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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2007; v. 287; p. 109-117;
DOI: 10.1144/SP287.9
© 2007 Geological Society of London

Europe

The geological travels of Charles Lyell, Charlotte Murchison and Roderick Impey Murchison in France and northern Italy (1828)

M. Kölbl-Ebert

Jura-Museum Eichstätt, Willibaldsburg, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany (e-mail: Koelbl-Ebert{at}Jura-Museum.de)

In 1828, Charles Lyell (1797–1875), Charlotte Murchison (1788–1869) and her husband Roderick Impey Murchison (1792–1871) embarked on a long journey around Europe. The party left Paris in May 1828, travelled through the Massif Central and continued southwards. The geological programme was dedicated to stratigraphical and geomorphological observations, but sightseeing was not neglected. Published papers by Lyell and Roderick Murchison report their scientific results, but it is the unpublished journals, notebooks and letters, which illuminated their research programmes, task management and daily routine. There was an effective division of labour, which increased the scientific productivity of the trio. Lyell and Roderick Murchison decided about routes and research topics and travelled long distances on foot taking stratigraphical sections and keeping track of correlations of structures, whereas it was Charlotte Murchison's task to do much of the time-consuming fossil-hunting, sketching of landscapes and geological structures and—speaking French fluently—to visit local experts, whose expertise might add to the success of the journey. Also, the different initial expectations and working styles of Charles Lyell and Roderick Murchison become evident.