SCHAAL, S. and ZIEGLER, W. Messel. An insight into the history of life and of the Earth. (Translated by M. Shaffer-Fehre; original German edition published Frankfurt am Main: 1988.) Clarendon Press, Oxford; 1992. Pp [vi], 322; illustrated. Price: £ 30.00. ISBN: 0-19-854654-8.

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 436-437
Author(s):  
R. J. G. SAVAGE
Keyword(s):  
Frankfurt Am Main ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
German Edition ◽  
Insight Into

On Rhythms in the History of the Earth

1939 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. F. Umbgrove
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Vertical Movements ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Possible Cause ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
And Sea Level

Two publications by Grabau, which will be treated in the following pages, have led to the ensuing considerations.In his opinion world-wide advance and retreat of the sea are simply explained by vertical movements of the sea-level. About the possible cause of these movements he makes some very brief remarks, as we shall see later. It is, however, quite possible that the explanation must be sought in simultaneous but opposed movement of continents and sea-level. In trying to obtain an insight into the cause of these movements, rhythms of an entirely different sort come up for discussion, viz. phases of diastrophism and magmatic cycles. And then a further question presents itself: can these different phenomena be connected, and thus give an insight into certain rhythmical processes in the deeper parts of the earth ? I, personally, am convinced that we must answer this question in the affirmative. Stille, Joly, Holmes, and Bucher have reached a similar conclusion by different ways. Meanwhile, the following pages are only intended to shed some light on the different aspects of the problem, and I shall restrict myself to outlining the questions that demand further study.

scholarly journals IV. On the analytical expressions which give the history of a fluid planet of small viscosity, attended by a single satellite

1880 ◽  
Vol 30 (200-205) ◽  
pp. 255-278 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Numerical Treatment ◽  
Secular Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Small Viscosity ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Analytical Expressions ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Numerical Quadratures

In a series of papers read from time to time during the past two years before the Royal Society, I have investigated the theory of the tides raised in a rotating viscous Spheroid, or planet, by an attendant satellite, and have also considered the secular changes in the rotation of the planet, and in the revolution of the satellite. Those investigations were intended to be especially applicable to the case of the earth and moon, but the friction of the solar tides was found to be a factor of importance, so that in a large part of those papers it became necessary to conceive the planet as attended by two satellites. The differential equations which gave the secular changes in the system were rendered very complex by the introduction of solar disturbance, and I was unable to integrate them analytically; the equations were accordingly treated by a method of numerical quadratures, in which all the data were taken from the earth, moon, and sun. This numerical treatment did not permit an insight into all the various effects which might result from frictional tides, and an analytical solution, applicable to any planet and satellite, is desirable.

scholarly journals Earth Orientation since AD 1600

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 342-345
Author(s):  
Dennis D. McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Geographic Distribution ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Earth Orientation ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Wide Geographic Distribution ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractPast endeavors in the field of Earth orientation have provided both service to astronomical users of the data and insight into the physical processes of the planet Earth. Since the study of Earth orientation has required a wide geographic distribution of astronomical observing sites, it has been an area of research that has depended heavily on international cooperation over long intervals of time. Recently, IAU Colloquium 178 pointed out that the need exists to find and collect observations that may have been made before the establishment of the current operational services. Reanalysis of such data could be important in our understanding of the physical processes affecting the Earth. All of these observations need to be analyzed in one system consistent with current definitions and conventions. The history of available observations is reviewed along with the contributions that have been made possible using these data. Possible sources for additional data are suggested.

Messel. An insight into the history of life and of the earth

Geobios ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 744
Author(s):  
Marguerite Hugueney
Keyword(s):  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

George Hoggart Toulmin: politics and geology

1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-481
Author(s):  
ROY PORTER
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Great Distance ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Christian View ◽  
The Social ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
History Of

The physician George Hoggart Toulmin (1754–1817) propounded his theory of the Earth in a number of works beginning with The antiquity and duration of the world (1780) and ending with his The eternity of the universe (1789). It bore many resemblances to James Hutton's "Theory of the Earth" (1788) in stressing the uniformity of Nature, the gradual destruction and recreation of the continents and the unfathomable age of the Earth. In Toulmin's view, the progress of the proper theory of the Earth and of political advancement were inseparable from each other. For he analysed the commonly accepted geological ideas of his day (which postulated that the Earth had been created at no great distance of time by God; that God had intervened in Earth history on occasions like the Deluge to punish man; and that all Nature had been fabricated by God to serve man) and argued they were symptomatic of a society trapped in ignorance and superstition, and held down by priestcraft and political tyranny. In this respect he shared the outlook of the more radical figures of the French Enlightenment such as Helvétius and the Baron d'Holbach. He believed that the advance of freedom and knowledge would bring about improved understanding of the history and nature of the Earth, as a consequence of which Man would better understand the terms of his own existence, and learn to live in peace, harmony and civilization. Yet Toulmin's hopes were tempered by his naturalistic view of the history of the Earth and of Man. For Time destroyed everything — continents and civilizations. The fundamental law of things was cyclicality not progress. This latent political conservatism and pessimism became explicit in Toulmin's volume of verse, Illustration of affection, published posthumously in 1819. In those poems he signalled his disapproval of the French Revolution and of Napoleonic imperialism. He now argued that all was for the best in the social order, and he abandoned his own earlier atheistic religious radicalism, now subscribing to a more Christian view of God. Toulmin's earlier geological views had run into considerable opposition from orthodox religious elements. They were largely ignored by the geological community in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain, but were revived and reprinted by lower class radicals such as Richard Carlile. This paper is to be published in the American journal, The Journal for the History of Ideas in 1978 (in press).

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