FOSSIL SPONGES, ETC 5 



understand anything of the fossil plants, shells, bones, 

 teeth, etc., he meets with in every geological forma- 

 tion, unless he knows something about similar objects 

 now in existence? Fossils only differ from their 

 modern representatives in that they belong to extinct 

 zoology and botany, instead of to the still existing 

 divisions of these kingdoms of life. Thus the 

 geological student is forced continually to widen his 

 sphere of research, and he finds that every additional 

 bit of knowledge of any other science helps him all 

 the more to understand that which he has selected as 

 his special hobby. 



Geology is essentially an open-air study. It leads 

 one into the most beautiful of landscapes, to the most 

 charming bits of scenery. The tame flatness of the 

 plains reveals to the geologist comparatively little, 

 unless coal or salt-mining has partly turned the earth's 

 crust inside out ; or railway cuttings have laid open 

 sections instructive both as regards the strata and the 

 fossils they contain. Boulder clay pits or natural tarns 

 will occasionally prove interesting. But to study the 

 stony science in its fulness we must " gang to the 

 hills ! " There, where the heather is purplest, and the 

 atmosphere exhilarates like old wine, we are most 

 likely to read off the " record of the rocks ! " Health- 

 ful activity is required, and the memory is stored 

 with remembrances of sunny days and clear skies 

 never to be forgotten ! 



In the course of the following chapters I purpose 



