PROGRESSION AND RETROGRESSION. 225 



to the proposed end of the whole series of movements, and is 

 therefore a decided progress from a previous and more rudi- 

 mental state or position. Accordingly all philosophy and all 

 revelation concur in the acknowledgment that creation, from 

 its incipient to its present stage of development, has passed 

 through a regular series of progressive unfoldings ; and this 

 fact is recognized as applying equally to the cosmical universe, 

 to the geological formations, and to the various systems of 

 organic forms, beginning with the lowest and ending with the 

 highest, whose remains have been successively entombed in 

 the rocks. 



It is true there are occasional and apparent exceptions to 

 this rule occasional instances of particular retrogression on 

 the one hand, and irregular and abnormal advances on the 

 other ; but these are owing to local circumstances and isolated 

 influences, and when properly understood, they prove, rather 

 than disprove, the general rule. The idea may be illustrated 

 by the following simile : Let a number of vessels, of different 

 classes, be supposed to sail from the same port, at the same 

 time, and bound to the same place of destination. Wafted by 

 the same breezes, and floated by the same tides, they, for a 

 time, make nearly equal progress, sail in nearly parallel paths, 

 and generally keep each others company. But owing to 

 slight diversities in their sailing qualities, and incidental dif- 

 ferences in their modes of manoeuvring, their courses grad- 

 ually diverge from each other, and they get into different 

 currents of ocean and of atmosphere, some of which are pro- 

 pitious and some the reverse. They are then farther dispersed 

 by hurricanes; some of them, by violent gales occurring 

 only in their own localities, may be driven hundreds of miles 

 out of their course, or in a retrograde direction ; a few of 

 them may be driven upon rocks or quicksands, and lost out 



