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DESMAREST, NICOLAS (1725-1815)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 97 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DESMAREST, See also:NICOLAS (1725-1815) , See also:French geologist, was See also:born at Soulaines, in the See also:department of See also:Aube, on the 16th of See also:September 1725. Of humble parentage, he was educated at the See also:college of the Oratorians of See also:Troyes and See also:Paris. Taking full See also:advantage of the instruction he received, he was able to support himself by teaching, and to continue his studies independently. See also:Buff on's Theory of the See also:Earth interested him, and in 1753 he successfully competed for a See also:prize by See also:writing an See also:essay on the See also:ancient connexion between See also:England and See also:France. This attracted much See also:attention, and ultimately led to his being employed in studying and See also:reporting on manufactures in different countries, and in 1788 to his See also:appointment as inspector-See also:general of the manufactures of France. He utilized his journeys, travelling on See also:foot, so as to add to his knowledge of the earth's structure. In 1763 he made observations in See also:Auvergne, recognizing that the prismatic basalts were old See also:lava streams, comparing them with the columns of the See also:Giant's See also:Causeway in See also:Ireland, and referring them to the operations of See also:extinct volcanoes. It was not, however, until 1974 that he published an essay on the subject, accompanied by a See also:geological See also:map, having meanwhile on several occasions revisited the See also:district. He then pointed out the See also:succession of volcanic outbursts and the changes the rocks had undergone through weathering and erosion. As remarked by See also:Sir A. See also:Geikie, the See also:doctrine of the origin of valleys by the erosive See also:action of the streams which flow through them was first clearly taught by Desmarest. An enlarged and improved edition of his map of the volcanic region of Auvergne was published after his See also:death, in 1823, by his son See also:ANSELME GAETAN DESMAREST (1784-1838), who was distinguished as a zoologist, and author of See also:memoirs on See also:recent and fossil See also:crustacea.

He died in Paris on the 20th of September 1815. See The Founders of See also:

Geology, by Sir A. Geikie (1897), pp. 48-78. (H. B.

End of Article: DESMAREST, NICOLAS (1725-1815)

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