The History of Things 61 



aged its skin became wrinkled each wrinkle 

 marking an event in its life as those on our faces 

 often do; that it was exquisitely sculptured by 

 fire and frost, by wind and rain, by river and sea; 

 that it became fit to be a cradle and home of living 

 creatures; that the hand of life has been working 

 upon it for untold ages, forming chalk cliffs and 

 coral reefs and coal beds; and that, finally, man 

 has changed the face of continents often reckless 

 of results and ruthless of beauty. 



There are obvious disadvantages in trying to 

 outline in a few minutes the history of a hundred 

 million years or more. The outline can have 

 none of the picturesqueness of detail which gives 

 charm and vividness to a well-told story. A brief 

 outline is apt to suggest that everything has been 

 cleared up, which is very far from being the case. 

 Some chapters are extremely obscure and there 

 are great difficulties in every chapter. Every year, 

 however, the geologists are learning to read the 

 history book better, and we have given the sketch 

 as an essential part of our argument. It is an in- 

 stance of the slow working of the cosmic mechan- 

 ism towards a result which is wonderful. We can 

 discuss it without any complications in regard to 

 vitalism or psychism. The keynote of geological 

 history-reading may be found in Button's famous 

 sentence: "No powers are to be employed that are 

 not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted 



