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42-590: Research on the San Cassiano Formation started in the 19th century with the works of Nicolas de Saussure and the stratigraphic works of Leopold von Buch and Alexander von Humboldt . By the late 19th century Richthofen and von Mojsisovics had already acknowledge the reefal origin of these mountains. The landscape of the Dolomites is dominated by Triassic carbonates, deposited from the Anisian to

84-420: A condition now called Charles Bonnet Syndrome , in which vivid, complex visual hallucinations (fictive visual percepts) occur in psychologically normal people. He documented it in his 87-year-old grandfather, who was nearly blind from cataracts in both eyes but perceived men, women, birds, carriages, buildings, tapestries and scaffolding patterns. Most people affected are elderly with visual impairments, however

126-494: A gap in the continuity of the chain. Thus not man only but all other forms of existence are immortal . Nor is man's mind alone immortal; his body also will pass into the higher stage, not, indeed, the body he now possesses, but a finer one of which the germ at present exists within him. It is impossible, however, to reach absolute perfection, because the distance is infinite. In this final proposition, Bonnet violates his own principle of continuity, by postulating an interval between

168-626: A preface on the development of germs and the scale of organized beings. Botany , particularly the leaves of plants, next attracted his attention; and after several years of diligent study, rendered irksome by the increasing weakness of his eyesight, he published in 1754 one of the most original and interesting of his works, Recherches sur l'usage des feuilles dans les plantes (Research on the use of leaves in plants). In this book, he observes that gas bubbles form on plant leaves that have been submerged in water, indicating gas exchange; and among other things he advances many considerations tending to show (as

210-473: A private tutor. Bonnet seems never to have left the Geneva region, and does not appear to have taken any part in public affairs except for the period between 1752 and 1768, during which he was a member of the republic's Council of Two Hundred . The last twenty five years of his life he spent quietly in the country, at Genthod , near Geneva, where he died after a long and painful illness on 20 May 1793. His wife

252-428: A young man, Nicolas-Théodore accompanied his father on his Alpine expeditions, some of them under arduous conditions, and assisted him with experiments in physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and meteorology. In one experiment, Nicolas-Théodore confirmed Boyle's law by a new method: He carefully weighed a tightly closed flask at many different altitudes and found that the differences in weight were exactly proportional to

294-727: The Carnian . In the Lower Carnian (Julian) the percentages of carbonates increments due to the diminishing eustatic sea-level change. The last part of the reefal evolution is the development of patch reefs constituted by colonial corals ( Scleractinia ). Large areas of the reefs of the Dolomites suffered karstic erosion due to sea regression in the Anisian. A new transgression in the Carnian permitted new carbonate platforms to develop in swallow basins. The San Cassiano Formation overlays

336-547: The Wengen Formation (a volcanic flysch sequence); the limit between this two formations is arbitrary; usually considered as the first carbonate strata in the volcaniclastic sequence. The San Cassiano Formation shows a variable thickness from 300 m to 500 m; it was described by Ogilvie in 1893, and it has two Members. The Inferior Member is constituted by an intercalated sequence of shale , limestone , volcaniclast (pseudoflysch) and marl ; deposited from

378-427: The hydra . This little creature became the hit of all the salons across Europe once philosophers and natural scientists saw its amazing regenerative capabilities. In 1741, Bonnet began to study reproduction by fusion and the regeneration of lost parts in the freshwater hydra and other animals; and in the following year he discovered that the respiration of caterpillars and butterflies is performed by pores, to which

420-681: The Late Ladinian (Mid Triassic) to Early Carnian (Superior Triassic). The Superior Member is a sequence of pseudoflysch, marl, limestone and mudrock (in this strata some Cipit Boulders occur). This sequence was deposited from during the Middle Carnian. The strata are very similar in both members; they are divided by biostratigraphic criteria based in the aon zone (Inferior Member) and aonoides and austracum zones (Superior Member). Dürrenstein Dolomite (a massive dolomite unit) overlies

