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Webster 1828 Edition


Geognosy

GE'OGNOSY

,
Noun.
[Gr. the earth, and knowledge.] That part of natural history which treats of the structure of the earth. It is the science of the substances which compose the earth or its crust, their structure, position, relative situation, and properties.
[This word originated among the German mineralogists, and is nearly synonymous with geology. But some writers consider geognosy as only a branch of geology; including in the latter, hydrography, geogony, meteorology and even geography.]

Definition 2024


geognosy

geognosy

English

Noun

geognosy (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete or historical) The geological study of the Earth's structure and composition.
    • 1847, Edward Hitchcock, Elementary Geology:
      Some writers divide Geology into two branches; 1. Geognosy, or Positive Geology, which embraces only the known facts of the science. 2. Geogony, or Speculative Geology, which attempts to point out the causes of those facts, and the inferences that result from them.

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