ABSTRACT
The British geological community in the 1880’s was deeply divided between the ‘professionals’ of the Geological Survey and the so-called ‘amateurs’ in the more traditional mode. Perhaps no one paper produced as much hostility between these two camps as Geikie’s, ‘On the supposed Precambrian rocks of St. David’s’ which was read before the Geological Society of London in the spring of 1883. An intense debate was provoked, the minutes of which were published shortly afterwards in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. Presented here is an unofficial eye-witness account of that meeting, which was taken down in short-hand during the debate itself. It reveals the true vehemence with which the participants exchanged their views, and is fascinating to compare with the published account.
