Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter I HISTORICAL SKETCH
- Chapter II PLANT DISTRIBUTION
- Chapter III PLANTS AND LOW TEMPERATURES: ARCTIC VEGETATION
- Chapter IV THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS UPON THE MACROSCOPIC AND MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURES OF PLANTS
- Chapter V ANNUAL RINGS IN RECENT AND FOSSIL PLANTS
- Chapter VI ARCTIC FOSSIL PLANTS
- Chapter VII CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
- Chapter VIII PLEISTOCENE PLANTS AND CONCLUSION
- List of Works referred to in the Text
- Index
Chapter I - HISTORICAL SKETCH
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter I HISTORICAL SKETCH
- Chapter II PLANT DISTRIBUTION
- Chapter III PLANTS AND LOW TEMPERATURES: ARCTIC VEGETATION
- Chapter IV THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS UPON THE MACROSCOPIC AND MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURES OF PLANTS
- Chapter V ANNUAL RINGS IN RECENT AND FOSSIL PLANTS
- Chapter VI ARCTIC FOSSIL PLANTS
- Chapter VII CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
- Chapter VIII PLEISTOCENE PLANTS AND CONCLUSION
- List of Works referred to in the Text
- Index
Summary
In the fifth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey (1883–84) we have an elaborate and exhaustive Sketch of Palæobotany by Mr Lester F. Ward. The early history and development of the science receives special attention. He reviews the several stages in the evolution of Palæobotany out of the mass of confused and extravagant theories which characterised what he has called the “Pre-Scientific period.” Without attempting to travel back along the lines which have been followed in the slow and tedious growth of scientific ideas as to the true value and significance of fossil plants, we must confine ourselves to noting the growth of such theories or opinions as have been formulated with regard to the connection between fossil plants and climatic changes in the past history of the earth.
Here and there on the line of advance we find the works of pioneers of the science standing out as landmarks; at such we shall glance in passing and discover what views have been held from time to time as to the evidence which fossil plants afford in questions of geological climates. Discussing the writings of the eighteenth century, Mr Ward shews how geological considerations were utterly ignored in descriptions of fossil plants.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Fossil Plants as Tests of ClimateBeing the Sedgwick Essay Prize for the Year 1892, pp. 1 - 32Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009