THE 



EDINBUKGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOUKNAL. 



A Period in the History of our Planet. By Louis Agassiz, 

 Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, LL.D. of Edinburgh 

 and Dublin, Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prus- 

 sia, Professor of Natural History in the Academy of Neu- 

 chatcl, &c. &c. 



There is something peculiarly fascinating to the human 

 mind in inquiries into the past history of the human race. 

 What power has placed Man upon the earth, and called him 

 to be its lord and master \ Was he the first product of that 

 creative energy which called forth the thousands of living be- 

 ings upon our planet, or was he preceded by other creations ? 

 And what was the conformation of this earth before the energy 

 of his mind, and the labour of his hands, had impressed 

 upon it the indelible stamp of his existence 1 It were easy to 

 multiply these questions, but difficult to give a just solution 

 of them : for the obscurity that conceals the early and remote 

 yields but with difficulty to the torch of inquiry, and, when 

 we even succeed in penetrating a step or two — in opening a 

 slight path to the succeeding inquirer, the environs of this 

 path become enveloped in darkness still more dense. Where 

 it is man himself tha^ still speaks to his fellow man, where 

 ho himself relates to him the history of his fortunes, we may 

 no doubt more readily speak of understanding, of a right 

 comprehension of occurrences ; in a word, of knowledge of 



VOL. XXXV. NO. LXIX. JULY 1843. A 



