,,town ,,geology     ,,preface    ,this 
little book1 including the greater part 
of this ,preface1 has  shaped itself out
 of lectures given to the young men of  
the city of  ,chester4  ,but it does not
 deal1 in its present form1 with the    
geology  of the neighbourhood of        
,chester only4  ,i have tried so to     
recast it1  that any townsman1 at least 
in the manufacturing districts of       
,england  and ,scotland1 may learn from 
it to judge1 roughly perhaps1 but on the
  whole accurately1 of the rocks and    
soils of his own neighbourhood4   ,he   
will find1 it is true1 in these pages1  
little or nothing about  those ,old ,red
 ,sandstones1 so interesting to a       
,scotchman2 and he  will have to bear in
 mind1 if he belong to the coal         
districts of  ,scotland1 that the stones
 in the wall there belong to much older 
rocks than those ,new ,red ,sandstones  
of which this book treats2 and  that the
 coal measures of ,scotland1 with the   
volcanic rocks which  have disturbed    

them1 are often very different in       
appearance to the  ,english coal        
measures4  ,but he will soon learn to   
distinguish the  relative age of rocks  
by the fossils found in them1 which he  
can now1  happily1 study in many local  
museums2 and he may be certain1 for the 
rest1 that all rocks and soils          
whatsoever which he may meet have been  
laid down by the agents1 and according  
to the laws1 which ,i have  tried to set
 forth in this book2 and these only     
require1 for the  learning of them1 the 
exercise of his own observation and     
common  sense4  ,i have not tried to    
make this a handbook of geological      
facts4   ,such a guide 7and none better7
 the young man will find in ,sir        
,charles  ,lyell's ,student's ,elements 
of ,geology4  ,i have tried rather to   
teach the method of geology1 than its   
facts2 to furnish the student  with a   
key to all geology1 rough indeed and    
rudimentary1 but sure and  sound enough1
 ,i trust1 to help him to unlock most   

geological problems  which he may meet1 
in any quarter of the globe4  ,but young
 men must  remember always1 that neither
 this book1 nor all the books in the    
world1 will make them geologists4  ,no  
amount of book learning will  make a man
 a scientific man2 nothing but patient  
observation1 and  quiet and fair thought
 over what he has observed4  ,he must go
 out for  himself1 see for himself1     
compare and judge for himself1 in the   
field1 the quarry1 the cutting4  ,he    
must study rocks1 ores1 fossils1  in the
 nearest museum2 and thus store his     
head1 not with words1 but  with facts4  
,he must verify--as far as he can--what 
he reads in  books1 by his own          
observation2 and be slow to believe     
anything1 even  on the highest          
scientific authority1 till he has either
 seen it1 or  something like enough to  
it to make it seem to him probable1 or  
at  least possible4  ,so1 and so only1  
will he become a scientific man1  and a 
good geologist2 and acquire that habit  

of mind by which alone  he can judge    
fairly and wisely of facts of any kind  
whatsoever4  ,i say--facts of any kind  
whatsoever4  ,if any of my readers      
should be  inclined to say to           
themselves3  ,geology may be a very     
pleasant study1  but ,i have no special 
fancy for it4  ,i had rather learn      
something of  botany1 astronomy1        
chemistry1 or what not--,i shall answer3
  ,by all  means4  ,learn any branch of 
,natural ,science you will4  ,it matters
  little to me which you learn1 provided
 you learn one at least4  ,but  bear in 
mind1 and settle it in your hearts1 that
 you will learn no  branch of science   
soundly1 so as to master it1 and be able
 to make  use of it1 unless you acquire 
that habit and method of mind which ,i  
am trying to teach you in this book4  ,i
 have tried to teach it you by  geology1
 because geology is1 perhaps1 the       
simplest and the easiest of  all        
physical sciences4  ,it appeals more    
than any to mere common  sense4  ,it    

requires fewer difficult experiments1   
and expensive  apparatus4  ,it requires 
less previous knowledge of other        
sciences1  whether pure or mixed2 at    
least in its rudimentary stages4  ,it is
  more free from long and puzzling      
,greek and ,latin words4  ,it is        
specially1 the poor man's science4  ,but
 if you do not like it1 study  something
 else4  ,only study that as you must    
study geology2  proceeding from the     
known to the unknown by observation and 
experiment4  ,but here some of my       
readers may ask1 as they have a perfect 
right to  ask1 why ,i wish young men to 
learn ,natural ,science at all8  ,what  
good  will the right understanding of   
geology1 or of astronomy1 or of         
chemistry1 or of the plants or animals  
which they meet--what good1 ,i  say1    
will that do them8  ,in the first place1
 they need1 ,i presume1 occupation after
 their  hours of work4  ,if any of them 
answer3  ,we do not want occupation1  we
 want amusement4  ,work is very dull1   

and we want something which  will excite
 our fancy1 imagination1 sense of       
humour4  ,we want poetry1  fiction1 even
 a good laugh or a game of play--,i     
shall most fully  agree with them4      
,there is often no better medicine for a
 hard-worked  body and mind than a good 
laugh2 and the man who can play most    
heartily when he has a chance of playing
 is generally the man who can  work most
 heartily when he must work4  ,but there
 is certainly nothing  in the study of  
physical science to interfere with      
genial hilarity2  though1 indeed1 some  
solemn persons have been wont to reprove
 the  members of the ,british           
,association1 and specially that ,red   
,lion ,club1  where all the philosophers
 are expected to lash their tails and   
roar1  of being somewhat too fond of    
mere and sheer fun1 after the abstruse  
papers of the day are read and          
discussed4  ,and as for harmless        
amusement1 and still more for the free  
exercise of the fancy and the           

imagination1 ,i know few studies to     
compare with ,natural ,history2 with    
the search for the most beautiful and   
curious productions of ,nature  amid her
 loveliest scenery1 and in her freshest 
atmosphere4  ,i have  known again and   
again working men who in the midst of   
smoky cities  have kept their bodies1   
their minds1 and their hearts healthy   
and  pure by going out into the country 
at odd hours1 and making  collections of
 fossils1 plants1 insects1 birds1 or    
some other objects  of natural history2 
and ,i doubt not that such will be the  
case with  some of my readers4  ,another
 argument1 and a very strong one1 in    
favour of studying some  branch of      
,natural ,science just now is this--that
 without it you can  hardly keep pace   
with the thought of the world around    
you4  ,over and above the solid gain of 
a scientific habit of mind1 of which  ,i
 shall speak presently1 the gain of mere
 facts1 the increased  knowledge of this
 planet on which we live1 is very       

valuable just now2  valuable certainly  
to all who do not wish their children   
and their  younger brothers to know more
 about the universe than they do4       
,natural ,science is now occupying a    
more and more important place in        
education4  ,oxford1 ,cambridge1 the    
,london ,university1 the public         
schools1 one after another1 are taking  
up the subject in earnest2 so  are the  
middle-class schools2 so ,i trust will  
all primary schools  throughout the     
country2 and ,i hope that my children1  
at least1 if not  ,i myself1 will see   
the day1 when ignorance of the primary  
laws and  facts of science will be      
looked on as a defect1 only second to   
ignorance of the primary laws of        
religion and morality4  ,i speak        
strongly1 but deliberately4  ,it does   
seem to me strange1 to  use the mildest 
word1 that people whose destiny it is to
 live1 even  for a few short years1 on  
this planet which we call the earth1 and
  who do not at all intend to live on it

 as hermits1 shutting  themselves up in 
cells1 and looking on death as an escape
 and a  deliverance1 but intend to live 
as comfortably and wholesomely as  they 
can1 they and their children after      
them--it seems strange1 ,i  say1 that   
such people should in general be so     
careless about the  constitution of this
 same planet1 and of the laws and facts 
on which  depend1 not merely their      
comfort and their wealth1 but their     
health  and their very lives1 and the   
health and the lives of their children  
and descendants4  ,i know some will say1
 at least to themselves3  ,what need for
 us to  study science8  ,there are      
plenty to do that already2 and we shall 
be  sure sooner or later to profit by   
their discoveries2 and meanwhile it  is 
not science which is needed to make     
mankind thrive1 but simple  common      
sense4  ,i should reply1 that to expect 
to profit by other men's discoveries    
when you do not pay for them--to let    
others labour in the hope of  entering  

into their labours1 is not a very noble 
or generous state of  mind--comparable  
somewhat1 ,i should say1 to that of the 
fatting ox1  who willingly allows the   
farmer to house him1 till for him1 feed 
him1  provided only he himself may      
lounge in his stall1 and eat1 and ,,not 
be  thankful4  ,there is one difference 
in the two cases1 but only one-- that   
while the farmer can repay himself by   
eating the ox1 the  scientific man      
cannot repay himself by eating you2 and 
so never gets  paid1 in most cases1 at  
all4  ,but as for mankind thriving by   
common sense3  they have not thriven  by
 common sense1 because they have not    
used their common sense  according to   
that regulated method which is called   
science4  ,in no  age1 in no country1 as
 yet1 have the majority of mankind been 
guided1  ,i will not say by the love of 
,god1 and by the fear of ,god1 but even 
by sense and reason4  ,not sense and    
reason1 but nonsense and  unreason1     
prejudice and fancy1 greed and haste1   

have led them to such  results as were  
to be expected--to superstitions1       
persecutions1 wars1  famines1           
pestilence1 hereditary diseases1        
poverty1 waste--waste  incalculable1 and
 now too often irremediable--waste of   
life1 of  labour1 of capital1 of raw    
material1 of soil1 of manure1 of every  
bounty which ,god has bestowed on man1  
till1 as in the eastern  ,mediterranean1
 whole countries1 some of the finest in 
the world1 seem  ruined for ever3  and  
all because men will not learn nor obey 
those  physical laws of the universe1   
which 7whether we be conscious of them  
or not7 are all around us1 like walls of
 iron and of adamant--say  rather1 like 
some vast machine1 ruthless though      
beneficent1 among the  wheels of which  
if we entangle ourselves in our rash    
ignorance1 they  will not stop to set us
 free1 but crush us1 as they have       
crushed  whole nations and whole races  
ere now1 to powder4  ,very terrible1    
though very calm1 is outraged ,nature4  

,though the mills of ,god grind slowly1 
,yet they grind exceeding small2 ,though
 ,he sit1 and wait with patience1       
,with exactness grinds ,he all4   ,it   
is1 ,i believe1 one of the most hopeful 
among the many hopeful  signs of the    
times1 that the civilised nations of    
,europe and ,america  are awakening     
slowly but surely to this truth4  ,the  
civilised world  is learning1 thank     
,god1 more and more of the importance of
 physical  science2 year by year1 thank 
,god1 it is learning to live more and   
more according to those laws of physical
 science1 which are1 as the  great ,lord
 ,bacon said of old1 none other than    
,vox ,dei in rebus  revelata--the ,word 
of ,god revealed in facts2 and it is    
gaining by so  doing1 year by year1 more
 and more of health and wealth2 of      
peaceful  and comfortable1 even of      
graceful and elevating1 means of life   
for  fresh millions4  ,if you want to   
know what the study of physical science 
has done for  man1 look1 as a single    

instance1 at the science of ,sanatory   
,reform2  the science which does not    
merely try to cure disease1 and shut the
  stable-door after the horse is stolen1
 but tries to prevent disease2  and1    
thank ,god6 is succeeding beyond our    
highest expectations4  ,or  look at the 
actual fresh amount of employment1 of   
subsistence1 which  science has1 during 
the last century1 given to men2 and     
judge for  yourselves whether the study 
of it be not one worthy of those who    
wish to help themselves1 and1 in so     
doing1 to help their fellow-men4   ,let 
me quote to you a passage from an essay 
urging the institution of  schools of   
physical science for artisans1 which    
says all ,i wish to  say and more3  ,the
 discoveries of ,voltaic electricity1   
electromagnetism1 and  magnetic         
electricity1 by ,volta1 ,o,ersted1 and  
,faraday1 led to the  invention of      
electric telegraphy by ,wheatstone and  
others1 and to the  great manufactures  
of telegraph cables and telegraph wire1 

and of the  materials required for them4
  ,the value of the cargo of the ,great 
,eastern alone in the recent ,bombay    
telegraph expedition was  calculated at 
three millions of pounds sterling4  ,it 
also led to the  employment of thousands
 of operators to transmit the           
telegraphic  messages1 and to a great   
increase of our commerce in nearly all  
its  branches by the more rapid means of
 communication4  ,the discovery of      
,voltaic electricity further led to the 
invention of electro-plating1  and to   
the employment of a large number of     
persons in that business4   ,the        
numerous experimental researches on     
specific heat1 latent heat1  the tension
 of vapours1 the properties of water1   
the mechanical  effect of heat1 etc41   
resulted in the development of          
steam-engines1  and railways1 and the   
almost endless employments depending    
upon their  construction and use4       
,about a quarter of a million of persons
 are  employed on railways alone in     

,great ,britain4  ,the various original 
investigations on the chemical effects  
of light led to the invention  of       
photography1 and have given employment  
to thousands of persons who  practise   
that process1 or manufacture and prepare
 the various  material and articles     
required in it4  ,the discovery of      
chlorine by  ,scheele led to the        
invention of the modern processes of    
bleaching1  and to various improvements 
in the dyeing of the textile fabrics1   
and  has given employment to a very     
large number of our ,lancashire         
operatives4  ,the discovery of chlorine 
has also contributed to the  employment 
of thousands of printers1 by enabling   
,esparto grass to be  bleached and      
formed into paper for the use of our    
daily press4  ,the  numerous            
experimental investigations in relation 
to coal-gas have  been the means of     
extending the use of that substance1 and
 of  increasing the employment of       
workmen and others connected with its   

manufacture4  ,the discovery of the     
alkaline metals by ,davy1 of  cyanide of
 potassium1 of nickel1 phosphorus1 the  
common acids1 and a  multitude of other 
substances1 has led to the employment of
 a whole  army of workmen in the        
conversion of those substances into     
articles  of utility4  ,the foregoing   
examples might be greatly enlarged upon1
  and a great many others might be      
selected from the sciences of  physics  
and chemistry3  but those mentioned will
 suffice4  ,there is  not a force of    
,nature1 nor scarcely a material        
substance that we  employ1 which has not
 been the subject of several1 and in    
some cases  of numerous1 original       
experimental researches1 many of which  
have  resulted1 in a greater or less    
degree1 in increasing the employment    
for workmen and others4 #a  ,all this   
may be very true4  ,but of what         
practical use will physical  science be 
to me8  ,let me ask in return3  ,are    
none of you going to emigrate8  ,if you 

have courage and wisdom1 emigrate you   
will1 some of you1 instead of  stopping 
here to scramble over each other's backs
 for the scraps1  like black-beetles in 
a kitchen4  ,and if you emigrate1 you   
will soon  find out1 if you have eyes   
and common sense1 that the vegetable    
wealth of the world is no more exhausted
 than its mineral wealth4   ,exhausted8 
,not half of it--,i believe not a tenth 
of it--is yet  known4  ,could ,i show   
you the wealth which ,i have seen in a  
single  ,tropic island1 not sixty miles 
square--precious timbers1 gums1  fruits1
 what not1 enough to give employment and
 wealth to thousands  and tens of       
thousands1 wasting for want of being    
known and worked-- then you would see   
what a man who emigrates may do1 by a   
little sound  knowledge of botany alone4
  ,and if not4  ,suppose that any one of
 you1 learning a little sound  ,natural 
,history1 should abide here in ,britain 
to your life's end1 and  observe nothing
 but the hedgerow plants1 he would find 

that there is  much more to be seen in  
those mere hedgerow plants than he      
fancies  now4  ,the microscope will     
reveal to him in the tissues of any     
wood1  of any seed1 wonders which will  
first amuse him1 then puzzle him1 and   
at last 7,i hope7 awe him1 as he        
perceives that smallness of size        
interferes in no way with perfection of 
development1 and that  ,nature1 as has  
been well said1 is greatest in that     
which is  least4  ,and more4  ,suppose  
that he went further still4  ,suppose   
that  he extended his researches        
somewhat to those minuter vegetable     
forms1  the mosses1 fungi1 lichens2     
suppose that he went a little further   
still1 and tried what the microscope    
would show him in any stagnant  pool1   
whether fresh water or salt1 of         
,desmidiae1 ,diatoms1 and all  those    
wondrous atomies which seem as yet to   
defy our classification  into plants or 
animals4  ,suppose he learnt something  
of this1 but  nothing of aught else4    

,would he have gained no solid wisdom8  
,he  would be a stupider man than ,i    
have a right to believe any of my       
readers to be1 if he had not gained     
thereby somewhat of the most  valuable  
of treasures--namely1 that inductive    
habit of mind1 that  power of judging   
fairly of facts1 without which no good  
or lasting  work will be done1 whether  
in physical science1 in social science1 
in  politics1 in philosophy1 in         
philology1 or in history4  ,but more3   
let me urge you to study ,natural       
,science1 on grounds which  may be to   
you new and unexpected--on social1 ,i   
had almost said on  political1 grounds4 
,we all know1 and ,i trust we all love1 
the names of ,liberty1 ,equality1  and  
,brotherhood4  ,we feel1 ,i trust1 that 
these words are too  beautiful not to   
represent true and just ideas2 and that 
therefore  they will come true1 and be  
fulfilled1 somewhen1 somewhere1 somehow4
   ,it may be in a shape very different 
from that which you1 or ,i1 or any  man 

expects2 but still they will be         
fulfilled4  ,but if they are to come    
true1 it is we1 the individual men1 who 
must  help them to come true for the    
whole world1 by practising them         
ourselves1 when and where we can4  ,and 
,i tell you--that in becoming           
scientific men1 in studying science and 
acquiring the scientific  habit of mind1
 you will find yourselves enjoying a    
freedom1 an  equality1 a brotherhood1   
such as you will not find elsewhere just
  now4  ,freedom3  what do we want      
freedom for8  ,for this1 at least2 that 
we  may be each and all able to think   
what we choose2 and to say what we      
choose also1 provided we do not say it  
rudely or violently1 so as to  provoke a
 breach of the peace4  ,that last was   
,mr4 ,buckle's definition  of freedom of
 speech4  ,that was the only limit to it
 which he would  allow2 and ,i think    
that that is ,mr4 ,john ,stuart ,mill's 
limit also4   ,it is mine4  ,and ,i     
think we have that kind of freedom in   

these  islands as perfectly as any men  
are likely to have it on this earth4    
,but what ,i complain of is1 that when  
men have got the freedom1 three  out of 
four of them will not use it4           
,what8--someone will answer--,do  you   
suppose that ,i will not say what ,i    
choose1 and that ,i dare not  speak my  
own mind to any man8  ,doubtless4  ,but 
are you sure first1  that you think what
 you choose1 or only what someone else  
chooses for  you8  ,are you sure that   
you make up your own mind before you    
speak1  or let someone else make it up  
for you8  ,your speech may be free      
enough1 my good friend2 and ,heaven     
forbid that it should be anything  else3
  but are your thoughts free likewise8  
,are you sure that1  though you may hate
 bigotry in others1 you are not somewhat
 of a  bigot yourself8  ,that you do not
 look at only one side of a question1   
and that the one which pleases you8     
,that you do not take up your  opinions 
at second hand1 from some book or some  

newspaper1 which  after all only        
reflects your own feelings1 your own    
opinions8  ,you  should ask yourselves  
that question1 seriously and often3     
,are my  thoughts really free8  ,no one 
values more highly than ,i do the       
advantage of a free press4  ,but you    
must remember always that a  newspaper  
editor1 however honest or able1 is no   
more infallible than  the ,pope2 that he
 may1 just as you may1 only see one side
 of a  question1 while any question is  
sure to have two sides1 or perhaps      
three or four2 and if you only see the  
side which suits you1 day  after day1   
month after month1 you must needs become
 bigoted to it4   ,your thoughts must   
needs run in one groove4  ,they cannot  
7as ,mr4  ,matthew ,arnold would say7   
play freely round a question2 and look  
it  all over1 boldly1 patiently1        
rationally1 charitably4  ,and ,i tell   
you that if you1 or ,i1 or any man1 want
 to let our  thoughts play freely round 
questions1 and so escape from the       

tendency  to become bigoted and         
narrow-minded which there is in every   
human  being1 then we must acquire      
something of that inductive habit of    
mind  which the study of ,natural       
,science gives4  ,it is1 after all1 as  
,professor ,huxley says1 only common    
sense well regulated4  ,but then it  is 
well regulated2 and how precious it is1 
if you can but get it4   ,the art of    
seeing1 the art of knowing what you see2
 the art of  comparing1 of perceiving   
true likenesses and true differences1   
and so  of classifying and arranging    
what you see3  the art of connecting    
facts together in your own mind in      
chains of cause and effect1 and  that   
accurately1 patiently1 calmly1 without  
prejudice1 vanity1 or  temper--this is  
what is wanted for true freedom of mind4
  ,but  accuracy1 patience1 freedom from
 prejudice1 carelessness for all  except
 the truth1 whatever the truth may      
be--are not these the  virtues of a     
truly free spirit8  ,then1 as ,i said   

just now1 ,i know no  study so able to  
give that free habit of mind as the     
,study of ,natural  ,science4           
,equality1 too3  whatever equality may  
or may not be just1 or  possible2 this  
at least1 is just1 and ,i hope possible2
 that every  man1 every child1 of every 
rank1 should have an equal chance of    
education2 an equal chance of developing
 all that is in him by  nature2 an equal
 chance of acquiring a fair knowledge of
 those facts  of the universe which     
specially concern him2 and of having his
 reason  trained to judge of them4  ,i  
say1 whatever equal rights men may or   
may not have1 they have this right4     
,let every boy1 every girl1 have  an    
equal and sound education4  ,if ,i had  
my way1 ,i would give the same          
education to the child of the collier   
and to the child of a peer4  ,i  would  
see that they were taught the same      
things1 and by the same  method4  ,let  
them all begin alike1 say ,i4  ,they    
will be handicapped  heavily enough as  

they go on in life1 without our         
handicapping them  in their first race4 
,whatever stable they come out of1      
whatever  promise they show1 let them   
all train alike1 and start fair1 and let
  the best colt win4  ,well3  but there 
is a branch of education in which1 even 
now1 the  poor man can compete fairly   
against the rich2 and that is1 ,natural 
,science4  ,in the first place1 the     
rich1 blind to their own interest1  have
 neglected it hitherto in their schools2
 so that they have not  the start of the
 poor man on that subject which they    
have on many4   ,in the next place1     
,natural ,science is a subject which a  
man cannot  learn by paying for         
teachers4  ,he must teach it himself1 by
 patient  observation1 by patient common
 sense4  ,and if the poor man is not the
  rich man's equal in those qualities1  
it must be his own fault1 not  his      
purse's4  ,many shops have ,i seen about
 the world1 in which fools  could buy   
articles more or less helpful to them2  

but never saw ,i yet  an                
observation-shop1 nor a common-sense    
shop either4  ,and if any man  says1 ,we
 must buy books3 ,i answer1 a poor man  
now can obtain better  scientific books 
than a duke or a prince could sixty     
years ago1  simply because then the     
books did not exist4  ,when ,i was a boy
 ,i  would have given much1 or rather my
 father would have given much1 if  ,i   
could have got hold of such scientific  
books as are to be found now  in any    
first-class elementary school4  ,and if 
more expensive books  are needed2 if a  
microscope or apparatus is needed2 can  
you not get  them by the co-operative   
method1 which has worked so well in     
other  matters8  ,can you not form      
yourselves into a ,natural ,science     
club1  for buying such things and       
lending them round among your members2  
and  for discussion also1 the reading of
 scientific papers of your own  writing1
 the comparing of your observations1    
general mutual help and  mutual         

instructions8  ,such societies are      
becoming numerous now1 and  gladly      
should ,i see one in every town4  ,for  
in science1 as in most  matters1 ,as    
iron sharpeneth iron1 so a man          
sharpeneth the  countenance of his      
friend4  ,and ,brotherhood3  well1 if   
you want that2 if you want to mix with  
men1 and men1 too1 eminently worth      
mixing with1 on the simple ground  that 
a man's a man for a' that2 if you want  
to become the  acquaintances1 and--if   
you prove worthy--the friends1 of men   
who will  be glad to teach you all they 
know1 and equally glad to learn from    
you anything you can teach them1 asking 
no questions about you1 save1           
first--,is he an honest student of      
,nature for her own sake8  ,and next-   
-,is he a man who will not quarrel1 or  
otherwise behave in an  unbrotherly     
fashion to his fellow-students8--,if you
 want a ground of  brotherhood with men1
 not merely in these islands1 but in    
,america1 on  the ,continent--in a word1

 all over the world--such as rank1      
wealth1  fashion1 or other artificial   
arrangements of the world cannot give   
and cannot take away2 if you want to    
feel yourself as good as any man  in    
theory1 because you are as good as any  
man in practice1 except  those who are  
better than you in the same line1 which 
is open to any  and every man2 if you   
wish to have the inspiring and ennobling
  feeling of being a brother in a great 
freemasonry which owns no  difference of
 rank1 of creed1 or of nationality--the 
only  freemasonry1 the only             
,international ,league which is likely  
to make  mankind 7as we all hope they   
will be some day7 one--then become men  
of science4  ,join the freemasonry in   
which ,hugh ,miller1 the poor  ,cromarty
 stonemason1 in which ,michael ,faraday1
 the poor bookbinder's  boy1 became the 
companions and friends of the noblest   
and most  learned on earth1 looked up to
 by them not as equals merely but as    
teachers and guides1 because            

philosophers and discoverers4  ,do you  
wish to be great8  ,then be great with  
true greatness2 which  is1--knowing the 
facts of nature1 and being able to use  
them4  ,do you  wish to be strong8      
,then be strong with true strength2     
which is1  knowing the facts of nature1 
and being able to use them4  ,do you    
wish  to be wise8  ,then be wise with   
true wisdom2 which is1 knowing the      
facts of nature1 and being able to use  
them4  ,do you wish to be free8   ,then 
be free with true freedom2 which is     
again1 knowing the facts of  nature1 and
 being able to use them4  ,i dare say   
some of my readers1 especially the      
younger ones1 will  demur to that last  
speech of mine4  ,well1 ,i hope they    
will not be  angry with me for saying   
it4  ,i1 at least1 shall certainly not  
he  angry with them4  ,for when ,i was  
young ,i was very much of what ,i       
suspect is their opinion4  ,i used to   
think one could get perfect  freedom1   
and social reform1 and all that ,i      

wanted1 by altering the  arrangements of
 society and legislation2 by            
constitutions1 and ,acts  of            
,parliament2 by putting society into    
some sort of freedom-mill1 and  grinding
 it all down1 and regenerating it so4   
,and that something can  be done by     
improved arrangements1 something can be 
done by ,acts of  ,parliament1 ,i hold  
still1 as every rational man must hold4 
,but as ,i grew older1 ,i began to see  
that if things were to be got  right1   
the freedom-mill would do very little   
towards grinding them  right1 however   
well and amazingly it was made4  ,i     
began to see that  what sort of flour   
came out at one end of the mill1        
depended mainly  on what sort of grain  
you had put in at the other2 and ,i     
began to see  that the problem was to   
get good grain1 and then good flour     
would be  turned out1 even by a very    
clumsy old-fashioned sort of mill4  ,and
  what do ,i mean by good grain8  ,good 
men1 honest men1 accurate men1          

righteous men1 patient men1             
self-restraining men1 fair men1 modest  
men4  ,men who are aware of their own   
vast ignorance compared with the  vast  
amount that there is to be learned in   
such a universe as this4   ,men who are 
accustomed to look at both sides of a   
question2 who1  instead of making up    
their minds in haste like bigots and    
fanatics1  wait like wise men1 for more 
facts1 and more thought about the facts4
   ,in one word1 men who had acquired   
just the habit of mind which the  study 
of ,natural ,science can give1 and must 
give2 for without it  there is no use   
studying ,natural ,science2 and the man 
who has not got  that habit of mind1 if 
he meddles with science1 will merely    
become a  quack and a charlatan1 only   
fit to get his bread as a spirit-rapper1
  or an inventor of infallible pills4   
,and when ,i saw that1 ,i said to       
myself--,i will train myself1 by        
,natural ,science1 to the truly         
rational1 and therefore truly able and  

useful1 habit of mind2 and more1 ,i     
will1 for it is my duty as an           
,englishman1 train every ,englishman    
over whom ,i can get influence in  the  
same scientific habit of mind1 that ,i  
may1 if possible1 make him1  too1 a     
rational and an able man4  ,and1        
therefore1 knowing that most of you1 my 
readers--probably all of  you1 as you   
ought and must if you are ,britons1     
think much of social  and political     
questions---therefore1 ,i say1 ,i       
entreat you to  cultivate the scientific
 spirit by which alone you can judge    
justly  of those questions4  ,i ask you 
to learn how to conquer nature by       
obeying her1 as the great ,lord ,bacon  
said two hundred and fifty  years ago4  
,for so only will you in your theories  
and your movements1  draw bills which   
nature will honour--to use ,mr4         
,carlyle's famous  parable--because they
 are according to her unchanging laws1  
and not  have them returned on your     
hands1 as too many theorists' are1 with 

no effects written across their backs4  
,take my advice for yourselves1 dear    
readers1 and for your children  after   
you2 for1 believe me1 ,i am showing you 
the way to true and  useful1 and1       
therefore1 to just and deserved power4  
,i am showing you  the way to become    
members of what ,i trust will be--what  
,i am certain  ought to be--the         
aristocracy of the future4  ,i say it   
deliberately1 as a student of society   
and of history4  ,power  will pass more 
and more1 if all goes healthily and     
well1 into the  hands of scientific men2
 into the hands of those who have made  
due  use of that great heirloom which   
the philosophers of the seventeenth     
century left for the use of future      
generations1 and specially of the       
,teutonic race4  ,for the rest1 events  
seem but too likely to repeat themselves
 again  and again all over the world1 in
 the same hopeless circle4              
,aristocracies of mere birth decay and  
die1 and give place to  aristocracies of

 mere wealth2 and they again to         
aristocracies of  genius1 which are     
really aristocracies of the noisiest1 of
 mere  scribblers and spouters1 such as 
,france is writhing under at this       
moment4  ,and when these last have blown
 off their steam1 with mighty  roar1 but
 without moving the engine a single     
yard1 then they are but  too likely to  
give place to the worst of all          
aristocracies1 the  aristocracy of mere 
order1 which means organised brute force
 and  military despotism4  ,and1 after  
that1 what can come1 save anarchy1  and 
decay1 and social death8  ,what         
else8--unless there be left in the      
nation1 in the society1 as  the salt of 
the land1 to keep it all from rotting1 a
 sufficient  number of wise men to form 
a true working aristocracy1 an          
aristocracy  of sound and rational      
science8  ,if they be strong enough 7and
 they  are growing stronger day by day  
over the civilised world71 on them  will
 the future of that world mainly depend4

