THE USES OF SEA-WEEDS. 81 



— they \Yi]l trace the progress of a rational creature^ from 

 a little almost invisible monad floating in the sea, till the 

 monad becomes a monkey, and the monkey a man. And 

 they will tell you that the oak, the monarch of the woods, 

 has arrived at his dignity by almost imperceptible steps, 

 being, some thousands of years ago, only a humble sea-weed 

 in the universal ocean, it may be a Ilalidrys, which signifies 

 Sea-oak, or I), sinuom, which is called the Oak-leaved 

 Sea-weed. If they are less successful now than they once 

 were, it is because l^^atural Science is now more generally 

 cultivated than when the theory of development was brought 

 forth by ^laillet, and fostered by Lamarck. That you may 

 not be imposed upon by their bold assertions and cunning 

 artifices, it is your duty and your interest to study Natural 

 Science, that you may meet and master these deceivers on 

 their own ground. I am sure that I shall be pardoned for 

 giving a quotation from a work recently published by 

 Mr. Hugh Miller, the author of ' Old Eed Sandstone,' &c. 

 Had I space to give tlie whole passage, the reasoning ^YOuld 

 be found unanswerable : — 



"When Maillet first promulgated his hypothesis, many 

 of the departments of Natural History existed as mere 

 regions of fable and romance, and in addressing himself to 



G 



