76 Selections from Huxley 



the wary cormorant, confer a wonderful beauty and 

 grandeur upon the chalk headlands. And, in the East, 

 chalk has its share in the formation of some of the most 

 venerable of mountain ranges, such as the Lebanon. 



5 What is this wide-spread component of the surface of 

 the earth? and whence did it come? 



You may think this no very hopeful inquiry. You 

 may not unnaturally suppose that the attempt to solve 

 such problems as these can lead to no result, save that 



10 of entangling the inquirer in vague speculations, incapable 

 of refutation and of verification. 



If such were really the case, I should have selected 

 some other subject than a "piece of chalk" for my dis- 

 course. But, in truth, after much deliberation, I have 



15 been unable to think of any topic which would so well 

 enable me to lead you to see how solid is the foundation 

 upon which some of the most startling conclusions of 

 physical science rest. 



A great chapter of the history of the world is written 



20 in the chalk. Few passages in the history of man can 

 be supported by such an overwhelming mass of direct and 

 indirect evidence as that which testifies to the truth of the 

 fragment of the history of the globe, which I hope to 

 enable you to read, with your own eyes, to-night. 



25 Let me add, that few chapters of human history have 

 a more profound significance for ourselves. I weigh my 

 words well when I assert, that the man who should know 

 the true history of the bit of chalk which every carpenter 

 carries about in his breeches-pocket, though ignorant of all 



30 other history, is likely, if he will think his knowledge 

 out to its ultimate results, to have a truer, and therefore 

 a better, conception of this wonderful universe, and of 

 man's relation to it, than the most learned student who 