  ,they will rule1 and  they will       
act--cautiously we may hope1 and        
modestly and charitably1  because in    
learning true knowledge they will have  
learnt also their  own ignorance1 and   
the vastness1 the complexity1 the       
mystery of  nature4  ,but they will be  
able to rule1 they will be able to act1 
because they have taken the trouble to  
learn the facts and the laws  of nature4
  ,they will rule2 and their rule1 if   
they are true to  themselves1 will be   
one of health and wealth1 and peace1 of 
prudence  and of justice4  ,for they    
alone will be able to wield for the     
benefit  of man the brute forces of     
nature2 because they alone will have    
stooped1 to conquer nature by obeying   
her4  ,so runs my dream4  ,i ask my     
young readers to help towards making    
that  dream a fact1 by becoming 7as many
 of them as feel the justice of my      
words7 honest and earnest students of   
,natural ,science4  ,but now3  why      
should ,i1 as a clergyman1 interest     

myself specially in  the spread of      
,natural ,science8  ,am ,i not going out
 of my proper  sphere to meddle with    
secular matters8  ,am ,i not1 indeed1   
going into  a sphere out of which ,i had
 better keep myself1 and all over whom  
,i  may have influence8  ,for is not    
science antagonistic to religion8  and1 
if so1 what has a clergyman to do1 save 
to warn the young  against it1 instead  
of attracting them towards it8  ,first1 
as to meddling with secular matters4  ,i
 grudge that epithet of  secular to any 
matter whatsoever4  ,but ,i do more2 ,i 
deny it to  anything which ,god has     
made1 even to the tiniest of insects1   
the most  insignificant atom of dust4   
,to those who believe in ,god1 and try  
to  see all things in ,god1 the most    
minute natural phenomenon cannot be     
secular4  ,it must be divine2 ,i say1   
deliberately1 divine2 and ,i can  use no
 less lofty word4  ,the grain of dust is
 a thought of ,god2 ,god's  power made  
it2 ,god's wisdom gave it whatsoever    

properties or  qualities it may possess2
 ,god's providence has put it in the    
place  where it is now1 and has ordained
 that it should be in that place at     
that moment1 by a train of causes and   
effects which reaches back to  the very 
creation of the universe4  ,the grain of
 dust can no more go  from ,god's       
presence1 or flee from ,god's ,spirit1  
than you or ,i can4   ,if it go up to   
the physical heaven1 and float 7as it   
actually often  does7 far above the     
clouds1 in those higher strata of the   
atmosphere  which the aeronaut has never
 visited1 whither the ,alpine snow-peaks
  do not rise1 even there it will be    
obeying physical laws which we  term    
hastily laws of ,nature1 but which are  
really the laws of ,god3   and if it go 
down into the physical abyss2 if it be  
buried fathoms1  miles1 below the       
surface1 and become an atom of some rock
 still in  the process of consolidation1
 has it escaped from ,god1 even in the  
bowels of the earth8  ,is it not there  

still obeying physical laws1 of         
pressure1 heat1 crystallisation1 and so 
forth1 which are laws of ,god- -the will
 and mind of ,god concerning particles  
of matter8  ,only look  at all created  
things in this light--look at them as   
what they are1  the expressions of      
,god's mind and will concerning this    
universe in  which we live--the ,word of
 ,god1 as ,bacon says1 revealed in      
facts- -and then you will not fear      
physical science2 for you will be sure  
that1 the more you know of physical     
science1 the more you will know  of the 
works and of the will of ,god4  ,at     
least1 you will be in  harmony with the 
teaching of the ,psalmist3  ,the        
heavens1 says he1  declare the glory of 
,god2 and the firmament showeth ,his    
handiwork4   ,there is neither speech   
nor language where their voices are not 
heard  among them4  ,so held the        
,psalmist concerning astronomy1 the     
knowledge of the heavenly bodies2 and   
what he says of sun and stars  is true  

likewise of the flowers around our feet1
 of which the  greatest ,christian poet 
of modern times has said--   ,to me the 
meanest flower that grows may give      
,thoughts that do lie too deep for      
tears4   ,so1 again1 you will be in     
harmony with the teaching of ,st4 ,paul1
 who  told the ,romans that the         
invisible things of ,god are clearly    
seen  from the creation of the-world1   
being understood by the things that  are
 made1 even ,his eternal power and      
,godhead2 and who told the  savages of  
,lycaonia that ,god had not left        
,himself without witness1  in that ,he  
did good and sent men rain from heaven1 
and fruitful  seasons1 filling men's    
hearts with food and gladness4  ,rain   
and  fruitful seasons witnessed to all  
men of a ,father in heaven4  ,and he    
who wishes to know how truly ,st4 ,paul 
spoke1 let him study the laws  which    
produce and regulate rain and fruitful  
seasons1 what we now  call climatology1 
meteorology1 geography of land and      

water4  ,let him  read that truly noble 
,christian work1 ,maury's ,physical     
,geography of  the ,sea2 and see1 if he 
be a truly rational man1 how advanced   
science1 instead of disproving1 has only
 corroborated ,st4 ,paul's  assertion1  
and how the ocean and the rain-cloud1   
like the sun and  stars1 declare the    
glory of ,god4  ,and if anyone          
undervalues the  sciences which teach us
 concerning stones and plants and       
animals1 or  thinks that nothing can be 
learnt from them concerning ,god--allow 
one  who has been from childhood only a 
humble1 though he trusts a  diligent    
student of these sciences--allow him1 ,i
 say1 to ask in all  reverence1 but in  
all frankness1 who it was who said1     
,consider the  lilies of the field1 how 
they grow4  ,consider the birds of the  
air- -and how your ,heavenly ,father    
feedeth them4  ,consider them4  ,if ,he 
has bid you do so1 can you do so too    
much8  ,i know1 of course1 the special  
application which our ,lord made of     

these words4  ,but ,i know1 too1 from   
experience1 that the more you  study    
nature1 in all her forms the more you   
will find that the  special application 
itself is deeper1 wider1 more literally 
true1  more wonderful1 more tender1 and 
if ,i dare use such a word1 more        
poetic1 than the unscientific man can   
guess4  ,but let me ask you further--do 
you think that our ,lord in that        
instance1 and in those many instances in
 which ,he drew his parables  and       
lessons from natural objects1 was       
leading men's minds on to  dangerous    
ground1 and pointing out to them a      
subject of contemplation  in the laws   
and processes of the natural world1 and 
their analogy  with those of the        
spiritual world1 the kingdom of ,god--a 
subject of  contemplation1 ,i say1 which
 it was not safe to contemplate too     
much8  ,i appeal to your common sense4  
,if ,he who spoke these words were 7as  
,i believe7 none other than the ,creator
 of the universe1 by whom all  things   

were made1 and without whom nothing was 
made that is made1 do  you suppose that 
,he would have bid you to consider ,his 
universe1 had  it been dangerous for you
 to do so8  ,do you suppose1 moreover1  
that the universe1 which ,he1 the       
,truth1 the  ,light1 the ,love1 has     
made1 can be otherwise then infinitely  
worthy to  be considered8 or that the   
careful1 accurate1 and patient          
consideration of it1 even to its        
minutest details1 can be otherwise  than
 useful to man1 and can bear witness of 
aught1 save the mind and  character of  
,him who made it8  ,and if so1 can it be
 a work unfit for1  unworthy of1 a      
clergyman--whose duty is to preach ,him 
to all1 and in  all ways1--to call on   
men to consider that physical world     
which1 like  the spiritual world1       
consists1 holds together1 by ,him1 and  
lives and  moves and has its being in   
,him8  ,and here ,i must pause to answer
 an objection which ,i have heard in my 
youth from many pious and virtuous      

people--better people in ,god's  sight1 
than ,i1 ,i fear1 can pretend to be4    
,they used to say1 ,this would be all   
very true if there were not a  curse    
upon the earth4  ,and then they seemed  
to deduce1 from the fact  of that curse1
 a vague notion 7for it was little more7
 that this  world was the devil's world1
 and that therefore physical facts could
  not be trusted1 because they were     
disordered1 and deceptive1 and what     
not4  ,now1 in justice to the ,bible1   
and in justice to the ,church of        
,england1 ,i am bound to say that such a
 statement1 or anything like  it1 is    
contrary to the doctrines of both4  ,it 
is contrary to  ,scripture4  ,according 
to it1 the earth is not cursed4  ,for it
 is said  in ,gen4 viii4 #ba1 ,and the  
,lord said1 ,i will not again curse the 
ground any more for man's sake4  ,while 
the earth remaineth1 seed-time  and     
harvest1 cold and heat1 summer and      
winter1 day and night shall  not cease4 
,according to ,scripture1 again1        

physical facts are not  disordered4     
,the ,psalmist says1 ,they continue this
 day according to  their ordinance2 for 
all things serve ,thee4  ,and again1    
,thou hast  made them fast for ever and 
ever4  ,thou hast given them a law which
  cannot be broken4  ,so does the ,bible
 7not to quote over again the passages  
which ,i have  already given you from   
,st4 ,paul1 and ,one greater than ,st4  
,paul7  declare the permanence of       
natural laws1 and the trustworthiness of
  natural phenomena as obedient to ,god4
  ,and so does the ,church of  ,england4
  ,for she has incorporated into her    
services that magnificent  hymn1 which  
our forefathers called the ,song of the 
,three ,children2  which is1 as it were1
 the very flower and crown of the ,old  
,testament2  the summing up of all that 
is true and eternal in the old ,jewish  
faith2 as true for us as for them3  as  
true millions of years hence  as it is  
now--which cries to all heaven and      
earth1 from the skies  above our heads  

to the green herb beneath our feet1 ,o  
all ye works  of the ,lord1 bless ye the
 ,lord2 praise ,him and magnify ,him for
 ever4   ,on that one hymn ,i take my   
stand4  ,that is my charter as a student
 of  ,natural ,science4  ,as long as    
that is sung in an ,english church1 ,i  
have a right to investigate ,nature     
boldly without stint or stay1 and  to   
call on all who have the will1 to       
investigate her boldly likewise1  and   
with ,socrates of old1 to follow the    
,logos whithersoever it leads4  ,the    
,logos4  ,i must pause on that word4    
,it meant at first1 no doubt1  simply   
speech1 argument1 reason4  ,in the mind 
of ,socrates it had a  deeper meaning1  
at which he only dimly guessed2 which   
was seen more  clearly by ,philo and the
 ,alexandrian ,jews2 which was revealed 
in all  its fulness to the beloved      
,apostle ,st4 ,john1 till he gathered   
speech  to tell men of a ,logos1 a      
,word1 who was in the beginning with    
,god1  and was ,god2 by whom all things 

were made1 and without ,him was not     
anything made that was made2 and how in 
,him was ,life1 and the ,life  was the  
light of men2 and that ,he was none     
other than ,jesus ,christ  our ,lord4   
,yes1 that is the truth4  ,and to that  
truth no man can add1 and from  it no   
man can take away4  ,and as long as we  
believe that as long as  we believe that
 in ,his light alone can we see         
light--as long as we  believe that the  
light around us1 whether physical or    
spiritual1 is  given by ,him without    
whom nothing is made--so long we shall  
not fear  to meet ,light1 so long we    
shall not fear to investigate ,life2 for
 we  shall know1 however strange or     
novel1 beautiful or awful1 the          
discoveries we make may be1 we are only 
following the ,word  whithersoever ,he  
may lead us2 and that ,he can never lead
 us amiss    ,i4 ,,the ,,soil ,,of ,,the
 ,,field #b    ,my dear readers1 let me1
 before touching on the special subject 
of  this paper1 say a few words on that 

of the whole series4  ,it is geology3   
that is1 the science which explains to  
us the ,,rind of  the earth2 of what it 
is made2 how it has been made4  ,it     
tells us  nothing of the mass of the    
earth4  ,that is1 properly speaking1 an 
astronomical question4  ,if ,i may be   
allowed to liken this earth to a  fruit1
 then astronomy will tell us--when it   
knows--how the fruit  grew1 and what is 
inside the fruit4  ,geology can only    
tell us at most  how its rind1 its outer
 covering1 grew1 and of what it is      
composed2 a  very small part1 doubtless1
 of all that is to be known about this  
planet4  ,but as it happens1 the mere   
rind of this earth-fruit which has1     
countless ages since1 dropped1 as it    
were1 from the ,bosom of ,god1 the      
,eternal ,fount of ,life--the mere rind 
of this earth-fruit1 ,i say1 is  so     
beautiful and so complex1 that it is    
well worth our awful and  reverent      
study4  ,it has been well said1 indeed1 
that the history of  it1 which we call  

geology1 would be a magnificent epic    
poem1 were  there only any human        
interest in it2 did it deal with        
creatures more  like ourselves than     
stones1 and bones1 and the dead relics  
of plants  and beasts4  ,whether there  
be no human interest in geology2 whether
  man did not exist on the earth during 
ages which have seen enormous           
geological changes1 is becoming more and
 more an open question4  ,but meanwhile 
all must agree that there is matter     
enough for  interest--nay1 room enough  
for the free use of the imagination1 in 
a  science which tells of the growth and
 decay of whole mountain-ranges1        
continents1 oceans1 whole tribes and    
worlds of plants and animals4  ,and yet 
it is not so much for the vastness and  
grandeur of those  scenes of the distant
 past1 to which the science of geology  
introduces us1 that ,i value it as a    
study1 and wish earnestly to  awaken you
 to its beauty and importance4  ,it is  
because it is the  science from which   

you will learn most easily a sound      
scientific  habit of thought4  ,i say   
most easily2 and for these reasons4     
,the  most important facts of geology do
 not require1 to discover them1 any     
knowledge of mathematics or of chemical 
analysis2 they may be studied  in every 
bank1 every grot1 every quarry1 every   
railway-cutting1 by  anyone who has eyes
 and common sense1 and who chooses to   
copy the  late illustrious ,hugh        
,miller1 who made himself a great       
geologist out  of a poor stonemason4    
,next1 its most important theories are  
not1 or  need not be1 wrapped up in     
obscure ,latin and ,greek terms4  ,they 
may  be expressed in the simplest       
,english1 because they are discovered by
  simple common sense4  ,and thus       
geology is 7or ought to be71 in  popular
 parlance1 the people's science--the    
science by studying  which1 the man     
ignorant of ,latin1 ,greek1 mathematics1
 scientific  chemistry1 can yet         
become--as far as his brain enables     

him--a truly  scientific man4  ,but how 
shall we learn science by mere common   
sense8  ,first4  ,always try to explain 
the unknown by the known4  ,if you meet 
something which you have not seen       
before1 then think of the thing  most   
like it which you have seen before2 and 
try if that which you  know explains the
 one will not explain the other also4   
,sometimes it  will2 sometimes it will  
not4  ,but if it will1 no one has a     
right to  ask you to try any other      
explanation4  ,suppose1 for instance1   
that you found a dead bird on the top of
 a  cathedral tower1 and were asked how 
you thought it had got there4   ,you    
would say1 ,of course1 it died up here4 
,but if a friend said1  ,not so2 it     
dropped from a balloon1 or from the     
clouds2 and told you  the prettiest tale
 of how the bird came to so strange an  
end1 you  would answer1 ,no1 no2 ,i must
 reason from what ,i know4  ,i know that
  birds haunt the cathedral tower2 ,i   
know that birds die2 and  therefore1 let

 your story be as pretty as it may1 my  
common sense  bids me take the simplest 
explanation1 and say--it died here4  ,in
  saying that1 you would be talking     
scientifically4  ,you would have  made a
 fair and sufficient induction 7as it is
 called7 from the facts  about birds'   
habits and birds' deaths which you know4
  ,but suppose that when you took the   
bird up you found that it was  neither a
 jackdaw1 nor a sparrow nor a swallow1  
as you expected1 but  a humming-bird4   
,then you would be adrift again4  ,the  
fact of it  being a humming-bird would  
be a new fact which you had not taken   
into  account1 and for which your old   
explanation was not sufficient2 and  you
 would have to try a new induction--to  
use your common sense  afresh--saying1  
,i have not to explain merely how a dead
 bird got  here1 but how a dead         
humming-bird4  ,and now1 if your        
imaginative friend chimed in            
triumphantly with3  ,do  you not see    
that ,i was right after all8  ,do you   

not see that it fell  from the clouds8  
that it was swept away hither1 all the  
way from  ,south ,america1 by some      
south-westerly storm1 and wearied out at
 last1  dropped here to find rest1 as in
 a sacred-place8 what would you  answer8
  ,my friend1 that is a beautiful       
imagination2 but ,i must  treat it only 
as such1 as long as ,i can explain the  
mystery more  simply by facts which ,i  
do know4  ,i do not know that           
humming-birds  can be blown across the  
,atlantic alive4  ,i do know they are   
actually  brought across the ,atlantic  
dead2 are stuck in ladies' hats4  ,i    
know  that ladies visit the cathedral2  
and odd as the accident is1 ,i prefer   
to believe1 till ,i get a better        
explanation1 that the humming-bird  has 
simply dropped out of a lady's hat4     
,there1 again1 you would be  speaking   
common sense2 and using1 too1 sound     
inductive method2 trying  to explain    
what you do not know from what you do   
know already4  ,now1 ,i ask of you to   

employ the same common sense when you   
read and  think of ,geology4  ,it is    
very necessary to do so4  ,for in past  
times men have tried to  explain the    
making of the world around them1 its    
oceans1 rivers1  mountains1 and         
continents1 by ,i know not what of      
fancied cataclysms  and convulsions of  
nature2 explaining the unknown by the   
still more  unknown1 till some of their 
geological theories were no more        
rational1 because no more founded on    
known facts1 than that of the  ,new     
,zealand ,maories1 who hold that some   
god1 when fishing1 fished up  their     
islands out of the bottom of the ocean4 
,but a sounder and  wiser school of     
geologists now reigns2 the father of    
whom1 in ,england  at least1 is the     
venerable ,sir ,charles ,lyell4  ,he was
 almost the  first of ,englishmen who   
taught us to see--what common sense     
tells us- -that the laws which we see at
 work around us now have been most      
probably at work since the creation of  

the world2 and that whatever  changes   
may seem to have taken place in past    
ages1 and in ancient  rocks1 should be  
explained1 if possible1 by the changes  
which are  taking place now in the most 
recent deposits--in the soil of the     
field4  ,and in the last forty          
years--since that great and sound idea  
has  become rooted in the minds of      
students1 and especially of ,english    
students1 geology has thriven and       
developed1 perhaps more than any  other 
science2 and has led men on to          
discoveries far more really  astonishing
 and awful than all fancied convulsions 
and cataclysms4  ,i have planned this   
series of papers1 therefore1 on ,sir    
,charles  ,lyell's method4  ,i have     
begun by trying to teach a little about 
the  part of the earth's crust which    
lies nearest us1 which we see most      
often2 namely1 the soil2 intending1 if  
my readers do me the honour to  read the
 papers which follow1 to lead them      
downward1 as it were1 into  the earth2  

deeper and deeper in each paper1 to     
rocks and minerals  which are probably  
less known to them than the soil in the 
fields4   ,thus you will find ,i shall  
lead you1 or try to lead you on1        
throughout the series1 from the known to
 the unknown1 and show you  how to      
explain the latter by the former4  ,sir 
,charles ,lyell has1 ,i  see1 in the new
 edition of his ,student's ,elements of 
,geology1 begun  his book with the      
uppermost1 that is1 newest1 strata1 or  
layers2 and  has gone regularly         
downwards in the course of the book to  
the lowest  or earliest strata2 and ,i  
shall follow his plan4  ,i must ask you 
meanwhile to remember one law or rule1  
which seems to  me founded on common    
sense2 namely1 that the uppermost strata
 are  really almost always the newest2  
that when two or more layers1  whether  
of rock or earth--or indeed two stones  
in the street1 or two  sheets on a bed1 
or two books on a table--any two or more
 lifeless  things1 in fact1 lie one on  

the other1 then the lower one was most  
probably put there first1 and the upper 
one laid down on the lower4   ,does that
 seem to you a truism8  ,do ,i seem     
almost impertinent in  asking you to    
remember it8  ,so much the better4  ,i  
shall be saved  unnecessary trouble     
hereafter4  ,but some one may say1 and  
will have a right to say1 ,stop--the    
lower  thing may have been thrust under 
the upper one4  ,quite true3  and       
therefore ,i said only that the lower   
one was most probably put there  first4 
,and ,i said most probably1 because it  
is most probable that  in nature we     
should find things done by the method   
which costs least  force1 just as you do
 them4  ,i will warrant that when you   
want to  hide a thing1 you lay something
 down on it ten times for once that  you
 thrust it under something else4  ,you  
may say1 ,what8  ,when ,i want  to hide 
a paper1 say1 under the sofa-cover1 do  
,i not thrust it  under8  ,no1 you lift 
up the cover1 and slip the paper in1 and

 let the cover  fall on it again4  ,and 
so1 even in that case1 the paper has got
 into  its place first4  ,now why is    
this8  ,simply because in laying one    
thing on another you  only move weight4 
,in thrusting one thing under another1  
you have not  only to move weight1 but  
to overcome friction4  ,that is why you 
do  it1 though you are hardly aware of  
it3  simply because so you employ  less 
force1 and take less trouble4  ,and so  
do clays and sands and stones4  ,they   
are laid down on each  other1 and not   
thrust under each other1 because thus   
less force is  expended in getting them 
into place4  ,there are exceptions4     
,there are cases in which nature does   
try to  thrust one rock under another4  
,but to do that she requires a force  so
 enormous1 compared with what is        
employed in laying one rock on  another1
 that 7so to speak7 she continually     
fails2 and instead of  producing a      
volcanic eruption1 produces only an     
earthquake4  ,of that  ,i may speak     

hereafter1 and may tell you1 in good    
time1 how to  distinguish rocks which   
have been thrust in from beneath1 from  
rocks  which have been laid down from   
above1 as every rock between ,london    
and ,birmingham or ,exeter has been laid
 down4  ,that ,i only assert now4   ,but
 ,i do not wish you to take it on trust 
from me4  ,i wish to prove  it to you as
 ,i go on1 or to do what is far better  
for you3  to put  you in the way of     
proving it for yourself1 by using your  
common  sense4  ,at the risk of seeming 
prolix1 ,i must say a few more words on 
this  matter4  ,i have special reasons  
for it4  ,until ,i can get you to let   
your thoughts play freely round this    
question of the superposition  of soils 
and rocks1 there will be no use in my   
going on with these  papers4  ,suppose  
then 7to argue from the known to the    
unknown7 that you were  watching men    
cleaning out a pond4  ,atop1 perhaps1   
they would come to  a layer of soft mud1
 and under that to a layer of sand4     

,would not  common sense tell you that  
the sand was there first1 and that the  
water had laid down the mud on the top  
of it8  ,then1 perhaps1 they  might come
 to a layer of dead leaves4  ,would not 
common sense tell  you that the leaves  
were there before the sand above them8  
,then1  perhaps1 to a layer of mud      
again4  ,would not common sense tell you
  that the mud was there before the     
leaves8  ,and so on down to the  bottom 
of the pond1 where1 lastly1 ,i think    
common sense would tell  you that the   
bottom of the pond was there already1   
before all the  layers which were laid  
down on it4  ,is not that simple common 
sense8  ,then apply that reasoning to   
the soils and rocks in any spot on      
earth4  ,if you made a deep boring1 and 
found1 as you would in many  parts of   
this kingdom1 that the boring1 after    
passing through the  soil of the field1 
entered clays or loose sands1 you would 
say the  clays were there before the    
soil4  ,if it then went down into       

sandstone1 you would say--would you     
not8--that sandstone must have  been    
here before the clay2 and however       
thick--even thousands of feet- -it might
 be1 that would make no difference to   
your judgment4  ,if  next the boring    
came into quite different rocks2 into a 
different  sort of sandstone and shales1
 and among them beds of coal1 would you 
not say--,these coal-beds must have been
 here before the sandstones8   ,and if  
you found in those coal-beds dead leaves
 and stems of plants1  would you not    
say--,those plants must have been laid  
down here before  the layers above them1
 just as the dead leaves in the pond    
were8  ,if you then came to a layer of  
limestone1 would you not say the same8  
,and if you found that limestone full of
 shells and corals1 dead1 but  many of  
them quite perfect1 some of the corals  
plainly in the very  place in which they
 grew1 would you not say--,these        
creatures must  have lived down here    
before the coal was laid on top of them8

  ,and  if1 lastly1 below the limestone 
you came to a bottom rock quite         
different again1 would you not say--,the
 bottom rock must have been  here before
 the rocks on the top of it8  ,and if   
that bottom rock rose up a few miles    
off1 two thousand feet1  or any other   
height1 into hills1 what would you say  
then8  ,would you  say3  ,oh1 but the   
rock is not bottom rock2 is not under   
the  limestone here1 but higher than it4
  ,so perhaps in this part it has  made 
a shift1 and the highlands are younger  
than the lowlands2 for  see1 they rise  
so much higher8  ,would not that be as  
wise as to say  that the bottom of the  
pond was not there before the pond mud1 
because the banks round the pond rose   
higher than the mud8  ,now for the soil 
of the field4  ,if we can understand a  
little about it1 what it is made of1 and
 how  it got there1 we shall perhaps be 
on the right road toward  understanding 
what all ,england--and1 indeed1 the     
crust of this whole  planet--is made of2

 and how its rocks and soils got there4 
,but we shall best understand how the   
soil in the field was made1 by          
reasoning1 as ,i have said1 from the    
known to the unknown4  ,what do ,i      
mean8  ,this3  ,on the uplands are      
fields in which the soil is already     
made4  ,you do not know how8  ,then look
 for a field in which the soil  is still
 being made4  ,there are plenty in every
 lowland4  ,learn how  it is being made 
there2 apply the knowledge which you    
learn from them  to the upland fields   
which are already made4  ,if there is1  
as there usually is1 a river-meadow1 or 
still better1 an  aestuary1 near your   
town1 you have every advantage for      
seeing soil  made4  ,thousands of square
 feet of fresh-made soil spread between 
your town and the sea2 thousands more   
are in process of being made4  ,you will
 see now why ,i have begun with the soil
 in the field2 because  it is the       
uppermost1 and therefore latest1 of all 
the layers2 and  also for this reason1  

that1 if ,sir ,charles ,lyell's theory  
be true--as  it is--then the soils and  
rocks below the soil of the field may   
have  been made in the very same way in 
which the soil of the field is  made4   
,if so1 it is well worth our while to   
examine it4  ,you all know from whence  
the soil comes which has filled up1 in  
the  course of ages1 the great          
aestuaries below ,london1 ,stirling1    
,chester1  or ,cambridge4  ,it is river 
mud and sand4  ,the river1 helped by    
tributary brooks  right and left1 has   
brought down from the inland that       
enormous mass4   ,you know that4  ,you  
know that every flood and freshet brings
 a fresh  load1 either of fine mud or of
 fine sand1 or possibly some of it      
peaty matter out of distant hills4      
,here is one indisputable fact  from    
which to start4  ,let us look for       
another4  ,how does the mud get into the
 river8  ,the rain carries it thither4  
,if you wish to learn the first elements
 of geology by direct  experiment1 do   

this3  ,the next rainy day--the harder  
it rains the  better--instead of sitting
 at home over the fire1 and reading a   
book  about geology1 put on a macintosh 
and thick boots1 and get away1 ,i  care 
not whither1 provided you can find there
 running water4  ,if you  have not time 
to get away to a hilly country1 then go 
to the nearest  bit of turnpike road1 or
 the nearest sloping field1 and see in  
little  how whole continents are made1  
and unmade again4  ,watch the rain      
raking and sifting with its million     
delicate fingers1 separating the  finer 
particles from the coarser1 dropping the
 latter as soon as it  can1 and carrying
 the former downward with it toward the 
sea4  ,follow  the nearest roadside     
drain where it runs into a pond1 and see
 how it  drops the pebbles the moment it
 enters the pond1 and then the sand in  
a fan-shaped heap at the nearest end2   
but carries the fine mud on1  and holds 
it suspended1 to be gradually deposited 
at the bottom in  the still water2 and  

say to yourself3  ,perhaps the sands    
which cover  so many inland tracts were 
dropped by water1 very near the shore of
 a  lake or sea1 and by rapid currents4 
,perhaps1 again1 the brick clays1  which
 are often mingled with these sands1    
were dropped1 like the mud  in the pond1
 in deeper water farther from the shore1
 and certainly in  stilt water4  ,but   
more4  ,suppose once more1 then1 that   
looking and  watching a pond being      
cleared out1 under the lowest layer of  
mud1 you  found--as you would find in   
any of those magnificent reservoirs so  
common in the ,lancashire hills--a layer
 of vegetable soil1 with grass  and     
brushwood rooted in it4  ,what would you
 say but3  ,the pond has  not been      
always full4  ,it has at some time or   
other been dry enough  to let a whole   
copse grow up inside it8  ,and if you   
found--as you will actually find along  
some ,english  shores--under the sand   
hills1 perhaps a bed of earth with      
shells and  bones2 under that a bed of  

peat2 under that one of blue silt2 under
  that a buried forest1 with the trees  
upright and rooted2 under that  another 
layer of blue silt full of roots and    
vegetable fibre2 perhaps  under that    
again another old land surface with     
trees again growing in  it2 and under   
all the main bottom clay of the         
district--what would  common sense tell 
you8  ,i leave you to discover for      
yourselves4  ,it  certainly would not   
tell you that those trees were thrust in
 there by  a violent convulsion1 or that
 all those layers were deposited there  
in a few days1 or even a few years2 and 
you might safely indulge in             
speculations about the antiquity of the 
aestuary1 and the changes  which it has 
undergone1 with which ,i will not       
frighten you at  present4  ,it will be  
fair reasoning to argue thus4  ,you may 
not be always right  in your conclusion1
 but still you will be trying fairly to 
explain  the unknown by the known4  ,but
 have ,rain and ,rivers alone made the  

