Outlines of Geology, the Substance of a Course of Lectures

Outlines Of Geology, The Substance Of A Course Of Lectures by William Thomas Brande. This early 19th-century outline surveys geological science as taught in the Royal Institution, outlining the aims of geology—understanding the earth’s present structure, its history, and the processes that have shaped it—and highlighting its practical uses in mining, water resources, engineering, and agriculture. Brande traces the evolution of geological thought from early theorists such as Burnet and Woodward to Leibniz, Whiston, Mitchell, Whitehurst, Buffon, Pallas, Kirwan, De Luc, and Lehman; reviews the Neptunian and Plutonian schemes and the Wernerian and Huttonian schools; and emphasizes the value of observations over abstract speculation. The volume then explains the science of rocks, their chemical constituents (silica, lime, alumina, magnesia) and the major rock sequences—chalk, green-sand, oolite, lias, red marls, coal measures, mountain limestone, granite, and trap. It closes with discussions of metallic veins, the evidence for the Deluge, and the connections among geology, earthquakes, volcanoes, and human knowledge.