DEDUCTIONS FROM ITS STUDY. 31 



the mineral structure of the globe arising therefrom has 

 consequently a definite and determinable arrangement. 

 Tliird, That this arrangement, as displayed in the numerous 

 rock-formations, implies an enormous lapse of time time 

 to waste and wear, time to transport, and time to deposit 

 and reconstruct and therefore establishes an antiquity for 

 our globe vast beyond all previous conception. Fourth, 

 That during the long periods which these successive forma- 

 tions that is, successive distributions of sea and land 

 imply, the earth has been peopled by different races of 

 plants and animals all evidently belonging to the same 

 great scheme of life, but varying widely in their character- 

 istics during each succeeding epoch. Fifth, That during 

 these periods there has been an ascent, in the main, from 

 lower to higher forms ; and that the plants and animals 

 now inhabiting the globe are, on the whole, higher and 

 more specially organised than the plants and animals of 

 any former period. Sixth, That these successive appear- 

 ances and distributions of plants and animals are connected 

 together in one great scheme of life by some pervading law 

 of development which, though not yet satisfactorily dis- 

 covered, is evidently bound up with the operating forces of 

 the universe. And, lastly, The earth being still subjected 

 to the same causes of change and, from all we can see, to 

 the same law of development that operated in time past, 

 the future aspects of our planet must differ from the pre- 

 sent physically and vitally its present distribution of sea 

 and land giving place to other arrangements of sea and 

 land, and its present living races to others of a still higher 

 and more specialised organisation. 



Such is the crust we dwell upon, and the teachings 

 which a study of its structure can convey. This rocky 

 exterior is all we know with certainty of the composition 



