﻿xviii 
  

  

  Philippe-Edouaed 
  Pottlletiee 
  de 
  Yeenettil 
  was 
  born 
  at 
  Paris 
  

   on 
  the 
  13th 
  of 
  February, 
  1805. 
  He 
  was 
  educated 
  for 
  the 
  magistracy, 
  

   but 
  the 
  events 
  of 
  the 
  year 
  1830 
  interfered 
  with 
  his 
  plans. 
  It 
  so 
  hap- 
  

   pened 
  that 
  just 
  at 
  this 
  period 
  of 
  indecision 
  about 
  his 
  future 
  career 
  

   geology 
  was 
  making 
  a 
  great 
  advance. 
  The 
  fact 
  was 
  now 
  becoming 
  

   recognized 
  that 
  the 
  earth's 
  crust, 
  far 
  from 
  having 
  remained 
  unchanged 
  

   from 
  remote 
  antiquity, 
  had 
  undergone 
  upheavals 
  and 
  fractures 
  which 
  

   had 
  repeatedly 
  caused 
  alterations 
  in 
  the 
  surface. 
  In 
  addition 
  to 
  this, 
  

   even 
  the 
  relative 
  ages 
  of 
  these 
  different 
  phenomena 
  had 
  been 
  estimated. 
  

   De 
  Yerneuil's 
  interest 
  was 
  engaged 
  by 
  these 
  results, 
  and 
  he 
  studied 
  

   under 
  Elie 
  de 
  Beaumont 
  the 
  methods 
  of 
  investigation 
  of 
  geology 
  ; 
  and 
  

   resolved 
  not 
  merely 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  passive 
  student 
  of 
  the 
  works 
  of 
  others, 
  but 
  

   to 
  devote 
  himself 
  to 
  the 
  extension 
  of 
  the 
  science. 
  With 
  this 
  view 
  he 
  

   made 
  up 
  his 
  mind 
  to 
  travel, 
  and 
  selected 
  Wales 
  as 
  the 
  place 
  of 
  greatest 
  

   interest 
  since 
  the 
  publication 
  of 
  the 
  researches 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  celebrated 
  

   geologists 
  Sedgwick 
  and 
  Murchison. 
  These 
  latter 
  had 
  recently 
  esta- 
  

   blished 
  a 
  certain 
  order 
  of 
  superposition 
  in 
  the 
  very 
  thick 
  group 
  of 
  the 
  

   most 
  ancient 
  strata, 
  which 
  had 
  hitherto 
  been 
  confounded 
  under 
  the 
  

   general 
  name 
  of 
  " 
  Transition 
  Pocks." 
  

  

  He 
  next 
  travelled 
  in 
  the 
  East 
  ; 
  and 
  on 
  the 
  way 
  to 
  Turkey, 
  on 
  the 
  

   Danube, 
  fell 
  in 
  with 
  some 
  sympathetic 
  companions, 
  and 
  with 
  them 
  he 
  

   travelled 
  through 
  Moldavia 
  and 
  Bessarabia 
  to 
  Odessa, 
  thence 
  on 
  to 
  the 
  

   Crimea 
  and 
  to 
  the 
  frontiers 
  of 
  Circassia, 
  and 
  later 
  on 
  to 
  the 
  Bosphorus. 
  

  

  He 
  now 
  published 
  a 
  memoir 
  on 
  the 
  Crimea, 
  which 
  was 
  supplemented 
  

   and 
  made 
  more 
  complete 
  by 
  a 
  collection 
  of 
  fossils 
  belonging 
  to 
  new 
  and 
  

   interesting 
  species, 
  which 
  were 
  described 
  by 
  M. 
  Deshayes. 
  Through 
  the 
  

   private 
  instruction 
  of 
  this 
  savant 
  De 
  Yerneuil 
  became 
  intimately 
  ac- 
  

   quainted 
  with 
  the 
  fossil 
  shells, 
  a 
  subject 
  of 
  so 
  much 
  importance 
  to 
  

   stratigraphical 
  geology. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  year 
  1838 
  De 
  Yerneuil 
  paid 
  special 
  attention 
  to 
  the 
  lower 
  strata 
  

   of 
  the 
  Bas-Boulonnais 
  district, 
  and 
  thereby 
  acquired 
  considerable 
  autho- 
  

   rity 
  in 
  determining 
  the 
  fossils 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  rocks. 
  It 
  was 
  on 
  this 
  

   account 
  that 
  when 
  Messrs. 
  Sedgwick 
  and 
  Murchison 
  washed 
  to 
  compare 
  

   the 
  most 
  ancient 
  formations 
  of 
  the 
  districts 
  of 
  the 
  Ehine 
  and 
  Belgium 
  

   with 
  those 
  of 
  England, 
  they 
  invited 
  De 
  Yerneuil 
  to 
  accompany 
  them 
  in 
  

   their 
  exploration. 
  In 
  the 
  memoir 
  they 
  afterwards 
  published 
  they 
  ac- 
  

   knowledge 
  the 
  great 
  assistance 
  afforded 
  by 
  their 
  companion 
  in 
  placing 
  

   at 
  their 
  disposal 
  his 
  rich 
  collections. 
  

  

  In 
  conjunction 
  with 
  M. 
  d'Archiac, 
  De 
  Yerneuil 
  published 
  in 
  1841 
  a 
  

   description 
  of 
  the 
  fossils 
  of 
  the 
  oldest 
  deposits 
  of 
  the 
  Ehenish 
  Provinces. 
  

   The 
  work 
  is 
  preceded 
  by 
  a 
  general 
  survey 
  of 
  the 
  fauna 
  of 
  the 
  so-called 
  

   Palaeozoic 
  rocks, 
  and 
  is 
  followed 
  by 
  a 
  table 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  organic 
  remains 
  

   hitherto 
  met 
  with 
  in 
  the 
  Devonian 
  System 
  of 
  Europe. 
  

  

  The 
  results 
  of 
  this 
  journey 
  were 
  so 
  satisfactory 
  that 
  shortly 
  afterwards 
  

   Murchison 
  again 
  requested 
  De 
  Yerneuil's 
  company 
  when 
  he 
  was 
  plan- 
  

  

  