SCIENCE OF FOSSIL LIFE 321 



of the subject we can recognize several distinct epochs, "well- 

 marked by prominent features, but like all stages of intellec- 

 tual growth, without definite boundaries." Fossils were 

 known to the ancients, and by some of the foremost philos- 

 ophers of Greece were understood to be the remains of 

 animals and plants. After the revival of learning, however, 

 lively controversies arose as to their nature and their meaning. 



Some of the fantastic ideas that were entertained regarding 

 the nature of fossil remains may be indicated. The fossils 

 were declared by many to be freaks of nature; others main- 

 tained that they were the results of spontaneous generation, 

 and were produced by the plastic forces of nature within the 

 rocks in which they were found embedded. Another opinion 

 expressed was that they were generated by fermentations. 

 As the history of intellectual development shows, the mind 

 has ever seemed benumbed in the face of phenomena that 

 are completely misconceived ; mystical explanations have ac- 

 cordingly been devised to account for them. Some of the 

 pious persons of that period declared that fossils had been 

 made and distributed by the Creator in pursuance of a plan 

 beyond our comprehension. Another droll opinion expressed 

 was that the Creator in His wisdom had introduced fossil 

 forms into the rocks in order that they should be a source of 

 confusion to the race of geologists that was later to arise. 



And still another fantastic conception suggested that the 

 fossils were the original molds used by the Creator in form- 

 ing different varieties of animals and plants, some of which 

 had been used and others discarded. It was supposed that 

 in preparing for the creation of life He experimented and 

 discarded some of His earliest attempts; and that fossils 

 represented these discarded molds and also, perhaps, some 

 that had been used in fashioning the created forms. 



When large bones, as of fossil elephants, began to be 

 exhumed, they became for the most part the objects of stupid 



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