180 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vi. 



first place, I have to remark that all these pebbles 

 are composed of flint — of the same mineral sub- 

 stance as the dark masses which at some parts of 

 our white coast-cliffs you may see studding, in 

 parallel but distant rows, the face of the chalk in 

 which they are imbedded. Our pebbles are frag- 

 ments of such flints that have been more or less 

 rolled and rounded by the action of the sea. In 

 the gravel-heaps they are dispersed through sili- 

 ceous sand — i.e. flint in a more comminuted state, 

 with a small proportion of clay or loam r stained 

 yellow or reddish by oxides of iron, as is the 

 surface of the pebbles also for some depth. Are 

 we to suppose that the pebble was created so 

 stained, or that it acquired the stain by being 

 subjected long enough to the colouring cause ? I 

 assume the latter.' 



The Professor then gives an account of the 

 ' London Clay ' and some of its deposits, and 

 concludes : 'Wherever you contemplate Nature 

 you see renewal prepared for wearing out and 

 passing away. 



' How narrow, how selfish, how akin to 

 Egyptian darkness of thought, seemed it then to 

 repine that life must end — to deem of death only 

 as an evil ! Whereas, therein is the necessary 

 stipulation for that succession which involves the 

 purest pleasures of life — the reverential love of 

 parents, the sweet affection for children, the 

 closest union of hearts, as of husband and wife. 



