XT.] (tologksl |]Le&rm. 241 



years. The fourth section of the first part of this 

 Treatise is called " History of the great Changes which 

 the Earth has formerly undergone and is still undergoing," 

 and is, in fact, a brief and pregnant essay upon the prin- 

 ciples of geology. Kant gives an account first "of the 

 gradual changes which are now taking place " under 

 the heads of such as are caused by earthquakes, such 

 as are brought about by rain and rivers, such as are 

 effected by the sea, such as are produced by winds 

 and frost; and, finally, such as result from the opera- 

 tions of man. 



The second part is devoted to the " Memorials of the 

 Changes which the Earth has undergone in remote an- 

 tiquity/' These are enumerated as : A. Proofs that 

 the sea formerly covered the whole earth. B. Proofs 

 that the sea has often been changed into dry land and 

 then again into sea. C. A discussion of the various 

 theories of the earth put forward by Scheuchzer, Moro, 

 Bonnet, Woodward, White, Leibnitz, Linnaeus, and 

 Buffon. 



The third part contains an "Attempt to give a sound 

 explanation of the ancient history of the earth/' 



I suppose that it would be very easy to pick holes in 

 the details of Kant's speculations, whether cosmological, 

 or specially telluric, in their application. But, for all 

 that, he seems to me to have been the first person to 

 frame a complete system of geological speculation by 

 founding the doctrine of evolution. 



With as much truth as Button, Kant could say, "I 

 take things just as I find them at present, and, from 

 these, I reason with regard to that which must have 

 been/' Like Button, he is never tired of pointing 

 out that " in Nature there is wisdom, system, and con- 

 sistency." And, as in these great principles, so in believ- 

 ing that the cosmos has a reproductive operation "by 



B 



