Two letters of signor Giovanni Arduino, concerning his natural observations

Abstract

Giovanni Arduino is renowned for his introduction of a fourfold subdivision of the Earth's strata, as described by him in two letters to his friend Luigi Vallisnieri in 1759 (published in 1760). In this, and a follow-up paper, the first full English translations of these letters are provided. Also his famous profile of strata on the sides of Valdagno is reproduced here, with a translation of its accompanying annotations. The first letter described Arduino's fieldwork in 1758 in some detail. He seems to have been concentrating on the chemical and physical characteristics of the rocks that he had examined but did not offer a lithostratigraphy for the mountains. The second letter took a different approach, providing his fourfold subdivision. Show more