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THE GEOLOGIST. 



the nearer fixed stars : and within some such period, therefore, our 

 relative position with reference to the stars around us may be entirely 

 altered, and the external condition of the whole solar system changed. 



Cosmical causes may thus modify, in we know not what degree, the 

 terrestrial temperature, arising either from the earth's greater proxi- 

 mity to other suns, or the passage of the solar system through warmer 

 regions of space. 



Although such speculations as these may establish no positive views 

 respecting the remote future of our globe, they appear to establish a 

 powerful argument against the theory of non-progression ; for there is 

 nothing from which we should infer the permanence of the existing 

 aspect of nature. 



And, if we turn to man, regarding him independently of any 

 revealed knowledge of his future destiny, do we see in his character 

 and position here any indication that this earth is his destined abiding 

 place for indefinite periods of time ? A negative answer to this ques- 

 tion is suggested, at least by the finiteness of the earth's surface and its 

 powers of production, whereas the tendency in human population to 

 increase is unlimited. And under the influences of Christianity and of 

 that higher civilization which must attend the pure doctrines of our 

 religion, we can hardly understand how the diflusion of our race can be 

 effectively and finally arrested before the population of the globe shall 

 have approximated to that limit which must be necessarily imposed 

 upon it by the finite dimensions of man's dwelling-place. 



^'It may possibly appear to some that we have almost transgressed 

 the legitimate bounds of human speculation, and that it might be more 

 consistent with a becoming humility to leave the future, at least of the 

 material universe, without too much curious questioning in the hands 

 of Him to whom alone it can be really known. But it would seem 

 consistent with the noblest purposes of man's intellectual existence that 

 he should employ the mental faculties which have been vouchsafed to 

 him, in the endeavour to catch some glimpses, however imperfect, of 

 those laws and principles on which the government of the material 

 universe is founded. Let this be done in a modest and reverential 

 spirit, and we are sure that it will be found to be a healthy and purify- 

 ing exercise of the mind, and one of the highest sources of intellectual 

 enjoyment." 



Extended as is this notice of Mr. Hopkin's Essay, we have omitted a 

 great deal which might be perused to good advantage by other that tyros 

 in the science ; and we are only doing justice to the author when we say 

 that this production is one which should have a place on the shelves of 

 every geological library. 



