Song of the Earth: Understanding

Geology and Why It Matters Elisabeth

Ervin-Blankenheim
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Song of the Earth
 Song of the Earth
Understanding Geology and Why It Matters

E L I S A B E T H E RV I N -​B L A N K E N H E I M

1
 3
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 For those of all ages
who want to deepen their knowledge of the Earth,
and in particular for my students present and past, you inspire me.
 Contents

Acknowledgments  xi
Introduction: Why Geology?  1
1. Geology Emerges as a Science: European Roots  6
European Scientific Geological Developments  8
Nicolaus Steno  8
James Hutton  12
Abraham Werner  17
Etheldred Benett  19
William “Strata” Smith  21
William Buckland  22
Charles Lyell  25
Mary Anning  27
Louis Agassiz in Europe  31
Early French Geologists  32
2. Geology Emerges as a Science: On the Other Side of the Pond  34
American Scientific Geological Developments  34
Louis Agassiz in the United States  35
James Dwight Dana  37
Sir John William Dawson  37
John Wesley Powell  40
Clarence King  43
Florence Bascom  44
3. Geologic Time: From an Early Geologic Time Scale  47
The Age of the Earth: Geologic Time  47
About the Time Scale of the Earth: Ordering of Events through
Relative Age-​Dating  48
Development of the Geologic Time Scale  52
Abraham Werner and an Early Geologic Time Scale  52
Expansion of the Time Scale of Geology  55
Periods of the Paleozoic Era  55
Periods of the Mesozoic Era  63
Periods of the Cenozoic Era  65
Geologic Eras  67
Measuring Time: The Final Frontier  67
viii Contents

4. Geologic Time: Measuring Time and the Nature of Deep Time  69

Quantifying Time: Numerical Dating  69
Radioactivity and Isotopes: History and Use in Geology  70
The Present Geologic Time Scale  74
Mapping the Geologic Time Scale  78
Deep Time: A New Orientation to Geologic Time  81
5. Plate Tectonics: History of the Revolution in Earth Sciences  82
How the Crust of the Earth Moves: Overview of Plate Tectonics  82
Setting the Stage for Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics  83
Eduard Suess and His Tectonics  85
Antarctic Exploration, the Terra Nova Expedition, and Plate Tectonics  88
Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift  92
Data for Continental Drift  96
Mechanisms for Continental Drift: Early Ideas  101
Post–​World War II Exploration of the Ocean Floor: A Unified
Theory of Plate Tectonics  102
6. Plate Tectonics: Oceans, Continents, Plates, and How
They Interact  114
Plate Tectonics Theory  115
Divergent Plate Boundaries  118
Convergent Plate Boundaries  120
Transform Plate Boundaries  122
Hotspots and Diffuse Boundary Zones  124
Diffuse Boundaries  127
Unknown or Speculative Boundaries  128
Consequences of Plate Tectonics  129
Past and Present Tectonics  132
Tying It All Together  133
7. Life on the Earth: Evolution, Extinctions, and Biodiversity  137
Development and Change of Life on the Earth: Evolution and
Natural Selection  137
Charles Darwin, the Journey of HMS Beagle, and Natural Selection  140
Fossils and Preservation of Ancient Life  145
The Historical “Bone Wars” of Marsh and Cope: Filling Out the
Dinosaur Fossil Record  146
Genes, DNA, and Quantitative Biology  148
Toward a Unified Synthetic Theory of Evolution  150
Horse Fossils, Their Geologic History, and Change in
Environmental Conditions  152
Evolution in Action  154
Extinction Events and Their Impact on Evolution  157
Mass Extinctions  157
 Contents ix

Biodiversity throughout the Geologic Record  160

Unifying Theories and the Future  161
8. The Biography of the Earth: The Precambrian Story  163
Hadean Eon, 4,600–​4,000 Million Years Ago  165
Archean Eon, 4,000–​2,500 Million Years Ago  170
Proterozoic Eon, 2,500–​541 Million Years Ago  173
Snowball Earths and Emergence of More Complex Life  178
9. The Biography of the Earth: Paleozoic Era  181
Cambrian Period, 541–​485.4 Million Years Ago  182
Ordovician Period, 485.4–​443.8 Million Years Ago  187
Silurian Period, 443.8–​419.2 Million Years Ago  190
Devonian Period, 419.2–​358.9 Million Years Ago  190
Carboniferous Period, 358.9–​298.9 Million Years Ago  193
Permian Period, 298.9–​251.9 Million Years Ago  195
10. The Biography of the Earth: Mesozoic Era  200
Triassic Period, 251.9–​201.3 Million Years Ago  201
Jurassic Period, 201.3–​145.0 Million Years Ago  205
Cretaceous Period, 145.0–​66.0 Million Years Ago  207
11. Biography of the Earth: Cenozoic Era  214
Paleogene Period, 66.0–​23.03 Million Years Ago  215
Neogene Period, 23.03–​2.58 Million Years Ago  220
Quaternary Period, 2.58 Million Years Ago to Present  223
12. The Earth’s Impact on Life and Life’s Impact on the Earth  229
The Earth: Interconnected Systems  230
Population Matters  232
Geosphere–​Human Interaction  234
Hydrosphere–​Human Interaction  237
Biosphere–​Human Interaction  241
Atmosphere and Climate–​Human Interaction  243
Interfaces among All Spheres  244
Soils and Their Significance  245
Temperature, Weather, and Climate  247
The Dynamic Carbon Cycle  248
Song of the Earth and Implications  253
Looking Backward to Look Forward  254

Glossary  257
Notes  273
Bibliography  307
Index  337
 Acknowledgments

Writing Song of the Earth has been a journey, one that began relatively recently in
geologic time, when a friend and mentor said to me, “You should write a book.”
This is the book that emerged, as I thought about my teaching experiences in ge-
ology and realized my students and others wanted to know more about the Earth
and why an understanding of geology matters.
Thank you to Oxford University Press, especially Jeremy Lewis, my pub-
lisher, and his capable assistant, Bronwyn Geyer. Without you, Song of the Earth
would not have come forward to be heard. Special thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation for its grant to support this work. The grant allowed editing and fine-​
tuning of the manuscript and provided funds for an illustrator. I am honored to
be a Sloan Foundation grant recipient.
My deepest appreciation goes to my agent, Jeff Ourvan, of the Jennifer Lyons
Literary Agency, who believed in the work and added melody and harmony to
the piece. Thanks to my general editors, who asked questions and provided in-
sight and clarity, especially the ministrations of Jeff Ourvan and Sara Lippincott,
science book editor and formerly nonfiction editor of The New Yorker mag-
azine. Thank you to Michael Signorelli, literary agent with Aevitas Creative
Management, who looked over the initial chapters and provided his input. Thank
you to the biologists and paleontologists who reviewed the manuscript, Louis
Taylor, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Chris Romero, Front Range
Community College. To Heather Hollis, a colleague in my doctoral cohort in ed-
ucational studies, Nova Scotia, I appreciate your fact-​checking of the text and fig-
ures and your attention to detail. Sincere thanks to natural science illustrator and
graphic artist R. Gary Raham, of Biostration, who took my illustration concepts
and brought them to life, and to Nobumichi (Nobu) Tamura, paleoartist, who
kindly permitted me to use his superb life drawings of fossil animals.
As I drafted the manuscript, colleagues and friends provided support and
input as early readers; I thank, in particular, Emily N. Carey, Nancy E. Driver,
Diana Perfect, Sharon Moon, Kristy Wumkes, Joan Letizio, and Mary E. Davis.
To my family who encouraged and cheered me on throughout the process,
Robert L. and Elisabeth T. Ervin, I am very appreciative, and especially to my
husband, Richard E. Blankenheim, for allowing me space and time to research
and write and for having an enduring belief in me and Song of the Earth. I am
eternally grateful. And finally, to the Earth itself, from whence it all arose, I am
thankful to be the one to compose your song through the lens of geology. Indeed,
as philosopher David Hume proposes, “the past is the key to the present.”
 Introduction
Why Geology?

