85
Views
10
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Main articles

Sir Archibald Geikie (1835–1924), geologist, romantic aesthete, and historian of geology:

The problem of whig historiography of science

Pages 441-462 | Received 06 Sep 1979, Published online: 22 Aug 2006

  • Geikie , A. 1865 . The scenery of Scotland viewed in connection with its physical geology London
  • Geikie , A. 1897 . The ancient volcanoes of Great Britain Vol. 2 , London and New York
  • For a convenient summary of Geikie's work, see Challinor J. Geikie, Archibald Dictionary of scientific biography Gillispie C.C. New York 1972 5 333 338 which gives a list of the more important secondary sources. Geikie himself wrote a most interesting autobiography: A long life's work: an autobiography (1924, London). A very useful bibliography of Geikie has recently been published: E. Cutter, ‘Sir Archibald Geikie: a bibliography’, J. Soc. Bibl. Nat. Hist., 7 (1974), 1–18. This lists 246 items
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . Text-book of geology London
  • Challinor , J. 1972 . “ Geikie, Archibald ” . In Dictionary of scientific biography Edited by: Gillispie , C.C. Vol. 5 , 335 – 335 . New York The remark is made in reference to the two-volume fourth edition of 1903.
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology New York Charles Darwin as geologist (1977, New York): Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison … (1972, Farnborough); and Types of scenery and their influence on literature (1970, New York).
  • Geikie , A. 1897 . The founders of geology London and New York
  • Agassi , J. 1967 . Towards an historiography of science Middletown first published as ‘Beiheft 2’ of History and theory (1963)
  • The only other monograph specifically devoted to problems in historiography of science with which I am familiar is Finocchiaro M.A. History of science as explanation Detroit 1973 But this volume, written from the stance of a dialectician rather than an historian, has had much less impact than Agassi's study.
  • This process had previously been initiated by Herbert Butterfield in his Origins of modern science: 1300–1800 London 1949
  • It may be noted that in reviewing Towards an historiography of science C. C. Gillispie objected that historians of science were in many instances not guilty of the historiographical solecisms with which they were charged by Agassi (see Isis 1964 55 97 99
  • Butterfield , H. 1931 . The Whig interpretation of history London republished 1973, Harmondsworth
  • For a recent account of the history of Whig historiography, see Blas P.B.M. Continuity and anachronism: parliamentary and constitutional development in Whig historiography and in the anti-Whig reaction between 1890 and 1930 The Hague 1978
  • Geikie , A. 1871 . The Scottish school of geology. The inaugural lecture at the opening of the class of geology and mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh Edinburgh (republished in Geological sketches at home and abroad (1882, London), 286–311); The ancient volcanoes of Great Britain (2 vols., 1897, London and New York), vol. 1, viii–ix; The founders of geology (2nd ed. 1905, London and New York), chapter 9 and passim; ‘The centenary of Hutton's “Theory of the Earth”’, in Landscape in history and other essays (1905, London and New York), 158–197 (originally given as the Presidential Address to the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association in 1892); and ‘The state of geology at the time of the foundation of the Geological Society’, in W. W. Watts (ed.), The centenary of the Geological Society of London, celebrated September 26th to October 3rd, 1907 (1909, London), 107–131.
  • Geikie , A. 1878–80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 219 – 255 .
  • Geikie , A. 1878–80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 220 – 220 .
  • Geikie , A. 1878–80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 221 – 221 .
  • Geikie , A. 1878–80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 222 – 222 .
  • Geikie , A. 1878–80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 222 – 222 .
  • Geikie , A. 1878–80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 223 – 223 .
  • Geikie , A. 1878-80 . The “Pitchstone” (vitreous basalt) of Eskdale: a retrospect and comparison of geological methods . Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh , 5 : 231 – 231 .
  • Ospovat has written widely on this topic. See, for example, his Abraham Gottlob Werner: short classification and description of the various rocks translated with an introduction and notes by Alexander M. Ospovat New York 1971
  • Seddon , G. 1973 . Abraham Gottlob Werner: history and folk-history . J. Geol. Soc. Australia , 20 : 381 – 395 .
