"And how
dreadful it would be," I said to myself, "if I could get to the inside of
the earth and find it all on fire!"
It was a pity that I did not ask a little about what surprised and
frightened me so much, and especially that I did not get someone to explain
to me the meaning of this new word, the "crust" of the earth. I know now
that it is the name that has been given to that part of the earth which is
known to be firm and solid--the bed of the ocean as well as the dry land.
Beneath this crust lies the inner part or kernel of the earth, and no one
knows of what it consists; all that can be done is to examine the rocks
which rest upon it, and whether the lowest of these layers of rock has
yet been reached, we do not know. If you have ever been to a quarry where
the rocks have been blasted and cut away, you have seen a little way down
into this earth-crust. I remember once, when I was living in a country
warmer than England, seeing a beautiful sight. It was a great quarry in a
hillside. In part of it men were busy, cutting out the stone and carrying
it away; but all over one side, which was no longer worked, a beautiful
vine had woven its lovely green leaves and purple clusters of grapes.
You would have thought, perhaps, that the side where the rough, hard rock
was hidden by the fruitful vine, was the only part of the quarry worth
looking at; but the other side, where the quarrymen were at work, was very
interesting to anyone who would take the trouble to notice how the rocks
lay, piled one upon another, and especially to one who had learnt a little
about the different kinds of rock of which the earth-crust has been made.
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