38 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



bounding against the gratings of his dungeon. But the waters, 

 in alliance with the disintegrating influences of the atmosphere, 

 have been as constantly active in destroying the igneous forma- 

 tions, in splitting and dissolving the mountain -peaks, in reducing 

 crumbled rocks into smaller and smaller fragments, and in 

 washing them down to a lower level, destined to be again and 

 again upheaved, and then again and again swept into the ocean. 

 Thus the actual state of the earth-rind is the result of in- 

 numerable elementary conflicts, whose records, written in pages 

 of stone and petrified remains, enable the geologist to recon- 

 struct the magnificent epic of its history, as the learned deci- 

 pherer of the hieroglyphics and cuneiform inscriptions of Egypt 

 and Persepolis is able to exhume from the tomb of past ages 

 the traces of an extinct civilisation. 



Scarcely any branch of natural history is more interesting 

 than that which treats of the formation of our earth -rind ; but 

 undoubtedly the most important question which geology is called 

 upon to solve is, whether the conflicting powers of fire, water, 

 and air have evermore been acting and reacting upon each 

 other in blind confusion, building and destroying in chaotic 

 and fortuitous anarchy, or whether, from the first moment that 

 their strife began, their movements have constantly been 

 directed by a higher hand, and rendered subservient to the 

 establishment and progressive development of organic life ? 



The answer cannot for an instant be doubtful. Every chapter, 

 every page of the annals of our globe, affords us the most con- 

 vincing proofs that the elementary forces have ever been the 

 docile instruments of a superior Power ; that, long before organic 

 life appeared on earth, fire and water were busy preparing for 

 its future residence. 



On the hard impenetrable rock nothing grows but a lowly 

 race of lichens and mosses, while all plants of a higher order 

 absolutely require a loose soil for the insertion of their roots and 

 the supply of an adequate amount of nourishment. 



On examining the structure of the earth, we find how much 

 the high mountain-chains have contributed to the formation of 

 considerable tracts of fertile land. On their naked brows the 

 disintegrating power of winter acts with the greatest energy. 

 There also the clouds chiefly concentrate their vapours, there 

 they condense most frequently into snow or rain, and there the 