462-513: The San Cassiano Formation. In the 20th century the research in San Cassiano Formation was mostly focused in the study of facies analysis. The paleoenvironments represented in San Cassiano Formation are as follows: Reefal environments consisting of patch reefs; shallow marginal basin; carbonate platform; continental slope; and deep basin. The facies identified in San Cassiano Formation: These facies are interpreted as

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504-462: The active element in mind—is applied to the acquisition and combination of sensations, those abstract ideas are formed which, though generally distinguished from, are thus merely sensations in combination only. That which puts the mind into activity is pleasure or pain; happiness is the end of human existence. Bonnet's metaphysical theory is based on two principles borrowed from Leibniz : first, that there are not successive acts of creation, but that

546-481: The assimilation of the CO 2 gas available to them.  Plainly, the weight increase had come from the water. In addition, Saussure demonstrated that plants obtain their carbon from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, not through uptake from humus in the soil, as his immediate predecessors in photosynthesis research had generally believed. He also showed that plants require mineral nutrients, which they take up from

588-491: The carbonate platform (Cipit Boulders). The facies that present less diagenetic alteration are the Cipit Boulders. The microbialites contained in these elements show a very good preservation and therefore are very useful as geochemical proxies to determine paleoenvironmental conditions of the carbonate platform. The carbonate platform itself suffered intense karstification and dolomitization, because of these alterations

630-408: The composition of alcohol and ether , and studied fermentation , the conversion of starches into sugars , and many other biochemical processes. In 1815 he was one of the founding members of Société Helvétique des Sciences Naturelles ( Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences ). Charles Bonnet Charles Bonnet ( French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl bɔnɛ] ; 13 March 1720 – 20 May 1793)

672-462: The differences in barometric pressure readings. In other research in the physical sciences, he named the mineral dolomite after Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu , in March 1792. Nicolas-Théodore was attracted to chemistry by Lavoisier's discoveries, and he adopted Lavoisier's new system of chemistry early in life. He became interested in the chemistry and physiology of plants, including gas exchange and

714-596: The field of photosynthesis research, Saussure based his conclusions on extensive quantitative data that he had collected. In Recherches chimiques sur la Végétation (1804) Saussure showed that the increase in the mass of a plant as it grows could not be due only to the uptake of CO 2 , but was also a result of the incorporation of water into plant dry matter. He demonstrated this by showing that plants grown with their roots in water and their shoots in an atmosphere of ordinary air with added CO 2 increased in dry weight by an amount much greater than could be attributed to

756-428: The fossils in this facies cannot be used in geochemical analysis. Nicolas de Saussure Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure ( French pronunciation: [nikɔla teɔdɔʁ də sosyʁ] ; 14 October 1767 – 18 April 1845 ) was a Swiss chemist and student of plant physiology who made seminal advances in phytochemistry . He is one of the major pioneers in the study of photosynthesis . Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure

798-541: The help of live specimens succeeded in adding many observations to those of Réaumur and Pluche. In 1740, Bonnet communicated to the Academy of Sciences a paper containing a series of experiments establishing what is now termed parthenogenesis in aphids or tree-lice, which obtained for him the honour of being admitted as the youngest corresponding member of the academy. During that year he had been in correspondence with his uncle Abraham Trembley who had recently discovered

840-485: The highest created being and the Divine . It is also difficult to understand whether the constant advance to perfection is performed by each individual, or only by each race of beings as a whole. There seems, in fact, to be an oscillation between two distinct but analogous doctrines—that of the constantly increasing advancement of the individual in future stages of existence, and that of the constantly increasing advancement of

882-447: The importance of mineral nutrients that plants take up from the soil. Saussure's findings have had a significant impact on many disciplines, including chemistry, agriculture, agronomy, soil science, plant physiology, and plant nutrition. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern agriculture. In addition to his studies in plant physiology, Nicolas-Théodore made important advances in the analysis of organic substances. He determined

