The Earth and its Early History 



Archibald Geikie l for many of the foregoing historical 

 details given, and strongly recommends its perusal to 

 those of his readers who are interested in this phase of 

 the subject. 



In studying those branches of knowledge which we 

 bring together under the heading of natural science, 

 many mistakes have been made through confining the 

 attention too closely to some little point, which was the 

 exact subject of experiment at the moment, and failing 

 to connect it with its larger and more important sur- 

 roundings. 



In this way countless theories have been formed 

 which, though they reasonably account for the one little 

 point, fail utterly when applied to other similar points, 

 and have therefore to be given up. 



Geologists, amongst others, are by no means free 

 from blame in this respect, though the wide scope of 

 their subject should tend to produce a wider range of 

 thought than is the case with some of the sciences often 

 described as more "exact." 



There is, for example, a great and fundamental ques- 

 tion as to the mode of origin of the Earth, which has 

 received, until recently, but little attention on the part 

 of Geologists, who have, for the most part, cheerfully left 

 it in the hands of Astronomers and Physicists, to whose 

 domain it perhaps more properly belongs. 



The work of the Geologist is to study the processes 

 at work on the Earth's surface and those in progress in 

 its interior so as to enable him to understand not only 

 what changes are now going on, but also those which 



1 The Founders of Geology ', by Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S. London : 

 Macmillan & Co. Ld., 1897. 



B I 



