8 



OF CREATION; and, indeed, a very little advancement in the 

 study of this science is necessary to discover the peculiar propriety 

 of the application of this term to the subjects of our present in- 

 quiry. 



By these medals of creation we are taught, that innumerable beings 

 have lived, of which not one of the same kind does any longer ex- 

 ist that immense beds, composed of the spoils of these animals, 

 extending for many miles under ground, are met with in many parts 

 of the globe that many enormous chains of mountains are vast 

 monuments, in which these remains of former ages are entombed 

 that, though laying thus crushed together, in a rude and confused 

 mass, they are suffering those changes, by which they become the 

 chief constituent parts of the limestone, which forms the humble 

 cottage of the peasant; or the marble, which adorns the splendid*** 

 palace of the prince. 



Surrounded, as we are, by the remains of a former world, it is 

 truly surprising, that, in general, so little curiosity and attention are 

 excited by them. Wherever civilized society exists, these wrecks 

 of the earliest ages may be found, yielding to man the most impor- 

 tant benefits. Changed in their appearance, during the revolution 

 of innumerable ages, they sometimes manifest but slight traces of 

 their former modes of existence : and, having already performed se- 

 veral important offices in the economy of nature, they are now of- 

 fered to man, as powerful inducements to the exercise of industry, 

 and as fit materials, on which his faculties may be exerted. Vary- 

 ing infinitely in their nature and substance, according to the com- 

 binations into which they have entered, they become useful to man 

 in numberless ways. 



Not the smallest or rudest village is to be seen, in the neighbour- 

 hood of a limestone mountain or quarry, but it may be discovered 

 that these have been ransacked to furnish the foot-path, or to aid 

 the erection of the poor man's dwelling. In visiting the mansions 



