CHAP. xv. HELP TO HUGH MILLER. 215 



Hugh Miller's Footprints of the Creator was published 

 in 1849, and here also we find numerous indications of 

 the assistance which he had received from Eobert Dick. 

 Professor Agassiz, in his preface to the last edition of 

 the hook, says, "Many points respecting this curious 

 fossil (the Asterolepis or Star-scale) remained to be 

 determined ; and it was fortunate for science that Mr. 

 Miller was enabled to accomplish this object by means 

 of a variety of excellent specimens which he had 

 received from Eobert Dick." "The remains of an 

 Asterolepis found by Mr. Dick at Thurso indicate a 

 length of from twelve feet five to thirteen feet eight 

 inches. ... A specimen of Asterolepis discovered by 

 Mr. Dick among the Thurso rocks, and sent to Mr. 

 Miller, exhibited the singular phenomenon of a quantity 

 of thick tar lying beneath it, which stuck to the fingers 

 when lifting the pieces of rock. What had been once 

 the nerves, muscles, and blood of this ancient ganoid, 

 still lay under its bones. The animal juices of the fish 

 had preserved its remains by the pervading bitumen, 

 greatly more conservative in its effects than the oil and 

 gum of an Egyptian undertaker."* 



The first cranium of the Asterolepis figured by Hugh 

 Miller was imperfect. Eobert Dick furnished him with 

 a perfect one. There was a gap in the print which 

 struck Professor Sedgwick as being unnatural. He said 

 it was " not of the proper finish." But after Dick had 

 furnished his specimen with the keystone-shaped plate 

 in its proper place, Miller says he referred the professor 



* Hugh Miller's Footprints of the Creator, p. xxvii. Ed. 1876. 



