MURCHISON IN POLAND: AN EXAMPLE OF INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION LEADING TO ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE

In 1843, as Roderick Murchison was in the midst of preparing the map and text of his massive book The Geology of Russia (1845, John Murray), he set off for the districts of Volhynia and Podolia in order to extend to southern Russia the field observations he had made in 1840 and 1841. Once he reached Warsaw, however, he was not given permission to travel in those districts and consequently rearranged his plans to investigate instead the Holy Cross and Carpathian Mountains in southern Poland. Because of this change in itinerary, Murchison made important contributions to Polish geology. He was able to make progress because he had prepared for the trip by consulting with a cadre of international geologists on his journey from Paris to Berlin. Furthermore, he arranged to travel with Professor Ludwick Zejszner (1805-1871), and to meet in the field Professor Georg Gottlieb Pusch (1790-1846), Polish geologists familiar with the Holy Cross and Carpathian Mountains. Among the scientists that Murchison consulted during his journey were: Ami Boué, M. le Play, Karl von Leonhard, Alexander von Humboldt, Leopold von Buch, Zejszner and Pusch. This paper investigates the impact those consultations and collaboration had on the work Murchison accomplished during the 1843 field season.