(Born: San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy, 1687; Died: San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy, 1764) Italian theologian & geologist.

Priest from Verona who wrote a remarkable work, De' Crostacei e degli altri Marini Corpi (1740), where he proposes his theories on the changes of earth after the creation.

Biographical references: ABI: I 680, 130-150; II 402, 146-152. • De Tipaldo, Biografia degli Italiani, 1834-45. • DSB: 9, 531-4 [by R. Thomasian]. • Jöcher, Gelehrten-Lexikon, Supplement. • Poggendorff: 2, col. 210. • WBI.

De' Crostacei, 1740

1. Italian, 1740.
De' | Crostacei | E Degli Altri | Marini Corpi | Che si truovano su' monti. | Libri Due | di Anton-Lazzaro | Moro. | [vignette] | Venezia | [rule] | Appresso Stefano Monti | Con Licenza De' Superiori, E Privilegio. | Si venda preso Angiolo Geemia, in Morgeria, all'insegna della Minerva. | MDCCXL.

4°: xiv, 452 p., title vignette, 8 engraved plates.

Rare. One of the most important books in the early history of geology. This is the author's best known and most controversial work. Moro was interested in the fossils he found in the mountains and how they came to be there. In the De' Crostacei e degli altri Marini Corpi Moro speculates on the organic nature of fossils. He affirmed the theory that mountains and most islands were formed by volcanoes and thought that stratified rock was igneous in origin. His most original thoughts in this area consisted of the idea that two kinds of mountains existed, Primitive and Secondary, each of different age and composition. This theory, elaborated on by others, later became the foundation for studies in historical geology.

Bibliographical references: Adams, Birth and Development, 1938. • DSB: 9, 531-4. • LKG: XVII 25. • Zittel, History of Geology, 1901: p. 32.

2. German, 1751 [German transl.].
Neue Untersuchung der Veranderungen des Erdbodens. Aus dem Italien. Leipzig, 1751.

8°: Very scarce.

2nd edition, German transl., 1755: Second edition 1755.

Bibliographical references: LKG: XVII 26a.

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