Now somewhat rare. [f. as prec. + -IST.] One who studies fossils, an authority on fossils, a palæontologist.
1746. [see ARGUMENT v. 4].
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), I. 41. They may possibly be ranked among those remains which fossilists distinguish by the title of diluvian.
1806. Guide to Watering Places, 115. Both the fossilist and botanist may here find ample amusement; but they should beware of the numberless smooth and tempting paths among the rocks, as a single false step may precipitate the careless adventurer down one hundred yards of perpendicular descent, which was the case, some years ago, with a Scotch nobleman.
1876. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., vi. 113. It was then that the battles of opinion were fought between Cosmogonists, Diluvialists, and Fossilists—the first building up crude theories of the universe on a slender basis of facts; the second ascribing every phenomenon in the earth’s crust to the operation of the Noachian deluge; while the last contended, on fossil evidence, for the long continuance of the agencies now productive of change on the face of the globe.
