A ''Living Fossir 221 



is the actual substance of the originals; many, many 

 thousand years have passed since they were resolved 

 into the elements from which they were derived ; but the 

 outward shapes remain as perfect as when in that far- 

 distant time they drifted to the floor of some quiet lake 

 or inland sea to become entombed in the hardening silt 

 and sand. 



These petrified plants tell an impressive and curious 

 story. They tell us that great and important changes 

 have occurred on the surface of the earth in its past 

 history, changes that occurred not only in the character 

 of the land but in the living things which inhabit it as 

 well. But most striking, perhaps, is the revelation they 

 make in regard to the enormous length of time that the 

 changes involved. The years that have passed since 

 these forms flourished are reckoned only in millions. 

 And yet this duration of time is relatively short when 

 compared with the total time that vegetable life has 

 existed on this planet; for these particular petrifactions 

 are flowering land plants, and in point of time they 

 were preceded by other forms whose beginning was so 

 remote that the significance of the number of years 

 which have since elapsed cannot easily be grasped by 

 the ordinary person. 



It is a singular circumstance, however, that so far as 

 actual proof exists in the records of the rocks the origin 

 of animal life was immeasurably distant to that of the 

 plants. The fossils of animals are found in rocks much 

 older than those in which any plant remains appear. 

 But this may be simpler than it seems. The most an- 

 cient plants were undoubtedly the soft vegetation of the 

 sea, and, therefore, they were not so easily preserved 



