GAEL VON LTNNE AS A GEOLOGIST." 



By A. G. Nathorst. 



In the year 1759 Linne, in his suggestions as to what traveling 

 naturalists should observe, says, among other things : 



After lie [the traveler] has commenced his journey and has become trans- 

 planted, so to speak, into u new world, he should consider it his duty to observe 

 everything, not carelessly or at random, but so that nothing will escape his 

 keen vision and alert attention. In describing objects he must endeavor to 

 depict nature so faithfully that he who reads the description must needs believe 

 he is beholding the very things himself. 



****** * 



All his journeys had, however, been completed when the above- 

 cited instructions were given, as his last journey, that to Skane, was 

 made in 1749. From this it may be concluded that hjs suggestions 

 were based upon the experience gained in his own travels, and it is 

 therefore interesting to read his detailed instructions concerning 

 geological investigation. Since at that time geology did not exist as 

 a separate science these precepts will be foimd partly in the eighth 

 paragraph under the title "physics" and partly in the ninth para- 

 graph under the title " concerning the mineral kingdom." 



From the former of these paragraphs the following may be quoted : 



Rocks, especially stratified earth and stone, should be examined wherever 

 possible ; subterranean grottoes should also be explored, as the latter are liable 

 to contain objects worthy of interest. These, as well as other places, should 

 be examined for indications of the decrease of water or of the growth of land. 



Paragraph 9, " concerning the mineral kingdom," is here given in 

 its entirety : 



The common varieties of earth : Loam, clay, sand, gravel, and chalk, with the 

 relative amounts and composition of each. The different kinds of stone : These, 

 as a rule, vary in different localities and afford an important clue to the nature 

 of the underlying rocks. The principal rocks : Sandstone, flint, slate, limestone, 

 talc; agglomerations of stone, such as stalactites, bog ore, etc. Fossils, rare as 

 well as common. Ores of various kinds with their valuable mineral inclusions. 



<* Translation, condensed, by iierniission, from Carl von Linne, Sfisom Ceolog. 

 Af A. G. Nathorst. Med 2 taflor. Upsala, 1907. Almqvist & Wiksells Boktry- 

 ckeri-A.-B. 



88292— SM 1908 46 711 



