,,time ,,and ,,change  ,,by  ,,john     
,,burroughs  ,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york
  #aiab       ,,preface      ,i suspect 
that in this volume my reader will feel 
that ,i have given him a stone when he  
asked for bread1 and his feeling in this
 respect will need no apology4 ,i fear  
there is more of the matter of hard     
science and of scientific speculation in
 this collection than of spiritual and  
aesthetic nutriment2 but ,i do hope the 
volume is not entirely destitute of the 
latter4 ,if ,i have not in some degree  
succeeded in transmuting my rocks into a
 kind of wholesome literary bread1 or1  
to vary the figure1 in turning them into
 a soil in which some green thing or    
flower of human interest and emotion may
 take root and grow1 then1 indeed1 have 
,i come short of the end ,i had in view4
  ,i am well aware that my own interest 
in geology far outruns my knowledge1 but
 if ,i can in some degree kindle that   
interest in my reader1 ,i shall be      
putting him on the road to a fuller     

knowledge than ,i possess4 ,as with     
other phases of nature1 ,i have probably
 loved the rocks more than ,i have      
studied them4 ,in my youth ,i delighted 
in lingering about and beneath the      
ledges of my native hills1 partly in the
 spirit of adventure and a boy's love of
 the wild1 and partly with an eye to    
their curious forms1 and the evidences  
of immense time that looked out from    
their gray and crumbling fronts4 ,i was 
in the presence of ,geologic ,time1 and 
was impressed by the scarred and        
lichen-coated veteran without knowing   
who or what he was4 ,but he put a spell 
upon me that has deepened as the years  
have passed1 and now my boyhood ledges  
are more interesting to me than ever4   
,if one gains an interest in the history
 of the earth1 he is quite sure to gain 
an interest in the history of the life  
on the earth4 ,if the former illustrates
 the theory of development1 so must the 
latter4 ,the geologist is pretty sure to
 be an evolutionist4 ,as science turns  

over the leaves of the great rocky      
volume1 it sees the imprint of animals  
and plants upon them and it traces their
 changes and the appearance of new      
species from age to age4 ,the biologic  
tree has grown and developed as the     
geologic soil in which it is rooted has 
deepened and ripened4 ,i am sure ,i was 
an evolutionist in the abstract1 or by  
the quality and complexion of my mind1  
before ,i read ,darwin1 but to become an
 evolutionist in the concrete1 and      
accept the doctrine of the animal origin
 of man1 has not for me been an easy    
matter4  ,the essays on the subject in  
this volume are the outcome of the      
stages of brooding and thinking which ,i
 have gone through in accepting this    
doctrine4 ,i am aware that there is much
 repetition in them1 but maybe on that  
very account they will help my reader to
 go along with me over the long road we 
have to travel to reach this conclusion4
  ,july1 #aiab4       ,,contents        
,i4 ,,the ,,long ,,road  ,,ii4 ,,the    

,,divine ,,abyss  ,,iii4 ,,the ,,spell  
,,of ,,the ,,yosemite  ,,iv4 ,,through  
,,the ,,eyes ,,of ,,the ,,geologist  ,v4
 ,,holidays ,,in ,,hawaii  ,,vi4 ,,the  
,,old ,,ice ,,flood  ,,vii4 ,,the       
,,friendly ,,soil  ,,viii4 ,,primal     
,,energies  ,,ix4 ,,scientific ,,faith  
,x4 ,,the ,,worm ,,striving ,,to ,,be   
,,man  ,,xi4 ,,the ,,phantoms ,,behind  
,,us  ,,xii4 ,,the ,,hazards ,,of ,,the 
,,past  ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,gospel ,,of     
,,nature       ,,time ,,and ,,change  ,i
  ,,the ,,long ,,road  ,i      ,the long
 road ,i have in mind is the long road  
of evolution1--the road you and ,i have 
traveled in the guise of humbler        
organisms1 from the first unicellular   
life in the old ,cambrian seas to the   
complex and highly specialized creature 
that rules supreme in the animal kingdom
 to-day4 ,surely a long journey1        
stretching through immeasurable epochs  
of geologic time1 and attended by       
vicissitudes of which we can form but   
feeble conceptions4  ,the majority of   

readers1 ,i fancy1 are not yet ready to 
admit that they1 or any of their        
forebears1 have ever made such a        
journey4 ,we have all long been taught  
that our race was started upon its      
career only a few thousand years ago1   
started1 not amid the warrings of savage
 elemental nature1 but in a pleasant    
garden with everything needed close at  
hand4 ,this belief has faded a good deal
 in our time1 especially among          
thoughtful persons2 but in a modified   
form1 as the special creation theory1 it
 held sway in the minds of the older    
naturalists like ,agassiz and ,dawson1  
long after ,darwin had launched his     
revolutionary doctrine of our animal    
origin1 putting man in the same         
zoological scheme as the lower orders4  
,we are slow to adjust our minds to the 
revelations of science1 they have been  
so long adjusted to a revelation1       
so-called1 of an entirely different     
character4 ,it gives them a wrench more 
or less violent when we try to make them

 at home and at their ease amid these   
new and startling disclosures4 ,to many 
good people evolution seems an ungodly  
doctrine1 like setting up a remorseless 
logic in the place of an omnipresent    
,creator4 ,but there is no help for it4 
,science has fairly turned us out of our
 comfortable little anthropomorphic     
notion of things into the great         
out-of-doors of the universe4 ,we must  
and will get used to the chill1 yea1 to 
the cosmic chill1 if need be4 ,our      
religious instincts will be all the     
hardier for it4  ,when we accepted      
,newton's discovery of the force called 
gravitation1 we virtually surrendered   
ourselves to the enemy1 and started upon
 a road1 the road of natural causation1 
that traverses the whole system of      
created things4 ,we cannot turn back2 we
 may lie down by the roadside and dream 
our old dreams1 but our children and    
their children will press on1 and will  
be exhilarated by the journey4  ,it is  
at first sight an unpalatable truth that

 evolution confronts us with1 and it    
requires courage calmly to face it4 ,but
 it is in perfect keeping with the whole
 career of physical science1 which is   
forever directing our attention to      
common near-at-hand facts for the key to
 remote and mysterious occurrences4  ,it
 seems to me that evolution adds greatly
 to the wonder of life1 because it takes
 it out of the realm of the arbitrary1  
the exceptional1 and links it to the    
sequence of natural causation4 ,that man
 should have been brought into existence
 by the fiat of an omnipotent power is  
less an occasion for wonder than that he
 should have worked his way up from the 
lower non-human forms4 ,that the manward
 impulse should never have been lost in 
all the appalling vicissitudes of       
geologic time1 that it should have      
pushed steadily on1 through mollusk and 
fish and amphibian and reptile1 through 
swimming and creeping and climbing      
things1 and that the forms that conveyed
 it should have escaped the devouring   

monsters of the earth1 sea1 and air till
 it came to its full estate in a human  
being1 is the wonder of wonders4  ,in   
like manner1 evolution raises immensely 
the value of the biological processes   
that are everywhere operative about us1 
by showing us that these processes are  
the channels through which the creative 
energy has worked1 and is still working4
 ,not in the far-off or in the          
exceptional does it seek the key to     
man's origin1 but in the sleepless      
activity of the creative force1 which   
has been pushing onward and upward1 from
 the remotest time1 till it has come to 
full fruition in man4  ,it is easy to   
inject into man's natural history a     
supernatural element1 as nearly all     
biologists and anthropologists before   
,darwin's time did1 and as many serious 
people still do4 ,it is too easy1 in    
fact1 and the temptation to do so is    
great4 ,it makes short work of the      
problem of man's origin1 and saves a    
deal of trouble4 ,but this method is    

more and more discredited1 and the      
younger biologists and natural          
philosophers accept the zoological      
conception of man1 which links him with 
all the lower forms1 and proceed to work
 from that4  ,when we have taken the    
first step in trying to solve the       
problem of man's origin1 where can we   
stop8 ,can we find any point in his     
history where we can say1 ,here his     
natural history ends1 and his           
supernatural history begins8 ,does his  
natural history end with the pre-glacial
 man1 with the cave man1 or the         
river-drift man1 with the low-browed1   
long-jawed fossil man of                
,java1--,pithecanthropus erectus1       
described by ,du ,bois8 ,where shall we 
stop on his trail8 ,i had almost said   
step on his tail1 for we undoubtedly1 if
 we go back far enough1 come to a time  
when man had a tail4 ,every unborn child
 at a certain stage of its development  
still has a tail1 as it also has a coat 
of hair and a hand-like foot4 ,but could

 we stop with the tailed man--the       
manlike ape1 or the apelike man8 ,did   
his ,creator start him with this        
appendage1 or was it a later suffix of  
his own invention8  ,if we once         
seriously undertake to solve the riddle 
of man's origin1 and go back along the  
line of his descent1 ,i doubt if we can 
find the point1 or the form1 where the  
natural is supplanted by the            
supernatural as it is called1 where     
causation ends and miracle begins4 ,even
 the first dawn of protozoic life in the
 primordial seas must have been natural1
 or it would not have occurred1--must   
have been potential in what went before 
it4 ,in this universe1 so far as we know
 it1 one thing springs from another2 the
 sequence of cause and effect is        
continuous and inviolable4  ,we know    
that no man is born of full stature1    
with his hat and boots on2 we know that 
he grows from an infant1 and we know the
 infant grows from a fetus1 and that the
 fetus grows from a bit of nucleated    

protoplasm in the mother's womb4 ,why   
may not the race of man grow from a like
 simple beginning8 ,it seems to be the  
order of nature2 it ,,is the order of   
nature1--first the germ1 the inception1 
then the slow growth from the simple to 
the complex4 ,it is the order of our own
 thoughts1 our own arts1 our own        
civilization1 our own language4  ,in our
 candid moments we acknowledge the      
animal in ourselves and in our          
neighbors1--especially in our           
neighbors1--the beast1 the shark1 the   
hog1 the sloth1 the fox1 the monkey2 but
 to accept the notion of our animal     
origin1 that gives us pause4 ,to believe
 that our remote ancestor1 no matter how
 remote in time or space1 was a lowly   
organized creature living in the        
primordial seas with no more brains than
 a shovel-nosed shark or a gar-pike1    
puts our scientific faith to severe     
test4  ,think of it4 ,for countless     
ages1 millions upon millions of years1  
we see the earth swarming with life1 low

 bestial life1 devouring and devoured1  
myriads of forms1 all in bondage to     
nature or natural forces1 living only to
 eat and to breed1 localized1 dependent 
upon place and clime1 shaped to specific
 ends like machines1--to fly1 to swim1  
to climb1 to run1 to dig1 to drill1 to  
weave1 to wade1 to graze1 to            
crush1--knowing not what they do1 as    
void of conscious purpose as the thorns1
 the stings1 the hooks1 the coils1 and  
the wings in the vegetable world1 making
 no impression upon the face of nature1 
as much a part of it as the trees and   
the stones1 species after species having
 its day1 and then passing off the      
stage1 when suddenly1 in the day before 
yesterday in the geologic year1 so      
suddenly as to give some color of truth 
to the special creation theory1 a new   
and strange animal appears1 with new and
 strange powers1 separated from the     
others by what appears an impassable    
gulf1 less specialized in his bodily    
powers than the others1 but vastly more 

specialized in his brain and mental     
powers1 instituting a new order of      
things upon the earth1 the face of which
 he in time changes through his new gift
 of reason1 inventing tools and weapons 
and language1 harnessing the physical   
forces to his own ends1 and putting all 
things under his feet1--man the         
wonder-worker1 the beholder of the      
stars1 the critic and spectator of      
creation itself1 the thinker of the     
thoughts of ,god1 the worshiper1 the    
devotee1 the hero1 spreading rapidly    
over the earth1 and developing with     
prodigious strides when once fairly     
launched upon his career4 ,can it be    
possible1 we ask1 that this god was     
fathered by the low bestial orders below
 him1--instinct giving birth to reason1 
animal ferocity developing into human   
benevolence1 the slums of nature sending
 forth the ruler of the earth4 ,it is a 
hard proposition1 ,i say1 undoubtedly   
the hardest that science has ever       
confronted us with4  ,haeckel1          

discussing this subject1 suggests that  
it is the parvenu in us that is         
reluctant to own our lowly progenitors1 
the pride of family and position1 like  
that of would-be aristocratic sons who  
conceal the humble origin of their      
parents4 ,but it is more than that2 it  
is the old difficulty of walking by     
faith where there is nothing visible to 
walk upon3 we lack faith in the         
efficiency of the biologic laws1 or any 
mundane forces1 to bridge the tremendous
 chasm that separates man from even the 
highest of the lower orders4 ,his       
radical unlikeness to all the forms     
below him1 as if he moved in a world    
apart1 into which they could never      
enter1 as in a sense he does1 is where  
the difficulty lies4 ,moreover1         
evolution balks us because of the       
inconceivable stretch of time during    
which it has been at work4 ,it is as    
impossible for us to grasp geological   
time as sidereal space4 ,all the        
standards of measurement furnished us by

 experience are as inadequate as is a   
child's cup to measure the ocean4       
,several million years1 or one million  
years1--how can we take it in8 ,we      
cannot4 ,a hundred years is a long time 
in human history1 and how we pause      
before a thousand6 ,then think of ten   
thousand1 of fifty thousand1 of one     
hundred thousand1 of ten hundred        
thousand1 or one million1 or of one     
hundred million6 ,what might not the    
slow but ceaseless creative energy do in
 that time1 changing but a hair in each 
generation6 ,if our millionaires had to 
earn their wealth cent by cent1 and     
carry each cent home with them at night1
 it would be some years before they     
became millionaires4 ,this is but a     
faint symbol of the slow process by     
which nature has piled up her riches4   
,she has had no visions of sudden       
wealth4 ,to clothe the earth with soil  
made from the disintegrated             
mountains--can we figure that time to   
ourselves8 ,the ,orientals try to get a 

hint of eternity by saying that when the
 ,himalayas have been ground to powder  
by allowing a gauze veil to float       
against them once in a thousand years1  
eternity will only have just begun4 ,our
 mountains have been pulverized by a    
process almost as slow4 ,in our case the
 gauze veil is the air1 and the rains1  
and the snows1 before which even granite
 crumbles4 ,see what the god of erosion1
 in the shape of water1 has done in the 
river valleys and gorges--cut a mile    
deep in the ,colorado canyon1 and yet   
this canyon is but of yesterday in      
geologic time4 ,only give the           
evolutionary god time enough and all    
these miracles are surely wrought4      
,truly it is hard for us to realize what
 a part time has played in the earth's  
history1--just time1 duration1--so      
slowly1 oh1 so slowly1 have the great   
changes been brought about6 ,the turning
 of mud and silt into rock in the bottom
 of the old seas seems to have been     
merely a question of time4 ,mud does not

 become rock in man's time1 nor         
vegetable matter become coal4 ,these    
processes are too slow for us4 ,the     
flexing and folding of the rocky strata1
 miles deep1 under an even pressure1 is 
only a question of time4 ,allow time    
enough and force enough1 and a layer of 
granite may be bent like a bow4 ,the    
crystals of the rock seem to adjust     
themselves to the strain1 and to take up
 new positions1 just as they do1 much   
more rapidly1 in a cake of ice under    
pressure4 ,probably no human agency     
could flex a stratum of rock1 because   
there is not time enough1 even if there 
were power enough4 ,a low temperature   
acting gradually1 says my geology1      
during an indefinite age would produce  
results that could not be otherwise     
brought about even through greater heat4
 ,give us time1 say the great mechanical
 forces1 and we will show you the       
immobile rocks and your rigid mountain  
chains as flexible as a piece of        
leather4 ,give us time1 say the dews and

 the rains and the snowflakes1 and we   
will make you a garden out of those same
 stubborn rocks and frowning ledges4    
,give us time1 says ,life1 starting with
 her protozoans in the old ,cambrian    
seas1 and ,i will not stop till ,i have 
peopled the earth with myriad forms and 
crowned them all with man4  ,dana thinks
 that had a man been living during the  
changes that produced the coal1 he would
 not have suspected their progress1 so  
slow and quiet were they4 ,it is        
probable that parts of our own sea-coast
 are sinking and other parts rising as  
rapidly as the oscillation of the land  
and sea went on that resulted in the    
laying down of the coal measures4  ,an  
eternity to man is but a day in the     
cosmic process4 ,in the face of geologic
 time1 man's appearance upon the earth  
as man1 with a written history1 is      
something that has just happened2 it was
 in this morning's paper1 we read of it 
at breakfast4 ,as evolution goes1 it    
will not be old news yet for a hundred  

thousand years or so1 and by that time1 
what will he have done1 if he goes on at
 his present rate of accelerated speed8 
,probably he will not have caught the   
gods of evolution at their work1 or     
witnessed the origin of species by      
natural descent1 these things are too   
slow for him2 but he will certainly have
 found out many things that we are all  
eager to know4  ,in nature as a whole we
 see results and not processes4 ,we see 
the rock strata bent and folded1 we see 
the whole mountain-chains flexed and    
shortened by the flexure2 but had we    
been present1 we should not have        
suspected what was going on4 ,our little
 span of life does not give us the      
parallax necessary4 ,the rock strata1   
miles thick1 may be being flexed now    
under our feet1 and we know it not4 ,the
 earth is shrinking1 but so slowly6     
,when1 under the slow strain1 the strata
 suddenly give way or sink1 and an      
earthquake results1 then we know        
something has happened4  ,a recent      

biologist and physicist thinks1 and     
doubtless thinks wisely1 that the reason
 why we have never been able to produce 
living from non-living matter in our    
laboratories1 is that we cannot take    
time enough4 ,even if we could bring    
about the conditions of the early       
geologic ages in which life had its     
dawn1 which of course we cannot1 we     
could not produce life because we have  
not geologic time at our disposal4  ,the
 reaction which we call life was        
probably as much a cosmic or geologic   
event as were the reactions which       
produced the different elements and     
compounds1 and demanded the same slow   
gestation in the womb of time4 ,during  
what cycles upon cycles the great       
mother-forces of the universe must have 
brooded over the inorganic before the   
organic was brought forth6 ,the archean 
age1 during which the brooding seems to 
have gone on1 was probably as long as   
all the ages since4  ,how we are baffled
 when we talk about the beginning of    

anything in nature or in our own lives6 
,in our experience there must be a      
first1 but when did manhood begin2 when 
did puberty1 when did old age1 begin8   
,when did each stage of our mental      
growth begin8 ,when or where did the    
,english language begin1 or the ,french1
 or the ,german8 ,was there a first     
,english word spoken8 ,from the first   
animal sound1 if we can conceive of     
such1 up to the human speech of to-day1 
there is an infinite gradation of sounds
 and words4  ,was there a first summer1 
a first winter1 a first spring8 ,there  
could hardly have been a first day even 
for ages and ages1 but only slowly      
approximating day4 ,after an immense    
lapse of time the air must have cleared 
and the day become separated from the   
night1 and the seasons must have become 
gradually defined4 ,things slowly emerge
 one after another from a dim1 nebulous 
condition1 both in our own growth and   
experience and in the development of the
 physical universe4  ,in nature there is

 no first and last4 ,there is an endless
 beginning and an endless ending4 ,there
 was no first man or first woman1 no    
first bird1 or fish1 or reptile4 ,back  
of each one stretches an endless chain  
of approximating men and birds and      
reptiles4  ,this talk about the time and
 place where man began his existence    
seems to me misleading1 because it      
appears to convey the idea that he began
 as man at some time1 in some place4    
,whereas he grew4 ,he began where and   
when the first cell appeared1 and he has
 been on the road ever since4 ,there is 
no point in the line where he emerged   
from the not-man and became man4 ,he was
 emerging from the not-man for millions 
of years1 and when you put your finger  
on an animal form and say1 ,this is man1
 you must go back through whole geologic
 periods before you reach the not-man4  
,if ,darwin is right1 there is no more  
reason for believing that the different 
species or forms of animal life were    
suddenly introduced than there is for   

believing that the soil1 or the         
minerals1 gold1 silver1 diamonds1 or    
vegetable mold and verdure were suddenly
 introduced4     ,,ii    ,if we know    
anything of the earth's past history1 we
 know that the continents were long in  
forming1 that they passed through many  
vicissitudes of heat and cold1 of fire  
and flood1 of upheaval and              
subsidence--that they had1 so to speak1 
their first low1 simple rudimentary or  
invertebrate life1 that they were all   
slow in getting their backbones1 slower 
still in clothing their rock ribs with  
soil and verdure1 that they passed      
through a sort of amphibian stage1 now  
under water1 now on dry land1 that their
 many kinds of soils and climes were not
 differentiated and their complex       
water-systems established till well into
 ,tertiary times--in short1 that they   
have passed more and more from the      
simple to the complex1 from the         
disorganized to the organized4 ,when man
 comes to draw his sustenance from their

 breasts1 may they not be said to have  
reached the mammalian stage8  ,the      
fertile plain and valley and the rounded
 hill are of slow growth1 immensely     
slow4 ,but any given stage of the earth 
has followed naturally from the previous
 stage1 only more and more and higher   
and higher forces took a hand in the    
game4 ,first its elements passed through
 the stage of fire1 then through the    
stage of water1 then merged into the    
stage of air4 ,more and more the aerial 
elements--oxygen1 carbon1 nitrogen--have
 entered into its constituents and      
fattened the soil4 ,the humanizing of   
the earth has been largely a process of 
oxidation4 ,more than disintegrated rock
 makes up the soil2 the air and the     
rains and the snows have all contributed
 a share4  ,the history of the soil     
which we turn with our spade1 and stamp 
with our shoes1 covers millions upon    
millions of years4 ,it is the ashes of  
the mountains1 the leavings of untold   
generations of animal and vegetable     

life4 ,it came out of the sea1 it       
drifted from the heavens2 it flowed out 
from the fiery heart of the globe2 it   
has been worked over and over by frost  
and flood1 blown by winds1 shoveled by  
ice1 --mixed and kneaded and moulded as 
the house-wife kneads and moulds her    
bread1--refining and refining from age  
to age4 ,much of it was held in solution
 in the primordial seas1 whence it was  
filtered and used and precipitated by   
countless forms of marine life1 making a
 sediment that in time became rocks1    
that again in time became continents or 
parts of them1 which the aerial forces  
reduced to soil4 ,indeed1 the soil      
itself is an evolution1 as much so as   
the life upon it4  ,we probably have    
little conception of how intimate and   
cooperative all parts of the universe   
are with one another1--of the debt we   
owe to the farthest stars1 and to the   
remotest period of time4 ,we must owe a 
debt to the monsters of ,mesozoic and   
,caenozoic time2 they helped to         

fertilize the soil for us1 and to       
discipline the ruder forces of life4 ,we
 owe a debt to all that has gone before3
 to the heavens above and to the        
earth-fires beneath1 to the ice-sheets  
that ground down the mountains1 and to  
the ocean currents4 ,just as we owe a   
debt to the men and women in our line of
 descent1 so we owe a debt to the ruder 
primordial forces that shaped the planet
 to our use1 and took a hand in the game
 of animal life4  ,the gods of evolution
 had served a long apprenticeship2 they 
had gained proficiency and were master  
workmen4 ,or shall we say that the      
elements of life had become more plastic
 and adaptable1 or that the life fund   
had accumulated1 so to speak8 ,had the  
vast succession of living beings1 the   
long experience in organization1 at last
 made the problem of the origin of man  
easier to solve8  ,one fancies every    
living thing as not only returning its  
mineral elements to the soil1 but as in 
some subtle way leaving its vital forces

 also1 and thus contributing to the     
impalpable1 invisible store-house of    
vital energy of the globe4  ,at first   
among the mammalian tribes there was    
much muscle and little brains4 ,but in  
the middle ,tertiary the mammal brain   
began suddenly to enlarge1 so that in   
our time the brain of the horse is more 
than eight times the size of the brain  
of his progenitor1 the dinoceras of     
,eocene times4  ,nature seems to have   
experimented with brains and nerve      
ganglia1 as she has with so many other  
things4 ,the huge reptilian creatures of
 ,mesozoic time--the various            
dinosaurs--had ridiculously small heads 
and brains1 but they had what might be  
called supplementary brains well toward 
the other end of the body1--great       
nervous masses near the sacrum1 many    
times the size of the ostensible brain1 
which no doubt performed certain brain  
functions4 ,but the principle of        
centralization was at work1 and when in 
later time we reach the higher mammalian

 forms1 we find these outlying nervous  
masses called in1 so to speak1 and      
concentrated in the head4  ,nature has  
tried the big1 the gigantic1 over and   
over1 and then abandoned it4 ,in        
,carboniferous times there was a        
gigantic dragon-fly1 measuring more than
 two feet in the expanse of wings4      
,still earlier1 there were gigantic     
mollusks and sea scorpions1 a cephalopod
 larger than a man2 then gigantic fishes
 and amphibians and reptiles1 followed  
by enormous mammals4 ,but the geologic  
record shows that these huge forms did  
not continue4 ,the mollusks that last   
unchanged through millions of years are 
the clam and the oyster of our day4 ,the
 huge mosses and tree-ferns are gone1   
and only their humbler types remain4    
,among men giants are short-lived4  ,on 
the other hand1 the steady increase in  
size of certain other species of animals
 during the later geologic ages is a    
curious and interesting fact4 ,the first
 progenitors of the elephant that have  

been found show a small animal that     
steadily grew through the ages till the 
animal as we now find it is reached4    
,among the invertebrates this same      
progressive increase in size has been   
noted1 a small shell in the ,devonian   
becoming enormous in the ,triassic4     
,certain species of sharks of medium    
size in the lower ,eocene continue to   
increase till they attain the astounding
 dimensions in the ,miocene and         
,pliocene of over one hundred feet long4
 ,a certain fish appearing in the       
,devonian as a small fish of seven      
centimetres in length1 becomes in the   
,carboniferous era a creature           
twenty-seven centimetres in length4     
,among the mammals of ,tertiary times   
this same law of steady increase in size
 has been operative1 as seen in the     
,felidae1 the stag1 and the antelope4   
,man himself has1 no doubt1 been under  
the same law1 and is probably a much    
larger animal than any of his ,tertiary 
ancestors4 ,in the vegetable world this 

process1 in many cases1 at least1 has   
been reversed1 and the huge treelike    
club-mosses and horsetails of           
,carboniferous times have dwindled in   
our time to very insignificant          
herbaceous forms4  ,animals of          
overweening size are handicapped in many
 ways1 so that nature in most cases     
finally abandons the gigantic and sticks
 to the medium and the small4     ,,iii 
,can we fail to see the significance of 
the order in which life has appeared    
upon the globe--the ascending series    
from the simple to the more and more    
complex8 ,can we doubt that each series 
is the outcome of the one below it--that
 there is a logical sequence from the   
protozoa up through the invertebrates1  
the vertebrates1 to man8 ,is it not like
 all that we know of the method of      
nature8 ,could we substitute the life of
 one period for that of another without 
doing obvious violence to the logic of  
nature8 ,is there no fundamental reason 
for the gradation we behold8  ,all      

animal life lowest in organization is   
earliest in time1 and vice versa1 the   
different classes of a sub-kingdom1 and 
the different orders of a class1        
succeeding one another1 as ,cope says1  
in the relative order of their          
zoological rank4 ,thus the sponges are  
later than the protozoa1 the corals     
succeed the sponges1 the sea-urchins    
come after the corals1 the shell-fish   
follow the sea-urchins1 the articulates 
are later than the shell-fish1 the      
vertebrates are later than the          
articulates4 ,among the former1 the     
amphibian follows the fish1 the reptile 
follows the amphibian1 the mammal       
follows the reptile1 and non-placental  
mammals are followed by the placental4  
,it almost seems as if nature hesitated 
whether to produce the mammal from the  
reptile or from the amphibian1 as the   
mammal bears marks of both in its       
anatomy1 and which was the parent stem  
is still a question4  ,the heart started
 as a simple tube in the ,leptocardii2  

it divides itself into two cavities in  
the fishes1 into three in the reptiles1 
and into four in the birds and mammals4 
,so the ossification of the vertebral   
column takes place progressively1 from  
the ,silurian to the middle ,jurassic4  
,the same ascending series of creation  
as a whole is repeated in the inception 
and development of every one of the     
higher animals to-day4 ,each one begins 
as a single cell1 which soon becomes a  
congeries of cells1 which is followed by
 congeries of congeries of cells1 till  
the highly complex structure of the     
grown animal with all its intricate     
physiological activities and            
specialization of parts1 is reached4 ,it
 is typical of the course of the        
creative energy from the first          
unicellular life up to man1 each        
succeeding stage flowing out of1 and    
necessitated by1 the preceding stage4   
,how slowly and surely the circulatory  
system improved6 ,from the cold-blooded 
animal to the warm-blooded is a great   

advance4 ,in the warm-blooded is        
developed the capacity to maintain a    
fixed temperature while that of the     
surrounding medium changes4 ,the brain  
and nervous system display the same     
progressive ascent from the brainless   
acrania1 up through the fishes1         
batrachia1 reptiles1 and birds to the   
top in mammals4 ,the same with the      
skeletons in the invertebrates1 from    
membrane to cartilage1 from cartilage to
 bone1 so that the primitive cartilage  
remaining in any part of the skeleton is
 considered a mark of inferiority4      
,according to ,cope1 there has been     
progressive improvement in the mechanism
 of the body--it has become a better and
 better machine4 ,the suspension of the 
lower jaw1 so as to bring the teeth     
nearer the power1--the masseter and     
related muscles1--was a slow evolution  
and a great advance4 ,the fin is more   
primitive than the limb2 the limbs      
themselves display a constantly         
increasing differentiation of parts from

 the batrachian to the mammalian4 ,there
 was no good ankle joint in early       
,eocene times4 ,the model ankle joint is
 a tongue and groove arrangement1 and   
this is a later evolution4 ,in ,eocene  
times they were nearly all flat4 ,the   
arched foot1 too1 comes in2 this is an  
advance on the flat foot4 ,the bones of 
the palms and soles are not locked until
 the later ,tertiary4 ,the vertebral    
column progressed in the same way1 from 
flat to the double curve and the        
interlocking process1 thus securing     
greatest strength with greatest         
mobility4 ,in the earliest life         
locomotion was diffused1 later it became
 concentrated4 ,the worm walks with its 
whole body4     ,,iv    ,if we figure to
 ourselves the geologic history of the  
earth under the symbol of a year of     
three hundred and sixty-five days1 each 
day a million years1 which is probably  
not far out of the way1 then man1 the   
biped1 the ,homo sapiens1 in relation to
 this immense past1 is of to-day1 or of 

this very morning2 while the origin of  
the first vertebrates1 the fishes1 from 
which he has arisen1 falls nearer the   
middle of the great year4 ,or1 dividing 
this geologic year into four divisions  
or seasons1 primary1 secondary1         
tertiary1 and quaternary1 the fishes    
fall in the primary1 the reptiles in the
 secondary1 the mammals in the tertiary1
 and man in the early quaternary4  ,if  
the fluid earth hardened1 and the seas  
were formed in the first month of this  
year1 then probably the first beginning 
of life appeared in the second month1   
the invertebrate in the third or        
fourth1--,march or ,april1--the         
vertebrates in ,may or ,june1 the       
amphibians in ,july or ,august1 the     
reptiles in ,august or ,september1 the  
mammals in ,october or ,november1 and   
man in ,december1--separated from the   
first beginnings of life by all those   
millions upon millions of years4  ,if   
life is a ferment1 as we are told it is1
 how long it took this yeast to leaven  

the whole loaf6 ,man is evidently the   
end of the series1 he is the top of the 
biological tree4 ,his specialization    
upon physical lines seems to have ended 
far back in geologic time2 his future   
specialization and development is       
evidently to be upon mental and         
spiritual lines4 ,nature1 as ,i have    
said1 began to tend more and more to    
brains in the early ,tertiary1--the     
autumn of the great year2 her best      
harvest began to mature then1 her grain 
began to ripen4 ,indeed1 this increased 
cephalization of animal life in the fall
 of the great year does suggest a kind  
of ripening process1 the turning of the 
sap and milk1 which had been so abundant
 and so riotous in the earlier period1  
into fibre and fruit and seed4  ,may it 
not be that that long and sultry spring 
and summer of the earth's early history1
 a time probably longer than has since  
elapsed1 played a part in the           
development of life analogous to that   
played by our spring and summer1 making 

it opulent1 varied1 gigantic1 and making
 possible the condensation and          
refinement that came with man in the    
recent period8  ,the earth is a pretty  
big apple1 and the solar tree upon which
 it hangs is a pretty big tree1 but why 
may it not have gone through a kind of  
ripening process for all that8 its      
elements becoming less crude and acrid1 
and better suited to sustain the higher 
forms1 as the eons passed8  ,at any     
rate1 the results seem to justify such a
 fancy4 ,the earth has slowly undergone 
a change that may fairly be called a    
ripening process2 its soil has deepened 
and mellowed1 its harsher features have 
softened1 more and more color has come  
to its surface1 the flowers have        
bloomed1 the more succulent fruits have 
developed1 the air has cleared1 and love
 and benevolence and altruism have been 
born in the world4     ,v    ,life had  
to creep or swim long before it could   
walk1 and it walked long before it could
 fly2 it had feeling long before it had 

eyes1 and it no doubt had eyes long     
before it could hear or smell4 ,it was  
capable of motion long before it had    
limbs2 it assimilated food long before  
it had a mouth or a stomach4 ,it had a  
digestive tract long before it had a    
spinal cord2 it had nerve ganglia long  
before it had a well-defined brain4 ,it 
had sensation long before it had        
perception2 it was unisexual long before
 it was bisexual2 it had a shell long   
before it had a skeleton2 it had        
instinct and reflex action long before  
it had self-consciousness and reason4   
,always from the lower to the higher1   
from the simple to the more complex1 and
 always slowly1 gently4  ,life has had  
its foetal stage1 its stage of infancy1 
and childhood1 and maturity1 and will   
doubtless have its old age4 ,it took it 
millions upon millions of years to get  
out of the sea upon dry land2 and it    
took it more millions upon dry land1 or 
since the ,carboniferous age1 when the  
air probably first began to be          

breathable1--all the vast stretch of the
 ,secondary and ,tertiary ages1--to get 
upright and develop a reasoning brain1  
and reach the estate of man4 ,step by   
step1 in orderly succession1 does       
creation move4 ,in the rising and in the
 setting of the sun one may see how     
nature's great processes steal upon us1 
silently and unnoticed1 yet always in   
sequence1 stage succeeding stage1 one   
thing following from another1 the       
spectacular moment of sunset following  
inevitably from the quiet1 unnoticed    
sinking of the sun in the west1 or the  
startling flash of his rim above the    
eastern horizon only the fulfillment of 
the promise of the dawn4 ,all is        
development and succession1 and man is  
but the sunrise of the dawn of life in  
,cambrian or ,silurian times1 and is    
linked to that time as one hour of the  
day is linked to another4  ,the more    
complex life became1 the more rapidly it
 seems to have developed1 till it       
finally makes rapid strides to reach    

man4 ,one seems to see ,life1 like a    
traveler on the road1 going faster and  
faster as it nears its goal4 ,those long
 ages of unicellular life in the old    
seas1 how immense they appear to have   
been2 then how the age of invertebrates 
dragged on1 millions upon millions of   
years2 then the age of fishes2 the      
,palaeozoic age1 how vast--put by       
,haeckel at thirty-four millions of     
years1 adding rock strata forty-one     
thousand feet thick2 then the ,mesozoic 
or third period1 the age of reptiles1   
eleven million years1 with strata twelve
 thousand feet thick4 ,then came the    
,caenozoic age1 or age of mammals1 three
 million years1 with strata thirty-one  
hundred feet thick4 ,the god of life was
 getting in a hurry now2 man was not far
 off4 ,a new device1 the placenta1 was  
hit upon in this age1 and probably the  
diaphragm and the brain of animals1 all 
greatly enlarged4 ,finally comes the    
,anthropozoic or ,quaternary age1 the   
age of man1 three hundred thousand      

years1 with not much addition to the    
sedimentary rocks4  ,man seems to be the
 net result of it all1 of all these vast
 cycles of ,palaeozoic1 ,mesozoic1 and  
,caenozoic life4 ,he is the one drop    
finally distilled from the vast         
weltering sea of lower organic forms4   
,it looks as if it all had to be before 
he could be--all the delay and waste and
 struggle and pain--all that long       
carnival of sea life1 all that          
saturnalia of gigantic forms upon the   
land and in the air1 all that rising and
 sinking of the continents1 and all that
 shoveling to and fro and mixing of the 
soils1 before the world was ready for   
him4  ,in the early ,tertiary1 millions 
of years ago1 the earth seems to have   
been ripe for man4 ,the fruits and      
vegetables and the forest trees were    
much as we know them1 the animals that  
have been most serviceable to us were   
here1 spring and summer and fall and    
winter came and went1 evidently birds   
sang1 insects hummed1 flowers bloomed1  

fruits and grains and nuts ripened1 and 
yet man as man was not4  ,under the city
 of ,london is a vast deposit of clay in
 which thousands of specimens of fossil 
fruit have been found like our date1    
cocoanut1 areca1 custard-apple1 gourd1  
melon1 coffee1 bean1 pepper1 and cotton 
plant1 but no sign of man4 ,why was his 
development so tardy8 ,what animal      
profited by this rich vegetable life8   
,the hope and promise of the human      
species at that time probably slept in  
some lowly marsupial4 ,man has gathered 
up into himself1 as he traveled his     
devious way1 all the best powers of the 
animal kingdom he has passed through4   
,his brain supplies him with all that   
his body lacks1 and more4 ,his          
specialization is in this highly        
developed organ4 ,it is this that       
separates him so widely from all other  
animals4  ,man has no wings1 and yet he 
can soar above the clouds2 he is not    
swift of foot1 and yet he can out-speed 
the fleetest hound or horse2 he has but 

feeble weapons in his organization1 and 
yet he can slay or master all the great 
beasts2 his eye is not so sharp as that 
of the eagle or the vulture1 and yet he 
can see into the farthest depths of     
siderial space2 he has only very feeble 
occult powers of communication with his 
fellows1 and yet he can talk around the 
world and send his voice across         
mountains and deserts2 his hands are    
weak things beside a lion's paw or an   
elephant's trunk1 and yet he can move   
mountains and stay rivers and set bounds
 to the wildest seas4 ,his dog can      
out-smell him and out-run him and       
out-bite him1 and yet his dog looks up  
to him as to a god4 ,he has erring      
reason in place of unerring instinct1   
and yet he has changed the face of the  
planet4  ,without the specialization of 
the lower animals1--their wonderful     
adaptation to particular ends1--their   
tools1 their weapons1 their strength1   
their speed1 man yet makes them all his 
servants4 ,his brain is more than a     

match for all the special advantages    
nature has given them4 ,the one gift of 
reason makes him supreme in the world4  
,,vi    ,we have a stake in all the past
 life of the globe4 ,it is no doubt a   
scientific fact that your existence and 
mine were involved in the first cell    
that appeared1 that the first zoophyte  
furthered our fortunes1 that the first  
worm gave us a lift4 ,great good luck   
came to us when the first pair of eyes  
were invented1 probably by the trilobite
 back in ,silurian times2 when the first
 ear appeared1 probably in              
,carboniferous times2 when the first    
pair of lungs grew out of a fish's      
air-bladder1 probably in ,triassic      
times2 when the first four-chambered    
heart was developed and double          
circulation established1 probably with  
the first warm-blooded animal in        
,mesozoic times4  ,these humble forms   
started the brain1 the nervous system1  
the circulation1 sight1 hearing1 smell2 
they invented the liver1 the kidneys1   

the lungs1 the heart1 the stomach1 and  
led the way to every organ and power my 
body and mind have to-day4 ,they were   
the pioneers1 they were the dim remote  
forebears1 they conserved and augmented 
the fund of life and passed it along4   
,all their struggles1 their discipline1 
their battles1 their failures1 their    
successes1 were for you and me4 ,man has
 had the experience of all the animals  
below him4 ,he has suffered and         
struggled as a fish1 he has groveled and
 devoured as a reptile1 he has fought   
and triumphed as a quadruped1 he has    
lived in trees as a monkey1 he has      
inhabited caves with the wolf and the   
bear1 he has roamed the forests and     
plains as a savage1 he has survived     
without fire or clothes or weapons or   
tools1 he has lived with the mastodon   
and all the saurian monsters1 he has    
held his own against great odds1 he has 
survived the long battles of the land   
and the sea1 he weathered the ice-sheet 
that overrode both hemispheres1 he has  

seen many forms become extinct4 ,in the 
historic period he has survived plague  
and pestilence1 and want and famine4    
,what must he have survived in          
prehistoric times6 ,what must he have   
had to contend with as a cave-dweller1  
as a tree-dweller1 as a river-drift man6
 ,before he had tools or weapons what   
must he have had to contend with6       
,nature was full of sap and rioted in   
rude strength well up to ,quaternary    
times1 producing extravagant forms which
 apparently she had no use for1 as she  
has discontinued them4  ,in all these   
things you and ,i had our part and lot2 
of this prodigal outpouring of life we  
have reaped the benefit2 amid these     
bizarre forms and this carnival of lust 
and power1 the manward impulse was      
nourished and forwarded4 ,in ,eocene    
times nearly half the mammals lived on  
other animals2 it must have been an age 
of great slaughter4 ,it favored the     
development of fleetness and cunning1 in
 which we too have an interest4 ,our    

rude progenitor was surely there in some
 form1 and escaped the slaughter4 ,then 
or later it is thought he took to the   
trees to escape his enemies1 as the rats
 in ,jamaica have taken to the trees to 
escape the mongoose4 ,to his            
tree-climbing we probably owe our hand1 
with its opposing thumb4  ,in all his   
disguises he is still our ancestor4 ,his
 story reads like a fairy book4 ,never  
did nimble fancy of childhood invent    
such transformations--only the          
transformations are so infinitely slow1 
and attended with such struggle and     
suffering4 ,strike out the element of   
time and we have before us a spectacle  
more novel and startling than any       
hocus-pocus or legerdemain that ever set
 the crowd agape4  ,in every form man   
has passed through1 he left behind some 
old member or power and took on some    
new4 ,he left his air-bladder and his   
gills and his fins with the fishes2 he  
got his lungs from the dipnoans1 the    
precursors of the amphibians1 and from  

these last he got his four limbs2 he    
left some part of his anatomy with the  
reptile1 and took something in exchange1
 probably his flexible neck4 ,somewhere 
along his line he picked up the         
four-chambered heart1 the warm blood1   
the placenta1 the diaphragm1 the        
plantigrade foot1 the mammary           
glands--indeed1 what has he not picked  
up on the long road of his many         
transformations8 ,he left some of his   
superfluous forty-four teeth with his   
ancestral quadrumana of ,eocene times1  
and kept thirty-two4 ,he picked up his  
brain somewhere on the road1 probably   
far back in ,palaeozoic times1 but how  
has he developed and enlarged it1 till  
it is now the one supreme thing in the  
world6 ,his fear1 his cunning1 his      
anger1 his treachery1 his               
hoggishness--all his animal passions--he
 brought with him from his animal       
ancestors2 but his moral and spiritual  
nature1 his altruism1 his veneration1   
his religious emotions1 his aesthetic   

perceptions--have come to him as a man1 
supplementing his lower nature1 as it   
were1 with another order of senses--a   
finer sight1 a finer touch1 wrought in  
him by the discipline of life1 and the  
wonder of the world about him1 beginning
 de novo in him only as the wing began  
de novo in the bird1 or the color began 
de novo in the flower--struck out from  
preexisting potentialities4 ,the father 
of the eye is the light1 and the father 
of the ear is the vibration of the air1 
but the father of man's higher nature is
 a question of quite another sort4      
,about the only thing in his physical   
make-up that man can call his own is his
 chin4 ,none of the orders below him    
seem to have what can strictly be called
 a chin4  ,man owes his five toes and   
five fingers to the early amphibians of 
the sub-carboniferous times4 ,the first 
tangible evidence of these five toes    
upon the earth is1 to me1 very          
interesting4 ,the earliest record of    
them that ,i have heard of is furnished 

by a slab of shale from ,pennsylvania1  
upon which1 while it was yet soft mud1  
our first five-toed ancestor had left   
the imprint of his four feet4 ,he was   
evidently a small1 short-legged         
gentleman with a stride of only about   
thirteen inches1 and he carried a tail  
instead of a cane4 ,he was probably     
taking a stroll upon the shores of that 
vast ,mediterranean ,sea that occupied  
all the interior of the continent when  
he crossed his mud flat4 ,it was raining
 that morning--how many million years   
ago8--as we know from the imprint of the
 raindrops upon the mud4 ,probably the  
shower did not cause him to quicken his 
pace1 as amphibians rather like the     
rain4 ,just what his immediate forbears 
were like1 or what the forms were that  
connected him with the fishes1 we shall 
probably never know4 ,doubtless the     
great book of the rocky strata somewhere
 holds the secret1 if we are ever lucky 
enough to open it at the right place4   
,how many other secrets1 that           

evolutionists would like to know1 those 
torn and crumpled leaves hold6  ,it is  
something to me to know that it rained  
that day when our amphibian ancestor    
ventured out4 ,the weather was beginning
 to get organized also1 and settling    
down to business4 ,it had got beyond the
 state of perpetual mist and fog of the 
earlier ages1 and the raindrops were    
playing their parts4 ,yet1 from all the 
evidence we have1 we infer that the     
climate was warm and very humid1 like   
that of a greenhouse1 and that          
vegetation1 mostly giant ferns and      
rushes and lycopods1 was very rank1 but 
there was no grass1 or moss1 no         
deciduous trees1 or flowers1 or fruit1  
as we know these things4  ,a ,german    
anatomist says that we have the vestiges
 of one hundred and eighty organs which 
have stuck to us from our animal        
ancestors1--now useless1 or often worse 
than useless1 like the vermiform        
appendix4 ,eleven of these superannuated
 and obsolete organs we bring from the  

fishes1 four from amphibians and        
reptiles4 ,the external ear is a        
vestige--of no use any more4 ,our dread 
of snakes we no doubt inherited from our
 simian ancestors4  ,how life refined   
and humanized as time went on1 sobered  
down and became more meditative1 keeping
 step1 no doubt1 with the amelioration  
of the soil out of which all life       
finally comes4 ,life's bank account in  
the soil was constantly increasing2 more
 and more of the inorganic was wrought  
up into the organic2 the value of every 
clod underfoot was raised4 ,the riot of 
gigantic forms ceased1 and they became  
ashes4 ,the giant and uncouth vegetation
 ceased1 and left ashes or coal4 ,the   
beech1 the maple1 the oak1 the olive1   
the palm came in4 ,the giant sea        
serpents disappeared2 the horse1 the ox1
 the swine1 the dog1 the quail1 the dove
 came in4 ,the placental mammals        
developed4 ,the horse grew in size and  
beauty4 ,when we first come upon his    
trail1 he is a four-hoof-toed animal no 

larger than a fox4 ,later on we find him
 the size of a sheep with one of his    
toes gone2 still later--many hundred    
thousand years1 no doubt--we find him   
the size of a donkey1 with still fewer  
toes1 and so on till we reach the superb
 creature we know4  ,the creative energy
 seems to have worked in geologic time  
and in the geologic field just as it    
works here and now1 in yonder vineyard  
or in yonder marsh1--blindly1           
experimentally1 but persistently and    
successfully4 ,the winged seeds find    
their proper soil1 because they search  
in every direction2 the climbing vines  
find their support1 because in the same 
blind way they feel in all directions4  
,plants and animals and races of men    
grope their way to new fields1 to new   
powers1 to new inventions4  ,indeed1 how
 like an inventor ,nature has worked1   
constantly improving her models1 adding 
to and changing as experience would seem
 to dictate6 ,she has developed her     
higher and more complex forms as man has

 developed his printing-press1 or       
steam-engine1 from rude1 simple         
beginnings4 ,from the two-chambered     
heart of the fish she made the          
treble-chambered heart of the frog1 and 
then the four- chambered heart of the   
mammal4 ,the first mammary gland had no 
nipples2 the milk oozed out and was     
licked off by the young4 ,the nipple was
 a great improvement1 as was the power  
of suckling in the young4               
,experimenting and experimenting        
endlessly1 taking a forward step only   
when compelled by necessity1--this is   
the way of ,nature1--experimenting with 
eyes1 with ears1 with teeth1 with limbs1
 with feet1 with toes1 with wings1 with 
bladders and lungs1 with scales and     
armors1 hitting upon the backbone only  
after long trials with other forms1     
hitting upon the movable eye only after 
long ages of other eyes1 hitting on the 
mammal only after long ages of          
egg-laying vertebrates1 hitting on the  
placenta only recently1--experimenting  

all around the circle1 discarding and   
inventing1 taking ages to perfect the   
nervous system1 ages and ages to develop
 the centralized ganglia1 the brain4    
,first life was like a rabble1 a mob1   
without thought or head1 then slowly    
organization went on1 as it were1 from  
family to clan1 from clan to tribe1 from
 tribe to nation1 or centralized        
government--the brain of man--all parts 
duly subordinated and                   
directed1--millions of cells organized  
and working on different functions to   
one grand end1--cooperation1            
fraternization1 division of labor1      
altruism1 etc4  ,the cell was the first 
invention2 it is the unit of life1--a   
speck of protoplasm with a nucleus4 ,to 
educate this cell till it could combine 
with its fellows and form the higher    
animals seems to have been the aim of   
the creative energy4 ,first the cell1   
then combinations of cells1 then        
combinations of combinations1 then more 
and more complex combinations till the  

body of man is reached1 where endless   
confraternities of cells1 all with      
different functions1 working to build   
and sustain different organs1--brain1   
heart1 liver1 muscles1 nerves1--yet all 
working together for one grand end--the 
body and mind of man4 ,in their last    
analysis1 all made up of the same       
cells--their combinations and           
organization making the different forms4
  ,evolution touches all forms but      
tarries with few4 ,many are called but  
few are chosen--chosen to lead the      
man-impulse upward4 ,myriads of forms   
are left behind1 like driftwood caught  
in the eddies of a current4 ,the clam   
has always remained a clam1 the oyster  
remained an oyster4 ,the cockroach is   
about the same creature to-day that it  
was untold aeons ago2 so is the shark1  
and so are many other forms of marine   
life4 ,often where old species have gone
 out and new come in1 no progress has   
been made4  ,evolution concentrates     
along certain lines4 ,the biological    

tree behaves like another tree1 branches
 die and drop off 7species become       
extinct71 others mature and remain1     
while some central shoot pushes upward4 
,many of the huge reptilian and         
mammalian branches perished in          
comparatively late times4  ,as nothing  
is more evident than that the same      
measure of life or of vital             
energy--power of growth1 power of       
resistance1 power of reproduction--is   
not meted out equally to all the        
individuals of a species1 or to all     
species1 so it is evident that this     
power of progressive development is not 
meted out equally to all races of       
mankind1 or to all of the individuals of
 the same race4 ,the central impulse of 
development seems to have come from the 
,east1 in historic times at least1 and  
to have followed the line of the        
,mediterranean1 to have culminated in   
,europe4 ,and this progress has         
certainly been the work of a few        
minds--minds exceptionally endowed4     

