Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Library Collection - Earth Science

In 1832, William MacGillivray published this abridged version of the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent During the Years 1799-1804, which had appeared in a seven-volume English translation between 1814 and 1829. MacGillivray's edition, intended for the general public, also includes Humboldt's accounts of his explorations of the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea. Humboldt became a major figure in physical geography as a result of his arduous five-year trip to explore Central and South America. This book offers a brief biographical sketch of the scientist and covers his exciting journeys from the Island of Tenerife across the Atlantic Ocean to Caracas, and up the Orinoco River by canoe. Humboldt fights mosquitoes in dense rain forests and climbs Andean peaks in Peru without mountain gear, taking detailed notes at every stage.

Ludmilla Assing, the niece of Varnhagen von Ense, was the editor of this selection of letters from Alexander von Humboldt to her uncle - to who Humboldt had entrusted the preservation of their correspondence - in the period 1827-58. First published in 1860, Letters of Alexander von Humboldt also contains letters from Varnhagen and other distinguished correspondents to Humboldt. Some passages from Varnhagen's diary are also included to supply a vivid commentary on the letters, which present detailed records of Humboldt's life, activity, and habits of thought, and contain materials of unquestionable importance for portraying an accurate picture of his mind and character. The other letters contained in the volume illustrate his worldwide circle of correspondents. This collection was published after the deaths of both Varnhagen and Humboldt. Explanatory notes and a full index of names accompany this authorised translation from the original German.

Richard Owen (1804-1892) was a contemporary of Darwin, and like him, attended the University of Edinburgh medical school but left without completing his training. His career as an outstanding palaeontologist began when he was cataloguing the Hunterian Collection of human and animal anatomical specimens which had passed to the Royal College of Surgeons in London. His public lectures on anatomy were attended by Darwin, and he was entrusted with the classification and description of the fossil vertebrates sent back by Darwin from the Beagle voyage. He was responsible for coining many of the terms now used in anatomy and evolutionary biology, including the word 'dinosaur'. Palaeontology (published in 1860) defines, describes and classifies all the fossil animal forms then known, and discusses the origin of species, commenting on the theories of Buffon, Lamarck, the then anonymous author of Vestiges of Creation, Wallace and Darwin.

From 1793 until his death, Barthelemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741-1819) served as professor of geology at the natural history museum in Paris. This work appeared in three parts between 1803 and 1809. This first volume covers the fossils of plants and animals.

The botanist John Lindley (1799-1865) collaborated with geologist and palaeontologist William Hutton (1797-1860) on this pioneering three-volume work of palaeobotany. First published between 1831 and 1837, it catalogues almost 300 species of plants from the Pleistocene to the Carboniferous period. Also included are contextual discussion and 230 plates.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was one of the first champions of the multidisciplinary approach to science. Volume 1 of this biography, first published in English in 1873, provides an account of the first part of his remarkable life, translated from the German edition of 1872.

In 1829, explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) embarked on an epic 10,000-mile expedition to study largely unexplored areas of Central Asia. He made pioneering contributions to the geography, volcanic geology and meteorology of the area. This first volume, published in 1831, deals with mountain chains and volcanoes.

The 'student of clouds' Luke Howard (1772-1864) published this work of statistics on weather conditions in London in two volumes, in 1818 and 1820. Volume 1 begins with an introduction to the work, followed by tables of observations taken at Plaistow, near London, in the years 1806-9.

Published between 1850 and 1886, this six-volume reference became the definitive reference on the brachiopods. It includes an essay by Richard Owen on the terebratulids, and separate guides to brachiopod shell structure and classification. The set also features more than two hundred hand-drawn plates and an extensive bibliography.

The Life and Letters of Hugh Miller (1871) tells the fascinating story of a Victorian geologist whose life was marked by a passionate commitment to both science and religion and the ongoing attempt to reconcile the two. Volume 1 covers Miller's early life, family, education and apprenticeship as a stonemason.

Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871) was an influential Scottish geologist best known for his classification of the Silurian system of rock strata. These volumes, first published in 1875, contain a detailed biography, providing a fascinating insight into his life and work. Volume 1 describes his life until 1842.

Sir William Jackson Hooker, the eminent British botanist, is perhaps best known as a visionary director of Kew Gardens. His account of his first overseas expedition, made to Iceland in 1809, was written from memory after his notes and specimens were destroyed by fire on the return voyage.

