THE MODERN STUDY OF ZOOLOGY 15 



to exert great influence on zoological thought began 

 for the first time to receive serious attention. 

 These were Palaeontology and Embryology. 



Palaeontology, the investigation of extinct animal 

 forms, of those animals and portions of animals 

 known to us only through their fossil remains, was 

 first studied systematically and raised to the rank 

 of a science by Cuvier. Previous to his time 

 fossils had not received serious attention ; even 

 their animal origin was far from being commonly 

 recognised, and the most absurd ideas were in 

 vogue as to their nature and origin ; some sup- 

 posing them to be mere freaks of nature, others 

 that they were models used by the Creator 

 when he was preparing to stock the earth with 

 animals. 



Cuvier did not confine himself to demonstrating 

 that these fossil remains must have proceeded from 

 animals that once lived on the surface of the earth; 

 he studied the distribution of fossils in the different 

 geological strata with great care, and was led to 

 form generalisations of extreme value and interest. 

 The most important of these conclusions are con- 

 tained in his " Theory of the Earth,"* and are to the 

 following effect : In the oldest strata of all there 

 are no fossil remains at all ; organised beings were 

 not all created at the same time, but at different 

 times, probably very remote from one another ; the 

 fossil remains of the recent strata approach far 



* First published in 1798 as the preliminary discourse to the 

 " Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles ; " republished separately, 

 with many additions, in 1825. 



