Tracks to a new world: Railway excavation and the extension of geological knowledge in mid-nineteenth-century Britain

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 34, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 51-65

  Freeman, Michael ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 0041911571     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0007087401004277     Document Type: Article

References (127)

1. See Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (hereafter QJGS) (1859), 15, p. lxi.
2. H. E. Strickland, 'Series of coloured sections of the cuttings on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway', Proceedings of the Geological Society of London (hereafter PGSL) (1838-42), 3, 313-14; the sad irony of Strickland's recommendation was that he was killed by being hit by a railway train whilst geologizing in a railway cutting near East Retford in 1853-see QJGS (1854), 10, p. xxv.
3. H. E. Strickland, 'Series of coloured sections of the cuttings on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway', Proceedings of the Geological Society of London (hereafter PGSL) (1838-42), 3, 313-14; the sad irony of Strickland's recommendation was that he was killed by being hit by a railway train whilst geologizing in a railway cutting near East Retford in 1853-see QJGS (1854), 10, p. xxv.
4. J. Francis, A History of the English Railway; its Social Relations and Revelations, 1820-1845, 2 vols., London, 1851, ii, 140-1.
5. See M. Freeman, Railways and the Victorian Imagination, New Haven and London, 1999, especially Chapters 1 and 8.
6. See M. Robbins, The Railway Age in Britain and its Impact on the World, London, 1962, 70; also Freeman, op. cit. (4), 53-5.
7. See M. Robbins, The Railway Age in Britain and its Impact on the World, London, 1962, 70; also Freeman, op. cit. (4), 53-5.
8. See Freeman, op. cit. (4), 18-19.
9. There are a handful of passing references in J. Morrell and A. Thackray, Gentlemen of Science: Early Years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Oxford, 1981, 262, 340, 352.
10. A. Desmond and J. Moore, Darwin, Penguin edn., Harmondsworth, 1992; also F. Burkhardt and S. Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, 11 vols., Cambridge, 1985.
11. A. Desmond and J. Moore, Darwin, Penguin edn., Harmondsworth, 1992; also F. Burkhardt and S. Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, 11 vols., Cambridge, 1985.
12. 'Railway Sections', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 473.
13. Report of the Tenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (hereafter BAAS), London, 1841, p. xxviii.
14. 'Railway Sections', op. cit. (9).
15. F. Burr, 'Notes on the geology of the line of the proposed Birmingham and Gloucester Railway', PGSL (1833-8), 2, 593-5.
16. J. Hawkshaw, 'Description of fossil trees found in excavations for the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 139-40.
17. N. Wetherell, 'A notice of some organic remains recently discovered in the London Clay', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 140-1.
18. T. Roscoe, The London and Birmingham Railway, London, 1839, 31.
19. Roscoe, op. cit. (15), 68.
20. Roscoe, op. cit. (15), 92.
21. See the commentary in Freeman, op. cit. (4), Chapter 8.
22. See Freeman, op. cit. (4), Chapter 8.
23. See D. R. Dean, '"Through science to despair": geology and the Victorians', in Victorian Science and Victorian Values: Literary Perspectives (ed. J. Paradis and J. Postlewait), New Brunswick, 1985, 111-36, 113-14; also M. J. S. Rudwick, The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology, 2nd edn., Chicago, 1976, 164 ff; a somewhat dissenting view of Lyell's significance is contained in R. Laudan, From Mineralogy to Geology: The Foundations of a Science 1650-1830, Chicago, 1987, 201 ff; the issue is further discussed in J. A. Secord (ed.), Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology, Harmondsworth, 1997, pp. xxxv ff.
24. See D. R. Dean, '"Through science to despair": geology and the Victorians', in Victorian Science and Victorian Values: Literary Perspectives (ed. J. Paradis and J. Postlewait), New Brunswick, 1985, 111-36, 113-14; also M. J. S. Rudwick, The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology, 2nd edn., Chicago, 1976, 164 ff; a somewhat dissenting view of Lyell's significance is contained in R. Laudan, From Mineralogy to Geology: The Foundations of a Science 1650-1830, Chicago, 1987, 201 ff; the issue is further discussed in J. A. Secord (ed.), Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology, Harmondsworth, 1997, pp. xxxv ff.
