A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



"To ike solid ground 

 Of N'ature trusts the mind wJwh builds for aye." 



-Wordsworth 



THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1875 



GEIKIE'S ''LIFE OF MURCHISON" 



Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison, Bart., F.R.S. etc. 

 Based on his fournals and Letters. With Notices of his 

 Scientific Contemporaries and a Sketch of the Rise and 

 Growth of Palccozoic Geology in Britain. By Archi- 

 bald Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., Director of H.M. Geological 

 Survey of Scotland, and Murchison Professor of Geology 

 and Mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh. 2 vols. 

 Illustrated with Portraits and Woodcuts. (London : 

 John Murray, 1875.) 



TO have before us "\n detail, and reflected as in a 

 mirror of his own notes and correspondence, the 

 story of the life of one who has taken a foremost place in 

 the ranks of science, is a matter of no little interest. We 

 want to know as much as we can of the kind of qualities 

 that go to make a successful man of science, and of the 

 circumstances which have enabled him to be useful to the 

 world. Such information may be obtained either by 

 categorical questions addressed to such men during life, 

 after the manner of Mr. Francis Galton's work lately re- 

 viewed in these columns * in which we have the advantage 

 of numbers for comparison ; or by the more detailed 

 story of the life of individuals, from which we can gather 

 for ourselves the answers to our questions, with all the 

 additional light thrown upon them by surrounding cir- 

 cumstances. 



Such a story is that presented to us by Prof. Geikie of 

 the life of Sir Roderick Murchison, whom no one will 

 deny to have occupied a foremost place, and to have con- 

 tributed valuable and lasting materials to the sciences to 

 which he devoted himself. Many, indeed, and fruitful 

 are the teachings of such a life as this, and some of them 

 are well pointed out by the author in his concluding lines. 



Nor is the interest of the work confined to this. Not 



only was Murchison eminent in science, but he ranks 



among the founders of one of its most recent branches — 



Geology ; and hence, though in later years his name has 



* Nature, vol. xi. p. 161. 



Vol. XII.— No. 288 



been more prominently connected in the public mind with 

 Geography, it is as a geologist alone that he will be 

 known to posterity ; and the study of his life is an exami- 

 nation of the way in which some of the chief corner-stones 

 of Geology were laid. 



Prof. Geikie has performed his promised task in an 

 admirable manner. It must be remembered that he was 

 I asked by the subject himself to undertake the work, and 

 the materials out of which he was to develop it were 

 placed in his hands ; and under these circumstances he 

 must necessarily be guided partly by the probable wishes 

 of the subject, and partly by the nature of his material ; 

 and if it be a biographer's duty to *' hold a mirror up to 

 nature," there can be no doubt that Prof. Geikie has 

 admirably done so. The scenes and circumstances that 

 formed so large a part of the acted life may well occupy 

 an equally large share in the written life, however much 

 geologists or students of human nature might wish for 

 different matter. 



We have no doubt that Prof. Geikie would have 

 preferred to write such a life as we have indicated, 

 and he has done his best to escape from a " narrative 

 devoted merely to the personal events of Sir Roderick 

 Murchison's life ; " but in loyalty to his friend he felt 

 bound, no doubt, to follow his desires rather than his 

 own. Those who are acquainted with Prof. Geikie's other 

 writings need not be told that this is written with admi- 

 rable perspicuity, and his candour and ingenuousness 

 are above all praise. There is no false colouring here ; 

 we see Murchison as he was ; what was good not exag- 

 gerated, but duly brought forward ; what was bad (and 

 who has not faults 1) by no means palliated, though, 

 where possible, accounted for. These are undoubtedly 

 the great merits of the work, and ought to inspire 

 thorough confidence where it touches on matters of con- 

 troversy. 



The Life before us gives admirable means of perceiving 

 the exact relation of Sir Roderick Murchison to the 

 science of Geology, and the qualities and circumstances 

 which enabled him to stand in that relation. There are 

 times in the history of a Science, as in the history of a 

 Nation, when some definite work has to be done, and it is 