Geology is the language by which the Earth speaks. It is also a philosophy, and
a poetry, offering a perspective on time—​past, present, and future—​through al-
most endless cycles of cataclysm, abundance, and decay. Many readers may have
never given a second thought to geology—​beyond, perhaps, looking at a pecu-
liarly shaped rock or a dramatic landscape and wondering how the feature came
to be—​but the field extends beyond rocks and minerals to a holistic perspective
of the Earth. It illuminates the extensive chronicle of the planet and speaks to the
processes in operation, the interrelatedness of all systems, and the history of life.
Song of the Earth: Understanding Geology and Why It Matters explores the archi-
tecture of the Earth in a way that is comprehensible and meaningful. This book
will illustrate the dynamic interplay of the planet and life on it through the eons
of the Earth.
From the present view, the face of the Earth appears enduring—​continents
are in their places, mountain ranges rise for all time, and vast oceans separate the
Americas from Europe and Africa and Asia from the Americas. However, that
picture differs markedly from the snapshots of the planet’s past. Processes on the
Earth can seem slow and steady, but transformation does not always occur grad-
ually, and time reveals changes in sudden bursts, with dire consequences.
An asteroid the size of Mount Everest struck the Earth 66 million years ago and
not only drastically altered the face of the planet but also caused a mass extinc-
tion of multiple species, including the non-​bird (non-​avian) dinosaurs1 that had
dominated the planet for nearly 200 million years. more recently, in 2004, tec-
tonic plates shifted in the Indian Ocean, dropping the ocean floor and powering
a wall of water, a tsunami that killed a quarter of a million people. Today, ice
sheets and glaciers that were formed up to hundreds of thousands of years ago
are melting and may disappear within the next generation. Unless addressed,
and somehow slowed, this will lead to sea-​level rise, flooding of coastal cities,
the salinization of freshwater, and the destruction of agricultural areas, including
low-​lying deltas which provide food for a significant portion of the world.
The forces of geology are not those that have occurred in primeval times and
are now complete; those processes continue today and will do so into the future.
It is tempting to forget this fact because of the substantial difference between the

Song of the Earth. Elisabeth Ervin-​Blankenheim, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2021.
DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197502464.003.0001
2 Song of the Earth

span of human life and the life of the Earth—​geologic time—​but the human time
frame is an illusion. The discipline of geology offers a unique understanding of
the world drawn from the deep well of geologic time, the longest planetary view,
going back 4.6 billion years. It provides a distinct perspective of life on Earth and
of the Earth itself. Geologic conditions evident today represent just one page in
a book more than 4 billion pages long—​the number of years the planet has been
in existence.
The study of the Earth stands in its own right, even as it owes a debt to as-
tronomy, biology, physics, and chemistry. Geology is a science that lends itself
to the narrative approach. Science educators, such as Jeff Dodick and Shlomo
Argamon, state that the science of the Earth examines “ultimate causes that often
lie very deep in the past, and the effects of which are observed only after very long
and complex causal chains of intervening events.”2
As a discipline, geology is relatively young, discovered and formalized during
the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century in the Western world.
Other societies, particularly indigenous cultures, have profound knowledge
of the Earth, through induction (based on observations) and reasoning, of ge-
ologic forces and ways of working with the environment. These practices and
understandings should be honored but are not covered herein.
My geology students inspired me to write this book, and it is to them and fu-
ture students, those in school and those who are not but love learning, that I ded-
icate it. My journey began with a keen interest in the natural world, leading me
to study archaeology and later geology. After a career as a U.S. Geological Survey
hydrologist and geologist, I became a licensed professional geologist and started
to teach as a second profession and calling. This path led me to realize that my
students required more grounding in the basics of geology and why geology
matters, and thus, this book came about. One methodology of historical science
and geology, in particular, is the use of language and storytelling as a way of un-
derstanding geologic processes and timelines through a narrative lens. When
I speak to people about geology, I tell them stories of the Earth, and often they
are amazed to think that even their backyards reflect millions of years of the bi-
ography of the planet. Likewise, when we walk through the woods and encounter
outcroppings of long-​buried rock layers, we truly are communing across eons of
time, if we learn how to read them.
Song of the Earth begins in ­chapters 1 and 2 by tracing the discovery of geology
through the lives of individual scientists during and after the European age of
Enlightenment. Some readers might wonder, why not start with the dawn of the
planet’s birth? One reason to begin with these snapshots is that it took centuries
for generations of geologists to grasp the story of deep time and the biography of
the Earth; and another is that it becomes more critical that we recognize the role
of humans in both interpreting and affecting the Earth’s destiny.
 Introduction 3

Some critical questions these first chapters address include: How did
geologists unravel clues they observed to figure out what happened to the planet
through time? How did they piece together the arrangement of the continents
over the long history of the Earth? By what methods did geologists begin to un-
derstand the processes that resulted in the way the planet appears today? How
did they differentiate the eons, eras, and periods of the Earth’s history? The biog-
raphies of the scientists presented are distilled to highlight the immense effort
and visionary thinking it took to understand the Earth in a formalized scien-
tific manner. Thus, the stories preserve the historical record and emphasize the
power of both individual lives and collaboration among those working on sim-
ilar questions.
The text then delves into the history and principles of the three overarching
concepts in geology: geologic time in ­chapters 3 and 4; the most recently re-
vealed, plate tectonics, in c­ hapters 5 and 6; and change in organisms through evo-
lution in ­chapter 7. These theories comprehensively explain the Earth’s processes.
The following chapters, 8–​11, elaborate the concepts for each geologic era—​the
Precambrian Supereon and the Phanerozoic Eon, consisting of the Paleozoic,
Mesozoic, and Cenozoic—​from the birth of the Earth through the present day.
These chapters discuss the biography of the Earth. Finally, c­ hapter 12 wraps
up the previous ideas and examines the intersection of geology and humanity,
how the Earth impacts life, and how life impacts the Earth, with an emphasis
on climate change and global processes. Geology can provide a way forward in
thinking about the planet and the challenges presented by the massive changes in
the climate affecting all parts of the Earth.
One might assume that events on the geologic time scale are separate from
individual human experience. However, geology is everywhere; its processes
create the very soil, water, and air from which life springs. Understanding the
Earth is essential on many levels. It is critical in determining the location and ex-
tent of natural resources, the odds of experiencing geologic and related natural
hazards, and, in turn, what the human impact on these is. Understanding the
origins and cycles of economic minerals can lead to better management, more
protection, and sustainable utilization of those resources. Most earthquakes, tsu-
namis, and volcanic eruptions occur not randomly but in association with the
edges of the Earth’s lithospheric plates, which slip and strike and fault and fold
through tectonic forces. Sinkholes and subsidence, problematic soils, floods,
radon emissions, avalanches, landslides—​all are understandable through the
lens of geology. Such knowledge can guide the best selection of business or farm
property, where to live, and where to put a highway or a dam, and it can inform
many other decisions, including preparations to avert natural disasters. Learning
about local, regional, national, and world-​scale processes deepens people’s rela-
tionship with the planet.
4 Song of the Earth

Additionally, a tsunami of climate-​change impacts is heading directly toward

humans and other life on the Earth. These challenges, based on international
assessments,3 entail severe consequences which will directly impact every el-
ement that supports life. Such factors include the air we all breathe, the clean
water that all life needs, the arable land for the food supply that will feed the
growing number of people on the planet (nearly 10 billion by 2050, according
to the United Nations).4 In short, the present state and the future of life itself are
and will be affected by current and future climate change and the actions people
choose to take today.
Geology offers a path of navigation through this coming climate crisis.
Through hard-​won work, geologists have developed a narrative of the planet
throughout the Earth’s long history. Climate events that occurred in the past exist
within the rock record, including warm and hot periods when the amount of
atmospheric carbon dioxide and other gases soared, and periods of great cold
when nearly the entire Earth’s surface froze. Both types of events, especially
the former, have shaped which species survived and which did not. Absorbing
the lessons from geology, in many ways, is a passage back to humanity’s essen-
tial nature, revealing the substrate from which life originated and suggesting
frameworks by which to manage contemporary climate changes.
Hidden within the rocks and the history of the Earth, after all, are the secrets
and keys to surmounting the present challenges to every sphere—​air, water, soil,
and life—​resulting from fluctuations in global cycles because of changes to the
climate. Furthermore, our world, if not the universe, not only reflects such cycles
but also adapts to them: the Earth revolves, and so the sun rises and sets, only to
rise again; volcanoes erupt, and so land is created and subsided, only to return
to magma to be reconstituted. This cyclic perspective, or what might be referred
to over stretches of geologic time as astronomical or planetary impermanence,
can foster a new, more profound relationship with the planet, effecting perhaps a
keener consideration, respect, and care for our shared environment.
Song of the Earth employs the analogy of melody and harmony to explain and
expand on the interconnection of life and the Earth, now and through geologic
time. Recent evidence shows that this analogy may have a physical grounding
in harmonics of the Earth, which can be thought of as the “music of the sphere.”
The planet’s magnetosphere, generated in the interior of the solid Earth, not only
shields organisms on the surface of the Earth from harmful rays by the protective
magnetic field but also appears to act as a musical instrument.
Scientists discovered that the magnetic field responds to the influx of plasma
to the Earth from the solar system with vibrations, much like a drum.5 Not only
does the magnetosphere respond to vibrations, but the Earth’s atmosphere also
has vibrational frequencies called Schumann resonances. These resonances were
theorized in 1952 by German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann.6 However,
 Introduction 5

it was not until the mid-​1960s that scientists were able to measure these low-​
frequency radio waves.7 The waves range from the surface of the planet to the
ionosphere, 96 kilometers (60 miles) high. Some researchers postulate that
organisms respond to the frequencies.8
Our very atoms consist of stardust, and as the renowned planetary scientist
Carl Sagan famously said, “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth,
the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors
of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”9 Stardust makes up the planet it-
self as the aggregation of molten material coalesced when the Earth first formed
4,600 million years ago. Thus, based on the origin of our atoms and molecules,
the substance of life lies far back in the annals of deep time. Planet Earth (color
insert I.1) has been integral to life, including that of humans, as life has been inte-
gral to the Earth in a dynamic interaction punctuated by disasters and quiescent
times, all of which have shaped how the Earth and life appear today. Song of the
Earth is the story of that journey.
 1
Geology Emerges as a Science
European Roots

