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Alan Cutler

The Seashell on the Mountaintop

Much is made of Science vs Religion in the media nowadays. So you might be surprised to learn that the scientist who played a substantial part in initiating the scientific view of the Earth's history, Nicolaus Steno, went on to become a bishop and is now well on the way to becoming a Saint. In The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth Alan Cutler tells his story.

Steno was born in 1638 in Denmark and there became renowned as an anatomist. Dissections of the time had a degree of showmanship, with the anatomist finding things that he 'knew' to be there. Steno did not accept the customary wisdom and made several significant discoveries in his work. Soon he was travelling round Europe becoming interested in many of the scientific questions of the day. In particular, how did seashells come to be found on mountains a long way from the sea. Steno argued that they must have come from living creatures (a viewpoint had been popular in antiquity but had been discarded) and that the layers found in rocks originated from gradual depostion of material. Steno put forward his ideas in a book De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus, ( Preliminary discourse to a dissertation on a solid body naturally contained within a solid). Cutler explains the controversies which these ideas caused and how they gradually came to be accepted.

Steno took his religion seriously, taking up Catholicism and later became a priest. He aspired to the simple life, but was given the rather onerous job of Catholic Bishop to various parts of Protestant Northern Europe. With this he had little time for his scientific works, and hte longer book which he intended to write was never finished - even his notes for it were never found.

This is a well written, easy to read book, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the origins of modern science, and the true relationship between science and religion.

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Paperback 240 pages
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Published: 2004 Plume

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Paperback 208 pages
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Published: 2004 Arrow Books Ltd

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ISBN: 0452285461
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Product Description
Seventeenth-century scientists were baffled: How did the fossils of seashells find their way to the tops of mountains? Nicolaus Steno, hailed by Stephen Jay Gould as "the founder of geology," solved the puzzle, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. Paradoxically, at the same time his ideas were undermining the Bible’s authoritative claim as to the age of the planet, Steno was entering the priesthood and rising to bishop. He would ultimately be venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988. A thrilling tale of scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop is the story of how a scientist-turned-priest forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science.

Product Description

Seventeenth-century scientists were baffled: How did the fossils of seashells find their way to the tops of mountains? Nicolaus Steno, hailed by Stephen Jay Gould as "the founder of geology," solved the puzzle, looking directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. Paradoxically, at the same time his ideas were undermining the Bible’s authoritative claim as to the age of the planet, Steno was entering the priesthood and rising to bishop. He would ultimately be venerated as a saint and beatified by the Catholic Church in 1988.

A thrilling tale of scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop is the story of how a scientist-turned-priest forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science.

Fascinating History of Science *****
Ever wonder why there are seashells in rocks or in buildings made out of rocks? Nicholaus Steno did too, and through his inquiry and investigation, discovered the geologic concept of "deep time"- discovering the age of the earth by examining the sedimentary layers. Steno was a Danish scientist who originally went into anatomy. His brilliant lectures demolished Decartes' theories on the brain, and paved the way for new understandings of anatomy. His interest in fossils was sparked by a shark's head that he was using for one of his lectures. The "tongue stones" in the shark's mouth looked remarkably similar to the ones that he had seen in rocks. At the time, most people thought that fossils literally grew inside rocks, through "plastic forces of nature." (The scientific world had not yet outgrown Aristotle's physics.) Steno argued that the fossils could not possibly grow inside rocks, because they weren't distorted the way that objects that actually did grow inside rocks were. He eventually came to the conclusion that the seashell fossils inside the mountains were the result of the ocean once covering entire areas, and that sediments, in which fossils were trapped, layered on top of each other. Steno's discovery made Bishop Ussher's creation date of 4004 BC untenable, since it would have taken the seas far longer to recede than Noah's flood was supposed to have lasted. This book is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in the history of scientific discovery, and how someone's curiosity can change the way people think about the world.

Fascinating History of Science *****

Ever wonder why there are seashells in rocks or in buildings made out of rocks? Nicholaus Steno did too, and through his inquiry and investigation, discovered the geologic concept of "deep time"- discovering the age of the earth by examining the sedimentary layers.

Steno was a Danish scientist who originally went into anatomy. His brilliant lectures demolished Decartes' theories on the brain, and paved the way for new understandings of anatomy. His interest in fossils was sparked by a shark's head that he was using for one of his lectures. The "tongue stones" in the shark's mouth looked remarkably similar to the ones that he had seen in rocks. At the time, most people thought that fossils literally grew inside rocks, through "plastic forces of nature." (The scientific world had not yet outgrown Aristotle's physics.) Steno argued that the fossils could not possibly grow inside rocks, because they weren't distorted the way that objects that actually did grow inside rocks were. He eventually came to the conclusion that the seashell fossils inside the mountains were the result of the ocean once covering entire areas, and that sediments, in which fossils were trapped, layered on top of each other. Steno's discovery made Bishop Ussher's creation date of 4004 BC untenable, since it would have taken the seas far longer to recede than Noah's flood was supposed to have lasted.

This book is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in the history of scientific discovery, and how someone's curiosity can change the way people think about the world.

