged to a species of monkey about three feet high, +was discovered about the same time in a stratum of marl surmounted by +compact limestone, in the department of Gers, at the foot of the +Pyrenees. Associated with this last were remains of not less than thirty +mammiferous quadrupeds, including three species of rhinoceros, a large +anoplotherium, three species of deer, two antelopes, a true dog, a large +cat, an animal like a weasel, a small hare, and a huge species of the +edentata. Both of these places are considerably to the north of any +region now inhabited by the monkey tribes. Fossil remains of quadrumana +have been found in at least two other parts of the earth,—namely, the +sub-Himalayan hills, near the Sutlej, and in Brazil, (both in the +tertiary strata;) the first being a large species of semnopithecus, and +the second, a still larger animal belonging to the American group of +monkeys, but a new genus, and denominated by its discoverer, Dr. Lund, +protopithecus. The latter would be four feet in height. + +One remarkable circumstance connected with the tertiary formation remains +to be noticed,—namely, the prevalence of volcanic action at that era. In +Auvergne, in Catalonia, near Venice, and in the vicinity of Rome and +Naples, lavas exactly resembling the produce of existing volcanoes, are +associated and intermixed with the lacustrine as well as marine +tertiaries. The superficies of tertiaries in England is disturbed by two +great swells, forming what are called anticlinal axes, one of which +divides the London from the Hampshire basin, while the other passes +through the Isle of Wight, both throwing the strata down at violent +inclination towards the north, as if the subterranean disturbing force +had _waved_ forward in that direction. The Pyrenees, too, and Alps, have +both undergone elevation since the deposition of the tertiaries; and in +Sicily there are mountains which have risen three thousand feet since the +deposition of some of the most recent of these rocks. The general effect +of these operations was of course to extend the land surface, and to +increase the variety of its features, thus improving the natural +drainage, and generally adapting the earth for the reception of higher +classes of animals. + + + + +ERA OF THE SUPERFICIAL FORMATIONS. +COMMENCEMENT OF PRESENT SPECIES. + + +WE have now completed our survey of the series of stratified rocks, and +traced in their fossils the progress of organic creation down to a time +which seems not long antecedent to the appearance of man. There are, +nevertheless, monuments of still another era or space of time which it is +all but certain did also precede that event. + +Over the rock formations of all eras, in various parts of the globe, but +confined in general to situations not very elevated, there is a layer of +stiff clay, mostly of a blue colour, mingled with fragments of rock of +all sizes, travel-worn, and otherwise, and to which geologists give the +name of diluvium, as being apparently the produce of some vast flood, or +of the sea thrown into an unusual agitation. It seems to indicate that, +at the time when it was laid down, much of the present dry land was under +the ocean, a supposition which we shall see supported by other evidence. +The included masses of rock have been carefully inspected in many places, +and traced to particular parent beds at considerable distances. +Connected with these phenomena are certain rock surfaces on the slopes of +hills and elsewhere, which exhibit groovings and scratchings, such as we +might suppose would be produced by a quantity of loose blocks hurried +along over them by a flood. Another associated phenomenon is that called +_crag and tail_, which exists in many places,—namely, a rocky mountain, +or lesser elevation, presenting on one side the naked rock in a more or +less abrupt form, and on the other a gentle slope; the sites of Windsor, +Edinburgh, and Stirling, with their respective castles, are specimens of +crag and tail. Finally, we may advert to certain long ridges of clay and +gravel which arrest the attention of travellers on the surface of Sweden +and Finland, and which are also found in the United States, where, +indeed, the whole of these phenomena have been observed over a large +surface, as well as in Europe. It is very remarkable that the direction +from which the diluvial blocks have generally come, the lines of the +grooved rock surfaces, the direction of the crag and tail eminences, and +that of the clay and gravel ridges—phenomena, be it observed, extending +over the northern parts of both Europe and America—are _all from the +north and north-west towards the south-east_. We thus acquire the idea +of a powerful current moving in a direction from north-west to +south-east, carrying, besides mud, masses of rock which furrowed the +solid surfaces as they passed along, abrading the north-west faces of +many hills, but leaving the slopes in the opposite direction uninjured, +and in some instances forming long ridges of detritus along the surface. +These are curious considerations, and it has become a question of much +interest, by what means, and under what circumstances, was such a current +produced. One hypothetical answer has some plausibility about it. From +an investigation of the nature of glaciers, and some observations which +seem to indicate that these have at one time extended to lower levels, +and existed in regions (the Scottish Highlands an example) where there is +now no perennial snow, it has been surmised that there was a time, +subsequent to the tertiary era, when the circumpolar ice extended far +into the temperate zone, and formed a lofty, as well as extensive +accumulation. A change to a higher temperature, producing a sudden thaw +of this mass, might set free such a quantity of water as would form a +large flood, and the southward flow of this deluge, joined to the +direction which it would obtain from the rotatory motion of the globe, +would of course produce that compound or south-easterly direction which +the phenomena require. All of these speculations are as yet far too +deficient in facts to be of much value; and I must freely own that, for +one, I attach little importance to them. All that we can legitimately +infer from the diluvium is, that the northern parts of Europe and America +were then under the sea, and that a strong current set over them. + +Connected with the diluvium is the history of _ossiferous caverns_, of +which specimens singly exist at Kirkdale in Yorkshire, Gailenreuth in +Franconia, and other places. They occur in the calcareous strata, as the +great caverns generally do, but have in all instances been naturally +closed up till the recent period of their discovery. The floors are +covered with what appears to be a bed of the diluvial clay, over which +rests a crust of stalagmite, the result of the droppings from the roof +since the time when the clay-bed was laid down. In the instances above +specified, and several others, there have been found, under the clay bed, +assemblages of the bones of animals, of many various kinds. At Kirkdale, +for example, the remains of twenty-four species were ascertained—namely, +pigeon, lark, raven, duck, and partridge; mouse, water-rat, rabbit, hare, +deer, (three species,) ox, horse, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, +weazel, fox, wolf, bear, tiger, hyena. From many of the bones of the +gentler of these animals being found in a broken state, it is supposed +that the cave was a haunt of hyenas and other predaceous animals, by +which the smaller ones were here consumed. This must have been at a time +antecedent to the submersion which produced the diluvium, since the bones +are covered by a bed of that formation. It is impossible not to see here +a very natural series of incidents. First, the cave is frequented by +wild beasts, who make it a kind of charnel-house. Then, submerged in the +current which has been spoken of, it receives a clay flooring from the +waters containing that matter in suspension. Finally, raised from the +water, but with no mouth to the open air, it remains unintruded on for a +long series of ages, during which the clay flooring receives a new +calcareous covering, from the droppings of the roof. Dr. Buckland, who +examined and described the Kirkdale cave, was at first of opinion that it +presented a physical evidence of the Noachian deluge; but he afterwards +saw reason to consider its phenomena as of a time far apart from that +event, which rests on evidence of an entirely different kind. + +Our attention is next drawn to the erratic blocks or boulders, which in +many parts of the earth are thickly strewn over the surface, particularly +in the north of Europe. Some of these blocks are many tons in weight, +yet are clearly ascertained to have belonged originally to situations at +a great distance. Fragments, for example, of the granite of Shap Fell +are found in every direction around to the distance of fifty miles, one +piece being placed high upon Criffel Mountain, on the opposite side of +the Solway estuary; so also are fragments of the Alps found far up the +slopes of the Jura. There are even blocks on the east coast of England, +supposed to have travelled from Norway. The only rational conjecture +which can be formed as to the transport of such masses from so great a +distance, is one which presumes them to have been carried and dropped by +icebergs, while the space between their original and final sites was +under ocean. Icebergs do even now carry off such masses from the polar +coasts, which, falling when the retaining ice melts, must take up +situations at the bottom of the sea analogous to those in which we find +the erratic blocks of the present day. + +As the diluvium and erratic blocks clearly suppose one last long +submersion of the surface, (_last_, geologically speaking,) there is +another set of appearances which as manifestly shew the steps by which +the land was made afterwards to reappear. These consist of _terraces_, +which have been detected near, and at some distance inland from, the +coast lines of Scandinavia, Britain, America, and other regions; being +evidently ancient beaches, or platforms, on which the margin of the sea +at one time rested. They have been observed at different heights above +the present sea-level, from twenty to above twelve hundred feet; and in +many places they are seen rising above each other in succession, to the +number of three, four, and even more. The smooth flatness of these +terraces, with generally a slight inclination towards the sea, the sandy +composition of many of them, and, in some instances, the preservation of +marine shells in the ground, identify them perfectly with existing +sea-beaches, notwithstanding the cuts and scoopings which have every here +and there been effected in them by water-courses. The irresistible +inference from the phenomena is, that the highest was first the coast +line; then an elevation took place, and the second highest became so, the +first being now raised into the air and thrown inland. Then, upon +another elevation, the sea began to form, at its new point of contact +with the land, the third highest beach, and so on down to the platform +nearest to the present sea-beach. Phenomena of this kind become +comparatively familiar to us, when we hear of evidence that the last +sixty feet of the elevation of Sweden, and the last eighty-five of that +of Chili, have taken place since man first dwelt in those countries; nay, +that the elevation of the former country goes on at this time at the rate +of about forty-five inches in a century, and that a thousand miles of the +Chilian coast rose four feet in one night, under the influence of a +powerful earthquake, so lately as 1822. Subterranean forces, of the kind +then exemplified in Chili, supply a ready explanation of the whole +phenomena, though some other operating causes have been suggested. In an +inquiry on this point, it becomes of consequence to learn some +particulars respecting the levels. Taking a particular beach, it is +generally observed that the level continues the same along a considerable +number of miles, and nothing like breaks or hitches has as yet been +detected in any case. A second and a third beach are also observed to be +exactly parallel to the first. These facts would seem to indicate quiet +elevating movements, uniform over a large tract. It must, however, be +remarked that the raised beaches at one part of a coast rarely coincide +with those at another part forty or fifty miles off. We might suppose +this to indicate a limit in that extent of the uniformity of the +elevating cause, but it would be rash to conclude positively that such is +the case. In the present sea, as is well known, there are different +levels at different places, owing to the operation of peculiar local +causes, as currents, evaporation, and the influx of large rivers into +narrow-mouthed estuaries. The differences of level in the ancient +beaches might be occasioned by some such causes. But, whatever doubt may +rest on this minor point, enough has been ascertained to settle the main +one, that we have in these platforms indubitable monuments of the last +rise of the land from the sea, and the concluding great event of the +geological history. + +The idea of such a wide-spread and possibly universal submersion +unavoidably suggests some considerations as to the effect which it might +have upon terrestrial animal life. It seems likely that this would be, +on such an occasion, extensively, if not universally destroyed. Nor does +the idea of its universal destruction seem the less plausible, when we +remark, that none of the species of land animals heretofore discovered +can be detected at a subsequent period. The whole seem to have been now +changed. Some geologists appear much inclined to think that there was at +this time a new development of terrestrial animal life upon the globe, +and M. Agassiz, whose opinion on such a subject must always be worthy of +attention, speaks all but decidedly for such a conclusion. It must, +however, be owned, that proofs for it are still scanty, beyond the bare +fact of a submersion which appears to have had a very wide range. I must +therefore be content to leave this point, as far as geological evidence +is concerned, for future affirmation. + +There are some other superficial deposits, of less consequence on the +present occasion than the diluvium—namely, lacustrine deposits, or +filled-up lakes; alluvium, or the deposits of rivers beside their +margins; deltas, the deposits made by great ones at their efflux into the +sea; peat mosses; and the vegetable soil. The animal remains found in +these generally testify to a zoology on the verge of that which still +exists, or melting into it, there being included many species which still +exist. In a lacustrine deposit at Market-Weighton, in the Vale of York, +there have been found bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, bison, wolf, +horse, felis, deer, birds, all or nearly all extinct species; associated +with thirteen species of land and fresh water shells, “exactly identical +with types now living in the vicinity.” In similar deposits in North +America, are remains of the mammoth, mastodon, buffalo, and other animals +of extinct and living types. In short, these superficial deposits shew +precisely such remains as might be expected from a time at which the +present system of things (to use a vague but not unexpressive phrase) +obtained, but yet so far remote in chronology as to allow of the dropping +of many species, through familiar causes, in the interval. Still, +however, there is no authentic or satisfactory instance of human remains +being found, except in deposits obviously of very modern date; a +tolerably strong proof that the creation of our own species is a +comparatively recent event, and one posterior (generally speaking) to all +the great natural transactions chronicled by geology. + + + + +GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS +RESPECTING +THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES. + + +THUS concludes the wondrous chapter of the earth’s history which is told +by geology. It takes up our globe at the period when its original +incandescent state had nearly ceased; conducts it through what we have +every reason to believe were vast, or at least very considerable, spaces +of time, in the course of which many superficial changes took place, and +vegetable and animal life was gradually developed; and drops it just at +the point when man was apparently about to enter on the scene. The +compilation of such a history, from materials of so extraordinary a +character, and the powerful nature of the evidence which these materials +afford, are calculated to excite our admiration, and the result must be +allowed to exalt the dignity of science, as a product of man’s industry +and his reason. + +If there is any thing more than another impressed on our minds by the +course of the geological history, it is, that the same laws and +conditions of nature now apparent to us have existed throughout the whole +time, though the operation of some of these laws may now be less +conspicuous than in the early ages, from some of the conditions having +come to a settlement and a close. That seas have flowed and ebbed, and +winds disturbed their surfaces, in the time of the secondary rocks, we +have proof on the yet preserved surfaces of the sands which constituted +margins of the seas in those days. Even the fall of wind-slanted rain is +evidenced on the same tablets. The washing down of detached matter from +elevated grounds, which we see rivers constantly engaged in at the +present time, and which is daily shallowing the seas adjacent to their +mouths, only appears to have proceeded on a greater scale in earlier +epochs. The volcanic subterranean force, which we see belching forth +lavas on the sides of mountains, and throwing up new elevations by land +and sea, was only more powerfully operative in distant ages. To turn to +organic nature, vegetation seems to have proceeded then exactly as now. +The very alternations of the seasons has been read in unmistakable +characters in sections of the trees of those days, precisely as it might +be read in a section of a tree cut down yesterday. The system of prey +amongst animals flourished throughout the whole of the pre-human period; +and the adaptation of all plants and animals to their respective spheres +of existence was as perfect in those early ages as it is still. + +But, as has been observed, the operation of the laws may be modified by +conditions. At one early age, if there was any dry land at all, it was +perhaps enveloped in an atmosphere unfit for the existence of terrestrial +animals, and which had to go though some changes before that condition +was altered. In the carbonigenous era, dry land seems to have consisted +only of clusters of islands, and the temperature was much above what now +obtains at the same places. Volcanic forces, and perhaps also the +disintegrating power, seem to have been on the decrease since the first, +or we have at least long enjoyed an exemption from such paroxysms of the +former, as appear to have prevailed at the close of the coal formation in +England and throughout the tertiary era. The surface has also undergone +a gradual progress by which it has become always more and more +variegated, and thereby fitted for the residence of a higher class of +animals. + +In pursuing the progress of the development of both plants and animals +upon the globe, we have seen an advance in both cases, along the line +leading to the higher forms of organization. Amongst plants, we have +first sea-weeds, afterwards land plants; and amongst these the simpler +(cellular and cryptogamic) before the more complex. In the department of +zoology, we see zoophytes, radiata, mollusca, articulata, existing for +ages before there were any higher forms. The first step forward gives +fishes, the humblest class of the vertebrata; and, moreover, the earliest +fishes partake of the character of the next lowest sub-kingdom, the +articulata. Afterwards come land animals, of which the first are +reptiles, universally allowed to be the type next in advance from fishes, +and to be connected with these by the links of an insensible gradation. +From reptiles we advance to birds, and thence to mammalia, which are +commenced by marsupialia, acknowledgedly low forms in their class. That +there is thus a progress of some kind, the most superficial glance at the +geological history is sufficient to convince us. Indeed the doctrine of +the gradation of animal forms has received a remarkable support from the +discoveries of this science, as several types formerly wanting to a +completion of the series have been found in a fossil state. {149} + +It is scarcely less evident, from the geological record, that the +progress of organic life has observed some correspondence with the +progress of physical conditions on the surface. We do not know for +certain that the sea, at the time when it supported radiated, molluscous, +and articulated families, was incapable of supporting fishes; but causes +for such a limitation are far from inconceivable. The huge saurians +appear to have been precisely adapted to the low muddy coasts and sea +margins of the time when they flourished. Marsupials appear at the time +when the surface was generally in that flat, imperfectly variegated state +in which we find Australia, the region where they now live in the +greatest abundance, and one which has no higher native mammalian type. +Finally, it was not till the land and sea had come into their present +relations, and the former, in its principal continents, had acquired the +irregularity of surface necessary for man, that man appeared. We have +likewise seen reason for supposing that land animals could not have lived +before the carbonigenous era, owing to the great charge of carbonic acid +gas presumed to have been contained in the atmosphere down to that time. +The surplus of this having gone, as M. Brogniart suggests, to form the +vegetation, whose ruins became coal, and the air being thus brought to +its present state, land animals immediately appeared. So also, +sea-plants were at first the only specimens of vegetation, because there +appears to have been no place where other plants could be produced or +supported. Land vegetation followed, at first simple, afterwards +complex, probably in conformity with an advance of the conditions +required by the higher class of plants. In short, we see everywhere +throughout the geological history, strong traces of a parallel advance of +the physical conditions and the organic forms. + +In examining the fossils of the lower marine creation, with a reference +to the kind of rock in connexion, with which they are found, it is +observed that some strata are attended by a much greater abundance of +both species and individuals than others. They abound most in calcareous +rocks, which is precisely what might be expected, since lime is necessary +for the formation of the shells of the mollusks and articulata, and the +hard substance of the crinoidea and corals; next in the carboniferous +series; next in the tertiary; next in the new red sandstone; next in +slates; and lastly, least of all, in the primary rocks. {151} This may +have been the case without regard to the origination of new species, but +more probably it was otherwise; or why, for instance, should the +polypiferous zoophyta be found almost exclusively in the limestones? +There are, indeed, abundant appearances as if, throughout all the changes +of the surface, the various kinds of organic life invariably _pressed +in_, immediately on the specially suitable conditions arising, so that no +place which could support any form of organic being might be left for any +length of time unoccupied. Nor is it less remarkable how various species +are withdrawn from the earth, when the proper conditions for their +particular existence are changed. The trilobite, of which fifty species +existed during the earlier formations, was extirpated before the +secondary had commenced, and appeared no more. The ammonite does not +appear above the chalk. The species, and even genera of all the early +radiata and mollusks were exchanged for others long ago. Not one species +of any creature which flourished before the tertiary (Ehrenberg’s +infusoria excepted) now exists; and of the mammalia which arose during +that series, many forms are altogether gone, while of others we have now +only kindred species. Thus to find not only frequent additions to the +previously existing forms, but frequent withdrawals of forms which had +apparently become inappropriate—a constant shifting as well as advance—is +a fact calculated very forcibly to arrest attention. + +A candid consideration of all these circumstances can scarcely fail to +introduce into our minds a somewhat different idea of organic creation +from what has hitherto been generally entertained. That God created +animated beings, as well as the terraqueous theatre of their being, is a +fact so powerfully evidenced, and so universally received, that I at once +take it for granted. But in the particulars of this so highly supported +idea, we surely here see cause for some re-consideration. It may now be +inquired,—In what way was the creation of animated beings effected? The +ordinary notion may, I think, be not unjustly described as this,—that the +Almighty author produced the progenitors of all existing species by some +sort of personal or immediate exertion. But how does this notion comport +with what we have seen of the gradual advance of species, from the +humblest to the highest? How can we suppose an immediate exertion of +this creative power at one time to produce zoophytes, another time to add +a few marine mollusks, another to bring in one or two conchifers, again +to produce crustaceous fishes, again perfect fishes, and so on to the +end? This would surely be to take a very mean view of the Creative +Power—to, in short, anthropomorphize it, or reduce it to some such +character as that borne by the ordinary proceedings of mankind. And yet +this would be unavoidable; for that the organic creation was thus +progressive through a long space of time, rests on evidence which nothing +can overturn or gainsay. Some other idea must then be come to with +regard to _the mode_ in which the Divine Author proceeded in the organic +creation. Let us seek in the history of the earth’s formation for a new +suggestion on this point. We have seen powerful evidence, that the +construction of this globe and its associates, and inferentially that of +all the other globes of space, was the result, not of any immediate or +personal exertion on the part of the Deity, but of natural laws which are +expressions of his will. What is to hinder our supposing that the +organic creation is also a result of natural laws, which are in like +manner an expression of his will? More than this, the fact of the +cosmical arrangements being an effect of natural laws is a powerful +argument for the organic arrangements being so likewise, for how can we +suppose that the august Being who brought all these countless worlds into +form by the simple establishment of a natural principle flowing from his +mind, was to interfere personally and specially on every occasion when a +new shell-fish or reptile was to be ushered into existence on _one_ of +these worlds? Surely this idea is too ridiculous to be for a moment +entertained. + +It will be objected that the ordinary conceptions of Christian nations on +this subject are directly derived from Scripture, or, at least, are in +conformity with it. If they were clearly and unequivocally supported by +Scripture, it may readily be allowed that there would be a strong +objection to the reception of any opposite hypothesis. But the fact is, +however startling the present announcement of it may be, that the first +chapter of the Mosaic record is not only not in harmony with the ordinary +ideas of mankind respecting cosmical and organic creation, but is opposed +to them, and only in accordance with the views here taken. When we +carefully peruse it with awakened minds, we find that all the procedure +is represented primarily and pre-eminently as flowing _from commands and +expressions of will_, _not from direct acts_. Let there be light—let +there be a firmament—let the dry land appear—let the earth bring forth +grass, the herb, the tree—let the waters bring forth the moving creature +that hath life—let the earth bring forth the living creature after his +kind—these are the terms in which the principal acts are described. The +additional expressions,—God made the firmament—God made the beast of the +earth, &c., occur subordinately, and only in a few instances; they do not +necessarily convey a different idea of the mode of creation, and indeed +only appear as alternative phrases, in the usual duplicative manner of +Eastern narrative. Keeping this in view, the words used in a subsequent +place, “God _formed_ man in his own image,” cannot well be understood as +implying any more than what was implied before,—namely, that man was +produced in consequence of an expression of the Divine will to that +effect. Thus, the scriptural objection quickly vanishes, and the +prevalent ideas about the organic creation appear only as a mistaken +inference from the text, formed at a time when man’s ignorance prevented +him from drawing therefrom a just conclusion. At the same time, I freely +own that I do not think it right to adduce the Mosaic record, either in +objection to, or support of any natural hypothesis, and this for many +reasons, but particularly for this, that there is not the least +appearance of an intention in that book to give philosophically exact +views of nature. + +To a reasonable mind the Divine attributes must appear, not diminished or +reduced in any way, by supposing a creation by law, but infinitely +exalted. It is the narrowest of all views of the Deity, and +characteristic of a humble class of intellects, to suppose him acting +constantly in particular ways for particular occasions. It, for one +thing, greatly detracts from his foresight, the most undeniable of all +the attributes of Omnipotence. It lowers him towards the level of our +own humble intellects. Much more worthy of him it surely is, to suppose +that all things have been commissioned by him from the first, though +neither is he absent from a particle of the current of natural affairs in +one sense, seeing that the whole system is continually supported by his +providence. Even in human affairs, if I may be allowed to adopt a +familiar illustration, there is a constant progress from specific action +for particular occasions, to arrangements which, once established, shall +continue to answer for a great multitude of occasions. Such plans the +enlightened readily form for themselves, and conceive as being adopted by +all who have to attend to a multitude of affairs, while the ignorant +suppose every act of the greatest public functionary to be the result of +some special consideration and care on his part alone. Are we to suppose +the Deity adopting plans which harmonize only with the modes of procedure +of the less enlightened of our race? Those who would object to the +hypothesis of a creation by the intervention of law, do not perhaps +consider how powerful an argument in favour of the existence of God is +lost by rejecting this doctrine. When all is seen to be the result of +law, the idea of an Almighty Author becomes irresistible, for the +creation of a law for an endless series of phenomena—an act of +intelligence above all else that we can conceive—could have no other +imaginable source, and tells, moreover, as powerfully for a sustaining as +for an originating power. On this point a remark of Dr. Buckland seems +applicable: “If the properties adopted by the elements at the moment of +their creation adapted them beforehand to the infinity of complicated +useful purposes which they have already answered, and may have still +farther to answer, under many dispensations of the material world, such +an aboriginal constitution, so far from superseding an intelligent agent, +would only exalt our conceptions of the consummate skill and power that +could comprehend such an infinity of future uses under future systems, in +the original groundwork of his creation.” + +A late writer, in a work embracing a vast amount of miscellaneous +knowledge, but written in a dogmatic style, argues at great length for +the doctrine of more immediate exertions on the part of the Deity in the +works of his creation. One of the most striking of his illustrations is +as follows:—“The coral polypi, united by a common animal bond, construct +a defined form in stone; many kinds construct many forms. An allotted +instinct may permit each polypus to construct its own cell, but there is +no superintending one to direct the pattern, nor can the workers unite by +consultation for such an end. There is no recipient for an instinct by +which the pattern might be constructed. It is God alone, therefore, who +is the architect; and for this end, consequently, he must dispose of +every new polypus required to continue the pattern, in a new and peculiar +position, which the animal could not have discovered by itself. Yet +more, millions of these blind workers unite their works to form an +island, which is also wrought out according to a constant general +pattern, and of a very peculiar nature, though the separate coral works +are numerously diverse. Still less, then, here is an instinct possible. +The Great Architect himself must execute what he planned, in each case +equally. He uses these little and senseless animals as hands; but they +are hands which himself must direct. He must direct each one everywhere, +and therefore he is ever acting.” {159} This is a most notable example +of a dangerous kind of reasoning. It is now believed that corals have a +general life and sensation throughout the whole mass, residing in the +nervous tissue which envelops them; consequently, there is nothing more +wonderful in their determinate general forms than in those of other +animals. + +It may here be remarked that there is in our doctrine that harmony in all +the associated phenomena which generally marks great truths. First, it +agrees, as we have seen, with the idea of planet-creation by natural law. +Secondly, upon this supposition, all that geology tells us of the +succession of species appears natural and intelligible. Organic life +_presses in_, as has been remarked, wherever there was room and +encouragement for it, the forms being always such as suited the +circumstances, and in a certain relation to them, as, for example, where +the limestone-forming seas produced an abundance of corals, crinoidea, +and shell-fish. Admitting for a moment a re-origination of species after +a cataclysm, as has been surmised by some geologists, though the +hypothesis is always becoming less and less tenable, it harmonizes with +nothing so well as the idea of a creation by law. The more solitary +commencements of species, which would have been the most inconceivably +paltry exercise for an immediately creative power, are sufficiently +worthy of one operating by laws. + +It is also to be observed, that the thing to be accounted for is not +merely the origination of organic being upon this little planet, third of +a series which is but one of hundreds of thousands of series, the whole +of which again form but one portion of an apparently infinite +globe-peopled space, where all seems analogous. We have to suppose, that +every one of these numberless globes is either a theatre of organic +being, or in the way of becoming so. This is a conclusion which every +addition to our knowledge makes only the more irresistible. Is it +conceivable, as a fitting mode of exercise for creative intelligence, +that it should be constantly moving from one sphere to another, to form +and plant the various species which may be required in each situation at +particular times? Is such an idea accordant with our general conception +of the dignity, not to speak of the power, of the Great Author? Yet such +is the notion which we must form, if we adhere to the doctrine of special +exercise. Let us see, on the other hand, how the doctrine of a creation +by law agrees with this expanded view of the organic world. + +Unprepared as most men may be for such an announcement, there can be no +doubt that we are able, in this limited sphere, to form some satisfactory +conclusions as to the plants and animals of those other spheres which +move at such immense distances from us. Suppose that the first persons +of an early nation who made a ship and ventured to sea in it, observed, +as they sailed along, a set of objects which they had never before +seen—namely, a fleet of other ships—would they not have been justified in +supposing that those ships were occupied, like their own, by human beings +possessing hands to row and steer, eyes to watch the signs of the +weather, intelligence to guide them from one place to another—in short, +beings in all respects like themselves, or only shewing such differences +as they knew to be producible by difference of climate and habits of +life. Precisely in this manner we can speculate on the inhabitants of +remote spheres. We see that matter has originally been diffused in one +mass, of which the spheres are portions. Consequently, inorganic matter +must be presumed to be everywhere the same, although probably with +differences in the proportions of ingredients in different globes, and +also some difference of conditions. Out of a certain number of the +elements of inorganic matter are composed organic bodies, both vegetable +and animal; such must be the rule in Jupiter and in Sirius, as it is +here. We, therefore, are all but certain that herbaceous and ligneous +fibre, that flesh and blood, are the constituents of the organic beings +of all those spheres which are as yet seats of life. Gravitation we see +to be an all-pervading principle: therefore there must be a relation +between the spheres and their respective organic occupants, by virtue of +which they are fixed, as far as necessary, on the surface. Such a +relation, of course, involves details as to the density and elasticity of +structure, as well as size, of the organic tenants, in proportion to the +gravity of the respective planets—peculiarities, however, which may quite +well consist with the idea of a universality of general types, to which +we are about to come. Electricity we also see to be universal; if, +therefore, it be a principle concerned in life and in mental action, as +science strongly suggests, life and mental action must everywhere be of +one general character. We come to comparatively a matter of detail, when +we advert to heat and light; yet it is important to consider that these +are universal agents, and that, as they bear marked relations to organic +life and structure on earth, they may be presumed to do so in other +spheres also. The considerations as to light are particularly +interesting, for, on our globe, the structure of one important organ, +almost universally distributed in the animal kingdom, is in direct and +precise relation to it. Where there is light there will be eyes, and +these, in other spheres, will be the same in all respects as the eyes of +tellurian animals, with only such differences as may be necessary to +accord with minor peculiarities of condition and of situation. It is but +a small stretch of the argument to suppose that, one conspicuous organ of +a large portion of our animal kingdom being thus universal, a parity in +all the other organs—species for species, class for class, kingdom for +kingdom—is highly likely, and that thus the inhabitants of all the other +globes of space bear not only a general, but a particular resemblance to +those of our own. + +Assuming that organic beings are thus spread over all space, the idea of +their having all come into existence by the operation of laws everywhere +applicable, is only conformable to that principle, acknowledged to be so +generally visible in the affairs of Providence, to have all done by the +employment of the smallest possible amount of means. Thus, as one set of +laws produced all orbs and their motions and geognostic arrangements, so +one set of laws overspread them all with life. The whole productive or +creative arrangements are therefore in perfect unity. + + + + +PARTICULAR CONSIDERATIONS +RESPECTING +THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES. + + +THE general likelihood of an organic creation by law having been shewn, +we are next to inquire if science has any facts tending to bring the +assumption more nearly home to nature. Such facts there certainly are; +but it cannot be surprising that they are comparatively few and +scattered, when we consider that