482 THE CHANGING WORLD 



repeated over and over again in the case of other animal and plant 

 groups. Thus, not only is the fact of the existence of all sorts of 

 fossils, marking various remote stages of past life, evidence of the 

 vast extent of known time, but also the slow rise and fall of plant and 

 animal groups as a whole emphasizes the same point. 



The Role of Paleontology 



To learn the kinds of animals and plants that have lived in former 

 times ; to determine just when they lived and what they did ; and 

 to find out which lines failed to maintain survivors down to the 

 present time, and why, are some of the concerns of paleontology. 



There is a seductive lure in fossil hunting, like that which stimulates 

 the prospector for gold, only in the case of the paleontologist it is 

 intellectual gold that he is after, the acquisition of which is of much 

 more inestimable value than the discovery of the yellow metal. 



For those who care to look into this matter of past life, and for those 

 who would like to share some of the joys of the exploring paleon- 

 tologist, there follows a short list of books, which is recommended 

 to point the way. 



SUGGESTED READINGS 



Lucas, F. A., Animals before Man in North America, D. Appleton Co., 1902. 



An excellent popular presentation of ancient animal life. 

 Lull, R. S., Fossils, The University Society, 1931. 



A short stimulating introduction to the life of other days. 

 Merriam, J. C., The Living Past, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930. 



On the subject of earth history, the President of the Carnegie Listitu- 



tion can converse with the young as well as with the old. 

 Shimer, H. W., An Introduction to the Study of Fossils, The Macmillan Co., 



1914. 



A valuable textbook of paleontology interpreted through the study of 



existing forms. 

 Sternberg, C. H., The Life of a Fossil Hunter, Henry Holt & Co., 1909. 



The adventures of a typical American who hunted fossils when railroads 



were new in Kansas, Texas, and the Dakotas, and Indians were more in 



evidence than automobiles. 



