32 THE PAST CONDITION 



facts as they are presented to us — which may be com- 

 pared with the greatest difficulties of any other kinds 

 of historical study. 



What is this record of the past history of the globe, 

 and what are the questions which are involved in an 

 inquiry into its completeness or incompleteness ? That 

 record is composed of mud ; and the question which 

 we have to investigate this evening resolves itself into 

 a question of the formation of mud. You may think, 

 perhaps, that this is a vast step — of almost from the 

 sublime to the ridiculous — from the contemplation of 

 the history of the past ages of the world's existence to 

 the consideration of the history of the formation of 

 mud ! But, in nature, there is nothing mean and un- 

 worthy of attention ; there is nothing ridiculous or con- 

 temptible in any of her works ; and this inquiry, you 

 will soon see, I hope, takes us to the very root and 

 foundations of our subject. 



How, then, is mud formed ? Always, with some 

 trifling exception, which I need not consider now — 

 always, as the result of the action of water, wearing 

 down and disintegrating the surface of the earth and 

 rocks with which it comes in contact — pounding and 

 grinding it down, and carrying the particles away to 

 places where they cease to be disturbed by this me- 

 chanical action, and where they can subside and rest. 

 For the ocean, urged by winds, washes, as we know, 

 a long extent of coast, and every wave, loaded as it is 

 with particles of sand and gravel as it breaks upon the 

 shore, does something towards the disintegrating pro- 

 cess. And thus, slowly but surely, the hardest rocks 

 are gradually ground down to a powdery substance ; 

 and the mud thus formed, coarser or finer, as the case 



