bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fenneman and Bucher: The Early Maturity of Geological Science
Authors: Prager Gerald 
Published: April 2015

The time that elapsed between the arrival of Nevin Fenneman at the University of Cincinnati in 1907 and the departure of Walter Bucher from Cincinnati to Columbia University in 1940 marks a transitional period of intense and fruitful activity in the history of geology. By the 1930's, terminology had become largely standardized, various statistical and instrumental techniques were widely and increasingly available, and enough data had been accumulated to permit the development of more sophisticated syntheses of geological concepts.
Fenneman and Bucher figured significantly in this early flowering of geological synthesis. There were many parallels in their careers: both were born in northern Ohio towns, both served as chairman of the Geology and Geography Department at the University of Cincinnati and as president of the Geological Society of America, and both gained international stature and wide acclaim. The reasons for their success were also similar, inasmuch as both were innovative synthesizers who, during the 1930's, wrote highly influential texts in their respective fields.
In some ways, the thinking of those times was surprisingly modern, and some of the problems addressed by Fenneman and Bucher remain unresolved today. As men whose ideas both molded and were molded by their age, their careers offer instructive insights for a pivotal period in the development of the geological sciences.
Aleksandr Lavrent'yevich Chekanovskiy, Pioneer Geologist and Explorer of North Central Siberia, 1873-76
Authors: Barr William 
Published: April 2015

Aleksandr Lavrent'yevich Chekanovskiy, a Pole by nationality, who had studied geology at the universities of Kiev and Derpt (Tartu), was exiled to Siberia for his participation in the uprisings in Kiev in 1863. Through the intercession of his colleague Friedrich Schmidt, his sentence to hard labour at Padun was repealed in 1868 and he was allowed to move to Irkutsk where he was employed by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society. Over the next few years he carried out extremely valuable geological surveys in the areas around Irkutsk and Ozero Baykal. Probably his major contribution during this phase of his career in terms of paleobotany was the discovery of a new genus of gingkos, namely Czekanowskia Heer.
With the support of the Geographical Society Chekanovskiy next mounted two very important exploring expeditions which focussed on the enormous and largely unknown area of north East Siberia lying between the Yenisey and Lena Rivers. Apart from geographical exploration he and his colleagues also made extensive studies and assembled impressive geological, botanical, and entomological collections. On the first expedition, in the spring and summer of 1873, Chekanovskiy travelled the full length of the Nizhnaya Tunguska River by boat. On the second expedition, which lasted throughout the whole of 1874, he travelled down the Olenek by raft, then explored the lower reaches of the river valley by reindeer sledge. He returned to Irkutsk by sledge in winter. Immediately thereafter, in the spring of 1875, he mounted a private expedition, travelling the full length of the Lena by boat and returning to the mouth of the Olenek to complete his geological and botanical work in that area; he then again returned to Irkutsk in winter.
Shortly thereafter, in March 1876, Chekanovskiy's sentence of exile was repealed and he moved west to St. Petersburg. Apparently depressed by opposition to his plans for yet another northern expedition, to the basins of the Anabar and Khatanga, he committed suicide in October 1876. His vast contribution to the knowledge of the geography, geology, botany, entomology, and ethnography of this vast area of northern Siberia, assembled during a remarkably intensive series of expeditions, has been recognized, if only to a minor degree, by the commemoration of his name in that of the Kryazh Chekanovskogo, the range of hills west of the mouth of the Lena, which he explored.
Alexander Winchell's Preadamites - A Case for Dismissal from Vanderbilt University
Authors: Alberstadt Leonard 
Published: April 2015

Alexander Winchell was hired by Vanderbilt University in 1875, the year the University opened under the jurisdiction of the Methodist Church South. As one of America's leading scientists Winchell was instantly Vanderbilt's most renowned faculty member. The man responsible for assembling Vanderbilt's first faculty, Bishop Holland McTyeire, recruited Winchell fervently. As a leading geologist and biologist Winchell was well published at the time of his hiring. His various beliefs regarding organic evolution, the age of the earth, and its geologic history were spelled out in his papers and books and there seems little reason to believe that Bishop McTyeire and the Methodists would have been in doubt about his views.
While a Vanderbilt faculty member from 1875 to 1878 Winchell's additional writings and some of the lectures he gave became increasingly irritating to segments of the community. Finally, after his publication of Adamites and Preadamites in 1878, he was dismissed. However, this book about the races of mankind seems not to have been the sole reason for his dismissal, although it did serve as a catalyst to bring the entire matter to a head. The Dean of Vanderbilt's Biblical Department, Reverend T.O. Summers may have played a significant role in fostering an environment hostile to Winchell and his science. While appearing to be tolerant Summers may have been working behind the scenes against him. However, there can be little doubt that Winchell's beliefs and teachings regarding the historical development of the world and its inhabitants came to present an embarrassment for the Methodist hierarchy and those in control of the University. Although other "official" reasons were given at the time of his dismissal, the controversy nevertheless, ignited considerable debate and brought unhappiness to many quarters.
The essential tenets of Winchell's scientific beliefs at the time of his coming to Vanderbilt, what he wrote and discussed while at Vanderbilt, as well as the overall circumstances and feelings expressed by those at Vanderbilt are the subjects of this paper.
The Mind's Eye: George G. Simpson's Use of Visual Language
Authors: Laporte Léo 
Published: April 2015

