Routledge Revivals: John Phillips and the Business of Victorian Science (2005): The Fiction of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross(Routledge Revivals)

First published in 2005, this book represents the first full length biography of John Phillips, one of the most remarkable and important scientists of the Victorian period. Adopting a broad chronological approach, this book not only traces the development of Phillips’ career but clarifies and highlights his role within Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores how Phillips’ love of science was inseparable from his need to earn a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were central to Phillips’ career and scientific work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on Victorian science, this biography brings together his personal story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and fixes them firmly within the context of wider society.

Preface; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations, Conventions, and a Note on Monetary Values; List of Illustrations; Introduction; Part I: The Scientific Apprentice 1800-1834; 1. The Apprentice Mineral Surveyor 1.1 The education of an orphan 1.2 Cabinet assistant to Smith 1.3 Surveying with Smith 1.4 Wandering with Smith 2. The Young Lecturer and Keeper 2.1 The Yorkshire Philosophical Society 2.2 The geological lectures of Smith and Phillips 2.3 Curating in York 2.4 Performing: home and away 2.5 Harcourt as Patron 2.6 The Coastal geologist 3. The Spreading Reputation 1829-1833 3.1 The York savant 3.2 Geological raids on the Continent 3.3 Vindicating William Smith 3.4 London overtures 3.5 The early British Association 3.6 The Royal Dublin Society; Part II: Making a Career 1834-1853; 4. The Provincial Base 4.1 YPS keeper 4.2 The mountain limestone monograph 4.3 Carboniferous expert 4.4 The philosophical carnival 4.5 The burden of lecturing 5. The Professor and Popular Writer 5.1 King’s College, London 5.2 The popularisation of geology 5.3 Lyell’s principles of geology 5.4 Phillips’ principles of geology 5.5 Genesis and geology 6 The Geological Survey 1836-1841 6.1 The survey under attack 6.2 The unpaid helper 6.3 The Survey employee 6.4 Palaeozoic fossils 6.5 Palaeozoic converts 7. The Geographical Survey 1841-1849 7.1 Maps, sections, and obsessions 7.2 Halcyon years 7.3 Surveying and pupils 7.4 Sparring with Murchison 7.5 Cabinet palaeontologist 7.6 Irish stews 7.7 Anti-climax 8. Manifold Scientist 8.1 Local commitments 8.2 Metropolitan involvements 8.3 The BAAS factotum 8.4 The BAAS polymath 8.5 Civil scientist 8.6 Popularising science 8.7 A Pension scandal; Part III: The Oxford Professor 1853-1874; 9. The Oxford Chair 9.1 The Oxford appointment 9.1 Oxford in 1853 9.2 Début in Oxford 9.4 Geological lecturing 9.5 Geological pupils 9.6 The geological collection 9.7 Schools and extra-mural lecturing 10. Professorial Research 10.1 Cleavage and belemnites 10.2 Glaciation 10.3 Vesuvius and earthquakes 10.4 Topographical geology 10.5 Consultancy 10.6 Archaeology and astronomy 10.7 Magnetism and metrology 11. Keepering 11.1 The Ashmolean Museum 11.2 Keeper in waiting 11.3 Ruskinesque decorator 11.4 Keeper 1857-1860 11.5 The Museum’s meanings 11.6 Collections 11.7 Unifier of the Museum 1861-1874 12. Voluntary Commitments 12.1 Local scientific societies 12.2 The British Association 12.3 The Geological Society 12.4 The Royal Society 13. Evolution, the Earth, Man, and God 13.1 Vestiges of creation 13.2 The origin of species 13.3 Life on the earth 13.4 Genesis and geology revisited 13.5 The age of man 13.6 Last testimonies 13.7 Irenic Christianity; Conclusion; Appendix 1: Lecture courses given by Phillips to YPS; Appendix 2: Lecture courses given by Phillips outside York; Bibliography; Index