A Pleasure to Read *****
We are privileged to live in a Golden Age of writing about the history of science. Several other reviewers have already sung the praises, aptly, of this book, so I will merely recommend a few other titles. If you enjoy this book, you'll also enjoy: The Ice Finders; The Man Who Discovered Time; Out of the Flames; The Lunar Men; World on Fire.

A Pleasure to Read *****

We are privileged to live in a Golden Age of writing about the history of science. Several other reviewers have already sung the praises, aptly, of this book, so I will merely recommend a few other titles. If you enjoy this book, you'll also enjoy: The Ice Finders; The Man Who Discovered Time; Out of the Flames; The Lunar Men; World on Fire.

A gem *****
Only a small minority of books on science or scientists manage to discuss the historical relation between science and religion with anything approaching balance and accuracy. This book is excellent in that regard. Cutler does not appear to be religious himself, yet he has a very sound grasp of the complex historic interplay between science and religion. The book is very readable, and gives a fascinating picture of how people in various ages saw the history of the earth. I cannot refrain from correcting some mistakes of Mr. Raul Goulden below. First, Steno/Stensen was never sent to the city of which he was made "titular bishop". That never happens. Mr. Goulden misunderstands what is meant by a "titular bishop". Every bishop in the Catholic Church is given, in addition to his actual diocese, a purely ceremonial title as bishop of some diocese that is no longer in existence. (There is a kind of custom that dioceses never go out of legal existence, so that dioceses that existed in ancient times, but where there is no longer a city or where the population is now Muslim, say, still exist "on the books".) Stensen was never actually sent to a place in the Muslim world, as Goulden supposes. He was given a real diocese in northern (predominantly Lutheran) Europe. There he labored in very difficult conditions for the salvation of souls and the better treatment of the poor. There was nothing tragic about the end of his life, but rather (from a Christian point of view) something quite glorious. Second, Steno/Stensen did not convert because of love of ritual, but, as Cutler makes very clear in the book, for serious theological reasons, and after a deep study of early Church history. Back to science: as a scientist who has read many books on science history and many biographies of scientists, I can attest that this is one of the very best. A gem.

A gem *****

Only a small minority of books on science or scientists manage to discuss the historical relation between science and religion with anything approaching balance and accuracy. This book is excellent in that regard. Cutler does not appear to be religious himself, yet he has a very sound grasp of the complex historic interplay between science and religion. The book is very readable, and gives a fascinating picture of how people in various ages saw the history of the earth.

I cannot refrain from correcting some mistakes of Mr. Raul Goulden below. First, Steno/Stensen was never sent to the city of which he was made "titular bishop". That never happens. Mr. Goulden misunderstands what is meant by a "titular bishop". Every bishop in the Catholic Church is given, in addition to his actual diocese, a purely ceremonial title as bishop of some diocese that is no longer in existence. (There is a kind of custom that dioceses never go out of legal existence, so that dioceses that existed in ancient times, but where there is no longer a city or where the population is now Muslim, say, still exist "on the books".) Stensen was never actually sent to a place in the Muslim world, as Goulden supposes. He was given a real diocese in northern (predominantly Lutheran) Europe. There he labored in very difficult conditions for the salvation of souls and the better treatment of the poor. There was nothing tragic about the end of his life, but rather (from a Christian point of view) something quite glorious. Second, Steno/Stensen did not convert because of love of ritual, but, as Cutler makes very clear in the book, for serious theological reasons, and after a deep study of early Church history.

Back to science: as a scientist who has read many books on science history and many biographies of scientists, I can attest that this is one of the very best. A gem.

An Unknown Accomplished Man *****
This geologist is a wonderful storyteller. Cutler lets the reader feel the doubt, grace and turmoil (of which there was much) in Steno's life. Steno's Principals (superposition, original horizontality, and lateral continuity), seem to us now to be simply common sense. However, the prevalent religious thinking at the time they were announced was in strong conflict. Superposition is not obvious if you believe the entire earth, including all the layers, was created on the same day. Steno, a Dane, started as a brilliant anatomist, wandering Europe dissecting and teaching. He proposed the idea that muscular action comes from the contraction of muscle fibers not the ballooning of the muscle mass, the accuracy of which was not recognized for a hundred years. All the while he was also studying the topography of Europe, finally ending up as a ward of the Medici in Florence. As Medieval universities were founded not to "...create new knowledge as to preserve old knowledge," it was the home he needed Ferdinando and Leopoldo de Medici were wealthy and interested in science. They founded a research institution, the "Academy of Experiments" to which Steno came as an anatomist, arriving at about the same time as the head of a great white shark. He dissected it and recognized that its teeth were identical to "tongue stones" that had been found on Malta. That, along with fossils that had been found in the Alps and the Alpines in Italy, led him to conclude that much of Europe had been covered by water and not just once simply to launch Noah, but again and again. He realized that layering represented a sequence that was assembled from the inside out. This was doubly revolutionary in that it was contrary to Descartes who had asserted that the earth had cooled from the outside in. Steno lived only forty-eight years, moving about much of his life. Born in a very Lutheran country, he later converted to Catholicism, ending his life as an impoverished bishop in Germany. It is not clear why. Cutler introduces us to Steno's predecessors in thought, Descartes, for example, and his "method of doubt," along with Spinoza, and Leibneiz, both of whom became friends. Steno lived in difficult times, the Thirty Years War raged and death from the plague was everywhere. And yet, although he was constantly diverted in thought, he devoted himself to the earth as he did the human body, dissecting sedimentary depositions as an anatomist. While others had found fossils in rocks, they assumed that they grew there. Steno wondered why he did not find any in the earth and if they grew in the rocks why did they not crack them? The undistorted fossil shells indicated to him that they had been entombed. This is a well written, slim introduction to the fascinating life of a scientist who deserves a complete biography. Like Steno's published writing, De Solido, it is just a summary. While his writings were eagerly awaited by the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, Steno never published his promised dissertation. It would have provided the detailed support for the conclusions and principles he set forth in De Solido. That was left to James Hutton, the inventor of modern geology to do a century later. Given the plethora of detailed biographies of marginal politicians which have been published in the recent past it is a mystery why the life of a seminal thinker has not been thoroughly examined.