Our story begins with the history of geology as it was discovered by the Western
scientists who discerned its foundational ideas before the dawn of the twentieth
century. Most early researchers were not geologists, as there was no such formal
discipline, but instead came to ponder the strange workings of the Earth from a
wide variety of backgrounds in science, including medicine, anatomy, and chem-
istry. Even lawyers, ministers, and laypeople contributed to the burgeoning field.
All had in common, however, inquiring minds and a keen interest in the natural
world. Their biographies demonstrate the scope of what one person can accom-
plish, sometimes with quirks, and also how their work overlapped, influenced,
and augmented one another’s findings, particularly during the time when ration-
alism, through the application of modern scientific thought, replaced supersti-
tious notions and verbatim interpretations of the Bible. The science of geology
was built up stone by stone, one might say, through collaboration, argument,
discussion, and the resolution of vital questions. This effort extended from the
birthplace of geology in Europe to the Americas as trade, colonization, and ulti-
mately communications evolved.
The age of exploration and the ensuing Enlightenment of the seventeenth cen-
tury in Europe touched on all scientific endeavors, in particular the desire to un-
derstand the world and nature as a whole. Geology is a young discipline, not
only in obvious terms within the scope of geologic time but also in the context of
how it applies to human applications. It was not until the end of the nineteenth
century, for example, that most of the basic tenets of geology had been estab-
lished. Some fundamental geological advances—​such as determining the age of
rocks by using radiocarbon isotopes which decay at a known and fixed rate or
discerning the movement of plate tectonics—​were discovered only as recently as
the twentieth century.
Queries about the physical nature of the Earth and the remains of organic
life in rocks led to the beginnings of the scientific knowledge of geology. These
two investigative lines merged and split, overlapped and separated, like braided
stream channels that come together and then divide but which share the same
source: how individual layers of rock, known as strata, get deposited and what
fossils indicate about life and rocks.

Song of the Earth. Elisabeth Ervin-​Blankenheim, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2021.
DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197502464.003.0002
 Geology Emerges as a Science: Europe 7

Such luminaries as Leonardo da Vinci and the Danish scientist and bishop
Nicolaus Steno were intrigued by what they observed in the natural environment.
Curiosity about rocks, their placement, and their forms stimulated questions
about what different-​looking layers could imply. Scientists such as these ban-
died about hypotheses and proposed ideas on the origins of rocks and sediments.
Thinking progressed to interpreting the rocks, based on their positions, and the
relationship of one rock unit to another. Steno studied strata and unraveled their
layering, which led to the fundamental principles of stratigraphy—​the branch
of geology concerned with the sequencing of rock units and their deposition—​
still taught today. This work formed the basis of the early geologic time scale.
Another line of interrogation centered on how remains of ocean creatures could
be found in places far removed from the sea, as first noted by Leonardo da Vinci.1
These earliest inquiries preceded James Hutton, who was a Scottish naturalist
and scientist, considered the father of geology. Hutton questioned how quickly
and under what conditions rock layers are deposited, putting together a broader
picture of how the various pieces on the Earth’s surface fit together. He speculated
that heat in the Earth was a significant driver of geologic forces. The next ques-
tion centered on further sequencing of rocks, relating rocks to one another—​the
bailiwick of Abraham Werner, whose studies, a now-​superseded theory known
as Neptunism, in part refined the early geologic timetable. Around the same time
as Werner was examining rocks in Germany, early paleontologists (those who
study fossils), such as Etheldred Benett, began to organize these remains and put
them in a logical order based on early classification systems.
Other scientists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
increasing numbers of whom were women pursued more complex and intricate
fossils. Using fossils to correlate rock layers across large areas of England, Wales,
and Scotland, William “Strata” Smith produced the first detailed geologic map
of all of Britain. William Buckland promoted a catastrophic Noachian flood as
responsible for many strata and the placement of fossils. He theorized, for ex-
ample, that the biblical flood was responsible for the presence of bones in an
English cave. In response to such catastrophic theories of geology, Charles Lyell,
following the insights of Hutton, his fellow Scot, into geologic processes, devel-
oped “uniformitarianism,” a gradualism theory that suggested to an increasingly
intrigued British public that the Earth was shaped by the force and intensity of
the same natural processes observable today.
Animals unknown to the world at the time, swimming marine vertebrates,
were found preserved in the ocean sediments of the Jurassic cliffs of Dorset
by paleontologist Mary Anning. She was an expert at not only locating these
treasures but also mounting and drawing them. Louis Agassiz furthered under-
standing of Earth processes when he observed the presence of immense boulders
from far-​flung places and theorized that glaciers deposited them, intuiting that
8 Song of the Earth

an ice age must have covered much of northern Europe. Surficial geological
studies were carried forward by Archibald Geikie, who founded the discipline
of geomorphology, the study of the deposits and processes that operate on the
Earth’s surface. French naturalists, in particular Georges Cuvier, made critical
contributions to paleontology, the field of geology that studies past life forms and
fossils, and along with Alexandre Brongniart, he drafted the first geologic map of
the Paris Basin.
As the stories of the early geologists emerge, they carry interwoven ideas fun-
damental to geology, which in turn are primarily categorized by unfathomable
stretches of time—​deep time. How geology rose as a science is a remarkable feat,
and the stories of its pioneers humanize a field that can seem dry and unremark-
able to the uninitiated. Moreover, telling the history of geology through the lives
of its founders is a way to appreciate how a time of significant scientific advance-
ment intersected with the lives of fascinating individuals to create the bedrock
concepts of the field. We live on the Earth, and it sustains us. Could any other
science intimately affect life and, in turn, be affected by it?

European Scientific Geological Developments

Nicolaus Steno

Nicolaus Steno (1638–​1686, also known as Niels Stensen, the name given to
him at birth, or alternatively by his Latinized name, Nicolaus Stenonius) was
born in 1638 in Copenhagen, son of a Lutheran goldsmith. He was in poor
health in his early years and thus developed strong friendships with older
friends of his family, rather than the traditional childhood companions, and
these older friends encouraged in him a serious cast of mind. Steno studied
medicine and in 1660 went to Amsterdam to further his training with anat-
omist Gerard Blaes (Blasius). There he discovered the parotid duct, which
conveys saliva to the mouth from the parotid gland known to this day as ductus
stenonianus (he was given full credit after his mentor tried to claim the find as
his own). After a stint in Leiden and in Paris, Steno was summoned to Italy by
Grand Duke Ferdinand II to become a member of the Accademia del Cimento,
an early scientific society.
In 1666, a giant great white shark was caught by a fisherman in the
Mediterranean and came to the attention of the grand duke. Steno was asked
to dissect the shark and became enthralled with its thirteen rows of teeth. He
intuited that the teeth resembled tongue stones (glossopetrae) (figure 1.1) that
had been discovered high above sea level in layers of rock.2 Steno was not the
first to relate the glossopetrae fossils to the teeth of living sharks, but he confirmed
 Geology Emerges as a Science: Europe 9