the inquiry is into one of nature’s +profoundest mysteries, and one which has hitherto engaged no direct +attention in almost any quarter. + +Crystallization is confessedly a phenomenon of inorganic matter; yet the +simplest rustic observer is struck by the resemblance which the examples +of it left upon a window by frost bear to vegetable forms. In some +crystallizations the mimicry is beautiful and complete; for example, in +the well-known one called the _Arbor Dianæ_. An amalgam of four parts of +silver and two of mercury being dissolved in nitric acid, and water equal +to thirty weights of the metals being added, a small piece of soft +amalgam of silver suspended in the solution, quickly gathers to itself +the particles of the silver of the amalgam, which form upon it a +_crystallization precisely resembling a shrub_. The experiment may be +varied in a way which serves better to detect the influence of +electricity in such operations, as noted below. {166} Vegetable figures +are also presented in some of the most ordinary appearances of the +electric fluid. In the marks caused by positive electricity, or which it +leaves in its passage, we see the ramifications of a tree, as well as of +its individual leaves; those of the negative, recal the bulbous or the +spreading root, according as they are clumped or divergent. These +phenomena seem to say that the electric energies have had something to do +in determining the forms of plants. That they are intimately connected +with vegetable life is indubitable, for germination will not proceed in +water charged with negative electricity, while water charged positively +greatly favours it; and a garden sensibly increases in luxuriance, when a +number of conducting rods are made to terminate in branches over its +beds. With regard to the resemblance of the ramifications of the +branches and leaves of plants to the traces of the positive electricity, +and that of the roots to the negative, it is a circumstance calling for +especial remark, that the atmosphere, particularly its lower strata, is +generally charged positively, while the earth is always charged +negatively. The correspondence here is curious. A plant thus appears as +a thing formed on the basis of a natural electrical operation—the _brush_ +realized. We can thus suppose the various forms of plants as, +immediately, the result of a law in electricity variously affecting them +according to their organic character, or respective germinal +constituents. In the poplar, the brush is unusually vertical, and little +divergent; the reverse in the beech: in the palm, a pencil has proceeded +straight up for a certain distance, radiates there, and turns outwards +and downwards; and so on. We can here see at least traces of secondary +means by which the Almighty Deviser might establish all the vegetable +forms with which the earth is overspread. + +Vegetable and animal bodies are mainly composed of the same four simple +substances or elements—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The first +combinations of these in animals are into what are called proximate +principles, as albumen, fibrin, urea, alantoin, &c., out of which the +structure of the animal body is composed. Now the chemist, by the +association of two parts oxygen, four hydrogen, two carbon, and two +nitrogen, can _make urea_. Alantoin has also been produced artificially. +Two of the proximate principles being realizable by human care, the +possibility of realizing or forming all is established. Thus the chemist +may be said to have it in his power to realize the first step in +organization. {169a} Indeed, it is fully acknowledged by Dr. Daubeny, +that in the combinations forming the proximate principles there is no +chemical peculiarity. “It is now certain,” he says, “that the same +simple laws of composition pervade the whole creation; and that, if the +organic chemist only takes the requisite precautions to avoid resolving +into their ultimate elements the proximate principles upon which he +operates, the results of his analysis will shew that they are combined +precisely according to the same plan as the elements of mineral bodies +are known to be.” {169b} A particular fact is here worthy of attention. +“The conversion of fecula into sugar, as one of the ordinary processes of +vegetable economy, is effected by the production of a secretion termed +_diastose_, which occasions both the rupture of the starch vesicles, and +the change of their contained gum into sugar. This diastose may be +separately obtained by the chemist, and it acts as effectually in his +laboratory as in the vegetable organization. He can also imitate its +effects by other chemical agents.” {170} The writer quoted below adds, +“No reasonable ground has yet been adduced for supposing that, if we had +the power of bringing together the elements of any organic compound, in +their requisite states and proportions, the result would be any other +than that which is found in the living body.” + +It is much to know the elements out of which organic bodies are composed. +It is something more to know their first combinations, and that these are +simply chemical. How these combinations are associated in the structure +of living bodies is the next inquiry, but it is one to which as yet no +satisfactory answer can be given. The investigation of the minutiæ of +organic structure by the microscope is of such recent origin, that its +results cannot be expected to be very clear. Some facts, however, are +worthy of attention with regard to the present inquiry. It is +ascertained that the basis of all vegetable and animal substances +consists of nucleated cells; that is, cells having granules within them. +Nutriment is converted into these before being assimilated by the system. +The tissues are formed from them. The ovum destined to become a new +creature, is originally only a cell with a contained granule. We see it +acting this reproductive part in the simplest manner in the cryptogamic +plants. “The parent cell, arrived at maturity by the exercise of its +organic functions, bursts, and liberates its contained granules. These, +at once thrown upon their own resources, and entirely dependent for their +nutrition on the surrounding elements, develop themselves into new cells, +which repeat the life of their original. Amongst the higher tribes of +the cryptogamia, the reproductive cell does not burst, but the first +cells of the new structure are developed within it, and these gradually +extend, by a similar process of multiplication, into that primary +leaf-like expansion which is the first formed structure in all plants.” +{171} _Here the little cell becomes directly a plant_, _the full formed +living being_. It is also worthy of remark that, in the sponges, (an +animal form,) a gemmule detached from the body of the parent, and +trusting for sustentation only to the fluid into which it has been cast, +becomes, without further process, the new creature. Further, it has been +recently discovered by means of the microscope, that there is, as far as +can be judged, a perfect resemblance between the ovum of the mammal +tribes, during that early stage when it is passing through the oviduct, +and the young of the infusory animalcules. One of the most remarkable of +these, the _volvox globator_, has exactly the form of the germ which, +after passing through a long fœtal progress, becomes a complete mammifer, +an animal of the highest class. It has even been found that both are +alike provided with those _cilia_, which, producing a revolving motion, +or its appearance, is partly the cause of the name given to this +animalcule. These resemblances are the more entitled to notice, that +they were made by various observers, distant from each other at the time. +{172} It has likewise been noted that the globules of the blood are +reproduced by the expansion of contained granules; they are, in short, +_distinct organisms multiplied by the same fissiparous generation_. So +that all animated nature may be said to be based on this mode of origin; +_the fundamental form of organic being is a globule_, _having a new +globule forming within itself_, by which it is in time discharged, and +which is again followed by another and another, in endless succession. +It is of course obvious that, if these globules could be produced by any +process from inorganic elements, we should be entitled to say that the +fact of a transit from the inorganic into the organic had been witnessed +in that instance; the possibility of the commencement of animated +creation by the ordinary laws of nature might be considered as +established. Now it was given out some years ago by a French +physiologist, that _globules could be produced in albumen by +electricity_. If, therefore, these globules be identical with the cells +which are now held to be reproductive, it might be said that the +production of albumen by artificial means is the only step in the process +wanting. This has not yet been effected; but it is known to be only a +chemical process, the mode of which may be any day discovered in the +laboratory, and two compounds perfectly co-ordinate, urea and alantoin, +have actually been produced. + +In such an investigation as the present, it is not unworthy of notice +that the production of shell is a natural operation which can be +precisely imitated artificially. Such an incrustation takes place on +both the outside and inside of the wheel in a bleaching establishment, in +which cotton cloth is rinsed free of the lime employed in its +purification. From the _dressing_ employed by the weaver, the cloth +obtains the animal matter, _gelatin_; this and the lime form the +constituents of the incrustation, exactly as in natural shell. In the +wheel employed at Catrine, in Ayrshire, where the phenomenon was first +observed by the eye of science, it had required ten years to produce a +coating the tenth of an inch in thickness. This incrustation has all the +characters of shell, displaying a highly polished surface, beautifully +iridescent, and, when broken, a foliated texture. The examination of it +has even thrown some light on the character and mode of formation of +natural shell. “The plates into which the substance is divisible have +been formed in succession, and certain intervals of time have elapsed +between their formation; in general, every two contiguous laminæ are +separated by a thin iridescent film, varying from the three to the fifty +millionth part of an inch in thickness, and producing all the various +colours of thin plates which correspond to intermediate thicknesses: +between some of the laminæ no such film exists, probably in consequence +of the interval of time between their formation being too short; and +between others the film has been formed of unequal thickness. There can +be no doubt that these iridescent films are formed when the dash-wheel is +at rest during the night, and that when no film exists between two +laminæ, an interval too short for its formation, (arising, perhaps, from +the stopping of the work during the day,) has elapsed during the drying +or induration of one lamina and the deposition of another.” {175} From +this it has been deduced, by a patient investigation, that those colours +of mother-of-pearl, which are incommunicable to wax, arise from +iridescent films deposited between the laminæ of its structure, and it is +hence inferred that _the animal_, like the wheel, _rests periodically +from its labours in forming the natural substance_. + +These, it will be owned, are curious and not irrelevant facts; but it +will be asked what actual experience says respecting the origination of +life. Are there, it will be said, any authentic instances of either +plants or animals, of however humble and simple a kind, having come into +existence otherwise than in the ordinary way of generation, since the +time of which geology forms the record? It may be answered, that the +negative of this question could not be by any means formidable to the +doctrine of law-creation, seeing that the conditions necessary for the +operation of the supposed life-creating laws may not have existed within +record to any great extent. On the other hand, as we see the physical +laws of early times still acting with more or less force, it might not be +unreasonable to expect that we should still see some remnants, or partial +and occasional workings of the life-creating energy amidst a system of +things generally stable and at rest. Are there, then, any such remnants +to be traced in our own day, or during man’s existence upon earth? If +there be, it clearly would form a strong evidence in favour of the +doctrine, as what now takes place upon a confined scale and in a +comparatively casual manner may have formerly taken place on a great +scale, and as the proper and eternity-destined means of supplying a +vacant globe with suitable tenants. It will at the same time be observed +that, the earth being now supplied with both kinds of tenants in great +abundance, we only could expect to find the life-originating power at +work in some very special and extraordinary circumstances, and probably +only in the inferior and obscurer departments of the vegetable and animal +kingdoms. + +Perhaps, if the question were asked of ten men of approved reputation in +science, nine out of the number would answer in the negative. This is +because, in a great number of instances where the superficial observers +of former times assumed a non-generative origin for life, (as in the +celebrated case in Virgil’s fourth Georgic,) either the direct contrary +has been ascertained, or exhaustive experiments have left no alternative +from the conclusion that ordinary generation did take place, albeit in a +manner which escapes observation. Finding that an erroneous assumption +has been formed in many cases, modern inquirers have not hesitated to +assume that there can be no case in which generation is not concerned; an +assumption not only unwarranted by, but directly opposed to, the +principles of philosophical investigation. Yet this is truly the point +at which the question now rests in the scientific world. + +I have no wish here to enter largely into a subject so wide and so full +of difficulties; but I may remark, that the explanations usually +suggested where life takes its rise without apparent generative means, +always appear to me to partake much of the fallacy of the _petitio +principii_. When, for instance, lime is laid down upon a piece of waste +moss ground, and a crop of white clover for which no seeds were sown is +the consequence, the explanation that the seeds have been dormant there +for an unknown time, and were stimulated into germination when the lime +produced the appropriate circumstances, appears extremely unsatisfactory, +especially when we know that (as in an authentic case under my notice) +the spot is many miles from where clover is cultivated, and that there is +nothing for six feet below but pure peat moss, clover seeds being, +moreover, known to be too heavy to be transported, as many other seeds +are, by the winds. Mushrooms, we know, can be propagated by their seed; +but another mode of raising them, well known to the gardener, is to mix +cow and horse dung together, and thus form a bed in which they are +expected to grow without any seed being planted. It is assumed that the +seeds are carried by the atmosphere, unperceived by us, and, finding here +an appropriate field for germination, germinate accordingly; but this is +only assumption, and though designed to be on the side of a severe +philosophy, in reality makes a pretty large demand on credulity. There +are several persons eminent in science who profess at least to find great +difficulties in accepting the doctrine of invariable generation. One of +these, in the work noted below, {179a} has stated several considerations +arising from analogical reasoning, which appear to him to throw the +balance of evidence in favour of the aboriginal production of infusoria, +{179b} the vegetation called mould, and the like. One seems to be of +great force; namely, that the animalcules, which are supposed (altogether +hypothetically) to be produced by ova, are afterwards found increasing +their numbers, not by that mode at all, but by division of their bodies. +If it be the nature of these creatures to propagate in this splitting or +fissiparous manner, how could they be communicated to a vegetable +infusion? Another fact of very high importance is presented in the +following terms:—“The nature of the animalcule, or vegetable production, +bears a constant relation to the state of the infusion, so that, in +similar circumstances, the same are always produced without this being +influenced by the atmosphere. There seems to be a certain _progressive +advance in the productive powers of the infusion_, for at the first the +animalcules are only of the smaller kinds, or monades, and afterwards +_they become gradually larger and more complicated in their structure_; +_after a time_, _the production ceases_, _although the materials are by +no means exhausted_. When the quantity of water is very small, and the +organic matter abundant, the production is usually of a vegetable nature; +when there is much water, animalcules are more frequently produced.” It +has been shewn by the opponents of this theory, that when a vegetable +infusion is debarred from the contact of the atmosphere, by being closely +sealed up or covered with a layer of oil, no animalcules are produced; +but it has been said, on the other hand, that the exclusion of the air +may prevent some simple condition necessary for the aboriginal +development of life—and nothing is more likely. Perhaps the prevailing +doctrine is in nothing placed in greater difficulties than it is with +regard to the entozoa, or creatures which live within the bodies of +others. These creatures do, and apparently can, live nowhere else than +in the interior of other living bodies, where they generally take up +their abode in the viscera, but also sometimes in the chambers of the +eye, the interior of the brain, the serous sacs, and other places having +no communication from without. Some are viviparous, others oviparous. +Of the latter it cannot reasonably be supposed that the ova ever pass +through the medium of the air, or through the blood-vessels, for they are +too heavy for the one transit, and too large for the other. Of the +former, it cannot be conceived how they pass into young animals—certainly +not by communication from the parent, for it has often been found that +entozoa do not appear in certain generations, and some of peculiar and +noted character have only appeared at rare intervals, and in very +extraordinary circumstances. A candid view of the less popular doctrine, +as to the origin of this humble form of life, is taken by a distinguished +living naturalist. “To explain the beginning of these worms within the +human body, on the common doctrine that all created beings proceed from +their likes, or a primordial egg, is so difficult, that the moderns have +been driven to speculate, as our fathers did, on their spontaneous birth; +but they have received the hypothesis with some modification. Thus it is +not from putrefaction or fermentation that the entozoa are born, for both +of these processes are rather fatal to their existence, but from the +aggregation and fit apposition of matter which is already organized, or +has been thrown from organized surfaces. Their origin in this manner is +not more wonderful or more inexplicable than that of many of the inferior +animals from sections of themselves. * * Particles of matter fitted by +digestion, and their transmission through a living body, for immediate +assimilation with it, or flakes of lymph detached from surfaces already +organized, seem neither to exceed nor fall below that simplicity of +structure which favours this wonderful development; and the supposition +that, like morsels of a planaria, they may also, when retained in contact +with living parts, and in other favourable circumstances, continue to +live and be gradually changed into creatures of analogous conformation, +is surely not so absurd as to be brought into comparison with the +Metamorphoses of Ovid. * * We think the hypothesis is also supported in +some degree by the fact, that the origin of the entozoa is favoured by +all causes which tend to disturb the equality between the secerning and +absorbent systems.” {182} Here particles of organized matter are +suggested as the germinal origin of distinct and fully organized animals, +many of which have a highly developed reproductive system. How near such +particles must be to the inorganic form of matter may be judged from what +has been said within the last few pages. If, then, this view of the +production of entozoa be received, it must be held as in no small degree +favourable to the general doctrine of an organic creation by law. + +There is another series of facts, akin to the above, and which deserve +not less attention. The pig, in its domestic state, is subject to the +attacks of a hydatid, from which the wild animal is free; hence the +disease called measles in pork. The domestication of the pig is of +course an event subsequent to the origin of man; indeed, comparatively +speaking, a recent event. Whence, then, the first progenitor of this +hydatid? So also there is a tinea which attacks dressed wool, but never +touches it in its unwashed state. A particular insect disdains all food +but chocolate, and the larva of the _oinopota cellaris_ lives nowhere but +in wine and beer, all of these being articles manufactured by man. There +is likewise a creature called the _pimelodes cyclopum_, which is only +found in subterranean cavities connected with certain specimens of the +volcanic formation in South America, dating from a time posterior to the +arrangements of the earth for our species. Whence the first pymelodes +cyclopum? Will it, to a geologist, appear irrational to suppose that, +just as the pterodactyle was added in the era of the new red sandstone, +when the earth had become suited for such a creature, so may these +creatures have been added when media suitable for their existence arose, +and that such phenomena may take place any day, the only cause for their +taking place seldom being the rarity of the rise of new physical +conditions on a globe which seems to have already undergone the principal +part of its destined mutations? + +Between such isolated facts and the greater changes which attended +various geological eras, it is not easy to see any difference, besides +simply that of the scale on which the respective phenomena took place, as +the throwing off of one copy from an engraved plate is exactly the same +process as that by which a thousand are thrown off. Nothing is more easy +to conceive than that to Creative Providence, the numbers of such +phenomena, the time when, and the circumstances under which they take +place, are indifferent matters. The Eternal One has arranged for +everything beforehand, and trusted all to the operation of the laws of +his appointment, himself being ever present in all things. We can even +conceive that man, in his many doings upon the surface of the earth, may +occasionally, without his being aware of it, or otherwise, act as an +instrument in preparing the association of conditions under which the +creative laws work; and perhaps some instances of his having acted as +such an instrument have actually occurred in our own time. + +I allude, of course, to the experiments conducted a few years ago by Mr. +Crosse, which seemed to result in the production of a heretofore unknown +species of insect in considerable numbers. Various causes have prevented +these experiments and their results from receiving candid treatment, but +they may perhaps be yet found to have opened up a new and most +interesting chapter of nature’s mysteries. Mr. Crosse was pursuing some +experiments in crystallization, causing a powerful voltaic battery to +operate upon a saturated solution of silicate of potash, when the insects +unexpectedly made their appearance. He afterwards tried nitrate of +copper, which is a deadly poison, and from that fluid also did live +insects emerge. Discouraged by the reception of his experiments, Mr. +Crosse soon discontinued them; but they were some years after pursued by +Mr. Weekes, of Sandwich, with precisely the same results. This +gentleman, besides trying the first of the above substances, employed +ferro-cyanet of potash, on account of its containing a larger proportion +of carbon, the principal element of organic bodies; and from this +substance the insects were produced _in increased numbers_. A few weeks +sufficed for this experiment, with the powerful battery of Mr. Crosse; +but the first attempts of Mr. Weekes required about eleven months, a +ground of presumption in itself that the electricity was chiefly +concerned in the phenomenon. The changes undergone by the fluid operated +upon, were in both cases remarkable, and nearly alike. In Mr. Weekes’ +apparatus, the silicate of potash became first turbid, then of a milky +appearance; round the negative wire of the battery, dipped into the +fluid, there gathered a quantity of _gelatinous matter_, a part of the +process of considerable importance, considering that gelatin is one of +the _proximate principles_, or first compounds, of which animal bodies +are formed. From this matter Mr. Weekes observed one of the insects in +the very act of emerging, immediately after which, it ascended to the +surface of the fluid, and sought concealment in an obscure corner of the +apparatus. The insects produced by both experimentalists seem to have +been the same, a species of acarus, minute and semi-transparent, and +furnished with long bristles, which can only be seen by the aid of the +microscope. It is worthy of remark, that some of these insects, soon +after their existence had commenced, were found to be likely to extend +their species. They were sometimes observed to go back to the fluid to +feed, and occasionally they devoured each other. {187} + +The reception of novelties in science must ever be regulated very much by +the amount of kindred or relative phenomena which the public mind already +possesses and acknowledges, to which the new can be assimilated. A +novelty, however true, if there be no received truths with which it can +be shewn in harmonious relation, has little chance of a favourable +hearing. In fact, as has been often observed, there is a measure of +incredulity from our ignorance as well as from our knowledge, and if the +most distinguished philosopher three hundred years ago had ventured to +develop any striking new fact which only could harmonize with the as yet +unknown Copernican solar system, we cannot doubt that it would have been +universally scoffed at in the scientific world, such as it then was, or +at the best interpreted in a thousand wrong ways in conformity with ideas +already familiar. The experiments above described, finding a public mind +which had never discovered a fact or conceived an idea at all analogous, +were of course ungraciously received. It was held to be impious, even to +surmise that animals could have been formed through any instrumentality +of an apparatus devised by human skill. The more likely account of the +phenomena was said to be, that the insects were only developed from ova, +resting either in the fluid, or in the wooden frame on which the +experiments took place. On these objections the following remarks may be +made. The supposition of impiety arises from an entire misconception of +what is implied by an aboriginal creation of insects. The +experimentalist could never be considered as the author of the existence +of these creatures, except by the most unreasoning ignorance. The utmost +that can be claimed for, or imputed to him is that he arranged the +natural conditions under which the true creative energy—that of the +Divine Author of all things—was pleased to work in that instance. On the +hypothesis here brought forward, the _acarus Crossii_ was a type of being +ordained from the beginning, and destined to be realized under certain +physical conditions. When a human hand brought these conditions into the +proper arrangement, it did an act akin to hundreds of familiar ones which +we execute every day, and which are followed by natural results; but it +did nothing more. The production of the insect, if it did take place as +assumed, was as clearly an act of the Almighty himself, as if he had +fashioned it with hands. For the presumption that an act of aboriginal +creation did take place, there is this to be said, that, in Mr. Weekes’s +experiment, every care that ingenuity could devise was taken to exclude +the possibility of a development of the insects from ova. The wood of +the frame was baked in a powerful heat; a bell-shaped glass covered the +apparatus, and from this the atmosphere was excluded by the constantly +rising fumes from the liquid, for the emission of which there was an +aperture so arranged at the top of the glass, that only these fumes could +pass. The water was distilled, and the substance of the silicate had +been subjected to white heat. Thus every source of fallacy seemed to be +shut up. In such circumstances, a candid mind, which sees nothing either +impious or unphilosophical in the idea of a new creation, will be +disposed to think that there is less difficulty in believing in such a +creation having actually taken place, than in believing that, in two +instances, separated in place and time, exactly the same insects should +have chanced to arise from concealed ova, and these a species heretofore +unknown. + + + + +HYPOTHESIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT +OF THE +VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS. + + +IT has been already intimated, as a general fact, that there is an +obvious gradation amongst the families of both the vegetable and animal +kingdoms, from the simple lichen and animalcule respectively up to the +highest order of dicotyledonous trees and the mammalia. Confining our +attention, in the meantime, to the animal kingdom—it does not appear that +this gradation passes along one line, on which every form of animal life +can be, as it were, strung; there may be branching or double lines at +some places; or the whole may be in a circle composed of minor circles, +as has been recently suggested. But still it is incontestable that there +are general appearances of a scale beginning with the simple and +advancing to the complicated. The animal kingdom was divided by Cuvier +into four sub-kingdoms, or divisions, and these exhibit an unequivocal +gradation in the order in which they are here enumerated:—Radiata, +(polypes, &c.;) mollusca, (pulpy animals;) articulata, (jointed animals;) +vertebrata, (animals with internal skeleton.) The gradation can, in like +manner, be clearly traced in the _classes_ into which the sub-kingdoms +are subdivided, as, for instance, when we take those of the vertebrata in +this order—reptiles, fishes, birds, mammals. + +While the external forms of all these various animals are so different, +it is very remarkable that the whole are, after all, variations of a +fundamental plan, which can be traced as a basis throughout the whole, +the variations being merely modifications of that plan to suit the +particular conditions in which each particular animal has been designed +to live. Starting from the primeval germ, which, as we have seen, is the +representative of a particular order of full-grown animals, we find all +others to be merely advances from that type, with the extension of +endowments and modification of forms which are required in each +particular case; each form, also, retaining a strong affinity to that +which precedes it, and tending to impress its own features on that which +succeeds. This unity of structure, as it is called, becomes the more +remarkable, when we observe that the organs, while preserving a +resemblance, are often put to different uses. For example: the ribs +become, in the serpent, organs of locomotion, and the snout is extended, +in the elephant, into a prehensile instrument. + +It is equally remarkable that analogous purposes are served in different +animals by organs essentially different. Thus, the mammalia breathe by +lungs; the fishes, by gills. These are not modifications of one organ, +but distinct organs. In mammifers, the gills exist and act at an early +stage of the fœtal state, but afterwards go back and appear no more; +while the lungs are developed. In fishes, again, the gills only are +fully developed; while the lung structure either makes no advance at all, +or only appears in the rudimentary form of an air-bladder. So, also, the +baleen of the whale and the teeth of the land mammalia are different +organs. The whale, in embryo, shews the rudiments of teeth; but these, +not being wanted, are not developed, and the baleen is brought forward +instead. The land animals, we may also be sure, have the rudiments of +baleen in their organization. In many instances, a particular structure +is found advanced to a certain point in a particular set of animals, (for +instance, feet in the serpent tribe,) although it is not there required +in any degree; but the peculiarity, being carried a little farther +forward, is perhaps useful in the next set of animals in the scale. Such +are called rudimentary organs. With this class of phenomena are to be +ranked the useless mammæ of the male human being, and the unrequired +process of bone in the male opossum, which is needed in the female for +supporting her pouch. Such curious features are most conspicuous in +animals which form links between various classes. + +As formerly stated, the marsupials, standing at the bottom of the +mammalia, shew their affinity to the oviparous vertebrata, by the +rudiments of two canals passing from near the anus to the external +surfaces of the viscera, which are fully developed in fishes, being +required by them for the respiration of aerated waters, but which are not +needed by the atmosphere-breathing marsupials. We have also the peculiar +form of the sternum and rib-bones of the lizards _represented_ in the +mammalia in certain white cartilaginous lines traceable among their +abdominal muscles. The struphionidæ (birds of the ostrich type) form a +link between birds and mammalia, and in them we find the wings +imperfectly or not at all developed, a diaphragm and urinary sac, (organs +wanting in other birds,) and feathers approaching the nature of hair. +Again, the ornithorynchus belongs to a class at the bottom of the +mammalia, and approximating to birds, and in it behold the bill and +web-feet of that order! + +For further illustration, it is obvious that, various as may be the +lengths of the upper part of the vertebral column in the mammalia, it +always consists of the same parts. The giraffe has in its tall neck the +same number of bones with the pig, which scarcely appears to have a neck +at all. {195} Man, again, has no tail; but the notion of a +much-ridiculed philosopher of the last century is not altogether, as it +happens, without foundation, for the bones of a caudal extremity exist in +an undeveloped state in the _os coccygis_ of the human subject. The +limbs of all the vertebrate animals are, in like manner, on one plan, +however various they may appear. In the hind-leg of a horse, for +example, the angle called the hock is the same part which in us forms the +heel; and the horse, and all other quadrupeds, with almost the solitary +exception of the bear, walk, in reality, upon what answers to the toes of +a human being. In this and many other quadrupeds the fore part of the +extremities is shrunk up in a hoof, as the tail of the human being is +shrunk up in the bony mass at the bottom of the back. The bat, on the +other hand, has these parts largely developed. The membrane, commonly +called its wing, is framed chiefly upon bones answering precisely to +those of the human hand; its extinct congener, the pterodactyle, had the +same membrane extended upon the fore-finger only, which in that animal +was prolonged to an extraordinary extent. In the paddles of the whale +and other animals of its order, we see the same bones as in the more +highly developed extremities of the land mammifers; and even the serpent +tribes, which present no external appearance of such extremities, possess +them in reality, but in an undeveloped or rudimental state. + +The same law of development presides over the vegetable kingdom. Amongst +phanerogamous plants, a certain number of organs appear to be always +present, either in a developed or rudimentary state; and those which are +rudimentary can be developed by cultivation. The flowers which bear +stamens on one stalk and pistils on another, can be caused to produce +both, or to become perfect flowers, by having a sufficiency of +nourishment supplied to them. So also, where a special function is +required for particular circumstances, nature has provided for it, not by +a new organ, but by a modification of a common one, which she has +effected in development. Thus, for instance, some plants destined to +live in arid situations, require to have a store of water which they may +slowly absorb. The need is arranged for by a cup-like expansion round +the stalk, in which water remains after a shower. Now the _pitcher_, as +this is called, is not a new organ, but simply a metamorphose of a leaf. + +These facts clearly shew how all the various organic forms of our world +are bound up in one—how a fundamental unity pervades and embraces them +all, collecting them, from the humblest lichen up to the highest +mammifer, in one system, the whole creation of which must have depended +upon one law or decree of the Almighty, though it did not all come forth +at one time. After what we have seen, the idea of a separate exertion +for each must appear totally inadmissible. The single fact of abortive +or rudimentary organs condemns it; for these, on such a supposition, +could be regarded in no other light than as blemishes or blunders—the +thing of all others most irreconcilable with that idea of Almighty +Perfection which a general view of nature so irresistibly conveys. On +the other hand, when the organic creation is admitted to have been +effected by a general law, we see nothing in these abortive parts but +harmless peculiarities of development, and interesting evidences of the +manner in which the Divine Author has been pleased to work. + +We have yet to advert to the most interesting class of facts connected +with the laws of organic development. It is only in recent times that +physiologists have observed that each animal passes, in the course of its +germinal history, through a series of changes resembling the _permanent +forms_ of the various orders of animals inferior to it in the scale. +Thus, for instance, an insect, standing at the head of the articulated +animals, is, in the larva state, a true annelid, or worm, the annelida +being the lowest in the same class. The embryo of a crab resembles the +perfect animal of the inferior order myriapoda, and passes through all +the forms of transition which characterize the intermediate tribes of +crustacea. The frog, for some time after its birth, is a fish with +external gills, and other organs fitting it for an aquatic life, all of +which are changed as it advances to maturity, and becomes a land animal. +The mammifer only passes through still more stages, according to its +higher place in the scale. Nor is man himself exempt from this law. His +first form is that which is permanent in the animalcule. His +organization gradually passes through conditions generally resembling a +fish, a reptile, a bird, and the lower mammalia, before it attains its +specific maturity. At one of the last stages of his fœtal career, he +exhibits an intermaxillary bone, which is characteristic of the perfect +ape; this is suppressed, and he may then be said to take leave of the +simial type, and become a true human creature. Even, as we shall see, +the varieties of his race are represented in the progressive development +of an individual of the highest, before we see the adult Caucasian, the +highest point yet attained in the animal scale. + +To come to particular points of the organization. The brain of man, +which exceeds that of all other animals in complexity of organization and +fulness of development, is, at one early period, only “a simple fold of +nervous matter, with difficulty distinguishable into three parts, while a +little tail-like prolongation towards the hinder parts, and which had +been the first to appear, is the only representation of a spinal marrow. +Now, in this state it perfectly resembles the brain of an adult fish, +thus assuming _in transitu_ the form that in the fish is permanent. In a +short time, however, the structure is become more complex, the parts more +distinct, the spinal marrow better marked; it is now the brain of a +reptile. The change continues; by a singular motion, certain parts +(_corpora quadragemina_) which had hitherto appeared on the upper +surface, now pass towards the lower; the former is their permanent +situation in fishes and reptiles, the latter in birds and mammalia. This +is another advance in the scale, but more remains yet to be done. The +complication of the organ increases; cavities termed _ventricles_ are +formed, which do not exist in fishes, reptiles, or birds; curiously +organized parts, such as the corpora striata, are added; it is now the +brain of the mammalia. Its last and final change alone seems wanting, +that which shall render it the brain of MAN.” {201} And this change in +time takes place. + +So also with the heart. This organ, in the mammalia, consists of four +cavities, but in the reptiles of only three, and in fishes of two only, +while in the articulated animals it is merely a prolonged tube. Now in +the mammal fœtus, at a certain early stage, the organ has the form of a +prolonged tube; and a human being may be said to have then the heart of +an insect. Subsequently it is shortened and widened, and becomes divided +by a contraction into two parts, a ventricle and an auricle; it is now +the heart of a fish. A subdivision of the auricle afterwards makes a +triple-chambered form, as in the heart of the reptile tribes; lastly, the +ventricle being also subdivided, it becomes a full mammal heart. + +Another illustration here presents itself with the force of the most +powerful and interesting analogy. Some of the earliest fishes of our +globe, those of the Old Red Sandstone, present, as we have seen, certain +peculiarities, as the one-sided tail and an inferior position of the +mouth. No fishes of the present day, in a mature state, are so +characterized; but some, at a certain stage of their existence, have such +peculiarities. It occurred to a geologist to inquire if the fish which +existed before the Old Red Sandstone had any peculiarities assimilating +them to the fœtal condition of existing fish, and particularly if they +were small. The first which occur before the time of the Old Red +Sandstone, are those described by Mr. Murchison, as belonging to the +Upper Ludlow Rocks; _they are all rather small_. Still older are those +detected by Mr. Philips, in the Aymestry Limestone, being the most +ancient of the class which have as yet been discovered; _these are so +extremely minute as only to be distinguishable by the microscope_. Here +we apparently have very clear demonstrations of a parity, or rather +identity, of laws presiding over the development of the animated tribes +on the face of the earth, and that of the individual in embryo. + +The tendency of all these illustrations is to make us look to +_development_ as the principle which has been immediately concerned in +the peopling of this globe, a process extending over a vast space of +time, but which is nevertheless connected in character with the briefer +process by which an individual being is evoked from a simple germ. What +mystery is there here—and how shall I proceed to enunciate the conception +which I have ventured to form of what may prove to be its proper +solution! It is an idea by no means calculated to impress by its +greatness, or to puzzle by its profoundness. It is an idea more marked +by simplicity than perhaps any other of those which have explained the +great secrets of nature. But in this lies, perhaps, one of its strongest +claims to the faith of mankind. + +The whole train of animated beings, from the simplest and oldest up to +the highest and most recent, are, then, to be regarded as a series of +_advances of the principle of development_, which have depended upon +external physical circumstances, to which the resulting animals are +appropriate. I contemplate the whole phenomena as having been in the +first place arranged in the counsels of Divine Wisdom, to take place, not +only upon this sphere, but upon all the others in space, under necessary +modifications, and as being carried on, from first to last, here and +elsewhere, under immediate favour of the creative will or energy. {204} +The nucleated vesicle, the fundamental form of all organization, we must +regard as the meeting-point between the inorganic and the organic—the end +of the mineral and beginning of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, which +thence start in different directions, but in perfect parallelism and +analogy. We have already seen that this nucleated vesicle is itself a +type of mature and independent being in the infusory animalcules, as well +as the starting point of the fœtal progress of every higher individual in +creation, both animal and vegetable. We have seen that it is a form of +being which electric agency will produce—though not perhaps usher into +full life—in albumen, one of those compound elements of animal bodies, of +which another (urea) has been made by artificial means. Remembering +these things, we are drawn on to the supposition, that the first step in +the creation of life upon this planet was _a chemico-electric operation_, +_by which simple germinal vesicles were produced_. This is so much, but +what were the next steps? Let a common vegetable infusion help us to an +answer. There, as we have seen, simple forms are produced at first, but +afterwards they become more complicated, until at length the +life-producing powers of the infusion are exhausted. Are we to presume +that, in this case, the simple engender the complicated? Undoubtedly, +this would not be more wonderful as a natural process than one which we +never think of wondering at, because familiar to us—namely, that in the +gestation of the mammals, the animalcule-like ovum of a few days is the +parent, in a sense, of the chick-like form of a few weeks, and that in +all the subsequent stages—fish, reptile, &c.