40 THE ORDNANCE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CHAP, n 



geological survey of the kingdom, De la Beche pro 

 ceeded to point out to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 that for the adequate development of the great mineral 

 industries of the country it was not enough to make 

 accurate maps of geological structure, but that it was 

 further needful to collect and exhibit specimens of 

 rocks and minerals which were used, or might seem 

 capable of application, in the industrial arts. He had 

 already, during his work in Devon and Cornwall, 

 made an extensive collection of specimens from the 

 great mining region of the south-west. Another large 

 series of samples of British building-stones was ac 

 cumulated by the Commission appointed to inquire 

 into the most suitable materials for constructing the 

 new Palace of Westminster, after the burning of the 

 old Houses of Parliament in I834. 1 



There was thus a large amount of material ready 

 for display, and through the labours of the Ordnance 

 Geological Survey, as well as from donations, it was 

 continually increasing in extent and in value. De 

 la Beche s representations were so obviously well 

 founded, that they soon obtained official approba 

 tion. Apartments were allotted for the accommoda 

 tion of the Survey collections, and in February 1837 

 the Office of Woods and Forests formally took the 

 scheme under its charge, and asked De la Beche to 

 carry out his proposals. His design was to establish 

 a Museum of Economic Geology, wherein the 



1 This Commission consisted of Mr. afterwards Sir Charles Barry, William 

 Smith, the father of English Geology, De la Beche, and Mr. C. H. Smith, a 

 practical sculptor. De la Beche probably took the main part of the labour of 

 collecting the specimens and preparing the Report. The work was done before 

 the days of railroads, and the Commissioners drove about the country in an old 

 carriage and pair, visiting quarry after quarry, procuring rough samples of the 

 different stones, which were sent up to Mr. C. H. Smith s yard to be dressed into 

 six-inch cubes. These blocks are now in the Museum of Practical Geology, 

 Jermyn Street. 



