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the operating forces of the universe, atiords sa once 

 a method comprehensible by the human intellect, and 

 in accordance with all we know of the order and 

 origin of other natural phenomena which invariably 

 take place through the instrumentality of means and 

 processes. As an hypothesis, it is not upheld even 

 by its most enthusiastic supporters, as sufficient to 

 lead to the origin of Life ; but it is raised as the 

 only index-finger that has yet indicated, with any 

 degree of satisfaction, the way to vital methods and 

 to vital relationships. 



Such are the relations — ^historical, geological, and 

 genetic — ^which indicate man's Whence, or the mea- 

 sure of his antiquity and probable origia, and from 

 which the following inferences may be drawn : — 1. 

 That we can derive no certain information respecting 

 the antiquity of man either from oral tradition or 

 from written history, the former being so vague and 

 unreliable, and the latter so partial and recent — to 

 say nothing of the absurdity of expecting history 

 before men had learned to record, or reminiscences 

 of time before the period of remembrance. 2. That, 

 appealing to geology, we find in Western Europe 

 remains of man, and of his works, in lake-silts, cave- 

 earths, river-drifts, and other superficial accumula- 

 tions, which, judging from the slow increment of 



