Essay on the Theory of the Earth

Essay on the Theory of the Earth

The attention of naturalists was early directed to the investigation of the fossil organic remains so generally and abundantly distributed throughout the strata of which the crust of the Earth is composed. It is not, as some writers now imagine, entirely a modern study; for even so early as the time of Leibnitz, we find that philosopher drawing and describing fossil bones. After this period it continued to interest individuals, and engage the particular attention of societies and academies. The Royal Society of London, by the Memoirs[xii] of Sloane, Collinson, Lister, Derham, Baker, Grew, Hunter, Jacobs, Plott, Camper, and many others, afforded satisfactory proofs of the importance attached to this branch of Natural History by philosophers in England; and the Memoirs of M. Graydon, in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, shew that it was not entirely neglected in Ireland. On the continent of Europe the natural history of petrifactions was also much studied, as appears from the Memoirs of Hollman, Beckman, and Blumenbach, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Gottingen;of Gmelin, Pallas, Herrmann, Chappe, in the Memoirs of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Petersburg;of Geoffroi, Buffon, Daubenton, Faujas St Fond, and others of the old French Academy of Sciences;of Astruc and Riviere, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Montpellier;of Collini of the Academia Theodoro-Palatina, at Manheim, &c. But the geognostical relations of the rocks in which[xiii] these organic remains are contained were but ill understood, until Werner pointed out the mode of investigating them. His interesting and important views were circulated from Freyberg, by the writings and conversations of his pupils, and have contributed materially to the advancement of this branch of Natural History in Germany, France, and also in Great Britain. Petrifactions are no longer viewed as objects of mere curiosity, as things isolated and unrelated to the rocks of which the crust of the Earth is composed; on the contrary, they are now considered as one of the most important features in the strata of all regions of the earth. By the regularity and determinate nature of their distribution, they afford characters which assist us in discriminating not only single beds, but also whole formations of rocks; and in this respect they are highly interesting to the geognostical inquirer. To the geologist this beautiful branch of Natural History opens[xiv] up numerous and uncommonly curious views of nature in the mineral kingdom: it shews him the commencement of the formation of organic beings,it points out the gradual succession in the formation of animals, from the almost primeval coral near the primitive strata, through all the wonderful variety of form and structure observed in shells, fishes, amphibious animals, and birds, to the perfect quadruped of the alluvial land; and it makes him acquainted with a geographical and physical distribution of organic beings in the strata of the globe, very different from what is observed to hold in the present state of the organic world. The zoologist views with wonder and amazement those hosts of fossil animals, sometimes so similar to the present living species, at other times so far removed from them in form and structure. He compares the fossil orders, genera and species, with those now inhabiting the earths surface, or living in its waters, and discovers that there[xv] is a whole system of animals in a fossil state different from the present. Even the physiologist, in the various forms, connections, and relations of the parts of those animals, obtains new facts for his descriptions and reasonings. Such, then, being the nature of this branch of Natural History, it is not surprising that, when once understood, it should have many and zealous cultivators, and occupy the talents of men of learning and sagacity. In our time, Cuvier, the celebrated Professor of Natural History in Paris, has eminently distinguished himself by his numerous discoveries, accurate descriptions, and rational views, on this subject. His great work on Fossil Organic Remains, of which a new edition is now in progress, is the most splendid contribution to Natural History furnished by any individual of this age. The Essay on the Theory of the Earth, now translated, is the introductory part of[xvi] the great work of Cuvier. The subject of the deluge forms a principal object of this elegant discourse. After describing the principal results at which the theory of the earth, in his opinion, has arrived, he next mentions the various relations which connect the history of the fossil bones of land animals with these results; explains the principles on which is founded the art of ascertaining these bones, or, in other words, of discovering a genus, and of distinguishing a species, by a single fragment of bone: and gives a rapid sketch of the results to which his researches lead, of the new genera and species which these have been the means of discovering, and of the different formations in which they are contained. Some naturalists, as Lamarck, having maintained that the present existing races of quadrupeds are mere modifications or varieties of those ancient races which we now find in a fossil state, modifications which may have been produced by change of cli[xvii]mate, and other local circumstances, and since brought to the present great difference, by the operation of similar causes during a long succession of ages,Cuvier shews that the difference between the fossil species and those which now exist, is bounded by certain limits; that these limits are a great deal more extensive than those which now distinguish the varieties of the same species, and consequently, that the extinct species of quadrupeds are not varieties of the presently existing species. This very interesting discussion naturally leads our author to state the proofs of the recent population of the world; of the comparatively modern origin of its present surface; of the deluge, and the subsequent renewal of human society. In order to render this Essay more complete and satisfactory, I have illustrated the whole with an extensive series of observations, and have arranged them in such a[xviii] manner that they will be readily accessible, not only to the naturalist, but also to the general reader. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 62918
Author: Cuvier, Georges
Release Date: Aug 12, 2020
Format: eBook
Language: English