OBLITERATED CONTINENTS. 151 



nents are wearing out. Each continental ai'ea abides its 

 time, and gradually yields to the destructive agencies 

 which are always at work. Each period of the world's 

 history has had its continental surfaces for the accommo- 

 dation of its appropriate populations. When the period 

 has reached its close, the continents have been exhausted, 

 and renovating agencies have been summoned to restore 

 their pristine condition. When impaired beyond recu- 

 peration, the powers of nature have been invoked for the 

 uplift and utilization of new continental masses, which 

 through ages had been building under water, out of the 

 stolen materials of older lands. So our own farms and 

 mountains will ultimately disappear, and the footing of 

 the human race will vanish beneath their feet. A wasted 

 continent and a wasted world must cease to retain its 

 organic populations. Thus we see a promise of release 

 of our race from the planet to which it is now confined. 



