Gnettard and Monnet, in France, supported by pub lic aid, and assisted by many naturalists, undertook the mineralogical description of France. Several parts of this work were published, but the facts were not well arranged or connected. Lavoisicr, the celebrated che mist, co-aperated in this mineralogical history of France, and published several beautiful descriptive memoirs. Other natut alists gave descriptions of districts in France; Gensanc published that of Languedoc ; Faujas that of Dauphiny, and made us acquainted with the volcanoes of Vivarais ; Dcsmarest had already described the vol canoes of Auvergne ; Palassou, in his essay on the Py renees, explained the structure of that great range of mountains, and was the first to state the important fact, that the direction of the strata is parallel with that of the chain. But, of all the works published at this pe riod, (1779,) the most important, and that which contri buted in the most eminent degree to the advancement of geognosy, was the first volume of the travels of the celebrated Saussure. It contains many interesting mi neralogical facts, and numerous important geological observations. The succeeding volumes of this work of Saussure's abound in valuable facts and beautiful views of nature, and characterise him as one of the most pro found and successful of geologists. J. A. Deluc, also a native of Geneva, and cotemporary of Saussurc, was an active enquirer, who added several important facts and views to geology. Some years before the appear ance of the works of Saussure and of Deluc, the cele brated Werner was appointed professor of mineralogy at Freyberg in Saxony. This remarkable man, by his numerous observations, and profound views of nature, created a new xi-a in mineralogy. He was the first to point out and explain the true mode of investigating gcognostical phenomena ; he first arranged and deve loped the principal structures that occur in the crust of the earth, and explained and enumerated the various re lations of mountain-rocks, beds, and veins, and of the fos sil organic remains contained in strata of different kinds.
Unfortunately for science, he published but little, so that his discoveries, arrangements, and views, were principally made known by the writings of his nume rous pupils. These• were of all countries, from the shores of the Black Sea to the extremity of Norway ; and his fame and views were carried to the Americas, and principally by his own pupils. Indeed most of the distinguished mineralogists of the present age have pro ceeded from the celebrated school of Freyberg. Mohs, Charpenticr, Buch, Raumer, Freisleben, Humboldt, Steffens, Engelhart, Esmark, d'Andrada, Brocchi, De la Rio, and many others, might be mentioned as pupils of this great and profound naturalist. Whilst \Verner, by his prelections, and the activity, zeal, and skill of his pupils, was advancing gcognosy in Germany, and in many other countries, we find that Patrin, Delametherie, Raymond, and others in France, were adding to our knowledge of the structure and composition of the earth. But of all French geologists, the most distin guished was Dolomicu. He was one of the first na
turalists who examined, in a satisfactory manner, the nature of active volcanoes, and his writings and views, in this department of geognosy, may be considered as having led the way to the investigations and views of Spallanzani, Fortis, Faujas, Breislac, and Cordier. But lie did not confine his attention solely to the study of volcanic districts, for he has left several interesting me moirs on mineral formations. In France, the study of petrifactions, or fossil organic remains, has materially contributed to the advancement of gcognosy. The pre vious views of Werner, on this subject, the discoveries and observations of Hunter, Blumenbach, Schlottheim, and others, paved the way for the more extended and brilliant investigations of Cuvier.
Whilst gcognosy was advancing in other countries, it was until lately but little attended to in Great Britain. The publication of the theory of Burnet, in 1681, and the speculations of Robinson, in 1699, amused, without communicating any real information. Woodward's Es say on the Natural History of the Earth, published in 1702, was the first which contained any facts of impor tance, and the lectures and discourses on earthquakes, by Robert Hooke, in 1705, the physico-theological dis courses of Ray, in 1713, and the new theory of the earth of Whisten, in 1722, were principally of a specu lative nature. The inquiry into the original state and formation of the earth, by John Whitehurst, published in 1778, although principally theoretical, contained good observations on the structure of some districts in England. James Douglass, in 1785, published a dis sertation on the antiquity of the earth, in which certain fossil organic remains are particularly considered. About this time, Dr. Hutton, of Edinburgh, published, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a striking essay on the theory of the earth. But this work, like all those of a merely speculative nature, did not afford any beneficial results to geog nosy ; indeed it remained nearly unnoticed, except in some controversial tracts, by Mr. Kirwan, until it was re produced to the public by Professor Playfair, in his in teresting work, entitled "Illustrations of the Huuonian Theory," published in 1806. In 1801, Professor Ja meson published, in two volumes quarto, the results of his observations on the geognosy of the Hebrides, Ork ney, and Shetland Islands, in a work entitled Mine ralogy of the Scottish Isles. This was the first exten sive topographical geognostical trot k that had appeared in Britain. In 1808, the same naturalist published his Elements of Geognosy, in which the structure and ma terials of the eart:i are scientifically considered. About this time the Wcrnerian Society of Edinburgh, and Geo logical Society of London, were established ; two asso ciations which have eminently contributed to the ad vancement of geognosy. Other geological societies have since been established in different parts of Great Britain; and the science is now extensively and actively cultivated in every civilized country in Europe.