THE WONDERS OP LIFE 



of the other heavenly bodies. The monism of the physi- 

 cal universe has now been established. 



Geology was not developed into an independent 

 science until towards the end of the eighteenth century, 

 and did not extinguish the earlier notion of the creation 

 of the earth until after 1830, when the principle of con- 

 tinuity and evolution was established. The oldest part 

 of the science is mineralogy ; the great practical value of 

 the rocks, and especially the metals obtained from them, 

 having appealed to man's interest thousands of years 

 ago. In the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, etc., the 

 material for weapons and tools was provided by stone 

 and metal. Afterwards the development of mining led 

 to a closer acquaintance with these metals. But nt^ 

 notice was taken of the fossil remains of animals and 

 plants until the close of the Middle Ages. It was not 

 until the eighteenth century that students began to per- 

 ceive the great significance of these "creation-medals," 

 and at the beginning of the nineteenth paleontology 

 arose as an independent science, and proved equally 

 important to geology and biology. Other branches of 

 geology, such as crystallography, have also made con- 

 siderable progress during the last half-century, with the 

 aid of physics and chemistry. All these sections of 

 geology, especially geogeny, or the science of the natural 

 development of the earth, are now recognized to be 

 purely monistic sciences. 



In the five branches of science I have enumerated, 

 pure monism has been universally and exclusively ad- 

 mitted (as far as they relate to inorganic nature) in 

 the second half of the nineteenth century. There is 

 no question in them to-day of the wisdom and power of 

 the Creator. This is equally true of geology, astronomy, 

 mathematics, chemistry, and physics. It is otherwise 

 with the remaining sciences which deal with organic 

 pature; in these we have not yet succeeded in giving a 



458 



