The Map That Changed the World

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by Simon Winchester


  I wish finally to make mention of my unforgettable tutor at Oxford, the great stratigrapher, field-trip speed-walker, longtime supporter, and friend Harold Reading, who over three long years hammered geology into my head with about the same energy that, in the field, he hammered fossils out of limestones. Harold succeeded, if not in winning me the greatest of all degrees, nor in persuading me to follow a glittering career in oil, or gold, or academia, but in keeping strongly alive my interest in the earth, for all the decades that have passed since he taught me. It is with the deepest gratitude for his wisdom, kindness and friendship, that I dedicate this book to him—the longest of all my essays, and thirty-five years late, but well meant all the same.

  Searchable Terms

  Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

  Accurate Delineations and Descriptions of the Natural Order of the Various Strata That are Found in Different Parts of England and Wales (Smith), 156–57

  Adam brothers, 6, 205

  Adelard of Bath, 122

  Adelphi houses, 6–7, 204–5, 205

  Agassiz, Louis, 295

  Age of Reason, The (Paine), 22

  Agricultural Magazine, 202

  Agriculture, British Board of, 198, 199, 211, 217

  Aikin, Arthur, 225

  Allen, William, 224

  Allen & Hanbury, 224

  ammonites, 189

  descriptions of, ix–xi, 165–66, 172–73, 179–80

  evolution of, ix–x

  found by author, 165–66, 170, 172–74

  illustrations of, ix–xi, 173, 181, 188, 271

  origin of name, ix

  Annalis Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Ussher), 15n

  Anning, Mary, 108–9, 112, 128, 240

  Aptyxiella, 179–80

  Arbuthnot, Charles, 246

  Arkwright, Richard, 17

  Art of Measuring, The (Fenning), 53

  Ashmolean Museum, 35, 179

  Asteroceras, 188, 189

  Austen, Jane, 121

  Baily, Francis, 295

  Baker, George, 299

  Banks, Sir Joseph, 204, 242, 261, 262, 266

  Bounty expedition and, 200

  Geological Society’s dispute with, 227

  WS’s map dedicated to, 220

  as WS’s patron, 149, 200, 201–3, 209–10, 217, 245, 246, 247

  Barne, Barne, 246

  baronets, 277n

  Barry, Edward, 296

  Barry, Sir Charles, 296, 298

  Bath, 51, 59, 95, 101, 114, 115, 118, 146, 148, 161, 169, 180, 181

  Billingsley and Davis’s maps of, 124–25, 127

  hot springs of, 121–22, 208–9, 253

  population of, 122

  Roman naming of, 121

  Warner’s guide to, 214

  Warner’s map of, 148

  WS’s map of, 126–28, 126, 142, 148, 289

  WS’s plaque in, 102, 103

  Bath Agricultural Society, 130, 149

  Bath and West of England Society, 123–24, 129

  Bath Chronicle, 101, 122, 197

  Bath Corporation, 208, 209

  Bath stone, 82, 243

  Bedford, Francis Russell, fifth duke of, 153–55, 205

  estates of, 154, 209

  sheepshearings of, 154–55

  WS’s relationship with, 149, 156, 160, 196, 197, 209

  Beeching, Richard, 79

  Bennett, Etheldred, 110, 113–14, 233

  Berisford, John, 255

  Bevan, Benjamin, 201

  Bible, 12–13, 13, 112, 248

  Big Ben, 296

  Billingsley, John, 124–25, 127

  Birmingham, 24n

  bituminous coal, 48

  bivalves, 71, 111

  Blessed Order of the Visitation, 163

  Bligh, William, 200

  Board of Agriculture, British, 198, 199, 211, 217

  bombazine, 113

  Booth, Junius Brutus, 22n

  Bounty expedition, 200

  Bowdler, Thomas, 260n

  Bowerbank, James, 240

  brachiopods, 33, 71–72

  Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, third duke of, 42–43, 45, 77

