Schöpf, Johann David:

$7,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

BEYTRÄGE ZUR MINERALOGISCHEN KENNTNISS DES ÖSTLICHEN THEILS VON NORDAMERIKA UND SEINER GEBÜRGE. "The first consequential work on American geology" - Howes. Johann David Schöpf was a German-trained physician who served as a field surgeon attached to the Ansbach regimen of Hessian mercenaries employed by the British during the American Revolution. After the war ended Schöpf stayed an additional two years in America, travelling along the east coast from New York City south to St. Augustine, Florida. He was a careful student of natural history and was particularly interested in the geology and mineralogy of the region. This very important book is the product of his geological observations along the east coast. He also published an important account of his American travels (REISE DURCH EINIGE DER MITTLERN UND SUDLICHEN...STAATEN NACH OST-FLORIDA, Erlangen, 1788)."Its author, a young German, whom the accident of war brought to our shores, was as well equipped as any of his contemporaries for the scientific appreciation of the natural phenomena of a new country....Many of the conclusions here set forth are in the main those now generally accepted, and bear witness to the acumen of their author" - Williams.

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