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G E N E R A L OBSERVATIONS
PLAINS OP LOMBJRDY AND PIEDMONT-,
DOT OF THE ,
THÍT fo beaul iM and citenfive a coimlry as Italy, which t umrerfally admired as the
garden of Emope, owing to its benign cHmate and extreme fertility of foü (nor lefs profufe
in die various produflions of the three kmgdoms of nature, which afford fo ample a
field for ohfervaüon), Jhould not as yet have been able to indncc any of our fcienülie naturalifls
to fevonr the public with any tiling like a complete aad general treaüfe on the mineralogy
of that exteniive peninfula, plamly ihews the extreme difficulty of fuch a talk.
A country which feems to he nothing lefs than a facted fpot, chofen by natnre, to ferve
as a repofflory for the moil curious and wonderfiü fpccimens of her works ¡ fpccimens
wMch enable us, in fome meafure, with afloniilied eyes, to contemplate the wondetfiü
etrefls of that great and irrefilSble Power, wHcli, though invitible, is for ever aflive, and
creating when appearing to deth-oy.
The whole extent of fliis country muH hievit.bly attrait the attention, fmptiae, and
admiration, of every intehigent obfervet; the extremities of which are traced, as it were,
by the two oppofitc aud moH fonuidable elements in nature. The glaciem of Tirol , Switzerland,
and Savoy, almotl equalling the gloomy and melancholy regions of Greenland,
extend from notth-eaft to north-weS, whilft the bm^niug and tremendous Vefnvin. ferves
as its foutlicm limits. Thefc two extremities of Italy have indeed been moll: fciendfieally
dcfcribcd in our time: die former by that oiuament of fociety Monf. de Sauffure, in his
learned and entertaining work, intitled, « Voyage dans les A l p s a n d the other by Sir WU