  Brisbane, Sir Thomas, 295

  British Association for the Advancement of Science, 292, 294–95, 296, 299

  British Geological Survey, 109

  British Museum, 94, 111, 241, 246, 253, 263

  see also Natural History Museum, London

  Brogden, James, 245–46, 248, 251–52, 261

  Brunsden, Denys, 170n–71n

  Buckland, William, 109, 270–71, 284–86, 287n, 300

  Burdett-Coutts, Angela, 57n

  Burke, Edmund, 22

  Burlington House, see Geological Society of London

  Cambrian epoch, 176n

  Cambridge University, 236, 286

  camera lucida, 281–82

  Camerton & Limpley Stoke Railway (the Clank), 79–82, 80, 83 camlets, 113

  canals, 18, 49, 129, 150, 207

  economic effects of, 43–45

  “mania” for building of, 43–44, 51

  WS as surveyor for, 51–52, 58, 61, 77–78, 83–91, 92–101, 115

  Candler, E., 104

  Carboniferous Coal Measures, 47

  Carboniferous period, 134, 174

  Upper, 64, 76, 83

  Carter, John, 147

  Cary, George, 7

  Cary, John, 6, 142, 144

  as mapmaker, 139–40

  WS’s maps published by, 7, 8, 214–15, 218, 237, 261, 268, 271, 290

  WS’s relationship with, 140–41, 215, 290

  Cary atlases, 7, 8, 139–40, 142, 261

  Cary’s New Itinerary (Cary), 140

  Catalogue of English Fossils (Woodward), 93

  Catalogue of the Organic Remains of the County of Wilts, A (Bennett), 110

  chalk, 52, 132–33, 168, 170, 189–90, 216–17

  Character of Moses Established, The (Townsend), 214

  Chedworth Buns, 29, 93n

  Christian, Fletcher, 200

  chronostratigraphy, 173

  “chums,” 258

  Churchill, xvii, 11, 12, 15–16, 17, 18, 21, 22n, 29, 32, 52, 54, 55, 187, 241–42, 290

  Clarke, Edward, 236–37

  Clink Prison, 254n

  Clipsham stone, 298

  Clunch Clay, 142

  Clypeus ploti, 33, 33, 93n

  coal, 18, 60, 83, 133, 196, 207–8

  bituminous, 48

  effects of mountain-building on, 48–49, 68, 71n

  formation of, 38, 47–48

  map needed for locating of, 47

  miner names for seams of, 70 mining history of, 45–47

  seam depths of, 71–72

  sequence of rock types found near, 49, 71–75

  transportation of, see canals

  coelacanths, 112

  Coke, Thomas William, 20, 149, 151–53, 156

  Collett, Samuel, 161

  Collyweston slate, 187n Combe Down quarry, 243–44, 245, 256, 268

  Conolly, Charles, 212, 243, 245

  Tucking Mill House sold to WS by, 136–37, 256

  WS sent to debtors’ prison by, 255–57, 261

  Conybeare, William, 109

  Cotswold stone, 183–84

  Cottage Crescent, 102

  County Agricultural Report, Somerset, 124–25

  Course and Phenomena of Earthquakes, The (Michell), 94–95

  Court of Common Pleas, 256–57

  Craven Coffee House, 204

  Crawshay, Richard, 210 Creation, 285

  Ussher’s dating of, 12–15, 24, 25, 38n, 41, 69n, 285

  Cretaceous period, 168–69, 170, 179, 216

  Middle, 110

  Upper, 141


  Crompton, Samuel, 17n

  Crook, Thomas, 151, 156

  Cruse, Jeremiah, 197, 203

  Cunnington, William, 113, 115

  cyclothems, 49, 177

  Darby, Abraham, 18

  Darwin, Charles, xvi, 8, 16, 24, 106, 182, 240, 287n, 300

  Darwin, Erasmus, 24 Davis, Thomas, 124–25, 127

  Davy, Sir Humphry, 123, 224

  Debrett, John, 157–60, 196, 201, 210

  Debrett’s Peerage, 158

  debtors’ prisons, 2–6, 3

  description of, 258–59, 260

  see also King’s Bench Prison

  de la Beche, Sir Henry, 109, 296, 298

  Delineation of The Strata of England and Wales with a part of Scotland, A (Smith), xv–xviii, 192–222, 246, 267

  Cary’s topographic map used as base for, 215–16

  color scheme of, 125, 127, 142–43, 144–45, 216

  completion of, 217–19

  delays in work on, 209–10

  description of, xv–xvi, 219

  editions and prices of, 218, 235

  engraving of, 216

  Geological Society delegation’s viewing of, 222–23, 227–28

  Greenough and Hall’s plagiarism of, xviii, 193, 228–31, 234–35, 237–38

  importance and legacy of, xvi–xvii, xix, 7–8

  number of copies of, 20

  precursors to, xiii, 126–28, 126, 142–45, 202

  reasons for making of, 195–97

  sales of, 235, 268 scale and size of, xvi, 215

  Society of Arts prize awarded for, 196, 219

  title of, xvi, 7, 219–20

  WS’s first idea for, 124–25, 138, 161–62

  Derbyshire, 94, 198, 200, 210, 230

  Devonian period, 68, 69, 270, 278

  Dickens, Charles, 122, 206, 254n, 296, 298

  Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), 107, 110, 154, 204, 294n

  Dictionary of the English Language, A (Johnson), 21, 139

  Difficult Times Briefly Investigated, by an Accurate Observer of Passing Events (Smith), 262–63

