APPLICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 95 



They were disposed to conclude that the great 

 formation, above referred to, was the New Eed, 

 for they found in it some gigantic teeth, which 

 they at first concluded must belong to a Saurian 

 reptile, as they bore a very close resemblance 

 to those of crocodiles. But the teeth were sub- 

 mitted to Professor Owen, and, examining them 

 by the aid of the Microscope, he found that 

 they did not belong to the Saurian order, as 

 the Eussian paleontologists had unhesitatingly 

 concluded, but to the Dendrodus, a fish exclu- 

 sively Palaeozoic. " If other proofs had not 

 been obtained of the age of these deposits, this 

 tooth alone would have decided the question." 1 

 And the conclusion, thus farther reached, that 

 this extensively deposited formation was the 

 Old Red Sandstone, not only established an 

 important point in geology, but perhaps also 

 saved many a Eussian fortune. 



(3.) The value of the application of the 

 Microscope did not stop here ; for Sir Rode- 

 rick Murchison adds, " Whilst we write, Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz acquaints us, that availing him- 



1 Murcliison's Russia, vol. i. pp. 635, 636 ; Carpenter on 

 the Microscope, pp. 757, 758 ; Agassiz's Monographic des 

 Poissons Fossil.es, p. 83. 



