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A CHAPTER IN THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE PAST. 67 
of years, be of more material service to the human race than, 
say, a knowledge of the conformation of the continents of 
Jupiter and Saturn? I would answer that these are all 
subjects well within the legitimate aim of science, and that 
her votaries need seldom trouble themselves about the ultimate 
utility of their discoveries. Let but the work be good, 
thorough, and honest, no matter whether it be on the 
structure of the mountains of the Moon, the internal economy 
of a cockroach, or the optical effects of a crystal, the worker 
may be well assured that his hardly-earned knowledge will 
some day be put to good account; and in pursuing knowledge 
for its own sake he has his immediate reward in the ever- 
enlarging views of the Universe and of its great Designer, 
which are engendered by constant and loving communion with 
Nature. 
It would not, however, be difficult to shew a great and 
immediate advantage to be derived from such enquiries as 
we have been making to-night, an advantage which I think 
would satisfy even the most persistent of Utilitarians; for it 
is evident that upon an accurate knowledge of the original 
extent and present limits of the various members of the great 
Carboniferous series of rocks must depend the proper direction 
of capital in the exploration of the vast mineral wealth they 
contain, and upon which the material prosperity of our country 
so largely depends. 
