SI 4 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE.. 
BOTTLED SUNSHINE. 
T. BERRY SMITH. 
The coal we burn, formed in the ages distant,. 
Is bottled sunshine, [and to prove it %q>,\ 
We'll hire Fancy and with her as assistant 
Back up the geologic stream we'll row. 
That creature there amid the dark old forest, 
Nipping the twigs and breaking down the trees- 
Is nothing but a huge old Deinosaurus 
Feeding himself and doing as he please. 
Along yon beach you see a creature striding, 
Leaving his tracks three feet apart or more — 
Well, that's a bird : (we follow Marsh deciding), 
Lestornis counts his dentals by the score. 
Still on we go, the vista ever changing ; 
Lo ! Pterodactyls wing their heavy flight, 
While all around us in the waters ranging 
The Ichthyosaurs the Plesiosaurians bite. 
And now we've passed the wondrous line dividing.; 
The Mesozoic from the Palaeozoic time — 
Have come to where Amphibians huge are sliding. 
And crawling round in marshes full of grime. 
And now, my friend, we cannot go much longer t 
Carbonic acid gas so fills the air. 
It chokes a man; the sun's heat too is stronger; 
Aquatic life alone is everywhere. 
Plants Cryptogamic flourish all around us — 
Unnumbered fronds of Arboraceous ferns. 
And Lycopods whose hugeness does astound us — 
Catching the sunshine which so fiercely burns. 
These plants receive the sunshine like an awning 
And drink it in with much carbonic gas. 
And then store up Aha ! the truth is dawning, 
And I can see you're ''catching " on at last. 
