JOHN HERSCHEL'S ALPINE GEOLOGY: MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPES 20 YEARS BEFORE PHOTOGRAPHY

During the 1820s the natural philosopher John Herschel traveled extensively around Europe. While his travels fit "The Grand Tour" -- a rite practiced by wealthy young Europeans -- Herschel used this socially sanctioned activity to pursue his geological and geocosmical education. Fortunately, Herschel recorded his travels in diaries and letters home, and even more fortunately, he was a most proficient sketch artist and a prolific user of the Camera Lucida. This paper provides an overview of Herschel's mountain travels and research, from the Auvergne, Zermatt, and Chamonix to Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna. Two decades before the invention of photography, John Herschel was sketching glaciers and calderas for the scientific record.