in *Natural History*, denotes in general every thing that is dug out of the earth, whether it be native thereto, as metals, stones, salts, earths, and other minerals, or extraneous, as the bones of animals, and the like.

Native fossils are substances found in the earth or on its surface, of a simple structure, exhibiting no appearances of organization, and included under the general names of simple and compound, earthy or metallic minerals. Extraneous fossils are bodies of the vegetable or animal 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 MINERALOGY.