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as they have been almost to the present day ; but learned men, 

 with few exceptions, no longer seriously questioned that fossils 

 were real organisms, as the ancients had once believed. The 

 many collections of fossils that had been brought together, and 

 the illustrated works that had been published about them, were 

 a foundation for greater progress, and, with the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, the second period iu the history of Palaeontology began. 



The main characteristic of this period was the general belief, 

 that fossil remains were deposited by the Mosaic deluge. We 

 have seen that this view had already been advanced, but it was 

 not till the beginning of the eighteenth century that it became 

 the prevailing view. This doctrine was strongly opposed by 

 some courageous men, and the discussion on the subject soon 

 became even more bitter than the previous one, as to the 

 nature of fossils. 



In this diluvial discussion theologians and laymen alike took 

 part. For nearly a century the former had it all their own 

 way, for the general public, then as now, believed what they 

 were taught. Noah's flood was thought to have been universal, 

 and was the only general catastrophe of which the people of 

 that day had any knowledge or conception. 



The scholars among them were of course familiar with the 

 accounts of Deucalion and his ark, in a previous deluge, as we 

 are to-day with similar traditions held by various races of men. 

 The firm belief that the earth and all it contains was created 

 in six daj T s ; that all life on the globe was destroyed by the 

 deluge, except alone what Noah saved ; and that the earth 

 and its inhabitants were to be destroyed by fire, was the foun- 

 dation on which all knowledge of the earth was based. With 

 such fixed opinions, the fossil remains of animals and plants 

 were naturally regarded as relics left by the flood described in 

 Holy Writ. The dominant nature of this belief is seen in 

 nearly all the literature in regard to fossils published at this 

 time, and some of the works which then appeared have become 

 famous on this account. 