Figure 1.1 Steno’s drawing of shark dissection and fossil teeth. (Steno, 1667, tab. IV,
fol. 90)

the idea with his anatomical study, publishing his results in 16673 along with
the illustration of the dissection and examples of the glossopetrae.4 After that,
scientists viewed fossils as the remains of ancient animals preserved in layers
of sediment. Steno hypothesized that the ancient teeth found in sediments had
been transformed into stone by the process of “corpusculization,” whereby the
“corpuscles,” or molecules, of the original material were replaced by those of
minerals. Why these stone teeth were found so far above the ocean was another
question. Steno reasoned that either the sea long ago must have risen, spreading
across the land, or the ocean floor had been uplifted to form a new land sur-
face. If the latter was true, then environmental conditions must have changed
drastically.
Steno made other observations critical to the development of the field of ge-
ology. In 1669, following his report on the shark teeth, he wrote De solido intra
solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus (The Prodromus to a
Dissertation Concerning Solids Naturally Contained within Solids),5 a study of
rocks around the area of Tuscany. He noted the relationships of strata, or rock
layers, to one another and started to develop the basic principles of stratigraphy,
10 Song of the Earth

the study of the sediments and sedimentary rock layers of the Earth. Geologists
continue to rely on these principles today.
Steno’s principle of superposition, one of the six he discovered, holds that the
oldest rocks are found on the bottom of a sequence of layers and the youngest
at the top, if undisturbed by any other processes. This idea seems obvious now,
but at the time, it was revolutionary because it introduced the association of one
layer to another and gave rise to the concept of the ordering of deposits based
on age.
His principle of horizontal layering states that all sediments, other factors being
equal, are laid down horizontally under the influence of gravity. Accordingly,
if the layers are not horizontal but are tilted or folded, other processes must
have come into play. In his principle of lateral continuity, Steno also noted that
sedimentary beds cover extensive areas that initially extended laterally in all
directions. It thus follows that rock layers appearing similar but separated by, for
example, later river erosion were, at the origin, continuous. Moreover, if another
feature shapes or cuts across a sequence of beds, that feature is determined to be
younger—​leading to his principle of cross-​cutting relationships (which Steno in-
itially termed his principle of shaping or molding linked with the principle of up
and down).
Steno reasoned that a scientist could unravel the geologic history of an area by
examining and theoretically removing one layer of strata at a time from the top
of the stack of rocks (the youngest) to the bottom of the stack (the oldest layer),
resulting in his principle of reconstruction (or back stripping). This concept (figure
1.2) shows the most recent condition (20 in the figure). By peeling off one layer
and then the next one through the entire sequence, a scientist can arrive at the ar-
rangement of the layers (25 in the figure) at an earlier time and thus understand
the geologic processes that have occurred.
Steno, among his many talents, was a mineralogist, and he developed one
other stratigraphic principle, the principle of included fragments (alternatively
called the principle of inclusions). The idea is that if a fragment of another min-
eral or rock is found within a sedimentary rock, it must be older than the rock
it is contained within. As he developed his principles, Steno also theorized how
fossils came to be located within rocks, speculating that at one time, the rock ma-
terial was liquid and settled out of the ocean in layers, thereby trapping animals
to create fossils.
Steno’s theories sometimes are called laws, but it is more accurate to refer to
them as principles. Laws are statements or rules mathematically expressed that
appear to be without exception at the time and have become consolidated by
repeated testing, for example, Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. Principles, on the
other hand, are guiding ideas and theories about phenomena demonstrated with
Figure 1.2 Steno’s principle of reconstruction. (Steno, 1916 [1669], p. 226)
12 Song of the Earth

a preponderance of the evidence. They may or may not be able to be expressed

mathematically, such as Steno’s principle of superposition.
Steno’s stratigraphic ideas still are taught and have been fundamental to the
understanding of geologic time. His work and research gave rise to a type of
dating of geologic materials—​relative age-​dating—​determining the ordering of
strata based on how the layers are associated with one another and in time. In this
type of age-​dating, fossils were first used to formulate the geological time scale.
Steno converted to Catholicism, and he became a priest in 1675. He took a
vow of poverty upon his ordination and, in 1677, was made the titular bishop of
Titiopolis, a city from the fallen East Roman Empire in modern Turkey that no
longer exists. Following his conversion, Steno embraced poverty and pursued
an ascetic life, selling anything he could to contribute to the poor. He became
debilitated and emaciated from his self-​imposed austerities and died at the age of
forty-​eight in 1686. Other scientists of the time discounted Steno’s work because
of his religious conversion. However, although he left his scientific career behind,
he did not abandon science. His biographer, Jens Morten Hansen, states:

To his death Steno considered scientific knowledge to be the highest praise to

God, and he claimed that religious speculations should not have authority
above scientific arguments.6

Steno has come to be recognized as the first in the modern world to illuminate
the significance of fossils and placement of strata, not only securing his place in
the history of geology but also heralding the arrival close to a century later of the
“father of geology.”

James Hutton

James Hutton (1726–​1797), considered the father of contemporary geology, was

a Scottish scientist born in 1726. He was a gradualist, believing that Earth forces
worked slowly over time and in cycles, as contrasted with catastrophes, such as
the biblical story of the Great Flood. In his younger years, Hutton studied med-
icine and became a physician; he pursued scientific inquiries about the Earth
his entire life but did not publish his findings until the age of sixty. Hutton lived
and worked during the Scottish Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century
and was a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin, David Hume, and Adam Smith.
He, along with Franklin, Hume, Smith, John Playfair, and other notables, was
a founding fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) in 1783, created by
royal charter for “the advancement of learning and useful knowledge,” which
met in its early days at the Edinburgh University Library.
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discovering and taking these outlaws, and any who might harbour
them, in order to their being brought to justice. This effort, however,
seems to have been attended with no good effect; and in the ensuing
July, the duke wrote to the general, expressing his ‘free consent that
application be made for taking off the sentence of fugitation’ against
six associates of the assassins—namely, 1724.
John Macpherson in Bellachroan; Elias
Macpherson in Coraldie; Alexander Macpherson, nephew to
Killihuntly; William Macpherson, son to Essick; Donald
Macpherson, son to John Oig Macpherson in Muccoul; and Lachlan
Macpherson of Laggan, provided they delivered up their arms, and
promised to live as obedient subjects to King George in future. His
Grace at the same time expressed his opinion, that it was ‘absolutely
necessary for the peace of Badenoch’ that the three principals in the
attack on Glenbucket should be brought to justice. The general
accordingly ordered fresh and vigorous efforts to be made for the
apprehension of these persons.[595] We learn from Burt that they were
ultimately forced to take refuge in foreign countries.

The people of Edinburgh were regaled Apr. 8.

with the amusing spectacle of a bank beat
through the city, by permission of King George, for recruits to the
king of Prussia’s regiment of ultra-tall grenadiers. Two guineas of
earnest-money were administered. A local chronicler assures his
readers, that ‘those listed are men of such proper size and good
countenances, as we need not be ashamed of them in foreign
services.’[596] A recruiting for the same regiment is noticed in
Edinburgh four years later.

The Rev. Mr J. Anderson, in a letter of Apr. 10.

this date, gives Mr Wodrow an account of a
dumb gentleman, a Mr Gordon, who attracted great attention on
account of the knowledge he appeared to have of things not patent to
ordinary observation, and with which he had no visible means of
becoming acquainted. The powers of clairvoyance occasionally
attributed in old times to dumb persons have already been adverted
to. Gordon, who was a man of respectable connections, and seventy
years of age, a widower with three grown children, and supported
chiefly by going about among his friends, had thoroughly excited the
wonder of Mr Anderson.
A lady, missing some brandy, asked Mr Gordon who had taken it;
‘upon which he went to the kitchen, and brought up one of the maid-
servants, to whom, before her lady, he signed that she had stolen the
keys of the cellar and taken it away ... the servant was forced to own
all.’
On another occasion, ‘a gauger coming in, whom he had never
seen before, he signed before the company 1724.
present what was his business; that he had
been a soldier, and how long he had been a gauger in this country,
and how long in Fife, and that he had once been suspended, and
again reponed, with several other particulars, which astonished the
man, who owned all to be truth.’
‘A child of seven years of age engaging one of the company to play
with pins at Heads and Points, the person soon got all his pins, the
child having no skill to hide them. The lady, the mother of the child,
told the person in jest she would win back the child’s pins; and,
Gordon drawing near, he still directed her how to lay when the other
person was hiding, and she never failed to win till all were got back....
When he gets money from ministers, he very oft signs whether they
give it out of their own pocket or out of the poor’s box.... To a
minister’s family here he signed, when he came to the house, where
he was, and sometimes what he was doing—particularly at a certain
hour, if he was shaving; which, upon the minister’s return, he owned
to be true.’
Some, adds Mr Anderson, ‘think he has converse with a familiar
spirit; and it’s certain that dumb people have frequently been their
tools.’[597]

There was profound peace, and the May.

