BIOGRAPHY OF MR. WILLIAM SMITH. 213 



nature, Mr. Owen showed occurs also in the lower jaw of the cachalot, and 

 is therefore equally good for the cetaceous character of the fossil. 



"In the compressed shaft of the humerus, and its proportion to the ver- 

 tebra, the Basilosaurus again approximates to the true Cetacea, as much as 

 it recedes from the Enaliosaurians ; but in the expansion of the distal ex- 

 tremity and the form of the articular surface, this humerus stands alone ; 

 and no one can contemplate the comparative feebleness of this, the princi- 

 pal bone of the anterior extremity, without agreeing with Dr. Harlan, that 

 the tail must have been the main organ of locomotion. 



"Mr. Owen, in compliance with the suggestion of Dr. Harlan, who, hav- 

 ing compared with Mr. Owen the microscopic structure of the teeth of the 

 Basilosaurus with those of the dugong and other. animals, admits the cor- 

 rectness of the inferences of its mammiferous nature, proposes to substitute 

 for the name of Basilosaurus that of Zeuglodon, suggested by the form of 

 the posterior molars, which resemble two teeth tied or yoked together." 



Art. II. — Biographical Notice of William Smith, LL.D. By 

 John Phillips, Esq., F.R.S., Professor of Geology at King's 

 College, London, &c. &C. 1 



William Smith was bom on the 23rd of March, 1769, at 

 Churchill, in Oxfordshire, amidst the oolitic formations from 

 an investigation of which he was subsequently conducted to 

 geological discoveries of great importance. He inherited a 

 small patrimony, but his education and opportunities of ac- 

 quiring knowledge were very imperfect, till, at the age of 

 eighteen, he attached himself to the late Mr. Edward Webb, 

 of Stow-on-the-Wold, to learn the business of land-surveying. 

 Mr. Webb was a person of singular ability in his profession, 

 endowed with an original and vigorous intellect, and a sim- 

 ple and friendly disposition. In these features the pupil re- 

 sembled the master ; and in all his after life he has entertain- 

 ed the most grateful recollections of this early friend. 



Mr. Webb's practice as a surveyor was extensive, and Mr. 

 Smith had opportunities of contrasting the lias and red marls 

 of Worcestershire with the ' stonebrash ' hills of Oxfordshire; 

 and the distinctions thus brought under his notice as early as 

 1789, were the germ of that systematic analysis of English 

 strata which he commenced in 1791. 



In 1791 Mr. Smith was employed in surveying an estate at 

 Nether Stowey, in Somersetshire ; and from this time till 1799 

 he was continually occupied in the vicinity of Bath, as a land 



1 For the Portrait accompanying this Memoir, see Sup. Plate No. 1. 



z 3 



