Noonedoubtsthat，onthedayandatthehourmentionedbytheAstronomer—Royal，thepeopleofLydiasawthefaceofthesuntotallyobscured。But，thoughweimplicitlybelievethisretrospectiveprophecy，itisincapableofverification。Inthetotalabsenceofhistoricalrecords，itisimpossibleeventoconceiveanymeansofascertainingdirectlywhethertheeclipseofThaleshappenedornot。Allthatcanbesaidis，thattheprospectivepropheciesoftheastronomerarealwaysverified;
andthat，inasmuchashisretrospectivepropheciesaretheresultoffollowingbackwards，theverysamemethodasthatwhichinvariablyleadstoverifiedresults，whenitisworkedforwards，thereisasmuchreasonforplacingfullconfidenceintheoneasintheother。Retrospectiveprophecyisthereforealegitimatefunctionofastronomicalscience;andifitislegitimateforonescienceitislegitimateforall;
thefundamentalaxiomonwhichitrests，theconstancyoftheorderofnature，beingthecommonfoundationofallscientificthought。Indeed，iftherecanbegradesinlegitimacy，certainbranchesofsciencehavetheadvantageoverastronomy，insofarastheirretrospectivepropheciesarenotonlysusceptibleofverification，butaresometimesstrikinglyverified。
Suchascienceexistsinthatapplicationoftheprinciplesofbiologytotheinterpretationoftheanimalandvegetableremainsimbeddedintherockswhichcomposethesurfaceoftheglobe，whichiscalledPalaeontology。
Atnoverydistanttime，thequestionwhethertheseso—called\"fossils，\"werereallytheremainsofanimalsandplantswashotlydisputed。Verylearnedpersonsmaintainedthattheywerenothingofthekind，butasortofconcretion，orcrystallisation，whichhadtakenplacewithinthestoneinwhichtheyarefound;andwhichsimulatedtheformsofanimalandvegetablelife，justasfrostonawindow—paneimitatesvegetation。Atthepresentday，itwouldprobablybeimpossibletofindanysaneadvocateofthisopinion;andthefactisrathersurprising，thatamongthepeoplefromwhomthecircle—