In fact, today they are more than 3m above the water line. He deduced that the columns must have been almost fully submerged, and later uplifted. The frontispiece to Volume 1, the Roman Temple of Seraphis in Pozzuoli (near Naples) illustrates his ability to decipher geological events the temple columns, partially submerged in 1828 when he observed them, contain clusters of bivalves about 2.7m above the water line. Although he could remove himself from these Catastrophist reckons, he was acutely aware that some Earth processes can occur rapidly in a geological sense. For Lyell (and Hutton) the upheavals and contortions of the Earth required time beyond reckoning. He championed Hutton’s uniformitarianism and deep time, providing a Gradualist’s antidote to the prevailing Catastrophism. Lyell was a quintessential Victorian gentleman (later a Baron), lawyer, and the most influential geologist of the time. In his delivery speech, Adam Sedgewick (in important personality in 19 th century English geology) even referred to him as the Father of English Geology.įrontispiece (Roman Temple of Seraphis in Pozzuoli) and title page to Lyell’s Principles of Geology, in the 11th Edition 1872. However, a degree of fortune was to return in 1831 when he was celebrated as the first recipient of the Geological Society’s Wollaston Medal. But the undercurrent of insults and condescension, and an even worse indignity, plagiarism, continued. Upon publication, William Smith was celebrated, at least for a brief period. I have seen one of the surviving copies in the Geological Society (London) foyer.
The beauty of the Map lies in its artistry, the intellect behind its construction, and the important scientific and technological advantages of being able to see, at a glance, the geology of an entire county or country. Much of the original work was undertaken while surveying new canals. His rock units, many of which were well known, were defined by lithology and fossil content – fossils were particularly important for correlation. He covered more than 130,000 square kilometres mapping and measuring, collecting thousands of fossils. Its compilation required years of exhausting and costly field work – Smith was not a wealthy man, nor of gentlemanly status. It almost covers an entire wall at about 2.6m high, and 1.9m wide.
Four hundred coloured copies were printed, of which only a few remain.
The Map, the one that changed the world, was published on August 1, 1815. It was the work of one man, with one idea, bent upon the all-encompassing mission of making a geological map of England and Wales” (quoted from Simon Winchester’s excellent account, 2001, p.195). “ It was the work of genius, and at the same time a lonely and potentially soul-destroying project.
William Smiths map published in 1815 – the one that Changed the World:
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