Paolo Gorini geologist and volcanologist

Paolo Gorini: founder of experimental geology

Antonio Allegri wrote:

during the controversies of geology, which then was taking its first steps, Gorini intervened believing that the principal geological phenomena could be created by the same cause. According to him, when the incandescent sphere that Earth used to be began to cool down […] pockets of liquid substances full of gas were left behind. These fluids, that he called "plutons", had particular dynamic potential: volcanoes and earthquakes were caused by the eruption of this "plutonic" material. Gorini believed that he could prove his theory by reproducing in his lab […] the geological phenomena […]. He considered himself as the founder of "experimental geology"

Geology, like all sciences in the second half of the 19th century, found new life in evolutionist studies and in paleontology, which surprised the theories of Neptunism and Plutonism and tried to recover the natural history of the world. Paolo Gorini, at times eclectically brilliant despite his wrong geological beliefs, appeared as technically severe but also evidently romantic. He showed his nature in his papers, which were influenced by the recently passed Illuminism, and in his experiments, at times obsolete and useless for scientific advancement. In fact, Gorini's efforts in geology and in anatomy, although carried out with extraordinary passion, were notably outdated and oblivious of the rich and updated scientific bibliography. Paolo Gorini based his work on antiquated bibliography and so it's clear that his theory on plutons belonged to an outdated scientific discussion.

Upon the origin of Volcanoes and Mountains

However, even in this field, Paolo Gorini's name was not unrecognized. His papers and especially his spectacular experimental exhibitions on the origins of mountains and volcanoes drew the attention of many.

The scientist Giulio Curioni wrote:

scholars have been occupied with finding an explanation for the formation of mountains, or better still of the entire globe, for a very long time. And many know that several bizarre cosmogonist opinions have been expressed, not only in ancient times, but even in the past century […]. Across the past and present century, several mineralogists all over Europe have been working with passion, sometimes assisted by expert zoologists and botanists creating the new science of paleontology, some other times assisted by mathematicians and physicists

Curioni himself, in 1852, was asked by the Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere of Milan to write a Report on the experiments done by Paolo Gorini to illustrate the formation of mountains.

Gorini himself reminded:

The greatest and most striking geological phenomena are the easiest ones to recreate, and since 1851 I published a book called ‘The origins of mountains' in which, after considering the various fortuities that mountains present, I clarified how the support of experiments makes it easier to establish real causes and give the best explanations. This book, laying the foundations for a new science and revealing the unsuspected relation between minerals, plants and animals, drew the interest of the public and of different societies, like the Incoraggiamento of Palazzo Durini in Milan, the Istituto Lombardo and the University of Brescia, which sent me courteous letters inviting me to practice my experiments on the origins of mountains […]. I divulged my program with a small booklet titled ‘The experiments on the formation of mountains".

The rest of the tale is here told by Curioni:

He exposed his doctrines in his book "Sull'origine delle montagne e dei vulcani". A first volume, regarding the formation of mountains, was published for the first time in Lodi in 1851 […]. Let's see in what way he tells us how he was lead to his experiences. After observing that the water inside a bucket created protrusions when it turned into ice, he deduced that mountain ranges could have been born from the ancient terrestrial liquid, just like the protrusions of the ice in that bucket.

The fame of Gorini geologist and public demonstrations

On May 11th 1872, after the discussion of the bill for the postponement of the payment of taxes for the people damaged by the eruption of the Vesuvius, the member of parliament Antonio Billia invited the government to encourage Italian scientists to study volcanoes. With the objective of preventing the fury of the lava, he invoked for an "alliance of science", reminding his colleagues about a famous and controversial name:

in a small town in Lombardy an illustrious scientist lives[…] without protection, without the means, rather in conflict with official science […] I'm speaking of professor Paolo Gorini […] not unknown to […] our minister of finance […]. With only his brilliance […] he has guessed the secret of volcanoes and has managed to find the reason of their formation […]. From his findings we may be able to prevent some grave harm […]. Few thousand liras used to prevent are much better spent than many thousand used to repair.

By saying that Gorini was "not unknown to […] our minister of finance", Billia was reminding him that already in 1865 the same Quintino Sella had implored Natoli, minister of education, to send the scientist on the site "in order to allow him to continue his interesting experiments". During that period, Gorini had already been invited by the Società dell'Incoraggiamento of Palazzo Durini in Milan, by the Istituto Lombardo and by the University of Brescia (where some obstacles though eventually impeded the exhibitions), to publicly show his experiments on the formation of mountains. And Gorini didn't only work in Italy: in London, on the occasion of the first great exposition, he reproduced his miniature mountains. Actually, the Società dell'Incoraggiamento, did some models of Gorini's geological reproductions and sent them as a gift to the main Academies in Europe, along with detailed reports.

The hostility of the others scientists

However, as Gorini wrote:

after the initial enthusiasm cooled down, and in reverence to the geologists and academies that openly opposed me, the project was forgotten […] my experiments […] found in the scientists an invincible resistance […]. Unexpectedly […] a short paper of mine entitled "Two geological phenomena explained with plutonic experiments" got published again in 1862 in the volume XV of the Politecnico.

Many exponents of official science were skeptical about Gorini's public experiments and the illustrious geologist Antonio Stoppani was one of his most resolute detractors. At any rate it's clear that Gorini's studies, while spectacular and significant, were anachronistic since the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism had already been surpassed at the beginning of the 1800s by more modern theories dictated by paleontology. Despite the justified aversion of naturalists to the eclectic scholar, instead the newspapers were punctually referring to Gorini's public experiments, cleverly raising the stupor of the Italians:

those who yesterday at two were at our Politeama to witness the second experiment […] can easily believe to have seen the kind of magic and wizardry that amazed Nostradamus' contemporaries. Imagine a circus in complete darkness: in the middle a vast cauldron with 400 kilograms of red boiling liquid lava at more than 1000° Celsius; and around it in the audience and in the dais, three-hundred human figures, similar to a lot of ghosts, immobilized by the most intense wonder […] Next to the cauldron, agitated and gesticulating like an enthusiast among the sparks and the flaming smoke, a real salamander of science, the tall and skinny Gorini, with predatory eyes, crying the explanations of the phenomena with his hoarse voice.