Robert Jameson (1774-1854) was professor of natural history at Edinburgh for fifty years. A follower of Werner's influential theory of the formation of the Earth, he later accepted the idea that the Earth was formed by natural processes over geological time. His System of Mineralogy was first published in 1808.

Published in 1819, Aubuisson de Voisins' two-volume Traite de Geognosie was one of the earliest geology books in French. It convincingly challenged the 'Neptunist' theory of his influential teacher Gottlob Werner, arguing that the basaltic rocks and mineral veins of the earth's crust were of igneous, not marine, origin.

Gideon Mantell (1790-1852) was an English physician and geologist best remembered for pioneering the scientific study of dinosaurs. These volumes, first published in 1838 and considered Mantell's most popular work, contain a lecture series which describe principles of geology and fossil formation. Volume 1 contains lectures 1 to 4.

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) was one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century. This biography, first published in 1881 provides an intimate view of Lyell's personal and professional life through the inclusion of his letters and extracts from his journal. Volume 1 covers Lyell's life until 1836.

A. C. Seward (1863-1941) was an eminent English botanist and geologist. In these volumes, published between 1898 and 1919, Seward synthesised and revised the existing research on palaeobotany and included new material. Volume 1 contains an overview of palaeobotany with systematic descriptions of fossil plants.

An 1896 life, by his collaborator Jules Marcou, of Swiss-born palaeontologist, glaciologist and zoologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873). Volume 1 traces his childhood, early scientific and professional success, ending with his arrival in America and his first attempts at forging a university career there.

This selection from the correspondence of Leonard Horner (1785-1864), a prominent geologist, educator and factory inspector, was published by his daughter in 1890. It provides a vivid picture of this eminent reformer. Volume 1 covers Horner's life to 1838 including his election to the Royal Society.

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) was one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century. These volumes, first published in 1845, are the result of his 1841 tour across the United States and Canada, and contain detailed descriptions of North American geology. Volume 1 contains his travels from Boston across North Carolina

In 1830-33, Charles Lyell laid the foundations of evolutionary biology with Principles of Geology, a pioneering book that Charles Darwin took with him on the Beagle. The three volumes are generously illustrated and thoroughly indexed and remain of interest to geologists and historians of science alike.

Mary Somerville (1780-1872) was a leading mathematician and astronomer at a time when the education of most women was restricted. Physical Geography (1848) was a synthesis of the natural sciences, drawing on the most recent discoveries to present an overview of current understanding of the natural world.

In the 1790s Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), one of the founding figures of vertebrate palaeontology, proved that extinction was a scientific fact. This four-volume illustrated work, originally published in 1812, is a collection of Cuvier's geological and osteological papers, focusing on fossil mammals and reptiles and related living species.

The mineralogist John Mawe (1766-1829) published this work in 1802. It gives a detailed overview of the geological features and strata of his home county of Derbyshire, and of its various mines. Mawe also gives his brief observations of mining and minerals in Scotland and Wales.

Originally published in 1695 and here reissued in its 1723 third edition, this work by the physician and natural historian John Woodward (c.1665-1728) attempts to link fossils to the biblical flood to support his theories about the Earth's physical history. This immediately prompted a heated debate among scientific contemporaries.

From 1793 until his death, Barthelemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741-1819) served as professor of geology at the natural history museum in Paris. This work appeared in three parts between 1803 and 1809. This second part of the second volume covers volcanic products, listing also the world's major active volcanoes.

Written principally for farmers, this 1812 work by the naturalist Joseph Taylor (c.1761-1844) trawls the English countryside for meteorological clues. From the barometrical qualities of chickweed to the activities of bats, ants and oxen, the natural world is transformed into one great forecasting system for the sufficiently observant.

Published in 1842, Darwin's monograph is a groundbreaking and elegantly constructed study of coral reefs and atolls, based upon his observations during the voyage of the Beagle. Darwin carefully explains and illustrates his theory that subsidence of the ocean floor can account for the formation of these remarkable natural features.

The scientific investigations undertaken in the wake of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 formed the basis of the science of seismology. Published in 1757, this work collects many of the contemporary theories, and this reissue also includes John Michell's 1760 work linking tsunamis with undersea earthquakes for the first time.

This book, first published in 1805, of which the 1816 second edition is reissued here, gives physical descriptions of the minerals discussed in Jameson's three-volume System of Mineralogy. Dividing minerals into solid, friable and fluid types, he describes and gives the English, German, French and Latin names of each.