Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9.1 Whitby snakestones (the largest has a diameter of 55mm). These
are actually Jurassic ammonites Dactylioceras commune onto which a
head has been carved. (Geological Museum, Trinity College Dublin.)
BEGINNING OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION
The binominal system of naming organisms which was devised by
the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the eighteenth century began
to be widely used. From then on all living and fossil organisms were
given a genus name, e.g. Homo, and an epithet for the species,
e.g. sapiens. By the early 1800s most scientists were convinced of
the organic nature of fossils, and researchers began to describe and
illustrate fossils in a systematic manner. While many of the early
descriptions of this period were short, the illustrations were generally
of a high standard. Two early attempts at the beginning of the nine-
teenth century at a systematic treatment of fossils merit mention:
John Parkinson's (1755-1824) Organic Remains (1804), and William
Martin's (1767-1810) Petrificata derbiensia (1809).
THE BEGINNINGS OF BIOSTRATIGRAPHY
By the middle of the nineteenth century the scientific community had
refuted the more fabulous hypotheses suggested for the origin of
