Post
Happy birthday to geologist Charles Lyell (1797-1875) who in his famous ‘Principles of Geology,’ wrote that to avoid some sources of prejudice in understanding #geology would require an Amphibious Being, who could, say, compare processes happening today on land & those happening below water with what we see in the geological record. 🧵1/n
#linocut #printmaking #histstm #AmphibiousBeing #amphibian #PhilosophyOfScience #EarthScience #imaginaryFriend #geologist #MastoArt
on land & sea. He wrote,
“It should, therefore, be remembered, that the task imposed on those who study the earth’s history requires no ordinary share of discretion; for we are precluded from collating the corresponding parts of the system of things as it exists now, and as it existed at former periods. If we were inhabitants of another element—if the great ocean were our domain, instead of the narrow limits of the land, our difficulties would be considerably lessened; while, on the other 🧵2/
hand, there can be little doubt, although the reader may, perhaps, smile at the bare suggestion of such an idea, that an amphibious being, who should possess our faculties, would still more easily arrive at sound theoretical opinions in geology, since he might behold, on the one hand, the decomposition of rocks in the atmosphere, or the transportation of matter by running water; and, on the other, examine the deposition of sediment in the sea, and the imbedding of animal and vegetable remains 🧵3
in new strata. He might ascertain, by direct observation, the action of a mountain torrent, as well as of a marine current; might compare the products of volcanoes poured out upon the land with those ejected beneath the waters; and might mark, on the one hand, the growth of the forest, and, on the other, that of the coral reef.”
The Amphibious Being is part of my collection of “Imaginary Friends of Science.”
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on land & sea. He wrote,
“It should, therefore, be remembered, that the task imposed on those who study the earth’s history requires no ordinary share of discretion; for we are precluded from collating the corresponding parts of the system of things as it exists now, and as it existed at former periods. If we were inhabitants of another element—if the great ocean were our domain, instead of the narrow limits of the land, our difficulties would be considerably lessened; while, on the other 🧵2/
Likewise the Amphibious Being would be better able to identify #fossils, being familiar with life on land & sea. He wrote,
"It should, therefore, be remembered, that the task imposed on those who study the earth's history requires no ordinary share of discretion; for we are precluded from collating the corresponding parts of the system of things as it exists now, and as it existed at former periods. If we were inhabitants of another element—if the great ocean were our domain, instead of 🧵2/n
the narrow limits of the land, our difficulties would be considerably lessened; while, on the other hand, there can be little doubt, although the reader may, perhaps, smile at the bare suggestion of such an idea, that an amphibious being, who should possess our faculties, would still more easily arrive at sound theoretical opinions in geology, since he might behold, on the one hand, the decomposition of rocks in the atmosphere, or the transportation of matter by running water; &, on the other, 🧵
examine the deposition of sediment in the sea, and the imbedding of animal and vegetable remains in new strata. He might ascertain, by direct observation, the action of a mountain torrent, as well as of a marine current; might compare the products of volcanoes poured out upon the land with those ejected beneath the waters; and might mark, on the one hand, the growth of the forest, and, on the other, that of the coral reef."
🧵4/5
The Amphibious Being is part of my collection of "Imaginary Friends of Science."
https://minouette.etsy.com/listing/1047341467
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