Bibliographical Notices. 155 



has been entirely rewritten, and the broad features of fossil faunae, 

 favourable to the doctrine of " progressive development " or of " pro- 

 gressive evolution," are fairly stated, and the probability of other 

 data turning up in favour of " uniformity " is also insisted on, as 

 well as " the unvarying constancy of the laws of nature," enabling 

 us to reason " from the present to the past in regard to the changes 

 of the terrestrial system, whether in the organic or inorganic world." 

 The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth chapters are also quite 

 new, treating of the changes of climate, — 1st, as proved by reference 

 to successive and different geological formations, 2ndly, as resulting 

 from various geographical conditions, and, 3rdly, as possibly caused 

 by astronomical changes, such as variations in the excentricity of the 

 earth's orbit, changes in the obliquity of the ecliptic, and different 

 phases of the precession of the equinoxes. Mr. Croll's suggestion as 

 to the probable effects of a large excentricity in producing glacial 

 epochs is fully discussed, and the question is entertained whether 

 geological dates may be obtained by reference to the combined effects 

 of astronomical and geographical causes. Many points illustrative 

 of changes in the inorganic world, now in progress, are elucidated in 

 this volume with new woodcuts, or with the description of new facts, 

 or both. The enlargement and emendation of those chapters com- 

 prised in the second volume, and treating of volcanic phenomena 

 and earthquakes, and of the changes of the organic world now in 

 progress, are very extensive. Under the first-mentioned head comes 

 the subject of upheaval and subsidence of large areas of the earth's 

 surface, the internal condition of the earth, metamorphic rocks, &c. 

 Under the other heading we have several rewritten chapters, — on 

 Lamarck's theory of transmutation, Darwin's ' Origin of Species ' 

 and * Pangenesis,' Natural and Artificial Selection (Darwin's hypo- 

 thesis being fully accepted), geographical distribution of animals 

 and plants, the extinction of species, &c. The forty-third chapter 

 is devoted to the consideration of Man, his origin and distribution, 

 calmly treated, and leading to the clear belief in man's uprising by 

 progressive development from a lower stage of being, and adopting 

 the fact of early man having been totally ignorant and barbarous. 



" We are sometimes tempted to ask whether the time will ever 

 arrive," says our veteran and thoughtful teacher (p. 493), " when science 

 shall have obtained such an ascendency in the education of the millions 

 that it will be possible to welcome new truths instead of always looking 

 upon them with fear and disquiet, and to hail every important victory 

 gained over error, instead of resisting the new discovery long after the 

 evidence in its favour is conclusive. The motion of our planet round the 

 sun, the shape of the earth, the existence of the antipodes, the vast anti- 

 quity of our globe, the distinct assemblages of species of animals and 

 plants by which it was successively inhabited, and, lastly, the antiquity 

 and barbarism of Primeval Man, — all these generalizations, when first 

 announced, have been a som^ce of anxiety and unhappiness. The future 

 now opening before us begins already to reveal new doctrines, if possible 

 more than ever out of harmony with cherished associations of thought. 

 It is therefore desirable, when we contrast ourselves with the rude and 

 superstitious savages who preceded us, to remember, as cultivators of 