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924-517: The late 1790s, and in 1800 became acquainted with Parisian scientists and other luminaries. While there, he took courses in chemistry and presented a paper. Upon returning to Geneva in 1802, he accepted an honorary professorship of mineralogy and geology at the University of Geneva . Although he taught very little, he remained on the faculty until 1835. He lived quietly and somewhat reclusively, doing research in his own private laboratory (as

966-778: The name spiracles has since been given. In 1743, he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society ; and in the same year he became a doctor of laws—his last act in connection with a profession which had ever been distasteful to him. In 1753, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , and on 15 December 1769 a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters . His first published work appeared in 1745, entitled Traité d'insectologie , in which were collected his various discoveries regarding insects, along with

1008-439: The nerves appropriate to each; and lastly, the nerves are made to vibrate by external physical stimulus. A nerve once set in motion by a particular object tends to reproduce that motion; so that when it a second time receives an impression from the same object it vibrates with less resistance. The sensation accompanying this increased flexibility in the nerve is, according to Bonnet, the condition of memory. When reflection—that is,

1050-444: The next deposit environments: The Patch reefs from Valle di Rimbianco present a diverse fauna of fossilized calcitic sponges ( Porifera ), corals ( Cnidaria ), bivalves and gastropods ( Mollusca ), Brachiopoda and Echinodermata . Large parts of the basin are not fossiliferous. In the deep basin and continental slope facies the fauna consists only of ammonites and pseudoplanktonic bivalves, beside of allochthonous elements eroded from

1092-469: The phenomenon does not occur only in the elderly or in those with visual impairments; it can also be caused by damage elsewhere in their optic pathway or brain. Bonnet's philosophical system may be outlined as follows. Man is a compound of two distinct substances, mind and body, the one immaterial and the other material. All knowledge originates in sensations; sensations follow (whether as physical effects or merely as sequents Bonnet will not say) vibrations in

1134-486: The physiological conditions of mental activity. He returned to physical science, but to the speculative side of it, in his Considerations sur les corps organisées (Amsterdam, 1762), designed to refute the theory of epigenesis, and to explain and defend the doctrine of pre-existent germs. In his Contemplation de la nature (Amsterdam, 1764–1765; translated into Italian, German, English and Dutch), one of his most popular and delightful works, he sets forth, in eloquent language,

1176-463: The presence of light, are converted by a green plant into fixed carbon (such as glucose , food for the plant), with gaseous oxygen released as a byproduct. Based on his accomplishments in plant chemistry and physiology, Saussure is considered the last of the major early pioneers of photosynthesis research, completing the work begun by his predecessors, including Jan Baptist van Helmont , Joseph Priestley , Jan Ingenhousz , and Jean Senebier . For

1218-545: The race as a whole according to the successive evolutions of the globe. In Philosophical Palingesis, or Ideas on the Past and Future States of Living Beings (1770), Bonnet argued that females carry within them all future generations in a miniature form. He believed these miniature beings, sometimes called homonculi , would be able to survive even great cataclysms such as the biblical Flood; he predicted, moreover, that these catastrophes brought about evolutionary change, and that after

1260-551: The same surname. Nicolas-Théodore, his sister, Albertine, and brother, Alphonse, were educated at home because their father thought the educational system of the day was inferior. From 1782 to 1786, he attended the University of Geneva , where he studied math, science, and history. During the early years of the French Revolution he traveled abroad, meeting with eminent scientists in London. He traveled abroad again in

1302-519: The several decades following publication of Saussure's book, his findings about the atmospheric source of plant carbon and the soil source for plant mineral nutrients were largely neglected, and little progress was made in further unraveling the chemical processes within plants. Then, Saussure's findings were re-discovered and revived by the eminent German chemist Justus von Liebig . In addition, field research by French agricultural chemist Jean-Baptiste Boussingault substantiated Saussure's conclusions on

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1344-424: The soil, and nitrogen, although he did not trace the source of plant nitrogen definitively to the soil. Saussure's finding that the source of plant minerals was the soil disproved the widely held view that mineral substances in plants arose from vague "transmutations" within the plant. His work enabled completion of the basic, overall chemical equation of photosynthesis, according to which carbon dioxide and water, in

