Yet all that we read of the earth's story during those many
millions of years could be told in a page or two. That section of
geology is still in its infancy, it is true. A day may come when
science will decipher a long and instructive narrative in the
masses of quartz and gneiss, and the layers of various kinds,
which it calls the Archaean rocks. But we may say with confidence
that it will not discover in them more than a few stray syllables
of the earlier part, and none whatever of the earliest part, of
the epic of living nature. A few fossilised remains of somewhat
advanced organisms, such as shell-fish and worms, are found in
the higher and later rocks of the series, and more of the same
comparatively high types will probably appear. In the earlier
strata, representing an earlier stage of life, we find only thick
seams of black shale, limestone, and ironstone, in which we seem
to see the ashes of primitive organisms, cremated in the
appalling fires of the volcanic age, or crushed out of
recognition by the superimposed masses. Even if some wizardry of
science were ever to restore the forms that have been reduced to
ashes in this Archaean crematorium, it would be found that they
are more or less advanced forms, far above the original level of
life.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109