In the tertiary strata (and to some extent in the older also) it must be borne in mind that the precise line of demarcation is by no means so absolute as is often imagined. The broad classification into different periods, according as a majority or a minority of existing species may appear in the several beds, is, in a great degree, conventional : e.g., we cannot positively fix on any one epoch when the meiocene period ended and the pleiocene began and as those changes or modes of physical action which produced the tertiary beds were manifestly of exactly the same nature as those now going on upon the earth's surface, and as those changes were at least the accompanying conditions of the extinction of some species and the introduction or creation of others, so we can by no means infer that we have now arrived at a stationary or permanent condition, whether of unorganised or of organised existence.
The more the details of the latest geological phenomena are studied, the less shall we be able to imagine that there has been, at any comparatively recent period, a clearly defined epoch at which what we call the present order of things was completely and at once established, and a cessation of all change has occurred ; or that further examples of creative power may not again take place by the same slow and gradual process by which they probably were carried on in past eras. The more the examination of the most superficial parts of the earth's surface is extended, the more evidence is accumulated of partial and local changes exactly similar to those which distinguish the tertiary functions, going on uninterruptedly up to the present time ; and it is clearly contradictory to all principles of inductive analogy to assert that in the progress of these changes new modifications of local temperature, moisture and other physical conditions, will not occur, and that their occurrence will not be accom panied by the extinction of races of beings to which the localities will then be unsuited, and that fresh instances of providential adaptation, in the creation of new species, fitted to supply their places, will not be displayed. With regard to the most material point, the origin of the human race, the evidence is chiefly negative. It is positive only thus far : that in the earlier formation the physical conditions of the globe, and the nature of the animals which did exist on it, concur in showing that it would have been impossible for the human race to have been sustained in life or well-being. In the later stages of things there is no such reason why man might not have existed. But the fact is, no human remains have been found: In the tertiary strata the nearest approach has been the distinct discovery of remains of the monkey tribe. It is clearly impossible, then, on geological grounds, to affirm that human remains may not be discovered in the latest tertiary beds, or to place any such positive limit of antiquity to the possible existence of the human species. It
can only be asserted at 'resent, that, as far as research has yet gone (r855), it has detected 710 human remains confessedly older than those deposits which are probably within the period of history.
As bearing, then, on the subject of creation, or the origin of life and organised structures, the whole evidence which geology furnishes is certainly irreconcilable with the idea of one simultaneous generaldevelapment of organised existence. It points, indeed, to a commencement of organised life ; but shows that as successive forms and species of organisation from time to time disappeared, NEW forms and NEW species WERE PRODUCED to supply their places : that these changes corresponded to others in the physical conditions of the globe ; but that none of them were at once universal in extent and simultaneous in time ; lastly, that the human race (trobably) did not come into existence till the period to which the present state of things belongs.
In offering this imperfect summary of the general results derivable from geology which bear upon the subject of creation, we conceive enough may have been stated to enable the discerning reader at once to perceive the nature and extent of the discrepancy which exists between the changes, thus incontestably disclosed to us by the existing monuments of past ages of terrestrial existence, and the entire character and scope of the descriptive narrative of the creation in the Hebrew Scriptures. We referred to certain interpretations of that narrative which have, in truth, been framed expressly with the view of attempting to reconcile the contradiction. After all we have before said, we shall not think it necessary here to press the matter much further on the notice of our readers : they have before them the materials for forming their own judgment. We will merely say for our own parts that we fail to perceive how those interpretations can be supported on any rational basis so as really to explain the discrepancy, or effectually to defend the cause to whose aid they are summoned, since the main points of the discrepancy still remain untouched, viz. that there are no traces of any such catastr phe as must be supposed, even over a limited portion of the earth's surface, subsequent to the latest tertiary formation ; and any of the other interpretations are absolutely contradicted by the whole tenor of the facts in reference to the suddenness and universality implied in the description, if natural days are maintained, and in long periods the total want of corre spondence between those periods and any order of succession which can be made out from geological evidence.