Editing Roderick Murchison (section)

==Silurian system==
In 1831 he went to the [[England–Wales border]], to attempt to discover whether the [[greywacke]] rocks underlying the [[Old Red Sandstone]] could be grouped into a definite order of succession. The result was the establishment of the [[Silurian]] system under which were grouped, for the first time, a remarkable series of formations, each replete with distinctive organic remains other than and very different from those of the other rocks of England. These researches, together with descriptions of the [[South Wales Coalfield|coalfields]] and overlying formations in [[South Wales]] and the [[Welsh Marches|English border counties]], were embodied in ''The Silurian System'' (1839). The English naturalist, geologist, and palaeontologist [[John William Salter]] assisted Murchison in his work on Siluria (1854 and later editions).<ref>MURCHISON, R. I. 1854. Siluria. The History of the Oldest known Rocks containing Organic Remains, with a Brief Sketch of the Distribution of Gold over Earth. John Murray, London, 523 pp.</ref>

The establishment of the Silurian system was followed by that of the [[Devonian]] system, an investigation in which Murchison assisted, both in the south-west of England and in the [[Rhineland]]. Soon afterwards Murchison projected an important geological campaign in Russia with the view of extending to that part of the Continent the classification he had succeeded in elaborating for the older rocks of western Europe. He was accompanied by [[Édouard de Verneuil]] (1805–1873) and Count [[Alexander von Keyserling]] (1815–1891), in conjunction with whom he produced a work on Russia and the [[Ural Mountains]]. The publication of this monograph in 1845 completes the first and most active half of Murchison's scientific career. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1840.<ref name="AAAS"/>

In 1846 he was knighted, and in the same year he presided over the meeting of the [[British Science Association|British Association]] at [[Southampton]]. During the later years of his life, a large part of his time was devoted to the affairs of the [[Royal Geographical Society]], of which he was in 1830 one of the founders,<ref name="Markham23">{{cite book |last=Markham |first=Sir Clements Robert |date=1881 |title=The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society |publisher=J. Murray |page=23}}</ref> and he was president 1843–1845, 1851–1853, 1856–1859 and 1862–1871. He served on the [[Royal Commission on the British Museum]] (1847–1849).{{sfn|Fagan|1880|p=257}}

Murchison also [[Permian#Discovery|announced the Permian system]] to geology in 1841, based on explorations in [[Perm Krai]] undertaken with Édouard de Verneuil.<ref>Benton, M.J. et al., [http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Benton/reprints/2010Murchison.pdf Murchison’s first sighting of the Permian, at Vyazniki in 1841] {{Webarchive|url=http://www.webcitation.org/66OtlfmmP?url=http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Benton/reprints/2010Murchison.pdf |date=2012-03-24 }}, Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, accessed 2012-02-21</ref><ref>Murchison, Roderick Impey (1841) [https://books.google.com/books?id=1U8wAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA417 "First sketch of some of the principal results of a second geological survey of Russia,"] ''Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science'', series 3, '''19''' : 417–422. From p. 419: "The carboniferous system is surmounted, to the east of the Volga, by a vast series of marls, schists, limestones, sandstones and conglomerates, to which I propose to give the name of "Permian System," … ."</ref>

Murchison was responsible for establishing much of the international prestige of British geology, and he viewed the spread of his stratigraphic systems on maps around the world "as a scientific form of imperial expansion". He frequently described geological excursions (such those he made abroad) as "invasions" or "conquests" and enjoyed being dubbed the "King of Siluria". According to the scholar Robert A. Stafford, "Murchinson's tendencies towards [[militarism]], [[imperialism]], and [[wiktionary:megalomania|megalomania]] ran through his career and finally found full expression his simultaneous leadership of the Royal Geographical Society and the British Geological Survey."<ref name="Stafford 1984">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03086538408582669|doi = 10.1080/03086538408582669|title = Geological surveys, mineral discoveries, and British expansion, 1835–71|year = 1984|last1 = Stafford|first1 = Robert A.|journal = The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History|volume = 12|issue = 3|pages = 5–32|url-access = subscription}}</ref>