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BUCKLAND, WILLIAM (b. Axminster, England, 12
March 1784; d. Islip, England, 14 August 1856),
geology, paleontology.
asserting the influence both of glaciers and of the
torrents of water released as the glaciers melted, and
of the icebergs drifted along in waters. An explanation
for Saussure's debacle had been found at last.
NOTES
1. “On the geology of the neighbourhood of Weymouth and the
adjacent parts of the coast of Devon,” in Transactions of the
Geological Society of London, 2nd ser., 4 (1836), 1-46.
2. “Description of a series of specimens from the plastic clay near
Reading, Berks,” ibid.,4 (1817), 277-304.
3. Robert Knox, The Races of Men (London, 1850), p. 170.
4. “Description of the quartz rock of the Lickey Hill in
Worcestershire, and of the strata immediately surrounding it;
with considerations on the evidence of a recent deluge,
afforded by the gravel beds of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire,
and the valley of the Thames from Oxford downwards to
London; and an Appendix, containing analogous proofs of
diluvian action. Collected from various authorities,” in
Transactions
of the Geological Society of London.5 (1821), 506-544.
5. “Notice on the geological structure of a part of the island of
Madagascar, founded on a collection transmitted to the
Right Honourable the Earl Bathurst, by Governor Farquhar, in
the year 1819; with observations on some specimens from the
interior of New South Wales,” ibid., 476-481.
6. “Notice of a paper laid before the Geological Society on the
structure of the Alps and adjoining parts of the continent, and
their relation to the secondary and transition rocks of
England,” in Annals of Philosophy, n.s. 1 (Jan.-June
1821),
450-468.
7. “On the formation of the valley of Kingsclere and other valleys
by the elevation of the strata that enclose them; and on the
evidence of the original continuity of the basins of London
and Hampshire,” in Transactions of the Geological Society of
London, 2nd ser., 2 (1829), 119-130.
8. “Account of an assemblage of fossil teeth and bones of elephant,
rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bear, tiger, and hyaena, and
sixteen other animals discovered in a cave at Kirkdale, Yorkshire,
in the year 1821: with a comparative view of five similar
caverns in various parts of England, and others on the continent,”
in Philosophical Transactions,112 (1822), 171-235;
Reliquiae diluvianae (London, 1823). The article constitutes
the first section of the book. The first edition of the book sold
out and there was a second edition in 1824.
9. North, “Paviland Cave,” p. 103.
10. [Edward Copleston], “Buckland-Reliquiae
Diluvianae,” in
Quarterly Review,23 (1823), 138-165; James Smithson,
“Some
observations on Mr. Penn's theory concerning the formation
of the Kirkdale cave,” in Annals of Philosophy, n.s. 8
(July-Dec. 1824), 50-60.
11. (London, 1828), p. 341.
12. “On the discovery of coprolites, or fossil faeces, in the lias
at Lyme Regis, and in other formations,” in Transactions of the
Geological Society of London, 2nd ser., 3 (1835), 223-236.
13. (London, 1830), I, 171-172.
14. “On the adaptation of the structure of the sloths to their
peculiar mode of life,” in Transactions of the Linnean Society,17 (1837), 17-28.
15. “Memoir on the evidences of glaciers in Scotland and the
north of England,” in Proceedings of the Geological Society of
London,3 (1838-1842), 332-337; “Second part of memoir on
the evidence of glaciers in Scotland and the north of England,”
ibid., 345-348; “On the glacio-diluvial phenomena in
Snowdonia and the adjacent part of north Wales,” ibid.,
579-584.
16. “Presidential Address for 1841,” ibid.,
509-516.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. ORIGINAL WORKS.
The list of articles in the Royal
Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers (I, 702-705) is
handy but incomplete, and the serious student will want
to use the list of publications given by Francis Buckland
in his “Memoir of the Author,” printed in the 1858 ed.
of Buckland's Bridgewater treatise, Geology and Mineralogy
Considered With Reference to Natural Theology. This is in
infuriating disarray but is tolerably complete; it lists most
but not all abstracts in the British Association's Reports,
three separately printed sermons, and the forty-odd brief
abstracts in the Proceedings of the Ashmolean Society of
Oxford (most of which are of little importance). The
following corrections may be noted (numbers are those of
Francis Buckland's list): No. 3: 1823; 2nd ed., 1824. No.
14: n.s. 10 (1825); same as no. 55. No. 19: unlocated, but
probably same as no. 68. No. 24: published at the end
of William Phillips, A Selection of Facts From the Best
Authors, Arranged so as to Form an Outline of the Geology
of England and Wales (London, 1818). No. 56: same as
no. 70. No. 58: same as no. 1. No. 69: II (1814)—this is
not listed by any author's name but is “compiled by the
Secretaries.” No. 29 in the Ashmolean Society list is not
in its Proceedings but is no. 45 in the main list. To this
list may be added “Notice of a Series of Specimens From
Mr. Johnson's Granite Quarries,” in Reports of the British
Association,11 (1841), trans. sect., 64; “Notice of
Perforations
in Limestone,” ibid.,12 (1842), trans. sect., 57; and
“On the Cause of the General Presence of Phosphorus in
Strata,” ibid.,19 (1849), trans. sect., 67.
Francis Buckland refers to a paper entitled “On the
Coasts of the North of Ireland.” This appears to be
W. D. Conybeare, “Descriptive Notes Referring to the Outline
of Sections Presented by a Part of the Coasts of Antrim
and Derry. . . . From the Joint Observations of the Rev.
W. Buckland,” in Transactions of the Geological Society
of London,3 (1816), 196-216. It is not Buckland's “first
important paper.”
There seem to be no major collections of Buckland's
papers. The most interesting group may be that at the
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. There are some
papers, especially letters to Buckland, in the Devon County
Record Office, Exeter. Christ Church has 21 letters and
some material on Buckland's career as canon. The University
Museum, Oxford, has MS material relating to his
lecture notes and publication drafts. The Bodleian Library
has 46 scattered letters, and there are about 35 in the
Whewell papers, Trinity College, Cambridge. There are
probably others elsewhere.
II. SECONDARY LITERATURE.
The biographical material
presented by his children—Francis Buckland's “Memoir,”
cited above, and Anna B. Gordon, The Life and Correspondence
of William Buckland (New York, 1894)—is
indispensable but incomplete and sometimes vague. Two
articles by F. J. North are based on unpublished materials:
“Paviland Cave, the ‘Red Lady’, the Deluge, and William
Buckland,” in Annals of Science,5 (1942), 91-128; and
“Centenary of the Glacial Theory,” in Proceedings of the
