I. THE SOIL OF THE FIELD {2}



My dear readers, let me, before touching on the special subject of
this paper, say a few words on that of the whole series.

It is geology: that is, the science which explains to us the RIND of
the earth; of what it is made; how it has been made. It tells us
nothing of the mass of the earth. That is, properly speaking, an
astronomical question. If I may be allowed to liken this earth to a
fruit, then astronomy will tell us--when it knows--how the fruit
grew, and what is inside the fruit. Geology can only tell us at most
how its rind, its outer covering, grew, and of what it is composed; a
very small part, doubtless, of all that is to be known about this
planet.

But as it happens, the mere rind of this earth-fruit which has,
countless ages since, dropped, as it were, from the Bosom of God, the
Eternal Fount of Life--the mere rind of this earth-fruit, I say, is
so beautiful and so complex, that it is well worth our awful and
reverent study. It has been well said, indeed, that the history of
it, which we call geology, would be a magnificent epic poem, were
there only any human interest in it; did it deal with creatures more
like ourselves than stones, and bones, and the dead relics of plants
and beasts. Whether there be no human interest in geology; whether
man did not exist on the earth during ages which have seen enormous
geological changes, is becoming more and more an open question.

But meanwhile all must agree that there is matter enough for