C.—GEOLOGY. at 
as well as applied science ; herein lies its great contribution to the other 
_ seiences—the introduction of the time concept, the law of progressive 
development, and the great fundamental of eternal change. This influence 
is to be observed on all sides. Where is now the text-book of botany 
without Sigillaria, or of zoology without trilobites ? The chemico-physicist 
is casting his thoughts back to a universe of hydrogen, and tracing through 
time the aggregation of protons and electrons into elements, and of ele- 
ments into compounds. He has become conversant with time terms, and 
writes of the relative radioactivity of Precambrian granite and Miocene 
basalt. 
The general tenor of text-books of geology, also, is undergoing a change. 
Rocks and formations are no longer considered as mere structures with 
their time significance in the background ; they are recognised as pages 
of history, as chronicles of events. We speak less of a succession of 
strata and more of a sequence of occurrences in time. Modern text-books 
are replete with diastrophisms and migrations, with disturbances and 
destructions, with rejuvenations and reconstructions. Historical geology 
is becoming more and more in accord with its name. I interpret this 
to mean that the cultural side of the subject is receiving a fuller recognition. 
The Duty of Man and the Law of Tendency to the Complex. 
To account for the existence of the human race and to determine the 
purpose, if there be a purpose, for its existence is probably the greatest 
and most fundamental problem with which humanity is confronted. An 
answer to this question would form the basis of an infallible system of 
philosophy and would be a sure guide to our conduct individually and 
collectively. An answer is not yet forthcoming, but it is interesting (and 
cultural) to inquire if the science of geology can throw any light on a 
problem so stupendous. 
In the first place, it is to be noted that the earth is very old ; its age is 
_ to be reckoned, not in millions, but in hundreds of millions, even in billions, 
_ of years. In the second place, living creatures have inhabited the globe, 
not from the beginning, but from the earliest period of which we have a 
definite record. Does not the inconceivably long duration of the earth 
itself and of life constitute a guarantee of a similar extension into the 
future ? This assumption may not be in accord with rigid logic, but it 
falls within the scope of high probability. Further, geological history 
shows conclusively that some force or tendency has acted on the life 
principle to the production of higher and higher forms culminating in 
man. It does not matter for the present how or why the successively 
higher forms appeared ; it is enough to know that they did appear and 
that life has not only endured for hundreds of millions of years but that 
it has shown a trend in the same general direction throughout all time. 
‘Is there any reason to assume that this long-enduring gradient should 
change its direction ? I confidently believe that geological history teaches 
us that the earth, and life, and the upward tendency of life will all three 
reach out into the illimitable future. 
The tendency towards the more complex (higher) seems to be a feature, 
not only of the organic, but also of the inorganic world. We postulate 
_ the existence, an eternity ago, of a universe of hydrogen. We believe 
that hydrogen gave rise to other elements more and more complex, and 
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