seasons for twelve years past had been
favourable; yet we hear at this time of a general poverty in the land,
and that, too, from a reporter in the neighbourhood of Glasgow,
where, if anywhere, there had been some fruitful industry in
consequence of the Union. Mr Wodrow’s statements are, indeed, to
be taken with some caution, as his views of national wellbeing are apt
to be distorted by his fears regarding changes of religious feeling and
practice. Still, the picture he draws must have involved some, though
not the whole truth.
He tells that under this peace ‘we are growing much worse. The
gentry and nobility are either discontent or Jacobite, or profane; and
the people are turning loose, worldly, and very disaffected. The
poverty and debts of many are increasing, and I cannot see how it
can be otherwise. There are no ways to bring specie into this country.
Trade is much failed [the tobacco-trade of the Clyde had temporarily
declined under the malignant efforts of the English ports]. Any trade
we have is of that kind that takes money from among us, and brings
in French brandy, Irish meal [oatmeal was but fourpence a peck],
tea, &c. Unless it be a few coals from the 1724.
west [the coal-field of Ayr and
Renfrewshires], and some black-cattle from the south [Galloway],
and many of these are not our breed, but Irish, I see no branch of our
business that brings in any money. The prodigious run of our nobility
and gentry to England, their wintering there, and educating their
children there ... takes away a vast deal of money every year. It’s
plain we are overstocked with people, considering their idleness, and
that makes the consumpt very great;’ which ‘will infallibly at length
impoverish us. To say nothing of the vast losses many have sustained
by the South Sea, York Buildings, our Fishing Company, and other
bubbles. The Lord, for our sins, is angry, and frowns upon us, in
outwards [i. e., outward circumstances].’[598]
In the district of Galloway (Kirkcudbright and Wigtonshires),
where the basis of the population is Celtic, the idleness and
consequent poverty of the people was peculiarly great. There was a
prodigious number of small tenantry, of very indolent character, and
who were accustomed to ‘run out’ or exhaust their land to the last
extremity, cropping it two years for one of lea, of course without
manure, and being at the same time generally several years behind in
their rents. It was a state of things very like what our own advanced
age has been fated strangely to see prevalent over large tracts of
Ireland and of the Highlands of Scotland—a fearful misapplication
and misplacement of human nature, with frightful natural
consequences in chronic misery and disorganisation. The landlords,
anxious to introduce a better system, began to subdivide and enclose
their lands, in order to stock them with black-cattle, and to eject
tenants hopelessly sunk in idleness and poverty.
Among those ejected on the estates of Gordon of Earlstoun and the
Viscountess Kenmure, were two farmers of better means, whose only
fault was that they would not engage for the solvency of their sub-
tenantry; and these two now banded together to support each other
in keeping possession of their holdings. Others readily came into this
covenant. A common sense of suffering, if not wrong, pervading the
country, raised up large bands of the miserable people, who,
deeming the enclosures a symbol of the antagonist system, began to
pull these down wherever they came. ‘Their manner was to appoint a
meeting on Tuesday, and continue together till Thursday, and then
separate. They prepared gavelochs [levers] 1724.
and other instruments, and did their work
most dexterously. Herds and young boys first turned over the head
and loose stones; then the women, with the hand and shoulders,
turned down the dike; the men came last, and turned up the
foundation.’ A band of thirty of the Levellers, as they were ominously
called, went to Kirkcudbright, and there published a manifesto,
declaring the government of the country to be now in the hands of
the tenantry, and ordering all who had any debates to come to them
and get them determined.
The gentlemen of the district, irritated, and to some extent
alarmed, called in a military force under Lord Crichton and a French
Protestant refugee officer, Major Du Carry, to preserve the peace.
The lairds of Heron and Murdoch, and Gordon of Earlstoun, were for
strong measures; Murray of Broughton and Colonel Maxwell inclined
to leniency and persuasion. Seven or eight of the ringleaders being
taken up, a sort of fiery cross went through the country on the
ensuing day, though a Sunday, ordering the people to assemble at
three points for their defence; and a stand was actually made by
about thirty against the attack of the troops. One of the gentlemen of
the district had a horse wounded under him by a rioter. It seems to
have been a fierce and determined encounter on the part of the
Levellers; but it ended, as such encounters always end, in the defeat
of the insurgent party, of whom sixteen were taken prisoners. As
these were being carried away, a mob of women, strong in their
weakness and their misery, assailed the soldiers, and one sprang like
a wildcat upon a trooper, but only to be trampled under his horse.
The soldiers succeeded in lodging their prisoners in Kirkcudbright
tolbooth. At the trials which ensued, ‘those who had any funds were
fined; some were banished to the plantations; others were
imprisoned. A respectable man, of the name of M‘Laherty, who lived
in Balmaghie parish ... on his being brought to trial, one of the
justices admired a handsome Galloway which he rode, and the
justice told him, if he would give him the Galloway, he would effect
his acquittal, which he accordingly did.’[599]
These severities brought the levelling system to a close in the
stewartry of Kirkcudbright; it was kept up for some time later in
Wigtonshire, but gradually died away there also. The country was left
in the hands of the gentry and soldiery, without any effectual remedy
being applied to the evils out of which the 1724.
dike-breaking had sprung. Herds of
miserable people continued going about Galloway, a subject of
painful but fruitless compassion to the rest of their countrymen.[600]
A venerable gentleman, just quoted, was able, in 1811, to give the
following striking picture of the general manner of living of the
Galloway rural population of 1724. ‘The tenants, in general,’ he says,
‘lived very meanly on kail, groats, milk, gradden grinded in querns
turned by the hand, and the grain dried in a pot, together with a
crock ewe[601] now and then about Martinmas. They were clothed
very plainly, and their habitations were most uncomfortable. Their
general wear was of cloth, made of waulked plaiding, black and white
wool mixed, very coarse, and the cloth rarely dyed. Their hose were
made of white plaiding cloth, sewed together, with single-soled
shoes, and a black or blue bonnet, none having hats but the lairds,
who thought themselves very well dressed for going to church on
Sunday with a black kelt-coat of their wife’s making.... The distresses
and poverty felt in the country during these times ... continued till
about the year 1735. In 1725, potatoes were first introduced into the
stewartry [of Kirkcudbright] by William Hyland, from Ireland,[602]
who carried them on horses’ backs to Edinburgh, where he sold them
by pounds and ounces. During these times, when potatoes were not
generally raised in the country, there was for the most part a great
scarcity of food, bordering on famine; for in the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright and county of Dumfries, there was not as much victual
produced as was necessary for supplying the inhabitants; and the
chief part of what was required for that purpose was brought from
the sand-beds of Esk in tumbling cars, on the Wednesdays, to
Dumfries; and when the waters were high by reason of spates—there
being no bridges—so that these cars could not come with the meal, I
have seen the tradesmen’s wives, in the streets of Dumfries, crying
because there was none to be got. At that period there was only one
baker in Dumfries, and he made bawbee baps of coarse flour, chiefly
bran, which he occasionally carried in creels to the fairs of Urr and
Kirkpatrick. The produce of the country in general was gray corn,
and you might have travelled from Dumfries to Kirkcudbright, which
is twenty-seven miles, without seeing any other grain, except in a
gentleman’s croft, which, in general, 1724.
produced bear or bigg for one-third part,
another third in white oats, and the remaining third in gray oats. At
that period there was no wheat raised in the country: what was used
was brought from Teviot; and it was believed that the soil would not
produce wheat.... Cattle were very low. I remember being present at
the Bridge-end of Dumfries in 1736, when Anthony M‘Kie, of
Netherlaw, sold five score of five-year-old Galloway cattle in good
condition to an Englishman at £2, 12s. 6d. each; and old Robert
Halliday, who was tenant of a great part of the Preston estate, told
me that he reckoned he could graze his cattle on his farms for 2s. 6d.
a head—that is to say, his rent corresponded to that sum.’[603]
 Allan Ramsay, in some jocular verses, July 6.
compliments Mr David Drummond,
advocate, for the victory he this day gained as an archer, in ‘shooting
for the bowl’ at Musselburgh. The old gentleman had gained the
prize of the silver arrow exactly fifty years before. These trivial facts
suggest the existence of what was called a Royal Company of Archers
all through the reigns of Anne and the first George, a sodality
composed almost exclusively of the Jacobite aristocracy, and, in fact,
a sort of masked muster for the cause of the exiled Stuart. Besides
private convivial meetings, where doubtless much enigmatical
affection for the old line of princes found vent, there was an annual
meeting for a shooting-match, attended by a showy procession
through the streets of Edinburgh, in order to impress the public with
an idea of their numbers, and the rank and influence of the
members. They had their captain-general, usually a nobleman of the
highest rank; their first and second lieutenant-generals, their
adjutant, and other officers; their colours, music, and uniforms; in
short, a pretty effective military organisation and appearance. The
dress, which they innocently believed to be after the ancient Roman
model, was of tartan trimmed with green silk fringe, with a blue
bonnet trimmed with green and white ribbons, and the badge of St
Andrew in the front; their bows and swords hung with green and
white ribbons; the officers being further distinguished by having the
dress laid over with silver lace. The cavalier spirit of Allan Ramsay
glowed at seeing these elegant specimens of the Aristoi of Scotland
engaged at butts and rovers, and often poured itself forth in verses to
their praise. Pitcairn, Sir William Bennet of 1724.
Grubbet, and Sir William Scott of
Thirlstain, were equally ready to celebrate in Latin sapphics their
contentions for the bowl and silver arrow at Musselburgh—drolly
translated Conchipolis in their verses. There was a constant and
obvious wish on the part of the society to look as ‘braid’[604] as
possible, and so let the world slily understand how many men of
mark were in their hearts favourable to the still hoped for
restoration.
The Royal Company had a particularly ostentatious parade in
Edinburgh on the 10th of July 1732. Having assembled in the
Parliament Square, a party of thirty-six was despatched under the
Earl of Wemyss to the Duke of Hamilton’s lodging in Holyrood, to
bring up the standard, on which, besides other insignia, was depicted
the national lion ramping in gold, with the significant motto, ‘Pro
patria dulce periculum.’ They then marched through the city to the
Links in the following order, as described by a sympathising
contemporary record:
‘The Duke of Hamilton, captain-general, preceded by the Lord
Bruce on horseback, with fine Turkish furniture, who acted as major-
general in absence of the Earl of Crawford; next, the music,
consisting of trumpets, hautboys, cors-de-chasse, alternately playing
the proper march of the company, and answered by nine drums (all
in the company’s livery), and they again by the music-bells. Mr David
Drummond, advocate, president of the council; Sir Archibald
Primrose of Dunipace, and William Sinclair of Roslin, brigadiers, at
the head of the first brigade. My Lord Viscount Oxford, brigadier,
marched up the second brigade; my Lord Kinnaird, brigadier, the
third; George Lockhart of Carnwath, brigadier, the fourth. The Earl
of Wigton, second lieutenant-general, before the colours, which were
carried by the Earl of Cassillis; and the Lord Rollo, supported by the
Earl of Kilmarnock, and Master Thomas Lyon, brigadiers, led up the
centre brigade; David Smith of Methven, brigadier, the sixth brigade;
Sir Robert Stewart of Tillicultry, brigade the seventh; the eighth and
last brigade by the Lord Cranston, brigadier, followed up by James
Hepburn of Keith, and the Lord Gairlies, brigadiers, and closed in
the rear by the Earl of Wemyss, first lieutenant-general; Colonel
John Stewart, brother to Grantully, and Arthur Forbes of Pittencrief,
acting as adjutants-general, on horseback, on the wings of the several
brigades.
‘In front of all marched the several 1724.
decked horses, and other equipage, &c., of
the several officers, which, being very rich and magnificent, made a
very fine show; and after them, the silver arrow, carried by the
company’s officer.
‘There was on this occasion an infinite crowd of spectators, who
came from all quarters to see this splendid appearance, and who
expressed their satisfaction by loud acclamations.
 ‘The lord provost and magistrates saw the procession from a
window, and were saluted by the several officers, as did General
Wade from a balcony in the Earl of Murray’s lodgings. The governor
of Damascus came likewise to see the ceremony. Betwixt one and two
o’clock, the company arrived in the Links, whence, after shooting for
the arrow (which was won by Mr Balfour of Forret), they marched
into Leith in the same order; and after dinner, returned to the city,
and saw acted the tragedy called Macbeath.’[605]
It is very sad to reflect how the Earl of Kilmarnock and some
others of this noble company came to ruin a few years after by
carrying the play a little too far.

