Address before the Association of American Geologists. 273 
ence of some hitherto unknown race! The farther back the 
new record carries him, the deeper is his interest and enthusiasm. 
Such developements of lost races and lost ages in the world’s 
history, are continually rewarding the labors of. the geologist ;— 
and in point of antiquity, I had almost said, that the most ancient 
event in chronology, the six days’ work of creation, is the most 
recent in geology. From that beginning of registered time; we 
wander back through cycles of duration, which we can measure 
only by a succession of events, and not by chronological dates, 
except to be assured that they are inconceivably long ;—and yet, 
the relies of those early periods are as fresh as if entombed yester- 
day. The fossil reptile, or fish, or shell,—nay, even their most 
delicate parts, are as perfect as when alive; although tens, and 
perhaps hundreds of thousands of years have rolled away since 
they died... We see their footmarks following one another in reg- 
alan succession; a8 distinet as "those: of living animal’ upon the 
nathan. is shower, that. fell 
thousends.ef ages ago; is as fresh before us, as if every drop had 
been instantly petrified... ort, there-passes before us a series. 
of distinct. creations of gani : bei gs; adapted to: the negiang 
condition of our planet ; each successive gro ate wea mi ing more a 
and more perfect, until thing in nature ws 
existing races, with man as the crowd: of ine. & ets csieemanes 
Such developements as these are no: longer to be 
the dreams of disordered fancy, but-as the sober ee legitimate 
deductions of science. And what large and refreshing views do 
they present of the plans and the benevolence of the Deity! 
They open back a vista as farand as wide into the arcana of time, 
as astronomy discloses into the arcana of. space. They show 
us that the brief space of man’s existence on the globe, is but 
one of the units of a vast series of cycles that have passed already 
away ;—and the time ist hand, when. geology, ee with 
astronomy, will be celebrated for its power of hi 
mind-and filling it with noble:conceptions of the universe Per 
Infinite. Author. Surely, in such ennobling thoughts, the sedlo- 
gist finds a rich reward for all his toils. 
- L know indeed, that our science has been ie as coming 
into: collision with that sacred sins to which, - as Christians, 
We are bound to bow as the invariable standard rd of religious | truth. 
Geologists, too, have been represented | 
Vol. xt1, No. 2.—July—Sept. 1841. 35 
