A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST n 



straw hat became a shield ; and with this armament,, 

 in the combination of heroic solitary declamation 

 with the rattling of my canister, days passed healthily 

 away, but I was unmistakably ambitious of being a 

 hero. 



In 1824 my father became personally acquainted 

 with the great Father of Geology, William Smith, 

 and with his subsequently distinguished nephew, 

 the late Professor John Phillips. 



In 1826 Dr. Smith and his eccentric wife estab- 

 lished themselves in our house, where they dwelt 

 for a considerable time. In the same year my 

 father became friend and correspondent of the late 

 Sir Roderick Murchison, whom Dr. Smith and he 

 conducted on a geological excursion to the more 

 important localities of the Yorkshire coast, with 

 which my father was so thoroughly acquainted. In 

 1825 Thomas Hinderwell, the distinguished historian 

 of Scarborough, died, leaving a small collection of 

 fossils and minerals to his nephew, William Thornton 

 Duesberry, then a Scarborough solicitor, who offered 

 to give them to the town whenever it should erect 

 an appropriate museum for their reception. Stimu- 

 lated by this offer, steps were immediately taken for 

 the erection of the present museum, my father 

 at once appointed curator, and a literary and philo- 

 sophical society was established in connection with 

 it. One equally important event to me was the 

 publication, by Professor Phillips, then curator of 

 the museum at York, of his classic volume on the 