  • Consider, for example, the following questions from the M.Sc. examinations in History and Philosophy of Science at University College, London, kindly supplied to me by Dr. W. A. Smeaton: ‘One may be an excellent mineralogist … but if he is to reach a true conception of the structure and origin of the globe he must “Take the world for his parish”’. Discuss this statement with particular reference to the work of Werner and Hutton. [1958] Discuss the statement that the rival theories put forward in the Neptunist-Vulcanist controversy were profoundly influenced by the geology of the localities in which their originators worked. [1961] ‘The geological record furnishes a mass of evidence which no arguments drawn from other departments of Nature can explain away, and which, it seems to me, cannot be satisfactorily interpreted save with an allowance of time much beyond the narrow limits which recent physical speculation would concede’ (GEIKIE, 1892). Set this statement in its historical context in a discussion on the age of the Earth. [1968] The quotation in the first of these questions is actually from Adams's F.D. Birth and development of the geological sciences , 2nd ed. New York 1954 246 246 but it expresses a view that Geikie himself espoused (see, for example, Founders (footnote 6), 206, 213, and the account of von Buch's gradual emancipation from Wernerism on pp. 245–252). Geikie's view of the matter was itself orthodox in British historiography of geology, being evident, for example, in Lyell's Principles (8th ed. 1850, London), 49. The second question meshes well with Geikie's general view that human history and character are related to geographical and geological circumstances, and also with various remarks in Founders (for example, pp. 213–222, 228). In the third question, of course, the quotation of Geikie is perhaps best regarded as a primary, rather than a secondary, source. As such, it is characteristically ‘Geikiean’ in that the ‘departments of Nature’ suggest an economic or bureaucratic metaphor, with the various aspects of Nature likened to the branches of a firm or the divisions of a civil service
  • If we judge by Geikie's autobiography (footnote 3), he was a man of benign temperament, always able to see the best in other men, with a wide circle of friends, and able to smooth over any difficulties in the running of the Geological Survey with a few tactful words. His evident love of Nature would lead us to suppose that he was a man with a ‘beautiful soul’. But Sir Aubrey Strahan, Director-General of the Survey from 1914 to 1920, wrote in his obituary of Geikie that ‘A clear if somewhat cold judgement controlled his actions, but in his biographical work the coldness was masked by a studied kindliness of expression. Though he made many friends at home and abroad, his sympathies with his fellow men were somewhat overshadowed by his love of nature and passion for work. He did not seek collaboration, but preferred to work single handed, nor could he brook criticism’ Annual report of the Smithsonian Institution 1925 Washington 1926 591 598 (p. 598)
  • Geikie , A. 1875 . Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison … based on his journals and letters with notices of his scientific contemporaries and a sketch of the rise and growth of palaeozoic geology in Britain … in two volumes London
  • Geikie , A. 1895 . Memoir of Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay London and New York
  • Wilson , G. and Geikie , A. 1861 . Memoir of Edward Forbes, F.R.S., late Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh Cambridge, London and Edinburgh
  • Geikie , A. 1909 . Charles Darwin as geologist: the Rede Lecture given at the Darwin Centennial Commemoration on 24 June 1909 Cambridge
  • Geikie , A. 1918 . Memoir of John Michell Cambridge
  • Geikie , A. 1899 . “ Summary of the scientific work of Sir Joseph Prestwich ” . In Life and letters of Sir Joseph Prestwich Edited by: Prestwich , G.A. 402 – 421 . Edinburgh and London
  • Hutton , J. 1899 . Theory of the earth with proofs and illustrations Edited by: Geikie , A. Vol. 3 , London
  • 1907 . A journey through England to the Hebrides in 1784 by B. Faujas de Saint Fond: a revised edition of the English translation edited with notes and a memoir of the author by Sir Archibald Geikie Vol. 2 , Glasgow
  • 1910 . Physical science in the time of Nero being a translation of the Quaestiones naturales of Seneca by John Clarke … with notes on the treatise by Sir Archibald Geikie London
  • A full list of Geikie's minor historical writings, including the many obituaries that he wrote, may be found in Cutter E. Sir Archibald Geikie: a bibliography J. Soc. Bibl. Nat. Hist. 1974 7 1 18
  • Elsewhere, I have examined the rise of historical geology in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in relation to the contemporary historicist attitude that was manifest, for example, in the historicist school of law, considering this relationship up to the middle of the nineteenth century. Geikie, I suggest, meshes with an extrapolation of this pattern almost perfectly. See Oldroyd D.R. Historicism and the rise of historical geology History of science 1979 17 191 213 227–257, where I have sought to define the meaning of the term ‘historicism’ in the required context. The same meaning is intended here
  • de Saussure , H.B. 1779–96 . Voyages dans les Alpes, précédés d'un essai sur l'histoire naturelle des environs de Genève Vol. 4 , Neuchâtel 4 vols 474
  • On Lyell's views on the relationship between history and geology see Rudwick M.J.S. Historical analogies in the geological work of Charles Lyell Janus 1977 64 89 107
  • Compare Miller H. Sketch-book of popular geology Edinburgh 1886 1 2 (posth.). Miller wrote: Geological history may be regarded as ending where human history begins. The most ancient portions of one piece on to the most modern portions of the other. But their line of junction is … not an abrupt, but a shaded line; so that, on the one hand, the human period passes so entirely into the geological, that we find our conclusions respecting the first human inhabitants rather on what may be deemed geologic than on ordinary historic data; and, on the other hand, some of the later … geologic changes have taken place in periods comparatively so recent, that … we are able to catch a glimpse of them in the first dawn of history proper—that written history, in whic man records the deeds of his fellows
  • Geikie , A . 1882 . Text-book of geology 24 – 24 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1892 . The teaching of geography: suggestions regarding principles and methods for the use of teachers , 2nd ed. 185 – 185 . London (1st ed. 1887, London)
  • Geikie , A. 1886 . A class-book of geology 476 – 476 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1892 . The teaching of geography: suggestions regarding principles and methods for the use of teachers , 2nd ed. 2 – 2 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . “ The geological influences which have affected the course of British history ” . In Geological sketches at home and abroad 353 – 382 . London (first published in Macmillan's magazine, 45 (1882), 364–375).
