INTRODUCTORY. 27 



rational belief, no amount of opposition, from -what- 

 ever quarter, can prevent its ultimate reception. As 

 astronomy triumphed over the earlier notions respect- 

 ing the earth's planetary relations, and geology over 

 the views of its limited antiquity, so will science, so 

 long as it is true to right methods, establish ere long 

 more rational beliefs as to the origin, antiquity, and 

 progressive ascension of mankind. In the meantime 

 the battle has to be. fought against prejudices and 

 preconceptions ; but the warfare will the sooner ter- 

 minate the sooner that science gives unmistakable 

 utterance to its convictions, and hurls back upon its 

 opponents the unworthy weapons of their unavailing 

 attacks. 



As already mentioned, our object in the following 

 pages is to discover what light modern science can 

 throw on the relations which man holds to the rest 

 of the universe. What the position, physical and 

 intellectual, he now occupies ? What the functions 

 he has to perform ? How or in what manner does he 

 appear to have originated 1 What, geologically speak- 

 ing, may be the measure of his antiquity 1 and 

 what, deductively from the history of the past, seems 

 to be the nature of the course that lies before him 1 

 These are clearly legitimate subjects of research ; and 

 so long as science abides by scientific methods, she is 

 entitled to a fair hearing and respectful consideration. 



