176 THE PAST AND FUTURE OF GEOLOGY. 



pbibious habits of a crocodile. He also brought his great local knowl- 

 edge of Great Britain to bear ou oue of the proposed additions to the 

 new museum, viz, that of the British ornamental rocks, of which the 127 

 graceful columns which decorate tlie building each constitutes a speci- 

 men ; the size and position of the shafts exhibiting to great effect, and 

 with permanent advantage, the character and beauty of the several 

 rocks, including numerous varieties of our granites, serpentines, and 

 mountain limestones, with some from the more recent Permian, Oolitic, 

 and Purbeck strata. Xo such collection exists elsewhere, and with it 

 will always be associated the name of the eminent man who by his taste 

 and ability so ably contributed to the success of the work. 



But Phillips was not only a geologist; he was a man of great and 

 varied acquirements, a meteorologist, a botanist, an astronomer, and a 

 physicist. Further, he was a man whose amiable disposition, engaging 

 manners, and eloquent and fluent address, made him beloved as much 

 as he was esteemed; and while his loss to science will be long felt, his 

 mark must remain and his memory will ever be honored. 



When in 1819 Dr. Buckland, who had a few years previously suc- 

 ceeded Dr. Kidd as professor of mineralogy, received his appointment 

 to the then-recently-created chair of geology, he spoke of these subjects 

 as the " new and curious sciences of geology and mineralogy." Geology 

 was only then beginning to assume a recognized position, and was pass- 

 ing from purely speculative "theories of the earth" to the more philo- 

 sophical investigations of its structure and organisms. Hutton had 

 sought in natural existing agencies the causes of past changes on the 

 earth; Smith had solidly laid its stratigraphical foundations; and 

 Cuvier was devoting his great talents to the restoration of old higher 

 forms of life. Buckland then commenced his powerful and attractive 

 teaching, and drew around him the younger men, through many of 

 whom his influence on the progress of geology is happily yet felt. In 

 his hands, the interesting fauna of the surrounding district was gradu- 

 ally unfolded, and among the most remarkable of the extinct forms then 

 discovered and described by Buckland was the huge Megalosaurus and 

 the small Marsupials, long the most ancient quadrupeds known, of 

 Stonesfield. 



Bat Buckland's great work was that connected with cave remains, in 

 search of which he ransacked England and the continent, and although 

 the conclusions then enunciated by him, and at that time very generally 

 accepted by geologists, have not been corroborated, the facts so well 

 recorded and the collections so largely made remain to attest the value 

 and importance of his labors. It was in connection with these researches 

 that the later discovery of our time, that of the association of the ex- 

 tinct mammalia with the remains and works of man, was dimly sighted, 

 but with averted eyes, by my distinguished predecessor. But Buckland 

 did not stand alone ; his opinion was shared by geologists of all coun- 

 tries, and it was not until another generation had passed that the evi- 



