Celebrating Hugh Miller

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Celebrating Hugh Miller Photo: Andrew Dowsett Bust by William Brodie, 1857, in birthplace cottage, Cromarty (NTS). CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HUGH MILLER Scotland in the Early 19th Century Ethnography & folklore, geology & natural history, church & society Edited by Lester Borley Copyrights © The Editor & Contributors severally 2003 Published by the Cromarty Arts Trust & the Elphinstone Institute of the University of Aberdeen with the financial support of Scottish Natural Heritage and Ross & Cromarty Enterprise * A collection of papers presented at an international conference held in Cromarty from 10-12 October 2002, to celebrate the bicentenary of Hugh Miller. Organised by the Cromarty Arts Trust in collaboration with the Elphinstone Institute of the University of Aberdeen and the Highland Theological College. * Under the patronage of Dr James Hunter, Rt Hon Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Mrs Marian McKenzie Johnston, Dr John Nightingale of Cromarty, Mrs Anne Short, Professor Duncan Rice and Professor Roger Wheater. ISBN NB insert number in black before printing, or delete this whole line Foreword Dr John Nightingale Chairman, Cromarty Arts Trust Hugh Miller used his understanding of fossils to transport his readers back in time to witness a spell-binding spectacle of the creation and unfolding of the world in geo- logical time. The papers collected in this bicentenary volume similarly use Hugh Miller’s life and writings to open up the great issues of geology, church and society, and ethnography in Scotland in the first half of the nineteenth century – a period of great scientific discoveries, revolution in the church, and of clearances, emigration, urbani- sation and rapid social change. Miller’s ability to combine the skills of a Highland story-teller with the visual imagery of new technologies of panoramas and dioramas to dramatise his subject may be hard to match, but these papers leave readers in no doubt that this period was every bit as formative as the Scottish Enlightenment. As a self-taught geologist, a key player in the Disruption, and an acute observer of his own society, Hugh Miller challenges our modern tendency to compartmentalise religion, science and history. From his first attempts to edit his own paper at the age of 18, to his position as editor of a leading national newspaper for the last sixteen years of his life, there was little that Miller did not touch upon. As one of the most widely read Scottish authors of the nineteenth century, his accounts of the Clearances and his con- trasts between rural and urban Scotland, Highlander and Lowlander, the English and Scots have done much to shape modern perceptions and, as several of these papers remind us, deserve close scrutiny for precisely this reason. In his address on Miller, printed in this volume, Lord Mackay of Clashfern con- cluded that Hugh Miller was a man who knew how to make the best of the opportu- nities available to him. The same could be said of Cromarty. Left behind by the rail- roads in the nineteenth century, it was already making much of its association with Hugh Miller on the first centenary of his birth in 1902. A century later Miller is again part of the story through which the small community of Cromarty is reinventing itself as a place at the centre of things. The international conference at which the papers in this volume were delivered was held in Cromarty to coincide with the bicentenary of Miller’s birth. Speaking a month later at a British Council conference in Brussels, one of the speakers in Cromarty, Christopher Harvie, held up the ecumenical nature of the Miller event as a template: “mixing local historians, history of science experts and social historians from England, America and Australia, ministers of the Kirk and Lord Chancellor Mackay, and lots of locals, with plenty of good food and drink and a ceilidh - all this in a tiny eighteenth-century northern burgh, with (it seemed) an oil-rig at the bottom of every street. This was high-grade Wissenschaft, international, and fun, pret- ty central to the present Scottish predicament (parochialism versus internationality, sci- ence versus religion, science versus cash).” The Cromarty Arts Trust, as part of its goal of advancing educational opportunities in the Highlands, began preparing for the bicentenary in 2000 with a first conference in Cromarty, Miller’s birthplace, on “Hugh Miller in Context: the Cromarty Years”, followed by a second conference held in Edinburgh in October 2001 on “Hugh Miller in Context: the Edinburgh Years” (the proceedings of both conferences were published 2 by the Cromarty Arts Trust in 2002). Thereafter, joining forces with the local com- munity and national institutions, momentum increased and the bicentenary saw a year long programme of over 80 Miller-related events both within Cromarty and through- out Scotland. A new opera on Miller was written and performed throughout the town with every primary