An Unknown Accomplished Man *****

This geologist is a wonderful storyteller. Cutler lets the reader feel the doubt, grace and turmoil (of which there was much) in Steno's life. Steno's Principals (superposition, original horizontality, and lateral continuity), seem to us now to be simply common sense. However, the prevalent religious thinking at the time they were announced was in strong conflict. Superposition is not obvious if you believe the entire earth, including all the layers, was created on the same day.

Steno, a Dane, started as a brilliant anatomist, wandering Europe dissecting and teaching. He proposed the idea that muscular action comes from the contraction of muscle fibers not the ballooning of the muscle mass, the accuracy of which was not recognized for a hundred years. All the while he was also studying the topography of Europe, finally ending up as a ward of the Medici in Florence. As Medieval universities were founded not to "...create new knowledge as to preserve old knowledge," it was the home he needed Ferdinando and Leopoldo de Medici were wealthy and interested in science. They founded a research institution, the "Academy of Experiments" to which Steno came as an anatomist, arriving at about the same time as the head of a great white shark. He dissected it and recognized that its teeth were identical to "tongue stones" that had been found on Malta. That, along with fossils that had been found in the Alps and the Alpines in Italy, led him to conclude that much of Europe had been covered by water and not just once simply to launch Noah, but again and again. He realized that layering represented a sequence that was assembled from the inside out. This was doubly revolutionary in that it was contrary to Descartes who had asserted that the earth had cooled from the outside in.

Steno lived only forty-eight years, moving about much of his life. Born in a very Lutheran country, he later converted to Catholicism, ending his life as an impoverished bishop in Germany. It is not clear why. Cutler introduces us to Steno's predecessors in thought, Descartes, for example, and his "method of doubt," along with Spinoza, and Leibneiz, both of whom became friends. Steno lived in difficult times, the Thirty Years War raged and death from the plague was everywhere. And yet, although he was constantly diverted in thought, he devoted himself to the earth as he did the human body, dissecting sedimentary depositions as an anatomist. While others had found fossils in rocks, they assumed that they grew there. Steno wondered why he did not find any in the earth and if they grew in the rocks why did they not crack them? The undistorted fossil shells indicated to him that they had been entombed.

This is a well written, slim introduction to the fascinating life of a scientist who deserves a complete biography. Like Steno's published writing, De Solido, it is just a summary. While his writings were eagerly awaited by the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, Steno never published his promised dissertation. It would have provided the detailed support for the conclusions and principles he set forth in De Solido. That was left to James Hutton, the inventor of modern geology to do a century later. Given the plethora of detailed biographies of marginal politicians which have been published in the recent past it is a mystery why the life of a seminal thinker has not been thoroughly examined.

