Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 16.djvu/385

Rh ," issued in 1828-'48. Brongniart pursued the same method as Cuvier and Lamarck, viz., the comparison of fossils with living forms, and his results were of great importance. In his "Tableau des Genres Végétaux Fossiles," etc., published in Paris in 1849, he gives the classification and distribution of the genera of fossil plants, and traces out the historical progression of vegetable life on the globe, as he had done to a great extent in his previous works. He shows that the cryptogamic forms prevailed in the Primary formations, the conifers and cycads in the Secondary, and the higher forms in the Tertiary, while four fifths of living plants are exogens.

In England, Lindley and Hutton published, in 1831-'37, a valuable work in three volumes, entitled "Fossil Flora of Great Britain." This work was illustrated by many accurate plates, in which the plants of the coal formation were especially represented, Henry Witham also published two works in 1831 and 1833, in which he treated especially of the internal structure of fossil plants. "Antediluvian Phytology," by Artis, was published in London in 1838, Bowerbank's "History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay" appeared in 1843, Hooker's memoir "On the Vegetation of the Carboniferous Period as compared with that of the Present Day," published in 1848, was an important contribution to the science. Bunbury, Williamson, and others, also published various papers on fossil plants. This branch of paleontology, however, attracted much less attention in England than on the Continent.

In Germany, the study of fossil plants dates back to the beginning of the century. Von Schlotheim, a pupil of Werner, published in 1804 an illustrated volume on this subject. A more important work was that of Count Sternberg, issued in 1820-'38, and illustrated with excellent plates. Cotta, in 1832, published a book with the title "Die Dendrolithen," in which he gave the results of his investigations on the inner structure of fossil plants. Von Gutbier, in 1835, and Germar, in 1844-'53, described and figured the plants of two important localities in Germany. Corda's "Beiträge zur Flora der Vorwelt," issued at Prague, in 1845, was essentially a continuation of the work of Stemberg, Unger's "Chloris Protogæa," 1841-45, "Genera et Species Plantarum Fossilium," 1850, and his larger work, published in 1852, are all standard authorities. It the latter, the theory of descent is applied to the vegetable world. Schimper and Mougeot's "Monograph on the Fossil Plants of the Vosges," 1845, was well illustrated, and contained noteworthy results.

Göppert in 1836 published a valuable memoir entitled "Systema Filicum Fossilium," in which he made known the results of his study of fossil ferns. In the same year, this botanist began a series of experiments in which he attempted to imitate the process of fossilization, as found in nature. He steeped various animal and vegetable substances in waters holding, some calcareous, others siliceous, and others