11 
Four facsimile reproductions of these records have been 
prepared. One set is exhibited in the room devoted to Geology 
and Mineralogy in the Museum of the Royal College of Science, 
South Kensington, one in the Library of the Geological Society, 
one in the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, and one to 
be preserved in the British Museum Library at Bloomsbury. 
Professor Judd’s object in publishing the account of William 
Smith’s Maps was to claim for him the right of priority of geological 
colouring over any other contemporary worker. 
The MS. Map of the Country around Bath, at the Geological 
Society, bears the inscription in William Smith’s own handwriting ; 
“ Coloured geologically in 1799, and presented to the Geological 
Society February 18th, 1831.” His Map of England coloured 
geologically bears the MS. title, “General Map of Strata found in 
England and Wales by William Smith, Surveyor, 1801.” 
How far William Smith was in advance of his contemporaries is 
shown by a comparison of this map of the country around Bath 
(dated 1799), showing carefully indicated lines of outcrop, with the 
excellent map of the environs of Paris by Cuvier and Brongniart 
in 1809, in which colour is spread over the areas occupied by the 
several formations, without any clear and definite indications of 
the actual limits of the outcrops. The colours used by Smith in 
this map were the same as those employed by him in the later 
maps of 1801 and 1815, and thus we have in it the first indication 
of a scheme of colour now very generally adopted by geologists. 
William Smith’s Collection is now preserved, with other 
historical collections, in the Geological Department of the British 
Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, as a centre case 
on the East Wall of Gallery No. 11. 
“It was commenced to be formed about the year 1787, and was 
purchased by the Trustees in 1816, a supplemental Collection 
being added by Dr. Smith in 1818. 
“Tt is remarkable as the first attempt made to identify the 
various strata forming the solid crust of England and Wales by 