,for the most part the barbarian races  
do not progress4 ,their exceptional     
minds or characters do not lead the     
tribes to higher planes of thought1 ,in 
all countries we still see these        
barbarous people which man in his       
progress has left behind4 ,our          
civilization is like a field of light   
that fades off into shadows and         
darkness4 ,there is this margin of      
undeveloped humanity on all sides4      
,always has it been so in the animal    
life of the globe2 the higher forms have
 been pushed up from the lower1 and the 
lower have remained and continued to    
multiply unchanged4  ,it seems as if    
some central and cherished impulse had  
pushed on through each form1 and by     
successive steps had climbed from height
 to height1 gaining a little here and a 
little there1 intensifying and          
concentrating as time went on1 very     
vague and diffuse at first1 embryonic so
 to speak1 during the first half of the 
great geologic year1 but quickening more

 and more1 differentiating more and     
more1 delayed and defeated many times1  
no doubt1 yet never destroyed1 leaving  
form after form unchanged behind it1    
till it at last reached its goal in man4
  ,after evolution has done all it can  
do for us toward solving the mystery of 
creation1 much remains unsolved4        
,through evolution we see creation in   
travail-pains for millions of years to  
bring forth the varied forms of life as 
we know them2 but the mystery of the    
inception of this life1 and of the      
origin of the laws that have governed   
its development1 remains4 ,what lies    
back of it all8 ,who or what planted the
 germ of the biological tree1 and       
predetermined all its branches8 ,what   
determined one branch to eventuate in   
man1 another in the dog1 the horse1 the 
bird1 or the reptile8  ,from the finite 
or human point of view we feel compelled
 to say some vaster being or            
intelligence must have had the thought  
of all these things from the beginning  

or before the beginning4  ,it is quite  
impossible for me to believe that       
fortuitous variation--variation all     
around the circle--could have resulted  
in the evolution of man4 ,there must    
have been a predetermined tendency to   
variation in certain directions4 ,to    
introduce chance into the world is to   
introduce chaos4 ,no more would the     
waters of the interiors of the          
continents find their way to the sea1   
were there not a slant in that          
direction1 than could haphazard         
variation1 though checked and controlled
 by natural selection1 result in the    
production of the race of man4 ,this    
view may be only the outcome of our     
inevitable anthropomorphism which we    
cannot escape from1 no matter how deep  
we dive or high we soar4       ,,ii     
,,the ,,divine ,,abyss  ,i      ,in     
making the journey to the great         
,southwest1--,colorado1 ,new ,mexico1   
and ,arizona1--if one does not know his 
geology1 he is pretty sure to wish he   

did1 there is so much geology scattered 
over all these ,southwestern landscapes1
 crying aloud to be read4 ,the book of  
earthly revelation1 as shown by the     
great science1 lies wide open in that   
land1 as it does in few other places on 
the globe4 ,its leaves fairly flutter in
 the wind1 and the print is so large    
that he who runs on the ,california     
,limited may read it4 ,not being able to
 read it at all1 or not taking any      
interest in it1 is like going to ,rome  
or ,egypt or ,jerusalem1 knowing nothing
 of the history of those lands4  ,of    
course1 we have just as much geology in 
the ,east and ,middle ,west1 but the    
books are closed and sealed1 as it were1
 by the enormous lapse of time since    
these portions of the continent became  
dry land4 ,the eroding and degrading    
forces have ages since passed the       
meridian of their day's work1 and grass 
and verdure hide their footsteps4 ,but  
in the great ,west and ,southwest1 the  
gods of erosion and degradation seem yet

 in the heat and burden of the day's    
toil4 ,their unfinished landscapes meet 
the eye on every hand4 ,many of the     
mountains look as if they were blocked  
out but yesterday1 and one sees vast    
naked flood-plains1 and painted deserts 
and bad lands and dry lake-bottoms1 that
 suggest a world yet in the making4     
,some force has scalped the hills1      
ground the mountains1 strangled the     
rivers1 channeled the plains1 laid bare 
the succession of geologic ages1        
stripping off formation after formation 
like a garment1 or cutting away the     
strata over hundreds of square miles1 as
 we pry a slab from a rock--and has done
 it all but yesterday4 ,if we break the 
slab in the prying1 and thus secure only
 part of it1 leaving an abrupt jagged   
edge on the part that remains1 we have  
still a better likeness of the work of  
these great geologic quarrymen4 ,but    
other workmen1 invisible to our eyes1   
have carved these jagged edges into     
novel and beautiful forms4  ,the ,east  

is old1 old6 the ,west1 with the        
exception of the ,rocky ,mountains1 is  
of yesterday in comparison4 ,the ,hudson
 was an ancient river before the        
,mississippi was born1 and the          
,catskills were being slowly carved from
 a vast plateau while the rocks that    
were to form many of the ,western ranges
 were being laid down as sediment in the
 bottom of the sea4 ,california is yet  
in her teens1 while ,new ,england in    
comparison is an octogenarian4 ,just as 
much geology in the ,east as in the     
,west1 did ,i say8 ,not as much visible 
geology1 not as much by many chapters of
 earth history1 not as much by all the  
later formations1 by most of the        
,mesozoic and ,tertiary deposits4 ,the  
vast series of sedimentary rocks since  
the ,carboniferous age1 to say nothing  
of the volcanic1 that make up these     
periods1 are largely wanting east of the
 ,mississippi1 except in ,new ,jersey   
and in some of the ,gulf ,states4 ,they 
are recent4 ,they are like the history  

of our own period compared with that of 
,egypt and ,judea4 ,it is mainly these  
later formations--the ,permian1 the     
,jurassic1 the ,triassic1 the           
,cretaceous1 the ,eocene1--that give the
 prevailing features to the             
,south-western landscape that so        
astonish ,eastern eyes4 ,from them come 
most of the petrified remains of that   
great army of extinct reptiles and      
mammals--the three-toed horse1 the      
sabre-toothed tiger1 the brontosaurus1  
the fin-backed lizard1 the imperial     
mammoth1 the various dinosaurs1 some of 
them gigantic in form and fearful in    
aspect--that of late years have appeared
 in our museums and that throw so much  
light upon the history of the animal    
life of the globe4 ,most of the         
sedimentary rocks of ,new ,york and ,new
 ,england were laid down before these   
creatures existed4  ,now ,i am not going
 to write an essay on the geology of the
 ,west1 for ,i really have little       
first-hand knowledge upon that subject1 

but ,i would indicate the kind of       
interest in the country ,i was most     
conscious of during my recent trip to   
the ,pacific ,coast and beyond4 ,indeed1
 quite a geologic fever raged in me most
 of the time4 ,the rocks attracted me   
more than the birds1 the sculpturing of 
the landscapes engaged my attention more
 than the improvements of the           
farms--what ,nature had done more than  
what man was doing4 ,the purely scenic  
aspects of the country are certainly    
remarkable1 and the human aspects       
interesting1 but underneath these       
things1 and striking through them1 lies 
a vast world of time and change that to 
me is still more remarkable1 and still  
more interesting4 ,i could not look out 
of the car windows without seeing the   
spectre of geologic time stalking across
 the hills and plains4  ,as one leaves  
the prairie ,states and nears the great 
,southwest1 he finds ,nature in a new   
mood--she is dreaming of canyons2 both  
cliffs and soil have canyon stamped upon

 them1 so that your eye1 if alert1 is   
slowly prepared for the wonders of      
rock-carving it is to see on the        
,colorado4 ,the canyon form seems       
inherent in soil and rock4 ,the channels
 of the little streams are canyons1     
vertical sides of adobe soil1 as deep as
 they are broad1 rectangle grooves in   
the ground4  ,through all this arid     
region nature is abrupt1 angular1 and   
sudden--the plain squarely abutting the 
cliff1 the cliff walling the canon2 the 
dry water-course sunk in the plain like 
a carpenter's groove into a plank4      
,cloud and sky look the same as at home1
 but the earth is a new earth--new      
geologically1 and new in the lines of   
its landscapes4 ,it seems by the forms  
she develops that ,nature must use tools
 that she long since discarded in the   
,east4 ,she works as if with the square 
and the saw and the compass1 and uses   
implements that cut like chisels and    
moulding-planes4 ,right lines1          
well-defined angles1 and tablelike tops 

of buttes and mesas alternate with      
perfect curves1 polished domes1 carved  
needles1 and fluted escarpments4  ,in   
the features of our older landscapes    
there is little or nothing that suggests
 architectural forms or engineering     
devices2 in the ,far ,west one sees such
 forms and devices everywhere4  ,in     
visiting the ,petrified ,forests in     
northern ,arizona we stood on the edge  
of a great rolling plain and looked down
 upon a wide1 deeply eroded stretch of  
country below us that suggested a vast  
army encampment1 covered as it was with 
great dome-shaped1 tent-like mounds of a
 light terra-cotta color1 with open     
spaces like streets or avenues between  
them4 ,there were hundreds or thousands 
of these earthy tents stretching away   
for twenty-five miles4 ,along the       
horizon was a gigantic stockade of red1 
rounded pillars1 or a solid line of     
mosque-like temples4 ,how unreal1 how   
spectral it all seemed6 ,not a sound or 
sign of life in the whole painted       

solitude--a deserted camp1 or one upon  
which the silence of death had fallen4  
,here1 in ,carboniferous times1 grew the
 gigantic fern-like trees1 the          
,sigillaria and ,lepidodendron1 whose   
petrified trunks1 for aeons buried      
beneath the deposit of the ,permian     
seas1 and then1 during other aeons1     
slowly uncovered by the gentle action of
 the eroding rains1 we saw scattered on 
the ground4  ,you first see ,nature     
beginning to form the canon habit in    
,colorado and making preliminary studies
 for her masterpiece1 the ,grand ,canon4
 ,huge square towers and truncated cones
 and needles and spires break the       
horizon-lines4 ,here all her            
water-courses1 wet or dry1 are deep     
grooves in the soil1 with striking and  
pretty carvings and modelings adorning  
their vertical sides4 ,in the railway   
cuts you see the same effects--miniature
 domes and turrets and other canon      
features carved out by the rains4 ,the  
soil is massive and does not crumble    

like ours and seek the angle of repose2 
it gives way in masses like a brick     
wall4 ,it is architectural soil1 it     
seeks approximately the right angle--the
 level plain or the vertical wall4 ,it  
erodes easily under running water1 but  
it does not slide2 sand and clay are in 
such proportions as to make a brittle   
but not a friable soil4  ,before you are
 out of ,colorado1 you begin to see     
these novel architectural features on   
the horizon-line--the canon turned      
bottom side up1 as it were4 ,in ,new    
,mexico1 the canon habit of the erosion 
forces is still more pronounced4 ,the   
mountain-lines are often as             
architectural in the distance1 or       
arbitrary1 as the sky-line of a city4   
,you may see what you half persuade     
yourself is a huge brick building       
notching the horizon1--an asylum1 a     
seminary1 a hotel1--but it is only a    
fragment of red sandstone1 carved out by
 wind and rain4  ,presently the high    
colors of the rocks appear--high cliffs 

with terra-cotta facades1 and a new look
 in the texture of the rocks1 a soft1   
beaming1 less frowning expression1 and  
colored as if by the ,western sunsets4  
,we are looking upon much younger rocks 
geologically than we see at home1 and   
they have the tints and texture of      
youth4 ,the landscape and the mountains 
look young1 because they look           
unfinished1 like a house half up4 ,the  
workmen have but just knocked off work  
to go to dinner2 their great trenches1  
their freshly opened quarries1 their    
huge dumps1 their foundations1 their    
cyclopean masonry1 their half-finished  
structures breaking the horizon-lines1  
their square gashes through the         
mountains1--all impress the eyes of a   
traveler from the eastern part of the   
continent1 where the earth-building and 
earth-carving forces finished their work
 ages ago4     ,,ii    ,hence it is that
 when one reaches the ,grand canon of   
the ,colorado1 if he has kept his eyes  
and mind open1 he is prepared to see    

striking and unusual things4 ,but he    
cannot be fully prepared for just what  
he does see1 no matter how many pictures
 of it he may have seen1 or how many    
descriptions of it he may have read4  ,a
 friend of mine who took a lively       
interest in my ,western trip wrote me   
that he wished he could have been       
present with his kodak when we first    
looked upon the ,grand ,canon4 ,did he  
think he could have got a picture of our
 souls8 ,his camera would have shown him
 only our silent1 motionless forms as we
 stood transfixed by that first view of 
the stupendous spectacle4 ,words do not 
come readily to one's lips1 or gestures 
to one's body1 in the presence of such a
 scene4 ,one of my companions said that 
the first thing that came into her mind 
was the old text1 ,be still1 and know   
that ,i am ,god4 ,to be still on such an
 occasion is the easiest thing in the   
world1 and to feel the surge of solemn  
and reverential emotions is equally     
easy2 is1 indeed1 almost inevitable4    

,the immensity of the scene1 its        
tranquillity1 its order1 its strange1   
new beauty1 and the monumental character
 of its many forms--all these tend to   
beget in the beholder an attitude of    
silent wonder and solemn admiration4 ,i 
wished at the moment that we might have 
been alone with the glorious            
spectacle1--that we had hit upon an hour
 when the public had gone to dinner4    
,the smoking and joking tourists        
sauntering along in apparent            
indifference1 or sitting with their     
backs to the great geologic drama1      
annoyed me4 ,i pity the person who can  
gaze upon the spectacle unmoved4 ,some  
are actually terrified by it4 ,i was    
told of a strong man1 an eminent lawyer 
from a ,western city1 who literally fell
 to the earth at the first view1 and    
could not again be induced to look upon 
it4 ,i saw a woman prone upon the ground
 near the brink at ,hopi ,point1 weeping
 silently and long2 but from what she   
afterward told me ,i know it was not    

from terror or sorrow1 but from the     
overpowering gladness of the ineffable  
beauty and harmony of the scene4 ,it    
moved her like the grandest music4 ,her 
inebriate soul could find relief only in
 tears4  ,harriet ,monroe was so wrought
 up by the first view that she says she 
had to fight against the desperate      
temptation to fling herself down into   
the soft abyss1 and thus redeem the     
affront which the very beating of her   
heart had offered to the inviolable     
solitude4 ,charles ,dudley ,warner said 
of it1 ,i experienced for a moment an   
indescribable terror of nature1 a       
confusion of mind1 a fear to be alone in
 such a presence4  ,it is beautiful1 oh1
 how beautiful6 but it is a beauty that 
awakens a feeling of solemnity and awe4 
,we call it the ,divine ,abyss4 ,it     
seems as much of heaven as of earth4 ,of
 the many descriptions of it1 none seems
 adequate4 ,to rave over it1 or to pour 
into it a torrent of superlatives1 is of
 little avail4 ,my companion came nearer

 the mark when she quietly repeated from
 ,revelation1 ,and he carried me away in
 the spirit to a great and high         
mountain1 and shewed me that great city1
 the holy ,jerusalem4 ,it does1 indeed1 
suggest a far-off1 half-sacred          
antiquity1 some greater ,jerusalem1     
,egypt1 ,babylon1 or ,india4 ,we speak  
of it as a scene3 it is more like a     
vision1 so foreign is it to all other   
terrestrial spectacles1 and so          
surpassingly beautiful4  ,to ordinary   
folk the sight is so extraordinary1 so  
unlike everything one's experience has  
yielded1 and so unlike the results of   
the usual haphazard working of the blind
 forces of nature1 that ,i did not      
wonder when people whom ,i met on the   
rim asked me what ,i supposed did all   
this4 ,i could even sympathize with the 
remark of an old woman visitor who is   
reported to have said that she thought  
they had built the canon too near the   
hotel4 ,the enormous cleavage which the 
canon shows1 the abrupt drop from the   

brink of thousands of feet1 the sheer   
faces of perpendicular walls of dizzy   
height1 give at first the impression    
that it is all the work of some titanic 
quarryman1 who must have removed cubic  
miles of strata as we remove cubic yards
 of earth4 ,go out to ,hopi ,point or   
,o',neil's ,point1 and1 as you emerge   
from the woods1 you get a glimpse of a  
blue or rose-purple gulf opening before 
you4 ,the solid ground ceases suddenly1 
and an aerial perspective1 vast and     
alluring1 takes its place2 another      
heaven1 countersunk in the earth1       
transfixes you on the brink4 ,great     
,god6 ,i can fancy the first beholder of
 it saying1 what is this8 ,do ,i behold 
the transfiguration of the earth8 ,has  
the solid ground melted into thin air8  
,is there a firmament below as well as  
above8 ,has the earth veil at last been 
torn aside1 and the red heart of the    
globe been laid bare8 ,if this first    
witness was not at once overcome by the 
beauty of the earthly revelation before 

him1 or terrified by its strangeness and
 power1 he must have stood long1 awed1  
spellbound1 speechless with             
astonishment1 and thrilled with delight4
 ,he may have seen vast and glorious    
prospects from mountaintops1 he may have
 looked down upon the earth and seen it 
unroll like a map before him2 but he had
 never before looked into the earth as  
through a mighty window or open door1   
and beheld depths and gulfs of space1   
with their atmospheric veils and        
illusions and vast perspectives1 such as
 he had seen from mountain-summits1 but 
with a wealth of color and a suggestion 
of architectural and monumental remains1
 and a strange1 almost unearthly beauty1
 such as no mountain-view could ever    
have afforded him4 ,three features of   
the canon strike one at once3 its       
unparalleled magnitude1 its             
architectural forms and suggestions1 and
 its opulence of color effects--a chasm 
nearly a mile deep and from ten to      
twenty miles wide1 in which ,niagara    

would be only as a picture upon your    
walls1 in which the ,pyramids1 seen from
 the rim1 would appear only like large  
tents1 in which the largest building    
upon the earth would dwindle to         
insignificant proportions4 ,there are   
amphitheatres and mighty aisles eight   
miles long and three or four miles wide 
and three or four thousand feet deep4   
,there are room-like spaces eight       
hundred feet high2 there are            
well-defined alcoves with openings a    
mile wide2 there are niches six hundred 
feet high overhung by arched lintels2   
there are pinnacles and rude statues    
from one hundred to two hundred feet    
high4 ,here ,i am running at once into  
allusions to the architectural features 
and suggestions of the canon1 which must
 play a prominent part in all faithful  
attempts to describe it4 ,there are     
huge1 truncated towers1 vast1 horizontal
 mouldings2 there is the semblance of   
balustrades on the summit of a noble    
facade4 ,in one of the immense halls we 

saw1 on an elevated platform1 the       
outlines of three enormous chairs1 fifty
 feet or more high1 and behind and above
 them the suggestion of three more      
chairs in partial ruin4 ,indeed1 there  
is such an opulence of architectural    
forms in this divine abyss as one has   
never before dreamed of seeing wrought  
by the blind forces of nature4 ,these   
forces have here foreshadowed all the   
noblest architecture of the world4 ,many
 of the vast carved and ornamental      
masses which diversify the canon have   
been fitly named temples1 as ,shiva's   
,temple1 a mile high1 carved out of the 
red ,carboniferous limestone1 and       
remarkably symmetrical in its outlines4 
,near it is the ,temple of ,isis1 the   
,temple of ,osiris1 the ,buddha ,temple1
 the ,horus ,temple1 and the ,pyramid of
 ,cheops4 ,farther to the east is the   
,diva ,temple1 the ,brahma ,temple1 the 
,temple of ,zoroaster1 and the ,tomb of 
,odin4 ,indeed1 everywhere are there    
suggestions of temples and tombs1       

pagodas and pyramids1 on a scale that no
 work of human hands can rival4 ,the    
grandest objects1 says ,major ,dutton1  
are merged in a congregation of others  
equally grand4 ,with the wealth of form 
goes a wealth of color4 ,never1 ,i      
venture to say1 were reds and browns and
 grays and vermilions more appealing to 
the eye than they are as they softly    
glow in this great canyon4 ,the         
color-scheme runs from the dark1 sombre 
hue of the gneiss at the bottom1 up     
through the yellowish brown of the      
,cambrian layers1 and on up through     
seven or eight broad bands of varying   
tints of red and vermilion1 to the broad
 yellowish-gray at the top4     ,,iii   
,the north side of the canyon has been  
much more deeply and elaborately carved 
than the south side2 most of the great  
architectural features are on the north 
side--the huge temples and fortresses   
and amphitheatres4 ,the strata dip very 
gently to the north and northeast1 while
 the slope of the surface is to the     

south and southeast4 ,this has caused   
the drainage from the great northern    
plateaus to flow into the canyon and    
thus cut and carve the north side as we 
behold it4  ,the visitor standing upon  
the south side looks across the great   
chasm upon the bewildering maze of      
monumental forms1 some of them as       
suggestive of human workmanship as      
anything in nature well can be1         
--crumbling turrets and foundations1    
forms as distinctly square as any work  
of man's hands1 vast fortress-like      
structures with salients and entering   
angles and wing walls resisting the     
siege of time1 huge pyramidal piles     
rising story on story1 three thousand   
feet or more above their foundations1   
each successive story or superstructure 
faced by a huge vertical wall which     
rises from a sloping talus that connects
 it with the story next below4 ,the     
slopes or taluses represent the softer  
rock1 the vertical walls the harder     
layers4 ,usually four or five of these  

receding stories make up each temple or 
pyramid4 ,some of the larger structures 
show all the strata from the cap of     
light ,carboniferous limestone at the   
top to the gray ,cambrian sandstone at  
the bottom4 ,from others1 such as the   
,temple of ,isis1 all the upper         
formations are gone with a pile of      
disintegrated red sandstone1 like a mass
 of brick dust on the top where the     
fragment of the old red wall made its   
last stand4 ,in those masses1 which are 
still crowned with the light gray       
limestone1 one sees how surely the      
process of disintegration is going on by
 the fragments and debris of light gray 
rock1 like the chips of giant workmen1  
that strew the deeper-colored slopes    
below them4 ,these fragments fade out as
 the eye drops down the slopes1 as if   
they had melted like bits of ice4       
,indeed1 the melting of ice and the     
dissolution of a rock do not differ much
 except that one is very rapid and the  
other infinitely slow4 ,in time 7not    

man's time1 but the ,lord's time71 all  
these light masses that cap the huge    
temples will be weathered away1 yea1 and
 all the vast red layers beneath them1  
and the huge structures will be slowly  
consumed by time4 ,the ,colorado ,river 
will carry their ashes to the sea1 and  
where they once stood will be seen gray1
 desert-like plateaus4 ,their outlines  
now stand out like skeletons from which 
the flesh has been removed--sharp1      
angular1 obtrusive1 but bound together  
as by ligaments of granite4 ,the tooth  
of time gnaws at them day and night and 
has been gnawing for thousands of       
centuries1 so that in some cases only   
their stumps remain4 ,from the ,temple  
of ,isis and the ,tomb of ,odin the two 
or three upper stories are gone4  ,on   
the next page is the ground plan of the 
,temple of ,isis1 about twenty-five     
hundred feet high4 ,the first story is  
about a thousand feet2 the second1 three
 hundred and fifty feet2 the third1 one 
hundred and fifty feet2 the fourth1 five

 hundred feet2 and the fifth1 five      
hundred feet4 ,the finish at the top    
shows as a heavy crumbling wall1        
probably one hundred feet or more high4 
,how the mass seems to be resisting the 
siege of time1 throwing out its salients
 here and there1 and meeting the onset  
of the foes like a military engineer4   
,the pyramidal form of these rock-masses
 is accounted for by the fact that they 
were carved out from the top downward1  
and that each successive story is vastly
 older than the one immediately beneath 
it4 ,the erosive forces have been       
working whole geologic ages longer on   
the top layer of rock than on the bottom
 layer2 hence the topmost ones are      
entirely gone or else reduced to small  
dimensions4 ,but what feature or quality
 of the rock it is that lends itself so 
readily or so inevitably to these       
architectural forms--the four square    
foundations1 the end pilasters and      
balustrades1 and so on--is to me not so 
clear4 ,the peculiar rectangular        

jointings1 the alternation of soft and  
hard layers1 the nearly horizontal      
strata1 and other things1 no doubt1     
enter into the problem4 ,many of these  
features are found in our older geology 
of the ,east1 as in the ,catskills      
--horizontal strata1 hard and soft      
layers alternating1 but with the        
vertical jointing less pronounced2 hence
 the ,catskills have few canon-like     
valleys1 though there are here and there
 huge gashes through the mountains that 
give a canon effect1 and there are      
gigantic walls high up on the face of   
some of the mountains that suggest one  
side of a mighty canon4 ,in the climate 
of the ,catskills the rock-masses of the
 ,colorado would crumble much more      
rapidly than they do here4 ,the lines of
 many of these natural temples or       
fortresses are still more lengthened and
 attenuated than those of the ,temple of
 ,isis1 appearing like mere skeletons of
 their former selves4 ,the forms that   
weather out the formation above this1   

the ,permian1 appear to be more rotund1 
and tend more to domes and rounded      
hills4  ,one of the most surprising     
features of the ,grand canon is its     
cleanness--its freedom from debris4 ,it 
is a home of the gods1 swept and        
garnished2 no litter or confusion or    
fragments of fallen and broken rocky    
walls anywhere4 ,those vast sloping     
taluses are as clean as a meadow2 rarely
 at the foot of the huge vertical walls 
do you see a fragment of fallen rock4   
,it is as if the processes of erosion   
and degradation were as gentle as the   
dews and the snows1 and carved out this 
mighty abyss grain by grain1 which has  
probably been the case4 ,that much of   
this red sandstone1 from the amount of  
iron it contains1 or from some other    
cause1 disintegrates easily and rapidly1
 is very obvious4 ,looking down from    
,hopi ,point upon a vast ridge called   
the ,man-of-,war1 one sees on the top1  
where once there must have been a huge  
wall of rock1 a long level area of red  

soil that suggests a garden1 the more so
 because it is regularly divided up into
 sections by straight lines of huge     
stone placed as if by the hands of man4 
,one's sense of the depths of the canyon
 is so great that it almost makes one   
dizzy to see the little birds fly out   
over it1 or plunge down into it4 ,one   
seems to fear that they too will get    
dizzy and fall to the bottom4 ,we       
watched a line of tourists on mules     
creeping along the trail across the     
inner plateau1 and the unaided eye had  
trouble to hold them2 they looked like  
little red ants4 ,the eye has more      
difficulty in estimating sizes and      
distances beneath it than when they are 
above or on a level with it1 because it 
is so much less familiar with depth than
 with height or lateral dimensions4     
,another remarkable and unexpected      
feature of the canyon is its look of    
ordered strength4 ,nearly all the lines 
are lines of greatest strength4 ,the    
prevailing profile line everywhere is   

that shown herewith4 ,the upright lines 
represent lines of cyclopean masonry1   
and the slant is the talus that connects
 them1 covered with a short1            
sage-colored growth of some kind1 and as
 soft to the eye as the turf of our     
fields4 ,the simple1 strong structural  
lines assert themselves everywhere1 and 
give that look of repose and security   
characteristic of the scene4 ,the rocky 
forces always seem to retreat in good   
order before the onslaught of time2     
there is neither rout nor confusion2    
everywhere they present a calm upright  
front to the foe4 ,and the fallen from  
their ranks1 where are they8 ,a cleaner 
battlefield between the forces of nature
 one rarely sees4  ,the weaker portions 
are1 of course1 constantly giving way4  
,the elements incessantly lay siege to  
these fortresses and take advantage of  
every flaw or unguarded point1 so that  
what stands has been seven times1 yea1  
seventy times seven times tested1 and   
hence gives the impression of           

impregnable strength4 ,the angles and   
curves1 the terraces and foundations1   
seem to be the work of some master      
engineer1 with only here and there a    
toppling rock4  ,i was puzzled to       
explain to myself the reason of a       
certain friendly and familiar look which
 the great abyss had for me4 ,one sees  
or feels at a glance that it was not    
born of the throes and convulsions of   
nature--of earthquake shock or volcanic 
explosion4 ,it does not suggest the     
crush of matter and the wreck of worlds4
 ,clearly it is the work of the more    
gentle and beneficent forces4 ,this     
probably accounts for the friendly look4
 ,some of the inner slopes and plateaus 
seemed like familiar ground to me3 ,i   
must have played upon them when a       
school-boy4 ,bright ,angel ,creek1 for  
some inexplicable reason1 recalled a    
favorite trout-stream of my native      
hills1 and the old ,cambrian plateau    
that edges the inner chasm1 as we looked
 down upon it from nearly four thousand 

feet above1 looked like the brown meadow
 where we played ball in the old        
school-days1 friendly1 tender1 familiar1
 in its slopes and terraces1 in its     
tints and basking sunshine1 but grand   
and awe-inspiring in its depths1 its    
huge walls1 and its terrific precipices4
  ,the geologists are agreed that the   
canyon is only of yesterday in geologic 
time1--the ,middle ,tertiary1--and yet  
behold the duration of that yesterday as
 here revealed1 probably a million years
 or more6 ,we can no more form any      
conception of such time than we can of  
the size of the sun or of the distance  
of the fixed stars4  ,the forces that   
did all this vast delving and           
sculpturing--the air1 the rains1 the    
frost1 the sunshine--are as active now  
as they ever were2 but their activity is
 a kind of slumbering that rarely makes 
a sign4 ,only at long intervals is the  
silence of any part of the profound     
abyss broken by the fall of loosened    
rocks or sliding talus4 ,we ourselves   

saw where a huge splinter of rock had   
recently dropped from the face of the   
cliff4 ,in time these loosened masses   
disappear1 as if they melted like ice4  
,a city not made with hands1 but as     
surely not eternal in the earth6 ,in our
 humid and severe ,eastern climate1     
frost and ice and heavyrains working    
together1 all these architectural forms 
would have crumbled long ago1 and       
fertile fields or hill-slopes would have
 taken their place4 ,in the older       
,hawaiian ,islands1 which probably also 
date from ,tertiary times1 the rains    
have carved enormous canons and         
amphitheatres out of the hard volcanic  
rock1 in some places grinding the       
mountains to such a thin edge that a man
 may literally sit astride them1 each   
leg pointing into opposite valleys4 ,in 
the next geologic age1 the temples and  
monuments of the ,grand ,canon will have
 largely disappeared1 and the stupendous
 spectacle will be mainly a thing of the
 past4  ,it seems to take millions of   

years to tame a mountain1 to curb its   
rude1 savage power1 to soften its       
outlines1 and bring fertility out of the
 elemental crudeness and barrenness4    
,but time and the gentle rains of heaven
 will do it1 as they have done it in the
 ,east1 and as they are fast doing it in
 the ,west4  ,an old guide with whom ,i 
talked1 who had lived in and about the  
canon for twenty-six years1 said1 ,while
 we have been sitting here1 the canon   
has widened and deepened2 which was1 of 
course1 the literal truth1 the          
mathematical truth1 but the widening and
 deepening could not have been          
apprehended by human sense4  ,our little
 span of human life is far too narrow   
for us to be a witness of any of the    
great earth changes4 ,these changes are 
so slow1--oh1 so slow1--and human       
history is so brief4 ,so far as we are  
concerned1 the gods of the earth sit in 
council behind closed doors4 ,all the   
profound1 formative1 world-shaping      
forces of nature go on in a realm that  

we can reach only through our           
imaginations4 ,they so far transcend our
 human experiences that it requires an  
act of faith to apprehend them4 ,the    
repose of the hills and the mountains1  
how profound6 yet they may be rising or 
sinking before our very eyes1 and we    
detect no sign4 ,only on exceptional    
occasions1 during earthquakes or        
volcanic eruptions1 is their dreamless  
slumber rudely disturbed4  ,geologists  
tell us that from the great plateau in  
which the ,grand ,canon is cut1 layers  
of rock many thousands of feet thick    
were cut away before the canon was      
begun4  ,starting from the high plateau 
of ,utah1 and going south toward the    
canon1 we descend a grand geologic      
stairway1 every shelf or tread of which 
consists of different formations fifty  
or more miles broad1 from the ,eocene1  
at an altitude of over ten thousand feet
 at the start1 across the ,cretaceous1  
the ,jurassic1 the ,triassic1 the       
,permian1 to the ,carboniferous1 which  

is the bottom or landing of the ,grand  
,canon plateau at an altitude of about  
five thousand feet4 ,each step          
terminates more or less abruptly1 the   
first by a drop of eight hundred feet1  
ornamented by rows of square obelisks   
and pilasters of uniform pattern and    
dimension1 giving the effect1 says      
,major ,dutton1 of a gigantic colonnade 
from which the entablature has been     
removed or has fallen in ruins4  ,the   
next step1 or platform1 the ,cretaceous1
 slopes down gradually or dies out on   
the step beneath it2 then comes the     
,jurassic1 which ends in white sandstone
 cliffs several hundred feet high2 then 
the ,triassic1 which ends in the famous 
vermilion cliffs thousands of feet high1
 most striking in color and in form2    
then the ,permian tread1 which also ends
 in striking cliffs1 with their own     
style of color and architecture2 and1   
lastly1 the great ,carboniferous        
platform in which the canon itself is   
carved4 ,now1 all these various strata  

above the canon1 making at one time a   
thickness of over a mile1 were worn away
 in ,pliocene times1 before the cutting 
of the ,grand ,canon began4 ,had they   
remained1 and been cut through1 we      
should have had a chasm two miles deep  
instead of one mile4  ,the cutting power
 of a large1 rapid volume of water1 like
 the ,colorado1 charged with sand and   
gravel1 is very great4 ,according to    
,major ,dutton1 in the hydraulic mines  
of ,california1 the escaping water has  
been known to cut a chasm from twelve to
 twenty feet deep in hard basaltic rock1
 in a single year4 ,this is1 of course1 
exceptional1 but there have1 no doubt1  
been times when the ,colorado cut       
downward very rapidly4 ,the enormous    
weathering of its side walls is to me   
the more wonderful1 probably because the
 forces that have achieved this task are
 silent and invisible1 and1 so far as   
our experience goes1 so infinitely slow 
in their action4 ,the river is a        
tremendous machine for grinding and     

sawing and transporting1 but the rains  
and the frost and the air and the       
sunbeams smite the rocks as with weapons
 of down1 and one is naturally          
incredulous as to their destructive     
effects4  ,some of the smaller rivers in
 the plateau region flow in very deep   
but very narrow canons4 ,the rocks being
 harder and more homogeneous1 the       
weathering has been slight4 ,the        
meteoric forces have not taken a hand in
 the game4 ,thus the ,parunuweap ,canon 
is only twenty to thirty feet wide1 but 
from six hundred to fifteen hundred feet
 deep4  ,i suppose the slow1            
inappreciable erosion to which the old  
guide alluded would have cut the canon  
since ,middle ,tertiary times4 ,the     
river1 eating downward at the rate of   
one sixteenth of an inch a year1 would  
do it in about one million years4 ,at   
half that rate it would do it in double 
that time4 ,in the earlier part of its  
history1 when the rainfall was doubtless
 greater1 and the river fuller1 the     

erosion must have been much more rapid  
than it is at present4 ,the widening of 
the canon was doubtless a slower process
 than the downward cutting4 ,but1 as ,i 
have said1 the downward cutting would   
tend to check itself from age to age1   
while the widening process would go     
steadily forward4 ,hence1 when we look  
into the great abyss1 we have only to   
remember the enormous length of time    
that the aerial and subaerial forces    
have been at work to account for it4    
,two forces1 or kinds of forces1 have   
worked together in excavating the canon3
 the river1 which is the primary factor1
 and the meteoric forces1 which may be  
called the secondary1 as they follow in 
the wake of the former4 ,the river      
starts the gash downward1 then the      
aerial forces begin to eat into the     
sides4 ,acting alone1 the river would   
cut a trench its own width1 and were the
 rocks through which it saws one        
homogeneous mass1 or of uniform texture 
and hardness1 the width of the trench   

would probably have been very uniform   
and much less than it is now4 ,the      
condition that has contributed to its   
great width is the heterogeneity of the 
different formations--some hard and some
 soft4 ,the softer bands1 of course1    
introduce the element of weakness4 ,they
 decay and crumble the more rapidly1 and
 thus undermine the harder bands        
overlying them1 which1 by reason of     
their vertical fractures1 break off and 
fall to the bottom1 where they are      
exposed to the action of floods and are 
sooner or later ground up in the river's
 powerful maw4 ,hence the recession of  
the banks of the canon has gone steadily
 on with the downward cutting of the    
river4 ,where the rock is homogeneous1  
as it is in the inner chasm of the dark 
gneiss1 the widening process seems to   
have gone on much more slowly4          
,geologists account for the great width 
of the main chasm when compared with the
 depth1 on the theory that the forces   
that work laterally have been more      

continuously active than has the force  
that cuts downward4 ,there is convincing
 evidence that the whole region has been
 many times lifted up since the cutting 
began1 so that the river has had its    
active and passive stages4 ,as its      
channel approached the sea level1 its   
current would be much less rapid1 and   
the downward cutting would practically  
cease1 till the section was elevated    
again4 ,but all the time the forces     
working laterally would be at work      
without interruption1 and would thus    
gain on their checked brethren of the   
river bottom4  ,there is probably       
another explanation of what we see here4
 ,apart from the mechanical weathering  
of the rocks as a result of the arid    
climate1 wherein rapid and often extreme
 changes of temperature take place1     
causing the surface of the rocks to     
flake or scale off1 there has doubtless 
been unusual chemical weathering1 and   
this has been largely brought about by  
the element of iron that all these rocks

 possess4 ,their many brilliant colors  
are imparted to them by the various     
compounds of iron which enter into their
 composition4 ,and iron1 though the     
symbol of hardness and strength1 is an  
element of weakness in rocks1 as it     
causes them to oxidize or disintegrate  
more rapidly4 ,in the marble canon1     
where apparently the rock contains no   
iron1 the lateral erosion has been very 
little1 though the river has cut a      
trench as deep as it has in other parts 
of its course4  ,how often ,i thought   
during those days at the canon of the   
geology of my native hills amid the     
,catskills1 which show the effects of   
denudation as much older than that shown
 here as this is older than the washout 
in the road by this morning's shower6   
,the old red sandstone in which ,i hoed 
corn as a farm-boy dates back to ,middle
 ,palaeozoic time1 or to the spring of  
the great geologic year1 while the canon
 is of the late autumn4 ,could my native
 hills have replied to my mute          

