and Writings of Baron Leopold von Buck, 211 



are necessarily led by the phenomena of Mont d'Or. But even 

 the most zealous volcanists could not venture to regard this 

 result as an universal one, and to apply it to German basalts. 

 Should the opinions be contradictory, new observations must 

 reconcile the contradiction." 



All these facts, collected by Buch during the first years of 

 his studies, and which were of such high import for the sci- 

 ence of geognosy, were detailed in a separate work, entitled 

 Geognostical Observations made during travels in Germany 

 and Italy {Geognostische Beohachtungen auf Beisen durch 

 Beiitschland und Italien) ; 2 vols. 1802 and 1809. 



Journey through Scandinavia. — The labours of which we 

 have hitherto spoken were but the commencement of the ca- 

 reer of this great naturalist. After having finished his travels 

 in the south of Europe, the wish to obtain general conclusions 

 regarding the geognostical constitution of the entirely unex- 

 plored north, urged him to proceed to Norway. He passed 

 more than two years in Scandinavia, viz. from July 1806 to 

 October 1808. His entrance into that remarkable region was 

 immediately distinguished by a brilliant and memorable dis- 

 covery. He began his investigations in the neighbourhood of 

 Christiania, and found there a phenomenon of a peculiar de- 

 scription, differing from every thing previously known of the 

 constitution of the crust of the earth. The greatest astonish- 

 ment was excited by the observation, that granite, which was 

 universally regarded as an undoubted primitive rock, and was 

 considered by Werner as the originally created nucleus of our 

 planet, occurs in that locality between younger rocks, being, 

 throughout large tracts, covered by a peculiar limestone which 

 abounds in fossils. Associated with peculiar porphyries the 

 granite traverses this limestone in numerous veins, and changes 

 it at the junction in a manner which has subsequently been 

 more fully described by Keilhau.* Thus, at that period, a near 

 approximation was made to the opinion that granite and por- 

 phyry had been ejected from the interior of the earth ; but 

 still the ideas then universally prevalent in geognosy were 

 quite at variance with such a belief. 



* Poggendorflfs Annalaif v. 133, 



