Principles of Geology Part 71

[39] Translated by MM. Chezy and De Sacy, and cited by M. Elie de Beaumont, Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1832.

[40] See Venturi's extracts from Da Vinci's MMS. now in Library of Inst.i.tute of France. They are not mentioned by Brocchi, and my attention was first called to them by Mr. Hallam. L. da Vinci died A. D. 1519.

[41] Museum Calceol.--See Brocchi's Discourse on the Progress of the Study of Fossil Conchology in Italy, where some of the following notices on Italian writers will be found more at large.

[42] In Sicily, in particular, the t.i.tle-deeds of many valuable grants of land to the monasteries are headed by such preambles, composed by the testators about the period when the good King Roger was expelling the Saracens from that island.

[43] De Fossilib. pp. 109, 176.

[44] Aristotle, On Animals, chaps. 1, 15.

[45] Brocchi, Con. Fos. Subap. Disc, sui Progressi. vol. i. p.

57.

[46] De Metallicis.

[47] Dies Caniculares.

[48] Storia Naturale.

[49] Osserv. sugli Animali aquat. e terrest. 1626.

[50] s.e.x itaque distinctas Etruriae facies agnoscimus, dum bis fluida, bis plana, et sicca, bis aspera fuerit, &c.

[51] Scilla quotes the remark of Cicero on the story that a stone in Chios had been cleft open, and presented the head of Paniscus in relief:--"I believe," said the orator, "that the figure bore some resemblance to Paniscus, but not such that you would have deemed it sculptured by Scopas; for chance never perfectly imitates the truth."

[52] De Testaceis fossilibus Mus. Septaliani.

[53] The opinions of Boyle, alluded to by Quirini, were published a few years before, in a short article ent.i.tled "On the Bottom of the Sea." From observations collected from the divers of the pearl fishery, Boyle inferred that, when the waves were six or seven feet high above the surface of the water, there were no signs of agitation at the depth of fifteen fathoms; and that even during heavy gales of wind, the motion of the water was exceedingly diminished at the depth of twelve or fifteen feet. He had also learnt from some of his informants, that there were currents running in opposite directions at different depths.--Boyle's Works, vol. iii. p. 110. London, 1744.

[54] See Conybeare and Phillips, "Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales," p. 12.

[55] Unde jam duplex origo intelligitur primorum corporum, una, c.u.m ab ignis fusione refrigescerent, altera, c.u.m reconcrescerent ex solutione aquarum.

[56] Redeunte mox simili causa strata subinde alia aliis imponerentur, et facies teneri adhuc orbis saepius novata est.

Donec quiescentibus causis, atque aequilibratis, consistentior emergeret rerum status.--For an able a.n.a.lysis of the views of Leibnitz, in his Protogoea, see Mr. Conybeare's Report to the Brit. a.s.soc. on the Progress of Geological Science, 1832.

[57] Between the year 1688 and his death, in 1703, he read several memoirs to the Royal Society, and delivered lectures on various subjects, relating to fossil remains and the effects of earthquakes.

[58] Posth. Works, Lecture, Feb. 29, 1688.

[59] Posth. Works, p. 327.

[60] Posth. Works, Lecture, Feb. 15, 1688. Hooke explained with considerable clearness the different modes wherein organic substances may become lapidified; and, among other ill.u.s.trations, he mentions some silicified palm-wood brought from Africa, on which M. de la Hire had read a memoir to the Royal Academy of France (June, 1692), wherein he had pointed out, not only the tubes running the length of the trunk, but the roots at one extremity. De la Hire, says Hooke, also treated of certain trees found petrified in the "river that pa.s.ses by Bakan, in the kingdom of _Ava_, and which has for the s.p.a.ce of ten leagues the virtue of petrifying wood." It is an interesting fact that the silicified wood of the Irawadi should have attracted attention more than one hundred years ago. Remarkable discoveries have been made there in later times of fossil animals and vegetables, by Mr. Crawfurd and Dr. Wallich.--See Geol. Trans. vol. ii. part iii. p. 377, second series. De la Hire cites Father Duchatz, in the second volume of "Observations made in the Indies by the Jesuits."

[61] Posth. Works, Lecture, May 29, 1689.

[62] Posth. Works, p. 312.

[63] Posth. Works, p. 410.

[64] Ray's Physico-theological Discourses were of somewhat later date than Hooke's great work on earthquakes. He speaks of Hooke as one "whom for his learning and deep insight into the mysteries of nature he deservedly honored."--_On the Deluge_, chap. iv.

[65] Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth, 1695. Preface.

[66] Ibid.

[67] Consequences of the Deluge, p. 165.

[68] First published in Latin between the years 1680 and 1690.

[69] An Examination of Dr. Burnet's Theory, &c., 2d ed. 1734.

[70] Ramazzini even a.s.serted, that the ideas of Burnet were mainly borrowed from a dialogue of one Patrizio; but Brocchi, after reading that dialogue, a.s.sures us that there was scarcely any other correspondence between these systems, except that both were equally whimsical.

[71] Dei Corpi Marini, Lettere critiche, &c. 1721.

[72] Brocchi, p. 28.

[73] Ibid. p. 33.

[74] Ibid.

[75] Sui Crostacei ed altri Corpi Marini che si trovano sui Monti.

[76] Moro does not cite the works of Hooke and Ray; and although so many of his views were in accordance with theirs, he was probably ignorant of their writings, for they had not been translated. As he always refers to the Latin edition of Burnet, and a French translation of Woodward, we may presume that he did not read English.

[77] Saggio fisico intorno alla Storia del Mare, part i. p. 24.

[78] "Abbomino al sommo qualsivoglia sistema, che sia di pianta fabbricato in aria; ma.s.sime quando e tale, che non possa sostenersi senza un miracolo," &c.--De' Crostacei e di altre Produz. del Mare, &c. 1749.

[79] "Senza violenze, senza finzioni, senza supposti, senza miracoli." De' Crostacei e di altre Produz. del Mare, &c. 1749.

[80] Sui Testacei della Sicilia.

[81] Hist. Nat. tom. v. ed. de l'Imp. Royale, Paris, 1769.

[82] Essai d'une Hist. Nat. des Couches de la Terre, 1759.

[83] John Gesner published at Leyden, in Latin.

[84] Part ii. chap. 9.

[85] Giornale del Criselini, 1759.

[86] See a sketch of the History of English Geology, by Dr.

Fitton, in Edinb. Rev. Feb. 1818, re-edited Lond. and Edinb.

Phil. Mag. vols. i. and ii. 1832-3. Some of Mich.e.l.l's observations antic.i.p.ate in so remarkable a manner the theories established forty years afterwards, that his writings would probably have formed an era in the science, if his researches had been uninterrupted. He held, however, his professors.h.i.+p only eight years, when his career was suddenly cut short by preferment to a benefice. From that time he appears to have been engaged in his clerical duties, and to have entirely discontinued his scientific pursuits, exemplifying the working of a system still in force at Oxford and Cambridge, where the chairs of mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, astronomy, geology, mineralogy, and others, being frequently filled by clergymen, the reward of success disqualifies them, if they conscientiously discharge their new duties, from farther advancing the cause of science, and that, too, at the moment when their labors would naturally bear the richest fruits.