advance of palaeontology, viz. its application to the
deciphering of the history of the earth. When it was admitted
that fossils are remains of animals and plants, it followed
that, in so far as they resemble terrestrial, or freshwater,
animals and plants, they are evidences of the existence of land,
or fresh water; and, in so far as they resemble marine
organisms, they are evidences of the existence of the sea at the
time at which they were parts of actually living animals and
plants. Moreover, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it
must be admitted that the terrestrial or the marine organisms
implied the existence of land or sea at the place in which they
were found while they were yet living. In fact, such conclusions
were immediately drawn by everybody, from the time of Xenophanes
downwards, who believed that fossils were really organic
remains. Steno discusses their value as evidence of repeated
alteration of marine and terrestrial conditions upon the soil of
Tuscany in a manner worthy of a modern geologist.
The speculations of De Maillet in the beginning of the
eighteenth century turn upon fossils; and Buffon follows him
very closely in those two remarkable works, the "Theorie de la
Terre" and the "Epoques de la Nature" with which he commenced
and ended his career as a naturalist.

The opening sentences of the "Epoques de la Nature" show us how
fully Buffon recognised the analogy of geological with
archaeological inquiries. "As in civil history we consult deeds,
seek for coins, or decipher antique inscriptions in order to
determine the epochs of human revolutions and fix the date of
moral events; so, in natural history, we must search the
archives of the world, recover old monuments from the bowels of