International Arenas of Geological Debate in the Early Nineteenth Century

Modern historians of the earth sciences should follow Zittel's example by recognising the intrinsically international character of their subject. As a brief example, this paper describes three scientific meetings that took place, on English-, French- and German-speaking soil, during one sample year (1835) in the "early classical" period of the history of the earth sciences. The meetings illustrate the structure and dynamics of the international geological community a century and a half ago, and the role of social interaction in the shaping of new consensual knowledge about the earth.