442 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



lations. The data which he collected became thus of the utmost 

 service to those who had to work out the principles of geology. To 

 Hutton, for example, they supplied many admirable illustrations of 

 the geological processes on which he based his Theory of the Earth. 

 It was under the guidance of the Swiss observer that the Scottish 

 philosopher stood in imagination on the summit of the Alps and 

 watched from that high tower of observation the ceaseless decay of 

 the mountains, the never-ending erosion of the valleys, and that 

 majestic evolution of topography which he so clearly portrayed. 

 Among the illustrious men who contributed to plant the foundations 

 of geology an honoured place must always be assigned to de Saussure. 

 ' To him,' continues Sir Archibald Geikie, ' we owe the first adoption 

 of the terms geology and geologist. This science had formed a part 

 of mineralogy, and subsequently of physical geography. The earliest 

 writer who dignified it with the name it now bears was the first great 

 explorer of the Alps. We are able to fix the exact date. In 1778 

 J. A. Deluc apologises for not adopting the term because " it was 

 not a word in use." In 1779 de Saussure uses geology and geologist 

 as accepted terms.' 



To de Saussure's position as a founder, if not the founder, 

 of modern geology I have perhaps cited sufficient evidence. We 

 must admit that he lacked the highest form of genius, the flash 

 that reveals the causes and connections that govern the workings 

 of nature. Where he relatively failed it was on account of 

 caution, from a dread of premature guesses, from a reluctance to 

 cast aside theories or explanations that had got the sanction of 

 time . His endeavour was not to propound ingenious speculations, 

 but to place on a sound basis of observation the two new sciences, 

 Geology and Meteorology, to set an example to his successors both 

 of the spirit and the method in which these studies should be 

 carried on. He did this with a combination of perseverance and 

 patience, and an indifference to personal fame, which have been 

 rarely equalled. 



De Saussure not only stamped with his authority the word Geo- 

 logy, he constituted the science as a distinct branch of geophysics, 

 or what was then called Physical Geography. He made it the 

 study that does for the past history of the globe what geography 

 does for its present condition. Both by his precept and example 

 he helped to start and direct his successors on the right track. 

 He was the first to give the science a method as well as a name ; 



