Grave of John Walker

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Jul 252016
 

John Walker's grave.Canongate Kirkyard, 153 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BN

John Walker was the University of Edinburgh’s second professor of natural history from 1779 to 1803, but the first to take his teaching responsibilities seriously. Walker was primarily a mineralogist and had little time for speculative theories of the earth. He was also an enemy of evolutionary speculation and described the transmutation of species in his lectures as ‘a vulgar error’. He took his students on regular field trips and held tutorials in the University’s natural history museum, of which he was also the keeper.  In both of these practices he was followed by his successor, Robert Jameson.

The Rev. Dr John Walker (1731-1803), from the frontispiece from a volume of the Naturalists Library (1842).

The Rev. Dr John Walker (1731-1803), from the frontispiece from a volume of the Naturalists Library (1842).

 

Inscription on John Walker's gravestone.

Inscription on John Walker’s gravestone.

Hutton’s Section, Salisbury Crags

 History of Geology  2 Responses »
Jul 252016
 

Hutton's sectionRadical Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AL

At this site James Hutton found proof for his theory that heat plays an essential role in rock formation.  He believed that a band of molten rock had been injected into older strata long after the formation of the surrounding rock. During Charles Darwin’s time as a medical student in Edinburgh in 1825-7 he accompanied the professor of natural history, Robert Jameson, on a field trips to Salisbury Crags. Darwin later recalled being deeply unimpressed by Jameson’s explanation that these intrusive rocks had been deposited from above by precipitation from the sea rather than injected as magma from below.

A plaque at the site give some interesting information on its history and significance.

Caricature of James Hutton (1726-97).

Caricature of James Hutton (1726-97).

Plaque at Hutton's Section.

Plaque at Hutton’s Section.

Charles Darwin (1809–82).

Charles Darwin (1809–82).

 

Portrait of Robert Jameson (1774–1854) by one of his students, c.1831.

Portrait of Robert Jameson (1774–1854) by one of his students, c.1831.

 

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Site of the offices of the Witness

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Jul 252016
 

Offices of the Witness newspaper.297 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1YJ

Hugh Miller was one of the most remarkable figures in 19th-century Scotland. At this address between 1840 and 1856,  Miller edited the Witness, the newspaper of the Free Church of Scotland. It was in the Witness that he first serialised many of his geological works, including The Old Red Sandstone (1841). Having started his working life as a stonemason, this self-educated geologist went on the make important contributions to palaeontology. In particular, he was a pioneer of paleoecology. A fierce opponent of evolution on religious grounds, and plagued by mental-health problems, he tragically took his own life in 1856.

No public access.

Hugh Miller (1802-56), by Robert Adamson and Octavius Hill, 1843

Hugh Miller (1802-56), by Robert Adamson and Octavius Hill, 1843.

 

Hugh Miller Plaque at the former offices of the Witness newspaper.

Hugh Miller Plaque at the former offices of the Witness newspaper.

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The Friends of Hugh Miller

Giant Irish Elk, National Museum of Scotland

 History of Geology  4 Responses »
Jul 252016
 

Giant Irish Elk skeleton.National Museum of Scotland, Chambers St, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

The magnificent skeleton of this extinct beast was added to the collection of Edinburgh University’s natural history museum in 1821 by Robert Jameson. It is not in fact a close relative of modern elks, but is a species of extinct giant deer. The skeleton was discovered in a bog in Ballaugh on the Isle of Man, and brought to Edinburgh through the efforts of the Duke of Atholl. This remarkable creature was at the centre of early debates on extinction. The great French geologist, Georges Cuvier, famously used it as an example of a species that was now completely extinct.

Giant Irish Elk, from the George Cuvier's Theory of the Earth(1827), edited by Robert Jameson.

Giant Irish Elk, from George Cuvier’s Theory of the Earth (1827), edited by Robert Jameson.

