King of Siluria: How Roderick Murchison Changed the Face of Geology - Softcover

John L. Morton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0954682904 ISBN 13: 9780954682903

Publisher: Brocken Spectre Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

This is the story of one of the most successful pioneers of Geology in the 19th century. From joining the Geological Society in 1824, Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871) became its President only seven years later! He went about his investigation of older rocks in Wales and Eastern Europe with boundless energy and was the first to differentiate and name the Silurian, Devonian and Permian periods of geological time. He was commissioned by Czar Nicholas I to report on the mineral wealth of Russia, and undertook in one summer a hazardous journey, by various forms of transport, of over 14,000 miles, from St. Petersburg via the Urals to the coalfields in the south. The Czar rewarded him with a Russian knighthood. He later received a baronetcy from Queen Victoria. To these honours were added a further seventeen major awards from governments and scientific societies across Europe. Murchison was the author of more than 350 publications for a wide range of British and foreign journals; his greatest work was the 768-page 'The Silurian System'. He was also President of the Royal Geographic Society for many years and was a champion of world exploration, including David Livingstone's travels in Africa and Sir John Franklin's search for a Northwest Passage. During the 1849 meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, Murchison led an excursion to the Dudley Caverns, inviting members of the public to join the delegates. Nearly 15,000 people took advantage of his invitation to a lecture on the submarine formation of the rock. He wore for the occasion a high-crowned Tyrolean hat and a shepherd's plaid scarf. He took them to the top of the Wren's Nest, where he was enthroned by the Bishop of Oxford, to everyone's amusement,as 'King of Siluria'. After extensive reearch, John L. Morton has presented Murchison's remarkable lifestory in detail and included forty illustrations, sixteen in colour.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brocken Spectre Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0954682904
• ISBN 13: 9780954682903
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272