Part III. 253 
_______ ___________ _ , ., — : 
PART III. 
Of Minerals. 
Sect. I. 
Of STONES. 
CHAP. I. 
Of ANIMAL BODIES PETRIFTD; 
and fuch lify. 
IT hath been much difputed, and is not yet refolv'd, of 
many fubterraneal Bodies, which have the femblance 
of Animals, or Parts of them, Whether they were ever 
fuch, or no. And I am not ignorant of the Arguments 
offer d on both hands. If I may fpeak my own fenfe a 
little, Why not? Is there any thing repugnant in the 
matter ? Why not a petrify 'd Shell, as well as wood ? Or 
is the place > If Shells are found under ground, far from 
Sea, or in Hills, unchanged • as we are fure they are 5 then 
why not petrify *d ? Or is the form, to which no Species 
of Shells doth anfwer ? The affertion is precarious : no 
man can fay, how many are known to fome one or other $ 
much lefs, how many are not known : I have reafon to 
believe, that fcarce the one half of the under Species of 
Shells are known to this day. And fo for Artificials : if 
Coyns are found, every day under ground, then why not 
fometimes alfo Pictures, and other Works, in time petri- 
fy 'd ? And although Nature doth often imitate her felf 5 
yet to make her in any cafe to imitate Art, is unphilofo- 
phical and abfurd : for the one, a natural reafon may be 
given, not for the other. On 
