10 Biography of Baron Leopold von Buck. 



printed discourse " On the Progress of Forms in Nature" 

 (Ueber das Fortschreiten der Bildungen in der Natur), pre- 

 pared the direction on which palaeontology has now entered. 

 In the same spirit are composed his treatise on the Ammon- 

 ites, which is especially distinguished by its acuteness ; and, 

 monographs on the Terebratulae, Delthyris or Spirifer, and his 

 Orthis, Productus, Leptaenae, &c, &c. In intimate connection 

 with these pal aeon tological essays, stand others on the dis- 

 tribution of definite formations over the surface of the earth, 

 namely, of the Jura formation, the chalk, and the brown 

 coal. The first-mentioned of these treatises is probably the 

 last which was ever read by the deceased in the Berlin Aca- 

 demy (December 16, 1852) ; in its deeply pondered and com- 

 bining contents it affords a striking testimony of how fresh 

 and versatile his mind had continued down to the very latest 

 period of his life. In his treatise on the brown coal formation 

 there is opened to the palaeontologist a new field of observa- 

 tion and determination in the nervures of fossil leaves ; a 

 branch of inquiry which, even in the study of living plants 

 has, in its finer shades, been but too much neglected, and the 

 culture of which offers every hope of a copious harvest. 



Buch's comprehensive knowledge and labours extended 

 far beyond the narrow limits of the science of terra firma. 

 He was a learned physicist in the largest meaning of the 

 word. We are indebted to him for much information regard- 

 ing the atmosphere ; we need only refer to his admirable 

 treatise upon hail, regarding the temperature of springs, &c, 

 &c, and his inquiries and publications on the geography of 

 plants, are of the highest merit and interest. . , 



I am not able to enumerate the whole of his various 

 travels. He visited Scandinavia a second time ; and in the 

 latter years of his life he was always glad of an excuse for 

 paying a visit to Switzerland. In the summer of 1852 he 

 also again visited Auvergne. 



He also exercised a benignant influence on the diffusion of 

 science, by attending the ambulatory meetings of naturalists 

 in Germany and abroad, especially in Switzerland, Italy, 

 and England. He was present at the Werner festival, which 

 was celebrated with great pomp at Freiberg in 1850, the 