—the one may, with scarcely a +metaphor, be said to be the progenitor of the other. I suggest, then, as +an hypothesis already countenanced by much that is ascertained, and +likely to be further sanctioned by much that remains to be known, that +the first step was _an advance under favour of peculiar conditions_, +_from the simplest forms of being_, _to the next more complicated_, _and +this through the medium of the ordinary process of generation_. + +Unquestionably, what we ordinarily see of nature is calculated to impress +a conviction that each species invariably produces its like. But I would +here call attention to a remarkable illustration of natural law which has +been brought forward by Mr. Babbage, in his _Ninth Bridgewater Treatise_. +The reader is requested to suppose himself seated before the calculating +machine, and observing it. It is moved by a weight, and there is a wheel +which revolves through a small angle round its axis, at short intervals, +presenting to his eye successively, a series of numbers engraved on its +divided circumference. + +Let the figures thus seen be the series, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c., of natural +numbers, each of which exceeds its immediate antecedent by unity. + +“Now, reader,” says Mr. Babbage, “let me ask you how long you will have +counted before you are firmly convinced that the engine has been so +adjusted, that it will continue, while its motion is maintained, to +produce the same series of natural numbers? Some minds are so +constituted, that, after passing the first hundred terms, they will be +satisfied that they are acquainted with the law. After seeing five +hundred terms few will doubt, and after the fifty thousandth term the +propensity to believe that the succeeding term will be fifty thousand and +one, will be almost irresistible. That term _will_ be fifty thousand and +one; and the same regular succession will continue; the five millionth +and the fifty millionth term will still appear in their expected order, +and one unbroken chain of natural numbers will pass before your eyes, +from _one_ up to _one hundred million_. + +“True to the vast induction which has been made, the next succeeding term +will be one hundred million and one; but the next number presented by the +rim of the wheel, instead of being one hundred million and two, is one +hundred million _ten thousand_ and two. The whole series from the +commencement being thus,— + + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + . + . . + . . . + 99,999,999 + 100,000,000 +regularly as far as 100,000,001 + 100,010,002 the law changes. + 100,030,003 + 100,060,004 + 100,100,005 + 100,150,006 + 100,210,007 + 100,280,008 + . . . + . . . + . . . + +“The law which seemed at first to govern this series failed at the +hundred million and second term. This term is larger than we expected by +10,000. The next term is larger than was anticipated by 30,000, and the +excess of each term above what we had expected forms the following +table:— + + 10,000 + 30,000 + 60,000 + 100,000 + 150,000 + . . . + . . . + +being, in fact, the series of _triangular numbers_, {208} each multiplied +by 10,000. + +“If we now continue to observe the numbers presented by the wheel, we +shall find, that for a hundred, or even for a thousand terms, they +continue to follow the new law relating to the triangular numbers; but +after watching them for 2761 terms, we find that this law fails in the +case of the 2762d term. + +“If we continue to observe, we shall discover another law then coming +into action, which also is dependent, but in a different manner, on +triangular numbers. This will continue through about 1430 terms, when a +new law is again introduced which extends over about 950 terms, and this, +too, like all its predecessors, fails, and gives place to other laws, +which appear at different intervals. + +“Now it must be observed that _the law that each number presented by the +engine is greater by unity than the preceding number_, which law the +observer had deduced from an induction of a hundred million instances, +_was not the true law that regulated its action_, and that the occurrence +of the number 100,010,002 at the 100,000,002nd term was _as necessary a +consequence of the original adjustment_, _and might have been as fully +foreknown at the commencement_, _as was the regular succession of any one +of the intermediate numbers to its immediate antecedent_. The same +remark applies to the next apparent deviation from the new law, which was +founded on an induction of 2761 terms, and also to the succeeding law, +with this limitation only—that, whilst their consecutive introduction at +various definite intervals, is a necessary consequence of the mechanical +structure of the engine, our knowledge of analysis does not enable us to +predict the periods themselves at which the more distant laws will be +introduced.” + +It is not difficult to apply the philosophy of this passage to the +question under consideration. It must be borne in mind that the +gestation of a single organism is the work of but a few days, weeks, or +months; but the gestation (so to speak) of a whole creation is a matter +probably involving enormous spaces of time. Suppose that an ephemeron, +hovering over a pool for its one April day of life, were capable of +observing the fry of the frog in the water below. In its aged afternoon, +having seen no change upon them for such a long time, it would be little +qualified to conceive that the external branchiæ of these creatures were +to decay, and be replaced by internal lungs, that feet were to be +developed, the tail erased, and the animal then to become a denizen of +the land. Precisely such may be our difficulty in conceiving that any of +the species which people our earth is capable of advancing by generation +to a higher type of being. During the whole time which we call the +historical era, the limits of species have been, to ordinary observation, +rigidly adhered to. But the historical era is, we know, only a small +portion of the entire age of our globe. We do not know what may have +happened during the ages which preceded its commencement, as we do not +know what may happen in ages yet in the distant future. All, therefore, +that we can properly infer from the apparently invariable production of +like by like is, that such is the ordinary procedure of nature in the +time immediately passing before our eyes. Mr. Babbage’s illustration +powerfully suggests that this ordinary procedure may be subordinate to a +higher law which only _permits_ it for a time, and in proper season +interrupts and changes it. We shall soon see some philosophical evidence +for this very conclusion. + +It has been seen that, in the reproduction of the higher animals, the new +being passes through stages in which it is successively fish-like and +reptile-like. But the resemblance is not to the adult fish or the adult +reptile, but to the fish and reptile at a certain point in their fœtal +progress; this holds true with regard to the vascular, nervous, and other +systems alike. It may be illustrated by a simple diagram. The fœtus of +all the four classes may be supposed to advance in an identical condition +to the point A. [Picture: Diagram] The fish there diverges and passes +along a line apart, and peculiar to A itself, to its mature state at F. +The reptile, bird, and mammal, go on together to C, where the reptile +diverges in like manner, and advances by itself to R. The bird diverges +at D, and goes on to B. The mammal then goes forward in a straight line +to the highest point of organization at M. This diagram shews only the +main ramifications; but the reader must suppose minor ones, representing +the subordinate differences of orders, tribes, families, genera, &c., if +he wishes to extend his views to the whole varieties of being in the +animal kingdom. Limiting ourselves at present to the outline afforded by +this diagram, it is apparent that the only thing required for an advance +from one type to another in the generative process is that, for example, +the fish embryo should not diverge at A, but go on to C before it +diverges, in which case the progeny will be, not a fish, but a reptile. +To protract the _straightforward part of the gestation over a small +space_—and from species to species the space would be small indeed—is all +that is necessary. + +This might be done by the force of certain external conditions operating +upon the parturient system. The nature of these conditions we can only +conjecture, for their operation, which in the geological eras was so +powerful, has in its main strength been long interrupted, and is now +perhaps only allowed to work in some of the lowest departments of the +organic world, or under extraordinary casualties in some of the higher, +and to these points the attention of science has as yet been little +directed. But though this knowledge were never to be clearly attained, +it need not much affect the present argument, provided it be +satisfactorily shewn that there must be some such influence within the +range of natural things. + +To this conclusion it must be greatly conducive that the law of organic +development is still daily seen at work to certain effects, only somewhat +short of a transition from species to species. Sex we have seen to be a +matter of development. There is an instance, in a humble department of +the animal world, of arrangements being made by the animals themselves +for adjusting this law to the production of a particular sex. Amongst +bees, as amongst several other insect tribes, there is in each community +but one true female, the queen bee, the workers being false females or +neuters; that is to say, sex is carried on in them to a point where it is +attended by sterility. The preparatory states of the queen bee occupy +sixteen days; those of the neuters, twenty; and those of males, +twenty-four. Now it is a fact, settled by innumerable observations and +experiments, that the bees can so modify a worker in the larva state, +that, when it emerges from the pupa, it is found to be a queen or true +female. For this purpose they enlarge its cell, make a pyramidal hollow +to allow of its assuming a vertical instead of a horizontal position, +keep it warmer than other larvæ are kept, and feed it with a peculiar +kind of food. From these simple circumstances, leading to a shortening +of the embryotic condition, results a creature different in form, and +also in dispositions, from what would have otherwise been produced. Some +of the organs possessed by the worker are here altogether wanting. We +have a creature “destined to enjoy love, to burn with jealousy and anger, +to be incited to vengeance, and to pass her time without labour,” instead +of one “zealous for the good of the community, a defender of the public +rights, enjoying an immunity from the stimulus of sexual appetite and the +pains of parturition; laborious, industrious, patient, ingenious, +skilful; incessantly engaged in the nurture of the young, in collecting +honey and pollen, in elaborating wax, in constructing cells and the +like!—paying the most respectful and assiduous attention to objects +which, had its ovaries been developed, it would have hated and pursued +with the most vindictive fury till it had destroyed them!” {215} All +these changes may be produced by a mere modification of the embryotic +progress, which it is within the power of the adult animals to effect. +But it is important to observe that this modification is different from +working a direct change upon the embryo. It is not the different food +which effects a metamorphosis. All that is done is merely to accelerate +the period of the insect’s perfection. By the arrangements made and the +food given, the embryo becomes sooner fit for being ushered forth in its +imago or perfect state. Development may be said to be thus arrested at a +particular stage—that early one at which the female sex is complete. In +the other circumstances, it is allowed to go on four days longer, and a +stage is then reached between the two sexes, which in this species is +designed to be the perfect condition of a large portion of the community. +Four days more make it a perfect male. It is at the same time to be +observed that there is, from the period of oviposition, a destined +distinction between the sexes of the young bees. The queen lays the +whole of the eggs which are designed to become workers, before she begins +to lay those which become males. But probably the condition of her +reproductive system governs the matter of sex, for it is remarked that +when her impregnation is delayed beyond the twenty-eighth day of her +entire existence, she lays only eggs which become males. + +We have here, it will be admitted, a most remarkable illustration of the +principle of development, although in an operation limited to the +production of sex only. Let it not be said that the phenomena concerned +in the generation of bees may be very different from those concerned in +the reproduction of the higher animals. There is a unity throughout +nature which makes the one case an instructive reflection of the other. + +We shall now see an instance of development operating within the +production of what approaches to the character of variety of species. It +is fully established that a human family, tribe, or nation, is liable, in +the course of generations, to be either advanced from a mean form to a +higher one, or degraded from a higher to a lower, by the influence of the +physical conditions in which it lives. The coarse features, and other +structural peculiarities of the negro race only continue while these +people live amidst the circumstances usually associated with barbarism. +In a more temperate clime, and higher social state, the face and figure +become greatly refined. The few African nations which possess any +civilization also exhibit forms approaching the European; and when the +same people in the United States of America have enjoyed a within-door +life for several generations, they assimilate to the whites amongst whom +they live. On the other hand, there are authentic instances of a people +originally well-formed and good-looking, being brought, by imperfect diet +and a variety of physical hardships, to a meaner form. It is remarkable +that prominence of the jaws, a recession and diminution of the cranium, +and an elongation and attenuation of the limbs, are peculiarities always +produced by these miserable conditions, for they indicate an unequivocal +retrogression towards the type of the lower animals. Thus we see nature +alike willing to go back and to go forward. Both effects are simply the +result of the operation of the law of development in the generative +system. Give good conditions, it advances; bad ones, it recedes. Now, +perhaps, it is only because there is no longer a possibility, in the +higher types of being, of giving sufficiently favourable conditions to +carry on species to species, that we see the operation of the law so far +limited. + +Let us trace this law also in the production of certain classes of +monstrosities. A human fœtus is often left with one of the most +important parts of its frame imperfectly developed: the heart, for +instance, goes no farther than the three-chambered form, so that it is +the heart of a reptile. There are even instances of this organ being +left in the two-chambered or fish form. Such defects are the result of +nothing more than a failure of the power of development in the system of +the mother, occasioned by weak health or misery. Here we have apparently +a realization of the converse of those conditions which carry on species +to species, so far, at least, as one organ is concerned. Seeing a +complete specific retrogression in this one point, how easy it is to +imagine an access of favourable conditions sufficient to reverse the +phenomenon, and make a fish mother develop a reptile heart, or a reptile +mother develop a mammal one. It is no great boldness to surmise that a +super-adequacy in the measure of this under-adequacy (and the one thing +seems as natural an occurrence as the other) would suffice in a goose to +give its progeny the body of a rat, and produce the ornithorynchus, or +might give the progeny of an ornithorynchus the mouth and feet of a true +rodent, and thus complete at two stages the passage from the aves to the +mammalia. + +Perhaps even the transition from species to species does still take place +in some of the obscurer fields of creation, or under extraordinary +casualties, though science professes to have no such facts on record. It +is here to be remarked, that such facts might often happen, and yet no +record be taken of them, for so strong is the prepossession for the +doctrine of invariable like-production, that such circumstances, on +occurring, would be almost sure to be explained away on some other +supposition, or, if presented, would be disbelieved and neglected. +Science, therefore, has no such facts, for the very same reason that some +small sects are said to have no discreditable members—namely, that they +do not receive such persons, and extrude all who begin to verge upon the +character. There are, nevertheless, some facts which have chanced to be +reported without any reference to this hypothesis, and which it seems +extremely difficult to explain satisfactorily upon any other. One of +these has already been mentioned—a progression in the forms of the +animalcules in a vegetable infusion from the simpler to the more +complicated, a sort of microcosm, representing the whole history of the +progress of animal creation as displayed by geology. Another is given in +the history of the Acarus Crossii, which may be only the ultimate stage +of a series of similar transformations effected by electric agency in the +solution subjected to it. There is, however, one direct case of a +translation of species, which has been presented with a respectable +amount of authority. {221} It appears that, whenever oats sown at the +usual time are kept cropped down during summer and autumn, and allowed to +remain over the winter, a thin crop of rye is the harvest presented at +the close of the ensuing summer. This experiment has been tried +repeatedly, with but one result; invariably the _secale cereale_ is the +crop reaped where the _avena sativa_, a recognised different species, was +sown. Now it will not satisfy a strict inquirer to be told that the +seeds of the rye were latent in the ground and only superseded the dead +product of the oats; for if any such fact were in the case, why should +the usurping grain be always rye? Perhaps those curious facts which have +been stated with regard to forests of one kind of trees, when burnt down, +being succeeded (without planting) by other kinds, may yet be found most +explicable, as this is, upon the hypothesis of a progression of species +which takes place under certain favouring conditions, now apparently of +comparatively rare occurrence. The case of the oats is the more +valuable, as bearing upon the suggestion as to a protraction of the +gestation at a particular part of its course. Here, the generative +process is, by the simple mode of cropping down, kept up for a whole year +beyond its usual term. The type is thus allowed to advance, and what was +oats becomes rye. + +The idea, then, which I form of the progress of organic life upon the +globe—and the hypothesis is applicable to all similar theatres of vital +being—is, _that the simplest and most primitive type_, _under a law to +which that of like-production is subordinate_, _gave birth to the type +next above it_, _that this again produced the next higher_, _and so on to +the very highest_, the stages of advance being in all cases very +small—namely, from one species only to another; so that the phenomenon +has always been of a simple and modest character. Whether the whole of +any species was at once translated forward, or only a few parents were +employed to give birth to the new type, must remain undetermined; but, +supposing that the former was the case, we must presume that the moves +along the line or lines were simultaneous, so that the place vacated by +one species was immediately taken by the next in succession, and so on +back to the first, for the supply of which the formation of a new +germinal vesicle out of inorganic matter was alone necessary. Thus, the +production of new forms, as shewn in the pages of the geological record, +has never been anything more than a new stage of progress in gestation, +an event as simply natural, and attended as little by any circumstances +of a wonderful or startling kind, as the silent advance of an ordinary +mother from one week to another of her pregnancy. Yet, be it remembered, +the whole phenomena are, in another point of view, wonders of the highest +kind, for in each of them we have to trace the effect of an Almighty Will +which had arranged the whole in such harmony with external physical +circumstances, that both were developed in parallel steps—and probably +this development upon our planet is but a sample of what has taken place, +through the same cause, in all the other countless theatres of being +which are suspended in space. + +This may be the proper place at which to introduce the preceding +illustrations in a form calculated to bring them more forcibly before the +mind of the reader. The following table was suggested to me, in +consequence of seeing the scale of animated nature presented in Dr. +Fletcher’s Rudiments of Physiology. Taking that scale as its basis, it +shews the wonderful parity observed in the progress of creation, as +presented to our observation in the succession of fossils, and also in +the fœtal progress of one of the principal human organs. {224} This +scale, it may be remarked, was not made up with a view to support such an +hypothesis as the present, nor with any apparent regard to the history of +fossils, but merely to express the appearance of advancement in the +orders of the Cuvierian system, assuming, as the criterion of that +advancement, “an increase in the number and extent of the manifestations +of life, or of the relations which an organized being bears to the +external world.” Excepting in the relative situation of the annelida and +a few of the mammal orders, the parity is perfect; nor may even these +small discrepancies appear when the order of fossils shall have been +further investigated, or a more correct scale shall have been formed. +Meanwhile, it is a wonderful evidence in favour of our hypothesis, that a +scale formed so arbitrarily should coincide to such a nearness with our +present knowledge of the succession of animal forms upon earth, and also +that both of these series should harmonize so well with the view given by +modern physiologists of the embryotic progress of one of the organs of +the highest order of animals. + + [Picture: Complex table of animal kingdom] {226} + +The reader has seen physical conditions several times referred to, as to +be presumed to have in some way governed the progress of the development +of the zoological circle. This language may seem vague, and, it may be +asked,—can any particular physical condition be adduced as likely to have +affected development? To this it may be answered, that air and light are +probably amongst the principal agencies of this kind which operated in +educing the various forms of being. Light is found to be essential to +the development of the individual embryo. When tadpoles were placed in a +perforated box, and that box sunk in the Seine, light being the only +condition thus abstracted, they grew to a great size in their original +form, but did not pass through the usual metamorphose which brings them +to their mature state as frogs. The proteus, an animal of the frog kind, +inhabiting the subterraneous waters of Carniola, and which never acquires +perfect lungs so as to become a land animal, is presumed to be an example +of arrested development, from the same cause. When, in connexion with +these facts, we learn that human mothers living in dark and close cells +under ground,—that is to say, with an inadequate provision of air and +light,—are found to produce an unusual proportion of defective children, +{229} we can appreciate the important effects of both these physical +conditions in ordinary reproduction. Now there is nothing to forbid the +supposition that the earth has been at different stages of its career +under different conditions, as to both air and light. On the contrary, +we have seen reason for supposing that the proportion of carbonic acid +gas (the element fatal to animal life) was larger at the time of the +carboniferous formation than it afterwards became. We have also seen +that astronomers regard the zodiacal light as a residuum of matter +enveloping the sun, and which was probably at one time denser than it is +now. Here we have the indications of causes for a progress in the +purification of the atmosphere and in the diffusion of light during the +earlier ages of the earth’s history, with which the progress of organic +life may have been conformable. An accession to the proportion of +oxygen, and the effulgence of the central luminary, may have been the +immediate prompting cause of all those advances from species to species +which we have seen, upon other grounds, to be necessarily supposed as +having taken place. And causes of the like nature may well be supposed +to operate on other spheres of being, as well as on this. I do not +indeed present these ideas as furnishing the true explanation of the +progress of organic creation; they are merely thrown out as hints towards +the formation of a just hypothesis, the completion of which is only to be +looked for when some considerable advances shall have been made in the +amount and character of our stock of knowledge. + +Early in this century, M. Lamarck, a naturalist of the highest character, +suggested an hypothesis of organic progress which deservedly incurred +much ridicule, although it contained a glimmer of the truth. He +surmised, and endeavoured, with a great deal of ingenuity, to prove, that +one being advanced in the course of generations to another, in +consequence merely of its experience of wants calling for the exercise of +its faculties in a particular direction, by which exercise new +developments of organs took place, ending in variations sufficient to +constitute a new species. Thus he thought that a bird would be driven by +necessity to seek its food in the water, and that, in its efforts to +swim, the outstretching of its claws would lead to the expansion of the +intermediate membranes, and it would thus become web-footed. Now it is +possible that wants and the exercise of faculties have entered in some +manner into the production of the phenomena which we have been +considering; but certainly not in the way suggested by Lamarck, whose +whole notion is obviously so inadequate to account for the rise of the +organic kingdoms, that we only can place it with pity among the follies +of the wise. Had the laws of organic development been known in his time, +his theory might have been of a more imposing kind. It is upon these +that the present hypothesis is mainly founded. I take existing natural +means, and shew them to have been capable of producing all the existing +organisms, with the simple and easily conceivable aid of a higher +generative law, which we perhaps still see operating upon a limited +scale. I also go beyond the French philosopher to a very important +point, the original Divine conception of all the forms of being which +these natural laws were only instruments in working out and realizing. +The actuality of such a conception I hold to be strikingly demonstrated +by the discoveries of Macleay, Vigors, and Swainson, with respect to the +affinities and analogies of animal (and by implication vegetable) +organisms. {232} Such a regularity in the _structure_, as we may call +it, of the _classification of animals_, as is shewn in their systems, is +totally irreconcilable with the idea of form going on to form merely as +needs and wishes in the animals themselves dictated. Had such been the +case, all would have been irregular, as things arbitrary necessarily are. +But, lo, the whole plan of being is as symmetrical as the plan of a +house, or the laying out of an old-fashioned garden! This must needs +have been devised and arranged for beforehand. And what a preconception +or forethought have we here! Let us only for a moment consider how +various are the external physical conditions in which animals +live—climate, soil, temperature, land, water, air—the peculiarities of +food, and the various ways in which it is to be sought; the peculiar +circumstances in which the business of reproduction and the care-taking +of the young are to be attended to—all these required to be taken into +account, and thousands of animals were to be formed suitable in +organization and mental character for the concerns they were to have with +these various conditions and circumstances—here a tooth fitted for +crushing nuts; there a claw fitted to serve as a hook for suspension; +here to repress teeth and develop a bony net-work instead; there to +arrange for a bronchial apparatus, to last only for a certain brief time; +and all these animals were to be schemed out, each as a part of a great +range, which was on the whole to be rigidly regular: let us, I say, only +consider these things, and we shall see that the decreeing of laws to +bring the whole about was an act involving such a degree of wisdom and +device as we only can attribute, adoringly, to the one Eternal and +Unchangeable. It may be asked, how does this reflection comport with +that timid philosophy which would have us to draw back from the +investigation of God’s works, lest the knowledge of them should make us +undervalue his greatness and forget his paternal character? Does it not +rather appear that our ideas of the Deity can only be worthy of him in +the ratio in which we advance in a knowledge of his works and ways; and +that the acquisition of this knowledge is consequently an available means +of our growing in a genuine reverence for him! + +But the idea that any of the lower animals have been concerned in any way +with the origin of man—is not this degrading? Degrading is a term, +expressive of a notion of the human mind, and the human mind is liable to +prejudices which prevent its notions from being invariably correct. Were +we acquainted for the first time with the circumstances attending the +production of an individual of our race, we might equally think them +degrading, and be eager to deny them, and exclude them from the admitted +truths of nature. Knowing this fact familiarly and beyond contradiction, +a healthy and natural mind finds no difficulty in regarding it +complacently. Creative Providence has been pleased to order that it +should be so, and it must therefore be submitted to. Now the idea as to +the progress of organic creation, if we become satisfied of its truth, +ought to be received precisely in this spirit. It has pleased Providence +to arrange that one species should give birth to another, until the +second highest gave birth to man, who is the very highest: be it so, it +is our part to admire and to submit. The very faintest notion of there +being anything ridiculous or degrading in the theory—how absurd does it +appear, when we remember that every individual amongst us actually passes +through the characters of the insect, the fish, and reptile, (to speak +nothing of others,) before he is permitted to breathe the breath of life! +But such notions are mere emanations of false pride and ignorant +prejudice. He who conceives them little reflects that they, in reality, +involve the principle of a contempt for the works and ways of God. For +it may be asked, if He, as appears, has chosen to employ inferior +organisms as a generative medium for the production of higher ones, even +including ourselves, what right have we, his humble creatures, to find +fault? There is, also, in this prejudice, an element of unkindliness +towards the lower animals, which is utterly out of place. These +creatures are all of them part products of the Almighty Conception, as +well as ourselves. All of them display wondrous evidences of his wisdom +and benevolence. All of them have had assigned to them by their Great +Father a part in the drama of the organic world, as well as ourselves. +Why should they be held in such contempt? Let us regard them in a proper +spirit, as parts of the grand plan, instead of contemplating them in the +light of frivolous prejudices, and we shall be altogether at a loss to +see how there should be any degradation in the idea of our race having +been genealogically connected with them. + + + + +MACLEAY SYSTEM OF ANIMATED NATURE. +THIS SYSTEM CONSIDERED IN CONNEXION WITH THE +PROGRESS OF ORGANIC CREATION, AND AS INDICATING +THE NATURAL STATUS OF MAN. + + +IT is now high time to advert to the system formed by the animated +tribes, both with a view to the possible illustration of the preceding +argument, and for the light which it throws upon that general system of +nature which it is the more comprehensive object of this book to +ascertain. + +The vegetable and animal kingdoms are arranged upon a scale, starting +from simply organized forms, and going on to the more complex, each of +these forms being but slightly different from those next to it on both +sides. The lowest and most slightly developed forms in the two kingdoms +are so closely connected, that it is impossible to say where vegetable +ends and animal begins. United at what may be called their bases, they +start away in different directions, but not altogether to lose sight of +each other. On the contrary, they maintain a strict analogy throughout +the whole of their subsequent courses, sub-kingdom for sub-kingdom, class +for class; shewing a beautiful, though as yet obscure relation between +the two grand forms of being, and consequently a unity in the laws which +brought them both into existence. So complete does this analogy appear, +even in the present imperfect state of science, that I fully expect in a +few years to see the animal and vegetable kingdoms duly ranked up against +each other in a system of parallels, which will admit of our assigning to +each species in the former the particular shrub or tree corresponding to +it in the latter, all marked by unmistakable analogies of the most +interesting kind. + +It is as yet but a few years since a system of subordinate analogies not +less remarkable began to be speculated upon as within the range of the +animal kingdom. Probably it also exists in the vegetable kingdom; but to +this point no direct attention has been given; so we are left to infer +that such is the case from theoretical considerations only. We are +indebted for what we know of these beautiful analogies to three +naturalists—Macleay, Vigors, and Swainson, whose labours tempt us to +dismiss in a great measure the artificial classifications hitherto used, +and make an