Description
Geology is the most “historical” of the sciences, yet its own history remains largely neglected, especially the many aspects of how geology was practised in the past. This volume analyzes the careers of some important figures in English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish geology between 1750 and 1850. The book includes those who would have regarded themselves as mining engineers (or “coal viewers” as they were then called) or even inventors. Their expertise, in the land which lead the Industrial Revolution, took them all over the world. The practice of geology, through the search for mines and minerals, has been much less attended to by historians than has the geology undertaken by leisured amateurs – even though practical geology was as important in the past as the oil industry is today.
