JWUiSKRALS AND DOSSILS. 297 



Which have rlown up through wide chasms and overspread them. 

 Intervals of unusual volcanic agency, have been succeeded by 

 ages of tranquil repose, and these again succeeded by a revival 

 of former energy. We see in all these vast changes the control- 

 ing power of an Eternal Mind ; periods of time which man iu 

 vain endeavors to comprehend, have witnessed continual exhibi- 

 tions of creative power and wisdom. The diversified materials 

 of which the earth is composed, have been elaborated into beauty 

 and order, every object has its sphere of usefulness and action, 

 and its period of existence is limited. We have never been able 

 to perceive at all the grounds for the too hasty conclusion which 

 some superficial philosophers have adopted, that the present per- 

 fect system of organization is the result of a progressive develop- 

 ment of inferior types of existence, and that the remote origin of 

 all life is the monad or animalcule. 



It has ever been the attempt of man to penetrate beyond the 

 ordinary boundaries, which nevertheless, like the almost impassi- 

 ble barriers of a deep ocean surround him. Now with his heaven- 

 directed tube, ho speculates upon the former conditions of all 

 worlds. Penetrating back to periods of time far beyond the dream 

 of the geologists, he imagines the wisps of nebulous matte; which 

 in a clear night, with the most powerful glasses, he can just de- 

 scry, and which appear as rare and light as the thinnest vapor 

 which floats in the form of a cloud on a summer's eve, these he 

 imagines slowly condensing, and gradually forming worlds. The 

 geologist looks back to the remote and primeval ages when the 

 first life appeared on our planet, and he uncovers with careful 

 hand the imbedded remains of fragile plants, and shells, which 

 have lain hidden in their stony beds for periods of time compared 

 with which, our years dwindle to utter insignificance. 



The whole substance of our globe, at least so far as the solid 

 materials which compose its crust are concerned, may be divided 

 into two great classes, minerals and fossils. 



MINERALS are inorganic snbstances, and are the products of 

 chemical or electrical action. 



FOSSILS are the remains of organic substances imbedded in the 

 strata by natural caueee at some remote period, and these remains 



