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observation "that different formations can be discriminated 

 by the petrifactions they contain." Moreover, "that the petri- 

 factions contained in the oldest rocks are very different from 

 any of the species of the present time ; that the newer the 

 formation, the more do the remains approach in form to the 

 organic beings of the present creation." Unfortunately, 

 Werner published little, and his doctrines were mainly dis- 

 seminated by his enthusiastic pupils. 



The great contest between the Vulcanists and the Neptunists 

 started at this time, mainly through Werner, whose doctrines 

 led to the controversy. The comparative merits of fire and 

 water, as agencies in the formation of certain rocks, were dis- 

 cussed with a heat and acrimony characteristic of the subject 

 and the time. Werner believed in the aqueous theory, while 

 the igneous theory was especially advocated by Hutton of Edin- 

 burgh, and his illustrator, Playfair. This discussion resulted 

 in the advancement of descriptive geology, but the study of 

 fossils gained little thereby. 



The "Protogaaa" of Leibnitz, the great mathematician, pub 

 lished in 1749, about thirty years after his death, was a work 

 of much merit. This author supposed that the earth had 

 gradually cooled from a state of igneous fusion, and was subse- 

 quently covered with water. The subsidence of the lower part 

 of the earth, the deposits of sedimentary strata from inunda- 

 tions, and their induration, as well as other changes, followed. 

 All this, he supposed to have been accomplished in a period of 

 six natural days. In the same work Leibnitz shows that he 

 had examined fossils with considerable care. 



Linnaeus (1707-1778), the famous Swedish botanist, and the 

 founder of the modern system of nomenclature in Natural 

 History, confined his attention almost entirely to the living 

 fonns. Although he was familiar with the literature of fossil 

 remains, and had collected them himself, he did not include 

 them in his system of plants and animals, but kept them sepa- 

 rate, with the minerals ; hence he did little directly to advance 

 this branch of science. 



