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.