The magistrates of Edinburgh issued an July 15.

edict proceeding upon a recital that
disturbances have arisen, and may further arise, from gentlemen
carrying firearms, and their servants wearing dirks and broadswords,
in the streets, a practice ‘contrary to the rules of decency and good
order;’ wherefore it was now strictly forbidden.[606] It is to be
remarked that in this prohibition there is no notice taken of the
swords worn by gentlemen.

The danger arising to the government July.

from having a rude people of disaffected
sentiments and hardy warlike character seated in the north-west
parts of Scotland, was now brought before it with sufficient urgency
to cause the adoption of remedial measures. An effectual disarming
act, the raising of armed companies in the pay of the government, the
completion of a line of forts, and the formation of roads by which
these should be accessible and the benefits of civilisation imparted to
the country, were the chief means looked to for doing away with the
Highland difficulty. A sensible English officer, General George Wade,
was sent down to act as commander-in-chief of the troops in
Scotland, and carry these measures into effect.
If we may believe a statement which there 1724.
is all reason to believe except one—the
character of its author, who was no other than Simon Lord Lovat—it
was high time that something was done to enforce the laws in the
Highlands. In William’s reign, there had been an armed watch and a
severe justiciary commission; but they had long been given up; so,
after a temporary lull, things had returned to their usual course. The
garrisons at Fort William, Killicummin, and Inverness proved
ineffectual to restrain the system of spoliation, or to put down a
robbers’ tax called black-mail [nefarious rent], which many paid in
the hope of protection.
The method by which the country was brought under this tax is
thus stated: ‘When the people are almost ruined by continual
robberies and plunders, the leader of the band of thieves, or some
friend of his, proposes that for a sum of money to be annually paid,
he will press a number of men in arms to protect such a tract of
ground, or as many parishes as submit to pay the contribution. When
the contributions are paid, he ceases to steal, and thereby the
contributors are safe. If he refuse to pay, he is immediately
plundered. To colour all this villainy, those concerned in the
robberies pay the tax with the rest, and all the neighbourhood must
comply, or be undone.’[607] Black-mail naturally prevailed in a
marked manner in fertile lowland districts adjacent to the Highlands,
as Easter Ross, Moray, and the Lennox.
Directly with a view to the prevention of robberies, and the
suppression of this frightful impost, the government established six
companies of native soldiery, selected from clans presumedly loyal,
and respectively commanded by Lord Lovat, Sir Duncan Campbell of
Lochnell, Colonel Grant of Ballandalloch, Colonel Alexander
Campbell of Finab, John Campbell of Carrick, and George Monro of
Culcairn. The whole, consisting of four hundred and eighty men,
were dressed in plain dark-coloured tartan, and hence were called
the Reicudan Dhu, or Black Watch. Burt reports an allegation, that
one of the commanders [Lord Lovat?] used to strip his tenants of
their best plaids, wherewith to invest his men at a review. On the
other hand, there were men of such birth and breeding in the corps,
that they had gillies to do drudgery for them. They were posted in
small parties throughout the more lawless parts of the country, and
are represented as having been reasonably effective for their
purpose.
For the disarming of the disaffected clans, 1724.
Wade had his six native companies and four
hundred troops of the line ready at Inverness to proceed with the
work in June 1725; but the riot about the malt-tax at Glasgow
delayed his measures, and it was not till the 10th of August that he
marched in force towards the rendezvous of the Mackenzies at
Brahan Castle. The heads of the clan saw it to be necessary to obey,
or to appear to obey, and also to promise that in future the rents of
their chief, the forfeited Earl of Seaforth, should be paid to the state,
instead of to Donald Murchison. The general on his part allowed
them to understand that, very probably, if they made this
submission, their chief would be pardoned and restored. One little
concession they had to ask from the English general—let him spare
them the humiliation of delivering their arms in the presence of the
Reicudan Dhu. To this the general consented. He sent the native
loyalists to guard the passes to the westward.
It must have been a solemn and interesting sight to an English
officer of impressionable feelings, if such a being then existed, when
the troops took up their position in front of that grand old Highland
fortress, amidst scenery of the most magnificent kind, to receive the
submission of a high-spirited people, who had resisted as long as
resistance was possible. First came the gentlemen or duine-wassels,
about fifty in number, to pay their respects to the general. Then
followed in slow procession along the great avenue, the body of the
clansmen, in parishes, forty or fifty in each, marching four and four,
and bringing their arms on horses. On arriving in front of the house,
they unloaded and deposited the weapons, drank the king’s health,
and slowly turned away.[608] ‘The chiefs of the several tribes, and
other principal gentlemen of the country, dined the same day with
the general, and great civilities and mutual assurances of good offices
passed on both sides. They promised the general that the rents of the
estate should be punctually paid to the crown, for the use of the
public, and a dutiful submission [rendered] to his majesty’s
government.’[609] Weapons to the number of 784 were given in; but in
reality they were only the oldest and most worn of the arms
possessed by this great clan. Donald Murchison had taken care
previously to gather up all their best arms 1724.
into some central store unknown to the
government.[610]
 Following this example, and partly, it is alleged, induced by little
favours extended or promised by the general, the rest of the Jacobite
clans, the Macdonalds, Camerons, Macleods, &c., made an
appearance of surrendering their arms at various appointed stations
during the autumn. The entire number of articles given in was 2685.
The total expense of the collection was about £2000, and the general
gives us an idea of the true state of the case, beyond what he
possessed himself, when he tells us that the articles for the most part
were worth little more than the price of old iron.
General Wade received submissive letters from many of the chiefs
and others who had been in the insurrection of 1715, all professing
anxiety for pardon, and promising a quiet life in future. There was
none more submissive than one from Rob Roy, who contrived to
make it appear that his treason was against his will. ‘It was my
misfortune,’ says he, ‘at the time the Rebellion broke out, to be liable
to legal diligence and caption, at the Duke of Montrose’s instance, for
debt alleged due to him. To avoid being flung into prison, as I must
certainly have been, had I followed my real inclinations in joining the
king’s troops at Stirling, I was forced to take party with the adherents
of the Pretender; for the country being all in arms, it was neither safe
nor possible for me to stand neuter.’ Of course, this was meant by
Rob as merely a civil apology for deliberate rebellion. To give it
confirmation, he told the general: ‘I not only avoided acting
offensively against his majesty’s forces upon all occasions, but, on the
contrary, sent his Grace the Duke of Argyle all the intelligence I could
from time to time, of the situation and strength of the rebels; which I
hope his Grace will do me the justice to acknowledge.’ It is to be
hoped that Rob was not here so dishonest as to speak the truth.
There is ample reason to believe that the frank English general was
imposed upon by the professions made by the Jacobite chiefs, for he
reported to government that disaffection was much abated, and
interested himself zealously for the pardon of several of the attainted
gentlemen.

