OF GEOLOGICAL DYNAMICS. Si 



" ordinary operations of Nature, combined with the 

 " element of unlimited time, the other appealing to 

 " agents that operated during the earlier epochs 

 " of the world with greater intensity, and also for 

 " the most part over wider areas. The former 

 " belief is certainly more in accordance zvith the 

 " spirit of right philosophy, though it must be 

 " confessed that many problems in geology seem 

 ' to find their solution only through the admission 

 " of the latter hypothesis." 



8. " Any l person who has paid even the 

 " slightest attention to the science of geology must 

 "be aware of the fact that the whole of our 

 " knowledge in regard to age in this science is 

 " confined to relative age, and that with respect to 

 " absolute age we have little or no real informa- 

 " tion ; and in this absence of positive knowledge 

 "as to the absolute age of rocks, geologists have 

 " sometimes indulged in the wildest and most 

 " extraordinary statements and speculations. They 

 "speak of the enormous lapse of time requisite for the 

 '''formation of exceedingly small quantities of rock, 



1 Manual of Geology. By the Rev. S. Haughton, F. K.S. Edition 

 1865, P- 79- 



VOL. II G 



