Protogaea, an ambitious account of terrestrial history, was central to
the development of the earth sciences in the eighteenth century and
provides key philosophical insights into the unity of Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz's thought and writings. In the book, Leibniz offers observations
about the formation of the earth, the actions of fire and water, the
genesis of rocks and minerals, the origins of salts and springs, the
formation of fossils, and their identification as the remains of living
organisms. Protogaea also includes a series of engraved plates
depicting the remains of animals--in particular the famous
reconstruction of a "fossil unicorn"--together with a cross section of
the cave in which some fossil objects were discovered.
Though the works of Leibniz have been widely translated, Protogaea has
languished in its original Latin for centuries. Now Claudine Cohen and
Andre Wakefield offer the first English translation of this central text
in natural philosophy and natural history. Written between 1691 and
1693, and first published after Leibniz's death in 1749, Protogaea
reemerges in this bilingual edition with an introduction that carefully
situates the work within its historical context.
