Geology

"Geologic phenomena and pathological symptoms are similar insofar that both may have various causes. It is the art of the diagnosing physician to recognize the disease; in the same way the geologist is not allowed to halt at the apparent. Before a sound interpretation is reached, many supplementary investigations and diagnostic observations should be done, perhaps each time starting from a different premise. This is in essence the application of the method of the multiple working hypotheses."

"The geological evolution is a part of the general cosmic evolution which has an orientated course, according to the second main law of thermodynamics. Therefore the principle of uniformitarianism generally holds good for the not too distant past, in the times that life inhabited our planet (that is, for about one billion years)."

"Physics and chemistry provide the natural laws which also hold in geology. Additional to those, however, the geologist works with some general concepts which are the more specific rules of the game for his scientific investigations. These concepts, such as the principle of "uniformitarianism," are his guide in the interpretation of the available facts. Because of the higher complexity of the evolution of the earth, our present basic concepts need still more footing and development than those of physics and chemistry. A repeated to and fro between induction and deduction is necessary."

"It is quite common in geological jargon to use biological, medical, and even psychological terms, and it would definitely be an impoverishment of geological professional speech if the usage of these terms were abolished. But confusion and misunderstanding are sometimes introduced in this way."

"The very nature of the earth determines the place of geology among the sister sciences."

"Geology is an exact science too. Many factors of geological phenomena can be measured and grouped in "correlation structures," aspects of which can be treated mathematically."

"...may compare geologists and biologists to barbaric stone-age scientists, who, more or less hopefully, struggle along to reach the remote but ultimate goal of total "quantification" and "mathematization."

"In collecting the primary geologic data, some personal capacities of the geologist (such as strong physique, perceptive faculties, perseverance, talent for drawing) are generally of much greater importance than in any of the sister sciences, which can rely on the quality of the instruments used in collecting primary data… Hans Cloos (1949) called this way of interrogation [by geologists] "the dialogue with the earth," "das Gespraich mit der Erde.""

"Experiments in geology are far more difficult than in physics and chemistry because of the greater size of the objects, commonly outside our laboratories, up to the earth itself, and also because of the fact that the geologic time scale exceeds the human time scale by a million and more times. This difference in time allows only direct observations of the actual geologic processes, the mind having to imagine what could possibly have happened in the past."

"It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it is the grain of sand in your shoe."

"For Look! Within my hallow hand, While round the earth careens, I hold a single grain of sand And wonder what it means. Ah! If I had the eyes to see, And brain to understand, I think the Life’s mystery might be Solved in the grain of sand."

"I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere."

"The crust of a tan man imbibed by the sand; soaking up the thirst of the land."

"Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out – it’s the grain of sand in your shoe."

"The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it."

"The sand (Hindi: mitti) in the arena is especially holy to them. In Benares it [sand] comes from the Ganges and is mixed with Ganges water, mustard oil, and turmeric in order to keep it soft and supple. On special occasions, milk and clarified butter (ghi) are also added. The ground must be turned, loosened, and renewed periodically. Only the master (Hindi:ustad) is allowed to enter the new sand after he has honoured it with flowers and incense. The young men not only rub themselves with sand, they also wallow in it. Sand is the balm for their heroism."

"...the entire universe was there within a grain for our understanding."

"You may smile at the fanciful structures I rear, And say, that my castles are built but on sand ; Like bubbles, that on the blue waters appear, That sparkle, invite, and then sink from the hand."

"The huge variety of sand grains is astounding, and each one has a story to tell."

"There are as many stars in the universe as all the grains of sand in the beaches of the world."

"For nature is the noblest engineer, yet uses a grinding economy working up all that is wasted to-day in to to-marrows creation;not a superfluous grain of sand for all ostentation she makes of expense and public works."

"The mine which Time has slowly dug beneath familiar objects is sprung in an instant; and what was rock before, becomes but sand and dust."

"To see a world in a grain of sand/And a heaven in a wild flower."

"And it stood still upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, but upon its heads blasphemous names. Now the wild beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were as those of a bear, and its mouth was as a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave to [the beast] its power and its throne and great authority."

"A single grain of sand can have an influence far out of proportion to its size, but when it gathers together with vast numbers of its colleagues, very strange things can indeed happen."

"I wrote my name upon the sand; I thought I wrote it on thine heart. I had no touch of fear, that words, Such words, so graven, could depart."

"Who could ever calculate the path of a molecule? How do we know the creations of worlds are not determined by falling grains of sand?"

"If you speak ill of another do not speak it...write it in the sand near the water’s edge."

"And so castle made of sand fall into the sea, eventually."

"History is a child building a sand castle by the sea and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world."

"Unhappy they who raise their hopes upon the shifting sand."