Very interesting biography, and well-told. The author stays out of the way of the story. ****
This was a very good book, and it's interesting in several different ways. On the one hand, it's a biography of Nicolaus Steno (which is the modern version of his scientific name, Nicolai Stenoni, which is an adaptation of his real name, Niels Steensen). It's also a history of the foundation of the science of geology, and it's a window into the early days of scientific exploration (before you object and raise the Greeks as an issue, it should be noted that despite their many studies, they never developed the scientific method, or experimental science). Many people unknowingly project our modern attitudes and opinions into the past, taking for granted the ideas of technology and knowledge. Because of that, we often forget that in the past, science and religion were not seen as diametrically opposed. Steno, who basically discovered stratigraphy and whose discoveries implied an age for the Earth older than Ussher's 6,000 years, or any other age based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, was a devout Lutheran who converted to Catholicism and spent the last few years of his life as a Catholic priest on a mission to convert protestants back to Catholicism. The main reason Steno converted was because he could not believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, but that never altered his views about the existence of God or that God was the driving force behind the world. As a matter of fact, the men of science of Steno's time were studying science in order to find God in the world. That's why many such men were priests, and most men who weren't priests were still devoutly religious, such as Sir Isaac Newton. Steno was born the son of a goldsmith in Copenhagen, Denmark (which was Lutheran) in 1638. He was born with copious manual dexterity and practiced it when he went to school to become an anatomist. And of course you must note that he started an anatomist, but his most famous discoveries were as a geologist and he ended life as a Catholic priest. This testifies to his many talents and mental prowess. Basically though, it all ties together. He was always a religious man, and he was exploring the beauty of God's creation when he dissected humans or animals. When a shark's head was brought to him for dissection, he noticed the similarity between the shark's teeth and "glossopetrae", or tongue stones that supposedly were natural formations that emanated from the Earth. Philosophers had tried to explain the formation of rocks in the Earth for a long time, but had never successfully explained how rocks could be formed that looked like seashells and shark teeth inside other rocks. Basically this lead him to conclude that the only way it was possible was if the fossils had been there first and the rocks grew up around them. This led him to formulate the theory of sedimentation, which is that layers of rock are laid down on the bottom of a body of water. This property could be clearly observed even at their times on the small scales of buckets of dirty water or riverbeds. Steno understood the implications of those phenomena, and coupled that with his observations of the layers of rock evident in the mountains of Italy to come up with the new theory that the surface of the Earth was made by sedimentary layers. He also devised principles about these layers, called: the law of superposition, the principle of original horizontality, and the principle of lateral continuity. This is where you can see that by observing nature in order to find God, he found a natural process that works without any intervention from God. But even though that was just a few years after the Catholic church had punished Galileo, they didn't have a problem with Steno's work because their doctrine allowed that whatever was plainly observable must be true (something I wish biblical literalists would understand!) In the debate over the correctness of Steno's arguments, which took place mostly after his death, the argument was never made that Steno's theory violated Christian belief in any way. Other Christian scientists either supported it or didn't, but never on the basis of conflict with written scripture. Even if you don't read much non-fiction and aren't interested in geology, I would still say this book is interesting simply because it demonstrates some surprising things about the world and the people in it. Read it!

Very interesting biography, and well-told. The author stays out of the way of the story. ****

This was a very good book, and it's interesting in several different ways. On the one hand, it's a biography of Nicolaus Steno (which is the modern version of his scientific name, Nicolai Stenoni, which is an adaptation of his real name, Niels Steensen). It's also a history of the foundation of the science of geology, and it's a window into the early days of scientific exploration (before you object and raise the Greeks as an issue, it should be noted that despite their many studies, they never developed the scientific method, or experimental science). Many people unknowingly project our modern attitudes and opinions into the past, taking for granted the ideas of technology and knowledge. Because of that, we often forget that in the past, science and religion were not seen as diametrically opposed. Steno, who basically discovered stratigraphy and whose discoveries implied an age for the Earth older than Ussher's 6,000 years, or any other age based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, was a devout Lutheran who converted to Catholicism and spent the last few years of his life as a Catholic priest on a mission to convert protestants back to Catholicism. The main reason Steno converted was because he could not believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, but that never altered his views about the existence of God or that God was the driving force behind the world. As a matter of fact, the men of science of Steno's time were studying science in order to find God in the world. That's why many such men were priests, and most men who weren't priests were still devoutly religious, such as Sir Isaac Newton.

Steno was born the son of a goldsmith in Copenhagen, Denmark (which was Lutheran) in 1638. He was born with copious manual dexterity and practiced it when he went to school to become an anatomist. And of course you must note that he started an anatomist, but his most famous discoveries were as a geologist and he ended life as a Catholic priest. This testifies to his many talents and mental prowess. Basically though, it all ties together. He was always a religious man, and he was exploring the beauty of God's creation when he dissected humans or animals. When a shark's head was brought to him for dissection, he noticed the similarity between the shark's teeth and "glossopetrae", or tongue stones that supposedly were natural formations that emanated from the Earth. Philosophers had tried to explain the formation of rocks in the Earth for a long time, but had never successfully explained how rocks could be formed that looked like seashells and shark teeth inside other rocks.

Basically this lead him to conclude that the only way it was possible was if the fossils had been there first and the rocks grew up around them. This led him to formulate the theory of sedimentation, which is that layers of rock are laid down on the bottom of a body of water. This property could be clearly observed even at their times on the small scales of buckets of dirty water or riverbeds. Steno understood the implications of those phenomena, and coupled that with his observations of the layers of rock evident in the mountains of Italy to come up with the new theory that the surface of the Earth was made by sedimentary layers. He also devised principles about these layers, called: the law of superposition, the principle of original horizontality, and the principle of lateral continuity. This is where you can see that by observing nature in order to find God, he found a natural process that works without any intervention from God. But even though that was just a few years after the Catholic church had punished Galileo, they didn't have a problem with Steno's work because their doctrine allowed that whatever was plainly observable must be true (something I wish biblical literalists would understand!)

In the debate over the correctness of Steno's arguments, which took place mostly after his death, the argument was never made that Steno's theory violated Christian belief in any way. Other Christian scientists either supported it or didn't, but never on the basis of conflict with written scripture.

Even if you don't read much non-fiction and aren't interested in geology, I would still say this book is interesting simply because it demonstrates some surprising things about the world and the people in it. Read it!

