We here arrive at the point to which I have already alluded, at
which a well-grounded study of the activity of volcanoes, whether igneous or
merely such as emit gaseous exhalations, leads us, on the one hand, to the
mineralogical branch of geognosy (the science of the texture and the
succession of terrestrial strata), and, on the other, to the science of
geographical forms and outlines -- the configuration of continents and
insular groups elevated above the level
p 248
of the sea. This extended insight into the connection of natural phenomena
is the result of the philosophical direction which has been so generally
assumed by the more earnest study of geognosy. Increased cultivation of
science and enlargement of political views alike tend to unite elements that
had long been divided.
This material taken from pages 248-
COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1
by Alexander von Humboldt
Translated by E C Otte
from the 1858 Harper & Brothers edition of Cosmos, volume 1
--------------------------------------------------
p 248
If, instead of classifying rocks according to their varieties of form and
superposition into stratified and unstratified, schistose and compact,
normal and abnormal, we investigate those phenomena of formation and
transformation which are still going on before our eyes, we shall find that
rocks admit of being arranged according to four modes of origin.
Pages:
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524