8 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



"On Shells in the Mountains. — And if you were to say that Nature has 

 formed the shells in the mountains through the ageucj^ of the constellations, 

 how will you explain it that the constellations create shells of divers species 

 and of different ages in the selfsame spots ? . . . 



" On Leaves. — How will you explain the multitudinous leaves of different 

 species solidified in the rocks high up in the mountains, and sea-weed com- 

 mingled with shells and sand ? And likewise you w'ill see all [sorts of] petri- 

 factions together with fragments of marine crabs, commingled with these 

 shells." — MS. F, folio 80, a, b (circa 1510). 



With the exception of the last fragment, which has been inaccurately 

 paraphrased by Venturi, Lyell, and others, the above passages have not 

 been noticed in geological litei'ature. How fhr Leonardo's ideas are 

 reflected by the commonly current paraphrase referred to may be 

 seen on comparing it with the original text, a literal transcript of which 

 follows : — 



" Denichi nemonti. 



" Essettu vorai dire linichi esserprodutti dalla natura inessi monti mediante 

 leconstelatione per qual uia niosterai tal constellatione fare li nichi di uarie 



grandeze i eddi uerse eta edi uarie spetie nun medismo sito 



"Dellefogle. 



" Cone [Come] proverrai ilgrandissimo numero di uarie spetie di foglie conge- 

 lata nellei pietre alti sassi di tal monti ellaligha erba dimare stande a diacere 

 mista con nichi ecosiuderi onni cosa petrificato insieme congranche marini rotti 

 inpezi etramezati tu essi nichi." 



The second notable sixteenth-century personage whose opinions con- 

 cern us is Girolamo Fracastoro, or in the more usual scholastic form, 

 Hieronymus Fracastorius (1483-1553) of Verona, famous as physician, 

 poet, and astronomer. A statue erected to his memory a few years 

 after his decease attests the esteem in which he was held by his fellow- 

 townsmen, and the eulogies pronounced upon him in foreign lands 

 indicate a widespread recognition of his ability. Through the par- 

 tiality of an enthusiastic fellow-countryman,^ he has been allotted little 

 short of an apotheosis, but the most trustworthy judgment is probably 

 that of Libri, wliich is as follows : " Un seul nom, celui de Fracastoro, 

 domine k present les noms de tons ces astronomes italiens. II fut 

 celebre par la profondeur et la variete de ses connaissances. De Thou, 

 qui, dans son histoire, en a fait vm magnifique eloge, dit que Sannazar 

 s'avoua vaincu par les vers latins du medecin de Yerone. II fut bota- 



1 Lioy, P., Linneo, Darwin, Agassiz nella vita intima. Milan, 1904. 



