38 



East to-day ; of their marvellous power as charms, among the 

 Romans, and still among the American Indians. It would be 

 instructive, also, to compare the various views expressed by stu- 

 dents in science, concerning some of the stranger extinct forms, 

 for instance, the ISTummulites, among Protozoa ; the Rudistes, 

 among Mollusks ; or the Mosasaurus, among Reptiles. Dissim- 

 ilar as such views were, they indicate in many cases gropings 

 after truth, — natural steps in the increase of knowledge. 



The third period in the history of Paleontology, which, as I 

 have said, began with Cuvier and Lamarck at the beginning of 

 the present century, forms a natural epoch extending through 

 six decades. The definite characteristics of this period, as stated, 

 were dominant during all this time, and the progress of Palceon 

 tology was commensurate with that of intelligence and culture. 



For the first half of this period, the marvelous discoveries in 

 the Paris Basin excited astonishment, and absorbed attention ; 

 but the real significance and value of the facts made known by 

 Cuvier, Lamarck, and William Smith, were not appreciated. 

 There was still a strong tendency to regard fossils merely as 

 interesting objects of natural history, as in the previous period, 

 and not as the key to profounder problems in the earth's his- 

 tory. Many prominent geologists were still endeavoring to 

 identify formations in different countries by their mineral 

 characters, rather than by the fossils imbedded in them. Such 

 names as " Old Red Sandstone," and " New Red Sandstone," 

 were given in accordance with this opinion. Humboldt, for 

 example, attempted to compare the formations of South Amer- 

 ica and Europe by their mineral features, and doubted the 

 value of fossils for this purpose. In 1S23, he wrote as follows : 

 "Are we justified in concluding that all formations are char- 

 acterized by particular species % that the fossil shells of the 

 chalk, the muschelkalk, the Jura limestone, and the Alpine 

 limestones, are all different ? I think this would be pushing 

 the induction much too far."* Jameson still thought minerals 

 * Essai geognostique sur legisement des Roches, p. 41. 



