The Foot-prints of the Creator : $b or, The Asterolepis of Stromness — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Foot-prints of the Creator : $b or, The Asterolepis of Stromness
John Stuart Mill · en
In my reference to the three great divisions of the geologic scale, I
designate as _Palæozoic_ all the fossiliferous rocks, from the first
appearance of organic existence down to the close of the Permian system;
all as _Secondary_, from the close of the Permian system down to the
close of the Cretaceous deposits; and all as _Tertiary_, from the close
of the Cretaceous deposits down to the introduction of man. The wood-cuts
of the volume, of which at least nine tenths of the whole represent
objects never figured before, were drawn and cut by Mr. John Adams of
Edinburgh, (8, Heriot Place,) with a degree of care and skill which has
left me no reason to regret my distance from the London artists and
engravers. So far at least as the objects could be adequately represented
on wood, and in the limited space at Mr. Adams’ command, their truth
is such that I can safely recommend them to the palæontologist. In
the accompanying descriptions, and in my statements of geologic fact
in general, it will, I hope, be seen that I have not exaggerated the
peculiar features on which I have founded, nor rendered truth partial in
order to make it serve a purpose. Where I have reasoned and inferred,
the reader will of course be able to judge for himself whether the
argument be sound or the deduction just; and to weigh, where I have
merely speculated, the probability of the speculation; but as, in at
least _some_ of my statements of fact, he might lie more at my mercy, I
have striven in every instance to make these adequately representative of
the actualities to which they refer. And so, if it be ultimately found
that on some occasions I have misled others, it will, I hope, be also
seen to be only in cases in which I have been mistaken myself. The first
or popular title of my work, “Foot-prints of the Creator,” I owe to Dr.
Hetherington, the well-known historian of the Church of Scotland. My
other various obligations to my friends, literary and scientific, the
reader will find acknowledged in the body of the volume, as the occasion
occurs of availing myself of either the information communicated, or the
organism, recent or extinct, lent me or given.
HUGH MILLER, AUTHOR OF “OLD RED SANDSTONE” AND “FOOTPRINTS OF THE
CREATOR.”