soil8  ,how very much they have done    
toward making it you will be able to    
judge for yourselves1 if you will read  
the sixth chapter of ,sir  ,charles     
,lyell's new ,elements of ,geology1 or  
the first hundred pages  of that        
admirable book1 ,de la ,beche's         
,geological ,observer2 and  last1 but   
not least1 a very clever little book    
called ,rain and  ,rivers1 by ,colonel  
,george ,greenwood4  ,but though rain1  
like rivers1 is a carrier of soil1 it is
 more4  ,it  is a maker of soil1        
likewise2 and by it mainly the soil of  
an upland  field is made1 whether it be 
carried down to the sea or not4  ,if you
 will look into any quarry you will see 
that however compact  the rock may be a 
few feet below the surface1 it becomes1 
in almost  every case1 rotten and broken
 up as it nears the upper soil1 till you
  often cannot tell where the rock ends 
and the soil begins4  ,now this change  
has been produced by rain4  ,first1     
mechanically1 by  rain in the shape of  

ice4  ,the winter rain gets into the    
ground1 and  does by the rock what it   
has done by the stones of many an old   
building4  ,it sinks into the porous    
stone1 freezes there1 expands in        
freezing1 and splits and peels the stone
 with a force which is slowly  but      
surely crumbling the whole of ,northern 
,europe and ,america to  powder4  ,do   
you doubt me8  ,i say nothing but what  
you can judge of yourselves4   ,the next
 time you go up any mountain1 look at   
the loose broken stones  with which the 
top is coated1 just underneath the turf4
  ,what has  broken them up but frost8  
,look again1 as stronger proof1 at the  
talus of broken stones--screes1 as they 
call them in ,scotland2  rattles1 as we 
call them in ,devon--which lie along the
 base of many  mountain cliffs4  ,what  
has brought them down but frost8  ,if   
you ask  the country folk they will tell
 you whether ,i am right or not4  ,if   
you go thither1 not in the summer1 but  
just after the winter's frost1  you will

 see for yourselves1 by the fresh       
frost-crop of newly-broken  bits1 that  
,i am right4  ,possibly you may find me 
to be even more  right than is          
desirable1 by having a few angular      
stones1 from the  size of your head to  
that of your body1 hurled at you by the 
frost- giants up above4  ,if you go to  
the ,alps at certain seasons1 and hear  
the thunder of the falling rocks1 and   
see their long lines--moraines1  as they
 are called--sliding slowly down upon   
the surface of the  glacier1 then you   
will be ready to believe the geologist  
who tells  you that frost1 and probably 
frost alone1 has hewn out such a peak as
  the ,matterhorn from some vast        
table-land2 and is hewing it down       
still1 winter after winter1 till some   
day1 where the snow ,alps now  stand1   
there shall be rolling uplands of rich  
cultivable soil4  ,so much for the      
mechanical action of rain1 in the shape 
of ice4  ,now  a few words on its       
chemical action4  ,rain water is seldom 

pure4  ,it carries in it carbonic acid2 
and that  acid1 beating in shower after 
shower against the face of a cliff--    
especially if it be a limestone         
cliff--weathers the rock chemically2    
changing 7in case of limestone7 the     
insoluble carbonate of lime into  a     
soluble bicarbonate1 and carrying that  
away in water1 which1  however clear1 is
 still hard4  ,hard water is usually    
water which has  invisible lime in it2  
there are from ten to fifteen grains and
 more  of lime in every gallon of       
limestone water4  ,i leave you to       
calculate  the enormous weight of lime  
which must be so carried down to the sea
  every year by a single limestone or   
chalk brook4  ,you can calculate  it1 if
 you like1 by ascertaining the weight of
 lime in each gallon1  and the average  
quantity of water which comes down the  
stream in a  day2 and when your sum is  
done1 you will be astonished to find it 
one  not of many pounds1 but probably of
 many tons1 of solid lime1 which  you   

never suspected or missed from the hills
 around4  ,again1 by the  time the rain 
has sunk through the soil1 it is still  
less pure4  ,it  carries with it not    
only carbonic acid1 but acids produced  
by  decaying vegetables--by the roots of
 the grasses and trees which grow       
above2 and they dissolve the cement of  
the rock by chemical action1  especially
 if the cement be lime or iron4  ,you   
may see this for  yourselves1 again and 
again4  ,you may see how the root of a  
tree1  penetrating the earth1 discolours
 the soil with which it is in  contact4 
,you may see how the whole rock1 just   
below the soil1 has  often changed in   
colour from the compact rock below1 if  
the soil be  covered with a dense layer 
of peat or growing vegetables4  ,but    
there is another force at work1 and     
quite as powerful as rain and  rivers1  
making the soil of alluvial flats4      
,perhaps it has helped1  likewise1 to   
make the soil of all the lowlands in    
these isles--and  that is1 the waves of 

the sea4  ,if you ever go to ,parkgate1 
in ,cheshire1 try if you cannot learn   
there a little geology4  ,walk beyond   
the town4  ,you find the shore protected
 for a long way by  a sea-wall1 lest it 
should be eaten away by the waves4      
,what the  force of those waves can be1 
even on that sheltered coast1 you may   
judge--at least you could have judged   
this time last year--by the  masses of  
masonry torn from their iron clampings  
during the gale of  three winters since4
  ,look steadily at those rolled blocks1
 those  twisted stanchions1 if they are 
there still2 and then ask yourselves-   
-it will be fair reasoning from the     
known to the unknown--,what effect  must
 such wave-power as that have had       
beating and breaking for  thousands of  
years along the western coasts of       
,england1 ,scotland1  ,ireland8  ,it    
must have eaten up thousands of         
acres--whole shires1 may  be1 ere now4  
,its teeth are strong enough1 and it    
knows neither rest  nor pity1 the cruel 

hungry sea4  ,give it but time enough1  
and what  would it not eat up8  ,it     
would eat up1 in the course of ages1 all
 the  dry land of this planet1 were it  
not baffled by another counteracting    
force1 of which ,i shall speak          
hereafter4  ,as you go on beyond the    
sea-wall1 you find what it is eating up4
  ,the  whole low cliff is going        
visibly4  ,but whither is it going8  ,to
 form  new soil in the aestuary4  ,now  
you will not wonder how old harbours  so
 often become silted up4  ,the sea has  
washed the land into them4   ,but more1 
the sea-currents do not allow the sands 
of the aestuary to  escape freely out to
 sea4  ,they pile it up in shifting     
sand-banks  about the mouth of the      
aestuary4  ,the prevailing sea-winds1   
from  whatever quarter1 catch up the    
sand1 and roll it up into sand-hills4   
,those sand-hills are again eaten down  
by the sea1 and mixed with the  mud of  
the tide-flats1 and so is formed a      
mingled soil1 partly of  clayey mud1    

partly of sand2 such a soil as stretches
 over the greater  part of all our      
lowlands4  ,now1 why should not that    
soil1 whether in ,england or in         
,scotland1  have been made by the same  
means as that of every aestuary4  ,you  
find over great tracts of ,east         
,scotland1 ,lancashire1 ,norfolk1  etc41
 pure loose sand just beneath the       
surface1 which looks as if it  was blown
 sand from a beach4  ,is it not         
reasonable to suppose that it  is8  ,you
 find rising out of many lowlands1 crags
 which look exactly  like old sea-cliffs
 eaten by the waves1 from the base of   
which the  waters have gone back4  ,why 
should not those crags be old           
sea-cliffs8   ,why should we not1       
following our rule of explaining the    
unknown by  the known1 assume that such 
they are till someone gives us a sound  
proof that they are not2 and say--,these
 great plains of ,england and  ,scotland
 were probably once covered by a shallow
 sea1 and their soils  made as the soil 

of any tide-flat is being made now8     
,but you may say1 and most reasonably   
,the tide-flats are just at the         
sea-level4  ,the whole of the lowland is
 many feet above the sea2 it  must      
therefore have been raised out of the   
sea1 according to your  theory3  and    
what proofs have you of that8  ,well1   
that is a question both grand and deep1 
on which ,i shall not  enter yet2 but   
meanwhile1 to satisfy you that ,i wish  
to play fair  with you1 ,i ask you to   
believe nothing but what you can prove  
for  yourselves4  ,let me ask you this3 
suppose that you had proof  positive    
that ,i had fallen into the river in the
 morning2 would not  your meeting me in 
the evening be also proof positive that 
somehow or  other ,i had in the course  
of the day got out of the river8  ,i    
think  you will accept that logic as    
sound4  ,now if ,i can give you proof   
positive1 proof which you can see with  
your own eyes1 and handle with your own 
hands1 and alas6 often feel  but too    

keenly with your own feet1 that the     
whole of the lowlands  were once beneath
 the sea2 then will it not be certain   
that1 somehow  or other1 they must have 
been raised out of the sea again8  ,and 
that ,i propose to do in my next paper1 
when ,i speak of the  pebbles in the    
street4  ,meanwhile ,i wish you to face 
fairly the truly grand idea1 which all  
,i  have said tends to prove true--that 
all the soil we see is made by  the     
destruction of older soils1 whether soft
 as clay1 or hard as  rock2 that rain1  
rivers1 and seas are perpetually melting
 and  grinding up old land1 to compose  
new land out of it2 and that it must    
have been doing so1 as long as rain1    
rivers1 and seas have existed4   ,but   
how did the first land of all get made8 
,i can only reply3  ,a  natural         
question3  but we can only answer that1 
by working from the  known to the       
unknown4  ,while we are finding out how 
these later lands  were made and unmade1
 we may stumble on some hints as to how 

the  first primeval continents rose out 
of the bosom of the sea4  ,and thus ,i  
end this paper4  ,i trust it has not    
been intolerably dull4   ,but ,i wanted 
at starting to show my readers something
 of the right  way of finding out truth 
on this and perhaps on all subjects2 to 
make  some simple appeals to your common
 sense2 and to get you to accept  some  
plain rules founded on common sense1    
which will be of infinite  use to both  
you and me in my future papers4  ,i     
hope1 meanwhile1 that you will agree    
with me1 that there is plenty  of       
geological matter to be seen and thought
 over in the neighbourhood  of any town4
  ,be sure1 that wherever there is a    
river1 even a drain2 and a stone        
quarry1 or even a roadside bank2 much   
more where there is a sea1 or a  tidal  
aestuary1 there is geology enough to be 
learnt1 to explain the  greater part of 
the making of all the continents on the 
globe4    ,,ii4  ,,the ,,pebbles ,,in   
,,the ,,street    ,if you1 dear reader1 

dwell in any northern town1 you will    
almost  certainly see paving courts and 
alleys1 and sometimes--to the           
discomfort of your feet--whole streets1 
or set up as bournestones at  corners1  
or laid in heaps to be broken up for    
road-metal1 certain  round pebbles1     
usually dark brown or speckled gray1 and
 exceedingly  tough and hard4  ,some of 
them will be very large--boulders of    
several  feet in diameter4  ,if you move
 from town to town1 from the north of   
,scotland as far down as ,essex on the  
east1 or as far down as  ,shrewsbury and
 ,wolverhampton 7at least7 on the west1 
you will still  find these pebbles1 but 
fewer and smaller as you go south4  ,it 
matters not what the rocks and soils of 
the country round may be4   ,however    
much they may differ1 these pebbles will
 be1 on the whole1  the same everywhere4
  ,but if your town be south of the     
valley of the ,thames1 you will find1   
as far as ,i am aware1 no such pebbles  
there4  ,the gravels round you  will be 

made up entirely of rolled chalk flints1
 and bits of beds  immediately above or 
below the chalk4  ,the blocks of        
,sarsden  sandstone--those of which     
,stonehenge is built--and the           
plum-pudding  stones which are sometimes
 found with them1 have no kindred with  
the  northern pebbles4  ,they belong to 
beds above the chalk4  ,now if1 seeing  
such pebbles about your town1 you       
inquire1 like a  sensible person who    
wishes to understand something of the   
spot on  which he lives1 whence they    
come1 you will be shown either a gravel-
 pit or a clay-pit4  ,in the gravel the 
pebbles and boulders lie mixed  with    
sand1 as they do in the railway cutting 
just south of  ,shrewsbury2 or in huge  
mounds of fine sweet earth1 as they do  
in the  gorge of the ,tay about         
,dunkeld1 and all the way up            
,strathmore1 where  they form long      
grassy mounds--tomauns as they call them
 in some parts  of ,scotland--askers as 
they call them in ,ireland4  ,these     

mounds1 with  their sweet fresh turf    
rising out of heather and bog1 were     
tenanted-- so ,scottish children used to
 believe--by fairies4  ,he that was     
lucky  might hear inside them fairy     
music1 and1 the jingling of the fairy   
horses' trappings4  ,but woe to him if  
he fell asleep upon the mound1  for he  
would be spirited away into fairyland   
for seven years1 which  would seem to   
him but one day4  ,a strange fancy2 yet 
not so strange  as the actual truth as  
to what these mounds are1 and how they  
came  into their places4  ,or again1 you
 might find that your town's pebbles and
 boulders came  out of a pit of clay1 in
 which they were stuck1 without any     
order or  bedding1 like plums and       
raisins in a pudding4  ,this clay goes  
usually  by the name of boulder-clay4   
,you would see such near any town in    
,cheshire and ,lancashire2 or along     
,leith shore1 near ,edinburgh2 or1 to   
give one more instance out of hundreds1 
along the coast at  ,scarborough4  ,if  

you walk along the shore southward of   
that town1 you  will see1 in the gullies
 of the cliff1 great beds of sticky     
clay1  stuffed full of bits of every    
rock between the ,lake mountains and    
,scarborough1 from rounded pebbles of   
most ancient rock down to great  angular
 fragments of ironstone and coal4       
,there1 as elsewhere1 the  great        
majority of the pebbles have nothing to 
do with the rock on  which the clay     
happens to lie1 but have come1 some of  
them1 from  places many miles away4     
,now if we find spread over a low land  
pebbles composed of rocks which  are    
only found in certain high lands1 is it 
not an act of common  sense to          
say--,these pebbles have come from the  
highlands8  ,and if the  pebbles are    
rounded1 while the rocks like them in   
the highlands  always break off in      
angular shapes1 is it not1 again1 an act
 of mere  common sense to say--,these   
pebbles were once angular1 and have been
  rubbed round1 either in getting hither

 or before they started hither8  ,does  
all this seem to you mere truism1 my    
dear reader8  ,if so1 ,i am  sincerely  
glad to hear it4  ,it was not so very   
long ago that such  arguments would have
 been considered not only no truisms1   
but not  even common sense4  ,but to    
return1 let us take1 as an example1 a   
sample of these boulder  clay pebbles   
from the neighbourhood of ,liverpool and
 ,birkenhead1 made  by ,mr4 ,de ,rance1 
the government geological surveyor3     
,granite1 greenstone1 felspar porphyry1 
felstone1 quartz rock 7all  igneous     
rocks1 that is1 either formed by1 or    
altered by volcanic  heat1 and almost   
all found in the ,lake mountains71 #cg  
per cent4  ,silurian grits 7the common  
stones of the ,lake mountains deposited 
by  water71 #dc per cent4  ,ironstone1  
#a per cent4  ,carboniferous limestone1 
#e per cent4  ,permian or ,triassic     
sandstones1 i4e4 rocks immediately round
  ,liverpool1 #ab per cent4  ,now1 does 
not this sample show1 as far as human   

common sense can be  depended on1 that  
the great majority of these stones come 
from the  ,lake mountains1 sixty or     
seventy miles north of ,liverpool8  ,i  
think  your common sense will tell you  
that these pebbles are not mere         
concretions2 that is1 formed out of the 
substance of the clay after  it was     
deposited4  ,the least knowledge of     
mineralogy would prove  that4  ,but1    
even if you are no mineralogist1 common 
sense will tell  you1 that if they were 
all concreted out of the same clay1 it  
is most  likely that they would be all  
of the same kind1 and not of a dozen or 
more different kinds4  ,common sense    
will tell you1 also1 that if they  were 
all concreted out of the same clay1 it  
is a most extraordinary  coincidence1   
indeed one too strange to be believed1  
if any less  strange explanation can be 
found--that they should have taken the  
composition of different rocks which are
 found all together in one  group of    
mountains to the northward4  ,you will  

surely say--,if this be  granite1 it has
 most probably come from a granite      
mountain2 if this  be grit1 from a      
grit-stone mountain1 and so on with the 
whole list4   ,why--are we to go out of 
our way to seek improbable explanations1
  when there is a probable one staring  
us in the face8  ,next--and this is well
 worth your notice--if you will examine 
the  pebbles carefully1 especially the  
larger ones1 you will find that  they   
are not only more or less rounded1 but  
often scratched2 and  often1 too1 in    
more than one direction1 two or even    
three sets of  scratches crossing each  
other2 marked1 as a cat marks an elder  
stem  when she sharpens her claws upon  
it2 and that these scratches have  not  
been made by the quarrymen's tools1 but 
are old marks which  exist--as you may  
easily prove for yourself--while the    
stone is still  lying in its bed of     
clay4  ,would it not be an act of mere  
common  sense to say--,these scratches  
have been made by the sharp points of   

other stones which have rubbed against  
the pebbles somewhere1 and  somewhen1   
with great force8  ,so far so good4     
,the next question is--,how did these   
stones get into  the clay8  ,if we can  
discover that1 we may also discover how 
they  wore rounded and scratched4  ,we  
must find a theory which will answer    
our question2 and one which1 as         
,professor ,huxley would say1 will go   
on all-fours1 that is1 will explain all 
the facts of the case1 and  not only a  
few of them4  ,what1 then1 brought the  
stones8  ,we cannot1 ,i think1 answer   
that question1 as some have tried to    
answer it1 by saying that they were     
brought by ,noah's flood4  ,for it  is  
clear1 that very violent currents of    
water would be needed to  carry         
boulders1 some of them weighing many    
tons1 for many miles4  ,now  ,scripture 
says nothing of any such violent        
currents2 and we have no  right to put  
currents1 or any other imagined facts1  
into ,scripture  out of our own heads1  

and then argue from them as if not we1  
but the  text of ,scripture had asserted
 their existence4  ,but still1 they may 
have been rolled hither by water4  ,that
 theory  certainly would explain their  
being rounded2 though not their being   
scratched4  ,but it will not explain    
their being found in the clay4          
,recollect what ,i said in my first     
paper3  that water drops its  pebbles   
and coarser particles first1 while it   
carries the fine clayey  mud onward in  
solution1 and only drops it when the    
water becomes  still4  ,now currents of 
such tremendous violence as to carry    
these  boulder stones onward1 would have
 carried the mud for many miles  farther
 still2 and we should find the boulders1
 not in clay1 but  lying loose together1
 probably on a hard rock bottom1 scoured
 clean  by the current4  ,that is what  
we find in the beds of streams2 that is 
just what we do not find in this case4  
,but the boulders may have been brought 
by a current1 and then the  water may   

have become still1 and the clay settled 
quietly round them4   ,what8  ,under    
them as well as over them8  ,on that    
theory also we  should find them only at
 the bottom of the clay4  ,as it is1 we 
find  them scattered anywhere and       
everywhere through it1 from top to      
bottom4  ,so that theory will not do4   
,indeed1 no theory will do which        
supposes them to have been brought by   
water alone4  ,try yourself1 dear       
reader1 and make experiments1 with      
running water1  pebbles1 and mud4  ,if  
you try for seven years1 ,i believe1 you
 will  never contrive to make your      
pebbles lie about in your mud1 as they  
lie about in every pit in the boulder   
clay4  ,well then1 there we are at      
fault1 it seems4  ,we have no           
explanation  drawn from known facts     
which will do--unless we are to suppose1
 which  ,i don't think you will do1 that
 stones1 clay1 and all were blown       
hither along the surface of the ground1 
by primeval hurricanes1 ten  times worse

 than those of the ,west ,indies1 which 
certainly will roll  a cannon a few     
yards1 but cannot1 surely1 roll a       
boulder stone a  hundred miles4  ,now1  
suppose that there was a force1 an      
agent1 known--luckily for  you1 not to  
you--but known too well to sailors and  
travellers2 a  force which is at work   
over the vast sheets of land at both the
 north  and south poles2 at work1 too1  
on every high mountain range in the     
world1 and therefore a very common      
natural force2 and suppose that  this   
force would explain all the facts1      
namely--  ,how the stones got here2     
,how they were scratched and rounded2   
,how they were imbedded in clay2        
because it is notoriously1 and before   
men's eyes now1 carrying great  stones  
hundreds of miles1 and scratching and   
rounding them also2  carrying vast      
deposits of mud1 too1 and mixing up mud 
and stones just  as we see them in the  
brick-pits1--,would not our common sense
 have a  right to try that              

explanation8--to suspect that this      
force1 which we  do not see at work in  
,britain now1 may have been at work here
 ages  since8  ,that would at least be  
reasoning from the known to the         
unknown4  ,what state of things1 then1  
do we find among the highest  mountains2
 and over whole countries which1 though 
not lofty1 lie far  enough north or     
south to be permanently covered with    
ice8  ,we find1 first1 an ice-cap or    
ice-sheet1 fed by the winter's snows1   
stretching over the higher land1 and    
crawling downward and outward by  its   
own weight1 along the valleys1 as       
glaciers4  ,we find underneath the      
glaciers1 first a moraine profonde1     
consisting  of the boulders and gravel1 
and earth1 which the glacier has ground 
off the hillsides1 and is carrying down 
with it4  ,these stones1 of course1     
grind1 scratch1 and polish each other2  
and  in like wise grind1 scratch1 and   
polish the rock over which they  pass1  
under the enormous weight of the        

superincumbent ice4  ,we find also1     
issuing from under each glacier a       
stream1 carrying the  finest mud1 the   
result of the grinding of the boulders  
against each  other and the glacier4    
,we find1 moreover1 on the surface of   
the glaciers1 moraines                  
superieures--long lines of stones and   
dirt which had fallen from  neighbouring
 cliffs1 and are now travelling downward
 with the  glaciers4  ,their fate1 if   
the glacier ends on land1 is what was to
 be expected4   ,the stones from above  
the glacier fall over the ice-cliff at  
its end1  to mingle with those thrown   
out from underneath the glacier1 and    
form  huge banks of boulders1 called    
terminal moraines1 while the mud runs   
off1 as all who have seen glaciers know1
 in a turbid torrent4  ,their fate1     
again1 is what was to be expected if the
 glacier ends1 as  it commonly does in  
,arctic regions1 in the sea4  ,the ice  
grows out to  sea-ward for more than a  
mile sometimes1 about one-eighth of it  

being  above water1 and seven-eighths   
below1 so that an ice-cliff one  hundred
 feet high may project into water eight 
hundred feet deep4  ,at  last1 when it  
gets out of its depth1 the buoyancy of  
the water breaks  it off in icebergs1   
which float away1 at the mercy of tides 
and  currents1 often grounding again in 
shallower water1 and ploughing the      
sea-bottom as they drag along it4       
,these bergs carry stones and dirt1     
often in large quantities2 so that1     
whenever a berg melts or  capsizes1 it  
strews its burden confusedly about the  
sea-floor4  ,meanwhile the fine mud     
which is flowing out from under the ice 
goes  out to sea likewise1 colouring the
 water far out1 and then subsiding  as a
 soft tenacious ooze1 in which the      
stones brought out by the ice  are      
imbedded4  ,and this ooze--so those who 
have examined it assert-- cannot be     
distinguished from the brick-clay1 or   
fossiliferous  boulder-clay1 so common  
in the ,north4  ,a very illustrious     

,scandinavian explorer1 visiting        
,edinburgh1 declared1 as soon as he  saw
 the sections of boulder-clay exhibited 
near that city1 that this  was the very 
substance which he saw forming in the   
,spitzbergen ice- fiords4 #c  ,i have   
put these facts as simply and baldly as 
,i can1 in order that  the reader may   
look steadily at them1 without having   
his attention  drawn off1 or his fancy  
excited1 by their real poetry and       
grandeur4   ,indeed1 it would have been 
an impertinence to have done otherwise2 
for ,i have never seen a live glacier1  
by land or sea1 though ,i have  seen    
many a dead one4  ,and the public has   
had the opportunity1  lately1 of reading
 so many delightful books about peaks1  
passes1 and  glaciers1 that ,i am bound 
to suppose that many of my readers know 
as  much1 or more1 about them than ,i   
do4  ,but let us go a step farther2 and1
 bearing in our minds what live         
glaciers are like1 let us imagine what a
 dead glacier would be like2  a glacier1

 that is1 which had melted1 and left    
nothing but its  skeleton of stones and 
dirt4  ,we should find the faces of the 
rock scored and polished1 generally  in 
lines pointing down the valleys1 or at  
least outward from the  centre of the   
highlands1 and polished and scored most 
in their upland  or weather sides4  ,we 
should find blocks of rock left behind1 
and  perched about on other rocks of a  
different kind4  ,we should find in  the
 valleys the old moraines left as vast  
deposits of boulder and  shingle1 which 
would be in time sawn through and sorted
 over by the  rivers4  ,and if the      
sea-bottom outside were upheaved1 and   
became dry  land1 we should find on it  
the remains of the mud from under the   
glacier1 stuck full of stones and       
boulders iceberg-dropped4  ,this mud    
would be often very irregularly bedded2 
for it would have been  disturbed by the
 ploughing of the icebergs1 and mixed   
here and there  with dirt which had     
fallen from them4  ,moreover1 as the sea

 became  shallower and the mud-beds got 
awash one after the other1 they would   
be torn about1 re-sifted1 and re-shaped 
by currents and by tides1 and  mixed    
with shore-sand ground out of           
shingle-beach1 thus making  confusion   
worse confounded4  ,a few shells1 of an 
,arctic or northern  type1 would be     
found in it here and there4  ,some would
 have lived  near those later beaches1  
some in deeper water in the ancient     
ooze1  wherever the iceberg had left it 
in peace long enough for sea-animals  to
 colonise and breed in it4  ,but the    
general appearance of the dried         
sea-bottom would be a dreary and        
lifeless waste of sands1 gravels1  loose
 boulders1 and boulder-bearing clays2   
and wherever a boss of  bare rock still 
stood up1 it would be found ground down1
 and probably  polished and scored by   
the ponderous icebergs which had        
lumbered over  it in their passage out  
to sea4  ,in a word1 it would look      
exactly as vast tracts of the ,english1 

