GEOLOGICAL TIME. 125 



jealous of the conclusions of science in this 

 matter. The question is, after all, a small 

 one. It is a question of a few thousand years 

 more or less ; and thousands of years are as 

 less than seconds in the Creative Days. The 

 estimates of Time which have been given us 

 by Geology have been compared with the 

 estimates of Space given us by Astronomy. 

 But there is an important difference. There 

 is no visible limit to Astronomical Space. 

 The apparent magnitude of the largest of the 

 Heavenly Bodies shows that millions of miles 

 are quantities inappreciable even to our eyes, 

 and that worlds are scattered like dust through 

 illimitable depths. But it is not so with Geo- 

 logical Time. Its periods are indeed very 

 long, but the beginning of them can be seen. 



