16 Notice of the Wonders of Geology. 
“would also be materially influenced by the great changes in the 
relative proportion of land and water, which took place in differ- 
ent geological periods. Thus, as Mr. Lyell has satisfactorily de- 
monstrated, the dry land in the northern hemisphere has been on 
the increase since the commencement of the tertiary epoch ; not 
only because it is now greatly in excess beyond the average pro- 
portion which land generally bears to water on our planet, but 
also that a comparison of the secondary and tertiary strata, affords 
indications throughout the space occupied by Europe, of a transi- 
tion from the condition of an ocean interspersed with islands, to. 
that of a large continent ; and this increase of the land may in 
some measure have contributed to that gradual diminution of 
temperature which the organic remains denote.* = 
“ Astronomical relations of the Solar System.—Having thus 
endeavored to interpret the natural monuments of the earth’s 
physical history, let us contemplate the relation of our solar Sys- 
tem to the countless orbs around us. For while astronomy ex- 
plains that our system once existed as a diffused nebulosity, which 
passing through various states of condensation, formed a central. . 
luminary, and its attendant planets ; it also instructs us, that it is 
but one inconsiderable cluster of orbs, in regard to the group of 
stars to which it belongs, and of which the milky-way appears 
to be, as it were, a girdle ; the solar system being placed in the 
outer and less stellular part of the zone.t But the astounding 
fact, that all our visible universe is but an aggregation, a mere 
cluster of suns and worlds, which to the inhabitants of the remote 
regions, that can be reached only by our telescopes, would seem 
but a mere luminous spot, like one which lies near the outermost 
range of observation, and appears to be a fac-simile of our own— 
impresses on the mind a feeling of awe, of humility, and of ado- 
ration of that Supreme Being, to whom worlds, and suns, and 
systems, are but as the sand on the sea-shore ! 
“ Again, when conducted by our investigations to the invisible 
universe beneath us, the milky-way, and the fixed stars, of ani- 
mal life, which the microscope reveals to us, we are overpowered 
with the contemplation of the minutest as well as of the mighti- 
est of His works! And if, as an eminent philosopher observes, 
= Lyell’s Principles of Geology, Vol. I, chap. vii. 
t See Mr. Whewell’s Bridgewater Essay. 
