OO A en) as Ae ee 
Paleontological Discovery. 325 
Aristotle (884-322 B. C.) was not only aware of the exist- 
ence of fossils in the rocks, but has also placed on record saga- 
cious views as to the changes in the earth’s surface necessary 
to account for them. In the second book of his Meteories, he 
says: “The changes of the earth are so slow in comparison to 
the duration of our lives, that they are overlooked; and the 
migrations of people after great catastrophes and their removal 
of all other rivers ; they spring up, and they perish; and the 
sea also continually deserts some lands and invades others. 
The same tracts, therefore, of the earth are not, some always 
sea, and others always continents, but everything changes in 
the course of time.” 
Aristotle’s views on the subject of spontaneous generation 
were less sound, and his doctrines on this subject exerted a 
powerful influence for the succeeding twenty centuries. 
required to explain their presence. Aristotle’s opinion was in 
accordance with the Biblical account of the creation of Man 
out of the dust of the earth, and hence more readily obtained 
credence. 
Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle, alludes to fossil fishes 
found near Heraclea, in Pontus, and in Paphlagonia, and says : 
“They were either developed from fish spawn left behind in 
venso 
like fishes, sprang from heated water and earth, and from these 
alimals 
be considered as anticipating the modern idea of evolution, as 
Some authors have imagined. 
