And we have a trace of
that long epoch, even in England. The Keuper lies, certainly,
immediately on the Bunter; but not always "conformably" on it. That
is, the beds are not exactly parallel. The Bunter had been slightly
tilted, and slightly waterworn, before the Keuper was laid on it.
It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose, that the Bunter in England
was dry land, and therefore safe from fresh deposit, through ages
during which it was deep enough beneath the sea in Germany, to have
the Muschelkalk laid down on it. Here again, then, as everywhere, we
have evidence of time--time, not only beyond all counting, but beyond
all imagining.
And now, perhaps, the reader will ask--If I am to believe that all
new land is made out of old land, and that all rocks and soils are
derived from the wear and tear of still older rocks, off what land
came this enormous heap of sands more than 5,000 feet thick in
places, stretching across England and into Germany?
It is difficult to answer. The shape and distribution of land in
those days were so different from what they are now, that the rocks
which furnished a great deal of our sandstone may be now, for aught I
know, a mile beneath the sea.
But over the land which still stands out of the sea near us there has
been wear and tear enough to account for any quantity of sand
deposit.
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