A poor woman named Margaret Dickson, an inhabitant of the

parish of Inveresk, was tried under the act of 1690 for concealment
of pregnancy in the case of a dead child. A 1724.
defence was made for her that she was a
married woman, though living separate from her husband; but it was
of no avail. A broadside—which proceeds Sep. 2.
upon a strong approval of the text, that ‘the
works of God are works of wonder, and his ways past finding out’—
gives a minute recital of the circumstances of her execution in the
Grassmarket; how the hangman did his usual office of pulling down
her legs; and how the body, having hung the usual time, was taken
down and put into a coffin, the cooms of which were nailed fast at the
gibbet-foot. It then proceeds. ‘Being put into a cart, to transport her
corpse to be interred in the churchyard of Inveresk, whither the
magistrates had allowed her friends to carry her, there happened a
scuffle betwixt her friends and some surgeon-apprentices and others,
their accomplices, on this side of the Society Port. One, with a
hammer, broke down one of the sides of the cooms of the chest;
which, having given some air, and, together with the jolting of the
cart, set the blood and vitals agoing. The people intrusted with
transporting her body having stopped at Peffermill to take a
refreshment, and left her upon a cart in the highway, two joiners,
from curiosity, came from a house to view the coffin, and, to their
surprise, heard a noise within. Acquainting the persons concerned,
they proposed to open the other side of the cooms of the chest,
which, after some opposition, was agreed to. The coom being taken
off, they perceived her to draw up her limbs. One Peter Purdie, a
practitioner of phlebotomy, providentially breathed a vein, from
which streamed blood, which recovered her so far, that twice she
said: “O dear!” Being brought to her feet, she was supported by two
to a brae-side, where the blood returned to her lips and cheeks,
which promised a sudden recovery. Being laid upon blankets in a
corn-cart, her head and body upheld by a woman, she was driven to
Musselburgh, where she remained, at the magistrates’ command, all
night; had restoratives and means of sustenance given her; was
visited by Mr Robert Bonally, one of the ministers of that place, who
prayed over her; and next morning was laid in a bed in her brother
James Dickson, weaver, his house, whither a great many flock every
day to see her, and not a few gave her money. She had little
appearance of recovering her health or senses next day, and cried out
to let her be gone, for she was to be executed on Wednesday, but is
now pretty well—only complains of a pain in her neck. She went to
church on Sunday last, and heard sermon, where the people were so
anxious to see her, that the minister was 1724.
obliged to conduct her out of the
churchyard to keep her from being trodden down by the multitude.
She still remains in a hopeful way of recovering strength and
judgment. May this amazing dispensation of Providence be
sanctioned to her, and teach all who shall hear it to act a needy
dependence upon, and live to the glory of God, to whom belong the
issues of life and death!’[611]
Another brief chronicler of the time informs us, that Maggie
devoted the Wednesday ensuing upon that on which she was
executed to solemn fasting and prayer, in gratitude for her
deliverance, and had formed the resolution so to employ each
recurring Wednesday during the remainder of her life.[612] It is also
stated that her husband, struck with a forgiving interest in her, took
her ultimately back to his house. She lived to have several children
creditably born, and cried salt for many a day through the streets of
Edinburgh, universally recognised and constantly pointed out to
strangers as ‘Half-hangit Maggie Dickson.’

At the village of Gilmerton, four miles to the south of Edinburgh,

the soft, workable character of the sandstone of the carboniferous
formation, there cropping to the surface, tempted a blacksmith
named George Paterson to an enterprise of so extraordinary a
character, as to invest his name with distinction in both prose and
rhyme. In the little garden at the end of his house, he excavated for
himself a dwelling in the rock, composed of several apartments.
Besides a smithy, with a fireplace or forge, there were—a dining-
room, fourteen and a half feet long, seven broad, and six feet high,
furnished with a bench all round, a table, and a bed-recess; a
drinking-parlour, rather larger; a kitchen and bed-place for the
maid; a liquor-cellar upwards of seven feet long; and a washing-
house. In each apartment there was a skylight-window, and the
whole were properly drained. The work cost the poor man five years
of hard labour, being finished in the present year. Alexander
Pennecuik, the burgess-bard of Edinburgh, furnished an inscription,
which was carved on a stone at the entrance:
‘Here is a House and Shop Hewn in this Rock with my own Hands.
 George Paterson.

‘Upon the earth thrives villainy and wo,

But happiness and I do dwell below;
My hands hewed out this rock into a cell,
Wherein from din of life I safely dwell:
On Jacob’s pillow nightly lies my head,
My house when living, and my grave when dead:
Inscribe upon it when I’m dead and gone:
“I lived and died within my mother’s womb.”’

It is kept in remembrance that Paterson 1724.

actually lived and practised his calling in
this subterranean mansion for eleven years. Holiday-parties used to
come from the neighbouring capital to see him and his singular
dwelling; even judges, it is alleged, did not disdain to sit in George’s
stone-parlour, and enjoy the contents of his liquor-cellar. The
ground was held in feu, and the yearly duty and public burdens were
forgiven him, on account of the extraordinary labour he had incurred
in making himself a home.[613]

