PROCKEDINGS OF SOCIKTIES. 



321 



was a distinguished exception, having come perfect from his great 

 Maker's hand, with his bodily form in the fuhiess of its strength, and 

 his spirit radiant with divine intelligence ; but I speak of a man 

 reared from his birth in a lonely desert, though that desert were a 

 paradise ; and there is every reason to believe, from the nearest ap- 

 proaches made to such actual experience, that he would be little, if at 

 all, superior to the Ourang-outang of the woods — a pitiable specimen 

 of humanity. 



If we turn to the consideration of such forms of society as have, 

 at different periods, existed in the world, it is not a little remarkable 

 that the first great scheme attempted after the flood, by a combina- 

 tion which then embraced the whole human race, was an absolute 

 defiance of the Divine Majesty ; for it was an effort to establish their 

 union upon a solid basis, and record it on a lofty tower reaching to 

 the height of the heavens, and defying the power of that Omnipotent 

 Avenger who had destroyed the whole world by water. Their de- 

 signs were impious, and impiety, in any social body, is ever the har- 

 binger of evil ; for it stands as a mark to the vengeance of that All- 

 ruling Power whose laws it has broken, whose authority it has con- 

 temned, and who hath declared of the righteous man that " all that 

 he doeth shall prosper ; while the ungodly are not so, but are like 

 the chaff which the wind driveth away." 



But where the objects of any society are such as those which we 

 profess to pursue, there is good reason to hope that " dew of heaven 

 may fall thick in blessings on it." Those objects are legitimate and 

 good which tend to extend our knowledge and strengthen our under- 

 standing, to refine the taste, and improve the heart ; and wherever 

 they have been steadily kept in view their pursuit has been generally 

 crowned with success, a generous emulation being excited among the 

 members, aiding one another in their different inquiries, eliciting ob- 

 servations by which mutual information is attained, each contributing 

 his portion to the general fund, and thus accumulating intellectual 

 treasures beyond their most sanguine hopes. Where such societies 

 have sprung up, that region which was formerly as a desolate wilder- 

 ness has been often seen to flourish like a fruitful field, civilization 

 and refinement being fostered by the breath of genius, learning, and 

 philosophy [as the president amply proves and illustrates by the 

 happy results produced by the operations of the ancient Select Soci- 

 ety of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of London, and the Geological 

 Societies of the metropolis and country towns]. 



Fostered, and strengthened, and animated by mighty minds, Geo- 

 logy has extended her researches far and wide. Into that " reign of 

 chaos and old night" she has urged her daring course, dragging forth 

 to the light, from the secret recesses of remote ages, and from the 

 dark bowels of the earth, the wrecks of former worlds, plants of un- 

 known growth, with animals that have Hved and moved in earth, in 

 ocean, and in air, at periods beyond the reach of human calculation ; 

 all bearing with one unanimous voice this harmonious testimony — 



