54 Astronomy and Geology compared. 



PT. I. 



to be marked by new changes, the full value of 

 which we are enabled to estimate by the light of 

 our later anatomical knowledge : thus the formation 

 of the eye and ear must have created a new revo- 

 lution in animal life, and the creations of vertebrated 

 animals with their apparatus for communicating sen- 

 sation from the head to every part of the bodily 

 frame must have constituted another great step in 

 the progress of animal life. 



The spectacle which Geology presents to us when 

 we survey this general retrospect is a very sublime 

 one ; it widens to a degree almost equal to that of 

 Astronomy our conception of the vastness of the 

 scheme of Omnipotence. During lapses of time 

 which we are utterly unable to measure, and under 

 alterations of circumstances and conditions putting 

 an entirely new face upon nature, we still trace one 

 great design never lost, gradually making its way 

 onwards and working to the surface in each suc- 

 ceeding transformation. If we venture to draw a 

 conclusion from this view, it is that Life is the 

 principal object of a Creator's care, and that the 

 material framework in which it is set is sub- 

 ordinate to the purpose of its gradual development 

 and ultimate perfection. From the earliest and 