school child taking part. The day of the bicentenary itself opened with the unveiling by Dr Margaret Mackay of a four metre high standing stone on the town’s shore: commissioned by the Cromarty Arts Trust and Cromarty Harbour Trust, it was inscribed by Richard Kindersley with Miller’s report of the departure of the emi- grant ship, the Cleopatra, in 1831, and the names of 39 ships which are known to have left Cromarty for the new world in the 1830s and 1840s; Miller considered himself unsurpassed as a letter carver and so it seemed particularly appropriate to have some of his words inscribed on stone, words which commemorate Cromarty’s place as the principal departure point from the Highlands in these decades; the dedication speech by Margaret Mackay, whose family were amongst those who emigrated on the Cleopatra, is included in this volume. Following a piped procession to the Old Kirk, where Lord Mackay gave his address, the conference opened in the afternoon. The success of the conference showed what it is possible to achieve in the Highlands and provides another feather in the cap of Cromarty, which notably already hosts field stations of both Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen, the latter of which has built up an international reputation for its research on marine mammals. It also provides a marker for the future. A number of speakers at the conference flagged up uncharted areas of study that the Cromarty Arts Trust could encourage in future years within the fields of both geology and history – a powerful plea was made for the systematic study of estate papers which are still in the Highlands, with a view to linking current work on famines and emigration to the wider contexts of war, indus- trialisation, and population growth. Such a conference requires support and unstinting effort from many quarters. Ross and Cromarty Enterprise and Scottish Natural Heritage joined the Cromarty Arts Trust in covering the core costs with further generous support being provided by the Binks Trust, Cromarty Firth Port Authority, Highland Council, Ellice and Rosa Macdonald, and the University of Aberdeen among many others. The Cromarty Arts Trust was delighted to be joined in the organisation of the conference by the Elphinstone Institute of the University of Aberdeen and by the Highland Theological College, a constituent college of the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute. Their respective heads, Ian Russell and Andrew McGowan, were joined by Cromarty Arts Trustee, Philip Hamilton-Grierson, Roger Wheater, the chair- man of the National Trust for Scotland (which has maintained Hugh Miller’s cottage in Cromarty since the 1930s) and James Hunter, the historian and chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, as chairmen of individual sessions of the conference. David Alston, Sandy Thomson and Peter Tilbrook acted as rapporteurs of the themed sessions. Colin Macfadyen, Lyall Anderson and Nigel Trewin led tours to the foreshore at Eathie where Miller first began to observe fossils. Michael Taylor of the National Museums of Scotland was unstinting in his advice on all matters Millerite. Very con- siderable thanks are due to each of these institutions and individuals. But above all thanks are due first to Lester Borley who, with the unstinting help of his wife, Mary, was indefatigable in promoting and organising the conference and seeing these papers through to publication, and second to the community of Cromarty as a whole for going out of its way to welcome delegates and make the conference one to remember. Last, but not least, we are indebted to all the speakers who gave so much of their time and expert knowledge to make the event a fitting conclusion to our wide-ranging celebration of the life and times of Hugh Miller. 3 Contents 2 Foreword by John Nightingale 8 Address by Rt. Hon. Lord Mackay of Clashfern 12 Dedication of the Emigration Stone by Dr Margaret Mackay Conference Opening Plenary Session Chaired by Professor Roger Wheater OBE, Chairman, National Trust for Scotland 14 Caring for Nature: the Transatlantic Canvas of the Nineteenth Century Professor David Lowenthal Emeritus Professor of Geography, University College, London 34 Hugh Miller and the Scottish Crisis Professor Christopher Harvie Professor of Scottish & Irish History, Tübingen University, Germany 48 Hugh Miller and Resistance to the Highland Clearances Professor Eric Richards Dept. of History, Flinders University, Adelaide, S. Australia * Symposium on Ethnography & Folklore Chaired by Dr Ian Russell, Director, The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen 64 Summary of Discussion Cllr Dr David Alston, Curator, Cromarty Courthouse Museum 67 Place-names of the Cromarty Firthlands Ian Fraser Hon Fellow, School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh 72 Learning from Cromarty: The Lessons of Town and Landscape Dr William A. Brogden Scott Sutherland School, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen 76 Miller’s Tale: Narrating History and Tradition Professor Edward J.
