“The End of History” in the Early Picturing of Geological Time

For the past few decades, a widely used visual representation of geological time has been the “Geological time table”, published by Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company; there have been several editions, e.g., 3rd edn, compiled by F. W. B. van Eysinga (Amsterdam, 1975). On stratigraphic classification and nomenclature and on the differences between chrono-, litho- and biostratigraphy, see some of the classic papers by Hedberg Hollis D. , “Stratigraphic classification and terminology”, Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists”, xlii (1958), 1881–96; “The stratigraphic panorama”, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, lxxii (1961), 499–518; “Earth history and the record in the rocks”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, cix (1965), 99–104.

Buckland William , “Notice of a paper laid before the Geological Society on the structure of the Alps and adjoining parts of the Continent, and their relation to the Secondary and Transition rocks of England”, Annals of philosophy, i (1821), 450–68; von Humboldt Alexander , A geognostical essay on the superposition of rocks, in both hemispheres (London, 1823; the original, French edition, and a German translation, also appeared in 1823).

See for example Berry William B. N. , Growth of a prehistoric time scale based on organic evolution (San Francisco and London, 1968).

For a review of the absolute, quantitative time scales used in geology to date stratigraphic sequences, see Harland W. B. Cox A. V. Llewellyn P. G. Pickton C. A. G. Smith A. G. Walters R. , A geologic time scale (Cambridge, 1982).

See also Oldroyd David R. , “Historicism and the rise of historical geology”, History of science, xvii (1979), 191–213; Porter Roy , “The history of time”, in Grant J. (ed.), The book of time (Newton Abbot, 1980), 5–44; Toulmin Stephen Goodfield June , The discovery of time (New York, 1965), 141–70; Wager L. R. , “The history of attempts to establish a quantitative time-scale”, Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London, cxx (1964), 13–28.

Rudwick M. J. S. , “A visual language for geology”, History of science, xiv (1976), 149–95.

See for example H. A. Ireland, “History of the development of geologic maps”, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, liv (1943), 1227–80; see further Porter Roy , The earth sciences: An annotated bibliography (New York and London, 1983), 50–52.

This follows on from two earlier studies; Rupke Nicolaas , “Metonymies of empire: Visual representations of prehistoric times, 1830–90”, in Mazzolini Renato G. (ed.), Non-verbal communication in science prior to 1900 (Florence, 1993), 513–28; idem, “Eurocentric ideology of continental drift”, History of science, xxxiv (1996), 251–72.

Buckland , op. cit. (ref. 2), 462–5. The “Tabular arrangement” was also published in Mantell Gideon , The fossils of the South Downs; or Illustrations of the geology of Sussex (London, 1822), 248–9.

Boué Ami , “Synoptical table of the formations of the crust of the earth, and of the chief subordinate masses”, The Edinburgh philosophical journal, xiii (1825), 130–45.

Brongniart A. , Tableau des terrains qui composent l'écorce du globe, ou essai sur la structure de la partie connue de la terre (Paris, 1829), 27 and passim.

Keferstein C. , Tabellen über die vergleichende Geognosie: Ein Versuch (Halle, 1825), 1 and passim. See also idem, Geschichte und Literatur der Geognosie, ein Versuch (Halle, 1840). On Keferstein, see Steiner W. , “Christian Keferstein und das Erscheinen der ersten geologischen Übersichtskarte von Mitteleuropa im Jahre 1821”, in Prescher H. (ed.), Geologen der Goethezeit (Leipzig, 1979), 99–147.

Bronn H. G. , Untersuchungen über die Entwickelungs-Gesetze der organischen Welt während der Bildungs-Zeit unserer Erd-Oberfläche (Stuttgart, 1858), 17. See also the earlier “Reihenfolge der Schichtgebirge und ihrer Glieder und Verbreitung der organischen Ueberbleibsel darin”, in Bronn H. G. Roemer F. , Atlas zu H. G. Bronn's Lethaea geognostica, oder Abbildungen und Beschreibungen der für die Gebirgs-Formationen bezeichnendsten Versteinerungen (3rd edn, Stuttgart, 1850–56).

