42 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. [l834. 



been so happy in any school, and that he had often 

 wished to return to Paris. He confides to this friend 

 that although engaged in commerce he aspires to be 

 a geologist, and mentions a business tour in Devon 

 and Cornwall. 



Cornwall, qui est celebre pour ses mines de cuivre et d'etain, 

 offre des attractions bien grandes pour le geologue et le nrine'ral- 

 ogiste, et je me place dans les rangs comme un humble etudiant. 

 Que mes vues sont change'es depuis que je t'ai vu ! j'e*tais con- 

 tent d'e*tudier ma vocabulaire latine et de construire des themes ; 

 a present je voudrais tout savoir tout voir tout analyser. 

 C'est dire beaucoup tels sont mes desirs. Oh, si j'avais le temps 

 a lire et a e*tudier tout ce que je voudrais ! 



No words could more fitly express his fervent aspira- 

 tions. 



It was in all probability about this date that young 

 Prestwich projected a plan for a Natural History 

 Society, the object of which was thoroughly to work 

 out the geology, botany, &c., of the London Basin by 

 the personal observations of its members. We do not 

 hear of the formal establishment of this Society ; but as 

 its members were self-elected, consisting of those who 

 could contribute to the knowledge of the natural history 

 of the country round London, and as in its beginning 

 there was no subscription, it is possible that there may 

 have been many meetings at the London Coffee- House 

 in St Paul's Churchyard, where the members were to 

 assemble until they could afford the expenses of a fixed 

 establishment. The scope of this "Natural-Historical 

 Society of the Neighbourhood of London " is somewhat 

 ambitious, and is given in his own handwriting. Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk were not included, but the boundary 

 line of the country to be examined was to extend from 

 Harwich westward along the northern extremity of 



