About the Long Past 



kind may be the child of the other ; and many 

 rocks partake of the charactertistics of both. 



With regard to the wearing away of rocks, 

 the destruction of land by water, it was said in 

 the close of the last chapter that, but for certain 

 " counteracting forces," the whole of the Con- 

 tinents might in the course of ages be slowly 

 carried off by the Ocean, and be buried in the 

 mighty deep. 



This sounds like what, in modern parlance, 

 may be termed " a very large order." Who could 

 imagine a feeble substance like water having any 

 effect upon massive granite cliffs ? 



Few people grasp the tremendous battering 

 force of ocean-waves upon a rocky coast, and 

 fewer still realise the wasting power of running 

 rivers, or of endless successions of raindrops. 



Here is a fact as to the strength of ocean- 

 waves. Some of us may have watched the 

 majestic ground - swell which beats upon the 

 western coast of Scotland. It is said that, upon 

 a rough average, taking smooth and tempestuous 

 weather together, each summer wave that breaks 

 upon that shore from the Atlantic does so with 

 a force of over six hundred pounds upon the 

 square foot. For winter months alone, when 

 gales have sway, the average blow rises to 



