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THE BASIC THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF CHARLES LYELL'S 'PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY' (1830-1833).

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Gegotek J.
Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki
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2008
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vol. 53
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issue 3-4
227-257
EN
The aim of the paper is a reconstruction of basic ontological assumptions revealed in Charles Lyell's 'Principles of Geology'. The most important of them was the principle of uniformitarianism. Unfortunately, Lyell never gave a precise and unambiguous formulation of the principle, and, as a consequence, opinions about its meaning are discrepant. Analysis of Lyell's reasoning revealed that he treated it as a principle of uniformity of geological laws, and of kind and degree of geological factors. On the other hand, he did not accept uniformity of geological results, and did not accentuate gradualism as strong as many commentators suppose. For Lyell the Earth was the place of incessant changes, but the changes did not have any determined direction - there were neither progressive nor regressive. The Earth was therefore in equilibrium, in the 'steady-state'. Another important feature of the geological changes in Lyell's theory was their limited predictability. This was the result of the complexity of the geological system, the nature of the main geological factor - earthquakes, and the methodological assumption of Lyell, who not only wanted to present general, theoretical model of changes, but also to take into consideration concrete, particular phenomena. Lyell distinguished two main classes of geological factors - igneous and aqueous ones. On the other hand, he diminished the meaning of organic factors in the transformation of the Earth crust. In his explanations Lyell appealed mainly to the naturalistic, secondary causes and to the internal Earth system's factors. One of the most important problems for Lyell was showing a place for the man in the geological system. He had to harmonise both the thesis of recent appearance of human beings on Earth with the evidence of their influence on the Earth surface, and the conviction of special place of the man with naturalism of geological method. As a result, he constructed unique form of dualism. As the physical side of the man he classified all these human qualities having an influence on the nature as, for instance, morality etc. A crucial element of Lyell's theory was his notion of geological time. In the concept one can tell the difference between attitude distinctive for physicians and for historians. Geological time was for Lyell not only extremely long, but also 'extensible'. Lyell's idea of time is located between the notion of 'time's cycle' and 'time's arrow'. There was the sequence both of non-cyclic and non-directional changes. All ontological ideas played an important role in Lyell's theory. He put forward only these explanations that were compatible with them.
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THE MINING AND GEOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF JÓZEF CIESZKOWSKI IN THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

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Wojcik A. J.
Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
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2008
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vol. 17
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issue 1-2(33-34)
87-101
EN
Until the 19th century, there was - with a few exceptions - little connection in geology between general concepts and knowledge stemming from the actual practice of mining. Irrespective of the development of various philosophical concepts, observation came to be used on a large scale as a research method. The method was predominantly applied by geologists who worked in mines, and thus were directly concerned with the exploration and identification of mineral deposits. Among such mine geologists who were active in the 19th century in the Kingdom of Poland, the part of partitioned Poland under Russian sovereignty, was Józef Cieszkowski (1789-1867). After graduating from the Mining Academy in Kielce (where he studied in the years 1817-1820), Cieszkowski first got a job as an assistant engineer at the Olkusz-Siewierz Board of Mining, and then, from 1823, he worked in the calamine mine at Slawków. Later he was sent to gain practical knowledge abroad (1826-1827). The reports of his stay abroad, written in 1834 and 1836, contain descriptions of sites where coal deposits are found (coal basins), but their main focus is on description of mining procedures (the draining of mines, exploitation of deposits and underground transportation in mines). As time went by, Cieszkowski advanced in the government-run mining industry, to become successively assistant mine superintendent, chief mine superintendent (1834) and head of the mine division of the Western District of the Kingdom of Poland (1841-1861). Thanks to his practical interests, Cieszkowski played a crucial role in the introduction of new methods of exploiting coal deposits and transporting the output. Identification of the occurrence of particular coal beds made it possible to establish new mines, while the development of a new method of exploiting coal deposits - known, after the region where it originated, as the 'Dabrowa' or 'Zaglebie' method - allowed miners to exploit thick coal beds by layers. The method, of which Cieszkowski himself was a precursor in 1848, made it possible to extract coal almost without any losses (no unextracted parts of the bed were left, with the thickness of the beds reaching up to 25 metres). This led to a reduction in the number of fires, which had occurred in mines very frequently before. In his dictionary of mining (Slownik górniczy), published in 1868, Hieronim Labecki presented a number of terms developed by Józef Cieszkowski, such as 'overlay', 'inclined drift', 'countershaft', as well as the term '(mineral) basin', the definition of which included a description of a geological structure characterized by a synclinal arrangement of sedimentary rock strata. The introduction of the definition into mining terminology proceeded in a gradual way, starting from 1840. The term 'basin' was first used in the title of a published map in the 'Geognostic map of the coal basin of the Kingdom of Poland' drafted by Jan Marian Hempel.
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JAM MARIAN HEMPEL - AUTHOR OF GEOLOGICAL AND MINING MAPS OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND

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Wojcik A. J.
Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
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2006
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vol. 15
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issue 1-2(29-30)
255-278
EN
The study presents the work of Jan Marian Hempel (12.12.1818-19.01.1886). The particular focus of the study is on the archival materials concerning the history of the industrial districts of the Kindgom of Poland, and on a number of geological and mining maps. Jan Hempel started work in the mines of the Western (Industrial) District of the Kngdom of Poland in 1840. He was employed as, among other things, a surveyor's assistant in the offices of the district at Dabrowa (Górnicza), and in the years 1843-47 he pursued studies to supplement his education, while at the same time working in the Technical Section of the Mining Division in Warsaw. From 1847 onwards Hempel organized the surveying service in the Western District, being responsible for the drawing of a number of new mine maps. In 1856 he finished work on a 'Geognostic map of the coal-mining basin of the Kingdom of Poland' (18 sections, with a scale of 1:20000). It was the first detailed geological-mining map to be published in Polish and it carried a compendium of knowledge on the occurrence of mineral resources and the geology of the whole Western District. Beginning from 1857 Hempel worked in the Eastern District (at Suchedniów) on a 'geognostic map' that was eventually published in 1867 in the journal 'Annales des Mines'. In 1861, Hempel was made head of the Western Distict, supervising the functioning of all mines and steel mills owned by the government. Jan Hempel made a very special contribution to the development of geology and mining. He introduced modern surveying methods, as well as took on the difficult task of drawing the first maps that presented the complicated geological structure of the industrial districts.
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THE HISTORY OF IDENTIFYING MINERALS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE FORMER DUCHY OF SIEWIERZ AND THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL-MINING DESCRIPTION AND MAP OF THE REGION

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Wojcik A. J.
Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
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2010
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vol. 19
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issue 1-2(36-37)
345-368
EN
Change in the mining industry has always been a continuous process, stimulated by a number of historical events and facts. At the beginning of the 19th century, a great number of political and economic decisions were made which led to the launching and development of industrial plants. The current paper deals with the area of the former Duchy of Siewierz, which belonged to the Polish Commonwealth until 1795, when it was incorporated into Prussian Upper Silesia and renamed 'Neu Schlesien' (New Silesia). The advances in geological and mining knowledge of the area at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries were connected with the exploration and opening out of lead ore and coal deposits. One of the first researchers to explore the geology of the region was Christian Leopold von Buch, who identified the range of occurrence of coal-carrying formations of the Upper Carboniferous in the area. He also identified lignite deposits in the vicinity of Zawiercie, Poreba and Blanowice. An analysis of archival materials suggests that the results of exploration of New Silesia conducted by Buch were not widely known and perhaps were deliberately kept secret. Evidence of intensive expansion of Prussian mining authorities comes, among other things, in the form of a manuscript of a cartographic survey by Eisler: 'Plan von der Gegende bei Czelleie, Bendzin, Niwka, Slawkow, und Siewir in Neu-Schlesien, mit cenneca, rin besinelichen Versuch Arbeiten, Stein Kohlen Gruben, alten Bley und Eisen Erz Bauen'. The map is the only cartographic depiction of New Silesia that contains elements of geology. It has an excellent graphical form, it is clear and legible, and it presents a detailed account of settlement, road and watercourse systems. The map is also correct in the use of geographical names. Particular localities are kept distinct, and the spatial arrangement of buildings is presented as well. The map also depicts the location of mills, sawmills and smithies, but above all locates mines of metal ores (lead, silver and iron) in the vicinity of Boguchwala, Mierzecice, Wojkowice, Strzemieszyce and Okradzionów. Special symbols are used to pinpoint areas of former exploitation of those ores (15th-16th centuries).
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MAPS OF MINING DISTRICTS IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND (Mapy Okregów górniczych Królestwa Polskiego)

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Wojcik A. J.
Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
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2009
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vol. 18
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issue 1-2(35-36)
331-348
EN
The establishment of the Kingdom of Poland (in 1815, within the framework of Tsarist Russia) and the development of government-run mining and metallurgy gave a chance of employment to many well-educated specialists in the fields of geology and mining. This also meant that they were involved, for the first time, in a number of novel tasks, such as the drafting of the first economic maps of the mining districts: the Eastern District, covering the region of the Swiętokrzyskie Mountains, and the Western District, located on the south-western peripheries of the Kingdom and bordering on the lands held by Prussia and Austria. One of the specialist must have been Maksymilian Strasz (1804-1885), the author of two maps which appeared in print in 1846: 'Karta polozenia Zakladów Górniczych Rzadowych w Królestwie Polskiem. Okreg Wschodni' (Map of the location of governmental mining plants in the Kingdom of Poland. Eastern District) (scale 1:126000, engraved by J. Dietrich at the Lithography of the Bank of Poland in Warsaw) and 'Karta ogólna polozenia Zakladów Górniczych Rzadowych w Królestwie Polskiem, Okregu Zachodnim, z oznaczeniem utworów powierzchni ziemi w przyblizeniu (General map of the location of governmental mining plants in the Kingdom of Poland, Western District, with an approximate indication of the formations of the earth's surface) (scale 1:126000, engraved by P. Kresse at the Lithography of the Bank of Poland in Warsaw). Unfortunately, no descriptions or other information on how the maps were drafted have been preserved, nor is there any information on how many maps were printed. The map of the Eastern District was drafted in much detail, both with regard to topography, and the mining and metallurgical content. The location of industrial plants was indicated, as was the range of forests. By contrast, in the map of the Western District the content was largely simplified, and the whole map seems not to have been a completed work. In spite of the many technical shortcomings, it must be said that the maps of the mining districts of the Kingdom of Poland by Maksymilian Strasz were the first comprehensive cartographical representation of the industrial regions, which showed both mineral deposits, as well as the location of and interrelations between particular industrial plants.
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