OCR Text |
Show 64 IIUTTONIAN THEORY. Raspe, in pointing out in what manner. the laws nm~ gover~ing earthquakes, might bring about geologtcal changes, If sufficient time be allowed. On the contrary, he seems to have fallen far short of some of their views. He imagined that the continents were first gradually destroyed, and when their ruins had fur~ nished materials for new continents, they were upheaved by violent and paroxysmal convulsions. He therefore req~ired alternate periods of disturbance and repose, and such he beheved had been, and would for ever be, the course of nature. Gene~ relli, in his exposition of Moro's system, had made a far nearer approximation towards reconciling geological appearances with the state of nature as known to us, for while he agreed with Hutton, that the decay and reproduction of rocks were always in proaress, proceeding with the utmost uniformity, the learned Carmelitan represented the repairs of mountains by elevation from below, to be efl'ected by an equally constant and synchronous operation. Neither of these theories considered singly, satisfies all the conditions of the great problem, which a geologist, who rejects cosmological causes, is called upon to solve; but they probably contain together the germs of a perfect system. '!'here can be no doubt, that periods of disturbance and repose have followed each other in succession in every region of the globe, but it may be equally true, that the energy of the subterranean move· ments has been always uniform as regards the whole ea·rlh. The force of earthquakes may for a cycle of years have been invariably confined, as it is now, to large but determinate spaces, and may then have gradually shifted its position, so that another region, which had for ages been at rest, became in its turn the grand theatre of action. Although Hutton's knowledge of mineralogy and chemistry was considerable, he possessed but little information concerning organic remains. They merely served him as they did W erner to characterize certain strata, and to prove their marine origin. The theory of former revolutions in organic life was not yet fully recognized, and without this class of proofs in support of the antiquity of the globe, the indefinite periods demanded by the Huttonian hypothesis appeared visionary to many, and some, who deemed the doctrine inconsistent with revealed truths, indulged very uncharitable suspicions of the Jnotives of its author. They accused him of a deliberate PLAYFAlR--VOtTAIRE. 65 design of reviving the heathen dogma of an '' eternal succes~ sion," .an~ of den~ing that this world ever had a beginning. P1ayfair, m the biography of his friend, l1as the fol1owing com.ment on this part of their t~eory :-" In the planetary motiOns, where geometry has carried the eye so far, both into the future and the past, we discover no mark either of the commencement or termination of the present order. It is unreasonab1. e, indeed, to suppose that such marks should anywhere exist. The Author of nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themse! ves t.he el:ments of their own destruction. He h~s not per- . mitted m Hts works any symptom of infancy or of old aae or . b h' h 0 any sign y w Ic we may estimate either their future or th' eir pas~ d~ration. He may put an end, as lze no doubt gave a ~egznmng, to the present system at some determinate period of ttme; but we may rest assured that this great catastrophe will not ?e ?rought about by the laws now existing, and that it is not mdiCated by any thing which we perceive*." The party feeling excited against the I-I uttonian doctrines and the open disregard of candour and temper in the contro~ versy, will hardly be credited by our readers unless we recall to their .reco~lection that the mind of the E~glish public was at that hme m a state of feverish excitement. A class of writers i~ ~r~nce ha~ been labouring industriously for many years, to ~Imimsh the mfluence of the clergy, by sapping the foundation of the Christian faith, and their success, and the consequences of the Revolution, had alarmed the most resolute minds, while the imagination of the more timid was continually haunted by dread of innovation, as by the phantom of some fearful dream. Voltaire had used the modern discoveries in physics as one of the .numerous weapons of attack and ridicule directed by him agamst the Scriptures. He found that the most popular systems of geology were accommodated to the sacred writino-s, and that much ingenuity had been employed to make ev:ry fact coinci~e exactly with the Mosaic account of the creation ~nd deluge. It w.as, therefore, with no friendly feelings, that . e contemplated the cultivators of geology in general, regardIng the SCience as one which had been successfully enlisted by • Playfair's Wo1·ks1 vol, iv. p. 55. VoL. I. F |