368 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), a pupil of Cuvier, and long an honored 

 member of this association, attained eminence in the study of ancient 

 as well as of recent life. His great work on Fossil Fishes * deserves 

 to rank next to Cuvier's " Ossemens Fossiles." The latter contained 

 mainly fossil mammals and reptiles, while the fishes were left without 

 an historian till Agassiz began his investigations. His studies had ad- 

 mirably fitted him for the task, and his industry brought together a 

 vast array of facts bearing on the subject. The value of this grand 

 work consists not only in its faithful descriptions and plates, but also 

 in the more profound results it contained. Agassiz fii-st showed that 

 there is a correspondence between the succession of fishes in the rocks 

 and their embryonal development. This is now thought to be one of 

 the strongest points in favor of evolution, although its discoverer inter- 

 preted the facts as bearing the other way. 



Pander's memoirs on the fossil fishes of Russia form a worthy sup- 

 plement to Agassiz's classic work. Brandt's publications are likewise 

 of great value ; and those of Lund, in Sweden, have an especial inter- 

 est to Americans, in consequence of his researches in the caves of 

 Brazil. 



Croizet and Jobert's "Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles du De- 

 partement du Puy-de-D6me," published in 1828, contained valuable 

 results in regard to fossil mammals. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's researches 

 on fossil reptiles, published in 1831, were an important advance. De 

 Serres and De Christol's explorations in the caverns in the south of 

 France, published between 1829 and 1839, were of much value. 

 Schmerling's researches in the caverns of Belgium, published in 1833 

 -'36, were especially important on account of the discovery of human 

 remains mingled with those of extinct animals. Deslongchamp's me- 

 moii's on fossil reptiles, 1835, are still of great interest. Pictet's gen- 

 eral treatise on paleontology was a valuable addition to the literature, 

 and has done much to encourage the study of fossils.f De Blainville, 

 in his grand work, " Osteographie," issued in 1839-'56, brought to- 

 gether the remains of living and extinct vertebrates, forming a series 

 of the greatest value for study. Aymard and Pomel's contributions 

 to vertebrate paleontology are both of value. Gervais and Lartet 

 added much to our knowledge of the subject, and Bravard and He- 

 bert's memoirs are well known. 



The brilliant discoveries of Cuvier in the Paris Basin excited great 

 interest in England, and, when it was found that the same Tertiary 

 strata existed in the south of England, careful search was made for 

 vertebrate fossils. Remains of some of the same genera described by 

 Cuvier were soon discovered, and other extinct animals new to science 

 were found in various parts of the kingdom. Konig, to whom we owe 



* " Recherches sur Ics Poissons Fossiles," 1833-45. 



f " Trait e Elemcntaire de Paleontologie," etc., Genera. 4 vols. 1844-46, second 

 edition, Paris, 1853-55. 



