The New International Encyclopædia/Buch, Christian Leopold von

BUCH, boo G , (1774-1853). A celebrated German geologist, regarded by Humboldt as the greatest geologist of his age. He was born at Stolpe, and received instruction under Werner at the Mining Academy of Freiberg. He afterwards traveled for purposes of geological study through Germany, Scandinavia, Great Britain, France, Italy, and the Canary Islands. As a result of his investigations, the importance of chemical and volcanic processes in nature gained wide recognition among geologists. His chief writings are Geognostische Beobachtungcn auf Reisen durch Deutschland und Italien (1802-09); Reise durch Norwegen und Lappland (1810); Physikalische Beschreibung der Canarischen Inseln (1825); Beiträge zur Bestimmung der Gebirgsformationen in Russland (1840); besides several monographs on paleontological subjects. He was also the author of an excellent geological chart of Germany and the neighboring States, published in 42 plates (2d ed. 1832). Consult an English translation of Flourens, &ldquo;Memoir of Leopold von Buch,&rdquo; in the Smithsonian Report (Washington, 1862).