PALEONTOLOGICAL DISCOVERY, 227 



fossil remains xoere deposited hy the Mosaic deluge. We have seen 

 that this view had already been advanced, but it was not till the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century that it became the prevailing 

 view. This doctrine was strongly opposed by some courageous men, 

 and the discussion on the subject soon became even more bitter than 

 the previous one, as to the nature of fossils. 



In this diluvial discussion theologians and laymen alike took part. 

 For nearly a century the former had it all their own way, for the gen- 

 eral public, then as now, believed what they were taught. Noah's 

 flood was thought to have been universal, and was the only general 

 catastrophe of which the people of that day had any knoAvledge or 

 conception. 



The scholars among them were of course familiar with the accounts 

 of Deucalion and his ark, in a previous deluge, as we are to-day with 

 similar traditions held by various races of men. The firm belief that 

 the earth and all it contains was created in six days ; that all life on the 

 globe was destroyed by the deluge, except alone what Noah saved ; 

 and that the earth and its inhabitants were to be destroyed by fire, 

 was the foundation on which all knowledge of the earth was based. 

 With such fixed opinions, the fossil remains of animals and plants 

 were naturally regarded as relics left by the flood described in 

 Holy Writ. The dominant nature of this belief is seen in nearly 

 all the literature in regard to fossils published at this time, and some 

 of the works which then appeared have become famous on this 

 account. 



In 1710 David Biittner published a volume entitled " Rudera Dilu- 

 vii Testes." He strongly opposed Lhwyd's explanation of the origin 

 of fossils, and referred these objects directly to the flood. The most 

 renowned work, however, of this time, was published at Zurich in 

 1726, by Scheuchzer, a physician and naturalist, and professor in the 

 University of Altorf. It bore the title " Homo Diluvii Testis." The 

 specimen upon which this work was based was found at Oeningen, and 

 was regarded as the skeleton of a child destroyed by the deluge. The 

 aiTthor recognized in this remarkable fossil, not merely the skeleton, 

 but also portions of the muscles, the liver, and the brain. The same 

 author was fortunate enough to discover, subsequently, near Altorf, 

 two fossil vertebrae, which he at once referred to that " accursed race 

 destroyed by the flood ! " These, also, he carefully described and 

 figured in his " Physica Sacra," published at Ulm in 1731. Engravings 

 of both were subsequently given in the " Copper-Bible." Cuvier after- 

 ward examined these interesting relics, and pronounced the skeleton 

 of the supposed child to be the remains of a gigantic salamander, and 

 the two vertebras to be those of an ichthyosaurus ! 



Another famous book appeared in Germany in the same year in 

 which Scheuchzer's first volume was published. The author was John 

 Bartholomew Adam Beringer, professor at the University of Wurz- 



