2-705-822 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Costume of the Glaciers', 1875. Caricature of British clergyman, geologist and palaeontologist William Buckland (1784-1856), 'scratched' by his friend and fellow geologist Thomas Sopwith, ('scratched' being a reference to grooves made by glaciers). The explanation reads: 'The rectilinear course of these grooves corresponds with the motions of an immense body, the momentum of which does not allow it to change its course upon slight resistance'. Buckland tried to reconcile the then generally accepted (at least by the Christian Church) date of Creation of 4004 BC with new geological discoveries. The two 'specimens' make fun of this: one was 'scratched' 33,333 years 'before the Creation', and the other was 'scratched by a cart wheel on Waterloo Bridge the day before yesterday'. Buckland is dressed in field gear with cape, top hat and fur boots, and a parcel containing maps of glaciers.