inquires
into the causes of these changes, and the influence which they have
exerted in modifying the surface and external structure of our planet.
By these researches into the state of the earth and its inhabitants at
former periods, we acquire a more perfect knowledge of its present
condition, and more comprehensive views concerning the laws now
governing its animate and inanimate productions. When we study history,
we obtain a more profound insight into human nature, by instituting a
comparison between the present and former states of society. We trace
the long series of events which have gradually led to the actual
posture of affairs, and by connecting effects with their causes, we are
enabled to classify and retain in the memory a multitude of complicated
relations, the various peculiarities of national character, the
different degrees of moral and intellectual refinement, and numerous
other circumstances, which, without historical associations, would be
uninteresting or imperfectly understood. When we carry back similar
relations into the history of nature, we likewise investigate nature's
operations in former epochs.
The
form of a coast, the configuration of the interior of a country, the
existence and extent of lakes, valleys, and mountains, can often be
traced to the former prevalence of earthquakes and volcanoes in regions
which have long been undisturbed. To these remote convulsions the
present fertility of some districts, the sterile character of others,
the elevation of land above the sea, the climate, and various
peculiarities, may be distinctly referred. Many distinguishing
features of the surface of the earth may often be ascribed to the
operation, at a remote era, of slow and tranquil causes, to the
gradual deposition or sediment in a lake
