io PRINCIPLES OF PALEONTOLOGY. 



grasp of an apparently endless succession. A beginning there 

 must have been, though we can never hope to fix its point. Even 

 speculation droops her wings in the attenuated atmosphere of a 

 past so remote, and the light of imagination is quenched in the 

 darkness of a history so ancient. In time, as in space, the con- 

 fines of the universe must ever remain concealed from us; and 

 of the end we know no more than of the beginning. Inconceiv- 

 able as is to us the lapse of " geological time," it is no more than 

 "a mere moment of the past, a mere infinitesimal portion of 

 eternity." Well may " the human heart, that weeps and trem- 

 bles," say, with Richter's pilgrim through celestial space, " I will 

 go no farther; for the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. 

 Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave, 

 and hide me from the persecution of the Infinite, for end, I 

 see, there is none. " 



CHAPTER I. 

 THE SCOPE AND MATERIALS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 



The study of the rock-masses which constitute the crust of 

 the earth, if carried out in the methodical and scientific manner 

 of the geologist, at once brings us, as has been before remarked, 

 in contact with the remains or traces of living beings which 

 formerly dwelt upon the globe. Such remains are found, in 

 greater or less abundance, in the great majority of rocks; and 

 they are not only of great interest in themselves, but they have 

 proved of the greatest importance as throwing light upon vari- 

 ous difficult problems in geology, in natural history, in botany, 

 and in philosophy. Their study constitutes the science of palaeon- 

 tology; and though it is possible to proceed to a certain length 

 in geology and zoology without much palaeontological knowledge, 

 it is hardly possible to attain to a satisfactory general acquaint- 

 ance with either of these subjects without having mastered the 

 leading facts of the first. Similarly, it is not possible to study 

 palaeontology without some acquaintance with both geology and 

 natural history. 



PALAEONTOLOGY, then, is the science which treats of the liv- 

 ing beings, whether animal or vegetable, which have inhabited 



