GEOLOGY. 321 



A century scarcely has elapsed since the time when it would have been 

 thought impossible to reconstruct the history of our globe, prior to the 

 appearance of mankind. But, though contemporary historians were want- 

 ing during this immense pre-human era, the latter has not failed in leaving 

 us a well-arranged sei'ies of most significant vestiges: the animal and vege- 

 table tribes, which have successively appeared and disappeared, have left 

 their fossil remains in the successively deposited strata. Thus has been 

 composed, gradually and slowly, a history of creation, written, as it were, 

 by the Creator himself. It is a great book, the leaves of which are the 

 stratified rocks, following each other in the strictest chronological order, the 

 chapters being the mountain chains. This great book has long been closed 

 to man. But science, constantly extending its realm and improving its 

 method of induction, has taught the geologist to study those marvellous 

 archives of creation, and we behold him now unfolding the past ages of our 

 world, with a variety of details and a certainty of conclusions well calculated 

 to inspire us with grateful admiration. 



The development of archaeology has been very similar to that of geology. 

 Not long ago we should have smiled at the idea of reconstructing the bygone 

 days of our race, previous to the first beginning of history properly so 

 called. The void was filled up, partly by representing that ante-historical 

 antiquity as having been only of short duration, and partly by exaggerating 

 the value and the age of those vague and confused notions which constitute 

 tradition. 



It seems to be with mankind at large as with single individuals. The 

 recollections of our earliest childhood have entirely faded away, up to some 

 particular event which had struck us more forcibly, and which alone has 

 left a striking image amidst the surrounding darkness. Thus, excepting the 

 idea of a deluge, which exists among so many nations, and therefore appears 

 to have originated before the migration of those same nations, the infancy of 

 mankind, at least in Europe, has passed without leaving any recollection, and 

 history fails here entirely : for what is history but the memory of mankind? 



But, before the beginning of history, there have been life and industry, of 

 which various monuments still exist, while others lie buried in the soil, 

 much as we find the organic remains of former creations entombed in the 

 strata composing the crust of the globe. The memorials of antiquity enact 

 here a part similar to that of the fossils; and if Cuvier calls the geologist an 

 antiquarian of a new order, we can reverse that remarkable saying, and 

 consider the antiquarian as a geologist, applying his method to reconstruct 

 the first ages of mankind, previous to all recollection, and to work out what 

 may be called pre-historical history. This is archaeology pure and proper. 

 But archaeology cannot be considered as coming to a full stop with the first 

 beginning of history. For the further we recede in our historical researches, 

 the more incomplete they become, leaving gaps which the study of the 

 material remains helps to fill up. Archaeology, therefore, pursues its course 

 in a parallel line with that of history, and henceforth the two sciences mutu- 

 ally enlighten each other. But, with the progress of history, the part taken 

 by archaeology goes on decreasing, until the invention of printing almost 

 brings to a close the researches of the antiquarian. 



To pursue geological investigations we must first examine the present 

 state of our planet and observe its changes, that is, we must begin by physi- 

 cal geography. This supplies us with a thread of induction, to guide us 

 safely in our rambles through the passed ages of our earth, as Lyell has so 



