16 Notice of the Wonders of Geology. 



would also be materially influenced by the great changes in the 

 relative proportion of land and water, which took place in differ- 

 ent geological periods. Thus, as Mr. Lyell has satisfactorily de- 

 monstrated, the dry land in the northern hemisphere has been on 

 the increase since the commencement of the tertiary epoch j not 

 only because it is now greatly in excess beyond the average pro- 

 portion which land generally bears to water on our planet, but 

 also that a comparison of the secondary and tertiary strata, affords 

 indications throughout the space occupied by Europe, of a transi- 

 tion from the condition of an ocean interspersed with islands, to 

 that of a large continent ; and this increase of the land may in 

 some measure have contributed to that gradual diminution of 

 temperature which the organic remains denote.* 



" Astronomical relations of the Solar System. — Having thus 

 endeavored to interpret the natural monuments of the earth's 

 physical history, let us contemplate the relation of our solar sys- 

 tem to the countless orbs around us. For while astronomy ex- 

 plains that our system once existed as a diffused nebulosity, which 

 passing through various states of condensation, formed a central 

 luminary, and its attendant planets ; it also instructs us, that it is 

 but one inconsiderable cluster of orbs, in regard to the group of 

 stars to which it belongs, and of which the milky-way appears 

 to be, as it were, a girdle ; th^ solar system being placed in the 

 outer and less stellular part of the zone.f But the astounding 

 fact, that all our visible universe is but an aggregation, a mere 

 cluster of suns and worlds, which to the inhabitants of the remote 

 regions, that can be reached only by our telescopes, would seem 

 but a mere luminous spot, like one which lies near the outermost 

 range of observation, and appears to be a fac-simile of our own — 

 impresses on the mind a feeling of awe, of humihty, and of ado- 

 ration of that Supreme Being, to whom worlds, and suns, and 

 systems, are but as the sand on the sea-shore ! 



" Again, when conducted by our investigations to the invisible 

 universe beneath us, the milky-way, and the fixed stars, of ani- 

 mal life, which the microscope reveals to us, we are overpowered 

 with the contemplation of the minutest as well as of the mighti- 

 est of His works ! And if, as an eminent philosopher observes, 



* Lyell's Principles of Geology, Vol. I, chap. vii. 

 t See Mr. Whewell's Bridgewater Essay. 



