Geological facts; or, the crust of the earth, what it is, and what are its uses

by W. G. Barrett

SKELETON OF THE MASTODON OHIOTICUS, FROM NORTH AMERICA.
(Height, 9½ feet; length, 20 feet.)

We give below a drawing of the “Mastodon Ohioticus;” for the following account of which we are indebted to the same source. It will be found in Room 6, figure 1.—“This fine skeleton was purchased by the trustees of the British Museum of Albert Koch, a well-known collector of fossil remains; who had exhibited, in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, under the name of the Missourium, or Leviathan of the Missouri, an enormous osteological monster, constructed of the bones of this skeleton, together with many belonging to other individuals—the tusks being fixed in their sockets so as to curve outwards on each side of the head. From this heterogeneous assemblage of bones, those belonging to the same animal were selected, and are articulated in their natural juxtaposition.”[^[120]]

FOSSIL HUMAN SKELETON, FROM GUADALOUPE. (The original 4 feet 2 inches long, by 2 feet wide.)

PLAN OF THE CLIFF AT GAUDALOUPE.

In Wall-case D of the British Museum, may be seen a fossil skeleton of a human being, brought from the island of Guadaloupe, the consideration of which must for ever remove any idea that may exist about man being contemporaneous with the theroidal mammals of which we have been speaking.[^[121]] Professor Whewell has remarked that the “gradation in form between man and other animals is but a slight and unimportant feature in contemplating the great subject of the origin of the human race. Even if we had not revelation to guide us, it would be most unphilosophical to attempt to trace back the history of man, without taking into account the most remarkable facts in his nature: the facts of civilization, arts, government, speech—his traditions—his internal wants—his intellectual, moral, and religious constitution. If we will attempt a retrospect, we must look at all these things as evidence of the origin and end of man’s being; and we do thus comprehend, in one view, the whole of the argument—it is impossible for us to arrive at an origin homogeneous with the present order of things. On this subject, the geologist may, therefore, be well content to close the volume of the earth’s physical history, and open that divine record which has for its subject the moral and religious nature of man.”

“Mysterious framework of bone, locked up in the solid marble,—unwonted prisoner of the rock! an irresistible voice shall yet call thee out of thy stony matrix. The other organisms, thy partners in the show, are incarcerated in the lime for ever,—thou but for a term. How strangely has the destiny of the race to which thou belongest re-stamped with new meanings the old phenomena of creation!... When thou wert living, prisoner of the marble, haply as an Indian wife and mother, ages ere the keel of Columbus had disturbed the waves of the Atlantic, the high standing of thy species had imparted new meanings to death and the rainbow. The prismatic arch had become the bow of the covenant, and death a great sign of the unbending justice and purity of the Creator, and of the aberration and fall of the living soul, formed in the Creator’s own image,—reasoning, responsible man.”[^[122]]

FINIS:—THE GEOLOGIST’S DREAM.