For a contemporary discussion of the issue see Naumann Carl Friedrich , Lehrbuch der Geognosie, ii (Leipzig, 1854), 72–74.

Boué Ami , Geognostisches Gemälde von Deutschland. Mit Rücksicht auf die Gebirgs-Beschaffenheit nachbarlicher Staaten (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1829), Table vi, Fig. 19.

de la Beche H. , Sections and views, illustrative of geological phenomena (London, Paris and Strasburgh, 1830), Plate 1. For more on de la Beche see McCartney Paul J. , Henry de la Beche: Observations on an observer (Cardiff, 1977).

de la Beche H. , “A tabular and proportional view of the Superior, Supermedial, and Medial rocks; (Tertiary and Secondary rocks)” (London, [1827]). I thank Tom Sharpe, Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, for providing me with a copy of this table.

Eaton Amos , “Geological nomenclature, classes of rocks, etc.”, American journal of science and arts, xiv (1828), 145–59, 359–68.

These colour codes were primarily used in the preparation of geological maps. See for example Report of the First and Second Meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (London, 1833), 584. Colours were used at an early stage, too, in the crustal cross-sections of refs 20–28 below.

See Eysinga , op. cit (ref. 1). Early examples include “Coupe générale de l'écorce du globe”, in Flammarion Camille , Le monde avant la création de l'homme (Paris, [1886]), Map 5, opposite p. 260.

The facies concept has been ascribed to the Swiss geologist Amanz Gressly (1814–65), who introduced it in his “Observations géologiques sur le Jura Soleurois”, Neue Denkschriften der allgemeinen schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Naturwissenschaften, ii (1838), 1–112. See also Naumann , Lehrbuch der Geognosie (ref. 13), 46–49.

Porter , The earth sciences (ref. 6), caption to last figure, opposite p. [1].

I thank Stella Brecknell, librarian at The University Museum, Oxford, for providing me with access to and copies of this and several other geological time-charts from the William Buckland Collection.

Buckland William , Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology, ii (London, 1836; 4th edn, 1869), Plate 1.

Buckland William , Geologie und Mineralogie in Beziehung zur natürlichen Theologie, transl. by Agassiz Louis (2 vols, Neuchâtel, 1838–39).

Buckland William , Die Urwelt und ihre Wunder, oder allgemeine Darstellung der Geschichte des Erdkörpers, transl. by Werner Friedrich (Stuttgart, 1937), and by Schimper W. P. (Stuttgart, 1838). Apart from the title pages, there is no appreciable difference between these two editions.

Bromme T. , Atlas zu Alex. v. Humboldt's Kosmos (2 vols, Stuttgart, [1851]), ii, Plate 8 (“Idealer Durchschnitt der Erdrinde”). Berghaus H. , Physikalischer Hand-Atlas (Gotha, 1845–48; 2nd edn, 1852), Part III, Plate 11.

Berghaus H. , Physikalischer Schul-Atlas (Gotha, 1850), Plate 13.

Nöggerath J. Burkart J. , Der Bau der Erdrinde nach dem heutigen Standpunkte der Geognosie: Erklärung der bildlichen Darstellung in fünf colorirten Tafeln in grossem Imperial-Format (Bonn, 1838), text and atlas.

Ref. 22 above. See also Boubée Ami , Géologie élémentaire (Paris, 1833), frontispiece.

For example Hitchcock Edward , The religion of geology and its connected sciences (Glasgow and London, [1851]), frontispiece.

Mantell G. , Die Phänomene der Geologie leichtfasslich in Vorlesungen entwickelt (Bonn, 1839), ii, Plate 3.

Figuier L. , The world before the Deluge, ed. by Bristow Henry William (London, Paris, New York, [1872]), diagram at end.

Johnston A. K. , The physical atlas of natural phenomena (Edinburgh and London, 1856).

Morris J. , “Geological chart: Showing the order of succession of the various stratified rocks, their mineral characters, principal fossils” (London, [1865]). Morris had earlier produced “A tabular view of the principal fossiliferous deposits of the British Isles” (London, 1850).

