4 6o SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



enough to bear the weight of a broader, and perhaps grander, 

 super-structure? Hitherto a large gap had existed in the 

 material upon which a wider conception could be based. 

 The oceans themselves hid their secrets from the gaze of 

 the anxious inquirer, and the greater portion of the solid 

 earth crust lay unknown and uninvestigated beneath the 

 wave. The numerous soundings made in cable expedi- 

 tions, the various national deep sea enterprises, and, above 

 all, the investigations of the Challenger Expedition, have at 

 length, to a great extent, lifted the veil, and every branch 

 of science has received an impetus which will not be 

 exhausted for many years. 



The occurrence of inequalities in the sub-oceanic area 

 were found, not to be capricious and local, but as extensive 

 as the great belts of elevation which gird the continents. 

 Volcanic activity was seen to be in close relationship with 

 the orreat earth features, and a wealth of material has been 

 added to our knowledge of the fauna, temperature and 

 character of the deposits in the great marine areas. 



The conception and combination of the highest de- 

 velopment of fold geology, and the new truths regarding 

 our earth's geography, have been left to one of our own 

 countrymen, Professor Lapworth, who, in his addresses to 

 the British Association, the Royal Geographical Society, 

 and the Geological Association, has urged his views with 

 all the energy and fire of an unbounded enthusiasm. No 

 longer are we dealing with mere local highlands, no longer 

 even with belts of mountain elevation, but with one great 

 earth fold, of which the continents, including the Atlantic 

 basin, represent the arch, and the deep depression of the 

 Pacific, the trough ; whilst between them lies the septum, 

 a belt of unrest and continual disturbance, that " terrestrial 

 ring of fire," as Professor Lapworth describes it, which, 

 from Sumatra to Chili, borders the greatest of the earth's 

 oceans. 



Geologically, there can be no grander conception than 

 this, and geographically its unity and simplicity arrest the 

 attention, and impress the mind. This great fold reveals 

 itself as composed of minor folds, to which the same rule 



