Historicism and the Rise of Historical Geology,Part 2

For a convenient English translation, see Carozzi A. V. (trans. and ed.), [ de Maillet B. ], Telliamed, or conversations between an Indian philosopher and a French missionary on the diminution of the sea (Urbana, 1968). And for an analysis of the work, see Carozzi A. V. , “De Maillet's Telliamed (1748): An ultra-Neptunian theory of the Earth”, in Schneer C. J. , op. cit. (ref. 52), 80–99.

For an account of the Cartesian geological theories, see my paper, “Mechanical mineralogy”, Ambix, xxi (1974), 157–78.

Rappaport R. , “The geological atlas of Guettard, Lavoisier and Monnet: Conflicting views on the nature of geology”, in Scheer C. J. , op. cit. (ref. 52), 272–87, p. 274.

de Buffon G. L. L. , Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du cabinet du roi (44 vols & atlas, Paris, 1749–1804), i, Histoire et théorie de la terre.

(a) Ibid. (b) Ibid., Supplément, Tome cinquième (Des époques de la nature (Paris, 1778), 1–254; (c) Ibid., Histoire naturelle des minéraux par M. le Comte de Buffon … (5 vols, Paris, 1783–88).

de Buffon G. L. L. , op. cit. (ref. 93, 1749), 98.

ibid.

Ibid., 127 ff.

ibid., 257.

Roger J. (ed.), Buffon, Les époques de la nature (Mémoires du Muséum nationale d'histoire naturelle, Série C, Science de la terre, xx, Paris, 1962), xxi.

ibid., xxvii–xxviii. Roger suggests that Buffon may have arrived at this new opinion as a result of reading the Dissertations sur la glace of J. J. Dortous de Mairan (ref. 93, 1749), 98.

This work, depending on the celebrated experiments on the cooling of iron spheres, is well described in Haber F. C. , op. cit. (ref. 7), 116–18.

de Buffon G. L. L. , op. cit. (ref. 93, 1778), 1.

The work of Turgot A. R. J. makes a useful analogue: “Second discours sur les progrès successifs de l'esprit humain (11 decembre 1750)”, in Oeuvres de M. Turgot, … précédées et accompagnées de mémoires et de notes sur sa vie, son administration et ses ouvrages (9 vols, Paris, 1908–11), i.

Desmarest N. , Encyclopédie méthodique: Géographie-physique (5 vols & atlas, Paris, an 3–1828), i, 409–31.

ibid., 424.

ibid., 410.

ibid., 416.

ibid., 417.

ibid., 419.

Lavoisier A. L. , “Observations générales, sur les couches modernes horizontales, qui ont été déposées par la mer, et sur les conséquences qu'on peut tirer de leurs dispositions, relativement à l'ancienneté du globe terrestre”, Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Année M.DCC.LXXXIX. Avec les mémoires de mathématique et de physique pour la même année (Paris, 1793), 351–71. For an analysis of Lavoisier's stratigraphical ideas, see Carozzi A. V. , “Lavoisier's fundamental contri bution to stratigraphy”, Ohio journal of science, Ixv (1965), 71–85.

Desmarest N. , “Mémoire sur l'origine & la nature du basalte à grandes colonnes polygones, déterminées par l'histoire naturelle de cette pierre, observée en Auvergne”, Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Année M.DCC.LXXI … (Paris, 1774), 705–75; “Extrait d'un mémoire sur la détermination de quelques époques de la nature par les produits des volcans, &: Sur l'usage de ces époques dans l'étude des volcans”, Observations sur la physique, sur l'histoire naturelle et sur les arts, xv (1779), 115–26; “Mémoire sur la détermination de trois époques de la nature par les produits des volcans, et sur l'usage qu'on peut faire de ces époques dans l'études des volcans”, Mémoires de l'Institut National des Sciences et Arts. Mémoires de la classe des sciences mathématiques et physiques (1806), 219–78.

Rappaport R. , op. cit. (ref. 91), 279, points out that although Guettard apparently had more than sufficient empirical information which he might well have used for the purpose of developing a history of the Earth, in fact he made no definite move in this direction. In Dr Rappaport's view, “he tried hard to avoid thinking of the Earth as having much of a history”. See also Rappaport R. , “Lavoisier's theory of the Earth”, The British journal for the history of science, vi (1973), 247–60.

