The Epochs of Nature

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Georges-Louis Leclerc, le Comte de Buffon, Jan Zalasiewicz, Anne-Sophie Milon, Mateusz Zalasiewicz

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780226395432
• eBook ISBN: 9780226395579
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: French History
• Index: Biological Sciences

Georges-Louis Leclerc, le comte de Buffon's The Epochs of Nature, originally published as Les Époques de la Nature in 1778, is one of the first great popular science books, a work of style and insight that was devoured by Catherine the Great of Russia and influenced Humboldt, Darwin, Lyell, Vernadsky, and many other renowned scientists. It is the first geological history of the world, stretching from the Earth's origins to its foreseen end, and though Buffon was limited by the scientific knowledge of his era—the substance of the Earth was not, as he asserts, dragged out of the sun by a giant comet, nor is the sun's heat generated by tidal forces—many of his deductions appear today as startling insights. And yet, The Epochs of Nature has never before been available in its entirety in English—until now.

In seven epochs, Buffon reveals the main features of an evolving Earth, from its hard rock substrate to the sedimentary layers on top, from the minerals and fossils found within these layers to volcanoes, earthquakes, and rises and falls in sea level—and he even touches on age-old mysteries like why the sun shines. In one of many moments of striking scientific prescience, Buffon details evidence for species extinction a generation before Cuvier's more famous assertion of the phenomenon. His seventh and final epoch does nothing less than offer the first geological glimpse of the idea that humans are altering the very foundations of the Earth—an idea of remarkable resonance as we debate the designation of another epoch: the Anthropocene. Also featuring Buffon's extensive "Notes Justificatives," in which he offers further evidence to support his assertions (and discusses vanished monstrous North American beasts—what we know as mastodons—as well as the potential existence of human giants), plus an enlightening introduction by editor and translator Jan Zalasiewicz and historians of science Sverker Sörlin, Libby Robin, and Jacques Grinevald, this extraordinary new translation revives Buffon's quite literally groundbreaking work for a new age.

Index

Abbeville, 155n3

Académie des Sciences, 34

Acosta, Father, 154n3, 155n3

Adam, 19

Adriatic, 106, 160n6

Africa, xxviii, 45–47, 51, 62, 67, 92, 104, 106–8, 120, 124, 125, 137n8, 141n1, 151n6, 160n6, 161n2, 176–77n3

agnus castus, 153n2

alabaster, 8, 9, 169n5

Alaghschak, 174n6

Alcate islands, 173n6

alder, 174n6

Aleute/Aleoute islands, 172–74n6

Alexandria, School of, 123

Algarotti, Francesco, xvii

Allicozzi, M. Muzio Angelieri, 142n9

alluvium, 66

Alps, 46, 51, 62, 113, 114, 116, 150n6, 151n1, 160n6, 167n5, 169n5

Alsace, 133n1

Altai, Mount, 175n1

alum, 148n3

aluminous earth, 147–48n3

Amazon (river), xxix, xxxii, 59, 110, 162n3

amber, 147–48n3

America, xxxii, 44–47, 51, 62, 67, 89, 101–4, 108–10, 112, 120, 125, 128, 138–41n9, 151n1, 159n6, 171–75n6

America, North. See North America

America, South. See South America

America, Spanish, 154n3

Americans, 172n6, 173n6, 175n6

Amiens, 155n3

Amlaigh Island, 173n6

Ammon (country), 163n4

Ammon, horns of, xxiv, 12, 53, 56, 57, 65, 142n10

Ammonites (people), 163n4

ammonites, xxiv, xxviii, xxix

Amores, people of the, 163n4

Amos, 163n4

Amur, 110

Anadir island...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Translators’ Note
• Introduction: Buffon and the History of the Earth
• The Epochs of Nature
• Justifying Notes to the Facts Reported in the Epochs of Nature
• Footnotes
• Index