In the booklet Descriptions of East Yorkshire: Leland to Defoe (published by the East Yorkshire Local History Soc. in 1985) Donald Woodward’s extract from Defoe’s Tour (1720s) includes the following phrase when writing of the North Yorkshire coast ‘here are the snake stones, of which nothing can be said but as one observes of them, to see how nature sports her self to amuse us’. Presumably her was referring to fossils (see above – ammonite) found commonly in the limestone strata of the Yorkshire Moors coastal rocks south of Whitby. Whether or not he was glossing over any more rational explanation is not clear, but certainly 100 years later another topographer and resident of Scarborough (although he had been born and had lived most of his life in southern England) had, through his studies alongside his profession of civil engineer, come to much more rational and ground breaking (excuse the pun) conclusions. This was William Smith (1769-1839), originally nicknamed William ‘Strata’ Smith and later distinguished as ‘Father of English Geology’.
The Rotunda museum in Scarborough was originally built in the then contemporary classical style to house Smith’s exhibits. Refurbished early in the 21st century it was re-named ‘Rotunda – The William Smith Museum of Geology. Despite the name it includes other aspects of the history of Scarborough and district as well as evidence of other alumni from Scarborough’s early Literary and Philosophical Society.
Unknown to Smith at the time of his death a young naturalist called Charles Darwin was formulating the theory of ‘natural selection’ following his researches during a voyage on HMS Beagle 1831-1836.
(More to Follow).