Guettard J. E. , Mémoires sur la minéralogie du Dauphiné (2 vols, Paris, 1779), i, vj.

Rappaport R. , op. cit. (ref. 91); “Lavoisier's geological activities, 1763–1792”, Isis, lviii (1967), 375–84; and “Lavoisier's theory of the Earth”, op. cit. (ref. 111).

Rappaport R. , op. cit. (ref. 91), 283.

Desmarest N. , op. cit. (ref. 110, 1774), 774.

Desmarest N. , op. cit. (ref. 110, 1806), 220. (1934), 408–16. For the relevance of travel literature to the present theme, see de Beer G. , Early travellers in the Alps (London, 1930), and Parks G. B. , “The turn to the romantic in the travel literature of the eighteenth century”, Modern language quarterly, xxv (1964), 22–33.

[ Desmarest N. ], “Géographie physique”, in Diderot D. (eds), Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres (17 vols, supplements, plates & tables, Paris, 1753–80), vii (1757), 613–26.

ibid., 615.

ibid., 618.

ibid., 626.

Desmarest N. , op. cit. (ref. 103), iv (1811), 352.

On this topic, see Nicolson Marjorie Hope , Mountain gloom and mountain glory: The development of the aesthetics of the infinite (Ithaca, 1959); Kirchner W. , “Mind, mountain, and history”, Journal of the history of ideas, xi (1950), 412–47; Chorley K. , “The romantic approach to scenery”, The month (May, 1952), 263–73. Also of relevance here is Aubin R. A. , “Grottoes, geology, and the Gothic revival”, Studies in philology, xxxi (1934), 408–16. For the relevance of travel literature to the present theme, see de Beer G. , Early travellers in the Alps (London, 1930), and Parks G. B. , “The turn to the romantic in the travel literature of the eighteenth century”, Modern language quarterly, xxv (1964), 22–33.

This is mentioned by Rousseau in his Confessions (pt ii, bk 8) and in a letter from Byron to John Murray, dated 9 April, 1817: The confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau translated from the French with a preface by Edmund Wilson (2 vols, London, 1924), ii, 63; The letters of Lord Byron selected and edited by Howarth R. G. (London & New York, 1936), 165–7.

de Luc J. A. , Lettres physiques et morales, sur les montagnes et sur l'histoire de la terre et de l'homme: Adressées à la reine de la Grande Bretagne, par J. A. de Luc, citoyen de Genève (La Haye, 1778), 193.

According to de Beer (op. cit. (ref. 122), 127), the young lady in question was Miss Schwellenberg, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte, whom de Luc served as ‘reader’.

de Luc J. A. , op. cit. (ref. 124), vii. He wrote: “Je n'entends ici par Cosmologie que la connoissance de la Terre, & non celle de l'Univers. Dans ce sens, Géologie eût été le mot propre; mais je n'ose m'en servir parce qu'il n'est pas usité.

de Saussure H. B. , Voyages dans les Alpes, précèdes d'un essai sur l'histoire naturelle des environs de Genève (4 vols, Neuchâtel, 1779–96), i, v.

de Luc J. A. , “Geological letters, addressed to Professor Blumenbach. Letter i. On the phaenomena characterizing the causes that have formerly operated upon this terrestrial globe; and particularly on those which fix the date of the origin of our present continents”, The British critic, ii (1793), 231–8, 351–8, p. 231. It should be noted that the term ‘geology’ was in fact in use well before the end of the eighteenth century, but not in its modern sense. For example, Benjamin Martin, in his Philosophical grammar (London, 1735, p. 189), used the word to mean “the general doctrine of the globe, of its various divisions and subdivisions, of the vicissitudes of seasons, and other general affections”. His five subdivisions of the section of his work on ‘geology’ were: (1) a philosophical view of the globe; (2) the philosophy of earths, stones, etc; (3) the philosophy of water (seas, rivers, springs, etc.); (4) the philosophy of plants and vegetation; (5) the philosophy of animal bodies (p. 187). For a recent discussion of the etymology of ‘geology’, see Dean D. R. , “The word ‘geology’”, Annals of science, xxxvi (1979), 35–43.

de Luc J. A. , op. cit. (ref. 124), xx.

ibid., xiv.

Gillispie C. C. , Genesis and geology: A study in the relations of scientific thought, natural theology, and social opinion in Great Britain, 1790–1850 (paperback edn, New York, 1959), has been particularly scathing in his criticisms of de Luc.

