6 3 8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



can conjure forth from the dim ages past the plant entire ; and men 

 like Gray and Hooker, while acknowledging themselves not possessed 

 of similar divining power, admit the veracity of the results obtained. 

 I have said a leaf, an organ, sometimes a fragment, is sufficient, and 

 that which to the ordinary observer is wholly enigmatical becomes to 

 the paleophy tologist a revelation. " These are the scattered fragments 

 of the old book of Nature. When one sets himself to decipher them, 

 he very soon forgets the singularity of the characters and the poor 

 condition of the pages. Thought rises, ideas develop, the manuscript 



Fig. 7. Carpintjs betuloides (Ung) ? 



Fig. 8. Persea 



? x \. 



unrolls. It is the tomb that speaks and delivers up its secret." * We 

 are reminded of the prophetess of classic fable, who wrote the burden 

 of her prophecy on forest-leaves, and then committed the precious 

 pages to the winds. He who would find the inspiration of her song 

 must have the wit to rearrange. 



* Saporta, " Monde des plantes avant rapparition de l'homme." 



