POPULAR THEORIES 55 



the record, before they seriously set themselves to study 

 the story of the present surface of the land. And thus 

 what was one of the earliest problems to interest man- 

 kind has been one of the latest to engage the attention 

 of modern science. 



This slowness of development, though it has allowed 

 much misconception to grow up rank and luxuriant, 

 has been attended with one compensating advantage, 

 inasmuch as the various branches of inquiry into which 

 the discussion of the problem resolves itself have made 

 rapid progress in recent years. We are thus in a far 

 better position to enter on a consideration of the subject 

 than we were a generation ago. And though one may 

 still hear a man gravely expounding familiar topogra- 

 phical features much as hfs grandfather would have 

 done, as if in the meanwhile no thoughtful study had 

 led to a very different interpretation, these popular 

 fallacies, which manifest such vitality, can now be com- 

 bated with a far wider experience, and a much ampler 

 wealth of illustration from all parts of the globe. 



The various elements of a landscape appear to the 

 ordinary eye so simple, so obviously related to each 

 other, and often so clearly and sharply defined, that 

 they are not unnaturally regarded as the effects of 

 some one general operation that acted for their special 

 production ; and where they include abrupt features, 

 such as a ravine or a precipice, they are still popularly 

 believed to be in the main the work of some sudden 

 potent force, such as an earthquake or volcanic explo- 

 sion. There is a general and perfectly intelligible 

 unwillingness to allow that scenery which now appears 

 so complete and connected in all its parts was not the 