See de Condorcet A. N. , Sketch for a historical picture of the progress of the human mind (London, 1955). The first French edition was published posthumously in 1795: Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain.

de Luc J. A. , “Geological letters, addressed to Professor Blumenbach. Letter iii. Containing the history of the Earth, from the origin of all that is now observed upon it, to the production of the strata of sandstone”, The British critic, iii (1794), 467–78, 589–98; “Letter iv. The history of the Earth, from the formation of the sand-stone strata, to the last period in which the sea remained in its first bed; the space of time in which the volcanic eruptions began, and the strata of coals and rock salt were formed”, The British critic, iv (1794), 110–20, 328–36.

de Luc J. A. , “Geological letters, addressed to Professor Blumenbach. Letter ii. An analysis of the geological phenomena, leading to their origin”, The British critic, iii (1794), 110–18, 226–37, p. 226.

de Luc J. A. , op. cit. (ref. 133), Letter iii, 598.

de Luc J. A. , op. cit. (ref. 128), 232.

de Luc J. A. , “Geological letters, addressed to Professor Blumenbach. Letter vi. Being a physical commentary on the eleven first chapters of Genesis”, The British critic, v (1795), 197–207, 316–26, p. 325.

de Luc J. A. , An elementary treatise on geology: Determining fundamental points in that science, and containing an examination of some modern geological systems, and particularly of the Huttonian theory of the Earth …. Translated from the French manuscript, by the Rev. Henry de la Fite, M.A. of Trinity College, Oxford (London, 1809), 14.

ibid.

On de Saussure's life and work, with particular reference to his career as a mountaineer, see Freshfield D. W. & Mortimer H. F. , The life of Horace Benedict de Saussure (London, 1920). See also Senebier J. , Mémoire historique sur la vie et les écrits de Horace Bénédict Desaussure, pour servir d'introduction à la lecture de ses ouvrages (Geneva, an 9).

de Luc J. A. , op. cit. (ref. 138), 41.

de Saussure H. B. , op. cit. (ref. 127), i, xix.

ibid., iv, 583.

ibid., ii. 460–1.

de Saussure H. B. , “Agenda, ou tableau général des observations et des recherches dont les résultats doivent servir de base à la théorie de la terre; par M. de Saussure, de Genève”, Journal des mines, iv, no. 20 (an 4), 1–70. The Agenda were also published in the fourth volume of the Voyages. See de Saussure H. B. , op. cit. (ref. 123), iv, 467 ff.

See, for example, the references listed in refs 63, 64 and 70. Delamétherie kept up a steady flow of information on the Wernerian system in the pages of his Journal de physique, and several Wernerian manuals by French authors such as d'Aubuisson, Brochant de Villiers and Lucas were published in this period. Werner visited Delamétherie in Paris in an 10 and gave him an up-to-date account of his opinions, which were duly published in the Journal de physique. (See ref. 70 above).

de Saussure H. B. , op. cit. (ref. 127), iv, 474.

Soulavie J. L. Giraud , Histoire naturelle de la France méridionale, ou recherches sur la minéralogie du Vivarais, du Viennois, du Valentinois, du Forez, de l'Auvergne, du Velai, de l'Uségois, du Comtat Venaissin, de la Provence, des Diocèses de Nismes, Montpellier, Agde, &c. Sur la physique de la Mer Mediterranée, sur les météores, les arbres, les animaux, l'homme & la femme de ces contrées … (7 vols, Nîmes & Paris, 1780–84), i, 161–3, 317–32.

Soulavie J. L. Giraud , “La géographie de la nature, ou distribution naturelle des trois regnes sur la terre. Description d'une carte du Vivarais dressée en relief où cette distribution est enluminée selon la nature de sol & les variétés des êtres organisés. Méthode pour rendre par des reliefs la forme du sol d'une province dont on écrit l'histoire physique, & pour l'enluminer selon la nature du terrain …”, Observations sur la physique, xvi (1780), 63–73, p. 65. The author laboured the point somewhat by saying that in the instance of a church built on the top of a hill, the hill came first, then the foundations of the church, followed by the upper levels of the building, and finally the tower.

ibid., 65.

