Geologists' Association. 573 



and its palseontological relations, affected natural history, and 

 indeed most branches of philosophy. The nomenclature of geology 

 was applied to political discussions, and carried even into the 

 columns of journals and periodicals. A consequence of stratification, 

 mineralogical and palseontological, in extension of succession, is the 

 acknowledgment of the passage of greater epochs of time than had 

 been heretofore admissible in history or chronology. Thus, too, the 

 range of the infinite in space, extended by the investigation of the 

 fixed stars, was fortified by the element of the eternal in time. This 

 contemplation affected not only the early narrations of the historian, 

 but it also gave evidence of fixity and stability in the conditions of 

 the universe. After alluding to the testimony as to the relations 

 of light afforded by the eye of the Trilohite, the support given by 

 geology to the speculations of the natural philosopher was mentioned 

 in the examples of the powers of water, fire, and electro-magnetism, 

 and their connexion with the phenomena of the universe, as illus- 

 trated by late investigations of the sun's photosphere, of meteors, 

 and comets. Geography has had to regard the effects of the past 

 and the present, and to consider the connexion of countries by their 

 strata and mineral relations, and also the distribution of plants and 

 animals. The fossil marine fauna and flora were the introduction to 

 what is yet to be discovered at the bottom of the ocean. Thus, 

 geology anticipates geography and natural history, and gains a fore- 

 cast of events. Meteorology has expanded its range to embrace a 

 knowledge of the vicissitudes and changes of climate, which have 

 left the vestiges of glacial action in the tropics and planted tropical 

 remains in the polar regions. As the bonds of restriction of thought 

 by prejudice are loosened, and our grasp gains in freedom, the dreams 

 of the past acquire consistency. We have seen the dragons of folk- 

 lore, and have found the abodes of the man-eating ogres, and handled 

 their weapons and tools. It is in philosophy, including theology, 

 that the effect of geological discussions may most clearly be dis- 

 covered. The English on both sides of the Atlantic have more 

 especially promoted these discussions and the advance of geological 

 studies, which in their early contests against prejudice could be best 

 cultivated under free institutions. The conflict with the schools of 

 theological interpretation has most usefully taken place in those 

 countries where the subjects were exposed to the investigation and 

 examination of men, compelled to give a reason for their faith. In 

 theology a salutary breadth had been given to the interpretations of 

 historical portions of the Scriptures, and the canon which divides 

 the domain between science and theology had been re-enacted. The 

 course of geology has influenced those sects of thought into which 

 in all time men have been divided. Its facts and teachings have 

 been adopted by those who accept the perpetual succession of matter, 

 and have led to most brilliant speculations, for the development of 

 which, by great men of science, the students of the world anxiously 

 await. To the other school, of those who acknowledge evidences 

 of design, geology affords, in its facts, abundant confirmation. 

 Ethnology, in its subject of men, is the nobler science and earlier in 



