408 SKETCH OF PALEOBOTANY. 



The great work of Brongniart, his " Histoire des Veg^taux fossiles," 

 proceeds with only a brief historical introduction to the systematic 

 elaboration of the fossil plants in the order laid down in the " Prodrome." 

 One entire volume was iinlshed and a second begun without complet- 

 ing the Cryptogams. Seventy-two quarto pages are all that appear in 

 the published editions of the second volume, which are devoted to a 

 thorough discussion of the Lycopodiacese. The first volume is illus- 

 trated by 166 plates, and 29 accompany the second volume. 



Besides these works by Brongniart, which bear date 1828, no less 

 than five other memoirs from his pen relating to fossil plants appeared 

 in that year. ™ A number of other contributions to vegetable paleon- 

 tology swell the extraordinarily rich literature of the subject in 1828, only 

 one of which can be noticed in this hasty sketch. This is Anton Spreugel's 

 " Commentatio de Psarolithis, ligni fossilis genere," the best treatise on 

 fossil woods that had thus far appeared. He reviews the history of the 

 subject from a rational stand-point, gives a systematic classification, and 

 describes six species of Endogenites, illustrating internal structure in 

 one plate. The work is a small octavo pamphlet of 42 pages, published 

 at Halle, in Latin; but for one so unpretentious it has commanded a high 

 tribute of respect. 



In 1829 Phillips published Part I of his " Geology ot Yorkshire," so 

 well known to both geologists and paleontologists. Like most English 

 writers, he was behind the writers of France and Germany in appreciat- 

 ing the revolution in modes of explanation which the logic of facts had 

 wrought, and we find him. saying (p. 16) that " of many important facts 

 which come under the consideration of geologists the 'Deluge' is, 

 perhaps, the most remarkable ; and it is established by such clear and 

 positive arguments that if any one point of natural history may l>e con- 

 sidered as proved, the Deluge must be admitted to have happened, be- 

 cause it has left full evidence in plain and characteristic effects upon 

 the surface of the earth." But he proceeds to qualify this statement by 

 the admission that organic remains "were certainly deposited in the 

 rocks before the Deluge." 



He enumerates (pp. 147, 148, 189, 190) and figures (PI. VII, VIII) a 

 number of Jurassic fossil plants from what he calls the Upper Sand- 

 stone, Shale, and Coal, which have formed an interesting chapter in the 

 history of the Mesozoic flora of the globe. Brongniart's method of ar- 

 ranging these vegetable remains is adopted. 



Passing over the year 1830, which was characterized by considerable 

 activity, as evinced by numerous minor papers of Brongniart, Witham, 

 and others, we will pause to consider the most important work of this 

 time, which began to appear in quarterly numbers in 1^31, viz., " The 

 Fossil Flora of Great Britain," under the happy joint editorship of Dr. 

 John Lindley, the eminent botanist, and William Hutton, the equally 



"sAnnales des sciences naturelles, Vol. XIII, p. 3:i5, XIV, p. 127, XV, pp. 43, 225, 435. 