Soulavie J. L. Giraud , Les classes naturelles des minéraux et les époques de la nature correspondante à chaque classe. Ouvrage qui a remporté le seconde accessit sur la question proposée par l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, pour le prix de 1785 (St Petersburg, 1786), 5.

de Dolomieu D. G. S. T. G. , “Mémoire sur les pierres composées et sur les roches; par le commandeur Déodat de Dolomieu”, Observations sur la physique, xxxix (1791), 374–407.

Delamétherie J. C. , Leçons de géologie, données au Collège de France (3 vols, Paris, 1816), iii, 222–3.

de Dolomieu D. G. S. T. G. , op. cit. (ref. 152); and “Suite du mémoire sur les pierres composées et sur les roches …”, Journal de physique, xl (1792), 41–62, 203–18, 372–403, 481.

ibid. The last entry ended with the following poignant sentences: “I am, sir, too sensible of the misfortunes of my country, I am too shocked by the outrages of supporters of the various factions, I am too preoccupied with the dangers that surround the hereditary representatives of the nation, to have the mental disposition needed to undertake the scientific work. My duty and my will dedicate my time and my energies to the safety of the king, consequently I interrupt my memoir on the composite stones until such time as my country is delivered from the enemies that conspire for its destruction.”

Cuvier G. & Brongniart A. , “Essai sur la géographie minéralogique des environs de Paris. Par MM. Cuvier et Alex. Brongniart”, Journal des mines, xxiii (1808), 421–58; and Essai sur la géographie minéralogique des environs de Paris, avec une carte géognostique, et des coupes de terrain … (Paris, 1811).

Ibid. (1811), 8. The divisions established were: Chalk, plastic clay, coarse limestone with marine sandstone, siliceous limestone, gypsum and marl with osseous remains and the first fresh-water formation (terrain), marine marls, sand and sandstone with shells, upper marine sandstone, millstone formation without shells and argillaceous sand, second freshwater formation, and lastly mud, rolled pebbles, pudding-stones, black argillaceous marls and peat.

ibid., 8–9 (note).

ibid., 254.

Cuvier G. , A discourse on the revolutions of the surface of the globe, and the changes thereby produced in the animal kingdom … (London, 1829), 17. (Here we read the well-known passage: “The thread of the operations is broken; the march of nature is changed; and not one of her agents now at work would have sufficed to have effected her ancient works.”).

E.g., Hill J. , A general natural history, or new and accurate descriptions of the animals, vegetables, and minerals of the different parts of the world; with their virtues and uses, … Vol. I: A history of fossils (London, 1748); da Costa E. Mendes , Natural history of fossils …, i, pt 1 (London, 1757).

Catcott A. , A treatise on the deluge … (2nd edn, London, 1768).

Whitehurst J. , An inquiry into the original state and formation of the Earth; deduced from facts and laws of nature. To which is added an appendix, containing some general observations on the strata in Derbyshire. With sections of them, representing their arrangement, affinities, and the mutations they have suffered at different periods of time. Intended to illustrate the preceding inquiries, and as a specimen of subterraneous geography (London, 1778).

Neve M. & Porter R. , “Alexander Catcott: Glory and geology”, The British journal for the history of science, x (1977), 37–60; Porter R. , “The role of fieldwork in the history of geology in Britain” (unpublished paper, delivered at a meeting of the British Society for the History of Science, Chelsea, 3 January, 1976).

For emphasis on these aspects, see particularly Tomkeieff S. I. , “James Hutton and the philosophy of geology”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Section b), lxiii (1948–49), 387–400; Dott R. H. , “James Hutton and the concept of a dynamic Earth”, in Schneer C. J. , op. cit. (ref. 52), 122–41; Gerstner P. A. , “James Hutton's theory of the Earth and his theory of matter”, Isis, lxiii (1968), 26–31; Ellenberger F. , “La thèse de doctorat de James Hutton et la renovation perpetuelle du monde”, Annales Guébhard-Séverine, xlix (1973), 1–37. See also O'Rourke J. E. “A comparison of James Hutton's Principles of knowledge and Theory of the Earth”, Isis, lix (1978), 5–20.

Hutton J. , Theory of the Earth with proofs and illustrations (2 vols, Edinburgh & London, 1795).

See Eyles V. A. Eyles J. M. , “Some geological correspondence of James Hutton”, Annals of science, vii (1951), 316–39.

These are now held by the Library of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and have recently been published: Craig G. Y. (ed.), James Hutton's Theory of the Earth: The lost drawings (Edinburgh, 1978).

