78 REMINISCENCES OF 



In geology, Mr. Binney, a young solicitor, began 

 to pay some attention to coal and collieries ; not 

 because he cared for such subjects, but avowedly 

 because he thought that, in becoming an authority 

 on them, he might obtain the confidence of great 

 colliery proprietors, and convert them into clients. 

 In this respect I fear he was not successful, but he 

 certainly became one of the chief geologists of the 

 district. Some time previously, a young letter- 

 press printer named Looney had been making good 

 geological observations, but other duties called 

 him away, and fossil-hunting fell into the back- 

 ground. 



The botanical interests of the district were chiefly 

 in the hands of the operative community. The hills 

 between Lancashire and Yorkshire swarmed with 

 botanical and floricultural societies, who met on 

 Sundays, the only day on which it was possible to 

 do so. Our highest authority on the native plants 

 was a poor old working-man named Buxton ; the 

 little work which he published under the name of 

 " A Botanical Guide to the Flowering Plants, Ferns, 

 " Mosses, and Algae found indigenous within sixteen 

 41 miles of Manchester, with some Information as to 

 " their Agricultural, Medicinal, and other Uses," has 

 not yet been surpassed. Richard Buxton was 

 entirely self-educated, and in a brief preface to his 

 little guide, he gives an interesting sketch of his history 

 and companions. We here find notice of such men as 

 Horsefield, Percival, Crowther, Crozer, and Tinker, 



