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Description Founded in 1807, the Geological Society of London became the world’s first learned society devoted to the Earth sciences. In celebration of the Society’s 200-year history, this book commemorates the lives of the Society’s 13 founders and sets geology in its national and European context at the turn of the nineteenth century. In Britain, geology was emerging as a subject in its own right from three closely related disciplines — chemistry, mineralogy and medicine — disciplines that reflect the principal professions and interests of the founders. The tremendous energy and cooperation of these 13 men, about whom little was previously known, quickly mobilized like-minded men around the country and fuelled the nation’s passion for geology; an enthusiasm that soon spread to America and Australia. Two previously unpublished works from this period, essential to understanding the founding of the Society, are reproduced here for the first time. The book closes with a review of the Society’s 2007 Bicentenary celebrations.

Contents Preface List of Subscribers Introduction The road to Smith: how the Geological Society came to possess English geology, S J Knell The Founders Doctoring geology: the medical origins of the Geological Society, C L E Lewis Chemists get down to Earth, D Knight Jacques-Louis, Comte de Bournon, G L Herries Davies George Bellas Greenough’s ‘Theory of the Earth’ and its impact on the early Geological Society, M Kölbl-Ebert Dissenting science: the Quakers among the Founding Fathers, H S Torrens The Status of Geology The early Geological Society in its international context, M J S Rudwick Geology beyond the Channel: the beginnings of geohistory in early nineteenth-century France, P Taquet The rise of geology as a science in Germany around 1800, M Guntau Light and shadow: the status of Italian geology around 1807, G B Vai Scientific institutions and the beginnings of geology in Russia, V E Khain & I G Malakhova A story of things yet-to-be: the status of geology in the United States in 1807, J R Newell The Nature of Geology Military men: Napoleonic warfare and early members of the Geological Society, E P F Rose Practical geology and the early Geological Society, L Veneer Geology at the crossroads: aspects of the geological career of Dr John MacCulloch, A J Bowden John Playfair on Schiehallion, 1801–1811, J R Smallwood Picturesque ruin and geological antiquity: Thomas Webster and Sir Henry Englefield on the Isle of Wight, N Heringman The Geological Society and its official recognition, 1824–1828, P J Boylan Facts and fancies: the Geological Society of London and the wider public, 1807–1837, R O’connor The Geological Society on the other side of the world, D F Branagan The first female Fellows and the status of women in the Geological Society of London, C V Burek The Bicentenary A year to remember, T Nield Walk with the Founding Fathers, M J S Rudwick Dining with the Founding Fathers: a personal view, R T J Moody Appendices Appendix I: Geological Inquiries (1808) Appendix II: Preface to Comte de Bournon’s Complete Treatise of Carbonated Lime and Aragonite (1808) Index

Reviews

The book is eminently readable and compulsory for anyone interested in the history of the Earth sciences. As such it is wholeheartedly recommended.

T.J.A. Reijers
Geo-Training & Travel, The Netherlands

This review is featured in:
Geo.Brief, newsletter of the KNGMG (Royal Netherlands Geological & Mining Society).
INHEGEO Newsletter 2010

This review was submitted by:
Mrs Julie Webster
12 February 2010