Prof. Hitchcock on Ichnolithology, or Fossil Footmarks. 321 



as tens and even hundreds of thousands of years ago. And yet 

 they are as distinct and fresh as if made yesterday upon the 

 mud ; while mixed among them, we see the petrified rain-drops 

 that fell at that same remote era. Really, in such facts one sees 

 almost a realization of the ingenious thought of Prof. Babbage, 

 founded on the equality of action and reaction, that " the air is 

 one vast library, on whose pages are forever written all that man 

 has ever said, or woman whispered ; while the waters and the 

 more solid materials of the globe bear equally enduring testimony 

 of the acts we have committed." 



In these footmarks, also, human ambition may read a lesson of 

 an opposite character. A desire to leave our names inscribed 

 with honor upon the world's history, is the almost universal pas- 

 sion. And to gratify it, what immense sacrifices of peace, health 

 and life have in all ages been made ! But among those who 

 have been most influential at court, and most bold and successful 

 on the battle field, how few have had their names transmitted to 

 posterity. Over by far the greatest part has the wave of oblivion 

 rolled ; and even though Babbage's principle be true in theory, 

 their intrigues, their valor, and their ephemeral renown will never 

 be recovered. "Not a track remains," says Dr. Buckland, "or a 

 single hoof, of all the countless millions of men and beasts whose 

 progress spread desolation over the earth. But the reptiles that 

 crawled upon the half finished surface of our planet, have left 

 memorials of their passage enduring and indelible." And we 

 may add, that the proudest monuments of human art will moulder 

 down and disappear ; but while there are eyes to behold them, 

 the sandstone of the Connecticut valley will never cease to re- 

 mind the observer of the gigantic races that passed over it while 

 yet in an incipient state. 



" Reptiles and birds, a problem ye have solved, 

 Man never has, — to leave a trace on earth, 

 Too deep for time and fate to wear away." 



And is it strange that the geologist should manifest a deep and 

 even enthusiastic interest, when he discovers and attempts to 

 decipher these curious archives of new, unknown, and peculiar 

 animals that peopled the world untold ages before man became 

 its possessor ? How deep the interest of the antiquary, when 

 he discovers and attempts to unroll some ancient papyrus that 

 discloses a new and earlier chapter in a nation's history, or tells 



