Education forms the tender mind

Abstract

AbstractIn the early days of the development of a more formal approach to academic geology many natural philosophers, now better known as scientists, were men (rarely women) with inquisitive minds who encapsulated the field of what we now call the sciences. Thus medical practitioners, clergymen and others were enquiring into the natural world. One such was James Parkinson who was a doctor, geologist and keen moral philosopher. The area of Hoxton in East London where he lived his whole life has been redeveloped since then. Some of James’s interests are discussed here and the multiple interrelationships of medicine and geology within his family are illustrated.