[audubon's Works Are] The Most Splendid Monuments

But The Revolutions And Changes Which Are Responsible For The Present State Of The Earth Are Not Limited To The Upsetting Of The Ancient Strata And To The Ebbing Of The Sea After The Formations Of New Layers.

It Has Been Long Considered Possible To Explain The More Ancient Revolutions On... The Earth Surface By Means Of These Still Existing Causes; In The Same Manner As It Is Found Easy To Explain Past Events In Political History, By An Acquaintance With The Passions And Intrigues Of The Present Day. But We Shall Presently See That Unfortunately This Is Not The Case In Physical History:-the Thread Of Operation Is Here Broken, The March Of Nature Is Changed, And None Of The Agents That She Now Employs Were Sufficient For The Production Of Her Ancient Works.

In Spite Of What Moralists Say, The, Animals Are Scarcely Less Wicked Or Less Unhappy Than We Are Ourselves. The Arrogance Of The Strong, The Servility Of The Weak, Low Rapacity, Ephemeral Pleasure Purchased By Great Effort, Death Preceded By Long Suffering, All Belong To The Animals As They Do To Men.

Genius And Science Have Burst The Limits Of Space, And Few Observations, Explained By Just Reasoning, Have Unveiled The Mechanism Of The Universe. Would It Not Also Be Glorious For Man To Burst The Limits Of Time, And, By A Few Observations, To Ascertain The History Of This World, And The Series Of Events Which Preceded The Birth Of The Human Race?

The Lowest And Most Level Land Areas Show Us, Especially When We Dig There To Very Great Depths, Nothing But Horizontal Layers Of Material More Or Less Varied, Which Almost All Contain Innumerable Products Of The Sea.