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  ANNUAL 
  REPOET 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  192*7 
  

  

  I 
  must 
  stop 
  the 
  further 
  spinning 
  of 
  such 
  yarns 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  future 
  of 
  

   this 
  earth, 
  mindful 
  of 
  what 
  that 
  fine 
  satirist, 
  Roderich, 
  once 
  wrote 
  

   in 
  the 
  album 
  of 
  a 
  geologist: 
  

  

  Man 
  sagt 
  von 
  deinem 
  Wirken 
  wohl 
  am 
  besten 
  : 
  Du 
  prophezeist 
  uns 
  die 
  

   Vergangeulieit. 
  (The 
  best 
  we 
  can 
  say 
  of 
  your 
  work: 
  You 
  prophesy 
  for 
  us 
  the 
  

   past.) 
  

  

  The 
  past 
  of 
  tlie 
  earth, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  geology 
  unrolls 
  it 
  for 
  us, 
  and 
  the 
  

   present 
  tell 
  us 
  nothing 
  of 
  an 
  aging 
  of 
  the 
  earth. 
  

  

  Die 
  Erde 
  lebt 
  ; 
  sie 
  altert 
  nicht. 
  (The 
  earth 
  lives 
  ; 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  growing 
  old.) 
  

  

  