Virgil. Æn. vi. 264.
Ye Mighty Ones, who sway the Souls that go
Amid the marvels of the world below!
Ye, silent Shades, who sit and hear around!
Chaos! and Streams that burn beneath the ground!
All, all forgive, if by your converse stirred,
My lips shall utter what my ears have heard;
If I shall speak of things of doubtful birth,
Deep sunk in darkness, as deep sunk in earth.
INTRODUCTION.
Of the Palætiological Sciences.
WE now approach the last Class of Sciences which enter into the design of the present work; and of these, Geology is the representative, whose history we shall therefore briefly follow. By the Class of Sciences to which I have referred it, I mean to point out those researches in which the object is, to ascend from the present state of things to a more ancient condition, from which the present is derived by intelligible causes.
The sciences which treat of causes have sometimes been termed ætiological, from αἰτία, a cause: but this term would not sufficiently describe the speculations of which we now speak; since it might include sciences which treat of Permanent Causality, like Mechanics, as well as inquiries concerning Progressive Causation. The investigations which I now wish to group together, deal, not only with the possible, but with the actual past; and a portion of that science on which we are about to enter, Geology, has properly been termed Palæontology, since it treats of beings which formerly existed.[1] Hence, combining these two notions,[2] Palætiology appears to be a term not inappropriate, to describe those speculations which thus refer to actual past events, and attempt to explain them by laws of causation.
[1] Πάλαι, ὄντα
[2] Πάλαι, αἰτία