THE HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AT OXFORD. 39 



and belonged to a giant : many marvellous accounts of 

 giants are then cited, some clearly fabulous, and not carry- 

 ing conviction to the author himself, who proceeds as 

 follows : " But to come closer to the Business, and more 

 determinate Statures, the same Pliny tells us of two others 

 living in the time of Augustus, nicknamed Pusio and Se- 

 cundilla, whose Bodies were preserved for a Wonder in 

 the Sallustian Gardens, that were ten Foot high ; and that 

 in his time, there was one Gabbara, brought out of Arabia 

 in the days of Prince Claudius the Emperor, exactly of the 

 height of Goliath, viz., nine Foot nine Inches high, which 

 being a Size very proportionable to our Bone found at 

 Comwell, I am rather inclined to believe, that Claudius 

 brought this Gabbara into Britain with him, who might 

 possibly dye and lay his Bones here, than that ever they 

 belonged to any Elephant ; except we shall rather say that 

 here also Corinaezis, Cousin to Brute, might kill one of 

 Gogmagog s Race, and that from him the Place doth take 

 its Name, as well as the County of Cor nivalin 



In reflecting on these views of Dr. Plot, no one will 

 fail to recognise his perfect good faith ; he does not appear 

 to have been greatly influenced by theological preposses- 

 sions and is honestly anxious to arrive at the truth. 



What then, it may be asked, was it that led him, and 

 and many great naturalists with him, to conclusions so 

 opposed to those of Steno, so opposed as we now know 

 to the truth itself? 



There were evidently several reasons. In the first 

 place, Plot clearly perceived that the admission of the 

 organic nature of fossils brought with it a whole train of 

 perplexing consequences. To avoid these, he preferred an 

 appeal to crystallisation, as raising ultimately fewer diffi- 

 culties. Other branches of Science were not at that time 

 sufficiently advanced to show the baselessness of this ex- 

 planation, the subject was a difficult one, many additional 

 observations were needed, and the mind of Plot was emin- 

 ently critical. When we survey the vast superstructure that 

 modern Science has raised on the foundation prepared by 

 Steno, i.e. on the organic nature of fossils, and the super- 



