Torrens, Hugh
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Monographs Website: www.bshs.org.uk/monographs IMAGES OF THE EARTH essays in the history ofthe environmental sciences edited by LudmillaJordanova and Roy Porter BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE Preface to the Second edition © LudmillaJordanova and Roy Porter 1995 In trodu etion © LudmillaJordanova and Roy Porter 1978 'Revelation and the cyclical cosmos ofJohn H utchinwn' © G. N. Cantor 1978 'Hutton's theory ofthe earth' © R. Grant 1978 'The natural theology ofthe geologists: some theological strata' ©John Hedley Brooke 1978 'Transposed concepts from the human sa.ences in the early ·work ofCharles Lyell' © MartinJ. S. Rudwick 1978 'Geology and landscape painting in nineteenth-century England' © Mania Poimon 1978 'Earth science and environmental medicine: the synthesis ofthe late Enlightenment' © Ludmilla Jordanova 1978 'Chemical geology or geological chemsitry?' © W. H. Brock 1978 'The controversy ofthe Moulin-OJ!ignon jaw: the role ofH IIgh Falconer' © Patrick J. Boylan 1978 'The lost limb: geology and natural history' © David Elliston Allen 1978 'Geological communication in the Bath area in the last halfofthe eighteenth century' © Hugh Torrens 1978 'Geological controversy and its historiography: the prehistory ofthe Geological Society ofLondon' © PaulJulian Weindling 1978 Postscript © LudmillaJordanova 1995 First published 1979 reprinted 1981 Second, revised and enlarged edition 1997 lSBN 0-906450-12-8 Designed and typeset in Stempel Garamond byJeffrey Dean, The Stingray Office, 4 Chandos Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 OST Printed in Great Britain by The Alden Press, Oxford Contents List of illustrations vu Preface to the Second edition vm LUDMILLA JORDAN OVA AND ROY PORTER Introduction LUDMILLA JORDANOVA AND ROY PORTER Geology and belief 1. Revelation and the cyclical cosmos ofJohn Hutchinson 17 G. N. CANTOR 2. Hutton's theory of the earth 37 R. GRANT 3. The natural theology ofthe geologists: some theological strata 53 JOHN HEDLEY BRO OKE The language ofenvironmental science 4. Transposed concepts from the human sciences in the early work of Charles Lyell 77 MARTIN J. S. RUDW1CK 5. Geology and landscape painting in nineteenth-century England 93 MARCIA P01NTON Earth science and discipline boundar'ies 6. Earth science and environmental medicine: the synthesis of the late Enlightenment 127 LUDM1LLA JORDANOVA 7· Chemical geology or geological chemistry? 153 W. H. BROCK 8. The controversy of the Moulin-~ignon jaw: the role of Hugh Falconer 175 PATR1CK J. BOYLAN [vi] Contents 9. The lost limb: geology and natural history 203 DAVID ELLISTON ALLEN The social history ofgeology la. Geological communication in the Bath area in the last half of the eighteenth century 217 HUGH TO RRENS 11. Geological controversy and its historiography: the prehistory of the Geological Society ofLondon 247 PAUL JULIAN WEINDLING Notes on contributors 269 Postscript 273 LUDMILLA JORDANOVA Bibliography 280 Index 287 -10 Geological communication in the Bath area in the last halfofthe eighteenth century HUGH TORRENS I am as delirious as ever, still preferring a coal-pit or stone quarry to the Bath Assembly, or a Court Ball. l [E. M. da Costa to Ralph Schomberg of Bath, 1761J Introduction Records of geological activity in the Bath area in the last half of the eight eenth century are certainly relatively sparse.2 There are two main reasons for In collecting material for a srudy of [his narure one quickly inC\lrs numerous debts w [he many librarians and archivists who so courteously look after and aid access w the collections in their care. My debtS to these people are SO many that I cannot name them here but must single out the three inStitutions in Bath itself without which this paper could not have been written and thank especially John Kite and all the staff of the Bath Reference Library, Bob Bryant of the Bath Record Office and Philip Bryant of Bath University Library, as well as my own University Lihrary and archivist (1an Fraser) for similarly valued help. Joan Cliff did wonders in typing my illegible manuscript. For stimulating discussion and help on specific points I also thank Vicwr Adams, Robin Atthill, Jim Beill1ett, David Bick, Gavin Bridson, Warren Derry, Desmond Donovan, Joan Eyles, D. G. Hickley, Hal Moggridge, Roy Porter, Ian Rolfe, R. E. Schofield, John Thackray, Anthony Turner, and Michael Walcot. I J. Nichols, Illustrations of the literary history of the eighteenth century, vol. iv, London, [822, p. 769. 2 At the conference in 1977 out of which this volume arose, Alex Keller discussed the carefully preserved multi-volume correspondence of the naturalist and fossilologist, E. M. da Costa (1717-1791). He rightly claimed this allowed, because of its complete narure, a study of those interested in fossils at this time as a group, and nor just as individuals. This paper has the same aims for much of the same period but is framed instead round one place, Ba[h in Somerset (now Avon). Any study of this type is fraught with pitfalls, because of the incom plete nature of the material on which it is based, which was always dispersed and much of it since lost (or unknown [0 me), unlike the da Costa archive, which has survived intact as one accumulation. However, it would be wrong to assume even the da Costa archive was an entirely complete record of fossilology of the period. Josiah Wedgwood senior wrote of da Cosra in 1774 w Thomas Bentley thus: 'Doctor [Thomas] Percival has sent me the famous naturalist Da Costa with injunctions to he very civil w him-I gain'd a little relief by sending him 2 miles to see a Flintmill but that is over, and now I am oblig'd to be rude to him whilst I wrire' (Wedgwood to Bentley, 7 August 1774, Wedgwood Archives Keele University 18551 25); and again ten days later: 'I do not know what character da Costa has ... However he is [218J Hugh Torrens this. Firsdy, much of the activity would have been devoted to collecting geological specimens and especially fossils; such collections, however much treasured by their makers, have long since been dispersed and records ofthis activity are likely only in references in letters. Secondly, even the records of the organised geological activities ofthe first two Bath Philosophical Societ ies, which both flourished in the late eighteenth century, have similarly been dispersed and scattered to the winds. Despite such massive erosion of the basic source material, a study of the Bath area still seems well worth at tempting for two reasons. First, the special place Bath occupied in the last half of the eighteeuth century 'as the most fashionable place for idling and the most famous watering place in Britain? where one would imagine the collecting of facts and specimens of geological significance would naturally take its place along with the other multifarious activities of the numerous visitors. Second, the special place Bath has occupied since 1827 as the so called'cradle of English geology' from the work of William Smith (1769 1839) in this area from 1791 to about 1805.4 The special nature ofBath society in the eighteenth century Despite the massive amount of secondary literature Bath has engendered, there is still 'no professional economic or social history of Bath' in the eighteenth century.s There is, however, massive documentation of the popu larity of Bath as a resort for medical aid or leisure activity. The most eloquent surviving testimonies to the former are the monumental inscrip tions to the many visitors who also died in Bath, which to this day line the walls of Bath Abbey.6 These walls adorned with monument and bust Show how Bath Waters serve to lay the dust Henry Harington (1727-1816) gone. I left him on Tuesday, and he left the country on Wednesday. Dr P--l is very high in his incomiums ofda C. as a very sensible man of the most extensive knowledge and equally extensive correspondence with the literati all over Europe, amongst whom the Doctor says he is very much esteem'd.