“In the case of those solids, whether of earth, or rock, which enclose on all sides and contain crystals, selenites, marcasites, plants and their parts, bones and the shells of animals, and other bodies of this kind which are possessed of a smooth surface, these same bodies had already become hard at the time when the matter of the earth and rock containing them was still fluid. And not only did the earth and rock not produce the bodies contained in them, but they did not even exist as such when those bodies were produced in them.”

— Nicolas Steno

The Prodromus of Nicolaus Steno's Dissertation Concerning a Solid https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/54340#/summary : (Page 217)

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Nicolas Steno4

Pioneer in anatomy and geology, bishop 1638–1686

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