236 THE LAW. 



orbit she obeys a great law of annual recurrence a succes- 

 sion that might readily be mistaken for progression by one 

 whose observations were limited to a few long days in the 

 month of June. The magnetic needle, which in 1660 

 pointed due north in London, began in 1662 to diverge to 

 the westward, till, in 1815 (a lapse 155 years), it pointed 24|- 

 west of north. Since 1815 it has been gradually returning 

 from this extreme divergence, and we therefore regard it as 

 obeying some law of secular succession. So also with the 

 polar direction of the earth's axis, which we usually regard 

 as pointing to one spot or " fixed point" in the heavens 

 viz., the " Polar Star." This, however, is not strictly cor- 

 rect. The pole moves very slowly, so as to describe very 

 nearly what is called a small circle in the heavens. This 

 small circle, and the motion of the pole along it, are such 

 that, in 12,000 or 13,000 years, the pole will be distant 

 from the present pole by more than 40 ; but in some 25,000 

 years it will have returned to the point in the heavens 

 which it now occupies. In the geologic ages we have seen 

 again and again the return of cold and warm influences to 

 the same latitudes. First, the icy sterility of the Cambrian 

 grits ; second, the doubtful glaciers of the old red ; next 

 those of the Permian or new red ; and again, those of the 

 boulder-drift that immediately preceded the current era. 

 These are also indicative of great secular recurrences in 

 nature successions rather than continuous progression. 

 May it not be so with the World itself? Is it going for- 

 ward, with all its physical mutations and garniture of life, 

 from a beginning philosophy cannot trace to an end that 

 fancy cannot dream of? Does nature never repeat herself; 

 or" is all that has taken place only part of a great succession 

 that will again be repeated ? Is there in reality nothing 

 new under the sun, and is that which now exists only that 

 which already has been? or is there not, as implied* in the 