Recommended publications
  • Charles Darwin: a Companion
    CHARLES DARWIN: A COMPANION Charles Darwin aged 59. Reproduction of a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, original 13 x 10 inches, taken at Dumbola Lodge, Freshwater, Isle of Wight in July 1869. The original print is signed and authenticated by Mrs Cameron and also signed by Darwin. It bears Colnaghi's blind embossed registration. [page 3] CHARLES DARWIN A Companion by R. B. FREEMAN Department of Zoology University College London DAWSON [page 4] First published in 1978 © R. B. Freeman 1978 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the publisher: Wm Dawson & Sons Ltd, Cannon House Folkestone, Kent, England Archon Books, The Shoe String Press, Inc 995 Sherman Avenue, Hamden, Connecticut 06514 USA British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Freeman, Richard Broke. Charles Darwin. 1. Darwin, Charles – Dictionaries, indexes, etc. 575′. 0092′4 QH31. D2 ISBN 0–7129–0901–X Archon ISBN 0–208–01739–9 LC 78–40928 Filmset in 11/12 pt Bembo Printed and bound in Great Britain by W & J Mackay Limited, Chatham [page 5] CONTENTS List of Illustrations 6 Introduction 7 Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations 11 Text 17–309 [page 6] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Charles Darwin aged 59 Frontispiece From a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron Skeleton Pedigree of Charles Robert Darwin 66 Pedigree to show Charles Robert Darwin's Relationship to his Wife Emma 67 Wedgwood Pedigree of Robert Darwin's Children and Grandchildren 68 Arms and Crest of Robert Waring Darwin 69 Research Notes on Insectivorous Plants 1860 90 Charles Darwin's Full Signature 91 [page 7] INTRODUCTION THIS Companion is about Charles Darwin the man: it is not about evolution by natural selection, nor is it about any other of his theoretical or experimental work.
    [Show full text]
  • Special Articles
    Walmsley Crichton-Browne’s biological psychiatry special articles Psychiatric Bulletin (2003), 27,20^22 T. WAL M S L E Y Crichton-Browne’s biological psychiatry Sir James Crichton-Browne (1840^1938) held a uniquely the brothers at the centre of British phrenology in distinguished position in the British psychiatry of his Edinburgh in the 1820s. time. Unburdened by false modesty, he called himself The central proposition of phrenology ^ that ‘the doyen of British medical psychology’ and, in the the brain is the organ of the mind ^ seems entirely narrow sense, he was indeed its most senior practitioner. unremarkable today. In the 1820s, however, it was a At the time of his death, he could reflect on almost half provocative notion with worrying implications for devout a century’s service as Lord Chancellor’s Visitor and a religious people. In Edinburgh, George Combe attached similar span as a Fellow of the Royal Society. great importance to drawing the medical profession into Yet,today,ifheisrememberedatall,itisasanearly an alliance and he pursued this goal with determination proponent of evolutionary concepts of mental disorder and occasional spectacular setbacks. (Crow, 1995). Summarising his decade of research at In 1825, Andrew Combe advanced phrenological the West Riding Asylum in the 1870s, Crichton-Browne ideas in debate at the Royal Medical Society and the proposed that in the insane the weight of the brain furore which followed resulted in the Society issuing writs was reduced, the lateral ventricles were enlarged and the prohibiting the phrenologists from publishing the burden of damage fell on the left cerebral hemisphere in proceedings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Continuation, Breadth, and Impact of Evangelicalism in the Church of Scotland, 1843-1900
