1S46.] Bones of the Zeuglodon. 225 



happened through what is termed accident; but, rather that thej 

 belong to a series of changes and revolutions by which important 

 ends were to be secured. It is this fact which invests the ex- 

 tinction of life with its great and unparalleled interest, and which 

 throws over the w^hole series of changes connected with it, an 

 inscrutable mystery. It is the fact, that they belong to and are a 

 part of the system of changes in time, and that they constitute a 

 part of the history of life and organization; or, w'e may regard 

 them as a part of the drama of which some of the scenes have 

 been already acted, and like those which are now passing before 

 us, its grand design and moral comes out only with the winding 

 up of the piece. A higher reason perhaps than those indicated 

 above is contained in the fact, that man is an actor in this drama, 

 and is connected directly or indirectly with the scenes which 

 came and passed off the stage before his time. We are sustained 

 in this view when we consider that all the events and phenomena 

 in time have followed one another in order, and that they belong 

 together and constitute one system, not many; a grand unity, 

 which, though consisting of many parts, yet together make but 

 one whole or entire piece. 



The matter stands thus; species high and low, the powerful 

 and feeble, have ceased to be, and are not now the occupants of 

 time in the line of their posterity. Their extinction is a part of 

 a system by which important ends are to be secured. Man be- 

 longs to the same system, and is made an actor in the drama. It 

 is in the combined particulars that we find so much mystery, and 

 which w^e believe w^ould still invest the events and phenomena, 

 if the ends and designs were disclosed. But these are not, and 

 have not yet been proposed even in hypothesis; and they are so 

 far from being specifically accounted for, that they stand merely 

 as facts; and though it may not be true to say that nothing has 

 been done towards their developement, still the phenomena and 

 events, though belonging to one system, are such that their rela- 

 tions to those in time, those in which man participates, that they 

 yet remain veiled in mystery. 



With these general remarks we shall proceed to the subject 



Vol. Ill, No. 11. 17 



