The succession of wet and dry upon the
surface of the earth, though equally the work of nature and the effect
of regular causes, is often to us irregular, when we look for equal
periods in the course of things which are unequal. It is by equalities
that we find order in things, and we wish to find order every where.
The present object of our contemplation is the alternation of land
and water upon the surface of this globe. It is only in knowing this
succession of things, that natural appearances can be explained; and
it is only from the examination of those appearances, that any certain
knowledge of this operation is to be obtained. But how shall we acquire
the knowledge of a system calculated for millions, not of years only,
nor of the ages of man, but of the races of men, and the successions of
empires? There is no question here with regard to the memory of man, of
any human record, which continues the memory of man from age to age; we
must read the transactions of time past, in the present state of natural
bodies; and, for the reading of this character, we have nothing but
the laws of nature, established in the science of man by his inductive
reasoning.
Pages:
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351