102 Prof. Pictet on the Succession of Organised Beings 



I also claim making aluminates of potash and soda by the action 

 of a current of steam upon a mixture of alumina and the sulphate or 

 muriate of potash or soda at a high red heat. 



I also claim the making sulphate of soda by the action of a cur- 

 rent of steam upon the muriate of soda at a red heat, sulphate of 

 hme being present as described. — Patent-OJice Report for 1847. 

 Washington, 1848, p. 57. — The American Journal of Science and 

 Arts. 2d Series, vol. vi., No. 17, p. 260. 



Remarks on the Succession of Organised Beings on the Sur- 

 face of the Earth. By Professor F. J. PlCTET. 



The succession of organised beings on the surface of the earth is 

 the principal question which palaeontologists are attempting to solve ; 

 but they are far from being agreed as to the manner in which they 

 ought to consider and understand the subject. It may even be said 

 that the more they examine it, the greater tendency have their dis- 

 cussions to divide naturalists into distinct schools, schools which 

 more or less correspond to those into which the individuals who have 

 endeavoured to investigate the most important questions of zoology, 

 anatomy, and embryology, have always been divided. 



I should not revert to a subject which, of late years, has been 

 treated of with such variety of detail, and on which I have already 

 had an opportunity of expressing my sentiments, did I not think 

 that, notwithstanding all that has been said upon it, there are still 

 some questions connected with it, by no means placed in a proper 

 light. The discussion of many of them has assumed too complex a 

 character, so that the opponents often encounter each other with 

 arms which miss the mark. I am convinced that there are a greater 

 number of points than would be supposed, for which all the schools 

 would have admitted the same solution, if the different aspects of the 

 questions had been always looked at in a proper manner. I shall here, 

 in particular, endeavour to shew that no one could deny, within certain 

 limits, the law of the specialty of fossils, and that, among all the 

 hypotheses open to discussion, the theory of successive creations is 

 the only one that can be admitted, if we consider it only in its most 

 general sense. The discussions and deviations relating to this law 

 and this theory, can only, in my opinion, bear upon the extent which 

 ought to be assigned to them in the application. 



I think, therefore, that it will not be without advantage again to 

 call the attention of palaeontologists to some parts of these discus- 

 sions. Theoretical views, it is true, are only the accessory and su- 

 perficial polish of the science, facts constituting the essential part ; 

 but, in the present case, they have too direct an influence on theories 

 not to assume a real importance. All who engage in the study of 



