OBLITERATED MOUNTAIN CHAINS. 391 



throughout the lapse of ages, has gradually ground 

 down into dust by means of agencies such as we have 

 already hinted at: so that the only trace that they 

 once existed is now furnished by the mass of detritus 

 which has been spread out, as butter is spread over 

 bread, to form the surface of the great plain of Nor- 

 thern India? 



It is more than probable. Without going so far as 

 to assert that this was so, we believe that this hypo- 

 thesis would to a great extent explain the source from 

 whence all this material was derived. The whole 

 question is however one of probability and circum- 

 stantial evidence, and this, we humbly venture to 

 suggest may furnish a clue to its solution. But if so, 

 what a marvellous idea does it exhibit of the enormous 

 antiquity of the earth. 



Let the intelligent reader try to picture to himself 

 if he can, the immense periods of time which this 

 process must have taken to carry out. What shall we 

 say? Does it represent epochs extending over millions 

 of years? If so how many millions? Was it tens, or 

 was it hundreds, of millions? In the contemplation of 

 the phenomena of Nature, the student constantly finds 

 himself met by these and other similarly perplexing 

 problems, respecting the vastness of geological time, 

 and the mighty changes which the features of the 

 landscape that at present meets our gaze must have 

 undergone during the lapse of an eternal past. 



It may be answered that such events of incalculable 

 magnitude extending over epochs of such enormous 

 durations are inconceivable and impossible ! 



Why should we deem them to be so? If we com- 

 pare the proportion of even the greatest mountain 



