THE LAPSE OF TIME. 119 



red conglomerates, the limestone rock must have been 

 formed; it must have been heaved up above the level 

 of the sea; fragments must have been broken off from 

 it, rolled into pebbles, triturated into sand. As the 

 breaking, and the rolling, and the grinding went on, so 

 with equal steps would the growth of the conglomerate 

 proceed. But the workshop and the wx>rk must still 

 have been beneath the waters of the ocean,, and not till 

 the whole work of formation was finished could the 

 further process be begun of raising the work above the 

 level of the waves. 



It is not uncommon to find fossils in the pebbles of a 

 conglomerate rock showing lines of a dislocating fracture 

 filled with spar. The fossil shell or coral once had an 

 inhabitant. We must allow time for its life and death. 

 Its vacant tabernacle must then have become filled with 

 extraneous matter. This must have required time to 

 harden into rock. While that rock was still in the 

 mass, some cause must have operated to fracture it, and 

 such causes are not of every-day operation. After this, 

 more time was needed to fill up the divisional line with 

 spar; more time to break off the fragment containing 

 the shell from the general mass of the rock ; more time 

 to roll it into a pebble ; more time to imbed it hard and 

 fast in a conglomerate rock ; more time to raise the rock 

 high out of the waters ; and, lastly, one more vast addi- 

 tion of time for the crumbling away of the conglomerate 

 formation, so as to .expose the tall sea-cliff from which 

 human hands might gather this memorial relic of 

 untold ages. 



