at conception of Progress is abstract results of human thought or fting and indefinite. Some- action. Not only, however, is the current prehends little more than conception of Progress more or less vague, -as of a nation in the num- but it is in great measure erroneous. It embers, and the extent of takes in not so much the reality of Prowhich it has spread. Some- gress as its accompaniments-not so much eference to quantity of ma- the substance as the shadow. That pros-as when the advance of gress in intelligence which takes place d manufactures is the topic. during the evolution of the child into the e superior quality of these man, or the savage into the philosopher, ntemplated; and sometimes is commonly regarded as consisting in the proved appliances by which greater number of facts known and laws duced. When, again, we understood: whereas the actual progress I or intellectual progress, we consists in those internal modifications of ate of the individual or peo- which this increased knowledge is the exit; whilst, when the pro- pression. Social progress is supposed to -ledge, of Science, of Art, is consist in the produce of a greater quanon, we have in view certain tity and variety of the articles required for the satisfaction of men's wants, in the increasing security of person and property, in the widening freedom of action enjoyed; Whereas, rightly understood, social progress consists in those changes of structure in the social organism which have entailed these consequences. The current conception is a teleological one. The phenomena are contemplated solely as bearing on human happiness. Only those changes are held to constitute progress ketch of a Physical Description of German, by E. C. Otté. 4 vols. Alexander von Humboldt. Trans ohn. eology or the Modern Changes of Inhabitants, considered as illusy. By Sir Charles Lyell, M.A., ition. London: John Murray. omparative Physiology. By Wil-r, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. Fourth : John Churchill. O. IV. 28 ndirectly tend to ess. And they are progress simply beghten human happiiderstand Progress, it is the nature of red apart from our example, to regard gical modifications e in the Earth, as e gradually fitted it an, and as therefore we must seek to der common to these w to which they all y in every other case. concomitants and es, let us ask what of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Lan- With the view of showing that if the Nebular Hypothesis be true, the genesis of the solar system supplies one illustration of this law; let us assume that the matter of which the sun and planets consist once existed in a diffused form; and that from the gravitation of its atoms there resulted a gradual concentration. progress which indi- By the hypothesis, the solar sytem, in its lay in the course of nascent state, existed as an indefinitely uestion has been an- extended and nearly homogeneous medium ins. The investiga--a medium almost homogeneous in denhe, and Von Baer, sity, in temperature, and in other physical ruth that the series attributes. The first advance towards ugh during the de- consolidation resulted in a differentiation n a tree, or an ovum between the occupied space which the ute an advance from nebulous mass still filled, and the unoccuure to heterogeneity pied space which it previously filled. primary stage, every There simultaneously resulted a contrast bstance that is uni- in density and a contrast in temperature, oth in texture and between the interior and the exterior of 1. The first step in this mass. And at the same time there he appearance of a arose throughout it rotatory movements, vo parts of this sub- whose velocities varied according to their nomenon is described distances from its center. These differuage a differentia- entiations increased in number and degree fferentiated divisions until there was evolved the organized elf to exhibit some group of sun, planets, and satellites, which nd by and by these we now know-a group which presents tions become as de- numerous contrasts of structure and action one. This process is among its members. There are the im1-is simultaneously mense contrasts between the sun and the of the growing em- planets, in bulk and in weight; as well ss multiplication of as the subordinate contrasts between one there is ultimately planet and another, and between the lex combination of planets and their satellites. There is the nstituting the adult similarly marked contrast between the sun his is the course of as almost stationary, and the planets, as all organisms what- moving round him with great velocity; beyond dispute that whilst there are the secondary contrasts ists in a change from between the velocities and periods of the the heterogeneous. several planets, and between their simple in the first place to revolutions and the double ones of their of organic progress satellites, which have to move round their ress. Whether it be primaries whilst moving round the sun. the Earth, in the de- There is the yet further strong contrast on its surface, in the between the sun and the planets in respect ety, of Government, of temperature; and there is reason to suppo differ heat, from that, trasts in re other the clinat of ro gravi we sec the so with t the ne posed Pas tion, worth argum tain o ally a Earth and th at the surface geneou the circ fluids, homoge must h phere air and other form.a cooling on at though necessa produc mately of the heatcrust tl differe conseq an acco able ele must u the con existing marked arisen: taken p surfacemust si first geo these ill PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE. ach other in their proper s in the heat they receive When we bear in mind tion to these various conlets and satellites also differ their distances from each eir primary; in respect to ns of their orbits, the intheir axes, their times n their axes, their specific their physical constitutions; high degree of heterogeneity m exhibits, when compared st complete homogeneity of mass out of which it is suporiginated. 435 the planets and satellites ity, which, though deduced from the known laws of matter, will perhaps be regarded as more or less hypothetical, Geology adds an extensive series that have been inductively established. Its investigations show that the Earth has been continually becoming more heterogeneous, in virtue of the multiplication of the strata constituting its crust; further, that it has been becoming more heterogeneous in respect of the composition of these strata, the latter of which, as being formed from the detritus of the older ones, are many of them rendered highly complex by the mixture of materials they contain; that the heterogeneity has been further increased by the action of the Earth's still molton nucleus upon its envelope, whence have resulted not only a great variety of igneous rocks, but the tilting up of sedimentary strata at all angles, the formation of faults and metallic veins, the production of endless dislocations and irregularities. Yet again, geologists teach us that the Earth's surface has been becoming more varied in elevation-that the most ancient mountain systems are the smallest, and the Andes and Himalayas the most modern; whilst in all probability there have been corresponding changes in the bed of the ocean. As a consequence of these ceaseless differentiations, we now find that no considerable portion of the Earth's exposed surface is like any other portion, either in contour, in geologic structure, or in chemical composition; and that in most parts it changes, from mile to mile, in all these characteristics. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that there has been simultaneously going on a gradual differentiation of climates. As fast as the Earth cooled and its crust solidified, there arose appreciable differences in temperature between those parts of its surface most exposed to the sun and those less exposed. Gradually, as the cooling progressed, these differences became more pronounced; until there finally resulted those marked contrasts between regions of perpetual ice and snow, regions where winter and summer alternately reign for periods varying according to the latitude, and regions where summer follows summer with scarcely an appreciable variation. At the same time, the successive elevations and subsidences of different portions of the Earth's crust, tending as they have done to the present irregular distribution of land and sea, have entailed various n this hypothetical illustraust be taken for what it is prejudice to the general us descend to a more cerevidence. It is now genermong geologists that the rst a mass of molten matter; still fluid and incandescent of a few miles beneath its inally, then, it was homonsistence, and, in virtue of that takes place in heated have been comparatively in temperature; and it n surrounded by an atmosg partly of the elements of and partly of those various s which assume a gaseous temperatures. That slow liation, which is still going preciable rate, and which, lly far more rapid than now, uired an immense time to lecided change, must ultiesulted in the solidification most able to part with its the surface. In the thin ed we have the first marked A still further cooling, a ckening of this crust, and g deposition of all solidifiontained in the atmosphere, y have been followed by on of the water previously gaseous state. A second entiation must thus have he condensation must have the coolest parts of the y, about the poles-there eously have resulted the al distinction of parts. To ns of increasing heterogen |