INTRODUCTION 5 



ejected in the air, so that the sun was darkened for a time, and 

 the surface of the sea was covered for many miles with floating 

 pumice and volcanic dust, which in time sank to the bottom, 

 and was made into hard rock, such as we now find on the top of 

 Snowdon. 



Earthquake shocks were quite as frequent, and no doubt the 

 ground swayed to and fro, or was rent open as some unusually 

 great earth-movement took place, and perhaps a mountain range 

 was raised several feet or yards higher. All this we learn from 

 the testimony of the rocks beneath our feet. It only requires the 

 use of a little imagination to conjure up scenes of the past, and 

 paint them as on a moving diorama. 



We shall not, however, dwell at any length on the scenery, or 

 the vegetation that clothed the landscape at different periods ; for 

 these features are sufficiently indicated in the beautiful drawings 

 of extinct animals by our artists, Mr. J. Smit, and others. 



The researches of the illustrious Baron Cuvier, at Paris, as 

 embodied in his great work, Ossemens Fossilcs, gave a great 

 impetus to the study of organic remains. It was he who laid 

 the foundations of the science of Palaeontology, 1 which, though 

 much has already been accomplished, yet has a great future before 

 it. Agassiz, Owen, Huxley, Marsh, Cope, and others, following 

 in his footsteps, have greatly extended its boundaries ; but he 

 was the pioneer. 



Before Cuvier's time fossil forms were very little known, and still 

 less understood. His researches, especially among vertebrates, or 

 backboned animals, revealed an altogether undreamed-of wealth 

 of entombed remains. It is true, the old and absurd notion that 



1 Palaeontology is the science which treats of the living beings, whether 

 animal or vegetable, which have inhabited this globe at past periods in its 

 history. (Greek palaios, ancieut ; outa, beings; logos, discourse.) 



