The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge Through Fieldwork in Nineteenth-Century BritainUniversity of Chicago Press, 1990 M07 25 - 438 pages The Highlands Controversy is a rich and perceptive account of the third and last major dispute in nineteenth-century geology stemming from the work of Sir Roderick Murchison. The earlier Devonian and Cambrian-Silurian controversies centered on whether the strata of Devon and Wales should be classified by lithological or paleontological criteria, but the Highlands dispute arose from the difficulties the Scottish Highlands presented to geologists who were just learning to decipher the very complex processes of mountain building and metamorphism. David Oldroyd follows this controversy into the last years of the nineteenth century, as geology was transformed by increasing professionalization and by the development of new field and laboratory techniques. In telling this story, Oldroyd's aim is to analyze how scientific knowledge is constructed within a competitive scientific community—how theory, empirical findings, and social factors interact in the formation of knowledge. Oldroyd uses archival material and his own extensive reconstruction of the nineteenth-century fieldwork in a case study showing how detailed maps and sections made it possible to understand the exceptionally complex geological structure of the Highlands An invaluable addition to the history of geology, The Highlands Controversy also makes important contributions to our understanding of the social and conceptual processes of scientific work, especially in times of heated dispute. |
Contents
NineteenthCentury British Geology and Its Historiography Some Themes Goals and Methods | 1 |
Early Geological Investigations in the Northwest Highlands | 20 |
Geological Work of Murchison and Nicol in the Northwest Highlands 1850s | 48 |
The Fieldwork of 1859 and the Aberdeen Meeting of the British Association | 74 |
The MurchisonGeikie Tour of 1860 | 91 |
Murchison and Geikie contra Nicol The Establishment of the Northwest Paradigm | 116 |
The Battle Rejoined and the Collapse of the Murchisonian Paradigm | 165 |
Charles Lapworth Digressions and Diversions to the Southern Uplands and the Alps | 209 |
The Professionals Vindicated The Work of the Surveyors in the Northwest Highlands | 258 |
The Impact of the Highlands Controversy on the Progress of the Geological Survey The Wharton Committees Inquiry | 292 |
Issues Methodological Epistemological and Social | 329 |
Glossary | 365 |
Bibliography | 379 |
Index | 403 |
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The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge Through ... David R. Oldroyd Limited preview - 1990 |
Common terms and phrases
Aberdeen amateur appearance Archives Bonney Britain British Association Callaway Cambrian Cnoc an Droighinn coast director Durness and Eriboll Durness Limestone east eastern gneiss Edinburgh evidence examination field fieldwork foliation fossils fucoid beds Geikie's geological community geological map Geological Society Geological Survey geologists Glen Logan granite granulite grit Heddle Hicks Highlands controversy ibid ideas igneous rock Inchnadamph interesting interpretation Judd Knockan Cliff Lapworth letter limestone Loch Assynt Loch Broom Loch Eriboll Loch Maree Logan Rock Macculloch metamorphic rocks minerals modern maps Moine Schist mountain Murchison and Geikie Murchison to Geikie Murchisonian Nicol Northwest Highlands observations paper Peach and Horne pre-Cambrian published quartz rock quartzite Ramsay Red Sandstone red-brown sandstone schist scientific Scotland Scottish Sedgwick seems seen sequence shale Silurian Skye Southern Uplands strata stratigraphical structure suggested Survey's surveyors Sutherland syenite Teall theory thrust plane tion Torridon Sandstone Ullapool unconformity upper views western