The Origins of Geology in Italy
Kircher and Steno on the “geocosm,” with a reassessment of the role of Gassendi's works
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Published:January 01, 2006
Examining the works of Athanasius Kircher and Nicolaus Steno allows similarities and differences to be drawn between their theories of Earth. This is aided by paying particular attention to the role of the French atomist Pierre Gassendi. With his friend Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, Gassendi had a significant impact on Kircher's career and his thinking, and his work was read and noted by Steno in his student years in Copenhagen. Later, in the 1667 treatise Canis, Steno also appraised Gassendi's ideas on the origin of stones. Kircher's experiences of volcanism and earthquakes, gained during his expedition into southern Italy in 1637–1638, led him to formulate his theory of Earth in the early 1640s, when his Magnes was to be published. Completion of his theorizing about Earth was delayed, however, until publication of Mundus subterraneus (1665), in which he developed his concept of the “geocosm.” Steno probably met Kircher in 1666, and they are known to have corresponded on theological topics. In his Prodromus (1669), Steno criticized Kircher's idea of the “organic” growth of mountains. Steno adopted Descartes' idea of “collapse tectonics” and the formation of strata. Kircher's influence on Steno should not be neglected, however, given Steno's substantial excerpts from Kircher's Magnes in his manuscript. In fact, although Steno rejected the idea of a plastic force in his Prodromus, he may well have used Kircher's idea on magnetism to explain the growth of mineral crystals. Thus, given the usual wide acceptance of Cartesian influence on Steno, the historiography of geosciences may be appropriately and usefully revised by considering the role of the works of such figures as Gassendi and Kircher.