28 S fag S*rnwms, (Essays, an* gtfawfas. [XIL 



clearly apprehended the great modern geological doc- 

 trine, so strongly insisted upon by Button, and so 

 ably and comprehensively expounded by Lyell, that we 

 must look to existing causes for the explanation of past 

 geological events. Indeed, the following passage of the 

 preface, in which De Maillet is supposed to speak of the 

 Indian philosopher Telliamed, his alter ego, might have 

 been written by the most philosophical uniformitarian of 

 the present day : 



" Ce qu'il y a d'etonnant, est que pour arriver a ces connoissances 

 il semble avoir pervert! 1'ordre naturel, puisqu'au lieu de s'attacher 

 d'abord a rechercher 1'origine de notre globe il a commence par 

 travailler a s'instruire de la nature. Mais a 1'entendre, ce renverse- 

 ment de 1'ordre a e"te pour lui 1'effet d'un genie favorable qui 1'a 

 conduit pas a pas et comme par la main aux decouvertes les plus 

 sublimes. C'est en de"composant la substance de ce globe par une 

 anatomie exacte de toutes ses parties qu'il a premierement appris de 

 quelles matieres il etait compose et quels arrangemens ces memes 

 matieres observaienb entre elles. Ces lumieres jointes a 1' esprit de 

 comparaison toujours ne*cessaire a quiconque entreprend de percer les 

 voiles dont la nature aime a se cacher, ont servi de guide a uotre 

 philosophe pour parvenir a des connoissances plus inte'ressantes. Par 

 la matiere et 1'arrangement de ces compositions il pretend avoir 

 reconnu quelle est la veritable origine de ce globe que nous habitons, 

 comment et par qui il a ete forme." Pp. x,ix. xx. 



But De Maillet was before his age, and as could 

 hardly fail to happen to one who speculated on a zoolo- 

 gical and botanical question before Linnaeus, and on a 

 physiological problem before Haller, he fell into great 

 errors here and there ; and hence, perhaps, the general 

 neglect of his work. Kobinet's speculations are rather 

 behind, than in advance of, those of De Maillet ; and 

 though Linnaeus may have played with the hypothesis 

 of transmutation, it obtained no serious support until 

 Lamarck adopted it, and advocated it with great ability 

 in his " Philosophic Zoologique." 



Impelled towards the hypothesis of the transmutation 



