ON THE NON-lMMOllTALITY OF ANliMALS. 521 
Veterinarian, voL xii, tor some examples of mine on this sub¬ 
ject, which plainly and clearly shew that no notion can be formed 
of the uniformity of spirit derived from our similar views of matter, 
and you will then perceive that I have partly anticipated your 
argument. But this eloquent passage of your’s is worthy of more 
notice than this; and I cannot pass it thus carelessly by without 
paying the tribute which it deserves, although it is valuable only for 
itself, and cannot be of any service to your argument; for I would 
beg of you to remember, that time and change are great only with 
reference to the faculties of the beings which note them. The 
insect of the hour, contrasting its ephemeral life with that of the 
flower on which it rests, would attribute an unchanging perma¬ 
nence to the most evanescent of vegetable forms; while the trees 
of the forest would ascribe an endless duration to the soil on which 
they grow: and then uninstructed man, comparing his transient 
earthly existence with the solid framework of the world he inhabits, 
deems the hills and mountains around him coeval with the globe 
itself. 
But you. Sir, are capable of taking a more just and comprehen¬ 
sive view of the wonderful scheme of creation. The extensive 
suite of tertiary strata, composed of clays, sands, and limestones, 
containing fresh water, with intercalations of marine remains, in 
your own immediate neighbourhood, must have long since con¬ 
vinced you that the earth has teemed with numberless forms of 
animal and vegetable life myriads of years ere the existence of the 
human race; and that the age, even of the strata on which you 
dwell (Southampton and its environs), when compared with the 
primitive formations of the county of Cornwall in respect of their 
relative antiquity, is but as yesterday. And yet, even in my dis¬ 
trict, the strata exhibits successive development of living beings. 
Probably there is not an atom of the crust of the globe which has 
not passed through the complex and wonderful laboratory of life— 
so that the interrogation of the poet may be repeated by the philo¬ 
sopher, “Where is the dust that has not been alive 1” 
And what do these phenomena teach us] Why, that man, 
while in his ignorance he imagined that the duration of the globe 
was to be measured by his own brief span, and arrogantly deemed 
himself alone the object of the Almighty’s care, and that all things 
were created for his pleasures and necessities, now becomes con¬ 
scious of his own dependence, and entertains more correct ideas 
of the mercy, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator; and, while 
exercising his high privilege of being alone capable of contem¬ 
plating and understanding the wonders of the natural world, he 
learns this most important of all lessons, — sometimes to doubt the 
evidence of his senses, and to believe that there' are many things 
