第3章

Moreover， Natural History， if not fifty years ago， certainly a hundred years ago， was hardly worthy of men of practical common sense. After， indeed， Linne， by his invention of generic and specific names， had made classification possible， and by his own enormous labours had shown how much could be done when once a method was established， the science has grown rapidly enough. But before him little or nothing had been put into form definite enough to allure those who (as the many always will) prefer to profit by others' discoveries， than to discover for themselves； and Natural History was attractive only to a few earnest seekers， who found too much trouble in disencumbering their own minds of the dreams of bygone generations (whether facts， like cockatrices， basilisks， and krakens， the breeding of bees out of a dead ox， and of geese from barnacles； or theories， like those of elements， the VIS PLASTRIX in Nature， animal spirits， and the other musty heirlooms of Aristotleism and Neo-platonism)， to try to make a science popular， which as yet was not even a science at all. Honour to them， nevertheless. Honour to Ray and his illustrious contemporaries in Holland and France. Honour to Seba and Aldrovandus； to Pomet， with his "Historie of Drugges；" even to the ingenious Don Saltero， and his tavern-museum in Cheyne Walk. Where all was chaos， every man was useful who could contribute a single spot of organized standing ground in the shape of a fact or a specimen. But it is a question whether Natural History would have ever attained its present honours， had not Geology arisen， to connect every other branch of Natural History with problems as vast and awful as they are captivating to the imagination. Nay， the very opposition with which Geology met was of as great benefit to the sister sciences as to itself. For， when questions belonging to the most sacred hereditary beliefs of Christendom were supposed to be affected by the verification of a fossil shell， or the proving that the Maestricht "homo diluvii testis" was， after all， a monstrous eft， it becamenecessary to work upon Conchology， Botany， and Comparative Anatomy， with a care and a reverence， a caution and a severe induction， which had been never before applied to them； and thus gradually， in the last half- century， the whole choir of cosmical sciences have acquired a soundness， severity， and fulness， which render them， as mere intellectual exercises， as valuable to a manly mind as Mathematics and Metaphysics.

But how very lately have they attained that firm and honourable standing ground！ It is a question whether， even twenty years ago， Geology， as it then stood， was worth troubling one's head about， so little had been really proved. And heavy and uphill was the work， even within the last fifteen years， of those who stedfastly set themselves to the task of proving and of asserting at all risks， that the Maker of the coal seam and the diluvial cave could not be a "Deus quidam deceptor，" and that the facts which the rock and the silt revealed were sacred， not to be warped or trifled with for the sake of any cowardly and hasty notion that they contradicted His other messages. When a few more years are past，Buckland and Sedgwick， Murchison and Lyell， Delab 坈 he and Phillips，Forbes and Jamieson， and the group of brave men who accompanied and followed them， will be looked back to as moral benefactors of their race； and almost as martyrs， also， when it is remembered how much misunderstanding， obloquy， and plausible folly they had to endure from well-meaning fanatics like Fairholme or Granville Penn， and the respectable mob at their heels who tried (as is the fashion in such cases) to make a hollow compromise between fact and the Bible， by twisting facts just enough to make them fit the fancied meaning of the Bible， and the Bible just enough to make it fit the fancied meaning of the facts. But there were a few who would have no compromise； who laboured on with a noble recklessness， determined to speak the thing which they had seen， and neither more nor less， sure that God could take better care than they of His own everlasting truth. And now they have conquered： the facts which were twenty years ago denounced as contrary to Revelation， are at last accepted not merely as consonant with， but as corroborative thereof； and sound practical geologists - like Hugh Miller， in his "Footprints of the Creator，" and Professor Sedgwick， in the invaluablenotes to his "Discourse on the Studies of Cambridge" - have wielded in defence of Christianity the very science which was faithlessly and cowardly expected to subvert it.

But if you seek， reader， rather for pleasure than for wisdom， you can find it in such studies， pure and undefiled.