VII 



READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS 



"And the Jirst Morning of Creation wrote 



What the Last Damn of Reckoning shall read." 



It is quite possible that the reader may wish 

 to know something of the manner in which 

 the specimens described in these pages have 

 been gathered, how we acquire our knowledge 

 of Brontosaurus, Claosaurus, or any of the 

 many other " sauruses," and how their resto- 

 rations have been made. 



There was a time, not so very long ago, 

 when fossils were looked upon as mere sports 

 of Nature, and httle attention paid to them ; 

 later their true nature was recognized, though 

 they were merely gathered haphazard as occa- 

 sion might offer. But now, and for many 

 years past, the fossil-bearing rocks of many 

 parts of the world have been systematically 



worked, and from the material thus obtained 



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