10 WALKS AND TALKS. 



planet bathed in the primitive ocean ; boiled in the seething 

 water ; roasted in ancient fires ; distorted, upheaved, moulded, 

 and reshaped again and again, in a long process of prepara- 

 tion to feecbjrfe; ;fi;t for us to dwell upon it. We shall see a 

 long prbcessio'n *oT' 'strange creatures coming into view and 

 li.-appeanpgj siich a menagerie of curious beasts and crawl- 

 ing and cfe'epirTg* aird flying things as never yet marched 

 through the streets of any town. And what is most wonder- 

 ful of all, we shall plunge through thousands of ages of com- 

 ing events, and sit on our pinnacle and see the world grow 

 old all its human populations vanished its oceans dried 

 up its sun darkened, and silence and midnight and Winter 

 reigning through the entire province in which a sisterhood of 

 planets at present basks in the warmth and light of a central 

 and paternal sun. 



. Do you feel no curiosity over these wonderful themes ? 

 These all belong to Geology. Come, let us begin. 



But we must begin at the beginning. Those who go on 

 long and pleasant journeys have to start from their own door- 

 steps. Geology tells all about this world. The world is here 

 under our feet. It is in the garden and along the road-side, 

 and in the field, and on the shore where the summer ripples 

 sing lullabies to the sleepy crags, and winter storms tear 

 them from their resting-places. No summer ripples or wintry 

 storms are here ; but the solid land is here. Let us walk up 

 this hill-slope and sit where we may get an outlook over a 

 little piece of the world's surface. 



What is there, now, within reach of our vision that we 

 can distinguish and describe and say that it belongs to the 

 world is a part of the world ? Whatever it may be, it is a 

 geological fact. It is a part of the science of geology. Now, 

 here is this hill-slope, and the soil and stones which make it. 

 Back of us the hill rises to a higher level. Perhaps brown 

 cliffs frown near its summit; and there are huge, heavy trees 

 upborne five hundred feet above the town. But, in the op- 

 posite direction, there is the landscape. That is a geological 

 fact. With all its scenic beauty, that is geology, at founda- 



