Protogaea / Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz ; translated & edited by Claudine Cohen & Andre Wakefield.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716.

Contributor:

Cohen, Claudine.

Wakefield, Andre.

Standardized Title:

Protogaea. English & Latin

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Geology--Early works to 1800.

Geology.

Paleontology--Early works to 1800.

Paleontology.

Historical geology--Early works to 1800.

Historical geology.

Earth (Planet)--History--Early works to 1800.

Earth (Planet).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Protogaea, an ambitious account of terrestrial history, was central to the development of the earth sciences in the eighteenth century and provides key philosophical insights into the unity of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's thought and writings. In the book, Leibniz offers observations about the formation of the earth, the actions of fire and water, the genesis of rocks and minerals, the origins of salts and springs, the formation of fossils, and their identification as the remains of living organisms. Protogaea also includes a series of engraved plates depicting the remains of animals-in particular the famous reconstruction of a "fossil unicorn"-together with a cross section of the cave in which some fossil objects were discovered. Though the works of Leibniz have been widely translated, Protogaea has languished in its original Latin for centuries. Now Claudine Cohen and Andre Wakefield offer the first English translation of this central text in natural philosophy and natural history. Written between 1691 and 1693, and first published after Leibniz's death in 1749, Protogaea reemerges in this bilingual edition with an introduction that carefully situates the work within its historical context.

Contents:

Protogaea

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Protogaea

I. Preamble

II. The first formation of the earth through fire

III. Different opinions concerning the creation of the globe

IV. Sea salt, fires, and cycles of precipitation

V. The many changes in our globe after its initial creation

VI. What was the source of the water that covered the earth? And where did it go?

VII. Bructerus and the origin of springs

VIII. Deposits of metal in the earth and a description of veins

IX. The generation of minerals explained through chemistry

X. Products common to laboratories and mines

XI. The generation of precious stones, natural and artificial

XII. Natural sublimations and the preparation of sal ammoniac

XIII. It is through fire that metals appear in their proper forms

XIV. Some bodies owe their form to the movement of waters

XV. Some bodies coalesce in the waters

XVI. Kinds of tuff stone formed by dripping water

XVII. Some things arise from the combined action of heat and water

XVIII. Where do the shapes of various fish imprinted on slates come from?

XIX. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and other things show that there is fire inside our globe

XX. The forms of fish imprinted on slate come from real fish, and are not games of nature

XXI. The different layers of the earth, their locations, and the origin of salts and salt waters

XXII. The origin of mountains and hills explained through waters, winds, and earthquakes

XXIII. Marine shells are found throughout our region and elsewhere

XXIV. The various kinds of shells were not created inside the stone, as is evident from their forms and positions

XXV. The excavated shells and bones of marine animals can be identified as the parts of real animals

XXVI. In ancient times, nearby seas contained animals and shellfish that are no longer found there

XXVII. Glossopetrae, asterias, trochites, etc., are the remains of marine animals, and not games of nature

XXVIII. But it is wrong to include the polygonal shapes that can be found in crystals among these

XXIX. In which a certain lazy ingenuity, which invents things alien to truth, is rejected

XXX. Where can the Lüneburg glossopetrae be found?

XXXI. Glossopetrae are sharks' teeth

XXXII. The medical use of glossopetrae

XXXIII. Belemnites, osteocolla, shell-filled stones, and fossil ivory

XXXIV. Bones, jaws, skulls, and teeth found in our region

XXXV. The unicorn's horn, and an enormous animal unearthed in Quedlinburg

XXXVI. Sharzfeld Cave and the bones that have been found in it

XXXVII. The Baumann Cave and its contents

XXXVIII. On the nature of amber, especially the kind found in our region

XXXIX. Changes wrought by rivers and the vestiges of upheavals in our region

XL. The struggle between sea and land

XLI. Sea and marsh once covered Venice and Este

XLII. The marvelous fountains of Modena

XLIII. How Modena's fountains are produced

XLIV. The layers of earth in Rosdorf, near Göttingen

XLV. On buried trees and petrified wood

XLVI. Peat and its origin

XLVII. On trees buried underground

XLVIII. The layers of earth observed while digging a well in Amsterdam

Appendix: Text from Friedrich Lachmund's Oryktographia Hildesheimensis (1669)

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [155]-163) and index.

ISBN:

9786611959418

9781281959416

1281959413

9780226112978

0226112977

OCLC:

436146652