THE USEFULNESS OF EARTHQUAKES. 215 



figure without convulsion of any sort; this might 

 have happened, since the Creator of all things can 

 doubtless modify all things according to His will ; we 

 merely say that, assuming that in the beginning, as 

 now, He permitted all things to work according to 

 the laws He has appointed, then, undoubtedly, the 

 submerged earth must have risen above the sea by 

 the action of those very forms of force which produce 

 the earthquake in our own times. 



However this may be, it is quite certain that 

 when once continents and islands had been formed, 

 there immediately began a struggle between destruc- 

 tive and restorative (rather, perhaps, than preservative) 

 forces. 



The great enemy of the land is water, and water 

 works the destruction of the land in two principal 

 ways. 



In the first place, the sea tends to destroy the land 

 by beating on its shores, and thus continually washing 

 it away. It may seem at first sight that this process 

 must necessarily be a slow one; in fact, many may 

 be disposed to say that it is certainly a slow process, 

 since we see that it does not alter the forms of continents 

 and islands perceptibly in long intervals of time. But, 

 as a matter of fact, we have never had an opportunity 

 of estimating the full effects of this cause, since its 

 action is continually being checked by the restorative 

 forces we shall presently have to consider. Were it 

 not thus checked, there can be little doubt that its 

 effects would be cumulative ; for the longer the process 



