INTRODUCTION. 53 



1794 a stroke of paralysis put an end to his mountaineering 

 activity, and in 1799 he died. 



Saussure's glowing descriptions of the Alpine world removed 

 the prejudice against the " Montagnes Maudits," and awakened 

 a feeling of enthusiasm for the infinite wonderland of beauty 

 and delight in the higher altitudes of the Alps. Apart from 

 his achievements in science, De Saussure may be regarded as 

 the pioneer of a practically new cult in human enjoyment, the 

 love of mountain-climbing. 



His great work, Voyage dans ks Alpes, is a model of clear 

 language, exact observation, absence of bias, and cautious 

 reserve in forming general conclusions. His style is simple, 

 concise, without rhetorical efforts, yet by no means devoid of 

 elegance. At the outset De Saussure laid down the principle 

 that we need not expect to advance our knowledge of the 

 earth's past by a study of flat plains ; that only by solving the 

 problems presented to our view in mountain-systems can we 

 hope to gain insight into the series of biological and geological 

 events in the history of our world. His chief concern was to 

 observe accurately ; he placed little importance on theoretical 

 speculations. 



The descriptions of his journeys start with the environment 

 of Geneva, with Mont Saleve, the Rhone Valley, and the 

 south-west Jura, continue into the Dauphine, across the 

 Tarentaise and Maurienne group, the Mont Cenis Massive, 

 the Ligurian Alps, and embrace the Provence and the Rhone 

 Valley. The district examined in greatest scientific detail was 

 that of Mont Blanc and the Valais group ; but he also travelled 

 through the St. Bernard group, the Berne and Gotthard Alps, 

 and the neighbourhood of Lake Lucerne. Everywhere he 

 observed and noted the local varieties of rock and the 

 occurrences of minerals and fossils. He also entered the 

 strike and dip of the strata upon topographical maps, although 

 he made no attempt at geological maps and sections. 



In his views on mountains tructure, De Saussure followed 

 Pallas. He showed that in the Western Alps, as in the Ural 

 mountains, a central core of granite, gneiss, and other primitive 

 rocks, was succeeded by stratified but unfossiliferous shales 

 and schists of different kinds. The schistose rocks were most 

 steeply tilted in the Central Alps, where they came into 

 proximity with the primitive rocks, while towards the outer 

 Alps the secondary rocks (limestone, sandstone, conglomerates) 



