Gideon Algernon Mantell

“ How marvellous are those laws, by which even the humblest types of organic existence are preserved though born amidst the sources of their destruction; and by which a species of immortality is given to generations, floating, as it were, like evanescent bubbles on a stream raised from the deepest caverns of the earth, and instantly losing what may be called its spirit in the atmosphere! ”

“ Every one knows that Sheppey is a small island about ten miles in length, lying at the mouth of the Thames, at the distance of between forty and fifty miles east from London; but every one does not know that the Isle of Sheppey is an inexhaustible mine of fossil treasures; and that from its cliffs, and on its shores, may be gathered innumerable relics of tropical plants, of quadrupeds, birds, serpents, turtles, fishes, crabs, lobsters, shells, &c. all belonging to species that now no longer exist. ”

“ Petrifactions.—It is very generally the case, that persons who are not conversant with the nature of organic remains, suppose that all fossils are petrifactions; and unless a specimen has the aspect and hardness of stone, they regard it as of modern origin, and devoid of interest. Hence they are surprised to find among the choicest treasures in the cabinet of the geologist, shells and corals as perfect in form, as if recently collected from the sea-shore; bones as little changed, as if they had been interred but for a short period; and teeth possessing their sharp edges and enamel unimpaired. ”

“ The remains of Mammalia discovered in a fossil state include an immense number of species, and furnish examples of almost every living genus, and of numerous genera, and even orders, of which no existing species are known. Yet amidst the vast accumulations of the skeletons of the higher orders of vertebrata contained in the tertiary deposits, and in the superficial drift, belonging to species which have successively appeared on the surface of our planet, flourished for indefinite periods of time, and then become annihilated, no vestiges of Man, or of his works, have been detected. ”

“ That those infinitesimal forms of animal existence which swarm throughout the waters of the ocean, but whose presence can only be made manifest by the aid of the microscope, are preserved in a fossil state,—that their durable remains constitute mountain ranges, and form the subsoil of extensive regions,—and that the most stupendous monuments erected by man are constructed of the petrified relics of beings invisible to the unassisted eye,—are facts not the least astounding of those which modern Geology has revealed. ”

“ Heaps of fragments of large trees converted into stone everywhere meet the eye, and when struck by our horses' hoofs rang like cast iron; they extend for miles in the form of a decayed and prostrate forest ”

“ They present to his mind a succession of events, each so vast as to be beyond his finite comprehension; ages of tranquillity, with lands and seas teeming with life and happiness, succeeded by periods in which the earthquake and the volcano spread universal ruin and destruction—and they teach him that all these awful changes bear the impress of the Almighty’s hand, and were subservient to the eternal purpose of rendering this planet the fit abode of man, during his mortal pilgrimage. ”

“ Unlike my explorations in the Wealden, in which a few fragments of bones, or teeth, scattered at wide intervals through the rocks, and in localities many miles apart, were « 337 » often the only reward of a day's labour, here, in the quiet of my study, I may discover in a few atoms of flint, or grains of chalk, picked up by the road-side, the fossil remains of beings as interesting and extraordinary as the extinct colossal reptiles of Tilgate Forest. ”

“ Fossils are the durable parts of animal and vegetable structures imbedded in rocks and strata by natural causes at a remote period; thus wood in a state of lignite, bog-wood, and coal, or of siliceous or calcareous stone, is fossil wood; and bones or shells, whether in an earthy and decaying state, or permeated by calc-spar, flint, or iron, and converted into a hard mineral substance, are alike fossil bones or shells.
Petrifactions are the remains of animals and vegetables in which the original structure is converted into stone, or, in other words, is petrified ”

“ If we pass from the consideration of details of structure, and of botanical affinities, to a general survey of the mineralized remains of the vegetable kingdom, we perceive that from the palæozoic deposits, to those which are contemporaneous with the human race,—from the coal-measures to the peat-bogs of modern times,—vast accumulations of vegetable matter, in various states of carbonization, have been produced from the imbedded relics of the terrestrial floras that flourished during the respective periods of their formation ”

“ In the marine species, eight pairs of ribs and thirteen plates of the longitudinal series form the buckler; the ribs or costal plates are united to each other through a great part of their extent; but towards their distal or outer extremities each rib contracts, and terminates in a point, which is supported on a marginal series of bony plates; the intervals between the ribs are filled up in the living animal by a cartilaginous membrane which never becomes ossified. This character, therefore, affords an important aid in the discrimination of the fossil remains of this family. ”

“ From the south of the belt of ice which encircles the globe, to the highest latitudes reached by man, this vegetation is everywhere conspicuous, from the contrast between its colour and that of the white snow and ice in which it is imbedded. ”

“ The animal can extend its tentacula and protrude the mouth from the cell, but the rest of the body is incapable of extension or contraction. These polypifera increase by germination. In their organization, they so closely approach the mollusca, that in recent zoological systems they are placed in that class. The ciliated character of their tentacula has also led to their being named Cilio-branchiata. But as it is desirable in a work of this elementary nature to avoid conflicting opinions as much as possible, the fossil Bryozoa will be considered as corals, in the general sense of that term. ”

“ And as an old sportsman desirous of inspiring a novice with a love of field sports, takes him at first to preserves where game is plentiful, in like manner I would initiate my reader in the delightful pursuit of collecting Medals of Creation, by conducting him to a spot where these antiquities of nature are scattered about in great profusion and variety. ”

“ The extensive beds of coralline limestones, which are found in the Silurian strata, wherever they occur,—for the limestones of this system in North America are characterized by the same species of corals as those of England,—seem to indicate that a more equal temperature prevailed throughout the ocean, at that geological epoch, than at the present time, when the geographical distribution of the coral zoophytes is strictly limited by temperature. The reef-forming genera are now confined to waters where the temperature is not below 70°; their most prolific development being 76°. ”

