CHAP. xvni. DEXTEROUS GEOLOGISTS. 305 



" Nobody knows when this earth was made, how it 

 was made, or how long it was in making. 



" Of one creation part we ken, 



Wi' mair we dinna meddle ; 

 A nee dream o' twa, ye'll dream o' ten, 

 An' fancies endless diddle ! 



" Don't think that I do not value Mr. Darwin. I 

 have read his observations most carefully; but with my 

 own spectacles. Geologists have led me such a dance 

 during the last twenty-five years, that I prefer that way 

 of reading books. 



" This earth on which we move may have been 

 created very long ago, but certainly most of the regions 

 visited by Mr. Darwin exhibited very few signs of a 

 hoar antiquity ; and despite previous teachings and their 

 influence, the very recent nature of many of the deposits 

 forced itself upon his attention." After quoting from 

 Humboldt, Professor Sedgwick, and others, he continues 

 the argument in favour of his own views. He concludes 

 thus : " I remember that when friend Hugh set down 

 in print that all that lived previous to and during the 

 chalk died out with the chalk, and not one existence was 

 spared ; yet when, after a time, a species of shell was 

 found in tertiary and chalk strata, the geologists very 

 dexterously clapped those tertiary strata alongside and 

 with the chalk, just to make things tally ! How will 

 they manage now ? " 



Dick deprecated the idea of explaining the universe 

 and how it was formed, but he threw out the following 

 idea of the greatness of the thing attempted to be ex- 