"A wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe."

"Every grain of sand is a jewel waiting to be discovered. ... When we walk along a beach, we tread upon millions of years of biological and geological history."

"...the noise made by a single grain of sand moving with the waves is one of a series of tiny perceptions that we accumulate to hear the roar of the ocean."

"Examining sand grains through the microscope is a wonderful way to find out about the biology, and ecology of the local environment."

"Reflecting its potential fluidity and fickleness, sand, as the quintessential granular material, has become a symbol of instability and impermanence. The biblical admonition against building a house on sand may be exaggerated."

"There are countless sand collectors around the world, and there have been for a long time. …Sand collectors call themselves as arenophiles or “sand lovers”- a mixture of Latin and Greek. The word arena derives from the ancient Roman habit of covering the ground in amphitheaters with sand (harena or arena in Latin) – to soak up blood. The pure Greek would be psammophile, and some sand collectors use this but it is commonly used also to describe plants and creatures that are sand-loving, forging a livelihood among the grains."

"Sand grains comes in variety of shapes, which can make measuring its size quite tricky."

"Sand is somewhat like beauty – we know it when we see it, or touch it, but it seems difficult to describe."

"The sand grain is anonymous, waiting for rain and wind to sweep it away on an endless journey, to demonstrate its durability while its weaker companions fall by the way side. But it is called sand not because of what it is made of or its origins, bit because of how big it is."

"It has been estimated that on the order of a billion sand grains are born around the world every second."

"The sand grain has become a symbol of permanence and fragility of our – and - nature’s works."

"Close to 70 percent of all sand grains on the earth are made of quartz."

"The birth of a sand grain is a microscopic event, a flap of butterfly’s wings heralding greater change and a larger creation. Each grain carries the equivalent of the DNA of its parents and develops a character through its life and is moulded partly by its environment. Compared to the scale of a human life, however, the sand grains’ story is never ending, and rebirth is a regular event."

"There is another and allied difficulty, which is much more serious. I allude to the manner in which species belonging to several of the main divisions of the animal kingdom suddenly appear in the lowest known fossiliferous rocks. . . . The case at present must remain inexplicable; and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the [evolutionary] views here entertained."

"The abrupt manner in which whole groups of species suddenly appear in certain formations has been urged by several paleontologists . . . as a fatal objection to the belief in the transmutation of species. If numerous species, belonging to the same genera or families, have really started into life at once, the fact would be fatal to the theory of evolution through natural selection. For the development by this means of a group of forms, all of which are descended from some one progenitor, must have been an extremely slow process; and the progenitors must have lived long before their modified descendants. But we continually overrate the perfection of the geological record, and falsely infer, because certain genera or families have not been found beneath a certain stage, that they did not exist before that stage. In all cases positive palæontological evidence may be implicitly trusted; negative evidence is worthless, as experience has so often shown. We continually forget how large the world is, compared with the area over which our geological formations have been carefully examined; we forget that groups of species may elsewhere have long existed, and have slowly multiplied, before they invaded the ancient archipelagoes of Europe and the United States. We do not make due allowance for the intervals of time which have elapsed between our consecutive formations,—longer perhaps in many cases than the time required for the accumulation of each formation. These intervals will have given time for the multiplication of species from some one parent-form: and in the succeeding formation, such groups or species will appear as if suddenly created."

"To discover the changes that have taken place in our globe, which can account for the remains of animals only fitted to live in warm climates being found in so northern a situation; and to explain the circumstances of human bones never having been met with in a fossil state, is the province of the geologist. To examine such fossil bones, and to determine the class to which the animal belonged, comes within the sphere of inquiry of the anatomist, and considerable increases its extent."

"The same Time which so ruthlessly assails the works and the monuments of man, was inspired with a zeal for the perpetuation of those which belong to the gods, really startling. The Vasty Cycles of Days since the Avatar of Time have been consumed by him but for this end. The Populations of the Old World seem to have lived that Time might solemnize their obsequies, and Stamp the forged Seal of Eternity upon their bones. The acts and Inscriptions of man dissolve into thin air, while the Races co-temporary with adolescent Time continue for our own and the years that are To Come. To touch the former with a breath is to blot them out, while the last are hermetically soldered down with stone, and coffined in the Centres of the Earth: so carefully guarded are they from rude and sacriligious [sic] hands, that to unrol the Cerements which bind them, it requires the most peculiar and subtle Genius of Skill, and fingers tipped each one with a most energetic soul."

"There are a hundred million fossils, all catalogued and identified, in museums around the world."

"The record of the rocks contains very little, other than bacteria and one-celled plants until, about a billion years ago, after some three billion years of invisible progress, a major breakthrough occurred. The first many-celled creatures appeared on earth."