cceeding hours by other clouds of a different aspect and shape, so the
universe, which is a cloud of suns and worlds, changes in the immensity
of time its form and fashion, and that which is contemporary with us is
only an example of countless combinations of a like kind, which in
ancient times have one after another vanished away. In periods yet to
come the endless succession of metamorphoses will still go on, a series
of universes to which there is no end.

CHAPTER X.

THE EUROPEAN AGE OF REASON--(_Continued_).

THE NATURE AND RELATIONS OF MAN.

_Position of Man according to the Heliocentric and Geocentric Theories._

OF ANIMAL LIFE.--_The transitory Nature of living Forms.--Relations of
Plants and Animals.--Animals are Aggregates of Matter expending Force
originally derived from the Sun._

THE ORGANIC SERIES.--_Man a Member of it.--His Position determined by
Anatomical and Physiological Investigation of his Nervous System.--Its
triple Forms: Automatic, Instinctive, Intellectual._

_The same progressive Development is seen in individual Man, in the
entire animal Series, and in the Life of the Globe.--They are all under
the Control of an eternal, universal, irresistible Law._

_The Aim of Nature is intellectual Development, and human Institutions
must conform thereto._

_Summary of the Investigation of the Position of Man.--Production of
Inorganic and Organic Forms by the Sun.--Nature of Animals and their
Series.--Analogies and Differences between them and Man.--The Soul.--The
World._

[Sidenote: The apparent position of man on the heliocentric theory.]
When the ancient doctrine of the plurality of worlds was restored by
Bruno, Galileo, and other modern astronomers, the resistance it
encountered was mainly owing to its anticipated bearing on the nature
and relations of man. It was said, if round our sun, as a centre, there
revolve so many planetary bodies, experiencing the changes of summer and
winter, day and night--bodies illuminated by satellites, and perhaps
enjoying twilight and other benefits such as have been conferred on the
earth--shall we not consider them the abodes of accountable, perhaps of
sinful, beings like ourselves? Nay, more; if each of the innumerable
fixed stars is, as our sun, a central focus of light, attended by dark
and revolving globes, is it not necessary to admit that they also have
their inhabitants? But among so many families of intelligent beings, how
is it that we, th