questionings1 they would have said3 ,we 
were old1 old1 and had passed through   
the canon stage long before the ,grand  
,canon was born4 ,we have had all that  
experience1 and have forgotten it ages  
ago4 ,no vestiges of our canons remain4 
,they have all been worn down and       
obliterated by the strokes of a hand as 
gentle as that of a passing cloud4      
,where they were1 are now broad1 fertile
 valleys1 with rounded knolls and gentle
 slopes1 and the sound of peaceful      
husbandry4 ,the great ice sheet rubbed  
us and ploughed us1 but our contours    
were gentle and rounded aeons before    
that event4 ,when the ,grand ,canon is  
as old as we are1 all its superb        
architectural features will have long   
since disappeared1 its gigantic walls   
will have crumbled1 and rolling plains  
and gentle valleys will have taken its  
place4 ,all of which seems quite        
probable4 ,with time enough1 the gentle 
forces of air and water will surely     
change the whole aspect of this         

tremendous chasm4  ,on the second day we
 made the descent into the canon on     
mule-back4 ,there is always satisfaction
 in going to the bottom of things4 ,then
 we wanted to get on more intimate terms
 with the great abyss1 to wrestle with  
it1 if need be1 and to feel its power1  
as well as to behold it4 ,it is not best
 always to dwell upon the rim of things 
or to look down upon them from afar4    
,the summits are good1 but the valleys  
have their charm1 also2 even the valley 
of humiliation has its lessons4 ,at any 
rate1 four of us were unanimous in our  
desire to sound that vast profound on   
mule-back1 trusting that the return trip
 would satisfy our climbing aspirations1
 as it did4  ,it is quite worth while to
 go down into the canon on mule-back1 if
 only to fall in love with a mule1 and  
to learn what a sure-footed1 careful1   
and docile creature1 when he is on his  
good behavior1 a mule can be4 ,my mule  
was named ,johnny1 and there was soon a 
good understanding between us4 ,i       

quickly learned to turn the whole       
problem of that perilous descent over to
 him4 ,he knew how to take the sharp    
turns and narrow shelves of that steep  
zigzag much better than ,i did4 ,i do   
not fancy that the thought of my safety 
was ,johnny's guiding star2 his         
solicitude struck nearer home than that4
 ,there was much ice and snow on the    
upper part of the trail1 and only those 
slender little legs of ,johnny's stood  
between me and a tumble of two or three 
thousand feet4 ,how cautiously he felt  
his way with his round little feet1 as1 
with lowered head1 he seemed to be      
scanning the trail critically6 ,only    
when he swung around the sharp elbows of
 the trail did his forefeet come near   
the edge of the brink4 ,only once or    
twice at such times1 as we hung for a   
breath above the terrible incline1 did  
,i feel a slight shudder4 ,one of my    
companions1 who had never before been   
upon an animal's back1 so fell in love  
with her ,sandy that she longed for a   

trunk big enough in which to take him   
home with her4  ,it was more than worth 
while to make the descent to traverse   
that ,cambrian plateau1 which from the  
rim is seen to flow out from the base of
 the enormous cliffs to the brink of the
 inner chasm1 looking like some soft1   
lavender-colored carpet or rug4 ,i had  
never seen the ,cambrian rocks1 the     
lowest of the stratified formations1 nor
 set my foot upon ,cambrian soil4 ,hence
 a new experience was promised me4      
,rocky layers probably two or three     
miles thick had been worn away from the 
old ,cambrian foundations1 and when ,i  
looked down upon that gently undulating 
plateau1 the thought of the eternity of 
time which it represented tended quite  
as much to make me dizzy as did the drop
 of nearly four thousand feet4 ,we found
 it gravelly and desert-like1 covered   
with cacti1 low sagebrush1 and other    
growths4 ,the dim trail led us to its   
edge1 where we could look down into the 
twelve-hundred-foot ,v-shaped gash which

 the river had cut into the dark1       
crude-looking ,archaean rock4 ,how      
distinctly it looked like a new day in  
creation where the horizontal1          
yellowish-gray beds of the ,cambrian    
were laid down upon the dark1 amorphous1
 and twisted older granite6 ,how        
carefully the level strata had been     
fitted to the shapeless mass beneath it6
 ,it all looked like the work of a      
master mason2 apparently you could put  
the point of your knife where one ended 
and the other began4 ,the older rock    
suggested chaos and turmoil2 the other  
suggested order and plan1 as if the     
builder had said1 ,now upon this        
foundation we will build our house4 ,it 
is an interesting fact1 the full        
geologic significance of which ,i       
suppose ,i do not appreciate1 that the  
different formations are usually marked 
off from one another in just this sharp 
way1 as if each one was1 indeed1 the    
work of a separate day of creation4     
,nature appears at long intervals to    

turn over a new leaf and start a new    
chapter in her great book4 ,the         
transition from one geologic age to     
another appears to be abrupt3 new       
colors1 new constituents1 new qualities 
appear in the rocks with a suddenness   
hard to reconcile with ,lyell's doctrine
 of uniformitarianism1 just as new      
species appear in the life of the globe 
with an abruptness hard to reconcile    
with ,darwin's slow process of natural  
selection4 ,is sudden mutation1 after   
all1 the key to all these phenomena8    
,we ate our lunch on the old ,cambrian  
table1 placed there for us so long ago1 
and gazed down upon the turbulent river 
hiding and reappearing in its           
labyrinthian channel so far below us4   
,it is worth while to make the descent  
in order to look upon the river which   
has been the chief quarryman in         
excavating the canon1 and to find how   
inadequate it looks for the work        
ascribed to it4 ,viewed from where we   
sat1 ,i judged it to be forty or fifty  

feet broad1 but ,i was assured that it  
was between two and three hundred feet4 
,water and sand are ever symbols of     
instability and inconstancy1 but let    
them work together1 and they saw through
 mountains1 and undermine the           
foundations of the hills4  ,it is always
 worth while to sit or kneel at the feet
 of grandeur1 to look up into the placid
 faces of the earth gods and feel their 
power1 and the tourist who goes down    
into the canon certainly has this       
privilege4 ,we did not bring back in our
 hands1 or in our hats1 the glory that  
had lured us from the top1 but we seemed
 to have been nearer its sources1 and to
 have brought back a deepened sense of  
the magnitude of the forms1 and of the  
depth of the chasm which we had         
heretofore gazed upon from a distance4  
,also we had plucked the flower of      
safety from the nettle danger1 always an
 exhilarating enterprise4  ,in climbing 
back1 my eye1 now sharpened by my       
geologic reading1 dwelt frequently and  

long upon the horizon where that        
cross-bedded ,carboniferous sandstone   
joins the ,carboniferous limestone above
 it4 ,how much older the sandstone      
looked6 ,i could not avoid the          
impression that its surface must have   
formed a plane of erosion ages and ages 
before the limestone had been laid down 
upon it4  ,we had left plenty of ice and
 snow at the top1 but in the bottom we  
found the early spring flowers blooming1
 and a settler at what is called the    
,indian ,gardens was planting his       
garden4 ,here ,i heard the song of the  
canon wren1 a new and very pleasing     
bird-song to me4 ,i think our dreams    
were somewhat disturbed that night by   
the impressions of the day1 but our     
day-dreams since that time have at least
 been sweeter and more comforting1 and  
,i am sure that the remainder of our    
lives will be the richer for our having 
seen the ,grand ,canon4       ,,iii     
,,the ,,spell ,,of ,,the ,,yosemite  ,i 
,yosemite won my heart at once1 as it   

seems to win the hearts of all who visit
 it4 ,in my case many things helped to  
do it1 but ,i am sure a robin1 the first
 ,i had seen since leaving home1 did his
 part4 ,he struck the right note1 he    
brought the scene home to me1 he        
supplied the link of association4 ,there
 he was1 running over the grass or      
perching on the fence1 or singing from a
 tree-top in the old familiar way4      
,where the robin is at home1 there at   
home am ,i4 ,but many other things      
helped to win my heart to the           
,yosemite--the whole character of the   
scene1 not only its beauty and          
sublimity1 but the air of peace and     
protection1 and of homelike seclusion   
that pervades it2 the charm of a nook1 a
 retreat1 combined with the power and   
grandeur of nature in her sternest      
moods4  ,after passing from the hotel at
 ,el ,portal along the foaming and      
roaring ,merced ,river1 and amid the    
tumbled confusion of enormous granite   
boulders shaken down from the cliffs    

above1 you cross the threshold of the   
great valley as into some vast house or 
hall carved out of the mountains1 and at
 once feel the spell of the brooding    
calm and sheltered seclusion that       
pervades it4 ,you pass suddenly from the
 tumultuous1 the chaotic1 into the      
ordered1 the tranquil1 the restful1     
which seems enhanced by the power and   
grandeur that encompass them about4 ,you
 can hardly be prepared for the hush    
that suddenly falls upon the river and  
for the gentle rural and sylvan         
character of much that surrounds you2   
the peace of the fields1 the seclusion  
of the woods1 the privacy of sunny      
glades1 the enchantment of falls and    
lucid waters1 with a touch of human     
occupancy here and there--all this1 set 
in that enormous granite frame1 three or
 four thousand feet high1 ornamented    
with domes and spires and peaks still   
higher1--it is all this that wins your  
heart and fills your imagination in the 
,yosemite4  ,as you ride or walk along  

the winding road up the level valley    
amid the noble pines and spruces and    
oaks1 and past the groves and bits of   
meadow and the camps of many tents1 and 
the huge mossy granite boulders here and
 there reposing in the shade of the     
trees1 with the full1 clear1 silent     
river winding through the plain near    
you1 you are all the time aware of those
 huge vertical walls1 their faces       
scarred and niched1 streaked with color1
 or glistening with moisture1 and       
animated with waterfalls1 rising up on  
either hand1 thousands of feet high1 not
 architectural1 or like something       
builded1 but like the sides and the four
 corners of the globe itself4 ,what an  
impression of mass and of power and of  
grandeur in repose filters into you as  
you walk along6 ,el ,capitan stands     
there showing its simple sweeping lines 
through the trees as you approach1 like 
one of the veritable pillars of the     
firmament4 ,how long we are nearing it  
and passing it6 ,it is so colossal that 

it seems near while it is yet far off4  
,it is so simple that the eye takes in  
its naked grandeur at a glance4 ,it     
demands of you a new standard of size   
which you cannot at once produce4 ,it is
 as clean and smooth as the flank of a  
horse1 and as poised and calm as a      
,greek statue4 ,it curves out toward the
 base as if planted there to resist the 
pressure of worlds--probably the most   
majestic single granite column or       
mountain buttress on the earth4 ,its    
summit is over three thousand feet above
 you4 ,across the valley1 nearly        
opposite1 rise the ,cathedral ,rocks to 
nearly the same height1 while farther   
along1 beyond ,el ,capitan1 the ,three  
,brothers shoulder the sky at about the 
same dizzy height4 ,near the head of the
 great valley1 ,north ,dome1 perfect in 
outline as if turned in a lathe1 and its
 brother1 the ,half ,dome 7or shall we  
say half-brother87 across the valley1   
look down upon ,mirror ,lake from an    
altitude of over four thousand feet4    

,these domes suggest enormous granite   
bubbles if such were possible pushed up 
from below and retaining their forms    
through the vast geologic ages4 ,of     
course they must have weathered         
enormously1 but as the rock seems to    
peel off in concentric sheets1 their    
forms are preserved4     ,,ii    ,one   
warm1 bright ,sunday near the end of    
,april1 six of us walked up from the    
hotel to ,vernal and ,nevada ,falls1 or 
as near to them as we could get1 and    
took our fill of the tumult of foaming  
waters struggling with the wreck of huge
 granite cliffs3 so impassive and       
immobile the rocks1 so impetuous and    
reckless and determined the onset of the
 waters1 till the falls are reached1    
when the obstructed river seems to find 
the escape and the freedom it was so    
eagerly seeking4 ,better to be          
completely changed into foam and spray  
by one single leap of six hundred feet  
into empty space1 the river seems to    
say1 than be forever baffled and        

tortured and torn on this rack of       
merciless boulders4  ,we followed the   
zigzagging trail up the steep side of   
the valley1 touching melting snow-banks 
in its upper courses1 passing huge      
granite rocks also melting in the slow  
heat of the geologic ages1 pausing to   
take in the rugged1 shaggy spruces and  
pines that sentineled the mountain-sides
 here and there1 or resting our eyes    
upon ,liberty ,cap1 which carries its   
suggestive form a thousand feet or more 
above the ,nevada ,fall4 ,what beauty1  
what grandeur attended us that day6 the 
wild tumult of waters1 the snow-white   
falls1 the motionless avalanches of     
granite rocks1 and the naked granite    
shaft1 ,liberty ,cap1 dominating all6   
,and that night1 too1 when we sat around
 a big camp-fire near our tents in the  
valley1 and saw the full moon come up   
and look down upon us from behind       
,sentinel ,rock1 and heard the          
intermittent booming of ,yosemite ,falls
 sifting through the spruce trees that  

towered around us1 and felt the tender1 
brooding spirit of the great valley1    
itself touched to lyric intensity by the
 grandeurs on every hand1 steal in upon 
us1 and possess our souls--surely that  
was a night none of us can ever forget4 
,as ,yosemite can stand the broad1      
searching light of midday and not be    
cheapened1 so its enchantments can stand
 the light of the moon and the stars and
 not be rendered too vague and          
impalpable4     ,,iii    ,going from the
 ,grand ,canon to ,yosemite is going    
from one sublimity to another of a      
different order4 ,the canon is the more 
strange1 unearthly1 apocryphal1 appeals 
more to the imagination1 and is the more
 overwhelming in its size1 its wealth of
 color1 and its multitude of suggestive 
forms4 ,but for quiet majesty and       
beauty1 with a touch of the sylvan and  
pastoral1 too1 ,yosemite stands alone4  
,one could live with ,yosemite1 camp in 
it1 tramp in it1 winter and summer in   
it1 and find nature in her tender and   

human1 almost domestic moods1 as well as
 in her grand and austere4 ,but ,i do   
not think one could ever feel at home in
 or near the ,grand ,canon2 it is too   
unlike anything we have ever known upon 
the earth2 it is like a vision of some  
strange colossal city uncovered from the
 depth of geologic time4 ,you may have  
come to it1 as we did1 from the         
,petrified ,forests1 where you saw the  
silicified trunks of thousands of       
gigantic trees or tree ferns1 that grew 
millions of years ago1 most of them     
uncovered1 but many of them protruding  
from banks of clay and gravel1 and in   
their interiors rich in all the colors  
of the rainbow1 and you wonder if you   
may not now be gazing upon some         
petrified antediluvian city of temples  
and holy places exhumed by mysterious   
hands and opened up to the vulgar gaze  
of to-day4 ,you look into it from above 
and from another world and you descend  
into it at your peril4 ,yosemite you    
enter as into a gigantic hall and make  

your own2 the canon you gaze down upon1 
and are an alien1 whether you enter it  
or not4 ,yosemite is carved out of the  
most majestic and enduring of all rocks1
 granite2 the ,grand ,canon is carved   
out of one of the most beautiful1 but   
perishable1 red ,carboniferous sandstone
 and limestone4 ,there is a maze of     
beautiful and intricate lines in the    
latter1 a wilderness of temple-like     
forms and monumental remains1 and noble 
architectural profiles that delight     
while they bewilder the eye4 ,yosemite  
has much greater simplicity1 and is much
 nearer the classic standard of beauty4 
,its grand and austere features         
predominate1 of course1 but underneath  
these and adorning them are many touches
 of the idyllic and the picturesque4    
,its many waterfalls fluttering like    
white lace against its vertical granite 
walls1 its smooth1 level floor1 its     
noble pines and oaks1 its open glades1  
its sheltering groves1 its bright1      
clear1 winding river1 its soft voice of 

many waters1 its flowers1 its birds1 its
 grass1 its verdure1 even its orchards  
of blooming apple trees1 all inclosed in
 this tremendous granite frame--what an 
unforgettable picture it all makes1 what
 a blending of the sublime and the      
homelike and familiar it all is6 ,it is 
the waterfalls that make the granite    
alive1 and bursting into bloom as it    
were4 ,what a touch they give6 how they 
enliven the scene6 ,what music they     
evoke from these harps of stone6  ,the  
first leap of ,yosemite ,falls is       
sixteen hundred feet--sixteen hundred   
feet of a compact mass of snowy rockets 
shooting downward and bursting into     
spray around which rainbows flit and    
hover4 ,the next leap is four hundred   
feet1 and the last six hundred4 ,we     
tried to get near the foot and inspect  
the hidden recess in which this airy    
spirit again took on a more tangible    
form of still1 running water1 but the   
spray over a large area fell like a     
summer shower1 drenching the trees and  

the rocks1 and holding the inquisitive  
tourist off at a safe distance4 ,we had 
to beat a retreat with dripping garments
 before we had got within fifty yards of
 the foot of the fall4 ,at first ,i was 
surprised at the volume of water that   
came hurrying out of the hidden recess  
of dripping rocks and trees--a swiftly  
flowing stream1 thirty or forty feet    
wide1 and four or five feet deep4 ,how  
could that comparatively narrow curtain 
of white spray up there give birth to   
such a full robust stream8 ,but ,i saw  
that in making the tremendous leap from 
the top of the precipice1 the stream was
 suddenly drawn out1 as we stretch a    
rubber band in our hands1 and that the  
solid and massive current below was like
 the rubber again relaxed4 ,the strain  
was over1 and the united waters deepened
 and slowed up over their rocky bed4    
,yosemite for a home or a camp1 the     
,grand ,canon for a spectacle4 ,i have  
spoken of the robin ,i saw in ,yosemite 
,valley4 ,think how forlorn and out of  

place a robin would seem in the ,grand  
,canon6 ,what would he do there8 ,there 
is no turf for him to inspect1 and there
 are no trees for him to perch on4 ,i   
should as soon expect to find him amid  
the pyramids of ,egypt1 or amid the     
ruins of ,karnak4 ,the bluebird was in  
the ,yosemite also1 and the water-ouzel 
haunted the lucid waters4  ,i noticed a 
peculiarity of the oak in ,yosemite that
 ,i never saw elsewhere ,footnote3 ,i   
have since observed the same trait in   
the oaks in ,georgia--probably a        
characteristic of this tree in southern 
latitudes4--a fluid or outflowing       
condition of the growth aboveground1    
such as one usually sees in the roots of
 trees--so that it tended to envelop and
 swallow1 as it were1 any solid object  
with which it came in contact4 ,if its  
trunk touched a point of rock1 it would 
put out great oaken lips several inches 
in extent as if to draw the rock into   
its maw4 ,if a dry limb was cut or      
broken off1 a foot from the trunk1 these

 thin oaken lips would slowly creep out 
and envelop it--a sort of ,western      
omnivorous trait appearing in the trees4
  ,whitman refers to the slumbering and 
liquid trees4 ,these ,yosemite oaks     
recall his expression more surely than  
any of our ,eastern trees4  ,the reader 
may create for himself a good image of  
,yosemite by thinking of a section of   
seven or eight miles of the ,hudson     
,river1 midway of its course1 as emptied
 of its water and deepened three        
thousand feet or more1 having the sides 
nearly vertical1 with snow-white        
waterfalls fluttering against them here 
and there1 the famous spires and domes  
planted along the rim1 and the landscape
 of groves and glades1 with its still1  
clear winding river1 occupying the      
bottom4     ,,iv    ,one cannot look    
upon ,yosemite or walk beneath its      
towering walls without the question     
arising in his mind1 ,how did all this  
happen8 ,what were the agents that      
brought it about8 ,there has been a     

great geologic drama enacted here2 who  
or what were the star actors8 ,there are
 two other valleys in this part of the  
,sierra1 ,hetch-,hetchy and ,king's     
,river1 that are almost identical in    
their main features1 though the ,merced 
,yosemite is the widest of the three4   
,each of them is a tremendous chasm in  
the granite rock1 with nearly vertical  
walls1 domes1 ,el ,capitans1 and        
,sentinel and ,cathedral ,rocks1 and    
waterfalls--all modeled on the same     
general plan4 ,i believe there is       
nothing just like this trio of          
,yosemites anywhere else on the globe4  
,guided by one's ordinary sense or      
judgment alone1 one's judgment as       
developed and disciplined by the        
everyday affairs of life and the        
everyday course of nature1 one would say
 on beholding ,yosemite that here is the
 work of exceptional and extraordinary  
agents or world-building forces4 ,it is 
as surprising and exceptional as would  
be a cathedral in a village street1 or a

 gigantic sequoia in a grove of our     
balsam firs4 ,the approach to it up the 
,merced ,river does not prepare one for 
any such astonishing spectacle as awaits
 one4 ,the rushing1 foaming water amid  
the tumbled confusion of huge granite   
rocks and the open ,v-shaped valley1 are
 nothing very remarkable or unusual4    
,then suddenly you are on the threshold 
of this hall of the elder gods4 ,demons 
and furies might lurk in the valley     
below1 but here is the abode of the     
serene1 beneficent ,olympian deities4   
,all is so calm1 so hushed1 so friendly1
 yet so towering1 so stupendous1 so     
unspeakably beautiful4 ,you are in a    
mansion carved out of the granite       
foundations of the earth1 with walls two
 or three thousand feet high1 hung here 
and there with snow-white waterfalls1   
and supporting the blue sky on domes and
 pinnacles still higher4 ,oh1 the       
calmness and majesty of the scene6 the  
evidence of such tremendous activity of 
some force1 some agent1 and now so      

tranquil1 so sheltering1 so beneficent6 
,that there should be two or three      
,yosemites in the ,sierra not very far  
apart1 all with the main features       
singularly alike1 is very               
significant--as if this kind of valley  
was latent in the granite of that       
region--some peculiarity of rock        
structure that lends itself readily to  
these formations4 ,the ,sierra lies     
beyond the southern limit of the great  
continental ice-sheet of late ,tertiary 
times1 but it nursed and reared many    
local glaciers1 and to the eroding power
 of these its ,yosemites are partly due4
 ,but water was at work here long before
 the ice--eating down into the granite  
and laying open the mountain for the ice
 to begin its work4 ,ice may come1 and  
ice may go1 says the river1 but ,i go on
 forever4 ,water tends to make a        
,v-shaped valley1 ice a ,u-shaped one1  
though in the ,hawaiian ,islands1 where 
water erosion alone has taken place1 the
 prevailing form of the valleys is that 

of the ,u-shaped4 ,yosemite approximates
 to this shape1 and ice has certainly   
played a part in its formation4 ,but the
 glacier seems to have stopped at the   
outlet of the great valley2 it did not  
travel beyond the gigantic hall it had  
helped to excavate4 ,the valley of the  
,merced from the mouth of ,yosemite     
downward is an open valley strewn with  
huge angular granite rocks and shows no 
signs of glaciation whatever4 ,the      
reason of this abruptness is quite      
beyond my ken4 ,it is to me a plausible 
theory that when the granite that forms 
the ,sierra was lifted or squeezed up by
 the shrinking of the earth1 large      
fissures and crevasses may have         
occurred1 and that ,yosemite and kindred
 valleys may be the result of the action
 of water and ice in enlarging these    
original chasms4 ,little wonder that the
 earlier geologists1 such as ,whitney1  
were led to attribute the exceptional   
character of these valleys to           
exceptional and extraordinary agents--to

 sudden faulting or dislocation of the  
earth's crust4 ,but geologists are      
becoming more and more loath to call in 
the cataclysmal to explain any feature  
of the topography of the land4 ,not to  
the thunder or the lightning1 to        
earthquake or volcano1 to the forces of 
upheaval or dislocation1 but to the     
still1 small voice of the rain and the  
winds1 of the frost and the snow1--the  
gentle forces now and here active all   
about us1 carving the valleys and       
reducing the mountains1 and changing the
 courses of rivers1--to these1 as ,lyell
 taught us1 we are to look in nine cases
 out of ten1 yes1 in ninety-nine out of 
a hundred1 to account for the           
configuration of the continents4  ,the  
geologists of our day1 while not        
agreeing as to the amount of work done  
respectively by ice and water1 yet agree
 that to the latter the larger          
proportion of the excavation is to be   
ascribed4 ,at any rate between them both
 they have turned out one of the most   

beautiful and stupendous pieces of      
mountain carving to be found upon the   
earth4       ,,iv  ,,through ,,the      
,,eyes ,,of ,,the ,,geologist  ,i       
,how habitually we go about over the    
surface of the earth1 delving it or     
cultivating it or leveling it1 without  
thinking that it has not always been as 
we now find it1 that the mountains were 
not always mountains1 nor the valleys   
always valleys1 nor the plains always   
plains1 nor the sand always sand1 nor   
the clay always clay4 ,our experience   
goes but a little way in such matters4  
,such a thought takes us from human time
 to ,god's time1 from the horizon of    
place and years to the horizon of       
geologic ages4 ,we go about our little  
affairs in the world1 sowing and reaping
 and building and journeying1 like      
children playing through the halls of   
their ancestors1 without pausing to ask 
how these things all came about4 ,we do 
not reflect upon the age of our fields  
any more than we do upon the size of the

 globe under our feet3 when we become   
curious about such matters and look upon
 the mountains as either old or young1  
or as the subjects of birth1 growth1 and
 decay1 then we are unconscious         
geologists4 ,it is to our interest in   
such things that geology appeals and it 
is this interest that it stimulates and 
guides4  ,what an astonishing           
revelation1 for instance1 that the soil 
was born of the rocks1 and is still born
 of the rocks2 that every particle of it
 was once locked up in the primitive    
granite and was unlocked by the slow    
action of the rain and the dews and the 
snows2 that the rocky ribs of the earth 
were clothed with this fertile soil out 
of which we came and to which we return 
by their own decay2 that the            
pulling-down of the inorganic meant the 
building-up of the organic2 that the    
death of the crystal meant the birth of 
the cell1 and indirectly of you and me  
and of all that lives upon the earth4   
,had there been no soil1 had the rocks  

not decayed1 there had been no you and  
me4 ,such considerations have long made 
me feel a keen interest in geology1 and 
especially of late years have stimulated
 my desire to try to see the earth as   
the geologist sees it4 ,i have always   
had a good opinion of the ground        
underfoot1 out of which we all come1 and
 to which we all return2 and the story  
the geologists tell us about it is      
calculated to enhance greatly that good 
opinion4  ,i think that if ,i could be  
persuaded1 as my fathers were1 that the 
world was made in six days1 by the fiat 
of a supernatural power1 ,i should soon 
lose my interest in it4 ,such an account
 of it takes it out of the realm of     
human interest1 because it takes it out 
of the realm of natural causation1 and  
places it in the realm of the arbitrary1
 and non-natural4 ,but to know that it  
was not made at all1 in the mechanical  
sense1 but that it grew--that it is an  
evolution as much as the life upon the  
surface1 that it has an almost infinite 

past1 that it has been developing and   
ripening for millions upon millions of  
years1 a veritable apple upon the great 
sidereal tree1 ameliorating from cycle  
to cycle1 mellowing1 coloring1          
sweetening--why1 such a revelation adds 
immensely to our interest in it4  ,as   
with nearly everything else1 the wonder 
of the world grows the more we grasp its
 history4 ,the wonder of life grows the 
more we consider the chaos of fire and  
death out of which it came2 the wonder  
of man grows the more we peer into the  
abyss of geologic time and of low       
bestial life out of which he came4  ,not
 a tree1 not a shrub1 not a flower1 not 
a green thing growing1 not an insect of 
an hour1 but has a background of a vast 
aeon of geologic and astronomic time1   
out of which the forces that shaped it  
have emerged1 and over which the powers 
of chaos and darkness have failed to    
prevail4  ,the modern geologist affords 
us one of the best illustrations of the 
uses of the scientific imagination that 

we can turn to4 ,the scientific         
imagination seems to be about the latest
 phase of the evolution of the human    
mind4 ,this power of interpretation of  
concrete facts1 this ,miltonic flight   
into time and space1 into the heavens   
above1 and into the bowels of the earth 
beneath1 and bodying forth a veritable  
history1 a warring of the powers of     
light and darkness1 with the triumph of 
the angels of light and life1 makes     
,milton's picture seem hollow and       
unreal4 ,the creative and poetic        
imagination has undoubtedly already     
reached its high-water mark4 ,we shall  
probably never see the great imaginative
 works of the past surpassed or even    
equaled4 ,but in the world of scientific
 discovery and interpretation1 we see   
the imagination working in new fields   
and under new conditions1 and achieving 
triumphs that mark a new epoch in the   
history of the race4 ,nature1 which once
 terrified man and made a coward of him1
 now inspires him and fills him with    

love and enthusiasm4  ,the geologist is 
the interpreter of the records of the   
rocks4 ,from a bit of strata here1 and a
 bit there1 he re-creates the earth as  
it was in successive geologic periods1  
as ,cuvier reconstructed his extinct    
animals from fragments of their bones2  
and the same interpretative power of the
 imagination is called into play in both
 cases1 only the palaeontologist has a  
much narrower field to work in1 and the 
background of his re-creations must be  
supplied by the geologist4  ,everything 
connected with the history of the earth 
is on such a vast scale--such a scale of
 time1 such a scale of power1 such a    
scale of movement--that in trying to    
measure it by our human standards and   
experience we are like the proverbial   
child with his cup on the seashore4     
,looked at from our point of view1 the  
great geological processes often seem   
engaged in world-destruction rather than
 in world-building4 ,those oft-repeated 
invasions of the continents by the      

ocean1 which have gone on from ,archaean
 times1 and during which vast areas     
which had been dry land for ages were   
engulfed1 seem like world-wide          
catastrophes4 ,and no doubt they were   
such to myriads of plants and animals of
 those times4 ,but this is the way the  
continents grew4 ,all the forces of the 
invading waters were engaged in making  
more land4  ,the geologist is bold2 he  
is made so by the facts and processes   
with which he deals2 his daring         
affirmations are inspired by a study of 
the features of the earth about him2 his
 time is not our time1 his horizons are 
not our horizons2 he escapes from our   
human experiences and standards into the
 vast out-of-doors of the geologic      
forces and geologic ages4 ,the text he  
deciphers is written large1 written     
across the face of the continent1       
written in mountain-chains and ocean    
depths1 and in the piled strata of the  
globe4 ,we untrained observers cannot   
spell out these texts1 because they are 

written large2 our vision is adjusted to
 smaller print2 we are like the         
school-boy who finds on the map the name
 of a town or a river1 but does not see 
the name of the state or the continent  
printed across it4 ,if the geologist did
 not tell us1 how should we ever suspect
 that probably where we now stand two or
 more miles of strata have been worn    
away by the winds and rains2 that the   
soil of our garden1 our farm1 represents
 the ashes of mountains burned up in the
 slow fires of the geologic ages4       
,geology first gives us an adequate     
conception of time4 ,the limitations    
which shut our fathers into the narrow  
close of six thousand years are taken   
down by this great science and we are   
turned out into the open of unnumbered  
millions of years4 ,upon the background 
of geologic time our chronological time 
shows no more than a speck upon the sky4
 ,the whole of human history is but a   
mere fraction of a degree of this mighty
 arc4 ,the ,christian era would make but

 a few seconds of the vast cycle of the 
earth's history4 ,geologic time6 ,the   
words seem to ring down through the     
rocky strata of the earth's crust2 they 
reverberate under the mountains1 and    
make them rise and fall like the waves  
of the sea2 they open up vistas through 
which we behold the continents and the  
oceans changing places1 and the climates
 of the globe shifting like clouds in   
the sky2 whole races and tribes of      
animal forms disappear and new ones come
 upon the scene4 ,such a past6 the      
imagination can barely skirt the edge of
 it4 ,as the pool in the field is to the
 sea that wraps the earth1 so is the    
time of our histories to the cycle of   
ages in which the geologist reckons the 
events of the earth's history4  ,through
 the eyes of the geologist one may look 
upon his native hills and see them as   
they were incalculable ages ago1 and as 
they probably will be incalculable ages 
ahead2 those hills1 so unchanging during
 his lifetime1 and during a thousand    

lifetimes1 he may see as flitting as the
 cloud shadows upon the landscape4 ,out 
of the dark abyss of geologic time there
 come stalking the ghosts of lost       
mountains and lost hills and valleys and
 plains1 or lost rivers and lakes1 yea1 
of lost continents2 we see a procession 
of the phantoms of strange and monstrous
 beasts1 many of them colossal in size  
and fearful in form1 and among the minor
 forms of this fearful troop of spectres
 we see the ones that carried safely    
forward1 through the vicissitudes of    
those ages1 the precious impulse that   
was to eventuate in the human race4     
,only the geologist knows the part      
played by erosion in shaping the earth's
 surface as we see it4 ,he sees1 ,i     
repeat1 the phantoms of vanished hills  
and mountains all about us4 ,he sees    
their shadow forms wherever he looks4   
,he follows out the lines of the flexed 
or folded strata where they come to the 
surface1 and thus sketches in the air   
the elevation that has disappeared4 ,in 

some places he finds that the valleys   
have become hills and the hills have    
become valleys1 or that the anticlines  
and synclines1 as he calls them1 have   
changed places--as a result of the      
unequal hardness of the rocks4 ,over all
 the older parts of the country the     
original features have been so changed  
by erosion that1 could they be suddenly 
restored1 one would be lost on his home 
farm4 ,the rocks have melted into soil1 
as the snow-banks in spring melt into   
water4 ,the rocks that remain are like  
fragments of snow or ice that have so   
far withstood the weather4 ,geologists  
tell us that the great ,appalachian     
chain has been in the course of the ages
 reduced almost to a base level or      
peneplain1 and then reelevated and its  
hills and mountains carved out anew4    
,we change the surface of the earth a   
little with our engineering1 drain a    
marsh1 level a hill1 sweep away a       
forest1 or bore a mountain1 but what are
 these compared with the changes that   

have gone on there before our race was  
heard of8 ,in my native mountains1 the  
,catskills1 all those peaceful pastoral 
valleys1 with their farms and           
homesteads1 lie two or three thousand   
feet below the original surface of the  
land4 ,could the land be restored again 
to its first condition in ,devonian     
times1 probably the fields where ,i hoed
 corn and potatoes as a boy would be    
buried one or two miles beneath the     
rocks4  ,the ,catskills are residual    
mountains1 or what ,agassiz calls       
denudation mountains4 ,when we look at  
them with the eye of the geologist we   
see the great plateau of tableland of   
,devonian times out of which they were  
carved by the slow action of the        
sub-aerial forces4 ,they are like the   
little ridges and mounds of soil that   
remain of your garden-patch after the   
waters of a cloudburst have swept over  
it4 ,they are immeasurably old1 but they
 do not look it1 except to the eye of   
the geologist4 ,there is nothing        

decrepit in their appearance1 nothing   
broken1 or angular1 or gaunt1 or        
rawboned4 ,their long1 easy1 flowing    
lines1 their broad1 smooth backs1 their 
deep1 wide1 gently sloping valleys1 all 
help to give them a look of repose and  
serenity1 as if the fret and fever of   
life were long since passed with them4  
,compared with the newer mountains of   
uplift in the ,west1 they are like      
cattle lying down and ruminating in the 
field beside alert wild steers with     
rigid limbs and tossing horns4 ,they    
sleep and dream with bowed heads upon   
the landscape4 ,their great flanks and  
backs are covered with a deep soil that 
nourishes a very even growth of beech1  
birch1 and maple forests4 ,though so    
old1 their tranquillity never seems to  
have been disturbed2 no storm-and-stress
 period has left its mark upon them4    
,their strata all lie horizontal just as
 they were laid down in the old seas1   
and nothing but the slow gentle passage 
of the hand of time shows in their      

contours4 ,mountains of peace and       
repose1 hills and valleys with the      
flowing lines of youth1 coming down to  
us from the fore- world of ,palaeozoic  
time1 yet only rounded and mellowed by  
the aeons they have passed through4     
,old1 oh1 so old1 but young with verdure
 and limpid streams1 and the pastoral   
spirit of to-day6  ,to the geologist    
most mountains are short-lived4 ,when he
 finds great sturdy ranges1 like the    
,alps1 the ,andes1 the ,himalayas1 he   
knows they are young1--mere boys4 ,when 
they get old1 they will be cut down1 and
 their pride and glory gone4 ,a few more
 of these geologic years and they will  
be reduced to a peneplain1--only their  
stumps left4 ,this seems to hold truer  
of mountains that are wrinkles in the   
earth's crust--squeezed up and crumpled 
stratified rock1 such as most of the    
great mountain-systems are--than of     
mountains of erosion like the           
,catskills1 or of upheaval like the     
,adirondacks4 ,the crushed and folded   

and dislocated strata are laid open to  
the weather as the horizontal strata1   
and as the upheaved masses of ,archaean 
rock are not4 ,moreover1 strata of      
unequal hardness are exposed1 and this  
condition favors rapid erosion4  ,in    
imagination the geologist is present at 
the birth of whole mountain-ranges4 ,he 
sees them gestating in the womb of their
 mother1 the sea4 ,where our great      
,appalachian range now stands1 he sees1 
in the great interior sea of ,palaeozoic
 time1 what he calls a geosyncline1 a   
vast trough1 or cradle1 being slowly    
filled with sediment brought down by the
 rivers from the adjoining shores4      
,these sediments accumulate to the      
enormous depth of twenty-five thousand  
feet1 and harden into rock4 ,then in the
 course of time they are squeezed       
together and forced up by the           
contraction of the earth's crust1 and   
thus the ,appalachians are born4 ,when  
,mother ,earth takes a new hitch in her 
belt1 her rocky garment takes on new    

wrinkles4 ,just why the earth's crust   
should wrinkle along lines of rock of   
such enormous thickness is not a little 
puzzling4 ,but we are told it is because
 this heavy mass of sediment presses the
 sea-bottom down till the rocks are     
fused by the internal heat of the earth 
and thus a line of weakness is          
established4 ,in any case the earth's   
forces act as a whole1 and the earth's  
crust at the thickest points is so      
comparatively thin--probably not much   
more than a heavy sheet of cardboard    
over a six-inch globe--that these forces
 seem to go their own way regardless of 
such minor differences4  ,the ,alps and 
the ,himalayas1 much younger than our   
,appalachians1 were also begotten and   
nursed in the cradle of a vast          
geosyncline in the ,tertiary seas4 ,we  
speak of the birth of a mountain-range  
in terms of a common human occurrence1  
or as if it were an event that might be 
witnessed1 measurable in human years or 
days1 whereas it is an event measurable 

only in geologic periods1 and geologic  
periods are marked off only on the      
dial-face of eternity4 ,the old ,hebrew 
writer gave but a faint image of it when
 he said that with the ,lord a thousand 
years are as one day2 it is hardly one  
hour of the slow beat of that clock     
whose hours mark the periods of the     
earth's development4  ,the whole long   
period during which the race of man has 
been rushing about1 tickling and        
scratching and gashing the surface of   
the globe1 would make but a small       
fraction of one of the days that make up
 the periods with which the geologist   
deals4 ,and the span of human life1 how 
it dwindles to a point in the face of   
the records of the rocks6 ,doubtless the
 birth of some of the mountain-systems  
of the globe is still going on1 and we  
suspect it not2 an elevation of one foot
 in a century would lift up the ,sierra 
or the ,rocky ,mountains in a           
comparatively short geologic period4    
,,ii    ,it was the geologist that      

emboldened ,tennyson to sing1--         
,the hills are shadows and they flow    
,from form to form and nothing stands1  
,they melt like mists1 the solid lands1 
,like clouds they shape themselves and  
go4  ,but some hills flow much faster   
than others4 ,hills made up of the      
latest or newest formations seem to take
 to themselves wings the fastest4  ,the 
,archaean hills and mountains1 how      
slowly they melt away6 ,in the          
,adirondacks1 in northern ,new ,england1
 in the ,highlands of the ,hudson1 they 
still hold their heads high and have    
something of the vigor of their prime4  
,the most enduring rocks are the oldest2
 and the most perishable are1 as a rule1
 the youngest4 ,it takes time to season 
and harden the rocks1 as it does men4   
,then the earlier rocks seem to have had
 better stuff in them4 ,they are nearer 
the paternal granite2 and the primordial
 seas that mothered them were1 no doubt1
 richer in the various mineral solutions
 that knitted and compacted the         

sedimentary deposits4 ,the ,cretaceous  
formations melt away almost like snow4  
,i fancy that the ocean now1 compared   
with the earlier condition when it must 
have been so saturated with mineral     
elements1 is like thrice-skimmed milk4  
,the geologist is not stinted for time4 
,he deals with big figures4 ,it is      
refreshing to see him dealing out his   
years so liberally4 ,do you want a      
million or two to account for this or   
that8 ,you shall have it for the asking4
 ,he has an enormous balance in the bank
 of ,time1 and he draws upon it to suit 
his purpose4 ,in human history a        
thousand years is a long time4 ,ten     
thousand years wipe out human history   
completely4 ,ten thousand more1 and we  
are probably among the rude cave-men or 
river-drift men4 ,one hundred thousand1 
and we are--where8 ,probably among the  
simian ancestors of man4 ,a million     
years1 and we are probably in ,eocene or
 ,miocene times1 among the huge and     
often grotesque mammals1 and our        

ancestor1 a little creature1 probably of
 the marsupial kind1 is skulking about  
and hiding from the great carnivorous   
beasts that would devour him4           
,little man1 least of all1      ,among  
the legs of his guardians tall1         
,walked about with puzzled look4        
,him by the hand dear ,nature took1     
,dearest ,nature1 strong and kind1      
,whispered1 ',darling1 never mind6      
,to-morrow they will wear another face1 
,the founder thou2 these are thy race6' 
,i fancy ,emerson would be surprised and
 probably displeased at the use ,i have 
made of his lines4 ,i remember once     
hearing him say that his teacher in such
 matters as ,i am here touching upon was
 ,agassiz1 and not ,darwin4 ,yet did he 
not write that audacious line about the 
worm striving to be man8 ,and ,nature   
certainly took his little man by the    
hand and led him forward1 and on the    
morrow the rest of the animal creation  
wore another face4     ,,iii    ,in my  
geological studies ,i have had a good   

deal of trouble with the sedimentary    
rocks1 trying to trace their genealogy  
and getting them properly fathered and  
mothered4 ,i do not think the geologists
 fully appreciate what a difficult      
problem the origin of these rocks       
presents to the lay mind4 ,they bulk so 
large1 while the mass of original       
crystalline rocks from which they are   
supposed to have been derived is so     
small in comparison4 ,in the case of our
 own continent we have1 to begin with1  
about two million of square miles of    
,archaean rocks in detached lines and   
masses1 rising here and there above the 
primordial ocean2 a large triangular    
mass in ,canada1 and two broken lines of
 smaller masses running south from it on
 each side of the continent1 inclosing a
 vast interior sea between them4 ,to end
 with1 we have the finished continent of
 eight million or more square miles1 of 
an average height of two thousand feet  
above the sea1 built up or developed    
from and around these granite centres   

very much as the body is built up and   
around the bones1 and of such prodigious
 weight that some of our later          
geologists seek to account for the      
continental submarine shelf that        
surrounds the continent on the theory   
that the land has slowly crept out into 
the sea under the pressure of its own   
weight4 ,and all this1--to say nothing  
of the vast amount of rock1 in some     
places a mile or two in thickness1 that 
has been eroded from the land surfaces  
of the globe in later geological time1  
and now lies buried in the seas and     
lakes1--we are told1 is the contribution
 of those detached portions of ,archaean
 rock that first rose above the         
primordial seas4 ,it is a greater       
miracle than that of the loaves and the 
fishes4 ,we have vastly more to end with
 than we had to begin with4 ,the more   
the rocks have been destroyed1 the more 
they have increased2 the more the waters
 have devoured them1 the more they have 
multiplied and waxed strong4  ,either   

the geologists have greatly             
underestimated the amount of ,archaean  
rock above the waters at the start1 or  
else there are factors in the problem   
that have not been taken into the       
account4 ,lyell seems to have           
appreciated the difficulties of the     
problem1 and1 to account for the forty  
thousand feet of sediment deposited in  
,palaeozoic times in the region of the  
,appalachians1 he presupposes a         
neighboring continent to the east1      
probably formed of ,laurentian rocks1   
where now rolls the ,atlantic4 ,but if  
such a continent once existed1 would not
 some vestige of it still remain8 ,the  
fact that no trace of it as been found1 
it seems to me1 invalidates ,lyell's    
theory4  ,archaean time in geologic     
history answers to pre-historic time in 
human history2 all is dark and          
uncertain1 though we are probably safe  
in assuming that there was more strife  
and turmoil among the earth-building    
forces than there has ever been since4  