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . “ The geological influences which have affected the course of British history ” . In Geological sketches at home and abroad 371 – 371 . London
  • Taylor , T. Griffith . 1958 . Sydneyside scenery and how it came about … Sydney
  • Miller , H. 1886 . Sketch-book of popular geology 87 – 87 . Edinburgh
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist xi – xii . Edinburgh and London Geikie offered a somewhat similar didactic account in a lecture delivered in Manchester in 1872 (‘The ice age in Britain’, in Science lectures for the people, fourth series (1873, Manchester), 1–19).
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 4 – 4 . Edinburgh and London The ‘few extracts from older works’ were analogous to xenoliths, one may suppose.
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 5 – 5 . Edinburgh and London
  • Whewell , W. 1847 . The philosophy of the inductive sciences, founded upon their history , 2nd ed. Vol. 1 , 637 – 637 . London 2 vols
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 181 – 181 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 8 – 8 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1863 . On the phenomena of the glacial drift of Scotland 74 – 74 . Glasgow
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . Text-book of geology 66 – 66 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 164 – 165 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . Text-book of geology 173 – 173 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 261 – 262 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1886 . A class-book of geology 478 – 478 . London See also Elementary lessons in physical geology (1880, London), 365–366.
  • Geikie , A. 1869–70 . Opening address [to the thirty-sixth anniversary meeting of the Edinburgh Geological Society] . Trans. Edinburgh Geol. Soc. , 2 : 1 – 13 .
  • Geikie , A. 1869–70 . Opening address [to the thirty-sixth anniversary meeting of the Edinburgh Geological Society] . Trans. Edinburgh Geol. Soc. , 2 : 12 – 12 .
  • Geikie , A. 1869–70 . Opening address [to the thirty-sixth anniversary meeting of the Edinburgh Geological Society] . Trans. Edinburgh Geol. Soc. , 2 : 9 – 9 .
  • Geikie , A. 1914 . English science and its literary caricaturists in the 17th and 18th centuries … 45 – 45 . Haslemere
  • Geikie , A. 1914 . English science and its literary caricaturists in the 17th and 18th centuries … 45 – 45 . Haslemere
  • Geikie , A. 1869–70 . Opening address [to the thirty-sixth anniversary meeting of the Edinburgh Geological Society] . Trans. Edinburgh Geol. Soc. , 2 : 13 – 13 .
  • Tennyson , A. 1887 . “ In memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII ” . In The works of Alfred Lord Tennyson Poet Laureate 247 – 286 . London and New York (p. 286)
  • See Bailey E.B. Geological Survey of Great Britain London 1952 26 26
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . Text-book of geology 45 – 45 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1875 . Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison … based on his journals and letters with notices of his scientific contemporaries and a sketch of the rise and growth of palaeozoic geology in Britain … in two volumes Vol. 1 , 243 – 243 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1875 . Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison … based on his journals and letters with notices of his scientific contemporaries and a sketch of the rise and growth of palaeozoic geology in Britain … in two volumes Vol. 1 , 182 – 182 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 2 – 2 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 4 – 5 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 299 – 299 . New York
  • The term ‘uniformitarian’ was, of course, coined by Whewell, not Hutton. See Whewell's review of the second volume of Lyell's Principles in Quarterly review 1832 47 103 132 (p. 126)
  • Geikie , A. 1892 . The teaching of geography: suggestions regarding principles and methods for the use of teachers , 2nd ed. 2 – 2 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1892 . The teaching of geography: suggestions regarding principles and methods for the use of teachers , 2nd ed. 132 – 132 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1886 . A class-book of geology 7 – 7 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1892 . The teaching of geography: suggestions regarding principles and methods for the use of teachers , 2nd ed. 182 – 182 . London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 179 – 179 . Edinburgh and London Geikie, we may note, was rather preoccupied with changes in the level of the Firth of Forth at about this period of his life. See his ‘A rise of the coast of the Firth of Forth within the historic period’, Edinburgh new philosophical journal, 14 (1861), 102–112; and ‘The raised beach of Britain, and how Scotland has risen in the world’, Macmillan's magazine, 5 (1862), 311–319. The title of this latter meshes rather well with Geikie's nationalistic zeal.