Mysteries in moutaintops *****
This engaging and informative little book traces the life of the founder of the science of geology. One of the intitial voices of the Enlightenment, Nicholas Steno spent a life wandering over the face of Europe. In this biography, Cutler's luminous prose takes the reader back to the mid-17th Century intellectual environment. He eloquently describes the rise of "the new science" in the face of traditional dogma. It wasn't a straightforward confrontation, however. Personalities and ideas alike clashed, sometimes savagely. Cutler ably shows how science struggled to find its feet in this time, with Steno's career and heritage providing the exemplary model. Nicholas Steno, born in Lutheran Denmark, led a peripatetic erratic life. He was an anatomist, geologist, innovator and a proponent of empirical science. In an age steeped in ancient philosophy, in which tradition substituted for measurement and experiment, Steno rejected what could not be observed or proven. He mingled with Dutch merchants and the many religions existing in that Calvinist, yet commercial republic. Later, in Florence, he noted the stability provided by the well-established Church. In an age of inquiry, the Church tolerated the emerging science, so long as published works didn't directly challenge Scripture. The Galileo episode, says Cutler, cast a long shadow, and the Vatican didn't want a reprise. Steno not only evaded Church censorship, notes Cutler, he was encouraged to further his studies. Thus, his later conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked many, not least because he abandoned his studies for an ascetic life and attempts to convert Protestants. In Florence, Steno was championed by the ruling Medici family. He took up the question of fossil seashells, a topic that had intrigued the Greek philosophers and Leonardo alike. Were they "spontaneously generated" in the deep earth, remnants of ancient life, or evidence of Noah's cataclysmic Flood? Steno's solution was not novel in itself. His real contribution was his explanation of how these shells and "tonguestones" were found on high mountain locations. Although published in a brief volume, his "De solido", would ultimately become the foundation stone of modern geology. Indirectly, writes Cutler, Steno's ideas and meagre publications led to the greatest idea of all - Darwin's concept of evolution by natural selection. Cutler has encompassed many and varying themes in this book. It is one of the finest presentations of the issues addressed by the Englightenment in print. The names of such notaries as Newton, Leibnitz, and Boyle flit through the narrative. Even Thomas Jefferson makes an appearance - with lines that may surprise. Just enough graphics are used to illuminate the characters or a point. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which is the persistence of centuries-old dogmas in the face of the revelations of science. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Mysteries in moutaintops *****

This engaging and informative little book traces the life of the founder of the science of geology. One of the intitial voices of the Enlightenment, Nicholas Steno spent a life wandering over the face of Europe. In this biography, Cutler's luminous prose takes the reader back to the mid-17th Century intellectual environment. He eloquently describes the rise of "the new science" in the face of traditional dogma. It wasn't a straightforward confrontation, however. Personalities and ideas alike clashed, sometimes savagely. Cutler ably shows how science struggled to find its feet in this time, with Steno's career and heritage providing the exemplary model.

Nicholas Steno, born in Lutheran Denmark, led a peripatetic erratic life. He was an anatomist, geologist, innovator and a proponent of empirical science. In an age steeped in ancient philosophy, in which tradition substituted for measurement and experiment, Steno rejected what could not be observed or proven. He mingled with Dutch merchants and the many religions existing in that Calvinist, yet commercial republic. Later, in Florence, he noted the stability provided by the well-established Church. In an age of inquiry, the Church tolerated the emerging science, so long as published works didn't directly challenge Scripture. The Galileo episode, says Cutler, cast a long shadow, and the Vatican didn't want a reprise. Steno not only evaded Church censorship, notes Cutler, he was encouraged to further his studies. Thus, his later conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked many, not least because he abandoned his studies for an ascetic life and attempts to convert Protestants.

In Florence, Steno was championed by the ruling Medici family. He took up the question of fossil seashells, a topic that had intrigued the Greek philosophers and Leonardo alike. Were they "spontaneously generated" in the deep earth, remnants of ancient life, or evidence of Noah's cataclysmic Flood? Steno's solution was not novel in itself. His real contribution was his explanation of how these shells and "tonguestones" were found on high mountain locations. Although published in a brief volume, his "De solido", would ultimately become the foundation stone of modern geology. Indirectly, writes Cutler, Steno's ideas and meagre publications led to the greatest idea of all - Darwin's concept of evolution by natural selection.

Cutler has encompassed many and varying themes in this book. It is one of the finest presentations of the issues addressed by the Englightenment in print. The names of such notaries as Newton, Leibnitz, and Boyle flit through the narrative. Even Thomas Jefferson makes an appearance - with lines that may surprise. Just enough graphics are used to illuminate the characters or a point. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which is the persistence of centuries-old dogmas in the face of the revelations of science. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Insight in to science ****
If you’re interested in how our forefathers learned about the world around them you’ll find this a gem of a book. In essence it is the biography of Nicholaus Steno, a 17th century Danish scientist, later a bishop, who is considered by many to be the father of geology. Steno observed that in the rock high on many mountains in Europe fossilized seashells could be found. Others had seen them before, but Steno was the man who came up with the correct hypothesis about how they got there. It seems simple enough now. The sea creatures lived in ancient oceans, died and were embedded in the sediment which later, over millions of years, was shoved up to create mountain ranges. Steno was, in fact, a doctor whose anatomical discoveries made him famous initially He had such a delicate touch with the scalpel that he discovered glands never before known about and it was said that he could count the bones of a flea, if fleas had bones. His anatomical discoveries alone were enough to keep his name alive. But he felt the need to try to advance the evolving philosophy of science. Science was still fighting the beliefs of the church, beliefs in the supernatural and early stabs at science that had often been very wide of the mark. Perhaps the seashells were carried up the mountains during Noah’s flood. Steno was one of the first to believe that fact had to be distinguished from speculation and blind belief. One might advance a hypothesis but the scientist had to observe and test before announcing it as fact. Rene Descartes had proposed something similar, but was able ignore the principle when it became inconvenient. Not everyone is interested in how the “new-fangled” scientists struggled to come up with ideas while fighting off the might of the church, pleasing their royal patrons and battling each other for supremacy. If you enjoy reading about the history of how we came to understand our world you’ll love this book. The writer has done a vast amount of research and presented it in very readable form.

