116 
REVIEWS 
AND SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
THE PAST AND PRESENT LIFE OF THE GLOBE* 
HE history of man’s dwelling-place must always be to him a subject of 
deep interest, not only in so far as it concerns the beneficent designs 
and operations of the Creator in preparing it for his reception, but also as a 
guide in his speculations upon the probable future of his race. 
Our readers are, doubtless, well aware that there are various theories with 
respect to the changes that took place in the earth’s crust, and in the nature 
of the living forms upon its surface, before the advent of man, — theories that 
have been unwisely debated, with considerable acrimony, in consequence of 
their bearing upon matters comiected with theological belief. Some of the 
students of the earth’s history entertain the conviction that the strata which 
constitute its external crust were formed at distinct intervals, succeeding one 
another, and that between each such interval there was a violent “ cataclysm” 
(literally a “washing down” — a deluge, in fact), which destroyed all living 
organisms, animal and vegetable, then existing upon its surface, and that a 
completely new creation followed this violent disturbance in nature. This 
theory of successive destructions and re-creations, as it were, finds favour with 
those who adhere to the literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, and 
the last creation they believe to have been the one referred to in the first 
chapter of that book. On the other hand, there are those who believe that 
nature has been pursuing a steady and uninterrupted course for ages of ages, 
and that, with the exception of local eruptions, earthquakes, and deluges, 
such as we have known within the historic period, the changes in its surface 
have been the result of gradual depositions in its seas and lakes, and the slow 
subsidence and upheaval of its continents and islands. These observers 
believe that there has never been a decided break in the development of the 
vegetable and animal kingdoms, but that, affected by various causes, such as 
changes in climate and the conditions of the surface, they have gone on im- 
proving, not in the sense of becoming perfect, for all plants and annuals have 
been perfect in their adaptation to the external world by which they were 
surrounded, but rising in the variety and complexity of their organs and 
functions. 
Then again, such of our readers as have been induced to take a deeper 
interest in these questions, will know that amongst the advocates of the 
theory of gradual development, there are some who believe that each new 
species has been a distinct creation, that is, the result of a direct miraculous 
* “ The Past and Present Life of the Globe.” By David Page, F.G.S. 
William Blackwood & Sons. 
