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Philippe Édouard Poulletier de Verneuil (French pronunciation:[filipedwaʁpultjedəvɛʁnœj]; 13 February 1805 – 29 May 1873) was a Frenchpaleontologist.[1]
He was born in Paris and educated in law, but being of independent means he was free to follow his own inclinations, and having attended lectures ongeology byJean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont he was so attracted to the subject that he devoted himself assiduously to the study of science. He spent several years in travel through various parts of Europe, specially examining the geology of theCrimea, on which he published an essay (Mem. Soc. Geol. France, 1837). He next investigated theDevonian rocks and fossils of the Bas-Boulonnais; and in 1839 accompaniedSedgwick andMurchison in a study of the older Palaeozoic rocks of the Rhenish provinces andBelgium, the palaeontological results being communicated to theGeological Society of London in conjunction with theVicomte d'Archiac.[2]
When Murchison commenced his geological examination of the Russian empire, he requested de Verneuil to accompany him, and the researches of the latter were incorporated in the second volume ofThe Geology of Russia in Europe and theUral Mountains (1845). Subsequently, de Verneuil paid a visit to the United States to study the history of the palaeozoic rocks in that country, and the results were published in 1847 (Bull. Soc. Geol. France). In later years he made numerous expeditions into Spain, and his observations were embodied inCarte geologique de l'Espagne et du Portugal (1864), prepared in association withEdouard Collomb. In 1853 theWollaston medal of the Geological Society of London was awarded to him, and in 1860 he was elected a foreign member of theRoyal Society. He died in Paris.[2]
De Verneuil was President of theGeological Society of France in 1840, 1853, and 1867.
The deformedbrachiopod fossilCyrtospirifer verneuili,[3] known to quarrymen as theDelabole Butterfly, was found in the upper Devonian beds of North Cornwall.[4]It was named after de Verneuil.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Verneuil, Phillippe Édouard Poulletier de".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1031.
