42 



In the beginning of the sixteenth century the study of fossil 

 remains may be said to have really begun. Leonardi da Vinci, the 

 renowned artist and scientist, and Fracastro, of Verona, both main- 

 tained that the fossils were entombed in the sea mud instead of being 

 sports of nature generated by fermentation through the influence of the 

 stars or by spontaneous generation, theories which were thus for the 

 first time seriously questioned, and which, in spite of all opposition, 

 retained a dominant influence for two centuries later. Some claimed 

 that the shells had been left by Noah's deluge, but, in opposition 

 Fracastro offered a mass of evidence which, although to us apparently 

 conclusive, was not in accordance with the predominant theory of the 

 time, and was in consequence fiercely assailed. He considered that 

 inundation too recent and too transient ; it consisted mainly of fresh 

 water, and any organic remains resulting therefrom would necessarily 

 be found in superficial deposits instead of in the interior of mountains. 



And Fabia Colonna appears to have been the first to point out that 

 some of the fossil shells found in Italy were marine and some terrestrial. 

 However, these correct generalizations were the exception, not the rule, 

 for during the sixteenth century fossils were usually considered as 

 " sports of nature." The eminent botanists, Tournefort and Camerarius, 

 believed in the dissemination of the seeds of minerals and fossils 

 throughout the sea and the earth, and in the subsequent development 

 into the characteristic forms by augmentation of atoms or particles as 

 in crystals, stalactites, and stalagmites. Lhwyd, in his Lithophylacii 

 Brittanici lchnographia (Oxford, 1599), taught that the spawn of marine 

 animals, after being raised with the vapors from the sea, conveyed 

 inland by and precipitated from clouds, permeated into the interior of the 

 earth where they produced the fossils. In addition to these there is the 

 theory popular for many centuries, and now not entirely thrown aside 

 although never a favourite with scientists, viz., that fossil animals and 

 plants were formed by the Creator just as they are found in the rocks 

 in pursuance of a design beyond our comprehension. 



In the seventeenth century by means of collection, description 

 and discussion of fossils the study was considerably advanced, and, 

 although the " sports of nature " theory was still " on deck" up to the 

 end of the century, clear ideas began to prevail and thejstudy to advance 