,the body of unstratified rock within   
the limits of ,north ,america may have  
been much greater than is supposed1 but 
it seems to me impossible that it could 
have been anything like as massive as   
the continent now is4 ,if this had been 
the case there would have been no great 
interior sea1 and no wide sea-margins in
 which the sediments of the stratified  
rocks could have been deposited4 ,more  
than four fifths of the continent is of 
secondary origin and shows that vast    
geologic eras went to the making of it4 
,it is equally hard to believe that the 
primary or igneous rocks1 where they did
 appear1 were sufficiently elevated to  
have furnished through erosion the all  
but incalculable amount of material that
 went to the making of our vast land    
areas4 ,but the geologists give me the  
impression that this is what we are to  
believe4  ,chamberlin and ,salisbury1 in
 their recent college geology1 teach    
that each new formation implies the     
destruction of an equivalent amount of  

older rock--every system being entirely 
built up out of the older one beneath   
it4 ,lyell and ,dana teach the same     
thing4 ,if this were true1 could there  
have been any continental growth at all8
 ,could a city grow by the process of   
pulling down the old buildings for      
material to build the new8 ,if the      
geology is correct1 ,i fail to see how  
there would be any more land surface    
to-day then there was in ,archaean      
times4 ,each new formation would only   
have replaced the old from which it     
came4 ,the ,silurian would only have    
made good the waste of the ,cambrian1   
and the ,devonian made good the waste of
 the ,silurian1 and so on to the top of 
the series1 and in the end we should    
still have been at the foot of the      
stairs4 ,that vast interior sea that in 
,archaean times stretched from the      
rudimentary ,appalachian ,mountains to  
the rudimentary ,rocky ,mountains1 and  
which is now the heart of the continent1
 would still have been a part of the    

primordial ocean4 ,but instead of that1 
this sea is filled and piled up with    
sedimentary rocks thousands of feet     
thick1 that have given birth on their   
surfaces to thousands of square miles of
 as fertile soil as the earth holds4    
,that the original crystalline rocks    
played the major part in the genealogy  
of the subsequent stratified rocks1 it  
would be folly to deny4 ,but it seems to
 me that chemical and cosmic processes1 
working through the air and the water1  
have contributed more than they have    
been credited with4  ,it looks as if in 
all cases when the soil is carried to   
the seabottom as sediment1 and again1   
during the course of ages1 consolidated 
into rocks1 the rocks thus formed have  
exceeded in bulk the rocks that gave    
them birth4 ,something analogous to     
vital growth takes place4 ,it seems as  
if the original granite centres set the 
world-building forces at work4 ,they    
served as nuclei around which the       
materials gathered4 ,these rocks bred   

other rocks1 and these still others1 and
 yet others1 till the framework of the  
land was fairly established4 ,they were 
like the pioneer settlers who plant     
homes here and there in the wilderness1 
and then in due time all the land is    
peopled4  ,the granite is the ,adam     
rock1 and through a long line of descent
 the major part of all the other rocks  
directly or indirectly may be traced4   
,thus the granite begot the ,algonquin1 
the ,algonquin begot the ,cambrian1 the 
,cambrian begot the ,silurian1 the      
,silurian begot the ,devonian1 and so on
 up through the ,carboniferous1 the     
,permian1 the ,mesozoic rocks1 the      
,tertiary rocks1 to the latest          
,quaternary deposit4  ,but the curious  
thing about it all is the enormous      
progeny from so small a beginning2 the  
rocks seem really to have grown and     
multiplied like organic beings2 the seed
 of the granite seems to have fertilized
 the whole world of waters1 and in due  
time they brought forth this huge family

 of stratified rocks4 ,there stands the 
,archaean ,adam1 his head and chest in  
,canada1 his two unequal legs running1  
one down the ,pacific coast1 and one    
down the ,atlantic ,coast1 and from his 
loins1 we are told1 all the progeny of  
rocks and soils that make up the        
continent have sprung1 one generation   
succeeding another in regular order4    
,his latest offspring is in the ,south  
and ,southwest1 and in the interior4    
,these are the new countries1           
geologically speaking1 as well as       
humanly speaking4  ,the great interior  
sea1 epicontinental1 the geologists call
 it1 seems to have been fermenting and  
laboring for untold aeons in building up
 these parts of the continent4 ,in the  
older ,eastern ,states we find the sons 
and grandsons of the old ,adam granite2 
but in the ,south and ,west we find his 
offspring of the twentieth or           
twenty-fifth generation1 and so unlike  
their forebears2 the ,permian rocks1 for
 instance1 and the ,cretaceous rocks1   

are soft and unenduring1 for the most   
part4 ,the later slates1 too1 are       
degenerates1 and much of the sandstones 
have the hearts of prodigals4 ,in the   
,bad ,lands of ,arizona ,i could have   
cut my way into some of the ,eocene     
formations with my pocket-knife4        
,apparently the farther away we get from
 the parent granite1 the more easily is 
the rock eroded4 ,nearly all the        
wonderful and beautiful sculpturing of  
the rocks in the ,west and ,southwest is
 in rocks of comparatively recent date4 
,can we say that all the organic matter 
of our time is from preexisting organic 
matter8 one organism torn down to build 
up another8 that the beginning of the   
series was as great as the end8 ,there  
may have been as much matter in a state 
of vital organization in ,carboniferous 
or in ,cretaceous times as in our own1  
but there is certainly more now than in 
early ,palaeozoic times4 ,yet every     
grain of this matter has existed        
somewhere in some form for all time4 ,or

 we might ask if all the wealth of our  
day is from preexisting wealth--one     
fortune pulled down to build up         
another1--too often the case1 it is     
true1--thus passing the accumulated     
wealth along from one generation to     
another4 ,on the contrary1 has there not
 been a steady gain of that we call     
wealth through the ingenuity and the    
industry of man directed towards the    
latent wealth of the earth8 ,in a       
parallel manner has there been a gain in
 the bulk of the secondary rocks through
 the action of the world-building forces
 directed to the sea1 the air1 and the  
preexisting rocks4 ,had there been no   
gain1 the fact would suggest the ill    
luck of a man investing his capital in  
business and turning it over and over1  
and having no more money at the end than
 he had in the beginning4  ,nothing is  
in the sedimentary rock that was not at 
one time in the original granite1 or in 
the primordial seas1 or in the          
primordial atmosphere1 or in the heavens

 above1 or in the interior of the earth 
beneath4 ,we must sweep the heavens1    
strain the seas1 and leach the air1 to  
obtain all this material4 ,evidently the
 growth of these rocks has been mainly a
 chemical process--a chemical           
organization of preexisting material1 as
 much so as the growth of a plant or a  
tree or an animal4 ,the color and       
texture and volume of each formation    
differ so radically from those of the   
one immediately before it as to suggest 
something more than a mere mechanical   
derivation of one from the other4 ,new  
factors1 new sources1 are implied4 ,the 
farther we recede from the present time1
 says ,lyell1 and the higher the        
antiquity of the formations which we    
examine1 the greater are the changes    
which the sedimentary deposits have     
undergone4 ,above all have chemical     
processes produced changes4 ,this       
constant passage of the mineral elements
 of the rocks through the cycle of      
erosion1 sedimentation1 and reinduration

 has exposed them to the action of the  
air1 the light1 the sea1 and has thus   
undoubtedly brought about a steady      
growth in their volume and a constant   
change in their color and texture4 ,marl
 and clay and green sand and salt and   
gypsum and shale1 all have their        
genesis1 all came down to us in some way
 or in some degree1 from the aboriginal 
crystalline rocks2 but what             
transformations and transmutations they 
have undergone6 ,they have passed       
through ,nature's laboratory and taken  
on new forms and characteristics4  ,all 
sediments deposited in the sea1 says my 
geology1 undergo more or less chemical  
change1 and many chemical changes       
involve notable changes in volume of the
 mineral matter concerned4 ,it has been 
estimated that the conversion of granite
 rock into soil increases its volume    
eighty-eight per cent1 largely as the   
result of hydration1 or the taking up of
 water in the chemical union4 ,the      
processes of oxidation and carbonation  

are also expansive processes4 ,whether  
any of this gain in volume is lost in   
the process of sedimentation and        
reconsolidation1 ,i do not know4        
,probably all the elements that water   
takes from the rocks by solution1 it    
returns to them when the disintegrated  
parts1 in the form of sediment in the   
sea1 is again converted into strata4 ,it
 is in this cycle of rock disintegration
 and rock re-formation that the         
processes of life go on4 ,without the   
decay of the rock there could be no life
 on the land4 ,water and air are always 
the go-betweens of the organic and      
inorganic4 ,after the rains have        
depleted the rocks of their soluble     
parts and carried them to the sea1 they 
come back and aid vegetable life to     
unlock and appropriate other soluble    
parts1 and thus build up the vegetable  
and1 indirectly1 the animal world4      
,that the growth of the continents owes 
much to the denudation of the           
sea-bottom1 brought about by the tides  

and the ocean-currents1 which were      
probably much more powerful in early    
than in late geologic times1 and to     
submarine mineral springs and volcanic  
eruptions of ashes and mud1 admits of   
little doubt4 ,that it owes much to     
extra-terrestrial sources--to meteorites
 and meteoric dust--also admits of      
little doubt4  ,it seems reasonable that
 earlier in the history of the evolution
 of our solar system there should have  
been much more meteoric matter drifting 
through the interplanetary spaces than  
during the later ages1 and that a large 
amount of this matter should have found 
its way to the earth1 in the form either
 of solids or of gases4 ,probably much  
more material has been contributed by   
volcanic eruptions than there is any    
evidence of apparent4 ,the amount of    
mineral matter held in solution by the  
primordial seas must have been enormous4
 ,the amount of rock laid down in       
,palaeozoic times is estimated at fifty 
thousand feet1 and of this thirteen     

thousand feet were limestone2 while the 
amount laid down in ,mesozoic times1 for
 aught we know a period quite as long1  
amounts to eight thousand feet1         
indicating1 it seems to me1 that the    
deposition of sediment went on much more
 rapidly in early geologic times4 ,we   
are nearer the beginning of things4 ,all
 chemical processes in the earth's crust
 were probably more rapid4 ,doubtless   
the rainfall was more1 but the land     
areas must have been less4 ,the greater 
amount of carbon dioxide in the air     
during ,palaeozoic times would have     
favored more rapid carbonation4 ,when   
granite is dissolved by weathering1     
carbon unites with the potash1 the soda1
 the lime1 the magnesia1 and the iron1  
and turns them into carbonates and      
swells their bulk4 ,the one thing that  
is passed along from formation to       
formation unchanged is the quartz sand4 
,quartz is tough1 and the sand we find  
to-day is practically the same that was 
dissolved out of the first crystalline  

rocks4  ,take out of the soil and out of
 the rocks all that they owe to the     
air1--the oxygen and the carbon1--and   
how would they dwindle6 ,the limestone  
rocks would practically disappear4      
,probably not less that one fourth of   
all the sedimentary rocks are limestone1
 which is of animal origin4 ,how much of
 the lime of which these rocks were     
built was leached out of the land-areas1
 and how much was held in solution by   
the original sea-water1 is of course a  
question4 ,but all the carbon they hold 
came out of the air4 ,the waters of the 
primordial ocean were probably highly   
charged with mineral matter1 with       
various chlorides and sulphates and     
carbonates1 such as the sulphate of     
soda1 the sulphate of lime1 the sulphate
 of magnesia1 the chloride of sodium1   
and the like4 ,the chloride of sodium1  
or salt1 remains1 while most of the     
other compounds have been precipitated  
through the agency of minute forms of   
life1 and now form parts of the soil and

 of the stratified rocks beneath it4    
,if the original granite is the father  
of the rocks1 the sea is the mother4 ,in
 her womb they were gestated and formed4
 ,had not this seesaw of land and ocean 
taken place1 there could have been no   
continental growth4 ,every time the land
 took a bath in the sea1 it came up     
enriched and augmented4 ,each new layer 
of rocky strata taken on showed a marked
 change in color and texture4 ,it was a 
kind of evolution from that which       
preceded it4 ,whether the land always   
went down1 or whether the sea at times  
came up1 by reason of some disturbance  
of the ocean floors in its abysmal      
depths1 we have no means of knowing4 ,in
 any case1 most of the land has taken a 
sea bath many times1 not all taking the 
plunge at the same time1 but different  
parts going down in successive geologic 
ages4 ,the original granite upheavals in
 ,british ,america1 and in ,new ,york   
and ,new ,england1 seem never to have   
taken this plunge1 except an area about 

,lake ,superior which geologists say has
 gone down four or five times4 ,the     
,laurentian and ,adirondack ranges have 
never been in pickle in the sea since   
they first saw the light4 ,in most other
 parts of the continent1 the seesaw     
between the sea and the land has gone on
 steadily from the first1 and has been  
the chief means of the upbuilding of the
 land4  ,to the slow and oft-repeated   
labor-throes of the sea we owe the      
continents4 ,but the sea devours her    
children4 ,large areas1 probably        
continental in extent1 have gone down   
and have not yet come up1 if they ever  
will4 ,the great ,mississippi ,valley   
was under water and above water time    
after time during the ,palaeozoic       
period4 ,the last great invasion of the 
land by the sea1 and probably the       
greatest of all1 seems to have been in  
,cretaceous times1 at the end of the    
,mesozoic period4 ,there were many minor
 invasions during ,tertiary times1 but  
none on so large a scale as this        

,cretaceous invasion4 ,at this time a   
large part of ,north and ,south         
,america1 and of ,europe1 and parts of  
,asia and ,australia went under the     
ocean4 ,it was as if the earth had      
exhaled her breath and let her abdomen  
fall4 ,the sea united the ,gulf of      
,mexico with the ,arctic ,ocean1 and    
covered the ,prairie and the ,gulf      
,states and came up over ,new ,jersey to
 the foot of the ,archaean ,highlands4  
,this great marine inundation probably  
took place several million years ago4   
,it was this visitation of the sea that 
added the vast chalk beds to ,england   
and ,france4 ,in parts of this country  
limestone beds five or six thousand feet
 thick were laid down1 as well as       
extensive chalk beds4 ,the earth seems  
to have taken another hitch in her      
girdle during this era4 ,as the land    
went down1 the mountains came up4 ,most 
of the great ,western mountain-chains   
were formed during this movement1 and   
the mountains of ,mexico were pushed up4

 ,the ,alps were still under the sea1   
but the ,sierra and the ,alleghanies    
were again lifted4  ,it is very         
interesting to me to know that in       
,colorado charred wood1 and even        
charcoal1 have been found in ,cretaceous
 deposits4 ,the fact seems to give a    
human touch to that long-gone time4 ,it 
was1 of course1 long ages before the    
evolution of man1 as man1 had taken     
place1 yet such is the power of         
association1 that those charred sticks  
instantly call him to mind1 as if we had
 come upon the place of his last        
campfire4 ,at any rate1 it is something 
to know that man1 when he did come1 did 
not have to discover or invent fire1 but
 that this element1 which has played    
such a large part in his development and
 civilization1 was here before him1     
waiting1 like so many other things in   
nature1 to be his servant and friend4   
,as ,vulcan was everywhere rampant      
during this age1 throwing out enough    
lava in ,india alone to put a lava      

blanket four or five feet thick over the
 whole surface of the globe1 it was     
probably this fire that charred the     
wood4 ,it would be interesting to know  
if these enormous lava-flows always     
followed the subsidence of some part of 
the earth's crust4 ,in ,cretaceous times
 both the subsidence and the lava- flows
 seem to have been worldwide4     ,,iv  
,we seem to think that the earth has    
sown all her wild oats1 that her riotous
 youth is far behind her1 and that she  
is now passing into a serene old age4   
,had we lived during any of the great   
periods of the past1 we might have had  
the same impression1 so tranquil1 for   
the most part1 has been the earth's     
history1 so slow and rhythmical have    
been the beats of the great clock of    
time4 ,we see this in the homogeneity of
 the stratified rocks1 layer upon layer 
for thousands of feet as uniform in     
texture and quality as the goods a      
modern factory turns out1 every yard of 
it like every other yard4 ,no hitch or  

break anywhere4 ,the bedding-planes of  
many kinds of rock occur at as regular  
intervals as if they had been determined
 by some kind of machinery4 ,here1 on   
the formation where ,i live1 there are  
alternate layers of slate and sandstone1
 three or four inches thick1 for        
thousands of feet in extent2 they       
succeed each other as regularly as the  
bricks and mortar in a brick wall1 and  
are quite as homogeneous4 ,what does    
this mean but that for an incalculable  
period the processes of erosion and     
deposition went on as tranquilly as a   
summer day8 ,there was no strike among  
the workmen1 and no change in the plan  
of the building1 or in the material4    
,the ,silurian limestone1 the old red   
sandstone1 the ,hamilton flag1 the      
,oneida conglomerate1 where ,i have     
known them1 are as homogeneous as a     
snowbank1 or as the ice on a mountain   
lake2 grain upon grain1 all from the    
same source in each case1 and sifted and
 sorted by the same agents1 and the     

finished product as uniform in color and
 quality as the output of some great    
mill4  ,then1 after a vast interval1    
there comes a break3 something like an  
end and a new beginning1 as if one day  
of creation were finished and a new one 
begun4 ,the different formations lie    
unconformably upon each other1 which    
means revolution of some sort4 ,there   
has been a strike or a riot in the great
 mill1 or it has lain idle for a long   
period1 and when it has resumed1 a      
different product is the result4        
,something happened between each two    
layers4 ,what8  ,though in remote       
geological ages the earth-building and  
earth-shaping forces were undoubtedly   
more active than they are now1 and      
periods of deformation and upheaval were
 more frequent1 yet had we lived in any 
of those periods we should probably have
 found the course of nature1 certainly  
when measured by human generations1 as  
even and tranquil as we find it to-day4 
,the great movements are so slow and    

gentle1 for the most part1 that we      
should not have been aware of them had  
we been on the spot4 ,once in a million 
or a half-million years there may have  
been terrific earthquakes and volcanic  
eruptions1 such as seem to have taken   
place in ,tertiary time1 and at the end 
of the ,palaeozoic period4 ,yet the vast
 stretches of time between were         
evidently times of tranquillity4  ,it is
 probable that the great glacial winter 
of ,pleistocene times came on as        
gradually as our own winter1 or through 
a long period of slowly falling         
temperature1 and as it seems to have    
been many hundred thousand times as     
long1 this preceding period1 or great   
fall1 was probably equally long--so long
 that the whole of recorded human       
history would form but a small fraction 
of it4 ,it may easily be1 ,i think1 that
 we are now living in the spring of the 
great cycle of geologic seasons4 ,the   
great ice-sheet has withdrawn into the  
,far ,north like snowbanks that linger  

in our wood in late spring1 where it    
still covers ,greenland as it once      
covered this country4 ,when the season  
of summer is reached1 some hundreds of  
thousands of years hence1 it may be that
 tropical life1 both animal and         
vegetable1 will again flourish on the   
shores of the ,arctic ,ocean1 as it did 
in ,tertiary times4 ,and all this change
 will come about so quietly and so      
slowly that nobody will suspect it4     
,that the crust of the earth is becoming
 more and more stable seems a natural   
conclusion1 but that all folding and    
shearing and disruption of the strata   
are at an end1 is a conclusion we cannot
 reach in the face of the theory that   
the earth is shrinking as it cools4     
,the earth cools and contracts with     
almost infinite slowness1 and the great 
crustal changes that take place go on1  
for the most part1 so quietly and gently
 that we should not suspect them were we
 present on the spot1 and long          
generations would not suspect them4     

,elevations have taken place across the 
beds of rivers without deflecting the   
course of the river2 the process was so 
slow that the river sawed down through  
the rock as fast as it came up4 ,nearly 
all the great cosmic and terrestrial    
changes and revolutions are veiled from 
us by this immeasurable lapse of time4  
,any prediction about the permanence of 
the land as we know it1 or as the race  
has known it1 or of our immunity from   
earthquakes or volcanic eruptions1 or of
 a change of climate1 or of any cosmic  
catastrophe1 based on human experience1 
is vain and worthless4 ,what is or has  
been in man's time is no criterion as to
 what will be in ,god's time4 ,the      
periods of great upheaval and           
deformation in the earth's crust appear 
to be separated by millions of years4   
,away back in pre-,cambrian times1 there
 appear to have been immense periods    
during which the peace and repose of the
 globe were as profound as in our own   
time4 ,then at the end of ,palaeozoic   

time--how many millions of years is only
 conjectural--the truce of aeons was    
broken1 and the dogs of war let loose2  
it was a period of revolution which     
resulted in the making of one of our    
greatest mountain-systems1 the          
,appalachian1 and in an unprecedented   
extinction of species4 ,later eras have 
witnessed similar revolutions4 ,why may 
they not come again8 ,the shrinking of  
the cooling globe must still go on1 and 
this shrinking must give rise to surface
 disturbances and dislocations1 maybe in
 the uplift of new mountain-ranges from 
the sea-bottom1 now undreamed of1 and in
 volcanic eruptions as great as any in  
the past4 ,such a shrinkage and eruption
 made the ,hawaiian ,islands1 probably  
in ,tertiary times2 such a shrinkage may
 make other islands and other continents
 before another period of equal time has
 elapsed4  ,of course the periods and   
eras into which the geologists divide   
geologic time are as arbitrary as the   
months and seasons into which we divide 

our year1 and they fade out into each   
other in much the same way2 but they are
 really as marked as our seasonal       
divisions4 ,not in their climates--for  
the climate of the globe seems to have  
been uniformly warm from pole to pole1  
without climatic zones1 throughout the  
vast stretch of ,palaeozoic and         
,mesozoic times--but in the succession  
of animal and vegetable life which they 
show4 ,the rocks are the cemeteries of  
the different forms of life that have   
appeared upon the globe1 and here the   
geologist reads their succession in     
time1 and assigns them to his geologic  
horizons accordingly4 ,the same or      
allied forms appeared upon all parts of 
the earth at approximately the same     
time1 so that he can trace his different
 formations around the world by the     
fossils they hold4 ,each period had its 
dominant forms4 ,the ,silurian was the  
great age of trilobites2 the ,devonian1 
the age of fishes2 ,mesozoic times swarm
 with the gigantic reptiles2 and in     

,tertiary times the mammals are         
dominant4 ,each period and era has its  
root in that which preceded it4 ,there  
were rude1 half-defined fishes in the   
,silurian1 and probably the beginning of
 amphibians in the ,devonian1 and some  
small mammalian forms in the ,mesozoic  
time1 and doubtless rude studies of the 
genus ,homo in ,tertiary times4 ,nature 
works up her higher forms ,jike a human 
inventor from rude beginnings4 ,her     
first models barely suggest her later   
achievements4  ,in the vegetable world  
it has been the same2 from the first    
simple algae in the ,cambrian seas up to
 the forests of our own times1 the      
gradation is easily traced4 ,step by    
step has vegetable life mounted4 ,the   
great majority of the plants and animals
 of one period fail to pass over into   
the next1 just as our spring flowers    
fail to pass over into summer1 and our  
summer flowers into fall4 ,but the law  
of evolution is at work1 and life always
 rises on stepping-stones of its dead   

self to higher things4       ,v         
,,holidays ,,in ,,hawaii  ,i      ,on   
the edge of the world my islands lie1   
sings ,mrs4 ,frear in her little lyric  
on the ,hawaiian ,islands4      ,on the 
edge of the world my islands lie1       
,under the sun-steeped sky2        ,and 
their waving palms        ,are bounteous
 alms      ,to the soul-spent passer-by4
      ,on the edge of the world my      
islands sleep      ,in a slumber soft   
and deep4        ,what should they know 
,of a world of woe1      ,and myriad men
 that weep8  ,on the rim of the world my
 fancy seemed to see them that ,may day 
when we went aboard the huge ,pacific   
steamship in ,san ,francisco ,harbor1   
and she pointed her prow westward toward
 the vast wilderness of the ,pacific--on
 the edge of the world1 looking out and 
down across the vast water toward ,asia 
and ,australia4 ,i wondered if the great
 iron ship could find them1 and if we   
should realize or visualize the         
geography or the astronomy when we got  

there1 and see ourselves on the huge    
rotundity of the globe not far above her
 equatorial girdle4  ,yes1 on the rim of
 the world they lie to the traveler     
steaming toward them1 and on the rim of 
the world they lie in his memory after  
his return1 basking there in that       
tropical sunlight1 forever fanned by    
those cooling trade winds1 and          
encompassed by that morning-glory sea4  
,with my mind's eye ,i behold them      
rising from that enormous abyss of the  
,pacific1 fire-born and rain-carved1    
vast volcanic mountains miles deep under
 the sea1 and in some cases miles high  
above it1 clothed with verdure and      
teeming with life1 the scene of         
long-gone cosmic strife and destruction1
 now the abode of rural and civic peace 
and plenty4  ,the ,pacific treated me so
 much better than the ,atlantic ever had
 that ,i am probably inclined to        
overestimate everything ,i saw on the   
voyage4 ,it was the first trip at sea   
that ever gave me any pleasure4 ,the    

huge vessels are in themselves a great  
comfort1 and in the placid waters and   
the sliding down the rotund side of the 
great globe under warmer and warmer     
skies one gains a very agreeable        
experience4 ,the first day's run must   
have carried us out and over that huge  
,pacific abyss1 the ,tuscarora ,deep1   
where there were nearly four miles of   
water under us4 ,some of our aeroplanes 
have gone up half that distance and     
disappeared from sight4 ,i fancy that   
our ship1 more than six hundred feet    
long1 would have appeared a very small  
object1 floating across this briny      
firmament1 could one have looked up at  
it from the bottom of that sea4  ,the   
,hawaiian ,islands rise from the border 
of that vast deep1 and one can fancy how
 that huge pot must have boiled back in 
,tertiary times1 when the red-hot lava  
of which they are mainly built up was   
poured from the interior of the globe4  
,softer and more balmy grew the air     
every day1 more and more placid and     

richly tinted grew the sea1 till1 on the
 morning of the sixth day1 we saw ahead 
of us1 low on the horizon1 the dim      
outlines of the mountains of ,molokai4  
,the island of ,oahu1 upon which        
,honolulu is situated1 was soon in      
sight4 ,it was not long before we saw   
,diamond ,head1 a vast crater bowl1     
eight hundred feet high on its ocean    
side1 and half a mile across1 sitting   
there upon the shore like some huge1    
strange work of man's hand1 running back
 through the hills with a level rim1 and
 seaward with a sloping base1 brown and 
ribbed1 and in every way unique and     
striking4  ,we were approaching a land  
the child of tropic seas and volcanic   
lava1 and many of the features were new 
and strange to us4 ,the mountains looked
 familiar in outline1 but the colors of 
the landscape1 the soft lilacs1 greens1 
and browns1 and the whole atmosphere of 
the scene1 were unlike anything we had  
ever before seen4 ,and ,diamond ,head1  
what a feature it was6 ,had it only had 

a head1 one could easily have seen in it
 a suggestion of a couchant lion1 bony1 
huge1 and tawny1 looking seaward1 and   
guarding the harbor of ,honolulu which  
lies just behind it4 ,into this harbor1 
in the soft morning air1 our ship soon  
found its way1 and the monotony of the  
vast1 unpeopled sea was quickly         
succeeded by human scenes of the most   
varied and animated character1 not the  
least novel of which were the swarms of 
half-amphibious native boys who         
surrounded the vessel as she lay at the 
wharf1 and with brown1 upturned faces   
and beckoning hands tempted the         
passengers to toss dimes into the water4
 ,as the coins struck the surface they  
would dive with the ease and quickness  
of seals1 and seize the silver          
apparently before it had gone a yard    
toward the bottom4 ,holding the coins up
 to view between the thumb and finger1  
they would slip them into their mouths  
and solicit more4  ,on shore we were    
greeted with the music of the ,royal    

,hawaiian ,band1 and a motley crowd of  
,hawaiians1 ,japanese1 ,chinese1        
,portuguese1 and ,americans1 bearing    
colored leis1 or wreaths of flowers1    
which they waved at friends on board1   
and with which they bedecked them as    
soon as they came off the gangplank4 ,it
 was a ,babel of tongues in which the   
strange1 vowel-choked language of the   
,hawaiians was conspicuous4  ,honolulu  
is a beautiful city1 clean1 bright1 well
 ordered1 and well appointed1--electric 
lights1 good streets1 electric cars1    
fine hotels and clubs1 excellent fire   
protection1 mountain water1 libraries1  
parks1 handsome buildings1 attractive   
homes1--in fact1 all that we boast of in
 our home cities4 ,embosomed in palms1  
with mangoes1 and other tropical trees1 
with a profusion of gorgeously colored  
vines and hedges1 with spacious1        
well-kept grounds about the large and   
comfortable houses in the residential   
portion--these features1 with the ready 
hospitality of the people1 made our     

hearts warm towards it at once4         
,volcanic heights on all the land side  
look down upon the city4 ,mount         
,tantalus1 rising four thousand feet    
above the sea1 is just back of it1 with 
its long slopes of volcanic ash and sand
 now clothed by forests and fertile     
fields1 and a huge ancient crater called
 the ,punch ,bowl1 born probably on the 
selfsame day1 the geologists think1 as  
,diamond ,head1 dominates the city in   
the immediate foreground4 ,if the ,punch
 ,bowl were again to overflow with the  
fiery liquid1 the city would soon go up 
in smoke4 ,but its bowl-like interior is
 now covered with grass and trees1 and  
presents a scene of the most peaceful1  
rural character4  ,the ,orient and the  
,occident meet in ,honolulu4 ,there     
,asia and ,america join hands4 ,the main
 features of the city are decidedly     
,american1 but the people seen upon the 
street and at work indoors and out are  
more than half ,oriental4 ,the native   
population cuts only a small figure4    

,the real workers--carpenters1 masons1  
field hands1 and house servants--are    
mostly ,japanese4 ,virtually all the    
work of the immense sugar plantations is
 done by the little brown men and women1
 while ,china supplies some of the      
merchants in the city and the sailors   
and stewards on the ocean steamers4     
,what admirable servants the ,chinese   
make1 so respectful1 so prompt1 so      
silent1 so quick to comprehend6 ,the    
,japanese house servants on the islands 
also give efficient and gracious        
service4  ,i had gone to ,honolulu      
reluctantly1 but tarried there joyfully4
 ,the fine climate1 with its even       
temperature of about eighty degrees     
,fahrenheit1 and with all that is       
enervating or oppressive in that degree 
of heat winnowed out of it by the       
ceaseless trade winds2 the almost       
unbroken sunshine1 perfumed now and then
 by a sprinkle of sunlit rain from the  
mountains2 the wonderful sea laving the 
shores on the one hand and the cool1    

cloud-capped1 and rain-drenched heights 
within easy reach on the other2 the     
green1 cozy valleys2 the broad sweep of 
plain2 the new1 strange nature on every 
side2 the novel and delicious fruits2   
the pepsin-charged papaya1 or tree      
melon1 which tickles the palate while it
 heals and renews the whole digestive   
system2 the mangoes 7oh1 the mangoes672 
the cordiality of the people2 the       
inviting bungalows2 the clean streets2  
the good service everywhere--all made me
 feel how mistaken was my reluctance4   
,most of the ,americans one meets there 
are descendants of the missionaries who 
went out from ,new ,england and ,new    
,york early in the last century1 and one
 feels at home with them at once4 ,many 
of the residents there have been        
educated in the ,states4 ,the ,governor1
 ,mr4 ,frear1 is a graduate of ,yale2   
his wife is a graduate of ,wellesley4   
,one day a charming ,southern woman1    
president of the ,college ,club1 invited
 us to meet the college women of the    

city4 ,the gathering took place under   
the trees upon the lawn of one of the   
older homesteads4 ,there were forty     
college women present1 many of them     
teachers1 from ,vassar1 ,wellesley1     
,smith1 ,bryn ,mawr1 and ,barnard4      
,among them were two girls who had      
visited me at my cabin1 ,slabsides1     
while they were at ,vassar4  ,wide as is
 the world1 the traveler is pretty sure 
to strike threads of relation with his  
home country wherever he goes4 ,i made  
the acquaintance in ,honolulu of a man  
from my own county2 another1 who showed 
us great kindness1 was from an adjoining
 county2 while one day upon the street  
,i was called by name by a man whom ,i  
had known as a boy in the town where ,i 
now live4  ,one ,saturday a             
walking-club1 largely made up of men and
 women teachers1 whose native ,hawaiian 
name meant ,walkers in ,unfrequented    
,places1 asked us to join them in a walk
 up ,palola ,valley to the site of an   
extinct crater well up in the mountains4

 ,these walkers in unfrequented places  
proved to be real walkers1 and gave us  
all and more than we had bargained      
for--more mud and wet and slippery      
trails through clinging vines and rank  
lantana scrub than was good for our     
shoes and garments or for the bodies    
inside them4 ,it was a long pull of many
 miles1 at first up the valley over a   
fair highway1 then into the woods on the
 mountain-side along a trail that was   
muddy and slippery from the recent      
showers1 and most of the time was buried
 out of sight beneath the high1 coarse  
stag-horn fern and a thick growth of    
lantana that met above it as high as our
 shoulders4 ,a more discouraging        
mountain climb ,i never undertook4 ,the 
vegetation was all novel1 but it had    
that barbaric rankness of all tropical  
woods1 with nothing of the sylvan       
sweetness and simplicity of our home    
woods4 ,there were no fine1 towering    
trees1 but low1 gnarled1 and tortuous   
ones1 which1 with their hanging vines1  

like the broken ropes of a ship's       
rigging1 and their parasitic growths1   
presented a riotous1 disheveled         
appearance4  ,nature in the tropics1    
left to herself1 is harsh1 aggressive1  
savage2 looks as though she wanted to   
hang you with her dangling ropes1 or    
impale you on her thorns1 or engulf you 
in her ranks of gigantic ferns4 ,her    
mood is never as placid and sane as in  
the ,north4 ,there is a tree in the     
,hawaiian woods that suggests a tree    
gone mad4 ,it is called the hau-tree4   
,it lies down1 squirms1 and wriggles all
 over the ground like a wounded snake2  
it gets up1 and then takes to earth     
again4 ,now it wants to be a vine1 now  
it wants to be a tree4 ,it throws       
somersaults1 it makes itself into loops 
and rings1 it rolls1 it reaches1 it     
doubles upon itself4 ,altogether it is  
the craziest vegetable growth ,i ever   
saw4 ,where you can get it up off the   
ground and let it perform its antics on 
a broad skeleton framework1 it makes a  

cover that no sunbeam can penetrate1 and
 forms a living roof to the most        
charming verandas--or lanais1 as they   
are called in the islands--that one can 
wish to see4  ,but ,i saw and heard one 
thing on this walk that struck a        
different note3 it was one of the native
 birds1 the ,oahu thrush4 ,the moment ,i
 heard it ,i was reminded of our brown  
thrasher1 though the song1 or whistle1  
was much finer and richer in tone than  
that of our bird4 ,the glimpse ,i got of
 the bird showed it to be of about the  
size and shape of our thrasher1 but much
 brighter in color4 ,it seems as though 
the two species must have had a common  
origin some time1 somewhere4 ,i was     
attracted by no other native bird on    
this walk4 ,in the valley below we had  
seen and heard the ,chinese workmen     
going about their rice-fields making    
strange sounds to drive away the        
rice-birds1 a small1 brown species that 
has been introduced from ,india4  ,when 
we reached the mountain-top1 we found it

 enveloped in fog and mist1 and the     
scene was cold and cheerless4 ,we looked
 down through a screen of foliage into a
 deep valley that seemed almost beneath 
us1 and which is supposed to have been  
an ancient crater4 ,there1 on the brink1
 the walkers had a rude cabin1 where we 
ate our lunch beside a fire and tried to
 dry our bedraggled garments4  ,from    
this point some of the party continued  
their walk1 looking for more            
unfrequented places1 but some of us had 
longings the other way1 and retraced our
 steps toward the sunlight and the drier
 winds we had left4 ,we reached town    
footsore and bedraggled1 and the little 
,japanese who cleaned and pressed my    
suit of clothes1 and made them look as  
good as new for seventy-five cents1 well
 earned his money4  ,the walk of eight  
or ten miles which we took two weeks    
later with ,governor ,frear and his     
wife1 up the new ,castle trail to the   
mountain-top behind ,tantalus1 had some 
features in common with the first       

walk1--the increasing mist and coolness 
as we entered the mountains1 the        
dripping bushes1 and the slippery       
paths1--but we got finer views1 and     
found a better-kept trail4 ,our walk    
ended on the top of a narrow ridge of   
the mountain1 where we ate our lunch in 
a cold1 driving mist and were a bit     
uncomfortable4 ,i was interested in the 
character of the ridge upon which we    
sat4 ,it was not more than six feet     
wide1 a screen of volcanic rock worn    
almost to an edge1 and separated two    
valleys six or seven hundred feet deep4 
,the ,governor said he could take me    
where the dividing ridge between the two
 valleys was so narrow that one could   
literally sit astride of it1 so that one
 leg would point to one valley and the  
other to the other4 ,this is a feature  
of a new country geologically2 the rains
 and other agents of erosion have       
whittled the mountains to sharp edges1  
but have not yet rounded or leveled     
them4  ,the northeast trade winds which 

blow upon these islands nine months in  
the year bring a burden of moisture from
 the ,pacific which is condensed into   
rain and mist by the mountains1 and     
which1 with the rank vegetation that it 
fosters1 carves them and sharpens them  
like a great grindstone revolving       
against their sides4 ,at a place called 
the ,pali--and at the ,needles1 on the  
island of ,maui--it has worn through the
 mountain-chain and made deep and very  
picturesque gorges where1 in the case of
 the ,pali1 the wind is so strong and   
steady that you can almost lie down upon
 it4  ,it was near the ,pali that ,i saw
 what ,i had never seen or heard of     
before--a waterfall reversed1 going up  
instead of down4 ,it suggested          
,stockton's story of negative gravity4  
,a small brook comes down off the       
mountain and attempts to make the leap  
down a high precipice2 but the winds    
catch it and carry it straight up in the
 air like smoke4 ,it is translated2 it  
becomes a mere wraith hovering above the

 beetling crag4 ,night and day this goes
 on1 the wind snatching from the        
mountains in this summary way the water 
it has brought them4  ,on the walk with 
the ,governor we made the acquaintance  
of some of the land shells for which    
these islands are famous--pretty1       
pearl-like little whorls living on the  
largest trees1 and about the size of a  
chipping sparrow's egg1 with pointed    
ends1 variously colored4 ,there are more
 than two hundred species on the        
different islands1 ,i think1 each valley
 having varieties peculiar to itself1   
showing what a factor isolation is in   
the evolution of new species4 ,the      
,governor and his wife1 and a young man 
who had specialized in conchology1      
plucked them from nearly every bush and 
tree2 but my eye1 being untrained in    
this kind of work1 was very slow in     
finding them4  ,coming down from these  
,hawaiian mountains is like coming out  
of a dripping tent of clouds into the   
clear1 warm sunshine4 ,the change is    

most delightful4 ,your clothing dries   
very quickly1 and chilliness gives place
 to genial warmth4 ,and the prospects   
that open before you1 the glimpses down 
into these deep1 yellow-green1          
crater-like valleys1 checkered with neat
 little ,chinese farms1 the panorama of 
the city and the sea unrolling as you   
come down1 and always ,diamond ,head    
standing guard there to the east--how   
the vision of it all lingers in the     
memory6  ,in climbing the heights1 it   
was always a surprise to me to see the  
,pacific rise up as ,i rose1 till it    
stood up like a great blue wall there   
against the horizon4 ,a level plain     
unrolls in the same way as we mount     
above it1 but it does not produce the   
same illusion of rising up like a wall  
or a mountain-range2 the blue1 facile   
water cheats the eye4  ,one of the novel
 pleasures in which most travelers      
indulge while in ,honolulu is           
surf-riding at ,waikiki1 near ,diamond  
,head4 ,the sea1 with a floor of lava   

and coral1 is here shallow for a long   
distance out1 and the surf comes in at  
intervals like a line of steeds         
cantering over a plain4 ,we went out in 
our bathing-suits in a long1 heavy      
dugout1 with a lusty native oarsman in  
each end4 ,when several hundred yards   
from shore1 we saw1 on looking seaward1 
the long1 shining billows coming1       
whereupon our oarsmen headed the canoe  
toward shore1 and plied their paddles   
with utmost vigor1 uttering             
simultaneously a curious1 excited cry4  
,in a moment the breaker caught us and1 
in some way holding us on its crest1    
shot us toward the shore like an arrow4 
,the sensation is novel and thrilling4  
,the foam flies2 the waters leap about  
you4 ,you are coasting on the sea1 and  
you shout with delight and pray for the 
sensation to continue4 ,but it is       
quickly over4 ,the hurrying breaker     
slips from under you1 and leaves you in 
the trough1 while it goes foaming on the
 shore4 ,then you turn about and row out

 from the shore again1 and wait for     
another chance to be shot toward the    
land on the foaming crest of a great    
,pacific wave4  ,i suppose the trick is 
in the skill of the oarsmen in holding  
the boat on the pitch of the billow so  
that in its rush it takes you with it4  
,the native boys do the feat standing on
 a plank4 ,i was tempted to try this    
myself1 but of course made a comical    
failure4  ,one of my pleasant surprises 
in ,honolulu--one that gave the touch of
 nature which made me feel less a       
stranger there--was learning that the   
,european skylark had been introduced   
and was thriving on the grassy slopes   
back of the city4 ,the mina1 a species  
of starling from ,india as large as our 
robin and rather showily dressed1 with a
 loud1 strident voice1 ,i had seen and  
heard everywhere both in town and       
country1 but he was a stranger and did  
not appeal to me4 ,but the thought of   
the skylark brought ,shelley and        
,wordsworth1 and ,english downs and     

meadows1 near to me at once1 and ,i was 
eager to hear it4 ,so early one morning 
we left the ,pleasanton1 our            
tarrying-place1 and climbed the long1   
pastoral slope above the city1 where    
cattle and horses were grazing1 and     
listened for this minstrel from the     
motherland4 ,we had not long to wait4   
,sure enough1 not far from us there     
sprang from the turf ,shelley's bird1   
and went climbing his invisible spiral  
toward the sky1 pouring out those       
hurried1 ecstatic notes1 just as ,i had 
heard him above the ,south ,downs of    
,england4 ,it was a moment of keen      
delight to me4 ,the bird soared and     
hovered1 drifting about1 as it were1    
before the impetuous current of his     
song1 with all the joy and abandon with 
which the poets have credited him4 ,it  
was like a bit of ,english literature   
vocal in the air there above these alien
 scenes4 ,presently another went up1 and
 then another1 and still another1 the   
singers behaving in every respect as    

they do by the ,avon and the ,tweed1 and
 for a moment ,i seemed to be breathing 
the air that ,wordsworth and ,shelley   
breathed4  ,if our excursion had taken  
us only to the island of ,oahu and its  
beautiful city1 it would have been      
eminently worth while1 but the last week
 in ,may we took what is called the     
inter-island trip1 a six days' voyage   
among the various islands1 when we      
visited the great extinct crater of     
,haleakala on ,maui1 and the active     
volcano ,kilauea on ,hawaii4 ,it is a   
voyage over several rough channels in a 
small steamer1 and my friends said1 ,if 
you have not yet paid tribute to        
,neptune1 you will pay it now4 ,but ,i  
did not4 ,my companions were prostrated1
 but ,i see ,neptune respects age1 and  
my slumbers were undisturbed4 ,a        
wireless message had gone to ,mr4       
,aiken1 on the island of ,maui1 to meet 
us with his automobile in the morning at
 the landing at ,kahului4 ,we were taken
 to the shore on a lighter1 along with  

the horses and cargo1 and there found   
our new friend awaiting us4  ,the great 
mountain of ,haleakala rose up in a long
 line against the sky on the left1 and  
the deeply eroded and canyoned mountains
 of the older1 or west1 end of the      
island on our right4 ,toward the latter 
our guide took us4 ,it was a pleasant   
spin along the good roads1 in the fresh 
morning air1 near the beach1 to         
,wailuku1 the shire town of the island1 
two or three miles distant4 ,here we    
were most hospitably entertained in the 
home of ,mr4 ,penhallow1 the director of
 a large sugar plantation4  ,here for   
the first time in my life ,i saw a gang 
of steam plows working1 pulled by a     
stationary engine at each end of the    
field1 and turning over the red1 heavy  
volcanic soil4 ,the work was mainly in  
the hands of ,japanese1 and was well    
done4 ,we afterward saw ,japanese by the
 score1 both men and women1 planting a  
large area of newly plowed land with    
sugar-cane4  ,after we were rested and  

refreshed1 and had sampled the mangoes  
that had fallen from a tree near the    
house1 ,mr4 ,aiken took us in his       
automobile up into the famous ,iao      
,valley1 at the mouth of which ,wailuku 
is situated4 ,it is a deep1 striking    
chasm carved out of the mountain by the 
stream1 rank with verdure of various    
kinds1 and looked down upon by sharp    
peaks and ridges five or six thousand   
feet high4 ,we soon reached the clear   
rapid1 brawling stream1 as bright as a  
,catskill mountain trout brook1 and     
after a mile or two along its course we 
came to the end of the road1 where we   
left the machine and took a trail that  
wound onward and upward over a slippery 
surface and through dripping bushes1 for
 we here began to reach the skirts of   
the little showers that almost          
constantly career over and about the    
interior of these mountains4 ,i neither 
saw nor heard a bird or other live      
thing4 ,guava apples lay on the ground  
all along the trail1 and one could eat  

them and not make faces4 ,some of the   
sharp1 knife-blade ridges that cut down 
toward us from the higher peaks were    
very startling1 and so steep and high   
that they could be successfully scaled  
only by the aid of ropes and ladders4 ,a
 more striking object-lesson in erosion 
by rain would be hard to find4 ,there   
were no naked rocks2 short1 thick       
vegetation covered even the steepest    
slopes1 and the vegetable acids which   
this generated1 and the perpetual rains1
 weathered the mountains down4 ,it soon 
became so wet that we stopped far short 
of the head of the valley1 and turned   
back4 ,i wished to look into the great1 
deep1 green amphitheatre which seems to 
lie at the head1 but had glimpses of it 
only from a distance4 ,how many         
millenniums will it be1 ,i said to      
myself1 before erosion will have        
completed its work here1 and these thin1
 high mountain-walls will be in ruins8  
,surely not many4  ,we returned to the  
hospitable home we had left1 and passed 

the midday there4 ,in the afternoon ,mr4
 ,aiken1 guiding our eyes by the forms  
of trees that cut the horizon-line on   
the huge flank of ,haleakala1 pointed   
out the place of his own homestead1     
twenty or more miles away4 ,from this   
point the great mountain appeared like a
 vast landscape tilted up at an easy    
angle against the horizon4 ,one could   
hardly believe it was ten thousand feet 
high4 ,the machine climbed easily more  
than half the distance to ,mr4 ,aiken's 
plantation1 which we reached in good    
time in the afternoon1 and where we     
passed a very enjoyable night4 ,it was a
 surprise to find swarms of mosquitoes  
at this altitude1 so free from all      
mosquito-breeding waters4 ,but the house
 was well protected against them4       
,mosquitoes1 as well as flies and       
vermin1 are not native to the island4   
,they came in ships not very long ago1  
and are now very troublesome in certain 
parts4 ,they came round the ,horn4 ,mr4 
,aiken's house itself came round the    

