Since the design of these papers excludes special details as to Canadian geology, or that of those old eastern countries to which I have given some attention, I must refer for them to other works, and shall append such reference of this kind as may be necessary. At the same time it will be observed that as my geological work has been concerned most largely with the oldest and newest rocks of the earth, and with the history of life rather than with rocks and minerals, there must necessarily be some preponderance in these directions, which might however, independently of personal considerations, be justified by the actual value of these lines of investigation, and by the special interest attaching to them in the present state of scientific discovery. Having thus defined my starting-point, I would now with all respect and deference ask the reader to accompany me from point to point, and to examine for himself the objects which may appear either near, or in the dim uncertain distance, in illustration of what the world is, and how it became what it is. Perhaps, in doing so, he may be able to perceive much more than I have been able to discover; and if so, I shall rejoice, even if such further insight should correct or counteract some of my own impressions. It is not given to any one age or set of men to comprehend all the mysteries of nature, or to arrive at a point where it can be said, there is no need of farther exploration. Even in the longest journey of the most adventurous traveller there is an end of discovery, and, in the study of nature, cape rises beyond cape and mountain behind mountain interminably. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite, the temporal the eternal. We need not, however, on that account be agnostics, for it is still true that, within the scope of our narrow powers and opportunities, the Supreme Intelligence reveals to us in nature His power and divinity; and it is this, and this alone, that gives attraction and dignity to natural science. _WORLD-MAKING._ DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ADAM SEDGWICK AND SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, Whose joint Labours carried our Knowledge of the History of the Earth two Stages farther back, and whose Differences of Opinion served to render more glorious their Victories. [Illustration: Fig. 1. Diagram illustrating Folding of the Crust of the Earth.--(_a_) Undisturbed crust. (_b_) Primary depression and deposition. (_c_) Mountain-making folds with their relations to an upper and lower magma. Fig. 2. Result of folding, faulting, and denudation, as seen at Cascade Mountain, Western Canada (after McConnell, p. 33).] CHAPTER II. _WORLD-MAKING._