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Date: 1831
Format: Drawn in the back of a 1830-31 field notebook
Description: In this and "Balance of Power", De la Beche is making fun of Lyell's theory of dynamic topography. See the discussion on the Balance of Power page for the theoretical background on this cartoon.
In this cartoon, the actual functioning of the world is not enough for Europe/Africa and America to balance. Two fairies (or imps) put their weight on the scales to skew the result. The choice of imps may have to do with Lyell's reference in Principles to the fairy Umbriel, who he mentions metaphorically as a being that can fly though solid rock to gain a first-hand knowledge of the Earth's inner structure.
In other words, perhaps the cartoon is akin to mocking Lyell by saying, "How does dynamic topography work? Fairies did it!"
For more on De la Beche vs Lyell, see this page.
For more on Lyell himself, see his entry on the biography page.
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Sources & further discussion:
First described in Rudwick, M. J. (1975). Caricature as a source for the history of science: De la Beche's anti-Lyellian sketches of 1831. Isis, 66(4), 534-560. Link [www.journals.uchicago.edu]
Image yoinked from:
Rudwick (1975)
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