THE PLEASURES OF SCIENCE 



hatched out of the mountain by Time brooding 

 over it for geologic ages. 



Geology invests every square yard of the earth's 

 surface with interest. I lay claim to only a fragmen- 

 tary knowledge of the noble science, yet it adds to 

 the enjoyment of every bit of new land I see, every 

 visit I make to quarries, every glance I get of the 

 stone tablets which the delvers and tunnelers bring 

 out of the earth. They are pages torn from the 

 great stone book of earthly revelations. They are 

 often nearly blank pages to me, but they pique my 

 curiosity and add to my interest in the great book. 

 A little knowledge of geology goes a great way in 

 giving me pleasure in my walks and excursions. 

 When a new friend, curious about such things, 

 comes to see me, I march him up to my hay barn 

 and show him a geological treasure in one of its 

 foundation stones ; it is a complete and distinct im- 

 pression, in a fragment of the light-gray Catskill 

 formation, of the leaf of a plant or tree that flour- 

 ished millions of years ago, in Devonian times, prior 

 to the coal formation — a narrow, bladelike leaf, 

 about a foot long, parallel- veined and deeply graven 

 on the rock — one of the early Gymnosperms of the 

 order of Cycads, and called Cordaites costatus. One 

 has to supply a little imagination in order to get up 

 an interest in such a thing, but what is life, anyhow, 

 without imagination and void of curiosity about 

 the earth we inhabit? 



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