Controversy in Victorian Geology : The Cambrian-Silurian Dispute

Secord gives a dazzlingly detailed account of this scientific trench warfare and its social consequences.

One ends up with a marvellous feeling for the major taxonomic enterprises in Darwin's younger day: mapping, ordering, conquering 'taming the chaos" of the strata.

All of these of course had social and imperial ramifications; and Secord mentions geology's moral appeal (in supporting a divinely-stratified Creation) to a beleaguered elite intent on subduing the lower orders. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.

These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions.

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