THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
1 66 
I could understand, and wished I could 
understand the rest. Perhaps I could 
by starting with the first page and go- 
ing slowly, looking up each long word 
as I came to it. 
I worked my way through to page 
ioi . At the bottom of this was a foot- 
note which read: “To me it seems, that 
to look on the first land that was ever 
lifted above the waste of waters, to 
meant lizard or reptilelike: dinosaurs — 
“terrible lizards.” 
I had also become familiar with some 
of the names of the different geological 
periods of time. “Jurassic,” anything 
that pertained to this was sure to be 
worth reading. “Carboniferous,” this 
was the full-grown name for coal. They 
were not hard after I had pronounced 
them a few times. 
MR. COOPER IX HIS LIBRARY. 
follow the shore where the earliest ani- 
mals and plants were created when the 
thought of God first expressed itself in 
organic forms, to hold in one’s hand a 
bit of stone from an old sea beach, 
hardened into rock thousands of cen- 
turies ago, and studded with the beings 
that once crept upon its surface or were 
stranded there by some retreating 
wave, is even of deeper interest to men 
than relics of their own race for these 
things tell more directly of the thoughts 
and creative acts of God.- — Agassiz.” 
This w r as easily understood. I looked 
up Agassiz in my encyclopedia and 
found that he had written several 
books. I bought his “Geological 
Sketches,” read them and then got 
“The World Before the Deluge” at the 
public library. 
By this time I saw some meaning in 
the long names. “Saur” or “saurus” 
Probably the most interesting book 
I have ever read that pertains to geol- 
ogy is “The Lost World” by A. Conan 
Doyle. This is really a story and I can 
recommend it to any one whether he 
knows anything about geology or not. 
If he does not, he will want to know 
after reading it, and if he does it will be 
all the more interesting. 
I have never had but one opportunity 
to hear a lecture on this or any other 
scientific subject. One was given here 
on “Hunting Big Game in the Rocks.” 
It was illustrated with stereopticon 
views of restorations of dinosaurs, fos- 
sils, etc. I went. The admission was 
a quarter but I would give five dollars 
to hear another like it. 
Upon inquiring among the men in 
the shop where I work if they heard 
the lecture I found none that had. 
Some even scorned such an idea. 