This chart is in the William Buckland Collection, University Museum, Oxford. The Boubée inset was redrawn and published in Rupke Nicolaas , The Great Chain of History: William Buckland and the English School of Geology, 1814–1849 (Oxford, 1983), Fig. 11, p. 154.

Lyell William , “Order of superposition, or chronological succession, of the principal sedimentary deposits or groups of strata in Europe”, Principles of geology, iii (London, 1833), 389–93.

For a brief discussion of contemporary geological implications of the Webster-Buckland chart and Lyell's cross-section of the earth's crust, see Pearson Paul N. , “Charles Darwin on the origin and diversity of igneous rocks”, Earth sciences history, xv (1996), 52–53.

The expression was Buckland's: Geology and mineralogy (ref. 23), i, 21–22.

Sedgwick Henry , “Anniversary address to the Geological Society, 19 February 1830”, Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, i (1834), 187–212, 211.

Pidgeon Edward , The fossil remains of the animal kingdom (London, 1830), 39.

See Rupke , Great Chain of History (ref. 35), 225–30; and Gould Stephen Jay , Dinosaur in a haystack (New York, 1995), 64–75.

Figuier , World before the Deluge (ref. 32), 404.

Whewell William , Of the plurality of worlds: An essay (London, 1853), 270.

The visual image of a ladder, to depict geological time, was not common, but does appear; see Symonds W. S. , Old stones: Notes of lectures on the Plutonic, Silurian, and Devonian rocks in the neighbourhood of Malvern (Malvern, 1855), 21; new edn (London, 1884), frontispiece.

This diagram was published by Dana J. D. , Manual of geology (3rd edn, New York, [1880]), Plate 12.

Ibid. , 545. For another three-dimensional, landscaped, “Post-Tertiary” top, see Mudge's B. F. “Vertical section of the rocks of Kansas”, republished from the 1878, 2nd edn of Mudge's “Geology of Kansas”, in Page Leroy E. , “Benjamin F. Mudge, the State Geological Surveys, and fossil collecting in Kansas, 1864–1870”, Earth sciences history, xiii (1994), 125.

See for example Morris , “Geological chart” (ref. 34).

Buckland , Geology and mineralogy (ref. 23), ii, 3.

Ibid. , 1. The section accompanied Conybeare W. D. , “Report on the progress, actual state, and ulterior prospects of geological science”, Report of the First and Second Meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (ref. 18), 365–414. Other relevant data were taken from Conybeare and Phillips William , Outlines of the geology of England and Wales (London, 1822); and Conybeare , “Memoir illustrative of a general geological map of the principal mountain chains of Europe”, Annals of philosophy, v (1823), 1–16, 135–49, 210–18, 278–89, 356–59; vi (1823), 214–19.

von Cotta B. , Geologische Bilder (Leipzig, 1852), 242. See also his nature-philosophical Geologisches Glaubensbekenntniss (Dresden, [1835]). For Cotta, see Wagenbreth Otfried , “Bernhard von Cotta (1808 bis 1879) und die Verbreitung geologisch-paläontologischer Kenntnisse”, in Prescher Hans (ed.), Leben und Wirken Deutscher Geologen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1985), 247–73. Similar opinions to Cotta's can be found expressed in other Continental, geological treatises; see for example the Austrian botanist Franz Unger (1800–70), Versuch einer Geschichte der Pflanzenwelt (Vienna, 1852), 346–49. Jakob Nöggerath sounded facetious when he maintained that a higher development, beyond man, was unlikely ever to take place given the fact that there were already so many angels among the fairer sex of the human race: Die Entstehung der Erde: Eine Vorlesung (Bonn, 1843), 29. Another, entirely non-centred cross-section through the earth's crust was constructed by the Swiss geologist Bernhard Studer (1794–1887), “Die Formationen der Erdrinde in Mittel-Europa”, in his Lehrbuch der physikalischen Geographie und Geologie (2nd edn, Bern, Chur and Leipzig, 1847), Table 3, opposite p. 148.

