The Present Is The Key To The

The Earth's Becoming At A Particular Period The Residence Of Human Beings, Was An Era In The Moral, Not In The Physical World, That Our Study And Contemplation Of The Earth, And The Laws Which Govern Its Animate Productions, Ought No More To Be Considered In The Light Of A Disturbance Or Deviation From The System, Than The Discovery Of The Satellites Of Jupiter Should Be Regarded As A Physical Event In The History Of Those Heavenly Bodies, However Influential They May Have Become From That Time In Advancing The Progress Of Sound Philosophy Among Men.

Such Discoveries Have Led Me, And Other Geologists, To Reconsider The Evidence Previously Derived From Caves Brought Forward In Proof Of The High Antiquity Of Man.

It Has Long Been A Fact Familiar To Geologists, That, Both On The East And West Coasts Of The Central Part Of Scotland, There Are Lines Of Raised Beaches, Containing Marine Shells Of The Same Species As Those Now Inhabiting The Neighbouring Sea.

That Ere Long, Now That Curiosity Has Been So Much Excited On This Subject, Some Human Remains Will Be Detected In The Older Alluvium Of European Valleys, I Confidently Expect.

Amidst The Vicissitudes Of The Earth's Surface, Species Cannot Be Immortal, But Must Perish, One After Another, Like The Individuals Which Compose Them. There Is No Possibility Of Escaping From This Conclusion.