312 - WHAT OF THE FUTURE? 



we can show that kindred changes took place in times past, 

 we are surely entitled to rely on the uniformity of nature's 

 operation, and to believe that similar changes will continue 

 to "be effected. The conclusion is irresistible, and thus 

 must be admitted the truth of our first proposition, that the 

 future distributions of sea and land must differ from the 

 present, and that as time rolls on the divergence will be- 

 come greater and greater, till all the existing continents 

 disappear, and new ones arise, with other contours, other 

 surfaces, and other climates, but all fluctuating and progres- 

 sive as those that went before. The whole history of the 

 past, as interpreted by Geology, has been one incessant 

 round of terraqueous change ; the forces of nature are still 

 as active and unabated in operation; and the inevitable 

 results must be a round of terraqueous changes in the 

 future, as incessant in their recurrence and as extensive 

 in their range. 



In the second nplace, it is equally clear that if the lands 

 of the current era are gradually disappearing, and newer 

 ones as gradually in course of formation, the latter must 

 occupy different positions on the earth's surface, and as a 

 consequence, must enjoy different climates and different 

 geographical surroundings. They may be more continental 

 or more insular, more tropical, more temperate, or more 

 arctic ; but however this may be, it is quite evident they 

 must differ in these respects from the existing. In ignor- 

 ance of the law which regulates the great crust-motions of 

 the globe those slow upheavals and submergences of ex- 

 tensive tracts we can scarcely indicate the position of the 

 lands that will immediately succeed the existing ; though, 

 judging from the directions of most of the great delta-form- 

 ing rivers, it would seem that they will lie more within the 

 warmer zones of the globe. The great rivers of the New 