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The Continuation, Breadth, and Impact of Evangelicalism in the Church of Scotland, 1843-1900 Andrew Michael Jones A Thesis Submitted to The University of Edinburgh, New College In Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Edinburgh, United Kingdom 2018 ii Declaration This thesis has been composed by the candidate and is the candidate’s own work. Andrew M. Jones PhD Candidate iii Acknowledgements The research, composition, and completion of this thesis would have been impossible without the guidance and support of innumerable individuals, institutions, and communities. My primary supervisor, Professor Stewart J. Brown, provided expert historical knowledge, timely and lucid editorial insights, and warm encouragement from start to finish. My secondary supervisor, Dr. James Eglinton, enhanced my understanding of key cultural and theological ideas, offered wise counsel over endless cups of coffee, and reminded me to find joy and meaning in the Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Mathesons, with Genealogies of the Various Branches
    *>* '-ii.-M WBBm ^H I THE ifiTO] iY and Genealogy OF THE , . I * . I Eli O KJ v*.*^ ^H ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, E.S.A. SCOT. / IXo. National Library of Scotland iniiiir l B000244182* x>N0< jlibsary;^ A HISTORY OF THE MATHESONS, WITH GENEALOGIES OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES. BY ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Scut., Editor of the " Celtic Magazine ;" author of " The History of the Mackenzie.? ;" " The History of the Macdonalds and Lords of tlie Isles ;" &c, Sec. O CHIAN. INVERNESS: A. & W. MACKENZIE. MDCCCLXXXH. PRINTED AT THE ADVERTISER OFFICE, II BANK STREET, INVERNESS. INSCRIBED LADY MATHESON OF THE LEWS, AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT FOR HERSELF, AND TO THE MEMORY OF HER LATE HUSBAND, SIR JAMES MATHESON, BART., THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. ORIGIN—AND BENNETSFIELD MATHESONS 1-34 THE MATHESONS OF LOCHALSH AND ARDROSS 35-48 THE MATHESONS OF SHINESS, ACHANY, AND THE LEWS 49-54 THE IOMAIRE MATHESONS 55-58 SIR JAMES MATHESON OF THE LEWS, BARONET 59-72 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/historyofmathamOOmack LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Aitken, Dr, F.S.A., Scot., Inverness Allan, William, Esq., Sunderland Anderson, James, Esq., Hilton, Inverness Best, Mrs Vans, Belgium—(3 copies) Blair, Sheriff, Inverness Burns, William, Esq., Solicitor, Inverness Campbell, Geo. J., Esq., Solicitor, Inverness Carruthers, Robert, Esq., of the Inverness Courier Chisholm, Archd. A., Esq., Procurator-Fiscal, Lochmaddy Chisholm, Colin, Namur Cottage, Inverness Chisholm, The, Erchless Castle Clarke, James, Esq., Solicitor, Inverness Cran, John, Esq., F.S.A., Scot, Bunchrew Croal, Thos. A., Esq., F.S.A., Scot., Edinburgh Davidson, John, Esq., Merchant, Inverness Finlayson, Roderick, Esq., Nairn Foster, W.
