PALEONTOLOGY. 



Palaeontology* is the science which treats of the evidences 

 in the earth's strata of organic beings, which mainly consist 

 of petrified or fossil remains of plants and animals, belonging, 

 for the most part, to species that are extinct. 



The endeavour to interpret such evidences has led to 

 comparisons of the forms and structures of existing plants 

 and animals, which have greatly and rapidly advanced the 

 science of comparative anatomy, especially as applied to the 

 animal kingdom, and more particularly to the hard and 

 enduring parts of the animal frame, such as corals, shells, 

 spines, crusts, scales, scutes, bones, and teeth. 



In applying the results of these comparisons to the restora- 

 tion of extinct species, physiology has benefited by the study 

 of the relations of structure to function requisite to obtain an 

 idea of the food and habits of such species. It has thus been 

 enriched by the well-defined law of " correlation of structures." 



Zoology has gained an immense accession of subjects 

 through the determination of the nature and affinities of 

 extinct animals, and its best aims have been proportionally 

 advanced. Much further and truer insight has been carried 

 into the natural arrangement and subdivision of the classes 

 of animals since palaeontology expanded our survey of them. 



The knowledge of the type or fundamental pattern of 

 certain systems of organs, e.g., the framework of the Verte- 



* From <za?.aif'c, ancient ; 6Wa, beings; }.6yog, a discourse. 

 B 



