Paleontological Discovery. 327 
who was born in 1452, strongly opposed the commonly accepte 
opinions as to the origin of organized fossils. He claimed that 
e fossil shells under discussion were what they seemed, and 
had once lived at the bottom of the sea. ‘You tell me,” he 
says, “that Nature and the influence of the stars have formed 
these shells in the mountains; then show me a place in the 
of different ages, and of different species in the same place 
gain, he says, “In what manner can such a cause account 
for the petrifactions in the same place of various leaves, sea 
weeds, and marine crabs ?” 
_In 1517, excavations in the vicinity of Verona brought to 
light many curious petrifactions, which led to much specu- 
lation as to their nature and origin. Among the various 
authors who wrote on this subject was Fracastoro, who declared 
that the fossils once belonged to living animals, which had 
lived and multiplied where Feand. He ridiculed the prevailing 
‘Mountains where the stars at the present day make shelly forms 
ideas that the plastic foree of the ancients could fashion stones 
into organic forms. Some writers claimed that these shells 
€ said, was too transient ; it consisted mainly of fresh water ; 
and if it had transported shells to great distances, must have 
scattered them over the surface, not buried them in the 
interior of mountains. : 
Conrad Gesner CSTE Lee), whose history of animals has 
been considered the basis of modern zoology, published at 
ch in 1565 a small but important work entitled “De omne 
rerum fossilium genere.”” It contained a ee of the 
collection of fossils made by John Kentmann. is the 
oldest catalogue of fossils with which I am acquainted. 
Europe. In his great 
1546, he mentions vario 
ateria pinguis, 
in fermentation by heat. Some years later, Bauhin published 
a descriptive cataloge of the fossils he had collected in the 
neighborhood of Boll, in Wurtemberg.* 
* Historia novi et admirabilis Fontis Balneique Bollensis, in Ducatu Wirtem- 
. bergico, Montbéliard, 1598. 
