5-1 Evolutionary Epics

Image: Organic remains restored, Penny Magazine, c1833.

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Based on Stuart Halls introduction to Hall and Gieben (eds) Formations of Modernity(1992), pp.67.

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Based on Stuart Halls introduction to Hall and Gieben (eds) Formations of Modernity(1992), pp.67.

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8Read online at https://archive.org/details/wisdomofgodmanif00ray

9scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim (Each desperate blockhead dares to write), as translated by Philip Francis. From Horace, Epistularum liber secundus |1, 117||47| and quoted in Fielding's Tom Jones; lit: "Learned or not, we shall write poems without distinction.From https://glosbe.com/la/en/

The parts of a watch. Diagram from William Paley Natural Theology, Illustrated by a series of plates, and explanatory notes, by James Paxton (Oxford, 1826).

Paley The watch on the heath (from Natural Theology)

Coalbrookdale by Night, Philip James de Loutherbourg 1801. (Now in the Science Museum, London).Coalbrookdale, near Ironbridge was where Abraham Darby perfected the smelting of iron with coke instead of charcoal.

Image: Lambeth Gas Works, by Gustave Dor

Geology was the big science of the early-nineteenth century, partly because the boom in mining that fuelled industrial revolution which helped create a great interest in the science that would tell people where to dig for more coal, iron and other minerals. The first paid jobs for men of science were at the Geological Survey whose geologists were mainly engaged in mapping Britains mineral wealth. Image: a Government geologist at work, 1830s.

Image: J.C. Bourne Approach to Long Tunnel, near Fox's Wood, Great Western Railway (1846)

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Image: J.C. Bourne Tring cutting (1839)

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Image: J.C. Bourne, frontispiece from The History and Description of the Great Western Railway (1846).

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Image from The little geologist: or first book of geology, by the Rev. T. Wilson. (London: Darton and Clark, c.1830) Whipple Library, University of Cambrige.https://whipplelib.wordpress.com/

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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

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Drawing of a cross-section of land, lying between the Bristol Channel and Jura, by Lady Charlotte Murchison (17881869), a noted geologist in her own right who was married to another British Geologist, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison. http://www.nahste.ac.uk/cgi-bin/view_isad.pl?id=GB-0237-Sir-Roderick-Impey-Murchison-Gen-1867&view=basic

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William Smiths pioneering geological map of Britain.

Science & History: Lecture one outline 32

William Smiths pioneering geological map of Britain (detail).

Science & History: Lecture one outline 33

Siccar Point, eroded gently sloping Devonian Old Red Sandstone layers forming capping over conglomerate layer and older vertically bedded Silurian greywacke rocks.

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Huttons unconformity at Siccar Point. Drawing by Sir James Hull made in 1788 during an excursion lead by Hutton himself (from DallOlio, N. (2004): Vedere il tempo. Linterpretazione dei fossili e degli strati nella scienza tra 600 e 700 (Monte Universit Parma Editore: 257). See more at: http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com

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Among the gentlemen of the Geological Society was Charles Lyell, whose book, The Principles of Geology, Darwin took with him on the Beagle. Lyell wanted to transform geology into something more than merely describing and cataloguing the rocks. He wanted to give a causal account of geology, one that would allow it to become properly philosophical. But at the same time, he had to devise a theory that was as respectable and uncontroversial as possible. The Principles of Geology, was his solution to this dilemma. The picture shows an ancient Roman market at Serapis near Naples (in Lyells day it was thought to have been a temple). The marks on the pillars are damage caused by marine organisms, things like limpets, that have bored into the stone to attach themselves to it. They prove that the building was once underwater, but obviously the Romans didnt build it under water and its now on dry land again. So, either the land had sunk, or the water had risen or both in the last 2,000 years, and then the process had reversed itself, leaving the pillars exposed. However, the most important thing about this picture is that the pillars are still standing, despite having been drowned and then lifted. That proved that there had been no catastrophe; the process must have been incredibly slow and gradual otherwise theyd have fallen down.

Arthur Henry Hallam (18111833), poet and essayist, see: Timothy Lang, Hallam, Henry (17771859), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12002, accessed 5 March 2012]For Tennyson, see: Christopher Ricks, Tennyson, Alfred, first Baron Tennyson (18091892), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27137, accessed 5 March 2012]

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Lewes is 4 miles from the University; the original Iguanodon location is just outside Haywards Heath, about 18 miles north of the campus.

Quote from Mantells Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex (1827) as is the plate of Iguanodon teeth. The other two plates are from Mantells Geology of the SE of England (1833). Both books are in the University Library.

"Reptiles restored, the remains of which are to be found in a fossil state in Tilgate Forest, Sussex" (1833). Painting by George Scharf.

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Passion for seaside natural history: Punch cartoon

The railways brought more people to the sea in the mid-century (and speculating in railway shares was a vital way in which Darwin increased his income).

Even the workers made it to the beach.

Nice day for a row, Punch cartoon.

Victorian steam-powered printing press. New technologies (including cheap, machine-made paper) dramatically reduced the cost of all kinds of printed materials, including newspapers, broadsheets (adverts), magazines, pamphlets and books.

The picture shows a YMCA bookstall. The evangelical revival led to a renewed emphasis on teaching working people to read, so that they could read the Bible and other Christian literature. Protestants traditionally stressed the importance of believers reading the Bible for themselves, and were committed to translating scripture into vernacular language and teaching people to read. As a result, literacy rates were generally higher in Protestant countries than Catholic ones and Britain, despite Britains unusual reformation and the unique nature of the Anglican Church that resulted, was more like a Protestant country than a Catholic one in this regard.

However, growing literacy and increased access to reading materials meant working people could read whatever they liked, including radical scientific ideas that challenged religious orthodoxy.

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W.E. Kilburn (photographer), The Great Chartist meeting on Kennington Common, 9 April 1848. Daguerreotype, Royal Archives.

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5-1 Evolutionary Epics