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No abstract available.

Abstract The development of knowledge in erosion and sedimentation parallels the growth of the geological sciences. In his Illustration of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth , Playfair (1802) provides lucid descriptions of erosional processes, illustrating their significance in the evolution of landscapes. Sir Charles Lyell (1830) described in uniformitarian terms the nature and importance of erosion and sediment transport. The power of rain to erode surface materials was discussed by Greenwood in 1857. Reports of the exploration of the American Southwest by the U.S. Geological Survey in the latter half of the nineteenth century are replete with the consideration of the impact of erosion and sedimentation in shaping the landscape. Most notable among these reports are those of G. K. Gilbert, whose keen observations and analytical powers allowed him to develop the basis for many of today’s important concepts in fluvial geomorphology (Gilbert, 1880). As the geological sciences moved into the twentieth century, Gilbert continued to provide theoretical bases for the comprehension of erosional and sedimentary processes. His classic discussion “The transport of debris by running water” was the result of years of flume studies and field observations (Gilbert, 1914). Gilbert’s contributions in this paper include not only a detailed discussion of processes but one of the first analytical statements regarding the impact of man on a fluvial system. Twenhofel’s (1932) famous Treatise on Sedimentation advanced our fledgling knowledge of sedimentary processes. From the field of soil conservation, Bennett (1939) synthesized existing knowledge of the impact of agricultural practices on erosional processes and sedimentation.

Abstract George Bellas Greenough, co-founder and first President of the Geological Society of London, became interested in geology when he went to study law in Göttingen. There he attended lectures given by Professor Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, an admirer of Jean-André de Luc, who greatly influenced Greenough’s geological ideas. Greenough himself was not an original researcher, but saw his scientific task as a most diligent gatherer of information and as a critical and – as he felt – impartial reviewer of his fellows’ research. In 1819 he published a book entitled A Critical Examination of the First Principles of Geology in a Series of Essays . In this book, as well as in many of his numerous private notes, he struggled with the question of how to develop a proper scientific method for the new science of geology, striving for firm principles and definitions as a basis for geological observations. Although he despised theorizing on general principles, especially when it concerned those whom he called the Huttonians or Plutonists, he himself was not free of a theoretical concept in which he judged the validity of data. This bias sometimes became a drag on scientific ‘progress’ because his preoccupation with his own Theory led him to dismiss important developments such as William Smith’s biostratigraphy when they did not fall within his horizon of interest. Thus Greenough, and with him the new Society, was slow to recognize their importance and value.

Abstract The Isle of Arran lies off the Ayrshire coast in the Firth of Clyde, SW Scotland. James Hutton visited Arran in August 1787 with his companion, John Clerk, and together they made the first geological investigation of the island. Hutton returned to Edinburgh satisfied that he had at last found the critical field evidence he had been searching for in support of his ‘Theory of the Earth’. In June 1797, ten years after Hutton's first survey of Arran, Robert Jameson arrived on the island to investigate its geology and mineralogy. Jameson was still only 22 but had already become one of Hutton's most ardent critics. The previous year he had read two papers to the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh refuting critical elements of Hutton's ‘Theory’. Based at Kilmichael, near Brodick, on the east coast, Jameson spent most of June, July and August systematically exploring Arran entirely on foot. On returning to Edinburgh, he combined a narrative of his observations on Arran with an earlier trip to his parents' native Shetland Islands, in what became the earliest published account of the geology of Arran; An Outline of the Mineralogy of the Shetland Islands, and of the Island of Arran (1798). Jameson returned to Arran for a second, shorter visit in August 1799 and subsequently published a second book, The Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles … (1800), which presented a revised and updated geological description of Arran. Jameson's handwritten journals for both his 1797 and 1799 tours of Arran survive. In this paper we draw on these first-hand accounts of Jameson's field observations and discuss them alongside his two subsequent books describing Arran's geology. The journals clearly show that Jameson was an acute observer in the field and consistently made his interpretations in accordance with Wernerian principles. Although he had read the published Volumes I and II of Hutton's ‘ Theory ’, it appears that he had not seen the unpublished Volume III manuscript prior to either tour. Nevertheless, Jameson's exploration of the island closely follows that of Hutton's and they visited many of the same field localities. Here, we use Jameson's Arran journals to retrace his field investigations and discuss them in the light of Hutton's previous work on the island and in relation to Jameson's own Wernerian views. The difference of approach and interpretation between the two in the field on Arran mirrors the wider conflict between Plutonists and Neptunists at this time.