See “Supplement by the editor” in Bakewell Robert , An introduction to geology (New Haven, 1833), 389–466. For a discussion of these harmonization schemes see Rudwick Martin J. S. , “The shape and meaning of earth history”, in Lindberg David C. Numbers Ronald L. , God and nature: Historical essays on the encounter between Christianity and science (Berkeley, 1986), 296–321; and Rupke Nicolaas , “Geology and palaeontology”, in Ferngren Gary B. (eds), The history of science and religion in the Western tradition: An encyclopedia (New York, forthcoming).

Anderson John , The course of creation (London, 1850), 406. See also, for example, Molloy Gerald , Geology and revelation: Or the ancient history of the earth, considered in the light of geological fact and revealed religion (London, 1873), 423.

Dana , Manual of geology (ref. 45), 3rd edn, 579.

Agassiz L. , Essay on classification, by Lurie Edward (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 98.

Dana , Manual of geology (ref. 45), 3rd edn, 578.

See Rupke , op. cit. (ref. 51).

Cited in Gordon E. O. , The life and correspondence of William Buckland (London, 1894), 81.

Higgins W. M. , The book of geology (London, 1842), 17, 20.

Trimmer J. , Practical geology and mineralogy; with instructions for the qualitative analysis of minerals (London, 1851), 486.

Buckland , Geology and mineralogy (ref. 23), i (3rd edn, 1858), 521–29.

A companion broadsheet, entitled “The antediluvian world”, is discussed by Rudwick Martin , Scenes from deep time (Chicago, 1992), 92–94.

Few Continental geologists addressed the issue of “Genesis and geology”. Among these few were, in Germany, Andreas Wagner, Geschichte der Urwelt, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Menschenrassen und des mosaischen Schöpfungsberichtes (Leipzig, 1845); and in France, Marcel de Serres, Cosmogonie de Moise comparée aux faits géologiques (Paris, 1838–59).

Naumann Carl Friedrich , Lehrbuch der Geognosie , i (Leipzig, 1849); d'Orbigny Alcide , Cours élémentaire de paléontologie et de géologie stratigraphique, volume “Atlas de tableaux” (Paris, 1849–52); Vogt Carl , Lehrbuch der Geologie und Petrefactenkunde , i (2nd edn, Braunschweig, 1854), 212 et seq.; Zittel Karl A. , Handbuch der Palaeontologie, i (Munich and Leipzig, 1880), 24.

For recent literature on visual representation in science, see among others Lynch Michael Woolgar Steve (eds), Representation in scientific practice (Cambridge, Mass., 1990); Mazzolini Renato G. (ed.), Non-verbal communication in science prior to 1900 (Florence, 1993); Talkenberger Heike , “Von der Illustration zur Interpretation: Das Bild als historische Quelle”, Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, xxi (1994), 289–313.

For another illustration see Zimmermann W. F. A. , Die Wunder der Urwelt (20th edn, Berlin, 1864), 1.

Porter Roy , “The industrial revolution and the rise of the science of geology”, in Teich Mikuláš Young Robert (eds), Changing perspectives in the history of science (London, 1973), 320–43. A major geology-versus-mining contrast, too, existed in the fact that stratigraphic columns were constructed from the bottom upwards, whereas drilling logs were directed from the top downwards, recording depth rather than thickness and marking the dates on which successive depths were reached. See for example the logs in the major contemporary treatise on artesian drilling, Kind Carl Gotthelf , Anleitung zum Abteufen der Bohrlöcher nach den neuesten und bewährtesten Erfahrungen (Luxemburg, 1842).

Cotta , Geologische Bilder (ref. 50), 131.

Nicholson H. A. , A manual of palaeontology for the use of students with a general introduction on the principles of palaeontology (Edinburgh and London, 1872), Fig. 2, p. 13. This stratigraphic column was reprinted, with its right half cut off, by Huxley T. H. , American addresses (London, 1888), Fig. 1, p. 15.

Hitchcock E. , Final report on the geology of Massachusetts (Amherst and Northampton, 1841), 227–99.

Bromme , Atlas (ref. 26), Plates 35, 36, 37.