Steno. Geological Papers

Conditions have fluctuated a good deal in the last 'leaps' but these changes, like waves on the ocean, had little effect on the working up and down of traditional medicine which is the main element of Chinese life itself. Contradictions in a socialist society are fundamentally different from those in the old societies. Traditional medicine, a faithful reflection of Chinese culture, is a first-rate subject for the human sciences in that it provides an excellent approach to the Chinese and their psycho-affective structure but it is also not without interest for Western practical medicine by its special techniques (acupuncture, moxas, massage, breathing exercises, substitutes for Yoga etc.). 'When the lowest stratum was being formed, none of the upper strata existed'. It comes as somewhat of a shock to the average undergraduate in geology (and to many graduates) when they learn that this statement of the law of superposition of strata was made in 1669 by Niels Stensen and not by William Smith. To William Smith (1769-1839), the Father of Geology, are often credited the two great fundamental principles of geology, the Law of Superposition of Strata and the Law of Strata Identified by their Fossil Remains. Yet in one aspect at least Steno anticipated Smith's work by over one hundred years. After many years of neglect attention is once more being focussed on the writings of Steno and this is in no small measure due to Gustav Scherz, the editor of the present work. This work brings together all the geological works by Steno, the most famous of which is his Prodromus concerning a solid body enclosed byprocess ofnature within a solid. Included within the same volume are his writings On Hot Springs Each paper is printed in the original Latin with a parallel English translation together with copious notes. The contribution made by Steno to the science of geology is not really appreciated in this country, but the twenty pages describing Steno's geological work should go some way toward redressing the balance. Steno (1638-1686), the son of a Copenhagen goldsmith, is best known for his contributions to anatomy and theology but his first published work, De Thermis, was geological. A brief description of his life is well illustrated by 130 carefully-chosen photographs which are unfortunately grouped at the end of the volume. No doubt economic reasons have dictated their position. A simple map illustrating Steno's wanderings over Europe would …