Abstract
This chapter explores the background to the first female-authored article in the Transactions of the Geological Society (published in 1824) and outlines the controversy later caused by the article. The author, Maria Graham (1785-1842), has generally been assumed not to have been a geologist herself, and is therefore often excluded from discussions of women's early contributions to geology. This chapter demonstrates that this was not the case, and that Graham had a strong interest in geology and some competence in the discipline. It further situates Graham in a flourishing culture of early nineteenth-century 'polite science', and argues that the episode, when parsed correctly, demonstrates the perhaps surprising extent to which women were able to participate in contemporary geological enquiry and debate, even as they undoubtedly laboured under considerable disadvantages compared with their male counterparts.