Bourguet, Louis; Traité des petrifications. Paris chez Claude-Antoine Jombert, 1778. Quarto, pp. xvii, 326, 7, 60 folding plates.

The work is complete and in a contemporary tree calf, elaborate gilt-decorated spine, end papers printed in floral pattern, period owners name in small pen on title page and on book plate below area where previous owner’s name is erased. The text and plates are exceptionally clean. In very good condition.
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A French geologist and naturalist; Bourguet (1678-1742) was one of the prominent geologists of his day. He traveled extensively, constantly adding to his store of knowledge and collection of mineral and fossil specimens. He sought to arrange all mineral and organic species in a single line, from the simplest to the most complex, illustrating the concept of the Great Chain of Being. He pioneered concepts in physical geology and the structure of the earth, with many of these ideas appearing in the above work "Traite de Petrifications" which was first published in 1742. This is the much expanded second edition. 
The majority of the beautifully rendered illustrations are of fossils collected by Bourguet primarily in Switzerland and the remaining illustrations are reproduced from fossils appearing in works by Lange and Scheuchzer. During its time the work was an indispensable manual of paleontology and the earliest of its kind to be published in French. 
It consists of two parts; the first is a compilation of letters relating to Bourguet's previous work, Lettres philosophiques, wherein he compares geological processes such as crystallization, to processes seen in present time. The second part contains the sixty exquisite plates of fossils with the illustrations accompanied by concise explanatory text, a comprehensive bibliography of paleontology, and a list of international areas where fossils have been found.