DOLOMIEU DEODAT GRATET DE: (1750-1801)

DOLOMIEU DEODAT GRATET DE: (1750-1801)

Dolomieu’s manuscript notes on the essence of geological research –

‘Errors experienced prevent the mind from dealing with new research:
we think we know and this is the greatest obstacle to really knowing’

 

DOLOMIEU DEODAT GRATET DE: (1750-1801) French geologist after whom the mineral and the rock dolomite were named. A supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolution, Dolomieu was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Italy from 1799. Following Napoleon's successful invasion of Italy, one of the terms dictated by him in the peace treaty of Florence in March 1801 was the immediate release of Dolomieu. An extremely rare autograph manuscript signed, with his initials G D D, two pages, 12mo (6.5 x 9.5 cm), n.p., n.d., in French. Dolomieu's manuscript notes, comprising thirty-seven lines written in a small, although perfectly legible, hand is entitled 'Les Erreurs reconnues sont des verites acquises' (Translation: 'The errors recognised are the truths acquired') and states, in part, 'et leur decouverte est d'autant plus utile qu'elles ont été de nature à séduire beaucoup de gens. Les erreurs vécues empechent l'esprit de s'occuper de nouvelles recherches: on croit savoir et c'est le plus grand obstacle a savoir reellement…….La verite recherchee par les hommes est comme le feu qu'ils produisent avec des matieres combustibles; plus elle s'etend, plus elle a de tendance a s'etendre de nouveau. On fait un pas vers la decouverte de la cause d'un phenomene quelconque lorsque l'on trouve que les causes auxquelles on l´attribuait n'ont aucun rapport avec lui. Comme il n'y a point d'effets sans causes, lorsqu'on decouvre un plus grand nombre de faits qui, quoique contemporain d'un phenomene, n'ont point de rapports avec lui, on se rapproche de la connaissance de la cause qui pourra l'expliquer. Cette methode d'approche de la verite, qu'on peut dire negative et d'exclusion peut reussir finalement quoiqu'elle puisse etre longue. Mais elle est essentielle a employer surtout dans les recherches geologiques' (Translation: 'and their discovery is all the more useful in that they have been of a nature to seduce many people. Errors experienced prevent the mind from dealing with new research: we think we know and this is the greatest obstacle to really knowing…….The truth sought by men is like the fire they produce with combustible materials; the more it expands, the more it tends to expand again. One takes a step toward discovering the cause of any phenomenon when one finds that the causes to which it was attributed have no connection with it. As there are no effects without causes, when we discover a greater number of facts which, although contemporaneous with a phenomenon, have no connection with it, we come closer to knowing the cause that can explain it. This method of approaching the truth, which can be said to be negative and of exclusion, can ultimately succeed, although it may take a long time. But it is essential to use especially in geological research'). An interesting and important text. Some very light, minor foxing and age wear, otherwise VG

 

The text of Dolomieu’s manuscript originates from a scientific work published in 1778-79 by Jean-Andre Deluc (1727-1817) Swiss geologist, natural philosopher and meteorologist who devised measuring instruments. Deluc’s father was a supporter of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Jean-Andre also wrote of conversations he had experienced with Voltaire and Rousseau in an essay on the General Principle of Mortality which he had published in 1798.