A Geognostical Essay on the Superposition of Rocks in Both Hemispheres |
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Common terms and phrases
abounds according alpine limestone alternating ammonites analogous ancient appear arenaceous ations basaltic belong Beudant black limestone Boué Brongniart Buch calcaire grossier calcareous Cerro chalk characterised coal coal-sandstone colour compact composition conglomerates connected contains Cordilleras covered crystals deposites destitute dolerite equinoxial euphotide feldspar fossil fragments garnets geognostic glassy feldspar globe gneiss granite granular limestone grauwacke greenstone Guanaxuato gypsum hornblende Hungary imbedded intermediary interposed beds Jura limestone lavas lignite lydian stone mandelstein masses Mexico mica mica-slate mountains muschelkalk observed obsidian oolitic Peru petrifactions phonolite phyries placed Popayan position posterior primitive formations primitive rocks Pyrenees pyroxene quadersandstein quartz Quito red sandstone reposes rock-salt saliferous sand sandstone with lignite Saxony secondary formations serpentine shells siliceous slate sometimes strata subordinate beds superposed superposition syenite table-land tertiary formations thickness tion toises trachytes trachytic formation transition clay-slate transition formation transition limestone transition porphyries transition rocks valley variegated sandstone veins volcano zechstein
Popular passages
Page 67 - ... called the theory of the earth, which comprehends the first history of the catastrophes of our planet. It reflects more light on that science than it receives in its turn ; and without contesting the ancient fluidity or the softness of the stony beds, (a phenomenon proved by the fossil bodies, by the crystalline aspect of the masses, by the rolled pebbles, or the fragments imbedded in the transition and secondary rocks,) positive geognosy does not pronounce on the nature of the liquids in which...
Page 1 - ... alum-slate, and alternating beds of black limestone and porphyry. The first acceptation of the word is better adapted to the genius of the language ; but it has relation to the origin of things, to an uncertain science founded upon geogonic hypothesis. The second acceptation, now generally adopted by the French mineralogists, has been borrowed from the celebrated school of Werner : it indicates what is, not what is supposed to have been. In the geognostical description of the globe, we may distinguish...
Page 76 - ... greater part of the then existing commerce, we shall discover another remarkable example of the potency of precious metals, when exercising their concentrated force in a narrow space; at that time the shores of the Mediterranean and Western Europe." 10. "Although in the course of a laborious life, I have had the pleasure of seeing a greater extent of mountains than any other geognost, the little I observed is lost in the great mass of facts which I have undertaken to display.
Page 58 - ... yesterday with today, comparing here with there, and recording information. Data in comparable numerical form was the basis from which the study of phenomena as complex as, say, fossil remains (historic plant and animal geography) could begin to be useful to the elucidation of geologic chronology. To compare formations with relation to fossils, is to compare the Floras and Faunas of various countries at various periods; it is to solve a problem so much the more complicated, as it is modified...
Page 1 - relates to the origin of things, and to an uncertain science founded on geogonic hypotheses" and had been rejected by French geologists who preferred to define a formation as an "assemblage of mineral masses so intimately connected, that it is supposed they were formed at the same epoch," a definition borrowed from "the celebrated school of Werner.
Page 70 - Since the year 1792 I have been attentive to this parallelism, or rather to this loiudromisin of beds. Residing' on mountains of stratified rocks, where this phenomenon is constant, examining the direction and dip of primitive and transition beds, from the coast of Genoa across the chain of the Bochetta, the plains of Lombardy, the Alps of St Gothard, the table-land of Swabia, the mountains of Baireuth, and the plains of Northern Germany, I have been struck, if not with the constancy, at least with...
Page 51 - ... observed in the transition-slates (Glaris), in the zechstein or bituminous marlslate, in the Jura limestone, in the tertiary limestone with cerithia of Paris and Monte Bolca, and in the gypsum of Montmartre, are distinct species, partly pelagic and partly fluviatile. Might it be concluded, from these facts, that all the formations are characterised by particular species ; that the fossil-shells of the chalk, of the shell-limestone (muschelkalk), of the Jura limestone, and of the alpine limestone,...
Page 408 - Most of the pupils of the sophists, as of Sokrates 2 himself, were young men of wealth ; a fact, at which Plato sneers, and others copy him, as if it proved that they cared only about high pay. But I do not hesitate to range myself on the side of...
Page 153 - ... transition porphyry, nor real basalt with olivine, nor trachyte, nor burning volcano, have been observed, either in the plains or the groups of insulated mountains. The phenomena of the trachyte formation appear to be confined to the ridge and the line of the Andes of Chili, Peru, New Granada, St. Martha, and Merida. I announce this circumstance in a particular manner, in order that travellers may be induced to confirm it by farther examination or refute it. In the same region which extends from...
Page 67 - Although he did not possess the necessary means for attaining a vigorous determination of fossil species, he never failed, in his course of lectures, to fix the attention of his pupils on the relations that exist between certain fossils and formations of different ages. I witnessed the high satisfaction which he felt, when M. de Schlottheim, one of the most distinguished geognosts of the school of Freiberg, began in 1792 to make those relations the principal object of his studies. Positive geognosy...
References to this book
Inventing the Earth: Ideas on Landscape Development Since 1740 Barbara Kennedy No preview available - 2006 |
Inventing the Earth: Ideas on Landscape Development Since 1740 Barbara Kennedy No preview available - 2006 |