650 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY. 



since these have recently been spoken of, as con- 

 clusions collected, however vaguely, from observed 

 facts 1 , we may make a remark or two upon them. 



The notion of a series of creations and destruc- 

 tions of worlds, which appears in the sacred volume 

 of the Hindoos, which formed part of the tradi- 

 tionary lore of Egypt, and which was afterwards 

 adopted into the poetry and philosophy of Greece, 

 must be considered as a mythological, not a phy- 

 sical, doctrine. When this doctrine was dwelt upon, 

 men's thoughts were directed, not to the terrestrial 

 facts which it seemed to explain, but to the at- 

 tributes of the deities which it illustrated. The 

 conception of a Supreme power, impelling and guid- 

 ing the progress of events, which is permanent 

 among all perpetual change, and regular among all 

 seeming chance, was readily entertained by contem- 

 plative and enthusiastic minds; and when natural 

 phenomena were referred to this doctrine, it was 

 rather for the purpose of fastening its impressiveness 

 upon the senses, than in the way of giving to it 

 authority and support. Hence we perceive that in 

 the exposition of this doctrine, an attempt was 

 always made to fill and elevate the mind with the 

 notions of marvellous events, and of infinite times, 

 in which vast cycles of order recurred. The " great 

 year," in which all celestial phenomena come round, 

 offered itself as capable of being calculated ; and a 

 similar great year was readily assumed for terres- 

 1 Lyell, B. i. c. ii. p. 8. (4th ed ) 



