important results than in France. An extensive work on this subject, by James Parkinson, entitled "Organic Remains of a Former World," was begun in 1804, and completed in three volumes in 1811. A second edition appeared in 1833. This work was far in advance of previous publications in England, and, being well illustrated, did much to make the collection and study of fossils popular. The belief in the geological effects of the deluge had not yet lost its power, although restricted now to the later deposits; for Parkinson, in his later edition, wrote as follows: "Why the earth was at first so constituted that the deluge should be rendered necessary—why the earth could not have been at first stored with all those substances and endued with all those properties which seemed to have proceeded from the deluge—why so many beings were created, as it appears, for the purpose of being destroyed—are questions which I presume not to answer."
William Buckland (1784-1856) published in 1823 his celebrated "Reliquiæ Diluvianæ," in which he gave the results of his own observations in regard to the animal remains found in the caves, fissures, and alluvial gravels of England. The facts presented are of great value, and the work was long a model for similar researches. Buckland's conclusions were, that none of the human remains discovered in the caves were as old as the extinct mammals found with them, and that the deluge was universal. In speaking of fossil bones found in the Himalaya Mountains, he says: "The occurrence of these bones at such an enormous elevation in the region of eternal snow, and consequently in a spot now unfrequented by such animals as the horse and deer, can, I think, be explained only by supposing them to be of antediluvian origin, and that the carcasses of the animals were drifted to their present place, and lodged in sand, by the diluvial waters."
The foundation of the "Geological Society of London," in 1807, marks an important point in the history of paleontology. To carefully collect materials for future generalizations was the object in view, and this organization gradually became the center in Great Britain for those interested in geological science. The society was incorporated in 1826, and has since been the leading organization in Europe for the advancement of the sciences within its field. The Geological Society of France, established at Paris in 1832, and the German Geological Society, founded at Berlin in 1848, have likewise contributed largely to geological investigations in these countries, and to some extent in other parts of the world. In the publications of these three societies the student of paleontology will find a mine of valuable materials for his work.
The systematic study of fossil plants may be said to date from the publication of Adolphe Brongniart's "Prodrome," in 1828.[1] This was very soon followed by his larger work, "Histoire des Végétaux Fos-
- ↑ "Prodrome d'une Histoire des Végétaux Fossiles," 8vo, Paris, 1828.
