The Rambles of an Idler 



Fatal words ! Yes : " It might have been" — 

 that Nature pursued the plan that she does to- 

 day, and these things that are such a puzzle are 

 susceptible of a simple explanation. It might 

 have been that the cold weather became Spring- 

 like, and the raging torrent became an ordinary 

 freshet, and sand instead of rocks came down 

 the valley, and, when there was not enougft 

 water to fill this valley to the brim, it flowed 

 at a lower level, until, as at this writing, we can 

 almost cross the river, dry-shod, jumping a lit- 

 tle, here-and-there. The simplest explanation 

 is the best in the long run for laymen ; and this 

 plunging of the earth's surface into ocean's 

 depths and uplifting it to the mountain's top is 

 too much of a tax upon the non-scientific mind. 

 It is, at best, a bold assumption, to print which 

 gets the bewildered geologist out of an ugly fix. 



However, there is something very attractive 

 in the geologist's "it might have been." It af- 

 fords, as naught else can, a graceful back-door 

 through which to disappear as theories become 

 untenable. Since the glacial period was first 

 discussed, this back-door has never been locked. 

 When it is, the layman can accept statements 

 with confidence — but not until then. When 



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