“ The road continues through Lea Wood to Holloway by a very steep ascent, and from the toll-gate at the top of the hill it traverses the side of a mountainous ridge, covered with wood and intervening rock. The prospect is now magnificent: on the right a scene of great extent opens to the view, rich in all that constitutes the highest beauty in landscape. ”

“ Calamites abound in the coal formation, and must have constituted an important feature in the forests of the carboniferous period; they occur also in more ancient deposits, and some species belong to the earliest terrestrial Flora of which any vestiges are known. In most instances when specimens are found lying in the same plane with the strata, they are pressed flat, but those occurring in a vertical position retain their natural cylindrical form. An outer crust or cylinder of coal generally invests the stem, but traces of the internal structure are rarely preserved. ”

“ The plants of this subdivision of the vegetable kingdom, from their singular structure and mode of growth, their simple cylindrical stems, and coronets of pinnated foliage, resembling that of certain palms, their usually gyrate vernation like that of the ferns, and their anomalous inflorescence and fructification, are objects of great interest to the scientific botanist; while the abundance of their fossil remains in the secondary formations renders them of the highest importance to the geologist. ”

“ Although the entire system of vegetable life which prevailed during the earlier ages of the world is but partially revealed by the fossil remains which geological researches have brought under the examination of the naturalist,—for numerous tribes of plants may have existed of which no traces have been detected, while of species of delicate tissues all vestiges may have perished,—yet a review of the facts hitherto obtained, presents some highly important and unexpected results, as to the characters of the successive floras which prevailed during the palæozoic, secondary, and tertiary epochs. ”

“ And though deductions of this nature must, in the present state of our knowledge, be regarded in the light of shifting hypotheses to be modified or abandoned with the progress of discovery,—yet the predominating types which characterize the flora of one system of formations, differ so essentially from those of another, that it may be reasonably inferred such apparent distinctions are the effect of organic laws, and not illusions arising from our misinterpretation of the natural records of former conditions of the vegetable world. ”

“ From the great size of the bones of these reptiles, their remains have excited the curiosity even of the common observer; and although an exaggerated idea has been generally entertained of the magnitude of the original animals, yet, even when reduced to their natural proportions by the rigorous formula of the anatomist, applied to the accumulated relics which years of laborious research have exhumed from their rocky sepulchres and deposited in our museums, their dimensions are sufficiently stupendous to satisfy the most enthusiastic lover of the marvellous. ”

“ In some species the teeth are implanted in sockets, to which they are attached only by the soft parts, as in the rostral teeth of the Saw-fish; some have hollow bases, supported upon bony prominences, which rise from the base of the socket; as in several fossil teeth from the Chalk. "But by far the most common mode of attachment is by a continuous ossification between the dental pulp and the jaw," [511] the teeth being thus anchylosed to the bone. In the Sharks the osseous bases of the teeth are attached by a ligamentous substance to the tough, dense crust, which covers the cartilaginous jaws ”

“ FOSSIL CEPHALOPODA
The molluscous animals named Cephalopoda (from their organs of prehension being arranged around the upper part « 448 » of the body) are the most ancient, numerous, and interesting of this division of animated nature; and their fossil remains comprehend the most varied and striking forms of extinct beings that occur in the sedimentary strata, from the earliest Secondary to the latest Tertiary formations. The living species are but a feeble representation of the countless myriads which swarmed in the ancient seas ”

“ In another group, Asteriadæ, (named Ophiuræ or Serpent-stars,) the rays are long and slender, and without grooves or tentacula, and are distinct from the body. These organs are extremely flexuous, and in some species beset with spines, and enable the animal to seize and entwine round its prey. The mouth is central, and there is an ovarian aperture at the base of each of the five arms.
Though the fossil Star-fishes comprise many extinct genera, they belong to the same families as the recent; and Comatulæ, Ophiuræ, and Asteriadæ, occur in the Lias, Oolite, and Chalk, in considerable numbers. ”

“ Every purchasable species of fossil, mineral, or shell may be obtained; as well as the various microscopic fossils, infusorial earths, slices of teeth, wood, marble, &c. The collections formed by Mr. Tennant for the student in Geology, Palæontology, and Mineralogy are admirably calculated to afford that practical acquaintance with specimens, so indispensable to the acquisition of a knowledge of Geology. ”

“ The highest worldly-prosperity, so far from being incompatible with them, supplies additional advantages for their pursuit; they may be alike enjoyed in the intervals of the most active business, while the calm and dispassionate interest with which they fill the mind, renders them a most delightful retreat from the agitations and dissensions of the world, and from the conflict of passions, prejudices, and interests, in which the man of business finds himself continually involved. ”

“ When specimens are evidently rolled or water-worn, there is, of course, no probability that the corresponding portions will be met with. Every fragment of a bone the nature of which is not obvious should be carefully preserved; for sooner or later its characters may be ascertained. It is scarcely necessary again to remind the collector, that search should be made for indications of the soft parts around the bones; the specimen of the paddle of the Ichthyosaurus (Lign. 215, p. 669) , with its integument, must have impressed this fact too strongly on the mind to be soon forgotten. ”

“ When the stems bear the imprints of leaf-stalks (as in Lign. 31 and 54) , the surrounding stone should be carefully examined, with the view of detecting impressions, or other indications of the foliage. Delicate leaves in clay, or shale, must not be washed; a thin coat of mastic varnish, or of gum-water, applied with a camel-hair pencil, will preserve them, and render them more distinct. When a leaf, fruit, seed-vessel, or other fragile object is attached to clay or friable sandstone, it is advisable to glue the specimen to a piece of thin wood or pasteboard, of suitable proportions. ”