1825-1830.] 
DURIA ANTIQUIOR. 
In their unknown graves for thousands of past centuries, converted 
into hard marble-like rocks, they have lain, and hundreds of skeletons 
will lie, till time is no more, leaving but a bare record of their former 
existence engraved in tablets of stone on the shores which once formed 
the bed of an ancient ocean, now long passed away. 
Meanwhile let it be our privilege to read and interpret the history 
of our planet as it existed when yet young in the starry firmament. 
Let us compare extinct forms of animal life with their modern living 
prototypes ; and from the habits and instincts of animals around us, 
learn, not only the laws which govern them as well as ourselves, 
the physiological causes which regulate our bodies as well as their 
bodies, but also endeavour to learn pleasurable lessons from daily 
scenes, and to withdraw the veil which frequently obscures the most 
enchanting scenes of nature from ordinary observation. 
Above all, let us join with the inspired writer when he admonishes 
us: But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee ; and the fowls 
of the air, and they shall tell thee : or speak to the earth, and it 
shall teach thee : and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.” 
