But, with the views that the adoption of the Copernican system has given us, it is plain that we cannot consider the origin and biography of the earth in an isolated way; we must include with her all the other members of the system or family to which she belongs.  Nay, more, we cannot restrict ourselves to the solar system; we must embrace in our discussions the starry worlds.  And, since we have become familiarized with their almost immeasurable distances from one another, we are prepared to accept for their origin an immeasurably remote time.  There are stars so far off that their light, fast as it travels, has taken thousands of years to reach us, and hence they must have been in existence many thousands of years ago.

Geologists having unanimously agreed—­for perhaps there is not a single dissenting voice—­that the chronology of the earth must be greatly extended, attempts have been made to give precision to it.  Some of these have been based on astronomical, some on physical principles.  Thus calculations founded on the known changes of the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, with a view of determining the lapse of time since the beginning of the last glacial period, have given two hundred and forty thousand years.  Though the general postulate of the immensity of geological times may be conceded, such calculations are on too uncertain a theoretical basis to furnish incontestable results.

But, considering the whole subject from the present scientific stand-point, it is very clear that the views presented by theological writers, as derived from the Mosaic record, cannot be admitted.  Attempts have been repeatedly made to reconcile the revealed with the discovered facts, but they have proved to be unsatisfactory.  The Mosaic time is too short, the order of creation incorrect, the divine interventions too anthropomorphic; and, though the presentment of the subject is in harmony with the ideas that men have entertained, when first their minds were turned to the acquisition of natural knowledge, it is not in accordance with their present conceptions of the insignificance of the earth and the grandeur of the universe.

Among late geological discoveries is one of special interest; it is the detection of human remains and human works in formations which, though geologically recent, are historically very remote.

The fossil remains of men, with rude implements of rough or chipped flint, of polished stone, of bone, of bronze, are found in Europe in caves, in drifts, in peat- beds.  They indicate a savage life, spent in hunting and fishing.  Recent researches give reason to believe that, under low and base grades, the existence of man can be traced back into the tertiary times.  He was contemporary with the southern elephant, the rhinoceros leptorhinus, the great hippopotamus, perhaps even in the miocene contemporary with the mastodon.