Among the questions that attracted interest in that fanatically inquisitive age was one that had puzzled people for a very long time—namely, why ancient clam shells and other marine fossils were so often found on mountaintops. How on earth did they get there? Those who thought they had a solution fell into two opposing camps. One group, known as the Neptunists, were convinced that everything on the Earth, including sea shells in improbably lofty places, could be explained by rising and falling sea levels. They believed that mountains, hills and other features were as old as the Earth itself,
...more
