HIS PROGRESSIVE RELATIONS. 179 



such an assertion — there must have been, as there will 

 continue to be, advancement and progress. 



We are aware it may be argued, that as geological 

 changes are ever bringing about new distributions of 

 sea and land, and consequently new external con- 

 ditions, so human progression in the future might be 

 accelerated or retarded, just as these conditions were 

 favourable or unfavourable. The objection is not with- 

 out its significance, and can only be met by reference 

 to the past ; by reasoning that as the course of life 

 during all the geological mutations of the world's past 

 has ever been ascensive, so it will continue to be 

 ascensive in the future. It may also be observed 

 that as man has a world-wide distribution, and as all 

 oscillations of sea and land are slow, and gradual, and 

 local, so their influence on his progression during any 

 epoch can only be partial and restricted. It may be 

 further noticed, though the laws which regulate the 

 distributions of sea and land be altogether unknown, 

 that the growth of existing deltas and the activity of 

 vulcanism chiefly within the lower latitudes, leads to 

 the inference that the lands immediately following the 

 present will be in warmer zones, and thus afford, other 

 things being equal, a more congenial home foi^ man's 

 development. But be this as it may, our indications 

 of the future must depend mainly on our knowledge 

 of the past, and on our faith in nature's continuity. 



