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liain Hamilton, in his degiint pnbllcation of the Campi Phlcgrael. Yel what «ill remains
for invcfligation is very confiderable. And whilft any part of this extcnTwe country continues
unexplored, it will be impoffibic to form a regular and well digefted plan of mineralogy,
or at leaft it will he tedious and difficult. Some idea of this may be conceived by confidcring
the ravages and conftifion occafioned by the fubterraneous fires, inundations, land
accumulations, &c. befides the extreme difficulty of travelling in provinces which arc almoft
defolate; fuch as the PouUle, Calabria, &c. Then again the innumerable dangers and difficulties
to which the traveller muft inevitably be expofed in traverfmg various and diftant
countries, where even the common and fcanty neccffaries of life are fcarcely to be found.
Thcfe ohjeftions will operate witli many, and impede inveftigations necciTary to tlie progrefs
of true feience. Monf. Gnetard has however publithed, in 1788 and 1785, fomc very
valuable and minute accounts of the mineralogy of Italy: fee the tiril volume of his Memoire
" Sur les difFcrentes parties des Sciences et des Arts." There is alfo another work, on
the fame fubjca, which appeared at the beginning of the prcfcnt centuiy, intided, " Jo.
Jac. Schcnchzcri itinera Alpina tria, inquibus, incolaj, animaha, plant®, 8tc. iconihus iOUftrantur,
Londini 1703;" which, from its acciuacy and great merit, deferves tlte attention
of the learned.
It is greatly to be lamented that naturalifts, who have ahready pubhlhed their obfervatlons
on the different parts of Italy, have not as yet been mduced to make mcurllons out
of the beaten track. We muft however hope that, in confequence of the refear-chcs that
have, and will of courfe be continued, fome literary man may be tempted to collea the various
materials, and form a general treatife concerning tHs claffic and interefting country;
which would not only be of the greateft ufe towards tlie advancement of geology, but may
alfo prove to a certainty the following truths, which, though not axioms, may be conSdered
as the firft principles or grand doftrines of this fcience.
1ft. That from tlie flmaure of the different chains of the primitive or granitic mountains,
as alfo from the various ftrata of the fecondary ones, their nature, charaiter, refpeflive fituations
and compofitions, our globe muft toevitably be of an antiquity which hides itfelf in
the dark abyfs of time.
sd. That the furface of our continent has moft certainly changed its form at various
periods, and that it wUl probably change again i but that its prefent ftate is not of fo remote
a date as has been generally fuppofed; and farther, that it alfo tends more to its perfcSion
than to its decay.
3d. That thofc wonderiul changes which our continent has experienced are entirely
owing to the eiFc6ts of fire and water, which have powerfully and vifibly adted at different
epochs.
dth. That the primitive valleys, generally ftiled great valleys, do not owe their exiftenee
to fimilar caufes which have produced the fecoiidary ones. That the former are always
parallel to the great and majeftie primordial chain, and owe their origin to the effefls of
the fea, whilll; the fecondary are for the moft part oblique and meandering, owing their
origin to torrents.
5th. That the fea has doubtlefs rifen to a confiderable height ; and that at the time when
it covcrcd the greateft part of the fecondary mountains of our continents, it then contained
animals and plants which appear not any longer to exift-, or are at leafl unknown upon our
coafts at prcfcnt.
0th. That the waters of the fea, in retiring, have aéted in a twofold manner; the one
violent and precipitate, tlie other flow and gradual.
Although thefe hypothefes appear to have been in a great meafure adopted by many
fcientific mquirers, yet furely they cannot be too much elucidated, fince they may be confidered
as the very bafis of geology; a fcience which has been much cultivated from the
beginnmg of the prefent century. It is therefore improper to neglefl or to rejeft any litological
faits or remarks, however trivial in themfelves, provided they have but fome relation
to the doétrines above mentioned.
Encotuaged by thefe refle£tions, I have been tempted to fnbjoin fome flight obfervations,
prior to my rambles in the Maritime Alps, wliich I had an opportunity of making in
my two laft excuriions into Lombardy; at which time I had the fatisfaition of traveriing
that beautiful eounbry in its whole extent.
When vifidng that part of Italy winch reaches firom Rimini to Padua, and that I had
carefully examined the immenfe accumulations formed by the rivers which precipitate
themfelves into the fea near the mouth of tlic PÔ, pleafcd with tlie view this intcreftmg
fcene produced, I fancied myfelf exploring tile enti-ance of one of the moft cxtenfive vaUejn
m Europe ; bounded as it is on the nortli by the Tridentine, Rhaîtian, Lepontine, and
Pennine Alps ; on the fouth by a part of the Maritime Alps and Apennines ; and on the
weft by the Cottian Alps; whilft the Adriatic Sea, which wathes its eaftcrn banks, feems
daily lofing a part of its vaii crapke by tlic inccfliint encroachments of the PÔ, this wondetfiU
riïcr driving as it were before it immenfe banks of fediments of earth, fand, &c.