Jules Pierre François Stanislaus Desnoyers (8 October 18001 September 1887) was a French
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
and
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
.
Life
Desnoyers was born at
Nogent-le-Rotrou
Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.
It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is lin ...
, in the department of
Eure-et-Loir
Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Geological Society of France in 1830. In 1834 he was appointed librarian of the
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...
in Paris. He was elected a Foreign Member of the
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
in 1864. Parts of his collection of rare books in the earth sciences was bought by the
United States Geological Survey Library
The United States Geological Survey Library (USGS Library) is a program within the United States Geological Survey, a scientific bureau within the Department of Interior of the United States government. The USGS operates as a fact-finding researc ...
at an auction in 1885.
He was the Secretary of the Historical Society since its founding.
caves
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
for the ''Dictionnaire universel d’histoire naturelle'' (1841-1849) of
Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny
Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny was a French botanist and geologist specializing in the Tertiary of France. He was the younger brother of French naturalist and South American explorer, Alcide d'Orbigny. At the National Museum of Natural History ...
broke new ground, emphasizing the role of hydrological phenomena in
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
and
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...
caves. He explored the subterranean quarries of the
Île-de-France
The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...
. He was one of the first to study small mammals that lived in zones of
karstic
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
infill.
Works
His contributions to geological science comprise memoirs on the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
,
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
and
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
Strata of the Paris Basin and of Northern France, and other papers relating to the antiquity of man, and to the question of his co-existence with extinct
mammalia
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...
. In 1829 he proposed the term ''
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...
'' to cover those formations which were formed just anterior to the present, following an antiquated method of referring to geologic eras as "Primary," "Secondary," "Tertiary," and so on.Jules Desnoyers in ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
''.
His separate books were ''Sur la Craie et sur les terrains tertiaires du
Cotentin
The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...
'' (1825) and ''Recherches géologiques et historiques sur les cavernes'' (1845).
Bibliography
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1836. Indication des principaux ouvrages propres à faciliter les travaux relatifs à l'histoire de France, par M. J. Desnoyers. Paris: impr. de Crapelet.
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1859. Note de M. Desnoyers,... sur des empreintes de pas d'animaux dans le gypse des environs de Paris, et particulièrement de la vallée de Montmorency, par M. J. Desnoyers. Paris: impr. de L. Martinet. Extrait du "Bulletin de la Société géologique de France". 2e série. T. XVI. Séance du 4 juillet 1859.
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1862. Note sur les argiles à silex de la craie, sur les sables du Perche et d'autres dépôts tertiaires qui leur sont subordonnés, par M. J. Desnoyers. Paris: impr. de Martinet. Extrait du "Bulletin de la Société géologique de France". 2e série. T. XIX. Séance du 16 décembre 1861.
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1863. Note sur les indices matériels de la coexistence de l'homme avec l'Elephas meridionalis dans un terrain des environs de Chartres: plus ancien que les terrains de transport quaternaires des vallées de la Somme et de la Seine. Aus: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Acad. des Sciences ; 56.1863.
* Desnoyers, J. 1863. Résponse à des objections faites au sujet de stries et d'incisions constatées sur des ossements de mammifères fossiles des environs de Chartres. From Institut de France-Académie des sciences. Comptes rendu, séance du 8 juin 1863.
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1870 "Observations relatives à la découverte récente de l'amphithéâtre romain de Paris". Comptes-Rendus Des Séances De L Année - Académie Des Inscriptions Et Belles-Lettres. 14 (1): 73-75.
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1875. "Note relative à un galet en silex trouvé aux environs d'Amiens". Comptes-Rendus Des Séances De L Année - Académie Des Inscriptions Et Belles-Lettres. 19 (2): 96-98.
* Desnoyers, J. 1882. Notice sur le fossile à odeur de truffes. From Mémoires de la Société d'histoire naturelle de Paris. t. 1.
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1884. Rapport sur les travaux de la Société de l'histoire de France depuis sa dernière assemblée générale en mai 1883, jusqu'à ce jour (lu à l'assemblée générale du 20 mai 1884) par M. J. Desnoyers,... (Extrait de l'Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France).
* Desnoyers, Jules. 1887. Note sur un monogramme d'un prêtre artiste du IXe siècle. Comptes Rendus Des Séances De L'Académie Des Inscriptions Et Belles-Lettres. aris Imprimerie Nationale.
* Delisle, Léopold Victor, and Jules Desnoyers. 1875. Notice sur un manuscrit mérovingien contenant des fragments d'Eugyppius appartenant à M. Jules Desnoyers par Léopold Delisle.-Paris: Picard 1875. Paris: Picard.
* Galeron, Fréd, A. de Brébisson, and J. Desnoyers. 1993. Falaise: statistique de l'arrondissement. Paris: Res Universis.
* Delisle, Léopold, and Jules Desnoyers. 1888. Collections de M. Jules Desnoyers: Catalogue des manuscrits anciens & des Chartes ; Notice sur un recueil historique du XVIIIe siècle Par Marcel de Fréville.
* Malloizel, Godefroy, Jules Desnoyers, Charles Brongniart, and Adolphe Pacault. 1886. Oeuvres scientifiques de Michel-Eugène Chevreul doyen des étudiants de France 1806-1886. Paris: ouen, Impr. J. Lecerf