LAPPARENT, Albert-Auguste de. — One of the most authoritative French geologists, b. at Bourges on 30 Dec. 1839, d. in Paris on 5 May 1908. He studied at the École des mines, where he graduated in 1864. In 1875 he obtained the chair of geology and mineralogy at the recently founded Catholic Institute in Paris. President in 1880 of the Geological Society of France, in 1897 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences and in 1907 its secretary, succeeding M. Berthelot.
Noteworthy among his works are: *Traité de géologie* (Paris 1882), *Cours de minéralogie* (ibid. 1884), *Géographie physique* (ibid. 1896), all of which went through many editions. In his scientific studies he liked to emphasize certain general facts of philosophical importance, especially the order of nature, the principle and finality of phenomena (*Science et philosophie*, 2nd ed., Paris 1913, p. 23; cf. pp. 38-39, 115, and *Traité de géologie*, 2nd ed., ibid. 1885, p. vi).
Deeply Catholic, L. developed a scientific apologetic: science, rightly understood, leads to Christian Revelation (cf. *Science et apologétique*, ibid. 1905). Nature is God’s work and Revelation has nothing to fear from the sciences; indeed, they confirm Revelation (*Science et philosophie*, pp. 45-46). In particular, L. emphasized in the history of the earth’s formation the Providence that prepares the conditions suitable for man’s life and the development of civilization (cf. *La Providence créatrice*, Paris 1907, p. 63).