STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



It is a general rule, applying to knowledge of every 

 kind, that we cannot hope to understand any group of 

 phenomena without a study of its antecedents. In 

 political inquiries, no student would attempt to make 

 himself acquainted with the existing constitution of a 

 country, without seeking to gain a knowledge of the 

 historical events by which it has been built up. In 

 like manner, we cannot obtain any adequate idea 

 of the present state of an art, such as sculpture or 

 painting, unless we are prepared to study the history 

 and development of the art in past times. Again, 

 to come nearer to our own subject, scientific geography 

 is impossible without geology, that is to say, without a 

 knowledge of the past changes, to which the surface of 

 the earth owes its present configuration. Vere scire est 

 per causas scire, and causation is only known to us by 

 the succession of events. 



The same principle holds good for the special case 

 of biology, the science of which botany is a part. 



