The road to Smith: how the Geological Society came to possess English geology

Knell, Simon

doi:10.1144/sp317.1

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Also his connections led to a suspicion amongst the west coast Scots that he sided with the lairds who were pressing for land reforms. He was increasingly remote from the Society at that time when the full force of palaeontological stratigraphy swept through the geological brotherhood (Knell 2009). MacCulloch was now deemed a conservative.…”

Section: Macculloch and The Geological Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology at the crossroads: aspects of the geological career of Dr John MacCulloch

Bowden

2009

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Dr John MacCulloch MD was a pioneer of geological cartography. Prior to his surveys there had been few attempts to map and survey Scotland. Of these few, only the student efforts of Louis-Albert Necker de Saussure and the published map of Aimé Boué have attempted to show the whole country. MacCulloch's geological map of Scotland, published posthumously in 1836, remains one of the great cartographic milestones in the history of geology. Earlier, MacCulloch was the first government-appointed geologist through his work on the Board of Ordnance whilst carrying out the Millstone, Meridian and Mountain surveys. MacCulloch's work often generated controversy after 1820 when others began to take an interest in Scottish geology. MacCulloch

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Section: Macculloch and The Geological Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology at the crossroads: aspects of the geological career of Dr John MacCulloch

Bowden

2009

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“…The number of papers with content concerning the practical applications of geology was more variable throughout the series, but it approximately halved over the same period. The increase in stratigraphical investigations and the growing interest in organic remains are even clearer: papers devoted entirely to stratigraphy increased from less than onetwentieth to more than one-tenth, and, although there was no interest in organic remains in the first volumes, they accounted for one-fifth of the papers in the fifth volume in 1821 (this transformation is discussed by Knell 2009). In the early years of the Society, there seems to have been little interest generally in fossils and organic remains, apart from the work of James Parkinson, who had already written on the subject and who contributed to the Transactions on the subject again in 1819 (Parkinson 1819).…”

Section: The Geological Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rapid incursion of university men with geological interests, particularly John Kidd, William Buckland and William and John Conybeare at Oxford, had an important effect in the 1810s 6 GSL: First minute book of the Geological Society. (Rupke 1983;Knell 2009). Into the 1820s Cambridge men became more numerous, although only Adam Sedgwick took on a particularly dominant role on the Society's controlling committees and Council.…”

Section: The Geological Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This changing pattern of membership was at the heart of the Society's change of direction, and also, of course, had wider implications for the discipline of geology as a whole, and perhaps most particularly for the highly significant uptake of palaeontological stratigraphy in the Society in 1820s (Knell 2009). However, although the Society's stance altered somewhat during this period, the loss of interest, as a body, in economic and practical geology was an effect of dilution rather than complete displacement, and those geologists and mineralogists with practical and economic interests were able to continue their own work within the Society.…”

Section: The Geological Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Practical geology and the early Geological Society

Veneer

2009

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Historical accounts of the interests and activities of the Geological Society of London have often portrayed the Society as indifferent to practical geology and as being focused instead on fieldwork and gentlemanly debate. However, the Society's founders displayed a wide range of interests in the applications of geology and mineralogy. The British Mineralogical Society had been established in 1799 to elucidate the mineral history of Britain and to amass practical information for the benefit of British mining, and the members of this society later brought with them into the Geological Society their practical and mineralogical interests. Close study of the early projects of the Geological Society shows that the membership at this time had a great interest in the practical applications of geology, and especially mining. However, it is clear that there was a significant change in the Society's programmatic activities in the late 1810s and 1820s, when the Society moved away from practical geology. These changes reflected a changing membership.

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“…The Geological Society started its formal life at 5pm on 13 November 1807 in the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London (Herries Davies 2007;Knell 2009;Lewis 2009). While men were admitted as full Fellows when the Society received its charter in 1825 (Boylan 2009), it took a further 94 years before women were permitted to join and become Fellows.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%