FOSSIL, in natural history, denotes, in general,
every thing dug out of the earth, whether they be na-
tives thereof, as metals, stones, salts, earths, and other
minerals; or extraneous, reposed in the bowels of the
earth by some extraordinary means, as earthquakes, the
deluge, &c. See METAL, STONE, &c.
Natives fossils, according to Dr Hill, are substances
found either buried in the earth, or lying on its surface,
of a plain simple structure, and showing no signs of
containing vessels or circulating juices. These are sub-
divided by the same author, 1. Into fossils naturally
and essentially simple. Of these, some are neither in-
flammable nor soluble in water; as simple earths, talcs,
sibrariz, gypsum, selenite, crystal, and spars: others,
though unflammable, are soluble in water; as all the
simple salts: and others, on the contrary, are in-
flammable, but not soluble in water; as sulphur, auripig-
mentum, zarnich, amber, ambergrease, gagates, as-
phaltum, ampelites, lithanthrax, naphtha, and pissas-
phala. 2. The second general subdivision of fossils
comprehends all such as are naturally compound, but
unmetallic. Of these, some are neither inflammable,
nor soluble in water; as compound earths, stones, sep-
taria, siderochita, semipellucid gems, &c. others are
soluble in water, but not inflammable; as all the me-
tallic salts: and, lastly, some are inflammable, but not
soluble in water; as the marcasites, pyrite, and phlo-
gonia. 3. The third, and last, general division of
fossils comprehends all the metallic ones; which are
bodies naturally hard, remarkably heavy, and fusible
in fire. Of these, some are perfectly metallic, as be-
ing malleable when pure; such are gold, lead, silver,
copper, iron, and tin: others are imperfectly metal-
lic, as not being malleable even in their purest state;
such are antimony, bismuth, cobalt, zinc, and quick-
silver or mercury. Of all which substances, the read-
er will find a particular description under their res-
pective heads.
Extraneous fossils are bodies of the vegetable or ani-
mal kingdoms accidentally buried in the earth. Of the
vegetable kingdom, there are principally three kinds,
trees or parts of them, herbaceous plants, and corals;
and of the animal kingdom there are four kinds, sea-
shells, the teeth or bony palates and bones of fishes,
complete-fishes, and the bones of land-animals. See
BONES, TREE, WOOD, PLANT, SHELL, &c.
These adventitious or extraneous fossils, thus found
buried in great abundance in divers parts of the earth,
have employed the curiosity of several of our lat-
ter naturalists, who have each their several system to
account for the surprising appearances of petrified sea-
fishes, in places far remote from the sea, and on
the tops of mountains; shells in the middle of quarries
of stone; and of elephants teeth, and bones of divers
animals, peculiar to the southern climates, and plants
only growing in the east, found fossil in our northern
and western parts.
Some will have these shells, &c. to be real stones,
and
and stone plants, formed after the usual manner of other figured stones; of which opinion is the learned Dr. Lister.
Another opinion is, that these fossil shells, with all their foreign bodies found within the earth, as bones, trees, plants, &c. were buried therein at the time of the universal deluge; and that, having been penetrated either by the bituminous matter abounding chiefly in watery places, or by the salts of the earth, they have been preserved entire, and sometimes petrified.
Others think, that those shells, found at the tops of the highest mountains, could never have been carried thither by the waters, even of the deluge; inasmuch as most of these aquatic animals, on account of the weight of their shells, always remain at the bottom of the water, and never move but close along the ground. They imagine, that a year's continuance of the waters of the deluge, intermixed with the salt waters of the sea, upon the surface of the earth, might well give occasion to the production of shells of diverse kinds in different climates; and that the universal saltiness of the water was the real cause of their resemblance to the sea-shells, as the lakes formed daily by the retention of rain or spring water produce different kinds.
Others think, that the waters of the sea, and the rivers, with those which fell from heaven, turned the whole surface of the earth upside down; after the same manner as the waters of the Loire, and other rivers, which roll in a sandy bottom, overturn all their sands, and even the earth itself, in their swellings and inundations; and that in this general subversion, the shells came to be interred here, fishes there, trees there, &c. See DELUGE.
Dr. Woodward, in his Natural History of the Earth, pursuing and improving the hypothesis of Dr. Burnet, maintains the whole mass of earth, with every thing belonging thereto, to have been so broken and dissolved at the time of the deluge, that a new earth was then formed on the bosom of the water, consisting of different strata, or beds of terrestrial matter, ranged over each other usually according to the order of their specific gravities. By this means, plants, animals, and especially fishes and shells, not yet dissolved among the rest, remained mixed and blended among the mineral and fossil matters; which preserved them, or at least assumed and retained their figures and impressions either indentedly, or in relief.
See more on this subject under the article EARTH, passim. See also PETRIFICATIONS and STRATA.