Insight in to science ****

If you’re interested in how our forefathers learned about the world around them you’ll find this a gem of a book. In essence it is the biography of Nicholaus Steno, a 17th century Danish scientist, later a bishop, who is considered by many to be the father of geology.

Steno observed that in the rock high on many mountains in Europe fossilized seashells could be found. Others had seen them before, but Steno was the man who came up with the correct hypothesis about how they got there. It seems simple enough now. The sea creatures lived in ancient oceans, died and were embedded in the sediment which later, over millions of years, was shoved up to create mountain ranges.

Steno was, in fact, a doctor whose anatomical discoveries made him famous initially He had such a delicate touch with the scalpel that he discovered glands never before known about and it was said that he could count the bones of a flea, if fleas had bones. His anatomical discoveries alone were enough to keep his name alive.

But he felt the need to try to advance the evolving philosophy of science. Science was still fighting the beliefs of the church, beliefs in the supernatural and early stabs at science that had often been very wide of the mark. Perhaps the seashells were carried up the mountains during Noah’s flood. Steno was one of the first to believe that fact had to be distinguished from speculation and blind belief. One might advance a hypothesis but the scientist had to observe and test before announcing it as fact. Rene Descartes had proposed something similar, but was able ignore the principle when it became inconvenient.

Not everyone is interested in how the “new-fangled” scientists struggled to come up with ideas while fighting off the might of the church, pleasing their royal patrons and battling each other for supremacy. If you enjoy reading about the history of how we came to understand our world you’ll love this book. The writer has done a vast amount of research and presented it in very readable form.

The founder of geology was a devout Christian ****
This well-written and mercifully brief account of the life of Nicholaus Steno helps demonsrate yet again that Christians can be very fine scientists. The issue that Steno resolved was the organic origin of fossils. Steno was trained as an anatomist, and he was extremely gifted with a scalpel. When a very large (2,800 pound) shark was caught by Italian fisherman, Steno's patron, Ferdinando de Medici had the head sent to Steno for disection. Steno noted the uncanny resemblance of the shark's teeth to fossils called "tongue stones" found in greatest abundance on the Island of Malta. Steno argued that "tongue stones" looked like sharks' teeth because they were sharks' teeth that had been buried in sediment, the sediment subsequently hardening into stone. This seems obvious today, but it was anything but obvious in Steno's time. Many argued that the earth had some sort of "plastic power" that produced stones in the shapes of sea creatures, or anything else. It didn't seem possible that fossils found on mountaintops many miles from the ocean could be the remains of real sea creatures, no matter how closely they resemble those creatures. And then there was also the problem of extinct forms, fossils that didn't correspond to any living creatures. The idea that God would allow any of his creatures to die out completely was unacceptable to many thinkers of Steno's day. The fossil problem led Steno to meditate on question of how any solid object, like a fossil, could be found with another solid object, like a layer of rock. He concluded that the fossil must have been hard first, and must have been carried along by waterborne sediments that subsequently came to rest, creating a layer of mud, enclosing the fossil and later hardening into rock. Hence, a solid fossil came to be enclosed within a layer of solid rock. An interesting fact that emerges from this book is that Steno, essentially a creationist who never wrote anything that contradicted Scripture, laid the foundations for the science of geology. Cutler seems at pains to try to claim Steno's legacy for modern long-ages geology, but the age of the earth was never any part of Steno's argument. Moreover, the person who did the most to popularize Steno's view of the organic origin of fossils in the English-speaking world (without giving Steno proper credit) was John Woodward, an even more outspoken creationist who argued that the fossils had been buried in Noah's flood. Meanwhile, the famous skeptic Voltaire argued that fossils were spontaneously generated within the earth. In fact, Voltaire was still making that argument many decades after Steno had proven the contrary case. Meanwhile, Steno abandoned science and spent his final years ministering to the small Roman Catholic minority in northern Germany. It just goes to show that religious faith does not a bad scientist make, nor does skepticism make a good one.

The founder of geology was a devout Christian ****

This well-written and mercifully brief account of the life of Nicholaus Steno helps demonsrate yet again that Christians can be very fine scientists. The issue that Steno resolved was the organic origin of fossils. Steno was trained as an anatomist, and he was extremely gifted with a scalpel. When a very large (2,800 pound) shark was caught by Italian fisherman, Steno's patron, Ferdinando de Medici had the head sent to Steno for disection. Steno noted the uncanny resemblance of the shark's teeth to fossils called "tongue stones" found in greatest abundance on the Island of Malta. Steno argued that "tongue stones" looked like sharks' teeth because they were sharks' teeth that had been buried in sediment, the sediment subsequently hardening into stone.

