Continent, and (ireat Britain, as it now is, appeared. 



I should like to have spoken of a great river sj^stem, 

 which cut through the Oolite and Lias on the south and 

 west, and poured its waters into the Wash, — a system, 

 the only remains of which are seen in the Lincoln Gap, 

 through which the Trent once flowed, and where the \\'itham 

 still finds its way, — but time will not permit of it. 



I have drawn attention to the vast period of time that 

 must have been consumed, during the events I have attempted 

 to describe; and this is a point that I cannot too strongly 



impress on your memory. 



1 liave dwelt on the structure and configuration of the 

 land, as it appeared during the several ages my paper deals 

 with ; for this is the goal that all geological investigation should 

 aim at. The special study of strata, and their imbedded relics, 

 valuable as it is, is nothing, if, out of it, we do not try to 

 buiid up the framework of the world, as it appeared at the 

 lime these strata were deposited. I do not mean in any 



sense to under-estimate the value of such special studies. 

 Those who labour at them are the patient seekers after 

 facts, without whose labours it would be impossible to read 

 the story the rocks are meant to teach. And here I must 

 bring my paper to a close. 



Elevations and subsidences are still going on, though we 

 cannot see thtm. Attrition and denudation of the strata are 



still proceeding, though, in our short existence, we cannot trace 



them. Rains, frost, and rivers are still at work. The 



dragon land is slowly altering year by year ; and the carving 

 and modelling of the surface will last, as long as raindrops 

 fall, and a vestige of land remains above the waves. 



