120 
When, therefore, this great philosopher went on to say, 
“ Would it not also be glorious for man to burst the limits of 
time, and, by means of observations, to ascertain the history 
of this world, and the succession of events which preceded 
the birth of the human race ? ” then I could no longer follow 
him, though he were a great philosopher ; being assured that 
while the fact of many events in the history of the earth 
may be proved by the investigation of its structure, and 
many of the laws by which its movements are governed, 
though not explained with the most undeviating accuracy, 
may nevertheless prove sufficiently correct to convince us that 
they are in themselves invariable; yet when past or future 
time came to be judged of by this method of induction, and 
we proceed to dogmatize upon our power to compute it, through 
the agency of rocks or bones, or other things unfolded to us 
by exploring the interior of the earth, we can then no longer 
trace any connection between the things stated and. the sup- 
posed proofs which were adduced to show that the right con- 
clusion was in this way to be inferred. 
We can judge of time imperfectly by the laws of induction. 
Time stands in relation to geological events very much in the 
same position as death. When it is used to explain causes 
that are not reducible to those laws, it is simply impossible. 
Even when we judge of time nearer to us, there is a difficulty 
in computing it, if it do not come within the range of those 
laws ; if, for instance, we judge of the operation of time, as we 
judge of it surrounded by light and air, or by things not 
surrounded by these elements. Some time ago, the cities 
Herculaneum and Pompeii were discovered. They had been 
more than 2,000 years, as it were, hermetically sealed from 
these agencies. What was the consequence ? The oil was 
found still in the lamp, the wine still in the bottle, the colours 
were preserved on the walls, and no change had passed over 
the most delicate substances, though all this time had elapsed 
since they took up that position in which they were to be pre- 
served unchanged through so long a lapse of time. To use 
the language of a classical writer, we may say here, Time 
has had its wings petrified in the midst of its flight.” 
But to take an instance from some geological example. 
Take a common rounded flint from the sea- shore. Wb behold 
it, even and water-worn ; we observe it so hard, almost inca- 
pable of being scratched by the sharpest instrument, that an 
immense period of time must have elapsed to produce an y 
effect upon so hard a surface, by the common friction it is 
exposed to at the present time. Probably it would take 
many thousand years to produce such an effect as that before 
