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authorities now tell us is utterly untrue in both its halves. We 
shall see this fully as we proceed. What then was the ad- 
vantage derived from Dr. Hutton's speculations ? Physical 
Geology has had the benefit of being effectually misled 
for half a century. No matter for congratulation, certainly. 
This remarkable delusion did not spread, because no one 
opposed it. Par abler geologists than Dr. Hutton gave facts 
and arguments to the world more than sufficient to show 
the fallacy of his notions, but they were all despised as 
mere Neptunian prejudices. One cannot but regret that it 
should have been so. It is true that we are profited by 
being even painfully convinced of our folly, and so far good 
may come out of these grand mistakes when their spell has 
been broken ; but surely it would be better if we were suf- 
ficiently careful of the grounds of our belief to secure that 
we should not be misguided, generation after generation, by 
these magnificent fancies. As matters stand, we see only the 
groundless nature of those grand ideas by means of which 
so many have been led to think that the teachings of 
Scripture are overthrown. 
As we proceed with the review of theories, we see how one 
series of errors issues in another. When it was thought to 
be a truth, established by the mineral character of the rocky 
strata, that the earth was a globe of molten matter cooled 
down till a solid crust surrounded the still molten centre, it 
was natural that men should seek for a “ beginning 33 to the 
history of such a globe, in something from which a fiery mass 
might come. Astronomy teaches that our world is one of 
multitudes that whirl in space; and so in searching among 
those other orbs it might be hoped, that men would find some 
analogies to guide them in conjecturing the real origin of the 
earth. A great astronomer had already given the fancied cue 
to the wished-for mystery. In looking among the myriad stars, 
we descry certain bright clouds that could not at first sight, 
or even by the aid of very powerful telescopes, be regarded as 
crowds of distant globes. So far as even Sir Wm. Herschel 
could judge with the aid of his vastly improved speculum, 
these nebula 3 were composed of “ star- dust," or luminous matter 
in a gaseous state, and in process of concentration. The 
nebula seen in the constellation of Orion was one of the 
most persistent of these clouds. It can be seen by the naked 
eye, and yet the most powerful telescope that could be con- 
structed then, failed to show that it consisted of separate 
stars. The irresolvability of this nebula seemed to teach 
that it was not so much distance which o*ave it a nebulous 
• O 
appearance, as its gaseous constitution. I11 the winter between 