It may be added here that Hutton's cyclic Earth theory does not have much in common with the general theories of history that were being promulgated in his time, which most commonly were directionalist and sometimes saltatory, or at least conceived in terms of fairly distinct epochs. Possibly this lack of congruence with the leading contemporary view of history may do something to explain the poor reception accorded to Hutton's Theory. But the emphasis of David Hume on the uniformity of human nature (see below) should not be overlooked.

Playfair J. , Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the Earth (Edinburgh & London, 1802), 2.

Ibid.

Smith W. , Stratigraphical system of organized fossils, with reference to the specimens of the original geological collection in the British Museum: Explaining their state of preservation and their use in identifying the British strata (London, 1817), vii.

ibid., ix–x.

Smith W. , Abstract views of geology. Page proofs of this unpublished work are held in the library of the Department of Geology at the University of Oxford. The work has been discussed by Cox L. R. , “New light on William Smith and his work”, Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, xxv (1942), 1–99.

Smith W. , op. cit. (ref. 174), i.

It is not, I suggest, ‘fair’ to form any kind of judgement upon Smith's capacities as a geologist merely by recourse to the Abstract, and this is not the intention here. The document is, however, useful for the light that it throws upon some of Smith's more deep-seated intellectual commitments.

Smith MSS, Geology Department, Oxford University. This document is apparently an addendum to the notes that Smith prepared for a lecture on geology given at Scarborough in August, 1824. See Edmonds J. M. , “The geological lecture-courses given in Yorkshire by William Smith and John Phillips, 1824–1825”, Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, xl (1975), 373–412.

Smith W. , Natural order of the strata in England and Wales accurately delineated and described with practical demonstrations thereon containing many geological remarks on the extent of such regular arrangement and a particular description of the fossil and mineral productions of each stratum by Wm. Smith Landsurveyor and Drainer 1801, f.7.v. (Smith MSS, Oxford).

Laudan R. , “William Smith. Stratigraphy without palaeontology”, Centaurus, xx (1976), 210–26.

Letter: W. Smith to J. Phillips, Hackness, 24 January, 1831, giving an account of the gradual development of Smith's ideas (Oxford MSS). Evidently, the information furnished by Smith was used by Phillips in the preparation of the biography of his uncle: Memoirs of William Smith, LL.D., author of the “Map of the strata of England and Wales”, by his nephew and pupil, John Phillips, F.R.S., F.G.S. … (London, 1844).

Jameson R. , A mineralogical description of the County of Dumfries (Edinburgh & London, 1805), 42.

Jameson R. , “Mineralogical queries, proposed by Professor Jameson (Read 9th April and 14th May 1808)”, Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society, i (1808–10), 107–25.

Daubeny C. G. B. , “Notes taken at Jameson's lectures on natural history 1816–17 with additional matter extracted from other sources” (Daubeny MSS 386, Magdalen College Library, Oxford (reproduced here by courtesy of the President and Fellows of the College)).

[ Fitton W. H. ], “Art. iii—1. A delineation of the strata of England and Wales … By W. Smith … London … 1815. 2. Geological section from London to Snowdon … By W. Smith, 1817. 3. A memoir to the map and delineation, &c. By W. Smith … London, 1815. 4. A series of county maps, … from documents in Mr. Smith's possession … London, 1817. 5. Strata identified by organized fossils … London, 1816. 6. Stratigraphical system of organized fossils … by W. Smith … London … 1817”, Edinburgh review, xxix (1818), 310–37, p. 325.

Bakewell R. , An introduction to geology illustrative of the general structure of the Earth; comprising the elements of the science, and an outline of the geology and mineral geography of England: By Robert Bakewell (London, 1813), 43.

Macculloch J. , A system of geology, with a theory of the Earth, and an explanation of its connection, with the sacred records (2 vols, London, 1831), i, 268. (Macculloch states in his preface that the text of this work was written in 1821, though it remained unpublished for ten years).

Kidd J. , A geological essay on the imperfect evidence in support of a theory of the Earth, deducible either from its general structure or from the changes produced on its surface by the operation of existing causes (Oxford, 1815), 269.

Greenough G. B. , A critical examination of the first principles of geology; in a series of essays (London, 1819), 287–8.