,scotch1 and ,irish lowlands must have  
looked before returning  vegetation     
coated their dreary sands and clays with
 a layer of brown  vegetable soil4      
,thus1 and ,i believe thus only1 can we 
explain the facts connected  with these 
boulder pebbles4  ,no agent known on    
earth can have stuck  them in the clay1 
save ice1 which is known to do so still 
elsewhere4  ,no known agent can have    
scratched them as they are scratched1   
save  ice1 which is known to do so still
 elsewhere4  ,no known agent--certainly 
not1 in my opinion1 the existing        
rivers-- can have accumulated the vast  
beds of boulders which lie along the    
course of certain northern rivers2      
notably along the ,dee about            
,aboyne--save ice bearing them slowly   
down from the distant summits of  the   
,grampians4  ,no known agent1 save ice1 
can have produced those rounded1 and    
polished1 and scored1 and fluted rochers
 moutonnes sheep-backed  rocks--so      
common in the ,lake district2 so common1

 too1 in ,snowdon1  especially between  
the two lakes of ,llanberis2 common in  
,kerry2 to be  seen anywhere1 as far as 
,i have ascertained1 around the ,scotch 
,highlands1 where the turf is cleared   
away from an unweathered surface  of the
 rock1 in the direction in which a      
glacier would have pressed  against it  
had one been there4  ,where these       
polishings and scorings  are found in   
narrow glens1 it is1 no doubt1 an open  
question whether  some of them may not  
be the work of water4  ,but nothing but 
the  action of ice can have produced    
what ,i have seen in land-locked and    
quiet fords in ,kerry--ice-flutings in  
polished rocks below high-water  mark1  
so large that ,i could lie down in one  
of them4  ,nothing but the  action of   
ice could produce what may be seen in   
any of our mountains- -whole sheets of  
rock ground down into rounded flats1    
irrespective of  the lie of the beds1   
not in valleys1 but on the brows and    
summits of  mountains1 often ending     

abruptly at the edge of some sudden     
cliff1  where the true work of water1 in
 the shape of rain and frost1 is        
actually destroying the previous work of
 ice1 and fulfilling the rule  laid down
 7,i think by ,professor ,geikie in his 
delightful book on  ,scotch scenery as  
influenced by its geology71 that ice    
planes down  into flats1 while water    
saws out into crags and gullies2 and    
that the  rain and frost are even now   
restoring ,scotch scenery to something  
of  that ruggedness and picturesqueness 
which it must have lost when it  lay1   
like ,greenland1 under the              
indiscriminating grinding of a heavy    
sheet of ice4  ,lastly2 no known agent1 
save ice1 will explain those perched    
boulders1 composed of ancient hard      
rocks1 which may be seen in so  many    
parts of these islands and of the       
,continent4  ,no water power  could have
 lifted those stones1 and tossed them up
 high and dry on  mountain ridges and   
promontories1 upon rocks of a totally   

different  kind4  ,some of my readers   
surely recollect ,wordsworth's noble    
lines  about these mysterious wanderers1
 of which he had seen many a one  about 
his native hills3   ,as a huge stone is 
sometimes seen to lie ,couched on the   
bald top of an eminence1 ,wonder to all 
who do the same espy ,by what means it  
could thither come1 and whence2 ,so that
 it seems a thing endued with sense3    
,like a sea-beast crawled forth1 that on
 a shelf ,of rock or sand reposeth1     
there to sun itself4   ,yes2 but the    
next time you see such a stone1 believe 
that the wonder  has been solved1 and   
found to be1 like most wonders in       
,nature1 more  wonderful than we guessed
 it to be4  ,it is not a sea-beast which
 has  crawled forth1 but an ice-beast   
which has been left behind2 lifted up   
thither by the ice1 as surely as the    
famous ,pierre-a-bot1 forty feet  in    
diameter1 and hundreds of boulders more1
 almost as large as  cottages1 have been
 carried by ice from the distant ,alps  

right across  the lake of ,neufchatel1  
and stranded on the slopes of the ,jura1
 nine  hundred feet above the lake4 #d  
,thus1 ,i think1 we have accounted for  
facts enough to make it probable  that  
,britain was once covered partly by an  
ice-sheet1 as ,greenland is  now1 and   
partly1 perhaps1 by an icy sea4  ,but1  
to make assurance more  sure1 let us    
look for new facts1 and try whether our 
ice-dream will  account for them also4  
,let us investigate our case as a good  
medical  man does1 by verifying his     
first induction4  ,he says3  ,at the    
first glance1 ,i can see symptoms a1 b1 
c4  ,it is  therefore probable that my  
patient has got complaint ,a4  ,but if  
he  has he ought to have symptom d also4
  ,if ,i find that1 my guess will  be   
yet more probable4  ,he ought also to   
have symptom e1 and so forth2  and as ,i
 find successively each of these        
symptoms which are proper to  ,a1 my    
first guess will become more and more   
probable1 till it reaches  practical    

certainty4  ,now let us do the same1 and
 say--,if this strange dream be true1   
and  the lowlands of the ,north were    
once under an icy sea1 ought we not to  
find sea-shells in their sands and      
clays8  ,not abundantly1 of course4     
,we can understand that the sea-animals 
would be too rapidly covered  up in mud1
 and too much disturbed by icebergs and 
boulders1 to be  very abundant4  ,but   
still1 some should surely be found here 
and  there4  ,doubtless2 and if my      
northern-town readers will search the   
boulder- clay pits near them1 they will 
most probably find a few shells1 if  not
 in the clay itself1 yet in sand-beds   
mixed with them1 and  probably          
underlying them4  ,and this is a notable
 fact1 that the more  species of shells 
they find1 the more they will find--if  
they work  out their names from any good
 book of conchology--of a northern type2
  of shells which notoriously1 at this  
day1 inhabit the colder seas4  ,it is   
impossible for me here to enter at      

length on a subject on which  a whole   
literature has been already written4    
,those who wish to study  it may find   
all that they need know1 and more1 in   
,lyell's ,student's  ,elements of       
,geology1 and in chapter xii4 of his    
,antiquity of ,man4   ,they will find   
that if the evidence of scientific      
conchologists be  worth anything1 the   
period can be pointed out in the strata1
 though  not of course in time1 at which
 these seas began to grow colder1 and   
southern and ,mediterranean shells to   
disappear1 their places being  taken by 
shells of a temperate1 and at last of an
 ,arctic climate2  which last have since
 retreated either toward their native   
,north1 or  into cold water at great    
depths4  ,from ,essex across to ,wales1 
from  ,wales to the aestuary of the     
,clyde1 this fact has been verified     
again  and again4  ,and in the search   
for these shells1 a fresh fact1 and a   
most startling one1 was discovered4     
,they are to be found not only in  the  

clay of the lowlands1 but at            
considerable heights up the hills1      
showing that1 at some time or other1    
these hills have been submerged  beneath
 the sea4  ,let me give one example1    
which any tourist into ,wales may see   
for  himself4  ,moel ,tryfaen is a      
mountain over ,carnarvon4  ,now perched 
on  the side of that mountain1 fourteen 
hundred feet above the present          
sea-level1 is an ancient sea-beach1     
five-and-thirty feet thick1 lying  on   
great ice-scratched boulders1 which     
again lie on the mountain  slates4  ,it 
was discovered by the late ,mr4         
,trimmer1 now1 alas6 lost  to ,geology4 
,out of that beach fifty-seven different
 species of  shells have been taken2    
eleven of them are now exclusively      
,arctic1  and not found in our seas2    
four of them are still common to the    
,arctic seas and to our own2 and almost 
all the rest are northern  shells4      
,fourteen hundred feet above the present
 sea3  and that1 it must be  understood1

 is not the greatest height at which    
such shells may be  found hereafter4    
,for1 according to ,professor ,ramsay1  
drift of the  same kind as that on ,moel
 ,tryfaen is found at a height of two   
thousand three hundred feet4  ,now ,i   
ask my readers to use their common sense
 over this astounding  fact--which1     
after all1 is only one among hundreds2  
to let 7as ,mr4  ,matthew ,arnold would 
well say7 their thought play freely     
about it2  and consider for themselves  
what those shells must mean4  ,i say not
  may1 but must1 unless we are to       
believe in a ,deus quidam deceptor1  in 
a ,god who puts shells upon             
mountain-sides only to befool honest    
human beings1 and gives men intellects  
which are worthless for even  the       
simplest work4  ,those shells must mean 
that that mountain1 and  therefore the  
mountains round it1 must have been once 
fourteen  hundred feet at least lower   
than they are now4  ,that the sea in    
which  they were sunk was far colder    

than now4  ,that icebergs brought and   
dropped boulders round their flanks4    
,that upon those boulders a sea- beach  
formed1 and that dead shells were beaten
 into it from a sea- bottom close by4   
,that1 and no less1 ,moel ,tryfaen must 
mean4  ,but it must mean1 also1 a length
 of time which has been well called     
appalling4  ,a length of time sufficient
 to let the mountain sink  into the sea4
  ,then length of time enough to enable 
those ,arctic  shells to crawl down from
 the northward1 settle1 and propagate   
themselves generation after generation2 
then length of time enough to  uplift   
their dead remains1 and the beach1 and  
the boulders1 and all  ,snowdonia1      
fourteen hundred feet into the air4     
,and if anyone should  object that the  
last upheaval may have been effected    
suddenly by a  few tremendous           
earthquakes1 we must answer--,we have no
 proof of it4   ,earthquakes upheave    
lands now only by slight and            
intermittent upward  pulses2 nay1 some  

lands we know to rise without any       
earthquake  pulses1 but by simple1 slow1
 upward swelling of a few feet in a     
century2 and we have no reason1 and     
therefore no right1 to suppose  that    
,snowdonia was upheaved by any means or 
at any rate which we do  not witness    
now2 and therefore we are bound to      
allow1 not only that  there was a past  
age of ice1 but that that age was one of
  altogether enormous duration4  ,but   
meanwhile some of you1 ,i presume1 will 
be ready to cry--,stop6  ,it  may be our
 own weakness2 but you are really going 
on too fast and too  far for our small  
imaginations4  ,have you not played with
 us1 as well  as argued with us1 till   
you have inveigled us step by step into 
a  conclusion which we cannot and will  
not believe8  ,that all this land       
should have been sunk beneath an icy    
sea8  ,that ,britain should have  been  
as ,greenland is now8  ,we can't believe
 it1 and we won't4  ,if you say so1 like
 stout common-sense ,britons1 who have a

 wholesome  dread of being taken in with
 fine words and wild speculations1 ,i   
assure you ,i shall not laugh at you    
even in private4  ,on the  contrary1 ,i 
shall say--what ,i am sure every        
scientific man will say-- ,so much the  
better4  ,that is the sort of audience  
which we want1 if  we are teaching      
natural science4  ,we do not want haste1
 enthusiasm1  gobe-moucherie1 as the    
,french call it1 which is agape to snap 
up any  new and vast fancy1 just because
 it is new and vast4  ,we want our      
readers to be slow1 suspicious1         
conservative1 ready to gib1 as we  say  
of a horse1 and refuse the collar up a  
steep place1 saying--,i  must stop and  
think4  ,i don't like the look of the   
path ahead of me4   ,it seems an ugly   
place to get up4  ,i don't know this    
road1 and ,i  shall not hurry over it4  
,i must go back a few steps1 and make   
sure4   ,i must see whether it is the   
right road2 whether there are not other 
roads1 a dozen of them perhaps1 which   

would do as well and better  than this4 
,this is the temper which finds out     
truth1 slowly1 but once and for  all2   
and ,i shall be glad1 not sorry1 to see 
it in my readers4  ,and ,i am bound to  
say that it has been by that temper that
 this  theory has been worked out1 and  
the existence of this past age of  ice1 
or glacial epoch1 has been discovered1  
through many mistakes1  many            
corrections1 and many changes of opinion
 about details1 for  nearly forty years 
of hard work1 by many men1 in many      
lands4  ,as a very humble student of    
this subject1 ,i may say that ,i have   
been  looking these facts in the face   
earnestly enough for more than twenty   
years1 and that ,i am about as certain  
that they can only be explained  by ice1
 as ,i am that my having got home by    
rail can only be explained  by steam4   
,but ,i think ,i know what startles you4
  ,it is the being asked to  believe in 
such an enormous change in climate1 and 
in the height of  the land above the    

sea4  ,well--it is very astonishing1    
appalling--all  but incredible1 if we   
had not the facts to prove it4  ,but of 
the  facts there can be no doubt4       
,there can be no doubt that the climate 
of this northern hemisphere has changed 
enormously more than once4   ,there can 
be no doubt that the distribution of    
land and water1 the  shape and size of  
its continents and seas1 have changed   
again and  again4  ,there can be no     
doubt that1 for instance1 long before   
the age  of ice1 the whole ,north of    
,europe was much warmer than it is now4 
,take ,greenland1 for instance4  ,disco 
,island lies in ,baffin's ,bay1 off  the
 west coast of ,greenland1 in latitude  
#gj degrees1 far within the  ,arctic    
circle4  ,now there certain strata of   
rock1 older than the ice1  have not been
 destroyed by the grinding of the       
ice-cap2 and they are  full of fossil   
plants4  ,but of what kind of plants8   
,of the same  families as now grow in   
the warmer parts of the ,united ,states4

  ,even  a tulip-tree has been found    
among them4  ,now how is this to be     
explained8  ,either we must say that the
 climate of ,greenland was then so much 
warmer than now1 that it had summers    
probably as hot as those of ,new  ,york2
 or we must say that these leaves and   
stems were floated thither  from the    
,united ,states4  ,but if we say the    
latter1 we must allow a  change in the  
shape of the land which is enormous4    
,for nothing now  can float northward   
from the ,united ,states into ,baffin's 
,bay4  ,the  polar current sets ,,out of
 ,baffin's ,bay southward1 bringing     
icebergs  down1 not leaves up1 through  
,davis's ,straits4  ,and in any case we 
must allow that the hills of ,disco     
,island were then the bottom of a  sea3 
or how would the leaves have been       
deposited in them at all8  ,so much for 
the change of climate and land which can
 be proved to  have gone on in          
,greenland4  ,it has become colder4     
,why should it not  some day become     

warmer again8  ,now for ,england4  ,it  
can be proved1 as far as common sense   
can prove  anything1 that ,england was1 
before the age of ice1 much warmer than 
it is now1 and grew gradually cooler and
 cooler1 just as1 while the  age of ice 
was dying out1 it grew warmer again4    
,now what proof is there of that8       
,this4  ,underneath ,london--as1 ,i dare
 say1 many of you know--there  lies four
 or five hundred feet of clay4  ,but not
 ice-clay4  ,anything  but that1 as you 
will see4  ,it belongs to a formation   
late  7geologically speaking71 but      
somewhat older than those ,disco ,island
  beds4  ,and what sort of fossils do we
 find in it8  ,in the first place1 the  
shells1 which are abundant1 are         
tropical-- ,nautili1 ,cones1 and such   
like4  ,and more1 fruits and seeds are  
found  in it1 especially at the ,isle of
 ,sheppey4  ,and what are they8  ,fruits
  of ,nipa palms1 a form only found now 
at river-mouths in ,eastern ,india  and 
the ,indian islands2 ,anona-seeds2      

gourd-seeds2 ,acacia fruits--all        
tropical again2 and ,proteaceous plants 
too--of an ,australian type4   ,surely  
your common sense would hint to you1    
that this ,london clay  must be mud laid
 down off the mouth of a tropical river4
  ,but your  common sense would be all  
but certain of that1 when you found1 as 
you  would find1 the teeth and bones of 
crocodiles and turtles1 who come  to    
land1 remember1 to lay their eggs2 the  
bones1 too1 of large  mammals1 allied to
 the tapir of ,india and ,south         
,america1 and the  water-hog of the     
,cape4  ,if all this does not mean that 
there was once  a tropic climate and a  
tropic river running into some sea or   
other  where ,london now stands1 ,i must
 give up common sense and reason as     
deceitful and useless faculties2 and    
believe nothing1 not even the  evidence 
of my own senses4  ,and now1 have ,i1 or
 have ,i not1 fulfilled the promise     
which ,i made-- rashly1 ,i dare say some
 of you thought--in my first paper8     

,have ,i1  or have ,i not1 made you     
prove to yourself1 by your own common   
sense1  that the lowlands of ,britain   
were underneath the sea in the days in  
which these pebbles and boulders were   
laid down over your plains8   ,nay1 have
 we not proved more8  ,have we not found
 that that old sea  was an icy sea8     
,have we not wandered on1 step by step1 
into a whole  true fairyland of wonders8
 to a time when all ,england1 ,scotland1
 and  ,ireland were as ,greenland is    
now8 when mud streams have rushed down  
from under glaciers on to a cold        
sea-bottom1 when ice1 mast high1  came  
floating by1 as green as emerald8 when  
,snowdon was sunk for at  least fourteen
 hundred feet of its height8 when 7as ,i
 could prove to  you1 had ,i time7 the  
peaks of the highest ,cumberland and    
,scotch  mountains alone stood out1 as  
islets in a frozen sea8  ,we want to get
 an answer to one strange question1 and 
we have found a  group of questions     
stranger still1 and got them answered   

too4  ,but so  it is always in science4 
,we know not what we shall discover4    
,but  this1 at least1 we know1 that it  
will be far more wonderful than we  had 
dreamed4  ,the scientific explorer is   
always like ,saul of old1 who  set out  
simply to find his father's asses1 and  
found them--and a  kingdom besides4  ,i 
should have liked to have told you more 
about this bygone age of  ice4  ,i      
should have liked to say something to   
you on the curious  question--which is  
still an open one--whether there were   
not two ages  of ice2 whether the       
climate here did not1 after perhaps     
thousands of  years of ,arctic cold1    
soften somewhat for a while--a few      
thousand  years1 perhaps--and then      
harden again into a second age of ice1  
somewhat less severe1 probably1 than the
 first4  ,i should have liked  to have  
hinted at the probable causes of this   
change--indeed1 of the  age of ice      
altogether--whether it was caused by a  
change in the  distribution of land and 

water1 or by change in the height and   
size  of these islands1 which made them 
large enough1 and high enough1 to  carry
 a sheet of eternal snow inland2 or     
whether1 finally1 the age of  ice was   
caused by an actual change in the       
position of the whole  planet with      
regard to its orbit round the           
sun--shifting at once the  poles and the
 tropics2 a deep question that latter1  
on which  astronomers1 whose business it
 is1 are still at work1 and on which1   
ere young folk are old1 they will have  
discovered1 ,i expect1 some  startling  
facts4  ,on that last question1 ,i1     
being no astronomer1  cannot speak4     
,but ,i should have liked to have said  
somewhat on  matters on which ,i have   
knowledge enough1 at least1 to teach you
 how  much there is to be learnt4  ,i   
should have liked to tell the student   
of sea-animals--how the ice-age helps to
 explain1 and is again  explained by1   
the remarkable discoveries which ,dr4   
,carpenter and ,mr4  ,wyville ,thompson 

have just made1 in the deep-sea         
dredgings in the  ,north ,atlantic4  ,i 
should have liked to tell the botanist  
somewhat of  the pro-glacial flora--the 
plants which lived here before the ice1 
and lasted1 some of them at least1      
through all those ages of fearful  cold1
 and linger still on the summits of     
,snowdon1 and the highest  peaks of     
,cumberland and ,scotland4  ,i should   
have liked to have told  the lovers of  
zoology about the animals which lived   
before the ice-- of the mammoth1 or     
woolly elephant2 the woolly rhinoceros1 
the cave  lion and bear1 the reindeer1  
the musk oxen1 the lemmings and the     
marmots which inhabited ,britain till   
the ice drove them out  southward1 even 
into the ,south of ,france2 and how as  
the ice  retreated1 and the climate     
became tolerable once more1 some of     
them-- the mammoth and rhinoceros1 the  
bison1 the lion1 and many another       
mighty beast reoccupied our lowlands1 at
 a time when the  hippopotamus1 at least

 in summer1 ranged freely from ,africa  
and ,spain  across what was then dry    
land between ,france and ,england1 and  
fed by  the side of animals which have  
long since retreated to ,norway and to  
,canada4  ,i should have liked to tell  
the archaeologist of the human          
beings--probably from their weapons and 
their habits--of the same  race as the  
present ,laplanders1 who passed         
northward as the ice went  back1        
following the wild reindeer herds from  
the ,south of ,france into  our islands1
 which were no islands then1 to be in   
their turn driven  northward by stronger
 races from the east and south4  ,but   
space  presses1 and ,i fear that ,i have
 written too much already4  ,at least1  
,i have turned over for you a few grand 
and strange pages in  the book of       
nature1 and taught you1 ,i hope1 a key  
by which to  decipher their             
hieroglyphics4  ,at least1 ,i have1 ,i  
trust1 taught you  to look1 as ,i do1   
with something of interest1 even of awe1

 upon the  pebbles in the street4       
,,iii4  ,,the ,,stones ,,in ,,the ,,wall
    ,this is a large subject4  ,for in  
the different towns of these  islands1  
the walls are built of stones of almost 
every age1 from the  earliest to the    
latest2 and the town-geologist may find 
a quite  different problem to solve in  
the nearest wall1 on moving from one    
town to another twenty miles off4  ,all 
,i can do1 therefore1 is to  take one   
set of towns1 in the walls of which one 
sort of stones is  commonly found1 and  
talk of them2 taking care1 of course1 to
 choose a  stone which is widely        
distributed4  ,and such1 ,i think1 we   
can find in  the so-called ,new ,red    
sandstone1 which1 with its attendant    
marls1  covers a vast tract--and that a 
rich and busy one--of ,england4  ,from  
,hartlepool and the mouth of the ,tees1 
down through ,yorkshire and             
,nottinghamshire2 over the manufacturing
 districts of central ,england2  down   
the valley of the ,severn2 past ,bristol

 and the ,somersetshire  flats to       
,torquay in ,south ,devon2 up           
north-westward through ,shropshire  and 
,cheshire2 past ,liverpool and northward
 through ,lancashire2  reappearing      
again1 north of the ,lake mountains1    
about ,carlisle and  the ,scotch side of
 the ,solway ,frith1 stretches the ,new 
,red sandstone  plain1 from under which 
everywhere the coal-bearing rocks rise  
as  from a sea4  ,it contains1 in many  
places1 excellent quarries of           
building-stone2 the most famous of      
which1 perhaps1 are the well-known      
,runcorn quarries1 near ,liverpool1 from
 which the old ,romans brought  the     
material for the walls and temples of   
ancient ,chester1 and from  which the   
stone for the restoration of ,chester   
,cathedral is being  taken at this day4 
,in some quarters1 especially in the    
north-west of  ,england1 its soil is    
poor1 because it is masked by that very 
boulder- clay of which ,i spoke in my   
last paper4  ,but its rich red marls1   

wherever they come to the surface1 are  
one of ,god's most precious  gifts to   
this favoured land4  ,on them1 one finds
 oneself at once in a  garden2 amid the 
noblest of timber1 wheat1 roots1 grass  
which is  green through the driest      
summers1 and1 in the western counties1  
cider-orchards laden with red and golden
 fruit4  ,i know1 throughout  northern  
,europe1 no such charming scenery1 for  
quiet beauty and solid  wealth1 as that 
of the ,new ,red marls2 and if ,i wished
 to show a  foreigner what ,england was1
 ,i should take him along them1 from    
,yorkshire to ,south ,devon1 and        
say--,there4  ,is not that a country    
worth living for1--and worth dying for  
if need be8  ,another reason which ,i   
have for dealing with the ,new ,red     
sandstone is  this--that 7as ,i said    
just now7 over great tracts of ,england1
  especially about the manufacturing    
districts1 the town-geologist will  find
 it covered immediately by the boulder  
clay4  ,the townsman1 finding this1     

would have a fair right to suppose that 
the clay was laid down immediately1 or  
at least soon after1 the  sandstones or 
marls on which it lies2 that as soon as 
the one had  settled at the bottom of   
some old sea1 the other settled on the  
top  of it1 in the same sea4  ,a fair   
and reasonable guess1 which would in    
many cases1 indeed in  most1 be quite   
true4  ,but in this case it would be a  
mistake4  ,the  sandstone and marls are 
immensely older than the boulder-clay4  
,they  are1 humanly speaking1 some four 
or five worlds older4  ,what do ,i mean8
  ,this--that between the time when the 
one1 and the  time when the other1 was  
made1 the ,british ,islands1 and        
probably the  whole continent of        
,europe1 have changed four or five      
times2 in shape2  in height above the   
sea1 or depth below it2 in climate2 in  
the kinds  of plants and animals which  
have dwelt on them1 or on their sea-    
bottoms4  ,and surely it is not too     
strong a metaphor1 to call such  changes

 a change from an old world to a new    
one4  ,mind4  ,i do not say that these  
changes were sudden or violent4  ,it is 
far more probable that they are only    
part and parcel of that vast but  slow  
change which is going on everywhere over
 our whole globe4  ,i  think that will  
appear probable in the course of this   
paper4  ,but  that these changes have   
taken place1 is my main thesis4  ,the   
fact ,i  assert2 and ,i am bound to try 
and prove it4  ,and in trying to do so1 
,i shall no longer treat my readers1 as 
,i did in the first two papers1  like   
children4  ,i shall take for granted    
that they now understand  something of  
the method by which geological problems 
are worked out2  and can trust it1 and  
me2 and shall state boldly the          
conclusions of  geologists1 only giving 
proof where proof is specially needed4  
,now you must understand that in        
,england there are two great divisions  
of these ,new ,red sandstones1 ,trias1  
as geologists call them4  ,an  upper1   

called in ,germany ,keuper1 which       
consists1 atop1 of the rich  red marl1  
below them1 of sandstones1 and of those 
vast deposits of  rock-salt1 which have 
been long worked1 and worked to such    
good  purpose1 that a vast subsidence of
 land has just taken place near         
,nantwich in ,cheshire2 and serious     
fears are entertained lest the town     
itself may subside1 to fill up the      
caverns below1 from whence the  salt has
 been quarried4  ,underneath these beds 
again are those which  carry the        
building-stone of ,runcorn4  ,now these 
beds altogether1 in  ,cheshire1 at      
least1 are about #c1djj feet thick2 and 
were not laid  down in a year1 or in a  
century either4  ,below them lies a     
thousand feet of sandstones1 known in   
,germany by  the name of ,bunter1 from  
its mottled and spotted appearance4     
,what  lies under them again1 does not  
concern us just now4  ,i said that the  
geologists called these beds the ,trias2
 that is1 the  triple group4  ,but as   

yet we have heard of only two parts of  
it4   ,where is the third8  ,not here1  
but in ,germany4  ,there1 between the   
,keuper above and the  ,bunter below1   
lies a great series of limestone beds1  
which1 from the  abundance of fossils   
which they contain1 go by the name of   
,muschelkalk4  ,a long epoch must       
therefore have intervened between the   
laying down of the ,bunter and of the   
,keuper4  ,and we have a trace of  that 
long epoch1 even in ,england4  ,the     
,keuper lies1 certainly1  immediately on
 the ,bunter2 but not always conformably
 on it4  ,that  is1 the beds are not    
exactly parallel4  ,the ,bunter had been
 slightly  tilted1 and slightly         
waterworn1 before the ,keuper was laid  
on it4  ,it is reasonable1 therefore1 to
 suppose1 that the ,bunter in ,england  
was dry land1 and therefore safe from   
fresh deposit1 through ages  during     
which it was deep enough beneath the sea
 in ,germany1 to have  the ,muschelkalk 
laid down on it4  ,here again1 then1 as 

everywhere1 we  have evidence of        
time--time1 not only beyond all         
counting1 but beyond  all imagining4    
,and now1 perhaps1 the reader will      
ask--,if ,i am to believe that all  new 
land is made out of old land1 and that  
all rocks and soils are  derived from   
the wear and tear of still older rocks1 
off what land  came this enormous heap  
of sands more than #e1jjj feet thick in 
places1 stretching across ,england and  
into ,germany8  ,it is difficult to     
answer4  ,the shape and distribution of 
land in  those days were so different   
from what they are now1 that the rocks  
which furnished a great deal of our     
sandstone may be now1 for aught ,i      
know1 a mile beneath the sea4  ,but over
 the land which still stands out of the 
sea near us there has  been wear and    
tear enough to account for any quantity 
of sand  deposit4  ,as a single         
instance--,it is a provable and proven  
fact--as  you may see from ,mr4         
,ramsay's survey of ,north ,wales--that 

over a  large tract to the south of     
,snowdon1 between ,port ,madoc and      
,barmouth1  there has been ground off   
and carried away a mass of solid rock   
#bj1jjj feet thick2 thick enough1 in    
fact1 if it were there still1 to  make a
 range of mountains as high as the      
,andes4  ,it is a provable and  proven  
fact that vast tracts of the centre of  
poor old ,ireland were  once covered    
with coal-measures1 which have been     
scraped off in  likewise1 deprived of   
inestimable mineral wealth4  ,the       
destruction of  rocks--denudation as it 
is called--in the district round        
,malvern1  is1 ,i am told1 provably     
enormous4  ,indeed1 it is so over all   
,wales1  ,north ,england1 and ,west and 
,north ,scotland4  ,so there is enough  
of  rubbish to be accounted for to make 
our ,new ,red sands4  ,the round        
pebbles in it being1 ,i believe1 pieces 
of ,old ,red sandstone1 may have  come  
from the great ,old ,red sandstone      
region of ,south ,east ,wales and       

,herefordshire4  ,some of the rubbish1  
too1 may have come from what is  now the
 ,isle of ,anglesey4  ,for you find in  
the beds1 from the top to the bottom 7at
 least in  ,cheshire71 particles of     
mica4  ,now this mica could not have    
been  formed in the sand4  ,it is a     
definite crystalline mineral1 whose     
composition is well known4  ,it is only 
found in rocks which have been          
subjected to immense pressure1 and      
probably to heat4  ,the granites  and   
mica-slates of ,anglesey are full of it2
 and from ,anglesey--as  likely as from 
anywhere else--these thin scales of mica
 came4  ,and  that is about all that ,i 
can say on the matter4  ,but it is      
certain  that most of these sands were  
deposited in a very shallow water1 and  
very near to land4  ,sand and pebbles1  
as ,i said in my first paper1  could not
 be carried far out to sea2 and some of 
the beds of the  ,bunter are full of    
rounded pebbles4  ,nay1 it is certain   
that their  surface was often out of    

water4  ,of that you may see very pretty
  proofs4  ,you find these sands        
ripple-marked1 as you do shore-sands    
now4  ,you find cracks where the marl   
mud has dried in the sun3  and1  more1  
you find the little pits made by rain4  
,of that ,i have no  doubt4  ,i have    
seen specimens1 in which you could not  
only see at a  glance that the marks had
 been made by the large drops of a      
shower1  but see also from what         
direction the shower had come4  ,these  
delicate  markings must have been       
covered up immediately with a fresh     
layer of  mud or sand4  ,how long since8
  ,how long since that flag had seen the
  light of the sun1 when it saw it once 
again1 restored to the upper  air by the
 pick of the quarryman8  ,who can answer
 that8  ,not ,i4  ,fossils are very rare
 in these sands2 it is not easy to say  
why4  ,it  may be that the red oxide of 
iron in them has destroyed them4  ,few  
or  none are ever found in beds in which
 it abounds4  ,it is curious1 too1  that

 the ,keuper1 which is all but barren of
 fossils in ,england1 is  full of them  
in ,wurtemberg1 reptiles1 fish1 and     
remains of plants  being common4  ,but  
what will interest the reader are the   
footprints  of a strange beast1 found   
alike in ,england and in ,germany--the  
,cheirotherium1 as it was first named1  
from its hand-like feet2 the            
,labyrinthodon1 as it is now named1 from
 the extraordinary structure  of its    
teeth4  ,there is little doubt now1     
among anatomists1 that the  bones and   
teeth of the so-called ,labyrinthodon   
belong to the animal  which made the    
footprints4  ,if so1 the creature must  
have been a  right loathly monster4     
,some think him to have been akin to    
lizards2  but the usual opinion is that 
he was a cousin of frogs and toads4     
,looking at his hands and other remains1
 one pictures him to oneself  as a      
short1 squat brute1 as big as a fat hog1
 with a head very much  the shape of a  
baboon1 very large hands behind and     

small ones in  front1 waddling about on 
the tide flats of a sandy sea1 and      
dragging  after him1 seemingly1 a short 
tail1 which has left its mark on the    
sand4  ,what his odour was1 whether he  
was smooth or warty1 what he  ate1 and  
in general how he got his living1 we    
know not4  ,but there  must have been   
something there for him to eat2 and ,i  
dare say that he  was about as happy and
 about as intellectual as the toad is   
now4   ,remember always that there is   
nothing alive now exactly like him1 or1 
indeed1 like any animal found in these  
sandstones4  ,the whole animal  world of
 this planet has changed entirely more  
than once since the  ,labyrinthodon     
waddled over the ,cheshire flats4  ,a   
lizard1 for  instance1 which has been   
found in the ,keuper1 had a skull like a
  bird's1 and no teeth--a type which is 
now quite extinct4  ,but there  is a    
more remarkable animal of which ,i must 
say a few words1 and one  which to      
scientific men is most interesting and  

significant4  ,both near ,warwick1 and  
near ,elgin in ,scotland1 in ,central   
,india1 and  in ,south ,africa1 fossil  
remains are found of a family of lizards
  utterly unlike anything now living    
save one1 and that one is crawling      
about1 plentifully ,i believe--of all   
places in the world--in ,new  ,zealand4 
,how it got there2 how so strange a type
 of creature should  have died out over 
the rest of the world1 and yet have     
lasted on in  that remote island for    
long ages1 ever since the days of the   
,new ,red  sandstone1 is one of those   
questions--quite awful questions ,i     
consider them--with which ,i will not   
puzzle my readers4  ,i only  mention it 
to show them what serious questions the 
scientific man has  to face1 and to     
answer1 if he can4  ,only the next time 
they go to the  ,zoological ,gardens in 
,london1 let them go to the             
reptile-house1 and  ask the very clever 
and courteous attendant to show them the
  ,sphenodons1 or ,hatterias1 as he will

 probably call them--and then  look1 ,i 
hope with kindly interest1 at the oldest
 ,conservatives they  ever saw1 or are  
like to see2 gentlemen of most ancient  
pedigree1 who  have remained all but    
unchanged1 while the whole surface of   
the globe  has changed around them more 
than once or twice4  ,and now1 of       
course1 my readers will expect to hear  
something of the  deposits of rock-salt1
 for which ,cheshire and its red rocks  
are  famous4  ,i have never seen them1  
and can only say that the salt does     
not1 it is said by geologists1 lie in   
the sandstone1 but at the  bottom of the
 red marl which caps the sandstone4  ,it
 was formed most  probably by the       
gradual drying up of lagoons1 such as   
are depositing  salt1 it is said now1   
both in the ,gulf of ,tadjara1 on the   
,abyssinian  frontier opposite ,aden1   
and in the ,runn of ,cutch1 near the    
,delta of  the ,indus4  ,if this be so1 
then these ,new ,red sandstones may be  
the  remains of a whole ,sahara--a sheet

 of sandy and all but lifeless  deserts1
 reaching from the west of ,england into
 ,germany1 and rising  slowly out of the
 sea2 to sink1 as we shall find1 beneath
 the sea  again4  ,and now1 as to the   
vast period of time--the four or five   
worlds1 as ,i  called it--which elapsed 
between the laying down of the ,new ,red
  sandstones and the laying down of the 
boulder-clays4  ,i think this fact--for 
fact it is--may be better proved by     
taking  readers an imaginary railway    
journey to ,london from any spot in the 
manufacturing districts of central      
,england--begging them1 meanwhile1  to  
keep their eyes open on the way4  ,and  
here ,i must say that ,i wish folks in  
general would keep their  eyes a little 
more open when they travel by rail4     
,when ,i see young  people rolling along
 in a luxurious carriage1 their eyes and
 their  brains absorbed probably in a   
trashy shilling novel1 and never lifted 
up to look out of the window1           
unconscious of all that they are        

passing--of the reverend antiquities1   
the admirable agriculture1 the  rich and
 peaceful scenery1 the like of which no 
country upon earth  can show2           
unconscious1 too1 of how much they might
 learn of botany  and zoology1 by simply
 watching the flowers along the railway 
banks  and the sections in the cuttings3
  then it grieves me to see what  little
 use people make of the eyes and of the 
understanding which ,god  has given     
them4  ,they complain of a dull journey3
  but it is not the  journey which is   
dull2 it is they who are dull4  ,eyes   
have they1 and  see not2 ears have they1
 and hear not2 mere dolls in smart      
clothes1  too many of them1 like the    
idols of the heathen4  ,but my readers1 
,i trust1 are of a better mind4  ,so the
 next time they  find themselves running
 up southward to ,london--or the reverse
 way-- let them keep their eyes open1   
and verify1 with the help of a          
geological map1 the sketch which is     
given in the following pages4  ,of the  

