2O Contemporary Evolution. 



tellect can grasp it as a whole, what a marvellous re- 

 velation of the physical universe it offers to the intellect 

 attuned to its contemplation ! 



The organic and inorganic worlds combine to present 

 to the duly instructed mind a vision of majesty and har- 

 mony undreamed of only two centuries ago. 



In its geological section, even the tertiary fossiliferous 

 rocks speak of an antiquity compared with which the 

 pyramids of Egypt are but of yesterday. Majestic 

 remains of vast creatures once living but now extinct ex- 

 ercise the mind in fruitful conjectures, which mentally bring 

 back forms passed away for ever to live again for the won- 

 der and delight of the votaries of science. The crystalline 

 minerals reveal innate laws of symmetry and beauty, which, 

 as it were, lend a sort of life even to inorganic nature. 



In the section devoted to the illustration of the organic 

 world as it lives around us now, we may note the 

 harmonious organisation (so fitted to its needs) of each 

 species of animal and plant, proclaiming a nature instinct 

 with intelligence as well as with beauty. Here also we 

 may learn how slight differences of colour or form may 

 protect the individual life, and what fatal effects may 

 ensue from an apparently trifling defect of structure. 

 Teeming nature is seen to be the mother of myriads of 

 creatures of which but few can reach maturity, and seems 

 to proclaim trumpet-tongued a natural gospel of happiness 

 for the healthy, the beautiful, the strong. 



