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READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS 
* And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
What the Last Dann 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 little 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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