    [Show full text]
  • International Passenger Survey, 2008
    UK Data Archive Study Number 5993 - International Passenger Survey, 2008 Airline code Airline name Code 2L 2L Helvetic Airways 26099 2M 2M Moldavian Airlines (Dump 31999 2R 2R Star Airlines (Dump) 07099 2T 2T Canada 3000 Airln (Dump) 80099 3D 3D Denim Air (Dump) 11099 3M 3M Gulf Stream Interntnal (Dump) 81099 3W 3W Euro Manx 01699 4L 4L Air Astana 31599 4P 4P Polonia 30699 4R 4R Hamburg International 08099 4U 4U German Wings 08011 5A 5A Air Atlanta 01099 5D 5D Vbird 11099 5E 5E Base Airlines (Dump) 11099 5G 5G Skyservice Airlines 80099 5P 5P SkyEurope Airlines Hungary 30599 5Q 5Q EuroCeltic Airways 01099 5R 5R Karthago Airlines 35499 5W 5W Astraeus 01062 6B 6B Britannia Airways 20099 6H 6H Israir (Airlines and Tourism ltd) 57099 6N 6N Trans Travel Airlines (Dump) 11099 6Q 6Q Slovak Airlines 30499 6U 6U Air Ukraine 32201 7B 7B Kras Air (Dump) 30999 7G 7G MK Airlines (Dump) 01099 7L 7L Sun d'Or International 57099 7W 7W Air Sask 80099 7Y 7Y EAE European Air Express 08099 8A 8A Atlas Blue 35299 8F 8F Fischer Air 30399 8L 8L Newair (Dump) 12099 8Q 8Q Onur Air (Dump) 16099 8U 8U Afriqiyah Airways 35199 9C 9C Gill Aviation (Dump) 01099 9G 9G Galaxy Airways (Dump) 22099 9L 9L Colgan Air (Dump) 81099 9P 9P Pelangi Air (Dump) 60599 9R 9R Phuket Airlines 66499 9S 9S Blue Panorama Airlines 10099 9U 9U Air Moldova (Dump) 31999 9W 9W Jet Airways (Dump) 61099 9Y 9Y Air Kazakstan (Dump) 31599 A3 A3 Aegean Airlines 22099 A7 A7 Air Plus Comet 25099 AA AA American Airlines 81028 AAA1 AAA Ansett Air Australia (Dump) 50099 AAA2 AAA Ansett New Zealand (Dump)
    [Show full text]
  • Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity
    ORIGINS OF GENIUS This page intentionally left blank ~ ORIGINS OF GENIUS ~ Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity Dean Keith Simonton New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1999 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1999 by Oxford University Press Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 http://www.oup-usa.org Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Simonton, Dean Keith. Origins of genius: Darwinian perspectives on creativity/ Dean Keith Simonton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-512879-6 i. Genius. 2. Creative ability. 3. Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882. I. Title. BF412.S58 1999 153.9'8 — dc2i 98-45044 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To all Darwinists This page intentionally left blank Contents ~ Preface IX 1. GENIUS AND DARWIN The Surprising Connections i 2. COGNITION How Does the Brain Create? 25 3. VARIATION Is Genius Brilliant—or Mad? 75 4. DEVELOPMENT Are Geniuses Born—or Made? 109 5. PRODUCTS By What Works Shall We Know Them? 145 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Disposals 2005/06 - 2017/18
    TABLE 3 DISPOSALS 2005/06 - 2017/18 DATE OF SALE TYPE FOREST DISTRICT PROPERTY NAME AREA(HA) COMPLETION Forest Cowal & Trossachs Land at Ormidale House, Glendaruel 1.40 17/10/2005 Other Cowal & Trossachs Land at Blairvaich Cottage, Loch Ard Forest 0.63 18/11/2005 Forest Galloway Craighlaw Plantation 21.00 28/04/2005 Forest Galloway Craignarget 26.66 04/05/2005 Forest Galloway Land adjacent to Aldinna Farm 0.89 17/11/2005 Other Galloway Airies Access 0.00 01/08/2005 Other Galloway Land at No.1 Craiglee Cottages, Loch Doon 0.09 22/09/2005 Forest Inverness, Ross & Skye Aline Wood 629 13/05/2005 Forest Inverness, Ross & Skye Tomich Service Reservoir 0.20 13/03/2006 Forest Inverness, Ross & Skye Uigshader Plantation (Skye) 83.50 23/03/2006 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Plot at Keepers Croft, Glenlia 0.22 03/08/2005 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Land at Foresters House, Eynort 0.04 19/08/2005 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Land at No 1 Glenelg 0.06 05/09/2005 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Land at Old Smiddy, Laide 0.01 11/10/2005 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Glen Convinth WTW - Access Servitude 0.00 04/01/2006 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Old Schoolhouse, Glenmore 0.26 20/01/2006 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Land at Badaguish 0.80 22/02/2006 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Invermoriston Water Treatment Works 0.30 13/03/2006 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye House Plot at Inverinate (Old Garages Site). 0.16 27/03/2006 Other Inverness, Ross & Skye Garve, land at Former Free Church 0.07 27/03/2006 Forest Lochaber Maol Ruadh 13.00 23/03/2006 NFLS Lochaber Strontian
    [Show full text]
  • Ministers of ‘The Black Art’: the Engagement of British Clergy with Photography, 1839-1914
