1866.| On the Antiquity of the Volcanos of Auvergne. 203 
Von Buch, then a young and rising geologist of the school of 
Werner, exhibited phenomena which seemed to many of us scarcely 
reconcilable with this conclusion; for whilst we were told of rocks 
existing in that district which were scarcely distinguishable from the 
traps of Scotland, we learnt on the other hand, that these same for- 
mations were found in intimate connection with craters of extinct 
volcanos and with the scoriz ejected from them, forming even a part 
of the streams of lava which had descended from these igneous vents. 
In undertaking, then, a journey through Auvergne, one especial 
object I had in view was, to see how far I could reconcile the Wer- 
nerian doctrine, which had been instilled into me by my late pre- 
ceptor, with the facts that had come to my knowledge with reference 
to this particular district. 
But although I started on my expedition just after I had been 
sitting at the feet of my Scotch Gamaliel, I had also in previous 
years derived instruction in geology from quite a different kind 
of teacher, having attended the lectures of Professor Buckland, at 
Oxford, which, although not professedly antagonistic to those of 
Jameson, exhibited the subject under quite a different aspect, both 
from his mode of treating it, and from the opposite character of 
his mental constitution. 
Whilst Professor Jameson confined himself for the most part to 
a description of the older rocks, and considered them chiefly with 
reference to their lithological characters, Professor Buckland drew 
his illustrations chiefly from the modern, as his main interest lay in 
tracing the successive revolutions which the earth had undergone, 
as determined by the changes in organic loss revealed to us by their 
petrifactions, as well as by the erosion of valleys, the transportation 
of erratic blocks, and the dispersion of gravel over the low ground. 
Amongst the many catastrophes which he so vividly depicted, 
the latest, according to his reckoning, was that Deluge which Holy 
Writ had recorded, and which, instead of being confined (as many 
divines at the present day are content to regard it) to those regions 
which were actually peopled by man, had, as he conceived, left traces 
of itself in every part of the globe. 
Those only who, like myself, can recollect the early lectures he 
delivered in the old Ashmolean building, to which Academics of all 
degrees of standing, from the Freshman to the Head of a house, 
flocked from every College and Hall of the University, can form an 
idea of the interest he inspired in this new study, by that union of 
vivid description, extensive knowledge of details, boldness of specula- 
tion, drollery, and enthusiasm with which he fascinated the minds of 
his hearers. 
I may observe, however, that not only in those lectures of his 
which I attended in the years 1815 and 1816, but long subsequently, 
as in his ‘ Reliquizee Diluviane’ published in 1824, the Professor 
appealed to the organic remains contained in caves, fissures, an® 
