2 40 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE GEOLOGY OF NATURAL SCENERY. 



Br FEEDERICK J. H. MEEKILL, Ph.D. 



IN this age of scientific progress, poets and prose writers may- 

 no longer tell iis of " eternal hills " and streams which " flow 

 on forever." The science of earth-knowledge shows that the 

 mountains are but creatures of yesterday in geologic time, and 

 to-morrow may be cast into the sea through the agency of that 

 wondrous source of power, the sun. Moreover, as the study of 

 Nature advances, the veil of superstition is torn aside and the 

 mystery is dispelled in which ignorance involves the causes of 

 natural phenomena ; so that to the mind a broader field of view 

 is opened, while the knowledge of the changes which have oc- 

 curred and are taking place about us on the earth adds much to 

 the inspiration which beautiful scenery gives, without detracting 

 from the poetic quality of the feelings it excites. 



Foremost among the minds which have felt this inspiration 

 and expressed their pleasure in the English tongue are those of 

 Byron and Sir Walter Scott. But, in their time, truth in de- 

 scription of natural phenomena was not expected. The poet in- 

 terpreted at will the scenes which impressed him, and the reader, 

 charmed with the rhythmic cadence of the lines, was content to 

 admire the beautiful clothing of the writer's thought, little car- 

 ing whether the phenomena were truthfully described or properly 

 explained. But . from the writers of the future we must expect 

 a reconciliation between scientific truth and poetic fancy. 



It is fallacious to claim that natural science bridles too closely 

 the poetic mind. Science is but truth, and what is not true has 

 no part in science. Surely, in the presence of the most famous 

 works of man the knowledge of their history in no way de- 

 tracts from the interest which they inspire. Mountain and val- 

 ley, hill and plain, river, lake, and sea, have each their history 

 for the observer to read; and -instead of imagining convulsions 

 of Nature and picturing speculative catastrophes, the mind may 

 dwell on the action of simple and familiar agents working 

 through long ages and bringing about by slow degrees that 

 beauty and grandeur of terrestrial form which is never caused 

 by cataclysms. 



To instance this hypothesis we need not journey far ; our own 

 land is rich in scenery unsurpassed, and whether we seek our 

 illustrations in Rhineland or the valley of the Hudson, among 

 the Alps or the Sierras, we are only turning the pages of one 

 great book. But though the turning of those pages might go on 

 forever, and though the most earnest student can never know 

 their number, the history which they contain is intelligible to all 



