276 Geological Society. 



most extension seized upon it as the master principle of our science 

 by help of it disentangled the structure of a considerable part of 

 England and never rested from his labours till the public was fairly 

 in possession of his principles. If these be not the advances of 

 an original mind, I do not know where we are to find them ; and I 

 affirm with confidence, after the facts already stated, that the Council 

 was justified in the terms of their award, and that Mr. William 

 Smith was <l the first, in this country, to discover and to teach the 

 identification of strata, and to determine their succession by means 

 of their imbedded fossils." 



After the year 1795, he turned his knowledge to effect in his va- 

 rious employments as civil engineer. Works of drainage were carried 

 on by him on the principles of stratification his stratigraphical col- 

 lections were continually increased he sketched geological sections 

 on the lines of local surveys (many of which have been since pub- 

 lished) and traced geological lines of demarcation upon various 

 county maps. Of these I may mention an excellent map of Somer- 

 setshire, coloured on the scale of an inch to a mile, and publicly ex- 

 hibited and explained at an annual agricultural meeting at Bath, in 

 the year 1799; and another map (publicly exhibited at the same 

 time, and now, I rejoice to tell you, on the table of this Society) of 

 the country six miles round Bath j representing all the different 

 formations, and the minute subdivisions of the oolites, distinguished 

 as they remain in our geological maps to this day. For eight or 

 nine years he had been steadily and resolutely advancing, but with- 

 out aid, and almost without sympathy j for he was so far before the 

 rest of our geologists, if indeed they deserved the name, that they 

 could not even comprehend the importance of what he had done. 

 The public exhibitions I have alluded to, and the obvious practical 

 interest of the subject, seem, however, at length, to have roused the 

 attention of the scientific gentlemen near Bath : and it appears to 

 have been during the meeting of the Agricultural Society, in 1799, 

 that he first became acquainted with the Rev. B. Richardson of Far- 

 ley, an excellent naturalist and a very extensive collector of fossils ; 

 and with the Rev. J. Townsend of Pewsey, whose literary and philo- 

 sophic works are well known to you all. I will not do injury to this 

 part of my narrative, by offering any comments upon these facts, but 

 I will read you a letter I have just received from Mr. Richardson 

 himself. 



Copy of Mr. Richardson's Letter. 



Farley Rectory, near Bath, 



SIR, \OthFeb. 183). 



I am requested to present you the particulars of my acquaintance 

 with Mr. William Smith, well known by the appropriate appellation 

 of Strata Smith. 



At the Annual Meeting of the Bath Agricultural Society in 1799, 

 Mr. Smith was introduced to my residence in Bath, when, on viewing 

 my collection of fossils, he told me the beds to which they exclusively 

 belonged, and pointed out some peculiar to each, This, by attending 



him 



