The world is the geologist's great puzzle-box; he stands before it like the child to whom the separate pieces of his puzzle remain a mystery till he detects their relation and sees where they fit, and then his fragments grow at once into a connected picture beneath his hand.

The facts will eventually test all our theories, and they form, after all, the only impartial jury to which we can appeal.

I may say that here, as in most cases where the operations of nature interfere with the designs of man, it is not by a direct intervention on our part that we may remedy the difficulties, but rather by a precise knowledge of their causes, which may enable us, if not to check, at least to avoid the evil consequences.

Embryology furnishes, also, the best measure of true affinities existing between animals.

The theory [of evolution] is a scientific mistake.

It is the job of prophets and scientists alike to proclaim the glories of God.

Nature brings us back to absolute truth whenever we wander.