Abyss Quote by Thomas Henry Huxley
““The careful observations and the acute reasonings of the Italian geologists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the speculations of Leibnitz in the 'Protogaea' and of Buffon in his 'Théorie de la Terre;' the sober and profound reasonings of Hutton , in the latter part of the eighteenth century; all these tended to show that the fabric of the earth itself implied the continuance of processes of natural causation for a period of time as great, in relation to human history, as the distances of the heavenly bodies from us are, in relation to terrestrial standards of measurement. The abyss of time began to loom as large as the abyss of space. And this revelation to sight and touch, of a link here and a link there of a practically infinite chain of natural causes and effects, prepared the way, as perhaps nothing else has done, for the modern form of the ancient theory of evolution.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, 1859
The quote links historical geological and philosophical ideas to the concept of deep time, showing that Earth's long processes mirror vast cosmic distances, laying groundwork for evolutionary thought.
In simple terms: Earth’s long history supports evolution.
Key Takeaway
Recognize deep time in scientific thinking.
Themes
science
history
evolution
philosophy
Mood
thoughtful
inquisitive
Type
educational
philosophical
When to use this quote
- academic lectures
- museum exhibits
- science education
- public debates
- policy discussions
Key Concepts
geology
cosmology
natural causation
Questions to Reflect On
- How does deep time change our view of humanity?
- What evidence best illustrates Earth’s long processes?
A Different Perspective
Complex scientific ideas can be hard for lay audiences to grasp.
![“What a deep [trust] in the rationality of the structure of the world and what a longing to understand even a small glimpse of the reason revealed in the world there must have been in Kepler and Newton to enable them to unravel the mechanism of the heavens in long years of lonely work!” quote by Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1f6/albert-einstein-33_glimpse_what-a-deep-trust-in-the-rationality-of_1936444.jpg)
