202 GEOLOGICAL TIME 



it was originally propounded, it was absolutely true in 

 Hutton's time and remains true to-day- That able 

 reasoner never claimed that the earth has existed from 

 all eternity, or that it will go on existing for ever. 

 He admitted that it must have had a beginning, but 

 he had been unable to find any vestige of that beginning 

 in the structure of the planet itself. And notwith- 

 standing all the multiplied researches of the century 

 that has passed since the immortal Theory of the 

 Earth was published, no relic of the first condition 

 of our earth has been found. We have speculated 

 much, indeed, on the subject, and our friends the 

 physicists have speculated still more. Some of the 

 speculations do not seem to me more philosophical 

 than many of those of the older cosmogonists. As 

 far as reliable evidence can be drawn from the rocks 

 of the globe itself, we do not seem to be nearer the 

 discovery of the beginning than Hutton was. The 

 most ancient rocks that can be reached are demonstrably 

 not the first-formed of all. They were preceded by 

 others which we know must have existed, though no 

 vestige of them may be accessible. 



It may be further asserted that, while it was Hutton 

 who first impressed upon modern geology the convic- 

 tion that for the adequate comprehension of the past 

 history of the earth vast periods of time must be ad- 

 mitted to have elapsed, our debt of obligation to him 

 is increased by the genius with which he linked the 

 passage of these vast periods with the present economy 

 of nature. He first realised the influence of time as a 

 factor in geological dynamics, and first taught the 

 efficacy of the quiet and unobtrusive forces of nature. 



