THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD. 255 



history of the earth that had already proved the most 

 fertile — the ontologieal method, or the principle of 

 " actualism." It consists in a careful study and 

 manipulation of actual phenomena with a view to the 

 elucidation of the analogous historical processes of 

 the past. The Society of Science at Gottingen had 

 offered a prize in 1818 for "the most searching and 

 comprehensive inquiry into the changes in the earth's 

 crust which are historically demonstrable, and the 

 application which may be made of a knowledge of 

 them in the investigation of the terrestrial revolutions 

 which lie beyond the range of history." This prize 

 was obtained by Karl Hon 7 of Gotha for his distin- 

 guished work, History of the Natural Changes in the 

 Crust of the Earth in the Light of Tradition (1822-34). 

 Sir Charles Lyell then applied this ontologieal or 

 actualistic method with great success to the whole 

 province of geology ; his Principles of Geology (1830) 

 laid the firm foundation on which the fabric of the 

 history of the earth was so happily erected. The 

 important geogenetic research of Alexander Humboldt, 

 Leopold Buch, Gustav Bischof, Edward Siiss, and 

 other geologists, was wholly based on the empirical 

 foundation and the speculative principles of Karl Hoff 

 and Charles Lyell. They cleared the way for purely 

 rational science in the field of geology ; they removed 

 the obstacles that had been put in the path by 

 mythological fancy and religious tradition, especially 

 by the Bible and its legends. I have already discussed 

 the merits of Lyell, and his relations with his friend 

 Charles Darwin, in the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 chapters of my Natural History of Creation, and must 

 refer the reader to the standard works on geology for 

 a further acquaintance with the history of the earth 



