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Show 196 gyNCIIRONISM OF THE ACTlO'l-l [Ch. XII. are recor d ed m· tl1 e meaOo 're annals of a brief por· tion of the human era. The same rash generalizations which are. now made respect .. m· g eras of parox ysmal violenc. e and chaotic. derangem. ent, led formerly to the doctrines of umversal formations,. the Improba .. bility of which might have been foreseen by a shght reference to the causes now in operatioll,· . . . To the same modes of philosoplusmg we may ascnbe the unw1" 11m' gness of some naturalists to admit., .t hat all the fossil · not the same as those now hvmg on the globe; spem~ are . whereas, if the facts and reasoning set forth m a former part of this volume, respecting the present instability of the organic creation be just, it might always a priori ha~e been seen that the species inhabiting the planet at two penods i,ery remote could hardly be identical. . In our view of the Huttonian theory, we pomted out as one of its principal defects, the assumed want of sy~chronis~ in the action of the great antagonist powers-the mtroducuon, £rst, of periods when continents gradually wasted .away, and then of others when new lands were elevated by vwlent convulsions. In order to have a clear conception of the working of such ~ system, let the reader suppose the earthquake~ ~nd volcanic eruptions of the Andes t~ be suspended for a mdhon of years, and ·sedimentary deposits to accumulate throughout the whole of that period, as they now accumulate a: the mouths of the Orinoco and Amazon, and along the mtervening coast. Then let a period arrive when. the subter· ranean power, which had obtained no vent durmg those ten thousand centuries, should escape suddenly in one tremendous explosion. f h It is natural that geologists who reject such portions o t e Huttonian theory as we embrace, should cling fondly to those parts which we deem unsound and unphilosophical. They have accordingly selected t h e d1. st.m c t ness of the periods w. hen the antagonist forces are deve1 o pe d , as a pn.· n c1'p le pecuharly • d worthy of implicit faith. For this reason they have dechne Ch. XII.] OF THE ANTAGONIS'l' POWERS. 197 making any strenuous effort to account for those violations of continuity in the series of geological phenomena which are exhibited in large but limited regions; and which we have hinted may admit of explanation by the shifting of the volcanic foci, without the necessity of calling in to our aid any hypothetical eras of convulsion. In the Oriental cosmogonies, as we have seen, both the physical and moral worlds were represented to be subject to gradual deterioration, until a crisis arrived when they were annihilated, or reverted to a state of chaos ;-there had been alternating periods of tranquillity and disorder-an endless vicissitude of destructions and renovations of the globe. In the spirit of this antique philosophy, some modern geologists conceive that nature, after long periods of repose, is agitated by fits of " feverish spasmodic energy, during which her very frame-work is torn asunder* ;"-these paroxysms of internal energy are accompanied by the sudden elevation of mountain chains, ''followed by mighty waves desolating whole regions of the earth t"; and, according to some authors, whole races of organic beings are thus suddenly annihilated. It was to be expected that when, in opposition to these favourite dogmas, we enumerated the subterranean catastrophes of the last one hundred and forty years, pointing out how defective were our annals, and called on geologists to multiply the amount of disturbances arising from this source by myriads of ages during the existence of successive races of orO'anic . 0 bemgs, that we should provoke some vehement expostula-tion. We could not hope that the self-·appointed guardians of Nature's slumber would allow us with impunity thus suddenly to intrude upon her rest, or that they would fail to res:nt so rude an attempt to rouse her from the torpor into whiCh she had been lulled by their hypothesis. We were prepared to see our proofs and authorities severely sifted, our "' Prof, Sedgwick, Anniv. Address, &c. 1831, p. 35. t Ibid. |