Late in life, the American paleontologist George G. Simpson (1902-1984) remarked that "I compose my writing visually —I think visually, then translate that into words … I visualize at least as much as I verbalize, perhaps more. Even in abstract theory I often visualize first & then describe in words what I saw mentally." In much of his most significant theoretical work, Simpson did indeed use just such visual language to translate his more original concepts and interpretations regarding, for example, statistical inferences about evolving lineages, relationships of spedation to higher taxonomic categories, ratio diagrams of morphological dimensions, and species-density contouring. Simpson's most interesting and innovative visualizations had to do with organism-environment relationships, including adaptive landscapes, prospective and realized functions of organisms and environments, and especially the adaptive grid upon which he summarized his argument for variable rates and patterns of evolution —"tempo and mode" —in response to differing ecological opportunities available to animal and plant species.
"There [is] much evidence that truly productive thinking in whatever area of cognition takes place in the realm of imagery." — Rudolf Arnheim
"Acceptance of the conceptual importance of visual modes of discourse will require a rather fundamental change of intellectual values within the history of science" — Martin Rudwick
"A diagram is no proof! A diagram is no proof!"—Francis Toner
Falsifying Priority of Species Names: A Fraud of 1892
Authors: Weiss Malcolm 
Published: April 2015

In 1891-92, N. H. Winchell and Charles Schuchert were preparing a chapter on Minnesota brachiopods for the Winchell Survey's Final Report on the geology of Minnesota. At the same time, C. W. Hall's Masters degree candidate. F. W. Sardeson, was finishing his thesis, which included some new names of brachiopods. Sardeson had told Schuchert that he would not publish first, but Hall required him to attempt to do so because some of Sardeson's species were from biozones described in a forthcoming paper of which Hall was senior author.
In order to beat Sardeson, Winchell had E. O. Ulrich prepare a short article on new brachiopod names for The American Geologist. A dummy preprint, dated 1 April 1892, was given to Sardeson on that date by Ulrich, who said that they had been mailed out. The article suppressed six of Sardeson's brachiopod names. At Hall's instigation, Sardeson's publication was mailed out on 6 April. Although the 1 April preprint had not been mailed out, a "corrected" preprint of the same, dated 21 April, was.
Sardeson's six species names are therefore still valid, although Winchell's trickery quickly prevailed in the literature. Hall used Sardeson to try to confound Winchell, whom he disliked greatly, but with Ulrich's help Winchell won out anyway.
Silas Watson Ford: A Major But Little-Known Contributor to the Cambrian Paleontology of North America
Authors: Hernick Linda 
Published: April 2015

Silas Watson Ford (1848-1895), telegrapher and paleontologist born in Glenville, New York, in 1848, made significant contributions to Cambrian paleontology from 1871 to 1888. The focus of his work was the allochthonous Taconic rock that lies east of the Hudson River in easternmost New York. His discovery of a ‘Primordial’ fauna in this region was instrumental in helping to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the age of this older portion of the Taconics. While most of his papers were published in the American Journal of Science, a series of seven papers on the ‘Silurian Age’ was published by the New York Tribune in 1879. For this work he was subsequently awarded an honorary master's degree by Union College.Ford was hired by his contemporary, Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927), to work for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1884 to 1885. Highly regarded by James Hall (1811-1898), James Dwight Dana (1813-1895), Joachim Barrande (1799-1883), and many other prominent geologists of the time, he was often consulted for his expertise in collecting and describing Cambrian-age fossils.While Walcott's career continued to flourish, Ford faded into obscurity after 1888. Plagued by personal problems, he was forced to give up his personal library, his fossil collection, and finally, his career. He died in 1895 at the age of 47, with his passing virtually unnoticed by his professional colleagues.
The Rise of the Theory of Differentiation in Igneous Petrology (Part 2 of 2)
Authors: Young Davis 
Published: April 2015

