Paleontological Discovery. : 337 
this time, of method there was none. We have seen that those 
of the ancients who noticed marine shells in the solid rock, 
Subterranean spirits were supposed to guard faithfully the 
mysteries of the earth; while above the earth, Authority 
guarded with still greater power the secrets men in advance’ 
of their age sought to know. The dominant idea of the first 
sixteen centuries of the present era was, that the universe 
was made for Man. This was the great obstacle to the correct 
determination of the position of the earth in the universe, and, 
later, of the a e earth. The contest of Astronomy 
against authority was long and severe, but the victory was at 
last with science. The contest of Geology against the same 
power followed, and continued almost to our day. The result 
is still the same. In the early stages of this contest, there was 
no strife, for science was benumbed by the embrace of super- 
two thousand years was long to wait. 
: With the opening of the present century, be anew era 
in Paleontology, which ae here distinguish as the third 
period in its history. This branch of knowledge became now 
the general belief that, every species, recent and extinct, was 
a x aeiee creation. : a es 
the ve beginning f the epoch we are now to consider, 
* bold Diet : Cuvier, Lamarck, and 
