Brocci, Giovanni Battista

Born in Bassano del Grappa in Italy , he studied law at the University of Padua, but his attention was focused on mineralogy and botany . In 1802 , he was appointed professor of botany in the new Lyceum of Brescia ; but he, remaining true to himself, was mainly engaged in geological research in the vicinity of the city. The fruits of these works were reflected in various publications, especially in his "Trattato mineralogico e chemico sulle miniere di ferro del dipartimento del Mella" (1808) - a treatise on the iron ore mine in Mell. These studies brought him the position of mine inspector in the newly formed Italian kingdom, which allowed him to extend his scientific work to most of the country.

In the year 1811 , he wrote a valuable essay entitled Memoria mineralogica sulla Voile di Fassa in Tirolo; but his most important work is “Conchiologia fossile subapennina con osservazioni geologiche sugli Apennini, e sul suolo adiacente” ( Milan , 1814), which contains exact details of the structure of the Apennine Range , and a description of the fossils of the Italian Tertiary system in comparison with modern species, which then he illustrated with his geognostic maps, and the work “Galalogo ragionato di una raccolta di rocce, disposto con ordine geografico, per servire al / a geognosia dell lie / ia” (Milan, 1817). His work Dello stato fisico del suolo di Rome (1820), along with accompanying maps, also deserves attention. In it, he corrects the erroneous view of Scipio Braislac , who believed that Rome is located on a volcano , to which he attributed volcanic rocks covering seven Roman hills . Brocci pointed out that these rocks owe their origin to one of two extinct volcanoes: Monte Albano or Monte Cimini - located near the city.

Several of his mineralogy manuscripts entered the Italian Library between 1816 and 1823. In the last years of his life, Brocci traveled to Egypt , exploring the country's geology and preparing reports on its mineral resources. All funds for this were provided by Muhammad Ali of Egypt , who in 1825 appointed Brocca to the commission on the study of the recently conquered territories of the Sennar Sultanate ; but Brocky, unfortunately for the scientific world, fell victim to the climate of this country, and died in Khartoum ^[1] .

Brocci was interested in the question of changing flora and fauna from one geological era to another. In the 1814th year, he expressed the idea that these changes occur due to the aging of groups of organisms: each such group during its existence experiences rapid flowering, spread, and then fades and disappears from the face of the earth ( dies out ). This idea is still popular and is called " brokism " ^[2] . Its elements are contained in the theory of typotrophism of Otto Schindewolf ^[3] .