410 SKETCH OF PALEOBOTANY. 



subclass of the Dicotyledons, co-ordinate with the dicotyledonous 

 Angiosperms. But, curiously enough, Brongniart had forestalled this 

 argument by making the Gymnosperms of lower type, intermediate be- 

 tween the Cryptogams and the angiospermous Phanerogams. By a 

 special insight, characteristic of true scientific genius, he had used their 

 lower geological position as a partial proof of their lower organization, 

 *. e., had postulated evolution as an aid to organic research — a method 

 which is now becoming quite common, although unsafe except in the 

 hands of a master. 



Much stress is laid upon the fact " that no trace of any glumaceous 

 plant has been met with, even in the latest Tertiary rocks," the authors 

 thus freely employipg the fallacy which they elsewhere warn others to 

 avoid, that because a class of plants has not been found, therefore it 

 did not exist in a given formation. But to cut off the possibility of a 

 reply to the position they take they finally declare that, " supposing 

 that Sigillarias and Stigmarias could really be shown to be cryptogamic 

 plants, and that it could be absolutely demonstrated that neither Ooni- 

 ferse nor any other dicotyledonous plants existed in the first geological 

 age of land plants, still the theory of progressive development would 

 be untenable, because it would be necessary to show that Monocotyle- 

 dons are inferior in dignity, or, to use a more intelligible expression, 

 are less perfectly formed than Dicotyledons. So far is this from being 

 the case that if exact equality of the two classes were not admitted, it 

 would be a question whether Monocotyledons are not the more highly 

 organized of the two; whether palms are not of greater dignity than 

 oaks, and Cerealia than nettles." Teleologic and anthropocentric reas- 

 oning like this pervades all the discussions in the work and largely 

 vitiates the scientific deductions. The elaborate experiment of Dr. 

 Lindley, described in the first dozen pages of the third volume, was 

 obviously animated by the same spirit of uncompromising hostility to 

 the development hypothesis that inspired the vagaries that character- 

 ize the introduction to the first volume. By showing that the higher 

 types of plants when long immersed in water are earlier decomposed 

 than ferns, conifers, and palms, he thought he had demonstrated that 

 the reason why we find no Dicotyledons in the Carboniferous is simply 

 because they had not resisted, and from their nature could not resist 

 the destructive agencies to be overcome in the process of petrifaction! 

 One could wish that he might look down upon the four thousand species 

 of fossil Dicotyledons now known, and realize how vain had been his 

 experiment as well as all his former theorizing. 



One work of special interest and value appeared in 1832 " Die 

 Dendrolithen in Beziehung auf ihren inneren Ban," by 0. Bern hard Cotta. 

 This was a renewed attempt to classify systematically and describe 

 scientifically the various kinds of fossil wood that had been discovered. 

 Following in the footsteps of Sprengel, but provided with far more and 

 better material, Cotta made a special study of the internal structure of 