Webster T. , “On the freshwater formations of the Isle of Wight, with some observations on the strata over the chalk, in the south-east part of England”, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, ii (1814), 161–254. Webster had been engaged by Sir Henry Englefield to conduct a geological survey of the island. Webster's series of letters to Englefield (dated between 21 May, 1811 and 11 February, 1813) were published in Englefield H. C. , A description of the principal picturesque beauties, antiquities, and geological phaenomena, of the Isle of Wight… With additional observations on the strata of the island, and their continuation in the adjacent parts of Dorsetshire. By Thomas Webster, esq. (London, 1816).

Richardson W. , “On the strata of mountains”, Philosophical magazine, xxxvii (1811), 367–9, p. 368.

Conybeare W. D. & Phillips W. , Outlines of the geology of England and Wales, with an introductory compendium of the general principles of that science, and comparative views of the structure of foreign countries … (pt 1, London, 1822), xxi.

Wilson L. G. , Charles Lyell: The years of controversy; the revolution in geology (New Haven & London, 1972), 215–16.

Lyell C. , Principles of geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface, by reference to causes now in operation (3 vols, London, 1830–33), i, I.

Lyell C. , A manual of elementary geology: Or, the ancient changes on the Earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments (3rd edn, London, 1851), 96–97.

ibid., 98.

ibid., 106. (Note also the sub-title of the Manual).

ibid., 2.

On this point, see the recent discussion of Rudwick M. J. S. , “Historical analogies in the geological work of Charles Lyell”, Janus, lxiv (1977), 89–107. Rudwick sugests that Lyell's thinking may well have been influenced by the work of Niebuhr. He also cites the following remark of Lyell from Wilson L. G. , op. cit. (ref. 192): “We err as much when we judge of a political constitution without considering the pre-existent state of the laws from which it has grown”. This places Lyell within the ambit of the historicist school of law, advocated by von Savigny, and referred to above.

Rudwick M. J. S. , “Poulett Scrope on the volcanoes of the Auvergne: Lyellian time and political economy”, The British journal for the history of science, vii (1974), 205–42. For S. J. Gould's use of the term ‘substantive uniformitarianism’, see his paper: “Is uniformitarianism necessary?”, American journal of science, cclxiii (1965), 223–8.

Lyell C. to Mantell G. A. , 15 February, 1830, in Lyell K. M. (ed.), The life, letters and journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart (2 vols, London, 1881), i, 262; Lyell C. , op. cit. (ref, 193), i, 123.

Bartholomew M. , “The non-progress of non-progression: Two responses to Lyell's doctrine”, The British journal for the history of science, ix (1976), 166–74.

Hume D. , An enquiry concerning human understanding, sect. viii, pt i, §65, in Selby-Bigge L. A. (ed.), Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of morals by David Hume (2nd edn, Oxford, 1902), 83–84.

See, for example, Hume D. , The history of England … in six volumes (London, 1841). Hume's History might today be regarded as ‘mere chronicle’ rather than ‘history proper’. Indeed, by giving a year-by-year account of events in the history of England, his work had something of the character of the earlier ‘annalists’.

Macaulay, in his famous critical attack of 1829 upon James Mill's Essay on government, emphasized the extraordinary diversity of human beings, and maintained that it was quite impossible to deduce a “science of government” from a knowledge of the principles of human nature (i.e., the principle of self-interest). See Young G. M. (ed.), Macaulay: Prose and poetry (London, 1952), 579–609.

Bartholomew M. , op. cit. (ref. 201), 167.

It should be noted here that my interpretation of Lyell as one definitely concerned with Earth history—his uniformitarianism notwithstanding—runs counter to the interpretation offered by Professor R. Hooykaas, who sees the “steady-state system [of the uniformitarians as] … essentially ahistorical” (Science and belief: From Copernicus to Darwin … The new outlook for science (Milton Keynes, 1974), 13). I contend, however, that it is possible to give an historical account of the Earth's past even within a uniformitarian framework; for the particular course of geological events may be traced out, in accordance with the directives of a uniformitarian methodology.

Buckland W. , Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology (2 vols, London, 1836), i, 8.

Penn G. , Conversations on geology; comprising a familiar explanation of the Huttonian and Wernerian systems; the Mosaic geology, as explained by Mr. Granville Penn; and the late discoveries of Professor Buckland, Humboldt, Dr. Maculloch, and others (London, 1840), 6–7 (emphasis added).