290 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



50. 

 The Geologi- 

 cal Society. 



action against the theorising methods which had come 

 over from the Continent led to the formation of the 

 Geological Society in the year 1807. At that time 

 the war of the Wernerians and Huttonians, or, as they 

 were also called, the Neptunists and Plutonists, was rag- 

 ing in the northern metropolis. The Geological Society 

 of London was established with a view to " multiply and 

 record observations, and patiently to await the result at 

 some future period that is, its founders resolved to apply 

 themselves to descriptive geology, thinking the time not 

 come for that theoretical geology which had then long 

 fired the controversial ardour of Neptunists and Plu- 

 tonists." ^ Fifty years after the formation of this society 



of country life in bygone centuries. 

 The series of letters written be- 

 tween the years 1765 and 1787 

 containing "the observations of 

 forty years," and published, 1789, 

 with the title ' The Natural History 

 and Antiquities of iSelborne,' had 

 the object " of laying before the 

 public his idea of parochial history, 

 which, he thinks, ought to consist 

 of natural productions and occur- 

 rences as well as antiquities." To 

 him " nature is so full tliat that dis- 

 trict produces the greatest variety 

 which is the most examined." He 

 early insists on the necessity of 

 monographs in natural history ; 

 suggests the usefulness of a "full 

 history of noxious insects " ; gives 

 in a series of letters a faithful and 

 minute description of the swallow 

 tribe as they are found in his 

 country ; traverses the Downs of 

 Surrey with a loving eye a hundred 

 years before they became celebrated 

 through the greater Darwin ; makes 

 valuable observations about " earth- 

 worms," suggesting a monograph 

 on them ; suggests, in an age which 

 was governed by the systematising 



mania, that " the botanist should 

 study plants philosophically, should 

 investigate the laws of vegetation, 

 should promote their cultivation, 

 and graft the gardener, the planter, 

 and the husbandman on the phy- 

 tologist," as "system should be 

 subservient to, not the main object 

 of, pursuit." 



1 "The one point the catastro- 

 phists and the uniformitarians 

 agreed ui)on when this society was 

 founded was to ignore it [vi~., geo- 

 logical speculation]. And you will 

 find, if you look back into our re- 

 cords, that our revered fathers in 

 geology plumed themselves a good 

 deal upon the practical sense and 

 wisdom of this proceeding. As a 

 temporary measure I dt) not pre- 

 sume to challenge its wisdom ; but 

 in all organised bodies temporai-y 

 changes are apt to produce per- 

 manent effects ; and as time has 

 slipped by, altering all the condi- 

 tions vi'hich may have made such 

 mortification of the scientific flesh 

 desirable, I think the effect of the 

 stream of cold water which has 

 steadily flowed over geological specu- 



