The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-02-01
PICTURES in THE ROCKS.
THE ORIGIN OF FOSSILS AND PET
RIFACTIONS DISCUSSED.
Definition of the Term FossiI-Va-
riOus Kinds of FossiIs-GeoIo-
gists as Yet Know Very Little
About the Earth.

Prof. Talmage gave a very interesting
free lecture last evening in the University
of Utah on the subject of Pictures in the
Rocks" The attendance was good and
the lecture much appreciated. The pro
lessor said in part:
The term fossil was once applied to
anything dug from the earth of either
animal, vegetable or mineral origin. Then
it came to be restricted to organic re-
mains and now it is applied to any evil
dence of former existence of living things.
Under this rule, just the footprints of
animals and the traces of insects as they
crawled through the mud of ages gone
by are just as much fossils as the re-
mains OF plants and animals.
Petrlfication is process by which
organic matter is replaced by mineral
matter, and not turned into stone as is
generally supposed.
Fossils must also be distinguished from
incrustations or outside deposits of min
eral matter.
Fossils of organic origin may be group
ed into the following orders: First, in
stances of the preservation Of the organic
matter itself. Second, the external form
is preserved while the matter itself is
destroyed. Third, both forms and struc-
ture may be preserved While the organic
matter has been entirely replaced by
mineral
Several instances of the first named or
der have been found, as, for instance,
once a woman was found in one of the
peat boys of Ireland. She was dressed in
the skin of an elk Zone of those kinds of
elk that are extinct now, and she was
in an excellent state of preservation.
Her nails were as firmly imbedded in the
flesh as those of any person now alive.
And, to bring the examples TO our own
country, let US take an illustration OF
some animal imbedded in stiff clays.
Last summer as DIR. Talmage was out
across a fish penned in the stiff clay
in one Of the quarries down near Manti,
and, being of an inquiring turn of mind,
he tasted the fish to see if its long con-
finement had in any way destroyed the
flavor He pronounced the fish very eX-
cellent and did not taste very much diff
ferent from the fish of today.
Coal is one of the first stages of petr1-
f1cation, and would be classed under the
first head. 1t is vegetable matter altered
a little but not changed.
The whole of Great Britain and part
of central Europe would come under the
third group for they are nothing more
than the bodies of very minute marine
animals in great numbers replaced by
mineral.
that biologists know almost everything
about the earth and its earlier lnhabi-
tants, yet there is great deal more
to learn, as the best biologists know only
about one-twentieth of the animals and
vegetables of the sea, and about one
thousandth of the land animals.
Fossils constitute a valuable basis for
geological reasoning. They remain as in
disputable proof of the by-gone life and
they reveal much of the former physical
geography of the region. They tell of
the existence of rivers, lakes and seas
where now only dry land is found. They
are indicators of climatic conditions and
changes. Furthermore they furnish a
guide to the construction of geological
Chronology. But very small proportion
of the plants and animals of any age are
preserved as fossils, however, and the
geological record, while richly Illustrated
with pictures and materials is contessedly
imperfect and fragmental
Many fine specimens and stereoptIcon
views were shown at this lecture and
that part of the time the professor was
not showing his specimens he was giving
the audience some of his best jokes IN his
witty style.
Prof. Talmage's last lecture of the
course will be delivered on February T.
and it may be safely predicted that many
people will be turned away for lack
of room on that night His subject Will
be 1.-The Geological work of Air and
Water: The formation of Soils; Construc-
tive and Destructive Effects.
On Tuesday. February 4th, Prof. George
Marshall will begin his series of four
Tuesday evening lectures. His first sub
ject will be Our Language. The pro-
lessor will start from the earliest of
tongues and talk of how language was
formed until the present time in the his
tory of the English language.