John MacCulloch

John MacCulloch

John MacCulloch (born October 6, 1773 in Guernsey , † August 21, 1835 ) was a British geologist who was a pioneer in geological exploration of Scotland and published the first geological map of Scotland in 1836.

MacCulloch was born on the island of Guernsey, home of his mother, and grew up in Cornwall (Plympton, Penzance). He studied medicine from 1790 at the University of Edinburgh with an MD degree in 1793 and was then from 1803 a surgeon in the British artillery. He worked as a chemist for the Board of Ordnance in the artillery division. He was also until 1821 chemistry and geology teacher at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. From 1807 to 1811 he practiced as a doctor in Blackheath (London) (for which he previously obtained a license from the Royal College of Physicians) and also dealt with geology. In 1811 his first essay on the geology of Guernsey, the Channel Islands and Heligoland appeared. He also undertook geological exploration in the Lake District, Wales, England and Scotland. Due to his scientific reputation he was officially commissioned with geological-mineralogical investigations in Scotland in 1811 (suitability of the mountains in Scotland for a repetition of the gravity measurements by Nevil Maskelyne and John Playfair at the Schiehallion and vertical deviations of pendulums as part of the national survey, suitability of rocks for powder mills for the Board of Ordnance). He also collected rocks and minerals in Scotland and researched its geology. In 1814 he was employed as a geologist in the national survey. From 1816 to 1818 he was President of the Geological Society of London . In 1819 he published a geological description of the islands off the west coast of Scotland and the Isle of Man. From 1826 he was commissioned to draw up a geological map of Scotland (based on the model of the first geological map of England by William Smith published in 1815 ), which he traveled every summer until 1832. In winter he evaluated his observations scientifically. The map was based on the topographic map by Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) from 1807. In 1832 the field work was completed and in 1834 work on the map, which was not published until 1836 after his death. From 1814 he was a lecturer in chemistry and geology in the school of the East India Company in Addiscombe . He married in 1835 but died a year later on his honeymoon in Cornwall when he fell out of his carriage and had to have his leg amputated. He was buried in Gulval near Penzance, where his father had lived.

In 1820 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the Royal Geographical Society . His rock collection is at the Natural History Museum in Oxford and the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. He was friends with Walter Scott .

Fonts

• Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, including the Isle of Man, 2 volumes with atlas 1819
• A Geological Classification of Rocks with Descriptive Synopses of the Species and Varieties, comprising the Elements of Practical Geology, 1821
• The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, in a series of letters to Sir Walter Scott, 4 volumes, 1824
• A System of Geology, with a Theory of the Earth and an Examination of its Connection with th Sacred Records, 2 volumes, 1831
• Proofs and Illustrations of the Attributes of God, from the Facts and Laws of the Physical Universe: Being the Foundation of Natural and Revealed Religion, 3 volumes 1837
• A Geological Map of Scotland, London, S. Arrowsmith 1836 (dated 1832, scale 4 miles to 1 inch), London, GF Cruchley 1840

literature

• GC Hull: Five medical polymaths, in: CJ Duffin, RTJ Moody, C. Gardner-Thorpe: A history of geology and medicine, Geological Society Special Publication 375, London 2013, pp. 395-408
• ME Gibson: John MacCulloch, MD (1773-1835): a dedicated geologist, J. Med. Biogr., 16, 2008, 64

Web links

Wikisource: John MacCulloch  - Sources and full texts (English)

• biography
• Literature by and about John MacCulloch in the WorldCat bibliographic database