Whatever other results may have attended
my public exertions in this place, I assure
you that it is a source of much satisfaction
to me, to find them thus rewarded by the
approbation of a Philosopher, whose attainments
placed him in the chair once occupied
by Newton, and who is endeared by his
urbanity to all, who have ever enjoyed the
happiness of communication with him, either
as the President of the Royal Society of
London, or in that more familiar intercourse
of private friendship to which it has been
my privilege to be admitted.
Believe me to remain,
My dear Sir,
Your much obliged and faithful Servant,
W i l l i a m B u c k l a n d .
Christ Church, Oxford,
May 30, 1836.
P R E F A C E .
T h r e e important subjects of enquiry in
Natural Theology come under consideration
in the present Treatise.
The first regards the inorganic Elements
of the Mineral Kingdom, and the actual
dispositions of the Materials of the Earth:
many of these, although produced or modified
by the agency of violent and disturbing
forces, afford abundant proofs of wise and
provident Intention, in their adaptations to
the uses of the Yegetable and Animal Kingdoms,
and especially to the condition of Man.
The second relates to Theories which have
been entertained respecting the Origin of
the World; and the derivation of existing
systems of organic Life, by an eternal succession,
from preceding individuals of the
same species; or by gradual transmutation
of one species into another. I have endeavoured
to show, that to all these Theories
the phenomena of Geology are decidedly
opposed.
The third extends into the Organic Remains
of a former World the same kind of
investigation, which Paley has pursued with