,horn seventy or eighty years ago4 ,it  
is a quaint1 ,new ,england type of      
house1 and has a very homelike look4 ,in
 front of it1 near the gate1 stands a   
,japanese pine which is an object of    
veneration to all ,japanese who chance  
to come that way4 ,often their eyes fill
 with tears on beholding it1 so         
responsive are the little yellow men to 
associations of home4  ,in the morning  
,mr4 ,aiken drove us in a wagon to a    
place he has called ,idlewild1 six miles
 farther up the great slope of the      
mountain4 ,this slope of ,haleakala is  
like a whole township1 diversified with 
farms and woods1 valleys and hills1     
resting on its elbows1 so to speak1 and 
looking out over the ,pacific4 ,we could
 look up to the cloud-line1 about seven 
thousand feet above the sea1 and        
occasionally get a glimpse of the long  
line of the summit through rifts in the 
clouds4 ,at ,idlewild our expedition1   
consisting of six mules and four people1
 was fitted out1 and in the early       

afternoon we started on the trail up the
 mountain4  ,for several miles our way  
led over grassy slopes where cattle were
 grazing1 and above which skylarks were 
singing4 ,this was one of the happy     
surprises of the trip--the soaring and  
singing skylarks4 ,all the way till we  
reached the cloud-belt1 we had the larks
 pouring down their music from the sky  
above us4 ,they seemed specially        
jubilant4 ,it was ,may in ,england1 too1
 and they sang as though the spirit of  
those downs and fells was stirring in   
their hearts1 under alien skies1 but    
true to the memories of home4  ,before  
we reached the summit we came upon      
another introduction from overseas--the 
,english pheasant4 ,one started up from 
some bushes only a few yards from the   
trail1 went booming away1 and           
disappeared in a deep gully4 ,a little  
later another sprang up1 uttering a     
cackling cry as it flew away4 ,we saw   
three altogether4 ,the only home thing  
we saw was white clover in patches here 

and there1 and it gave a most welcome   
touch to the unfamiliar scenes4  ,the   
cattle we passed on the way were        
suffering dreadfully from another       
introduction from the ,states--the      
,texas horn-fly1 which had recently made
 its appearance4 ,the poor beasts were  
driven half-crazy by it1 as their sunken
 eyes and poor condition plainly showed4
  ,the trail became rougher and steeper 
as we ascended1 and the grass and trees 
gave place to low1 scrubby bushes4 ,we  
were half an hour or more in the        
cloud-belt1 where the singing skylarks  
did not follow us4 ,the clouds proved to
 be as loose of texture and as innocent 
as any summer fog that loiters in our   
valleys2 but it was good to emerge into 
the sunshine again1 and see the jagged  
line of the top sensibly nearer1 and the
 canopy of clouds unroll itself beneath 
us4 ,far ahead of us and near the summit
 we saw a band of wild                  
goats--twenty-two1 ,i counted--leisurely
 grazing along1 and now and then casting

 glances down upon us4 ,they were       
domestic animals gone wild1 and still   
retained their bizarre colors of white  
and black4 ,one big black leader with a 
long beard looked down at us and shook  
his head threateningly4 ,we reached the 
summit before the sun reached the       
horizon1 and our eyes looked forth upon 
a strange world1 indeed4 ,on one hand   
the vast sea of cloud1 into which the   
sun was about to drop1 rolled away from 
the mountain below us1 with its white   
surface and the irregular masses rising 
up from it1 suggesting a sea of floating
 ice4 ,through rifts in it we caught    
occasional glimpses of the              
,pacific--blue1 vague1 mystical gulfs   
that seemed filled with something less  
substantial than water4 ,on the other   
hand was the vast crater of ,haleakala1 
two thousand feet deep1 and many miles  
across1 in which the shadows were       
deepening1 and which looked like some   
burned-out ,hades4  ,we stood or sat on 
the jagged edge and saw the day depart  

and the night come down1 the glory of   
cloud and sea and sunset on the one     
hand1 and on the other side the fearful 
chasm of the extinct volcano1 red and   
black and barren1 with the hosts of     
darkness gathering in it4 ,it was like a
 seat between heaven and hell4 ,then    
later1 when the ,southern ,cross came   
out and rose above the awful gulf1 the  
scene was most impressive4  ,the crater 
of ,haleakala is said to be the largest 
extinct crater in the world4 ,to follow 
all its outlines would lead one a       
distance of more than twenty miles1 but 
it is so irregular in shape that one    
gets only a poor conception of its      
extent in a view from its brink4 ,at its
 widest part it cannot be more than four
 or five miles across4 ,it was evidently
 formed by the whole top of the mountain
 having been blown out or else sunk down
 in recent geologic times4 ,the         
fragments of jagged rock that thickly   
strew the surface all about the summit  
look as if they might have fallen there4

 ,the floor of the interior of the      
crater is thickly studded with many     
minor craters1 through which the        
internal fires found vent after the     
crater as a whole had ceased to act4    
,they are of the shape of huge          
haystacks1 with a hole in the top1 and  
looked soft and yielding in outline1 and
 in color as though they were composed  
of soot and brick-dust4 ,one of them is 
much larger than any of the rest4 ,i    
thought it might be two hundred feet    
high4 ,it is eight hundred1 said our    
guide2 yet its summit was more than a   
thousand feet below the rim upon which  
we sat4  ,there has been no eruption in 
,haleakala since early in the last      
century4 ,over a large area of the      
interior the black lava1 cracked and    
crumpled1 meets the eye4 ,miles down one
 of its great arms toward the sea1 we   
could see the green lines of vegetation1
 mostly rank ferns1 advancing like an   
invading army4 ,far ahead were the      
skirmishers1 loose bands of ferns1 with 

individual plants here and there pushing
 on over the black1 uneven surface      
toward the secondary craters of the     
centre4 ,vegetation was also climbing   
down the ragged sides of the crater1    
dropping from rock to rock like an      
invading host4 ,the ferns1 those        
pioneers of the vegetable world1 appear 
to come first4 ,their giant progenitors 
subdued the rocks and made the soil in  
,carboniferous times1 and prepared the  
way for higher vegetable forms1 and now 
these striplings take up the same task  
in this primitive world of the crater of
 ,haleakala4 ,their task is a long and  
arduous one1 much more so than in those 
parts of the island where the rainfall  
is more copious2 but give them time     
enough1 and the barren lava will all be 
clothed with verdure4 ,when decomposed  
and ripened by time1 it makes a red1    
heavy soil that supports many kinds of  
plants and trees4  ,the ferns come      
slowly marching in from without1 but in 
the centre of the crater1 on the slopes 

of the red cones and at their bases1 is 
another plant that seems indigenous1    
born of the ash and the scoria of the   
volcano1 and that apparently has no     
chlorophyl in its make-up4 ,this is a   
striking plant1 called the silver sword1
 from the shape and color of its long1  
narrow leaves4 ,they are the color of   
frosted silver1 and are curved like a   
sword4 ,it is a strange apparition1     
white and delicate and rare1 springing  
up in the crater of a slumbering        
volcano4 ,a more striking contrast with 
the atmosphere of the surroundings would
 be hard to find--a suggestion of peace 
and purity above the graves of          
world-destroying forces1 an angel of    
light nourished by the ashes of the     
demons of death and darkness4  ,it is   
claimed by the people of the island that
 this plant is found in no other place  
on the globe1 but this can hardly be    
possible4 ,if its evolution took place  
in one crater1 it would take place in   
another4 ,it consists of a great mass of

 silvery-white1 bristling leaves resting
 upon the ground1 from which rises a    
stalk1 strung with flowers1 to the      
height of five or six feet4 ,it is      
evidently of the ,yucca type of plant1  
and has met with a singular             
transformation in the sleeping volcano's
 mouth1 all its harsh and savage        
character turned into gentleness and    
grace1 its armament of needles and      
daggers giving place to a soft1 silvery 
down4 ,we did not see the plant growing 
except at a great distance1 through     
field-glasses1 but we saw a photograph  
of it and a dried specimen after we came
 down from the summit4  ,it is an all   
day's trip down into the crater and     
back1 climbing over sliding sands and   
loose scoria1 and our time was too      
limited to undertake it4 ,we passed the 
night on the summit in a rude stone hut1
 which had a fireplace where the guide  
made coffee1 but we had only the        
volcanic rock for floor4 ,upon this we  
spread our ample supply of blankets1 and

 got such sleep as is to be had on high1
 cold mountain-tops1 where the ribs of  
the mountain prove to be so much harder 
than one's own ribs--not a first-class  
quality of sleep1 but better than none4 
,i arose about two o'clock1 and made my 
way out into the star-blazing night4    
,such glory of the heavens ,i had never 
before seen4 ,i had never before been   
lifted up so near them1 and hence had   
never before seen them through so       
rarefied an atmosphere4 ,the clouds and 
vapors had disappeared1 and all the     
hosts of heaven were magnified4 ,the    
,milky ,way seemed newly paved and      
swept4 ,there was no wind and no sound4 
,the mighty crater was a gulf of        
blackness1 but the sky blazed with      
light4  ,the dawn comes early on such a 
mountain-top1 and before four o'clock we
 were out under the fading stars4 ,as we
 had seen the day pass into night1      
surrounded by these wonderful scenes1   
now we saw the night pass into day1 and 
the elemental grandeur on every hand    

reborn before us4 ,there was not a wisp 
of cloud or fog below us or about us to 
blur the great picture4 ,the sun came up
 from behind the vast1 long1 high wall  
of the ,pacific that filled the eastern 
horizon1 and the shadows fled from the  
huge pile of mountain in the west4 ,we  
hung about the rim of the great crater  
or sat upon the jagged rocks1 wrapped in
 our blankets1 till the sun was an hour 
high4  ,we got another glimpse of the   
band of goats picking their way from    
ledge to ledge far below us on the side 
of the crater4 ,i saw and heard two or  
three mina birds fly past1 apparently   
seeking new territory to occupy4 ,these 
birds are more enterprising than the    
,english sparrows1 which also swarm in  
the island towns but do not brave the   
mountain-heights4 ,the bird from ,india 
seems at home everywhere4  ,after       
breakfast we still haunted for an hour  
or more the brink of the great abyss1   
where one seemed to feel the pulse of   
primal time1 loath to tear ourselves    

away1 loath also to take a last view of 
the panorama of land and sea1 lit by the
 morning sun1 which spread out far below
 us4 ,to the southeast we could dimly   
see the outlines of the island of       
,hawaii1 with a faint gleam of snow on  
its great mountain ,mauna ,loa1 nearly  
fourteen thousand feet high4 ,in the    
northwest a dim1 dark mass low in the   
horizon marked the place of ,oahu4 ,the 
ocean rose in the vast horizon and      
blended with the sky4 ,the eye could not
 tell where one ended and the other     
began4  ,the mules had had a comfortable
 night in a rude stone stable against   
the rocks1 and were more eager to hit   
the down trail than were we4 ,the       
descent proved more fatiguing than the  
ascent1 the constant plunging motion of 
the animals' shoulders being a sore     
trial4 ,we dropped down through the belt
 of clouds that had begun to form1 and  
out into the grassy region of the       
singing skylarks1 past herds of grazing 
cattle1 and at noon were again at       

,idlewild1 resting our weary limbs and  
comforting the inner man4  ,in the      
afternoon ,mr4 ,aiken drove us back to  
his home farm1 where we again passed a  
very pleasant night4 ,in the morning ,i 
walked with him through his pineapple   
plantation4 ,it was a new kind of       
farming and fruit-growing to me4 ,i     
forget now how many hundred thousand    
plants his field contained4 ,they are   
set and cultivated much as cabbage is   
with us1 but present a strangely stiff  
and forbidding aspect4 ,the first       
cutting is when the plants are about    
eighteen months old1 one large solid    
apple from each plant4 ,the second crop 
is called the raggoon crop1 and yields  
two apples from each plant1 but smaller 
and less valuable than the first4 ,the  
field is then reset4 ,i also walked with
 ,mr4 ,aiken over some new land he was  
getting ready for pineapples4 ,it had   
been densely covered with lantana scrub1
 and clearing it and grubbing it out had
 been an heroic task4 ,the lantana takes

 complete possession of the soil1 grows 
about four or five feet high1 and makes 
a network of roots in the soil that     
defies anything but a steam plow4 ,the  
soil is a red1 heavy clay1 and it made  
the farmer in me sweat to think of the  
expenditure of labor necessary to turn a
 lantana bush into a pineapple field4   
,the redness of this volcanic soil is   
said to be owing to the fact that the   
growth of vegetation brings the iron    
into new combinations with organic      
acids4  ,later in the day we visited the
 large ,baldwin pineapple-canning plant1
 and were shown the whole process of    
preparing and canning the fruit1 and all
 but surfeited with the most melting and
 delicious pineapples it was ever my    
good luck to taste4 ,the ,hawaiian      
pineapple probably surpasses all others 
in tenderness and lusciousness1 and it  
loses scarcely any of these qualities in
 the cans4 ,ripened in the field1 where 
it grew on the flanks of great          
,haleakala1 and eaten out of hand1 it is

 a dream of tropic lusciousness4 ,the   
canning is done by an elaborate system  
of machinery managed by ,japanese men   
and women1 the naked hand never coming  
in contact with the peeled fruit1 but   
protected from it by long1 thin rubber  
gloves4 ,there ought to be a great      
future for this industry1 when ,eastern 
consumers really find out the superior  
quality of the ,hawaiian product4  ,from
 ,mr4 ,aiken's house one has a view of  
the great wall of mountains that form   
the western and older--older            
geologically--end of the island1 in     
which lies the famous ,iao ,valley1     
which ,i have already described4 ,we    
judge1 from the much deeper marks of    
rain erosion1 that this end of the      
island is vastly older than the butt end
 upon which ,haleakala is situated4     
,haleakala is eroded comparatively      
little4 ,on all its huge northern slope 
there is only one considerable gash or  
gully1 and this is probably not many    
thousand years old2 but the northwestern

 end of the island is worn and carved in
 the most striking manner4 ,looking at  
it that morning1 ,i compared it to my   
extended1 relaxed hand1 the northern end
 being gashed and grooved like the      
sunken spaces between the fingers1 while
 the southwest end1 not more than ten   
miles distant1 was only slightly grooved
 and more like the solid wrist and back 
hand4 ,all the rains brought by the     
northeast trades fall upon the northeast
 end of the islands4 ,the mountain-peaks
 on the end hold the clouds and strip   
them dry1 so that little or no rain     
falls upon the south and southwest      
sides4 ,this is true of all the islands4
 ,one end of each is arid and barren1   
while the other is wet and verdant4 ,one
 of the smaller islands1 ,kahoolawe1 ,i 
believe1 dominated by ,maui on the      
northeast1 is said to be drying up and  
blowing away by inches4  ,what a spell  
the mountains do lay upon the clouds    
everywhere1--the robber mountains1--in  
these islands exacting the last drop of 

water of all the ocean-born vapors that 
pass over them6 ,on the northeast side  
of the ,lahaina district there are      
valleys four or five thousand feet deep2
 on the southwest side there are no     
valleys worth mentioning4 ,the          
difference in this respect was forcibly 
brought home to me when1 later in the   
day1 we made an automobile trip from    
,wailuku to ,lahaina on the southwest   
side2 in going less than twenty miles we
 quickly passed from the region of      
verdant valleys and mountain-slopes into
 a hard1 raw1 barren1 unweathered       
region1 where there was no soil1 and    
where the rocks looked as crude and     
forbidding as they must have looked the 
day they flowed out from the depths as  
molten lava4 ,in outline the island of  
,maui suggests a truncated statue1 the  
west end representing the head1 very old
 and wrinkled and grooved by time and   
trouble1 the peninsula the              
well-proportioned neck1 and             
broad-breasted ,haleakala forming the   

trunk4 ,what a torso it is1 fire-born   
and basking there in the tropic seas6   
,the oldest island of the ,hawaiian     
group is ,kauai1 called the garden      
island1 because it has much the deepest 
and most fertile soil4 ,it shows much   
more evidence of erosion than any of the
 other islands4 ,the next in point of   
erosion1 and hence in point of age1 is  
,oahu1 upon which ,honolulu is situated4
 ,then come ,molokai and ,maui1 the two 
ends of the latter being of vastly      
unequal age4 ,hawaii1 the largest of    
them all1 nearly as large as            
,connecticut1 is the youngest of the    
group1 and shows the least effects of   
erosion4 ,when it is as old as ,kauai is
 now1 its two huge mountains1 ,mauna    
,loa and ,mauna ,kea1 will probably be  
cut up into deep valleys and canons and 
sharp1 high ridges1 as are the mountains
 of ,kauai and ,oahu4 ,the lapse of time
 required to bring about such a result  
is beyond all human calculation4        
,whether one million or two millions of 

years would do it1 who knows8 ,those    
warm tropical rains1 aided by the rank  
vegetation which they beget and support1
 dissolve the volcanic rock slowly but  
inevitably4  ,through the courtesy of   
,mr4 ,lowell1 the superintendent1 we had
 that day the pleasure of going through 
a large sugar-making plant at ,paia--one
 that turns out nearly fifty thousand   
tons of sugar a year4 ,we saw the cane  
come in from the fields in one end of   
the plant1 and the dry1 warm product    
being put up in bags at the other4 ,all 
the latest devices and machinery for    
sugar-making we saw here in full        
operation1 affording a contrast to the  
crude and wasteful methods ,i had seen  
in the island of ,jamaica a few years   
before4  ,in the afternoon we availed   
ourselves of the five or six miles of   
narrow-gauge railway1 the only one on   
the island1 to go from ,paia to         
,wailuku1 where we were met by another  
automobile1 which hurried us to         
,lahaina1 where we were to meet the     

steamer that was to convey us to ,hilo1 
on ,hawaii4 ,i say hurried1 but before  
the journey of twenty-odd miles was half
 over1 we realized the truth of the old 
adage1 ,the more haste1 the less speed4 
,the automobile began to sulk and       
finally could be persuaded to go only on
 the low gear1 and to rattle along at   
about the speed of a man with a horse   
and buggy4 ,we reached ,lahaina just as 
the boat was entering the harbor4  ,the 
next morning we found ourselves steaming
 along past the high1 verdant shores of 
,hawaii4 ,for fifty miles or more the   
land presented one unbroken expanse of  
sugar-cane1 suggesting fields of some   
gigantic yellow-green grass4 ,at ,hilo  
the sun was shining between brief       
showers1 and the air was warm and muggy4
 ,it is said to rain there every day in 
the year1 and the lush vegetation made  
the statement seem credible4 ,judge     
,andrews met us at the steamer1 and took
 us to his home for rest and dinner1 and
 was extremely kind to us4  ,in the     

mid-afternoon we took the train for     
,glenwood1 thirty miles on our way to   
the volcano of ,kilauea4 ,a large part  
of the way the road leads through sugar 
plantations1 newly carved out of the koa
 and tree-fern wilderness that          
originally covered the volcanic soil4   
,clusters of the little houses of the   
,japanese laborers1 perched high above  
the ground on slender posts1 were passed
 here and there4 ,everywhere we saw     
wooden aqueducts1 or flumes1 winding    
around the contours of the hills and    
across the little valleys1 often on high
 trestle-work1 and partly filled with   
clear1 swift-running water1 in which the
 sugar-cane was transported to the      
mills4  ,at ,glenwood stages meet the   
tourists and convey them over a fairly  
good road that winds through the        
tree-fern forests to the ,volcano       
,house1 ten miles away4 ,the beauty of  
that fern-lined forest1 the long1       
stately plumes of the gigantic ferns    
meeting the eye everywhere1 ,i shall not

 soon forget4 ,i saw what appeared to be
 a large1 showy red raspberry growing by
 the roadside1 but ,i did not find it at
 all tempting to the taste4  ,it was    
dark when we reached the ,volcano       
,house1 and we saw off to the left a red
 glow upon the fog-clouds1 like the     
reflected light from a burning barn or  
house in the country1 and inferred at   
once that it came from the volcano1     
which it did4 ,from my window that      
night1 as ,i lay in bed1 ,i could see   
this same angry glow upon the clouds4   
,the smell of sulphur was in the air    
about the hotel1 and very hot steam was 
issuing from cracks in the rocks4 ,a    
party of tourists on horseback1 in the  
spirit of true ,american hurry1 visited 
the volcano that night1 but we chose to 
wait until the morrow4  ,the next       
morning the great crater of ,kilauea was
 filled with fog1 but it lifted1 and the
 sun shone before noon4 ,we passed a    
pleasant forenoon strolling along the   
tree-fringed brink1 looking down eight  

or nine hundred feet upon its black lava
 floor1 and plucking ohelo berries1     
which grew there abundantly1 a kind of  
large1 red huckleberry that one could   
eat out of hand1 but that one could not 
get excited over4 ,they were better in a
 pie than in the hand4 ,their name      
seemed to go well with the suggestion of
 the scenes amid which they grew4       
,kilauea is a round extinct crater about
 three miles across and seven or eight  
hundred feet deep4 ,it has been the     
scene of terrific explosions in past    
ages1 but it has now dwindled to the    
small active crater of ,halemaumau1     
which is sunk near the middle of it like
 a huge pot1 two hundred or more feet   
deep and a thousand feet across4  ,in   
the mid-afternoon a party of eight or   
ten of us on horseback set out to visit 
the volcano4 ,the trail led down the    
broken and shelving side of the crater1 
amid trees and bushes1 till it struck   
the floor of lava at the bottom4 ,in    
going down ,i was aware all the time of 

a beautiful bird-song off on my left1 a 
song almost as sweet as that of our     
hermit thrush1 but of an entirely       
different order4 ,i think it was the    
song of one of the honey-suckers1 a red 
bird with black wings that in flight    
looked like our scarlet tanager4  ,our  
course took us out over the cracked and 
contorted lava-beds1 where no green     
thing was growing4 ,the forms of the    
lava-flow suggested mailed and writhing 
dragons1 with horrid1 gaping mouths and 
vicious claws4 ,the lava crunched       
beneath the horses' feet like shelly and
 brittle ice4 ,at one point we passed   
over a wide1 jagged crack on a bridge4  
,as we neared the crater1 the rocks grew
 warm1 and sulphur and other fumes      
streaked the air4  ,when a half-mile    
from the crater we dismounted1 and1     
leaving our horses in charge of the     
guide1 proceeded on foot over the       
cracked and heated lava rocks toward the
 brink of this veritable devil's        
caldron4 ,the sulphur fumes are so      

suffocating that it can be approached   
only on the windward side4 ,the first   
glance into that fearful pit is all that
 your imagination can picture it4 ,you  
look upon the traditional lake of       
brimstone and fire1 and if devils were  
to appear skipping about over the       
surface with pitchforks1 turning their  
victims as the cook turns her frying    
crullers in the sputtering fat1 it would
 not much astonish you4 ,this liquid is 
rather thick and viscid1 but it is      
boiling furiously4 ,great masses of it  
are thrown up forty or fifty feet1 and  
fall with a crash like that of the surf 
upon the shore4 ,livid jets are thrown  
up many feet high against the sides and 
drip back1 cooling quickly as the lava  
descends4 ,we sat or stood upon the     
brink1 at times almost letting our feet 
hang over the sides1 and shielding our  
faces from the intense heat with paper  
masks and veils4 ,it is probably the    
only place in the world where you can   
come face to face with the heart of an  

active volcano4 ,there are no veils of  
vapor to hide it from you4 ,it appears  
easy enough to cast a stone into the    
midst of it1 but none of us could quite 
do it4  ,the mass of boiling lava is    
said to be about one and one half acres 
in extent4 ,its surface is covered with 
large masses of floating crust1 black   
and smooth1 like leather or             
roofing-paper1 and between these masses1
 or islands1 the molten lava shows in   
broad1 vivid lines4 ,it is never quiet4 
,when not actually boiling1 there is a  
slow circulatory movement1 and the great
 flakes of black crust1 suggesting scum1
 drift across from one end to the other 
and are drawn under the rocks4 ,at one  
moment only this movement is apparent1  
then suddenly the mass begins to boil   
furiously all over the surface1 and you 
hear dimly the sound of the bursting    
bubbles and the crash of the falling    
lava4 ,when this takes place1 the black 
floating masses are broken up and       
scattered as they are in boiling        

maple-syrup1 but they quickly reunite1  
and are carried on by the current as    
before4  ,looking upon this scene with  
the thought of the traditional lake of  
fire and brimstone of our forefathers in
 mind1 you would say that these black1  
filthy-looking masses floating about on 
the surface were the accumulation of all
 the bad stuff that had been fried out  
of the poor sinners since hell was      
invented4 ,how much wickedness and      
uncharity and evil thought it would     
represent6 ,if the poor victims were    
clarified and made purer by the process1
 then it would seem worth while4  ,at   
the ,volcano ,house they keep a book in 
which tourists write down their         
impressions of the volcano4 ,a          
distinguished statesman had been there a
 few days before us1 and had written a  
long account of his impressions1 closing
 with this oratorical sentence3 ,no pen1
 however gifted1 can describe1 no brush1
 however brilliant1 can portray1 the    
wonders we have been permitted to       

behold4 ,i could not refrain from       
writing under it1 ,i have seen the      
orthodox hell1 and it's the real thing4 
,that huge kettle of molten metal1      
mantling and bubbling1 how it is        
impressed upon my memory6 ,it is a      
vestige of the ancient cosmic fire that 
once wrapped the whole globe in its     
embrace4 ,it had a kind of brutal       
fascination4 ,one could not take one's  
eyes from it4 ,that network of broad1   
jagged1 fiery lines defining those      
black1 smooth masses1 or islands1 of    
floating matter told of a side of nature
 we had never before seen4 ,we lingered 
there on the brink of the fearful       
spectacle till night came on1 and the   
sides of the mighty caldron1 and the    
fog-clouds above it1 glowed in the      
infernal light4 ,not so white as the    
metal pouring from a blast furnace1 not 
so hot1 a more sullen red1 but welling  
up from the central primordial fires of 
the earth4 ,this great pot has boiled   
over many times in the recent past1 as  

the lava-beds we traveled over testify1 
and it will probably boil over again4   
,it has been unusually active these last
 few years4  ,about nine o'clock we rode
 back1 facing a cold1 driving mist1 the 
back of each rider1 protected by the    
shining yellow slickers1 glowing to the 
one behind him1 in the volcano's light1 
till we were a mile or more away4  ,the 
next morning came clear1 and the sight  
of the mighty slope of ,mauna ,loa1 lit 
up by the rising sun1 was a grand       
spectacle4 ,it looked gentle and easy of
 ascent1 wooded here and there1 and here
 and there showing broad1 black streaks 
from the lava overflows at the summit in
 recent years2 but remembering that it  
was nearly four thousand feet higher    
than ,haleakala1 ,i had no desire to    
climb it4 ,this mountain and its        
companion1 ,mauna ,kea1 are the highest 
island mountains in the world4  ,the    
stage rolled us back through the fern   
forest to the railway station and thence
 on to ,hilo again1 where in good time1 

in the afternoon1 we went aboard the    
steamer2 and the next morning we were   
again in the harbor of ,honolulu1 glad  
we had made the inter-island trip1 and  
above all glad that we had seen         
,haleakala4       ,,vi  ,,the ,,old     
,,ice-,,flood  ,i      ,he was a bold   
man who first conceived the idea of the 
great continental ice-sheet which in    
,pleistocene times covered most of the  
northern part of the continent1 and     
played such a part in shaping the land  
as we know it4 ,that bold man was       
,agassiz1 who1 however1 was not bold    
enough to accept the theory of evolution
 as propounded by ,darwin4 ,the idea of 
the great glacier did not conflict with 
,agassiz's religious predilections1 and 
the theory of evolution did4 ,it was a  
bold generalization1 this of the        
continental ice-sheet1 one of the       
master-strokes of the scientific        
imagination4 ,it was about the year     
#ahdj that ,agassiz1 fresh from the     
glaciers of the ,alps1 went to ,scotland

 looking for the tracks of the old      
glaciers1 and he found them at once when
 he landed near ,glasgow4 ,we can all   
find them now on almost every walk we   
take to the fields and hills2 but until 
our eyes are opened1 how blind we are to
 them6 ,we are like people who camp on  
the trail of an army and never suspect  
an army has passed1 though the ruts made
 by their wagons and artillery and the  
ruins of their intrenchments are        
everywhere visible4  ,when ,i was a boy 
on the farm we never asked ourselves    
questions about the stones and rocks    
that encumbered the land--whence they   
came1 or what the agency was that       
brought them4 ,the farmers believed the 
land was created just as we saw         
it--stones1 boulders1 soil1 gravel-pits1
 hills1 mountains1 and all--and         
doubtless wished in their hearts that   
the ,creator had not been so particular 
about the rocks and stones1 or had made 
an exception in favor of their own      
fields4 ,rocks and stones were good for 

fences and foundations1 and for various 
other uses1 but they were a great       
hindrance to the cultivation of the     
soil4 ,i once heard a farmer boast that 
he had very strong land--it had to be   
strong to hold up such a crop of rocks  
and stones4 ,when the ,eastern farmer   
moved west into the prairie states1 or  
south into the cotton-growing states1 he
 probably never asked himself why the   
,creator had not cumbered the ground    
with rocks and stones in those sections1
 as he had in ,new ,york and ,new       
,england4 ,south of the line that runs  
irregularly through middle ,new ,jersey1
 ,pennsylvania1 ,ohio1 ,indiana1        
,illinois1 ,iowa1 and so on to the      
,rockies1 he will find few loose stones 
scattered over the soil1 no detached    
boulders sitting upon the surface1 no   
hills or mounds of gravel and sand1 no  
clay banks packed full of rounded       
stones1 little and big1 no rocky floors 
under the soil which look as if they had
 been dressed down by a huge but dulled 

and nicked jack-plane4 ,the reason is   
that the line ,i have indicated marks   
the limit of the old ice-sheet which    
more than a hundred thousand years ago  
covered all the northern part of the    
continent to a depth of from two to four
 thousand feet1 and was the chief       
instrument in rounding off              
mountain-tops1 scattering               
rock-fragments1 little and big1 over our
 landscapes1 grinding down and breaking 
off the protruding rock strata1 building
 up our banks of mingled clay and stone1
 changing the courses of streams and    
rivers1 deepening and widening our      
valleys1 transplanting boulders of one  
formation for hundreds of miles1 and    
dropping them upon the surface of       
another formation4 ,when it began to    
melt and retreat1 it was the chief agent
 in building up our river terraces1 and 
our long1 low1 rounded hills of sand and
 gravel and clay1 called kames and      
drumlins4 ,in many of our valleys its   
flowing waters left long1 low ridges1   

gentle in outline1 made up entirely of  
sand and gravel1 or of clay4 ,in other  
places it left moraines made up of      
earth1 gravel1 and rock-fragments that  
make a very rough streak through the    
farmer's land4 ,all those high1 level   
terraces along the ,hudson1 such as that
 upon which ,west ,point stands1 were   
the work of the old ice-sheet that once 
filled the river valley4 ,the melting   
ice was also the chief agent in building
 up the enormous clay-banks that are    
found along the shores of the ,hudson4  
,the clay formed in very still waters1  
the sand and gravel in more active      
waters4  ,this great ice-sheet not only 
covered our northern farms with rocks   
and stones1 and packed the soil with    
rounded boulders1 but it also carried   
away much of the rock decay that goes to
 the making of the soil1 so that the    
soil is of greater depth in the         
non-glaciated than in the glaciated     
areas of the country4 ,the              
,new-,englander or ,new-,yorker in      

traveling in the ,southern ,states may  
note the enormous depth of soil as      
revealed by the water-courses or        
railroad cuts4 ,the ice-sheet was a huge
 mill that ground up the rocks in the   
,north probably as fast or faster than  
the rains and the rank vegetation       
reduced them in the ,south1 but the     
floods of water which it finally let    
loose carried a great deal of the       
rock-waste into the sea4  ,the glacier  
milk which colors the streams that flow 
from beneath it finally settles and     
makes clay4 ,off the great ,malaspina   
,glacier in ,alaska the ocean is tinged 
by the glacier milk for nearly fifty    
miles from the shores4 ,very few country
 people1 even among the educated1 are   
ready to believe that this enormous     
ice-sheet ever existed4 ,to make them   
believe that it is just as much a fact  
in the physical history of this         
continent as the war of the ,revolution 
is a fact in our political history is no
 easy matter4 ,it certainly is a        

crushing proposition4 ,it so vastly     
transcends all our experience with ice  
and snow1 or the experience of the race 
since the dawn of history1 that only the
 scientific imagination and faith are   
equal to it4 ,the belief in it rests on 
indubitable evidence1 its record is     
written all over our landscape1 but it  
requires1 ,i say1 the scientific        
imagination to put the facts together   
and make a continuous history4  ,three  
or four hundred feet above my cabin1    
five or six hundred feet above          
tidewater1 there is a bold rocky point  
upon which the old ice-sheet bore       
heavily4 ,it has rubbed it down and     
flattened it as a hand passing over a   
knob of soft putty might do4 ,the great 
hand in this case moved from the        
northeast and must have fairly made this
 rocky prominence groan with its weight4
 ,the surface1 scratched and grooved and
 planed by the ice1 has weathered away1 
leaving the rock quite rough2 its       
general outlines alone tell the tale of 

the battle with the ice4 ,but on the    
east side a huge mass of rock1 that had 
been planed and gouged by the glacier1  
was detached and toppled over1 turning  
topsy-turvy before it had weathered1 and
 it lies in such a position1 upheld by  
two rock fragments1 that its glaciated  
surface1 though protected from the      
weather1 is clearly visible4 ,you step  
down two or three feet between the two  
upholding rocks and are at the entrance 
of a little cave1 and there before you1 
standing at an angle of thirty or forty 
degrees1 is this rocky page written over
 with the history of the passing of the 
great ice plane4 ,the surface exposed is
 ten or twelve feet long1 and four or   
five feet wide1 and it is as straight   
and smooth1 and the scratches and       
grooves are as sharp and distinct as if 
made yesterday4 ,i often take the       
college girls there who come to visit   
me1 to show them1 as ,i tell them1 where
 the old ice gods left their signatures4
 ,the girls take turns in stooping down 

and looking along the under surface of  
the rock1 and feeling it with their     
hands1 and marveling4 ,they have read or
 heard about these things1 but the      
reading or hearing made little          
impression upon their minds4 ,when they 
see a concrete example1 and feel it with
 their hands1 they are impressed4 ,then 
when ,i tell them that there is not a   
shadow of a doubt but that the ice was  
at one time two or three thousand feet  
thick above the place where they now    
stand1 and that it bore down upon       
,julian's ,rock with a weight of        
thousands of tons to the square foot1   
that it filled all the ,hudson ,river   
,valley1 and covered the landscape for  
thousands of miles around them1 riding  
over the tops of the ,catskills and of  
the ,adirondacks1 and wearing them down 
and carrying fragments of rock torn from
 them hundreds of miles to the south and
 southwest1--when ,i have told them all 
of this1 ,i have usually given them a   
mouthful too big for them to masticate  

or swallow4 ,as a sort of abstract      
proposition contained in books1 or heard
 in the classroom1 they do not mind it1 
but as an actual fact1 here in the light
 of common day on the hill above        
,slabsides1 with the waters of the      
,hudson glistening below1 and the trees 
rustling in the wind all about us1 that 
is quite another matter4 ,it sounds like
 a dream or a fable4 ,many of the       
processes that have made our globe what 
we see it have been so slow and on such 
a scale that they are quite beyond our  
horizon--beyond the reach of our mental 
apprehension4 ,the mind has to approach 
them slowly and tentatively1 and become 
familiar with the idea of them1 before  
it can give any sort of rational assent 
to them4 ,it has taken the geologist a  
long time to work out and clear up and  
confirm this conception of the great    
continental glacier which in            
,pleistocene times covered so large a   
part of the northern hemisphere4 ,it is 
now as well established as any event in 

the remote past well can be4 ,in        
,alaska1 and in the ,swiss ,alps1 one   
may see the ice doing exactly what the  
,pleistocene ice-sheet did over this    
country4     ,,ii    ,the other day in  
passing a farmer's house ,i saw where he
 had placed a huge1 roundish boulder1   
nearly as high as a man's head1 by the  
roadside and had cut upon it his own    
name and date1 and that of his father   
before him1 and that of the first       
settler upon the farm1 in the latter    
part of the eighteenth century4 ,it was 
an interesting monument4 ,i learned that
 the rock had been found in the bed of a
 small creek near by1 and that the      
farmer had given a hundred dollars to   
have it moved to its place in front of  
his house4 ,had ,i seen the old farmer  
,i am sure ,i could have added to his   
interest and pride in his monument by   
telling him that it was ,adiron-dack    
gneiss1 and had been brought from that  
region on the back1 or in the maw1 of a 
glacier1 many tens of thousands of years

 ago4 ,but it is highly probable that1  
were he an uneducated man1 he would have
 treated my statement with contempt or  
incredulity4 ,education does at least   
this for a man3 it opens his mind and   
makes him less skeptical about things   
not dreamed of in his philosophy4  ,this
 boulder had been rolled and worn in its
 long1 slow ride till it was nearly     
round4 ,i have a much smaller boulder1  
probably from the same quarry1 which ,i 
planted at the head of my garden for a  
seat when the hoe gets tired4 ,when it  
was dropped here on the land that is now
 my field1 the bed and valley of the    
,hudson were occupied by the old glacier
 which1 during its decline and          
recession1 built up the terraces        
opposite me 7where now stands a         
multimillionaire's copy of an ,italian  
palace71 and which added to and         
uncovered the river slopes where now my 
own vineyards are planted4  ,the flowing
 or the creeping of this old ice-sheet1 
so that it could transport large        

boulders hundreds of miles1 is one of   
the most remarkable things about it3 as 
slow or slower than the hour-hand of the
 clock1 yet an actual progression1      
carrying it1 in the course of thousands 
of years1 from its apex in ,labrador    
well down into ,new ,jersey1 where its  
terminal moraine is still clearly       
traceable4  ,a river of ice1 under the  
right conditions1 flows as literally as 
a river of water1 fastest in the middle1
 and slowest along its margins where the
 friction is greatest4 ,the old         
ice-sheet1 or ice sea1 flowed around and
 over mountains as a river flows around 
and over rocks4 ,where a mountain rose  
above the glacier1 the ice divided and  
flowed round it1 and reunited again     
beyond it4 ,one may see all this in     
,alaska at the present time4 ,water1 of 
course1 flows because of its own        
pressure2 so does ice1 only the pressure
 has to be vastly greater4 ,a drop of   
water on the table does not flow1 but1  
pile it high enough1 and it will4 ,the  

old ice sea flowed mainly south1 not    
because it was downhill in that         
direction1 but because the accumulation 
of ice and snow at the ,north was so    
great4 ,if through any climatic changes1
 the snowfall were ever again to be so  
great that more snow should fall in     
winter than could melt in summer1 after 
the lapse of thousands of years1 we     
should have another ice age4       ,,vii
  ,,the ,,friendly ,,soil      ,i never 
tire of contemplating the soil itself1  
the mantle rock1 as the geologist calls 
it4 ,it clothes the rocky framework of  
the earth as the flesh clothes our      
bones4 ,it is the seat of the vitality  
of the globe1 the youngest part1 the    
growing1 changing part4 ,out of it we   
came1 and to it we return4 ,it is       
literally our mother1 as the sun is our 
father4  ,the soil6--the residuum of the
 rocks1 the ashes of the mountains4 ,we 
know what a vast stretch of time has    
gone to the making of it2 that it has   
been baked and boiled and frozen and    

thawed1 acted upon by sun and star and  
wind and rain2 mixed and remixed and    
kneaded and added to1 as the housewife  
kneads and moulds her bread2 that it has
 lain under the seas in the stratified  
rocks for incalculable ages2 that       
chemical and mechanical and vital forces
 have all had a hand in its preparation2
 that the vast cycles of animal and     
vegetable life of the foreworld have    
contributed to its fertility2 that the  
life of the sea1 and the monsters of the
 earth1 and the dragons of the air1 have
 left their ashes here1 so that when ,i 
stir it with my hoe1 or turn it with my 
spade1 ,i know ,i am stirring or turning
 the meal of a veritable grist of the   
gods4  ,from its primal source in the   
,archaean rock1 up through all the vast 
series of sedimentary rocks to our own  
time1 what vicissitudes and             
transformations it has passed through2  
how many times it has died1 so to speak1
 and been reborn from the rocks2 how    
many times the winds and the rains have 

transported it1 and infused invisible1  
life-giving gases into it2 how many of  
the elements have throbbed with life1   
climbed and bloomed in trees1 walked or 
flown or swam in animals1 or slumbered  
for thousands upon thousands of years   
beneath the great ice-sheet of          
,pleistocene time6 ,a handful of the    
soil by your door is probably the most  
composite thing you can find in a day's 
journey4 ,it may be an epitome of a     
whole geological formation1 or of two or
 more of them4 ,if it happens to be made
 up of decomposed limestone1 sandstone1 
slate1 and basalt rock1 think what a    
history would be condensed in it6  ,our 
lawns are made up of ashes from the     
funeral pyre of mountains1 of dust from 
the tombs of geologic ages4 ,what masses
 of rock does this sandbank represent6  
what an enormous grist in the great     
glacier mill do these layers of clay    
stand for6 ,two feet of soil probably   
represent a hundred feet or more of     
rock4 ,strictly speaking1 the soil is   

the insoluble parts of the ground-up and
 decomposed rocks1 after the rains and  
the winds have done their work and taken
 their toll of the grist they have      
ground4 ,sometimes these mills take the 
whole grist and leave the rocks bare2   
but usually they leave a residuum in    
which life strikes its roots4 ,we do not
 see all that the waters take from the  
soil4 ,they have invisible pockets in   
which they carry away all the more      
soluble parts1 such as lime1 soda1      
potash1 silica1 magnesia1 and others1   
and leave for the land the more         
insoluble parts4 ,these1 too1 in times  
of flood they carry away in suspension1 
in the shape of sand1 silt1 mud1 gravel1
 and the like4 ,when the waters really  
digest the rocks1 they hold the various 
minerals in solution1 and run limpid and
 dancing to the sea2 when they have an  
undigested burden1 they run angry and   
turbid4  ,it is estimated that the      
,hudson ,river deposits in the sea each 
year four hundred and forty thousand    

