Reading Coral in the Age of Darwin

摘要

In this dissertation, I argue middle-class Victorians used geological theory and methodology to evaluate coral growth patterns in the context of imperial resource management. Nineteenth-century British publications examined in this case study document that authors employed a geological reading of coral, irrespective of where the natural resource grew, how it was used, or its physical shape. Encouraged by practitioners of the new science, Victorians read coral through a geological lens in the context of empire.;I first demonstrate that Geological Society of London members established an economic framework for coral as an indigenous natural resource in publications addressing general audiences. In Penny Magazine, geologist Leonard Horner explained contemporary research, using modified stratigraphic drawings, illustrating the significance of local sources of coral fossil limestone deposits for post-Reform Act readers impacted by evolving British politics. Geological Society and British Geological Survey participants authored British field guides incorporating Charles Darwin's illustrated coral growth theory to visualize the volume of domestic coral reserves and patterns of deposition.;Next, I document that Victorian authors applied a geological reading to coral sourced from colonial and foreign regions to interpret Britain's past, present, and future role in global resource management. In published letters, Sarah Maria Smythe used Darwin's subsidence theory to evaluate access through reefs in pre-annexation Fiji. Smythe's illustrated correspondence demonstrates her application of geology during Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew colonial resource assessments. Robert Hunt, Keeper of Mining Records for the Geological Survey, published guide books for the 1851 and 1862 International Exhibitions framing Mediterranean coral samples displayed Center Court, adjacent to extracted imperial gems, with contemporary geological research. Writing for periodicals including Art-Journal, Peter Lund Simmonds argued for geologists to support British interests in foreign and colonial coral markets through continued research in coral growth.;Knowing that Geological Society members authored publications for nineteenth-century British publics, thus establishing an intellectual framework for coral as a substantive component of the subterranean and submarine imperial estate, requires a re-evaluation of the Victorian understanding of coral as a resource simultaneously indigenous and colonial. For Victorians, the map of imperial Britain was the map of coral.