Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
form of a single sheet of paper approximately 17 inches by 20 inches in
size. This listed in order thirty-four stratigraphical units and gave the
colours with which they were represented on his map. Information on
their mineralogical constituents and the characteristic fossils con-
tained within themwere given in two additional columns. Soon simi-
lar tabulations of fossils appeared from the pen of other authors.
Among the most attractive was that published in 1853 by the geolo-
gical and cartographic publisher Edward Stanford of Charing Cross
Road in London. This took the form of four fold-out charts mounted on
linen on which the geological time divisions were marked on the left-
hand side, beside which the major lithological formations were given,
together with their thicknesses and physical and palaeontological
characteristics. The remaining three-quarters of the chart was given
over to drawings of fossils by the noted geological illustrator and map
colourist Charles Richard Bone (1809-1875) who worked for the
Geological Survey. The drawings were engraved and compiled by
JamesWilson Lowry (1803-1879) whose sister Delvalle was the author
of several geological texts. By unbinding the four charts from the
confines of their flimsy cover the user could mount them in a poster
arrangement and hang them on their office or laboratory wall to
produce a easily consulted visual guide to the palaeontological succes-
sion of Britain. Similar charts on a smaller scale were made available
in many general texts. Edward Clodd (1840-1930) in the revised 1896
edition of his book The Story of Creation: A Plain Account of
Evolution, a book that proved to be highly popular and helped to
disseminate Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) theory of evolution to
non-scientific audiences, includes such a chart that shows a small
image of Eozoon canadense, 'the Dawn Fossil', propping up the base
of the geological column, with the Irish Elk at the top representing
the Recent (Figure
9.3
). Interestingly, both of these fossils proved to
be problematic. Eozoon, which was considered to be the earliest
known example of life on Earth, became the focus of a major
palaeontological debate in the late 1800s and was later shown to be
of inorganic origin, while the 'Irish Elk' is actually a member of the
