This etext was prepared by Amy E. Zelmer. This etext is based on^M http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE2/GeoC.html^M
GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE.*
by Thomas H. Huxley
[footnote] *The Anniversary Address to the Geological Society for 1862.
MERCHANTS occasionally go through a wholesome, though troublesome and not always satisfactory, process which they term "taking stock." After all the excitement of speculation, the pleasure of gain, and the pain of loss, the trader makes up his mind to face facts and to learn the exact quantity and quality of his solid and reliable possessions.
The man of science does well sometimes to imitate this procedure; and,