25. See D. R. Dean, '"Through science to despair": geology and the Victorians', in Victorian Science and Victorian Values: Literary Perspectives (ed. J. Paradis and J. Postlewait), New Brunswick, 1985, 111-36, 113-14; also M. J. S. Rudwick, The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology, 2nd edn., Chicago, 1976, 164 ff; a somewhat dissenting view of Lyell's significance is contained in R. Laudan, From Mineralogy to Geology: The Foundations of a Science 1650-1830, Chicago, 1987, 201 ff; the issue is further discussed in J. A. Secord (ed.), Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology, Harmondsworth, 1997, pp. xxxv ff.
26. See D. R. Dean, '"Through science to despair": geology and the Victorians', in Victorian Science and Victorian Values: Literary Perspectives (ed. J. Paradis and J. Postlewait), New Brunswick, 1985, 111-36, 113-14; also M. J. S. Rudwick, The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology, 2nd edn., Chicago, 1976, 164 ff; a somewhat dissenting view of Lyell's significance is contained in R. Laudan, From Mineralogy to Geology: The Foundations of a Science 1650-1830, Chicago, 1987, 201 ff; the issue is further discussed in J. A. Secord (ed.), Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology, Harmondsworth, 1997, pp. xxxv ff.
27. M. J. S. Rudwick, Scenes from Deep Time: Early Pictorial Representations of the Prehistoric World, Chicago, 1992.
28. A. F. Tait, Views on the Manchester and Leeds Railway, Liverpool, 1845, 26.
29. L. G. Wilson, Charles Lyell: The Years to 1841 : the Revolution in Geology, New Haven and London, 1972, 128. Original emphasis.
30. Wilson, op. cit. (24), 483.
31. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, op. cit. (8), ii, 72-3.
32. Report of the Eleventh Meeting of the BAAS, London, 1842, 67.
33. Report of the Twelfth Meeting of the BAAS, London, 1843, 38-9.
34. Report, op. cit. (27), 40.
35. Report, op. cit. (28).
36. Report, op. cit. (28).
37. Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the BAAS, London, 1844, 295.
38. See J. A. Secord, 'The geological survey of Great Britain as a research school, 1839-1855', History of Science (1986), 24, 226-7.
39. Evidence for the years 1838 to 1845 is taken from PGSL.
40. J. Prestwich and J. Morris, 'On the Wealden strata exposed by the Tunbridge Wells Railway', QJGS (1846), 2, 397-405.
41. J. Prestwich, 'On the probable age of the London Clay and its relations to the Hampshire and Paris Tertiary Systems', QJGS (1847), 3, 354-409; see also idem, 'On the structure of the strata between the London clay and the chalk in the London and Hampshire tertiary systems', QJGS (1850), 6, 255 ff.
42. J. Prestwich, 'On the probable age of the London Clay and its relations to the Hampshire and Paris Tertiary Systems', QJGS (1847), 3, 354-409; see also idem, 'On the structure of the strata between the London clay and the chalk in the London and Hampshire tertiary systems', QJGS (1850), 6, 255 ff.
43. Prestwich, 'On the probable age', op. cit. (35), 363.
44. Prestwich, op. cit. (36), 367.
45. R. I. Murchison, 'On the silurian rocks of the south of Scotland', QJGS (1851), 7, 159-64.
46. J. Phillips, 'On some sections of the strata near Oxford', QJGS (1860), 16, 115.
47. See M. J. S. Rudwick, The Great Devonian Controversy: The Shaping of Scientific Knowledge among Gentlemanly Specialists, Chicago, 1985, 42 ff.
48. W. Jardine, Memoirs of Hugh Strickland, London, 1858, 133.
49. Murchison, op. cit. (38), 160.
50. See Hawkshaw, op. cit. (13); idem, 'Further observations on the fossil trees found on the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 269-70; J. E. Bowman, 'On the character of the fossil trees lately discovered near Manchester on the line of the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 270-5.
51. See Hawkshaw, op. cit. (13); idem, 'Further observations on the fossil trees found on the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 269-70; J. E. Bowman, 'On the character of the fossil trees lately discovered near Manchester on the line of the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 270-5.
52. See Hawkshaw, op. cit. (13); idem, 'Further observations on the fossil trees found on the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 269-70; J. E. Bowman, 'On the character of the fossil trees lately discovered near Manchester on the line of the Manchester and Bolton Railway', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 270-5.
