Illustrations of Fossil Footmarks. ZU 
ART. XVIL —ILLUSTRATIONS OF FOSSIL FOOTMARKS. By James 
EANE, M. D. Read Feb. 19, 1845. 
Tue design of this memoir is to present some obvious facts 
and ideas connected with the recent discovery of footprints 
upon the stratified sand-stones of Connecticut River. Those 
Who have not access to original examples, can hardly compre- 
hend the intrinsic properties of these fossils, much less appre- 
ciate the profound truths they reveal. The descriptions, which 
are brief, will be elucidated by pictorial auxiliaries, without 
Which it would be an impossible task to convey adequate 
notions of these beautiful, splendid mementos of beings long 
since swept from the earth. 
It was not, indeed, until recently acknowledged that these 
vestiges were due to animals, whose organization was doubtless 
perfect as those of living types; but a true interpretation 
unseals a long chapter of the earth's infant history. This 
doctrine is no longer controverted, or, at least, it is recognized 
by all who have examined the facts. It may be resisted when 
conflicting with cherished opinions; for the discovery fixes 
the limits of perfect forms of animated existence immensely 
lower in the scale of advancement than hitherto had been 
established, — « The discovery," says a distinguished author," 
“upon the sands of the great Triassic ocean, was as unex- 
pected and startling as the human footsteps to Crusoe on his 
desolate island.” The announcement that signs of air-breath- 
Ing, warm-blooded animals existed upon a rock of the geo- 
sical antiquity of the new red sandstone, was an innovation. 
upon the systems of modern geology, and was received with 
extreme caution. But T must here be allowed to assert that I 
never once doubted that the impressions were due to the 
agency of extinct birds, nor hesitated to describe them as 
"es ; and the opinions originally advanced, founded upon 
meontestable analogies, finally prevailed. 
1 Mantell, Medals of Creation. 