tons of mineral matter in solution which
 it has taken from the land1 and the    
,mississippi one hundred and twelve     
million tons4 ,each carries away about  
four times as much in suspension4 ,the  
digestive or chemical power of water1   
then1 is only about one fourth as great 
as its mechanical power4 ,between the   
two the land is made to pay heavy toll  
to the sea4 ,but in time1 in geologic   
time1 it all comes back4 ,the suspended 
particles are dropped and go to make up 
the sedimentary rocks1 while the solutes
 help cement the material of these rocks
 together1 and also nourish the sea life
 from which limestone and other organic 
rocks are made4 ,when these rocks are   
again lifted to the surface and         
disintegrated into soil1 then the debt  
of the sea to the land is paid4 ,this   
process1 this cycle of soil loss and    
soil growth1 has gone on through all    
time1 and must continue as long as the  
rain continues to fall1 or as long as   
the sea continues to send its           

tax-gatherers to the land4 ,in this     
great cycle of give and take of the     
elements1 the affairs of men cut but a  
momentary figure2 how puny they are1 how
 transient6 ,how the great changes1     
which in time amount to revolutions1 go 
on over our heads and under our feet1   
and we rarely heed them1 and are        
powerless to stay them6 ,a summer shower
 carries the soil of my side-hill1 which
 is mainly disintegrated ,silurian rock 
and shale1 into the river1 and some     
millions of years hence1 when it has    
become stratified rock1 and been lifted 
up into the light of day1 some other1   
and1 ,i trust1 wiser husbandman1 will be
 gathering his harvest from it1 and be  
worried over the downpour that robs him 
of it4 ,the farmer's worry is bound to  
come back with the soil1 and be passed  
along with it4       ,,viii  ,,primal   
,,energies      ,how puny and meagre is 
the utmost power man can put forth1 even
 by the aid of all his mechanical       
appliances1 when compared with the      

primal earth forces6 ,think1 or try to  
think1 of the force of pressure that    
causes the rock-strata to buckle or     
crumple or bend--layers of rock1        
thousands of feet thick1 made to fold   
and bend like the leaves of a book--vast
 mountain-chains flexed and             
foreshortened1 or ruptured and faulted  
as the bending of one's body wrinkles or
 rips one's clothes4 ,think of the      
over-thrusts and the folding and        
shearing of the earth's crust4 ,the     
shrinking of the earth squeezes the     
rocks to an extent quite beyond our     
power of conception4 ,so overpowering   
has been the horizontal movement in some
 cases1 says ,dana1 that masses of rock 
thousands of feet in thickness have been
 buckled up and sheared1 or1 simply     
yielding to pressure1 have sheared      
without folding1 and been thrust forward
 for miles along a gently inclined      
plane4 ,these great reversed faults are 
termed over-thrusts or thrust-planes4   
,sometimes such thrust-planes occur     

singly1 at other times the rocks have   
yielded again and again1 great sheets   
having been sliced off successively1 and
 driven forward one upon the other4 ,in 
northern ,montana there is an           
over-thrust of the ,cambrian rocks upon 
the late ,cretaceous1 of seven or eight 
miles1 carrying with it what is now     
called ,chief ,mountain1 which has been 
carved out of the extreme end of the    
over-thrust4 ,the contemplation of such 
things gives one a sense of power in    
,nature beyond anything else ,i know of4
 ,the shrinking of the globe as a whole 
makes its rocky garment too big for it1 
and this titanic wrinkling and folding  
results4 ,when the strata snap asunder  
under the strain1 we have earthquakes4  
,during the recent ,san ,francisco      
earthquake1 ,mount ,tamalpais1 across   
the bay1 and all the neighboring        
heights1 were permanently shifted eight 
or ten feet4 ,the sides of the mountain1
 it is said1 undulated like a curtain4  
,and this shaking and twitching of the  

great rocky skin of the earth was vastly
 less1 in proportion to the size of the 
globe1 than the twitching and trembling 
of the skin of a horse when he would    
shake off the flies1 in comparison with 
the animal's body4  ,we see another     
exhibition of the magnitude of the      
earth's forces in what the geologist    
calls a laccolite--a great cave or      
cistern deep beneath the surface of     
stratified rock filled with hardened    
lava4 ,the lava is forced up from an    
unknown depth under such pressure that1 
not finding an outlet at the surface1   
the rock strata1 hundreds or thousands  
of feet thick1 are lifted up and arched 
like so much paper1 and in the cavity   
thus formed the pent-up molten lava     
finds relief4 ,these lava cisterns or   
pockets are sometimes uncovered by the  
process of erosion4 ,the ,henry         
,mountains in ,utah are all laccolites4 
,one of them1 ,mount ,hillers1 has a    
volume of about ten cubic miles4 ,much  
of the overarching sedimentary strata   

still covers it4 ,geologists read the   
evidence of a similar formation called a
 sill on the west side of the ,hudson in
 ,new ,jersey1 forming the ,palisades4  
,the lava worked like a giant mole up   
through and then beneath the ,triassic  
sandstone1 lifting the strata up and    
arching them over a large area4 ,during 
the millions of years that have elapsed 
since that time1 the layers of          
superincumbent sandstone have been worn 
away so that now one sees a wide1       
smooth1 gentle slope of basaltic rock   
covered by a very thin coat of soil4 ,as
 one goes by on the train1 one sees     
where the workmen of a stone-crushing   
plant have cut into the slope and       
uncovered the junction of the two kinds 
of rock1 one born of water1 and one born
 of fire4 ,the igneous rock sits        
squarely upon the level sandstone1 like 
a row of upright books standing upon a  
shelf4 ,i never pass the place but that 
,i want to stop the train and get out   
and have a close look at the precise    

spot where this son of ,vulcan sat down 
so heavily and so hot upon his brother  
of the sedimentary deposits4  ,probably 
no two chapters of the earth's history  
differ more than those of the two sides 
of the ,hudson at ,new ,york4 ,there is 
a great break here--a leap from         
,archaean times on the east side to     
,mesozoic times on the west4 ,the east  
side is millions of years the older4    
,here is the original ,plutonic or      
,azoic rock which apparently has never  
been under the sea since it was first   
thrust up out of the fiery depths4 ,the 
west shore1 including the ,palisades1   
belongs to a much later geologic era4   
,the original granite here is buried    
under vast deposits of sedimentary rock 
of the ,triassic age--the age of the    
giant reptiles1 the remains of one of   
which has recently been found embedded  
in this sandstone1 near the river's     
edge4 ,as the traveler's eye follows    
along the even1 almost level line of    
this escarpment of the ,palisades1 let  

it re-create for him the strata of the  
old ,triassic sandstone that were       
millions of years ago piled high upon   
it1--how high can only be               
conjectured1--but which have been       
removed grain by grain under the eroding
 power of the forces of air and water   
that now seem to caress the huge wall so
 gently4 ,ah6 geologic ,time1 what can  
it not do8 what has it not done8 ,the   
old sill of ,vulcan now presents a      
nearly vertical front to the ,hudson1   
forming the ,palisades1 showing that    
some leaves of the earth's history here 
are missing1 buried probably beneath the
 waters of the river4 ,there is         
evidently a line of fault here1 and the 
west side has been lifted up out of the 
old ,mesozoic seas1 probably in the     
convulsions that poured out the lava of 
the trap rock4       ,,ix  ,,scientific 
,,faith      ,i find myself accepting   
certain things on the authority of      
science which so far transcend my       
experience1 and the experience of the   

race and all the knowledge of the world1
 in fact which come so near being       
unthinkable1 that ,i call my acceptance 
of them an act of scientific faith4     
,one's reason may be convinced and yet  
the heart refuse to believe4 ,it is not 
so much a question of evidence as a     
question of capacity to receive evidence
 of an unusual kind4  ,one of the       
conclusions of science which ,i feel    
forced to accept1 and yet which ,i find 
very hard work to believe1 is that of   
the animal origin of man4 ,i suppose my 
logical faculties are convinced1 but    
what is that in me that is baffled1 and 
that hesitates and demurs8  ,the idea of
 the origin of man from some lower form 
requires such a plunge into the past1   
and such a faith in the transforming    
power of the biological laws1 and in the
 divinity that lurks in the soil        
underfoot and streams from the orbs     
overhead1 that the ordinary mind is     
quite unequal to the task4 ,for the book
 of ,genesis of the old ,bible we have  

substituted the book of genesis of the  
rocky scripture of the globe--a book    
torn and mutilated1 that has been       
through fire and flood and earthquake   
shock1 that has been in the sea and on  
the heights1 and that only the          
palaeontologist can read or decipher    
correctly1 but which is a veritable     
bible of the succession of life on the  
earth4 ,the events of the days of       
creation are recorded here1 but they are
 days of such length that they are to be
 reckoned only in millions of years4    
,the evolution of the horse1 according  
to the best and latest research1 from   
the eohippus of ,eocene times--a small  
mammal no larger than the fox--to the   
proud and fleet creature that we prize  
to-day1 occupied four or five millions  
of years4 ,think of that first known    
progenitor of the horse as never dying1 
but living on through the geological    
ages and being slowly1 oh1 so slowly1   
modified by its environment1 changing   
its teeth1 its hoofs1 enlarging its     

body1 lengthening its limbs1 and so on1 
till it becomes the horse we know       
to-day4  ,in accepting the theory of the
 animal origin of man we have got to    
follow man back1 not only till we find  
him a naked savage like the ,fuegians as
 ,darwin describes them1--naked1        
bedaubed with paint1 with matted hair   
and looks wild and distrustful1--but we 
cannot stop there1 we must follow him   
back till he becomes a troglodyte1 a    
cave-dweller1 contending with the cave  
bear1 the cave lion1 and the hyena for  
the possession of this rude shelter2    
back still1 till we find him in trees   
living like the anthropoid apes2 then   
back to the earth again to some         
four-footed creature1 probably of the   
marsupial kind2 still the trail leads   
downward and ever downward1 till we lose
 it in that maze of marine forms that   
swarm in the ,palaeozoic seas1 or until 
the imagination is baffled and refuses  
to proceed4 ,it certainly is a hard     
proposition1 and it puts one upon his   

mettle to accept it4  ,should we not    
find equal difficulty in believing the  
life-history of each one of us1--the    
start in the germ1 then the vague       
suggestion of fish1 and frog1 and       
reptile1 in our foetal life1--were it   
not a matter of daily experience8 ,let  
it be granted that the race of man was  
born as literally out of the animal     
forms below him as the child is born out
 of these vague1 prenatal animal forms  
in its mother's womb4 ,yet the former   
fact so far transcends our experience1  
and even our power of imagination1 that 
we can receive it only by an act of     
scientific faith1 as our fathers        
received the dogmas of the ,church by an
 act of religious faith4  ,i confess    
that ,i find it hard work to get on     
intimate terms with evolution1          
familiarize my mind with it1 and make it
 thinkable4 ,the gulf that separates man
 from the orders below him is so        
impassable1 his intelligence is so      
radically different from theirs1 and his

 progress so enormous1 while they have  
stood still1 that believing it is like  
believing a miracle4 ,that the          
apparently blind groping and            
experimentation which mark the course of
 evolution as revealed by               
palaeontology--the waste1 the delay1 the
 vicissitudes1 the hit-and-miss         
method--should have finally resulted in 
this supreme animal1 man1 puts our      
scientific faith to the test4 ,in the   
light of evolution how the halo with    
which we have surrounded our origin     
vanishes6  ,man has from the earliest   
period believed himself of divine       
origin1 and by the divine he has meant  
something far removed from this earth   
and all its laws and processes1         
something quite transcending the mundane
 forces4 ,he has invented or dreamed    
myths and legends to throw the halo of  
the exceptional1 the far removed1 the   
mystical1 or the divine around his      
origin4 ,he has spurned the clod with   
his foot2 he has denied all kinship with

 bird and beast around him1 and looked  
to the heavens above for the sources of 
his life4 ,and then unpitying science   
comes along and tells him that he is    
under the same law as the life he treads
 under foot1 and that that law is       
adequate to transform the worm into the 
man2 that he1 too1 has groveled in the  
dust1 or wallowed in the slime1 or      
fought and reveled1 a reptile among     
reptiles2 that the heavens above him1 to
 which he turns with such awe and       
reverence1 or such dread and foreboding1
 are the source of his life and hope in 
no other sense than they are the source 
of the life and hope of all other       
creatures4 ,but this is the way of      
science2 it enhances the value or       
significance of everything about us that
 we are wont to treat as cheap or       
vulgar1 and it discounts the value of   
the things far off upon which we have   
laid such stress4 ,it ties us to the    
earth1 it calls in the messengers we    
send forth into the unknown2 it makes   

the astonishing revelation--            
revolutionary revelation1 ,i may        
say--that the earth is embosomed in the 
infinite heavens the same as the stars  
that shine above us1 that the creative  
energy is working now and here          
underfoot1 the same as in the ages of   
myth and miracle2 in other words1 that  
,god is really immanent in his universe1
 and inseparable from it2 that we have  
been in heaven and under the celestial  
laws all our lives1 and knew it not4    
,science thus kills religion1 poetry1   
and romance only so far as it dispels   
our illusions and brings us back from   
the imaginary to the common and the near
 at hand4 ,it discounts heaven in favor 
of earth4 ,it should make us more at    
home in the world1 and more conscious of
 the daily beauty and wonders that      
surround us1 and1 if it does not1 the   
trouble is probably in the ages of myth 
and fable that lie behind us and that   
have left their intoxicating influence  
in our blood4  ,we are willing to be    

made out of the dust of the earth when  
,god makes us1 the ,god we have made    
ourselves out of our dreams and fears   
and aspirations1 but we are not willing 
to be made out of the dust of the earth 
when the god called ,evolution makes us4
 ,an impersonal law or process we cannot
 revere or fear or worship or exalt2 we 
can only study it and put it to the     
test4 ,we can love or worship only      
personality4 ,this is why science puts  
such a damper upon us2 it banishes      
personality1 as we have heretofore      
conceived it1 from the universe4 ,the   
thunder is no longer the voice of ,god1 
the earth is no longer his footstool4   
,personality appears only in man2 the   
universe is not inhuman1 but unhuman4   
,it is this discovery that we recoil    
from1 and blame science for2 and until1 
in the process of time1 we shall have   
adjusted our minds1 and especially our  
emotions1 to it1 mankind will still     
recoil from it4  ,we love our dreams1   
our imaginings1 as we love a prospect   

before our houses4 ,we love an outlook  
into the ideal1 the unknown in our      
lives4 ,but we love also to feel the    
solid ground beneath our feet4  ,whether
 life loses in charm as we lose our     
illusions1 and whether it gains in power
 and satisfaction as we more and more   
reach solid ground in our beliefs1 is a 
question that will be answered          
differently by different persons4  ,we  
have vastly more solid knowledge about  
the universe amid which we live than had
 our fathers1 but are we happier1       
better1 stronger8 ,may it not be said   
that our lives consist1 not in the      
number of things we know any more than  
in the number of things we possess1 but 
in the things we love1 in the depth and 
sincerity of our emotions1 and in the   
elevation of our aspirations8 ,has not  
science also enlarged the sphere of our 
love1 and given us new grounds for      
wonder and admiration8 ,it certainly    
has1 but it as certainly has put a      
damper upon our awe1 our reverence1 our 

veneration4 ,however valuable these     
emotions are1 and whatever part they may
 have played in the development of      
character in the past1 they seem doomed 
to play less and less part in the       
future4 ,poetry and religion1 so called1
 seem doomed to play less and less part 
in the life of the race in the future4  
,we shall still dream and aspire1 but we
 shall not tremble and worship as in the
 past4  ,we see about us daily          
transformations as stupendous as that of
 the evolution of man from the lower    
animals1 and we marvel not4 ,we see the 
inorganic pass into the organic1 we see 
iron and lime and potash and silex blush
 in the flowers1 sweeten in the fruit1  
ripen in the grain1 crimson in the      
blood1 and we marvel not4 ,we see the   
spotless pond-lily rising and unfolding 
its snowy petals1 and its trembling     
heart of gold1 from the black slime of  
the pond4 ,we contemplate our own       
life-history as shown in our pre-natal  
life1 and we are not disturbed4 ,but    

when we stretch this process out through
 the geologic ages and try to see       
ourselves a germ1 a fish1 a reptile1 in 
the womb of time1 we are balked4 ,we do 
not see the great mother1 or the great  
father1 or feel the lift of the great   
biologic laws4 ,we are beyond our depth4
 ,it is easy to believe that the baby is
 born of woman1 because it is a matter  
of daily experience1 but it is not easy 
to believe that man is born of the      
animal world below him1 and that that is
 born of inorganic ,nature1 because the 
fact is too big and tremendous4  ,what  
we call ,nature works in no other way2  
one law is over big and little alike4   
,what ,nature does in a day typifies    
what she does in an eternity4 ,it is    
when we reach the things done on such an
 enormous scale of time and power and   
size that we are helpless4 ,the almost  
infinitely slow transformations that the
 theory of evolution demands balk us as 
do the size and distance of the fixed   
stars4  ,no observation or study of     

evolution on a small scale and near at  
hand in the familiar facts of the life  
about us can prepare us for it1 any more
 than lake and river can prepare us for 
the ocean1 or the modeling of miniature 
valleys and mountains by the rain in the
 clay bank can open our minds to receive
 the tremendous facts of the carving of 
the face of the continent by the same   
agents4  ,we do not see evolution       
working in one day1 or in a century1 or 
in many centuries4 ,neither do we catch 
the gods of erosion at their ,herculean 
tasks4 ,they always seem to be having a 
holiday1 or else to be merely toying    
with their work4  ,when we see a mound  
of earth or a bank of clay worn into    
miniature mountain-chains and canons and
 gulches by the rains of a season1 we do
 not doubt our eyes2 we know the rains  
did it4 ,but when we see the same thing 
copied in a broad landscape1 or on the  
face of a state or a continent1 we find 
it hard to believe the evidence of our  
own senses4 ,the scale upon which it is 

done1 and the time involved1 put it so  
far beyond the sphere of our experience 
that something in us1 probably the      
practical1 everyday man1 refuses to be  
convinced4  ,the lay mind can hardly    
have any adequate conception of the part
 erosion1 the simple weathering of the  
rocks1 has played in shaping our        
landscapes1 and in preparing the earth  
for the abode of man4 ,the changes in   
the surface of the land in one's        
lifetime1 or even in the historic       
period1 are so slight that the tales the
 geologists tell us are incredible4     
,when1 during a recent trip through the 
great ,southwest1 ,i saw the earth laid 
open by erosion as ,i had never before  
dreamed of1 especially when ,i visited  
those halls of the gods1 the ,grand     
,canon and ,yosemite ,valley1 ,i found  
my capacity to believe in the erosive   
power of water and the weather quite    
overtaxed4 ,it must be true1 ,i said1   
what the geologists tell us1 that water 
and air did all this2 but while you look

 and wait1 and while generations before 
you have looked and waited1 all is as   
quiet and passive as if the slumber of  
ages wrapped hill and vale4 ,invisible  
giants have wrought and delved here of  
whom we never catch a glimpse1 nor shall
 we1 wait and watch we never so long4   
,no sound of their hammers or picks or  
shovels or of the dynamite ever breaks  
the stillness of the air4  ,i have to   
believe that the valleys and mountains  
of my native ,catskills were carved out 
of a great elevated plain or plateau2   
there is no other explanation of them4  
,here lie the level strata1 without any 
bending or folding1 or sign of          
convulsion and upheavals1 horizontal as 
the surface of the sea or lake in which 
their sediments were originally laid    
down2 and here are these deep1 wide     
valleys cut down through these many     
sheets of stratified rock2 and here are 
these long1 high1 broad-backed          
mountains1 made up of the rock that the 
forces of air and water have left1 and  

with no forces of erosion at work that  
would appreciably alter a line of the   
landscape in ten thousand years2 and yet
 we know1 if we know anything about the 
physical history of the earth1 that     
erosion has done this work1 carved out  
these mountains and valleys1 from the   
,devonian strata1 as literally as the   
sculptor carves his statue from the     
block of marble4  ,above my lodge on the
 home farm the vast layers of the gray1 
thin-sheeted ,catskill rock crop out and
 look across the valley to their fellows
 two or more miles away where they crop 
out in a similar manner on the opposite 
slope of the mountain4 ,with the eye of 
faith ,i see the great sheets restored1 
and follow them across on the line which
 they made aeons ago1 till they are     
joined again to their fellows as they   
were before the agents of erosion had so
 widely severed them4  ,these physical  
forces have worked as slowly and        
silently in sculpturing the landscapes  
as the biological laws have worked in   

evolving man from the lower animals1 or 
the vertebrates from the invertebrates4 
,the rains1 the dews1 the snows1 the    
winds--how could these soft1 gently     
careering agents have demolished these  
rocks and dug these valleys8 ,one would 
almost as soon expect the wings and feet
 of the birds to wear away the forests  
they flit through4 ,the wings of time   
are feathered also1 and as they brush   
against the granite or the flinty       
sandstone no visible particle is removed
 while you watch and wait4 ,come back in
 a thousand years1 and you note no      
change1 save in the covering of trees   
and verdure4 ,return in ten thousand1   
and you would probably find the hills   
carrying their heads as high and as     
proudly as ever4 ,here and there the    
face of the cliff may have given way1 or
 a talus slid into the valley1 or a     
stream or river changed its course1 or  
sawed deeper into the rock1 and a lake  
been turned into a marsh1 or the delta  
of a river broadened--minor changes1    

such as a shingle from your roof or a   
brick from your chimney1 while your     
house stands as before4 ,in one hundred 
thousand years what changes should we   
probably find8 ,here in the ,catskills1 
where ,i write1 the weathering of the   
hills and mountains would probably have 
been but slight4 ,it must be fifty      
thousand years or more since the great  
ice-sheet left us4 ,where protected by a
 thin coat of soil1 its scratches and   
grooves upon the surface rock are about 
as fresh and distinct as you may see    
them made in ,alaska at the present     
time4 ,where the rock is exposed1 they  
have weathered out1 one eighth of an    
inch probably having been worn away4    
,the drifting of the withered leaves of 
autumn1 or of the snows of winter over  
them1 it really seems1 would have done  
as much in that stretch of time4 ,then  
try to fancy the eternity it has taken  
the subaerial elements to cut thousands 
of feet through this hard ,catskill     
sandstone6 ,no1 the evolution of the    

landscape1 the evolution of the animal  
and vegetable kingdoms1 the evolution of
 the suns and planets1 involve a process
 so slow1 and on such a scale1 that it  
is quite unthinkable4 ,how long it took 
evolution to bridge the chasm between   
the vertebrate and the invertebrate1    
between the fish and the frog1 between  
the frog and the reptile1 between the   
reptile and the mammal1 or between the  
lowest mammal and the highest1 who can  
guess8  ,but the gulf has been passed1  
and here we are in this teeming world of
 life and beauty1 with a terrible past  
behind us1 but a brighter and brighter  
future before us4       ,x  ,,the ,,worm
 ,,striving ,,to ,,be ,,man      ,when  
our minds have expanded sufficiently to 
take in and accept the theory of        
evolution1 with what different feelings 
we look upon the visible universe from  
those with which our fathers looked upon
 it6 ,evolution makes the universe      
alive4 ,in its light we see that        
mysterious potency of matter itself1    

that something in the clod under foot   
that justifies ,emerson's audacious line
 of the worm striving to be man4 ,we are
 no longer the adopted children of the  
earth1 but her own real offspring4      
,evolution puts astronomy and geology in
 our blood and authenticates us and     
gives us the backing of the whole solar 
system4 ,this is the redemption of the  
earth3 it is the spiritualization of    
matter4  ,in imagination stand off in   
vacant space and see the earth rolling  
by you1 a huge bubble with all its      
continents and seas and changing seasons
 and countless forms of life upon it1   
and remember that you are looking upon a
 great cosmic organism1 pulsing with the
 vital currents of the universe1 and    
that what it holds of living forms were 
not arbitrarily imposed upon it from    
without1 but vitally evolved from within
 and that man himself is one of its     
products as literally as are the trees  
that stand rooted to the soil4 ,revert  
to the time when life was not1 when the 

globe was a half-incandescent ball1 or  
when it was a seething1 weltering waste 
of heated water1 before the land had yet
 emerged from the waves1 and yet you and
 ,i were there in the latent potencies  
of the chemically and dynamically       
warring elements4 ,we were there1 the   
same as the heat and flame are in the   
coal and wood and as the explosive force
 of powder is in the grains4 ,the       
creative cosmic chemistry in due time   
brought us forth1 and started us on the 
long road that led from the amoeba up to
 man4 ,there have been no days of       
creation4 ,creation has been a          
continuous process1 and the creator has 
been this principle of evolution        
inherent in all matter4  ,man himself   
was born of this principle4 ,his        
genealogy finally runs back to the clod 
under his feet4 ,one has no trouble in  
accepting the old ,biblical account of  
his origin from the dust of the earth   
when one views that dust in the light of
 modern science4  ,man is undoubtedly of

 animal origin4 ,he is embraced in the  
same zoological scheme as are all other 
creatures1 and did not start as man any 
more than you and ,i started with our   
present stature1 or than the earth      
sprang from chaos as we now behold it4  
,his complete physical evolution must   
have been achieved thousands of         
centuries ago1 but his full mental and  
spiritual evolution is not yet4  ,i     
think of his physical evolution as      
completed when he assumed the upright   
attitude or passed from a quadruped to a
 biped1 which must of itself have been a
 long1 slow process4 ,probably our whole
 historic period would form but a       
fraction of this cycle of unrecorded    
time4 ,man's complete emergence from the
 lower orders1 so that he stood off in  
sharp contrast to them in his physical  
form probably occurred in later         
,tertiary times1 and what the meaning of
 this stretch of time is in human years 
we can only conjecture4 ,during this    
cycle of numberless millenniums till the

 dawn of history1 man's development was 
mainly mental4 ,he left the brute       
creature behind because his mind        
continued to develop after his physical 
form was complete1 while the brute stood
 still4 ,whence the impulse that sent   
man forward8 ,why was one animal form   
endowed with the capacity for endless   
growth and development1 and all the     
others denied it8 ,ah6 that is the      
question of questions4 ,compared with   
the development of his bodily powers1   
man's mental and spiritual growth has   
been very rapid4 ,he seems to have been 
millions of years in getting his body1  
while he has been only millenniums in   
getting his reason and intelligence4    
,what progress since the dawn of        
history6 ,compare the ,germans of the   
time of ,tacitus1 or the ,gauls of the  
time of ,caesar1 or the ,britons of the 
time of ,hadrian with the people of     
those countries to-day4  ,we are prone  
to speak of man's emergence from the    
lower orders as if it were a simple     

thing1 almost like the going from one   
country into another4 ,but try to think 
what it means2 try to think of the slow 
transformation1 of the long1 toilsome   
road even from the halfway house of our 
simian ancestors4 ,if we do not give him
 the benefit of the sudden mutation     
theory of the origin of species1 then   
think of the slow process1 hair by hair1
 as it were1 by which a tailed1 apelike 
arboreal animal was transformed into a  
hairless1 tailless1 erect1 tool-using1  
fire-using1 speech-forming animal4 ,we  
see in our own day in the case of the   
,african negro1 that centuries of our   
,northern climate have hardly any       
appreciable effect toward making a white
 man of him2 nor1 on the other hand1 has
 exposure to the tropical sun had much  
more effect in making a negro of the    
white man4 ,probably it would take ten  
thousand years or more of these         
conditions to bleach the pigments out of
 the one skin and put them in the other4
 ,there is convincing proof from        

painting and figures found in ,egypt    
that neither the ,african negro nor the 
,egyptian has changed in features in    
five thousand years4  ,the most         
marvelous thing about man's evolution is
 the inborn upward impulse in some one  
low organism that rested not till it    
reached its goal in him4 ,the mollusk   
remains1 but some impulse went out from 
the mollusk that begat the fish4 ,the   
fish remains1 but some impulse went out 
from the fish that begat the amphibian4 
,the amphibian remains1 but some impulse
 went out from the amphibian that begat 
the reptile4 ,the reptile remains1 but  
some impulse went out from the reptile  
that begat the mammal2 and so on up to  
man4 ,man must have had a specific line 
of descent4 ,one golden thread must     
connect him with the lowest forms of    
life4 ,and the wonder is that this      
golden thread was never snapped or lost 
through all the terrible vicissitudes of
 the geologic ages4 ,but ,i suppose it  
is just as great a wonder that the line 

of descent of the horse1 or the sheep1  
or the dog1 or the bird1 was not snapped
 or lost4 ,some impulse or tendency was 
latent or potential in the first        
unicellular life that rested not till it
 eventuated in each of these higher     
forms4 ,did any terrestrial or celestial
 calamity endanger the line of descent  
of any of the higher creatures8 ,was any
 form cut off in the world-wide crustal 
disturbances of the earth at the end of 
palaeozoic and mesozoic time1 when so   
many forms of animal life appear to have
 been wiped out1 that might in time have
 given birth to a kind unlike or        
superior to any now upon the earth8     
,species after species have become      
extinct1 whole orders and families have 
gone out1 often rather suddenly4 ,why we
 know not4 ,why the line of man's       
descent was not cut off1 who knows8 ,it 
is a vain speculation4 ,there can be    
little doubt that in early ,tertiary    
times our ancestor was a small1 feeble  
mammal1 maybe of the lemur1 maybe of the

 marsupial kind1 powerless before the   
great carnivorous mammals of that time1 
and probably escaping them by his       
greater agility1 perhaps by his arboreal
 habits4 ,the ancestor of the horse was 
also a small creature at that time1 not 
larger than a fox4 ,it was not cut off2 
the line of descent seems complete to   
the horse of our day4 ,small beginnings 
seem to be the rule in all provinces of 
life4 ,there is little doubt that the   
great animals of our day--the elephant1 
the whale1 the lion1--all had their     
start in small forms4 ,many of these    
small forms have been found4 ,but a     
complete series of any of the animal    
forms that eventuated in any of the     
dominant species is yet wanting4 ,it is 
quite certain that the huge1 the        
gigantic1 the monstrous in animal1 as in
 vegetable life1 lies far behind us4 ,is
 it not quite certain that evolution in 
the life of the globe has run its       
course1 and that it will not again bring
 forth reptiles or mammals of the       

terrible proportions of those of past   
geologic ages8 nor ferns1 nor mosses1   
nor as gigantic trees as those of       
,carboniferous times8 ,probably the     
redwoods of the ,far ,west1 the gigantic
 sequoias1 are the last race of gigantic
 trees4 ,the tide of life of the globe  
is undoubtedly at the full4 ,the flood  
has no doubt been checked many times4   
,the glacial periods1 of which there    
seem to have been several in different  
parts of the earth1 and in different    
geological periods1 no doubt checked it 
when it occurred4 ,but the tide as a    
whole must have steadily risen1 because 
the progression from lower to higher    
forms has gone steadily forward4 ,the   
lower forms have come along2 ,nature has
 left nothing behind4 ,the radiates1 the
 articulates1 the mollusca1 are still   
with us1 but in the midst of these the  
higher and higher forms have been       
constantly appearing4 ,the great        
biological tree has got its growth4     
,many branches and twigs have died and  

dropped off1 and many more will do so1  
are doing so before our eyes1 but ,i    
cannot help doubting that any new       
branches of importance are yet to       
appear--any new families or orders of   
birds1 or fishes1 or reptiles1 or       
mammals4 ,the horse1 the stag1 the      
sheep1 the dog1 the cat1 as we know     
them1 are doubtless the end of the      
series4 ,one arrives at this conclusion 
upon general principles4 ,life as a     
whole must run its course or reach its  
high-water mark1 the same as life in its
 particular phases4 ,man has arrived and
 has universal dominion2 all things are 
put under his feet4 ,the destiny of life
 upon the globe is henceforth largely in
 his hands4 ,not even he can avert the  
final cosmic catastrophe which          
physicists foresee1 and which1 according
 to ,professor ,lowell1 the beings upon 
,mars are now struggling to ward off4   
,man has taken his chances in the clash 
of forces of the physical universe4 ,no 
favor has been shown him1 or is shown   

him to-day1 and yet he has come to his  
estate4 ,he has never been coddled2     
fire1 water1 frost1 gravity1 hunger1    
death1 have made and still make no      
exceptions in his favor4 ,he is on a    
level with all other animals in this    
respect4 ,he has his life and well-being
 on the same terms as do the fowls of   
the air and the beasts of the fields4   
,archbishop ,whately thought that       
primitive man could never have raised   
himself to a higher condition without   
external aid--some elementary           
instruction to enable his faculties to  
begin their work4 ,he must have had a   
boost4 ,well1 the boost was forthcoming1
 but it was not from without1 but from  
within1 through this principle of       
development1 this upward striving that  
was innate from the first in certain    
forms of life and of which ,whately had 
no conception4 ,it was the conception of
 his time that creation was like a watch
 made and wound up by some power        
external to itself4  ,the physical      

evolution of man1 as ,i have said1 is no
 doubt complete4 ,he will never have    
wings1 or more legs1 or longer arms1 or 
a bigger brain4 ,the wings and the extra
 legs and the keener sense he has left  
behind him4 ,his development henceforth 
must be in the mental and spiritual4 ,he
 is bound to have more and more dominion
 over ,nature1 and see more and more    
clearly his own relation to her4 ,he    
will in time completely subdue and      
possess the earth4 ,yes1 and probably   
exhaust her8 ,but he will see in time   
that he is squandering his inheritance  
and will mend his ways4 ,he will        
conserve in the future as he has wasted 
in the past4 ,he will learn to conserve 
his own health4 ,he will banish disease2
 he will stamp out all the plagues and  
scourges1 through his scientific        
knowledge2 he will double or treble the 
length of life4 ,man has undoubtedly    
passed through and finished certain     
phases of his emotional and mental      
development4 ,he will never again be the

 religious enthusiast and fanatic he has
 been in the past2 he has not worshiped 
his last1 but he has worshiped his best4
 ,he will build no more cathedrals2 he  
will burn no more martyrs at the stake4 
,his religion as such is on the wane4   
,but his humanitarianism is a rising    
tide4 ,he is becoming less and less a   
savage1 revolts more and more at the    
sight of blood and suffering4 ,the      
highly religious ages were ages of blood
 and persecution4 ,man's tenderness for 
man has vastly increased4 ,the sense of 
the sacredness of human life has        
increased as his faith in his gods has  
declined4 ,he has grown more human as he
 has grown less superstitious4 ,science 
has atrophied his faith1 but it has     
softened his heart4 ,his fear of ,nature
 has given place to love4 ,man never    
loved as he does now4 ,he has withdrawn 
his gaze from heaven and fixed it upon  
the earth4 ,as his interest in other    
worlds has diminished1 his interest in  
this has increased4 ,as the angels have 

departed1 the children have come in4    
,when the nations1 too1 cease to be     
savage and selfish1 and become          
altruistic1 then the new birth of       
humanity will actually have occurred4   
,as an artist and a creator of beautiful
 forms1 man has also had his day2 he    
loved the beautiful1 the artistic1 or   
the ornamental long before he loved the 
true and the just4 ,he was proud before 
he was kind2 he was chivalrous before he
 was decent2 he was tattooed before he  
was washed2 he was painted before he was
 clothed2 he built temples before he    
built a home2 he sacrificed to his gods 
before he helped his neighbor2 he was   
heroic before he was self-denying2 he   
was devout before he was charitable4 ,we
 are losing the savage virtues and      
vanities and growing in the grace of all
 the humanities1 and this process will  
doubtless go on1 with many interruptions
 and setbacks of course1 till the       
kingdom of love is at last fairly       
established upon the earth4       ,,xi  

,,the ,,phantoms ,,behind ,,us  ,i      
,i take the title of this paper from    
those great lines in ,whitman           
beginning--  ,rise after rise bow the   
phantoms behind me--  in which he       
launches in vivid imaginative form the  
whole doctrine of evolution some years  
before ,darwin had published his        
epoch-making work on the ,origin of     
,species4  ,i see afar down the huge    
first ,nothing1 and ,i know ,i was even 
there4  ,i do not know that ,whitman had
 any concrete belief in the truth of the
 animal origin of man4 ,he read as      
picture and parable that which the man  
of science reads as demonstrable fact4  
,he saw and felt the great truth of     
evolution1 but he saw it as written in  
his own heart and not in the great stone
 book of the earth1 and he saw it       
written large4 ,he felt its cosmic      
truth1 its truth in relation to the     
whole scheme of things2 he felt his own 
kinship with all that lives1 and had a  
vivid personal sense of his debt to the 

past1 not only of human history1 but    
also to the past of the earth and the   
spheres4 ,and he felt this as a poet and
 not as a man of science4  ,the theory  
of evolution as applied to the whole    
universe and its inevitable corollary1  
the animal origin of man1 is now well   
established in most of the leading minds
 of the world1 but it is still rejected 
by many timid and sensitive souls1 and  
it will be a long time before it becomes
 universally accepted4  ,doubtless one  
source of the trouble we have in        
accepting the theory comes from the fact
 that our minds have not been used to   
such thoughts2 in the mind of the race  
they are a new thing3 they are not in   
the literature nor in the philosophy nor
 in the sacred books in which our minds 
have been nurtured2 they are of         
yesterday2 they came to us raw and      
unhallowed by the usage of ages2 more   
than that1 they savor of the materialism
 of all modern science1 which is so     
distasteful to our finer ideals and     

religious sensibilities4 ,in fact1 these
 ideas are strangers of an alien race in
 our intellectual household1 and we look
 upon them coldly and distrustfully4    
,but probably to our children1 or to our
 children's children1 they will wear    
quite a different countenance2 they will
 have become an accepted part of the    
great family of ideas of the race4      
,another hindrance is the dullness and  
opacity of our own minds4 ,we are slow  
to wake up to a sense of the divinity   
that hedges us about4 ,the great office 
of science has been to show us this     
universe as much more wonderful and     
divine than we have been wont to        
believe2 shot through and through with  
celestial laws and forces2 matter1      
indeed1 but matter informed with spirit 
and intelligence2 the creative energy   
inherent and active in the ground       
underfoot not less than in the stars and
 nebulae overhead4  ,we look for the    
divine afar off4 ,we gaze upon the      
beauty and purity of the heavenly bodies

 without thinking that we are also in   
the heavens4 ,we must open our minds to 
the stupendous fact that ,god is        
immanent in his universe and that it is 
literally and exactly true1 as we were  
taught long ago1 that1 during every     
moment of our lives1 in ,him we live and
 move and have our being4  ,moreover1 we
 are staggered by the element of vast   
time that is implied in the history of  
development4 ,were it not for the       
records in the rocks1 we could not      
believe it at all4 ,all the grand       
movements and processes of nature are   
quite beyond our ken4 ,in the heavens   
only the astronomer with his prisms and 
telescopes traces them2 only the        
geologist and palaeontologist read their
 history in the earth's crust4 ,the soil
 we cultivate was once solid rock1 but  
not in one lifetime1 not in many        
lifetimes1 do we see the transformation 
of the rocks into soil4 ,nations may    
rise and fall1 and the rocks they looked
 upon and the soil they tilled remain   

practically unchanged4 ,geologists talk 
about the ancient continents that have  
passed away4 ,what an abyss of time such
 things open6 ,they talk about the birth
 of a mountain or the decay of a        
mountain as we talk of the birth and    
death of a man1 but in doing so they    
reckon with periods of time for which we
 have no standards of measurement4 ,they
 walk and talk with the ,eternal4 ,to us
 the mountains seem as fixed as the     
stars4 ,but the stars1 too1 are         
flitting4 ,look at ,orion some millions 
of years hence1 and he will have been   
torn limb from limb4 ,the combination of
 stars that forms that striking         
constellation and all other             
constellations is temporary as the      
grouping of the clouds4 ,the rise of man
 from the lower orders implies a scale  
of time almost as great4 ,it is         
unintelligible to us because it belongs 
to a category of facts that transcends  
our experience and the experience of the
 race as the interstellar spaces        

transcend our earthly measurements4  ,we
 now gaze upon the order below us across
 an impassable gulf1 but that gulf we   
have crossed and without any            
supernatural means of transportation4   
,we may say it has been bridged or      
filled with the humble ancestral forms  
that carried forward the precious       
evolutionary impulse of the vertebrate  
series till it culminated in man4 ,all  
vestiges of that living bridge are now  
gone1 and the legend of our crossing    
seems like a dream or a miracle4        
,biological evolution has gone hand in  
hand with geological evolution1 and both
 are on a scale of time of which our    
hour-glass of the centuries gives us but
 a faint hint4 ,our notions of time are 
not formed on the pattern of the cosmic 
processes1 or the geologic processes1 or
 the evolutionary processes2 they are   
formed on the pattern of our own brief  
span of life4 ,in a few cases in the    
familiar life about us we see the       
evolutionary process abridged1 and      

transformations like those of unrecorded
 time take place before our eyes1 as    
when the tadpole becomes the frog or the
 grub becomes the butterfly4 ,these     
rapid changes are analogous to those    
which in the depths of geologic time    
have evolved the bird from the fish or  
the reptile1 or the seal and the manatee
 from a fourfooted land animal4 ,our    
common bluebird has long been recognized
 as a descendant of the thrush family2  
this origin is evident in the speckled  
breast of the young birds and in the    
voices of the mature birds4 ,i have     
heard a bluebird with an unmistakable   
thrush note4 ,the transformation has    
doubtless been so slow that an analogous
 change taking place in any of the bird 
forms of our own time would entirely    
escape observation4 ,the bluebird may   
have been as long in getting his blue   
coat as man has been in getting his     
upright position4  ,looking into the    
laws and processes of the common nature 
about us for clues to the origin of man 

is not unlike looking into the records  
of the phonograph for the secret of the 
music which that wonderful instrument   
voices for us4 ,something1 some active  
principle or agent1 has to invoke the   
music that slumbers or is latent in     
these lines4  ,in like manner some      
principle or force that we do not see is
 active in the ground underfoot and in  
the forms of life about us which is the 
final secret of the origin of man and of
 all other creatures4 ,this something is
 the evolutionary impulse1 this innate  
aspiration of living matter to reach    
higher and higher forms4 ,urge and urge1
 says ,whitman1 always the procreant    
urge of the world4 ,it is in ,emerson's 
worm striving to be man4 ,this striving 
pervades organic nature4 ,whence its    
origin science does not assume to say4  
,footnote3 ,this passage was written    
long before ,i had read ,bergson's      
,creative ,evolution1 as were several   
others of the same import in this       
volume4  ,then the difference in kind   

between the mind of man and that of the 
lower orders makes evolution a doubly   
hard problem4  ,look over the globe and 
see what a gulf separates man from all  
other creatures4 ,all the other animals 
seem akin--as if the product of the same
 workman4 ,man1 in contrast1 seems like 
an introduction from some other sphere  
or the outcome of quite other           
psychological laws2 his dominion over   
them all is so complete and universal4  
,without their specialization of        
structure or powers1 he yet masters them
 all and uses them2 without their powers
 of speed1 he yet outstrips them2       
without their strength of tusk and limb1
 he yet subdues them2 without their     
inerrant instinct1 he yet outwits them2 
without their keenness of eye1 ear1 and 
nose1 he yet wins in the chase2 without 
their special adaptation to environment1
 he survives when they perish4 ,a man is
 marked off from the animals below him1 
,i say1 as if he were a being of another
 sphere4 ,he looks into their eyes and  

they into his1 and no recognition       
passes2 and yet we have to believe that 
he and they are fruit of the same       
biologic tree and that their stem forms 
unite in the same trunk somewhere in the
 abyss of biologic time4  ,the rise of  
man from the lower orders taxes our     
powers of belief and our faith in the   
divinity that lurks underfoot far more  
than did the special creation myth4     
,creation by omnipotent fiat seems easy 
when you have the omnipotent being to   
begin with1 but creation through        
evolution is a kind of cosmic or        
biologic legerdemain that baffles and   
bewilders us4 ,it so far transcends all 
our earthly knowledge and experience and
 all the flights of our philosophy that 
we stand speechless before it4 ,it opens
 a gulf that the imagination cannot     
clear2 it opens vistas from which we    
instinctively shrink2 it opens up abysms
 of time in which our whole historic    
period would be but a day2 it opens up a
 world of struggle1 delay1 waste1       