    Ministers of ‘the Black Art’: the engagement of British clergy with photography, 1839-1914 Submitted by James Downs to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in March 2018 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. Abstract 1 Ministers of ‘the Black Art’: the engagement of British clergy with photography, 1839- 1914 This thesis examines the work of ordained clergymen, of all denominations, who were active photographers between 1839 and the beginning of World War One: its primary aim is to investigate the extent to which a relationship existed between the religious culture of the individual clergyman and the nature of his photographic activities. Ministers of ‘the Black Art’ makes a significant intervention in the study of the history of photography by addressing a major weakness in existing work. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the research draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources such as printed books, sermons, religious pamphlets, parish and missionary newsletters, manuscript diaries, correspondence, notebooks, biographies and works of church history, as well as visual materials including original glass plate negatives, paper prints and lantern slides held in archival collections, postcards, camera catalogues, photographic ephemera and photographically-illustrated books.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyrighted Material
    06_250317 part1-3.qxd 12/13/05 7:32 PM Page 15 Phylum Chordata Chordates are placed in the superphylum Deuterostomia. The possible rela- tionships of the chordates and deuterostomes to other metazoans are dis- cussed in Halanych (2004). He restricts the taxon of deuterostomes to the chordates and their proposed immediate sister group, a taxon comprising the hemichordates, echinoderms, and the wormlike Xenoturbella. The phylum Chordata has been used by most recent workers to encompass members of the subphyla Urochordata (tunicates or sea-squirts), Cephalochordata (lancelets), and Craniata (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). The Cephalochordata and Craniata form a mono- phyletic group (e.g., Cameron et al., 2000; Halanych, 2004). Much disagree- ment exists concerning the interrelationships and classification of the Chordata, and the inclusion of the urochordates as sister to the cephalochor- dates and craniates is not as broadly held as the sister-group relationship of cephalochordates and craniates (Halanych, 2004). Many excitingCOPYRIGHTED fossil finds in recent years MATERIAL reveal what the first fishes may have looked like, and these finds push the fossil record of fishes back into the early Cambrian, far further back than previously known. There is still much difference of opinion on the phylogenetic position of these new Cambrian species, and many new discoveries and changes in early fish systematics may be expected over the next decade. As noted by Halanych (2004), D.-G. (D.) Shu and collaborators have discovered fossil ascidians (e.g., Cheungkongella), cephalochordate-like yunnanozoans (Haikouella and Yunnanozoon), and jaw- less craniates (Myllokunmingia, and its junior synonym Haikouichthys) over the 15 06_250317 part1-3.qxd 12/13/05 7:32 PM Page 16 16 Fishes of the World last few years that push the origins of these three major taxa at least into the Lower Cambrian (approximately 530–540 million years ago).
    [Show full text]
  • Spontaneous Article Science, Metaphysics and Calvinism: the God of James Croll Diarmid A
    Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,1–9, 2021 Spontaneous Article Science, metaphysics and Calvinism: the God of James Croll Diarmid A. FINNEGAN* Geography, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT7 1NN. *Corresponding author. Email: d.fi[email protected] ABSTRACT: Science, for James Croll, began and ended in metaphysics. Metaphysics, in turn, pro- vided proof of a First and Final Cause of all things. This proof rested on two metaphysical principles: that every event must have a cause, and that the determination of a cause is distinct from its production. This argument emerged from his deeply held religious commitments. As a 17-year-old, he converted to a Calvinist and evangelical form of Christianity. After a period of questioning the Calvinist system, he embraced it again through reading the famous treatise on the will by the New England theologian, Jona- than Edwards. This determinedly metaphysical work, which engaged as much with Enlightenment thought as with Calvinism, defended the view that the will was not a self-determining cause of human action. This ‘hard case’ provided the basis for a larger claim that every act whatever has a cause, and that the production of an act was different from its determination. In part through reading Edwards, Croll remained a devout and convinced ‘moderate’ Calvinist for the rest of his life. He also developed a deep love of metaphysics and became convinced that without it, everything, including sci- ence, remained confused and in darkness. For Croll, even the most basic science could not be properly conducted without prior metaphysical principles.
