HEDDLE, Matthew Foster.
(1828 – 1897)
Heddle graduated with an M.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 1851. When he attended the University of Edinburgh, Heddle took R. Jameson's lectures on natural history topics. While he was practicing medicine in Edinburgh, Heddle became interested in mineralogy and geology, particularly as they related to his native land. Around 1856, he was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the University of St. Andrews. He became a full professor in 1862, and continued to teach until his retirement in 1885. It is recorded that Heddle used a portion of his income to purchase equipment and supplies for the mineralogical laboratory at St. Andrews. Heddle decided early in his career to focus his considerable energy on the study of mineralogy in Scotland. To this purpose, he made many excursions throughout the country, collecting minerals. Even the most remote deposits were accessible to his unflagging energy and ingenuity. As a consequence, Heddle amassed a large collection of minerals and agates, particularly rich in Scottish localities. The collection is now housed in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Heddle was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and president of the Geological Society of Edinburgh in the year 1851. He was also elected President of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain in 1879.
Biographical references: Barr, Index to Biographical Fragments, 1973: 116. • BBA: I 536, 146. • Cleevely, World Palæontological Collections, 1983: 148. • Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition: 13, 196. • Livingstone, Minerals of Scotland, 2002: p. 60-6, portrait. • Mineralogical Magazine: 12 (1900), 38-41. • Nature: 57 (1897), 83-4. • Poggendorff: 3, 603 & 4, 603. • Sarjeant, Geologists, 1980: 2, 1229. • Sarjeant, Geologists, Suppl. 2, 1995: 1, 711. • Science: 6 (1897), 876. • Thomas, Dictionary of Biography, 1884. • Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society: 7 (1897), 317, portrait. • WBI.
1. English, 1901 [First edition].
The | Mineralogy Of Scotland | By The Late | M. Forster Heddle, M.D., F.R.S.E. | Emeritus Professor Of Chemistry, St Andrews | Edited By | J.G. Goodchild | H.M. Geological Survey, F.G.S. | Vol. I. [-II.] | Edinburgh | David Douglas, 10 Castle Street | 1901 | [All Righst Reserved].
2 vols. [Vol 1] 8°: [i]-li, [1]-148 p., frontispiece portrait of Heddle, 51 plates, numerous text figures; [Vol 2] 8°: [1]-192 p., plates 52-103, numerous text figures. Page size: 246 x 142 mm.
Contents: [Vol 1] [i-ii], Half title page, "The | Mineralogy Of Scotland," verso "Printed by Neill and Company, Limited, Edinburgh | for | David Douglas | ..."; [Frontispiece], Portrait of Heddle.; [iii-iv], Title page, verso blank.; [v], Dedication to Mrs. Heddle.; [vi], Blank.; [vii]-ix, "Preface."-dated 30 January 1901.; [x], Blank.; [xi]-xiii, "Memoir Of Dr Heddle | By Alexander Thoms."; [xiv], Blank.; [xv]-xvi, "Contents Of Volume I."; [xvii]-xviii, "List Of Illustrations To Volume I."; [xix]-xxiii, "Systematic List Of Minerals."-by J.G. Goodchild.; [xxiv]-xxxvi, "Alphabetical List Of Minerals."-by J.G. Goodchild.; [xxxvii]-xlix, "Scottish Pseudomorphs | By James Currie, M.A."; [xlx], "Index Of Scottish Palæosomatic Minerals." [pseudomorphs].; [li], "Scottish Minerals Arranged Under Counties."; [1]-148, Text.; [At end], 51 plates numbered I-LI.
[Vol 2] [i-ii], Half title page, "The | Mineralogy Of Scotland," verso "Printed by Neill and Company, Limited, Edinburgh | for | David Douglas | ..."; [Frontispiece], "Coronetted Pyrites."; [iii-iv], Title page, verso blank.; [v]-vi, "Contents Of Volume II."; [vii]-viii, "List Of Illustrations To Volume II."; [Plate] "Orthoclase."; [1]-192, Text.; [193]-212, "Supplement."; [213]-247, "Synoptic Index To Scottish Mineral | Localities."; [248], "Errata."; [At end], 52 plates numbered LII-CIII.
Very scarce. This unsurpassed compilation of Scottish minerals is among the best topographical mineralogies yet written. It was the product of the author's lifelong desire to publish a comprehensive work on the mineralogy of his homeland, but at his death the manuscript remained unfinished. The notes were left to Alexander Thoms, who placed the work of completion in the competent hands of the mineralogist John George Goodchild [1844-1906].
Goodchild's responsibility was to sift through the mass of detail recorded in the notes and with as little alteration as possible create the two volumes of the present work. It must have been difficult. Many of the localities were laborious to identify, having been phonetically spelt by Heddle in his early journeys and not existing on any maps. Further, it was not clear what specimens related to the many figures the author had created, or what is the meaning of their symbols. Heddle was a competent draughtsman, and there are no less than 103 plates each containing about eight figures that accompany the two volumes. However, many of these figures come from other sources, having been redrawn by Heddle, with no clear indication as to their value in the identification of Scottish species. Goodchild not knowing the importance of the drawings, decided to include them all.
In addition to the plates, a remarkable feature of the book are a number of beautiful and elaborate stereographic and gnomonic projections drawn by Wilbert Goodchild. The only book prior to The Mineralogy of Scotland that had included such illustrations was Alfred Louis Olivier Legrand Des Cloizeaux's [q.v.] Manuel de Minéralogie (2 vols. & atlas, Paris, 1862-93), and they are not as elaborate as those in the present work.
Volume one begins with Thoms memoir on the life and accomplishments of Heddle, and progresses through systematic and alphabetical lists of Scottish minerals. James Currie has added a complete list of Scottish pseudomorphs. Concluding the introductory material is an index of minerals arranged according to the counties where they are found. The bulk of the work is then presented. This is a descriptive mineralogy arranged upon a chemical classification of the just over 200 mineral species found in Scotland. Every locality where the species is known to occur is enumerated. The description includes the kind of rock in which the mineral occurs, and a statement of other associated species. In addition, an account of the crystalline forms and of the physical and chemical properties is given for each species. Under some minerals can be found an interesting historical commentary. Goodchild has also added greatly to the work's value by the inclusion at the end of a very complete synonymic index of locality names, in which he has taken great pains to give the exact situation of the place.
Bibliographical references: Dana's 7th (Bibliography): 73. • Mineralogical Magazine: 21 (1928), 24. • Nature: ?? (August, 1901), 395.
2. English, 1923-4 [2nd edition].
The | Mineralogy Of Scotland | By The Late | M. Forster Heddle, M.D., F.R.S.E. | Emeritus Professor Of Chemistry, St Andrews | Edited By | J.G. Goodchild | H.M. Geological Survey, F.G.S. | Reprinted | Under Authority Of | Alex. Thoms, Esq. | By | The Council Of University College, Dundee | Assisted By | D.E.I. Innes, M.A., M.C. | Lecturer In Geology In The University Of St. Andrews. | Vol. I. [-II.] | St. Andrews | W.C. Henderson & Son, Church Street, 1923 [-1924] | [All Rights Reserved].
2 vols. [Vol 1] 8°: [i]-lviii, [1]-148 p., frontispiece portrait of Heddle, 55 plates, 30 text figures. [Vol 2] 8°: [i]-viii, [1]-250 p., 52-103 plates, 9 pages of plate desciption.
Very scarce. Essentially, this is a reprint of the original 1901 edition with only very slight alterations. The most prominent difference is the different frontispiece in volume two.
Bibliographical references: Dana's 7th (Bibliography): 73.
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