53. See N. A. Rupke, The Great Chain of History: William Buckland and the English School of Geology, 1814-1849, Oxford, 1983, Part I and 194-9.
54. See W. C. Williamson, Coals and Coal Plants: A Lecture, London and Glasgow, 1876, 11.
55. Williamson, op. cit. (45), 13; Rupke refers to the plants as Stigmaria - see N. A. Rupke, op. cit. (44), 199.
56. Williamson, op. cit. (45), 13; Rupke refers to the plants as Stigmaria - see N. A. Rupke, op. cit. (44), 199.
57. Williamson, op. cit. (45), 13.
58. Rudwick, op. cit. (40), 48.
59. A discussion of the broader debates can be found in P. J. Bowler, Fossils and Progress: Paleontology and the Idea of Progressive Evolution in the Nineteenth Century, New York, 1976.
60. The shift in geology's focus from a largely stratigraphic project to one equally occupied with 'dynamical' issues is examined in C. Smith, 'William Hopkins and the shaping of dynamical geology: 1830-1860', BJHS (1989), 22, 27-52.
61. J. Trimmer, 'On the origin of the soils which cover the chalk of Kent', QJGS (1853), 9, 86-96.
62. G. L. Davies, The Earth in Decay: A History of British Geomorphology, 1578-1878, London, 1969, 248.
63. J. Trimmer, 'On the southern termination of the erratic tertiaries and on the remains of the bed of gravel on the summit of Clevedon Down, Somerset', QJGS (1853), 9, 2-5.
64. J. Trimmer, 'On the erratic tertiaries bordering the Pennine chain ; and on the scratched detritus of the till ', QJGS (1851), 7, 204; see also Davies, op. cit. (52), 310.
65. J. Trimmer, 'On the erratic tertiaries bordering the Pennine chain ; and on the scratched detritus of the till ', QJGS (1851), 7, 204; see also Davies, op. cit. (52), 310.
66. R. I. Murchison, 'On the distribution of the flint drift of the South-East of England on the flanks of the Weald and over the surface of the South and North Downs', QJGS (1851), 7, 383.
67. See D. R. Dean, Gideon Mantell and the Discovery of Dinosaurs, Cambridge, 1999, 48-9.
68. R. Owen, 'A description of a portion of the skeleton of the cetiosaurus, a gigantic saurian reptile occurring in the Oolite formations of different portions of England', PGSL (1838-42), 3, 457-62.
69. R. Harkness, 'On the sandstones and breccias of the South of Scotland', QJGS (1856), 12, 254-67.
70. Harkness, op. cit. (58), 267.
71. See note 1.
72. W. H. Fitton, 'Observations on some of the strata between the chalk and the Oxford Oolite in the South-East of England', Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2nd series (1836), 4, 375-81.
73. See Davies, op. cit. (52), 203-4; also Laudan, op. cit. (20), 164.
74. See Davies, op. cit. (52), 203-4; also Laudan, op. cit. (20), 164.
75. See J. Phillips, Memoirs of William Smith, London, 1844, 9 ff.
76. Rudwick, op. cit. (40), 63.
77. Rudwick, op. cit. (40), 64.
78. Rudwick, op. cit. (40), 64.
79. W. S. Symonds, 'On the passage-beds from the upper silurian rocks into the lower old red sandstones, at Ledbury, Herefordshire', QJGS (1860), 16, 193.
80. Jardine, op. cit. (41), 133.
81. F. W. Simms, 'Account of a section of the strata between the chalk and the Wealden clay in the vicinity of Hythe, Kent', PGSL (1843-5), 4, 206.
82. F. W. Simms, 'Account of the strata observed in the excavation of the Bletchingley Tunnel', PGSZ. (1843-5), 4, 257-8.
83. Prestwich, 'On the probable age', op. cit. (35), 369.
84. R. N. Mantell, 'An account of the strata and organic remains exposed in the cuttings of the branch railway...through Trowbridge to Westbury', QJGS (1850), 6, 310-19.
