'Twas ever thus
As geologist and science writer Nina Morgan discovers, it’s never been easy to pin down a scientist
Geoscientist 22.06 July 2012
It’s a common complaint from listeners to news programmes such as Radio Four’s
Today. No matter how hard the interviewer tries, scientists being interviewed almost always hedge their answers with a plethora of caveats. In short, they are generally reluctant to state any finding as a firm conclusion.
If it’s any consolation to the Jeremy Paxmans of this world, their predecessors in the 19th Century suffered the same difficulties. And, then as now, scientists were often reluctant to give straight answers, even when speaking to their peers. A letter about The Pilsen Permo-Carboniferous Beds published in the
Geological Magazine in March 1877, illustrates the case:
“Sir, -- In the extremely interesting paper on the Permo-Carboniferous beds of Bohemia which appears in the current number of the Geological Magazine, Dr O Feistmantel appears to rely very strongly on the announcement which he says was made by Dr Anton Fritsch at the last meeting of the British Association that he considered the Nürschan Gas-coal horizon as a passage-bed from Carboniferous to Permian. Now when Dr Fritsch exhibited his splendid series of specimens before the Geological Section, it was evident that he avoided carefully expressing any statement of opinion as to the exact age of the beds whence they came.
A member then rose and asked Dr Fritsch whether he considered the Pilsen Gas-coal series as Carboniferous or Permian, or whether he looked upon them as passage-beds. The only answer elicited from the cautions palaeontologist was that it was not yet time to settle the matter, and that more work was required before the question was ripe for decision. In fact, he declined to give any clue as to what his views on the subject might be.
8 March 1877 [signed] The Questioner Himself”
Sound familiar?
Acknowledgement
The source for this vignette is a letter titled The Pilsen Permo-Carboniferous Beds, which was published in the Geological Magazine, Decade 2, vol. 4, p.191
- If the past is the key to your present interests, why not join the History of Geology Group (HOGG)? For more information and to read the latest HOGG newsletter, visit:www.geolsoc.org.uk/hogg, where the programme and abstracts from the Conference on Geological Collectors and Collecting are available as a pdf file free to download.
*Nina Morgan is a geologist and science writer based near Oxford.