Marivetz, Goussier, and Planet Earth: A Late Enlightenment Geo-Physical Project

Abstract

Abstract The published volumes of Physique du Monde (1780–1787) by Baron É.-C. de Marivetz and L.-J. Goussier fulfilled only a preliminary part of an ambitious plan to present a general theory of géographie physique, together with a new set of maps showing France’s present and past topographic conditions. The 1779 Discours préliminaire et prospectus to this project, together with publications ancillary to Physique du Monde, afford some insight into the partnership between Marivetz and Goussier, and into the ideas they had in mind when they promised an exposition of the general theory of physical geography by deduction from first principles of celestial physics. Believing that the Earth is presently in a prolonged period of warming, Marivetz and Goussier adopted a theory of the oceans’ gradual diminution, through progressive conversion of water into solid matter by assimilation in organic bodies. An understanding of France’s slow emergence from the sea, in the authors’ view, was linked with one of their main practical interests: promotion of inland navigation through enlargement of the French system of interlocking canals. Their project thus reflects a typical Enlightenment conviction in the utility of knowledge. As an effort in geoscience conceptualizing, the Marivetz–Goussier project was in accord with a contemporary pattern of thinking, in which it was assumed that proper theorizing about the Earth must center upon law-like principles or descriptive generalizations. Ce n‘est donc qu’en liant la Physique terrestre aux premières & grandes loix de la Physique céleste, que l‘on peut espérer de répandre de véritables lumières sur cette Science. La Géographie Physique ne peut être éclairée que par la Physique céleste ….Marivetz and Goussier (1779, p. 8)La Physique du Monde, suivant la définition de M. de Marivetz & de M. Goussier, est composée de deux parties, celle du Ciel & celle de la Terre; mais la première n’est destinée, dans leur Ouvrage, qu’àéclairer la seconde, c‘est-à-dire à déterminer les différens états dans lesquels la terre a passé ou dans lesquels elle passera.J.-J.-L. de Lalande, in Journal des Sçavans (1781, p. 532)