85. See Morrell and Thackray, op. cit. (7).
86. W. Smith, Stratigraphic System of Organized Fossils, London, 1817, pp. v-vi.
87. Morrell and Thackray, op. cit. (7), 338.
88. A. Desmond, Huxley: From Devil's Disciple to Evolution's High Priest, Penguin edn., Harmondsworth 1997, 300.
89. See J. Prestwich, 'Notes on some further discoveries of flint implements in beds of post-pliocence gravel and clay...', QJGS (1861), 17, 366; also J. F. Jamieson, 'On an outlier of lias in Aberdeenshire', QJGS (1859) 15, 132.
90. See J. Prestwich, 'Notes on some further discoveries of flint implements in beds of post-pliocence gravel and clay...', QJGS (1861), 17, 366; also J. F. Jamieson, 'On an outlier of lias in Aberdeenshire', QJGS (1859) 15, 132.
91. See E. Hull, 'On the physical geography and pleistocene phenomena of the Cotteswold Hills', QJGS (1855) 11, 491.
92. E. C. Curwen (ed.), Gideon Algernon Mantell, Oxford, 1940, 208.
93. Desmond, op. cit. (76), 309.
94. G. E. Gavey, 'On the railway cuttings at Mickleton Tunnel and at Aston Magna, Gloucestershire' QJGS (1853), 9, 29-37.
95. See D. Douglas, 'The Durham pitman', in R. Samuel (ed.), Miners, Quarrymen and Saltworkers, London 1977, 211.
96. See A. Secord, 'Corresponding interests: artisans and gentlemen in nineteenth-century natural history' BJHS (1994), 27, 383-408.
97. Secord, op. cit. (83) ; also Curwen, op. cit. (79) - Mantell often purchased fossils from quarrymen and fishermen.
98. Secord, op. cit. (83) ; also Curwen, op. cit. (79) - Mantell often purchased fossils from quarrymen and fishermen.
99. See Rupke, op. cit. (44), 245.
100. A. Trollope, Barchester Towers, repr. Oxford, 1996, 8.
101. See note 51.
102. See B. Colloms, Victorian Country Parsons, London, 1977, 116.
103. H. M. De La Condamine, 'On the tertiary strata and their dislocations in the neighbourhood of Blackheath', QJGS (1850), 6, 440-9.
104. H. M. De La Condamine, 'On a freshwater deposit in the "Drift" of Huntingdonshire', QJGS (1853), 9, 271-4.
105. See Gavey, op. cit. (81), 31.
106. Desmond and Moore, op. cit. (8), 208.
107. J. H. Brooke, Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives, Cambridge, 1991.
108. See Secord, Charles Lyell, op. cit. (20), p. xxiv.
109. C. W. Peach, 'On the fossil geology of Cornwall', Transactions of the Royal Cornwall Geological Society (1846), 6, 236. Original emphasis.
110. Dean, op. cit. (20), 113.
111. Dean, op. cit. (20), 120.
112. Secord, Charles Lyell, op. cit. (20), p. xxxv.
113. See, for example, Rupke, op. cit. (44), 18-19.
114. Desmond, op. cit. (76), 305.
115. K. Lyell (ed.), Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, 2 vols., London, 1881, ii, 129.
116. Curwen, op. cit. (79), 235.
117. Curwen, op. cit. (79), 146, 196.
118. E. O. Gordon, The Life and Correspondence of William Buckland, London, 1894, 30.
119. See Freeman, op. cit. (4), 44.
120. See Freeman, op. cit. (4), 45.
121. See Freeman, op. cit. (4), 38.
122. See H. Jennings, Pandemonium: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers, repr. London, 1995, 212.
123. The idea comes from James Hutton. See his Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Ilustrations, Edinburgh, 1795; see also S. J. Gould, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time, Penguin edn., London, 1991; also Rudwick, op. cit. (21).
124. The idea comes from James Hutton. See his Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Ilustrations, Edinburgh, 1795; see also S. J. Gould, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time, Penguin edn., London, 1991; also Rudwick, op. cit. (21).
125. The idea comes from James Hutton. See his Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Ilustrations, Edinburgh, 1795; see also S. J. Gould, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time, Penguin edn., London, 1991; also Rudwick, op. cit. (21).
126. M. D. Paley, The Apocalyptic Sublime, New Haven, 1986, 148-50.
127. R. Porter, 'Charles Lyell and the principles of the history of geology', BJHS (1976), 9, 100.