218 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 



An arrangement was made in 1815, by which the British 

 Museum became possessed of Mr. Smith's whole collection 

 of organic remains, for the sum of £500. and the task of ar- 

 ranging and describing this collection, led to the publication 

 of two works in 4to., entitled ' Strata Identified by Organized 

 Fossils,' (1815), and ' Stratigraphical System of Organized 

 Fossils,' (1817), the latter designed as an index to the speci- 

 mens deposited in the British Museum. In 1818 appeared, 

 in the ' Edinburgh Review,' the most able, just, and discrimi- 

 nating survey of the progress of English Geology ever penned; 

 and if Mr. Smith's friends regretted the late appearance of his 

 great map, and the slow and difficult growth of his hard-earn- 

 ed fame, they had reason to be thankful that in the maturity 

 of geological research, at a time when the progress of conti- 

 nental science could be rightly appreciated, the delicate task 

 of estimating the value and originality of his labours was ac- 

 complished with the taste, truth, and independence which 

 characterize the writings of Dr. Fitton. 



Between the appearance of the great general map in 1815 

 and the year 1821, Mr. Smith published no less than twenty 

 geological maps of English counties, often remarkable for 

 their accuracy ; and he has not desisted from the labour of 

 preparing others, amidst difficulties and privations such as 

 few men devoted to science have ever endured. In 1819 Mr. 

 Smith resigned his residence in London, and had, in fact, 

 scarcely any home but the rocks until 1823, which year he 

 passed in Kirby Lonsdale. In 1824 he delivered a course of 

 lectures on Geology to the members of the Yorkshire Philo- 

 sophical Society, then recently established; these were re- 

 peated in the same year, in conjunction with his nephew, Mr. 

 John Phillips, (now Professor of Geology in King's College, 

 London), at Scarborough and Hull. A similar effort was 

 made at Sheffield in 1825, and soon afterwards Mr. Smith 

 accepted an engagement as agent to Sir J. Johnstone, Bart., 

 of Hackness, near Scarborough, and withdrew for a while 

 from the wandering life and endless labours he had imposed 

 on himself. 



In 1829 one who deeply felt the enthusiasm of active geo- 

 logical research, was led by curiosity, or a better motive, to 

 visit the secluded valley of Hackness, and contemplate the 

 imprisoned energies of an impassioned mind. He found a 

 patient though disappointed man ; an inflexible activity of 

 intellect, forced into new and not infertile channels ; a gene- 

 rous sympathy with the progress of science, shaded only by 

 deep regret at his own compulsory exclusion from the active 

 promotion of it. Nothing that could be effected by individu- 



