420 SUMMARY OF WORK. 



retical questions that Prestwich's name will be enrolled 

 in the list of the founders of English geology. His 

 long, earnest, patient, and sagacious researches among 

 the Tertiary formations will for ever mark him out as 

 one of those to whom geology is indebted for opening 

 up some new chapters in the history of the globe. 

 And when in future years the story of Early Man 

 comes to be written with the fulness of accumulated 

 knowledge, it will be remembered and acknowledged 

 that he was one of the foremost pioneers in that fas- 

 cinating branch of geological inquiry. 



In conclusion, it may not be inappropriate to refer 

 here to the influence which Prestwich exerted on his 

 scientific contemporaries. The writer of these lines, 

 who knew him well for many years, may perhaps 

 be permitted to bear his testimony to the remark- 

 able and perennial charm of his personality. While 

 we revered him as one of the last of the old heroic 

 race of geologists ; while we honoured him for the end- 

 less enthusiasm and perseverance with which, often in 

 the midst of many hindrances, he devoted every 

 leisure moment to the cause of geology ; while we 

 admired him for the infinite patience, the scrupulous 

 caution, and the laborious exhaustiveness of his re- 

 searches, we loved him for the gentle child-like sim- 

 plicity of his heart, his unaffected modesty, and his 

 genuine goodness. His bright sunny temperament 

 always found out what was best in those with whom 

 he came in contact. His unfailing sympathy delighted 

 to find expression in active helpfulness. The smile 

 that lighted up his handsome features seemed to reveal 

 at one glance the tenderness and kindliness and truth- 

 fulness of his nature. One felt after an interview 

 with him cheered and brightened by contact with one 



