366 THE RELATIONS OF GEOLOGY. 



which wero arrayed against him impassal)lc seas, unscalable moun- 

 tains, oloomy forests peopled l>v deadly beasts of pi"(!y, raging streams 

 and foaming torrents, each and all the haunts of spirits luring him to 

 doom. 



What Avonder, then, that astronomy Avas one of the first of the 

 sciences to come into Ijeing, and that the successive generations of 

 mankind have mingled with an awe of her greatness a tender and 

 respectful appreciation of her work and of her results? 



And it was l)ut natural that geology should be nonexistent until 

 lono- after most of the other sciences had come into being and some 

 had grown almost to maturity. Even when she at last appeared and 

 thrust hei's(>lf, as it were, into the esta])lished aristocracy of the 

 sciences, she brought with her the stigma of Ium' lowly origin. And 

 to that she added much of the recklessness and assurance of youth 

 and a bewildering absence of respect for the settled conventionalities 

 of opinion and tradition. This is no excuse; but it is in its way a 

 reason why she is still supposed to ])e som(nvhat of a parveiui among 

 the sciences, and is often oidy listened to with patience because of her 

 powers and her genius. 



But there is also another reason for the reluctance with which the 

 conclusions of geology are received ])y men in general, when compared 

 with the reception accorded to those of astronomy, namely, the rela- 

 tive backwardness of the race in its appreciation of the concept of 

 the extension of time as compared Avith its advanced appreciation 

 of the concept of the extension of space. Note the willingness, and 

 even the welcome, with which any average audience of the present day 

 accepts the statements and sympathizes with the conclusions of an astro- 

 nomical lecturer who demands for his remoter starry distances, it may 

 b(\ myriads of millions of miles. Compare that reception with the 

 coldness, or at all events the smiling incredulity, of the same audience 

 when a geologist suggests for the development of all the geological 

 formations at the very most a hundred millions of years. But it is 

 not only the popular audience, l)ut also the majorit^y of the men of 

 education and experi(Mice. who still feel this curious hesitation and 

 dilHculty. And nothing perhaps has so retarded the reception of the 

 higher conclusions of geology among men in general as this instinc- 

 tive parsimony of the human mind in matters where time is concerned. 



Yet, after all, perhaps this is easily accounted for. It has l)een well 

 said that "the intellectual advancement of men is due to the relatively 

 small etfects of individual experiences added to the large effects of the 

 experiences of the antecedent individuals." The concept of the vast- 

 ness of space has ))ccn familiar to mankind for untold ages, and has 

 grown and expandinl with the growth of the race. The concept of the 

 immensity of time has entered so little into the intellectual develop- 

 ment of mankind has a M'hole, and in its grander aspects so recently, 

 that the race is as yet incapable of adeijuately grasping it. 



