356 THE PROBLEM OF THE LIZABD KOCKS. 



Add to this that the whole district is the mere remnant of a 

 vanished country — that it has been denuded on the surface to 

 the extent of probably thousands of feet — that it has been eaten 

 into and washed away on to the coast lines to the extent of many 

 miles, - and that what remains is shifted up and down by vertical 

 faults to the extent of thousands of feet, — and you will then have 

 some idea of the problem, the solution of which faces the 

 conscientious geologist. 



It is as though a shapeless "torso " had been dis-interred 

 from some classic site and the archaeologist were called upon to 

 solve the question. Did it belong to a Herculus, a Centaur, or 

 an Apollo ? The shapeless mass would be the despair of any 

 one not acquainted by a lifelong study with all the schools of 

 sculpture, and with every line and wrinkle into which marble 

 has ever been shaped by the cunning hand of man. 



And in the same manner, a geologist approaching the 

 solution of the question of the Lizard rocks ought to be armed 

 with every possible knowledge in every department of his science, 

 in other words, an impossibility is asked of a single man. A 

 general, however brave and skilful, cannot storm a fortress 

 single-handed, but he can subdue it by bringing up an army of 

 soldiers to bear upon it and skilfully directing them, and in the 

 same manner the hope for the solution of complicated problems 

 in geology lies not in limited individual power, but in the 

 combined efforts of many workers. 



The geology dating from the beginning of the century, with- 

 out modern chemistry, without microscopy and dynamics, bears the 

 same relation to modern geology as the slings and arrows and 

 wooden towers and ram-heads, as represented at the siege of a 

 city in Assyrian sculpture bear to the long range guns, the 

 captive ballons, the dynamite, and all the modern appliances of 

 a modern seige. To indicate briefly only two points of approach 

 to the question of the most recent character, I may refer to the 

 admirable disquisition on the growth of crystals contained in 

 the anniversary address to the Greological Society for 1887, by 

 Professor Judd. Listening to him you begin to believe that 

 crystals are growing and living things, and that everything is 

 possible with them, even such transformations as we witness at 