,black ,countries--the actual coal      
districts ,i shall speak  hereafter4    
,they are in ,england either shores or  
islands yet  undestroyed1 which stand   
out of the great sea of ,new ,red       
sandstone1  and often carry along their 
edges layers of far younger rocks1      
called  now ,permian1 from the ancient  
kingdom of ,permia1 in ,russia1 where   
they cover a vast area4  ,with them ,i  
will not confuse the reader just  now1  
but will only ask him to keep his eye on
 the rolling plain of  ,new ,red sands  
and marls past1 say1 ,birmingham and    
,warwick4  ,after  those places1 these  
sands and marls dip to the south-east1  
and other  rocks and soils appear above 
them1 one after another1 dipping        
likewise towards the south-east--that   
is1 toward ,london4  ,first appear thin 
layers of a very hard blue limestone1   
full of  shells1 and parted by layers of
 blue mud4  ,that rock runs in a broad  
belt across ,england1 from ,whitby in   
,yorkshire1 to ,lyme in  ,dorsetshire1  

and is known as ,lias4  ,famous it is1  
as some readers may  know1 for holding  
the bones of extinct                    
monsters--,ichthyosaurs and             
,plesiosaurs1 such as the unlearned may 
behold in the lake at the  ,crystal     
,palace4  ,on this rock lie the rich    
cheese pastures1 and the  best tracts of
 the famous hunting shires of ,england4 
,lying on it1 as we go south-eastward1  
appear alternate beds of sandy          
limestone1 with vast depths of clay     
between them4  ,these oolites1  or      
freestones1 furnish the famous ,bath    
stone1 the ,oxford stone1 and  the      
,barnack stone of ,northamptonshire1 of 
which some of the finest  cathedrals are
 built--a stone only surpassed1 ,i      
believe1 by the ,caen  stone1 which     
comes from beds of the same age in      
,normandy4  ,these  freestones and clays
 abound in fossils1 but of kinds1 be it 
remembered1 which differ more and more  
from those of the lias  beneath1 as the 
beds are higher in the series1 and      

therefore nearer4   ,there1 too1 are    
found principally the bones of that     
extraordinary  flying lizard1 the       
,pterodactyle1 which had wings formed   
out of its  fore-legs1 on somewhat the  
same plan as those of a bat1 but with   
one  exception4  ,in the bat1 as any one
 may see1 four fingers of the hand  are 
lengthened to carry the wing1 while the 
first alone is left free1  as a thumb3  
but in the ,pterodactyle1 the outer or  
little finger  alone is lengthened1 and 
the other four fingers left free--one of
  those strange instances in nature of  
the same effect being produced  in      
widely different plants and animals1 and
 yet by slightly different  means1 on   
which a whole chapter of natural        
philosophy--say1 rather1  natural       
theology--will have to be written some  
day4  ,but now consider what this ,lias1
 and the ,oolites and clays upon it     
mean4  ,they mean that the ,new ,red    
sandstone1 after it had been dry  land1 
or all but dry land 7as is proved by the

 footprints of animals  and the deposits
 of salt71 was sunk again beneath the   
sea4  ,each  deposit of limestone       
signifies a long period of time1 during 
which  that sea was pure enough to allow
 reefs of coral to grow1 and shells  to 
propagate1 at the bottom4  ,each great  
band of clay signifies a  long period1  
during which fine mud was brought down  
from some wasting  land in the          
neighbourhood4  ,and that land was not  
far distant is  proved by the bones of  
the ,pterodactyle1 of ,crocodiles1 and  
of  ,marsupials2 by the fact that the   
shells are of shallow-water or shore    
species2 by the presence1 mixed with    
them1 of fragments of wood1  impressions
 of plants1 and even wing-shells of     
beetles2 and lastly1  if further proof  
was needed1 by the fact that in the     
dirt-bed of  the ,isle of ,portland and 
the neighbouring shores1 stumps of trees
  allied to the modern sago-palms are   
found as they grew in the soil1  which1 
with them1 has been covered up in layers

 of freshwater shale  and limestone4  ,a
 tropic forest has plainly sunk beneath 
a lagoon2  and that lagoon1 again1      
beneath the sea4  ,and how long did this
 period of slow sinking go on8  ,who can
 tell8   ,the thickness of the ,lias and
 ,oolites together cannot be less than a
  thousand feet4  ,considering1 then1   
the length of time required to lay  down
 a thousand feet of strata1 and         
considering the vast difference  between
 the animals found in them1 and the few 
found in the ,new ,red  sandstone1 we   
have a right to call them another world1
 and that one  which must have lasted   
for ages4  ,after we pass ,oxford1 or   
the ,vale of ,aylesbury1 we enter yet   
another  world4  ,we come to a bed of   
sand1 under which the freestones and    
their adjoining clays dip to the        
south-east4  ,this is called commonly   
the lower ,greensand1 though it is not  
green1 but rich iron-red4  ,then        
succeeds a band of stiff blue clay1     
called the ,gault1 and then  another bed

 of sand1 the upper ,greensand1 which is
 more worthy of the  name1 for it does  
carry1 in most places1 a band of green  
or  glauconite sand4  ,but it and the   
upper layers of the lower  ,greensand   
also1 are worth our attention2 for we   
are all probably  eating them from time 
to time in the form of bran4  ,it had   
been long remarked that certain parts of
 these beds carried  admirable          
wheatland2 it had been remarked1 too1   
that the finest hop- lands--those of    
,farnham1 for instance1 and             
,tunbridge--lay upon them3   but that   
the fertile band was very narrow2 that1 
as in the ,surrey  ,moors1 vast sheets  
of the lower ,greensand were not worth  
cultivation4   ,what caused the striking
 difference8  ,my beloved friend and    
teacher1 the late ,dr4 ,henslow1 when   
,professor  of ,botany at ,cambridge1   
had brought to him by a farmer 7so the  
story  ran7 a few fossils4  ,he saw1    
being somewhat of a geologist and       
chemist1 that they were not1 as fossils 

usually are1 carbonate of  lime1 but    
phosphate of lime--bone-earth4  ,he said
 at once1 as by an  inspiration1 ,you   
have found a treasure--not a gold-mine1 
indeed1 but  a food-mine4  ,this is     
bone-earth1 which we are at our wits'   
end to  get for our grain and pulse2    
which we are importing1 as expensive    
bones1 all the way from ,buenos ,ayres4 
,only find enough of them1 and  you will
 increase immensely the food supply of  
,england1 and perhaps  make her         
independent of foreign phosphates in    
case of war4  ,his advice was acted on2 
for the ,british farmer is by no means  
the  stupid personage which townsfolk   
are too apt to fancy him4  ,this bed  of
 phosphates was found everywhere in the 
,greensand1 underlying the  ,chalk4  ,it
 may be traced from ,dorsetshire through
 ,england to  ,cambridge1 and thence1 ,i
 believe1 into ,yorkshire4  ,it may be  
traced  again1 ,i believe1 all round the
 ,weald of ,kent and ,sussex1 from      
,hythe  to ,farnham--where it is        

peculiarly rich--and so to ,eastbourne  
and  ,beachey ,head2 and it furnishes1  
in ,cambridgeshire1 the greater part  of
 those so-called coprolites1 which are  
used perpetually now for  manure1 being 
ground up1 and then treated with        
sulphuric acid1 till  they become a     
soluble super-phosphate of lime4  ,so   
much for the useless hobby1 as some     
fancy it1 of poking over old  bones and 
stones1 and learning a little of the    
composition of this  earth on which ,god
 has placed us4  ,how to explain the    
presence of this vast mass of animal    
matter1 in  one or two thin bands right 
across ,england1 ,i know not4  ,that the
  fossils have been rolled on a         
sea-beach is plain to those who look at 
them4  ,but what caused so vast a       
destruction of animal life along  that  
beach1 must remain one of the buried    
secrets of the past4  ,and now we are   
fast nearing another world1 which is far
 younger than  that coprolite bed1 and  
has been formed under circumstances the 

most  opposite to it4  ,we are nearing1 
by whatever rail we approach ,london1   
the escarpment of the chalk downs4  ,all
 readers1 surely1 know the white chalk1 
the special feature and  the special    
pride of the south of ,england4  ,all   
know its softly- rounded downs1 its vast
 beech woods1 its short and sweet turf1 
its  snowy cliffs1 which have given--so 
some say--to the whole island the  name 
of ,albion--the white land4  ,but all do
 not1 perhaps1 know that  till we get to
 the chalk no single plant or animal has
 been found  which is exactly like any  
plant or animal now known to be living4 
,the plants and animals grow1 on the    
whole1 more and more like our  living   
forms as we rise in the series of beds4 
,but only above the  chalk 7as far as we
 yet know7 do we begin to find species  
identical  with those living now4  ,this
 in itself would prove a vast lapse of  
time4  ,we shall have a  further proof  
of that vast lapse when we examine the  
chalk itself4   ,it is composed--of this

 there is now no doubt--almost entirely 
of the  shells of minute animalcules2   
and animalcules 7,i use an unscientific 
word for the sake of unscientific       
readers7 like these1 and in some  cases 
identical with them1 are now forming a  
similar deposit of mud1  at vast depths1
 over the greater part of the ,atlantic 
sea-floor4   ,this fact has been put out
 of doubt by recent deep-sea dredgings4 
,a  whole literature has been written on
 it of late4  ,any reader who  wishes to
 know it1 need only ask the first       
geologist he meets2 and if  he has the  
wholesome instinct of wonder in him1    
fill his imagination  with true wonders1
 more grand and strange than he is like 
to find in  any fairy tale4  ,all ,i    
have to do with the matter here is1 to  
say  that1 arguing from the known to the
 unknown1 from the ,atlantic deep- sea  
ooze which we do know about1 to the     
chalk which we do not know  about1 the  
whole of the chalk must have been laid  
down at the bottom  of a deep and still 

ocean1 far out of the reach of winds1   
tides1 and  even currents1 as a great   
part of the ,atlantic sea-floor is at   
this  day4  ,prodigious6 says the       
reader4  ,and so it is4  ,prodigious to 
think that  that shallow ,greensand     
shore1 strewed with dead animals1 should
 sink  to the bottom of an ocean1       
perhaps a mile1 perhaps some four miles 
deep4  ,prodigious the time during which
 it must have lain as a still           
ocean-floor4  ,for so minute are the    
living atomies which form the  ooze1    
that an inch1 ,i should say1 is as much 
as we can allow for  their yearly       
deposit2 and the chalk is at least a    
thousand feet  thick4  ,it may have     
taken1 therefore1 twelve thousand years 
to form  the chalk alone4  ,a rough     
guess1 of course1 but one as likely to  
be  two or three times too little as two
 or three times too big4  ,such1  or    
somewhat such1 is the fact4  ,it had    
long been suspected1 and more  than     
suspected2 and the late discoveries of  

,dr4 ,carpenter and ,mr4  ,wyville      
,thompson have surely placed it beyond  
doubt4  ,thus1 surely1 if we call the   
,oolitic beds one new world above the   
,new  ,red sandstone1 we must call the  
chalk a second new world in like  wise4 
,i will not trouble the reader here with
 the reasons why geologists  connect the
 chalk with the greensands below it1 by 
regular  gradations1 in spite of the    
enormous downward leap1 from sea-shore  
to  deep ocean1 which the beds seem 7but
 only seem7 to have taken4  ,the        
change--like all changes in geology--was
 probably gradual4  ,not by  spasmodic  
leaps and starts1 but slowly and        
stately1 as befits a ,god  of order1 of 
patience1 and of strength1 have these   
great deeds been  done4  ,but we have   
not yet done with new worlds or new     
prodigies on our way  to ,london1 as any
 ,londoner may ascertain for himself1 if
 he will run  out a few miles by rail1  
and look in any cutting or pit1 where   
the  surface of the chalk1 and the beds 

which lie on it1 are exposed4  ,on the  
chalk lie--especially in the ,blackheath
 and ,woolwich district- -sands and     
clays4  ,and what do they tell us8  ,of 
another new world1 in which the chalk   
has been lifted up again1 to  form      
gradually1 doubtless1 and at different  
points in succession1 the  shore of a   
sea4  ,but what proof is there of this8 
,the surface of the chalk is not flat   
and smooth1 as it must have been  when  
at the bottom of the sea4  ,it is eaten 
out into holes and  furrows1 plainly by 
the gnawing of the waves2 and on it lie1
 in many  places1 large rolled flints   
out of chalk which has been destroyed1  
beds of shore-shingle1 beds of oysters  
lying as they grew1 fresh or  brackish  
water-shells standing as they lived1    
bits of lignite 7fossil  wood half      
turned to coal71 and 7as in ,katesgrove 
pits at ,reading7  leaves of trees4     
,proof enough1 one would say1 that the  
chalk had  been raised till part of it  
at least became dry land1 and carried   

vegetation4  ,and yet we have not done4 
,there is another world to tell of yet4 
,for these beds 7known as the ,woolwich 
and ,reading beds7 dip under  that vast 
bed of ,london clay1 four hundred and   
more feet thick1 which  7as ,i said in  
my last chapter7 was certainly laid down
 by the estuary  of some great tropic   
river1 among palm-trees and ,anonas1    
crocodiles  and turtles4  ,is the       
reader's power of belief exhausted8  ,if
 not3  there are to be seen1 capping    
almost every high land round  ,london1  
the remains of a fifth world4  ,some of 
my readers may have  been to ,ascot     
races1 or to ,aldershot camp1 and may   
recollect the  table-land of the sandy  
moors1 perfectly flat atop1 dreary      
enough to  those to whom they are not   
7as they have long been to me7 a home   
and  a work-field4  ,those sands are    
several hundred feet thick4  ,they lie  
on the ,london clay4  ,and they         
represent--the reader must take         
geologists' word for it--a series of    

beds in some places thousands of  feet  
thick1 in the ,isle of ,wight1 in the   
,paris basin1 in the volcanic  country  
of the ,auvergne1 in ,switzerland1 in   
,italy2 a period during  which the land 
must at first have swarmed with forms of
 tropic life1  and then grown--but very 
gradually--more temperate1 and then     
colder  and colder still2 till at last  
set in that age of ice1 which spread    
the boulder pebbles over all rocks and  
soils indiscriminately1 from  the ,lake 
mountains to within a few miles of      
,london4  ,for everywhere about those   
,ascot moors1 the top of the sands has  
been  ploughed by shore-ice in winter1  
as they lay a-wash in the shallow  sea2 
and over them1 in many places1 is spread
 a thin sheet of ice  gravel1 more      
ancient1 the best geologists think1 than
 the boulder and  the boulder-clay4  ,if
 any of my readers ask how long the     
period was during which those  sands of 
,ascot ,heath and ,aldershot have been  
laid down1 ,i cannot  tell4  ,but this  

we can tell4  ,it was long enough to see
 such changes  in land and sea1 that    
maps representing ,europe during the    
greater  part of that period 7as far as 
we can guess at it7 look no more like   
,europe than like ,america or the ,south
 ,sea ,islands4  ,and this we can  tell 
besides3  that that period was long     
enough for the ,swiss ,alps to  be      
lifted up at least #aj1jjj feet of their
 present height4  ,and that  was a work 
which--though ,god could1 if ,he willed 
it1 have done it in  a single day--we   
have proof positive was not done in less
 than ages1  beside which the mortal    
life of man is as the life of the gnat  
which  dances in the sun4  ,and all     
this1 and more--as may be proved from   
the geology of foreign                  
countries--happened between the date of 
the boulder-clay1 and that of  the ,new 
,red sandstone on which it rests4       
,,iv4  ,,the ,,coal ,,in ,,the ,,fire   
,my dear town-dwelling readers1 let me  
tell you now something of a  geological 

product well known1 happily1 to all     
dwellers in towns1 and  of late years1  
thanks to railroad extension1 to most   
dwellers in  country districts3  ,i mean
 coal4  ,coal1 as of course you know1 is
 commonly said to be composed of        
vegetable matter1 of the leaves and     
stems of ancient plants and  trees--a   
startling statement1 and one which ,i do
 not wish you to take  entirely on      
trust4  ,i shall therefore spend a few  
pages in showing  you how this fact--for
 fact it is--was discovered4  ,it is a  
very good  example of reasoning from the
 known to the unknown4  ,you will have a
  right to say at first starting1 ,coal 
is utterly different in look  from      
leaves and stems4  ,the only property   
which they seem to have in  common is   
that they can both burn4  ,true4  ,but  
difference of mere  look may be only    
owing to a transformation1 or series of 
transformations4  ,there are plenty in  
nature quite as great1 and  greater4    
,what can be more different in look1 for

 instance1 than a  green field of wheat 
and a basket of loaves at the baker's8  
,and yet  there is1 ,i trust1 no doubt  
whatsoever that the bread has been once 
green wheat1 and that the green wheat   
has been transformed into  bread--making
 due allowance1 of course1 for the      
bone-dust1 or gypsum1  or alum with     
which the worthy baker may have found it
 profitable to  adulterate his bread1 in
 order to improve the digestion of ,her 
,majesty's subjects4  ,but you may say1 
,yes1 but we can see the wheat growing1 
flowering1  ripening1 reaped1 ground1   
kneaded1 baked4  ,we see1 in the case of
  bread1 the processes of the           
transformation going on3  but in the    
case  of coal we do not see the wood and
 leaves being actually transformed  into
 coal1 or anything like it4  ,now       
suppose we laid out the wheat on a table
 in a regular series1  such as you may  
see in many exhibitions of manufactures2
 beginning  with the wheat plant at one 
end1 and ending with the loaf at the    

other2 and called in to look at them a  
savage who knew nothing of  agriculture 
and nothing of cookery--called in1 as an
 extreme case1  the man in the moon1 who
 certainly can know nothing of either2  
for as  there is neither air nor water  
round the moon1 there can be nothing  to
 grow there1 and therefore nothing to   
cook--and suppose we asked  him to study
 the series from end to end4  ,do you   
not think that the  man in the moon1 if 
he were half as shrewd as ,crofton      
,croker makes  him in his conversation  
with ,daniel ,o',rourke1 would answer   
after due  meditation1 ,how the wheat   
plant got changed into the loaf ,i      
cannot  see from my experience in the   
moon3  but that it has been changed1    
and that the two are the same thing ,i  
do see1 for ,i see all the  different   
stages of the change4  ,and so ,i think 
you may say of the  wood and the coal4  
,the man in the moon would be quite     
reasonable in his conclusion2 for  it is
 a law1 a rule1 and one which you will  

have to apply again and  again in the   
study of natural objects1 that however  
different two  objects may look in some 
respects1 yet if you can find a regular 
series of gradations between them1 with 
all shades of likeness1 first  to one of
 them and then to the other1 then you   
have a fair right to  suppose them to be
 only varieties of the same species1 the
 same kind  of thing1 and that1         
therefore1 they have a common origin4   
,that sounds rather magniloquent4  ,let 
me give you a simple example4  ,suppose 
you had come into ,britain with ,brute1 
the grandson of ,a,eneas1  at that      
remote epoch when 7as all archaeologists
 know who have duly  read ,geoffrey of  
,monmouth and the ,arthuric legends7    
,britain was  inhabited only by a few   
giants4  ,now if you had met giants with
 one  head1 and also giants with seven  
heads1 and no others1 you would have    
had a right to say1 ,there are two      
breeds of giants here1 one-headed  and  
seven-headed4  ,but if you had found1 as

 ,jack the ,giant-,killer  7who belongs 
to the same old cycle of myths7 appears 
to have found1  two-headed giants also1 
and three-headed1 and giants1 indeed1   
with  any reasonable number of heads1   
would you not have been justified in    
saying1 ,they are all of the same breed1
 after all2 only some are  more         
capitate1 or heady1 than others6  ,i    
hope that you agree to that reasoning2  
for by it ,i think we arrive  most      
surely at a belief in the unity of the  
human race1 and that the  ,negro is     
actually a man and a brother4  ,if the  
only two types of men in the world were 
an extreme white type1  like the        
,norwegians1 and an extreme black type1 
like the ,negros1 then  there would be  
fair ground for saying1 ,these two types
 have been  always distinct2 they are   
different races1 who have no common     
origin4  ,but if you found1 as you will 
find1 many types of man  showing endless
 gradations between the white man and   
the ,negro1 and  not only that1 but     

endless gradations between them both and
 a third  type1 whose extreme perhaps is
 the ,chinese--endless gradations1 ,i   
say1 showing every conceivable shade of 
resemblance or difference1  till you    
often cannot say to what type a given   
individual belongs2  and all of them1   
however different from each other1 more 
like each  other than they are like any 
other creature upon earth2 then you are 
justified in saying1 ,all these are mere
 varieties of one kind4   ,however      
distinct they are now1 they were        
probably like each other at  first1 and 
therefore all probably had a common     
origin4  ,that seems  to me sound       
reasoning1 and advanced natural science 
is corroborating  it more and more      
daily4  ,now apply the same reasoning to
 coal4  ,you may find about the world-- 
you may see even in ,england            
alone--every gradation between coal and 
growing forest4  ,you may see the forest
 growing in its bed of  vegetable mould2
 you may see the forest dead and        

converted into peat1  with stems and    
roots in it2 that1 again1 into sunken   
forests1 like  those to be seen below   
high-water mark on many coasts of this  
island4   ,you find gradations between  
them and beds of lignite1 or wood coal2 
then gradations between lignite and     
common or bituminous coal2 and  then    
gradations between common coal and culm1
 or anthracite1 such as  is found in    
,south ,wales4  ,have you not a right to
 say1 ,these are all  but varieties of  
the same kind of thing--namely1         
vegetable matter8   ,they have a common 
origin--namely1 woody fibre4  ,and coal1
 or rather  culm1 is the last link in a 
series of transformations from growing  
vegetation8  ,this is our first theory4 
,let us try to verify it1 as scientific 
men  are in the habit of doing1 by      
saying1 ,if that be true1 then something
  else is likely to be true too4  ,if   
coal has all been vegetable soil1 then  
it is likely that some of  it has not   
been quite converted into shapeless     

coal4  ,it is likely  that there will be
 vegetable fibre still to be seen here  
and there2  perhaps leaves1 perhaps even
 stems of trees1 as in a peat bog4  ,let
  us look for them4  ,you will not need 
to look far4  ,the coal1 and the sands  
and shales  which accompany the coal1   
are so full of plant-remains1 that three
  hundred species were known to ,adolphe
 ,brongniart as early as #ahdi1  and    
that number has largely increased since4
  ,now one point is specially noticeable
 about these plants of the coal2        
namely1 that they may at least have     
grown in swamps4  ,first1 you will be   
interested if you study the coal flora1 
with the  abundance1 beauty1 and variety
 of the ferns4  ,now ferns in these     
islands grow principally in rocky woods1
 because there1 beside the  moisture1   
they get from decaying vegetable or     
decaying rock1  especially limestone1   
the carbonic acid which is their special
 food1  and which they do not get on our
 dry pastures1 and still less in our    

cultivated fields4  ,but in these       
islands there are two noble species1  at
 least1 which are true swamp-ferns2 the 
,lastraea ,thelypteris1 which  of old   
filled the fens1 but is now all but     
extinct2 and the ,osmunda1  or          
,king-fern1 which1 as all know1 will    
grow wherever it is damp  enough about  
the roots4  ,in ,hampshire1 in ,devon1  
and ,cornwall1 and in  the southwest of 
,ireland1 the ,king-fern too is a true  
swamp fern4   ,but in the ,tropics ,i   
have seen more than once noble          
tree-ferns  growing in wet savannahs at 
the sea-level1 as freely as in the      
mountain-woods2 ferns with such a stem  
as some of the coal ferns had1  some    
fifteen feet in height1 under which1 as 
one rode on horseback1  one saw the     
blazing blue sky1 as through a parasol  
of delicate lace1  as men might have    
long ages since have seen it1 through   
the plumed  fronds of the ferns now     
buried in the coal1 had there only been 
a man  then created to enjoy its beauty4

