May 6, 1875] 



NATURE 



the only good work as yet done in this direction being 

 that of Wm. Smith — a man considerably like Murchison 

 in character, though in a lower walk of life, and who had 

 mapped and arranged most of what we now call secondary 

 rocks. Much remained yet to be done both among these 

 and above them, but below them was a perfect blank. 

 No one had yet attempted to attack the monster " Grau- 

 wacke " in his fastnesses. It was not, however, to be 

 conquered by a tyro, and it was only after minor attempts 

 elsewhere that Murchison made the assault upon it from 

 above, while Sedgwick undermined it from below. 



Murchison's life hitherto has not been such as to lead 

 us to expect much of him ; but a study of his biography 

 and a knowledge of his works prove that we must from 

 this time see him in a different light ; without indeed the 

 advantages of early training, yet earnestly doing his best 

 under the circumstances to advance the cause of science 

 in that way in which alone he could hope to do so. He 

 was one of those who 



"rise 

 On stepping-stones of their dead selves 

 To higher things;" 



and we next hear of him as a diligent student of Brande, 

 Buckland, Webster, and WoUaston, and very shortly fol- 

 lowing out, at the suggestion of others, some new lines of 

 inquiry, where information was wanted. The discussion 

 of these works we will postpone for the present, and pass 

 on to the sketch of his Hfe henceforth as detailed for us 

 so clearly by Prof. Geikie. 



His first excursion was in the summer of 1825, when 

 he was accompanied by his wife, and made a tour of nine 

 weeks on the south coast, from the Isle of Wight into 

 Devon and Cornwall. " Driving, boating, walking, or 

 scrambling, the enthusiastic pair signalised their first 

 geological tour by a formidable amount of bodily toil." 



Murchison associated himself early in his geological 

 career with Sedgwick, with whom he had many a happy 

 and profitable tour, the first of which took place in 1827, 

 when they went together to the Island of Arran. Mur- 

 chison's summers for many years now were spent in the 

 field, while his winters in London were given to society, 

 and to the work of the Secretary of the Geological Society, 

 which he voluntarily undertook. It was not till 1831 that 

 he first broke ground in " Siluria," the results of which 

 appeared after many delays, in 1838, iu the well-known 

 " Silurian System." He was not content with work in 

 England only, but quite as often traversed the Continent, 

 bringing home results, and enjoying the society of the 

 chiefs of geology abroad. No sooner was his first work 

 well off his hands than he began to contemplate an excur- 

 sion to Russia to trace the same rocks there, and having 

 been partially successful in 1840, the next year he 

 surveyed the whole of the Ural Mountains under the 

 auspices of the Emperor, and with the assistance of Count 

 Keyscrhng and De Verneuil, the results of which survey 

 appeared in 1845 i^i the magnificent work entitled " Geo- 

 logy of Russia and the Ural Mountains." 



From this time Murchison's position in the ranks of 

 geologists was secure. How did he use it ? To this 

 there can be but one answer. He used all the influence 

 his position gave him for the advancement of science. 

 His personal energies never flagged ; no summer passed 

 but he did good work, which now forms part of the 

 common property of geologists. Each autumn saw him 



enthusiastically engaged in the work of the British 

 Association, of which he was president in 1846, and in 

 which he ever continued to take a genuine interest. 

 During these years his devotion to the Geographical 

 Society increased, and, as our readers know, he was in the 

 end regarded as so indispensable to its prosperity, that 

 for the last ten years of his life he was president. 



This Society was almost of his own making, for it was 

 a very different thing when he joined it to what it was 

 when he died ; and perhaps some little feehng of jealousy 

 may be entertained by geologists at the apparent trans- 

 ference of his affectionso But it should be remembered 

 that throughout his career Murchison was a pioneer. His 

 works are all masterly outlines of fresh fields ; and when by 

 the time that infirmities in any case would prevent him from 

 doing much field-work, he found a large band of geolo- 

 gists working at details throughout Europe. No room 

 was left for such preliminary investigations as his, unless 

 he went by proxy, so to speak, to countries far away ; and 

 in the end he was strictly serving Geology, by encouraging 

 Physical Geography ; for the former is impossible without 

 the foundation of the latter being laid. 



As Director-General of the Geological Survey, a post 

 which he held from the death of Sir H. De la Beche in 

 1855 until his own decease in 1871, he earned the grati- 

 tude of geologists by the enlarged scope he persuaded 

 the Government to give to it, and its consequent rapid 

 and invaluable work ; while in this and in other ways he 

 was always ready and anxious to help forward any rising 

 worker in the field. 



Into further details of his life — how honours were 

 poured on him from all sides, which he received with 

 avidity ; how he never failed to enjoy the dehghts of 

 society ; how he obtained a Geographical Section at the 

 British Association ; how he endowed a professorship of 

 Geology — into these we cannot enter more fully, but must 

 refer the reader to the book itself, where they are all 

 admirably set forth. 



The last words of Prof. Geikie on the character of Sir 

 Roderick Murchison are very good. He traces the suc- 

 cess of his career and the value of his life to three main 

 sources. " Foremost we would place his vigorous energy, 

 his unwearied and almost reckless activity. He never 

 seemed to be without a definite and well-planned task." 

 " Afiother leading feature in his character . . . was shrewd 

 common sense and knowledge of the world ; " and " there 

 was still another characteristic which secured to Murchi- 

 son the esteem as well as the respect of his feUow-men — 

 his thorough kindliness and goodness of heart." Every 

 one of these features is amply illustrated in the details of 

 his life ; and though other features, perhaps not quite so 

 imitable, may strike us on its perusal, yet these stand out 

 in the foreground, and teach the ever-required lesson that 

 industry and energy are the invariable forerunners of 

 success. {To be continued^ 



THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA 

 The Flora of British India. By Dr. J. D. Hooker, C.B., 

 assisted by various Botanists. Vol I. Ranunculacea; 

 to Sapindaceas. (London : Reeve and Co.) 



THE completion of the first volume of the Flora of 

 India is an event of no small importance in descrip- 

 tive botany. That India should be almost the last of our 