1386-550: The theory that all the beings in nature form a gradual scale rising from lowest to highest, without any break in its continuity. His last important work was the Palingénésie philosophique (Geneva, 1769–1770); in it he treats of the past and future of living beings, and supports the idea of the survival of all animals, and the perfecting of their faculties in a future state. Bonnet's complete works appeared at Neuchâtel in 1779–1783, partly revised by himself. In 1760 he described

1428-501: The universe is completed by the single original act of the divine will, and thereafter moves on by its own inherent force; and secondly, that there is no break in the continuity of existence. The divine Being originally created a multitude of germs in a graduated scale, each with an inherent power of self-development . At every successive step in the progress of the universe, these germs, as progressively modified, advance nearer to perfection; if some advanced and others did not there would be

1470-446: The ways that different soils affected their growth. His early papers on these subjects laid the groundwork for some of the chapters in his magnum opus, Recherches chimiques sur la Végétation ("Chemical Research on Plant Growth"), published in 1804. This book was the first summation of the fundamental process of photosynthesis and a major contribution to the understanding of plant physiology. In contrast to some of his predecessors in

1512-525: Was a Genevan naturalist and philosophical writer. He is responsible for coining the term phyllotaxis to describe the arrangement of leaves on a plant. He was among the first to notice parthenogenetic reproduction in aphids and established that insects respired through their spiracles. He was among the first to use the term " evolution " in a biological context. Deaf from an early age, he also suffered from failing eyesight and had to make use of assistants in later life to help in his research. Bonnet

1554-549: Was a lady of the family of De la Rive . They had no children, but Madame Bonnet's nephew, the celebrated Horace-Bénédict de Saussure , was brought up as their son. Bonnet made law his profession, but his favourite pursuit was the study of natural science . The account of the ant-lion in Noël-Antoine Pluche 's Spectacle de la nature , which he read in his sixteenth year, turned his attention to insect life. He procured RAF de Réaumur's work on insects , and with

1596-406: Was a noted agriculturist, for whom Nicolas-Théodore was named. Nicolas-Théodore was called "Théodore" to distinguish him from his grandfather, and he published his professional papers under the name Théodore de Saussure after his father died. (While his father was alive, Théodore's papers were published under the name "de Saussure fils", as was the custom of the day for the sons of scientists having

1638-403: Was born in Geneva, the son of Pierre Bonnet and Anne-Marie Lullin de Châteauvieux. Although originally from France, the family had been driven into Geneva by religious persecution of Protestants in the 16th century. At age seven he lost his hearing, which pushed him into an interest in the natural world. His schoolmates troubled him due to the hearing handicap and the parents took him out and had

1680-479: Was born into a wealthy, aristocratic, Genevan family, many of whose members were accomplished in the natural sciences, including botany. He was the second child of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740–1799), who was an eminent geologist, meteorologist, physicist and Alpine explorer, and Albertine-Amélie Boissier (1745–1817). His great uncle, Charles Bonnet , was a famous naturalist whose research included experiments on plant leaves. His grandfather Nicolas de Saussure

1722-553: Was later done by Francis Darwin ) that plants are endowed with powers of sensation and discernment. But Bonnet's eyesight, which threatened to fail altogether, caused him to turn to philosophy . In 1754 his Essai de psychologie was published anonymously in London . This was followed by the Essai analytique sur les facultés de l'âme (Analytical essay on the faculties of the soul) (Copenhagen, 1760), in which he develops his views regarding

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1764-483: Was the custom for scientists of his day), but, like others in his family, he was active in public affairs in Geneva, and he served on the Genevan representative council. Nicolas-Théodore's sister, Albertine Necker de Saussure , was a noted early writer on the education of women. Nicolas-Théodore left no direct heirs, but he is the great uncle of Ferdinand de Saussure , an important linguist and semiotician . As

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