GEADUATED FOEMS OF LIFE. 41 



ration of the globe necessarily leads us to the conclusion that 

 both must be the harmonious work of the same Almighty Power, 

 and that a divine and immutable plan has from all eternity 

 presided over the destinies of our planet. It is almost super- 

 fluous to point out how largely the irregular windings and 

 indentations of the coasts, the numerous islands scattered over 

 the face of the waters, the promontories stretching far away into 

 the domains of the sea, and the gulfs plunging deeply into the 

 bosom of the land, have contributed to the civilisation of the 

 human race by multiplying its points of contact with the ocean, 

 the great highway of nations. 



A survey of the petrifactions enclosed in the various strata of 

 the earth adds new force to the conviction, that one grand and 

 uniform plan has constantly presided over all the periods of its 

 history. For here we find no chaotic confusion, no arbitrary 

 oscillations from higher to lower, or from lower to higher grades 

 of existence (as would undoubtedly have been the case if organic 

 development had been left to casual influences), but a gradual 

 and constant progression from inferior to more perfect forms 

 of life. 



Thus, in the oldest strata only the remains of the lower plants 

 and animals are found of algaB and lichens, of corals, sea- 

 urchins, mollusks, and crustaceans. 



At a later period the reign of the vertebrated animals begins 

 to dawn in the fishes. Then the reptiles appear in gigantic 

 forms, as tyrants of the coasts and the lagunes, while the empire 

 of the birds and quadrupeds belongs to the more recent forma- 

 tions ; and man, the most highly gifted of all the created beings 

 we know of, appears last upon the scene. 



Throughout these vast epochs of time, numberless species of 

 vegetable and animal life are doomed to perish, but they are 

 constantly replaced by other and more perfect forms ; we see 

 constant changes, a constant decline and death, but also a con- 

 stant birth and resurrection, a new life perpetually springing 

 forth from the ruins of the past. How perfect must have been 

 the plan which has thus, through unnumbered ages, constantly 

 maintained the balance between the changes and revolutions of 

 the earth-rind, and the eternal progress of the organic world ! 



The elementary powers of fire and water might have continued 

 their strife for ever, and yet the higher grades of animal life 



