M & S Rare Books

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(GEOLOGY). Geology Notes/Text from Mid-19th Century England. Sm. folio. Contemp. cloth backed marbled boards (boards worn), very sound. 175 pp. Hand drawn illustrations. Ink, with pencil corrections. 14 pp. section upside down, and 2 pages in German. A few cut outs. $275.00

 

This notebook contains hand written notes of what seems to be an early English geology text and appears worthy of further study by an expert to determine its scientific subtleties. Apparently corrected at a later date with penciled notations and sections crossed out. Many aspects of basic geology are covered as topics; types of rocks, faults and earthquakes, mechanical action of water, geologic stratification and periods, glaciers, progress of denudation, and so on.�?Most areas mentioned as examples are often locations in Great Britain.

Two pages are in German and mention Francis Edward Suddard; possibly the holder of some patents who was born in Cumberland, England, in 1851. Mention of the Devonian system places the writing to after the mid-1850s. Also, the text reflects certain principles: By the mid-19th century, catastrophism gave way to "uniformitarianism," a new way of thinking centered around the "Uniformitarian Principle" proposed in 1785 by James Hutton, a Scottish geologist. This principle is commonly stated as follows: The present is the key to the past. Those holding this viewpoint assume that the geologic forces and processes - gradual as well as catastrophic - acting on the Earth today are the same as those that have acted in the geologic past.