60 



GESNER.— ARDUINO. 



[Ch. in. 



enumei 



Gesner, 1758.— In this year Gesner, the botanist, of Zurich 

 published an excellent treatise on petrifactions, and the 

 changes of the earth which they testify* After a detailed 



classes of fossils of the animal 

 and vegetable kingdoms, and remarks on the different states 

 in which they are found petrified, he considers the geological 

 phenomena connected with them ; observing, that some, like 



■i fish, and plants 



(E 



t 



amm 



either of unknown species, or found only in the Indian or 

 other distant seas. In order to elucidate the structure of 

 the earth, he gives sections, from Verenius, Buffon, and 

 others, obtained in digging wells; distinguishes between 

 horizontal and inclined strata ; and, in speculating on the 



mentions 



examination 



of the bed of the Adriatic ; the filling up of lakes and seas 

 by sediment ; the imbedding of shells, now in progress ; and 

 many known effects of earthquakes, such as the sinking down 

 of districts, or the heaving up of the bed of the sea, so as to 

 form new islands, and lay dry strata containing petrifactions. 

 The ocean, he says, deserts its shores in many countries, as 

 on the borders of the Baltic ; but the rate of recession has 

 been so slow in the last 2,000 years, that to allow the Apen- 

 nines, whose summits are filled with marine shells, to emerge 

 to their present height, would have required about 80,000 



ten times greater, or more, than the 



years 



time 



age of the universe. We must 

 to the command 



of the Deity, related by Moses, that ' the 

 waters should be gathered together in one plac e, and the 

 dry land appear.' Gesner adopted the views of Leibnitz, to 

 account for the retreat of the primeval ocean : his essay dis- 



much 



_ , — ~ r „_ £ . — ,_, 



of Italy, Germany, and England, are commented upon with 

 fairness and discrimination. 



Arduino, 1759. — In the year following, Arduino,J in his 

 memoirs on the mountains of Padua. Vicenza, and Verona, 



* John Gesner published at Loyden, 



in Latin. 



f Part ii. chap. 9. 



\ Giornalede' Criselini, 1759. 



