CHAPTER IX 



THE STUDY OF THE ROCKS 



THE study of rocks and minerals by means 

 of the microscope is apt to be disappoint- 

 ing. In the first place, to study them 

 seriously we require a special microscope, the ordi- 

 nary instrument, with which we may poke into 

 the deepest secrets of the animal and plant world 

 cannot translate for us half the story of the rocks. 

 Again, to understand rocks and minerals we must 

 study them somewhat deeply. Geology, as the 

 science of rocks is called, is no more difficult 

 than botany or zoology, the sciences of plants 

 and animals respectively. Botany and zoology, 

 however, appeal in some degree to nearly all 

 of us; we may learn a good deal concerning the 

 structure of the cockroach with the help of our 

 microscope and be interested in the revelations of 

 our instrument, but to embark on a detailed course 

 of the minute internal anatomy of insects would 

 appeal to few of us. Animal or plant life may be 

 studied piecemeal and enjoyed on account of its 

 absorbing interest. Geology must be studied from 



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