The idea of improving agricultural implements was hitherto

unheard of in Scotland; but now a thrashing-machine was invented
by Mr Michael Menzies, a member of the Scottish bar. On his
request, the Society of Improvers sent a deputation to see it working
at Roseburn, near Edinburgh; and these gentlemen reported upon it
favourably.[614] I am unable to say whether it was identical with a
thrashing-machine advertised in July 1735, as to be had of Andrew
Good, wright in College Wynd, Edinburgh; one to thrash as much as
four men, £30; one to do as much as six, £45; and so on in
proportion, ‘being about £7, 10s. for each man’s labour that the
machine does, which is but about the expense of a servant for one
year.’ It was held forth, regarding this machine, that for the driving
of one equal to four men, most water-mills would suffice, and one so
working was to be seen at Dalkeith.[615]
It would appear, however, that the idea of a machine for thrashing
had, after this time, completely fallen out of notice, as the one which
has long been in use was, in its original form, the invention of
Michael Stirling, farmer at Craighead, in the parish of Dunblane,
who died in 1796, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.
‘This venerable man, when in the prime of life, had a strong
propensity to every curious invention; and, after much thought and
study, he prepared and finished, in 1748, a 1724.
machine for thrashing his corn. The axis of
the thrashing-board was placed perpendicular, and was moved by an
inner wheel on the same axis with an outer one that went by water.
The men stood round about these boards like lint-cleaners, each man
with his sheaf, and performed the work with great rapidity [at the
rate of sixteen bolls of oats per diem]. Mr Stirling’s neighbours were
by no means struck with the invention, but laughed at it, and called
him a maggoty fellow. The wonderful powers of the machine,
however, drew the attention of strangers, who came and picked up
models, and so were enabled to erect others both in Scotland and
England.’[616] Subsequently, Mr Meikle, at Alloa, obviated the
inconvenience of the perpendicular arrangement of the axis, by
laying it down in a horizontal form.
A machine for the winnowing of corn was, as far as can be
ascertained, for the first time made in this island by Andrew Rodger,
a farmer on the estate of Cavers in Roxburghshire, in the year 1737. It
was after retiring from his farm to indulge a bent for mechanics, that
he entered on this remarkable invention, and began circulating what
were called Fanners throughout the country, which his descendants
continued to do for many years.[617] This machine is well known to
have been the subject of a religious prejudice among our more rigid
sectaries, as indicated anachronously by Scott in the conversation
between Mause Headrig and her mistress—‘a new-fangled machine
for dighting the corn frae the chaff, thus impiously thwarting the will
o’ Divine Providence by raising wind for your leddyship’s use by
human art, instead of soliciting it by prayer, or patiently waiting for
whatever dispensation of wind Providence was pleased to send upon
the shielinghill.’[618] The ‘seceders’ are understood to have taken very
strong ground in resistance to the introduction of fanners, deeming
the wind as specially a thing made by God (‘he that createth the
wind,’ Amos iv. 13), and therefore regarding an artificial wind as a
daring and impious attempt to usurp what belonged to him alone.
The author has been informed that an uncle of the late national poet,
Robert Gilfillan, was extruded from a Fife congregation of this kind
because of his persisting to use fanners.
About the end of this month, the people 1725. Jan.
of Orkney were thrown into some
excitement by the arrival of a suspicious-looking vessel among their
usually quiet islands. She professed to be a merchantman bound for
Stockholm; but her twenty-two guns and crew of thirty-eight men
belied the tale. In reality, she was a pirate-ship, recently taken under
the care of a reckless man named Gow, or Smith, who had already
made her the means of perpetrating some atrocious villainies in
more southern seas. His alleged connection with Caithness by
nativity, and Orkney by education, was perhaps the principal reason
for his selecting this part of the world as a temporary refuge till some
of his recent acts should be forgotten. His conduct, however, was
marked by little prudence. He used to come ashore with armed men,
and hold boisterous festivities with the islanders. He also made some
attempts to enter into social relations with the gentlemen of the
country. It was even said that, during his brief stay, he made some
way in the affections of a young gentlewoman, who little imagined
his real character. It was the more unaccountable that he lingered
thus in the islands, after ten of his people, who had recently been
pressed into his service, left his vessel, and made their escape in a
boat—a circumstance that ought to have warned him that he could
not long evade the notice of the law. In point of fact, the character of
his ship and crew were known at Leith while he was still dallying
with time in the taverns of Stromness.
At length, about the 20th of February, Gow left the southern and
more frequented part of the Orkney group, and sailed to Calf Sound,
at the north part of the island of Eday, designing to apply for fresh
provisions and assistance to a gentleman residing there, who had
been his school-fellow, Mr Fea, younger of Clestran. Chancing to cast
anchor too near the island, the pirate found that his first duty must
be to obtain the assistance of a boat to assist his men in bringing off
the vessel. He sent an armed party of five under the boatswain to
solicit this help from Mr Fea, who received them civilly, but
immediately sent private orders to have his own boat sunk and the
sails hidden. He took the party to a public-house, where he
entertained them, and so adroitly did he manage matters, that ere
long they were all disarmed and taken into custody. The people of the
country and some custom-house officers had by this time been
warned to his assistance.
Next day, a violent wind drove the vessel ashore on Calf Island,
and Gow, without a boat, began to feel himself in a serious difficulty.
He hung out a flag for a conference with Mr Fea, who consequently
sent him a letter, telling him that his only 1725.
chance now was to yield himself, and give
evidence against his company. The wretch offered goods to the value
of a thousand pounds for merely a boat in which he could leave the
coast; but Mr Fea only replied by renewing his former advice. Some
conferences, attended with considerable danger to Mr Fea, took
place; and Gow ultimately came ashore on Calf Island, and was
secured. It is narrated that when he found himself a prisoner, he
entreated to be shot before he should have to surrender his sword.
His men were afterwards made prisoners without much difficulty.
Gow and his company were transported to London, and tried by
the Court of Admiralty on the 27th of May. Himself and eleven others
were found guilty, and condemned. There was at first some difficulty
in consequence of his refusing to plead. The court, finding him
refractory on this point of form, at first tried to bring him to reason
by gentle means; but when these proved ineffectual, he was ordered
to the press-yard, there to be pressed to death, after the old custom
with those refusing to plead. His obstinacy then gave way, and his
trial proceeded in due form, and he was condemned upon the same
evidence as his companions. Nine were executed, of whom two—
namely, Gow and his lieutenant, named Williams—were afterwards
hung in chains.[619]
The Scottish newspaper which first narrated the singular story of
the capture of these men, remarked: ‘The gentleman who did this
piece of good service to his country, will no doubt be taken notice of,
and rewarded by the government.’ Sir Walter Scott relates from the
tradition of the country what actually happened to Mr Fea in
consequence of his gallantry. ‘So far from receiving any reward from
government, he could not obtain even countenance enough to
protect him against a variety of sham suits, raised against him by
Newgate solicitors, who acted in the name of Gow and others of the
pirate crew; and the various expenses, vexatious prosecutions, and
other legal consequences in which his gallantry involved him, utterly
ruined his fortune and his family.’[620]

The Duke of Douglas, last direct May.

descendant of the ancient and once
powerful House of Douglas, was a person of such weak character as
to form a dismal antithesis to the historical honours of the family—
entitled to the first vote in parliament, to lead the van of the Scottish
army, and to carry the king’s crown in all 1725.
processions. Just turned thirty years of age,
his Grace lived at his ancestral castle in Lanarkshire, taking no such
part as befitted his rank and fortune in public affairs, but content to
pass his time in the commonest pleasures, not always in choice
society.[621] Amongst his visitors was a young man named Ker, a
natural son of Lord John Ker, the younger brother of the late
Marquis of Lothian, and also brother to the Dowager-countess of
Angus, the duke’s mother. This youth, as cousin to the duke, though
under the taint of illegitimacy, presumed to aspire to the affections of
his Grace’s only sister, the celebrated Lady Jane; and it is also alleged
that he presumed to give the duke some advice about the impropriety
of his keeping company with a low man belonging to his village.
Under a revengeful prompting, it is said, from this fellow, the poor
duke stole by night into the chamber of Mr Ker, and shot him dead as
he lay asleep. Some servants, hearing the noise, came to his Grace’s
room, and found him in great distress at the frightful act which he
had committed, and which he made no attempt to deny. He was as
speedily as possible conducted to Leith, and sent off in a vessel to
Holland, there to remain until he could safely return.[622]
The peerages being politely silent about this affair, we do not learn
how or when the duke was restored to Scottish society. More than
thirty years after, when turned of sixty, he married the daughter of a
Dumbartonshire gentleman, a lady well advanced in life, by whom he
had no children. Dr Johnson, who met the duchess as a widow at
Boswell’s house in 1773, speaks of her as an old lady who talked
broad Scotch with a paralytic voice, and was scarcely intelligible even
to her countrymen. Had the doctor seen her ten years earlier, when
she was in possession of all her faculties, he would have found how
much comicality and rough wit could be expressed in broad Scotch
under the coif of a duchess. I have had the advantage of hearing it
described by the late Sir James Steuart of Coltness, who was in Paris
with her Grace in 1762, when she was also accompanied by a certain
Laird of Boysack, and one or two other Scotch gentlemen, all bent on
making the utmost of every droll or whimsical circumstance that
came in their way. Certainly the language and style of ideas in which
the party indulged was enough to make the 1725.
hair of the fastest of our day stand on end.
There was great humour one day about a proposal that the duchess
should go to court, and take advantage of the privilege of the
tabouret, or right of sitting on a low stool in the queen’s private
chamber, which it was alleged she possessed, by virtue of her late
husband’s ancestors having enjoyed a French dukedom (Touraine) in
the fifteenth century. The old lady made all sorts of excuses in her
homely way; but when Boysack started the theory, that the real
objection lay in her Grace’s fears as to the disproportioned size of the
tabouret for the co-relative part of her figure, he was declared,
amidst shouts of laughter, to have divined the true difficulty—her
Grace enjoying the joke fully as much as any of them. Let this be a
specimen of the mate of the last of the House of Douglas.

We have already seen that the favourite June 24.

and ordinary beverage of the people before
this date was a light ale, not devoid of an exhilarating power, which,
being usually sold in pints (equal to two English quarts) at 2d.,
passed in prose and verse, as well as common parlance, under the
name of Twopenny. The government, conceiving they might raise
twenty thousand pounds per annum out of this modest luxury of the
Scotch, imposed a duty of sixpence a bushel upon malt; and now this
was to be enforced by a band of Excise officers.
The Scotch, besides the ignorant impatience of taxation natural to
a people to whom fiscal deductions were a novelty, beheld in this
measure a mark of the oppressive imperiousness of the British
senate, and bitterly thought of what the Union had brought upon
them. At Glasgow, this was a peculiarly strong feeling, its member of
parliament, Mr Campbell of Shawfield, having taken a leading part in
getting the malt-tax imposed. On the 23d June, when the act came
into force, the populace gave many tokens of the wrath they