82 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCK LAND. 
[CH. III. 
picture of the origin of the surrounding country, and the 
primeval plants and animal world which lie buried in it. 
As is well known, the English have a peculiar love of 
regarding Nature from a theological point of view, and the 
celebrated Oxford geologist, as he proved by his last geo¬ 
logical work, is no exception to the rule. The immeasurable 
beds of iron-ore, coal, and limestone which are found in the 
neighbourhood of Birmingham, lying beside or above one 
another, and to which man has only to help himself in 
order to procure for his use the most useful of all metals in 
a liberal measure, may not, he urged, be considered as mere 
accident. On the contrary, it in fact expresses the most 
clear design of Providence to make the inhabitants of the 
British Isles, by means of this gift, the most powerful and 
the richest nation on the earth. This theme was treated by 
Buckland with every permissible variation, to the no small 
edification of the listening country people, and to my own 
great pleasure, even though I may not be able to accept his 
leading idea. 
“ A rich field for oratorical and humorous development 
opened itself now, for the first time, as the speaker spoke 
of the importance of iron. Indeed, where would man be, 
had not kind fate given him in abundance this plain¬ 
looking metal? The possession of this good gift alone 
enables our race to reach the high level of culture 
which it holds at the present time. Without it man 
could never have gained his power over Nature, or 
enjoyed the immeasurable riches, pleasures, and advan¬ 
tages which the industrial and commercial worlds possess 
to-day. Without it man’s mental horizon would be confined 
to much narrower limits; his intellectual development 
could not have made its present advances, were not iron 
spread with such a lavish hand over the surface of our 
own country. When Nature gave this metal to man, she 
lent him an extraordinary power, bestowed upon him a 
mighty tool, and raised him from weakness to power, 
and to the lordship of this earth* If, therefore, there is a 
providential metal, it is neither gold nor silver, however 
highly man may estimate them. No, it is iron. 