failure that palls the imagination4 ,it 
challenges our faith in the immanency   
and in the ceaseless activity of ,god in
 his world2 it brings the creative      
energy down from its celestial abode and
 clothes it with the flesh and blood of 
animal life4 ,it may chill and shock us2
 it shows us that we are of the earth   
earthy2 yea1 that we are of the animal  
beastly2 it presses us down in matter2  
it puts out the lights to which we have 
so long turned as lighting our origin2  
the words sacred1 divine1 holy1 and     
celestial1 as applied to our origin and 
development1 we have no longer any use  
for1 nor for any words or ideas that set
 us apart from the rest of              
creation--above it in our origin or     
apart from it in our relations4 ,the    
atmosphere of mystery and miracle and   
sanctity that our religious training has
 thrown around our introduction upon    
this planet and around our relations and
 destiny science dispels4 ,our language 
and many of our ideas and habits of     

thought date back to pre-scientific     
times--when there were two worlds1 the  
heavenly and the earthly1 separated by a
 gulf4 ,now we know that the two worlds 
are one1 that they are inseparably      
blended2 that the celestial and the     
terrestrial are under the same law2 that
 we can never be any more in the heavens
 than we are here and now1 nor any      
nearer the final sources of life and    
power2 that the divine is underfoot as  
well as overhead2 that we are part and  
parcel of the physical universe1 and    
take our chances in the cosmic processes
 the same as the rest1 and draw upon the
 same fund of animal life that the other
 creatures do4 ,we are identified with  
the worm underfoot no less than with the
 stars overhead4 ,we are not degraded by
 such a thought1 but the whole of       
creation is lifted up4 ,our minds and   
bodies are not less divine1 but all     
things are more divine4 ,we have to gird
 up our loins and try to summon strength
 to see this tremendous universe as it  

is1 alive and divine to the last        
particle and embosomed in the ,infinite4
     ,,ii    ,evolution is not the final
 explanation of the universe1 but it is 
probably the largest generalization of  
the modern mind4 ,science has to start  
somewhere1 and it starts with the       
universe as it finds it and seeks to    
trace secondary or proximate causes2 the
 evolutionist seeks to trace the        
footsteps of creative energy in the     
world of animal life4 ,how did ,god make
 man8 ,out of the dust of the earth1    
says the ,bible of our fathers4 ,the    
evolutionist teaches essentially the    
same thing1 only he does not abridge the
 process as the catechism has abridged  
it for us2 he would fain unfold the     
whole long road that man has traveled   
from the first protozoic cell to the    
vast communities of cells that now make 
up his physical life4 ,he would show how
 man has risen on stepping-stones of his
 dead self4 ,these stepping-stones have 
been the animal forms below him4 ,in    

them and through them something1 some   
impulse1 some force1 has mounted and    
mounted through all the enormous lapse  
of geologic time4 ,in imagination we see
 the dim1 shadowy man1 restless and     
struggling in a vast number of earlier  
forms4 ,he has struggled upward through 
the invertebrates1 through the fish1    
through the reptile1 through the lower  
mammals1 through his simian ancestors   
till he reaches his goal in the man we  
know4  ,darwin was not the author of the
 theory of evolution1 but he made the   
theory alive and real to the            
imagination4 ,he showed us what a master
 key it is for unlocking the riddle of  
the life of the globe4 ,he launched     
biological science upon a new career and
 made it worthy of its place in the     
great trilogy of sciences1 astronomy1   
geology1 and biology1 of which          
,tennyson1 in his poem ,parnassus1      
recognized only the first two4 ,had     
,tennyson written his poem in our day he
 would undoubtedly have included biology

 among his terrible ,muses that tower   
above all others1 eclipsing the glory of
 the great poets4 ,or is it true that we
 find it easier to accept the theory of 
the evolution of the worlds and suns    
from nebulous matter than to accept the 
theory of the evolution of man from the 
maze of the lower animal forms8 ,it is  
less personal to us4 ,the astronomer has
 the advantage of the biologist in one  
important respect3 he can show us in the
 heavens now the process of the         
evolution of worlds actually going on1  
but the biologist cannot show us the    
transformation of one species into      
another taking place to-day4 ,we can    
sound the abysses of astronomic space   
easier than we can sound the abysses of 
geologic time4 ,the stars and the       
nebulae we have always with us1 but     
where are the myriad earlier forms that 
were the antecedents of the present     
animal life of the globe8 ,true1 the    
palaeontologist finds a more or less    
disjointed record of them in the        

stratified rocks and sees in a measure  
the course evolution has taken1 but he  
does not actually see it at work as does
 the astronomer4 ,more than that1 the   
forces the astronomer deals with are    
mechanical and chemical1 but the        
biologist deals with a new force called 
life that often reverses or defies      
mechanical and chemical forces1 but     
which is yet so identified and blended  
with them that we cannot conceive it    
apart from them4 ,the stomach does not  
digest itself1 nor gravity hold the     
blood in the lower extremities4 ,the    
tree lifts up its weight of fluids and  
solids and holds aloft its fruit and    
foliage in spite of gravity2 its growing
 roots split and lift the rocks2 mosses 
and lichens disintegrate granite2 vital 
energy triumphs over chemical and       
mechanical energy4  ,biological laws are
 much more subtle and difficult to trace
 and formulate than chemical and        
mechanical laws4 ,hence the student of  
organic evolution can rarely arrive at  

the demonstrable certainties in this    
field that he can in the sphere of      
chemistry and mechanics4 ,it is very    
doubtful if life can ever be explained  
in terms of these things4 ,life works   
through chemical combinations and       
affinities1 and yet is it not more than 
chemistry8 ,it works with and through   
mechanical principles and forces1 and   
yet it is evidently more than mechanics4
 ,it is manifested through matter1 and  
yet no analysis of matter can reveal its
 secret4 ,it comes and goes while matter
 stays2 we destroy life1 but cannot     
destroy matter4 ,it is as fugitive as   
the wind which fills all sails one      
minute and is gone the next4 ,it avails 
itself of fluids and gases and the laws 
which govern them1 but fluids and gases 
do not explain it4 ,it waits upon the   
rains and the dews1 but it is more than 
they are2 it follows in the footsteps of
 the decay and disintegration of the    
inorganic1 and yet it is not the gift of
 these things2 it transforms the face of

 the earth1 and yet the earth has been  
and will be when it was not and when it 
will not be4 ,through his knowledge and 
his science man performs wonders every  
day2 he can reduce mountains to powder  
and seas to dry land1 but he cannot     
create or start de novo the least throb 
of life4 ,at least1 he has not yet done 
so4 ,with all his vast resources of     
mechanics and chemistry1 and his insight
 into the mechanism of the universe1 he 
has not yet made the least particle of  
inorganic matter thrill with the        
mysterious something we call life4      
,there must have been a time when life  
was not upon the earth and there must   
again come a time when it will not be4  
,it has probably vanished from the moon 
and all inferior planets1 and it has not
 yet come to the superior planets1      
except maybe to ,mars4 ,it must be and  
must have always been potential in      
matter1 but this fact leaves the mystery
 as profound as ever4  ,yet if the      
artificial production of life were to   

happen to-day--if in some of our        
laboratories living matter were produced
 from non-living1 should we not still   
have to credit the event to some        
mysterious potency residing in matter   
itself8 ,if by a lucky stroke man were  
to evoke the organic from the inorganic1
 be assured he would not evoke something
 from nothing1 or add anything to the   
latent possibilities of the elements    
with which he works4 ,does not the      
question still remain who or what made  
this feat possible8 ,one dare affirm    
that man cannot create life de novo any 
more than he can create matter4 ,he may 
yet evoke life as he evokes the spark   
from the flint and the flame from the   
match or as he evokes force from the    
food he eats4 ,in this latter case he   
does not create the force2 he liberates 
it through the vital forces of his body4
 ,the spark from the flint and the flame
 from the match were called forth by a  
mechanical process1 but the process was 
set going by the will which waits upon  

the vital process4 ,the body with all   
its many functions is a complicated     
system of mechanical devices and        
chemical processes1 but that which is   
back of all and governs all is not      
mechanical2 the body is a machine plus  
something else4  ,the chemist or        
biologist who shall produce a speck of  
protoplasm to-day will have the credit  
of unlocking a power in inorganic       
nature2 he will prove by a short cut how
 immanent the creative energy or the    
vital force of the universe is in       
matter4 ,he will not have eliminated the
 creative energy2 he will only have     
disclosed it and availed himself of it4 
,we behold spontaneous combustion1 a    
fire self-kindled1 but we do not see the
 activity of the particles of matter    
that preceded it or penetrate the secret
 of their mysterious affinities4 ,the   
fire was potential there in the very    
constitution of the elements4 ,we flout 
at miracles1 and then we disclose an    
unending miracle in the life about us4  

,all the life upon the globe1 including 
man with all his marvelous powers1      
surely originated upon the globe1 surely
 arose out of the non-living and the    
non-thinking1 not by the fiat of some   
power external to nature1 but through   
the creative energy inherent in nature  
and ever active there4 ,the great       
physical instrumentality was            
heat--without heat the reaction called  
life could never have taken place4 ,this
 fact has led a ,french biologist to say
 that life is only a surface accident in
 the history of the thermic evolution of
 the globe4 ,without the disintegration 
of the rocks and the formation of the   
soil and the precipitation of watery    
vapor1 which was indirectly the work of 
heat1 the vegetable and the animal could
 not have developed4 ,if we succeed in  
proving that all these things are of    
chemico-mechanical origin1 we still want
 to know who or what instituted these   
chemical and mechanical powers and the  
laws that govern them4 ,creation by     

chemistry and mechanics is as mysterious
 as creation by miracle4 ,we must still 
have a creator1 while we can do nothing 
with him nor find any place for him in  
an endless1 beginningless1 infinite     
series of events4 ,so there we are4 ,we 
go out of the same door by which we came
 in4  ,when all life vanishes from the  
earth1 as it will when the condition of 
heat and moisture has radically changed1
 and eternal refrigeration sets in--what
 then8 ,the potencies of matter will not
 have changed and life will reappear and
 go through its cycle again on some     
other sphere4  ,life began upon this    
earth not by miracle in the old sense1  
but by miracle in the new scientific    
sense--by the immanence and ceaseless   
activity of the creative energy in the  
physical world about us--in the sunbeam1
 in the rains1 in the snows1 in the air 
currents1 and in the soil underfoot2 in 
oxygen1 hydrogen1 carbon1 nitrogen1 in  
lime1 iron1 silex1 phosphorus1 and in   
all the rest of them4 ,each has its     

laws1 its ways1 its fixed mode of       
procedure1 its affinities1 its likes and
 dislikes1 and life is bound up with all
 of them4 ,if we hypothesize the ether  
to explain certain phenomena1 why should
 we not hypothesize a vital force to    
account for other mysteries8  ,the      
inorganic passes into the organic as    
night passes into day4 ,where does one  
end and the other begin8 ,no man can    
tell4 ,there is no beginning and no     
ending of either1 and yet night comes   
and goes and day comes and goes--a      
constant becoming and a constant ending4
 ,we are probably in the midday of the  
life of the globe--life huge and rank   
and riotous--the youth of life has      
passed1 life more sedate and aspiring   
and spiritual has come4 ,the gigantic   
has gone or is going1 the huge monsters 
of the sea and of the land have had     
their day1 man appears at the end of the
 series of lesser but more complete     
forms4  ,many intelligent persons who   
have been rocked in the cradle of the   

old creeds still look upon evolution as 
a godless doctrine and accuse it of     
vulgarizing high and sacred things4     
,this state of mind can only be slowly  
outgrown by familiarizing ourselves with
 the processes of nature or of the      
creative energy in the world of life and
 matter about us2 with our own origin in
 the low fishlike or apelike creature in
 the maternal womb2 with the development
 of every plant1 tree1 and animal from a
 microscopic germ2 with the unbroken    
sequence of natural law2 with the waste1
 the delays1 the pains1 the failures on 
every hand2 with the impersonal and the 
impartial character of all the physical 
forces2 with the transformations and    
metamorphoses that marked the course of 
animal life2 and1 above all1 with the   
thought that evolution is not           
self-caused or in any true sense a cause
 in itself1 but the instrument or plan  
of the power that works in and through  
all things4 ,the ways of ,god in all    
these details are past finding out1 but 

science watches the unfolding of a bud1 
the development of a grain of wheat1 the
 growth of the human embryo1 the        
succession of life-forms upon the globe 
as revealed in the records of the       
stratified rocks1 or observes in the    
heavens the condensation of nebulous    
matter into suns and systems1 and it    
says this is one of his ways4           
,evolution--an endless unfolding and    
transformation4 ,urge and urge and urge1
 says ,whitman 7,i love to repeat this  
saying2 it is so significant71 always   
the procreant urge of the world4 ,always
 the labor and travail pains of the     
universe to bring forth higher forms2   
always struggle and pain and failure and
 death1 but always a new birth and an   
upward reach4  ,strike out the element  
of time and we see evolution as the     
great prestidigitator of the biologic   
ages4 ,the creative energy manipulates a
 fish and it turns into a reptile2 it   
covers a mollusk as with a vapor and    
behold1 a backboned creature instead6   

,now we see a little creature no larger 
than a fox and when we look again1      
behold the horse2 a wolf or some kindred
 animal is plunged into the water1 and  
behold1 the seal6 ,some small creature  
of the lemur kind is covered with a     
capacious hand1 and we look again1 and  
behold man6 ,we have only to minimize   
time and minimize space to see the      
impossible happening all about us or to 
see the ,mosaic account of creation     
repeated2 we have only the clay and     
water to begin with1 when1 presto6      
behold what we have now6 ,we see the    
rocks covered with verdure1 the         
mountains vanishing into plains1 the    
valleys changing into hills or the      
plains changing into mountains1 tropic  
lands covered with ice and snow4  ,lord 
,salisbury thought he had discredited   
natural selection1 which is one of the  
feet upon which evolution goes1 when he 
charged that no one had ever seen it at 
work4 ,we have not seen it at work      
because our little span of life is too  

short4 ,only the palaeontologist traces 
in the records of the rocks the         
footsteps of this god of change4 ,and   
rarely if ever does he find a continuous
 and complete record--only a footprint  
here and there1 but he sees the         
direction in which they are going and   
many of the places where the traveler   
tarried4 ,the palaeontologist1 that     
detective of the rocks1 works up his    
case with the same thoroughness and     
caution and the same power of           
observation as does the detective in    
human affairs and with a greater sweep  
of scientific imagination4  ,an agent of
 evolution is the influence of the      
environment1 but who sees the           
environment set its stamp upon animal   
life8 ,after many generations we may see
 the accumulated results4 ,in a few     
instances the results are rapid4 ,thus  
sheep lose their wool in tropical       
climates and a northern fur-bearing     
animal its fur4 ,the well-being of the  
animal demands this change1 and demands 

it quickly4 ,fish lose their sense of   
sight in underground streams2 this loss 
is not so vital and it comes about much 
more slowly4 ,a tropical climate sets   
its stamp upon the complexion and       
character of man1 but this again is a   
slow process1 as the same stress of     
necessity does not exist4  ,in the      
tendency to variation--in form1 size1   
disposition1 power1 fertility--man      
differs from all other animals4 ,in the 
same race1 in the same family1 we find  
infinitely varied types4 ,among the wild
 creatures all the individuals of a     
species are practically alike4 ,we can  
hardly tell one fox1 or one marmot1 or  
one chipmunk1 or one crow1 or one hawk1 
or one black duck from another of the   
same species4 ,of course there are      
slight individual differences1 but they 
are hardly distinguishable4 ,among the  
insects1 one bee1 one beetle1 one ant1  
one butterfly seems the exact copy of   
every other individual of its kind4 ,the
 law of variation seems practically     

annulled in the insect world4  ,it is   
the wide and free range of this law in  
the human species that has undoubtedly  
led to the great progress of the race4  
,there has been no dead level--no       
democracy of talent--no equality of     
gifts1 but only equality of opportunity4
 ,men differ from one another in their  
mental endowments1 capacities1 and      
dispositions vastly more than do any    
other creatures upon the earth4 ,this   
difference makes man's chances of       
progress so much the greater2 he has so 
many more stakes in the game4 ,if one   
type of talent fails1 another type may  
win2 if the lymphatic temperament is not
 a success1 try the sanguine or the     
bilious2 blue eyes and black eyes and   
brown eyes will win more triumphs than  
blue or black or brown alone4 ,arms or  
legs extra long1 sight or hearing extra 
sharp1 wit extra keen1 judgment extra   
sure--all these things open doors to    
more progress4 ,variation gives natural 
selection a chance to take hold1 and    

where the struggle for life is the most 
severe the changes will be the most     
rapid and the most radical4 ,without the
 pressure of the environment natural    
selection would not select4 ,the        
tendency to physical variation in man is
 probably no greater than in other      
creatures1 but his tendency to mental   
variation is enormous4 ,he varies daily 
from mediocrity to genius1 hence the    
enormous range of his chances of        
progress4 ,from the first variation that
 started him on his way in his line of  
descent1 variation must have been more  
and more active till he varied in the   
direction of reason1 long before the    
dawn of history1 since which time his   
progress has been by rapid strides--and 
more and more rapid till we see his     
leaps forward in recent times4 ,the race
 owes its rapid progress to its         
exceptional men1 its men of genius and  
power1 and these have often been like   
sports or the sudden result of          
mutations--a man like ,lincoln springing

 from the humblest parentage4 ,no such  
extreme variations are seen in any of   
the lower orders4 ,indeed1 in one's     
lifetime one sees but very slight       
variation in any of the wild or domestic
 creatures1 less in the wild than in the
 domestic because they are less under   
the influence of that most variable of  
animals1 man4 ,and man's variations are 
mainly mental and not physical4 ,the    
higher we go in the scale of powers1 the
 greater the variation and hence the    
more rapid the evolution4 ,probably     
man's body has not changed radically in 
vast cycles of time1 but his mind has   
developed enormously since the dawn of  
history4     ,,iv    ,biologists are    
coming more and more to recognize some  
unknown factor in evolution1 probably   
some unknowable factor4 ,the four       
factors of ,osborn--heredity1 ontogeny1 
environment1 selection--play upon and   
modify endlessly the new form when it is
 started1 but what about the original   
start8 ,whence comes this inborn        

momentum1 this evolutionary send-off8   
,what or who set the whole grand process
 going8  ,bergson sees an internal      
psychological principle of development1 
hence the name of his book1 ,creative   
,evolution4 ,osborn uses the word       
directed4 ,certain characters1 he says1 
are adaptive or suited to their purpose 
from the start2 they do not have to be  
fitted to their place by natural        
selection4 ,huxley uses the word        
predestined--all the life of the globe  
and all the starry hosts of heaven are  
working out in boundless space and in   
endless time their predestined course of
 evolution4 ,darwin must have had in    
mind the same mysterious something when 
he said that man had risen to the very  
summit of the animal scale1 but not     
through his own exertions4 ,not by his  
own will or exertion1 surely1 any more  
than the embryo in its mother's womb    
develops into the full-grown child by   
its own exertion or than our            
temperaments and complexions and        

statures are matters of our own wills   
and choice4 ,something greater than man 
and before him1 to which he sustains the
 relation that the unborn child sustains
 to its mother1 must enter into our     
thought of his origin and development4  
,the great evolutionists have been very 
cautious about seeking to go behind     
evolution and name the ,primal ,cause4  
,in such an attempt science would at    
once be beyond soundings4 ,darwin and   
,huxley were reverent1 truth-loving men1
 but they hesitated as men of science to
 put themselves in a position where no  
step could be taken4  ,slowly man       
emerges out of the abyss of geologic    
time into the dawn of history1 and      
science gropes about like a man feeling 
his way in the dark or1 at most1 by the 
aid now and then of a dim flash of      
light1 to trace the path he has come4   
,he has surely arrived1 and we are1 ,i  
believe1 safe in saying he has come by  
the way of the lower orders2 but the    
precise forms through which he has come1

 the houses in which he has tarried by  
the way1 and all the adventures and     
vicissitudes that befell him on the     
journey--can we ever hope to know these 
things8 ,in any case1 man has his       
antecedents2 life has its antecedents2  
every beat of one's heart has its       
antecedent cause1 which again has its   
antecedent4 ,we can thus traverse the   
chain of causation only to find it is an
 endless chain2 the separate links we   
can examine1 but the first link or the  
last we see1 by the very nature of      
things1 and the laws of our own minds1  
must forever elude us4 ,science cannot  
admit of a break in the chain of        
causation1 cannot admit that miracles or
 the supernatural in the old sense1 as  
external and arbitrary interference with
 the natural order1 can play or ever    
have played any part in this universe4  
,yet science has to postulate a ,first  
,cause when it knows1 or metaphysics    
knows for it1 that with the ,infinite   
there can be no first and no last1 no   

beginning and no ending1 only endless   
succession4  ,to science man is not a   
fallen creature1 but a many times risen 
creature and all the good of the        
universe centres in him4 ,the mind that 
pervades all nature and is active in    
plant and animal alike first comes to   
know itself and regard itself and       
achieve intellectual appreciation in    
man4 ,while all nature below man is wise
 only to its own ends and goes its      
appointed way as void of                
self-consciousness as the stone that    
falls or the wind that blows1 the mind  
of man attains to disinterested wisdom  
and turns upon itself and upon the      
universe the power of objective thought2
 it alone achieves understanding4  ,in  
our studies of life and of the universe 
as soon as we begin to bridge chasms by 
an appeal to the miraculous1 or to the  
extra-natural powers1 we are traitors to
 the scientific spirit which we seek to 
serve4 ,there are many things that      
science cannot explain4 ,perhaps ,i may 

say that it cannot give the ultimate    
explanation of anything4 ,it can do     
little more than tell us of the action1 
the interaction1 and the reaction of    
things1 but of the things themselves1   
their origin and ultimate nature1 or the
 source of the laws that govern them1   
what does it or what can it know8  ,man 
is the heir of all the geologic ages2 he
 inherits the earth after countless     
generations of animals and plants1 and  
the beneficent forces of wind and rain1 
air and sky1 have in the course of      
millions of years prepared it for him4  
,his body has been built for him through
 the lives and struggles of the         
countless beings who are in the line of 
his long descent2 his mind is equally an
 accumulated inheritance of the mental  
growth of the myriads of thinking men   
and unthinking animals that went before 
him4 ,in the forms of his humbler       
forebears he has himself lived and died 
myriads of times to make ready the soil 
that nurses and sustains him to-day4 ,he

 is a debtor to ,cambrian and ,silurian 
times1 to the dragons and saurians and  
mastodons that have roamed over the     
earth4 ,indeed1 what is there or has    
there been in the universe that he is   
not indebted to8 ,the remotest star that
 shines has sent a ray that has entered 
into his life4 ,all things are under his
 feet1 and the keys of the heavens are  
in his hands4     ,v    ,one would fain 
arrive at some concrete belief or image 
of his line of descent in geologic time 
as he does in the historic period4 ,but 
how hard it is to do so6 ,can we form   
any mental picture of the actual animal 
forms that the manward impulse has      
traveled through8 ,with all the light   
that palaeontology throws upon the      
animal life of the past1 can we see     
where amid the revel of these bizarre   
forms our ancestor hid himself8 ,can we 
see him as a reptile in the slime of the
 jungle or in the waters of the         
,mesozoic world8 ,what was he like or   
what akin to8 ,what mark or sign was    

there upon him at that time of the      
future that was before him8 ,can we see 
him as a fish in the old ,devonian seas 
or lakes8 ,was he a big fish or a little
 fish8 ,the primitive fishes were mostly
 of the shark kind4 ,is there any       
connection between that fact and the    
human sharks of to-day8 ,much less can  
one picture to one's self what his      
ancestor was like in the age of the     
invertebrates1 amid the trilobites1     
etc41 of the earlier ,palaeozoic seas4  
,but we must go back even earlier than  
that1 back to unicellular life and to   
original protoplasm1 and finally back to
 fiery nebulous matter4 ,what can we    
make of it all by way of concrete       
conception of what actually took        
place--of the visible1 eating1 warring1 
breeding animal forms in whose          
safekeeping our heritage lay8 ,nothing4 
,we are not merely at sea1 we are in    
abysmal depths1 and the darkness is so  
thick we can cut it4  ,we meet the same 
difficulty when we try to figure to     

ourselves the line of descent of any of 
the animal forms of to-day4 ,how did    
they escape the world-wild catastrophe  
of earlier geologic times8 ,or did the  
creative impulse bank upon life as a    
whole and never become bankrupt1 no     
matter what special lines or forms      
failed8  ,the first appearance of the   
primates is in ,eocene times and the    
anthropoid apes in the ,miocene1        
probably five millions of years ago4    
,the form which may have been in our    
line of descent1 the ,dryopithecus1     
later appears to have become extinct4   
,did our fate hang upon the success of  
any of these forms8 ,the monkeys and    
anthropoid apes appeared at the same    
time in different countries4 ,nature    
seems to have been making preliminary   
studies of man in these various forms1  
but when and where she hit upon the form
 that she perfected in man1 who knows8  
,the horse appears to have been evolved 
in ,north ,america1 true cattle in      
,asia1 elephants in ,africa4 ,can we    

narrow their line of descent down to a  
single pair for each8 ,many forms allied
 to the horse appeared in ,europe and   
,asia in ,miocene times4 ,we find       
monkeys in different parts of the world 
in the same geologic horizons2 did they 
all have a common origin8  ,life's      
apprenticeship has been a long one4 ,the
 earlier forms of vertebrate life were  
very large2 later they became very      
small4 ,nature seems to have            
experimented with bulk1 as if she       
thought size would win in the race4     
,hence those huge uncouth forms among   
the reptiles and early mammals4 ,the    
scheme did not work well2 bulk was not  
the thing1 after all4 ,most of the      
gigantic forms became extinct4 ,then she
 tried smaller and more agile forms with
 larger brains--less flesh and more wit4
 ,on this line ,nature continued to work
 till she produced her masterpiece in   
man--a rather feeble and nearly         
weaponless animal1 but with an          
intangible armory of weapons and tools  

in his brain that enables him to put all
 creatures under his feet4       ,,xii  
,,the ,,hazards ,,of ,,the ,,past  ,i   
,bergson1 the new ,french philosopher1  
thinks we all had a narrow escape1 back 
in geologic time1 of having our eggs    
spoiled before they were hatched1 or1   
rather1 rendered incapable of hatching  
by too thick a shell4 ,this was owing to
 the voracity of the early organisms4   
,as they became more and more mobile1   
they began to take on thick armors and  
breastplates and shells and calcareous  
skins to protect themselves from one    
another4 ,this tendency resulted1 he    
thinks1 in the arrest of the entire     
animal world in its evolution toward    
higher and higher forms4 ,these shells  
and armors begat a kind of torpor and   
immobility which has continued down to  
our day with the echinoderms and        
mollusks1 but the arthropods and        
vertebrates escaped it by some lucky    
stroke4 ,now you and ,i are here without
 imprisoning shells on our backs2 but   

how or why did we escape8 ,bergson does 
not say4 ,was it a matter of luck or    
chance8 ,was there ever a time when the 
stream of life tended to harden and     
become fixed in its own forms like a    
stream of cooling lava1 or has the      
innate plasticity of life been easily   
equal to its own ends8 ,true1 the clam  
remains a clam1 and the starfish remains
 a starfish2 some other forms have      
carried the evolutionary impulse forward
 till it flowered in man4 ,was this     
impulse ever really checked or          
endangered8 ,was the golden secret ever 
intrusted to the keeping of any single  
form8 and1 had that form been cut off1  
would the earth have been still without 
its man8 ,these are puzzling questions4 
,thus1 when we have come to look upon   
life and nature in the light of         
evolution1 what vistas are opened to us 
where before were only blank walls6 ,the
 geologic ages take on a new interest to
 us4 ,we know that in some form we were 
even there4 ,the systems of sedimentary 

rocks which the geologist portrays1     
piled one upon the other to a depth of  
fifty miles or more1 seem like the      
stairway by which we have ascended1     
taking on some new and more developed   
form at each rise4 ,what we were at the 
first step in ,cambrian times only the  
,lord knows1 but whatever we were1 we   
crept up or floated up to the next rise4
 ,in the ,silurian seas we may have been
 a trilobite for aught we know2 at any  
rate1 we were the outcome of the life   
impulse that begat the trilobites1 but  
our fate was not bound up with theirs1  
as their race came to an end in those   
early geologic ages1 and our stem form  
did not4 ,whether or not we were a fish 
in the ,devonian seas1 there is little  
doubt that we had gills1 because we have
 the gill slits yet in our early foetal 
life1 and it is quite certain that in   
some way we owe our backbones to the    
fishes4  ,when the rocks that form my   
native ,catskills were being laid down  
in the ,devonian waters1 ,i fancy that  

my aquatic embryo was swimming about    
somewhere and slowly waxing strong4 ,up 
and up ,i climbed across the sandstone  
steps1 across the limestone1 the        
conglomerate1 the slate1 up into        
,carboniferous times4 ,the upper and    
nether millstones of the millstone grit 
did not crush me1 neither did the floods
 and the convulsions of ,carboniferous  
times that buried the vast vegetable    
growths that resulted in our coal       
measures engulf or destroy me4 ,about   
that time probably1 ,i emerged from the 
water and became an amphibian1 and maybe
 got my five fingers and five toes on   
each side4  ,nor did the wholesale      
destruction of animal life at the end of
 ,palaeozoic time cut off my line of    
descent4 ,the monstrous reptiles of the 
succeeding or ,mesozoic age1 the        
petrified remains of one of which was   
recently found in the sandstone rocks   
near the river's edge under the         
,palisades of the ,hudson1 do not seem  
to have endangered the golden thread by 

which our fate hung4 ,still ,i mount and
 mount4 ,the stairs by which ,i climb   
were rent by earthquakes and volcanoes1 
the strata were squeezed up and         
overturned and folded in the great      
mountain-chains2 the ,alps1 the ,andes1 
the ,himalayas1 the ,coast ,range were  
born2 the earth-throes must have been   
tremendous at times2 yet ,i escaped it  
all4 ,the huge and fearful mammals of   
the third or ,tertiary period passed me 
by unharmed4 ,eruptions and cataclysms1 
the sinking of the land1 the inundations
 of the sea1 world-wide deformations of 
the earth's crust1 fire and ice and     
floods1 monsters of the deep and dragons
 of the land and the air have beset my  
course from the first1 and yet here ,i  
am1 here we all are1 and apparently none
 the worse for the appalling dangers we 
have passed through4  ,evolution thus   
makes the world over for us4 ,it shows  
us in what a complex web of vital and   
far-reaching relations we stand4 ,it    
gives us an outlook upon the past that  

is startling1 and in some ways          
forbidding1 yet one that ought to be    
stimulating and inspiring4 ,if we look  
back with a shudder we should look      
forward with a thrill4 ,if the past is  
terrible1 the future is in the same     
degree cheering and inviting4 ,if we    
came out of those lowly and groveling   
forms1 to what heights of being may we  
not be carried by the impetus that      
brought us thus far8 ,in fact1 to what  
heights has it already carried us6      
,,ii    ,that the hazards of the past1  
to many forms of life1 at least1 have   
been real and no myth1 is evident from  
the vast number of forms that have been 
cut off and become extinct2 various     
causes1 now hard to decipher1 have      
worked together to the end1 such as     
changed geographical conditions1 changes
 of climate1 affecting the food-supply1 
extreme specialization1 like that of the
 sabre-toothed tiger whose petrified    
remains have been found in various parts
 of this continent1 and who apparently  

was finally handicapped by his huge     
dental sabre4 ,probably many more       
species of animals have become extinct  
than have survived1 but none of these   
could have been in the line of man's    
descent1 else the human race would not  
have been here4 ,if the ,eocene         
progenitor of the horse1 the little     
four-toed eohippus1 had been cut off1   
would not the world have been horseless 
to-day8 ,the horse in ,america became   
extinct1 from some cause only           
conjectural1 many tens of thousands of  
years ago4 ,had the same fate befallen  
the horse in ,europe and ,asia1 it seems
 probable that our civilization would   
have been far less advanced to-day than 
it is4  ,the fate of every species of   
mammal in our time seems to have been in
 the keeping of a single form in early  
,tertiary times4 ,the end of the        
,cretaceous or chalk period saw the     
extinction of the giant reptiles both of
 sea and of land1 at the same time that 
it saw the appearance of a great many   

species of small and inconspicuous      
mammals1 among which doubtless were our 
own humble forebears4 ,extreme          
specialization in any direction may     
narrow an animal's chances of survival2 
they have but one chance in the game of 
life1 whereas an animal with a more     
generalized organization has many       
chances4 ,man is one of the most        
generalized of animals2 no special      
tools1 no special weapons--his hand many
 tools and weapons in one4 ,hence he is 
the most adaptable of animals2 all      
climes1 all foods1 all places are his2  
he is master of the land1 of the sea1 of
 the air4  ,animal life is often        
curiously interdependent4 ,i asked our  
guide in the ,adirondacks if there were 
any ravens there4 ,not nearly as many as
 there used to be1 he said1 and his     
explanation of their disappearance seems
 thoroughly scientific2 it was that the 
wolves and the panthers kept them in    
meat1 and now that these animals had    
disappeared1 the ravens had little to   

feed upon4 ,if the moose were compelled 
to graze from off the ground1 like a    
sheep or a cow1 the species would       
probably soon become extinct4 ,osborn   
thinks it probable that the huge beast  
called titanothere finally became       
extinct early in ,tertiary times owing  
to the form of its teeth1 which were of 
such a type that they could not change  
to meet a change in the flora upon which
 the creature fed4 ,of course we shall  
never know what narrow escapes our race 
had from extinction in the remote past2 
some forms have ended in a blind alley1 
like the sea-urchin and the oyster4     
,arthropoda have continued to evolve and
 have reached their high-water mark of  
intelligence in bees and ants4 ,the     
vertebrates went forward and have       
culminated in man4 ,bergson thinks that 
in the vertebrates intelligence has been
 developed at the expense of instinct1  
and that in the invertebrates instinct  
has been perfected at the expense of    
intelligence4  ,are we not compelled to 

adopt what is called the monophyletic   
hypothesis1 that is1 that our line of   
descent started from one pair1 male and 
female1 somewhere in the vast stretch of
 geologic or biologic time1 and to      
reason that1 had that pair been out of  
the race1 we should not have appeared8  
,can we narrow life to a single point1 a
 single cell1 in the past8 ,was there   
one and only one first bit of           
protoplasm8 ,if we were to say that life
 first appeared on the globe in         
,cambrian times1 just what should we    
mean8 ,that it began as a single point1 
or as many points8 ,when we say that the
 primates first appeared in ,eocene     
times1 do we mean that one single       
primate appeared then8 ,if so1 what form
 went immediately before him8 ,this is  
all a vain speculation4  ,does man      
presuppose all the vertebrate           
sub-kingdom8 ,was he safe as long as one
 vertebrate form remained8 ,are his     
forebears many1 and not one pair8 ,can  
we think of his ancestry under the image

 of a tree1 and of him as one of the    
many branches8 ,if so1 nothing but the  
destruction of the tree would have      
imperiled his appearance1 or the lopping
 off of his particular branch4 ,probably
 all such images are misleading4 ,we    
simply cannot figure to ourselves the   
tangled course of our biological        
descent4 ,if thwartings and accidents   
arid delays could have cut man off1 how 
could he have escaped8 ,we cannot think 
of man as one2 we are compelled to think
 of him as many2 and yet in all our     
experience the many come from the one1  
or the one pair4  ,how thick the field  
of animal life in the past is strewn    
with extinct forms6--as thick as the    
sidereal spaces are strewn with the     
fragments of wrecked worlds6 ,but other 
worlds and suns are spun out of the     
wrecked worlds and suns through the     
process of cosmic evolution4 ,the       
world-stuff is worked over and over4    
,extinct animal forms must have given   
rise to other1 allied forms before they 

perished1 and these to still others1 and
 so on down to our time4  ,the image of 
a tree is misleading from the fact that 
all the different branches of the animal
 kingdom1 from the protozoa up to man1  
have come along with what we call the   
higher branches1 the mammals2 the       
suckers have kept pace with the main    
stalk1 so that we have the image of a   
sheaf of branches starting from a common
 origin and all of equal length4 ,man   
has brought on his relations along with 
him4  ,there is no glamour of romance   
over that past4 ,it was all hard1 prosy1
 terrible fact4 ,the earth's crust was  
less stable than now1 the upheavals and 
subsidences and earthquakes more        
frequent1 the warring of the elements   
more fierce and incessant1 deluge and   
inundation in more rapid succession1 and
 the riot and excesses of animal life   
far beyond anything we know of4 ,and our
 line of descent was taking its chances 
amid it all4 ,the widespread blotting   
out of life at the end of ,palaeozoic   

time1 and again at the end of ,mesozoic 
times1 when myriads of forms were cut   
off1 probably from some convulsion of   
nature or some cosmic catastrophe2 and  
again during the ice age1 when the      
camel1 the llama1 the horse1 the tapir1 
the mastodon1 the elephant1 the giant   
sloth1 became extinct in ,north         
,america--how fared it with our ancestor
 during these terrible ages8 ,there is  
no sure trace of him till late ,tertiary
 times1 and it is probably not more than
 two hundred thousand years ago that he 
assumed the upright attitude and began  
to use tools4 ,probably in ,europe fifty
 thousand years ago he was living in    
caves1 clothed in skins1 contending with
 the cave bear and cave lion1 using rude
 stone implements1 and hunting the hairy
 mastodon1 etc4 ,in ,asia the           
probabilities are that he was farther on
 the road toward the dawn of history4   
,we may think of our descent in the     
historic period under the image of the  
stream1 though of a stream many times   

delayed and diverted1 even many times   
diminished by wars and plagues and      
famine1 but a stream with some sort of  
unity and continuity1 since man became  
man4 ,the stream of life is like any    
other stream in this respect4 ,divert or
 use up part of the water of a stream1  
yet what is left flows on and keeps up  
the continuity and identity of the      
stream2 dip your cup into it here1 and  
you will not get precisely the same     
water you would have got had none of it 
been diverted or used far back in its   
course--you get the water that was      
allowed to flow by4  ,had there been no 
loss of life by war and pestilence and  
accidents of various kinds1 the         
different countries would have been     
occupied by quite other men and women   
than those that fill them to-day4 ,the  
course of life in every neighborhood is 
changed by what seem like accidental    
causes1 as when a family is practically 
wiped out by some accident or dread     
disease4 ,this brings new people on the 

scene4 ,the farm or the business falls  
into other hands1 and new social        
relations spring up1 new men and women  
are brought together or the old ones    
driven apart1 marriage is hastened or   
retarded1 opportunities for family life 
are made or unmade1 and fewer children1 
or more children1 as the case may be1   
are the result4 ,the issue of some      
battle hundreds or thousands of years   
ago may have played a part in your life 
and mine to-day--other races1 other     
individuals of the race1 would have been
 thrown together had the issue been     
different1 and other families started1  
so that some one else would have been   
here in our stead4  ,but the question of
 hazard to the race of man in geologic  
time is quite a different one4 ,here our
 fate seems to hang by a single         
thread--a golden thread1 we may call it1
 but1 in that terrible maze of clashing 
forces and devouring forms of the vast  
geologic periods1 how liable to be      
broken6 ,it is not now a question of the

 continuity of a stream1 but of the     
continuity of a single evolutionary     
process1 or1 as ,haeckel says1 the      
continuity of the morphological chain   
which stretches from the lemurs up      
through tailed and tailless anthropoid  
apes to man4 ,if the evolutionary       
impulse had been checked or extinguished
 in the lemur--that small apelike animal
 that went before the true ape1 the     
fossil remains of which have been found 
on this continent and the survivals of  
which are now found in                  
,madagascar--would man have appeared8   
,again1 if the race of lemurs developed 
from a single pair1 how precarious seems
 our fate6 ,in fact1 if any of the      
transitional forms between species can  
be reduced to a single pair--as the     
forms that connect the reptiles with the
 mammals--our fate would seem to be in  
the keeping of these forms4 ,over this  
single frail bridge which escaped the   
floods and the tornadoes and the        
earthquakes of those terrible ages we   

must have passed4 ,what risky business  
it all seems6 ,was it luck or law that  
favored us8 ,doubtless1 if we could     
penetrate the mystery1 we should see    
that there was no chance or risk in the 
matter4 ,we cannot go very far in       
solving these great fundamental         
questions by applying to them the tests 
of our own experience1 ,numberless      
specific forms become extinct1 but the  
impulse that begat the form does not die
 out4 ,thus1 all the giant reptiles died
 out--the dinosaurs1 the mesosaurs--but 
the reptilian impulse still survives4   
,how many types of invertebrates have   
perished6 but the invertebrate impulse  
still goes on4 ,how many species of     
mammals have been cut off6 yet the      
mammal impulse has steadily gone        
forward4 ,these things suggest the wave 
that moves on but leaves the water      
behind4 ,the vertebrate impulse began in
 wormlike forms1 in the old ,palaeozoic 
seas1 and stopped not till it culminated
 in man4 ,this impulse has left many    

forms behind it2 but has this impulse   
itself ever been endangered8 ,if one    
looks at the matter thus in an abstract 
instead of a concrete way1 the problem  
of our descent becomes easier4  ,when we
 look at the evolution of life on a     
grand scale1 nature seems to feel her   
way1 like a blind man1 groping1         
hesitating1 trying this road and then   
that4 ,in some cases the line of        
evolution seems to end in a cul de sac  
beyond which no progress is possible4   
,the forms thus cornered soon become    
extinct4 ,the mystery1 the unaccountable
 thing1 is the appearance of new        
characters4 ,the slow modification or   
transformation of an existing character 
may often be traced2 natural selection1 
or the struggle for existence1 takes it 
in hand and adapts and perpetuates it1  
or else eliminates it4 ,but the origin  
of certain new parts or characters--that
 is the secret of the evolutionary      
process4 ,thus there was a time when no 
animal had horns2 then horns appeared4  

