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INTRODUCTION. 



wealth and the increasing welfare of the na- 

 tions is so closely connected with a more dili- 

 gent use of natural productions and natural 

 forces. The most superficial glance at the 

 condition of Europe in these days, assures us 

 that with the struggle against serious odds, any 

 relaxation of effort would be followed, first by 

 diminution, and then by annihilation of national 

 prosperity ; for in the destiny of nations it is as 

 in nature, in which, as Goethe (") says, finely, 

 " there is neither rest nor pause, but ever move- 

 ment andv evolution, a curse still cleaving to 

 standing still." Nothing but serious occupa- 

 tion with chemical, mathematical, and natural 

 studies, will defend any state from evils assail- 

 ing it on this side. Man can produce no effect 

 upon nature, can appropriate none of her pow- 

 ers, if he be not conversant with her laws, with 

 general relations according to measure and 

 number. And here, too, lies the power of pop- 

 ular intelligence. It rises and falls with this. 

 Science and information are the joy and the 

 justification of mankind ; they are portions of 

 the wealth of nations, sometimes a substitute 

 for material wealth, which nature has in many 

 cases distributed with so partial a hand. Those 

 nations which have remained behind in gen- 

 eral manufacturing activity, in the practical 

 application of the mechanical arts, and techni- 

 cal chemistry, in the transmission, growth, or 

 manufacture of raw materials, nations among 

 whom respect for such activity does not per- 

 vade all classes, must inevitably fall from any 

 prosperity they may have attained ; and this by 

 so much the more certainly and speedily, as 

 neighbouring states, instinct with powers of 

 youthful renovation, in which science and the 

 arts of industry co-operate or lend each other 

 assistance mutually, are seen pressing forward 

 in the race. 



The taste for manufacturing industry, and 

 for those portions of natural science which bear 

 upon it more immediately — a characteristic of 

 the present 'age — can in nowise be prejudicial 

 either as regards philosophy, antiquities, or his- 

 tory, nor quench the all-animating flame of fan- 

 cy, in the direction of the liberal arts. Where 

 all the offshoots of civilization are permitted to 

 expand in vigour, under the protection of wise 

 laws and free institutions, no effort of mind in 

 any one direction will be found to interfere 

 with its aspirations in another quarter. Each 

 presents its own peculiar fruit to the common- 

 wealth : one, the means of maintenance and 

 comfort to the citizen, another, the product of 

 creative fancy, which, more durable than ma- 

 terial wealth, transmits the name and fame of 

 the community to the latest posterity. The 

 Spartiates, despite the austerity of the Doric 

 mind, prayed " the Gods to vouchsafe them the 

 beautiful associated with the good."(**) 



As in those higher circles of ideas and feel- 

 ings — in the study of history, of philosophy, and 

 of oratory — so in all the departments of natural 

 science, the first and highest aim of intellectu- 

 al activity is one that is internal ; namely, the 

 discovery of natural laws, the establishment of 

 co-ordinate members in the images, the per- 

 ception of necessary connection between all 

 the changes that happen in the universe. So 

 much of this science as flows over, and min- 

 gles with the industrial life of communities, el- 



evating manufacturing industry, does so in vir- 

 tue of the happy connection in human things, 

 by which the true, the exalted, and the beauti- 

 ful, mix unintentionally, as it seems, but cer- 

 tainly, with the useful, and co-operate with it 

 in bringing about results. The improvement 

 of agriculture by the hands of freemen, and on 

 lands of moderate extent ; the flourishing con- 

 dition of manufactures, emancipated from op- 

 pressive restrictions ; the extension of com- 

 mercial relations, and the unimpeded progiess 

 of mankind in mental development as well as in 

 their social institutions, are all inseparably con- 

 nected, and severally and powerfully advance 

 each other. The impressive picture of the late 

 history of the world forces this faith upon the 

 minds even of those that most eagerly oppose it. 



Such an influence of natural science upon the 

 welfare of the nations, and on the present con- 

 dition of Europe, can receive nothing more 

 than a passing allusion in this place. The 

 course we have to complete is so vast in itself, 

 that it would not become me to depart from the 

 main object we have in view, namely, the sur- 

 vey OP NATURE AS A WHOLE, and intentionally 

 to widen the field of our inquiries. Accustom- 

 ed to wanderings in distant lands, I have, per- 

 haps, without this, indicated the path to my 

 fellow-travellers, as more distinctly traced and 

 more attractive than they will find it in fact. 

 This is ever the way with those who take 

 pleasure in guiding others to the tops of mount- 

 ains : they praise the view, though perchance 

 large tracts of the country lie hidden in mist. 

 They know that even in this concealment there 

 dwells a certain mysterious charm ; that the 

 misty horizon calls up the image of the sensu- 

 ous infinite in the mind, a picture which, as I 

 have already observed, is reflected in grave and 

 grand tints in the mind and affections. From 

 the lofty stand, too, from which we propose to 

 make our general survey of nature on the basis 

 of science, all that is requisite cannot be com- 

 manded. In natural science, much yet lies but 

 ill defined, and much — and shall I not gladly 

 own to this in entering on a field so vast 1 — 

 will appear indefinite and incomplete only be- 

 cause every thing like embarrassment becomes 

 doubly detrimental to the speaker, who feels 

 himself indifferently at ease in his subject, when 

 separated from its individualities. 



The purpose of this Introduction was not to 

 present a picture of the importance of natural 

 science, a thing universally admitted ; it was 

 rather to show how, without detriment to the 

 deepest study of the several special depart- 

 ments of natural science, a higher position for 

 physical scientific inquiry may be won, from 

 which all the forms and powers of things shall 

 be seen to reveal themselves, in the guise of a 

 natural whole, actuated by intrinsic aptitudes. 

 Nature is no dead aggregate ; she is, " to the 

 inspired inquirer," (as Schelling grandly ex- 

 presses himself, in his admirable Discourse on 

 the Fine Arts), " the holy, the eternally crea- 

 tive prime mover of the universe, engendering 

 and evolving all things out of her pregnant 

 self" The hitherto imperfectly seize! idea of 

 a PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH cxpauds, Un- 

 der more enlarged views and the comprehen- 

 sion of all created things in earth and heaven, 

 into the idea of a physical history of thk 



