328 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



about Paris embraced extinct species was announced to the 

 Institute by Cuvier in January, 1796; and thereafter he con- 

 tinued for a quarter of a century to devote much attention 

 to the systematic study of collections made in that district. 

 These observations were, however, shared with other labors 

 upon comparative anatomy and zoology, which indicates the 

 prodigious industry for which he was notable. In 181 2- 

 1813 he published a monumental work, profusely illustrated, 

 under the title Ossemens Fossiles. This standard publication 

 entitles him to recognition as the founder of vertebrate 

 palaeontology. 



In examining the records of fossil life, Cuvier and others 

 saw that the evidence indicated a succession of animal popu- 

 lations that had become extinct, and also that myriads of new 

 forms of life appeared in the rocks of succeeding ages. Here 

 Cuvier, who believed that species were fixed and unalterable, 

 was confronted with a puzzling problem. In attempting to 

 account for the extinction of life, and what seemed to him 

 the creation of new forms, he could see no way out consistent 

 with his theoretical views except to assume that the earth 

 had periodically been the scene of great catastrophes, of 

 which the Mosaic deluge was the most recent, but possibly 

 not the last. He supposed that these cataclysms of nature 

 resulted in the extinction of all life, and that after each catas 

 trophe the salubrious condition of the earth was restored, 

 and that it was re- peopled by anew creation of living beings. 

 This conception, known as the theory of catastrophism, 

 was an obstacle to the progress of science. It is to be re- 

 gretted that Cuvier was not able to accept the views of his 

 illustrious contemporary Lamarck, who believed that the 

 variations in fossil life, as well as those of living forms, were 

 owing to gradual transformations. 



Lamarck Founds Invertebrate Palaeontology. — The credit 

 of founding the science of palaeontology does not belong 



he 



