DINOSAURS. 8 
contemporaries. Well might the illustrious Bergman exclaim, 
“ Sunt instar nummorum memoralium que de preteritis globi nostri 
Satis testantur, ubi omnia silent monumenta historica.” 
Geology owes a deep debt of gratitude to the late Dr. Gideon 
A. Mantell, who, during the intervals of a laborious professional 
life, collected and described the remains of several strange 
extinct reptiles, and wrote a number of works on geology, such 
as served in his day to advance the science to which he was so 
enthusiastically devoted. 
We propose to give a brief account of a wonderful group of 
Dinosaurs, first introduced to the scientific world through Dr. 
Mantell’s labours. 
The first of these monsters is the Iguanodon, the earliest known 
individual of the “‘bird-footed” division (Ornithopoda). The 
history of the gradual reconstruction of its skeleton is an in- 
structive instance of the results that may be obtained by a 
careful and patient study of fragmentary remains. Through the 
labours of Dr. Mantell, in the first half of this century, a consider- 
able knowledge was acquired of the greater part of the skeleton, 
but certain portions remained a puzzle; these, however, were 
eventually explained by Professor Huxley and Mr. Hulke, and a 
few years ago a series of complete skeletons were most fortunately 
obtained in Belgium, so that now every part of the huge frame- 
work of this monster is known to the paleontologist. Its history, 
as a fossil, is a most interesting one, and furnishes one more 
example of the marvellous insight into the nature of extinct 
animals displayed by the illustrious Baron Cuvier. Let us begin 
with the teeth, since they were the first part of the monster 
brought to light. 
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remark that, to one 
thoroughly acquainted with the structures of living animals, a 
tooth, or a series of teeth, will furnish material from which 
important conclusions with regard to the structure and habits of 
an extinct animal may be drawn. So, also, with regard to some 
