370 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



speed, and we know that what happens to-day in this regard hap- 

 pened also in past ages. Skeletons left on dry land soon disappear ; 

 they are at the mercy of living animals and the disintegrating power 

 o^ the atmosphere; but skeletons protected by sediments under 

 water escape the attentions of both animals and atmosphere, and 

 readily become fossilized. It is related by the editor of Dean Buck- 

 land's work on Geology, that when the river wall of the water- 

 works at Kingston'on-Thames was being built, the skeleton of a 

 man was found embedded in the mud, at a level above the ordinary 

 height of the water. Nothing like clothes were found upon him; 

 but close to the bones of the heels were two portions of iron which 

 had been nailed on to his boots. This was probably some poor 

 labourer who had been drowned many years ago, and whose body 

 had been subsequently washed by a flood into the place where it 

 was found. What happened to this unfortunate drowned man in 

 our own times, happened also to the carcasses of the ancient beasts 

 that lived long before the appearance of man upon this earth. 



An animal, perhaps, came to an untimely end in Tertiary times. 

 It may have perished in a lake or its carcass was carried into one by 

 a river in high flood. The same river gave the body decent burial 

 under the sediment it was constantly depositing, and made uncon- 

 scious provision for the preservation of the bones for indefinite time. 

 The sediment, in course of time, became rock. To-day a quarry- 

 man splits the rock and finds the fossilized remains of the animal. 

 If he be a sensible man he will notify a local expert concerning 

 his find, and perhaps be the means of adding to the sum of human 

 knowledge. It is not improbable that he will think it is no business 

 of his and will throw the fossils on a refuse heap, no one being 

 the wiser. Thoughtless folk take the easy course, the line of least 

 resistance ; it is less trouble not to bother ; calling in experts requires 

 some effort. 



The writer cannot close this chapter without exhorting his 

 readers to pay attention to the claims of Geology and the possibili- 

 ties of Palaeontology; and he will feel that he has altogether failed 

 in his purpose if some of his readers do not beget some enthusiasm 

 and zeal in the pursuit of these studies. Practical workers are 

 needed in all branches of Nature Study; workers who will go out 

 into the fields, through the woods, over the mountains and by the 

 sea in order to get first-hand knowledge of natural objects. The 

 absorbing interest that is awakened by the study of living things 



