Date: 1837
Format: A figure in De la Beche's satirical mining report, The Mining Chronicle
Description: A parody of an experiment to establish the relationship between temperature and depth in a mineshaft. The workers are lowered into the mine by a winch. To begin with, they are all wearing the same amount of clothes. As they are lowered deeper and start to feel uncomfortable, they discard more and more clothing. A relationship between heat and depth is therefore established.
The cartoon pokes fun at research that De la Beche's Geological Survey was involved with. He had the Board of Ordance (which oversaw the Survey) provide the thermometers that Robert Were Fox would use to establish the existence of the geothermal gradient.
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Sources & further discussion:
Clary, Renee M. "Uncovering strata: an investigation into the graphic innovations of geologist Henry T. De la Beche." Thesis. (2003). Pg 220. Link [digitalcommons.lsu.edu]
McCartney, Paul J. (1977). Henry De la Beche: Observations on an Observer. Friends of the National Museum of Wales.
Image yoinked from:
Clary, Renee M. "Uncovering strata: an investigation into the graphic innovations of geologist Henry T. De la Beche." Thesis. (2003). Link [digitalcommons.lsu.edu]
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