Neptunist, while, as Geikie states, his "observations in
Auvergne practically started the Vulcanist camp."

We now come to Lamarck's own time. He must have been familiar with the
results of Pallas's travels in Russia and Siberia (1793-94). The
distinguished German zooelogist and geologist, besides working out the
geology of the Ural Mountains, showed, in 1777, that there was a general
law in the formation of all mountain chains composed chiefly of primary
rocks;[70] the granitic axis being flanked by schists, and these by
fossiliferous strata. From his observations made on the Volga and about
its mouth, he presented proofs of the former extension, in comparatively
recent times, of the Caspian Sea. But still more pregnant and remarkable
was his discovery of an entire rhinoceros, with its flesh and skin, in
the frozen soil of Siberia. His memoir on this animal places him among
the forerunners of, if not within the ranks of, the founders of
palaeontology.

Meanwhile Soldani, an Italian, had, in 1780, shown that the limestone
strata of Italy had accumulated in a deep sea, at least far from land,
and he was the first to observe the alternation of marine and
fresh-water strata in the Paris basin.

Lamarck must have taken much interest in the famous controversy between
the Vulcanists and Neptunists. He visited Freyburg in 1771; whether he
met Werner is not known, as Werner began to lecture in 1775. He must
have personally known Faujas of Paris, who, in 1779, published his
description of the volcanoes of Vivarais and Velay; while Desmarest's
(1725-1815) elaborate work on the volcanoes of Auvergne, published in
1774, in which he proved the igneous origin of basalt, was the best
piece of geological exploration which had yet been accomplished, and is
still a classic.[71]

Werner (1750-1817), the propounder of the Neptunian theory, was one of
the founders of modern geology and of palaeontology. His work entitled
_Ueber die auessern Kennzeichen der Fossilien_ appeared in 1774; his
_Kurze Klassifikation und Beschreibung der Gebirgsarten_ in 1787. He
discovered the law of the superposition of stratified rocks, though he
wrongly considered volcanic rocks, such as basalt, to be of aqueous
origin, being as he supposed formed of chemical precipitates from water.
But he was the first to state that the age of different formations can
be told by their fossils, certain species being confined to particular
beds, while others ranged throug