PREFACE 



TO THE 



THIRD EDITION. 



THE attention of naturalists was early di- 

 rected to the investigation of the fossil 

 organic remains so generally and abun- 

 dantly distributed throughout the strata of 

 which the crust of the Earth is composed. 

 It is not, as some writers now imagine, en- 

 tirely a modern study ; for even so early as 

 the time of Leibnitz, we find that philoso- 

 pher drawing and describing fossil bones. 

 After this period it continued to interest 

 individuals, and engage the particular at- 

 tention of societies and academies. The 

 Royal Society of London, by the Memoirs 



