The earth on show fossils and the poetics of popular science, 1802-1856 /

• Main Author: O'Connor, Ralph.
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.
• Subjects: Geology > History > 19th century. > Great Britain; Geology > Social aspects > History > 19th century. > Great Britain; Geology in literature.; Literature and science > History > 19th century. > Great Britain; Literature and history > Great Britain.; Science > Philosophy > History > 19th century.; SCIENCE > General. > Earth Sciences; SCIENCE > Geophysics. > Physics; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess; MyiLibrary
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 541 p., [6] p. of plates) : ill. (some col.)
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. 455-489) and index.
• ISBN: 9780226616704 (electronic bk.); 0226616703 (electronic bk.)

At the turn of the nineteenth century, geology?and its claims that the earth had a long and colorful prehuman history?was widely dismissed as dangerous nonsense. But just fifty years later, it was the most celebrated of Victorian sciences. Ralph O?Connor tracks the astonishing growth of geology?s prestige in Britain, exploring how a new geohistory far more alluring than the standard six days of Creation was assembled and sold to the wider Bible-reading public. Shrewd science-writers, O?Connor shows, marketed spectacular visions of past worlds, piquing the public imagination with glimpses of ma.