,in the great quadruped known as        
titanothere1 says ,osborn1 rudiments of 
horns first arise independently at      
certain definite parts of the skull2    
they arise at first alike in both sexes1
 or asexually2 then they become sexual1 
or chiefly characteristic of males2 then
 they rapidly evolve in the males while 
being arrested in development in the    
females2 finally1 they become in some of
 the animals dominant characteristics to
 which all others bend4 ,nature seems to
 throw out these new characters and then
 lets them take their chances in the    
clash of forces and tendencies that go  
on in the arena of life4 ,if they serve 
a purpose or are an advantage1 they     
remain2 if not1 they drop out4 ,nature  
feels her way4 ,the horns proved of less
 advantage to the females than to the   
males2 they seem a part of the plus or  
overflow of the male principle1 like the
 beard in man--the badge of masculinity4
 ,the titanothere is traceable back to a
 hornless animal the size of a sheep1   

and it ended in a horned quadruped      
nearly as large as an elephant4 ,it     
flourished in ,wyoming in early         
,tertiary times4 ,nature did not seem to
 know what to do with horns when she    
first got them4 ,she played with them   
like a child with a new toy4 ,thus she  
gave two pairs to several species of    
mammals1 one pair on the nose and one   
pair on the top of the skull--certainly 
an embarrassment of weapons4  ,the first
 horns appear to have been crude1 heavy1
 uncouth1 but long before we reach our  
own geologic era they appear in various 
species of quadrupeds1 and become       
graceful and ornamental4 ,how beautiful 
they are in many of the ,african        
antelope tribe6 ,nature's workmanship   
nearly always improves with time1 like  
that of man's1 and sooner or later takes
 on an ornamental phase4  ,the early    
uncouth1 bizarre forms seem to be the   
result of the excess or surplus of life4
 ,life in remote biologic times was rank
 and riotous1 as it is now1 in a        

measure1 in tropical lands4 ,one reason 
may be that the climate of the globe    
during the middle period1 and well into 
the third period1 appears to have been  
of a tropical character4 ,the climatic  
and seasonal divisions were not at all  
pronounced1 and both animal and         
vegetable life took on gigantic and     
grotesque forms4 ,in the ugliness of    
alligator and rhinoceros and            
hippopotamus of our day we get some hint
 of what early reptilian and mammalian  
life was like4  ,that ,nature should    
have turned out better and better       
handiwork as the ages passed2 that she  
either should have improved upon every  
model or else discarded it2 that she    
should have progressed from the bird1   
half-dragon1 to the sweet songsters of  
our day and to the superb forms of the  
air that we know2 that evolution should 
have entered upon a refining and        
spiritualizing phase1 developing larger 
brains and smaller bodies1 is a very    
significant fact1 and one quite beyond  

the range of the mechanistic conception 
of life4  ,our own immediate line of    
descent leads down through the minor    
forms of ,tertiary and ,mesozoic        
times--forms that probably skulked and  
dodged about amid the terrible and      
gigantic creatures of those ages as the 
small game of to-day hide and flee from 
the presence of their arch-enemy1 man2  
and that the frail line upon which the  
fate of the human race hung should not  
have been severed during the wild       
turmoil of those ages is1 to me1 a      
source of perpetual wonder4     ,,iii   
,the hazards of the future of the race  
must be quite different from those ,i   
have been considering4 ,they are the    
hazards incident to an exceptional being
 upon this earth--a being that takes his
 fate in his own hands in a sense that  
no other creature does4  ,man has       
partaken of the fruit of the ,tree of   
,good and ,evil1 which all the lower    
orders have escaped4 ,he knows1 and     
knows that he knows4 ,will this         

knowledge1 through the opposition in    
which it places him to elemental nature 
and the vast system of artificial things
 with which it has enabled him to       
surround himself1 cut short his history 
upon this planet8 ,will ,nature in the  
end be avenged for the secrets he has   
forced from her8 ,his civilization has  
doubtless made him the victim of        
diseases to which the lower orders1 and 
even savage man1 are strangers4 ,will   
not these diseases increase as his life 
becomes more and more complex and       
artificial8 ,will he go on extending his
 mastery over ,nature and refining or   
suppressing his natural appetites till  
his original hold upon life is fatally  
enfeebled8  ,it seems as though science 
ought to save man and prolong his stay  
on this planet1--it ought to bring him  
natural salvation1 as his religion      
promises him supernatural salvation4    
,but of course1 man's fate is bound up  
with the fate of the planet and of the  
biological tree of which he is one of   

the shoots4 ,biology is rooted in       
geology4 ,the higher forms of life did  
not arbitrarily appear1 they flowed out 
of conditions that were long in         
maturing2 they flowered in season1 and  
the flower will fall in season4 ,man    
could not have appeared earlier than he 
did1 nor later than he did2 he came out 
of what went before1 and he will go out 
with what comes after4 ,his coming was  
natural1 and his going will be natural4 
,his period had a beginning1 and it will
 have an end4 ,natural philosophy leads 
one to affirm this2 but of time measured
 by human history he may yet have a     
lease of tens of thousands of years4    
,the hazard of the future is a question 
of both astronomy and geology4 ,that    
there are cosmic dangers1 though        
infinitely remote1 every astronomer     
knows4 ,that there are collisions       
between heavenly bodies is an           
indubitable fact1 and if collisions do  
happen to any1 allow time enough and    
they must happen to all4 ,that there are

 geologic dangers through the shifting  
and crumpling of the earth's crust1     
every geologist knows1 though probably  
none that could wipe out the whole race 
of man4 ,the biologic dangers of the    
past we have outlived--the dangers that 
must have beset a single line of descent
 amid the carnival of power and the     
ferocity of the monster reptiles of     
,mesozoic times1 and the wholesale      
extinction of species that occurred in  
different geologic periods4  ,nothing   
but a cosmic catastrophe1 involving the 
fate of the whole earth1 could now      
exterminate the human race4 ,it is      
highly improbable that this will ever   
happen4 ,the race of man will go out    
from a slow1 insensible failure1 through
 the aging of the planet1 of the        
conditions of life that brought man     
here4 ,the evolutionary process upon a  
cooling world must1 after the elapse of 
a vast period of time1 lose its impetus 
and cease4       ,,xiii  ,,the ,,gospel 
,,of ,,nature  ,i      ,the other day a 

clergyman who described himself as a    
preacher of the gospel of ,christ wrote1
 asking me to come and talk to his      
people on the gospel of ,nature4 ,the   
request set me to thinking whether or   
not ,nature has any gospel in the sense 
the clergyman had in mind1 any message  
that is likely to be specially          
comforting to the average orthodox      
religious person4 ,i suppose the parson 
wished me to tell his flock what ,i had 
found in ,nature that was a strength or 
a solace to myself4  ,what had all my   
many years of journeyings to ,nature    
yielded me that would supplement or     
reinforce the gospel he was preaching8  
,had the birds taught me any valuable   
lessons8 ,had the four-footed beasts8   
,had the insects8 ,had the flowers1 the 
trees1 the soil1 the coming and the     
going of the seasons8 ,had ,i really    
found sermons in stones1 books in       
running brooks and good in everything8  
,had the lilies of the field1 that      
neither toil nor spin1 and yet are more 

royally clad than ,solomon in all his   
glory1 helped me in any way to clothe   
myself with humility1 with justice1 with
 truthfulness8  ,it is not easy for one 
to say just what he owes to all these   
things4 ,natural influences work        
indirectly as well as directly2 they    
work upon the subconscious1 as well as  
upon the conscious1 self4 ,that ,i am a 
saner1 healthier1 more contented man1   
with truer standards of life1 for all my
 loiterings in the fields and woods1 ,i 
am fully convinced4  ,that ,i am less   
social1 less interested in my neighbors 
and in the body politic1 more inclined  
to shirk civic and social               
responsibilities and to stop my ears    
against the brawling of the reformers1  
is perhaps equally true4  ,one thing is 
certain1 in a hygienic way ,i owe much  
to my excursions to ,nature4 ,they have 
helped to clothe me with health1 if not 
with humility2 they have helped sharpen 
and attune all my senses2 they have kept
 my eyes in such good trim that they    

have not failed me for one moment during
 all the seventy-five years ,i have had 
them2 they have made my sense of smell  
so keen that ,i have much pleasure in   
the wild1 open-air perfumes1 especially 
in the spring--the delicate breath of   
the blooming elms and maples and        
willows1 the breath of the woods1 of the
 pastures1 of the shore4 ,this keen1    
healthy sense of smell has made me abhor
 tobacco and flee from close rooms1 and 
put the stench of cities behind me4 ,i  
fancy that this whole world of wild1    
natural perfumes is lost to the         
tobacco-user and to the city- dweller4  
,senses trained in the open air are in  
tune with open-air objects2 they are    
quick1 delicate1 and discriminating4    
,when ,i go to town1 my ear suffers as  
well as my nose3 the impact of the city 
upon my senses is hard and dissonant2   
the ear is stunned1 the nose is         
outraged1 and the eye is confused4 ,when
 ,i come back1 ,i go to ,nature to be   
soothed and healed1 and to have my      

senses put in tune once more4 ,i know   
that1 as a rule1 country or farming folk
 are not remarkable for the delicacy of 
their senses1 but this is owing mainly  
to the benumbing and brutalizing effect 
of continued hard labor4 ,it is their   
minds more than their bodies that       
suffer4  ,when ,i have dwelt in cities  
the country was always near by1 and ,i  
used to get a bite of country soil at   
least once a week to keep my system     
normal4  ,emerson says that the day does
 not seem wholly profane in which we    
have given heed to some natural object4 
,if ,emerson had stopped to qualify his 
remark1 he would have added1 if we give 
heed to it in the right spirit1 if we   
give heed to it as a nature-lover and   
truth-seeker4 ,nature love as ,emerson  
knew it1 and as ,wordsworth knew it1 and
 as any of the choicer spirits of our   
time have known it1 has distinctly a    
religious value4 ,it does not come to a 
man or a woman who is wholly absorbed in
 selfish or worldly or material ends4   

,except ye become in a measure as little
 children1 ye cannot enter the kingdom  
of ,nature--as ,audubon entered it1 as  
,thoreau entered it1 as ,bryant and     
,amiel entered it1 and as all those     
enter it who make it a resource in their
 lives and an instrument of their       
culture4 ,the forms and creeds of       
religion change1 but the sentiment of   
religion--the wonder and reverence and  
love we feel in the presence of the     
inscrutable universe--persists4 ,indeed1
 these seem to be renewing their life   
to-day in this growing love for all     
natural objects and in this increasing  
tenderness toward all forms of life4 ,if
 we do not go to church so much as did  
our fathers1 we go to the woods much    
more1 and are much more inclined to make
 a temple of them than they were4  ,we  
now use the word ,nature very much as   
our fathers used the word ,god1 and1 ,i 
suppose1 back of it all we mean the     
power that is everywhere present and    
active1 and in whose lap the visible    

universe is held and nourished4 ,it is a
 power that we can see and touch and    
hear1 and realize every moment of our   
lives how absolutely we are dependent   
upon it4 ,there are no atheists or      
skeptics in regard to this power4 ,all  
men see how literally we are its        
children1 and all men learn how swift   
and sure is the penalty of disobedience 
to its commands4  ,our associations with
 ,nature vulgarize it and rob it of its 
divinity4 ,when we come to see that the 
celestial and the terrestrial are one1  
that time and eternity are one1 that    
mind and matter are one1 that death and 
life are one1 that there is and can be  
nothing not inherent in ,nature1 then we
 no longer look for or expect a far-off1
 unknown ,god4  ,nature teaches more    
than she preaches4 ,there are no sermons
 in stones4 ,it is easier to get a spark
 out of a stone than a moral4 ,even when
 it contains a fossil1 it teaches       
history rather than morals4 ,it comes   
down from the fore-world an undigested  

bit that has resisted the tooth and maw 
of time1 and can tell you many things if
 you have the eye to read them4 ,the    
soil upon which it lies or in which it  
is imbedded was rock1 too1 back in      
geologic time1 but the mill that ground 
it up passed the fragment of stone      
through without entirely reducing it4   
,very likely it is made up of the minute
 remains of innumerable tiny creatures  
that lived and died in the ancient seas4
 ,very likely it was torn from its      
parent rock and brought to the place    
where it now lies by the great ice-flood
 that many tens of thousands of years   
ago crept slowly but irresistibly down  
out of the ,north over the greater part 
of all the northern continents4  ,but   
all this appeals to the intellect1 and  
contains no lesson for the moral nature4
 ,if we are to find sermons in stones1  
we are to look for them in the relations
 of the stones to other things--when    
they are out of place1 when they press  
down the grass or the flowers1 or impede

 the plow1 or dull the scythe1 or usurp 
the soil1 or shelter vermin1 as do old  
institutions and old usages that have   
had their day4 ,a stone that is much    
knocked about gets its sharp angles worn
 off1 as do men4 ,a rolling stone       
gathers no moss1 which is not bad for   
the stone1 as moss hastens decay4       
,killing two birds with one stone is a  
bad saying1 because it reminds boys to  
stone the birds1 which is bad for both  
boys and birds4 ,but ,people who live in
 glass houses should not throw stones is
 on the right side of the account1 as it
 discourages stone-throwing and reminds 
us that we are no better than our       
neighbors4  ,the lesson in running      
brooks is that motion is a great        
purifier and health-producer4 ,when the 
brook ceases to run1 it soon stagnates4 
,it keeps in touch with the great vital 
currents when it is in motion1 and      
unites with other brooks to help make   
the river4 ,in motion it soon leaves all
 mud and sediment behind4 ,do not proper

 work and the exercise of will power    
have the same effect upon our lives8    
,the other day in my walk ,i came upon a
 sap-bucket that had been left standing 
by the maple tree all the spring and    
summer4 ,what a bucketful of corruption 
was that1 a mixture of sap and rainwater
 that had rotted1 and smelled to heaven4
 ,mice and birds and insects had been   
drowned in it1 and added to its unsavory
 character4 ,it was a bit of ,nature cut
 off from the vitalizing and purifying  
chem- istry of the whole4 ,with what    
satisfaction ,i emptied it upon the     
ground while ,i held my nose and saw it 
filter into the turf1 where ,i knew it  
was dying to go and where ,i knew every 
particle of the reeking1 fetid fluid    
would soon be made sweet and wholesome  
again by the chemistry of the soil6     
,,ii    ,i am not always in sympathy    
with nature-study as pursued in the     
schools1 as if this kingdom could be    
carried by assault4 ,such study is too  
cold1 too special1 too mechanical2 it is

 likely to rub the bloom off ,nature4   
,it lacks soul and emotion2 it misses   
the accessories of the open air and its 
exhilarations1 the sky1 the clouds1 the 
landscape1 and the currents of life that
 pulse everywhere4  ,i myself have never
 made a dead set at studying ,nature    
with note-book and field-glass in hand4 
,i have rather visited with her4 ,we    
have walked together or sat down        
together1 and our intimacy grows with   
the seasons4 ,what ,i have learned about
 her ways ,i have learned easily1 almost
 unconsciously1 while fishing or camping
 or idling about4 ,my desultory habits  
have their disadvantages1 no doubt1 but 
they have their advantages also4 ,a too 
strenuous pursuit defeats itself4 ,in   
the fields and woods more than anywhere 
else all things come to those who wait1 
because all things are on the move1 and 
are sure sooner or later to come your   
way4  ,to absorb a thing is better than 
to learn it1 and we absorb what we      
enjoy4 ,we learn things at school1 we   

absorb them in the fields and woods and 
on the farm4 ,when we look upon ,nature 
with fondness and appreciation she meets
 us halfway and takes a deeper hold upon
 us than when studiously conned4 ,hence 
,i say the way of knowledge of ,nature  
is the way of love and enjoyment1 and is
 more surely found in the open air than 
in the school-room or the laboratory4   
,the other day ,i saw a lot of college  
girls dissecting cats and making        
diagrams of the circulation and         
muscle-attachments1 and ,i thought it   
pretty poor business unless the girls   
were taking a course in comparative     
anatomy with a view to some occupation  
in life4 ,what is the moral and         
intellectual value of this kind of      
knowledge to those girls8 ,biology is1  
no doubt1 a great science in the hands  
of great men1 but it is not for all4 ,i 
myself have got along very well without 
it4 ,i am sure ,i can learn more of what
 ,i want to know from a kitten on my    
knee than from the carcass of a cat in  

the laboratory4 ,darwin spent eight     
years dissecting barnacles2 but he was  
,darwin1 and did not stop at barnacles1 
as these college girls are pretty sure  
to stop at cats4 ,he dissected and put  
together again in his mental laboratory 
the whole system of animal life1 and the
 upshot of his work was a tremendous    
gain to our understanding of the        
universe4  ,i would rather see the girls
 in the fields and woods studying and   
enjoying living nature1 training their  
eyes to see correctly and their hearts  
to respond intelligently4 ,what is      
knowledge without enjoyment1 without    
love8 ,it is sympathy1 appreciation1    
emotional experience1 which refine and  
elevate and breathe into exact knowledge
 the breath of life4 ,my own interest is
 in living nature as it moves and       
flourishes about me winter and summer4  
,i know it is one thing to go forth as a
 nature-lover1 and quite another to go  
forth in a spirit of cold1 calculating1 
exact science4 ,i call myself a         

nature-lover and not a scientific       
naturalist4 ,all that science has to    
tell me is welcome1 is1 indeed1 eagerly 
sought for4 ,i must know as well as     
feel4 ,i am not merely contented1 like  
,wordsworth's poet1 to enjoy what others
 understand4 ,i must understand also2   
but above all things ,i must enjoy4 ,how
 much of my enjoyment springs from my   
knowledge ,i do not know4 ,the joy of   
knowing is very great2 the delight of   
picking up the threads of meaning here  
and there1 and following them through   
the maze of confusing facts1 ,i know    
well4 ,when ,i hear the woodpecker      
drumming on a dry limb in spring or the 
grouse drumming in the woods1 and know  
what it is all for1 why1 that knowledge1
 ,i suppose1 is part of my enjoyment4   
,the other part is the associations that
 those sounds call up as voicing the    
arrival of spring3 they are the drums   
that lead the joyous procession4  ,to   
enjoy understandingly1 that1 ,i fancy1  
is the great thing to be desired4 ,when 

,i see the large ichneumon-fly1         
,thalessa1 making a loop over her back  
with her long ovipositor and drilling a 
hole in the trunk of a tree1 ,i do not  
fully appreciate the spectacle till ,i  
know she is feeling for the burrow of a 
tree-borer1 ,tremex1 upon the larvae of 
which her own young feed4 ,she must     
survey her territory like an oil-digger 
and calculate where she is likely to    
strike oil1 which in her case is the    
burrow of her host ,tremex4 ,there is a 
vast series of facts in natural history 
like this that are of little interest   
until we understand them4 ,they are like
 the outside of a book which may attract
 us1 but which can mean little to us    
until we have opened and perused its    
pages4  ,the nature-lover is not looking
 for mere facts1 but for meanings1 for  
something he can translate into the     
terms of his own life4 ,he wants facts1 
but significant facts--luminous facts   
that throw light upon the ways of       
animate and inanimate nature4 ,a bird   

picking up crumbs from my window-sill   
does not mean much to me4 ,it is a      
pleasing sight and touches a tender     
cord1 but it does not add much to my    
knowledge of bird-life4 ,but when ,i see
 a bird pecking and fluttering angrily  
at my window-pane1 as ,i now and then do
 in spring1 apparently under violent    
pressure to get in1 ,i am witnessing a  
significant comedy in bird-life1 one    
that illustrates the limits of animal   
instinct4 ,the bird takes its own       
reflected image in the glass for a hated
 rival1 and is bent on demolishing it4  
,let the assaulting bird get a glimpse  
of the inside of the empty room through 
a broken pane1 and it is none the wiser2
 it returns to the assault as vigorously
 as ever4  ,the fossils in the rocks did
 not mean much to the earlier           
geologists4 ,they looked upon them as   
freaks of ,nature1 whims of the creative
 energy1 or vestiges of ,noah's flood4  
,you see they were blinded by the       
preconceived notions of the six-day     

theory of creation4     ,,iii    ,i do  
not know that the bird has taught me any
 valuable lesson4 ,indeed1 ,i do not go 
to ,nature to be taught4 ,i go for      
enjoyment and companionship4 ,i go to   
bathe in her as in a sea2 ,i go to give 
my eyes and ears and all my senses a    
free1 clean field and to tone up my     
spirits by her primal sanities4 ,if the 
bird has not preached to me1 it has     
added to the resources of my life1 it   
has widened the field of my interests1  
it has afforded me another beautiful    
object to love1 and has helped make me  
feel more at home in this world4 ,to    
take the birds out of my life would be  
like lopping off so many branches from  
the tree3 there is so much less surface 
of leafage to absorb the sunlight and   
bring my spirits in contact with the    
vital currents4 ,we cannot pursue any   
natural study with love and enthusiasm  
without the object of it becoming a part
 of our lives4 ,the birds1 the flowers1 
the trees1 the rocks1 all become linked 

with our lives and hold the key to our  
thoughts and emotions4  ,not till the   
bird becomes a part of your life can its
 coming and its going mean much to you4 
,and it becomes a part of your life when
 you have taken heed of it with interest
 and affection1 when you have           
established associations with it1 when  
it voices the spring or the summer to   
you1 when it calls up the spirit of the 
woods or the fields or the shore4 ,when 
year after year you have heard the veery
 in the beech and birch woods along the 
trout streams1 or the wood thrush ,may  
after ,may in the groves where you have 
walked or sat1 and the bobolink summer  
after summer in the home meadows1 or the
 vesper sparrow in the upland pastures  
where you have loitered as a boy or     
mused as a man1 these birds will really 
be woven into the texture of your life4 
,what lessons the birds have taught me  
,i cannot recall2 what a joy they have  
been to me ,i know well4 ,in a new      
place1 amid strange scenes1 theirs are  

the voices and the faces of old friends4
 ,in ,bermuda the bluebirds and the     
catbirds and the cardinals seemed to    
make ,american territory of it4 ,our    
birds had annexed the island despite the
 ,britishers4  ,for many years ,i have  
in late ,april seen the red-poll        
warbler1 perhaps for only a single day1 
flitting about as ,i walked or worked4  
,it is usually my first warbler1 and my 
associations with it are very pleasing4 
,but ,i really did not know how pleasing
 until1 one ,march day1 when ,i was     
convalescing from a serious illness in  
one of our sea-coast towns1 ,i chanced  
to spy the little traveler in a vacant  
lot along the street1 now upon the      
ground1 now upon a bush1 nervous and    
hurried as usual1 uttering its sharp    
chip1 and showing the white in its tail4
 ,the sight gave me a real home feeling4
 ,it did me more good than the medicine 
,i was taking4 ,it instantly made a     
living link with many past springs4     
,anything that calls up a happy past1   

how it warms the present6 ,there1 too1  
that same day ,i saw my first meadowlark
 of the season in a vacant lot1 flashing
 out the white quills in her tail1 and  
walking over the turf in the old1 erect1
 alert manner4 ,the sight was as good as
 a letter from home1 and better3 it had 
a flavor of the wild and of my boyhood  
days on the old farm that no letter     
could ever have4  ,the spring birds     
always awaken a thrill wherever ,i am4  
,the first bobolink ,i hear flying over 
northward and bursting out in song now  
and then1 full of anticipation of those 
broad meadows where he will soon be with
 his mate2 or the first swallow         
twittering joyously overhead1 borne on a
 warm southern breeze2 or the first     
high-hole sounding out his long1        
iterated call from the orchard or       
field--how all these things send a wave 
of emotion over me6  ,pleasures of      
another kind are to find a new bird1 and
 to see an old bird in a new place1 as  
,i did recently in the old sugar-bush   

where ,i used to help gather and boil   
sap as a boy4 ,it was the logcock1 or   
pileated woodpecker1 a rare bird        
anywhere1 and one ,i had never seen     
before on the old farm4 ,i heard his    
loud cackle in a maple tree1 saw him    
flit from branch to branch for a few    
moments1 and then launch out and fly    
toward a distant wood4 ,but he left an  
impression with me that ,i should be    
sorry to have missed4  ,nature          
stimulates our aesthetic and our        
intellectual life and to a certain      
extent our religious emotions1 but ,i   
fear we cannot find much support for our
 ethical system in the ways of wild     
,nature4 ,i know our artist naturalist1 
,ernest ,thompson ,seton1 claims to find
 what we may call the biological value  
of the ,ten ,commandments in the lives  
of the wild animals2 but ,i cannot make 
his reasoning hold water1 at least not  
much of it4 ,of course the ,ten         
,commandments are not arbitrary laws4   
,they are largely founded upon the needs

 of the social organism2 but whether    
they have the same foundation in the    
needs of animal life apart from man1    
apart from the world of moral           
obligation1 is another question4 ,the   
animals are neither moral nor immoral3  
they are unmoral2 their needs are all   
physical4 ,it is true that the command  
against murder is pretty well kept by   
the higher animals4 ,they rarely kill   
their own kind3 hawks do not prey upon  
hawks1 nor foxes prey upon foxes1 nor   
weasels upon weasels2 but lower down    
this does not hold4 ,trout eat trout1   
and pickerel eat pickerel1 and among the
 insects young spiders eat one another1 
and the female spider eats her mate1 if 
she can get him4 ,there is but little1  
if any1 neighborly love among even the  
higher animals4 ,they treat one another 
as rivals1 or associate for mutual      
protection4 ,one cow will lick and comb 
another in the most affectionate manner1
 and the next moment savagely gore her4 
,hate and cruelty for the most part rule

 in the animal world4 ,a few of the     
higher animals are monogamous1 but by   
far the greater number of species are   
polygamous or promiscuous4 ,there is no 
mating or pairing in the great bovine   
tribe1 and none among the rodents that  
,i know of1 or among the bear family1 or
 the cat family1 or among the seals4    
,when we come to the birds1 we find     
mating1 and occasional pairing for life1
 as with the ostrich and perhaps the    
eagle4  ,as for the rights of property  
among the animals1 ,i do not see how we 
can know just how far those rights are  
respected among individuals of the same 
species4 ,we know that bees will rob    
bees1 and that ants will rob ants2 but  
whether or not one chipmunk or one      
flying squirrel or one wood mouse will  
plunder the stores of another ,i do not 
know4 ,probably not1 as the owner of    
such stores is usually on hand to       
protect them4 ,moreover1 these provident
 little creatures all lay up stores in  
the autumn1 before the season of        

scarcity sets in1 and so have no need to
 plunder one another4 ,in case the      
stores of one squirrel were destroyed by
 some means1 and it were able to        
dispossess another of its hoard1 would  
it not in that case be a survival of the
 fittest1 and so conducive to the       
well-being of the race of squirrels8  ,i
 have never known any of our wild birds 
to steal the nesting-material of another
 bird of the same kind1 but ,i have     
known birds to try to carry off the     
material belonging to other species4    
,but usually the rule of might is the   
rule of right among the animals4 ,as to 
most of the other commandments1--of     
coveting1 of bearing false witness1 of  
honoring the father and the mother1 and 
so forth1--how can these apply to the   
animals or have any biological value to 
them8 ,parental obedience among them is 
not a very definite thing4 ,there is    
neither obedience nor disobedience1     
because there are no commands4 ,the     
alarm-cries of the parents are quickly  

understood by the young1 and their      
actions imitated in the presence of     
danger1 all of which of course has a    
biological value4  ,the instances which 
,mr4 ,seton cites of animals fleeing to 
man for protection from their enemies   
prove to my mind only how the greater   
fear drives out the lesser4 ,the hotly  
pursued animal sees a possible cover in 
a group of men and horses or in an      
unoccupied house1 and rushes there to   
hide4 ,what else could the act mean8 ,so
 a hunted deer or sheep will leap from a
 precipice which1 under ordinary        
circumstances1 it would avoid4 ,so would
 a man4 ,fear makes bold in such cases4 
,i certainly have found good in         
everything1--in all natural processes   
and products1--not the good of the      
,sunday-school books1 but the good of   
natural law and order1 the good of that 
system of things out of which we came   
and which is the source of our health   
and strength4 ,it is good that fire     
should burn1 even if it consumes your   

house2 it is good that force should     
crush1 even if it crushes you2 it is    
good that rain should fall1 even if it  
destroys your crops or floods your land4
 ,plagues and pestilences attest the    
constancy of natural law4 ,they set us  
to cleaning our streets and houses and  
to readjusting our relations to outward 
nature4 ,only in a live universe could  
disease and death prevail4 ,death is a  
phase of life1 a redistributing of the  
type4 ,decay is another kind of growth4 
,yes1 good in everything1 because law in
 everything1 truth in everything1 the   
sequence of cause and effect in         
everything1 and it may all be good to me
 if on the right principles ,i relate my
 life to it4 ,i can make the heat and   
the cold serve me1 the winds and the    
floods1 gravity and all the chemical and
 dynamical forces1 serve me1 if ,i take 
hold of them by the right handle4 ,the  
bad in things arises from our abuse or  
misuse of them or from our wrong        
relations to them4 ,a thing is good or  

bad according as it stands related to my
 constitution4 ,we say the order of     
nature is rational2 but is it not       
because our reason is the outcome of    
that order8 ,our well-being consists in 
learning it and in adjusting our lives  
to it4 ,when we cross it or seek to     
contravene it1 we are destroyed4 ,but   
,nature in her universal procedures is  
not rational1 as ,i am rational when ,i 
weed my garden1 prune my trees1 select  
my seed or my stock1 or arm myself with 
tools or weapons4 ,in such matters ,i   
take a short cut to that which ,nature  
reaches by a slow1 roundabout1 and      
wasteful process4 ,how does she weed her
 garden8 ,by the survival of the        
fittest4 ,how does she select her       
breeding-stock8 ,by the law of battle2  
the strongest rules4 ,hers1 ,i repeat1  
is a slow and wasteful process4 ,she    
fertilizes the soil by plowing in the   
crop4 ,she cannot take a short cut4 ,she
 assorts and arranges her goods by the  
law of the winds and the tides4 ,she    

builds up with one hand and pulls down  
with the other4 ,man changes the        
conditions to suit the things4 ,nature  
changes the things to suit the          
conditions4 ,she adapts the plant or the
 animal to its environment4 ,she does   
not drain her marshes2 she fills them   
up4 ,hers is the larger reason--the     
reason of the ,all4 ,man's reason       
introduces a new method2 it cuts across1
 modifies1 or abridges the order of     
,nature4 ,i do not see design in ,nature
 in the old ideological sense2 but ,i   
see everything working to its own proper
 end1 and that end is foretold in the   
means4 ,things are not designed2 things 
are begotten4 ,it is as if the final    
plan of a man's house1 after he had     
begun to build it1 should be determined 
by the winds and the rains and the shape
 of the ground upon which it stands4    
,the eye is begotten by those vibrations
 in the ether called light1 the ear by  
those vibrations in the air called      
sound1 the sense of smell by those      

emanations called odors4 ,there are     
probably other vibrations and emanations
 that we have no senses for because our 
well-being does not demand them4  ,we   
think it reasonable that a stone should 
fall and that smoke should rise because 
we have never known either of them to do
 the contrary4 ,we think it reasonable  
that fire should burn and that frost    
should freeze1 because this accords with
 universal experience4 ,thus1 there is a
 large order of facts that are          
reasonable because they are invariable3 
the same effect always follows the same 
cause4 ,our reason is developed and     
disciplined by observing the order of   
,nature2 and yet human rationality is of
 another order from the rationality of  
,nature4 ,man learns from ,nature how to
 master and control her4 ,he turns her  
currents into new channels2 he spurs her
 in directions of his own4 ,nature has  
no economic or scientific rationality4  
,she progresses by the method of trial  
and error4 ,her advance is symbolized by

 that of the child learning to walk4    
,she experiments endlessly4 ,evolution  
has worked all around the horizon4 ,in  
feeling her way to man she has produced 
thousands of other forms of life4 ,the  
globe is peopled as it is because the   
creative energy was blind and did not at
 once find the single straight road to  
man4 ,had the law of variation worked   
only in one direction1 man might have   
found himself the sole occupant of the  
universe4 ,behold the varieties of      
trees1 of shrubs1 of grasses1 of birds1 
of insects1 because ,nature does not    
work as man does1 with an eye single to 
one particular end4 ,she scatters1 she  
sows her seed upon the wind1 she commits
 her germs to the waves and the floods4 
,nature is indifferent to waste1 because
 what goes out of one pocket goes into  
another4 ,she is indifferent to failure1
 because failure on one line means      
success on some other4     ,,iv    ,but 
,i am not preaching much of a gospel1 am
 ,i8 ,only the gospel of contentment1 of

 appreciation1 of heeding simple near-by
 things--a gospel the burden of which   
still is love1 but love that goes hand  
in hand with understanding4  ,there is  
so much in ,nature that is lovely and   
lovable1 and so much that gives us      
pause4 ,but here it is1 and here we are1
 and we must make the most of it4 ,if   
the ways of the ,eternal as revealed in 
his works are past finding out1 we must 
still unflinchingly face what our reason
 reveals to us4 ,red in tooth and claw4 
,nature does not preach2 she enforces1  
she executes4 ,all her answers are yea1 
yea1 or nay1 nay4 ,of the virtues and   
beatitudes of which the gospel of       
,christ makes so much--meekness1        
forgiveness1 self-denial1 charity1 love1
 holiness--she knows nothing4 ,put      
yourself in her way1 and she crushes    
you2 she burns you1 freezes you1 stings 
you1 bites you1 or devours you4  ,yet ,i
 would not say that the study of ,nature
 did not favor meekness or sobriety or  
gentleness or forgiveness or charity1   

because the great ,nature students and  
prophets1 like ,darwin1 would rise up   
and confound me4 ,certainly it favors   
seriousness1 truthfulness1 and          
simplicity of life2 or1 are only the    
serious and single-minded drawn to the  
study of ,nature8 ,i doubt very much if 
it favors devoutness or holiness1 as    
those qualities are inculcated by the   
church1 or any form of religious        
enthusiasm4 ,devoutness and holiness    
come of an attitude toward the universe 
that is in many ways incompatible with  
that implied by the pursuit of natural  
science4 ,the joy of the ,nature student
 like ,darwin or any great naturalist is
 to know1 to find out the reason of     
things and the meaning of things1 to    
trace the footsteps of the creative     
energy2 while the religious devotee is  
intent only upon losing himself in      
infinite being4 ,true1 there have been  
devout naturalists and men of science2  
but their devoutness did not date from  
their ,nature studies1 but from their   

training1 or from the times in which    
they lived4 ,theology and science1 it   
must be said1 will not mingle much      
better than oil and water1 and your     
devout scientist and devout ,nature     
student lives in two separate           
compartments of his being at different  
times4 ,intercourse with ,nature--,i    
mean intellectual intercourse1 not      
merely the emotional intercourse of the 
sailor or explorer or farmer--tends to  
beget a habit of mind the farthest      
possible removed from the myth-making1  
the vision-seeing1 the voice-hearing    
habit and temper4 ,in all matters       
relating to the visible1 concrete       
universe it substitutes broad daylight  
for twilight2 it supplants fear with    
curiosity2 it overthrows superstition   
with fact2 it blights credulity with the
 frost of skepticism4 ,i say frost of   
skepticism advisedly4 ,skepticism is a  
much more healthful and robust habit of 
mind than the limp1 pale-blooded1       
non-resisting habit that we call        

credulity4  ,in intercourse with ,nature
 you are dealing with things at first   
hand1 and you get a rule1 a standard1   
that serves you through life4 ,you are  
dealing with primal sanities1 primal    
honesties1 primal attraction2 you are   
touching at least the hem of the garment
 with which the infinite is clothed1 and
 virtue goes out from it to you4 ,it    
must be added that you are dealing with 
primal cruelty1 primal blindness1 primal
 wastefulness1 also4 ,nature works with 
reference to no measure of time1 no     
bounds of space1 and no limits of       
material4 ,her economies are not our    
economies4 ,she is prodigal1 she is     
careless1 she is indifferent2 yet       
nothing is lost4 ,what she lavishes with
 one hand1 she gathers in with the      
other4 ,she is blind1 yet she hits the  
mark because she shoots in all          
directions4 ,her germs fill the air2 the
 winds and the tides are her couriers4  
,when you think you have defeated her1  
your triumph is hers2 it is still by her

 laws that you reach your end4  ,we make
 ready our garden in a season1 and plant
 our seeds and hoe our crops by some    
sort of system4 ,can any one tell how   
many hundreds of millions of years      
,nature has been making ready her garden
 and planting her seeds8  ,there can be 
little doubt1 ,i think1 but that        
intercourse with ,nature and a knowledge
 of her ways tends to simplicity of     
life4 ,we come more and more to see     
through the follies and vanities of the 
world and to appreciate the real values4
 ,we load ourselves up with so many     
false burdens1 our complex civilization 
breeds in us so many false or artificial
 wants1 that we become separated from   
the real sources of our strength and    
health as by a gulf4  ,for my part1 as  
,i grow older ,i am more and more       
inclined to reduce my baggage1 to lop   
off superfluities4 ,i become more and   
more in love with simple things and     
simple folk--a small house1 a hut in the
 woods1 a tent on the shore4 ,the show  

and splendor of great houses1 elaborate 
furnishings1 stately halls1 oppress me1 
impose upon me4 ,they fix the attention 
upon false values1 they set up a false  
standard of beauty2 they stand between  
me and the real feeders of character and
 thought4 ,a man needs a good roof over 
his head winter and summer1 and a good  
chimney and a big wood-pile in winter4  
,the more open his four walls are1 the  
more fresh air he will get1 and the     
longer he will live4  ,how the          
contemplation of ,nature as a whole does
 take the conceit out of us6 ,how we    
dwindle to mere specks and our little   
lives to the span of a moment in the    
presence of the cosmic bodies and the   
interstellar spaces6 ,how we hurry6 ,how
 we husband our time6 ,a year1 a month1 
a day1 an hour may mean so much to us4  
,behold the infinite leisure of ,nature6
  ,a few trillions or quadrillions of   
years1 what matters it to the ,eternal8 
,jupiter and ,saturn must be billions of
 years older than the earth4 ,they are  

evidently yet passing through that      
condition of cloud and vapor and heat   
that the earth passed through untold    
aeons ago1 and they will not reach the  
stage of life till aeons to come4 ,but  
what matters it8 ,only man hurries4     
,only the ,eternal has infinite time4   
,when life comes to ,jupiter1 the earth 
will doubtless long have been a dead    
world4 ,it may continue a dead world for
 aeons longer before it is melted up in 
the eternal crucible and recast1 and set
 on its career of life again4           
,familiarity with the ways of the       
,eternal as they are revealed in the    
physical universe certainly tends to    
keep a man sane and sober and safeguards
 him against the vagaries and           
half-truths which our creeds and indoor 
artificial lives tend to breed4 ,shut   
away from ,nature1 or only studying her 
through religious fears and             
superstitions1 what a mess a large body 
of mankind in all ages have made of it6 
,think of the obsession of the speedy   

end of the world which has so often     
taken possession of whole communities1  
as if a world that has been an eternity 
in forming could end in a day1 or on the
 striking of the clock6 ,it is not many 
years since a college professor         
published a book figuring out1 from some
 old historical documents and           
predictions1 just the year in which the 
great mundane show would break up4 ,when
 ,i was a small boy at school in the    
early forties1 during the ,millerite    
excitement about the approaching end of 
all mundane things1 ,i remember1 on the 
day when the momentous event was        
expected to take place1 how the larger  
school-girls were thrown into a great   
state of alarm and agitation by a       
thundercloud that let down a curtain of 
rain1 blotting out the mountain on the  
opposite side of the valley4 ,there it  
comes6 they said1 and their tears flowed
 copiously4 ,i remember that ,i did not 
share their fears1 but watched the      
cloud1 curious as to what the end of the

 world would be like4 ,i cannot brag1 as
 ,thoreau did1 when he said he would not
 go around the corner to see the world  
blow up4 ,i am quite sure my curiosity  
would get the better of me and that ,i  
should go1 even at this late day4 ,or   
think of the more harmless obsession of 
many good people about the second coming
 of ,christ1 or about the resurrection  
of the physical body when the last      
trumpet shall sound4 ,a little natural  
knowledge ought to be fatal to all such 
notions4 ,natural knowledge shows us how
 transient and insignificant we are1 and
 how vast and everlasting the world is1 
which was aeons before we were1 and will
 be other aeons after we are gone1 yea1 
after the whole race of man is gone4    
,natural knowledge takes the conceit out
 of us1 and is the sure antidote to all 
our petty anthropomorphic views of the  
universe4     ,v    ,i was struck by    
this passage in one of the recently     
published letters of ,saint-,gaudens3   
,the principal thought in my life is    

that we are on a planet going no one    
knows where1 probably to something      
higher 7on the ,darwinian principle of  
evolution72 that1 whatever it is1 the   
passage is terribly sad and tragic1 and 
to bear up at times against what seems  
to be the ,great ,power that is over us1
 the practice of love1 charity1 and     
courage are the great things4  ,the     
,great ,power that is over us does seem 
unmindful of us as individuals1 if it   
does not seem positively against us1 as 
,saint-,gaudens seemed to think it was4 
,surely the ways of the ,eternal are not
 as our ways4 ,our standards of         
prudence1 of economy1 of usefulness1 of 
waste1 of delay1 of failure--how far off
 they seem from the scale upon which the
 universe is managed or deports itself6 
,if the earth should be blown to pieces 
to-day1 and all life instantly blotted  
out1 would it not be just like what we  
know of the cosmic prodigality and      
indifference8 ,such appalling disregard 
of all human motives and ends bewilders 

us4  ,of all the planets of our system  
probably only two or three are in a     
condition to sustain life4 ,mercury1 the
 youngest of them all1 is doubtless a   
dead world1 with absolute zero on one   
side and a furnace temperature on the   
other4 ,but what matters it8 ,whose loss
 or gain is it8 ,life seems only an     
incident in the universe1 evidently not 
an end4 ,it appears or it does not      
appear1 and who shall say yea or nay8   
,the asteroids at one time no doubt     
formed a planet between ,mars and       
,jupiter4 ,some force which no adjective
 can describe or qualify blew it into   
fragments1 and there1 in its stead1 is  
this swarm of huge rocks making their   
useless rounds in the light of the sun  
forever and ever4 ,what matters it to   
the prodigal ,all8 ,bodies larger than  
our sun collide in the depths of space  
before our eyes with results so terrific
 that words cannot even hint them4 ,the 
last of these collisions--of this wreck 
of matter and crush of worlds--reported 

itself to our planet in ,february1      
#aija1 when a star of the twelfth       
magnitude suddenly blazed out as a star 
of the first magnitude and then slowly  
faded4 ,it was the grand finale of the  
independent existence of two enormous   
celestial bodies4 ,they apparently ended
 in dust that whirled away in the vast  
abyss of siderial space1 blown by the   
winds upon which suns and systems drift 
as autumn leaves4 ,it would be quite in 
keeping with the observed ways of the   
,eternal1 if these bodies had had worlds
 in their train1 teeming with life1     
which met the same fate as the central  
colliding bodies4  ,does not force as we
 know it in this world go its own way   
with the same disregard of the precious 
thing we call life8 ,such long and      
patient preparations for it1--apparently
 the whole stellar system in labor pains
 to bring it forth1--and yet held so    
cheaply and indifferently in the end6   
,the small insect that just now alighted
 in front of my jack-plane as ,i was    

dressing a timber1 and was reduced to a 
faint yellow stain upon the wood1 is    
typical of the fate of man before the   
unregarding and unswerving terrestrial  
and celestial forces4 ,the great wheels 
go round just the same whether they are 
crushing the man or crushing the corn   
for his bread4 ,it is all one to the    
,eternal4 ,flood1 fire1 wind1 gravity1  
are for us or against us indifferently4 
,and yet the earth is here1 garlanded   
with the seasons and riding in the      
celestial currents like a ship in calm  
summer seas1 and man is here with all   
things under his feet4 ,all is well in  
our corner of the universe4 ,the great  
mill has made meal of our grist and not 
of the miller4 ,we have taken our       
chances and have won4 ,more has been for
 us than against us4 ,during the little 
segment of time that man has been upon  
the earth1 only one great calamity that 
might be called cosmical has befallen   
it4 ,the ice age of one or two hundred  
thousand years was such a calamity4 ,but

 man survived it4 ,the spring came      
again1 and life1 the traveler1 picked   
itself up and made a new start4 ,but if 
he had not survived it1 if nothing had  
survived it1 the great procession would 
have gone on just the same2 the gods    
would have been just as well pleased4   
,the battle is to the strong1 the race  
is to the fleet4 ,this is the order of  
nature4 ,no matter for the rest1 for the
 weak1 the slow1 the unlucky1 so that   
the fight is won1 so that the race of   
man continues4 ,you and ,i may fail and 
fall before our time2 the end may be a  
tragedy or a comedy4 ,what matters it8  
,only some one must succeed1 will       
succeed4  ,we are here1 ,i say1 because1
 in the conflict of forces1 the         
influences that made for life have been 
in the ascendant4 ,this conflict of     
forces has been a part of the process of
 our development4 ,we have been ground  
out as between an upper and a nether    
millstone1 but we have squeezed through1
 we have actually arrived1 and are all  

the better for the grinding--all those  
who have survived4 ,but1 alas for those 
whose lives went out in the crush6      
,maybe they often broke the force of the
 blow for us4  ,nature is not           
benevolent2 ,nature is just1 gives pound
 for pound1 measure for measure1 makes  
no exceptions1 never tempers her decrees
 with mercy1 or winks at any            
infringement of her laws4 ,and in the   
end is not this best8 ,could the        
universe be run as a charity or a       
benevolent institution1 or as a         
poor-house of the most approved pattern8
 ,without this merciless justice1 this  
irrefragable law1 where should we have  
brought up long ago8 ,it is a hard      
gospel2 but rocks are hard too1 yet they
 form the foundations of the hills4     
,man introduces benevolence1 mercy1     
altruism1 into the world1 and he pays   
the price in his added burdens2 and he  
reaps his reward in the vast social and 
civic organizations that were impossible
 without these things4  ,i have no doubt

 that the life of man upon this planet  
will end1 as all other forms of life    
will end4 ,but the potential man will   
continue and does continue on other     
spheres4 ,one cannot think of one part  
of the universe as producing man1 and no
 other part as capable of it4 ,the      
universe is all of a piece so far as its
 material constituents are concerned2   
that we know4 ,can there be any doubt   
that it is all of a piece so far as its 
invisible and intangible forces and     
capabilities are concerned8 ,can we     
believe that the earth is an alien and a
 stranger in the universe8 that it has  
no near kin8 that there is no tie of    
blood1 so to speak1 between it and the  
other planets and systems8 ,are the     
planets not all of one family1 sitting  
around the same central source of warmth
 and life8 ,and is not our system a     
member of a still larger family or      
tribe1 and it of a still larger1 all    
bound together by ties of consanguinity8
 ,size is nothing1 space is nothing4    

,the worlds are only red corpuscles in  
the arteries of the infinite4 ,if man   
has not yet appeared on the other       
planets1 he will in time appear1 and    
when he has disappeared from this globe1
 he will still continue elsewhere4  ,i  
do not say that he is the end and aim of
 creation2 it would be logical1 ,i      
think1 to expect a still higher form4   
,man has been man but a little while    
comparatively1 less than one hour of the
 twenty- four of the vast geologic day2 
a few hours more and he will be gone2   
less than another geologic day like the 
past1 and no doubt all life from the    
earth will be gone4 ,what then8 ,the    
game will be played over and over again 
in other worlds1 without approaching any
 nearer the final end than we are now4  
,there is no final end1 as there was no 
absolute beginning1 and can be none with
 the infinite4  ,,the ,,end