Agostino Scilla  Agostino Scilla (10 August 1629 – 31 May 1700) was an Italian Baroque painter, paleontologist, geologist, numismatist, and a pioneer in the study of fossils and in scientific illustration. He is known for his paintings and also in the history of paleontology for the book "La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso" ("Vain Speculation Undeceived by Sense", 1670) which was introduced to English audiences by William Wotton of the Royal Society in 1696. He was among the first to promote a scientific understanding of fossils in contrast to fantastic Biblical and divine interpretations. The son of a notary in Messina, Sicily, Scilla studied under Antonio Barbalunga in Messina and Andrea Sacchi in Rome and became a painter. His frescos in Messina were painted for the church of San Domenico, and in the Nunziata de' Teatini, and many paintings including one of "San Ilarione dying" painted for the church of S. Ursula. His frescos in the Cathedral of Syracuse date from 1657. After participating in an unsuccessful revolt against Spanish rule, in 1678 he was exiled from Sicily. Scilla worked as a painter in Turin and then Rome for the rest of his life. He was a censor in the Academy of Design in Rome in 1695. One of his pupils was the painter Antonio Madiona. Scilla began to study fossils found in the hills of Sicily, sometimes accompanied by botanist Paolo Boccone. His only written scientific work is "La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso" ("Vain Speculation Undeceived by Sense", 1670). The book was dedicated to the Sicilian nobleman Don Carlo di Gregorio, who founded the Accademia della Fucina (1639–1678) in Messina. In this work Scilla argues for a scientific explanation for fossils, as opposed to them being of fantastic origin or a test of faith from God. He also correctly identified the supposedly magical objects that were called "glossopetrae", or "tongue stones", as the teeth of sharks. He was however not the first to do this. Nicolas Steno had made a similar claim about three years earlier but it is not known if Scilla had seen that work. Fabio Colonna in "Dissertatio de glossopetris" (1616) had burnt these fossils to show that they were made of lime, organic matter, rather than minerals.