62 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PAL/EONTOLOGY. 



to Vesuvius. Although during these travels he began to 

 entertain serious doubts about the correctness of Werner's 

 theory of the origin of basalt, he could not convince himself 

 that it was untenable. 



After a visit to Paris, Von Buch returned to Berlin in 1799, 

 and was there commissioned to investigate the occurrence of 

 mineral contents in Canton Neuchatel, which at that time was 

 under Prussian government. Neuchatel, from which ready 

 access was afforded into the Jura mountains and into the Alps, 

 now became his headquarters. Every observation was care- 

 fully entered in his maps, and a number of scientific papers 

 flowed from his ready and graceful pen. 



A visit to Auvergne in 1802, and a study of the basalt and 

 trachyte in that area, still further shattered Von Buch's faith in 

 Neptunian doctrines. In 1805 he was again at Naples, and in 

 the company of Alexander von Humboldt and Gay Lussac he 

 had the good fortune to witness Vesuvius in active eruption. 



Having explored the most interesting parts in Southern 

 Europe, Von Buch then travelled for two years, 1 806-8, in 

 Scandinavia and Lapland. The published account of his 

 travels, Through Norway and Lapland^ established his fame 

 as a gifted writer and an acute observer. Little had hitherto 

 been known about the climatology and geology of these high 

 European latitudes, and Von Buch contributed data of far- 

 reaching significance. For example, he pointed out that 

 although the rocks in these regions follow the same general 

 scheme of succession as Werner had drawn up, the granite 

 could by no means be regarded as the oldest rock-formation, 

 since he had observed it near Christiania in a position above 

 the Transitional Limestone. Again, he showed on mineral- 

 ogical evidence that many of the erratic blocks scattered over 

 the North German plains must have come from Scandinavia. 



Von Buch also examined the raised beaches and terraces of 

 Scandinavia, and came to the conclusion that the Swedish 

 coast was slowly rising above the level of the sea. In this he 

 agreed with the opinion that had been formed by Playfair with 

 regard to the raised beaches of Scotland. On the other hand, 

 Linnaeus and Celsius had attributed the fluctuations on the 

 Scandinavian coasts to a sinking of the water-level round the 

 shores. 



In 1809 Von Buch was chiefly engaged in mineralogical 

 and geological researches in the Alps. Meanwhile, great 



