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Quote by Ellsworth Huntington

Work

The Red Man's Continent: A Chronicle of Aboriginal America

This book offers an in-depth look at the history, culture, and experiences of Native American tribes across the continent. more

Author

Ellsworth Huntington
Ellsworth Huntington

Ellsworth Huntington was a prominent geographer, anthropologist, and archaeologist who made significant contributions to the fields of geography, anthropology, and archaeology. Born on September 16, 1876, and passing away on October 17, 1947, Huntington is known for his in-depth research on the relationship between geographical environment and human behavior. more

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“Considered as a mere question of physics, (and keeping all moral considerations entirely out of sight,) the appearance of man is a geological phenomenon of vast importance, indirectly modifying the whole surface of the earth, breaking in upon any supposition of zoological continuity, and utterly unaccounted for by what we have any right to call the laws of nature.”

“Geology is the science which investigates the successive changes that have taken place in the organic and inorganic kingdoms of nature; it enquires into the causes of these changes, and the influence which they have exerted in modifying the surface and external structure of our planet.”

“Geology, perhaps more than any other department of natural philosophy, is a science of contemplation. It requires no experience or complicated apparatus, no minute processes upon the unknown processes of matter. It demands only an enquiring mind and senses alive to the facts almost everywhere presented in nature. And as it may be acquired without much difficulty, so it may be improved without much painful exertion.”

“It is to them [fossils] alone that we owe the commencement of even a Theory of the Earth ... By them we are enabled to ascertain, with the utmost certainty, that our earth has not always been covered over by the same external crust, because we are thoroughly assured that the organized bodies to which these fossil remains belong must have lived upon the surface before they came to be buried, as they now are, at a great depth.”

“Millions of our race are now supported by lands situated where deep seas once prevailed in earlier ages. In many districts not yet occupied by man, land animals and forests now abound where the anchor once sank into the oozy bottom.”