_The Cosmogonists and Theories of the Earth._--While in Italy substantial progress was made in collecting information regarding the fossiliferous formations of that country, and in forming conclusions concerning them based upon more or less accurate observations, the tendency to mere fanciful speculation, which could not be wholly repressed in any country, reached a remarkable extravagance in England. In proportion as materials were yet lacking from which to construct a history of the evolution of our planet in accordance with the teaching of the church, imagination supplied the place of ascertained fact, and there appeared during the last twenty years of the 18th century a group of English cosmogonists, who, by the sensational character of their speculations, aroused general attention both in Britain and on the continent. It may be doubted, however, whether the effect of their writings was not to hinder the advance of true science by diverting men from the observation of nature into barren controversy over unrealities. It is not needful here to do more than mention the names of Thomas Burnet, whose _Sacred Theory of the Earth_ appeared in 1681, and William Whiston, whose New Theory of the Earth was published in 1696. Hardly less fanciful than these writers, though his practical acquaintance with rocks and fossils was infinitely greater, was John Woodward, whose _Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth_ dates from 1695. More important as a contribution to science was the catalogue of the large collection of fossils, which he had made from the rocks of England and which he bequeathed to the university of Cambridge. This catalogue appeared in 1728-1729 with the title of _An attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England_. Descartes.