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sion of warm-blooded quadrupeds (frequently of unknown genera) 

 through the older tertiary systems— in their great abundance (and 

 frequently of known genera) in the upper portions of the same 

 series — and, lastly, in the recent appearance of man on the surface 

 of the earth (now universally admitted) — in one word, from all 

 these facts combined, we have a series of proofs the most emphatic 

 and convincing, — that the existing order of nature is not the last of 

 an uninterrupted succession of mere physical events derived from 

 laws now in daily operation : but on the contrary, that the ap- 

 proach to the present system of things has been gradual, and that 

 there has been a progressive development of organic structure sub- 

 servient to the purposes of life. 



Considered as a mere question of physics, (and keeping all moral 

 considerations entirely out of sight,) the appearance of man is a 

 geological phenomenon of vast importance, indirectly modifying 

 the whole surface of the earth, breaking in upon any supposition 

 of zoological continuity, and utterly unaccounted for by what we 

 have any right to call the laws of nature. 



If by the laws of nature we mean only such manifestations of 

 power as seem good to the supreme Intelligence, then there can be 

 no matter for dispute. But in physical questions such terms as the 

 " laws of nature" have a proper reference only to second causes : 

 and I ask, by what operation of second causes can we account for the 

 recent appearance of man ? Were there no other zoological fact in 

 secondary geology, I should consider this, by itself, as absolutely 

 subversive of the first principles of the Huttonian hypothesis. 



If the principles vindicated in Mr. Lyell's work be true, then 

 there can be no great violations of continuity either in the struc- 

 ture or position of our successive formations. But we know that 

 there are enormous violations of geological continuity : and though 

 relatively speaking many of them may be local, of this at least we 

 are certain, that they have been produced by forces adequate to the 

 effects and coextensive with the phenomena. 



The very first step we take, we see a violation of continuity. Be- 

 tween the alluvial silt, deposited by the waters now flowing off from 

 the inequalities of the earth, and the masses of diluvial gravel scat- 

 tered over so many parts of its surface, we can seldom establish any 

 appearance of continuity, or give any intelligible proof of their 

 common origin. I am not going now to plunge into this long de- 

 bated question ; but I may remind you of the enormous waterworn 

 blocks (derived from the primary chains to the north of the Baltic 

 Sea), which lie scattered over the great European plain, extending 

 from the eastern states of Holland to the Steppes of central Russia. 

 Where are the inclined planes down which these boulders could 

 have descended ? Where are the grooves and channels cut out by 

 the rivers which once propelled them? Where is the alluvial silt 

 accumulated by the erosion of these ideal waters ? No answer can 

 be given to these questions : and to talk of river action, aided as it 

 may have been by every ordinary power of nature, appears to me, 

 in a case like this, little better than a mockery of my senses. 



