I. 



THE SOIL OF THE FIELD.* 



MY dear readers, let me, before touching on the special 

 subject of this paper, say a few words on that of the 

 whole series. 



It is geology : that is, the science which explains to 

 us the rind of the earth ; of what it is made ; how it 

 has been made. It tells us nothing of the mass of the 

 earth. That is, properly speaking, an astronomical 

 question. If I may be allowed to- liken this earth to a 

 fruit, then astronomy will tell us when it knows how 

 the fruit grew, and what is inside the fruit. Geology 

 can only tell us at most how its rind, its outer covering, 

 grew, and of what it is composed ; a very small part, 

 doubtless, of all that is to be known about this planet. 



But as it happens, the mere rind of this earth-fruit 

 which has, countless ages since, dropped, as it were, 

 from the Bosom of God, the Eternal Fount of Life 

 the mere rind of this earth-fruit, I say, is so beautiful 

 and so complex, that it is well worth our awful and 

 reverent study. It has been well said, indeed, that the 

 history of it, which we call geology, would be a mag- 



* These Lectures were delivered to the members of the Natural 

 Science Class at Chester in 1871. 