    [Show full text]
  • Devonian Antiarch Placoderms from Belgium Revisited
    Devonian antiarch placoderms from Belgium revisited SÉBASTIEN OLIVE Olive, S. 2015. Devonian antiarch placoderms from Belgium revisited. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60 (3): 711–731. Anatomical, systematic, and paleobiogeographical data on the Devonian antiarchs from Belgium are reviewed, updated and completed thanks to new data from the field and re-examination of paleontological collections. The material of Bothriolepis lohesti is enhanced and the species redescribed in more detail. An undetermined species of Bothriolepis is recorded from the Famennian of Modave (Liège Province), one species of Asterolepis redescribed from the Givetian of Hingeon and another one described from the Givetian of Mazy (Namur Province). Grossilepis rikiki sp. nov. is recorded from the Famennian tetrapod-bearing locality of Strud (Namur Province) and from the Famennian of Moresnet (Liège Province). It is the first occurrence of Grossilepis after the Frasnian and on the central southern coast of the Euramerican continent. Its occurrence in the Famennian of Belgium may be the result of a late arrival from the Moscow Platform and the Baltic Depression, where the genus is known from Frasnian deposits. Remigolepis durnalensis sp. nov. is described from the Famennian of Spontin near Durnal (Namur Province). Except for the doubtful occurrence of Remigolepis sp. in Scotland, this is the first record of this genus in Western Europe. Its occurrence in Belgium reinforces the strong faunal affinities between Belgium and East Greenland and the hypothesis of a hydrographical link between the two areas during the Late Devonian. Key words: Placodermi, Asterolepis, Bothriolepis, Grossilepis, Remigolepis, palaeobiogeography, Devonian, Belgium. Sébastien Olive [[email protected]], Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, O.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Miller, Hugh Edinburgh
    THE GEOLOGICAL CURATOR VOLUME 10, NO. 7 HUGH MILLER CONTENTS EDITORIAL by Matthew Parkes ............................................................................................................................ 284 THE MUSEUMS OF A LOCAL, NATIONAL AND SUPRANATIONAL HERO: HUGH MILLER’S COLLECTIONS OVER THE DECADES by M.A. Taylor and L.I. Anderson .................................................................................................. 285 Volume 10 Number 7 THE APPEAL CIRCULAR FOR THE PURCHASE OF HUGH MILLER'S COLLECTION, 1858 by M.A. Taylor and L.I. Anderson .................................................................................................. 369 GUIDE TO THE HUGH MILLER COLLECTION IN THE ROYAL SCOTTISH MUSEUM, EDINBURGH, c. 1920 by Benjamin N. Peach, Ramsay H. Traquair, Michael A. Taylor and Lyall I. Anderson .................... 375 THE FIRST KNOWN STEREOPHOTOGRAPHS OF HUGH MILLER'S COTTAGE AND THE BUILDING OF THE HUGH MILLER MONUMENT, CROMARTY, 1859 by M. A. Taylor and A. D. Morrison-Low ..................................................................................... 429 J.G. GOODCHILD'S GUIDE TO THE GEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS IN THE HUGH MILLER COTTAGE, CROMARTY OF 1902 by J.G. Goodchild, M.A. Taylor and L.I. Anderson ........................................................................ 447 HUGH MILLER AND THE GRAVESTONE, 1843-4 by Sara Stevenson ............................................................................................................................ 455 HUGH MILLER GEOLOGICAL CURATORS’
    [Show full text]