KARL ALFRED VON ZITTEL. 783 



In connection witli his geologic work Zitti'l also becanic the histori- 

 ographer of geohigy and paleontology. All that human mind and 

 labor have produced since ancient times for the elucidation of the 

 earth's history, all that the heroes, Werner, Leopold von Buch, 

 Alexander von Humboldt, ITutton, Kant, La Place, Cuvier, Al. 

 Brongniart, Lyell, .Quenstedt, d'Orbigny, and the great number of 

 more recent devotees have accomplished, all this Zittel had included 

 in one brilliant picture in his Geschichte der Geologic nnd Palaeonto- 

 logie bis Ende des lOten Jahrhunderts. An English translation of 

 this work was made in 1!)01 by one of his students, Mrs. Maria 

 ( )gil vie-Gordon. 



Zittel's first paleontologic pajier appeared in 1>S()1, at a time when 

 fossils had but one value — that for the determination of geologic age. 

 The teachings of Cuvier then still held full sway. i. e., each fauna 

 was a new creatioJi and each disajjpeared througli cataclysms. It is 

 only since 1870 that paleontology has taken an active pnvt in the 

 establishment of the theory of e^'olution, and in i-eality it is only since 

 that time that pure stratigraphic ]:)aleontologic studies have become 

 more sharply distinguished from the biologic systematic, the latter 

 more and more emphasizing the genealogic as[)ect. 



Erom the end of the sixth decade ZitteFs woi'k begins to take on 

 the character of paleozoology as contrasted v ith the ohU'r j)aleontol- 

 ogy. By means of a study of the annnonites of the Stramberger ])eds, 

 he is led to discuss the relationship of the forms, and is convinced 

 that there are no unchangeable types, but that the species are simply 

 isolated individual comi^lexes derived from unbi'oken evolutional 

 series. The cataclysm tlieory and the teachings of types being ovei-- 

 come, Zittel declares himself an evolutionist. lie always remained 

 so, and had a great influence on paleontology. 



How the history of living organisms merges into the history of 

 the earth is brilliantly described in ZittePs Aus der Urzeit, published 

 in 1872 (second edition, 187;")). Here he also discusses the hypothesis 

 of the origin of the earth, following the teachings of Kant and 

 Laplace, wdthout, however, making dogmas of their theories. 



In 1870 he began his classic studies on fossil sponges, determining 

 their beautiful spicular structures by etching with hj'drochloric acid 

 and elucidating with the microscope. Until this time it was thought 

 that the fossil s])onges had little in connnon with recent forms, l)ut 

 Zittel showed that all can be gi'ouped in the classification of living 

 sponges are psendom()r})hs after siliceous forms, but that true calca- 

 reous spongers do exist among the fossils, a fact disi)ute(l by Haeckel. 

 Zittel originated the classification of fossil and recent sponges, and 

 actually made it j)ossible to study fossil forms. 



In the realm of vertebrate paleontology h<' has publishecl several 



