NA TURE 



241 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1876 



GEORGE POULETT SCROPE, F.R.S. 



YET another of the old lights of Geology gone from 

 us I — one that shone out brightly more than half a 

 century ago, and has kept its place and done its work 

 even up to the last. At the ripe age of almost fourscore 

 years, and with his faculties and sympathies still fresh and 

 active, Mr. Scrope has passed away. Living his last 

 years in the quiet retirement of his pretty country-house, 

 he may be said to have taken some time ago his farewell 

 of the scenes of his early scientific friendships. But that 

 he kept up his interest in all his old pursuits was shown 

 by his occasional letters on geological matters, which 

 continued to appear until only a few weeks ago. The 

 friends with whom he corresponded and who saw him 

 from time to time in his retreat will not soon forget the 

 i eagerness with which he listened to every new fact in his 

 i favourite studies, and the friendly and large-hearted libe- 

 f rality with which he stimulated and assisted younger 

 j labourers in his own domain. 



I As far back as the winter of 1 817-18 Mr, Scrope's 

 attention was drawn to geological pursuits by the acci- 

 ' dent of his residence at that time in Italy when Vesuvius 

 • was in a state of constant eruption. Having leisure to 

 .indulge his taste, he gave himself up to the task of watch- 

 ing the progress of the Neapolitan volcano. He was led 

 i to extend his observations to the relics of older volcanic 

 ; vents in the same neighbourhood, and in the following 

 year spent some time among the Lipari Islands and in 

 Sicily. Having now learnt a great deal both of existing and 

 extinct volcanoes, he explored the old volcanic tracts lying 

 to the north of Naples and west of the Appennines, and re- 

 turned to England with a far larger experience of volcanic 

 phenomena than any of his contemporaries possessed. 



In this way he came to recognise how important a part 

 has been taken by volcanic action in the past, as well as 

 in the present, history of the earth. He was therefore 

 naturally surprised to find views of a totally opposite kind 

 not only in vogue, but advocated with a force and per- 

 sistence which refused to consider volcanoes as anything 

 more than modern and abnormal interferences with the 

 settled order of nature, and as of no more real significance 

 than subterranean coal-seams somehow set on fire. These 

 dogmas of the Wemerian school had gained such an 

 ascendency that many staunch adherents of that school — 

 men like G. B. Greenough, the founder of the Geological 

 Society— seemed to regard volcanoes with a kind of 

 personal dislike, and violently opposed any attempt to 

 elevate them into important geological agents. Mr, 

 Scrope, on his return to England, spent some time at 

 Cambridge ; and finding his views supported and encou- 

 raged there, among others by Sedgwick, he determined to 

 iive himself up to the study of a district of extinct vol- 

 canoes, where the phenomena to be observed bore close 

 relation to those of the basalts and similar rocks of 

 Britain and Germany, and where, nevertheless, manifest 

 relics of true volcanic cones and craters existed. He 

 selected for this purpose the marvellously interesting tract 

 J3f Auvergne in Central France, and established himself 

 iJiere in the summer of 1821. - A campaign of six months 

 Vol, XIII.— No. 326 



made him thoroughly familiar with the volcank geology 

 of that region, and enabled him to bring home such a 

 series of pictorial sketches and diagrams as could not, he 

 felt, but carry conviction home to even the sturdiest 

 Wemerian, that the basalt plateaux of Auvergne, instead 

 of being portions of the universal precipitate of a primeval 

 ocean, were in truth only fragments of lava-flows erupted 

 at different times and at different levels in the gradual 

 erosion of the valleys. He prepared a narrative of his 

 researches, and an atlas of most admirable views and 

 sections. But expensive geological works had not yet 

 readily found either publishers or purchasers. He had, 

 therefore, to keep his manuscript beside him for several 

 years. 



Meanwhile, however, the eagerness of his] volcanic 

 quest had by no means abated. Passing from his labours 

 in France once more into Italy, his enthusiasm for vol- 

 canoes blazed out with renewed ardour in the autumn of 



1822, when he had the good fortune to be an eye-witness 

 of the great eruption of Vesuvius, which took place in the 

 October of that year. His views of the general principles 

 of volcanic geology had gradually broadened under the 

 influence of the ample experience which he had now 

 gained. He felt himself not only at liberty, but even 



; called upon to put these views clearly before the world as 

 ; a contribution to sound knowledge and a step towards the 

 I demolition of the pernicious errors still prevalent on the 

 I subject. Accordingly, after his return to this country in 



1823, he prepared, and in 1825 published, a small volume, 

 " Considerations on \'olcainoes." It shared the fate of 

 most books which are far in advance of their time ; that 

 is, it was regarded as crude, extravagant, and theoretical, 

 and gradually suffered to pass out of mind. And yet, 

 turning back to that early volume, and contrasting its 

 earnest and observant pages with other writings of the 

 same date on similar subjects, it is impossible not to 

 admire the keen powers of obser\-ation and the happy 

 faculty of generalisation which its author manifests. 

 Even though some of the speculations are confessedly 

 immature, others have stood well the test of time, and form 

 now part of the familiar knowledge of every geologist. 

 Above aU, it must never be forgotten that in this volume, 

 published before Lyell had written one of his works, the broad 

 principle is laid down that the method of explaining the 

 past geological history of the earth by reference to supposed 

 violent and extraordinary catastrophes or general revolu- 

 tions stops all true inquiry, and effectually bars the advance 

 of science by involving it in obscurity and confusion. Mr. 

 Scrope boldly maintained that instead of such vague 

 guesses as to the possible causes and nature of the 

 ancient changes of the earth, " the only legitimate path 

 of geological inquiry " lay in " examining the laws of 

 nature which are actually in force," and that until existing 

 operations, with all possible variations and every con- 

 ceivable allowance of time, have been proved to be wholly 

 inadequate to explain the past, " it would be the height of 

 absurdity to have recourse to any gratuitous and unex- 

 ampled hypothesis." How truly does this passage express 

 the philosophical stand-point of modem geology ; and 

 yet how rash and " theoretical '' it must have appeared 

 to the first readers of the " Considerations on Volcanoes.'' 

 Mr. Scrope used not unnaturally to think that his earlier 

 writings had not been without their influence in giving 



