CHAPTER VIII 



FOSSIL PLANTS 



Any conclusions we have reached in respect to the 

 gamut of plant forms have, up to the present point, 

 been based upon structural details, but our study could 

 hardly be complete without some reference to the testi- 

 mony of the rocks. Fossil Botany within recent years 

 has received marked attention at the hands of specialists, 

 and some important discoveries in regard to the plant 

 life of past ages have been made. The study, although 

 it has yielded valuable results, is as yet in its infancy. 

 We may look for further fruits in the years to come. 



The fossils that are found in the stratified deposits of 

 the earth's crusts are interesting and valuable records 

 of the life, climate, and conditions of past ages. They 

 help us to decide the geological age of the rocks with 

 which they are associated, and we naturally look to 

 them for unimpeachable evidence as to the sequence of 

 life-forms in the gamut of creation. If there has been 

 evolution of life-forms from the earliest times to the 

 present day, and a gradual development, or even a series 

 of sudden appearances, of more complex forms, there 

 ought to be a succession of fossils indicating the progress 

 of evolution. Not that we must expect too much from 

 fossils, for we know that myriads of plant and animal 

 bodies return " ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," 



219 



