1 6 FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



on the rock-salt district in the first volume. He was 

 an eminent medical man, and a great traveller. He 

 wrote, amongst other things, upon the turquoise mines 

 of Persia and upon longevity. He was a friend of my 

 father's, and I had the advantage of talking the latter 

 subject over with him before I wrote a little book on 

 "Comparative Longevity" in 1869. 



It was not until 1825 that the Geological Society 

 obtained a charter, and was incorporated. Two great 

 names appear in the first council of the newly-incor- 

 porated society Murchison and Lyell. Murchison 

 became the Director of the Geological Survey, and 

 as " Sir Roderick " was a familiar and picturesque 

 figure in the scientific world of the second and third 

 quarters of last century. He wore an Inverness cape 

 and a tall hat with a large and much-curled brim, 

 an old-fashioned stock, and a tail-coat. In his hand 

 he always grasped a large, handsome cane, with which 

 he expressed his applause during the discussions at the 

 society, or emphasised his own remarks. He was fond 

 of alluding to himself as " an old soldier of the hammer, 1 ' 1 

 and almost always entered into a discussion with these 

 words, " It is now, sir, a quarter of a century since, in 

 company with my illustrious friend, Sir Somebody 

 Something, I had the privilege and pleasure of showing 

 that " whatever it might be. Discussions at the 

 Geological in the sixties and seventies were real, 

 animated, almost violent discussions. I need hardly 

 say that they were perfectly delightful. Godwin 

 Austen was a fine, incisive speaker, who seemed ready 

 to back his statements and views with his fists, if need 

 be. Lyell, the greatest of all, was most modest, and 

 almost timid in pressing an opinion, but full of personal 

 experience and minute knowledge of facts. John Phillips, 

 the nephew of the father of English geology, William 

 Smith, was mellifluous and persuasive ; Jukes, robust 

 and defiant ; Huxley (secretary and then president). 



