Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoriclife forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils.[1] This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1852.
Bleak House by Charles Dickens was published. The story told by this novel is unrelated to paleontology, but it does briefly mention a Megalosaurus, which happened to be the first reference made to dinosaurs in fiction.[3]
^Gini-Newman, Garfield; Graham, Elizabeth (2001). Echoes from the past: world history to the 16th century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN9780070887398. OCLC46769716.
^ abGervais, P. 1852. Zoologie et paleontology francaise (animauz vertebras): Paris v. 1, iv + 271 (text), v. 2, explanation of plates, v. 3, Plates;
^Sarjeant, W. A. S., 2001, Dinosaurs in fiction: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 504-529.