ON THE GKNETIC VIEW oK NATURE. 



281 



years after his death. He conceived that lioth tire and 

 water ^ had lieen at work in forming the surface of the 

 earth, ami suggested that simihir examinations of other 

 localities '" would be required in order to arrive at general 

 conclusions. Such were subsequently supplied by Werner, 

 de Saussure, Pallas, Hutton, Cuvier, and William Smith, 

 before the systematic exploration of the w'hole globe be- 

 came in the nineteenth century one of the tasks of 

 geological science. A few years after the publication of 

 T.eibniz's speculations, which pointed to an accumulation 

 of local observations as the means of arriving at a history 



des pierres oil se trouveiit de.s em- 

 ineinles de poissons ou de ])liuites 

 <|ui ne sent point du pays, medailles 

 iiicoutestables du deluge,'" &c., &c. 

 How very much Leibniz was — in 

 this as in niauy other ideas — in ad- 

 vance of his age can be seen 

 from his correspondence with the 

 Ssviss naturahst Scheuchzer of 

 Ziirich : " Mcrentur Alpes vestrtc, 

 si quis ahus Europic locus, banc eru- 

 diti inquilini curani et cieteros 

 montes utili exemplo pneibunt, 

 queni admodum magnitudine vinc- 

 unt. . . . (Jerraanorum nos- 

 trorum non ea est diligentia quam 

 vellem : iUique Historias regionum 

 naturales habemus nullas, cum 

 Angli Scotique nobis egregiis ex- 

 etnj)lis pnoiverint " (quoted by 

 <:ulirauer in the note referred to). 

 An interesting reference is made in 

 *5 xvii. of the " Protogiea ' to the 

 use of the microscope, tlien only 

 recently invented, and largely used 

 by Leuwenhoek in connection with 

 the examination of the formation 

 and crystiils of the celebrated 

 " Baumann cave": " Et velim 

 microscopia ad inquisitionem ad- 

 hiberi, (juibus tautum prxstitit 

 s.igax Leuwenhoekii diligentia, ut 

 «;upe iudigner human;e ignavite, 



quie aperire oculos, et in paratam 

 scientia posse.~sionem ingredi non 

 diguatur. " A very fair account of 

 the contents of the ' Protogiea ' 

 is given in W. D. Conybeare's ' Re- 

 port ou the Progress ... of Geo- 

 logical Science ' in the first volume 

 of Brit. Assoc. Reports, p. 366, 

 &e. 



1 ' Protogiea,' § iv. : " Donee 

 quiescentibus causis atque icquilib- 

 ratis consistentior emergeret sta- 

 tus rerum. I'lide jam duplex origo 

 intelligitur firmorum corporum ; 

 una, cum ab ignis fusione refriges- 

 cerent, altera cum reconcrescerent 

 ex solutione aquarum. Neque igitur 

 putandum est lapides ex sola esse 

 fusione. Id enim potissimum de 

 prima tautum massa ac terra; basi 

 accipio." 



- Ibid, g V. : " H;ec vero utcum- 

 que cum plausu forte dici possint de 

 incunabjlis nostri orbis, seminaque 

 contineant scientiic novic, quam 

 Geographiam naturalem appelles. 

 . . . Et licet conspirent vestigia 

 veteris mundi in priesenti facie 

 rerum, tamcn rectius omnia detinient 

 postei'i, ubi curiosilas mortalium eo 

 processerit, ut per regiones pro- 

 curreutia soli genera et strata des- 

 cribunt. " 