  ,next we find plants called by        
geologists ,calamites4  ,there is no    
doubt now that they are of the same     
family as our ,equiseta1 or horse-      
tails1 a race which has1 over most parts
 of the globe1 dwindled down  now from  
twenty or thirty feet in height1 as they
 were in the old  coal measures1 to     
paltry little weeds4  ,the tallest      
,equisetum in  ,england--the beautiful  
,e4 ,telmateia--is seldom five feet     
high4  ,but  they1 too1 are mostly mud  
and swamp plants2 and so may the        
,calamites  have been4  ,the            
,lepidodendrons1 again1 are without     
doubt the splendid old  representatives 
of a family now dwindled down to such   
creeping things  as our club-mosses1 or 
,lycopodiums4  ,now it is a certain     
fact1 which  can be proved by the       
microscope1 that a very great part of   
the best  coal is actually made up of   
millions of the minute seeds of club-   
mosses1 such as grow--a few of them1 and
 those very small--on our  moors2 a     

proof1 surely1 not only of the vast     
amount of the vegetation  in the        
coal-making age1 but also of the vast   
time during which it  lasted4  ,the     
,lepidodendra may have been fifty or    
sixty feet high4   ,there is not a      
,lycopodium in the world now1 ,i        
believe1 five feet  high4  ,but the     
club-mosses are now1 in these islands   
and elsewhere1  lovers of wet and peaty 
soils1 and so may their huger prototypes
 have  been1 in the old forests of the  
coal4  ,of the ,sigillariae we cannot   
say as much with certainty1 for         
botanists are not agreed as to what low 
order of flowerless plants  they belong4
  ,but that they rooted in clay beds    
there is proof1 as  you will hear       
presently4  ,and as to the ,conifers1 or
 pine-like trees--the ,dadoxylon1 of    
which  the pith goes by the name of     
,sternbergia1 and the uncertain tree    
which furnishes in some coal-measures   
bushels of a seed connected  with that  
of the yew--we may suppose that they    

would find no more  difficulty in       
growing in swamps than the cypress1     
which forms so  large a portion of the  
vegetation in the swamps of the         
,southern  ,united ,states4  ,i have    
given you these hints1 because you will 
naturally wish to know  what sort of a  
world it was in which all these strange 
plants grew  and turned into coal4  ,my 
answer is1 that it was most probably    
just like the world in which  we are    
living now1 with the one exception that 
the plants and animals  are different4  
,it was the fashion a few years since to
 explain the coal--like other  phenomena
 of geology--by some mere hypothesis of 
a state of things  quite unlike what we 
see now4  ,we were brought up to believe
 that in  the ,carboniferous1 or        
coal-bearing era1 the atmosphere was    
intensely  moist and hot1 and           
overcharged with carbonic acid1 which   
had been  poured out from the interior  
of the planet by volcanic eruptions1 or 
by some other convulsion4  ,i forget    

most of it now3  and really there  is no
 need to remember2 for it is all1 ,i    
verily believe1 a dream--an  attempt to 
explain the unknown not by the known1   
but by the still  more unknown4  ,you   
may find such theories lingering still  
in  sensational school-books1 if you    
like to be unscientific4  ,if you  like1
 on the other hand1 to be scientific you
 will listen to those  who tell you that
 instead of there having been one unique
  carboniferous epoch1 with a peculiar  
coal-making climate1 all epochs  are    
carboniferous if they get the chance2   
that coal is of every age1  from that of
 the ,scotch and ,english beds1 up to   
the present day4  ,the  great coal-beds 
along the ,rocky ,mountains1 for        
instance1 are  tertiary--that is1 later 
than the chalk4  ,coal is forming now1  
,i  doubt not1 in many places on the    
earth1 and would form in many more1  if 
man did not interfere with the processes
 of wild nature1 by  draining the fens1 
and embanking the rivers4  ,let me by a 

few words prove this statement4  ,they  
will give you1  beside1 a fresh proof of
 ,sir ,charles ,lyell's great geological
 rule-- that the best way to explain    
what we see in ancient rocks is to take 
for granted1 as long as we can do so    
fairly1 that things were going  on then 
very much as they are going on now4     
,when it was first seen that coal had   
been once vegetable1 the  question      
arose--,how did all these huge masses of
 vegetable matter get  there8  ,the     
,yorkshire and ,derbyshire coal-fields1 
,i hear1 cover #gjj  or #hjj square     
miles2 the ,lancashire about #bjj4  ,how
 large the ,north  ,wales and the       
,scotch fields are ,i cannot say4  ,but 
doubtless a great  deal more coal than  
can be got at lies under the sea1       
especially in  the north of ,wales4     
,coal probably exists over vast sheets  
of ,england  and ,france1 buried so     
deeply under later rocks1 that it cannot
 be  reached by mining4  ,as an         
instance1 a distinguished geologist has 

long held that there are beds of coal   
under ,london itself1 which  rise1 owing
 to a peculiar disturbance of the       
strata1 to within #a1jjj  or #a1bjj feet
 of the surface1 and that we or our     
children may yet see  coal-mines in the 
marshes of the ,thames4  ,and more1 it  
is a provable  fact that only a portion 
of the coal measures is left4  ,a great 
part  of ,ireland must once have been   
covered with coal1 which is now         
destroyed4  ,indeed1 it is likely that  
the coal now known of in ,europe  and   
,america is but a remnant of what has   
existed there in former  ages1 and has  
been eaten away by the inroads of the   
sea4  ,now whence did all that enormous 
mass of vegetable soil come8  ,off  some
 neighbouring land1 was the first and   
most natural answer4  ,it  was a        
rational one4  ,it proceeded from the   
known to the unknown4  ,it  was clear   
that these plants had grown on land2 for
 they were land- plants4  ,it was clear 
that there must have been land close by1

 for  between the beds of coal1 as you  
all know1 the rock is principally       
coarse sandstone1 which could only have 
been laid down 7as ,i have  explained to
 you already7 in very shallow water4    
,it was natural1 then1 to suppose that  
these plants and trees had been  swept  
down by rivers into the sea1 as the     
sands and muds which buried  them had   
been4  ,and it was known that at the    
mouths of certain  rivers--the          
,mississippi1 for instance--vast rafts  
of dead floating  trees accumulated2 and
 that the bottoms of the rivers were    
often full  of snags1 etc42 trees which 
had grounded1 and stuck in the mud2 and 
why should not the coal have been formed
 in the same way8  ,because--and this   
was a serious objection--then surely the
 coal would  be impure--mixed up with   
mud and sand1 till it was not worth     
burning4   ,instead of which1 the coal  
is usually pure vegetable1 parted       
sharply  from the sandstone which lies  
on it4  ,the only other explanation was1

  that the coal vegetation had grown in 
the very places where it was  found4    
,but that seemed too strange to be true1
 till that great  geologist1 ,sir ,w4   
,logan--who has since done such good    
work in ,canada- -showed that every bed 
of coal had a bed of clay under it1 and 
that  that clay always contained fossils
 called ,stigmaria4  ,then it came  out 
that the ,stigmaria in the under clay   
had long filaments attached  to them1   
while when found in the sandstones or   
shales1 they had lost  their filaments1 
and seemed more or less rolled--in fact1
 that the  natural place of the         
,stigmaria was in the under clay4  ,then
 ,mr4  ,binney discovered a tree--a     
,sigillaria1 standing upright in the    
coal- measures with its roots attached4 
,those roots penetrated into the  under 
clay of the coal2 and those roots were  
,stigmarias4  ,that seems  to have      
settled the question4  ,the             
,sigillarias1 at least1 had grown  where
 they were found1 and the clay beneath  

the coal-beds was the  original soil on 
which they had grown4  ,just so1 if you 
will look at  any peat bog you will find
 it bottomed by clay1 which clay is     
pierced  everywhere by the roots of the 
moss forming the peat1 or of the  trees1
 birches1 alders1 poplars1 and willows1 
which grow in the bog4   ,so the proof  
seemed complete1 that the coal had been 
formed out of  vegetation growing where 
it was buried4  ,if any further proof   
for  that theory was needed1 it would be
 found in this fact1 most  ingeniously  
suggested by ,mr4 ,boyd ,dawkins4  ,the 
resinous spores1 or  seeds of the       
,lepidodendra make up--as said above--a 
great part of the  bituminous coal4     
,now those spores are so light1 that if 
the coal had  been laid down by water1  
they would have floated on it1 and have 
been  carried away2 and therefore the   
bituminous coal must have been  formed1 
not under water1 but on dry land4  ,i   
have dwelt at length on these further   
arguments1 because they seem  to me as  

pretty a specimen as ,i can give my     
readers of that regular  and gradual    
induction1 that common-sense regulated1 
by which  geological theories are worked
 out4  ,but how does this theory explain
 the perfect purity of the coal8  ,i    
think ,sir ,c4 ,lyell answers that      
question fully in p4 #chc of his        
,student's ,elements of ,geology4  ,he  
tells us that the dense growths  of     
reeds and herbage which encompass the   
margins of forest-covered  swamps in the
 valley and delta of the ,mississippi1  
in passing through  them1 are filtered  
and made to clear themselves entirely   
before they  reach the areas in which   
vegetable matter may accumulate for     
centuries1 forming coal if the climate  
be favourable2 and that in the          
cypress-swamps of that region no        
sediment mingles with the vegetable     
matter accumulated from the decay of    
trees and semi-aquatic plants2  so that 
when1 in a very dry season1 the swamp is
 set on fire1 pits  are burnt into the  

ground many feet deep1 or as far as the 
fire can  go down without reaching      
water1 and scarcely any earthy residuum 
is  left2 just as when the soil of the  
,english fens catches fire1 red-hot     
holes are eaten down through pure peat  
till the water-bearing clay  below is   
reached4  ,but the purity of the water  
in peaty lagoons is  observable         
elsewhere than in the delta of the      
,mississippi4  ,what can  be more       
transparent than many a pool surrounded 
by quaking bogs1  fringed1 as they are  
in ,ireland1 with a ring of white       
water-lilies1  which you dare not stoop 
to pick1 lest the peat1 bending inward1 
slide you down into that clear dark gulf
 some twenty feet in depth1  bottomed   
and walled with yielding ooze1 from     
which there is no  escape8  ,most       
transparent1 likewise1 is the water of  
the ,west ,indian  swamps4  ,though it  
is of the colour of coffee1 or rather of
 dark  beer1 and so impregnated with    
gases that it produces fever or cholera 

when drunk1 yet it is--at least when it 
does not mingle with the salt  water--so
 clear1 that one might see every marking
 on a boa- constrictor or alligator1 if 
he glided along the bottom under the    
canoe4  ,but now comes the              
question--,even if all this be true1 how
 were the  forests covered up in shale  
and sandstone1 one after another8  ,by  
gradual sinking of the land1 one would  
suppose4  ,if we find1 as we may find in
 a hundred coal-pits1 trees rooted as   
they grew1 with their trunks either     
standing up through the coal1 and       
through the sandstone above the coal2   
their bark often remaining as  coal     
while their inside is filled up with    
sandstone1 has not our  common-sense a  
right to say--,the land on which they   
grew sank below  the water-line2 the    
trees were killed2 and the mud and sand 
which  were brought down the streams    
enveloped their trunks8  ,as for the    
inside being full of sandstone1 have we 
not all seen hollow trees8   ,do we not 

all know that when a tree dies its wood 
decays first1 its  bark last8  ,it is   
so1 especially in the ,tropics4  ,there 
one may see  huge dead trees with their 
bark seemingly sound1 and their inside a
  mere cavern with touchwood at the     
bottom2 into which caverns one used  to 
peep with some caution4  ,for though one
 might have found inside  only a pair of
 toucans1 or parrots1 or a whole party  
of jolly little  monkeys1 one was quite 
as likely to find a poisonous snake four
 or  five feet long1 whose bite would   
have very certainly prevented me  having
 the pleasure of writing this book4     
,now is it not plain that if such trees 
as that sunk1 their bark would  be      
turned into lignite1 and at last into   
coal1 while their insides  would be     
silted up with mud and sand8  ,thus a   
core or pillar of hard  sandstone would 
be formed1 which might do to the collier
 of the  future what they are too apt to
 do now in the ,newcastle and ,bristol  
collieries4  ,for there1 when the coal  

is worked out below1 the  sandstone     
stems--coal-pipes as the colliers call  
them--in the roof  of the seam1 having  
no branches1 and nothing to hold them up
 but  their friable bark of coal1 are   
but too apt to drop out suddenly1       
killing or wounding the hapless men     
below4  ,or again1 if we find--as we    
very often find--as was found at        
,parkfield ,colliery1 near              
,wolverhampton1 in the year #ahad--;a   
quarter  of an acre of coal-seam filled4
 with stumps of trees as they grew1     
their trunks broken off and lying in    
every direction1 turned into  coal1 and 
flattened1 as coal-fossils so often are1
 by the weight of  the rock             
above--should we not have a right to    
say--,these trees were  snapped off     
where they grew by some violent         
convulsion2 by a storm1  or by a sudden 
inrush of water owing to a sudden       
sinking of the land1  or by the very    
earthquake shock itself which sank the  
land8  ,but what evidence have we of    

such sinkings8  ,the plain fact that you
  have coal-seam above coal-seam1 each  
with its bed of under-clay2 and  that   
therefore the land ,,must have sunk ere 
the next bed of soil could  have been   
deposited1 and the next forest have     
grown on it4  ,in one of the ,rocky     
,mountain coal-fields there are more    
than thirty  seams of coal1 each with   
its under-clay below it4  ,what can that
 mean  but thirty or more subsidences of
 the land1 and the peat of thirty or    
more forests or peat-mosses1 one above  
the other8  ,and now if any  reader     
shall say1 ,subsidence8  ,what is this  
quite new element which  you have       
brought into your argument8  ,you told  
us that you would  reason from the known
 to the unknown4  ,what do we know of   
subsidence8   ,you offered to explain   
the thing which had gone on once by that
 which  is going on now4  ,where is     
subsidence going on now upon the surface
  of our planet8  ,and where1 too1      
upheaval1 such as would bring us  these 

buried forests up again from under the  
sea-level1 and make  them1 like our     
,british coal-field1 dry land once more8
  ,the answer is--,subsidence and       
elevation of the land are common now1   
probably just as common as they were in 
any age of this planet's  history4  ,to 
give two instances1 made now notorious  
by the writings of  geologists4  ,as    
lately as #ahai a single earthquake     
shock in ,cutch1 at  the mouth of the   
,indus1 sunk a tract of land larger than
 the ,lake of  ,geneva in some places to
 a depth of eighteen feet1 and converted
 it  into an inland sea4  ,the same     
shock raised1 a few miles off1 a        
corresponding sheet of land some fifty  
miles in length1 and in some  parts     
sixteen miles broad1 ten feet above the 
level of the alluvial  plain1 and left  
it to be named by the country-people the
 ,ullah  ,bund1 or bank of ,god1 to     
distinguish it from the artificial banks
 in  the neighbourhood4  ,again3  in the
 valley of the ,mississippi--a tract    

which is now1 it  would seem1 in much   
the same state as central ,england was  
while our  coal-fields were being laid  
down--the earthquakes of #ahaa-ab caused
  large lakes to appear suddenly in many
 parts of the district1 amid  the dense 
forests of cypress4  ,one of these1 the 
,sunk ,country1 near  ,new ,madrid1 is  
between seventy and eighty miles in     
length1 and thirty  miles in breadth1   
and throughout it1 as late as #ahdf1    
dead trees  were conspicuous1 some erect
 in the water1 others fallen1 and       
strewed  in dense masses over the       
bottom1 in the shallows1 and near the   
shore4  ,i quote these words from ,sir  
,charles ,lyell's ,principles of        
,geology 7#aath edit471 vol4 i4 p4 #dec4
  ,and ,i cannot do better than  advise 
my readers1 if they wish to know more of
 the way in which coal  was formed1 to  
read what is said in that book          
concerning the ,delta of  the           
,mississippi1 and its strata of forests 
sunk where they grew1 and  in some      

places upraised again1 alternating with 
beds of clay and  sand1 vegetable soil1 
recent sea-shells1 and what not1        
forming1 to a  depth of several hundred 
feet1 just such a mass of beds as exists
 in  our own coal-fields at this day4   
,if1 therefore1 the reader wishes to    
picture to himself the scenery of  what 
is now central ,england1 during the     
period when our coal was  being laid    
down1 he has only1 ,i believe1 to       
transport himself in  fancy to any great
 alluvial delta1 in a moist and warm    
climate1  favourable to the growth of   
vegetation4  ,he has only to conceive   
wooded marshes1 at the mouth of great   
rivers1 slowly sinking beneath  the sea2
 the forests in them killed by the      
water1 and then covered up  by layers of
 sand1 brought down from inland1 till   
that new layer  became dry land1 to     
carry a fresh crop of vegetation4  ,he  
has thus  all that he needs to explain  
how coal-measures were formed4  ,i      
myself  saw once a scene of that kind1  

which ,i should be sorry to forget2 for 
there was1 as ,i conceived1 coal1       
making1 or getting ready to be made1    
before my eyes3  a sheet of swamp1      
sinking slowly into the sea2 for  there 
stood trees1 still rooted below         
high-water mark1 and killed by  the     
waves2 while inland huge trees stood    
dying1 or dead1 from the  water at their
 roots4  ,but what a scene--a labyrinth 
of narrow  creeks1 so narrow that a     
canoe could not pass up1 haunted with   
alligators and boa-constrictors1 parrots
 and white herons1 amid an  inextricable
 confusion of vegetable mud1 roots of   
the alder-like  mangroves1 and tangled  
creepers hanging from tree to tree2 and 
overhead huge fan-palms1 delighting in  
the moisture1 mingled with  still huger 
broad-leaved trees in every stage of    
decay4  ,the drowned  vegetable soil of 
ages beneath me2 above my head1 for a   
hundred feet1  a mass of stems and      
boughs1 and leaves and flowers1 compared
 with  which the richest hothouse in    

,england was poor and small4  ,but if   
the  sinking process which was going on 
continued a few hundred years1 all  that
 huge mass of wood and leaf would be    
sunk beneath the swamp1 and  covered up 
in mud washed down from the mountains1  
and sand driven in  from the sea2 to    
form a bed many feet thick1 of what     
would be first  peat1 then lignite1 and 
last1 it may be1 coal1 with the stems of
  killed trees standing up out of it    
into the new mud and sand-beds  above   
it1 just as the ,sigillariae and other  
stems stand up in the  coal-beds both of
 ,britain and of ,nova ,scotia2 while   
over it a fresh  forest would grow up1  
to suffer the same fate--if the sinking 
process  went on--as that which had     
preceded it4  ,that was a sight not     
easily to be forgotten4  ,but we need   
not have  gone so far from home1 at     
least1 a few hundred years ago1 to see  
an  exactly similar one4  ,the fens of  
,norfolk and ,cambridgeshire1 before    
the rivers were embanked1 the water     

pumped off1 the forests felled1  and the
 reed-beds ploughed up1 were exactly in 
the same state4  ,the  vast deposits of 
peat between ,cambridge and the sea1    
often filled  with timber-trees1 either 
fallen or upright as they grew1 and     
often  mixed with beds of sand or mud1  
brought down in floods1 were formed  in 
exactly the same way2 and if they had   
remained undrained1 then  that slow     
sinking1 which geologists say is going  
on over the whole  area of the ,fens1   
would have brought them gradually1 but  
surely1  below the sea-level1 to be     
covered up by new forests1 and converted
  in due time into coal4  ,and future   
geologists would have found--they  may  
find yet1 if1 which ,god forbid1        
,england should become barbarous  and   
the trees be thrown out of              
cultivation--instead of fossil          
,lepidodendra and ,sigillariae1         
,calamites and ferns1 fossil ashes and  
oaks1 alders and poplars1 bulrushes and 
reeds4  ,almost the only  fossil fern   

would have been that tall and beautiful 
,lastraea  ,thelypteris1 once so        
abundant1 now all but destroyed by      
drainage and  the plough4  ,we need not1
 therefore1 fancy any extraordinary     
state of things on  this planet while   
our ,english coal was being formed4     
,the climate of  the northern           
hemisphere--,britain1 at least1 and     
,nova ,scotia--was  warmer than now1 to 
judge from the abundance of ferns2 and  
especially  of tree-ferns2 but not so   
warm1 to judge from the presence of     
conifers 7trees of the pine tribe71 as  
the ,tropics4  ,moreover1 there  must   
have been1 it seems to me1 a great      
scarcity of animal-life4   ,insects are 
found1 beautifully preserved2 a few     
reptiles1 too1 and  land-shells2 but    
very few4  ,and where are the traces of 
such a  swarming life as would be       
entombed were a tropic forest now sunk2 
which is found entombed in many parts of
 our ,english fens8  ,the only          
explanation which ,i can offer is       

this--that the club-mosses1 tree- ferns1
 pines1 and other low-ranked vegetation 
of the coal afforded  little or no food 
for animals1 as the same families of    
plants do to  this day2 and if creatures
 can get nothing to eat1 they certainly 
cannot multiply and replenish the earth4
  ,but1 be that as it may1 the  fact    
that coal is buried forest is not       
affected4  ,meanwhile1 the shape and    
arrangements of sea and land must have  
been  utterly different from what they  
are now4  ,where was that great land1   
off which great rivers ran to deposit   
our coal-measures in their  deltas8  ,it
 has been supposed1 for good reasons1   
that north-western  ,france1 ,belgium1  
,holland1 and ,germany were then under  
the sea2 that  ,denmark and ,norway were
 joined to ,scotland by a continent1 a  
tongue  of which ran across the centre  
of ,england1 and into ,ireland1 dividing
  the northern and southern coal-fields4
  ,but how far to the west and  north   
did that old continent stretch8  ,did   

it1 as it almost certainly  did long    
ages afterwards1 join ,greenland and    
,north ,america with  ,scotland and     
,norway8  ,were the northern fields of  
,nova ,scotia1 which  are of the same   
geological age as our own1 and contain  
the same  plants1 laid down by rivers   
which ran off the same continent as     
ours8   ,who can tell now8  ,that old   
land1 and all record of it1 save what   
these fragmentary coal-measures can     
give1 are buried in the dark  abyss of  
countless ages2 and we can only look    
back with awe1 and  comfort ourselves   
with the thought--,let ,time be ever so 
vast1 yet  ,time is not ,eternity4  ,one
 word more4  ,if my readers have granted
 that all for which ,i have  argued is  
probable1 they will still have a right  
to ask for further  proof4  ,they will  
be justified in saying3  ,you say that  
coal is transformed  vegetable matter2  
but can you show us how the             
transformation takes  place8  ,is it    
possible according to known natural     

laws8  ,the chemist must answer that4   
,and he tells us that wood can become   
lignite1 or wood-coal1 by parting with  
its oxygen1 in the shape of  carbonic   
acid gas1 or choke-damp2 and then common
 or bituminous coal1  by parting with   
its hydrogen1 chiefly in the form of    
carburetted  hydrogen--the gas with     
which we light our streets4  ,that is   
about as  much as the unscientific      
reader need know4  ,but it is a fresh   
corroboration of the theory that coal   
has been once vegetable fibre1  for it  
shows how vegetable fibre can1 by the   
laws of nature1 become  coal4  ,and it  
certainly helps us to believe that a    
thing has been  done1 if we are shown   
that it can be done4  ,this fact        
explains1 also1 why in mines of         
wood-coal carbonic acid1  i4e4          
choke-damp1 alone is given off4  ,for in
 the wood-coal a great  deal of the     
hydrogen still remains4  ,in mines of   
true coal1 not only  is choke-damp given
 off1 but that more terrible pest of the

 miners1  fire-damp1 or explosive       
carburetted hydrogen and olefiant gases4
  ,now  the occurrence of that fire-damp
 in mines proves that changes are  still
 going on in the coal3  that it is      
getting rid of its hydrogen1  and so    
progressing toward the state of         
anthracite or culm--stone-coal  as it is
 sometimes called4  ,in the             
,pennsylvanian coal-fields some of  the 
coal has actually done this1 under the  
disturbing force of  earthquakes2 for   
the coal1 which is bituminous1 like our 
common coal1  to the westward where the 
strata are horizontal1 becomes gradually
  anthracite as it is tossed and torn by
 the earthquake faults of the           
,alleghany and ,appalachian mountains4  
,and is a further transformation        
possible8  ,yes2 and more than one4     
,if we conceive the anthracite cleared  
of all but its last atoms of  oxygen1   
hydrogen1 and nitrogen1 till it has     
become all but pure  carbon1 it would   
become--as it has become in certain     

rocks of immense  antiquity1            
graphite--what we miscall black-lead4   
,and1 after that1 it  might go through  
one transformation more1 and that the   
most startling  of all4  ,it would need 
only perfect purification and           
crystallisation  to become--a diamond2  
nothing less4  ,we may consider the coal
 upon  the fire as the middle term of a 
series1 of which the first is live      
wood1 and the last diamond2 and indulge 
safely in the fancy that  every diamond 
in the world has probably1 at some      
remote epoch1 formed  part of a growing 
plant4  ,a strange transformation2 which
 will look to us more strange1 more     
truly poetical1 the more steadily we    
consider it4  ,the coal on the fire2 the
 table at which ,i write--what are they 
made  of8  ,gas and sunbeams2 with a    
small percentage of ash1 or earthy      
salts1 which need hardly be taken into  
account4  ,gas and sunbeams4  ,strange1 
but true4  ,the life of the growing     
plant--and what that life is who can    

tell8-- laid hold of the gases in the   
air and in the soil2 of the carbonic    
acid1 the atmospheric air1 the          
water--for that too is gas4  ,it drank  
them in through its rootlets3  it       
breathed them in through its leaf-      
pores1 that it might distil them into   
sap1 and bud1 and leaf1 and  wood4  ,but
 it has to take in another element1     
without which the  distillation and the 
shaping could never have taken place4   
,it had to  drink in the sunbeams--that 
mysterious and complex force which is   
for  ever pouring from the sun1 and     
making itself partly palpable to our    
senses as heat and light4  ,so the life 
of the plant seized the  sunbeams1 and  
absorbed them1 buried them in itself--no
 longer as  light and heat1 but as      
invisible chemical force1 locked up for 
ages  in that woody fibre4  ,so it is4  
,lord ,lytton told us long ago1 in a    
beautiful song1 how   ,the ,wind and the
 ,beam loved the ,rose4   ,but ,nature's
 poetry was more beautiful than man's4  

,the wind and the  beam loved the rose  
so well that they made the rose--or     
rather1 the  rose took the wind and the 
beam1 and built up out of them1 by her  
own  inner life1 her exquisite texture1 
hue1 and fragrance4  ,what next8  ,the  
rose dies2 the timber tree dies2 decays 
down into  vegetable fibre1 is buried1  
and turned to coal3  but the plant      
cannot  altogether undo its own work4   
,even in death and decay it cannot set  
free the sunbeams imprisoned in its     
tissue4  ,the sun-force must stay1  shut
 up age after age1 invisible1 but       
strong2 working at its own              
prison-cells2 transmuting them1 or      
making them capable of being  transmuted
 by man1 into the manifold products of  
coal--coke1  petroleum1 mineral pitch1  
gases1 coal-tar1 benzole1 delicate      
aniline  dyes1 and what not1 till its   
day of deliverance comes4  ,man digs it1
 throws it on the fire1 a black1        
dead-seeming lump4  ,a  corner1 an atom 
of it1 warms till it reaches the        

igniting point2 the  temperature at     
which it is able to combine with oxygen4
  ,and then1 like a dormant live thing1 
awaking after ages to the sense  of its 
own powers1 its own needs1 the whole    
lump is seized1 atom  after atom1 with  
an infectious hunger for that oxygen    
which it lost  centuries since in the   
bottom of the earth4  ,it drinks the    
oxygen in  at every pore2 and burns4    
,and so the spell of ages is broken4    
,the sun-force bursts its prison- cells1
 and blazes into the free atmosphere1 as
 light and heat once  more2 returning in
 a moment into the same forms in which  
it entered  the growing leaf a thousand 
centuries since4  ,strange it all is1   
yet true4  ,but of nature1 as of the    
heart of man1  the old saying           
stands--that truth is stranger than     
fiction4    ,v4  ,,the ,,lime ,,in ,,the
 ,,mortar    ,i shall presume in all my 
readers some slight knowledge about     
lime4   ,i shall take for granted1 for  
instance1 that all are better informed  

than a certain party of ,australian     
black fellows were a few years  since4  
,in prowling on the track of a party of 
,english settlers1 to see what  they    
could pick up1 they came--oh joy6--on a 
sack of flour1 dropped  and left behind 
in the bush at a certain creek4  ,the   
poor savages had  not had such a        
prospect of a good meal for many a day4 
,with endless  jabbering and dancing1   
the whole tribe gathered round the      
precious  flour-bag with all the        
pannikins1 gourds1 and other hollow     
articles  it could muster1 each of      
course with a due quantity of water from
 the  creek therein1 and the chief began
 dealing out the flour by handfuls1     
beginning of course with the boldest    
warriors4  ,but1 horror of  horrors1    
each man's porridge swelled before his  
eyes1 grew hot1  smoked1 boiled over4   
,they turned and fled1 man1 woman1 and  
child1  from before that supernatural   
prodigy2 and the settlers coming back   
to look for the dropped sack1 saw a     

sight which told the whole tale4   ,for 
the poor creatures1 in their terror1 had
 thrown away their pans  and calabashes1
 each filled with that which it was     
likely to contain1  seeing that the sack
 itself had contained1 not flour1 but   
quick-lime4   ,in memory of which       
comi-tragedy1 that creek is called to   
this day1  ,flour-bag ,creek4  ,now ,i  
take for granted that you are all more  
learned than these black  fellows1 and  
know quick-lime from flour4  ,but still 
you are not bound  to know what         
quick-lime is4  ,let me explain it to   
you4  ,lime1 properly speaking1 is a    
metal1 which goes among chemists by the 
name of calcium4  ,but it is formed1 as 
you all know1 in the earth1  not as a   
metal1 but as a stone1 as chalk or      
limestone1 which is a  carbonate of     
lime2 that is1 calcium combined with    
oxygen and  carbonic-acid gases4  ,in   
that state it will make1 if it is       
crystalline and hard1 excellent         
building stone4  ,the finest white      

marble1 like that of ,carrara in        
,italy1 of which the most delicate      
statues are carved1 is carbonate of     
lime altered and hardened by volcanic   
heat4  ,but to make mortar of  it1 it   
must be softened and then brought into a
 state in which it can  be hardened     
again2 and ages since1 some man or      
other1 who deserves to  rank as one of  
the great inventors1 one of the great   
benefactors of  his race1 discovered the
 art of making lime soft and hard again2
 in  fact of making mortar4  ,the       
discovery was probably very ancient2 and
  made1 probably like most of the old   
discoveries1 in the ,east1  spreading   
,westward gradually4  ,the earlier      
,greek buildings are  cyclopean1 that   
is1 of stone fitted together without    
mortar4  ,the  earlier ,egyptian        
buildings1 though the stones are        
exquisitely squared  and polished1 are  
put together likewise without mortar4   
,so1 long  ages after1 were the earlier 
,roman buildings1 and even some of the  

later4  ,the famous aqueduct of the     
,pont du ,gard1 near ,nismes1 in the    
south of ,france1 has1 if ,i recollect  
right1 no mortar whatever in it4   ,the 
stones of its noble double tier of      
circular arches have been  dropped into 
their places upon the wooden centres1   
and stand unmoved  to this day1 simply  
by the jamming of their own weight2 a   
miracle of  art4  ,but the fact is      
puzzling2 for these ,romans were the    
best mortar  makers of the world4  ,we  
cannot1 ,i believe1 surpass them in the 
art  even now2 and in some of their old 
castles1 the mortar is actually to  this
 day harder and tougher than the stones 
which it holds together4   ,and they had
 plenty of lime at hand if they had     
chosen to make  mortar4  ,the ,pont du  
,gard crosses a limestone ravine1 and is
 itself  built of limestone4  ,but ,i   
presume the cunning ,romans would not   
trust  mortar made from that coarse     
,nummulite limestone1 filled with gritty
  sand1 and preferred1 with their usual 

carefulness1 no mortar at all  to bad4  
,but ,i must return1 and tell my        
readers1 in a few words1 the chemical   
history of mortar4  ,if limestone be    
burnt1 or rather roasted1 in a  kiln1   
the carbonic acid is given off--as you  
may discover by your own  nose2 as many 
a poor tramp has discovered too late1   
when1 on a cold  winter night1 he has   
lain down by the side of the burning    
kiln to  keep himself warm1 and woke in 
the other world1 stifled to death by    
the poisonous fumes4  ,the lime then    
gives off its carbonic acid1 and also   
its water of  crystallisation1 that is1 
water which it holds 7as do many rocks7 
locked up in it unseen1 and only to be  
discovered by chemical  analysis4  ,it  
is then anhydrous--that is1             
waterless--oxide of lime1  what we call 
quick-lime2 that which figured in the   
comi-tragedy of  ,flour-bag ,creek2 and 
then1 as you may find if you get it     
under your  nails or into your eyes1    
will burn and blister like an acid4     

