586 THE UNIVERSE. 



Yet, in spite of this marvellous preservation of ancient 

 beings, men long persisted in regarding fossils as only freaks 

 of nature, lusus naturce, as they were called. 



In vain did the earth yield up its most delicate skeletons, 

 with all their fine, thin bones; in vain did it present shells 

 with their most charming tracery, sometimes even with 

 their ancient coloring ; in vain did we find in the midst of 



226. Impressions of Rain-Drops and Animal's Footsteps on Antediluvian Rocks. 



rocks birds yet enveloped in their feathers, and insects with 

 their transparent wings : up to the sixteenth century all 

 these things only passed for accidental products begotten by 

 chance, and merely possessing the deceptive appearance of 

 beings which life had animated. 



moist and soft, which later on became dry, and was transformed into freestone. 

 In other rocks of America, figures of which can be seen in Buckland's work, we 

 find the marks of tortoises' feet and of the footsteps of lizards. Buckland, 

 Geology and Mineralogy in their Relations to Natural Theology. 



