Essay on the Theory of the Earth, 1813 de Georges Cuvier

Essay on the Theory of the Earth, 1813

Georges Cuvier

Based at the Parisian Museum of Natural History, Cuvier was able to compare the fossil bones he dug from the quarries of Montmartre with those of animals alive today. Guided by the principle of correlation, that all the parts of an animal must cohere, and by analogy, with living species, Cuvier boldly reconstructed extinct creatures from the incomplete skeletons he unearthed. This process is described in his Essay on the Theory of the Earth.

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Cuprins

1. Preliminary Observations, 2. Plan of this Essay, 3. Of the first Appearance of the Earth. 4. First Proofs of Revolutions on the Surface of the Earth, 5. Proofs that such Revolutions have been numerous, 6. Proofs that the Revolutions have been sudden, 7. Proofs of the Occurrence of Revolutions before the Existence of Living Beings, 8. Examination of the Causes which act at present on the Surface of our Globe, 9. Of Slips, or Falling Down of the Materials of Mountains, 10. Of Alluvial Formations, 11. Of the Formation of Downs, 12. Of the Formation of Cliffs, or steep Shores, 13. Of Depositions formed in Water, 14. Of Stalactites, 15. Of Lithophytes, 16. Of Incrustations, 17. Of Volcanoes, 18. Of Astronomical Causes of the Revolutions on the Earth’s Surface, 19. Of former Systems of Geology, 20. Diversities of the Geological Systems, and their Causes, 21. Statement of the Nature and Conditions of the Problem to be solved, 22. Of the Progress of Mineral Geology, 23. Of the Importance of Extraneous Fossils, or Petrifactions, in Geology, 24. High Importance of investigating the Fossil Remains of Quadrupeds, 25. Of the small Probability of discovering new Species of the larger Quadrupeds, 26. Enquiry respecting the Fabulous Animals of the Ancients, 27. Of the Difficulty of distinguishing the Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds, 28. Results of the Researches respecting the Fossil Bones of Quadrupeds, 29. Relations of the Species of Fossil Bones, with the Strata in which they are found, 30. Proofs that the extinct Species of Quadrupeds are not Varieties of the present existing Species, 31. Proofs that there are no Human Bones in the Fossil State, 32. Proofs of the recent Population of the World, and that its present Surface is not of very ancient Formation, 33. Proofs, from Traditions, of a great Catastrophe, and subsequent Renewal of Human Society, 34. Proofs derived from several miscellaneous Considerations, 35. Concluding Reflections, Supplement, being an extract from the Researches of M. de Prony, on the Hydraulic System of Italy: containing an Account of the Displacement of that Part of the Coast of the Adriatic which is occupied by the Mouths of the Po, Appendix, containing Mineralogical Notes, and an Account of Cuvier’s Geological Discoveries