entirely new conspectus of the animal kingdom, not to speak +of the corresponding reform which will be required in our systems of +botany also. + +The Macleay system, as it may be called in honour of its principal +author, announces that, whether we take the whole animal kingdom, or any +definite division of it, we shall find that we are examining a group of +beings which is capable of being arranged along a series of close +affinities, _in a circular form_,—that is to say, starting from any one +portion of the group, when it is properly arranged, we can proceed from +one to another by minute gradations, till at length, having run through +the whole, we return to the point whence we set out. All natural groups +of animals are, therefore, in the language of Mr. Macleay, _circular_; +and the possibility of throwing any supposed group into a circular +arrangement is held as a decisive test of its being a real or natural +one. It is of course to be understood that each circle is composed of a +set of inferior circles: for example, a set of _tribe_ circles composes +an _order_; a set of _order_ circles, again, forms a _class_; and so on. +Of each group, the component circles are _invariably five in number_: +thus, in the animal kingdom, there are five sub-kingdoms,—the vertebrata, +annulosa, {239a} radiata, acrita, {239b} mollusca. Take, again, one of +these sub-kingdoms, the vertebrata, and we find it composed of five +classes,—the mammalia, reptilia, pisces, amphibia, and aves, each of the +other sub-kingdoms being similarly divisible. Take the mammalia, and it +is in like manner found to be composed of five orders,—the cheirotheria, +{239c} feræ, cetacea, glires, ungulata. Even in this numerical +uniformity, which goes down to the lowest ramifications of the system, +there would be something very remarkable, as arguing a definite and +preconceived arrangement; but this is only the least curious part of the +Macleay theory. + +We shall best understand the wonderfully complex system of analogies +developed by that theory, if we start from the part of the kingdom in +which they were first traced,—namely, the class aves, or birds. This +gives for its five orders,—_incessores_, (perching birds,) _raptores_, +(birds of prey,) _natatores_, (swimming birds,) _grallatores_, (waders,) +_rasores_, (scrapers.) In these orders our naturalists discerned +distinct organic characters, of different degrees of perfectness, the +first being the most perfect with regard to the general character of the +class, and therefore the best representative of that class; whence it was +called the _typical_ order. The second was found to be inferior, or +rather to have a less perfect balance of qualities; hence it was +designated the _sub-typical_. In this are comprehended the chief noxious +and destructive animals of the circle to which it belongs. The other +three groups were called aberrant, as exhibiting a much wider departure +from the typical standard, although the last of the three is observed to +make a certain recovery, and join on to the typical group, so as to +complete the circle. The first of the aberrant groups (natatores) is +remarkable for making the water the theatre of its existence, and the +birds composing it are in general of comparatively large bulk. The +second (grallatores) are long-limbed and long-billed, that they may wade +and pick up their subsistence in the shallows and marshes in which they +chiefly live. The third (rasores) are distinguished by strong feet, for +walking or running on the ground, and for scraping in it for their food; +also by wings designed to scarcely raise them off the earth and, farther, +by a general domesticity of character and usefulness to man. + +Now the most remarkable circumstance is, that these organic characters, +habits, and moral properties, were found to be traceable more or less +distinctly in the corresponding portions of every other group, even of +those belonging to distant subdivisions of the animal kingdom, as, for +instance, the insects. The incessores (typical order of aves) being +reduced to its constituent circles or tribes, it was found that these +strictly represented the five orders. In the _conirostres_ are the +perfections which belong to the incessores as an order, with the +conspicuous external feature of a comparatively small notch in their +bills; in the _dentirostres_, the notch is strong and toothlike, (hence +the name of the tribe) assimilating them to the raptores; the +_fissirostres_ come into analogy with the natatores in the slight +development of their feet and their great powers of flight; the +_tenuirostres_ have the small mouths and long soft bills of the +grallatores. Finally, the _scansores_ resemble the rasores in their +superior intelligence and docility, and in their having strong limbs and +a bill entire at the tip. This parity of qualities becomes clearer when +placed in a tabular form:— + + _Orders of Birds_. _Characters_. _Tribes of + Incessores_. +Incessores Most perfect of their Conirostres. + circle; notch of bill + small +Raptores Notch of bill like a Dentirostres. + tooth +Natatores Slightly developed Fissirostres. + feet; strong flight +Grallatores Small mouths; long Tenuirostres. + soft bills +Rasores Strong feet, short Scansores. + wings; docile and + domestic + +Some comprehensive terms are much wanted to describe these five +characters, so curiously repeated throughout the whole of the animal, and +probably also the vegetable kingdom. Meanwhile, Mr. Swainson calls them +typical, sub-typical, natatorial, suctorial, {242} and rasorial. Some of +his illustrations of the principle are exceedingly interesting. He shews +that the leading animal of a typical circle usually has a combination of +properties concentrated in itself, without any of these preponderating +remarkably over others. The sub-typical circles, he says, “do not +comprise the largest individuals in bulk, but always those which are the +most powerfully armed, either for inflicting injury on their own class, +for exciting terror, producing injury, or creating annoyance to man. +Their dispositions are often sanguinary, since the forms most conspicuous +among them live by rapine, and subsist on the blood of other animals. +They are, in short, symbolically types of _evil_.” This symbolical +character is most conspicuous about the centre of the series of +gradations:— + +Kingdom Annulosa. +Sub-kingdom Reptilia. +Class (Mammalia) Feræ. +(Aves) Raptores. + +In the annulosa it is not distinct, although we must also remember that +insects do produce enormous ravages and annoyance in many parts of the +earth. In the reptilia it is more distinct, since to this class belong +the ophidia, (serpents,) an order peculiarly noxious. It comes to a kind +of climax in the feræ and raptores, which fulfil the function of butchers +among land animals. As we descend through tribes, families, genera, +species, it becomes fainter and fainter, but never altogether vanishes. +In the dentirostres, for instance, we have in a subdued form the hooked +bill and predaceous character of the raptores; to this tribe belongs the +family of the shrikes, so deadly to all the lesser field birds. In the +genus bos, we have, in the sub-typical group, the bison, “wild, +revengeful, and shewing an innate detestation of man.” In equus, we +have, in the same situation, the zebra, which actually shews the stripes +of the tiger, and is as remarkable for its wildness as its congeners, the +horse and ass, are for their docility and usefulness. To quote again +from Mr. Swainson, “the singular threatening aspect which the +caterpillars of the sphinx moth assume on being disturbed, is a +remarkable modification of the terrific or evil nature which is impressed +in one form or another, palpable or remote, upon all sub-typical groups; +for this division of the lepidopterous order is precisely of this +denomination. In the pre-eminent type of this order of insects, the +butterflies, (papilionides,) our associations little prepare us for +expecting any trace of the evil principle; but here, too, there is a +sub-typical division. These,” says our naturalist, “are distinguished by +their caterpillars being armed with formidable spines or prickles, which +in general are possessed of some highly acrimonious or poisonous quality, +capable of injuring those who touch them. It is only,” continues Mr. +Swainson, “when extensive researches bring to light a uniformity of +results, that we can venture to believe they are so universal as to +deserve being ranked as primary laws. Thus, when a celebrated +entomologist denounced as impure the black and lurid beetles forming the +saprophagous petalocera of Mr. Macleay, a tribe living only upon putrid +vegetable matter, and hiding themselves in their disgusting food, or in +dark hollows of the earth, neither of these celebrated men suspected the +absolute fact, elicited from our analogies of this group, that this very +tribe constituted the sub-typical group of one of the primary divisions +of coleopterous insects: nor had they any suspicion that, by the filthy +habits and repulsive forms of these beetles, nature had intended that +they should be types or emblems of hundreds of other groups, +distinguished by peculiarities equally indicative of evil. On the other +hand, the thalerophagous petalocera, forming the typical group of the +same division, present us with all the perfections and habits belonging +to their kind. These families of beetles live only upon fresh +vegetables; they are diurnal, and sport in the glare of day, pure in +their food, elegant in their shapes, and beautiful in their colours.” +{246} + +The third type, (first of the three aberrant,) called by Mr. Swainson, +the _natatorial_, or aquatic, are chiefly remarkable for their bulk, the +disproportionate size of the head, and the absence, or slight development +of the feet. They partake of the predaceous and destructive character of +the adjoining sub-typical group, and the means of their predacity are +generally found in the mouth alone. In the primary division of the +animal kingdom, we find the type in the radiata, not one of which lives +out of water. In the vertebrata, it is in the fishes. In both of these, +feet are totally wanting. Descending to the class mammalia, we have this +type in the cetacea, which present a comparatively slight development of +limbs. In the aves, as we have seen, the type is presented in the +natatores, whose name has been adopted as an appropriate term for all the +corresponding groups. An enumeration of some other examples of the +natatorial type, as the cephalopoda (instanced in the cuttle-fish) in the +mollusca; the crustacea (crabs, &c.) in the annulosa; the owls (which +often duck for fish) in the raptores; the ichthyosaurus, plesiosaurus, +&c., among reptilia, will serve to bring the general character, and its +pervasion of the whole animal world, forcibly before the mind of the +reader. + +The next type is that of meanest and most imperfect organization, the +lower termination of all groups, as the typical is the upper. It is +called by Mr. Swainson the suctorial, from a very generally prevalent +peculiarity, that of drawing sustenance by suction. The acrita, or +polypes, among the sub-kingdoms; the intestina, among the annulosa; the +tortoises, among the reptilia; the armadillo and scaly ant-eater, pig, +mouse, jerboa, and kangaroo, among quadrupeds; the waders and +tenuirostres, among birds; the coleoptera, (bug, louse, flea, &c.) among +insects; the gastrobranchus, among fishes; are examples which will +illustrate the special characters of this type. These are smallness, +particularly in the head and mouth, feebleness, and want of offensive +protection, defect of organs of mastication, considerable powers of swift +movement, and (often) a parasitic mode of living; while of negative +qualities, there are, besides, indisposition to domestication, and an +unsuitableness to serve as human food. + +The rasorial type comprehends most of the animals which become +domesticated and useful to man, as, first, the fowls which give a name to +the type, the ungulata, and more particularly the ruminantia, among +quadrupeds, and the dog among the feræ. Gentleness, familiarity with +man, and a peculiar approach to human intelligence, are the leading +mental characteristics of animals of this type. Amongst external +characters, we generally find power of limbs and feet for locomotion on +land, (to which the rasorial type is confined,) abundant tail and +ornaments for the head, whether in the form of tufts, crests, horns, or +bony excrescences. In the animal kingdom, the mollusca are the rasorial +type, which, however, only shews itself there in their soft and sluggish +character, and their being very generally edible. In the ptilota, or +winged insects, the hymenopterous are the rasorial type, and it is not +therefore surprising to find amongst them the ants and bees, “the most +social, intelligent, and in the latter case, most useful to man, of all +the annulose animals.” + +As yet the speculations on representation are imperfect, in consequence +of the novelty of the doctrine, and the defective state of our knowledge +of animated nature. It has, however, been so fully proved in the aves, +and traced so clearly in other parts of the animal kingdom, and as a +general feature of that part of nature, that hardly a doubt can exist of +its being universally applicable. Even in the lowly forms of the acrita, +(polypes,) the suctorial type of the animal kingdom, representation has +been discerned, and with some remarkable results as to the history of our +world. The acrita were the first forms of animal life upon earth, the +starting point of that great branch of organization. Now, this +sub-kingdom consists, like the rest, of five groups, (classes,) and these +are respectively representations of the acrita itself, and the other four +sub-kingdoms, which had not come into existence when the acrita were +formed. The polypi vaginati, in the crustaceous covering of the living +mass, and their more or less articulated structure, represent the +_annulosa_. In the radiated forms of the rotifera, and the simple +structure of the polypi rudes, we are reminded of the _radiata_. The +_mollusca_ are typified in the soft, mucous, sluggish intestina. And, +finally, in the fleshy living mass which surrounds the bony and hollow +axis of the polypi natantes, we have a sketch of the _vertebrata_. The +acrita thus appear as a prophecy of the higher events of animal +development. They shew that the nobler orders of being, including man +himself, were contemplated from the first, and came into existence by +virtue of a law, the operation of which had commenced ages before their +forms were realized. + +The system of representation is therefore to be regarded as _a powerful +additional proof of the hypothesis of organic progress by virtue of law_. +It establishes the unity of animated nature and the definite character of +its entire constitution. It enables us to see how, under the flowing +robes of nature, where all looks arbitrary and accidental, there is an +artificiality of the most rigid kind. The natural, we now perceive, +sinks into and merges in a Higher Artificial. To adopt a comparison more +apt than dignified, we may be said to be placed here as insects are in a +garden of the old style. Our first unassisted view is limited, and we +perceive only the irregularities of the minute surface, and single shrubs +which appear arbitrarily scattered. But our view at length extending and +becoming more comprehensive, we begin to see parterres balancing each +other, trees, statues, and arbours placed symmetrically, and that the +whole is an assemblage of parts mutually reflective. It can scarcely be +necessary to point to the inference hence arising with regard to the +origination of nature in some Power, of which man’s mind is a faint and +humble representation. The insects of the garden, supposing them to be +invested with reasoning power, and aware how artificial are their own +works, might of course very reasonably conclude that, being in its +totality an artificial object, the garden was the work of some maker or +artificer. And so also must we conclude, when we attain a knowledge of +the artificiality which is at the basis of nature, that nature is wholly +the production of a Being resembling, but infinitely greater than +ourselves. + +Organic beings are, then, bound together in development, and in a system +of both affinities and analogies. Now, it will be asked, does this agree +with what we know of the geographical distribution of organic beings, and +of the history of organic progress as delineated by geology? Let us +first advert to the geographical question. + +Plants, as is well known, require various kinds of soil, forms of +geographical surface, climate, and other conditions, for their existence. +And it is everywhere found that, however isolated a particular spot may +be with regard to these conditions,—as a mountain top in a torrid +country, the marsh round a salt spring far inland, or an island placed +far apart in the ocean,—appropriate plants have there taken up their +abode. But the torrid zone divides the two temperate regions from each +other by the space of more than forty-six degrees, and the torrid and +temperate zones together form a much broader line of division between the +two arctic regions. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Persian +Gulf, also divide the various portions of continent in the torrid and +temperate zones from each other. Australia is also divided by a broad +sea from the continent of Asia. Thus there are various portions of the +earth separated from each other in such a way as to preclude anything +like a general communication of the seeds of their respective plants +towards each other. Hence arises an interesting question—Are the plants +of the various isolated regions which enjoy a parity of climate and other +conditions, identical or the reverse? The answer is—that in such regions +the vegetation bears a general resemblance, but the _species_ are nearly +all different, and there is even, in a considerable measure, a diversity +of families. + +The general facts have been thus stated: in the arctic and antarctic +regions, and in those parts of lower latitudes, which, from their +elevation, possess the same cold climate, there is always a similar or +analogous vegetation, but few species are common to the various +situations. In like manner, the intertropical vegetation of Asia, +Africa, and America, are specifically different, though generally +similar. The southern region of America is equally diverse from that of +Africa, a country similar in clime, but separated by a vast extent of +ocean. The vegetation of Australia, another region similarly placed in +respect of clime, is even more peculiar. These facts are the more +remarkable when we discover that, in most instances, the plants of one +region have thriven when transplanted to another of parallel clime. This +would shew that parity of conditions does not lead to a parity of +productions so exact as to include identity of species, or even genera. +Besides the various isolated regions here enumerated, there are some +others indicated by naturalists as exhibiting a vegetation equally +peculiar. Some of these are isolated by mountains, or the interposition +of sandy wastes. For example, the temperate region of the elder +continent is divided about the centre of Asia, and the east of that line +is different from the west. So also is the same region divided in North +America by the Rocky Mountains. Abyssinia and Nubia constitute another +distinct botanical region. De Candolle enumerates in all twenty +well-marked portions of the earth’s surface which are peculiar with +respect to vegetation; a number which would be greatly increased if +remote islands and isolated mountain ranges were to be included. + +When we come to the zoology, we find precisely similar results, excepting +that man (with, perhaps, some of the less conspicuous forms of being) is +universal, and that several tribes, as the bear and dog, appear to have +passed by the land connexion from the arctic regions of the eastern to +those of the western hemisphere. “With these exceptions,” says Dr. +Prichard, “and without any others, as far as zoological researches have +yet gone, it may be asserted that no individual species are common to +distant regions. In parallel climates, analogous species replace each +other; sometimes, but not frequently, the same genus is found in two +separate continents; but the species which are natives of one region are +not identical with corresponding races indigenous in the opposite +hemisphere. + +“A similar result arises when we compare the three great intertropical +regions, as well as the extreme spaces of the three great continents, +which advance into the temperate climates of the southern hemisphere. + +“Thus, the tribes of simiæ, (monkeys,) of the dog and cat kinds, of +pachyderms, including elephants, tapirs, rhinoceroses, hogs, of bats, of +saurian and ophidian reptiles, as well of birds and other terrene +animals, are all different in the three great continents. In the lower +departments of the mammiferous family, we find that the bruta, or +edendata, (sloths, armadillos, &c.,) of Africa, are differently organized +from those of America, and these again from the tribes found in the +Malayan archipelago and Terra Australis.” {255} + +It does not appear that the diversity between the similar regions of +Africa, Asia, and America, is occasioned in all instances by any +disqualification of these countries to support precisely the same genera +or species. The ox, horse, goat, &c., of the elder continent have +thriven and extended themselves in the new, and many of the indigenous +tribes of America would no doubt flourish in corresponding climates in +Europe, Asia, and Africa. It has, however, been remarked by naturalists +unacquainted with the Macleay system, that the larger and more powerful +animals of their respective orders belong to the elder continent, and +that thus the animals of America, unlike the features of inanimate +nature, appear to be upon a small scale. The swiftest and most agile +animals, and a large proportion of those most useful to man, are also +natives of the elder continent. On the other hand, the bulk of the +edentata, a group remarkable for defects and meanness of organization, +are American. The zoology of America may be said, upon the whole, to +recede from that of Asia, “and perhaps in a greater degree,” adds Dr. +Prichard, “from that of Africa.” A much greater recession is, however, +observed in both the botany and zoology of Australia. + +There “we do not find, in the great masses of vegetation, either the +majesty of the virgin forests of America, or the variety and elegance of +those of Asia, or the delicacy and freshness of the woods of our +temperate countries of Europe. The vegetation is generally gloomy and +sad; it has the aspect of our evergreens or heaths; the plants are for +the most part woody; the leaves of nearly all the plants are linear, +lanceolated, small, coriaceous, and spinescent. The grasses, which +elsewhere are generally soft and flexible, participate in the stiffness +of the other vegetables. The greater part of the plants of New Holland +belong to new genera; and those included in the genera already known are +of new species. The natural families which prevail are those of the +heaths, the proteæ, compositæ, leguminosæ, and myrthoideæ; the larger +trees all belong to the last family.” {257} + +The prevalent animals of Australia are not less peculiar. It is well +known that none above the marsupialia, or pouched animals, are native to +it. The most conspicuous are these marsupials, which exist in great +varieties here, though unknown in the elder continent, and only found in +a few mean forms in America. Next to them are the monotremata, which are +entirely peculiar to this portion of the earth. Now these are animals at +the bottom of the mammiferous class, adjoining to that of birds, of whose +character and organization the monotremata largely partake, the +ornithorynchus presenting the bill and feet of a duck, producing its +young in eggs, and having, like birds, a clavicle between the two +shoulders. The birds of Australia vary in structure and plumage, but all +have some singularity about them—the swan, for instance, is black. The +country abounds in reptiles, and the prevalent fishes are of the early +kinds, having a cartilaginous structure. + +Altogether, the plants and animals of this minor continent convey the +impression of an early system of things, such as might be displayed in +other parts of the earth about the time of the oolite. In connexion with +this circumstance, it is a fact of some importance, that the geognostic +character of Australia, its vast arid plains, its little diversified +surface and consequent paucity of streams, and the very slight +development of volcanic rock on its surface, seem to indicate a system of +physical conditions, such as we may suppose to have existed elsewhere in +the oolitic era: perhaps we see the chalk formation preparing there in +the vast coral beds frontiering the coast. Australia thus appears as a +portion of the earth which has, from some unknown causes, been belated in +its physical and organic development. And certainly the greater part of +its surface is not fitted to be an advantageous place of residence for +beings above the marsupialia, and judging from analogy, it may yet be +subjected to a series of changes in the highest degree inconvenient to +any human beings who may have settled upon it. + +The general conclusions regarding the geography of organic nature, may be +thus stated. (1.) There are numerous distinct foci of organic production +throughout the earth. (2.) These have everywhere advanced in accordance +with the local conditions of climate &c., as far as at least the class +and order are concerned, a diversity taking place in the lower +gradations. No physical or geographical reason appearing for this +diversity, we are led to infer that, (3,) it is the result of minute and +inappreciable causes giving the law of organic development a particular +direction in the lower subdivisions of the two kingdoms. (4.) +Development has not gone on to equal results in the various continents, +being most advanced in the eastern continent, next in the western, and +least in Australia, this inequality being perhaps the result of the +comparative antiquity of the various regions, geologically and +geographically. + +It must at the same time be admitted that the line of organic development +has nowhere required for its advance the whole of the families +comprehended in the two kingdoms, seeing that some of these are confined +to one continent, and some to another, without a conceivable possibility +of one having been connected with the other in the way of ancestry. The +two great families of quadrumana, cebidæ and simiadæ, are a noted +instance, the one being exclusively American, while the other belongs +entirely to the old world. There are many other cases in which the full +circular group can only be completed by taking subdivisions from various +continents. This would seem to imply that, while the entire system is so +remarkable for its unity, it has nevertheless been produced in lines +geographically detached, these lines perhaps consisting of particular +typical groups placed in an independent succession, or of two or more of +these groups. And for this idea there is, even in the present imperfect +state of our knowledge of animated nature, some countenance in +ascertained facts, the birds of Australia, for example, being chiefly of +the suctorial type, while it may be presumed that the observation as to +the predominance of the useful animals in the Old World, is not much +different from saying that the rasorial type is there peculiarly +abundant. It does not appear that the idea of independent lines, +consisting of particular types, or sets of types, is necessarily +inconsistent with the general hypothesis, as nothing yet ascertained of +the Macleay system forbids their having an independent set of affinities. +On this subject, however, there is as yet much obscurity, and it must be +left to future inquirers to clear it up. + +We must now call to mind that the geographical distribution of plants and +animals was very different in the geological ages from what it is now. +Down to a time not long antecedent to man, the same vegetation overspread +every clime, and a similar uniformity marked the zoology. This is +conceived by M. Brogniart, with great plausibility, to have been the +result of a uniformity of climate, produced by the as yet unexhausted +effect of the internal heat of the earth upon its surface; whereas +climate has since depended chiefly on external sources of heat, as +modified by the various meteorological influences. However the early +uniform climate was produced, certain it is that, from about the close of +the geological epoch, plants and animals have been dispersed over the +globe with a regard to their particular characters, and specimens of both +are found so isolated in particular situations, as utterly to exclude the +idea that they came thither from any common centre. It may be +asked,—Considering that, in the geological epoch, species are not limited +to particular regions, and that since the close of that epoch, they are +very peculiarly limited, are we to presume the present organisms of the +world to have been created _ab initio_ after that time? To this it may +be answered,—Not necessarily, as it so happens that animals begin to be +much varied, or to appear in a considerable variety of species, towards +the close of the geological history. It may have been that the +multitudes of locally peculiar species only came into being after the +uniform climate had passed away. It may have only been when a varied +climate arose, that the originally few species branched off into the +present extensive variety. + +A question of a very interesting kind will now probably arise in the +reader’s mind—_What place or status is assigned to man in the new natural +system_. Before going into this inquiry, it is necessary to advert to +several particulars of the natural system not yet noticed. + +It is necessary, in particular, to ascertain the grades which exist in +the classification of animals. In the line of the aves, Mr. Swainson +finds these to be nine, the species pica, for example, being thus +indicated:— + +Kingdom Animalia. +Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. +Class Aves. +Order Incessores. +Tribe Conirostres. +Family Corvidæ. +Sub-family Corvinæ. +Genus Corvus. +Sub-genus, or species Pica. + +This brings us down to species, the subdivision where intermarriage or +breeding is usually considered as natural to animals, and where a +resemblance of offspring to parents is generally persevered in. The dog, +for instance, is a species, because all dogs can breed together, and the +progeny partakes of the appearances of the parents. The human race is +held as a species, primarily for the same reasons. Species, however, is +liable to another subdivision, which naturalists call variety; and +variety appears to be subject to exactly the same system of +_representation_ which have been traced in species and higher +denominations. In canis, for instance, the bull-dog and mastiff +represent the ferocious sub-typical group; the waterdog is natatorial; we +see the speed and length of muzzle of the suctorial group in the +greyhound; and the bushy tail and gentle and serviceable character of the +rasorial in the shepherd’s dog and spaniel. Even the striped and spotted +skin of the tiger and panther is reproduced in the more ferocious kind of +dogs—an indication of a fundamental connexion between physical and mental +qualities which we have also seen in the zebra, and which is likewise +displayed in the predominance of a yellow colour in the vultures and owls +in common with the lion and his congeners. + +It is by no means clearly made out that this system of nine gradations +over and above that of variety applies in all departments of nature. On +the contrary, even Mr. Swainson gives series in which several of them are +omitted. It may be that, in some departments of nature, variation from +the class or order has gone down into fewer shades than in others; or it +may be, that many of the variations have not survived till our era, or +have not been as yet detected by naturalists; in either of which cases +there may be a necessity for shortening the series by the omission of one +or two grades, as for instance _tribe_ or _sub-family_. This, however, +is much to be regretted, as it introduces an irregularity into the +natural system, and consequently throws a difficulty and doubt in the way +of our investigating it. With these preliminary remarks, I shall proceed +to inquire what is the natural status of man. + +That man’s place is to be looked for in the class mammalia and +sub-kingdom vertebrata admits of no doubt, from his possessing both the +characters on which these divisions are founded. When we descend, +however, below the _class_, we find no settled views on the subject +amongst naturalists. Mr. Swainson, who alone has given a review of the +animal kingdom on the Macleay system, unfortunately writes on this +subject in a manner which excites a suspicion as to his judgment. His +arrangement of the first or typical order of the mammalia is therefore to +be received with great hesitation. It is as follows:— + +Typical Quadrumana Pre-eminently organized for + grasping. +Sub-typical Feræ Claws retractile; carnivorous. +Natatorial Cetacea Pre-eminently aquatic; feet very + short. +Suctorial Glires Muzzle lengthened and pointed. +Rasorial Ungulata Crests and other processes on the + head. + +He then takes the quadrumana, and places it in the following +arrangement:— + +Typical Simiadæ (Monkeys of Old World.) +Sub-typical Cebidæ (Monkeys of New World.) +Natatorial Unknown +Suctorial Vespertilionidæ (Bats.) +Rasorial Lemuridæ (Lemurs.) + +He considers the simiadæ as a complete circle, and argues thence that +there is no room in the range of the animal kingdom for man. Man, he +says, is not a constituent part of any circle, for, if he were, there +ought to be other animals on each hand having affinity to him, whereas +there are none, the resemblance of the orangs being one of mere analogy. +Mr. Swainson therefore considers our race as standing apart, and forming +a link between the unintelligent order of beings and the angels! And +this in spite of the glaring fact that, in our teeth, hands, and other +features grounded on by naturalists as characteristic, we do not differ +more from the simiadæ than the bats do from the lemurs—in spite also of +that resemblance of analogy to the orangs which he himself admits, and +which, at the least, must be held to imply a certain relation. He also +overlooks that, though there may be no room for man in the circle of the +simiadæ, (this, indeed, is quite true,) there may be in the order, where +he actually leaves a place entirely blank, or only to be filled up, as he +suggests, by mermen! {266} Another argument in his arrangement is, that +it leaves the grades of classification very much abridged, there being at +the most seven instead of nine. But serious argument on a theory so +preposterous may be considered as nearly thrown away. I shall therefore +at once proceed to suggest a new arrangement of this portion of the +animal kingdom, in which man is allowed the place to which he is +zoologically entitled. + +I propose that the typical order of the mammalia should be designated +cheirotheria, from the sole character which is universal amongst them, +their possessing hands, and with a regard to that pre-eminent +qualification for grasping which has been ascribed to them—an analogy to +the perching habit of the typical order of birds, which is worthy of +particular notice. The tribes of the cheirotheria I arrange as follows:— + +Typical Bimana. +Sub-typical Simiadæ. +Natatorial Vespertilionidæ. +Suctorial Lemuridæ. +Rasorial Cebidæ. + +Here man is put into the typical place, as the genuine head, not only of +this order, but of the whole animal world. The double affinity which is +requisite is obtained, for here he has the simiadæ on one hand, and the +cebidæ on the other. The five tribes of the order are completed, the +vespertilionidæ being shifted (provisionally) into the natatorial place, +for which their appropriateness is so far evidenced by the aquatic habits +of several of the tribe, and the lemuridæ into the suctorial, to which +their length of muzzle and remarkable saltatory power are highly +suitable. At the same time, the simiadæ are degraded from the typical +place, to which they have no sort of pretension, and placed where their +mean and mischievous character seem to require; the cebidæ again being +assigned that situation which their comparatively inoffensive +dispositions, their arboreal habits, and their extraordinary development +of the tail, (which with them is like a fifth hand,) render so proper. + +The zoological status thus assigned to the human race is precisely what +might be expected. In order to understand its full value, it is +necessary to observe how the various type peculiarities operate in fixing +the character of the animals ranked in them. It is easy to conceive that +they must be, in some instances, much mixed up with each other, and +consequently obscured. If an animal, for example, is the suctorial +member of a circle of species, forming the natatorial type of genera, +forming a family or sub-family which in its turn is rasorial, its +qualities must evidently be greatly mingled and ill to define. But, on +the other hand, if we take the rapacious or sub-typical group of birds, +and look in it for the tribe which is again the rapacious or sub-typical +group of its order, we may expect to find the qualities of that group +exalted or intensified, and accordingly made the more conspicuous. Such +is really the case with the vultures, in the rapacious birds, a family +remarkable above all of their order for their carnivorous and foul +habits. So, also, if we take the typical group of the birds, the +incessores or perchers, and look in it for its typical group, the +conirostres, and seek there again for the typical family of that group, +the corvidæ, we may expect to find a very marked superiority in +organization and character. Such is really the case. “The crow,” says +Mr. Swainson, “unites in itself a greater number of properties than are +to be found individually in any other genus of birds; as if in fact it +had taken from all the other orders a portion of their peculiar +qualities, for the purpose of exhibiting in what manner they could be +combined. From the rapacious birds this “type of types,” as the crow has +been justly called, takes the power of soaring in the air, and of seizing +upon living birds, like the hawks, while its habit of devouring putrid +substances, and picking out the eyes of young animals, is borrowed from +the vultures. From the scansorial or climbing order it takes the faculty +of picking the ground, and discovering its food when hidden from the eye, +while the parrot family gives it the taste for vegetable food, and +furnishes it with great cunning, sagacity, and powers of imitation, even +to counterfeiting the human voice. Next come the order of waders, who +impart their quota to the perfection of the crow by giving it great +powers of flight, and perfect facility in walking, such being among the +chief attributes of the suctorial order. Lastly, the aquatic birds +contribute their portion, by giving this terrestrial bird the power of +feeding not only on fish, which are their peculiar food, but actually of +occasionally catching it. {270} In this wonderful manner do we find the +crow partially invested with the united properties of all other birds, +while in its own order, that of the incessores or perchers, it stands the +pre-eminent type. We cannot also fail to regard it as a remarkable proof +of the superior organization and character of the corvidæ, that they are +adapted for all climates, and accordingly found all over the world. + +Mr. Swainson’s description of the zoological status of the crow, written +without the least design of throwing any light upon that of man, +evidently does so in a remarkable degree. It prepares us to expect in +the place among the mammalia, corresponding to that of the corvidæ in the +aves, a being or set of beings possessing a remarkable concentration of +qualities from all the other groups of their order, but in general +character as far above the corvidæ as a typical group is above an +aberrant one, the mammalia above the aves. Can any of the simiadæ +pretend to such a place, narrowly and imperfectly endowed as these +creatures are—a mean reflection apparently of something higher? +Assuredly not, and in this consideration alone Mr. Swainson’s arrangement +must fall to the ground. To fill worthily so lofty a station in the +animated families man alone is competent. In him only is to be found +that concentration of qualities from all the other groups of his order +which has been described as marking the corvidæ. That grasping power, +which has been selected as the leading physical quality of his order, is +nowhere so beautifully or so powerfully developed as in his hand. The +intelligence and teachableness of the simiadæ rise to a climax in his +pre-eminent mental nature. His sub-analogy to the feræ is marked by his +canine teeth, and the universality of his rapacity, for where is the +department of animated nature which he does not without scruple sacrifice +to his convenience? With sanguinary, he has also gentle and domesticable +dispositions, thus reflecting the characters of the ungulata, (the +rasorial type of the class,) to which we perhaps see a further analogy in +the use which he makes of the surface of the earth as a source of food. +To the aquatic type his love of maritime adventure very readily +assimilates him; and how far the suctorial is represented in his nature +it is hardly necessary to say. As the corvidæ, too, are found in every +part of the earth—almost the only one of the inferior animals which has +been acknowledged as universal—so do we find man. He thrives in all +climates, and with regard to style of living, can adapt himself to an +infinitely greater diversity of circumstances than any other animated +creature. + +Man, then, considered zoologically, and without regard to the distinct +character assigned to him by theology, simply takes his place as the type +of all types of the animal kingdom, the true and unmistakable head of +animated nature upon this earth. It will readily occur that some more +particular investigations into the ranks of types might throw additional +light on man’s status, and perhaps his nature; and such light we may hope +to obtain when the philosophy of zoology shall have been studied as it +deserves. Perhaps some such diagram as the one given on the next page +will be found to be an approximation to the expression of the merely +natural or secular grade of man in comparison with other animals. + + [Picture: Diagram] {274} + +Here the upright lines, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, may represent the comparative +height and grade of organization of both the five sub-kingdoms, and the +five classes of each of these; 5 being the vertebrata in the one case, +and the mammalia in the other. The difference between the height of the +line 1 and the line 5 gives an idea of the difference of being the head +type of the aves, (corvidæ,) and the head type of the mammalia, (bimana;) +_a. b. c. d_. 