alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
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It was no doubt his experience with the US ExploringExpedition that sparked Dana’s drive towards gr<strong>and</strong> geologicalsyntheses. He recognised early in his career the fundamentaldifferences between continents <strong>and</strong> ocean basins, believing bothto be permanent features <strong>of</strong> the globe. The principal mechanismdriving the formation <strong>of</strong> such features as the linear volcanicchains <strong>of</strong> the ocean basins <strong>and</strong> the mountain chains borderingthe continents — especially the Americas — Dana accepted, inaccordance with widely held beliefs <strong>of</strong> the time, to be thecontraction <strong>of</strong> a cooling Earth. The continents, largely free <strong>of</strong>volcanoes, he believed to have cooled first, <strong>and</strong> must bepermanent. Ocean basins, with depressed topography <strong>and</strong> activevolcanoes, must have been the chief focus <strong>of</strong> cooling <strong>and</strong>contraction. Their subsidence would have caused lateral pressure<strong>and</strong> uplift <strong>of</strong> the continental margins to form mountain chains.His concept <strong>of</strong> geosynclines described the infilling <strong>of</strong> a downward-bucklingzone with thick sediment derived fromcomplementary upbuckling. In the words <strong>of</strong> Bob Dott (1997),Dana was thus able to consider the accretion <strong>of</strong> continentalNorth America as a perfect example <strong>of</strong> this process, but it alsorevealed ‘God’s plan <strong>of</strong> creation’ better than any other continent.The essential features <strong>of</strong> his thinking on continental accretionlingered, particularly in North America right up to the advent <strong>of</strong>plate tectonics.This welding <strong>of</strong> a theory <strong>of</strong> global evolution with divineplanning is characteristic <strong>of</strong> much <strong>of</strong> Dana’s writing; he is describedas returning again <strong>and</strong> again to refine <strong>and</strong> extend his theoryfor the evolution <strong>of</strong> the globe “under divine direction … to fitit for a new age — the Age <strong>of</strong> Mind.” His religious views stemmedfrom a puritanical upbringing, <strong>and</strong> they never left him. He hasbeen described as ‘torn between his piety <strong>and</strong> his science’, onlybelatedly accepting Darwin’s theory <strong>of</strong> biological evolution, <strong>and</strong>then only partially. TH Huxley is reputed to have remarked thatDana wrote “with one eye on fact <strong>and</strong> the other on Genesis.”Dana the musicianHis life-long engagement with Christianity provided Dana withanother outlet for his creative energy. He was an able musician,playing piano, flute <strong>and</strong> guitar. He is known to have written a56-page songbook that contained a nativity sequence, as <strong>well</strong> assongs about his personal life, <strong>and</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> songs aboutAntarctica. The US <strong>Geological</strong> Survey has celebrated Dana themusician with performances <strong>of</strong> his Antarctic songs given at opendays in the 1840s style.It was through his music that I had my second encounter withDana. In 2011 the School <strong>of</strong> Music at the <strong>Australia</strong>n NationalUniversity organised a conference Antarctica: Music, Sounds <strong>and</strong>Cultural Connections, a cross-disciplinary meeting designed tobring the arts <strong>and</strong> sciences together. I had been reading theaccounts <strong>of</strong> the Wilkes Expedition <strong>and</strong> chanced across a long epicpoem, Thulia: a tale <strong>of</strong> the Antarctic. This was written by one JamesCroxall Palmer, the young assistant surgeon to the expedition <strong>and</strong>a fellow traveller on the Peacock with James Dana. This poem,which runs to some 42 pages, tells <strong>of</strong> the struggles <strong>of</strong> the FlyingFish, a New York harbour boat <strong>and</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the tiniest ships in theexpedition’s fleet. It gives a vivid overall impression <strong>of</strong> the trialsendured by the whole expedition. Palmer, who went on to enjoya stellar career in medicine, managed to get the poem publishedin 1843, the year after the expedition’s return to the USA, preemptingWilkes’s own account <strong>of</strong> the venture. But what intriguedme in reading this account was to discover that none other thanJames Dwight Dana had set verses in the poem to guitar music!I was able to present this story at the conference, <strong>and</strong> thusintroduce Dana as artist as <strong>well</strong> as scientist.Further readingCuriously, there does not appear to be any recent comprehensivebiography <strong>of</strong> Dana, although there is one, apparently unpublished,PhD thesis. The most detailed chronological accountI have been able to find is that <strong>of</strong> Louis Pirsson (1919). A briefbut valuable summary is given by James Natl<strong>and</strong> (2003). However,scholarly articles continue to appear, dealing both with hisscience <strong>and</strong> with the impact <strong>of</strong> his science on contemporarythinking, its links to the cultures <strong>of</strong> the Pacific, <strong>and</strong> his visit to<strong>Australia</strong>. These encompass Dana’s influence in developinggeology as a pr<strong>of</strong>ession, <strong>and</strong> his somewhat patriotic view <strong>of</strong> theNorth American continent as a geological ideal, with reinforcingby the Divine Creator. His reports <strong>and</strong> books, however, areavailable in many academic libraries. The selective reference listbelow provides further reading.ELIZABETH M TRUSWELLR E F E R E N C E SDana, JD 1849. ‘Geology’ United States Exploring Expedition 1838–1842, Volume IX.C Sherman, Philadelphia.Dana, JD 1852–1855. ‘Crustacea’ United States Exploring Expedition 1838–1842,Volumes XIII–XIV. C Sherman, Philadelphia.Dana, JD 1875. Corals <strong>and</strong> Coral Isl<strong>and</strong>s. Sampson Low, Marston Low & Searle,London.Dott, RH 1997. ‘James Dwight Dana’s old tectonics — global contraction underdivine direction’ American Journal <strong>of</strong> Science 297, 283–311.Igler, D 2010. ‘On coral reefs, volcanoes, Gods, <strong>and</strong> patriotic geology; or, JamesDwight Dana assembles the Pacific Basin’ Pacific Historical Review, 79, 23–49.Mozley, A 1964. ‘James Dwight Dana in New South Wales, 1839–1840’ Royal<strong>Society</strong> <strong>of</strong> New South Wales 97, 185–191.Mozley, A 1966. ‘Dana, James Dwight (1813–1895)’ <strong>Australia</strong>n Dictionary <strong>of</strong>Biography, Volume 1 (MUP), http://adb.anu.edu au/biography/dana-james-dwight-1953/text2347Natl<strong>and</strong>, J H 2003. ‘Rock Stars. James Dwight Dana (1813–1895): Mineralogist,Zoologist, Geologist, Explorer’ GSA Today, February, 20–21.Ne<strong>well</strong>, J 1997. ‘James Dwight Dana <strong>and</strong> the emergence <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional geology inthe United States’ American Journal <strong>of</strong> Science, 297, 273–282.Palmer, J C 1843. Thulia: a tale <strong>of</strong> the Antarctic. Samuel Colman, New York.Pirsson, L V 1919. ‘Biographical Memoir <strong>of</strong> James Dwight Dana’ US NationalAcademy <strong>of</strong> Sciences. Biographical memoirs Volume IX. 41–92.Prendergast, M L 1978. ‘James Dwight Dana: the life <strong>and</strong> thought <strong>of</strong> an Americanscientist.’ PhD dissertation, University <strong>of</strong> California, Los Angeles.Vallance, T G 1981. The fuss about coal. In D J <strong>and</strong> S C M Carr (eds), Plants <strong>and</strong>Man in <strong>Australia</strong>. Academic Press, Sydney, pp. 136–176.TAG September 2012| 27