,this has to be turned again into a hard
 and tough artificial  limestone1 in    
plain words1 into mortar2 and the first 
step is to  slack it--that is1 to give  
it back the water which it has lost1 and
  for which it is as it were thirsting4 
,so it is slacked with water1  which it 
drinks in1 heating itself and the water 
till it steams and  swells in bulk1     
because it takes the substance of the   
water into its  own substance4  ,slacked
 lime1 as we all know1 is not visibly   
wetter  than quick-lime2 it crumbles to 
a dry white powder in spite of all  the 
water which it contains4  ,then it must 
be made to set1 that is1 to return to   
limestone1 to  carbonate of lime1 by    
drinking in the carbonic acid from water
 and  air1 which some sorts of lime will
 do instantly1 setting at once1 and     
being therefore used as cements4  ,but  
the lime usually employed must  be mixed
 with more or less sand to make it set  
hard3  a mysterious  process1 of which  
it will be enough to tell the reader    

that the sand  and lime are said to     
unite gradually1 not only mechanically1 
that is1  by sticking together2 but also
 in part chemically--that is1 by        
forming out of themselves a new         
substance1 which is called silicate  of 
lime4  ,be that as it may1 the mortar   
paste has now to do two things2 first   
to dry1 and next to take up carbonic    
acid from the air and water1  enough to 
harden it again into limestone3  and    
that it will take some  time in doing4  
,a thick wall1 ,i am informed1 requires 
several years  before it is set         
throughout1 and has acquired its full   
hardness1 or  rather toughness2 and good
 mortar1 as is well known1 will acquire 
extreme hardness with age1 probably from
 the very same cause that it  did when  
it was limestone in the earth4  ,for1 as
 a general rule1 the  more ancient the  
strata is in which the limestone is     
found1 the  harder the limestone is2    
except in cases where volcanic action   
and  earthquake pressure have hardened  

limestone in more recent strata1 as  in 
the case of the white marbles of        
,carrara in ,italy1 which are of  the   
age of our ,oolites1 that is1 of the    
freestone of ,bath1 etc41  hardened by  
the heat of intruded volcanic rocks4    
,but now3  what is the limestone8 and   
how did it get where it is--not  into   
the mortar1 ,i mean1 but into the       
limestone quarry8  ,let me tell  you1 or
 rather1 help you to tell yourselves1 by
 leading you1 as  before1 from the known
 to the unknown4  ,let me lead you to   
places  unknown indeed to most2 but     
there may be sailors or soldiers among  
my  readers who know them far better    
than ,i do4  ,let me lead you1 in       
fancy1 to some island in the ,tropic    
seas4  ,after all1 ,i am not  leading   
you as far away as you fancy by several 
thousand miles1 as  you will see1 ,i    
trust1 ere ,i have done4  ,let me take  
you to some island3  what shall it be   
like8  ,shall it be  a high island1 with
 cliff piled on cliff1 and peak on peak1

 all rich  with mighty forests1 like a  
furred mantle of green velvet1 mounting 
up and up till it is lost among white   
clouds above8  ,or shall it be a  mere  
low reef1 which you do not see till you 
are close upon it2 on  which nothing    
rises above the water1 but here and     
there a knot of  cocoa-nut palms or a   
block of stone1 or a few bushes1        
swarming with  innumerable sea-fowl and 
their eggs8  ,let it be which you will3 
both  are strange enough2 both          
beautiful2 both will tell us a story4   
,the ship will have to lie-to1 and      
anchor if she can2 it may be a  mile1 it
 may be only a few yards1 from the land4
  ,for between it and  the land will be 
a line of breakers1 raging in before the
 warm trade- wind4  ,and this1 you will 
be told1 marks the edge of the coral    
reef4  ,you will have to go ashore in a 
boat1 over a sea which looks            
unfathomable1 and which may be a mile or
 more in depth1 and search  for an      
opening in the reef1 through which the  

boat can pass without  being knocked to 
pieces4  ,you find one3  and in a       
moment1 what a change6  ,the deep has   
suddenly  become shallow2 the blue      
white1 from the gleam of the white coral
 at  the bottom4  ,but the coral is not 
all white1 only indeed a little of  it2 
for as you look down through the clear  
water1 you find that the  coral is      
starred with innumerable live flowers1  
blue1 crimson1 grey1  every conceivable 
hue2 and that these are the coral       
polypes1 each  with its ring of arms    
thrust out of its cell1 who are building
 up  their common habitations of lime4  
,if you want to understand1 by a  rough 
but correct description1 what a coral   
polype is3  all who have  been to the   
sea-side know1 or at least have heard   
of1 sea-anemones4   ,now coral polypes  
are sea-anemones1 which make each a     
shell of lime1  growing with its growth4
  ,as for their shapes1 the variety of  
them1  the beauty of them1 no tongue can
 describe them4  ,if you want to see    

them1 go to the ,coral ,rooms of the    
,british or ,liverpool ,museums1 and    
judge for yourselves4  ,only remember   
that you must re-clothe each of  those  
exquisite forms with a coating of live  
jelly of some delicate  hue1 and put    
back into every one of the thousand     
cells its living  flower2 and into the  
beds1 or rather banks1 of the salt-water
 flower  garden1 the gaudiest of        
shell-less sea-anemones1 such as we have
 on  our coasts1 rooted in the cracks1  
and live shells and sea-slugs1 as  gaudy
 as they1 crawling about1 with fifty    
other forms of fantastic  and exuberant 
life4  ,you must not overlook1 too1 the 
fish1 especially  the parrot-fish1 some 
of them of the gaudiest colours1 who    
spend  their lives in browsing on the   
live coral1 with strong clipping and    
grinding teeth1 just as a cow browses   
the grass1 keeping the animal  matter1  
and throwing away the lime in the form  
of an impalpable white  mud1 which fills
 up the interstices in the coral beds4  

,the bottom1 just outside the reef1 is  
covered with that mud1 mixed  with more 
lime-mud1 which the surge wears off the 
reef2 and if you  have1 as you should   
have1 a dredge on board1 and try a haul 
of that  mud as you row home1 you may   
find1 but not always1 animal forms      
rooted in it1 which will delight the    
soul of a scientific man4  ,one1  ,i    
hope1 would be some sort of             
,terebratula1 or shell akin to it4  ,you
  would probably think it a cockle3  but
 you would be wrong4  ,the  animal which
 dwells in it has about the same        
relationship to a cockle  as a dog has  
to a bird4  ,it is a ,brachiopod2 a     
family with which the  ancient seas once
 swarmed1 but which is rare now1 all    
over the world1  having been supplanted 
and driven out of the seas by newer and 
stronger forms of shelled animals4  ,the
 nearest spot at which you are  likely  
to dredge a live ,brachiopod will be in 
the deep water of ,loch  ,fyne1 in      
,argyleshire1 where two species still   

linger1 fastened1  strangely enough1 to 
the smooth pebbles of a submerged       
glacier1  formed in the open air during 
the age of ice1 but sunk now to a depth 
of eighty fathoms4  ,the first time ,i  
saw those shells come up in the  dredge 
out of the dark and motionless abyss1 ,i
 could sympathise with  the feelings of 
mingled delight and awe which1 so my    
companion told  me1 the great ,professor
 ,owen had in the same spot first beheld
 the  same lingering remnants of a      
primaeval world4  ,the other might be   
7but ,i cannot promise you even a chance
 of  dredging that1 unless you were off 
the coast of ,portugal1 or the  windward
 side of some of the ,west ,india       
,islands7 a live ,crinoid2 an  exquisite
 starfish1 with long and branching arms1
 but rooted in the  mud by a long stalk1
 and that stalk throwing out barren side
  branches2 the whole a living plant of 
stone4  ,you may see in museums         
specimens of this family1 now so rare1  
all but extinct4  ,and yet  fifty or a  

hundred different forms of the same type
 swarmed in the  ancient seas3  whole   
masses of limestone are made up of      
little else  but the fragments of such  
animals4  ,but we have not landed yet on
 the dry part of the reef4  ,let us make
  for it1 taking care meanwhile that we 
do not get our feet cut by the  coral1  
or stung as by nettles by the coral     
insects4  ,we shall see  that the dry   
land is made up entirely of coral1      
ground and broken by  the waves1 and    
hurled inland by the storm1 sometimes in
 huge  boulders1 mostly as fine mud2 and
 that1 under the influence of the  sun  
and of the rain1 which filters through  
it1 charged with lime from  the rotting 
coral1 the whole is setting1 as cement  
sets1 into rock4   ,and what is this8   
,a long bank of stone standing up as a  
low cliff1  ten or twelve feet above    
high-water mark4  ,it is full of        
fragments of  shell1 of fragments of    
coral1 of all sorts of animal remains2  
and the  lower part of it is quite hard 

rock4  ,moreover1 it is bedded in       
regular layers1 just such as you see in 
a quarry4  ,but how did it get  there8  
,it must have been formed at the        
sea-level1 some of it1  indeed1 under   
the sea2 for here are great masses of   
madrepore and  limestone corals imbedded
 just as they grew4  ,what lifted it up8
   ,your companions1 if you have any who
 know the island1 have no  difficulty in
 telling you4  ,it was hove up1 they    
say1 in the  earthquake in such and such
 a year2 and they will tell you1        
perhaps1  that if you will go on shore  
to the main island which rises inside   
the reef1 you may see dead coral beds   
just like these lying on the  old rocks1
 and sloping up along the flanks of the 
mountains to  several hundred feet above
 the sea4  ,i have seen such many a     
time4  ,thus you find the coral being   
converted gradually into a limestone    
rock1 either fine and homogeneous1      
composed of coral grown into pulp1  or  
filled with corals and shells1 or with  

angular fragments of older  coral rock4 
,did you never see that last8  ,no8     
,yes1 you have a  hundred times4  ,you  
have but to look at the marbles commonly
 used  about these islands1 with angular
 fragments imbedded in the mass1 and    
here and there a shell1 the whole       
cemented together by water holding  in  
solution carbonate of lime1 and there   
see the very same phenomenon            
perpetuated to this day4  ,thus1 ,i     
think1 we have got first from the known 
to the unknown2 from  a tropic coral    
island back here to the limestone hills 
of ,great  ,britain2 and ,i did not     
speak at random when ,i said that ,i was
 not  leading you away as far as you    
fancied by several thousand miles4      
,examine any average limestone quarry   
from ,bristol to ,berwick1 and you  will
 see there all that ,i have been        
describing2 that is1 all of it  which is
 not soft animal matter1 certain to     
decay4  ,you will see the  lime-mud     
hardened into rock beds2 you will see   

the shells embedded in  it2 you will see
 the corals in every stage of           
destruction2 you will  see whole layers 
made up of innumerable fragments of     
,crinoids--no  wonder they are          
innumerable1 for1 it has been           
calculated1 there are  in a single      
animal of some of the species #adj1jjj  
joints--#adj1jjj  bits of lime to fall  
apart when its soft parts decay4  ,but  
is it not  all there8  ,and why should  
it not have got there by the same       
process  by which similar old coral beds
 get up the mountain sides in the ,west 
,indies and elsewhere2 namely1 by the   
upheaving force of earthquakes8   ,when 
you see similar effects1 you have a     
right to presume similar  causes4  ,if  
you see a man fall off a house here1 and
 break his neck2  and some years after1 
in ,london or ,new ,york1 or anywhere   
else1 find  another man lying at the    
foot of another house1 with his neck    
broken  in the same way1 is it not a    
very fair presumption that he has fallen

  off a house likewise8  ,you may be    
wrong4  ,he may have come to his end by 
a dozen other  means3  but you must have
 proof of that4  ,you will have a full  
right1  in science and in common sense1 
to say--,that man fell off the house1   
till some one proves to you that he did 
not4  ,in fact1 there is nothing which  
you see in the limestones of these      
isles--save and except the difference in
 every shell and coral--which  you would
 not see in the coral-beds of the ,west 
,indies1 if such  earthquakes as that   
famous one at ,st4 ,thomas's1 in #ahff1 
became  common and periodic1 upheaving  
the land 7they needs upheave it a very  
little1 only two hundred and fifty      
feet71 till ,st4 ,thomas's1 and all  the
 ,virgin ,isles1 and the mighty mountain
 of ,porto ,rico1 which looms  up dim   
and purple to the west1 were all joined 
into dry land once  more1 and the lonely
 coral-shoal of ,anegada were raised1 as
 it would  be raised then1 into a       
limestone table-land1 like that of      

,central  ,ireland1 of ,galway1 or of   
,county ,clare4  ,but you must clearly  
understand1 that however much these     
coralline  limestones have been upheaved
 since they were formed1 yet the sea-   
bottom1 while they were being formed1   
was sinking and not rising4   ,this is a
 fact which was first pointed out by    
,mr4 ,darwin1 from the  observations    
which he made in the world-famous       
,voyage of the ,beagle2  and the        
observations of subsequent great        
naturalists have all gone to            
corroborate his theory4  ,it was        
supposed at first1 you must understand1 
that when a coral  island rose steeply  
to the surface of the sea out of blue   
water1  perhaps a thousand fathoms or   
more1 that fact was plain proof that    
the little coral polypes had begun at   
the bottom of the sea1 and1 in  the     
course of ages1 built up the whole      
island an enormous depth4  ,but it soon 
came out that that theory was not       
correct2 for the coral  polypes cannot  

live and build save in shallow          
water--say in thirty to  forty fathoms4 
,indeed1 some of the strongest and      
largest species  work best at the very  
surface1 and in the cut of the fiercest 
surf4   ,and so arose a puzzle as to how
 coral rock is often found of vast      
thickness1 which ,mr4 ,darwin explained4
  ,his theory was1 and there is  no     
doubt now that it is correct1 that in   
these cases the sea-bottom  is sinking2 
that as it sinks1 carrying the coral    
beds down with it1  the coral dies1 and 
a fresh live crop of polypes builds on  
the top of  the houses of their dead    
ancestors3  so that1 as the depression  
goes  on1 generation after generation   
builds upwards1 the living on the  dead1
 keeping the upper surface of the reef  
at the same level1 while  its base is   
sinking downward into the abyss4        
,applying this theory to the coral reef 
of the ,pacific ,ocean1 the  following  
interesting facts were made out3  ,that 
where you find an ,island rising out of 

deep water1 with a ring  of coral round 
it1 a little way from the shore--or1 as 
in ,eastern  ,australia1 a coast with a 
fringing reef 7the ,flinders reef of    
,australia is eleven thousand miles     
long7--that is a pretty sure sign  that 
that shore1 or mountain1 is sinking     
slowly beneath the sea4   ,that where   
you find1 as you often do in the        
,pacific1 a mere atoll1 or  circular    
reef of coral1 with a shallow pond of   
smooth water in the  centre1 and deep   
sea round1 that is a pretty sure sign   
that the  mountain-top has sunk         
completely into the sea1 and that the   
corals  are going on building where its 
peak once was4  ,and more4  ,on working 
out the geography of the ,south ,sea    
,islands by  the light of this theory of
 ,mr4 ,darwin's1 the following          
extraordinary  fact has been discovered3
  ,that over a great part of the        
,pacific ,ocean sinking is going on1 and
  has been going on for ages2 and that  
the greater number of the  beautiful and

 precious ,south ,sea ,islands are only 
the remnants of a  vast continent or    
archipelago1 which once stretched for   
thousands of  miles between ,australia  
and ,south ,america4  ,now1 applying the
 same theory to limestone beds1 which   
are1 as you  know1 only fossil coral    
reefs1 we have a right to say1 when we  
see in  ,england1 ,scotland1 ,ireland1  
limestones several thousand feet thick1 
that while they were being laid down as 
coral reef1 the sea-bottom1  and        
probably the neighbouring land1 must    
have been sinking to the  amount of     
their thickness--to several thousand    
feet--before that  later sinking which  
enabled several hundred feet of         
millstone grit to  be laid down on the  
top of the limestone4  ,this millstone  
grit is a new and a very remarkable     
element in our  strange story4  ,from   
,derby to ,northumberland it forms vast 
and lofty  moors1 capping1 as at        
,whernside and ,penygent1 the highest   
limestone  hills with its hard1 rough1  

barren1 and unfossiliferous strata4     
,wherever it is found1 it lies on the   
top of the mountain1 or  carboniferous  
limestone4  ,almost everywhere1 where   
coal is found in  ,england1 it lies on  
the millstone grit4  ,i speak roughly1  
for fear of  confusing my readers with  
details4  ,the three deposits pass more 
or  less1 in many places1 into each     
other3  but always in the order of      
mountain limestone below1 millstone grit
 on it1 and coal on that  again4  ,now  
what does its presence prove8  ,what but
 this8  ,that after the  great coral    
reefs which spread over ,somersetshire  
and ,south ,wales1  around the present  
estuary of the ,severn1--and those1 once
 perhaps  joined to them1 which spread  
from ,derby to ,berwick1 with a western 
branch through ,north-east ,wales1--were
 laid down--after all this1 ,i  say1    
some change took place in the           
sea-bottom1 and brought down on  the    
reefs of coral sheets of sand1 which    
killed the corals and buried  them in   

grit4  ,does any reader wish for proof  
of this8  ,let him  examine the cherty1 
or flinty1 beds which so often appear   
where the  bottom of the millstone grit 
is passing into the top of the mountain 
limestone--the beds1 to give an         
instance1 which are now quarried on  the
 top of the ,halkin ,mountain in        
,flintshire1 for chert1 which is  sent  
to ,staffordshire to be ground down for 
the manufacture of china4   ,he will    
find layers in those beds1 of several   
feet in thickness1 as  hard as flint1   
but as porous as sponge4  ,on examining 
their cavities  he will find them to be 
simply hollow casts of innumerable      
joints of  ,crinoids1 so exquisitely    
preserved1 even to their most delicate  
markings1 that it is plain they were    
never washed about upon a beach1  but   
have grown where1 or nearly where1 they 
lie4  ,what then1 has  happened to them8
  ,they have been killed by the sand4   
,the soft parts  of the animals have    
decayed1 letting the #adj1jjj joints    

7more or  less7 belonging to each animal
 fall into a heap1 and be imbedded in   
the growing sand-rock2 and then1 it may 
be long years after1 water  filtering   
through the porous sand has removed the 
lime of which the  joints were made1 and
 left their perfect casts behind4  ,so  
much for the millstone grits4  ,how long
 the deposition of sand  went on1 how   
long after it that second deposition of 
sands took  place1 which goes by the    
name of the gannister1 or lower coal-   
measures1 we cannot tell4  ,but it is   
clear1 at least1 that parts of  that    
ancient sea were filling up and becoming
 dry land4  ,for coal1 or  fossilised   
vegetable matter1 becomes more and more 
common as we  ascend in the series of   
beds2 till at last1 in the upper coal-  
measures1 the enormous wealth of        
vegetation which grew1 much of it1      
where it is now found1 prove the        
existence of some such sheets of        
fertile and forest-clad lowland as ,i   
described in my last paper4  ,thousands 

of feet of rich coral reef2 thousands of
 feet of barren  sands2 then thousands  
of feet of rich alluvial forest--and all
 these  sliding into each other1 if not 
in one place1 then in another1  without 
violent break or change2 this is the    
story which the lime in  the mortar and 
the coal on the fire1 between the two1  
reveal4    ,,vi4  ,,the ,,slates ,,on   
,,the ,,roof    ,the slates on the roof 
should be1 when rightly understood1 a   
pleasant  subject for contemplation to  
the dweller in a town4  ,i do not ask   
him  to imitate the boy who1 cliff-bred 
from his youth1 used to spend  stolen   
hours on the house-top1 with his back   
against a chimney-stalk1  transfiguring 
in his imagination the roof-slopes into 
mountain-sides1  the slates into sheets 
of rock1 the cats into lions1 and the   
sparrows  into eagles4  ,i only wish    
that he should--at least after reading  
this  paper--let the slates on the roof 
carry him back in fancy to the          
mountains whence they came2 perhaps to  

pleasant trips to the lakes  and hills  
of ,cumberland1 ,westmoreland1 and      
,north ,wales2 and to  recognise--as he 
will do if he have intellect as well as 
fancy--how  beautiful and how curious an
 object is a common slate4  ,beautiful1 
not only for the compactness and        
delicacy of its texture1  and for the   
regularity and smoothness of its        
surface1 but still more  for its colour4
  ,whether merely warm grey1 as when    
dry1 or bright  purple1 as when wet1 the
 colour of the ,english slate well      
justifies  ,mr4 ,ruskin's saying1 that  
wherever there is a brick wall and a    
slate  roof there need be no want of    
rich colour in an ,english landscape4   
,but most beautiful is the hue of slate1
 when1 shining wet in the  sunshine     
after a summer shower1 its blue is      
brought out in rich  contrast by golden 
spots of circular lichen1 whose spores1 
,i presume1  have travelled with it off 
its native mountains4  ,then1 indeed1 it
  reminds the voyager of a sight which  

it almost rivals in brilliancy-- of the 
sapphire of the deep ocean1 brought out 
into blazing intensity  by the contrast 
of the golden patches of floating       
gulf-weed beneath  the tropic sun4      
,beautiful1 ,i say1 is the slate2 and   
curious likewise1 nay1 venerable2  a    
most ancient and elaborate work of ,god1
 which has lasted long  enough1 and     
endured enough likewise1 to bring out in
 it whatsoever  latent capabilities of  
strength and usefulness might lie hid in
 it2  which has literally been--as far  
as such words can apply to a thing      
inanimate--   ,heated hot with burning  
fears1 ,and bathed in baths of hissing  
tears1 ,and battered by the strokes of  
doom ,to shape and use4   ,and yet it   
was at first naught but an ugly lump of 
soft and shapeless  ooze4  ,therefore1  
the slates to me are as a parable1 on   
which ,i will not  enlarge1 but will    
leave each reader to interpret it for   
himself4  ,i  shall confine myself now  
to proofs that slate is hardened mud1   

and to  hints as to how it assumed its  
present form4  ,that slate may have been
 once mud1 is made probable by the      
simple  fact that it can be turned into 
mud again4  ,if you grind tip slate1    
and then analyse it1 you will find its  
mineral constituents to be  exactly     
those of a fine1 rich1 and tenacious    
clay4  ,the slate  districts 7at least  
in ,snowdon7 carry such a rich clay on  
them1  wherever it is not masked by the 
ruins of other rocks4  ,at  ,ilfracombe1
 in ,north ,devon1 the passage from     
slate below to clay  above1 may be      
clearly seen4  ,wherever the top of the 
slate beds1 and  the soil upon it1 is   
laid bare1 the black layers of slate may
 be seen  gradually melting--if ,i may  
use the word--under the influence of    
rain  and frost1 into a rich tenacious  
clay1 which is now not black1 like  its 
parent slate1 but red1 from the         
oxidation of the iron which it          
contains4  ,but1 granting this1 how did 
the first change take place8  ,it must  

be allowed1 at starting1 that time      
enough has elapsed1 and  events enough  
have happened1 since our supposed mud   
began first to  become slate1 to allow  
of many and strange transformations4    
,for  these slates are found in the     
oldest beds of rocks1 save one series1  
in the known world2 and it is notorious 
that the older and lower the  beds in   
which the slates are found1 the better1 
that is1 the more  perfectly elaborate1 
is the slate4  ,the best slates of      
,snowdon--,i  must confine myself to the
 district which ,i know personally--are 
found in the so-called ,cambrian beds4  
,below these beds but one  series of    
beds is as yet known in the world1      
called the ,laurentian4   ,they occur1  
to a thickness of some eighty thousand  
feet1 in ,labrador1  ,canada1 and the   
,adirondack mountains of ,new ,york3    
but their  representatives in ,europe   
are1 as far as is known only to be found
 in  the north-west highlands of        
,scotland1 and in the island of ,lewis1 

which consists entirely of them4  ,and  
it is to be remembered1 as a  proof of  
their inconceivable antiquity1 that they
 have been upheaved  and shifted long   
before the ,cambrian rocks were laid    
down  unconformably on their worn and   
broken edges4  ,above the ,cambrian     
slates--whether the lower and older ones
 of  ,penrhyn and ,llanberris1 which are
 the same--one slate mountain being     
worked at both sides in two opposite    
valleys--or the upper and newer  slates 
of ,tremadoc1 lie other and newer       
slate-bearing beds of  inferior quality1
 and belonging to a yet newer world1 the
 ,silurian4   ,to them belong the       
,llandeilo flags and slates of ,wales1  
and the  ,skiddaw slates of ,cumberland1
 amid beds abounding in extinct fossil  
forms4  ,fossil shells are found1 it is 
true1 in the upper ,cambrian  beds4  ,in
 the lower they have all but            
disappeared4  ,whether their  traces    
have been obliterated by heat and       
pressure1 and chemical  action1 during  

long ages2 or whether1 in these lower   
beds1 we are  actually reaching that    
,primordial ,zone conceived of by ,m4   
,barrande1  namely1 rocks which existed 
before living things had begun to people
  this planet1 is a question not yet    
answered4  ,i believe the former  theory
 to be the true one4  ,that there was   
life1 in the sea at least1  even before 
the oldest ,cambrian rocks were laid    
down1 is proved by  the discovery of the
 now famous fossil1 the ,eozoon1 in the 
,laurentian  limestones1 which seems to 
have grown layer after layer1 and to    
have  formed reefs of limestone as do   
the living coral-building polypes4   ,we
 know no more as yet4  ,but all that we 
do know points downwards1  downwards    
still1 warning us that we must dig      
deeper than we have dug  as yet1 before 
we reach the graves of the first living 
things4  ,let this suffice at present   
for the ,cambrian and ,laurentian rocks4
  ,the ,silurian rocks1 lower and upper1
 which in these islands have  their     

chief development in ,wales1 and which  
are nearly thirty-eight  thousand feet  
thick2 and the ,devonian or ,old ,red   
sandstone beds1  which in the ,fans of  
,brecon and ,carmarthenshire attain a   
thickness of  ten thousand feet1 must be
 passed through in an upward direction  
before we reach the bottom of that      
,carboniferous ,limestone of which ,i   
spoke in my last paper4  ,we thus find  
on the ,cambrian rocks forty- five      
thousand feet at least of newer rocks1  
in several cases lying  unconformably on
 each other1 showing thereby that the   
lower beds had  been upheaved1 and their
 edges worn off on a sea-shore1 ere the 
upper  were laid down on them2 and      
throughout this vast thickness of rocks1
  the remains of hundreds of forms of   
animals1 corals1 shells1 fish1  older   
forms dying out in the newer rocks1 and 
new ones taking their  places in a      
steady succession of ever-varying forms1
 till those in  the upper beds have     
become unlike those in the lower1 and   

all are  from the beginning more or less
 unlike any existing now on earth4      
,whole families1 indeed1 disappear      
entirely1 like the ,trilobites1  which  
seem to have swarmed in the ,silurian   
seas1 holding the same  place there as  
crabs and shrimps do in our modern seas4
  ,they vanish  after the period of the 
coal1 and their place is taken by an    
allied  family of ,crustaceans1 of which
 only one form 7as far as ,i am aware7  
lingers now on earth1 namely1 the ,king 
,crab1 or ,limulus1 of the  ,indian     
,seas1 a well-known animal1 of which    
specimens may sometimes be  seen alive  
in ,english aquaria4  ,so perished in   
the lapse of those  same ages1 the      
armour-plated or ,ganoid fish which     
,hugh ,miller made  so justly           
famous--and which made him so justly    
famous in return-- appearing first in   
the upper ,silurian beds1 and abounding 
in vast  variety of strange forms in the
 old ,red ,sandstone1 but gradually     
disappearing from the waters of the     

world1 till their only  representatives1
 as far as known1 are the ,lepidostei1  
or ,bony  ,pikes1 of ,north ,america2   
the ,polypteri of the ,nile and         
,senegal2 the  ,lepidosirens of the     
,african lakes and ,western rivers2 the 
,ceratodus  or ,barramundi of           
,queensland 7the two latter of which    
approach  ,amphibians71 and one or two  
more fantastic forms1 either rudimentary
  or degraded1 which have lasted on here
 and there in isolated stations  through
 long ages1 comparatively unchanged     
while all the world is  changed around  
them1 and their own kindred1 buried like
 the fossil  ,ceratodus of the ,trias   
beneath thousands of feet of ancient    
rock1  among creatures the likes whereof
 are not to be found now on earth4      
,and these are but two examples out of  
hundreds of the vast changes  which have
 taken place in the animal life of the  
globe1 between the  laying down of the  
,cambrian slates and the present time4  
,surely--and it is to this conclusion ,i

 have been tending throughout a         
seemingly wandering paragraph--surely   
there has been time enough  during all  
those ages for clay to change into      
slate4  ,and how were they changed8  ,i 
think ,i cannot teach my readers this   
more simply than by asking  them first  
to buy ,sheet ,no4 ,,lxxviii4 ,s4,e4    
7,bangor7 of the ,snowdon  district of  
the ,government ,geological ,survey1    
which may be ordered at  any good       
stationer's1 price #cs42 and study it   
with me4  ,he will see  down the        
right-hand margin interpretations of the
 different colours  which mark the      
different beds1 beginning with the      
youngest 7alluvium7  atop1 and going    
down through ,carboniferous ,limestone  
and ,sandstone1  ,upper ,silurian1      
,lower ,silurian1 ,cambrian1 and below  
them certain  rocks marked of different 
shades of red1 which signify rocks      
either  altered by heat1 or poured out  
of old volcanic vents4  ,he will next   
see that the map is covered with a      

labyrinth of red patches and  curved    
lines1 signifying the outcrop or        
appearance at the surface of  these     
volcanic beds4  ,they lie at every      
conceivable slope2 and the  hills and   
valleys have been scooped out by rain   
and ice into every  conceivable slope   
likewise4  ,wherefore we see1 here a    
broad patch of  red1 where the back of a
 sheet of ,lava1 ,porphyry1 ,greenstone1
 or what  not is exposed2 there a narrow
 line curving often with the curve of   
the hill-side1 where only the edge of a 
similar sheet is exposed2 and  every    
possible variety of shape and attitude  
between these two4  ,he  will see also  
large spaces covered with little        
coloured dots1 which  signify 7as he    
will find at the margin7 beds of        
volcanic ash4  ,if he  look below the   
little coloured squares on the margin1  
he will see  figures marking the strike1
 or direction of the inclination of the 
beds--inclined1 vertical1 horizontal1   
contorted2 that the white lines  in the 

map signify faults1 i4e4 shifts in the  
strata2 the gold lines1  lodes of       
metal--the latter of which ,i should    
advise him strongly1 in  this district  
at least1 not to meddle with3  but to   
button up his  pockets1 and to put into 
the fire1 in wholesome fear of his own  
weakness and ignorance1 any puffs of    
mining companies which may be  sent     
him--as one or two have probably been   
sent him already4  ,furnished with which
 keys to the map1 let him begin to con  
it over1  sure that there is if not an  
order1 still a grand meaning in all its 
seeming confusion2 and let him1 if he be
 a courteous and grateful  person1      
return due thanks to ,professor ,ramsay 
for having found it all  out2 not       
without wondering1 as ,i have often     
wondered1 how even  ,professor ,ramsay's
 acuteness and industry could find it   
all out4  ,when my reader has studied   
awhile the confusion--for it is a true  
confusion--of the different beds1 he    
will ask1 or at least have a  right to  

ask1 what known process of nature can   
have produced it8  ,how  have these     
various volcanic rocks1 which he sees   
marked as ,felspathic  ,traps1 ,quartz  
,porphyries1 ,greenstones1 and so forth1
 got intermingled  with beds which he is
 told to believe are volcanic ashes1 and
 those  again with fossil-bearing       
,silurian beds and ,cambrian slates1    
which he  is told to believe were       
deposited under water8  ,and his puzzle 
will  not be lessened when he is told   
that1 in some cases1 as in that of  the 
summit of ,snowdon1 these very volcanic 
ashes contain fossil  shells4  ,the best
 answer ,i can give is to ask him to use
 his imagination1 or  his common sense2 
and to picture to himself what must go  
on in the  case of a submarine eruption1
 such as broke out off the coast of     
,iceland in #aghc and #ahcj1 off the    
,azores in #ahaa1 and in our day in     
more than one spot in the ,pacific      
,ocean4  ,a main bore or vent--or more  
than one--opens itself between the      

