l] FOSSIL PLANTS AND THE FLOOD. 3 



was naturally followed by numerous speculations as to the 

 manner in which the remains of animals and plants came to be 

 embedded in rocks above the sea-level. For a long time, the 

 'universal flood' was held responsible by nearly all writers 

 for the existence of fossils in ancient sediments. Dr John 

 Woodward, in his Essay toward a Natural History of the 

 Earth, propounded the somewhat revolutionary theory, that 

 "the whole terrestrial globe was taken all to pieces and dis- 

 solved at the Deluge, the particles of stone, marble, and all 

 solid fossils dissevered, taken up into the water, and there 

 sustained together with sea-shells and other animal and vege- 

 table bodies : and that the present earth consists, and was 

 formed out of that promiscuous mass of sand, earth, shells, 

 and the rest falling down again, and subsiding from the 

 waters" In common with other writers, he endeavoured to 

 fix the exact date of the flood by means of fossil plants. 

 Speaking of some hazel-nuts, which were found in a Cheshire 

 moss pit, he draws attention to their unripened condition, and 

 adds : " The deluge came forth at the end of May, when nuts 

 are not ripe." As additional evidence, he cites the occurrence of 

 " Pine cones in their vernal state," and of some Coal-Measure 

 fossils which he compares with Virginian Maize, "tender, 

 young, vernal, and not ripenedl" Woodward (1665 — 1728) 

 was Professor of Physic in Gresham College; he bequeathed 

 his geological collections to the University of Cambridge, and 

 founded the Chair which bears his name. 



Another writer, Mendes da Costa, in a paper in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1758, speaks of the impressions of 

 " ferns and reed-like plants " in the coal-beds, and describes 

 some fossils (Sigillaria and Stigmaria) as probably unknown 

 forms of plant life^ 



Here we have the suggestion that in former ages there 

 were plants which differed from those of the present age. 

 Discussing the nature of some cones (Lepidostrobi) from the iron- 

 stone of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, he concludes : " I firmly 

 believe these bodies to be of vegetable origin, buried in the 



1 Woodward, J. (1695), Preface. ^ Woodward, J. (1728), p. 69. 



3 Mendes da Costa (1758), p. 232. 



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