The Observer Listens To Nature: The Experimenter

It Has Been Long Considered Possible To Explain The More Ancient Revolutions On... The Earth Surface By Means Of These Still Existing Causes; In The Same Manner As It Is Found Easy To Explain Past Events In Political History, By An Acquaintance With The Passions And Intrigues Of The Present Day. But We Shall Presently See That Unfortunately This Is Not The Case In Physical History:-the Thread Of Operation Is Here Broken, The March Of Nature Is Changed, And None Of The Agents That She Now Employs Were Sufficient For The Production Of Her Ancient Works.

The Works Which This Man [joseph Banks] Leaves Behind Him Occupy A Few Pages Only; Their Importance Is Not Greatly Superior To Their Extent; And Yet His Name Will Shine Out With Lustre In The History Of The Sciences.

Genius And Science Have Burst The Limits Of Space, And Few Observations, Explained By Just Reasoning, Have Unveiled The Mechanism Of The Universe. Would It Not Also Be Glorious For Man To Burst The Limits Of Time, And, By A Few Observations, To Ascertain The History Of This World, And The Series Of Events Which Preceded The Birth Of The Human Race?

It Is Evident That One Cannot Say Anything Demonstrable About The Problem Before Having Resolved These Preliminary Questions, And Yet We Hardly Possess The Necessary Information To Solve Some Of Them

It Is My Object, In The Following Work, To Travel Over Ground Which Has As Yet Been Little Explored And To Make My Reader Acquainted With A Species Of Remains, Which, Though Absolutely Necessary For Understanding The History Of The Globe, Have Been Hitherto Almost Uniformly Neglected.