bottom of the sea and the nether fires4 
,from each rushes an enormous  jet of   
high-pressure steam and other gases1    
which boils up through  the sea1 and    
forms a cloud above2 that cloud descends
 again in heavy  rain1 and gives out    
often true lightning from its under     
side4  ,but it does more4  ,it acts as a
 true steam-gun1 hurling into the air   
fragments of cold rock rasped off from  
the sides of the bore1 and  fragments   
also of melted lava1 and clouds of dust1
 which fall again  into the sea1 and    
form there beds either of fine mud or of
 breccia-- that is1 fragments of stone  
embedded in paste4  ,this1 the reader   
will  understand1 is no fancy sketch1 as
 far as ,i am concerned4  ,i have       
steamed into craters sawn through by the
 sea1 and showing sections of  beds of  
ash dipping outwards and under the sea1 
and in them boulders  and pebbles of    
every size1 which had been hurled out of
 the crater2  and in them also veins of 
hardened lava1 which had burrowed out   

through the soft ashes of the cone4  ,of
 those lava veins ,i will speak         
presently4  ,what ,i want the reader to 
think of now is the immense  quantity of
 ash which the steam-mitrailleuse hurls 
to so vast a  height into the air1 that 
it is often drifted many miles down to  
leeward4  ,to give two instances3  ,the 
jet of steam from ,vesuvius1 in  the    
eruption of #ahbb1 rose more than four  
miles into the air2 the jet  from the   
,souffriere of ,st4 ,vincent in the     
,west ,indies1 in #ahab1  probably rose 
higher2 certainly it met the ,n4,e4     
trade-wind1 for it  poured down a layer 
of ashes1 several inches thick1 not only
 on ,st4  ,vincent itself1 but on       
,barbadoes1 eighty miles to windward1   
and  therefore on all the sea between4  
,now let us consider what that          
represents--a layer of fine mud1 laid   
down at the bottom of the  ocean1       
several inches thick1 eighty miles at   
least long1 and twenty  miles perhaps   
broad1 by a single eruption4  ,suppose  

that hardened in  long ages 7as it would
 be under pressure7 into a bed of fine  
grained  ,felstone1 or volcanic ash2 and
 we can understand how the ash-beds of  
,snowdonia--which may be traced some of 
them for many square miles-- were laid  
down at the bottom of an ancient sea4   
,but now about the lavas or true        
volcanic rocks1 which are painted 7as   
is usual in geological maps7 red4  ,let 
us go down to the bottom of  the sea1   
and build up our volcano towards the    
surface4  ,first1 as ,i said1 the       
subterranean steam would blast a bore4  
,the  dust and stones1 rasped and       
blasted out of that hole would be spread
  about the sea-bottom as an ash-bed    
sloping away round the hole2 then  the  
molten lava would rise in the bore1 and 
flow out over the ashes  and the        
sea-bottom--perhaps in one direction1   
perhaps all round4   ,then1 usually1 the
 volcano1 having vented itself1 would be
 quieter  for a time1 till the heat     
accumulated below1 and more ash was     

blasted  out1 making a second ash-bed2  
and then would follow a second lava     
flow4  ,thus are produced the alternate 
beds of lava and ash which are  so      
common4  ,now suppose that at this point
 the volcano was exhausted1 and lay     
quiet for a few hundred years1 or more4 
,if there was any land near1  from which
 mud and sand were washed down1 we might
 have layers on  layers of sediment     
deposited1 with live shells1 etc41      
living in them1  which would be         
converted into fossils when they died2  
and so we  should have fossiliferous    
beds over the ashes and lavas4  ,indeed1
  shells might live and thrive in the   
ash-mud itself1 when it cooled1  and the
 sea grew quiet1 as they have lived and 
thriven in ,snowdonia4  ,now suppose    
that after these sedimentary beds are   
laid down by water1  the volcano breaks 
out again--what would happen8  ,many    
things3  specially this1 which has often
 happened already4  ,the lava1 kept down
 by the weight of these new rocks1      

searches for  the point of least        
resistance1 and finds it in a more      
horizontal  direction4  ,it burrows out 
through the softer ash-beds1 and between
  the sedimentary beds1 spreading itself
 along horizontally4  ,this  process    
accounts for the very puzzling1 though  
very common case in  ,snowdon and       
elsewhere1 in which we find lavas       
interstratified with  rocks which are   
plainly older than those lavas4         
,perhaps when that is  done the volcano 
has got rid of all its lava1 and is     
quiet4  ,but if  not1 sooner or later1  
it bores up through the new sedimentary 
rocks1  faulting them by earthquake     
shocks till it gets free vent1 and      
begins  its layers of alternate ash and 
lava once more4  ,and consider this fact
 also3  ,if near the first 7as often    
happens7  there is another volcano1 the 
lava from one may run over the lava     
from the other1 and we may have two     
lavas of different materials  overlying 
each other1 which have come from        

different directions4  ,the  ashes blown
 out of the two craters may mingle also1
 and so1 in the  course of ages1 the    
result may be such a confusion of ashes1
 lavas1  and sedimentary rocks as we    
find throughout most mountain ranges in 
,snowdon1 in the ,lake mountains1 in the
 ,auvergne in ,france1 in ,sicily  round
 ,etna1 in ,italy round ,vesuvius1 and  
in so many ,west ,indian  ,islands2 the 
last confusion of which is very likely  
to be this3  ,that when the volcano has 
succeeded--as it did in the case of     
,sabrina  ,island off the ,azores in    
#ahaa1 and as it did1 perhaps often1 in 
,snowdonia--in piling up an ash cone    
some hundred feet out of the sea2       
that--as has happened to ,sabrina       
,island--the cone is sunk again by      
earthquakes1 and gnawn down at the same 
time by the sea-waves1 till  nothing is 
left but a shoal under water4  ,but     
where have all its vast  heaps of ashes 
gone8  ,to be spread about over the     
bottom of the sea1  to mingle with the  

mud already there1 and so make beds of  
which1 like  many in ,snowdon1 we cannot
 say whether they are of volcanic or of 
marine origin1 because they are of both4
  ,but what has all this to do with the 
slates8  ,i shall not be surprised if my
 readers ask that question two or three 
times during this paper4  ,but they must
 be kind enough to let me tell  my story
 my own way4  ,the slates were not made 
in a day1 and ,i fear  they cannot be   
explained in an hour3  unless we begin  
carefully at  the beginning in order to 
end at the end4  ,let me first make my  
readers clearly understand that all our 
slate-bearing mountains1 and  most also 
of the non-slate-bearing ones likewise1 
are formed after  the fashion which ,i  
have described1 namely1 beneath the sea4
  ,i do  not say that there may not have
 been1 again1 and again1 ash-cones      
rising above the surface of the waves4  
,but if so1 they were washed  away1     
again and again1 ages before the land   
assumed anything of its  present shape2 

ages before the beds were twisted and   
upheaved as they  are now4  ,and        
therefore ,i beg my readers to put out  
of their minds once and for  all the    
fancy that in any known part of these   
islands craters are to  be still seen1  
such as exist in ,etna1 or ,vesuvius1 or
 other volcanoes  now at work in the    
open air4  ,it is necessary to insist on
 this1 because many people hearing that 
certain mountains are volcanic1         
conclude--and very naturally and        
harmlessly--that the circular lakes     
about their tops are true  craters4  ,i 
have been told1 for instance1 that that 
wonderful little  blue ,glas ,llyn1     
under the highest cliff of ,snowdon1 is 
the old crater  of the mountain2 and ,i 
have heard people insist that a similar 
lake1  of almost equal grandeur1 in the 
south side of ,cader ,idris1 is a       
crater likewise4  ,but the fact is not  
so4  ,any one acquainted with recent    
craters would  see at once that ,glas   
,llyn is not an ancient one2 and ,i am  

not  surprised to find the ,government  
geologists declaring that the ,llyn  on 
,cader ,idris is not one either4  ,the  
fact is1 that the crater1 or  rather the
 place where the crater has been1 in    
ancient volcanoes of  this kind1 is     
probably now covered by one of the      
innumerable bosses  of lava4  ,for1 as  
an eruption ceases1 the melted lava     
cools in the vents1 and  hardens2       
usually into lava infinitely harder than
 the ash-cone round  it2 and this1 when 
the ash-cone is washed off1 remains as  
the highest  part of the hill1 as in the
 ,mont ,dore and the ,cantal in ,france1
 and  in several extinct volcanoes in   
the ,antilles4  ,of course the lava     
must have been poured out1 and the ashes
 blown out from some vents or  other1   
connected with the nether world of fire2
 probably from many  successive vents4  
,for in volcanoes1 when one vent is     
choked1 another  is wont to open at some
 fresh point of least resistance among  
the  overlying rocks4  ,but where are   

these vents8  ,buried deep under        
successive eruptions1 shifted probably  
from their places by  successive        
upheavings and dislocations2 and if we  
wanted to find them  we should have to  
quarry the mountain range all over1 a   
mile deep1  before we hit upon here and 
there a tap-root of ancient lava1       
connecting the upper and the nether     
worlds4  ,there are such tap- roots1    
probably1 under each of our ,british    
mountain ranges4  ,but  ,snowdon1       
certainly1 does not owe its shape to the
 fact of one of  these old fire vents   
being under it4  ,it owes its shape     
simply to the  accident of some of the  
beds toward the summit being especially 
hard1  and thus able to stand the wear  
and tear of sea-wave1 ice1 and rain4    
,its lakes have been formed quite       
regardless of the lie of the rocks1     
though not regardless of their relative 
hardness4  ,but what forces  scooped    
them out--whether they were originally  
holes left in the  ground by            

earthquakes1 and deepened since by rain 
and rivers1 or  whether they were       
scooped out by ice1 or by any other     
means1 is a  question on which the best 
geologists are yet undecided--decided   
only  on this--that craters they are    
not4  ,as for the enormous changes which
 have taken place in the outline of  the
 whole of the mountains1 since first    
their strata were laid down  at the     
bottom of the sea3  ,i shall give facts 
enough1 before this  paper is done1 to  
enable readers to judge of them for     
themselves4  ,the reader will now ask1  
naturally enough1 how such a heap of    
beds as  ,i have described can take the 
shape of mountains like ,snowdon4  ,look
 at any sea cliff in which the strata   
are twisted and set on  slope4  ,there  
are hundreds of such in these isles4    
,the beds must  have been at one time   
straight and horizontal4  ,but it is    
equally  clear that they have been      
folded by being squeezed laterally4  ,at
  least1 that is the simplest           

explanation1 as may be proved by        
experiment4  ,take a number of pieces of
 cloth1 or any such stuff2 lay  them on 
each other and then squeeze them        
together at each end4  ,they  will      
arrange themselves in folds1 just as the
 beds of the cliff have  done4  ,and if1
 instead of cloth1 you take some more   
brittle matter1  you will find that1 as 
you squeeze on1 these folds will tend to
 snap  at the points of greatest tension
 or stretching1 which will be of  course
 at the anticlinal and synclinal        
lines--in plain ,english1 the  tops and 
bottoms of the folds4  ,thus cracks will
 be formed2 and if  the pressure goes   
on1 the ends of the layers will shift   
against each  other in the line of those
 cracks1 forming faults like those so   
common in rocks4  ,but again1 suppose   
that instead of squeezing these broken  
and folded  lines together any more1 you
 took off the pressure right and left1  
and pressed them upwards from below1 by 
a mimic earthquake4  ,they  would rise2 

and as they rose leave open space       
between them4  ,now if  you could       
contrive to squeeze into them from below
 a paste1 which  would harden in the    
cracks and between the layers1 and so   
keep them  permanently apart1 you would 
make them into a fair likeness of an    
average mountain range--a mess--if ,i   
may make use of a plain old  word--of   
rocks which have1 by alternate          
contraction and expansion1  helped in   
the latter case by the injection of     
molten lava1 been  thrust about as they 
are in most mountain ranges4  ,that such
 a contraction and expansion goes on in 
the crust of the  earth is evident2 for 
here are the palpable effects of it4    
,and the  simplest general cause which  
,i can give for it is this3  ,that      
things  expand as they are heated1 and  
contract as they are cooled4  ,now ,i am
 not learned enough--and were ,i1 ,i    
have not time--to enter  into the       
various theories which philosophers have
 put forward1 to  account for these     

grand phenomena4  ,the most remarkable1 
perhaps1 and the most probable1 is the  
theory of  ,m4 ,elie de ,beaumont1 which
 is1 in a few words1 this3  ,that this  
earth1 like all the planets1 must have  
been once in a state  of intense heat   
throughout1 as its mass inside is       
probably now4  ,that it must be cooling1
 and giving off its heat into space4    
,that1 therefore1 as it cools1 its crust
 must contract4  ,that1 therefore1 in   
contracting1 wrinkles 7for the loftiest 
mountain  chains are nothing but tiny   
wrinkles1 compared with the whole mass  
of  the earth71 wrinkles1 ,i say1 must  
form on its surface from time to  time4 
,and that the mountain chains are these 
wrinkles4  ,be that as it may1 we may   
safely say this4  ,that wherever the    
internal heat of the earth tends 7as in 
the case of volcanoes7  towards a       
particular spot1 that spot must expand1 
and swell up1  bulging the rocks out1   
and probably cracking them1 and         
inserting  melting lava into those      

cracks from below4  ,on the other hand1 
if the  internal heat leaves that spot  
again1 and it cools1 then it must       
contract more or less1 in falling inward
 toward the centre of the  earth2 and so
 the beds must be crumpled1 and crushed1
 and shifted  against each other still  
more1 as those of our mountains have    
been4  ,but here may arise1 in some of  
my readers' minds1 a reasonable         
question--,if these upheaved beds were  
once horizontal1 should we not  be      
likely to find them1 in some places1    
horizontal still8  ,a reasonable        
question1 and one which admits of a full
 answer4  ,they know1 of course1 that   
there has been a gradual1 but steady1   
change in the animals of this planet2   
and that the relative age of  beds can1 
on the strength of that known change1 be
 determined  generally by the fossils1  
usually shells1 peculiar to them3  so   
that  if we find the same fashion of    
shells1 and still more the same  species
 of shells1 in two beds in different    

quarters of the world1  then we have a  
right to say--,these beds were laid down
 at least about  the same time4  ,that  
is a general rule among all geologists1 
and not  to be gainsaid4  ,now ,i think 
,i may say1 that1 granting that we can  
recognise a bed by  its fossils1 there  
are few or no beds which are found in   
one place  upheaved1 broken1 and altered
 by heat1 which are not found in some   
other place still horizontal1 unbroken1 
unaltered1 and more or less  as they    
were at first4  ,from the most recent   
beds2 from the upheaved coral-rocks of  
the ,west  ,indies1 and the upheaved and
 faulted boulder clay and chalk of the  
,isle of ,moen in ,denmark--downwards   
through all the strata1 down to  that   
very ancient one in which the best      
slates are found1 this rule1  ,i        
believe1 stands true4  ,it stands true1 
certainly1 of the ancient ,silurian     
rocks of ,wales1  ,cumberland1 ,ireland1
 and ,scotland4  ,for1 throughout great 
tracts of ,russia1 and in parts of      

,norway and  ,sweden1 ,sir ,roderick    
,murchison discovered our own ,silurian 
beds1  recognisable from their peculiar 
fossils4  ,but in what state8  ,not     
contracted1 upheaved1 and hardened to   
slates and grits1 as they are  in ,wales
 and elsewhere3  but horizontal1        
unbroken1 and still soft1  because      
undisturbed by volcanic rooks and       
earthquakes4  ,at the bottom  of them   
all1 near ,petersburg1 ,sir ,roderick   
found a shale of dried mud  7to quote   
his own words71 so soft and incoherent  
that it is even  used by sculptors for  
modelling1 although it underlies the    
great mass  of fossil-bearing ,silurian 
rocks1 and is1 therefore1 of the same   
age  as the lower crystalline hard      
slates of ,north ,wales4  ,so entirely  
have most of these eldest rocks in      
,russia been exempted from the          
influence of change1 throughout those   
enormous periods which have  passed away
 since their accumulation4  ,among the  
many discoveries which science owes to  

that illustrious  veteran1 ,i know none 
more valuable for its bearing on the    
whole  question of the making of the    
earth-crust1 than this one magnificent  
fact4  ,but what a contrast between     
these ,scandinavian and ,russian rocks  
and  those of ,britain6  ,never         
exceeding1 in ,scandinavia1 a thousand  
feet  in thickness1 and lying usually   
horizontal1 as they were first laid     
down1 they are swelled in ,britain to a 
thickness of thirty thousand  feet1 by  
intruded lavas and ashes2 snapt1 turned1
 set on end at every  conceivable angle2
 shifted against each other to such an  
extent1  that1 to give a single         
instance1 in the ,vale of ,gwynnant1    
under  ,snowdon1 an immense wedge of    
porphyry has been thrust up1 in what is 
now the bottom of the valley1 between   
rocks far newer than it1 on one  side to
 a height of eight hundred1 on the other
 to a height of  eighteen hundred       
feet--half the present height of        
,snowdon4  ,nay1 the  very slate beds of

 ,snowdonia have not forced their way up
 from under  the mountain--without long 
and fearful struggles4  ,they are set in
  places upright on end1 then horizontal
 again1 then sunk in an  opposite       
direction1 then curled like sea-waves1  
then set nearly  upright once more1 and 
faulted through and through1 six times1 
,i  believe1 in the distance of a mile  
or two2 they carry here and there  on   
their backs patches of newer beds1 the  
rest of which has long  vanished2 and in
 their rise they have hurled back to the
 eastward1  and set upright1 what is now
 the whole western flank of ,snowdon1 a 
mass of rock which was then several     
times as thick as it is now4  ,the force
 which thus tortured them was probably  
exerted by the great  mass of volcanic  
,quartz-porphyry1 which rises from under
 them to the  north-west1 crossing the  
end of the lower lake of the            
,llanberris2 and  indeed the shifts and 
convulsions which have taken place      
between them  and the ,menai ,straits   

are so vast that they can only be       
estimated by  looking at them on the    
section which may be found at the end of
  ,professor ,ramsay's ,geological      
,survey of ,north ,wales4  ,but anyone  
who will study that section1 and use 7as
 with the map7 a little  imagination and
 common sense1 will see that between the
 heat of that  ,porphyry1 which must    
have been poured out as a fluid mass as 
hot1  probably1 as melted iron1 and the 
pressure of it below1 and of the        
,silurian beds above1 the ,cambrian     
mud-strata of ,llanberris and  ,penrhyn 
quarries must have suffered enough to   
change them into  something very        
different from mud1 and1 therefore1     
probably1 into  what they are           
now--namely1 slate4  ,and now1 at last1 
we have got to the slates on the roof1  
and may  disport ourselves over         
them--like the cats4  ,look at any piece
 of slate4  ,all know that slate splits 
or cleaves  freely1 in one direction    
only1 into flat layers4  ,now any one   

would  suppose at first sight1 and      
fairly enough1 that the flat            
surface--the  plane of cleavage--was    
also the plane of bedding4  ,in simpler 
,english we should say--,the mud which  
has hardened into the slate was  laid   
down horizontally2 and therefore each   
slate is one of the little  horizontal  
beds of it1 perhaps just what was laid  
down in a single  tide4  ,we should have
 a right to do so1 because that would be
 true of  most sedimentary rocks4  ,but 
it would not be true of slate4  ,the    
plane of bedding in slate has nothing to
 do with the plane of  cleavage4  ,or1  
more plainly1 the mud of which the slate
 is made may  have been deposited at the
 sea-bottom at any angle to the plane of
  cleavage4  ,we may sometimes see the  
lines of the true bedding--the  lines   
which were actually horizontal when the 
mud was laid down--in  bits of slate1   
and find them sometimes perpendicular   
to1 sometimes  inclined to1 and         
sometimes again coinciding with the     

plane of  cleavage1 which they have     
evidently acquired long after4  ,nay1   
more4  ,these parallel planes of        
cleavage1 at each of which the  slate   
splits freely1 will run through a whole 
mountain at the same  angle1 though the 
beds through which they run may be      
tilted at  different angles1 and twisted
 into curves4  ,now what has made this  
change in the rook8  ,we do not exactly 
know4   ,one thing is clear1 that the   
particles of the now solid rock have    
actually moved on themselves4  ,and this
 is proved by a very curious            
fact--which the reader1 if he geologises
 about slate quarries much1  may see    
with his own eyes4  ,the fossils in the 
slate are often  distorted into quaint  
shapes1 pulled out long if they lie     
along the  plane of cleavage1 or        
squeezed together1 or doubled down on   
both  sides1 if they lie across the     
plane4  ,so that some force has been at 
work which could actually change the    
shape of hard shells1 very  slowly1 no  

doubt1 else it would have snapped and   
crumbled them4  ,if ,i am asked what    
that force was1 ,i do not know4  ,i     
should advise  young geologists to read 
what ,sir ,henry de la ,beche has said  
on it in  his admirable ,geological     
,observer1 pp4 #gjf-gbe4  ,he will find 
there1 too1 some remarks on that equally
 mysterious phenomena of  jointing1     
which you may see in almost all the     
older rocks2 it is  common in           
limestones4  ,all we can say is1 that   
some force has gone  on1 or may be even 
now going on1 in the more ancient rocks1
 which is  similar to that which        
produces single crystals2 and similar1  
too1 to  that which produced the jointed
 crystals of basalt1 i4e4 lava1 at the  
,giant's ,causeway1 in ,ireland1 and    
,staffa1 in the ,hebrides4  ,two        
philosophers--,mr4 ,robert ,were ,fox   
and ,mr4 ,robert ,hunt--are of opinion  
that the force which has determined the 
cleavage of slates may be  that of the  
electric currents1 which 7as is well    

known7 run through  the crust of the    
earth4  ,mr4 ,sharpe1 ,i believe1       
attributes the  cleavage to the mere    
mechanical pressure of enormous weights 
of rock1  especially where crushed by   
earthquakes4  ,professor ,rogers1 again1
  points out that as these slates may   
have been highly heated1 thermal        
electricity 7i4e4 electricity brought   
out by heat7 may have acted on  them4   
,one thing at least is clear4  ,that the
 best slates are found among  ancient   
lavas1 and also in rocks which are      
faulted and tilted  enormously1 all     
which could not have happened without a 
proportionately enormous pressure1 and  
therefore heat2 and next1 that  the best
 slates are invariably found in the     
oldest beds--that is1 in  the beds which
 have had most time to endure the       
changes1 whether  mechanical or         
chemical1 which have made the earth's   
surface what we  see it now4  ,another  
startling fact the section of           
,snowdonia1 and ,i believe of  most     

mountain chains in these islands1 would 
prove--namely1 that the  contour of the 
earth's surface1 as we see it now1      
depends very  little1 certainly in      
mountains composed of these elder rocks 
upon the  lie of the strata1 or beds1   
but has been carved out by great forces1
  long after those beds were not only   
laid down and hardened1 but  faulted and
 tilted on end4  ,snowdon itself is so  
remarkable an  instance of this fact    
that1 as it is a mountain which every   
one in  these happy days of             
excursion-trains and steamers either has
 seen or  can see1 ,i must say a few    
more words about it4  ,any one who saw  
that noble peak leaping high into the   
air1 dominating  all the country round1 
at least upon three sides1 and was told 
that  its summit consisted of beds much 
newer1 not much older1 than the         
slate-beds fifteen hundred feet down on 
its north-western flank--any  one1 ,i   
say1 would have the right at first      
sight1 on hearing of  earthquake faults 

and upheavals1 to say--,the peak of     
,snowdon has been  upheaved to its      
present height above and out of the     
lower lands  around4  ,but when he came 
to examine sections1 he would find his  
reasonable guess utterly wrong4         
,snowdon is no swelling up of the       
earth's crust4  ,the beds do not1 as    
they would in that case1 slope up  to   
it4  ,they slope up from it1 to the     
north-west in one direction1  and the   
south-south-west in the other2 and      
,snowdon is a mere  insignificant boss1 
left hanging on one slope of what was   
once an  enormous trough1 or valley1 of 
strata far older than itself4  ,by      
restoring these strata1 in the direction
 of the angles1 in which they  crop out1
 and vanish at the surface1 it is found 
that to the north- west--the direction  
of the ,menai ,straits--they must once  
have risen  to a height of at least six 
or seven thousand feet2 and more1 by    
restoring them1 specially the ash-bed of
 ,snowdon1 towards the south-           

east--which can be done by the guidance 
of certain patches of it left  on other 
hills--it is found that south of        
,ffestiniog1 where the  ,cambrian rocks 
rise again to the surface1 the south    
side of the  trough must have sloped    
upwards to a height of from fifteen to  
twenty  thousand feet1 whether at the   
bottom of the sea1 or in the upper air1 
we cannot tell4  ,but the fact is       
certain1 that off the surface of        
,wales1 south of ,ffestiniog a mass of  
solid rock as high as the ,andes  has   
been worn down and carried bodily away2 
and that a few miles  south again1 the  
peak of ,arran ,mowddy1 which is now not
 two thousand  feet high1 was           
once--either under the sea or above     
it--nearer ten  thousand feet4  ,if ,i  
am asked whither is all that enormous   
mass of rock--millions of  tons--gone8  
,where is it now8  ,i know not4  ,but if
 ,i dared to hazard  a guess1 ,i should 
say it went to make the ,new ,red       
sandstones of  ,england4  ,the ,new ,red

 sandstones must have come from         
somewhere4  ,the most  likely region for
 them to have come from is from ,north  
,wales1 where1  as we know1 vast masses 
of gritty rock have been ground off1    
such as  would make fine sandstones if  
they had the chance4  ,so that many a   
grain of sand in ,chester walls was     
probably once blasted out of the  bowels
 of the earth into the old ,silurian    
sea1 and after a few  hundreds of       
thousands of years' repose in a         
,snowdonian ash-bed1 was  sent eastward 
to build the good old city and many a   
good town more4  ,and the red marl--the 
great deposit of red marl which covers a
 wide  region of ,england--why should   
not it have come from the same quarter8 
,why should it not be simply the remains
 of the ,snowdon ,slate8  ,mud  the     
slate was1 and into mud it has returned4
  ,why not8  ,some of the  richest red  
marl land ,i know1 is1 as ,i have said1 
actually being made  now1 out of the    
black slates of ,ilfracombe1 wherever   

they are  weathered by rain and air4    
,the chemical composition is the same4  
,the difference in colour between black 
slate and red marl is caused  simply by 
the oxidation of the iron in the slate4 
,and if my readers want a probable cause
 why the sandstones lie  undermost1 and 
the red marl uppermost--can they not    
find one for  themselves8  ,i do not say
 that it is the cause1 but it is at     
least a  causa vera1 one which would    
fully explain the fact1 though it may be
  explicable in other ways4  ,think1    
then1 or shall ,i think for my  readers8
  ,then do they not see that when the   
,welsh mountains were ground down1  the 
,silurian strata1 being uppermost1 would
 be ground down first1 and  would go to 
make the lower strata of the great ,new 
,red ,sandstone  ,lowland2 and that     
being sandy1 they would make the        
sandstones8  ,but  wherever they were   
ground through1 the ,lower ,cambrian    
slates would be  laid bare2 and their   
remains1 being washed away by the sea   

the last1  would be washed on to the top
 of the remains of the ,silurians2 and  
so  7as in most cases7 the remains of   
the older rock1 when redeposited by     
water1 would lie on the remains of the  
younger rock4  ,and do they not  see    
that 7if what ,i just said is true7     
these slates would grind up  into red   
marl1 such as is seen over the west and 
south of ,cheshire  and ,staffordshire  
and far away into ,nottinghamshire8     
,the red marl  must almost certainly    
have been black slate somewhere1        
somewhen4  ,why  should it not have been
 such in ,snowdon8  ,and why should not 
the  slates in the roof be the remnants 
of the very beds which are now the  marl
 in the fields8  ,and thus ,i end my    
story of the slates in the roof1 and    
these papers  on ,town ,geology4  ,i do 
so1 well knowing how imperfect they are3
   though not1 ,i believe1 inaccurate4  
,they are1 after all1 merely  suggestive
 of the great amount that there is to be
 learnt about the  face of the earth and

 how it got made1 even by the townsman1 
who can  escape into the country and    
exchange the world of man for the world 
of ,god1 only1 perhaps1 on ,sundays--if1
 alas6 even then--or only once  a year  
by a trip in a steamer or an excursion  
train4  ,little1 indeed1  can he learn  
of the planet on which he lives4        
,little in that  direction is given to  
him1 and of him little shall be         
required4  ,but  to him1 for that very  
reason1 all that can be given should be 
given2  he should have every facility   
for learning what he can about this     
earth1 its composition1 its             
capabilities2 lest his intellect1       
crushed  and fettered by that artificial
 drudgery which we for a time miscall   
civilisation1 should begin to fancy1 as 
too many do already1 that the  world is 
composed mainly of bricks and deal1 and 
governed by acts of  parliament4  ,if ,i
 shall have awakened any townsmen here  
and there to  think seriously of the    
complexity1 the antiquity1 the grandeur1

 the  true poetry1 of the commonest     
objects around them1 even the stones    
beneath their feet2 if ,i shall have    
suggested to them the solemn  thought   
that all these things1 and they         
themselves still more1 are  ordered by  
laws1 utterly independent of man's will 
about them1 man's  belief in them2 if ,i
 shall at all have helped to open their 
eyes that  they may see1 and their ears 
that they may hear1 the great book which
  is free to all alike1 to peasant as to
 peer1 to men of business as to  men of 
science1 even that great book of nature1
 which is1 as ,lord  ,bacon said of old1
 the ,word of ,god revealed in          
facts--then ,i shall  have a fresh      
reason for loving that science of       
geology1 which has  been my favourite   
study since ,i was a boy4    ,footnotes3
  #a  ,see ,nature1 ,no4  ,,xxv4        
7,macmillan  ,co47  #b  ,these ,lectures
 were delivered to the members of the   
,natural  ,science ,class at ,chester in
 #ahga4  #c  ,see a most charming paper 

on ,the ,physics of ,arctic ,ice1 by    
,dr4  ,robert ,brown of ,campster1      
published in the ,quarterly ,journal of 
the  ,geological ,society1 ,june1 #ahgj4
  ,this article is so remarkable1 not   
only for its sound scientific matter1   
but for the vividness and  poetic beauty
 of its descriptions1 that ,i must      
express a hope that  the learned author 
will some day enlarge it1 and publish it
 in a  separate form4  #d  ,see ,lyell1 
,antiquity of ,man1 p4 #bid et seq4