We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
Controversy in Victorian Geology: The Cambrian-Silurian Dispute (Princeton Legacy Library, 61)
Share Tweet
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About Controversy In Victorian Geology: The
Product Description 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 elite intent on subduing the lower orders.Originally published in 1986.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. From Library Journal Believing that the history of science is bound up with the "general social history" of the times, Secord has come up with a fascinating glimpse of a classic dispute between two schools of thought as well as between two men. Although geology students of today probably do not know about the Cambrian-Silurian argument, it stood out as major fracas in British scientific circles in the early years of the last century. Using a mass of letters and other original documents, Secord has neatly set up the backgrounds of the combatants, Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick, and traced their ideas over time. An excellent selection for libraries serving science historians, geologists, and informed lay readers. R.G. Schipf, Univ. of Montana Lib., Missoula Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review "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
