166 SANDSTONE PETRIFACTIONS. 



know not how. For a law of nature different from 

 any that we at present know, is ? I apprehend, to all 

 intents and purposes, the same thing to us as no 

 law at all. On this principle, therefore, we must for 

 ever despair of being able to account for petrifica- 

 tions; or to refer them to any law of nature now known 

 to exist. With all deference, however, to this very 

 great man, I would not so readily abandon the hope 

 that the presently existing laws of nature may be 

 found sufficient, under certain modifications, to ac- 

 count for all the phenomena we observe. I would 

 not yet say with him, that " in physical history the 

 " thread of operation is here broken, the march of 

 " Nature is changed, and none of the agents that 

 " she now employs were sufficient for the produc- 

 " tion of her ancient works." I would rather join 

 with him in a hope which he elsewhere expresses, 

 " that a Newton may arise in Natural History as 

 " well as in Astronomy," and think it probable 

 that some principle, as little suspected of the power 

 of doing so, as Gravity once was of the power of 

 explaining the planetary motions, may one day 

 enable us to explain all the phenomena of Geology. 

 At any rate, let us not too hastily cut the Gordian 

 knot, especially after M. Cuvier himself has done 

 So much towards enabling us to untie it. 



