46 ON A PIECE OF CHALK 



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 moun- 

 tain ranges, such as the Lebanon. 



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 

 of entangling the inquirer in vague speculations, in- 

 capable 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 

 discourse. But, in truth, after much deliberation, I 

 have 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 con- 

 clusions of physical science rest. 



A great chapter of the history of the world is written 

 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. 



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 other history, is likely, 

 if he will think his knowledge out to its ultimate re- 

 sults, to have a truer, and therefore a better, conception 