The theory of differentiation dominated igneous petrology between 1880 and 1903. During this period, petrologists eagerly applied insights from the burgeoning field of physical chemistry to account for differentiation. Acceptance of the Soret effect, a mechanism applicable to differentiation of magma in purely liquid condition, prevailed in the early 1890s. As support for the Soret effect eroded after 1893, a wide range of other mechanisms for producing differentiation was proposed including the Gouy-Chaperon effect (gravity stratification of magma), molecular flow in accord with Berthelot's principle, liquid immiscibility, eutectic crystallization, fractional crystallization, electrolysis, magnetic attraction, and circulation of mineralizing fluids. Consensus about the competing mechanisms of differentiation had not been achieved at the beginning of the twentieth century.The development of differentiation theory arose in the context of increased specialization in igneous petrology. Between 1880 and 1903, virtually only petrologists employed by government surveys or academic institutions theorized about igneous rock diversity. The days of chemist, naturalist, or general geologist contributing to petrogenetic theory were behind. Igneous petrology emerged as a specialized discipline because of the influence of physical chemistry on geology, increasingly available chemical analyses, but, above all, because of the dramatic rise of microscopic petrography in the 1870s that led to precise mineralogical and textural description of thousands of igneous rocks, deciphering of the sequence of crystallization, and abandonment of the age criterion in classification.
Development of Hydrologic Concepts in the Northeastern United States
Authors: Johnson Martina 
Published: April 2015

Significant contributions to hydrogeology from the Northeastern United States have resulted from studies of natural phenomena, the occurrence of mineral springs, and two man-made events - the drilling in 1824 of the first fresh water well in the U.S., and the building of the Erie Canal. Development of chemical analytical techniques was prompted by interest in the therapeutic benefits of Saratoga and similar mineral springs, which were used as spas and sources of bottled water. The fundamental concept that the chemical character of ground water is controlled by lithology and by source and movement of water evolved from efforts to explain the origin and chemical differences of springs that were believed to have different medicinal benefits.
The first drilled well, at the mouth of the Raritan River, led to the study of saltwater encroachment in the United States. The concept that explains the relationship between freshwater head and the position of the saltwater interface was developed to explain the ebbing and flowing of the well. Although the early hydrologic work was undertaken primarily by chemists and engineers, it was largely the challenge of understanding the position and movement of the saltwater interface that required the talents of geologists from whose studies evolved fundamental hydrogeologic concepts. Even now, evaluation of the role of the zone of dispersion in diagenesis, ore deposition, and geomorphic processes is at the forefront of hydrogeologic research.
The building of the Erie Canal demonstrated the delicate ecologic balance of water systems and the need to anticipate the impact of man-made structures on this balance. Hydrologic engineering was advanced during its construction owing to the challenge of controlling the volume of water as well as its depth and velocity.
"Gems" from Rensselaer
Authors: Friedman Gerald 
Published: April 2015

This paper complements, supplements, and adds details on nineteenth-century geological pioneers, including faculty, alumni, and sponsors of the Rensselaer School-Institute, now Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York. These pioneers, all from one single university, have no match anywhere in the annals of promoting nineteenth-century American geological education.
Stephen Van Rensselaer's commissioned geological studies were "of greater extent than had ever been offered to Geology" (Barnard, 1839, p. 76), but "the crowning glory of this good man's life" (p. 76) resulted in the founding of the Rensselaer School which by 1839 "furnished to the community more state geologists than has been furnished, in the same time, by all the colleges of the Union" (p. 83). An at-the-time well known but now largely forgotten geologist, was Jeremias Van Rensselaer who in 1825 published one of the first textbooks on geology which attempted to popularize the science. His study, in 1823, on the geology of salt includes descriptions of worldwide deposits.
Details on faculty and students provide an insight on activity which led to rewards almost unmatched in any other single university.
New Frontiers: The Evolution of William G. Tight From Geomorphologist to University President
Authors: Bork Kennard 
Published: April 2015

William George Tight (1865-1910) contributed to our knowledge of U.S. Midwestern drainage patterns and the impact of glaciation on fluvial systems, including the Teays River (Pleistocene; now buried under glacial sediment in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois). In 1901 he accepted the Presidency of the University of New Mexico (UNM). Subsequently, most of his attention was devoted to academic administration, although he managed some investigation of the geology and botany of the New Mexico Territory. He had many successes but ran afoul of political situations that led to his dismissal by the UNM Board of Regents in 1909.
Although elements of Tight's geomorphic work in Ohio were published and his administrative endeavors in New Mexico were well covered by campus newspapers, serious gaps in our knowledge of William Tight exist because a campus fire in 1910 destroyed most of his papers and correspondence. Thus, a full account of his life exemplifies the biographer's task, literal in this case, of sifting through ashes. Just as the geologic column contains breaks, the history of science frequently has its lacunae.
Tight's life as a researcher and administrator is partially visible, thanks to his publications and existing, albeit limited, archival resources. His biography helps us understand the early evolution of glacial geomorphology in the Midwest and the development of a major public university in the Southwest.
The First Danish Deep-Sea Expedition on the Ingolf: 1895 and 1896
Authors: Wolff Torben 
Published: April 2015