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 180 – 181 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 180 – 180 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 181 – 181 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1858 . The story of a boulder or gleanings from a note-book of a field geologist 183 – 183 . Edinburgh and London
  • Geikie , A. 1882 . Text-book of geology 3 – 3 . London
  • The ancient volcanoes of Great Britain, the Text-book of geology, and the Class-book of geology all adopt the technique of presenting general principles first, followed by a geological history. Such an approach was, of course, fairly standard in nineteenth-century British texts, though Lyell separated general theory and history into two separate books: Principles and Manual (or Elements). Some writers, however, such as G. G. Richardson, inverted the ‘history’, and worked their way down from the Tertiary Period to the Plutonic rocks An introduction to geology , New edition London 1851 revised and considerably enlarged
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 473 – 473 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 1 – 1 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 299 – 299 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 291 – 291 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 299 – 299 . New York
  • The literature on Hutton in relation to his metaphysics is now growing rapidly. See, for example, Davies G.L. The earth in decay: a history of British geomorphology 1578–1878 London 1969 chapter 6: F. Ellenberger, ‘La métaphysique de James Hutton (1726–1797) et la drame écologique du xxe siècle’, Revue synth., 93 (1972), 267–283; D. R. Dean, ‘James Hutton on religion and geology: the unpublished preface to his Theory of the Earth’, Ann. sci. 32 (1975), 187–193; R. S. Porter, The making of geology: earth science in Britain 1660–1815 (1977, Cambridge), 184–196; and J. E. O'Rourke, ‘A comparison of James Hutton's Principles of knowledge and Theory of the earth’, Isis, 69 (1978), 4–20. By contrast, E. B. Bailey's James Hutton—the founder of modern geology (1967, Amsterdam, London and New York) represents the somew-hat earlier tradition of the scientist/historian, in which emphasis is placed on Hutton as an acute observer. But note that Davies, Ellenberger and O'Rourke are themselves—or have been—practising scientists; so the influence of the general historian is now penetrating beyond the ranks of professional historians of science.
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 385 – 385 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 433 – 433 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 364 – 364 . New York
  • This was in large measure true, despite Cuvier's well-known statement that ‘the thread of operations is … broken; the march of Nature is changed; and none of the agents which she now employs, would have been sufficient for the production of her ancient works’ Cuvier G. Essay on the theory of the earth , 5th eds. Edinburgh and London 1827 24 24 See also pp. 23 and 4–6, where certain features of a ‘uniformitarian’ methodology are manifest.
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 472 – 472 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 473 – 473 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 1 – 1 . New York
  • Geikie , A. 1962 . The founders of geology 3 – 3 . New York
  • Compare Geikie A. English science and its literary caricaturists in the 17th and 18th centuries … Haslemere 1914 45 45
  • In this section, I am drawing on ideas to be found in Condren C. An historiographical paradox European history and its historians McGregor F. Wright N. Adelaide 1977 85 95
  • Agassi , J. 1967 . Towards an historiography of science 5 – 6 . Middletown McKie held the chair of History and Philosophy of Science at University College, London, from 1957 to 1964. Certainly his historiography of science was inductivist in character, according to Agassi's characterization. This led to his being singled out for a rather vicious attack by the philosopher.
  • On this, see The granite controversy: geological addresses illustrating the evolution of a disputant Read H.H. London 1957
  • Really only three pages were devoted to Lyell in The founders of geology Geikie A. The founders of geology New York 1962 403 405 He also wrote two short obituaries of Lyell (Nature, 12 (1875), 325–327; and Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, 25 (1877), xi–xiv); and an essay on his work in Scotland (‘Charles Lyell and Forfarshire geology’, in Handbook and guide to Dundee district (1912, Dundee), 417–422)
  • Butterfield , H. 1955 . Man on his past: the study of the history of historical scholarship Cambridge Incidentally, it is interesting and really quite important to note that in 1944 (in wartime circumstances) Butterfield repudiated his earlier critique of Whig historiography. He wrote: ‘We shall treat … [the Whig interpretation of history] not as a thing invented by some particularly wilful historian, but as part of the land-scape of English life, like our country lanes or our November mists or our historic inns’ (The Englishman and his history (1944, Cambridge), 2; and ‘We will celebrate this whig inheritance of ours with a robust but regulated pride; observing the part which an interpretation of history has played in building up the centuries and creating the England that we know’ (ibid., 4).
  • For an example of an historian of geology formally repudiating the historiographical practices of the scientist/historians, see the preface to Rudwick M.J.S. The meaning of fossils; episodes in the history of palaeontology London and New York 1972

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.