Prof. Necker 07i the History mid Progress of Geology, B25 
those great truths developed, in this very place, and upon days like 
the present, by the philosopher himself of whom I am speaking; 
it is not to those whom the remembrance of this illustrious man 
disposes perhaps at this moment to listen with more indulgence 
to his grandson, that I shall offer excuses for dwelling with a 
lively satisfaction upon the services which he has rendered to 
science. 
To form a correct estimate of what Saussure has done for 
geology, we must see what it was when he first entered upon its 
study, — the spirit which directed him in its pursuit, — the state 
in which he left it,— -and the impulse which his writings have 
given to those who have come after him. Without entering 
into details, we shall yet remark, that, at the period at which he 
commenced his labours, mineralogy and chemistry were still in 
their infancy ; that the study of rocks scarcely existed ; that, of 
the small number of facts in physical geography related in for- 
mer works, which might have served as a ‘guide to him, he 
quickly discovered that several had been too much generalized, 
and that others were entirely erroneous. The topography of 
the districts over which he travelled, and which are now the re- 
sort of all Europe, was less known than is at the present day 
that of the Cordilleras or the Himalaya Mountains. There exist- 
ed no charts of the Alps, and if he had not, on this occasion, as 
on many others, derived the most important aids from his friend, 
our learned colleague Mr Pictet, he must have renounced the 
advantage, indispensable in our day, of giving a graphic repre- 
sentation of the places which he described. Thus, on all hands, 
he met with nothing but obstacles ; he had to make for himself, 
by dint of labour, a path into those fearful deserts, as into the 
domain of a science whose vast unexplored extent presented itself 
before him. 
Persuaded, as he says himself, that physical geography, or 
the description of our globe, can alone serve as a basis for geolo- 
gy, he proposed to investigate, first the mountains which sur- 
round us, and afterwards those of more remote countries. He 
commenced with a profound examination of the minerals which 
our soil produces ; he classed them according to a method so 
philosophical, so independent of every idea foreign to their na- 
ture, of all hypothesis of origin, and of every consideration of posi- 
VOL. XII. KO. 24 . APRIL 1825 . 
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