302 RUINS. 



only the historical associations connected with the ruins 

 of tenix)les and palaces, to render them equally interest- 

 ing. 



Man's natural love of mystery, and his proneness to 

 indulge in that emotion of grandeur and infinity that 

 flows from the sight of anything involved in the dimness 

 of remote ages of the past, are causes of the intense 

 interest felt in the study of geology. With a deep feeling 

 of awe we trace the footprints of those unknown animals 

 which were the denizens of a former world. The mind 

 " is roused to profound contemplation at the sight of piles 

 of rocks as high as the clouds, recumbent on a bed of 

 fern, and at finding the remains of animals that once 

 sported on the summits of other Alps, now buried beneath 

 the very base and foundation of ours." 



