1885.] Evolution in the Vegetable Kingdom. 639 
earlter so-called pre-Adamitic See the originals of which are 
now no longer to be found. * * In the continued investiga- 
tion of this subject this opinion, with certain restrictions, has in 
fact gained a high degree of probability with the author of the 
present work, so that he ventures to announce his treatise as a 
contribution to the flora of the ancient world (Vorwelt).” Since 
its introduction by Schlotheim this expression; “ Flora der Vor- 
welt,” has been applied to nearly all the German works on fossil 
plants, and “ Beiträge zur Flora der Vorwelt” still continue to 
appear. 
This work was followed, though sixteen years later, by his 
“ Petrefactenkunde,” and also by Count Sternberg’s important 
“attempt at a geognostico-botanical presentation of the flora of 
the ancient world.” These men were the pioneers of vegetable 
paleontology. It was reserved for Adolphe Brongniart to be- 
come its true founder. Brongniart’s paper on the classification and 
distribution of fossil plants, which was published in the memoirs 
of the Paris Museum of Natural History in 1822, showed that he 
had already been some time at work, and after six years of nearly 
complete silence he at length came forward, in 1828, with his 
epoch-making works on the history of fossil plants; the “ Pro- 
drome” and the “ Histoire des végétaux fossiles ”—which, taken 
together as was the design, form the solid basis upon which the 
science has been erected. 
Brongniart’s fundamental conception was, that fossil plants were 
none the less plants, and that so fast as they really became known 
they should be placed in their proper position in the vegetable 
series and made to form an integral part of the science of botany. 
In his classification he therefore had due respect for the natural 
system as then understood, but he nevertheless felt that geognos- 
tic considerations must be taken into the account, and he saw © 
with almost prophetic vision that in passing up through the 
geologic series higher and higher forms of vegetable life pre- 
sented themselves. Although unable to understand the complete 
continuity in the series, as modern evolution postulates, and 
although affected by the Cuvierian idea of successive destruc- 
tions and re-creations, still he insisted that each suecessive crea- 
tion was superior to the one it had replaced, and that there had 
thus been, as it were, a steady progress from the lowest to the 
highest forms of vegetation. He divided the geologic series into 
