ideas regarding the importance of mineralogical geology ; and his first 

 papers that on the Malvern Hills, and that on Somersetshire may be 

 taken as characteristic specimens of the mineralogical system of treatment 

 by which the geology of the early part of this century was marked. But 

 though from the state of the science at that time (18111815) it was not 

 to be expected that he should succeed in unravelling the complicated geo- 

 logical relations of the different rocks, it is yet interesting to mark how he 

 carried with him the spirit of careful observation in which Playfair had 

 trained him, and how readily he saw among the hills of England proofs of 

 the truth of the Huttonian system. During his active life he had few 

 opportunities of doing much in field-geology. When he found a little 

 leisure in his retreat at Bonn, he at once reverted to his favourite science, 

 and the results of his sojourn were given to the Geological Society in a 

 paper on the Geology of the Environs of that town. During the same 

 interval of rest he was led, in the true spirit of the Huttonian school, to 

 institute a series of experiments on the quantity of solid matter suspended 

 in the water of the Rhine, with the view of arriving at some " measure of 

 the amount of abraded stone transported to the sea, there to constitute the 

 materials of new strata now in progress of formation." These researches 

 have become classic in the' history of geology. Fifteen years later a similar 

 kind of inquiry greatly interested him when Lepsius called attention to 

 certain sculptured marks in the valley of the Nile ; and in 1851 he obtained 

 from the Royal Society a grant of money for the purpose of excavations to 

 be made in the Nile alluvium. To link together the earliest human with 

 the latest geological history seemed to him an object worthy of earnest 

 prosecution. After four years of exploration, carried on according to a 

 plan drawn up and sent out by him to Egypt, Mr. Homer published the 

 results of his researches in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1855. His 

 presidential addresses to the Geological Society were devoted to a survey 

 of the progress of geology. They are remarkable for the sympathy which 

 they show for views far in advance of those in which he had himself been 

 trained. 



But it is not by the number or character of his writings that Mr. 

 Horner's influence among the scientific men of his day is to be estimated. 

 His age and experience, his association with the early days of British 

 geology, his political connexions, his sound judgment and careful business 

 habits, joined to his excellent social qualities, gave him a position which 

 none can now fill. And he retained his influence in no small measure from 

 the singular fervour and youthfulness of his mind. Instead of clinging to 

 old methods and beliefs as one of his years and early predilections might 

 have been expected to do, he was found ever ready to receive and sympa- 

 thize with new developments of truth, and to uphold the cause of progress 

 in all departments of science. Even at the last, when he read his final 

 address to the Geological Society, he pleaded boldly for the high antiquity 

 of the human race in opposition to popular prejudice on this subject, and 



