Fossil organic remains are the relics of a primeval world long since 

 gone past, proclaiming with a loud voice the instability of earthly 

 affairs, and impressing upon the minds of those who seriously con- 

 sider them, sentiments of piety and feelings of devotion. If the an- 

 tiquary digs from among the ruins of Herculaneum a piece of an- 

 cient money, a vase, or a statue, we rejoice with him, in finding the 

 mode of life, the manners and arts of an ancient people, placed before 

 our eyes : If he finds an old record, illustrative of the history of his 

 country, however limited in extent that country may be, we are 

 grateful to him for the particle of knowledge he has added to our 

 store ; but if, among the ruins of the common country of the hu- 

 man race, we linger at the great sepulchre of animated beings des- 

 troyed by the hand of fate, who can look upon it without sentiments 

 of piety ! It is not here the statues of Polycletus that we admire, 

 but the admirable monuments of the workmanship of Nature, taken 

 from the ruins of the great Herculeum overwhelmed by the ocean, 

 that we look upon with feelings of the deepest wonder and devotion. 