Commemorative pillars, the Meadows

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Jul 252016
 

Comemorative pillar, the Meadows.The Meadows, Melville Drive, Edinburgh EH3 9EX

These two commemorative pillars were erected in 1886 by the Master Builder and Operative Masons of Edinburgh for the International Exhibition of that year. The blocks of stone from which the pillars are constructed represent stones from the different quarries which supplied Edinburgh in the 19th century. The names of the quarry from which it was extracted is carved on each stone. After well over 100 years, the different weathering qualities of the stones are evident.

Inscriptions giving the names of the quarries where the stones originated from one of the commemorative pillars in the Meadows.

Inscriptions giving the names of the quarries where the stones originated from one of the commemorative pillars in the Meadows.

James Geikie’s house

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Jul 252016
 

James Geikie house16 Duncan Street, Edinburgh EH9 1SR

James Geikie was professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh from 1882 to 1914, succeeding his brother Archibald Geikie in the chair. He had previously worked for the Geological Survey since 1861. His fame rests largely on his work on the ice ages of the Pleistocene epoch. He developed the hypothesis that there had been five interglacial periods between the ice ages. In his The Great Ice Age and its Relation to the Antiquity of Man (1874) he proposed that humanity had continued to inhabit Europe throughout the ice ages.

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University of Edinburgh, Information Services: James Geikie, Geology and History

National Museums of Scotland

 History of Science, Natural History, Technology  Comments Off on National Museums of Scotland
Apr 192016
 

Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF

National Museum of Scotland

The oldest part of the building that houses the National Museum of Scotland was called the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art when it was opened by Prince Albert in 1866. Construction had began in 1861 and work was to continue on the first phase of the building until 1888. It was renamed the Royal Scottish Museum in 1904 and became the National Museum of Scotland in 2004. Initially much of the collection came from the University of Edinburgh’s natural history collection, which had become too big for the University’s own museum in what is now the Talbot Rice Gallery.

Free entry, although some temporary exhibitions may charge.

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Surgeon’s Hall Museums

 History of Medicine, History of Science  Comments Off on Surgeon’s Hall Museums
Apr 192016
 

Nicolson St, Edinburgh EH8 9BZ

Surgeons' Hall Museums

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was founded in 1505. Its Museum began to amass anatomical specimens in 1699 and it grew rapidly in the 19th century through the donations of the collections of the famous Edinburgh anatomists Sir Charles Bell and John Barclay. Perhaps the museum’s most famous curator was Robert Knox, who worked here from 1825 until 1831, when  enemies within the College used his association with the murders committed by Burke and Hare to force his resignation. Today the museum is open to the public for a small fee.

Robert Knox (1791–1862).

Robert Knox (1791–1862).

Surgeons' Hall, 1890.

Surgeons’ Hall, 1890.

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Old College, University of Edinburgh

		

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Apr 192016

	

	 	

		


South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL


Old College, University of Edinburgh


The University of Edinburgh was first established on this site in 1582. Unusually, it was founded by the town council of Edinburgh and most of its professorial chairs remained in the gift of the  council until the reforms brought in by the Universities (Scotland) Act in 1858. Work on the building we see now was started in 1789 and it was more or less completed by 1827. The original design was by Robert Adam. Adam died in 1792 and the building was completed by William Henry Playfair. The dome was only added in 1887.


With the exception of the Talbot Rice Gallery, the interiors of the University buildings are not open to the public.




		

	


	

	



	

		
General Register House

		

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Apr 192016

	

	 	

		


General Register House, 2 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YY


General Register House


James Tytler, who made the first successful balloon ascent in Britain in Edinburgh, exhibited and tested his ‘Grand Edinburgh Fire Balloon’  in the uncompleted dome of Robert Adam’s Register House in 1784 before making a successful public ascent at Comely Garden on 6 August.  Tytler was a multi-talented individual who had made a living at various times as a surgeon, writer, publisher, composer and poet before his foray into aeronautics. He had to flee to Ireland in 1792 after being arrested for producing subversive pamphlets, before emigrating to America a few years later.


The General Register House houses the National Records of Scotland and is open to the public.


James Tytler (1745–1804).
James Tytler (1745–1804).


James Tytler's 'Edinburgh Fire Balloon', 1784.
James Tytler’s ‘Edinburgh Fire Balloon’, 1784.


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