lxviii PKOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I903, 



singles out for study the one Astrum on which we live, namely, the 

 earth.' 



This definition, if we may call it so, is one which is not only simple 

 and convenient, but it gives perhaps the broadest and clearest view 

 of the place and. mission of Geology, regarded from an outside stand- 

 point. And there is a naturalness in this association of Geology and 

 Astronomy which cannot be ignored. 



Astronomy concerns itself with the whole of the visible universe, 

 of which our earth forms but a relatively insignificant part ; while 

 Geology deals with that earth regarded as an individual. Astronomy 

 is the oldest of the sciences, while Geology is one of the newest. 

 But the two sciences have this in common, that to both are granted 

 a magnificence of outlook, and an immensity of grasp denied to all 

 the rest. 



Yet, compared with other sciences, few perhaps have so small 

 a number of adherents and working members. It may be that 

 this is due to the opinion of the majority both of the past and the 

 present generation, that these two sciences seem to demand for their 

 successful prosecution an abnegation of emotion and of all human 

 sympathies : their grandest results are not the conquests of the 

 heart but of the head, wrought out in the cold dry light of reason. 



It is needless in these days to insist upon the fierce and pained 

 resistance which both have encountered at almost every fresh 

 advance. In spite of the fact that in the end every such advance 

 has proved itself to be a higher stage in the mental or material 

 progress of mankind at large, there still exists, even at the present 

 time, an instinctive antagonism to Astronomy and Geology in 

 the minds of many, especially from the sides of literature and of 

 philosophy. 



The bewildering immensities of space and time with which these 

 two sciences deal, and their insistent claim to be the only authorities 

 that can bring home to the mind of man the awful ideas of infinity 

 and eternity, cause them to be shunned and dreaded by the man of 

 letters, and wring now and again a wail of impotence and sadness 

 from the poet : — 



' What be these two shapes high over the sacred fountain, 

 Taller than all the Muses, and higher than all the mountain ? 

 On these two peaks they stand, ever spreading and heightening.' 



' Look in their deep double shadow, the crowned ones all disappearing ! 

 These are Astronomy and Geology — terrible Muses ! ' 



