Stratigraphic profile. Cuvier, as previously Buffon, claims that the fossils show an alternation of different faunas during the geological history of the earth, various "revolutions" have changed the face of the earth and species have become extinct and been replaced by new ones. To support this hypothesis he studied and mapped the stratigraphic successions of the basin of Paris. In collaboration with the young geologist Alexandre Brongniart, after four years of work, in 1808 they published the "Essai min矇raligique sur les environs de Paris" (1st edition 1808), complete with a geological map and a stratigraphic column with seven formations, some of which contain the fossils vertebrates studied by Cuvier. Image taken from page 290 of "Essay on the Theory of the Earth" translated by Robert Kerr with mineralogical notes, and an account of Georges Cuvier's geological discoveries, by Professor Jameson.