WHAT OF THE FUTUBE? 



POSSIBILITY OF INDICATING THE FUTURE OF OUR PLANET OPINION 

 OF DR HUTTON EVERYTHING IN NATURE, PHYSICAL AND VITAL, 

 PASSING ON TO NEWER FORMS AND CONDITIONS NEW DISTRI- 

 BUTIONS OF SEA AND LAND NEW CLIMATES AND PHYSICAL 

 SURROUNDINGS NEW ARRANGEMENTS OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



NEW DEVELOPMENTS, OR HIGHER AND HIGHER LIFE-FORMS 



MAN SUBJECT TO THE SAME LAW OF PROGRESSION INFLUENCE 

 OF MAN ON THE FUTURE SLOW AND GRADUAL RATE OF NATURE'S 

 OPERATIONS EXALTED CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE INSPIRED 

 BY THE BELIEF IN A LAW OF INCESSANT DEVELOPMENT AND 

 PROGRESS. 



" MAN," says Dr Hutton in his celebrated < Theory/ " first 

 sees things upon the surface of the earth no otherwise than 

 the brute, who is made to act according to the mere im- 

 pulse of his sense and reason, without inquiring into what 

 had been the former state of things, or what will be the 

 future. But man does not continue in that state of ignor- 

 ance or insensibility to truth ; and there are few of those 

 who have the opportunity of enlightening their minds with 

 intellectual knowledge, that do not wish at some time or 

 another to be informed of what concerns the whole, and to 

 look into the transactions of time past, as well as to form 

 some judgment with regard to future events. It is only 

 from the examination of the present state of things that 

 judgments may be formed, in just reasoning, concerning 

 what had been transacted in a former period of time ; and 



