Controversy in Victorian Geology

"This book aims at serious goals and achieves all of them. It provides a fundamentally new interpretation of the Cambrian-Silurian dispute based on exacting research and thoughtful interpretation. It also relates the dispute both to the general social background of British geology and to the distinctive personal experiences of Sedgwick and Murchison. Secord writes clear, vigorous prose and provides plenty of helpful illustrations. One cannot ask for more."--William Montgomery, Science "Secord gives a dazzlingly detailed account of this scientific trench warfare and its social consequences. One ends up with a marvellous feeling for the major taxonomic enterprises in Darwin's younger day: mapping, ordering, conquering--'taming the "chaos" of the strata.' All of these of course had social and imperial ramifications; and Secord mentions geology's moral appeal (in supporting a divinely-stratified Creation) to a beleaguered lite intent on subduing the lower orders."--Adrian Desmond, London Review of Books

• *FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*Illustrations, pg. ix*Preface, pg. xv*Manuscript Sources, pg. xix*Introduction, pg. 1*CHAPTER ONE. Controversy and Classification, pg. 14*CHAPTER TWO. Collaboration and Contrasts, pg. 39*CHAPTER THREE. Cambria and Siluria Established, pg. 69*CHAPTER FOUR. The Spread of Siluria, pg. 110*CHAPTER FIVE. Restructuring Wales, pg. 144*CHAPTER SIX. Revivals of the Cambrian, pg. 173*CHAPTER SEVEN. Professional Geology and the Quest for Priority, pg. 202*CHAPTER EIGHT. The Battle of May Hill, pg. 242*CHAPTER NINE. The Creation of an Alternative, pg. 276*Conclusion, pg. 312*Abbreviations, pg. 319*Bibliography, pg. 321*Index, pg. 349