RICHARD KIRWAN'S (1733-1812) JOURNEY

The relation of geology and religion has not always been the conflict we may envision. There was no monolithic position even two hundred years ago. Those who studied the earth in Europe and Great Britain held many different beliefs within Christianity, but there was little relation between religion and their geological positions. Known as a "Mosaic" geologist, like a number of his contemporaries, Kirwan didn't feel that the entire history of the earth was encompassed within the Mosaic time scale, only that since the Deluge. During his long life of 79 years, his religion progressed from Catholicism to Irish Anglicanism to Unitarianism. This was first a response to political and economic necessity, and then the result of his association with free-thinking colleagues. Although Kirwan published the first edition of his Mineralogy in 1784, it spoke more to his chemistry than to his later geology. He focused more on the earth after his removal back to Dublin in 1787, after his longest stay in London and his reaction to Hutton's Theory of the Earth.

Kirwan's family was indisputably Catholic, although accommodations with the prevailing laws of Ireland were made. After tutoring by a priest employed by his family, Kirwan and his brothers went to a Protestant school which had dispensation to teach Catholics. University in France was followed by a novitiate in the Netherlands. He returned to Ireland upon his older brother's death and took over the family estates, followed by a happy but sadly brief marriage of eight years. Until 1777 Kirwan resided primarily in Ireland, but traveled to England, Germany, and France. He loved chemistry, but at first it was unrewarding, and he studied law. Supposedly the impetus for his conversion to Irish Anglicanism was his desire to practice law, which was forbidden to Catholics. He disliked it, and continued his chemistry studies, which led to his very successful decade in London from 1777 until 1787. During this time his contact with leading dissenting scholars led to his conversion to Unitarianism. There is some disagreement, but most evidence points to his remaining Unitarian for the rest of his life during which he published numerous papers in geology.