This seems obvious today, but it was anything but obvious in Steno's time. Many argued that the earth had some sort of "plastic power" that produced stones in the shapes of sea creatures, or anything else. It didn't seem possible that fossils found on mountaintops many miles from the ocean could be the remains of real sea creatures, no matter how closely they resemble those creatures. And then there was also the problem of extinct forms, fossils that didn't correspond to any living creatures. The idea that God would allow any of his creatures to die out completely was unacceptable to many thinkers of Steno's day.

The fossil problem led Steno to meditate on question of how any solid object, like a fossil, could be found with another solid object, like a layer of rock. He concluded that the fossil must have been hard first, and must have been carried along by waterborne sediments that subsequently came to rest, creating a layer of mud, enclosing the fossil and later hardening into rock. Hence, a solid fossil came to be enclosed within a layer of solid rock.

An interesting fact that emerges from this book is that Steno, essentially a creationist who never wrote anything that contradicted Scripture, laid the foundations for the science of geology. Cutler seems at pains to try to claim Steno's legacy for modern long-ages geology, but the age of the earth was never any part of Steno's argument. Moreover, the person who did the most to popularize Steno's view of the organic origin of fossils in the English-speaking world (without giving Steno proper credit) was John Woodward, an even more outspoken creationist who argued that the fossils had been buried in Noah's flood. Meanwhile, the famous skeptic Voltaire argued that fossils were spontaneously generated within the earth. In fact, Voltaire was still making that argument many decades after Steno had proven the contrary case. Meanwhile, Steno abandoned science and spent his final years ministering to the small Roman Catholic minority in northern Germany. It just goes to show that religious faith does not a bad scientist make, nor does skepticism make a good one.

Fascinating Portrait ****
One of the most hotly debated topics of 17th century science concerned a naturally occurring riddle. Why do seashell fossils appear in mountainous areas so far away from the sea? The great flood that created the need for Noah's arc might be one explanation, but scientists quickly noted that a flood of 40 days duration was not enough time for clams to move to such distant and elevated locations. This problem engendered a number of interesting hypotheses, among them that the earth somehow created the shells. The riddle was finally solved, at least for the scientifically minded, through the careful observations of a Danish scientist named Nicolaus Steno. Steno traveled far from his native Copenhagen and ultimately moved to Italy where he observed fossilized seashells in the Italian Mountains. Already famous for his work in anatomy, Steno was a true Renaissance man with a passion for collecting and understanding items from nature. His observations led to his theory that the earth has a history and that this history includes periods of changing seas and powerful geologic forces that deposit rocks, minerals, and fossils far inland. His pioneering work has earned him the title of founder of geology among contemporary scientists. Geologist Alan Cutler paints a fascinating portrait of Steno. Given various elements of Steno's personality and the time in which he lived, this is no small feat. Steno was a deeply religious man, and Cutler doesn't miss the irony involved with his formulating theories that were at odds with the officially sanctioned explanations of the earth. The fact is that as he aged Steno became more concerned with religion than with science. He eventually converted from the Lutheranism of Denmark to Catholicism and died a Bishop at the age of forty-eight. Although his fame as a clergyman never matched that of his fame as a scientist, the Catholic Church beatified Steno in 1988. In writing about Steno as a scientist and as a religious figure, Cutler gives us an entertaining and balanced look at the life of a little known but influential thinker.

Fascinating Portrait ****

One of the most hotly debated topics of 17th century science concerned a naturally occurring riddle. Why do seashell fossils appear in mountainous areas so far away from the sea? The great flood that created the need for Noah's arc might be one explanation, but scientists quickly noted that a flood of 40 days duration was not enough time for clams to move to such distant and elevated locations. This problem engendered a number of interesting hypotheses, among them that the earth somehow created the shells.

The riddle was finally solved, at least for the scientifically minded, through the careful observations of a Danish scientist named Nicolaus Steno. Steno traveled far from his native Copenhagen and ultimately moved to Italy where he observed fossilized seashells in the Italian Mountains. Already famous for his work in anatomy, Steno was a true Renaissance man with a passion for collecting and understanding items from nature. His observations led to his theory that the earth has a history and that this history includes periods of changing seas and powerful geologic forces that deposit rocks, minerals, and fossils far inland. His pioneering work has earned him the title of founder of geology among contemporary scientists.

Geologist Alan Cutler paints a fascinating portrait of Steno. Given various elements of Steno's personality and the time in which he lived, this is no small feat. Steno was a deeply religious man, and Cutler doesn't miss the irony involved with his formulating theories that were at odds with the officially sanctioned explanations of the earth. The fact is that as he aged Steno became more concerned with religion than with science. He eventually converted from the Lutheranism of Denmark to Catholicism and died a Bishop at the age of forty-eight. Although his fame as a clergyman never matched that of his fame as a scientist, the Catholic Church beatified Steno in 1988. In writing about Steno as a scientist and as a religious figure, Cutler gives us an entertaining and balanced look at the life of a little known but influential thinker.