5, again, represent the five groups of the first order of +the mammalia; _a_, being the organic structure of the highest simia, and +5, that of man. A set of tangent lines of this kind may yet prove one of +the most satisfactory means of ascertaining the height and breadth of the +psychology of our species. + +It may be asked,—Is the existing human race the only species designed to +occupy the grade to which it is here referred? Such a question evidently +ought not to be answered rashly; and I shall therefore confine myself to +the admission that, judging by analogy, we might expect to see several +varieties of the being, homo. There is no other family approaching to +this in importance, which presents but one species. The corvidæ, our +parallel in aves, consist of several distinct genera and sub-genera. It +is startling to find such an appearance of imperfection in the circle to +which man belongs, and the ideas which rise in consequence are not less +startling. Is our race but the initial of the grand crowning type? Are +there yet to be species superior to us in organization, purer in feeling, +more powerful in device and act, and who shall take a rule over us! +There is in this nothing improbable on other grounds. The present race, +rude and impulsive as it is, is perhaps the best adapted to the present +state of things in the world; but the external world goes through slow +and gradual changes, which may leave it in time a much serener field of +existence. There may then be occasion for a nobler type of humanity, +which shall complete the zoological circle on this planet, and realize +some of the dreams of the purest spirits of the present race. + + + + +EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND. + + +THE human race is known to consist of numerous nations, displaying +considerable differences of external form and colour, and speaking in +general different languages. This has been the case since the +commencement of written record. It is also ascertained that the external +peculiarities of particular nations do not rapidly change. There is +rather a tendency to a persistency of type in all lines of descent, +insomuch that a subordinate admixture of various type is usually +obliterated in a few generations. Numerous as the varieties are, they +have all been found classifiable under five leading ones:—1. The +Caucasian or Indo-European, which extends from India into Europe and +Northern Africa; 2. The Mongolian, which occupies Northern and Eastern +Asia; 3. The Malayan, which extends from the Ultra-Gangetic Peninsula +into the numerous islands of the South Sea and Pacific; 4. The Negro, +chiefly confined to Africa; 5. The aboriginal American. Each of these +is distinguished by certain general features of so marked a kind, as to +give rise to a supposition that they have had distinct or independent +origins. Of these peculiarities, colour is the most conspicuous: the +Caucasians are generally white, the Mongolians yellow, the Negroes black, +and the Americans red. The opposition of two of these in particular, +white and black, is so striking, that of them, at least, it seems almost +necessary to suppose separate origins. Of late years, however, the whole +of this question has been subjected to a rigorous investigation, and it +has been successfully shewn that the human race might have had one +origin, for anything that can be inferred from external peculiarities. + +It appears from this inquiry, {278} that colour and other physiological +characters are of a more superficial and accidental nature than was at +one time supposed. One fact is at the very first extremely startling, +that there are nations, such as the inhabitants of Hindostan, known to be +one in descent, which nevertheless contain groups of people of almost all +shades of colour, and likewise discrepant in other of those important +features on which much stress has been laid. Some other facts, which I +may state in brief terms, are scarcely less remarkable. In Africa, there +are Negro nations,—that is, nations of intensely black complexion, as the +Jolofs, Mandingoes, and Kafirs, whose features and limbs are as elegant +as those of the best European nations. While we have no proof of Negro +races becoming white in the course of generations, the converse may be +held as established, for there are Arab and Jewish families of ancient +settlement in Northern Africa, who have become as black as the other +inhabitants. There are also facts which seem to shew the possibility of +a natural transition by generation from the black to the white +complexion, and from the white to the black. True whites (apart from +Albinoes) are not unfrequently born among the Negroes, and the tendency +to this singularity is transmitted in families. There is, at least, one +authentic instance of a set of perfectly black children being born to an +Arab couple, in whose ancestry no such blood had intermingled. This +occurred in the valley of the Jordan, where it is remarkable that the +Arab population in general have flatter features, darker skins, and +coarser hair, than any other tribes of the same nation. {280} + +The style of living is ascertained to have a powerful effect in modifying +the human figure in the course of generations, and this even in its +osseous structure. About two hundred years ago, a number of people were +driven by a barbarous policy from the counties of Antrim and Down, in +Ireland, towards the sea-coast, where they have ever since been settled, +but in unusually miserable circumstances, even for Ireland; and the +consequence is, that they exhibit peculiar features of the most repulsive +kind, projecting jaws with large open mouths, depressed noses, high cheek +bones, and bow legs, together with an extremely diminutive stature. +These, with an abnormal slenderness of the limbs, are the outward marks +of a low and barbarous condition all over the world; it is particularly +seen in the Australian aborigines. On the other hand, the beauty of the +higher ranks in England is very remarkable, being, in the main, as +clearly a result of good external conditions. “Coarse, unwholesome, and +ill-prepared food,” says Buffon, “makes the human race degenerate. All +those people who live miserably are ugly and ill-made. Even in France, +the country people are not so beautiful as those who live in towns; and I +have often remarked that in those villages where the people are richer +and better fed than in others, the men are likewise more handsome, and +have better countenances.” He might have added, that elegant and +commodious dwellings, cleanly habits, comfortable clothing, and being +exposed to the open air only as much as health requires, cooperate with +food in increasing the elegance of a race of human beings. + +Subject only to these modifying agencies, there is, as has been said, a +remarkable persistency in national features and forms, insomuch that a +single individual thrown into a family different from himself is absorbed +in it, and all trace of him lost after a few generations. But while +there is such a persistency to ordinary observation, it would also appear +that nature has a power of producing new varieties, though this is only +done rarely. Such novelties of type abound in the vegetable world, are +seen more rarely in the animal circle, and perhaps are least frequent of +occurrence in our own race. There is a noted instance in the production, +on a New England farm, of a variety of sheep with unusually short legs, +which was kept up by breeding, on account of the convenience in that +country of having sheep which are unable to jump over low fences. The +starting and main taming a _breed_ of cattle, that is, a variety marked +by some desirable peculiarity, are familiar to a large class of persons. +It appears only necessary, when a variety has been thus produced, that a +union should take place between individuals similarly characterized, in +order to establish it. Early in the last century, a man named Lambert, +was born in Suffolk, with semi-horny excrescences of about half an inch +long, thickly growing all over his body. The peculiarity was transmitted +to his children, and was last heard of in a third generation. The +peculiarity of six fingers on the hand and six toes on the feet, appears +in like manner in families which have no record or tradition of such a +peculiarity having affected them at any former period, and it is then +sometimes seen to descend through several generations. It was Mr. +Lawrence’s opinion, that a pair, in which both parties were so +distinguished, might be the progenitors of a new variety of the race who +would be thus marked in all future time. It is not easy to surmise the +causes which operate in producing such varieties. Perhaps they are +simply types in nature, _possible to be realized under certain +appropriate conditions_, but which conditions are such as altogether to +elude notice. I might cite as examples of such possible types, the rise +of whites amongst the Negroes, the occurrence of the family of black +children in the valley of the Jordan, and the comparatively frequent +birth of red-haired children amongst not only the Mongolian and Malayan +families, but amongst the Negroes. We are ignorant of the laws of +variety-production; but we see it going on as a principle in nature, and +it is obviously favourable to the supposition that all the great families +of men are of one stock. + +The tendency of the modern study of the languages of nations is to the +same point. The last fifty years have seen this study elevated to the +character of a science, and the light which it throws upon the history of +mankind is of a most remarkable nature. + +Following a natural analogy, philologists have thrown the earth’s +languages into a kind of classification: a number bearing a considerable +resemblance to each other, and in general geographically near, are styled +a _group_ or _sub-family_; several groups, again, are associated as a +_family_, with regard to more general features of resemblance. Six +families are spoken of. + +The Indo-European family nearly coincides in geographical limits with +those which have been assigned to that variety of mankind which generally +shews a fair complexion, called the Caucasian variety. It may be said to +commence in India, and thence to stretch through Persia into Europe, the +whole of which it occupies, excepting Hungary, the Basque provinces of +Spain, and Finland. Its sub-families are the Sanskrit, or ancient +language of India, the Persian, the Slavonic, Celtic, Gothic, and +Pelasgian. The Slavonic includes the modern languages of Russia and +Poland. Under the Gothic, are (1) the Scandinavian tongues, the Norske, +Swedish, and Danish; and (2) the Teutonic, to which belong the modern +German, the Dutch, and our own Anglo-Saxon. I give the name of Pelasgian +to the group scattered along the north shores of the Mediterranean, the +Greek and Latin, including the modifications of the latter under the +names of Italian, Spanish, &c. The Celtic was from two to three thousand +years ago, the speech of a considerable tribe dwelling in Western Europe; +but these have since been driven before superior nations into a few +corners, and are now only to be found in the highlands of Scotland, +Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and certain parts of France. The Gaelic of +Scotland, Erse of Ireland, and the Welsh, are the only living branches of +this sub-family of languages. + +The resemblances amongst languages are of two kinds,—identity of words, +and identity of grammatical forms; the latter being now generally +considered as the most important towards the argument. When we inquire +into the first kind of affinity among the languages of the Indo-European +family, we are surprised at the great number of common terms which exist +amongst them, and these referring to such primary ideas, as to leave no +doubt of their having all been derived from a common source. Colonel +Vans Kennedy presents nine hundred words common to the Sanskrit and other +languages of the same family. In the Sanskrit and Persian, we find +several which require no sort of translation to an English reader, as +_pader_, _mader_, _sunu_, _dokhter_, _brader_, _mand_, _vidhava_; +likewise _asthi_, a bone, (Greek, _ostoun_;) _denta_, a tooth, (Latin, +_dens_, _dentis_;) _eyeumen_, the eye; _brouwa_, the eye-brow, (German, +_braue_;) _nasa_, the nose; _karu_, the hand, (Gr. _cheir_;) _genu_, the +knee, (Lat. _genu_;) _ped_, the foot, (Lat. _pes_, _pedis_;) _hrti_, the +heart; _jecur_, the liver, (Lat. _jecur_;) _stara_, a star; _gela_, cold, +(Lat. _gelu_, ice;) _aghni_, fire, (Lat. _ignis_;) _dhara_, the earth, +(Lat. _terra_, Gaelic, _tir_;) _arrivi_, a river; _nau_, a ship, (Gr. +_naus_, Lat. _navis_;) _ghau_, a cow; _sarpam_, a serpent. + +The inferences from these verbal coincidences were confirmed in a +striking manner when Bopp and others investigated the grammatical +structure of this family of languages. Dr. Wiseman pronounces that the +great philologist just named, “by a minute and sagacious analysis of the +Sanskrit verb, compared with the conjugational system of the other +members of this family, left no doubt of their intimate and positive +affinity.” It was now discovered that the peculiar terminations or +inflections by which persons are expressed throughout the verbs of nearly +the whole of these languages, have their foundations in pronouns; the +pronoun was simply placed at the end, and thus became an inflexion. “By +an analysis of the Sanskrit pronouns, the elements of those existing in +all the other languages were cleared of their anomalies; the verb +substantive, which in Latin is composed of fragments referable to two +distinct roots, here found both existing in regular form; the Greek +conjugations, with all their complicated machinery of middle voice, +augments, and reduplications, were here found and illustrated in a +variety of ways, which a few years ago would have appeared chimerical. +Even our own language may sometimes receive light from the study of +distant members of our family. Where, for instance, are we to seek for +the root of our comparative _better_? Certainly not in its positive, +good, nor in the Teutonic dialects in which the same anomaly exists. But +in the Persian we have precisely the same comparative, _behter_, with +exactly the same signification, regularly formed from its positive _beh_, +good.” {287} + +The second great family is the _Syro-Phœnician_, comprising the Hebrew, +Syro-Chaldaic, Arabic, and Gheez or Abyssinian, being localized +principally in the countries to the west and south of the Mediterranean. +Beyond them, again, is the African family, which, as far as research has +gone, seems to be in like manner marked by common features, both verbal +and grammatical. The fourth is the Polynesian family, extending from +Madagascar on the west through all the Indian Archipelago, besides taking +in the Malayan dialect from the continent of India, and comprehending +Australia and the islands of the western portion of the Pacific. This +family, however, bears such an affinity to that next to be described, +that Dr. Leyden and some others do not give it a distinct place as a +family of languages. + +The fifth family is the Chinese, embracing a large part of China, and +most of the regions of Central and Northern Asia. The leading features +of the Chinese are, its consisting altogether of monosyllables, and being +destitute of all grammatical forms, except certain arrangements and +accentuations, which vary the sense of particular words. It is also +deficient in some of the consonants most conspicuous in other languages, +b, d, r, v, and z; so that this people can scarcely pronounce our speech +in such a way as to be intelligible: for example, the word Christus they +call _Kuliss-ut-oo-suh_. The Chinese, strange to say, though they early +attained to a remarkable degree of civilization, and have preceded the +Europeans in many of the most important inventions, have a language which +resembles that of children, or deaf and dumb people. The sentence of +short, simple, unconnected words, in which an infant amongst us attempts +to express some of its wants and its ideas—the equally broken and +difficult terms which the deaf and dumb express by signs, as the +following passage of the Lord’s Prayer:—“Our Father, heaven in, wish your +name respect, wish your soul’s kingdom providence arrive, wish your will +do heaven earth equality,” &c.—these are like the discourse of the +refined people of the so-called Celestial Empire. An attempt was made by +the Abbé Sicard to teach the deaf and dumb grammatical signs; but they +persisted in restricting themselves to the simple signs of ideas, leaving +the structure undetermined by any but the natural order of connexion. +Such is exactly the condition of the Chinese language. + +Crossing the Pacific, we come to the last great family in the languages +of the aboriginal Americans, which have all of them features in common, +proving them to constitute a group by themselves, without any regard to +the very different degrees of civilization which these nations had +attained at the time of the discovery. The common resemblance is in the +grammatical structure as well as in words, and the grammatical structure +of this family is of a very peculiar and complicated kind. The general +character in this respect has caused the term Polysynthetic to be applied +to the American languages. A long many-syllabled word is used by the +rude Algonquins and Delawares to express a whole sentence: for example, a +woman of the latter nation, playing with a little dog or cat, would +perhaps be heard saying, “_kuligatschis_,” meaning, “give me your pretty +little paw;” the word, on examination, is found to be made up in this +manner: _k_, the second personal pronoun; _uli_, part of the word wulet, +pretty; _gat_, part of the word wichgat, signifying a leg or paw; +_schis_, conveying the idea of littleness. In the same tongue, a youth +is called pilape, a word compounded from the first part of pilsit, +innocent, and the latter part of lenape, a man. Thus, it will be +observed, a number of parts of words are taken and thrown together, by a +process which has been happily termed _agglutination_, so as to form one +word, conveying a complicated idea. There is also an elaborate system of +inflection; in nouns, for instance, there is one kind of inflection to +express the presence or absence of vitality, and another to express +number. The genius of the language has been described as accumulative: +it “tends rather to add syllables or letters, making farther distinctions +in objects already before the mind, than to introduce new words.” {291} +Yet it has also been shewn very distinctly, that these languages are +based in words of one syllable, like those of the Chinese and Polynesian +families; all the primary ideas are thus expressed: the elaborate system +of inflection and agglutination is shewn to be simply a farther +development of the language-forming principle, as it may be called—or the +Chinese system may be described as an arrestment of this principle at a +particular early point. It has been fully shewn, that between the +structure of the American and other families, sufficient affinities exist +to make a common origin or early connexion extremely likely. The verbal +affinities are also very considerable. Humboldt says, “In eighty-three +American languages examined by Messrs. Barton and Vater, one hundred and +seventy words have been found, the roots of which appear to be the same; +and it is easy to perceive that this analogy is not accidental, since it +does not rest merely upon imitative harmony, or on that conformity of +organs which produces almost a perfect identity in the first sounds +articulated by children. Of these one hundred and seventy words which +have this connexion, three-fifths resemble the Manchou, the Tongouse, the +Mongal, and the Samoyed; and two-fifths, the Celtic and Tchoud, the +Biscayan, the Coptic, and Congo languages. These words have been found +by comparing the whole of the American languages with the whole of those +of the Old World; for hitherto we are acquainted with no American idiom +which seems to have an exclusive correspondence with any of the Asiatic, +African, or European tongues.” {293} Humboldt and others considered +these words as brought into America by recent immigrants; an idea resting +on no proof, and which seems at once refuted by the common words being +chiefly those which represent primary ideas; besides, we now know, what +was not formerly perceived or admitted, that there are great affinities +of structure also. I may here refer to a curious mathematical +calculation by Dr. Thomas Young, to the effect, that if three words +coincide in two different languages, it is ten to one they must be +derived in both cases from some parent language, or introduced in some +other manner. “Six words would give more,” he says, “than seventeen +hundred to one, and eight near 100,000, so that in these cases the +evidence would be little short of absolute certainty.” He instances the +following words to shew a connexion between the ancient Egyptian and the +Biscayan:— + + BISCAYAN. EGYPTIAN. +_New_ Beria Beri. +_A dog_ Ora Whor. +_Little_ Gutchi Kudchi. +_Bread_ Ognia Oik. +_A wolf_ Otgsa Ounsh. +_Seven_ Shashpi Shashf. + +Now, as there are, according to Humboldt, one hundred and seventy words +in common between the languages of the new and old continents, and many +of these are expressive of the most primitive ideas, there is, by Dr. +Young’s calculation, overpowering proof of the original connexion of the +American and other human families. + +This completes the slight outline which I have been able to give, of the +evidence for the various races of men being descended from one stock. It +cannot be considered as conclusive, and there are many eminent persons +who deem the opposite idea the more probable; but I must say that, +without the least regard to any other kind of evidence, that which +physiology and philology present seems to me decidedly favourable to the +idea of a single origin. + +Assuming that the human race is _one_, we are next called upon to inquire +in what part of the earth it may most probably be supposed to have +originated. One obvious mode of approximating to a solution of this +question is to trace backward the lines in which the principal tribes +appear to have migrated, and to see if these converge nearly to a point. +It is very remarkable that the lines do converge, and are concentrated +about the region of Hindostan. The language, religion, modes of +reckoning time, and some other peculiar ideas of the Americans, are now +believed to refer their origin to North-Eastern Asia. Trace them farther +back in the same direction, and we come to the north of India. The +history of the Celts and Teutones represents them as coming from the +east, the one after the other, successive waves of a tide of population +flowing towards the north-west of Europe: this line being also traced +back, rests finally at the same place. So does the line of Iranian +population, which has peopled the east and south shores of the +Mediterranean, Syria, Arabia, and Egypt. The Malay variety, again, rests +its limit in one direction on the borders of India. Standing on that +point, it is easy to see how the human family, originating there, might +spread out in different directions, passing into varieties of aspect and +of language as they spread, the Malay variety proceeding towards the +Oceanic region, the Mongolians to the east and north, and sending off the +red men as a sub-variety, the European population going off to the +north-westward, and the Syrian, Arabian, and Egyptian, towards the +countries which they are known to have so long occupied. The Negro alone +is here unaccounted for; and of that race it may fairly be said, that it +is the one most likely to have had an independent origin, seeing that it +is a type so peculiar in an inveterate black colour, and so mean in +development. But it is not necessary to presume such an origin for it, +as much good argument might be employed to shew that it is only a +deteriorated offshoot of the general stock. Our view of the probable +original seat of man agrees with the ancient traditions of the race. +There is one among the Hindoos which places the cradle of the human +family in Thibet; another makes Ceylon the residence of the first man. +Our view is also in harmony with the hypothesis detailed in the chapter +before the last. According to that theory, we should expect man to have +originated where the highest species of the quadrumana are to be found. +Now these are unquestionably found in the Indian Archipelago. + +After all, it may be regarded as still an open question, whether mankind +is of one or many origins. The first human generation may have consisted +of many pairs, though situated at one place, and these may have been +considerably different from each other in external characters. And we +are equally bound to admit, though this does not as yet seem to have +occurred to any other speculator, that there may have been different +lines and sources of origination, geographically apart, but which all +resulted uniformly in the production of a being, one in species, although +variously marked. + +It has of late years been a favourite notion with many, that the human +race was at first in a highly civilized state, and that barbarism was a +second condition. This idea probably took its origin in a wish to +support certain interpretations of the Mosaic record, and it has never +yet been propounded by any writer who seemed to have a due sense of the +value of science in this class of investigations. The principal argument +for it is, that we see many examples of nations falling away from +civilization into barbarism, while in some regions of the earth, the +history of which we do not clearly know, there are remains of works of +art far superior to any which the present unenlightened inhabitants could +have produced. It is to be readily admitted that such decadences are +common; but do they necessarily prove that there has been anything like a +regular and constant decline into the present state, from a state more +generally refined? May not these be only instances of local failures and +suppressions of the principle of civilization, where it had begun to take +root amongst a people generally barbarous? It is, at least, as +legitimate to draw this inference from the facts which are known. But it +is also alleged that we know of no such thing as civilization being ever +self-originated. It is always seen to be imparted from one people to +another. Hence, of course, we must infer that civilization at the first +could only have been of supernatural origin. This argument appears to be +founded on false premises, for civilization does sometimes rise in a +manner clearly independent amongst a horde of people generally barbarous. +A striking instance is described in the laborious work of Mr. Catlin on +the North-American tribes. Far placed among those which inhabit the vast +region of the north-west, and quite beyond the reach of any influence +from the whites, he found a small tribe living in a fortified village, +where they cultivated the arts of manufacture, realized comforts and +luxuries, and had attained to a remarkable refinement of manners, +insomuch as to be generally called the polite and friendly Mandans. They +were also more than usually elegant in their persons, and of every +variety of complexion between that of their compatriots and a pure white. +Up to the time of Mr. Catlin’s visit, these people had been able to +defend themselves and their possessions against the roving bands which +surrounded them on all sides; but, soon after, they were attacked by +small-pox, which cut them all off except a small party, whom their +enemies rushed in upon and destroyed to a man. What is this but a +repetition on a small scale of phenomena with which ancient history +familiarizes us—a nation rising in arts and elegances amidst barbarous +neighbours, but at length overpowered by the rude majority, leaving only +a Tadmor or a Luxor as a monument of itself to beautify the waste? What +can we suppose the nation which built Palenque and Copan to have been but +only a Mandan tribe, which chanced to have made its way farther along the +path of civilization and the arts, before the barbarians broke in upon +it? The flame essayed to rise in many parts of the earth; but there were +always considerable chances against it, and down it accordingly went, +times without number; but there was always a vitality in it, +nevertheless, and a tendency to progress, and at length it seems to have +attained a strength against which the powers of barbarism can never more +prevail. The state of our knowledge of uncivilized nations is very apt +to make us fall into error on this subject. They are generally supposed +to be all at one point in barbarism, which is far from being the case, +for in the midst of every great region of uncivilized men, such as North +America, there are nations partially refined. The Jolofs, Mandingoes, +and Kafirs, are African examples, where a natural and independent origin +for the improvement which exists is as unavoidably to be presumed as in +the case of the Mandans. + +The most conclusive argument against the original civilization of mankind +is to be found in the fact that we do not now see civilization existing +anywhere except in certain conditions altogether different from any we +can suppose to have existed at the commencement of our race. To have +civilization, it is necessary that a people should be numerous and +closely placed; that they should be fixed in their habitations, and safe +from violent external and internal disturbance; that a considerable +number of them should be exempt from the necessity of drudging for +immediate subsistence. Feeling themselves at ease about the first +necessities of their nature, including self-preservation, and daily +subjected to that intellectual excitement which society produces, men +begin to manifest what is called civilization; but never in rude and +shelterless circumstances, or when widely scattered. Even men who have +been civilized, when transferred to a wide wilderness, where each has to +work hard and isolatedly for the first requisites of life, soon shew a +retrogression to barbarism: witness the plains of Australia, as well as +the backwoods of Canada and the prairies of Texas. Fixity of residence +and thickening of population are perhaps the prime requisites for +civilization, and hence it will be found that all civilizations as yet +known have taken place in regions physically limited. That of Egypt +arose in a narrow valley hemmed in by deserts on both sides. That of +Greece took its rise in a small peninsula bounded on the only land side +by mountains. Etruria and Rome were naturally limited regions. +Civilizations have taken place at both the eastern and western +extremities of the elder continent—China and Japan, on the one hand; +Germany, Holland, Britain, France, on the other—while the great unmarked +tract between contains nations decidedly less advanced. Why is this, but +because the sea, in both cases, has imposed limits to further migration, +and caused the population to settle and condense—the conditions most +necessary for social improvement. {302} Even the simple case of the +Mandans affords an illustration of this principle, for Mr. Catlin +expressly, though without the least regard to theory, attributes their +improvement to the fact of their being a small tribe, obliged, by fear of +their more numerous enemies, to _settle in a permanent village_, so +fortified as to ensure their preservation. “By this means,” says he, +“they have advanced farther in the arts of manufacture, and have supplied +their lodges more abundantly with the comforts and even luxuries of life +than any Indian nation I know of. The consequence of this,” he adds, “is +that the tribe have taken many steps ahead of other tribes in _manners +and refinements_.” These conditions can only be regarded as natural laws +affecting civilization, and it might not be difficult, taking them into +account, to predict of any newly settled country its social destiny. An +island like Van Dieman’s land might fairly be expected to go on more +rapidly to good manners and sound institutions than a wide region like +Australia. The United States might be expected to make no great way in +civilization till they be fully peopled to the Pacific; and it might not +be unreasonable to expect that, when that even has occurred, the greatest +civilizations of that vast territory will be found in the peninsula of +California and the narrow stripe of country beyond the Rocky Mountains. +This, however, is a digression. To return: it is also necessary for a +civilization that at least a portion of the community should be placed +above mean and engrossing toils. Man’s mind becomes subdued, like the +dyer’s hand, to that it works in. In rude and difficult circumstances we +unavoidably become rude, because then only the inferior and harsher +faculties of our nature are called into existence. When, on the +contrary, there is leisure and abundance, the self-seeking and +self-preserving instincts are allowed to rest, the gentler and more +generous sentiments are evoked, and man becomes that courteous and +chivalric being which he is found to be amongst the upper classes of +almost all civilized countries. These, then, may be said to be the chief +natural laws concerned in the moral phenomenon of civilization. If I am +right in so considering them, it will of course be readily admitted that +the earliest families of the human race, although they might be simple +and innocent, could not have been in anything like a civilized state, +seeing that the conditions necessary for that state could not have then +existed. Let us only for a moment consider some of the things requisite +for their being civilized,—namely, a set of elegant homes ready furnished +for their reception, fields ready cultivated to yield them food without +labour, stores of luxurious appliances of all kinds, a complete social +enginery for the securing of life and property,—and we shall turn from +the whole conceit as one worthy only of the philosophers of Utopia. + +Yet, as has been remarked, the earliest families might be simple and +innocent, while at the same time unskilled and ignorant, and obliged to +live merely upon such substances as they could readily procure. The +traditions of all nations refer to such a state as that in which mankind +were at first: perhaps it is not so much a tradition as an idea which the +human mind naturally inclines to form respecting the fathers of the race; +but nothing that we see of mankind absolutely forbids our entertaining +this idea, while there are some considerations rather favourable to it. +A few families, in a state of nature, living near each other, in a +country supplying the means of livelihood abundantly, are generally +simple and innocent; their instinctive and perceptive faculties are also +apt to be very active, although the higher intellect may be dormant. If +we therefore presume India to have been the cradle of our race, they +might at first exemplify a sort of golden age; but it could not be of +long continuance. The very first movements from the primal seat would be +attended with degradation, nor could there be any tendency to true +civilization till groups had settled and thickened in particular seats +physically limited. + +The probability may now be assumed that the human race sprung from one +stock, which was at first in a state of simplicity, if not barbarism. As +yet we have not seen very distinctly how the various branches of the +family, as they parted off, and took up separate ground, became marked by +external features so peculiar. Why are the Africans black, and generally +marked by coarse features and ungainly forms? Why are the Mongolians +generally yellow, the Americans red, the Caucasians white? Why the flat +features of the Chinese, the small stature of the Laps, the soft round +forms of the English, the lank features of their descendants, the +Americans? All of these phenomena appear, in a word, to be explicable on +the ground of _development_. We have already seen that various leading +animal forms represent stages in the embryotic progress of the +highest—the human being. Our brain goes through the various stages of a +fish’s, a reptile’s, and a mammifer’s brain, and finally becomes human. +There is more than this, for, after completing the animal +transformations, it passes through the characters in which it appears, in +the Negro, Malay, American, and Mongolian nations, and finally is +Caucasian. The face partakes of these alterations. “One of the earliest +points in which ossification commences is the lower jaw. This bone is +consequently sooner completed than the other bones of the head, and +acquires a predominance, which, as is well known, it never loses in the +Negro. During the soft pliant state of the bones of the skull, the +oblong form which they naturally assume, approaches nearly the permanent +shape of the Americans. At birth, the flattened face, and broad smooth +forehead of the infant, the position of the eyes rather towards the side +of the head, and the widened space between, represent the Mongolian form; +while it is only as the child advances to maturity, that the oval face, +the arched forehead, and the marked features of the true Caucasian, +become perfectly developed.” {307a} _The leading characters_, _in +short_, _of the various races of mankind_, _are simply representations of +particular stages in the development of the highest or Caucasian type_. +The Negro exhibits permanently the imperfect brain, projecting lower jaw, +and slender bent limbs, of a Caucasian child, some considerable time +before the period of its birth. The aboriginal American represents the +same child nearer birth. The Mongolian is an arrested infant newly