66 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



We may return home, and on another oppor- 

 tunity revisit the spot. If we go in Autumn, 

 we shall find that it has shed its golden tones of 

 colour over hill and valley, the earth has yielded 

 its increase, and the fields, bared of their waving 

 burden, look empty and naked. If in Winter, 

 the waterfall is hung round with pendants of 

 ice, the surface of the river is hard and solid, 

 and a white canopy of snow envelopes the 

 whole face of the landscape. With these na- 

 tural changes we are made familiar by the con- 

 tinual round of the seasons; but beyond these, 

 to the unscientific observer it would appeal- 

 that all tilings continue as they were. From 

 year to year the hard lineaments of the rocks, 

 and the rounder figure of the hills, are as fami- 

 liar to our eyes as are the well-known faces at 

 the fireside, and the elastic sod seems in all 

 respects the same as that on which we danced 

 in childhood. 



Is it, however, so in reality? Are there no 

 changes taking place around us of a different 

 kind to those of the seasons? In truth there 

 are, and those of a most important kind. Che- 

 mical forces are in ceaseless operation, the ten- 

 dency of which is to bring down to the dust of 

 the earth the hardest of those proud cliffs, now 

 looking so strong and enduring. The substance 

 of these rocks is gently crumbling away and 