An interesting life ***
I read this book for a Geology project. I love a good biography and Cutler delvered a good biography. Was his portrayal of Steno accurate? I don't know. Part of the problem seems to be that much of Steno's work has never been available in English. We should at least give Cutler credit for trying to make Steno more accessible to English readers. One of the parts covered in the book is Steno's conversion from Lutheranism to Romanism. Since other reviewers have not covered this aspect I thought it might be helpful to do so. Cutler gives quite a few details about is Steno's Christianity. Cutler describes Steno's Lutheran upbringing, his exposure to the religious pluralism afforded by the enterprising Dutch Calvinists (pg. 35), and finally his embrace of the Italian Catholics. Particularly noted by Cutler are two aspects of Steno's conversion to Roman Catholicism. First was his rejection of the Bible as the literal word of God (pg. 144). Secondly, Steno seemed to be "emotional[ly]" drawn to Romanism by its ceremony, or maybe more accurately, by its superstition. (pg. 91) Eventually, Steno became a Roman Catholic priest, and then the titular Bishop of Titiopolis. This sounds impressive but it is actually rather tragic. The Bishopric was of an area long abandoned to Muslims, and in the region where Steno was sent to minister he was rejected by most of his fellow Catholics as being too serious. His life ends with him starving himself into poor health, and eventually death. It was a sad end to a brilliant man.

An interesting life ***

I read this book for a Geology project. I love a good biography and Cutler delvered a good biography. Was his portrayal of Steno accurate? I don't know. Part of the problem seems to be that much of Steno's work has never been available in English. We should at least give Cutler credit for trying to make Steno more accessible to English readers.

One of the parts covered in the book is Steno's conversion from Lutheranism to Romanism. Since other reviewers have not covered this aspect I thought it might be helpful to do so.

Cutler gives quite a few details about is Steno's Christianity. Cutler describes Steno's Lutheran upbringing, his exposure to the religious pluralism afforded by the enterprising Dutch Calvinists (pg. 35), and finally his embrace of the Italian Catholics. Particularly noted by Cutler are two aspects of Steno's conversion to Roman Catholicism. First was his rejection of the Bible as the literal word of God (pg. 144). Secondly, Steno seemed to be "emotional[ly]" drawn to Romanism by its ceremony, or maybe more accurately, by its superstition. (pg. 91) Eventually, Steno became a Roman Catholic priest, and then the titular Bishop of Titiopolis. This sounds impressive but it is actually rather tragic. The Bishopric was of an area long abandoned to Muslims, and in the region where Steno was sent to minister he was rejected by most of his fellow Catholics as being too serious. His life ends with him starving himself into poor health, and eventually death. It was a sad end to a brilliant man.

Insightful ****
If you're interested in how our forefathers learned about the world around them oyu'll find this a gem of a book. In essence it is the biography of Nicholaus Steno, a 17th century Danish scientist, later a bishop, who is considered by many to be the father of geology. Steno observed that in the rock high on many mountains in Europe fossilized seashells could be found. Others had seen them before, but Steno was the man who came up with the correct hypothesis about how they got there. It seems simple enough now. The sea creatures lived in ancient oceans, died and were embedded in the sediment which later, over millions of years, was shoved up to create mountain ranges. Steno was, in fact, a doctor whose anatomical discoveries made him famous initially He had such a delicate touch with the scalpel that he discovered glands never before known about and it was said that he could count the bones of a flea, if fleas had bones. His anatomical discoveries alone were enough to keep his name alive. But he felt the need to try to advance the evolving philosophy of science. Science was still fighting the beliefs of the church, beliefs in the supernatural and early stabs at science that had often been very wide of the mark. Perhaps the seashells were carried up the mountains during Noah's flood. Steno was one of the first to believe that fact had to be distinguished from speculation and blind belief. One might advance a hypothesis but the scientist had to observe and test before announcing it as fact. Rene Descartes had proposed something similar, but was able ignore the principle when it became inconvenient. Not everyone is interested in how the "new-fangled" scientists struggled to come up with ideas while fighting off the might of the church, pleasing their royal patrons and battling each other for supremacy. If you enjoy reading about the history of how we came to understand our world you'll love this book. The writer has done a vast amount of research and presented it in very readable form.

Insightful ****

If you're interested in how our forefathers learned about the world around them oyu'll find this a gem of a book. In essence it is the biography of Nicholaus Steno, a 17th century Danish scientist, later a bishop, who is considered by many to be the father of geology.

But he felt the need to try to advance the evolving philosophy of science. Science was still fighting the beliefs of the church, beliefs in the supernatural and early stabs at science that had often been very wide of the mark. Perhaps the seashells were carried up the mountains during Noah's flood. Steno was one of the first to believe that fact had to be distinguished from speculation and blind belief. One might advance a hypothesis but the scientist had to observe and test before announcing it as fact. Rene Descartes had proposed something similar, but was able ignore the principle when it became inconvenient.

Not everyone is interested in how the "new-fangled" scientists struggled to come up with ideas while fighting off the might of the church, pleasing their royal patrons and battling each other for supremacy. If you enjoy reading about the history of how we came to understand our world you'll love this book. The writer has done a vast amount of research and presented it in very readable form.