540 Geological Society . Anniversary Address. 



Society of London, vol. i. p. 34>3. From the diary of this survey 

 Mr. Colebrooke selected notes of Geological observations ; and 

 from specimens then collected, duplicates were sent to our Society. 

 Upon these notes, and on Captain Gerard's letters, written during 

 his survey in the middle valley of the Sutlej, a sketch of the Geo- 

 logy of the Himalaya was prepared by Mr. Colebrooke and pub- 

 lished in the Geological Transactions of London*. 



The second volume of Sir W. Lloyd's recent narrative of a jour- 

 ney in the Himalaya, contains an account of Captain Gerard's at- 

 tempt to penetrate on the north side of the Himalaya by Bekhur, 

 to Garoo and the lake Manasarowara, near the source of the Sutlej. 

 These letters are interspersed with many interesting geological ob- 

 servations respecting the mineral productions and nature of the rocks 

 of the country over which he travelled. He found the inclination of 

 the strata to be usually perpendicular to the direction of the range, 

 presenting long continuous slopes on the side towards which they 

 dip, and terminating abruptly in rugged precipices towards the axis 

 of the mountain chain. Near Bekhur, at the north side of the Hi- 

 malaya, on the margin of the great table land of Tartary, elevated 

 15,786 feet above the sea, he mentions the occurrence of gravel 

 studded with Ammonites, not far from the Hookeo Pass, which 

 presents mural precipices of limestone. 



In one excursion in the Himalaya he fell in with the late Bishop 

 Heber, who devotes a long and eloquent passage in his journal to 

 the expression of his praise and admiration of the scientific talent 

 and enterprising spirit of Captain Gerard. He was an excellent 

 Persian scholar, and acquainted with several other oriental lan- 

 guages. 



He performed many of his surveys under a burning sun, the 

 thermometer ranging from 100 to upwards of 112 degrees. As 

 many of his observations were required to be taken at mid-day, the 

 consequences were frequent suffering and illness from strokes of the 

 sun ; but he continued his labours until his health totally failed. 

 He died at Aberdeen in December last, at the age of forty-seven, 

 having apparently sacrificed his life to the promotion of science, 

 stimulated in his labours by the wish to benefit mankind, without 

 the hope of worldly remuneration. 



To his late equally zealous and indefatigable brother, Dr. James 

 Gilbert Gerard, surgeon of the Hill corps stationed at Subathu, 

 and the companion of Captain, now Sir Alexander, Burries, in his 

 perilous journey through Central Asia, we owe the discovery of 

 extensive collections of fossil shells in the Himalaya mountains, at 

 the height of 17,000 feet. The greater part of these closely re- 

 semble shells that occur in the Oolite formation of Europe, particu- 

 larly Ammonites and Belemnites ; whilst a few, e.g. Orthoceratites 

 and Spirifers, are similar to shells we find in rocks of our Transition 

 Series. The Rev. II. Everest has described and figured some of 

 these in the eighteenth volume of the Asiatic Researches. 



* Vol. i., second scries, p. 124. 



