CELL GEOLOGY. 



489 



dictate his Autobiography, 2 vols., his Literary 

 Life and Miscellanies, 3 vols., besides a variety of 

 minor tales and sketches, which appeared in the 

 Magazines and Annuals. Among his latest pro- 

 ductions was a tale, called The Bedral, which was 

 not inferior to his Provost Pawkie. Mr Gait, it 

 will be seen, was a most prolific author, and yet 

 the works we have mentioned form by no means a 

 complete list of his publications. He himself was 

 unable to furnish one. In a list which he made, 

 he forgot an epic poem and he afterwards jocu- 

 larly said, that he should be remembered as one 

 who had published an epic poem, and forgot that 

 he had done so. Literature with him was but a 

 secondary pursuit, and his mind was chiefly en- 

 grossed by mercantile or mechanical projects. 

 During his last illness at Greenock, this "ruling 

 passion" strongly displayed itself. He had a 

 variety of schemes, to which he invited the atten- 

 tion of the scientific world, among others a plan 

 for deepening the Clyde up to Glasgow, by erect- 

 ing a dam, with lock, at Bowling Bay. This, he 

 said, was the legacy he left to Glasgow, in grati- 

 tude for the many good deeds done to him by in- 

 habitants of that city. Mr Gait was in person tall 

 and muscularly formed, his manners being frank 

 and agreeable. During much of his life he moved 

 in the best circles of society ; and it is not the 

 least curious circumstance in his character that, 

 with so much high-spirited gentlemanly feeling in 

 himself, he should have mainly succeeded in de- 

 picting the meaner and more grovelling points in 

 human nature. 



CELL, SIR WILLIAM, Knt., M.A., F.R.S., and 

 F.S.A., a member of the Society of Dilletanti, &c. 

 was the younger son of Philip Gell of Hopton, 

 Derbyshire, Esq., by Dorothy, daughter and co- 

 heiress of W. Milnes, of Aldercar Park, Esq., who 

 was secondly the wife of Thomas Blore, Esq., 

 F.S.A., the historian of the county of Derby. He 

 was formerly Fellow of Emanuel college, Cam- 

 bridge, where he graduated B. A. 1798, M. A. 

 1804. His learned and valuable works were pro- 

 duced in the following order: The Topography 

 of Troy and its Vicinity, illustrated and explained 

 by drawings and descriptions. 1804. fol. The 

 Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca. 1808. 4to. 

 The Itinerary of Greece, with a Commentary on 

 Pausanias and Strabo, and an account of the mon- 

 uments of antiquity at present existing in that 

 country. 1810. 4to. The Itinerary of the Morea ; 

 being a particular description of that Peninsula, 

 with a map of the Routes. 1817. 8vo. Pompeiana; 

 or Observations upon the Topography, Edifices, 

 and Ornaments of Pompeii. By Sir William Gell 

 and J. P. Gandy, Esq., 18171819, 8vo. Second 

 volume, 183-, 8vo. It was this work, equally 

 beautiful and interesting, which made his name 

 most extensively known. Attica. 1817. folio. 

 Narrative of a Journey in the Morea. 1823. 8vo. 

 The Topography of Rome. 183-, 8vo. Sir Wil- 

 liam Gell received the honour of knighthood on a 

 return from a mission to the Ionian Islands, May 

 14, 1803. In 1820 the late queen Caroline ap- 

 pointed him one of her Chamberlains, in which ca- 

 pacity he attended daily during the examination 

 which was called her "Trial," in the House of 

 Lords. Subsequently to that period Sir William 

 had resided altogether in Italy. He had a small 

 house, surrounded by a pleasant garden, at Rome ; 

 and a picturesque residence at Naples, which re- 

 minded the visitor of some of his own drawings of 



Pompeii. Both were the daily resort of the sci- 

 entific and literary visitants to " the Eternal City" 

 or the gay " Parthenope ;" and in his reception 

 room in each he was seen, surrounded by books, 

 drawings, and maps, with a guitar, from which he 

 frequently drew forth pleasant discourse, and two 

 or three dogs, so well bred as to be a source of 

 amusement instead of annoyance to his visitors. 



Sir William Cell's residence at Naples was for 

 many years rendered peculiarly agreeable by its 

 vicinity to that of his estimable and erudite friend, 

 the late Sir William Drummond, with whom he 

 lived on terms of affectionate intimacy; and whose 

 death, which took place at Rome in 1827, he 

 deeply lamented. The hon. Richard Keppel Cra- 

 ven had been for many years the friend of Sir 

 William Gell. In 1834, Sir William's infirmities 

 had increased so much that he was compelled to 

 give up his residence at Rome, and remain station- 

 ary at Naples. Those who had opportunities of 

 appreciating the character of this amiable man 

 knew not which most to admire, the depth and 

 versatility of his erudition, the benevolent kind- 

 ness of his heart, or the suavity of his manners. 

 Suffering from the complicated tortures of gout 

 and rheumatism, which for many years deprived him 

 of the use of his limbs, his patient endurance of 

 pain, and constant cheerfulness under it, endeared 

 him to all who knew him. Science and literature 

 had not a more devoted adherent, or more ardent 

 admirer. Deeply skilled in antiquarian learning, 

 the fruit of his indefatigable researches was ever 

 at the service of others ; and he w,as in every sense 

 of the word a scholar and a gentleman. He died at 

 Naples on the 4th Feb. 1836, aged 59. His body was 

 interred in the English burial ground at Naples. 



GEOLOGY, RECENT PROGRESS OF. After Hut- 

 ton and Werner had advanced their respective 

 theories, an intellectual warfare of many years was 

 rather fiercely waged between their followers. Al- 

 though this excitement led to the elucidation of 

 many important parts, yet it cannot be denied that 

 much time and some talent were unprofitably lost 

 in the contest, till at last the Wernerians, in the 

 great points at issue, fairly gave in ; and the lead- 

 ing facts at least of the Huttonian theory were 

 universally established, namely, the igneous origin 

 of granite and trap rocks, and the sedimentary na- 

 ture of the other deposits. Meanwhile practical 

 geology, founded on actual investigation, was 

 making considerable progress, first in England, by 

 the solitary and untutored labours of Mr Smith, 

 who, almost unaided, produced a map of the Eng- 

 lish strata, arranged according to their organic 

 remains, and the result of his own personal inves- 

 tigations; and afterwards by the institution of the 

 London Geological Society, in 1807, which ranked 

 among its members Dr Maculloch, the able inves- 

 tigator of the primary rocks, and of the trap for- 

 mations of Scotland and its islands, Mr Cony- 

 beare, who, along with Mr Phillips, published a 

 work on the secondary strata, as exhibited in the 

 English districts from the carboniferous series, up 

 to the oolite, and chalk, and Messrs Greenough 

 and Webster, and professors Buckland and Sedg- 

 wick, Messrs Murchison, Lyell, &c., who have all 

 contributed most valuable papers to its transactions. 

 On the continent the celebrated, Cuvier and his 

 associates, Lamarck and Brogniart, were no less as- 

 siduous in their energetic investigations^ The dis- 

 coveries of Cuvier in the strata of the environs of 

 Paris formed a new era in the history of organic 



