Geology 



with a fuller knowledge of the fossils, to use them in the 

 building up of a geological time-scale a belief that has 

 been justified to a far greater extent than was ever 

 dreamed of by its originator. 



Leibnitz and Buffon, the most celebrated of the cos- 

 mogonists, born in 1646 and 1707 respectively, though 

 holding opposed views as to the means by which the waters 

 had advanced upon and retreated from the land, were at 

 one in their wish to advance observational methods. 



Leibnitz believed that the Earth was at first a sphere 

 of molten liquid which by its cooling and consoli- 

 dation had become rough in surface, the protrusions 

 giving rise to our mountain chains. The original crust 

 constituted the " primary rocks," and upon these, with 

 further loss of heat, the surrounding vapours condensed 

 as a universal ocean. 



He it was who promulgated the idea that the waters 

 were drawn off into the interior of the now cold and 

 solid Earth, so that stage by stage the land appeared 

 above their surface. 



The disturbances of the waters produced by these 

 changes of level he believed to have produced the sedi- 

 mentary rocks, and that, after several repetitions of this 

 action, a balance had been arrived at, under the influence 

 of which the present state of affairs was preserved, 



Buffon possessed the power of broad generalization 

 in a most marked degree, and his writings are most 

 fascinating, not only on that account, but also because 

 of the lucidity and eloquence of his style. 



He felt that the history of the Earth must be 

 definitely connected with that of the whole Solar System. 

 He believed that the Planets, including the Earth, had 



10 



