fishes were proposed and adopted. Those
who are acquainted with Old Red ichthyolites, or who have had the
pleasure of examining the exquisite series in Mr. Miller's
collection, may well smile at the absurdity of the restorations
that were adopted. Yet some of these found their way into a work of
no little popularity,--Mantell's "Medals of Creation." It is
sufficient to state that the drawings there given bear no
resemblance to anything in the heavens above or on the earth
beneath, or in the waters under the earth, nor to any fossil
organism that has ever been discovered. At length the progress of
investigation led to the discarding of these monstrosities, and
Miller's restorations were returned to, as, after all, the true
ones. "The Old Red Sandstone" formed an era in the history of
fossil geology. That formation had hitherto been regarded as well
nigh barren of organic remains; but Mr. Miller demonstrated that it
contains at least three successive stages, each characterized by a
suite of uncouth and hitherto unknown fishes. A few years later he
published his "Footprints of the Creator." This is undoubtedly his
_chef-d'oeuvre_, exhibiting, as it does, the full powers of his
massive intellect and his poetic imagination. As a piece of
scientific investigation and research, it is of a very high order;
as a reply to the crudities of the development theory, it is
unanswerable; and as a contribution to our physico-theological
literature, it ranks, with Chalmers' "Astronomical Lectures," among
the finest in this or any other language. Some of the ideas are as
profound as they are original, opening up a new field of thought,
which it was doubtless the intention of the deceased himself to
cultivate. His published works, however, contain but a fraction, of
the labors of his lifetime. For many years past he has been, one of
the most energetic members of the Royal Physical Society, at whose
meetings he from time to time made known the progress of his
researches. Were these papers collected, they would form several
goodly volumes. But their author studiously refrained from
publishing them, save occasionally in the columns of the _Witness_
newspaper. It was his intention that they should each form a part
of the great work of his life, to which for many years his l