The Danish Ingolf Expedition took place in the summer months of 1895 and 1896, with C. F. Wandel as captain, a man with long experience in hydrographical work in the Arctic. The other scientific participants were the zoologists H. Jungersen, W. Lundbeck and H. J. Hansen during the 1895 cruise; C. Wesenberg-Lund replaced Hansen during the 1896 cruise. C. H. Ostenfeld was the botanist and M. Knudsen the hydrographer. The Ingolf (see Figure 1) was a naval cruiser. In both years the voyages were hindered by ice that had moved much further south than normal, even closing most of the Denmark Strait. In 1895, the best results were obtained south of Iceland and in the Davis Strait; in 1896 south and east of Iceland and as far north as Jan Mayen Island. A total of 144 stations were completed, all with soundings, trawlings and (for the first time) continuous hydrographical work associated with the deep-sea trawling (bottom measurements of temperature, salinity, chlorine contents and specific gravity). Eighty of the stations were deeper than 1,000 m. There were more than 800 hydrographical measurements, with about 3,300 registrations recordings added on the basis of the measurements. 138 gas analyses were performed on board with samples from the surface and the sea bottom.
The main result of the expedition was the final demonstration of probably the most important threshold boundaries in the world: the Wyville Thompson Ridge from East Greenland to Scotland with maximum depths of 600 m, separating the fauna in the Norwegian and Polar Sea to the north, always with negative below-zero temperatures except close to the Norwegian coast, from the fundamentally different general Atlantic deep-sea fauna to the south of the ridge with positive temperatures.
The results are published in the Ingolf Report, with fifteen volumes containing forty-three papers by nineteen Danish authors and fourteen papers by six foreign authors. The sieving technique was excellent—due to an apparatus designed by H. J. Hansen that kept the animals under water until preservation and using the finest silk for sieving. In this way, the expedition collected more smaller animals than had been acquired by previous deep-sea expeditions. Hansen's studies of the peracarid crustaceans and parasitic copepods and Lundbeck's report on the sponges were particularly noteworthy. The 130 photographs taken on board and on land by the ship's doctor William Thulstrup represent a cultural/historical treasure.
Proofs and Reputations: Sir James Hall and the Use of Classification Devices in Scientific Argument
Authors: Yearley Steven 
Published: April 2015

The importance of classification and labelling in shaping people's perceptions has long been acknowledged and it is accepted that the imposition of a label can affect how someone is treated. Although the process of labelling has been studied in some areas of society, its role in the scientific community has gone largely unexamined. Labels may well be important though if they are used in the presentation of arguments, particularly over contentious issues.
Sir James Hall (1761-1832), commonly known as the originator of experimental geology and as a prominent member of the Edinburgh Huttonians, is strongly associated with two labels. He has traditionally been presented as either an experimentalist who confirmed the ideas of Hutton or as a Huttonian who deviated from his mentor's scientific system to incorporate diluvialism. Close analysis, however, reveals that his geological work was systematic and not a misunderstanding of Huttonianism. Similarly, it is proposed that Hall's reputations arose from labels used by other scientists in responding to his work. Since enduring reputations may be built up in this way, it is important that historians should be cautious in their acceptance and use of scientists' own labels.
Louis Hunton (1814-1838) - English Pioneer in Ammonite Biostratigraphy
Authors: Torrens H. , Getty T. 
Published: April 2015

In any discussion of the historical development of what was later to be named Biostratigraphy it is often assumed that a modern basis for the subject had already been reached by the cumulative work in the subject up to 1815; culminating in that of William Smith (1769-1839) and Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847). But to this time fossils had only been used to identify (and discriminate between) often repetitive lithological units or to establish a relationship between rock units in different areas. The practical demonstration that particular lithological units could be regularly subdivided with significant consequences, on the basis of their contained fossils was a later achievement over several generations. One of the first to free stratigraphical palaeontology from such a lithological control was the forgotten Englishman Louis Hunton (1814-1838).
In this paper Hunton's origins from a successful alum making family in the north-east of Yorkshire in the north of England and his short life and scientific work are described for the first time. The family business of alum making from the highly fossiliferous local alum shales, which were extracted open-cast, directly introduced Hunton to stratigraphical palaeontology. He followed up this work by study in London, where his pioneering paper was read to the Geological Society of London in 1836. He died less than 2 years later but had helped lay a foundation for major biostratigraphic advances by his insistence that only fossils collected in situ should be used in such work and then that the species, of especially ammonites, in his Yorkshire strata had particularly limited and invariable relative positions within that lithological sequence. His work is also compared with that of his contemporary W.C. Williamson and the conclusion reached that Hunton, because of his emphasis in the merits of ammonites, deserves more to be remembered as a pioneer of Jurassic biostratigraphy.