I
find them at present; and from these I reason with regard to that which
must have been."[40]

And again:--"A theory of the earth, which has for object truth, can have
no retrospect to that which had preceded the present order of the world;
for this order alone is what we have to reason upon; and to reason
without data is nothing but delusion. A theory, therefore, which is
limited to the actual constitution of this earth cannot be allowed to
proceed one step beyond the present order of things."[41]

And so clear is he, that no causes beside such as are now in operation
are needed to account for the character and disposition of the
components of the crust of the earth, that he says, broadly and
boldly:-- "... There is no part of the earth which has not had the same
origin, so far as this consists in that earth being collected at the
bottom of the sea, and afterwards produced, as land, along with masses
of melted substances, by the operation of mineral causes."[42]

But other influences were at work upon Hutton beside those of a mind
logical by Nature, and scientific by sound training; and the peculiar
turn which his speculations took seems to me to be unintelligible,
unless these be taken into account. The arguments of the French
astronomers and mathematicians, which, at the end of the last century,
were held to demonstrate the existence of a compensating arrangement
among the celestial bodies, whereby all perturbations eventually reduced
themselves to oscillations on each side of a mean position, and the
stability of the solar system was secured, had evidently taken strong
hold of Hutton's mind.

In those oddly constructed periods which seem to have prejudiced many
persons against reading his works, but which are full of that peculiar,
if unattractive, eloquence which flows from mastery of the subject,
Hutton says:--

"We have now got to the end of our reasoning; we have no data further to
conclude immediately from that which actually is. But we have got
enough; we have the satisfaction to find, that in Nature there is
wisdom, system, and consistency. For having, in the natural history of
this earth, seen a succession of worlds, we may from this conclude that
there is a system in Nature; in like manner as, from seeing revolutions
of the planets, it is concluded, that there is a system by which they
are intended to continue those revolutions. But if the succession of
worlds is established in the system of Nature,