356 THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE CRUST OF THE EARTH. 



the closest relations with nature, the same elements whi ch formerly were 

 an obstacle to his development. 



In the course of a few hundred years he has developed an almost unlim- 

 ited power of action, has accomplished more than could be produced by 

 the other animals even during millions of centuries. Has he not raised 

 the pyramids, built magnificent temples, tunneled entire mountains, 

 raised enormous walls, erected monuments, cut through isthmuses, and 

 disputed the possession of the laud with the encroaching waves of the 

 ocean i Has he not plowed the soil with iron, aud are not the organic 

 and inorganic world at his service ? 



Truly, to judge from his first efforts, man is destined to act a grand 

 part upon the terrestrial globe, and although we cannot refute the asser- 

 tion of M. d'Archiac that up to the present time there is nothing to 

 prove that man is the end or last fiat of creation, nevertheless he unites 

 in his nature such qualities that perfection outside of his race seems 

 almost inadmissible. In proportion as the mind is developed, as the 

 tendencies of man are refined and his activity becomes more in accord 

 with his nature, in the practice of what is right and just, progress is 

 made, and the great difference between the actual and the ideal man 

 diminished. 



Of what nature will be the modifications which the presence of man 

 will produce in the configuration of the earth's crust "? His antecedents 

 allow us in some degree to imagine, but in all his efforts he will have to 

 struggle against the effects of superior powers. Facts show us that 

 upheavals and other great revolutions of volcanic nature become more 

 and more rare in proportion as the earth advances in age; but what 

 they lose in frequeucy they gain in intensity, so that we may doubt 

 whether the Himalayan chain is the highest expression of their power. 



The earth — will it ever become uninhabitable 1 Some savans do not 

 hesitate to predict for it a destiny similar to that of the moon.* 



It is true that increasing diminution of the fluid envelope may be con- 

 sidered as certain, but this diminution is extremely slow, and percepti- 

 ble only after long intervals. We can nevertheless foresee that as the 

 thickness of the atmosphere becomes less, cold will conquer all the globe. 

 Oceans will be transformed into solid ice, aud eternal snow will envelope 

 the continents. Will organisms continue to exist under such circum- 

 stances? We do not dare to answer in the affirmative, although it is 

 well known with what marvelous tractability organisms adapt them- 

 selves to circumstances produced by a slow change. But we can with- 

 out hesitation affirm that if organized beings are destined to disappear 

 from the surface of the globe by the influences of exterior causes, the 

 most perfect, and humanity at the head, will go first, and the lower or- 

 ganisms remain the longest. 



But this assuredly wdl not happen until nature has exhausted all her 

 resources of combination ; until matter, so to say, is tired of her con- 



* See the interesting conclusion of M. Frankland, Phil. Maya:., May, 1H64, p. 431. 



