Hey Susan,
I was pretty excited to find this nuggett from wikipedia. On the webpage devoted to fossils, the attribute this quote to Da Vinci where he argues against the idea that the biblical flood placed shells found on mountains there:
"If the Deluge had carried the shells for distances of three and four hundred miles from the sea it would have carried them mixed with various other natural objects all heaped up together; but even at such distances from the sea we see the oysters all together and also the shellfish and the cuttlefish and all the other shells which congregate together, found all together dead; and the solitary shells are found apart from one another as we see them every day on the sea-shores.
And we find oysters together in very large families, among which some may be seen with their shells still joined together, indicating that they were left there by the sea and that they were still living when the strait of Gibraltar was cut through. In the mountains of Parma and Piacenza multitudes of shells and corals with holes may be seen still sticking to the rocks..."[10]
I think it's pretty fascinating that people were having arguments this lucid and heretical that long ago during a time when religion ruled the land. You go, Da Vinci!
-Brandon
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