CONCLUSION. 



367 



whatsoever kind, finds its proper resting place, to think that the prin- 

 ciples of physical and moral truth can ever be in lasting collision. And 

 as all the branches of physical science are but different modifications 

 of a few simple laws, and are bound together by the intervention of 

 common objects and common principles ; so also, there are links, less 

 visible, indeed, but not less real, by which they are also bound to the 

 most elevated moral speculations. 



" Geology lends a great and unexpected aid to the doctrine of final 

 causes; for it has not merely added to the cumulative argument, by 

 the supply of new and striking instances of mechanical structure ad- 

 justed to a purpose, and that purpose accomplished ; but it has also 

 proved, that the same pervading principle, manifesting its powers in 

 our times, has also manifested its power in times long anterior to the 

 records of our existence." 