born. +And so forth. All this is as respects form; {307b} but whence colour? +This might be supposed to have depended on climatal agencies only; but it +has been shewn by overpowering evidence to be independent of these. In +further considering the matter, we are met by the very remarkable fact +that colour is deepest in the least perfectly developed type, next in the +Malay, next in the American, next in the Mongolian, the very order in +which the degrees of development are ranged. _May not colour_, _then_, +_depend upon development also_? We do not, indeed, see that a Caucasian +fœtus at the stage which the African represents is anything like black; +neither is a Caucasian child yellow, like the Mongolian. There may, +nevertheless, be a character of skin at a certain stage of development +which is predisposed to a particular colour when it is presented as the +envelope of a mature being. Development being arrested at so immature a +stage in the case of the Negro, the skin may take on the colour as an +unavoidable consequence of its imperfect organization. It is favourable +to this view, that Negro infants are not deeply black at first, but only +acquire the full colour tint after exposure for some time to the +atmosphere. Another consideration in its favour is that there is a +likelihood of peculiarities of form and colour, since they are so +coincident, depending on one set of phenomena. If it be admitted as +true, there can be no difficulty in accounting for all the varieties of +mankind. They are simply the result of so many advances and +retrogressions in the developing power of the human mothers, these +advances and retrogressions being, as we have formerly seen, the +immediate effect of external conditions in nutrition, hardship, &c., +{309} and also, perhaps, to some extent, of the suitableness and +unsuitableness of marriages, for it is found that parents too nearly +related tend to produce offspring of the Mongolian type,—that is, persons +who in maturity still are a kind of children. According to this view, +the greater part of the human race must be considered as having lapsed or +declined from the original type. In the Caucasian or Indo-European +family alone has the primitive organization been improved upon. The +Mongolian, Malay, American, and Negro, comprehending perhaps five-sixths +of mankind, are degenerate. Strange that the great plan should admit of +failures and aberrations of such portentous magnitude! But pause and +reflect; take time into consideration: the past history of mankind may +be, to what is to come, but as a day. Look at the progress even now +making over the barbaric parts of the earth by the best examples of the +Caucasian type, promising not only to fill up the waste places, but to +supersede the imperfect nations already existing. Who can tell what +progress may be made, even in a single century, towards reversing the +proportions of the perfect and imperfect types? and who can tell but that +the time during which the mean types have lasted, long as it appears, may +yet be thrown entirely into the shade by the time during which the best +types will remain predominant? + +We have seen that the traces of a common origin in all languages afford a +ground of presumption for the unity of the human race. They establish a +still stronger probability that mankind had not yet begun to disperse +before they were possessed of a means of communicating their ideas by +conventional sounds—in short, speech. This is a gift so peculiar to man, +and in itself so remarkable, that there is a great inclination to surmise +a miraculous origin for it, although there is no proper ground, or even +support, for such an idea in Scripture, while it is clearly opposed to +everything else that we know with regard to the providential arrangements +for the creation of our race. Here, as in many other cases, a little +observation of nature might have saved much vain discussion. The real +character of language itself has not been thoroughly understood. +Language, in its most comprehensive sense, is the communication of ideas +by whatever means. Ideas can be communicated by looks, gestures, and +signs of various other kinds, as well as by speech. The inferior animals +possess some of those means of communicating ideas, and they have +likewise a silent and unobservable mode of their own, the nature of which +is a complete mystery to us, though we are assured of its reality by its +effects. Now, as the inferior animals were all in being before man, +there was language upon earth long ere the history of our race commenced. +The only additional fact in the history of language, which was produced +by our creation, was the rise of a new mode of expression—namely, that by +_sound-signs_ produced by the vocal organs. In other words, speech was +the only novelty in this respect attending the creation of the human +race. No doubt it was an addition of great importance, for, in +comparison with it, the other natural modes of communicating ideas sink +into insignificance. Still, the main and fundamental phenomenon, +language, as the communication of ideas, was no new gift of the Creator +to man; and in speech itself, when we judge of it as a natural fact, we +see only a result of some of those superior endowments of which so many +others have fallen to our lot through the medium of an improved or +advanced organization. + +The first and most obvious natural endowment concerned in speech is that +peculiar organization of the larynx, trachea, and mouth, which enables us +to produce the various sounds required in the case. Man started at first +with this organization ready for use, a constitution of the atmosphere +adapted for the sounds which that organization was calculated to produce, +and, lastly, but not leastly, as will afterwards be more particularly +shewn, a mental power within, prompting to, and giving directions for, +the expression of ideas. Such an arrangement of mutually adapted things +was as likely to produce sounds as an Eolian harp placed in a draught is +to produce tones. It was unavoidable that human beings so organized, and +in such a relation to external nature, should utter sounds, and also come +to attach to these conventional meanings, thus forming the elements of +spoken language. The great difficulty which has been felt was to account +for man going in this respect beyond the inferior animals. There could +have been no such difficulty if speculators in this class of subjects had +looked into physiology for an account of the superior vocal organization +of man, and had they possessed a true science of mind to shew man +possessing a faculty for the expression of ideas which is only rudimental +in the lower animals. Another difficulty has been in the consideration +that, if men were at first utterly untutored and barbarous, they could +scarcely be in a condition to form or employ language—an instrument which +it requires the fullest powers of thought to analyse and speculate upon. +But this difficulty also vanishes upon reflection—for, in the first +place, we are not bound to suppose the fathers of our race early +attaining to great proficiency in language, and, in the second, language +itself seems to be amongst the things least difficult to be acquired, if +we can form any judgment from what we see in children, most of whom have, +by three years of age, while their information and judgment are still as +nothing, mastered and familiarized themselves with a quantity of words, +infinitely exceeding in proportion what they acquire in the course of any +subsequent similar portion of time. + +Discussions as to which parts of speech were first formed, and the +processes by which grammatical structure and inflections took their rise, +appear in a great measure needless, after the matter has been placed in +this light. The mental powers could readily connect particular arbitrary +sounds with particular ideas, whether those ideas were nouns, verbs, or +interjections. As the words of all languages can be traced back into +roots which are monosyllables, we may presume these sounds to have all +been monosyllabic accordingly. The clustering of two or more together to +express a compound idea, and the formation of inflections by additional +syllables expressive of pronouns and such prepositions as of, by, and to, +are processes which would or might occur as matters of course, being +simple results of a mental power called into action, and partly directed, +by external necessities. This power, however, as we find it in very +different degrees of endowment in individuals, so would it be in +different degrees of endowment in nations, or branches of the human +family. Hence we find the formation of words and the process of their +composition and grammatical arrangement, in very different stages of +development in different races. The Chinese have a language composed of +a limited number of monosyllables, which they multiply in use by mere +variations of accent, and which they have never yet attained the power of +clustering or inflecting; the language of this immense nation—the third +part of the human race—may be said to be in the condition of infancy. +The aboriginal Americans, so inferior in civilization, have, on the other +hand, a language of the most elaborately composite kind, perhaps even +exceeding, in this respect, the languages of the most refined European +nations. These are but a few out of many facts tending to shew that +language is in a great measure independent of civilization, as far as its +advance and development are concerned. Do they not also help to prove +that cultivated intellect is not necessary for the origination of +language? + +Facts daily presented to our observation afford equally simple reasons +for the almost infinite diversification of language. It is invariably +found that, wherever society is at once dense and refined, language tends +to be uniform throughout the whole population, and to undergo few changes +in the course of time. Wherever, on the contrary, we have a scattered +and barbarous people, we have great diversities, and comparatively rapid +alterations of language. Insomuch that, while English, French, and +German are each spoken with little variation by many millions, there are +islands in the Indian archipelago, probably not inhabited by one million, +but in which there are hundreds of languages, as diverse as are English, +French, and German. It is easy to see how this should be. There are +peculiarities in the vocal organization of every person, tending to +produce peculiarities of pronunciation; for example, it has been stated +that each child in a family of six gave the monosyllable, fly, in a +different manner, (eye, fy, ly, &c.) until, when the organs were more +advanced, correct example induced the proper pronunciation of this and +similar words. Such departures from orthoepy are only to be checked by +the power of such example; but this is a power not always present, or not +always of sufficient strength. The able and self-devoted Robert Moffat, +in his work on South Africa, states, without the least regard to +hypothesis, that amongst the people of the towns of that great region, +“the purity and harmony of language is kept up by their pitchos or public +meetings, by their festivals and ceremonies, as well as by their songs +and their constant intercourse. With the isolated villages of the desert +it is far otherwise. They have no such meetings; they are compelled to +traverse the wilds, often to a great distance from their native village. +On such occasions, fathers and mothers, and all who can bear a burden, +often set out for weeks at a time, and leave their children to the care +of two or three infirm old people. The infant progeny, some of whom are +beginning to lisp, while others can just master a whole sentence, and +those still farther advanced, romping and playing together, the children +of nature, through the live-long day, _become habituated to a language of +their own_. The more voluble condescend to the less precocious, and +thus, from this infant Babel, proceeds a dialect composed of a host of +mongrel words and phrases, joined together without rule, and _in the +course of a generation the entire character of the language is changed_.” +{317} I have been told, that in like manner the children of the +Manchester factory workers, left for a great part of the day, in large +assemblages, under the care of perhaps a single elderly person, and +spending the time in amusements, are found to make a great deal of new +language. I have seen children in other circumstances amuse themselves +by concocting and throwing into the family circulation entirely new +words; and I believe I am running little risk of contradiction when I say +that there is scarcely a family, even amongst the middle classes of this +country, who have not some peculiarities of pronunciation and syntax, +which have originated amongst themselves, it is hardly possible to say +how. All these things being considered, it is easy to understand how +mankind have come at length to possess between three and four thousand +languages, all different at least as much as French, German, and English, +though, as has been shewn, the traces of a common origin are observable +in them all. + +What has been said on the question whether mankind were originally +barbarous or civilized, will have prepared the reader for understanding +how the arts and sciences, and the rudiments of civilization itself, took +their rise amongst men. The only source of fallacious views on this +subject is the so frequent observation of arts, sciences, and social +modes, forms, and ideas, being not indigenous where we see them now +flourishing, but known to have been derived elsewhere: thus Rome borrowed +from Greece, Greece from Egypt, and Egypt itself, lost in the mists of +historic antiquity, is now supposed to have obtained the light of +knowledge from some still earlier scene of intellectual culture. This +has caused to many a great difficulty in supposing a natural or +spontaneous origin for civilization and the attendant arts. But, in the +first place, several stages of derivation are no conclusive argument +against there having been an originality at some earlier stage. In the +second, such observers have not looked far enough, for, if they had, they +could have seen various instances of civilizations which it is +impossible, with any plausibility, to trace back to a common origin with +others; such are those of China and America. They would also have seen +civilization springing up, as it were, like oases amongst the arid plains +of barbarism, as in the case of the Mandans. A still more attentive +study of the subject would have shewn, amongst living men, the very +psychological procedure on which the origination of civilization and the +arts and sciences depended. + +These things, like language, are simply the effects of the spontaneous +working of certain mental faculties, each in relation to the things of +the external world on which it was intended by creative Providence to be +exercised. The monkeys themselves, without instruction from any quarter, +learn to use sticks in fighting, and some build houses—an act which +cannot in their case be considered as one of instinct, but of +intelligence. Such being the case, there is no necessary difficulty in +supposing how man, with his superior mental organization, (a brain five +times heavier,) was able, in his primitive state, without instruction, to +turn many things in nature to his use, and commence, in short, the circle +of the domestic arts. He appears, in the most unfavourable +circumstances, to be able to provide himself with some sort of dwelling, +to make weapons, and to practise some simple kind of cookery. But, +granting, it will be said, that he can go thus far, how does he ever +proceed farther unprompted, seeing that many nations remain fixed for +ever at this point, and seem unable to take one step in advance? It is +perfectly true that there is such a fixation in many nations; but, on the +other hand, all nations are not alike in mental organization, and another +point has been established, that only when some favourable circumstances +have settled a people in one place, do arts and social arrangements get +leave to flourish. If we were to limit our view to humbly endowed +nations, or the common class of minds in those called civilized, we +should see absolutely no conceivable power for the origination of new +ideas and devices. But let us look at the inventive class of minds which +stand out amongst their fellows—the men who, with little prompting or +none, conceive new ideas in science, arts, morals—and we can be at no +loss to understand how and whence have arisen the elements of that +civilization which history traces from country to country throughout the +course of centuries. See a Pascal, reproducing the Alexandrian’s +problems at fifteen; a Ferguson, making clocks from the suggestions of +his own brain, while tending cattle on a Morayshire heath; a boy +Lawrence, in an inn on the Bath road, producing, without a master, +drawings which the educated could not but admire; or look at Solon and +Confucius, devising sage laws, and breathing the accents of all but +divine wisdom, for their barbarous fellow-countrymen, three thousand +years ago—and the whole mystery is solved at once. Amongst the +arrangements of Providence is one for the production of original, +inventive, and aspiring minds, which, when circumstances are not +decidedly unfavourable, strike out new ideas for the benefit of their +fellow-creatures, or put upon them a lasting impress of their own +superior sentiments. Nations, improved by these means, become in turn +_foci_ for the diffusion of light over the adjacent regions of +barbarism—their very passions helping to this end, for nothing can be +more clear than that ambitious aggression has led to the civilization of +many countries. Such is the process which seems to form the destined +means for bringing mankind from the darkness of barbarism to the day of +knowledge and mechanical and social improvement. Even the noble art of +letters is but, as Dr. Adam Fergusson has remarked, “a natural produce of +the human mind, which will rise spontaneously, wherever men are happily +placed;” original alike amongst the ancient Egyptians and the dimly +monumented Toltecans of Yucatan. “Banish,” says Dr. Gall, “music, +poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, all the arts and sciences, and +let your Homers, Raphaels, Michael Angelos, Glucks, and Canovas, be +forgotten, yet let men of genius of every description spring up, and +poetry, music, painting, architecture, sculpture, and all the arts and +sciences will again shine out in all their glory. Twice within the +records of history has the human race traversed the great circle of its +entire destiny, and twice has the rudeness of barbarism been followed by +a higher degree of refinement. It is a great mistake to suppose one +people to have proceeded from another on account of their conformity of +manners, customs, and arts. The swallow of Paris builds its nest like +the swallow of Vienna, but does it thence follow that the former sprung +from the latter? With the same causes we have the same effects; with the +same organization we have the manifestation of the same powers.” + + + + +MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS. + + +IT has been one of the most agreeable tasks of modern science to trace +the wonderfully exact adaptations of the organization of animals to the +physical circumstances amidst which they are destined to live. From the +mandibles of insects to the hand of man, all is seen to be in the most +harmonious relation to the things of the outward world, thus clearly +proving that _design_ presided in the creation of the whole—design again +implying a designer, another word for a CREATOR. + +It would be tiresome to present in this place even a selection of the +proofs which have been adduced on this point. The Natural Theology of +Paley, and the Bridgewater Treatises, place the subject in so clear a +light, that the general postulate may be taken for granted. The physical +constitution of animals is, then, to be regarded as in the nicest +congruity and adaptation to the external world. + +Less clear ideas have hitherto been entertained on the mental +constitution of animals. The very nature of this constitution is not as +yet generally known or held as ascertained. There is, indeed, a notion +of old standing, that the mind is in some way connected with the brain; +but the metaphysicians insist that it is, in reality, known only by its +acts or effects, and they accordingly present the subject in a form which +is unlike any other kind of science, for it does not so much as pretend +to have nature for its basis. There is a general disinclination to +regard mind in connexion with organization, from a fear that this must +needs interfere with the cherished religious doctrine of the spirit of +man, and lower him to the level of the brutes. A distinction is +therefore drawn between our mental manifestations and those of the lower +animals, the latter being comprehended under the term instinct, while +ours are collectively described as mind, mind being again a received +synonyme with soul, the immortal part of man. There is here a strange +system of confusion and error, which it is most imprudent to regard as +essential to religion, since candid investigations of nature tend to shew +its untenableness. There is, in reality, nothing to prevent our +regarding man as specially endowed with an immortal spirit, at the same +time that his ordinary mental manifestations are looked upon as simple +phenomena resulting from organization, those of the lower animals being +phenomena absolutely the same in character, though developed within much +narrower limits. {326} + +What has chiefly tended to take mind, in the eyes of learned and +unlearned, out of the range of nature, is its apparently irregular and +wayward character. How different the manifestations in different beings! +how unstable in all!—at one time so calm, at another so wild and +impulsive! It seemed impossible that anything so subtle and aberrant +could be part of a system, the main features of which are regularity and +precision. But the irregularity of mental phenomena is only in +appearance. When we give up the individual, and take the mass, we find +as much uniformity of result as in any other class of natural phenomena. +The irregularity is exactly of the same kind as that of the weather. No +man can say what may be the weather of to-morrow; but the quantity of +rain which falls in any particular place in any five years, is precisely +the same as the quantity which falls in any other five years at the same +place. Thus, while it is absolutely impossible to predict of any one +Frenchman that during next year he will commit a crime, it is quite +certain that about one in every six hundred and fifty of the French +people will do so, because in past years the proportion has generally +been about that amount, the tendencies to crime in relation to the +temptations being everywhere invariable over a sufficiently wide range of +time. So also, the number of persons taken in charge by the police in +London for being drunk and disorderly on the streets, is, week by week, a +nearly uniform quantity, shewing that the inclination to drink to excess +is always in the mass about the same, regard being had to the existing +temptations or stimulations to this vice. Even mistakes and oversights +are of regular recurrence, for it is found in the post-offices of large +cities, that the number of letters put in without addresses is year by +year the same. Statistics has made out an equally distinct regularity in +a wide range, with regard to many other things concerning the mind, and +the doctrine founded upon it has lately produced a scheme which may well +strike the ignorant with surprise. It was proposed to establish in +London a society for ensuring the integrity of clerks, secretaries, +collectors, and all such functionaries as are usually obliged to find +security for money passing through their hands in the course of business. +A gentleman of the highest character as an actuary spoke of the plan in +the following terms:—“If a thousand bankers’ clerks were to club together +to indemnify their securities, by the payment of one pound a year each, +and if each had given security for 500_l._, it is obvious that two in +each year might become defaulters to that amount, four to half the +amount, and so on, without rendering the guarantee fund insolvent. If it +be tolerably well ascertained that the instances of dishonesty (yearly) +among such persons amount to one in five hundred, this club would +continue to exist, subject to being in debt in a bad year, to an amount +which it would be able to discharge in good ones. The only question +necessary to be asked previous to the formation of such a club would +be,—may it not be feared that the motive to resist dishonesty would be +lessened by the existence of the club, or that ready-made rogues, by +belonging to it, might find the means of obtaining situations which they +would otherwise have been kept out of by the impossibility of obtaining +security among those who know them? Suppose this be sufficiently +answered by saying, that none but those who could bring satisfactory +testimony to their previous good character should be allowed to join the +club; that persons who may now hope that a deficiency on their parts will +be made up and hushed up by the relative or friend who is security, will +know very well that the club will have no motive to decline a +prosecution, or to keep the secret, and so on. It then only remains to +ask, whether the sum demanded for the guarantee is sufficient?” {331} +The philosophical principle on which the scheme proceeds, seems to be +simply this, that, amongst a given (large) number of persons of good +character, there will be, within a year or other considerable space of +time, a determinate number of instances in which moral principle and the +terror of the consequences of guilt will be overcome by temptations of a +determinate kind and amount, and thus occasion a certain periodical +amount of loss which the association must make up. + +This statistical regularity in moral affairs fully establishes their +being under the presidency of law. Man is now seen to be an enigma only +as an individual; in the mass he is a mathematical problem. It is hardly +necessary to say, much less to argue, that mental action, being proved to +be under law, passes at once into the category of natural things. Its +old metaphysical character vanishes in a moment, and the distinction +usually taken between physical and moral is annulled, as only an error in +terms. This view agrees with what all observation teaches, that mental +phenomena flow directly from the brain. They are seen to be dependent on +naturally constituted and naturally conditioned organs, and thus +obedient, like all other organic phenomena, to law. And how wondrous +must the constitution of this apparatus be, which gives us consciousness +of thought and of affection, which makes us familiar with the numberless +things of earth, and enables us to rise in conception and communion to +the councils of God himself! It is matter which forms the medium or +instrument—a little mass which, decomposed, is but so much common dust; +yet in its living constitution, designed, formed, and sustained by +Almighty Wisdom, how admirable its character! how reflective of the +unutterable depths of that Power by which it was so formed, and is so +sustained! + +In the mundane economy, mental action takes its place as a means of +providing for the independent existence and the various relations of +animals, each species being furnished according to its special +necessities and the demands of its various relations. The nervous +system—the more comprehensive term for its organic apparatus—is variously +developed in different classes and species, and also in different +individuals, the volume or mass bearing a general relation to the amount +of power. In the mollusca and crustacea we see simply a ganglionic cord +pervading the extent of the body, and sending out lateral filaments. In +the vertebrata, we find a brain with a spinal cord, and branching lines +of nervous tissue. {333} But here, as in the general structure of +animals, the great principle of unity is observed. The brain of the +vertebrata is merely an expansion of one of the ganglions of the nervous +cord of the mollusca and crustacea. Or the corresponding ganglion of the +mollusca and crustacea may be regarded as the rudiment of a brain; the +superior organ thus appearing as only a farther development of the +inferior. There are many facts which tend to prove that the action of +this apparatus is of an electric nature, a modification of that +surprising agent, which takes magnetism, heat, and light, as other +subordinate forms, and of whose general scope in this great system of +things we are only beginning to have a right conception. It has been +found that simple electricity, artificially produced, and sent along the +nerves of a dead body, excites muscular action. The brain of a +newly-killed animal being taken out, and replaced by a substance which +produces electric action, the operation of digestion, which had been +interrupted by the death of the animal, was resumed, shewing the absolute +identity of the brain with a galvanic battery. Nor is this a very +startling idea, when we reflect that electricity is almost as +metaphysical as ever mind was supposed to be. It is a thing perfectly +intangible, weightless. Metal may be magnetized, or heated to seven +hundred of Fahrenheit, without becoming the hundredth part of a grain +heavier. And yet electricity is a real thing, an actual existence in +nature, as witness the effects of heat and light in vegetation—the power +of the galvanic current to re-assemble the particles of copper from a +solution, and make them again into a solid plate—the rending force of the +thunderbolt as it strikes the oak; see also how both heat and light +observe the angle of incidence in reflection, as exactly as does the +grossest stone thrown obliquely against a wall. So mental action may be +imponderable, intangible, and yet a real existence, and ruled by the +Eternal through his laws. {335} + +Common observation shews a great general superiority of the human mind +over that of the inferior animals. Man’s mind is almost infinite in +device; it ranges over all the world; it forms the most wonderful +combinations; it seeks back into the past, and stretches forward into the +future; while the animals generally appear to have a narrow range of +thought and action. But so also has an infant but a limited range, and +yet it is mind which works there, as well as in the most accomplished +adults. The difference between mind in the lower animals and in man is a +difference in degree only; it is not a specific difference. All who have +studied animals by actual observation, and even those who have given a +candid attention to the subject in books, must attain more or less clear +convictions of this truth, notwithstanding all the obscurity which +prejudice may have engendered. We see animals capable of affection, +jealousy, envy; we see them quarrel, and conduct quarrels, in the very +manner pursued by the more impulsive of our own race. We see them liable +to flattery, inflated with pride, and dejected by shame. We see them as +tender to their young as human parents are, and as faithful to a trust as +the most conscientious of human servants. The horse is startled by +marvellous objects, as a man is. The dog and many others shew tenacious +memory. The dog also proves himself possessed of imagination, by the act +of dreaming. Horses, finding themselves in want of a shoe, have of their +own accord gone to a farrier’s shop where they were shod before. Cats, +closed up in rooms, will endeavour to obtain their liberation by pulling +a latch or ringing a bell. It has several times been observed that in a +field of cattle, when one or two were mischievous, and persisted long in +annoying or tyrannizing over the rest, the herd, to all appearance, +consulted, and then, making a united effort, drove the troublers off the +ground. The members of a rookery have also been observed to take turns +in supplying the needs of a family reduced to orphanhood. All of these +are acts of reason, in no respect different from similar acts of men. +Moreover, although there is no heritage of accumulated knowledge amongst +the lower animals, as there is amongst us, they are in some degree +susceptible of those modifications of natural character, and capable of +those accomplishments, which we call education. The taming and +domestication of animals, and the changes thus produced upon their nature +in the course of generations, are results identical with civilization +amongst ourselves; and the quiet, servile steer is probably as unlike the +original wild cattle of this country, as the English gentleman of the +present day is unlike the rude baron of the age of King John. Between a +young, unbroken horse, and a trained one, there is, again, all the +difference which exists between a wild youth reared at his own discretion +in the country, and the same person when he has been toned down by long +exposure to the influences of refined society. On the accomplishments +acquired by animals it were superfluous to enter at any length; but I may +advert to the dogs of M. Leonard, as remarkable examples of what the +animal intellect may be trained to. When four pieces of card are laid +down before them, each having a number pronounced _once_ in connexion +with it, they will, after a re-arrangement of the pieces, select any one +named by its number. They also play at dominoes, and with so much skill +as to triumph over biped opponents, whining if the adversary place a +wrong piece, or if they themselves be deficient in a right one. Of +extensive combinations of thought we have no reason to believe that any +animal is capable—and yet most of us must feel the force of Walter +Scott’s remark, that there was scarcely anything which he would not +believe of a dog. There is a curious result of education in certain +animals, namely, that habits to which they have been trained in some +instances become hereditary. For example, the accomplishment of pointing +at game, although a pure result of education, appears in the young pups +brought up apart from their parents and kind. The peculiar leap of the +Irish horse, acquired in the course of traversing a boggy country, is +continued in the progeny brought up in England. This hereditariness of +specific habits suggests a relation to that form of psychological +demonstration usually called instinct; but instinct is only another term +for mind, or is mind in a peculiar stage of development; and though the +fact were otherwise, it could not affect the postulate, that +demonstrations such as have been enumerated are mainly intellectual +demonstrations, not to be distinguished as such from those of human +beings. + +More than this, the lower animals manifested mental phenomena long before +man existed. While as yet there was no brain capable of working out a +mathematical problem, the economy of the six-sided figure was exemplified +by the instinct of the bee. Ere human musician had whistled or piped, +the owl hooted in B flat, the cuckoo had her song of a falling third, and +the chirp of the cricket was in B. The dog and the elephant prefigured +the sagacity of the human mind. The love of a human mother for her babe +was anticipated by nearly every humbler mammal, the carnaria not +excepted. The peacock strutted, the turkey blustered, and the cock +fought for victory, just as human beings afterwards did, and still do. +Our faculty of imitation, on which so much of our amusement depends, was +exercised by the mocking-bird; and the whole tribe of monkeys must have +walked about the pre-human world, playing off those tricks in which we +see the comicality and mischief-making of our character so curiously +exaggerated. + +The unity and simplicity which characterize nature give great antecedent +probability to what observation seems about to establish, that, as the +brain of the vertebrata generally is just an advanced condition of a +particular ganglion in the mollusca and crustacea, so are the brains of +the higher and more intelligent mammalia only farther developments of the +brains of the inferior orders of the same class. Or, to the same +purpose, it may be said, that each species has certain superior +developments, according to its needs, while others are in a rudimental or +repressed state. This will more clearly appear after some inquiry has +been made into the various powers comprehended under the term mind. + +One of the first and simplest functions of mind is to give +consciousness—consciousness of our identity and of our existence. This, +apparently, is independent of the _senses_, which are simply media, and, +as Locke has shewn, the only media, through which ideas respecting the +external world reach the brain. The access of such ideas to the brain is +the act to which the metaphysicians have given the name of perception. +Gall, however, has shewn, by induction from a vast number of actual +cases, that there is a part of the brain devoted to perception, and that +even this is subdivided into portions which are respectively dedicated to +the reception of different sets of ideas, as those of form, size, colour, +weight, objects in their totality, events in their progress or +occurrence, time, musical sounds, &c. The system of mind invented by +this philosopher—the only one founded upon nature, or which even pretends +to or admits of that necessary basis—shews a portion of the brain acting +as a faculty of comic ideas, another of imitation, another of wonder, one +for discriminating or observing differences, and another in which resides +the power of tracing effects to causes. There are also parts of the +brain for the sentimental part of our nature, or the affections, at the +head of which stand the moral feelings of benevolence, conscientiousness, +and veneration. Through these, man stands in relation to himself, his +fellow-men, the external world, and his God; and through these comes most +of the happiness of man’s life, as well as that which he derives from the +contemplation of the world to come, and the cultivation of his relation +to it, (pure religion.) The other sentiments may be briefly enumerated, +their names being sufficient in general to denote their +functions—firmness, hope, cautiousness, self-esteem, love of approbation, +secretiveness, marvellousness, constructiveness, imitation, +combativeness, destructiveness, concentrativeness, adhesiveness, love of +the opposite sex, love of offspring, alimentiveness, and love of life. +Through these faculties, man is connected with the external world, and +supplied with active impulses to maintain his place in it as an +individual and as a species. There is also a faculty, (language) for +expressing, by whatever means, (signs, gestures, looks, conventional +terms in speech,) the ideas which arise in the mind. There is a +particular state of each of these faculties, when the ideas of objects +once formed by it are revived or reproduced, a process which seems to be +intimately allied with some of the phenomena of the new science of +photography, when images impressed by reflection of the sun’s rays upon +sensitive paper are, after a temporary obliteration, resuscitated on the +sheet being exposed to the fumes of mercury. Such are the phenomena of +memory, that handmaid of intellect, without which there could be no +accumulation of mental capital, but an universal and continual infancy. +Conception and imagination appear to be only intensities, so to speak, of +the state of brain in which memory is produced. On their promptness and +power depend most of the exertions which distinguish the man of arts and +letters, and even in no small measure the cultivator of science. + +The faculties above described—the actual elements of the mental +constitution—are seen in mature man in an indefinite potentiality and +range of action. It is different with the lower animals. They are there +comparatively definite in their power and restricted in their +application. The reader is familiar with what are called instincts in +some of the humbler species, that is, an uniform and unprompted tendency +towards certain particular acts, as the building of cells by the bee, the +storing of provisions by that insect and several others, and the +construction of nests for a coming progeny by birds. This quality is +nothing more than a mode of operation peculiar to the faculties in a +humble state of endowment, or early stage of development. The cell +formation of the bee, the house-building