silt RODERICK J. MXJRCHISON. 197 



tific prince in Europe." From thence they visited 

 Switzerland, ultimately returning to record their 

 observations in four Memoirs, which " are models of 

 rapid generalization and of keen and quick observa- 

 tion." 



It was not long before Murchison again set out for 

 the Continent, partly to compare the fossils which he had 

 obtained in Grermany with those of the French collec- 

 tions, and partly " to frequent the society of scientific 

 friends." From Humboldt, who then happened to be 

 in Paris, he gained a considerable amount of information 

 as to the geological structure of the districts which were 

 the scenes of his travels. 



In 1831 he was elected President of the Geological 

 Society, a dignity which he honourably earned by the 

 hard work of previous years. The debates of the Society 

 during his term of office were among the most brilliant 

 in London, and the audiences which attended them 

 included most of the eminent men of science in London. 



He was no sooner installed as President, than, at the 

 instigation of Buckland, he set himself to work on the 

 solution of the problem offered by the rocks which cov< r 

 the greater part of Wales, then known obscurely as 

 Grraywacke. The important results of this resolution 

 are now matters of scientific history. In his expedition 

 he laid under contribution stores of knowledge accumu- 

 lated by local observers, which were freely placed at his 

 service. To one of these — the Rev. T. T. Lewis, of 

 Aymestry — he acknowledged himself indebted "for 

 much of his knowledge of the rocks and fossils of the 

 Upper Silurian Series, for that gentleman had already 



