II 



THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF 

 PALAEONTOLOGY 



[1881] 



THAT application of the sciences of biology and 

 geology, which is commonly known us paleon- 

 tology, took its origin in the mind of the iirst 

 person who, finding something like a shell, or ;i 

 bone, naturally imbedded in gravel or rock, in- 

 dulged in speculations upon the nature of this 

 thing which he had dug out this " fossil" and 

 upon the causes which had brought it into such a 

 position. In this rudimentary form, a high anti- 

 quity may safely be ascribed to palaeontology, 

 inasmuch as we know that, 500 years before the 

 Christian era, the philosophic doctrines of Xeno- 

 phanes were influenced by his observations upon 

 the fossil remains exposed in the < Carries ..f 

 Syracuse. From this time forth not only the 

 philosophers, but the poets, the historians, the 

 geographers of antiquity occasionally refer to 

 fossils; and, after the revival of learning, lively 

 controversies arose respecting their real nature. 



