Scientist of the Day - Scipione Scipione Breislak

Mount Vesuvius (right) and the Phlegraean Fields, detail of map of Campania, hand-colored engraving in Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie : suivis d'un mémoire sur la constitution physique de Rome, by Scipione Beislak, vol 1, plate 1, p. 1, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

Scipione Breislak, an Italian geologist, was born Aug. 17, 1748, in Rome. He lived at a time when views on the origins of the Earth's rock formations were drastically changing. When he was 21, it was almost universally agreed that nearly all of the Earth's rocks, including basalt and granite, had an aqueous origin, deposited under water. By the time Breislak died in 1826, it was understood by most geologists that basalt and granite were igneous rocks, formed and shaped by heat, and that they were everywhere. The principal architect of this change of view was the Scotsman James Hutton, whose Theory of the Earth appeared in book form in 1795. But Italian geologists contributed in a major way, since they lived and worked where volcanos and the handiwork of volcanoes was most evident.  Breislak played an important in his transfomation by studying and mapping some of the volcanic regions of Italy.

Portrait of Scipione Breislak, engraving, undated, (boudewijnhuijgens.getarchive.net)

We have five works by Breislak in our collections, and in 2020, I wrote a post on a late work of 1818, an atlas of basalt formations from around Europe, showing how ubiquitous (and how dramatic!) these products of volcanism were, and how important volcanoes were in shaping the Earth's surface. We were limited to only 2 images per post in that Covid year, so I didn't get to showcase as many engravings as I would have liked; we may have to do a second post on that work, which is quite stunning. You can see the first post here.

Title page, Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie, by Scipione Beislak, vol 1, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

But today we are looking at a book published 20 years earlier, first in Italian in 1798, and then (our copy) translated into French in 1801. It is a result of Breislak’s work for the King of Naples, a study of the volcanic region called Campania, which includes Naples, the fumarole-rich region known as the Phlegraean Fields just west of Naples, and Mount Vesuvius, just east, across the bay.  The book was called: Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie (1801).

Map of volcanic regions in Campania, Italy, hand-colored, fold-out engraving, Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie, by Scipione Beislak, vol 1, plate 1, p. 1, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

The most visible product of Breislak's studies are the three large fold-out maps bound into the two octavo volumes of our 1801 edition. The map that forms the frontispiece of volume 1 is the most impressive (fourth image), since it was hand-highlighted in volcanic red, making Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields jump right off the map, even more so in a detail (first image).  Even the little isle of Ischia, off to the west in the Tyrrhenian Sea, is carefully mapped (fifth image), with each former crater labeled and identified in a key just for that island. The unfoIded map really has to be seen in person to be appreciated, so feel free to come by to take a look.

The volcanic isle of Ischia, detail of map of Campania, hand-colored engraving in Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie : suivis d'un mémoire sur la constitution physique de Rome, by Scipione Beislak, vol 1, plate 1, p. 1, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

But I was also intrigued by an uncolored map in volume 2, showing just the Phlegraean Fields (sixth image). Breislak had surveyed and mapped a large area of former volcanic craters, showing how active this region once was. And if we look at a detail (seventh image), we can see a feature that is missing from most contemporary maps of the region, the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli, which Breislak knew had been covered by the sea since Roman times, and then raised again above water, by some sort of slow, non-violent process that did not topple the columns. The Temple of Serapis would become much better known when Charles Lyell used it as an emblem for his new "uniformitarian" geology, making it the frontispiece to volume 1 of his Principles of Geology (1830-33). You can see it as the first image at this post on Lyell.

Pozzuoli and the (unlabeled) Temple of Serapis, detail of a map of the Phlegraean Fields, folding engraving in Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie, by Scipione Beislak, vol. 2, plate 4, p. 18, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

Pozzuoli and the (unlabeled) Temple of Serapis, detail of a map of the Phlegraean Fields, folding engraving in Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie, by Scipione Beislak, vol. 2, plate 4, p. 18, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

The third folding map in Breislak's Voyages shows the seven hills of Rome. In my opinion, it was directly inspired by the map of the Phlegraean Fields. It would seem that Breislak wondered what you could do with such an area if all volcanic activity ceased, and realized it would be a great place for a city, with its natural ridges, rises, and plazas. And then he seems to have thought, well maybe that is what the seven hills of Rome looked like before a city was built there. Perhaps Rome was constructed upon the remains of long-extinct volcanoes.  Hence, the third folding map, and the title continuation: … suivis d'un mémoire sur la constitution physique de Rome.

The seven hills of Rome, engraved folding map, Voyages physiques et lythologiques dans la Campanie, by Scipione Beislak, vol. 2, plate 6, p. 241, 1801 (The Linda Hall)

Breislak was hardly mentioned in Martin Rudwick’s two enormous and excellent compendia on late 18th- and early 19th-century geology, Bursting the Limits of Time (2005), and Worlds before Adam (2008).  I do not know why not.  Breislak seems to have been an independent geological thinker with commendable insight. He deserves to have the spotlight shine his way more often.

William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.