Palaetiology n. : The science which explains, by the law of causation, the past condition and changes of the earth.

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Taxonomy
sciences, palaetiology, William Whewell, Comparative Philology, speculations, languages, geology, portion, principles, laws, History of the Inductive Sciences, Historical Sciences, Gr, causation, Inductive Sciences, Philosophy, Indo-European languages, Induct.

Defination from the web:
palaetiology' (historical science), from the Darwin-L Archives. ... The term "palaetiology" was coined in 1837 by English philosopher, historian, and educator William Whewell (1794–1866) to refer to those sciences ...