The doctrine of uniformity and the doctrine of progression are,
therefore, perfectly consistent; perhaps, indeed, they might be shown
to be necessarily connected with one another.
If, however, the condition of the world, which has obtained throughout
geologic time, is but the sequel to a vast series of changes which took
place in pre-geologic time, then it seems not unlikely that the
duration of this latter is to that of the former as the vast extent of
geologic time is to the length of the brief epoch we call the
historical period; and that even the oldest rocks are records of an
epoch almost infinitely remote from that which could have witnessed the
first shaping of our globe.
It is probable that no modern geologist would hesitate to admit the
general validity of these reasonings when applied to the physics of his
subject, whence it is the more remarkable that the moment the question
changes from one of physics and chemistry to one of natural history,
scientific opinions and the popular prejudices, which reflect them in a
distorted form, undergo a sudden metamorphosis. Geologists and
palaeontologists write about the "beginning of life" and the
"first-created forms of living beings," as if they were the most
familiar things in the world; and even cautious writers seem to be on
quite friendly terms with the "archetype" whereby the Creator was
guided "amidst the crash of falling worlds.
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