GEOLOGY 



PART I. INTRODUCTORY 



CHAPTER I 

 THE EARTH AND ITS EARLY HISTORY 



IT is very strange, but nevertheless true, that most 

 people are content to go on living in this world without 

 attempting to find out anything about the world itself. 

 They have been told that it is round, that it moves 

 round the Sun once in a year, and that it turns on its 

 axis once in twenty-four hours. They also know that it 

 is made up more or less of hard substances which are 

 called rocks. Beyond this they do not care to go in the 

 paths of knowledge unless their particular calling is 

 directly connected with some mineral industry. 



The excuse frequently brought forward to account 

 for this want of interest is that their energies are so 

 taken up with business of one sort or another that they 

 have no leisure for the study of a subject which in their 

 opinion is very dry and uninteresting. That it is un- 

 interesting it is hoped will be disproved in the present 

 volume, and even if the writer admitted its uselessness, 

 which is far from being the case, he would ask how 



A I 



