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Show 26fj EXPLANATION! 1 . 1 . ences " savs he " has man ·: een able to arrive at ao~~~tn~~~1"' which is hom'ogeneo~s with the kn~wn c?urse f 0 t .. 0 We can in such sc1ences, often go vel~ far ~a~l~e~e::st.ermine ma~y of the re1not~ circu~stances of t~e t ~eries of events, ascend to a pmnt w~lCh see~s to e ~~~r their origin, and lin1it the hypothests respecbf? tthde .· . itself. but philosophers have never dem_ons rae , ~~f1 ~0 far ~s we can judge, prob~bl_y_never w1ll be ?b~e to demonstrate, what was. the pnmihve state. of thin.:-,s f which the proO'ress1Ve course of the world took tts ;l~'f de arture. In ~ll these paths of researc.?, when we travel hr backwards, the aspect ~f the earher portions b mes very different from that of the advance~ p 1 artt ~n ec~ now stand . but in all cases the path Is os tn w~uch ·~e as it is tra~ed backward to its starting. P.oint: it ~~~~~es not only invisible, but unif?a6~nable; It I.s not 1 . . tt'on but au abyss wh1ch 1nterposes 1tselC on y an 1nterrup ' . · f tl · "* between us and any intelligible begl~1lung o. hn~gs. t H . we have the view of excephons whlc lS en er· tain.:X ebf one of the chief writers o~ the. da~, ar:td the su· of our greatest academJCallnstituhons. ~he perior ~ one 'tion of Dr. Whewell may be held to tm· prof~~~~o~~ rho~~ld receive from him a view at once leanr~~ to the philosophical, and accommodated as far ~s posr sible to the prepossessions expected in ~ _larg~ c ass ok . It is remarkable, but not surpnslng, ow wea fse~~~n~~rrier which he has raised to stop ou~· ?ourse to: wards a theory of universal arrangement by mdlnary nat ural law. 't 11 d by Dr Whewell for a different The necess1 Y a ege · d · th · set of causes in the early times of our ~lobe, an v:l~ ;l~t gard to the formati~n. of that gl~be,. IS at th~ch o~ that liable to strong suspl.clonf, ast~·eml~~lRfi ~ps t~e first chap· well-known propensity o na ~~ns, ·ants The ters of their history ,vith 1nytluc heroes and g1 · h. . t' ote from common researc . subjects of invesh!.{a wn are rem 1 · 1 din the they are not, anJ never could have ~een, c 1:on.1C e f the t. mo·•ern facts. \Ve arc In the rcgwns o . manner o u ' th · more magm· comparati~ely unk.nown-hen.~~' s~ytn~u~~gbe supposed. ficent or Impresst ve than Ol tnat . The oint Snch is the reason~ng, or rat~erh·n o-r~a~o;1~~gp.pose'.l i; evi-at which extraordutary causes ave c . · · . d 1 dicahons of the • Philosophy of the Inductive Sclc>nces, "-Pu. n Creator DR. WHE\VEJ ... l..'S VIEWS CONDEMNED. 267 dently quite arbitrary, resting exactly on the limits of the knowledge existing at any time, and always flying L rther nnd further back, in proportion as our knowledge incteases. Had Dr. Whe":ell been writing fifty years ago, he would of course have Included among his palretiological scienc~ s. the formation of strata, and the intrusions of the granitic and trappe.an among the aqueous rocks, which inge! 1uity has si,nce explained by existing causes ;-for there Is not a single argument for his considering the formation of globes and origin of species as palretiological, which would not have applied with equal force to these phenomena before the days of Pallas and Hutton. e.t\.gainst a theory of mere assumption-a reasoning from ignorance to igno1·ance-such considerations form serious objecti,Jrul. But _let us com.e to closer argument. Let us inquire h.'\Y the Idea of a different set of causes for the more important of these phenomena agrees with such exact knowledge as we have attained respecting them. " According to the nebular hypothesis," says Dr. Whewell, " the formation of this our system of sun, planets, and satellites, was a process of the same kind as those which are still going on in the heavens. . . . • But . . the uniformitarian doctrine on this subject rests on most unstable foundations. We have as yet only very vague and imperfect reasonings to show that by such condensation a 'ltlalerial system such as ours could result; and the introduction of organized beings into such a rna· terial syste1n is utterly out of the reach of our philosophy. Here . . therefore, we are led to regard the present order of the world as pointing towards an origin altogether of a different kintl from anything which our material science can grasp.'' Because the nebular hypothesis rests on unstable foundation,~, and " nothins- has been pointed out in the existing order of things which has any resemblance or analogy, of any valid kind, to that creative energy which must be exertec! in the production of new specie~,"-therefore, according to Dr. Whewell, we are "driven tc assume events not included in the course of nature," as haYing formerly taken place. Su~h is his reasoning. Now let us call to mind a fe\\ of the laws ascertained to have oeen concerned in the co~raic~l arrangements, leaving fol' the meantime all tl1at ~fJ doubtful In the nebular hypothesis entirely out of viev,~. Th~ pro\ J<:rtion of the equatorial to the polar diameter o{ tht· earth / |