years , thepointsofdiscussioningeo lo gyh av ebeentrans ferredto new questions , forthemo st partofah ig her and more generalorder . " Exam in a tio nofthepresentoperationofnaturehasled , Lye ll con te nds , tow id esp re adag re ement "a stowh at rocksareofigneous , and w hat ofaqueousorigin , — inwh at m ann er fossilshells , whe th erofseaoroflakes , havebeen im b ed d ed instrata , — how sand may havebeenconver te dintosandstones ." B ut w ith th oseother new ques tio nsof "a h ig herorder , " thereis " still to o much reluctance " asLye ll seesitf " to make a s tr enuouseffort , i n th efirstinstance , tosearchoutanexp la n a ti onintheord in ary econom yofnature . " The new p ro b le mscanbestateds im p ly enough . The searchis " forthecauses why m in eralma sse sareassociated to getherincertaingroups , why th eyarearrangedinacertainorderwh ich isneverinverted ; why thereare many b re aksin th econtinuityof th eseries , why differentorgan ic re m a in sare fo undindistinctsetsofstrata , why thereisoftenanabruptpassage fro manassemb la geofspec ie scon ta in edin one forma tio ntothatinano th e r im med ia te ly super im posed . " JRegrettably , Lye ll comp la in s , i n th efaceofthesep ro b le m s , geologistsh av efeltfreeon ce aga in t o in voke 33I bld . , .

ABSTRACT

We hear of sudden and violent revolutions of the globe-of the instantaneous elevation of mountain chains-of paroxysms of volcanic energy, declining, according to some, and according to others increasing in violence, from the earliest to the latest ages. We are also told of general catastrophes, and a succession of deluges-of the alternation of periods of repose and disorder-of the refrigeration of the primitive heated nucleus of the globe-of the sudden annihilation of whole races [i.e.. whole sets of species] of animals and plants.36