Geology Differs As Widely From Cosmogony, As

Man, Whose Organization Is Regarded As The Highest, Departs From The Vertebrate Archetype; And It Is Because The Study Of Anatomy Is Usually Commenced From, And Often Confined To, His Structure, That A Knowledge Of The Archetype Has Been So Long Hidden From Anatomists.

It Was A Profound Saying Of Wilhelm Humboldt, That 'man Is Man Only By Means Of Speech, But In Order To Invent Speech He Must Be Already Man.'

Notwithstanding, Therefore, That We Have Not Witnessed Of A Large Continent, Yet, As We May Predict The Future Occurrence Of Such Catastrophes, We Are Authorized To Regard Them As Part Of The Present Order Of Nature.

The Question Now At Issue, Whether The Living Species Are Connected With The Extinct By A Common Bond Of Descent, Will Best Be Cleared Up By Devoting Ourselves To The Study Of The Actual State Of The Living World, And To Those Monuments Of The Past In Which The Relics Of The Animate Creation Of Former Ages Are Best Preserved And Least Mutilated By The Hand Of Time.

Each Species May Have Had Its Origin In A Single Pair, Or Individual, Where An Individual Was Sufficient, And Species May Have Been Created In Succession At Such Times And In Such Places As To Enable Them To Multiply And Endure For An Appointed Period, And Occupy An Appointed Space On The Globe.