250 WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON 



the acquaintance of Prof. Lindley, who had for so long known 

 him only as a correspondent and collaborator. 



Soon afterwards he was offered the post of naturalist to the 

 Niger expedition, which he refused, and, as it turned out fortu- 

 nately, for the journey proved disastrous. Stanger, of Stangeria 

 fame, took his place. 



In 1842, having then returned to Manchester and started in 

 practice, Williamson made his first attempt at microscopic 

 work, having become interested in the Foraminifera of the 

 Chalk. He also began to examine Confervae, Diatoms and 

 Desmids, finding perhaps, as others have done, that the Fresh- 

 water Algae give the best introduction to microscopic biology. 



The work on Foraminifera became one of the most important 

 in Williamson's career. In 1845 ne wrote his valuable paper 

 on microscopic organisms in the mud of the Levant. His work 

 in this field culminated in his monograph of Foraminifera, 

 issued by the Ray Society in 1857. 



In 1851 Williamson was appointed Professor of Natural 

 History, which included Zoology, Botany and Geology, at the 

 new Owens College, Manchester. He tells us, "The botanical 

 portion of my work was that for which I was least prepared" 

 " of the German language I was utterly ignorant 1 ." The 

 almost insuperable difficulties of a triple Professorship were at 

 first met by spreading the complete course over two years, a 

 sensible plan which was rendered impracticable by the more 

 rigid requirements of examinations. It was not, however, till 

 1872 that a division of the duties of the chair took place; 

 Williamson was then relieved of the geological teaching by the 

 appointment of Prof. Boyd Dawkins; in 1880 the zoology was 

 taken over by the late Prof. Milnes Marshall, Williamson thus 

 retaining the very subject, botany, with which he had originally 

 been the least familiar. 



In addition to his peculiarly arduous duties as Professor, 

 Williamson was a great populariser of science. He was one of 

 the first two members of the Owens' staff to start, in 1854, 

 evening classes for working men. He gave numerous scientific 

 lectures at the Royal Institution in London and elsewhere, his 



1 Reminiscences, p. 136. 



