585 



was adopted in 1840 by the Director of the Survey, and made the 

 subject of a separate volume drawn up by one of his friends. 



From Cornwall and Devon the ' Ordnance Geological Survey' 

 was transferred to South Wales, and before the close of 1841, the 

 Director, with his staff of geologists, had measured the Palaeozoic 

 strata in all the cliffs of Pembrokeshire, and constructed maps ex- 

 tending from St. Bride's Bay to the sources of the Usk. In this 

 large area the problem of the succession of strata has a different 

 aspect from that which is presented in the eastern and northern 

 parts of the Principality, and the distribution of ancient life offers 

 many points for inquiry. These phenomena were discussed in the 

 early memoirs of the Geological Survey, after an opportunity had 

 been afforded of comparing them in detail with the typical Silurian 

 tracts of Malvern and Ludlow, rendered famous by the earlier 

 labours of Murchison. 



Those who at this time shared the society of Sir Henry De la 

 Beche in the field, experienced an enjoyment of no common de- 

 scription. Ill-health, the cares of office, anxieties of every kind, 

 were swept away by the mountain wind, or forgotten amidst the 

 glancing waves ; every day brought new facts to an indefatigable 

 observer, new scenes of beauty to an enthusiast in art, new occa- 

 sions for profound reflection, sagacious inference, and practical 

 instruction to his young companions. In after-years the Survey 

 became too extended to admit of the same personal superintendence 

 in every part. Separated from the ' Ordnance Survey' in 1845, it 

 assumed the shape of a department, received local Directors for 

 England and Ireland, an augmented staff, laboratory, lecture-room, 

 and museum in London. 



Over all this large establishment, the realization of his own plan, 

 Sir H. T. De la Beche presided with the unflagging resolution which 

 had brought it into being, presided, indeed, too long. The strength 

 which grew under the hammer, and rejoiced in long days of wan- 

 dering over rocky hills, faded away among the official niceties and 

 impediments of his great office ; but he clung to his self- destroying 

 work, and had before his death the satisfaction of seeing in full 

 operation that Mining School, that Palaeontological Museum, that 

 systematic field geology, and professional teaching in practical 

 science which he had kept steadily in prospect for twenty years. 



