390 THE RELATIONS OF GEOLOGY. 



lig'ht could penetrate beyond. But so old and tlim.s}' was it thai when 

 once the strong hand of the geologist had torn it, it was soon rent 

 through from top to bottom, and in the tiood of light which entered 

 what wonder that discovery followed discover^" in almost endless 

 succession. 



And we have deep cause for thankfulness in that these discoveries 

 have been of benefit not for our science alone, but for all its fellow- 

 sciences; and more, that they have been from the first of supreme 

 importance to man himself, his industries, and his progress, and to the 

 study of his historv, his origin, and indeed of all that ))inds him and 

 his fellow-creatures to the world on which he lives. 



AVhilc, therefore, we move on contidently together in this dawn of a 

 ncAv era, blazing forward the straight and narrow, trail of research 

 marked out up to this ])oint by our geological forefathers "'the old 

 trail, the lone trail, the trail that's always new" — let us ever remcun- 

 l)er that our science is not only the interpreter of nature, but also the 

 servant of humanit}'. 