of ants and beavers, the +web-spinning of spiders, are but primitive exercises of constructiveness, +the faculty which, indefinite with us, leads to the arts of the weaver, +upholsterer, architect, and mechanist, and makes us often work +delightedly where our labours are in vain, or nearly so. The storing of +provisions by the ants is an exercise of acquisitiveness,—the faculty +which with us makes rich men and misers. A vast number of curious +devices, by which insects provide for the protection and subsistence of +their young, whom they are perhaps never to see, are most probably a +peculiar restricted effort of philoprogenitiveness. The common source of +this class of acts, and of common mental operations, is shewn very +convincingly by the melting of the one set into the other. Thus, for +example, the bee and bird will make modifications in the ordinary form of +their cells and nests when necessity compels them. Thus, the +alimentiveness of such animals as the dog, usually definite with regard +to quantity and quality, can be pampered or educated up to a kind of +epicurism, that is, an indefiniteness of object and action. The same +faculty acts limitedly in ourselves at first, dictating the special act +of sucking; afterwards it acquires indefiniteness. Such is the real +nature of the distinction between what are called instincts and reason, +upon which so many volumes have been written without profit to the world. +All faculties are instinctive, that is, dependent on internal and +inherent impulses. This term is therefore not specially applicable to +either of the recognised modes of the operation of the faculties. We +only, in the one case, see the faculty in an immature and slightly +developed state; in the other, in its most advanced condition. In the +one case it is _definite_, in the other _indefinite_, in its range of +action. These terms would perhaps be the most suitable for expressing +the distinction. + +In the humblest forms of being we can trace scarcely anything besides a +definite action in a few of the faculties. Generally speaking, as we +ascend in the scale, we see more and more of the faculties in exercise, +and these tending more to the indefinite mode of manifestation. And for +this there is the obvious reason in providence, that the lowest animals +have all of them a very limited sphere of existence, born only to perform +a few functions, and enjoy a brief term of life, and then give way to +another generation, so that they do not need much mental guidance. At +higher points in the scale, the sphere of existence is considerably +extended, and the mental operations are less definite accordingly. The +horse, dog, and a few other rasorial types, noted for their +serviceableness to our race, have the indefinite powers in no small +endowment. Man, again, shews very little of the definite mode of +operation, and that little chiefly in childhood, or in barbarism or +idiocy. Destined for a wide field of action, and to be applicable to +infinitely varied contingencies, he has all the faculties developed to a +high pitch of indefiniteness, that he may be ready to act well in all +imaginable cases. His commission, it may be said, gives large +discretionary powers, while that of the inferior animals is limited to a +few precise directions. But when the human brain is congenitally +imperfect or diseased, or when it is in the state of infancy, we see in +it an approach towards the character of the brains of some of the +inferior animals. Dr. G. J. Davey states that he has frequently +witnessed, among his patients at the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, indications +of a particular abnormal cerebration which forcibly reminded him of the +specific healthy characteristics of animals lower in the scale of +organization; {346} and every one must have observed how often the +actions of children, especially in their moments of play, and where their +selfish feelings are concerned, bear a resemblance to those of certain +familiar animals. {347} Behold, then, the wonderful unity of the whole +system. The grades of mind, like the forms of being, are mere stages of +development. In the humbler forms, but a few of the mental faculties are +traceable, just as we see in them but a few of the lineaments of +universal structure. In man the system has arrived at its highest +condition. The few gleams of reason, then, which we see in the lower +animals, are precisely analogous to such a development of the fore-arm as +we find in the paddle of the whale. Causality, comparison, and other of +the nobler faculties, are in them _rudimental_. + +Bound up as we thus are by an identity in the character of our mental +organization with the lower animals, we are yet, it will be observed, +strikingly distinguished from them by this great advance in development. +We have faculties in full force and activity which the animals either +possess not at all, or in so low and obscure a form as to be equivalent +to non-existence. Now these parts of mind are those which connect us +with the things that are not of this world. We have veneration, +prompting us to the worship of the Deity, which the animals lack. We +have hope, to carry us on in thought beyond the bounds of time. We have +reason, to enable us to inquire into the character of the Great Father, +and the relation of us, his humble creatures, towards him. We have +conscientiousness and benevolence, by which we can in a faint and humble +measure imitate, in our conduct, that which he exemplifies in the whole +of his wondrous doings. Beyond this, mental science does not carry us in +support of religion: the rest depends on evidence of a different kind. +But it is surely much that we thus discover in nature a provision for +things so important. The existence of faculties having a regard to such +things is a good evidence that such things exist. The face of God is +reflected in the organization of man, as a little pool reflects the +glorious sun. + +The affective or sentimental faculties are all of them liable to operate +whenever appropriate objects or stimuli are presented, and this they do +as irresistibly and unerringly as the tree sucks up moisture which it +requires, with only this exception, that one faculty often interferes +with the action of another, and operates instead by force of superior +inherent strength or temporary activity. For example, alimentiveness may +be in powerful operation with regard to its appropriate object, producing +a keen appetite, and yet it may not act, in consequence of the more +powerful operation of cautiousness, warning against evil consequences +likely to ensue from the desired indulgence. This liability to flit from +under the control of one feeling to the control of another, constitutes +what is recognised as free will in man, being nothing more than a +vicissitude in the supremacy of the faculties over each other. + +It is a common mistake to suppose that the individuals of our own species +are all of them formed with similar faculties—similar in power and +tendency—and that education and the influence of circumstances produce +all the differences which we observe. There is not, in the old systems +of mental philosophy, any doctrine more opposite to the truth than this. +It is refuted at once by the great differences of intellectual tendency +and moral disposition to be observed amongst a group of young children +who have been all brought up in circumstances perfectly identical—even in +twins, who have never been but in one place, under the charge of one +nurse, attended to alike in all respects. The mental characters of +individuals are inherently various, as the forms of their persons and the +features of their faces are; and education and circumstances, though +their influence is not to be despised, are incapable of entirely altering +these characters, where they are strongly developed. That the original +characters of mind are dependent on the volume of particular parts of the +brain and the general quality of that viscus, is proved by induction from +an extensive range of observations, the force of which must have been +long since universally acknowledged but for the unpreparedness of mankind +to admit a functional connexion between mind and body. The different +mental characters of individuals may be presumed from analogy to depend +on the same law of development which we have seen determining forms of +being and the mental characters of particular species. This we may +conceive as carrying forward the intellectual powers and moral +dispositions of some to a high pitch, repressing those of others at a +moderate amount, and thus producing all the varieties which we see in our +fellow-creatures. Thus a Cuvier and a Newton are but expansions of a +clown, and the person emphatically called the wicked man, is one whose +highest moral feelings are rudimental. Such differences are not confined +to our species; they are only less strongly marked in many of the +inferior animals. There are clever dogs and wicked horses, as well as +clever men and wicked men, and education sharpens the talents, and in +some degree regulates the dispositions of animals, as it does our own. +Here I may advert to a very interesting analogy between the mental +characters of the types in the quinary system of zoology and the +characters of individual men. We have seen that the pre-eminent type is +usually endowed with an harmonious assemblage of the mental qualities +belonging to the whole group, while the sub-typical inclines to ferocity, +the rasorial to gentleness, and so on. Now, amongst individuals, some +appear to be almost exclusively of the sub-typical, and others of the +rasorial characters, while to a limited number is given the finely +assorted assemblage of qualities which places them on a parallel with the +typical. To this may be attributed the universality which marks all the +very highest brains, such as those of Shakespeare and Scott, men of whom +it has been remarked that they must have possessed within themselves not +only the poet, but the warrior, the statesman, and the philosopher; and +who, moreover, appear to have had the mild and manly, the moral and the +forcible parts of our nature, in the most perfect balance. + +There is, nevertheless, a general adaptation of the mental constitution +of man to the circumstances in which he lives, as there is between all +the parts of nature to each other. The goods of the physical world are +only to be realized by ingenuity and industrious exertion; behold, +accordingly, an intellect full of device, and a fabric of the faculties +which would go to pieces or destroy itself if it were not kept in +constant occupation. Nature presents to us much that is sublime and +beautiful: behold faculties which delight in contemplating these +properties of hers, and in rising upon them, as upon wings, to the +presence of the Eternal. It is also a world of difficulties and perils, +and see how a large portion of our species are endowed with vigorous +powers which take a pleasure in meeting and overcoming difficulty and +danger. Even that principle on which our faculties are constituted—a +wide range of freedom in which to act for all various +occasions—necessitates a resentful faculty, by which individuals may +protect themselves from the undue and capricious exercise of each other’s +faculties, and thus preserve their individual rights. So also there is +cautiousness, to give us a tendency to provide against the evils by which +we may be assailed; and secretiveness, to enable us to conceal whatever, +being divulged, would be offensive to others or injurious to ourselves,—a +function which obviously has a certain legitimate range of action, +however liable to be abused. The constitution of the mind generally +points to a state of intimate relation of individuals towards society, +towards the external world, and towards things above this world. No +individual being is integral or independent; he is only part of an +extensive piece of social mechanism. The inferior mind, full of rude +energy and unregulated impulse, does not more require a superior nature +to act as its master and its mentor, than does the superior nature +require to be surrounded by such rough elements on which to exercise its +high endowments as a ruling and tutelary power. This relation of each to +each produces a vast portion of the active business of life. It is easy +to see that, if we were all alike in our moral tendencies, and all placed +on a medium of perfect moderation in this respect, the world would be a +scene of everlasting dulness and apathy. It requires the variety of +individual constitution to give moral life to the scene. + +The indefiniteness of the potentiality of the human faculties, and the +complexity which thus attends their relations, lead unavoidably to +occasional error. If we consider for a moment that there are not less +than thirty such faculties, that they are each given in different +proportions to different persons, that each is at the same time endowed +with a wide discretion as to the force and frequency of its action, and +that our neighbours, the world, and our connexions with something beyond +it, are all exercising an ever-varying influence over us, we cannot be +surprised at the irregularities attending human conduct. It is simply +the penalty paid for the superior endowment. It is here that the +imperfection of our nature resides. Causality and conscientiousness are, +it is true, guides over all; but even these are only faculties of the +same indeterminate constitution as the rest, and partake accordingly of +the same inequality of action. Man is therefore a piece of mechanism, +which never can act so as to satisfy his own ideas of what he might +be—for he can imagine a state of moral perfection, (as he can imagine a +globe formed of diamonds, pearls, and rubies,) though his constitution +forbids him to realize it. There ever will, in the best disposed and +most disciplined minds, be occasional discrepancies between the amount of +temptation and the power summoned for regulation or resistance, or +between the stimulus and the mobility of the faculty; and hence those +errors, and shortcomings, and excesses, without end, with which the good +are constantly finding cause to charge themselves. There is at the same +time even here a possibility of improvement. In infancy, the impulses +are all of them irregular; a child is cruel, cunning, and false, under +the slightest temptation, but in time learns to control these +inclinations, and to be habitually humane, frank, and truthful. So is +human society, in its earliest stages, sanguinary, aggressive, and +deceitful, but in time becomes just, faithful, and benevolent. To such +improvements there is a natural tendency which will operate in all fair +circumstances, though it is not to be expected that irregular and undue +impulses will ever be altogether banished from the system. + +It may still be a puzzle to many, how beings should be born into the +world whose organization is such that they unavoidably, even in a +civilized country, become malefactors. Does God, it may be asked, make +criminals? Does he fashion certain beings with a predestination to evil? +He does not do so; and yet the criminal type of brain, as it is called, +comes into existence in accordance with laws which the Deity has +established. It is not, however, as the result of the first or general +intention of those laws, but as an exception from their ordinary and +proper action. The production of those evilly disposed beings is in this +manner. The moral character of the progeny depends in a general way, (as +does the physical character also,) upon conditions of the parents,—both +general conditions, and conditions at the particular time of the +commencement of the existence of the new being, and likewise external +conditions affecting the fœtus through the mother. Now the amount of +these conditions is indefinite. The faculties of the parents, as far as +these are concerned, may have oscillated for the time towards the extreme +of tensibility in one direction. The influences upon the fœtus may have +also been of an extreme and unusual kind. Let us suppose that the +conditions upon the whole have been favourable for the development, not +of the higher, but of the lower sentiments, and of the propensities of +the new being, the result will necessarily be a mean type of brain. +Here, it will be observed, God no more decreed an immoral being, than he +decreed an immoral paroxysm of the sentiments. Our perplexity is in +considering the ill-disposed being by himself. He is only a part of a +series of phenomena, traceable to a principle good in the main, but which +admits of evil as an exception. We have seen that it is for wise ends +that God leaves our moral faculties to an indefinite range of action; the +general good results of this arrangement are obvious; but exceptions of +evil are inseparable from such a system, and this is one of them. To +come to particular illustration—when a people are oppressed, or kept in a +state of slavery, they invariably contract habits of lying, for the +purpose of deceiving and outwitting their superiors, falsehood being a +refuge of the weak under difficulties. What is a habit in parents +becomes an inherent quality in children. We are not, therefore, to be +surprised when a traveller tells us that black children in the West +Indies appear to lie by instinct, and never answer a white person truly +even in the simplest matter. Here we have secretiveness roused in a +people to a state of constant and exalted exercise; an over tendency of +the nervous energy in that direction is the consequence, and a new +organic condition is established. This tells upon the progeny, which +comes into the world with secretiveness excessive in volume and activity. +All other evil characteristics may be readily conceived as being +implanted in a new generation in the same way. And sometimes not one, +but several generations, may be concerned in bringing up the result to a +pitch which produces crime. It is, however, to be observed, that the +general tendency of things is to a limitation, not the extension of such +abnormally constituted beings. The criminal brain finds itself in a +social scene where all is against it. It may struggle on for a time, but +the medium and superior natures are never long at a loss in getting the +better of it. The disposal of such beings will always depend much on the +moral state of a community, the degree in which just views prevail with +regard to human nature, and the feelings which accident may have caused +to predominate at a particular time. Where the mass was little +enlightened or refined, and terrors for life or property were highly +excited, malefactors have ever been treated severely. But when order is +generally triumphant, and reason allowed sway, men begin to see the true +case of criminals—namely, that while one large department are victims of +erroneous social conditions, another are brought to error by tendencies +which they are only unfortunate in having inherited from nature. +Criminal jurisprudence then addresses itself less to the direct +punishment than to the reformation and care-taking of those liable to its +attention. And such a treatment of criminals, it may be farther +remarked, so that it stop short of affording any encouragement to crime, +(a point which experience will determine,) is evidently no more than +justice, seeing how accidentally all forms of the moral constitution are +distributed, and how thoroughly mutual obligation shines throughout the +whole frame of society—the strong to help the weak, the good to redeem +and restrain the bad. + +The sum of all we have seen of the psychical constitution of man is, that +its Almighty Author has destined it, like everything else, to be +developed from inherent qualities, and to have a mode of action depending +solely on its own organization. Thus the whole is complete on one +principle. The masses of space are formed by law; law makes them in due +time theatres of existence for plants and animals; sensation, +disposition, intellect, are all in like manner developed and sustained in +action by law. It is most interesting to observe into how small a field +the whole of the mysteries of nature thus ultimately resolve themselves. +The inorganic has one final comprehensive law, GRAVITATION. The organic, +the other great department of mundane things, rests in like manner on one +law, and that is,—DEVELOPMENT. Nor may even these be after all twain, +but only branches of one still more comprehensive law, the expression of +that unity which man’s wit can scarcely separate from Deity itself. + + + + +PURPOSE AND GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ANIMATED CREATION. + + +WE have now to inquire how this view of the constitution and origin of +nature bears upon the condition of man upon the earth, and his relation +to supra-mundane things. + +That enjoyment is the proper attendant of animal existence is pressed +upon us by all that we see and all we experience. Everywhere we perceive +in the lower creatures, in their ordinary condition, symptoms of +enjoyment. Their whole being is a system of needs, the supplying of +which is gratification, and of faculties, the exercise of which is +pleasurable. When we consult our own sensations, we find that, even in a +sense of a healthy performance of all the functions of the animal +economy, God has furnished us with an innocent and very high enjoyment. +The mere quiet consciousness of a healthy play of the mental functions—a +mind at ease with itself and all around it—is in like manner extremely +agreeable. This negative class of enjoyments, it may be remarked, is +likely to be even more extensively experienced by the lower animals than +by man, at least in the proportion of their absolute endowments, as their +mental and bodily functions are much less liable to derangement than +ours. To find the world constituted on this principle is only what in +reason we would expect. We cannot conceive that so vast a system could +have been created for a contrary purpose. No averagely constituted human +being would, in his own limited sphere of action, think of producing a +similar system upon an opposite principle. But to form so vast a range +of being, and to make being everywhere a source of gratification, is +conformable to our ideas of a Creator in whom we are constantly +discovering traits of a nature, of which our own is but a faint and +far-cast shadow at the best. + +It appears at first difficult to reconcile with this idea the many +miseries which we see all sentient beings, ourselves included, +occasionally enduring. How, the sage has asked in every age, should a +Being so transcendently kind, have allowed of so large an admixture of +evil in the condition of his creatures? Do we not at length find an +answer to a certain extent satisfactory, in the view which has now been +given of the constitution of nature? We there see the Deity operating in +the most august of his works by fixed laws, an arrangement which, it is +clear, only admits of the main and primary results being good, but +disregards exceptions. Now the mechanical laws are so definite in their +purposes, that no exceptions ever take place in that department; if there +is a certain quantity of nebulous matter to be agglomerated and divided +and set in motion as a planetary system, it will be so with +hair’s-breadth accuracy, and cannot be otherwise. But the laws presiding +over meteorology, life, and mind, are necessarily less definite, as they +have to produce a great variety of mutually related results. Left to act +independently of each other, each according to its separate commission, +and each with a wide range of potentiality to be modified by associated +conditions, they can only have effects generally beneficial: often there +must be an interference of one law with another, often a law will chance +to operate in excess, or upon a wrong object, and thus evil will be +produced. Thus, winds are generally useful in many ways, and the sea is +useful as a means of communication between one country and another; but +the natural laws which produce winds are of indefinite range of action, +and sometimes are unusually concentrated in space or in time, so as to +produce storms and hurricanes, by which much damage is done; the sea may +be by these causes violently agitated, so that many barks and many lives +perish. Here, it is evident, the evil is only exceptive. Suppose, +again, that a boy, in the course of the lively sports proper to his age, +suffers a fall which injures his spine, and renders him a cripple for +life. Two things have been concerned in the case: first, the love of +violent exercise, and second, the law of gravitation. Both of these +things are good in the main. In the rash enterprises and rough sports in +which boys engage, they prepare their bodies and minds for the hard tasks +of life. By gravitation, all moveable things, our own bodies included, +are kept stable on the surface of the earth. But when it chances that +the playful boy loses his hold (we shall say) of the branch of a tree, +and has no solid support immediately below, the law of gravitation +unrelentingly pulls him to the ground, and thus he is hurt. Now it was +not a primary object of gravitation to injure boys; but gravitation could +not but operate in the circumstances, its nature being to be universal +and invariable. The evil is, therefore, only a casual exception from +something in the main good. + +The same explanation applies to even the most conspicuous of the evils +which afflict society. War, it may be said, and said truly, is a +tremendous example of evil, in the misery, hardship, waste of human life, +and mis-spending of human energies, which it occasions. But what is it +that produces war? Certain tendencies of human nature, as keen assertion +of a supposed right, resentment of supposed injury, acquisitiveness, +desire of admiration, combativeness, or mere love of excitement. All of +these are tendencies which are every day, in a legitimate extent of +action, producing great and indispensable benefits to us. Man would be a +tame, indolent, unserviceable being without them, and his fate would be +starvation. War, then, huge evil though it be, is, after all, but the +exceptive case, a casual misdirection of properties and powers +essentially good. God has given us the tendencies for a benevolent +purpose. He has only not laid down any absolute obstruction to our +misuse of them. That were an arrangement of a kind which he has nowhere +made. But he has established many laws in our nature which tend to +lessen the frequency and destructiveness of these abuses. Our reason +comes to see that war is purely an evil, even to the conqueror. +Benevolence interposes to make its ravages less mischievous to human +comfort, and less destructive to human life. Men begin to find that +their more active powers can be exercised with equal gratification on +legitimate objects; for example, in overcoming the natural difficulties +of their path through life, or in a generous spirit of emulation in a +line of duty beneficial to themselves and their fellow-creatures. Thus, +war at length shrinks into a comparatively narrow compass, though there +certainly is no reason to suppose that it will be at any early period, if +ever, altogether dispensed with, while man’s constitution remains as it +is. In considering an evil of this kind, we must not limit our view to +our own or any past time. Placed upon the earth with faculties prepared +to act, but inexperienced, and with the more active propensities +necessarily in great force to suit the condition of the globe, man was +apt to misuse his powers much in this way at first, compared with what he +is likely to do when he advances into a condition of civilization. In +the scheme of providence, thousands of years of frequent warfare, all the +so-called glories which fill history, may be only an exception to the +general rule. + +The sex passion in like manner leads to great evils; but the evils are +only an exception from the vast mass of good connected with this +affection. Providence has seen it necessary to make very ample provision +for the preservation and utmost possible extension of all species. The +aim seems to be to diffuse existence as widely as possible, to fill up +every vacant piece of space with some sentient being to be a vehicle of +enjoyment. Hence this passion is conferred in great force. But the +relation between the number of beings, and the means of supporting them, +is only on the footing of general law. There may be occasional +discrepancies between the laws operating for the multiplication of +individuals, and the laws operating to supply them with the means of +subsistence, and evils will be endured in consequence, even in our own +highly favoured species. But against all these evils, and against those +numberless vexations which have arisen in all ages from the attachment of +the sexes, place the vast amount of happiness which is derived from this +source—the basis of the whole circle of the domestic affections, the +sweetening principle of life, the prompter of all our most generous +feelings, and even of our most virtuous resolves—and every ill that can +be traced to it is but as dust in the balance. And here, also, we must +be on our guard against judging from what we see in the world at a +particular era. As reason and the higher sentiments of man’s nature +increase in force, this passion is put under better regulation, so as to +lessen many of the evils connected with it. The civilized man is more +able to give it due control; his attachments are less the result of +impulse; he studies more the weal of his partner and offspring. There +are even some of the resentful feelings connected in early society with +love, such as hatred of successful rivalry, and jealousy, which almost +disappear in an advanced stage of civilization. The evils springing, in +our own species at least, from this passion, may therefore be an +exception mainly peculiar to a particular term of the world’s progress, +and which may be expected to decrease greatly in amount. + +With respect, again, to disease, so prolific a cause of suffering to man, +the human constitution is merely a complicated but regular process in +electro-chemistry, which goes on well, and is a source of continual +gratification, so long as nothing occurs to interfere with it +injuriously, but which is liable every moment to be deranged by various +external agencies, when it becomes a source of pain, and, if the injury +be severe, ceases to be capable of retaining life. It may be readily +admitted that the evils experienced in this way are very great; but, +after all, such experiences are no more than occasional, and not +necessarily frequent—exceptions from a general rule of which the direct +action is to confer happiness. The human constitution might have been +made of a more hardy character; but we always see hardiness and +insensibility go together, and it may be of course presumed that we only +could have purchased this immunity from suffering at the expense of a +large portion of that delicacy in which lie some of our most agreeable +sensations. Or man’s faculties might have been restricted to +definiteness of action, as is greatly the case with those of the lower +animals, and thus we should have been equally safe from the aberrations +which lead to disease; but in that event we should have been incapable of +acting to so many different purposes as we are, and of the many high +enjoyments which the varied action of our faculties places in our power: +we should not, in short, have been human beings, but merely on a level +with the inferior animals. Thus, it appears, that the very fineness of +man’s constitution, that which places him in such a high relation to the +mundane economy, and makes him the vehicle of so many exquisitely +delightful sensations—it is this which makes him liable to the sufferings +of disease. It might be said, on the other hand, that the noxiousness of +the agencies producing disease might have been diminished or +extinguished; but the probability is, that this could not have been done +without such a derangement of the whole economy of nature as would have +been attended with more serious evils. For example—a large class of +diseases are the result of effluvia from decaying organic matter. This +kind of matter is known to be extremely useful, when mixed with earth, in +favouring the process of vegetation. Supposing the noxiousness to the +human constitution done away with, might we not also lose that important +quality which tends so largely to increase the food raised from the +ground? Perhaps (as has been suggested) the noxiousness is even a matter +of special design, to induce us to put away decaying organic substances +into the earth, where they are calculated to be so useful. Now man has +reason to enable him to see that such substances are beneficial under one +arrangement, and noxious in the other. He is, as it were, commanded to +take the right method in dealing with it. In point of fact, men do not +always take this method, but allow accumulations of noxious matter to +gather close about their dwellings, where they generate fevers and agues. +But their doing so may be regarded as only a temporary exception from the +operation of mental laws, the general tendency of which is to make men +adopt the proper measures. And these measures will probably be in time +universally adopted, so that one extensive class of diseases will be +altogether or nearly abolished. + +Another large class of diseases spring from mismanagement of our personal +economy. Eating to excess, eating and drinking what is noxious, +disregard to that cleanliness which is necessary for the right action of +the functions of the skin, want of fresh air for the supply of the lungs, +undue, excessive, and irregular indulgence of the mental affections, are +all of them recognised modes of creating that derangement of the system +in which disease consists. Here also it may be said that a limitation of +the mental faculties to definite manifestations (_vulgo_, instincts) +might have enabled us to avoid many of these errors; but here again we +are met by the consideration that, if we had been so endowed, we should +have been only as the lower animals are, wanting that transcendently +higher character of sensation and power, by which our enjoyments are made +so much greater. In making the desire of food, for example, with us an +indefinite mental manifestation, instead of the definite one, which it is +amongst the lower animals, the Creator has given us a means of deriving +far greater gratifications from food (consistently with health) than the +lower animals appear to be capable of. He has also given us reason to +act as a guiding and controlling power over this and other propensities, +so that they may be prevented from becoming causes of malady. We can see +that excess is injurious, and are thus prompted to moderation. We can +see that all the things which we feel inclined to take are not healthful, +and are thus exhorted to avoid what are pernicious. We can also see that +a cleanly skin and a constant supply of pure air are necessary to the +proper performance of some of the most important of the organic +functions, and thus are stimulated to frequent ablution, and to a right +ventilation of our parlours and sleeping apartments. And so on with the +other causes of disease. Reason may not operate very powerfully to these +purposes in an early state of society, and prodigious evils may therefore +have been endured from disease in past ages; but these are not +necessarily to be endured always. As civilization advances, reason +acquires a greater ascendancy; the causes of the evils are seen and +avoided; and disease shrinks into a comparatively narrow compass. The +experience of our own country places this in a striking light. In the +middle ages, when large towns had no police regulations, society was +every now and then scourged by pestilence. The third of the people of +Europe are said to have been carried off by one epidemic. Even in London +the annual mortality has greatly sunk within a century. The improvement +in human life, which has taken place since the construction of the +Northampton tables by Dr. Price, is equally remarkable. Modern tables +still shew a prodigious mortality among the young in all civilized +countries—evidently a result of some prevalent error in the usual modes +of rearing them. But to remedy this evil there is the sagacity of the +human mind, and the sense to adopt any reformed plans which may be shewn +to be necessary. By a change in the management of an orphan institution +in London, during the last fifty years, an immense reduction in the +mortality took place. We may of course hope to see measures devised and +adopted for producing a similar improvement of infant life throughout the +world at large. + +In this part of our subject, the most difficult point certainly lies in +those occurrences of disease where the afflicted individual has been in +no degree concerned in bringing the visitation upon himself. Daily +experience shews us infectious disease arising in a place where the +natural laws in respect of cleanliness are neglected, and then spreading +into regions where there is no blame of this kind. We then see the +innocent suffering equally with those who may be called the guilty. Nay, +the benevolent physician who comes to succour the miserable beings whose +error may have caused the mischief, is sometimes seen to fall a victim to +it, while many of his patients recover. We are also only too familiar +with the transmission of diseases from erring parents to innocent +children, who, accordingly suffer, and perhaps die prematurely, as it +were for the sins of others. After all, however painful such cases may +be in contemplation, they cannot be regarded in any other light than as +exceptions from arrangements, the general working of which is beneficial. + +With regard to the innocence of the suffering parties, there is one +important consideration which is pressed upon us from many quarters, +namely—that moral conditions have not the least concern in the working of +these simply physical laws. These laws proceed with an entire +independence of all such conditions, and desirably so, for otherwise +there could be no certain dependence placed upon them. Thus it may +happen that two persons ascending a piece of scaffolding, the one a +virtuous, the other a vicious man, the former, being the less cautious of +the two, ventures upon an insecure place, falls, and is killed, while the +other, choosing a better footing, remains uninjured. It is not in what +we can conceive of the nature of things, that there should be a special +exemption from the ordinary laws of matter, to save this virtuous man. +So it might be that, of two physicians, attending fever cases, in a mean +part of a large city, the one, an excellent citizen, may stand in such a +position with respect to the beds of the patients as to catch the +infection, of which he dies in a few days, while the other, a bad husband +and father, and who, unlike the other, only attends such cases with +selfish ends, takes care to be as much as possible out of the stream of +infection, and accordingly escapes. In both of these cases man’s sense +of good and evil—his faculty of conscientiousness—would incline him to +destine the vicious man to destruction and save the virtuous. But the +Great Ruler of Nature does not act on such principles. He has +established laws for the operation of inanimate matter, which are quite +unswerving, so that when we know them, we have only to act in a certain +way with respect to them, in order to obtain all the benefits and avoid +all the evils connected with them. He has likewise established moral +laws in our nature, which are equally unswerving, (allowing for their +wider range of action,) and from obedience to which unfailing good is to +be derived. But the two sets of laws are independent of each other. +Obedience to each gives only its own proper advantage, not the advantage +proper to the other. Hence it is that virtue forms no protection against +the evils connected with the physical laws, while, on the other hand, a +man skilled in and attentive to these, but unrighteous and disregardful +of his neighbour, is in like manner not protected by his attention to +physical circumstances from the proper consequences of neglect or breach +of the moral laws. + +Thus it is that the innocence of the party suffering for the faults of a +parent, or of any other person or set of persons, is evidently a +consideration quite apart from that suffering. + +It is clear, moreover, from the whole scope of the natural laws, that the +individual, as far as the present sphere of being is concerned, is to the +Author of Nature a consideration