Earth Features and Their Meaning: An Introduction to Geology for the Student and the General ReaderHobbs, William Herbert
Science
Earth Features and Their Meaning: An Introduction to Geology for the Student and the General Reader
Hobbs, William Herbert
Geology; Physical geography
That there is a real place for such a cultural study of geology within
the University is believed to be shown by the increasing number of
students who have elected the work. Even more than in former years the
American travels afar by car or steamship, and the earth’s surface
features in all their manifold diversity are thus one after the other
unrolled before him. The thousands who each year cross the Atlantic
to roam over European countries may by historical, literary, or
artistic studies prepare themselves to derive an exquisite pleasure
as they visit places identified with past achievement of one form or
another. Yet the Channel coast, the gorge of the Rhine, the glaciers of
Switzerland, and the wild scenery of Norway or Scotland have each their
fascinating story to tell of a history far more remote and varied. To
read this history, the runic characters in which it is written must
first of all be mastered; for in every landscape there are strong
individual lines of character such as the pen artist would skillfully
extract for an outline sketch. Such _character profiles_ are often many
times repeated in each landscape, and in them we have a key to the
historical record.
An object of the present readings has thus been to enable the
student to himself pick out in each landscape these more significant
lines and so read directly from Nature. In the landscapes which
have been represented, the aim has been to draw as far as possible
upon localities well known to travelers and likely to be visited,
either because of their historical interest or their purely scenic
attractions. It should thus be possible for a tourist in America or
Europe to pursue his landscape studies whenever he sets out upon his
travels. The better to aid him in this endeavor, some suggestions
concerning the itinerary of journeys have been supplied in an appendix.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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