[100] Le Rationalisme, page 19.
[101] Force et Matière, page 262.
[102] Les Mondes Causeries astronomiques by Guillemin; see p. 122 (3rd edition), where Kepler is described as an intelligence "penetrated by a profound faith in nature and exalted by a noble pride." See also pages 327 and 336.
[103] The question discussed in these pages must not be confounded with that of the relations between the science of nature and the documents of revelation. Whether nature can be explained without God is one question. Whether geology is in accordance with the language of the book of Genesis is another question, as regards both its nature and its importance. This latter subject does not come within the scope of these lectures. I will merely call attention to the fact, that if nature and the sacred text are fixed elements, this is not the case with the interpretations of theologians, and the results of geology. It is difficult to pronounce upon the exact relation of two quantities more or less indeterminate.
[104] In the writings of M. de Rougemont, if I am not mistaken.
[105] Systema naturæ.
[106] Ps. civ. 24.
[107] Biographie universelle.
[108] A. P. de Candolle, by A. de la Rive, pp. 12 and 13.
[109] M. Vaucher's principal title to scientific distinction is his Histoire des conferves d'eau douce, Genève, an xi (1803), 4°.