64 Analysis of the Profogcea of Leibnitz. ' 



36 — 7. Description of the caves of Scharzfield and Blackeaburg 

 in the Hartz with their bones and teeth—" aliqui tantae magnitudinis 

 Lit ad nota nobis animalia referri non possunt." The same caves 

 are described by Buckland in his Reliquiae Diluvianas. 



38. Of amber. ^h% fgures of leaves, mosses, and insects pre- 

 served in it (the substances themselves are wanting,) favor the idea 

 of its vegetable origin. 



39 — 41 . Of the alluvium of rivers, etc. — the mouths of the Rhine, 

 the Rhone, the Po, the Nile, with some- others, are cited as examples. 



42 — 3. Account of the succession of strata under the town of 

 Mutina in Italy and its wells. After descending nearly seventy feet, 

 a pointed instrument is driven downward, on withdrawing which, the 

 water rises quite to the top and flows over upon the surface of the 

 earth. The ascent is so rapid that the workman is in danger of be- 

 ing drowned 5 an explanation is given to which it is not necessary for 

 us to attend. As an example of the accumulation of earth in some 

 situations, the well known fact is stated, that we now descend to get 

 into the Pantheon of Agrippa instead of ascending as the Romans 

 did by a number of steps when it was first built. 



44 — 5. Of fossil wood whether petrified or retaining its vegetable 

 character — dug up in Germany and other parts of the world — a sim- 

 ple statement of facts. 



46. Of turf — its origin and the manner of preparing and using it 

 — it is reproduced very slowl}'^ if it all. 



47 — 8. Of a subterranean forest and the succession of strata ob- 

 served in digging a well tvi^o hundred and thirty two feet in depth, 

 under the town of Amsterdam. 



It will be apparent from the above abstract, that Leibnitz does by 

 no means merit the reproaches that have some times been heaped 

 upon him as (at least in this department of knowledge,) a mere vis- 

 ionary system builder. The science of mineralogy was yet to be 

 created when lie wrote, and his treatise therefore, contains but little 

 that can be valuable to a geologist of the present day. But its de- 

 fects are chargeable upon the age in which it was written rather than 

 upon Leibnitz. , Good sense, and the indications of patient and ac- 

 curate observation, pervade every part of it, and we may venture to 

 assert, that if examined instead of being condemned at hap hazard 

 from its title, it will be found not unworthy of the genius and fame of 

 its illustrious author. 



University of North Ciuolina, Jan. Slst, 1S31, 