of inferior moment. Everywhere we see +the arrangements for the species perfect; the individual is left, as it +were, to take his chance amidst the _mêlée_ of the various laws affecting +him. If he be found inferiorly endowed, or ill befalls him, there was at +least no partiality against him. The system has the fairness of a +lottery, in which every one has the like chance of drawing the prize. + +Yet it is also to be observed that few evils are altogether unmixed. +God, contemplating apparently the unbending action of his great laws, has +established others which appear to be designed to have a compensating, a +repairing, and a consoling effect. Suppose, for instance, that, from a +defect in the power of development in a mother, her offspring is ushered +into the world destitute of some of the most useful members, or blind, or +deaf, or of imperfect intellect, there is ever to be found in the parents +and other relatives, and in the surrounding public, a sympathy with the +sufferer, which tends to make up for the deficiency, so that he is in the +long run not much a loser. Indeed, the benevolence implanted in our +nature seems to be an arrangement having for one of its principal objects +to cause us, by sympathy and active aid, to remedy the evils unavoidably +suffered by our fellow-creatures in the course of the operation of the +other natural laws. And even in the sufferer himself, it is often found +that a defect in one point is made up for by an extra power in another. +The blind come to have a sense of touch much more acute than those who +see. Persons born without hands have been known to acquire a power of +using their feet for a number of the principal offices usually served by +that member. I need hardly say how remarkably fatuity is compensated by +the more than usual regard paid to the children born with it by their +parents, and the zeal which others usually feel to protect and succour +such persons. In short, we never see evil of any kind take place where +there is not some remedy or compensating principle ready to interfere for +its alleviation. And there can be no doubt that in this manner suffering +of all kinds is very much relieved. + +We may, then, regard the globes of space as theatres designed for the +residence of animated sentient beings, placed there with this as their +first and most obvious purpose—namely, to be sensible of enjoyments from +the exercise of their faculties in relation to external things. The +faculties of the various species are very different, but the happiness of +each depends on the harmony there may be between its particular faculties +and its particular circumstances. For instance, place the small-brained +sheep or ox in a good pasture, and it fully enjoys this harmony of +relation; but man, having many more faculties, cannot be thus contented. +Besides having a sufficiency of food and bodily comfort, he must have +entertainment for his intellect, whatever be its grade, objects for the +domestic and social affections, objects for the sentiments. He is also a +progressive being, and what pleases him to-day may not please him +to-morrow; but, in each case he demands a sphere of appropriate +conditions in order to be happy. By virtue of his superior organization, +his enjoyments are much higher and more varied than those of any of the +lower animals; but the very complexity of circumstances affecting him +renders it at the same time unavoidable, that his nature should be often +inharmoniously placed and disagreeably affected, and that he should +therefore be unhappy. Still unhappiness amongst mankind is the exception +from the rule of their condition, and an exception which is capable of +almost infinite diminution, by virtue of the improving reason of man, and +the experience which he acquires in working out the problems of society. + +To secure the immediate means of happiness it would seem to be necessary +for men first to study with all care the constitution of nature, and, +secondly, to accommodate themselves to that constitution, so as to obtain +all the realizable advantages from acting conformably to it, and to avoid +all likely evils from disregarding it. It will be of no use to sit down +and expect that things are to operate of their own accord, or through the +direction of a partial deity, for our benefit; equally so were it to +expose ourselves to palpable dangers, under the notion that we shall, for +some reason, have a dispensation or exemption from them: we must +endeavour so to place ourselves, and so to act, that the arrangements +which Providence has made impartially for all may be in our favour, and +not against us; such are the only means by which we can obtain good and +avoid evil here below. And, in doing this, it is especially necessary +that care be taken to avoid interfering with the like efforts of other +men, beyond what may have been agreed upon by the mass as necessary for +the general good. Such interferences, tending in any way to injure the +body, property, or peace of a neighbour, or to the injury of society in +general, tend very much to reflect evil upon ourselves, through the +re-action which they produce in the feelings of our neighbour and of +society, and also the offence which they give to our own +conscientiousness and benevolence. On the other hand, when we endeavour +to promote the efforts of our fellow-creatures to attain happiness, we +produce a re-action of the contrary kind, the tendency of which is +towards our own benefit. The one course of action tends to the injury, +the other to the benefit of ourselves and others. By the one course the +general design of the Creator towards his creatures is thwarted; by the +other it is favoured. And thus we can readily see the most substantial +grounds for regarding all moral emotions and doings as divine in their +nature, and as a means of rising to and communing with God. Obedience is +not selfishness, which it would otherwise be—it is worship. The merest +barbarians have a glimmering sense of this philosophy, and it continually +shines out more and more clearly in the public mind, as a nation advances +in intelligence. Nor are individuals alone concerned here. The same +rule applies as between one great body or class of men and another, and +also between nations. Thus if one set of men keep others in the +condition of slaves—this being a gross injustice to the subjected party, +the mental manifestations of that party to the masters will be such as to +mar the comfort of their lives; the minds of the masters themselves will +be degraded by the association with beings so degraded; and thus, with +some immediate or apparent benefit from keeping slaves, there will be in +a far greater degree an experience of evil. So also, if one portion of a +nation, engaged in a particular department of industry, grasp at some +advantages injurious to the other sections of the people, the first +effect will be an injury to those other portions of the nation, and the +second a re-active injury to the injurers, making their guilt their +punishment. And so when one nation commits an aggression upon the +property or rights of another, or even pursues towards it a sordid or +ungracious policy, the effects are sure to be redoubled evil from the +offended party. All of these things are under laws which make the +effects, on a large range, absolutely certain; and an individual, a +party, a people, can no more act unjustly with safety, than I could with +safety place my leg in the track of a coming wain, or attempt to fast +thirty days. We have been constituted on the principle of only being +able to realize happiness for ourselves when our fellow-creatures are +also happy; we must therefore both do to others only as we would have +others to do to us, and endeavour to promote their happiness as well as +our own, in order to find ourselves truly comfortable in this field of +existence. These are words which God speaks to us as truly through his +works, as if we heard them uttered in his own voice from heaven. + +It will occur to every one, that the system here unfolded does not imply +the most perfect conceivable love or regard on the part of the Deity +towards his creatures. Constituted as we are, feeling how vain our +efforts often are to attain happiness or avoid calamity, and knowing that +much evil does unavoidably befall us from no fault of ours, we are apt to +feel that this is a dreary view of the Divine economy; and before we have +looked farther, we might be tempted to say, Far rather let us cling to +the idea, so long received, that the Deity acts continually for special +occasions, and gives such directions to the fate of each individual as he +thinks meet; so that, when sorrow comes to us, we shall have at least the +consolation of believing that it is imposed by a Father who loves us, and +who seeks by these means to accomplish our ultimate good. Now, in the +first place, if this be an untrue notion of the Deity and his ways, it +can be of no real benefit to us; and, in the second, it is proper to +inquire if there be necessarily in the doctrine of natural law any +peculiarity calculated materially to affect our hitherto supposed +relation to the Deity. It may be that while we are committed to take our +chance in a natural system of undeviating operation, and are left with +apparent ruthlessness to endure the consequences of every collision into +which we knowingly or unknowingly come with each law of the system, there +is a system of Mercy and Grace behind the screen of nature, which is to +make up for all casualties endured here, and the very largeness of which +is what makes these casualties a matter of indifference to God. For the +existence of such a system, the actual constitution of nature is itself +an argument. The reasoning may proceed thus: The system of nature +assures us that benevolence is a leading principle in the divine mind. +But that system is at the same time deficient in a means of making this +benevolence of invariable operation. To reconcile this to the recognised +character of the Deity, it is necessary to suppose that the present +system is but a part of a whole, a stage in a Great Progress, and that +the Redress is in reserve. Another argument here occurs—the economy of +nature, beautifully arranged and vast in its extent as it is, does not +satisfy even man’s idea of what might be; he feels that, if this +multiplicity of theatres for the exemplification of such phenomena as we +see on earth were to go on for ever unchanged, it would not be worthy of +the Being capable of creating it. An endless monotony of human +generations, with their humble thinkings and doings, seems an object +beneath that august Being. But the mundane economy might be very well as +a portion of some greater phenomenon, the rest of which was yet to be +evolved. It therefore appears that our system, though it may at first +appear at issue with other doctrines in esteem amongst mankind, tends to +come into harmony with them, and even to give them support. I would say, +in conclusion, that, even where the two above arguments may fail of +effect, there may yet be a faith derived from this view of nature +sufficient to sustain us under all sense of the imperfect happiness, the +calamities, the woes, and pains of this sphere of being. For let us but +fully and truly consider what a system is here laid open to view, and we +cannot well doubt that we are in the hands of One who is both able and +willing to do us the most entire justice. And in this faith we may well +rest at ease, even though life should have been to us but a protracted +disease, or though every hope we had built on the secular materials +within our reach were felt to be melting from our grasp. Thinking of all +the contingencies of this world as to be in time melted into or lost in +the greater system, to which the present is only subsidiary, let us wait +the end with patience, and be of good cheer. + + + + +NOTE CONCLUSORY. + + +THUS ends a book, composed in solitude, and almost without the cognizance +of a single human being, for the sole purpose (or as nearly so as may be) +of improving the knowledge of mankind, and through that medium their +happiness. For reasons which need not be specified, the author’s name is +retained in its original obscurity, and, in all probability, will never +be generally known. I do not expect that any word of praise which the +work may elicit shall ever be responded to by me; or that any word of +censure shall ever be parried or deprecated. It goes forth to take its +chance of instant oblivion, or of a long and active course of usefulness +in the world. Neither contingency can be of any importance to me, beyond +the regret or the satisfaction which may be imparted by my sense of a +lost or a realized benefit to my fellow-creatures. The book, as far as I +am aware, is the first attempt to connect the natural sciences into a +history of creation. The idea is a bold one, and there are many +circumstances of time and place to render its boldness more than usually +conspicuous. But I believe my doctrines to be in the main true; I +believe all truth to be valuable, and its dissemination a blessing. At +the same time, I hold myself duly sensible of the common liability to +error, but am certain that no error in this line has the least chance of +being allowed to injure the public mind. Therefore I publish. My views, +if correct, will most assuredly stand, and may sooner or later prove +beneficial; if otherwise, they will as surely pass out of notice without +doing any harm. + +My sincere desire in the composition of the book was to give the true +view of the history of nature, with as little disturbance as possible to +existing beliefs, whether philosophical or religious. I have made little +reference to any doctrines of the latter kind which may be thought +inconsistent with mine, because to do so would have been to enter upon +questions for the settlement of which our knowledge is not yet ripe. Let +the reconciliation of whatever is true in my views with whatever is true +in other systems come about in the fulness of calm and careful inquiry. +I cannot but here remind the reader of what Dr. Wiseman has shewn so +strikingly in his lectures, how different new philosophic doctrines are +apt to appear after we have become somewhat familiar with them. Geology +at first seems inconsistent with the authority of the Mosaic record. A +storm of unreasoning indignation rises against its teachers. In time, +its truths, being found quite irresistible, are admitted, and mankind +continue to regard the Scriptures with the same respect as before. So +also with several other sciences. Now the only objection that can be +made on such ground to this book, is, that it brings forward some new +hypotheses, at first sight, like geology, not in perfect harmony with +that record, and arranges all the rest into a system which partakes of +the same character. But may not the sacred text, on a liberal +interpretation, or with the benefit of new light reflected from nature, +or derived from learning, be shewn to be as much in harmony with the +novelties of this volume as it has been with geology and natural +philosophy? What is there in the laws of organic creation more startling +to the candid theologian than in the Copernican system or the natural +formation of strata? And if the whole series of facts is true, why +should we shrink from inferences legitimately flowing from it? Is it not +a wiser course, since reconciliation has come in so many instances, still +to hope for it, still to go on with our new truths, trusting that they +also will in time be found harmonious with all others? Thus we avoid the +damage which the very appearance of an opposition to natural truth is +calculated to inflict on any system presumed to require such support. +Thus we give, as is meet, a respectful reception to what is revealed +through the medium of nature, at the same time that we fully reserve our +reverence for all we have been accustomed to hold sacred, not one tittle +of which it may ultimately be found necessary to alter. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +{3} By Mr. Henderson, Professor of Astronomy in the Edinburgh +University, and Lieutenant Meadows. + +{5} Made by M. Argelander, late director of the Observatory at Abo. + +{6} Professor Mossotti, on the Constitution of the Sidereal System, of +which the Sun forms a part.—_London_, _Edinburgh_, _and Dublin +Philosophical Magazine_, February, 1843. + +{9} The orbitual revolutions of the satellites of Uranus have not as yet +been clearly scanned. It has been thought that their path is retrograde +compared with the rest. Perhaps this may be owing to a _bouleversement_ +of the primary, for the inclination of its equator to the ecliptic is +admitted to be unusually high; but the subject is altogether so obscure, +that nothing can be founded on it. + +{12} Astronomy, Lardner’s Cyclopædia. + +{17} M. Compte combined Huygens’s theorems for the measure of +centrifugal force with the law of gravitation, and thus formed a simple +fundamental equation between the duration of the rotation of what he +calls the producing star, and the distance of the star produced. The +constants of this equation were the radius of the central star, and the +intensity of gravity at its surface, which is a direct consequence of its +mass. It leads directly to the third law of Kepler, which thus becomes +susceptible of being conceived _à priori_ in a cosmogonical point of +view. M. Compte first applied it to the moon, and found, to his great +delight, that the periodic time of that satellite agrees within an hour +or two with the duration which the revolution of the earth ought to have +had at the time when the lunar distance formed the limit of the earth’s +atmosphere. He found the coincidence less exact, but still very striking +in every other case. In those of the planets he obtained for the +duration of the corresponding solar rotations a value always a little +less than their actual periodic times. “It is remarkable,” says he, +“that this difference, though increasing as the planet is more distant, +preserves very nearly the same relation to the corresponding periodic +time, of which it commonly forms the forty-fifth part,”—shewing, we may +suppose, that only some small elements of the question had been +overlooked by the calculator. The defect changes to an excess in the +different systems of the satellites, where it is proportionally greater +than in the planets, and unequal in the different systems. “From the +whole of these comparisons,” says he, “I deduced the following general +result:—Supposing the mathematical limit of the solar atmosphere +successively extended to the regions where the different planets are now +found, the duration of the sun’s rotation was, at each of these epochs, +sensibly equal to that of the actual sidereal revolution of the +corresponding planet; and the same is true for each planetary atmosphere +in relation to the different satellites.”—_Cours de Philosophie Positif_. + +{42} The researches on this subject were conducted chiefly by the late +Baron Fourier, perpetual secretary to the Academy of Sciences of Paris. +See his _Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur_. 1822. + +{52} Delabeche’s Geological Researches. + +{60} In the Cumbrian limestone occur “calamoporæ, lithodendra, +cyathophylla, and orbicula.”—_Philips_. The asaphus and trinucleus +(crustacea) have been found respectively in the slate rocks of Wales, and +the limestone beds of the grawacke group in Bohemia. That fragments of +crinoidea, though of no determinate species, occur in this system, we +have the authority of Mr. Murchison.—_Silurian System_, p. 710. + +{62} Such as amphioxus and myxene. + +{64} Miller’s “New Walks in an Old Field.” + +{68} June, 1842. + +{84a} The principal families are named sphenopteris, neuropteris, and +pecopteris. + +{84b} A specimen from Bengal, in the staircase of the British Museum, is +forty-five feet high. + +{93} “Some of the most considerable dislocations of the border of the +coal fields of Coalbrookdale and Dudley happened after the deposition of +a part of the new red sandstone; but it is certain that those of +Somersetshire and Gloucestershire were completed before the date of that +rock.”—_Philips_. + +{97} The immediate effects of the slow respiration of the reptilia are, +a low temperature in their bodies, and a slow consumption of food. +Requiring little oxygen, they could have existed in an atmosphere +containing a less proportion of that gas to carbonic acid gas than what +now obtains. + +{99} The order to which frogs and toads belong. + +{103} Dr. Buckland, quoting an article by Professor Hitchcock, in the +American Journal of Science and Arts, 1836. + +{108a} Murchison’s Silurian System, p. 583. + +{108b} Buckland. + +{110} In some instances, these fossils are found with the contents of +the stomach faithfully preserved, and even with pieces of the external +skin. The pellets ejected by them (_coprolites_) are found in vast +numbers, each generally enclosed in a nodule of ironstone, and sometimes +shewing remains of the fishes which had formed their food. + +{114} De la Beche’s Geological Researches, p. 344. + +{127} Thick-skinned animals. This term has been given by Cuvier to an +order in which the hog, elephant, horse, and rhinoceros are included. + +{149} Intervals in the series were numerous in the department of the +pachydermata; many of these gaps are now filled up from the extinct +genera found in the tertiary formation. + +{151} See paper by Professor Edward Forbes, read to the British +Association, 1839. + +{159} Macculloch on the Attributes of the Deity, iii. 569. + +{166} “A glass tube is to be bent into a syphon, and placed with the +curve downwards, and in the bend is to be placed a small portion of +mercury, not sufficient to close the connexion between the two legs; a +solution of nitrate of silver is then to be introduced until it rises in +both limbs of the tube. The precipitation of the mercury, in the form of +an Arbor Dianæ, will then take place, slowly, only when the syphon is +placed in a plane perpendicular to the magnetic meridian; but if it be +placed in a plane coinciding with the magnetic meridian, the action is +rapid, and the crystallization particularly beautiful, taking place +principally in that branch of the syphon towards the north. If the +syphon be placed in a plane perpendicular to the magnetic meridian, and a +strong magnet brought near it, the precipitation will commence in a short +time, and be most copious in the branch of the syphon nearest to the +south pole of the magnet.” + +{169a} Fatty matter has also been formed in the laboratory. The process +consisted in passing a mixture of carbonic acid, pure hydrogen, and +carburetted hydrogen, in the proportion of one measure of the first, +twenty of the second, and ten of the third, through a red-hot tube. + +{169b} Supplement to the Atomic Theory. + +{170} Carpenter on Life; Todd’s Cyclopædia of Physiology. + +{171} Carpenter’s Report on the results obtained by the Microscope in +the Study of Anatomy and Physiology, 1843. + +{172} See Dr. Martin Barry on Fissiparous Generation; Jameson’s Journal, +Oct. 1843. Appearances precisely similar have been detected in the germs +of the crustacea. + +{175} Mr. Leonard Horner and Sir David Brewster, on a substance +resembling shell.—_Philosophical Transactions_, 1836. + +{179a} Dr. Allen Thomson, in the article _Generation_, in Todd’s +Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology. + +{179b} The term aboriginal is here suggested, as more correct than +spontaneous, the one hitherto generally used. + +{182} Article “Zoophytes,” Encyclopædia Britannica, 7th edition. + +{187} See a pamphlet circulated by Mr. Weekes, in 1842. + +{195} Daubenton established the rule, that all the viviparous quadrupeds +have seven vertebræ in the neck. + +{201} Lord’s Popular Physiology. It is to Tiedemann that we chiefly owe +these curious observations; but ground was first broken in this branch of +physiological science by Dr. John Hunter. + +{204} When I formed this idea, I was not aware of one which seems +faintly to foreshadow it—namely, Socrates’s doctrine, afterwards dilated +on by Plato, that “previous to the existence of the world, and beyond its +present limits, there existed certain archetypes, the embodiment (if we +may use such a word) of general ideas; and that these archetypes were +models, in imitation of which all particular beings were created.” + +{208} The numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, &c. are formed by adding the +successive terms of the series of natural numbers thus: + +1 = 1 +1+2 = 3 +1+2+3 = 6 +l+2+3+4 = 10, &c. + +They are called triangular numbers, because a number of points +corresponding to any term can always be placed in the form of a triangle; +for instance— + + . . . . + .. .. .. + ... ... + .... + 1 3 6 10 + +{215} Kirby and Spence. + +{221} See an article by Dr. Weissenborn, in the New Series of “Magazine +of Natural History,” vol. i. p. 574. + +{224} “It is a fact of the highest interest and moment that as the brain +of every tribe of animals appears to pass, during its development, in +succession through the types of all those below it, so the brain of man +passes through the types of those of every tribe in the creation. It +represents, accordingly, before the second month of utero-gestation, that +of an avertebrated animal; at the second month, that of an osseous fish; +at the third, that of a turtle; at the fourth, that of a bird; at the +fifth, that of one of the rodentia; at the sixth, that of one of the +ruminantia; at the seventh, that of one of the digitigrada; at the +eighth, that of one of the quadrumana; till at length, at the ninth, it +compasses the brain of Man! It is hardly necessary to say, that all this +is only an approximation to the truth; since neither is the brain of all +osseous fishes, of all turtles, of all birds, nor of all the species of +any one of the above order of mammals, by any means precisely the same, +nor does the brain of the human fœtus at any time precisely resemble, +perhaps, that of any individual whatever among the lower animals. +Nevertheless, it may be said to represent, at each of the above-mentioned +periods, the aggregate, as it were, of the brains of each of the tribes +stated; consisting as it does, about the second month, chiefly of the +mesial parts of the cerebellum, the corpora quadrigemina, thalami optici, +rudiments of the hemispheres of the cerebrum and corpora striata; and +receiving in succession, at the third, the rudiments of the lobes of the +cerebrum; at the fourth, those of the fornix, corpus callosum, and septum +lucidum; at the fifth, the tubor annulare, and so forth; the posterior +lobes of the cerebrum increasing from before to behind, so as to cover +the thalami optici about the fourth month, the corpora quadrigemina about +the sixth, and the cerebellum about the seventh. This, then, is another +example of an increase in the complexity of an organ succeeding its +centralization; as if Nature, having first piled up her materials in one +spot, delighted afterwards to employ her abundance, not so much in +enlarging old parts as in forming new ones upon the old foundations, and +thus adding to the complexity of a fabric, the rudimental structure of +which is in all animals equally simple.”—_Fletcher’s Rudiments of +Physiology_. + +{226} Project Gutenberg note: the table in the book is very wide. Since +it won’t fit within the normal Gutenberg margins, and cannot be +reproduced typographically, the rows of the table have been broken out as +follows.—DP. + +Table shows: scale of animal kingdom (the numbers indicate orders); order +of animals in; ascending series of rocks; fœtal human brain resembles, in + +(The numbers indicate orders) + +Rocks: 1. Gneiss and Mica Slate system + +Fœtal: 1st month, that of an avertebrated animal; + +Scale: RADIATA (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) + +Order: Zoophyta, Polypiaria + +Rocks: 2. Clay Slate and Grawacke system + +Fœtal: 1st month, that of an avertebrated animal; + +Scale: MOLLUSCA (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) + +Order: Conchifera, Double-shelled Mollusks + +Rocks: 3. Silurian system + +Fœtal: 1st month, that of an avertebrated animal; + +Scale: ARTICULATA _Annelida_ (12, 13, 14) + +Rocks: 3. Silurian system + +Fœtal: 1st month, that of an avertebrated animal; + +Scale: ARTICULATA _Crustacea_ (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20) + +Order: Crustacea, Annelida, Crustaceous Fishes + +Rocks: 3. Silurian system + +Fœtal: 1st month, that of an avertebrated animal; + +Scale: ARTICULATA _Arachnida & Insecta_ (21–31) + +Order: Crustaceous Fishes + +Rocks: 4. Old Red Sandstone + +Fœtal: 1st month, that of an avertebrated animal; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Pisces_ (32, 33, 34, 35, 36) + +Order: True Fishes + +Rocks: 5. Carboniferous formation + +Fœtal: 2nd month, that of a fish; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Reptilia_ (37, 38, 39, 40) + +Order: Piscine Saurians (ichthyosaurus, &c.), Pterodactyles, Crocodiles, +Tortoises, Batrachians + +Rocks: 6. New Red Sandstone + +Fœtal: 3rd month, that of a turtle; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Aves_ (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46) + +Order: Birds + +Rocks: 6. New Red Sandstone + +Fœtal: 4th month, that of a bird; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 47 Cetacea + +Order: (Bone of a marsupial animal) + +Rocks: 7. Oolite + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 48 Ruminantia + +Order: (Bone of a marsupial animal) + +Rocks: 8. Cretaceous formation + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 49 Pachydermata + +Order: Pachydermata (tapirs, horses, &c.) + +Rocks: 9. Lower Eocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 50 Edentata + +Order: Pachydermata (tapirs, horses, &c.) + +Rocks: 9. Lower Eocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 51 Rodentia + +Order: Rodentia (dormouse, squirrel, &c.) + +Rocks: 9. Lower Eocene + +Fœtal: 5th month, that of a rodent; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 52 Marsupialia + +Order: Marsupialia (racoon, opossum, &c.) + +Rocks: 9. Lower Eocene + +Fœtal: 6th month, that of a ruminant; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 53 Amphibia + +Order: Marsupialia (racoon, opossum, &c.) + +Rocks: 9. Lower Eocene + +Fœtal: 6th month, that of a ruminant; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 54 Digitigrada + +Order: Digitigrada (genette, fox, wolf, &c.) + +Rocks: 10. Miocene + +Fœtal: 7th month, that of a digitigrade animal; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 55 Plantigrada + +Order: Plantigrada (bear) + +Rocks: 10. Miocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 55 Plantigrada + +Order: Cetacea (lamantins, seals, whales) + +Rocks: 10. Miocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 56 Insectivora + +Order: Edentata (sloths, &c.) + +Rocks: 11. Pliocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 56 Insectivora + +Order: Ruminantia (oxen, deer, &c.) + +Rocks: 11. Pliocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 57 Cheiroptera + +Rocks: 11. Pliocene + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 58 Quadrumana + +Order: Quadrumana (monkeys) + +Rocks: 11. Pliocene + +Fœtal: 8th month, that of the quadrumana; + +Scale: VERTEBRATA _Mammalia_: 59 Bimana + +Order: Bimana (man) + +Rocks: 12. Superficial deposits + +Fœtal: 9th month, attains full human character; + +{229} Some poor people having taken up their abode in the cells under +the fortifications of Lisle, the proportion of defective infants produced +by them became so great, that it was deemed necessary to issue an order +commanding these cells to be shut up. + +{232} These affinities and analogies are explained in the next chapter. + +{239a} Corresponding to the articulata of Cuvier. + +{239b} A new sub-kingdom, made out of part of the radiata of Cuvier. + +{239c} This is a newly applied term, the reasons for which will be +explained in the sequel. + +{242} This is preferred to grallatorial, as more comprehensively +descriptive. There is the same need for a substitute for rasorial, which +is only applicable to birds. + +{246} Distribution and Classification of Animals, p. 248. + +{255} Researches, 4th edition, i. 95. + +{257} Prichard. + +{266} Mr. Swainson’s arguments about the entireness of the circle +simiadæ are only too rigid, for fossil geology has since added new genera +to this group and the cebidæ, and there may be still farther additions. + +{270} See Wilson’s American Ornithology; article, _Fishing Crow_. + +{274} Project Gutenberg note: in the diagram the triangles extending +from the 1,2,3,4 and the a,b,c,d meet at the same point—the line from the +1,2,3,4 being at around 45° and the line from the a,b,c,d being at around +60°. Despite what the text says there is no line labelled 5 in the +diagram.—DP. + +{278} See Dr. Prichard’s Researches into the Physical History of Man. + +{280} Buckingham’s Travels among the Arabs. This fact is the more +valuable to the argument, as having been set down with no regard to any +kind of hypothesis. + +{287} Wiseman’s Lectures on the Connexion between Science and Revealed +Religion, i. 44. The Celtic has been established as a member or group of +the Indo-European family, by the work of Dr. Prichard, _on the Eastern +Origin of the Celtic Nations_. “First,” says Dr. Wiseman, “he has +examined the lexical resemblances, and shewn that the primary and most +simple words are the same in both, as well as the numerals and elementary +verbal roots. Then follows a minute analysis of the verb, directed to +shew its analogies with other languages, and they are such as manifest no +casual coincidence, but an internal structure radically the same. The +verb substantive, which is minutely analysed, presents more striking +analogies to the Persian verb than perhaps any other language of the +family. But Celtic is not thus become a mere member of this confederacy, +but has brought to it most important aid; for, from it alone can be +satisfactorily explained some of the conjugational endings in the other +languages. For instance, the third person plural of the Latin, Persian, +Greek, and Sanscrit ends in nt, nd, ντι, ντο, nti, or nt. Now, +supposing, with most grammarians, that the inflexions arose from the +pronouns of the respective persons, it is only in Celtic that we find a +pronoun that can explain this termination; for there, too, the same +person ends in nt, and thus corresponds exactly, as do the others, with +its pronoun, _hwynt_, or _ynt_.” + +{291} Schoolcraft. + +{293} Views of the Cordilleras. + +{302} The problem of Chinese civilization, such as it is—so puzzling +when we consider that they are only, as will be presently seen, the child +race of mankind—is solved when we look to geographical position producing +fixity of residence and density of population. + +{307a} Lord’s Popular Physiology, explaining observations by M. Serres. + +{307b} Conformably to this view, the beard, that peculiar attribute of +maturity, is scanty in the Mongolian, and scarcely exists in the +Americans and Negroes. + +{309} Of this we have perhaps an illustration in the peculiarities which +distinguish the Arabs residing in the valley of the Jordan. They have +flatter features, darker skins, and coarser hair than other tribes of +their nation; and we have seen one instance of a thoroughly Negro family +being born to an ordinary couple. It may be presumed that the conditions +of the life of these people tend to arrest development. We thus see how +an offshoot of the human family migrating at an early period into Africa, +might in time, from subjection to similar influences, become Negroes. + +{317} Missionary Scenes and Labours in South Africa. + +{326} “Is not God the first cause of matter as well as of mind? Do not +the first attributes of matter lie as inscrutable in the bosom of God—of +its first author—as those of mind? Has not even matter confessedly +received from God the power of experiencing, in consequence of +impressions from the earlier modifications of matter, certain +consciousnesses called sensations of the same? Is not, therefore, the +wonder of matter also receiving the consciousnesses of other matter +called ideas of the mind a wonder more flowing out of and in analogy with +all former wonders, than would be, on the contrary, the wonder of this +faculty of the mind not flowing out of any faculties of matter? Is it +not a wonder which, so far from destroying our hopes of immortality, can +establish that doctrine on a train of inferences and inductions more +firmly established and more connected with each other than the former +belief can be, as soon as we have proved that matter is not perishable, +but is only liable to successive combinations and decombinations. + +“Can we look farther back one way into the first origin of matter than we +can look forward the other way into the last developments of mind? Can +we say that God has not in matter itself laid the seeds of every faculty +of mind, rather than that he has made the first principle of mind +entirely distinct from that of matter? Cannot the first cause of all we +see and know have _fraught matter itself_, _from its very beginning_, +_with all the attributes necessary to develop into mind_, as well as he +can have from the first made the attributes of mind wholly different from +those of matter, only in order afterwards, by an imperceptible and +incomprehensible link, to join the two together? + +“ * * [The decombination of the matter on which mind rests] is this a +reason why mind must be annihilated? Is the temporary reverting of the +mind, and of the sense out of which that mind developes, to their +original component elements, a reason for thinking that they cannot again +at another later period, and in another higher globe, be again +recombined, and with more splendour than before? * * The New Testament +does not after death here promise us a soul hereafter unconnected with +matter, and which has no connexion with our present mind—a soul +independent of time and space. That is a fanciful idea, not founded on +its expressions, when taken in their just and real meaning. On the +contrary, it promises us a mind like the present, founded on time and +space; since it is, like the present, to hold a certain situation in +time, and a certain locality in space. But it promises a mind situated +in portions of time and of space different from the present; a mind +composed of elements of matter more extended, more perfect, and more +glorious: a mind which, formed of materials supplied by different globes, +is consequently able to see farther into the past, and to think farther +into the future, than any mind here existing: a mind which, freed from +the partial and uneven combination incidental to it on this globe, will +be exempt from the changes for evil to which, on the present globe, mind +as well as matter is liable, and will only thenceforth experience the +changes for the better which matter, more justly poised, will alone +continue to experience: a mind which, no longer fearing the death, the +total decomposition, to which it is subject on this globe, will +thenceforth continue last and immortal.”—HOPE, _on the Origin and +Prospects of Man_, 1831. + +{331} Dublin Review, Aug. 1840. The Guarantee Society has since been +established, and is likely to become a useful and prosperous institution. + +{333} The ray, which is considered the lowest in the scale of fishes, or +next to the crustaceans, gives the first faint representation of a brain +in certain scanty and medullary masses, which appear as merely composed +of enlarged origins of the nerves. + +{335} If mental action is electric, the proverbial quickness of +thought—that is, the quickness of the transmission of sensation and +will—may be presumed to have been brought to an exact measurement. The +speed of light has long been known to be about 192,000 miles per second, +and the experiments of Wheatstone have shewn that the electric agent +travels (if I may so speak) at the same rate, thus shewing a likelihood +that one law rules the movements of all the “imponderable bodies.” +Mental action may accordingly be presumed to have a rapidity equal to one +hundred and ninety-two thousand miles in the second—a rate evidently far +beyond what is necessary to make the design and execution of any of our +ordinary muscular movements apparently identical in point of time, which +they are. + +{346} Phrenological Journal, xv. 338. + +{347} A pampered lap-dog, living where there is another of its own +species, will hide any nice morsel which it cannot eat, under a rug, or +in some other by-place, designing to enjoy it afterwards. 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