  Dissenters, 195

  divines, as fossilists, 111

  divine virtue, and placing of fossils, 36

  Dogger epoch, 173n

  Dosse & Co., 256

  Dover, White Cliffs of, 168, 170, 216–17

  Dublin, 265

  Dundry Hill, 131–32

  Dunkerton, 82, 85, 86, 87, 88, 103, 124

  Earth:

  geological questions on age of, 24–26

  tectonic movements and, 48, 68, 116, 116, 175

  Ussher’s dating of, 12–15, 24, 25, 38n, 41, 69n, 285

  East India Company, 111

  echinoderms, 30 echinoids, 33, 40

  Edinburgh, 9, 266

  Edinburgh Review, 267

  Egerton, Francis, third duke of Bridgewater, 42–43, 45, 77

  Egremont, Lord, 196

  enclosure acts, 18–19, 151, 153

  Encyclopædia Britannica, 25n

  England:

  agricultural innovations in, 19–20, 151, 153

  birth and death rates in, 20–21

  class discrimination in, 8, 149–50, 199–200, 225–26, 228

  enclosure acts in, 18–19, 151, 153

  geologic tour of, 166–74, 176n

  industrialization of, 17–18, 45

  Jurassic era location of, 116, 116

  Jurassic rock outcroppings in, 178

  social changes in, 11–12, 15–26

  titled ranks in, 277n

  WS’s surveying expeditions in, 90–91, 92–101, 160, 190, 192, 203, 207, 242

  English Diatesseron (Warner), 114n

  eons, 168n

  epiboles, 168n

  epochs, 168n eras, 168n

  Etruria, 17

  evolutionary theory, 8, 16, 62

  fossil hunting and, 106, 112–13, 118

  Eype, 164, 167–68

  Farey, John, 157, 197–200, 225, 262, 266n

  Greenough aided by, 229, 230–31

  WS’s relationship with, 156, 198–99, 201, 209, 210, 230, 231–32

  Fenning, Daniel, 53

  Fenning, Elizabeth, 53n

  figured stones, 34–35, 39

  Fitton, William, 262, 265–68, 287n

  Floating Egg, The (Osborne), 98–99

  Flood, 39, 40, 214 “Fossilogical Map of Bath and Its Environs, A”(Warner), 148

  fossils, 106–20, 108, 109, 188–89

  collections and collectors of, 106–15, 129–31, 224, 277

  early theories about, 34–41, 112–13

  found or purchased by author, 165–66, 168n, 170, 172–74

  as key to geological dating, 105, 117–20, 168n

  at Natural History Museum, 108, 111, 239–41, 245–50

  at Scarborough City Museum, 275

  used as poundstones and marbles, 28–29, 31, 32–33, 33

  WS’s collection of, 105, 118, 197, 204, 205–6, 222, 227, 240–41, 245–50

  see also specific fossils

  fuller’s earth, 105, 133, 186

  fulling, 104–5

  Garrard, George, 154–55

  “General Map of Strata in England and Wales”(Smith), xiii, 142–43

  General Post Office (GPO), 140

  Genesis, Book of, 16, 39

  Geological Atlas of England and Wales (Smith), 7, 8, 261

  Geological Inquiries, 233

  geological map, Smith’s, see Delineation of The Strata of England and Wales with a part of Scotland, A

  Geological Society of London, 199, 245, 247, 266, 277

  bust and portrait of WS at, 300

  founding members of, 224–25

  rival map to WS’s produced by, 228–38

  size of, 224

  smaller map by WS hung at, 144–45

  William Smith Award of, 170n–71n

  Wollaston Medal of, 281–83, 283, 286–89

  WS belatedly honored by, 238, 279–80, 286–89

  WS denied membership in, 211, 223, 225–26, 228, 279, 286

  WS’s first map hung at, 128

  WS’s geological map hung at, xv–xviii, 220, 300–301

  WS’s geological map viewed by delegation from, 222–23, 227–28

  WS’s “Table of Strata” preserved at, 135, 289 Geological Survey of Ireland, 295

  geological time, 64, 68, 134

  divisions of, 168n, 302

  geology:

  class differences and, 200, 220–21, 225–26, 228, 232–33

  early reference works on, 93–95

  early theoretical work in, 68–69

  first use of term, 25n

  importance of WS’s map to, xvi–xvii, xix, 7–8

  religious dogma challenged by, 24–26

  Rugborne Farm as birthplace of, 61, 62

  social effects of, 16

  as three-dimensional science, 73–74

  WS outpaced by advances in, 292–93

  WS’s introduction to, 27–34

  see also stratification

  George III, King of England, 22, 51

  grace-and-favor lodgings, 203

  Great Oolite, 185

  Greene, Richard, 110

  Greenough, George Bellas, 225, 227, 266, 283, 287n, 300

  background of, 223

  character of, 232–33

  as Geological Society president, 223, 237n, 284

  reputation of, 284

  WS’s battle with, 232–33

  WS’s map plagiarized by, 228–38

 

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