xl PEOCEEDINGS OP THE 



ness, moral courage, and consummate ability with whicli Professor 

 Henslow conducted the duties he volunteered for. It has been 

 erroneously stated that he received the living of Hitcham as a 

 reward for these services. Such, however, was far from the case ; 

 he was made aware, indeed, that he was considered entitled to 

 government patronage, but, with conscientious disinterestedness, 

 he declined to avail himself of the offer. On the death of tlie pre- 

 vious rector of Hitcham he was recommended by the Bishop of 

 Ely (formerly tutor to Lord Melbourne) as being the man who, 

 in that prelate's opinion, was best calculated by his ability, activity, 

 and common sense, to reform that populous, remote and wofully 

 neglected parish, where the duties of squii'e, magistrate and rector 

 must all faU upon the latter. 



" Amongst the most remarkable instances of a direct benefit con- 

 ferred upon agriculture through scientific knowledge, was his dis- 

 covery of the use of the phosphate nodules which abound in the 

 tertiary formations of the Eastern counties. On the discovery of 

 the nature and origin of those petrified animal remains, their value 

 to the farmer was instantly apparent to Professor Henslow, who 

 at once gave his discovery the widest circulation in the local papers, 

 without reservation of any kind ; claiming no credit, no reward, 

 no consideration even as the discoverer. This was indeed heaping 

 coals of fire on the farmers' heads, to whom this discovery con- 

 tinues to be a source of incalculable wealth, large areas of Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, and other counties, being now honeycombed with phos- 

 phate pits ; yet up to the day of Professor Henslow' s death, no 

 acknowledgment even was vouchsafed of his services. In the 

 same liberal spirit he printed and circulated his volume of letters 

 to the farmers of Suffolk, which pointed out and stimulated them 

 to use methods which have largely increased the products of their 

 holdings. 



^ " Though the professional career of Professor Henslow as the 

 spiritual guide of his parishioners is a subject unsuited to our 

 columns, yet it is right to state that his duties as pastor super- 

 seded all others in his estimation ; and though they were eclipsed 

 in public opinion by his more conspicuous labours, and though he 

 had the greatest aversion to a parade of religion, he was ever 

 assiduous in spiritual duties — so much so, that for fifteen years he 

 was not absent from Hitcham for a single Sunday. 



" But want of space forbids our going further into the philan- 

 thropic or scientific career of this most amiable, learned, and ex- 

 cellent man ; a volume might be filled with the incidents of his 



