to give the printer a fair chance of falling back
on the excuse that the work was intended for a mere 'jeu d'esprit'.

The speculations of the suppositious Indian sage, though quite as sound
as those of many a "Mosaic Geology," which sells exceedingly well, have
no great value if we consider them by the light of modern science. The
waters are supposed to have originally covered the whole globe; to have
deposited the rocky masses which compose its mountains by processes
comparable to those which are now forming mud, sand, and shingle; and
then to have gradually lowered their level, leaving the spoils of their
animal and vegetable inhabitants embedded in the strata. As the dry land
appeared, certain of the aquatic animals are supposed to have taken to
it, and to have become gradually adapted to terrestrial and aerial
modes of existence. But if we regard the general tenor and style of
the reasoning in relation to the state of knowledge of the day, two
circumstances appear very well worthy of remark. The first, that De
Maillet had a notion of the modifiability of living forms (though
without any precise information on the subject), and how such
modifiability might account for the origin of species; the second, that
he very clearly apprehended the great modern geological doctrine,
so strongly insisted upon by Hutton, and so ably and comprehensively
expounded by Lyell, that we must look to existing causes for the
explanation of past geological events. Indeed, the following passage
of the preface, in which De Maillet is supposed to speak of the Indian
philosopher Telliamed, his 'alter ego', might have been written by the
most philosophical uniformitarian of the present day:--

"Ce qu'il y a d'etonnant, est que pour arriver a ces connoissances il
semble avoir perverti l'ordre naturel, puisqu'au lieu de s'attacher
d'abord a rechercher l'origine de notre globe il a commence par
travailler a s'instruire de la nature. Mais a l'entendre, ce
renversement de l'ordre a ete pour lui l'effet d'un genie favorable
qui l'a conduit pas a pas et comme par la main aux decouvertes les plus
sublimes. C'est en decomposant la substance de ce globe par une anatomie
exacte de toutes ses parties qu'il a premierement appris de quelles
matieres il etait compose et quels arrangemens ces memes matieres
observaient entre elles. Ces lumieres jointes a l'esprit de comparaison
toujours necessaire a quiconque entreprend de percer les voiles dont
la nature a